#hes called midas an plays a rather big role

[ganondoodle]

(wip- OC)

felt like i needed to do one of my typical character (re)design things tm so i chose this lad who doesnt even have a name still, he will get his cool coat back dw uwu

idk if im making him more or less unique/interesting bc of how my OCs usually look these days ... he fits well to the other updated designs .. but maybe too well :/

(also not a demon but one of the ... animal/sea people like ki'ita, this lad isnt directly based on a specific one, just kinda ..tentacly)

[rwhague]

Using Psychology to Develop Character Personalities (Part 4 of 5)

Openness

If you are a regular patron of my blog, chances are you are high in openness, which is the next of our big five personality traits we are talking about today. This is part four of a five-part series on the Big Five Personality Traits. As a refresher, the Big 5 are a scientifically tried and true way of mapping one’s personality. When I write, I use each of these five personality traits to craft a character that is real to life as possible. Once I have their personalities down, I can map out with ease how each of my characters would react to various situations.

As a refresher, I want to remind you that each of the five personality traits are part of a spectrum. A person can lie anywhere on the spectrum. The Big 5 personalities are agreeableness, neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness. A person who is high in agreeableness is more likely to be kind, polite, and compassionate. Someone low in agreeableness would be generally considered harsh, cold, and aggressive. For more information on the Big 5 personalities as a whole, be sure to check out my first post of the series, conscientiousness.

What does a person with trait openness look like? Well, an open person is generally interested in learning and getting involved in new ideas. They tend to be highly creative and are open to trying new things. Open people are often more willing to be flexible and react well to change. Openness is also linked to IQ. A person high in openness is more able to abstract information and make connections than a person who is less open.

So what is a closed minded person like? Generally, they are the opposite. They are not as open to change, are less interested in learning new ideas, and like to keep things the same. They are less creative and like routines.

Whenever I talk about these two categories, I immediately think of two different types of people that I know. The 9 to 5 business man or factory worker who likes their life to be exactly a certain way, and a person like Elon Musk who dabbles into just about everything and is very open to a wide plethora of ideas.

Of all the Big 5 personalities, this is probably the least modifiable in your characters. Now, that’s not to say that factory person above can’t be an open person stuck in a rut who finally breaks free. Let’s take the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as an example. If you haven’t seen this movie and want to, warning as I talk about spoilers.

In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ben Stiller plays a guy with a dull job and is constantly daydreaming adventures for his life. Then when his job is on the line, he goes on his own adventure and gets to live the life of his dreams. As you can see, the story arc of this character has less to do with his openness, but is instead to do with his conscientiousness. He had spent his life being responsible and safe doing a job that was boring while his high level of openness was calling him to freedom.

Consider this story in contrast to Flowers for Algernon. In this story, they take a gentleman with a low IQ who is low in openness and increase his IQ. His interest in topics and various pursuits increases rapidly. Things he would never have hoped to dream of learning come to him, enriching his life. This is a change in trait openness. It did not come about through normal means of a story arc, but rather through the intervention of scientists. It is relatively easy to lower a person’s trait openness through disease or injury, but it is not easy to raise it.

And of course there comes up the storyline of a person from a certain culture slowly becoming more open to another way of thinking and culture, but once again, I would link this back to conscientiousness and the pursuit of orderliness. For an example, a person who believes races should marry within their own races has an issue with orderliness. Keep in mind that there are pros and cons to every personality trait.

So what is the problem with too much openness? Well consider a person who is extremely creative—they might be so creative they have trouble categorizing their ideas. The idea could be a revolutionary—thing—that would ease the lives of thousands of people, but they first have to be able to explain what said thing is. Many novelists run into this problem. They write a unique work of fiction that is a little bit sci-fi, romance, part-heroes journey, and a murder mystery. Then they try to sell it to a publisher, but the publisher doesn’t know where to set it on the bookshelf. It’s too many things. Many creatives live in anonymity with loads of talent but no financial gains.

There is also an illness associated with people high in trait openness—Bipolar Disorder. This is because during a manic state, a person can become very fluid with their creativity and create all sorts of things. Ever heard of a tortured artist? This is linked with trait openness.

Being creative and having a high IQ does track well for success as compared to those who are low in openness, but all things come at a price. So, how open are your characters? Are they creative? Or do they prefer things to be the same? Do they think outside the box? You can create a large range of colorful characters with this one trait.

My character, Jared, in my story SURVIVING MIDAS is a child genius and very high in openness. As a slave, he stands out among his peers as being clever. This also makes him dangerous as he is more likely than the others to escape. Most of the conflict surrounding the story rides on this one personality trait. In a normal society, Jared would thrive, but here it’s likely to bring about his doom.

So, now we have covered 3 personality traits and already, you have a pretty good view of my character Jared. He’s very intelligent, high in openness, conscientious, but also a disagreeable survivor. Can you visualize such a character? You could take him out of his current setting and put him in several other roles: surgeon, CEO, entrepreneur, you name it, so it’s only one part of the story, but it is a key component. His backstory irons out the details of his personality, but these are great building blocks for you as a writer to start with.

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales: New Gods On The Block! Review or THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES: COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH!

We’re back, and i’m doing away with intros, for now, i’m trying to see if offering people a bit of the review makes them more receptive to reading it and now we’re nearing the end of this hellyear, and the trump presdency, i’m going into this one with a ton of energy, so let’s get quackin!

We open with the Scrooge and Kids on a quest to get a golden helmet he’s been after for years and has been one of his lifelong goals using a carefully crafted plan with all the kids skills needed. Okay i’ll admit that last part is unique to this show: given how interchangable the boys are outside of this continuity,  I assume he’d just throw them at the monster like Pikmin as a distraction while Donald grabbed the helmet and just grow new ones in his vast venture bro style clone mine if they happen to die. Thankfully there’s no Child Death but there is Child Failure as the team comes back sad and defeated and doubting themselves.. Della having a confetti cannon ready to celebrate dosen’t help. Though it does bring me to the subject of Della being out of focus this season. It’s a mixed bag for me: On the one hand I do get it, as she was the main focus of last season, even more than Louie, and now we’ve gotten to know her, she can sit back and play more of a supporting role, especially since Donald , who himself was more of a supporting character the past two seasons, is now getting more screentime and Beakly’s getting fleshed out more. Their trying to balance a rather massive cast, so it’s natural the one whose already got a ton of focus at this point would take a back seat and all around the show’s done a far better job giving everyone screentime this season. Launchpad has been lacking of late but given a Darkwing Duck spinoff is probably in the cards, and he’s had tons of episodes at this point compared to Donald and Beakly, i’m understanding of it. 

On the other.. there’s still a lot of stories to tell with her: We still haven’t had her deal with Scrooge basically erasing her for a decade at all nor Donald hiding her past from the kids.. he had reason and all, but he still made their mother a stranger to them. They had no stories, nothing to really go on for 10 years. That’s gotta have impacted both the kids and gotta hit della hard at some point that her father-uncle and brother both just kinda.. erased her to the kids. Plus we don’t know how she’s been adjusting to have a life OUTSIDE the kids especially since she’s been sitting out so many adventures, likely to let Scrooge have time with them and be a good daughter and mother and what not, but still there’s a LOT of ground to cover they simply haven’t yet. The Donald and Della plot we did get, while glorious, didn’t really add anything to either’s likely strained relationship and it’d be nice to give the two a subplot to work this out. Granted this might all be coming in the Castle McDuck Episode for all I know, but I can’t pin all my hopes and dreams on that one. And this all COULD’VE easily happened off screen.. but it’s something the audience really wants and needs. I’m not sure if we’re getting it and that worries me. But again theirs a large chunk of the season to answer this if this is the last one, and another season possible if it’s not, so i’m willing to wait for it. I’m just getting impatient is all. 

That being said this episode makes up for the Della Deficet as she’s one of the main driving forces of this side of the episode. I’ll get into that more in a second but Della’s been on the rare misfire adventure and knows Scrooge’s stages of grief and that he’ll come out of it with a better plan. Unfortunately for the kids that plan dosen’t include them and Scrooge runs off to assemble a better team leaving the kids utterly devastated. One of the other main driving forces besides depressed children and the greek gods is scrooge being really bad with people, but i’ll get to that. 

Point is the kids understandable emotional devastation and Della trying to mom for all of them at once because Launchpad had to get to his other job and is taking Beakly this weak to teach him and Drake how to raise a child, is interrupted by said Zeus ASSHAT RAPIST OUT OF MYTH! Along with Storkules COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH and Selene, DELLA’S FIRST TIME WITH A WOMAN OUT OF MYTH!  There here because Zeus has lost his powers, as the Gods all collectively decided he was a dick and voted him out of office.. er stripped him of his powers. Sorry an asshole, narcacistic, sociopathic racist getting removed from his position of power happening a few days after the election was called.. the timing just could not have been better. But yeah Zeus is out, roll credits. Join me after them and after the cut for the rest of the review. 

So yeah the Gods are fed up with him, and Selene and Storkules are there to pick a worthy inheritor to his Laurel Wreath, his lighting bolts, and his collection of playboys he keeps alphabatized in his mancave.. also his mancave will also go to the winner. Storkules however, having a one track mind, notices Donald isn’t there and goes to find him. The kids are all eager to try but Selene is there for Della, which they all agree makes sense: I mean she has the disposition and sexual appitite of a green god but without all the rampant sex crimes and murder, and given most of them have clearly copped to the times except Zeus, that’s a plus. Plus she and Selene have already been together before so the fact they can smooch into infinity along with all the fun stuff is a nice bonus. It’s not like Storkules isn’t selecting his candiate soley with his 13 inch penis, so ther’es a precident. But Della, seeing the kids clearly need this more than she does, convinces her once and future girlfriend to let them try out. I really do wish we got more of the two this episode but what we get is great, and Selene reluctantly agrees after Della makes the valid point their STILL more mature than her dad. The fact Zeus punctuates this by getting into a “No you” contest with an 11-12 year old probably helped.  As for where Donald is he’s preparing for a date with Daisy! Horay. I’ve been waiting for Daisy to come back since the last time she was here, and Donald has naturally been considerate: Setting up a bunch of hearts, flowers, some punch that is likely just box wine and sprite, he has a budget and throwing all his garbage in the pool with bricks because he’s still Donald. Romantic, a good dad.. but still a disaster of a person who dosen’t know quite how to live like an adult... which naturally I immensely relate to and hope i’m lucky enough one day to have a lady or fella to hide all my garbage from. I mean i’m probably dying alone, but that’s likely my old buddy crippling depression talking. Oh you old scamp.. please fuck off an die.  But enough chilling looks into my psyche, point is Storkules barges in to ruin it, and eat his carefully made grilled cheese. As though Storkules may be incredible he’s also STORKULES, GOD OF NOT REALLY READING THE ROOM. Daisy comes in, and we find out it’s their second date.. and i’m assuming their first wasn’t that time they ended up in a direct to video sequel to Die Hard that’s still far better than Die Hard 5.. then again a colonoscopy is preferable to that movie so I Dunno. But she’s nice, friendly, if put off by the big sweaty man suddenly in their date. Storkules COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH, does not help matters by, upon hearing that seeing how in love they are, and finding out it’s the second date assumes their getting married and hugs them in THE SWEATY ABS OF STORKULES. Do me next. 

Back at the God Tests, god I love a job-ish thing that lets me say that, Louie is up first, and being Louie has thought up a plan that benifets him wether he wins or looses but one that has serious underlying issues he hasn’t thought of. Naturally it turns out to be a gold touch which, as with Midas, works out about as well as you’d expect.. with Dog Murder and mass murder to follow. Selene undoes it, So Louie gets nothing. And yeah this has been a major issue this season that while I talked about it back in “Let’s Get Dangerous” bares repeating:  Louie feels like he learned NOTHING from the events of last season. He still likes, he still dosen’t think plans through, and he still cheats. In contrast Dewey DID grow from his season.. it’s subtle, he’s still the same loveable trainwreck and pre-teen Hank Venture he’s always been, but he no longer hides secrets or family stuff and is more of a team player. Still an egotsitical one, but it’s there. But Louie.. hasn’t changed at all. He’s still conviving, still thinks only in short term.. it’s only once or twice like with the Impossibin the events of last year really seem to have sunk in. It feels like the writer’s couldn’t figure out how to write a smarter Louie and just gave up. It’s really disheartning especially when most other character development, subtle and otherwise, sticks. 

While Huey sweats over his turn and Della tries to encourage, we cut back to the date which is going okay, Daisy’s trying to roll with it but Storkules, TERRIBLE WINGMAN OUT OF MYTH really isn’t good at talking Donald up or letting them get to know one another. While things breifly get better when Daisy brings up her career and Donald talks it up like the loving soon to be boyfriend he is, Storkules FUCKUP OUT OF MYTH screws things up by saying, when she explains to him she hasn’t made any Toga’s because she works primarily in dresses that she can “work up to them eventually. “ As proof this is the best Daisy she dosen’t dump Donald immidetly despite none of this being his fault and him trying to explain he didn’t invite him, but instead just makes an angry, and understandably so , face and goes to powder her beak.. which is clearly code for “Scream Obscenities into Donald’s Mirror for the next ten minutes”. Which if it already wasn’t abundantly clear they were perfect for each other this would be the clincher. Donald wants Storkules to go and TRIES to tell him, but Storkules just assumes he wants him to make a big romantic gesture for them and goes to “let Cupid’s Arrow” strike her. Donald understandably wants conformation he doesn’t mean that literally. Spoiler alert: He does. 

IT’s Huey’s turn next at playing god and he decides to be God of Intuition, gaining future sight so he can know everything and prevent tragedy. We instead get a damn funny scene where after adjusting to his powers he tries to prevent a breakup.. only to play both parts himself and cause it anyway. Just some great acting from Danny Pudi there. We get some more as Huey slowly melts down from the information, traumatizing a kid and nearly getting beat up with a guy who wants to “Beat up the freak for making everyone uncomfortable” which.. 

Yeah it’s not acceptable for what looks like a grown adult, or even a Teenager if that was an intent, to whale on a CHILD, let alone ANYONE for being “a Freak”. I mean yes Huey did screw up big, not mass murder bit but still.. but he’s still a fucking child. As someone who was prone to breakdowns at that age, and up to present day... I take this personally, especially since I see Huey as high functioning autsitic. So this hits home as i’ve had many people just tell me to get over it instead of trying to help. So yeah fuck this guy, take off that Gizmoduck shirt you do not deserve it. We fans do though, I hope that becomes real merch. 

But yeah Huey failed and Zeus is gloating..mostly because in his already considerably warped brain, he thinks that if they all fail he dosen’t get it. Selene explains basic logic to him: If they fail to find a new god here, they’ll just keep looking. Zeus naturally has a tantrum as Scrooge enters, wondering why the kids care about god powers and Della, being a supportive mom, tries to get him to encourage them. He instead focuses on his team. Again, we’ll get to him trust me. Selene also calls her dad out on the fact he hasn’t done anything good since defeating the titans centuries ago.  Naturally being THE GREATEST SHITHEAD IN ALL OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Zeus takes the exact wrong lesson from this and calls his brother Hades to whip up a titan for him to fight because that was her point and not that your an irredemible dick tip who their desperate to replace and who was dethroned because no one liked you, not even your horrible presumibly now ex wife. I mean unlike DC Comics Zeus he’s not planning a cou but only because he has no powers. Hades however is well aware his brother has no powers, as the gods have been talking about it and laughing about it because Zeus sucks eggs. Also Hades has a great goth look and personality here as well as muscular arms to hold my bi ass at night. A-Plus character design. I may also have a thing for goths and emos I never realized I had. Just an observation. 

Back at the boat Donald and Daisy are enjoying drinks, which again has to be wine.. I mean again box wine, Donald needs a lot of booze after a hard days nearly getting murdered and Costco has great deals on it, but still booze. They cuddle a bit and it’s fucking adorable.. and Storkules WHO JUST KIDDNAPED HIS COUSIN CUPID AND STOLE HIS SHIT naturally ruins this moment by first trying to fire one date rape arrow at them, then takes donald’s rampant headshaking no as a sign to fire all of the arrows... with Daisy ending up in the water and unsettling the garbage. Granted Donald COULD’VE prevented this by explaning things to her.. but i’m betting he didn’t simply because he’s.. tired of this shit. He’s tired of adventure, tired of it intruding on his life and just hoped Storkules was gone and out of sight and didn’t have a chance to prepare for that till it was too late. NOW Daisy storms off.. but unlike say Cabs Daisy, whose a living nightmare, or Comic Daisy, whose not a great person but has her moments depending on the comic, she has VALID REASON. Donald lied to her about garbage and dind’t just take it out like a normal Duck, and didn’t just outright yell at his friend to leave on their date, a friend who just attacked her and already insulted her. IT’s understandable, especailly given a line coming up she’d WANT to leave and leave Donald behind.  Donald however is naturally miserable and it finally gets through Storkules thick skull he messed up and he runs off to cry while Donald miserably floats among the garbage and my heart both relates to that nad breaks seeing it. I mean .. Daisy meant a lot to him: After years of presumibly avoiding dating, or if he did not doing so for long, to focus on the boys, after a year of putting their needs ahead of his and living with his demanding uncle, of being dragged out of a normal if miserable life and into a less miersable but adventerous one he didn’t want, of being stranded in space and on an island wondering if his kids would be okay.. he finally not only has time for himself, and his sister back after years of thinking her dead and thus someone else to take care of the kids needs for a while without feeling any guilt over it or worrying about them, but found someone special. She’s talented, beautiful, charming, and understanding. And most importanlty she LISTENS to him and throughly likes Donald for who he is. And he looses that only PARTLY due to his won incomptence but mostly because someone he already barely allows in his life came in and ruined it. Once again the adventure and everything took something from him and while not nearly as big as loosing his sister, it still fucking hurts to once again have one small bit of something just for himself, one bit of normalcy, one person who loves him for who he is now through and through.. and it’s seemingly gone. It’s why I like this relationship even if this part panes me: Donald can FINALLY be happy... finally have someone who genuinely cares about him.  This also boils down Storkules character and why I don’t ship the two of them: He’s a good god, he’s brave, compasionate, carring, and generally wants the best for donald and does genuinely love him.. but he also dosen’t care really what DONALD wants half the time. He’s the embodiment of Donald’s biggest gripe with his life: No one listens to or repsects him or what he wants. Storkules wants Donald the adventurer, Donald the brave, Donald the undaunted, DONALD THE IDEALIZED VERSION THAT ONLY EXISTS IN HIS HEAD. He dosen’t really get Donald isn’t the same person, and even that person wasn’t into him. Not because he’s a man, like his sister Donald could easily be bi or pan.. but because he’s just SO MUCH and Donald’s family is already SO MUCH.. and that was BEFORE the kids and the launchpad. Donald has made peace with adventuring but it’s still clearly not his faviorite thing while for Storkules adventure and experince is his life. Storkules needs someone like him and Donald needs someone down to earth, someone who can HANDLE the amount of chaos that follows him and the famly, but someone whose .. normal. And Daisy is that. If you ship then fine fine, but I just don’t because they just don’t go together and both deserve a partner they can truly be a partner with, not someone they clearly don’t understand or someone they DREAD visiting. They both deserve better than that. 

Back on the god plot, it’s Webby’s turn as she becomes Goddess of Friendship. And helps the mood at the pier by spreading sunshine.. and then deals with the pier’s greatest menace and my honorary uncle, because he’s really not much worse than some of my actual uncles...

GLOMGOLD, SCOURGE OF CHILDREN’S KIDDIE RIDES. Because of course a seemingly regular habit for Glomgold is hogging a children’s ride he somehow fits into. Of course it is. It’s cheap and he’s not the best human being but I love him anyway. Webby heats it up to scare him then tries to get the kids to hug before having a breakdown at everyone not being happy. This does fit with her personality.. I didn’t think so at first but thinking back her first response in any friendship crisis is to panic and overreact. Her reaction to her best friend telling her she may have to stop sleeping over with her and her sister/webby’s giflriend because of magic danger is an implied death threat. She’s getting BETTER with people, but she still dosen’t have the life experince to fully deal with it and naturally upon seeing things get worse and worse goes on a lighting filled rampage Selene thankfully stops and likely undoes. Though Glomgold is likely on the moon now. He’ll be fine. 

Dewey is last and auditions.. but forgets the god part and fails which fits him perfectly and is a great bit. The kids have all washed out and are depressed about it. While Della is hopeful when talking to Selene, Selene gently explains to her girlfriend she shares with a space alien that the kids just aren’t ready and that maybe the power of a god just isn’t the thing you give to a kid for a self esteem boost. Della MEANS well here, she just wants her kids, Webby very much included, to feel good and get their self esteem back after Scrooge swallowed it whole. But Selene is right that this is just too much power, and given it nearly drove Huey insane  and nearly made Louie and Webby murderers, she has a point. It’s a good thought, but Selene needs an actual replacement for her dad. Sadly though this breaks the kids further after this and they slink off and Selene gets she messed up.. while she was right to reject them, she missed WHY Della was trying so hard. However credit where it’s do unlike her brother, while she dosen’t try to fix her issue, it’s likely out of emotional maturity: she knows just saying nice things to the kids wouldn’t help them or would wring hollow and their mom is better for that. IT’s things like this that are going to make her a good step mom.. yeah i’m shiping Della with both her girlfriends at once. Just because I gave up on her and Launchpad dosen’t mean poly’s off the table, and frankly selene is strong enough to win Penumbra’s favor and Penumbra has the kind of pepper and violence a greek goddess likes in her women. They’d be cute all together. I likes it. 

Less cute is ZEUS, SCHEMING BOWL OF ELEPHANT PISS OUT OF MYTH!, who realizes his greatest gift isn’t his powers: I’ts manipulating his children. 

And since he found a sad STORKULES POOR SAD BOY OUT OF MYTH. , and hears his issue, with Storkules hilarious sitting in his poppa’s lap, he spins it into getting what he wants: Saying since he and his wife, and Storkules mother in this version apparently I dunno, fell in love with battle, summoning Chronos will do just that for Donsy. Granted for most people your dad’s tale about how he met your step mom who tried killiing you a bunch and who he’s cheated on dozens of times would raise a red flag, but STORKULES IS THICK AS A BRICK.. in both senses of the word and calls forth Chronus. 

Daisy meanwhile is driving her car away, but is battling with herself. On one hand she doesn’t want to play mother to a guy who can’t dispose his trash or his weird friends. On the other she admits she can really be herself around Donald. We then get the most telling line though.. “You do not need to fall for another man who needs saving!”

That.. is clearly setup for the future. It MIGHT be Gladstone but it could be anyone. Hell it could be someone entirely new. She also could have a kid like we’ve all wanted. We could get a canon version of Juinor.. not named Donald Juinor because 1) He’s not donald’s son and 2) that name’s been forever tainted and we all know which living bottle of axe body spray to blame. I.. genuinely can’t wait to find out who this is and I expect we will before the season’s up and i’ts nice to see Tress, like last time, get to dig into some emotional complexity with the character instead of just yelling at Donald or talking about bows and stuff. Here she grapples with herself as she does love Donald but the past has burnt her a lot. But as a wise pansexual once said “ But I think it's important for us to remember that sometimes, sometimes it does work out. And even though everything inside us is telling us to protect ourselves, when you've got it, don't let it go. And I am telling you, that you have got it, if you want it. “ Love is hard, love is messy, maybe that among many other things is why i’m alone. But it’s worth it when you take the time.. and upon seeing a giant monster heading for Donald’s house, Daisy realizes he is worth it.. or that frustrated with him right now or not she dosen’t want him to die. Either way she’s a coming and i’m gathering hornets in a box in ancipation of finding out who hurt her so I can mail them to him. I popped an H on there so I know it has hornets. 

Back at the mansion the mood is bleak as heelllllllllll with Louie ordering pizza minus the toppings and Della’s attempt to give the kids hot choclate just getting an ow from Webby. It does make sense: Scrooge and adventuring are their lives.. if he dosen’t need them.. how would they ever do it themselves? Plus their 11 and 13 and at that age kids are very fragile so having their mentor and grandpa reject them like this really hurts, not helped by Scrooge proudly announcing his new team and trying to awkwardly bounce not getting this is his fault, though Della is staring at him with a look that just screams. 

But before Della can stab her Dunkle, we cut to a depressed donald who switches from one natural state, Depression, to another, fearing for his life, as Chronus arrives and Huey rightly wonders how he’s here. The kids all defer to Scrooge while Della continues to just be the best. Seriously for the entire episode her only throught is her kids, and their emotional well being and had this crisis not popped up she probably would’ve stabbed scrooge then yelled him out for hurting her babies. She’s graduated from trying to be a mom but having issues with it due to mentally still being in her 20′s, to genuinely being GREAT at the job. Good on her.  Daisy is naturally horrified to arrive to find Donald being eaten while Storkules is overjoyed. I WOULD say his stupidity’s overplayed this episode.. but he’s never displayed good judgement before why start now? It fits his character and his joy turns to distress when Chronus eats donald.. and has a cage in his tummy. with glass walls. I dunno, it’s a cool design. Daisy is understandably pissed and yells at it for eating her boyfriend, which gets an adorable oh boy oh boy from donald> Again love is rough, but one jackass screwing with you does not equate to every man or woman or person you date being a jackass. Daisy has realized this. Storkules is overjoyed, but soon finds himself and his sister fihgting Chronus and honestly both are damn impressive doing so. Seriously when the justice ducks form.. give htem a call. I mean She has moon beams and he’s a greek god.. plus Drake and Launchpad could use a third.. I mean he fits better there and Drake is already dating one manchild, and is one to a smaller extent, another won’t hurt. Just consider it shippers.. or foursies with Morgana because as this episode shows Storkules is bi as he is mighty. he’s Bighty. But the god squad fails, and gets eaten and Zeus’ time to shine predictably ends with an “I’ve failed immediately”, to no one’s suprise. 

Scrooge starts working on a plan as he and Della, naturally scale the colossus. We then get the scene that’s been boiling all episode: When Scrooge wonders where the kids are, Della calls him out pointing out they’ve been plauged with doubts about him replacing them.. because he literally was replacing them, and when Scrooge is earnestly suprised by that Della points out the obvious: Their children, as I said their fragile and as Della puts it, Scrooge puts a LOT of pressure on them, something she likely knows from experince.  And this is what i’ve been leading up to and putting a pin in all episode: Scrooge himself. It’s something I thought of days ago but this episode hammers in heavily: Scrooge really dosen’t have a ton of personal social skills. Sure he can work a board room pitch, lead a team of adventuerers, and run a vast empire while never forgetting the human element, for a lack of a better term, he’s not lacking in empathy or the ablility to talk to people, but when it comes to reading them it’s just surface level. He’s genuinely been show to struggle with empathy, with feeling someone elses emotions or realizing them till they’ve already been hurt. He spent a good ten years desperatley trying to bring Della back, avoding his pain and guilt instead of talking to Donald and making amends with him. His relationship with Goldie took decades to get anywhere healthy as he just put his walls up and assumed she’d never change when, as we’ve seen now, she always could she just needed a push. And when confronted by the kids he lashed out and then pushed them away instead of mending the wounds he created. Even on a much smaller level, when Lena and Violet ended up along next week he’s utterly lost when Adventure isn’t on the menu and only picks up from being baffled by two normal ish (One’s a parnaomal expert the other is the paranormal) joining him once it’s clear at least one of them fits right in with his intrests. He can deal with people on a problem by problem basis, but he’s just not good at dealing with their emotional needs or opening up.  It’s why this works so well: his oblviousness fits. To him and the way his brain works, the crown is just a problem to solve and he just needs diffrent tools to fix it, not realizing replacing the kids for a mission would bother them or they’d ever think they were replaceable. Until now I hadn’t seen much similarity to Huey but both.. are just not great with PEOPLE. They put them in boxes, try to solve problems that way.. it’s just their specific issues that way are diffrent. Scrooge can anticapte the unknown and how people he’s fighting act.. but can’t anticipate personal hurt and pain well because he bottles all his up. When checking off a problem.. i’ts just something he dosen’t consider and thus his biggest blindspot, the thing he has to overcome time and time again: How his family feels and how he can deal with it.  Here however he deals admirably.. now he KNOWS there’s a problem, and in a genuine show of character development over the past three seasons, he apologizes fully, saying their the best team he could ask for, better than zeus and don’t need his powers and they can get the helm together. Instead of putting up walls.. he’s letting his in and showing humility, which given Scrooge’s ego.. is a tall order. But for those kids, for his strength, it’s no small feet. Of course said speech gets Him and Della eaten, but the kids, now reinegized, ahve time to plan, with Daisy further stalling by roaring at Chronus to stop. Because she’s fucking awesome and Storkules finally gets that. The kids however take the leaves and breifly retake their powers, Dewey’s is for dance naturally, and use them together to take down Chronus, freeing everyone else, defeating the titan and throwing him back into the pits.  Donald and Daisy reunite and get a RELLY sweet moment, blushing and looking lovingly at one another, getting lava on each other, before kissing. STORKULES, DOSEN’T GET THEY DON’T WANT A THIRD PARTNER OF MYTH, of course interrupts and hugs them hostage for the remaider of the episode. I’m assuming Beakly , when she got home, pried htem out and explained them not wanting a third int heir relationship to him, and it’s a weak end to the plot as Storkules learned nothing and one of the weaker parts of this episode. The rest is stronger as the kids and Scrooge plan to make another run at the helmet and Selene wonders off to “use your shower” and then order pizza.. so she basically just asked Della out. And has used her shower before. 

I mean again, she can have two partners. This episode alone has earned that and they seem like they’d mesh. Penny would just have to learn some lessons about sharing and godly vagina’s is all. Nothing wrong with that. And what about Zeus.. no one asked but he gets his wreath back only to fall in the pit, with Hades naturally laughing his ass off.. and likely also taking Zeus’ laurel back. So Zeus is trapped in hell with a goth mocking him. HORAY! HAPPY END.  Final Thoughts; This was a pretty good one. It does have it’s weak spots: Storkules learned nothing, the kids stories endings were easy to see coming and there wasn’t enough Dellene. But really despite that. .it’s still a solid episode mostly because it’s REALLY damn funny. The comedic timing is just pitch perfect and while like most of the plots I could see the rhythm of the donsy plot, the reasons for it were all funny and fresh and the scene with Daisy in her car was a nice bit of character building/clear setup for the future. And showing off Della’s own character developement and history with scrooge, the latter without ever having to mention it, really brought the episode up, as did the guest cast’s game voice acting and timing. This episode is far from perfect, but it’s still a fun episode that felt needed despite not being tied into the main plot: Bringing back some old friends, and having an intresting story to tell. Plus we got more Donsy so there’s that. Overall while not the BEST episode of the series, it was a funny, enjoyable half hour of television and sometimes, that’s enough.  If you liked this review follow me or more, and if there’s an episode of Ducktales from seasons 1 or 2 you’d like me to cover, you can comission it for 5 bucks, 5 bucks an episode, 5 dollars off your order when you comission more than one, via my personal messages. You can also follow me on patreon at patreon.com/popculturebuffet if you want.  NEXT WEEK: FLASHBACK EPISODE! BABY DONALD AND DELLA! BRADFORD ORIGIN STORY! POSSIBLE HORTENSE AFTER SO LONG! MY BODY IS READY!

[musemelodies]

RULES: REPOST WITH YOUR INFO, DON’T REBLOG.

Tagged by:   REPOSTED FROM OLD BLOG/WAYBACK MACHINE

Tagging:   YOU

(BASIC)

NAME:   Ezekiel Midas Wolf (yeah, don’t call him this if you wanna live)

NICKNAME:   Zeke, Big Bad, Big Guy, Wolfy, Zekey, Fleabag, Furball, Blowhard, etc. (he’s got a lot of nicknames, man)

AGE:    Almost eighty-seven (???)

SPECIES:   Wolf  (I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY)

(PERSONAL)

MORALITY:     lawful /   chaotic /   good    /    neutral    /    evil   /    true .

RELIGION:      Secular

SINS:      greed    /    gluttony    /    sloth    /   lust /   pride    /   envy   /   wrath .

VIRTUES:     chastity    /    charity  /   diligence /    humility    /   kindness /  patience    /   justice .

KNOWN LANGUAGES: English, German, some Spanish

(SECRET)

He fears losing Li’l Wolf more than anything else in the world. Even the thought of him getting older and going off to college one day hurts his heart. </3

He did a lot of stage work in the ‘70s and ‘80s when Disney wasn’t doing so hot. Funnily enough, even though he swore never to play hero types, one of his favorite roles was Curly in Oklahoma. Laurey was played by fellow toon icon Cindy Bear from Hanna-Barbera and they developed a rather random but close friendship off stage. Some folks speculated that they were dating, but it was purely platonic between them…or so they said.

He still has the fake mustache from his big band days. He’s been contemplating making a comeback and dragging talking the hams into it.

Not only does he play a mean trumpet, he plays a killer bass as well. 

(PHYSICAL)

BUILD:   scrawny    /    bony    /    slender    /  fit  /   athletic (ish)   /  curvy  /    herculean    /   pudgy /    average .

HEIGHT:   6 ‘ 2

SCARS  /  BIRTHMARKS:   Various scars from failed traps, confrontations with his enemies, and his time in the air force. Also a few burns that he’d rather not talk about.

ABILITIES  /  POWERS:   Them lungs of steel, physical strength, speed, sensitive hearing/smelling, various disguises, general persistence.

RESTRICTIONS:   Impulsiveness, stubbornness, impatience, routines (he tends to rely on a lot of the same ol’ tricks), doesn’t think outside the box as much as he should.

(FAVORITES)

FOOD:    HAM (ANY AND ALL MEAT, REALLY)

PIZZA TOPPING:     See above.

COLOR:     Black, green, red, and blue

MUSIC GENRE:     Jazz, swing, doo wop, r&b, rock, some country

BOOK GENRE:     He doesn’t read a whole lot but he loves him a good mystery or bio.

MOVIE GENRE:     Comedy, mystery (especially film noir), and horror. He absolutely loves anything with the Universal Monsters, even the crossovers with Abbott and Costello. He saw all of that good stuff back in the day…

CURSE WORD:     All of them, but he’s always been partial to motherfucker and damn.

SCENTS:   A good barbecue, the smell outside after it rains, magnolias, revenge, chicken pot pie

(FUN STUFF)

BOTTOM OR TOP: Top.

SINGS IN THE SHOWER:  Always.

LIKES PUNS:   Ehhh...

[themargaretann]

I’m freaking out about the implications of the ending of the new Fantastic Beasts film, and I’ve developed a somewhat far-fetched theory

WARNING: SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS. It’s like a three-year-old gallon of milk around here. Beware.

Do NOT click the link below if you haven’t seen The Crimes of Grindelwald film.

So Credence is supposedly a brother of Albus Dumbledore named Aurelius Dumbledore. We’re all still reeling from that one, but I think I may have an idea of how Jo’s going to make something that, timeline-wise, doesn’t really make sense, actually work out to be true. 

But first, let’s lay out the possibilities with respect to this revelation.

1. Credence is indeed Albus Dumbledore’s younger brother. 

Issues: if he is a Dumbledore and is related to Albus through the blood of their father (which we will assume, since Kendra Dumbledore wasn’t born into, but married into, the Dumbledore family), then he would have had to have been conceived after their (and Aberforth and Ariana’s) father was already arrested and locked up in Azkaban for attacking the muggle boys who attacked Ariana. But Albus’ father supposedly died in Azkaban when he was young, and so by that timeline, Aurelius would be much older than Credence is.

2. Credence is a relative of Albus Dumbledore, but not his brother. 

This seems the most likely case? After all, he does have the phoenix talent-connection-thingy, but then why would Grindelwald have told a little white lie in calling him Albus’ brother? It seems to me that Grindelwald tells big lies big time, but doesn’t waste energy on little ones. After all, why would calling him Albus’ long-lost brother make a particular difference to Credence than just calling him his long-lost uncle or cousin or what have you?? The emotional push Credence needs to follow Grindelwald (and remain in constant meltdown mode) is just to believe that his own blood family doesn’t love him and is trying to kill him (which, Albus isn’t, but Credence doesn’t know that).

3. Credence is no relative of Albus Dumbledore at all, and Grindelwald is lying.

A few things seem to support this.1) Timing. Credence is too young to have been born to either of Albus’ parents before they died. 2) What proof do we really have that Grindelwald isn’t lying, save for the phoenix bit? 3) On some level, it just seems TOO ironic and intertwined to believe that Dumbledore’s sibling was swapped with the Lestrange child who was Newt’s friend/childhood love’s brother. Too many coincidences here.

4. Credence is Aurelius, but somehow Aurelius was born into the Dumbledore family before Ariana’s abuse by the muggle boys when she was small. Potentially, Aurelius was sent away (maybe even without Albus or Aberforth knowing about him), but for some reason didn’t grow up in real time. 

What could Jo cook up to make this happen? Initially, I thought “no idea”, but she’s already challenged what we think we know about the rules of magic PLENTY of times in these two movies--think obscurus for one, Nagini being a real person (!!) under a blood curse for two, and then the new development with Dumbledore and Grindelwald having taken a blood oath, which seems to be akin to an unbreakable vow, though possibly and probably deadlier, for three. (More on how she might achieve this later.)

But let me take a little detour to note a few interesting clues or holes that might be important in this discussion before I propose my (very untidy and underdeveloped) theory. 

Who was Credence with on the ship before it sank? (And also, what was the ship that sank? Was this the Titanic or Lusitania or some other real-world sinking that Jo has appropriated, or is it just a generic ship that we can’t attach to real history?) We know that Leta had swapped her real genetic half-brother, Corvus Lestrange, an infant, with another baby (who turns out to be Credence). So when the ship sinks, the family that was in possession of Credence (whether actually his relatives or not) drowns with fake-Credence-who-is-actually-real-Corvus-Lestrange when their lifeboat capsizes. SO WHO ARE THEY? It looked like a black (??) woman in the brief shot that picked him up to take him from the crib, and then the woman (the same?? I don’t recall) swimming toward him when they’re drowning, and that’s pretty much all we know. 

Related to the Previous Thought:

Why does Corvus Lestrange (Leta and baby Corvus’ father--yes, they have the same name just to make things difficult) play a role in this film in supporting Grindelwald? We see him in the ministry at the beginning, taking the “job” that Newt won’t (i.e. going after Credence to kill him in Paris), but then later, he has a nice little chat with Grindelwald under a bridge where he informs Grindelwald that he killed the Lestrange nurse (WHY?), and that he is going to have a tough time with the Ministry officials for letting Credence “get away”. If, presumably, Corvus believed that the obscurial, Credence, was his son (we don’t, but it’s possibly a safe assumption), why would he be trying to help get him to Grindelwald? Maybe because he saw Grindelwald as a way to save his (or who he believes is) his child that he had adored? The important question, though, is: Does Corvus Lestrange (the father) know anything about Aurelius Dumbledore, and what role (if any) will he play for Grindelwald’s rise to power in the coming films?

This one’s a bit of a tangent, but I think it’s worth considering and investigating: I’m curious where Bathilda Bagshot is in all of this Dumbledore/Grindelwald business. We know that she introduced the two teenagers to each other all those years ago in Godric’s Hollow, and that Grindelwald was there because she was his great-aunt, whom he was visiting. Is it possible that Credence is actually part of Grindelwald’s family, not Dumbledore’s, and that Grindelwald lied to him because he’s going to use Credence against Dumbledore somehow in the midst of this shifty blood oath business? I don’t know if this question goes anywhere, but I think it’s worth asking if our favorite wizarding author (okay, maybe Hermione’s and mine, at least) and magical historian will make an appearance.

Grindelwald and Dumbledore’s blood oath seems to be waving a red flag in our faces when it’s announced at the very end of the film, in literally the exact same scene, as Credence’s blood relation to Dumbledore is revealed. Somehow, Credence--or Aurelius, I should say, since none of us is convinced that they ARE, in fact, the same person--seems like he’s going to play a HUGE PART in Dumbledore figuring out how to break that blood oath, or in how Grindelwald is able to break it (OR maybe protect it in order to protect himself from Dumbledore??). 

And lastly:

Aurelius is a Latin/Roman name, taken most famously from Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor and philosopher. It means “golden” or “gilded”--and this got me thinking. Maybe it isn’t significant, but Jo does love to play with names and she doesn’t pick them willy-nilly. Of course, the name fits with all the other ‘A’ Dumbledore siblings (Albus, Aberforth, Ariana), so that does suggest a hint of authenticity (or at least plausibility) to the existence of such a brother, but if he DOES exist--is that even Credence?

But then I noticed something else about the meaning in the name. Gold has to do with (it’s used in) ALCHEMY. The Sorcerer’s Stone can turn any metal into pure gold à la King Midas. D’you think somehow that Albus, in his involvement/partnership with Nicholas Flamel, found a way to keep his infant brother (see possibilities #1 and #3) alive for years without him aging?? 

OR, maybe there were only three Dumbledore siblings after all, but after Ariana’s “death”, Dumbledore found a way with Flamel to take her obscurus, and revive it as a new person, or, at the very least, attach it to a person (to form an obscurial)? Could Aurelius be a name that Albus Dumbledore gave to this child when they brought a part of Ariana back to life as a little boy? A child who was brought back to life through alchemy would make sense to have a name having to do with gold, for sure.

In fact, it would almost make even more sense, because perhaps Dumbledore’s alchemy partnership with Flamel was born from his interest in trying to bring his sister back after her death (and his heavy guilt over it), rather than the other way around.

Finally, I have to ask a question here: Why the hell was Flamel in this movie in the first place? What real function did he serve? Jo could’ve pulled in any minor character--or made one up!--to throw in a place for a safehouse and have an extra wizard body to help stop the weird blue flames from destroying Paris in the end, so WHY PICK FLAMEL? It seems to me that he has yet to fully serve his purpose in this film series and that he will come back to haunt us (with a very old and zombie-like, and yet very real body) later in a more significant plot role.

[inappropriatefangirlneeds]

Gotham s5ep7 “ Ace Chemicals” Personal Review

“I'll believe it when it happens.”    Warning spoilers below, it´s a short one this time

* The government fucking mined the river?! Wtf. Also I´d complain they didn´t point out this wtfery earlier but the reveal scene with Oswald´s guineapigs in boats was kinda funny, mean and horrible but funny, I was so relieved when he said he´s swimming back I should have known that this wouldn´t last, but in general couldn´t they just send out unmaned boats, things, stuff and detonate the mines and then get through, have people do it on more than one spot at the same time, the government can´t be everywhere at once?  * “I'll believe it when it happens.” Yeah same. Also they really pulled back the help because of some chemicals in the river, like don´t get me wrong I still was like this is not good, nooot in the water, but you can´t tell me that corporations didn´t put more toxic substances into the environment over the years ...  * “I'm not cutting you out, but I need you sharp, not a liability.” Jim is right, sleep is important.  * “Check out the mustache”  I wonder if Ben Mckenzie was like .. phew I dodged that bullet for sooo long .. in that scene. “ “I never figured Zsasz for much of a cinephile.” Well I kinda did, don´t blow holes in my headcanons Jim,  “Not everything is about Jim Gordon.” Okay there´s like a couple of things in this episode I don´t want to deal with but they at least had some okayish moments with the child thing. Barbara (of course) not being about gloating, but getting the best medical care for the child was a nice note (Also what kind of miracle doctor is Lee, like working at Arkham could have been a choice but does that scream on top of your field? But yeah I get it it´s like Lucius who knows everything from hijacking antennas to brain surgery)  ~~ What was annoying is that they put in the “It's what I do, help people.” line with LESLIE THOMPKINS. It´s just right back into the Lee/Barbara contrast they build up and it´s just reminding you of Barbara asking Jim if she can´t help and Jim being like no, not you, not usually, and that he can´t trust her anymore (5x6) Like dude she tried to help, she did help, you´re just an asshole about it and it´s not such a clear altruistic Lee helps people vs. Barbara doesn´t help people thing as this line tries to paint it.  ~~ Less annoying  was when Jim told Lee it´s important that she understands “about this Barbara thing”  Lee was like: “So, what are you gonna do?”  Future tense! They at least didn´t have her make it about past tense. No why did he get together with Barbara, but how will this situation be handled. ~~ Absolutely not annoying was annoyed BARBARA KEAN. “Don´t even start”  “Shut up”  Ahh such a mood. I liked that.  ~~ Absolutely annoying was the scene with JIM & LEE at the GCPD.  Like their dialogue was okayish messish but it was a messish situation. But then Jim grabs Lee´s arm. And it´s just like when he grabbed Barbara´s arm. Well okay not an exact parallel, because Barbara wanted to be close to him and he rejected her just to change this mind (oh those feeble men , can´t even stick to their decisions, always changing their minds .. ). With Lee it´s different she is undecided, voices doubt and Jim reaches out to her despite this. She slaps him.  And I´m excited for a moment, because yes, yes this is a unexpected but good reaction, maybe they´ll finally break this unholy Barbara Lee comparison up (okay it would not break the comparison because it was about them contrasting, “lee helpful/babs tactless”, but it still would break up the narrative if Lee had not complied with the “helpful, supportive girlfriend” role but rejected Jim). After the moment of excitement over a possible interesting plot evolvement, like not everything is about Jim Gordon, how about we really do this, don´t rekindle that relationship, let Lee be her own person, let that rude grab of her arm be her wakeup call, her point to make a decision and leave Jim behind. But, no indeed she does the other overused trope, and I´m only slightly excusing this because Gotham so often paints itself like one of those movies of the past .. and well she does kiss him.  So bleh we got grab>slap>kiss, instead of the much better plot that I came up with ;D  On a side note. Selina Kyle didn´t forget about TABITHA GALAVAN. She´d rather see Oswald dead but he got wealth and a way out and she´s offering it to Barbara Kean. “I'll still need your help moving the stuff.” “We can get out of here together. Away from Jim Gordon. Rich as Midas. Penguin dead in a ditch. Well, aren't we just two single ladies and a baby about to kill our sworn enemy together.” But SELINA KYLE gets side tracked when Alfred stumbles out of the tunnel to the now blown up Wayne Manor (noo what a waste) and tells her Bruce needs help.  For a moment she´s about to kill Penguin for Tabitha (he shouldn´t believe just because she didn´t kill Jeremiah that she wouldn´t kill him) Alfred kind of talks her out of it with reminding her that Bruce needs her help. She doesn´t kill again.  Due to extended Bruce virtue? Am I reading too much into this or was it meant to be read as her and only her choice? Nevertheless, she does interfere with the scene this time and tells Bruce she should have in the past but he absolves her of responsibility and guilt. I wonder if this means that Selina is “free” in some kind and can move on, of if this honest moment will bind them back together more.  Jeremiah survived. How and who fished him out of that glowing green tank?? He has no brain activity anymore and Bruce thankfully thinks to add Selina in his conclusion: ” “He's no longer a threat. To either of us.”  It´s a lot about GUILT and REGRET and WHAT IF´s this week. * Selina feeling responsible because she didn´t act in the past and “what if” she had, but  gets to act in the present and a Bruce again telling her she´s not at fault. * With the Gcpd scene between Leslie and Jim they throw in a “what if” remark, if they hadn´t lost the child, what if Jim hadn´t let Lese down.  * Zorro!Jeremiah gets a direct “what if” Bruce had not been afraid and had not asked to go home line, the episode brings back this guilt and regret as well, * Only Barbara is not tangled up in “what ifs”, she says she wants a clear cut from Jim, fuck this shit I´m out, she got a new responsibility. * Barbara has the best coats! * Those blinking red smiling smileys on the bombs, genious! Unsettling and amusing at the same time. * “Ecco, now.” “If I can't have you as a brother bonded by love, then we'll just have to be bonded by hatred.” Okay this is cruel, I don´t want to. But it´s also clever writing damnit. JEREMIAH VALEKSA wanting to be connected by have Bruce relive the day is horrible but an interesting plot point. “I offered for you to be my best friend! But I've realized if we can't be friends then we can be connected in other ways.”  Great was that he just switched plans so nonchalantly “why not” when Leslie Thompkins and Jim Gordon came along “Well, then it's a good thing I already put a bullet in both of their fraudulent skulls.”. That was really a nice moment.   What I don´t quite get is that the fall into the chemicals was kind of anticlimactic? Like usually I´m a big fan of silly shit happens even to importantTM people and in grave situations (like a mighty, mighty warrior like Khal Drogo meeting his end due to a mundane and absolutely preventable infection .. )  but that was like uh okay. They didn´t reach any moment of understanding or something with their dialogue, the “joke without punchline” line stands out but does it have any more meaning than the words before, it wasn´t even some high point in their fight, no peak in the fight choreography, he basically just slipped and fell. Or did I miss anything significant there? * Hypnotized polite ALFRED PENNYWORTH (Manners, Bruce! , No need for roughhousing, sir. ..) is a joy, thanks for that. Bruce being so clever to play along with the hypnosis scenario and invent the gas leak was clever.  “I thought I lost you.”  “Me? Never” I´m not crying .. you are crying ……   * Monarch theatre has an Owl as Logo (Court of Owls reference?) it´s Douglas Fairbanks Zorro. And I gotta say how they shot this, and put Zorro!Jeremiah on full screen was so effective. Well done!  “Haven't you realized what Gotham is yet? It is no longer a city. It is a prison.” Oh wow, so OSWALD COBBLEPOT really does want to leave. Despite my “good timing” meta I´m still side eyeing this. Selina is shading him that he stole things without having an escape plan. But after the tunnel thing is out because it was blown up I guess. He has a new idea: Edward! (Not the dog)  Oswald indeed has an answer to everything as Nygma smilingly accuses him of, and he´s actually right with all of those: He is “very fond of that dog”, he did pay Hugo Strange to save Eds life not chip him, he probably had plans to save him from Gordon. (Seems Ed didn´t read the great metas in the fandom about how this action was a benevolent one :D ) They tried to kill each other but here they are:  “It means fate has different plans for us.”  >> Which is probably a curveball right back to Nygma´s line:  “Do you believe in fate” 2x09 But wait a minute; Barbara Kean is in Oswald´s office, Oswald promptly figures out this is thanks to Selina. Barbara laments she got to do everything on her own. Edward Nygma says she´s glowing and pregnant. Oswald has his usually wits back and appeals to Barbara: “Come with us” it´s the best for the child. Barbara annoyedly agrees. It´s about a submarine but they got to build it first. Barbara says “shut up” twice #Mood. 

[casino-lights]

OCs as Companions - Eva Lee - Fallout: New Vegas

(This is based off @instishoot‘s wonderful template, found here!)

Basic info:

Race: Hispanic Gender: Female Affiliation: New Canaanites Role: Freelance treasure hunter Location: Courtyard, Sierra Madre Villa / The Strip Base SPECIAL: [S: 5] [P: 7] [E: 5] [C: 5] [I: 7] [A: 7] [L: 10] Tagged Skills: Speech, Energy Weapons, Lockpicking Perks: Black Widow, Fortune Finder, Miss Fortune Companion Perk: The Midas Touch - while Eva is a companion, the Courier finds twice the normal amount of bottle caps in containers.


Eva Lee can be encountered for the first time in the courtyard of the Sierra Madre fighting a pair of Ghost People near a Sierra Madre Vending Machine. She is essential until the quest “Curtain Call at the Tampico” begins, at which time she will become hostile if Dean Domino is killed. If she is not killed, she will help the Courier escape with all thirty seven gold bars from the Sierra Madre Vault by adding a temporary perk that offers them unlimited inventory space for the duration of the “Heist of the Centuries” quest. Upon completion of this quest, she and Dean will be found talking by the fountain. Eva can now be recruited as a follower.


Companion Comments:

Use Melee: “Getting personal, are we?” Use Ranged: “They’ll never know what hit ‘em.” Open inventory: “Don’t take too much. I earned this.” Stay close: “I’m right behind you, don’t you worry.”
 Stay close: [already doing that]: “Any closer, darling, and we’ll need a room.” Keep distance: “I’m starting to have serious doubts about our relationship.” Keep distance [already doing that]: “How far back do you want me, exactly?” Be Passive: “I don’t mind letting you take the lead for a while.” Be Aggressive: “Don’t mind if I do.” Wait here: “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” Follow me: “Aww, I missed you too.” Sneaking: “I knew I should’ve worn my other shoes.” “Let’s travel together”: “Finally! I’ve got some heists I saved just for you.” “Let’s travel together” (already have a companion): “No offense, but I’m none too keen on being your third wheel.” Leaving companion at the Lucky 38: “As long as it isn’t full of toxic mist and immortal freaks, I’m good.” “I wanted to ask you some questions”: “What’s eating you, darling?” “Tell me about yourself”: [First time] “Interested, are we?” [Subsequent asks] “I’m all yours.” “What do you think of the NCR?”: “Hah. Buncha kids playing soldier in everyone’s backyard. Can’t say I look on them too kindly, what with their taxes. Lost a good bit of treasure to those goons before I figured out how to dodge ‘em.” “What do you think of the Legion?”: “I suppose they’re the big bad boogeyman of the West, but some of those crimson fellas I’ve met seem downright pleasant. Seem to like pretty girls, at least, so they’re human enough. Could use a couple lessons on respect, but otherwise I don’t mind them too much.” “What do you think of Mr. House?”: “Ooh, the Mojave Mystery Man. [laughs] I can’t say I have an opinion. Long as he doesn’t try to run my life, I don’t much care about his.” “What do you know about Benny?”: “Seems like a strange one. But how can you not be when your boss and your best friend are television screens?” “What do you know about the platinum chip?”: “Sure is a pretty thing. I’m surprised I didn’t find anything like it in the Sierra Madre, but your man House said it was one of a kind. Don’t suppose you’d let me, ah… hold onto it for a while?” Death: “Blood… is that... mine...?”

Trivia and additional information:
 Eva is scaled at 0.9 instead of the normal 1.0. She can be flirted with by male characters with or without the Lady Killer perk, though she will respond differently. Without the perk, she’ll remark that the Courier is “cute.” With the perk, she will find the Courier charming and will adopt a flirtier tone in future conversations. While she can be flirted with by a female Courier with the Cherchez La Femme perk, she will reply that she “never thought of [the Courier] that way,” but she respects the Courier regardless.
Because of Eva’s relationship with Dean Domino, she will often reference him in her idle dialogue. When dismissed, she can occasionally be found wandering the Strip at his side.

Personal Quest Triggers: 

1. The California Sunset Drive-In: “I wonder if they played Love Sets Sail here. I’d like to see it someday.”
 2. The Aces Theater: “Vera Keyes used to sing on a stage like this one. She had a beautiful voice.”
 3. New Vegas Medical Clinic, surgery room: “Vera Keyes was in so much pain before she died. And Dean never knew. She deserved better.” Giving Eva either Vera’s Dress or the Starlet Wig will trigger additional dialogue: “This… this belonged to Vera Keyes, didn’t it? Either that, or it looks like something she’d wear. I don’t know why you gave this to me, but… thank you.”

Personal Quest Description: Upon finding all three of Eva’s quest triggers, she will approach the Courier and sheepishly admit that she’s worried both she and Dean Domino are still clinging to Vera Keyes. She will ask the Courier to speak to Dean on her behalf, since he refuses to discuss Vera, saying, “He tells me she doesn’t matter as long as he has me, but the way he says it… I don’t know.” The Courier is then instructed to speak with Dean, who tells the Courier that Eva’s the one who can’t let go, saying, “She’s convinced she has to become Vera.” The Courier then faces a Speech check and a Perception check. Regardless of which is chosen, Dean begrudgingly admits his true feelings for Eva if the check is passed, effectively bypassing the next step of the quest. If neither check is chosen or successful, Dean brushes the Courier’s questions off and tells them to “show Eva Vera’s last bow,” which triggers the next phase of the quest. The next step in the quest, unless the Courier passes one of the dialogue checks above, directs the Courier to an abandoned movie theater in Outer Vegas where Love Sets Sail was about to premier. Souvenirs and memorabilia of Vera Keyes’ Hollywood career litter the theater in honor of the film, and Eva will collect all she can in awe. Once the location is cleared, Eva confesses that she feels like she left a part of herself in the Sierra Madre and has been trying to fill it with Vera, whom she so closely resembles. She asks the Courier for advice, and regardless of how the Courier answers, they return to Dean at the Lucky 38. Depending on how the Courier helped Eva, she and Dean will either reconcile and stay together or argue and drift apart.

Personal Quest Outcomes: The Courier can respond to Eva’s request for advice in one of three ways:

1. They can convince Eva that she never lost herself and should pursue her love of her role model, Vera Keyes. Eva’s default outfit will become Vera’s Dress and she will gain the perk “Beginning Again,” which grants her a bonus to defense when her health is below 50%. Her general tone in dialogue becomes more light-hearted and flirtatious, and she is found with Dean far less frequently if she is not the current companion.  2. The Courier can alternatively advise her that she doesn’t need to hold onto Vera Keyes just because of their resemblance, and that despite her traumatic experience in the Sierra Madre, she can heal and move on. The Courier can offer their support in the recovery whether or not either dialogue check with Dean Domino was passed, but if neither Dean nor the Courier support Eva, she will default to the previous outcome. If the Courier succeeds in convincing Eva to move on, her default outfit will become a unique version of gambler attire, and she will gain the perk “Letting Go,” which grants her an additional +10 to all damage resistances. 3. Lastly, the Courier can tell Eva that Dean is the one confusing her, not Vera, which leaves her conflicted and emotional. Her dialogue begins to sound more distant and sad, and she gains the perk “Clouded,” which gives her a 10% damage bonus and immunity to getting knocked out/dying while fighting ghouls. 

Game Endings

Killed with Dean: Despite Eva Lee’s efforts to keep Dean Domino alive, the Courier got the better of them. Her last breath in the Sierra Madre was much the same as her first there: unfamiliar, choked by the Cloud, and tasting of bitter copper. Died elsewhere: Eva Lee, treasure hunter extraordinaire, survivor of the Sierra Madre Resort, companion to Courier Six, met her end in the Mojave Wasteland, surrounded by desert warmth and sandy winds. The final beat of her heart fell with pride, and she knew she would rest easy with her memories of the Sierra Madre.  NCR Victory: As the NCR marched through New Vegas, Eva Lee knew her short time at the top was over. She left her suite at the Lucky 38 without a single item, preferring instead to rebuild her life from the ground up in a new land far from the government’s reach. Soon afterwards, rumors of a treasure hunter brave enough to conquer any pre-War ruin could be heard as far east as the Mississippi River. Legion Victory: Thanks to her quick thinking and clever tongue, Eva Lee managed to retain control of the New Vegas Strip as long as she gave Caesar’s Legion preferential treatment inside its walls. For Eva, the trade was more than acceptable, and she lived out the rest of her days in ultimate comfort at the top of the Lucky 38 as crimson banners flew beneath her windows.  House Victory: No longer welcome in the Lucky 38, Eva Lee was forced to seek her home elsewhere. Rather than remaining in New Vegas, she decided to wander home to New Canaan... only she returned to find them slaughtered by the White Legs. Upon seeing this, she began roaming aimlessly, and she eventually met her death alone and unknown.  Independent Victory: Eva Lee was allowed to keep her suite in the Lucky 38, and her fame skyrocketed thanks to her affiliation with the Courier. She loved having her name in lights, and she became one of the most influential figures in New Vegas with her shrewd communication skills and her quick thinking. Personal quest, Beginning Again: As Eva embraced her connection to Vera Keyes, her relationship with Dean Domino grew strained. Eventually, it shattered completely, leaving them both frustrated and lonely. Though bitter, Eva drew comfort from Vera’s strength in her final days, and made sure to live her life as she thought Vera would have wanted: to the fullest, with no regrets. Personal quest, Letting Go: With the help of her lover, Dean Domino, Eva finally began to heal from her traumatic experiences in the Sierra Madre. Unbeknownst to Dean, she helped him move on as well, and the duo grew ever closer as they shot to the top of the New Vegas social scene. Personal quest, Clouded/incomplete: With her heart still torn between her reverence of Vera Keyes and her love of Dean Domino, Eva never felt whole. One day, she simply vanished into the wasteland wearing Vera’s dress… and was never seen again.

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON TITANIUM’S MAIN RAP KANG JENO...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: N/A CURRENT AGE: 25 DEBUT AGE: 20 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 16 COMPANY: Midas SECONDARY SKILL: Acting

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): nick (of the zootopia fame) INSPIRATION: jeno’s inspiration was taken from a fixation on pop culture and music due to where he was raised. he fixated on pop-rap in particular, and really enjoyed a lot of the older gen groups or rappers. he often says he became a member of titanium to be a performer rather than a rapper. some are understanding or this and enjoy the answer, others use it to claim that he’s a useless ‘idol rapper.’ SPECIAL TALENTS:

soccer (juggling the ball)

gardening (he claims)

skateboarding

NOTABLE FACTS:

is really into pop culture, notably loves superheroes

plays a lot of pokemon go, enjoys pokemon in general

is in the process of finishing up a degree in acting at a mid-tier university (it’s rumored he got in through preferential treatment)

says he likes being out in nature and exploring, especially on vacations (haha, what are those?)

was almost admitted in msg but failed the last round

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

in the short term, jeno would love to see his group prosper. he hadn’t gotten into the company, or the career, with the intention of hopscotching off immediately to greener pastures. he does want titanium to succeed, and he’d love for them to get their first win on a music show. to really show themselves as standout in the industry, even if they are forever known as the experimental, artistic offshoot of midas entertainment. but jeno thinks he could be okay with that. at least it’s unique. at least they’re all able to show off a good performance. for everything bad in the industry, he thinks he’s mostly okay where he’s ended up. and while he might not be in love with the company he works for, he thinks he does love his group.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

more than anything, jeno wants to prove himself. at first it had been with rap and performance. forcing himself into mimicry until a company had gone and given him a chance. then it had been the build up, laying a real skillset over his bare-boned frame. he’s mostly passable. it’s clear he got picked up by a performance based company for a reason, easy to see why 99 had passed him by. not terrible, but through and through jeno is an idol rapper. built for performance, the stage, the spotlight. everything else was a nice bonus. his real talent lies in his charisma. and that’s what bridges over to jeno’s long term aspirations. acting – except he’s already done that. what he really wants to do now is reorient the public’s perception of his acting. forcing everyone to see that he’s improved, proving to himself that he has. getting a role that means something to him, that he’s proud of.

IDOL IMAGE

jeno is sharp and cutting. a clever comment in the middle of a game. finding a workaround to the problem, exploiting a rule in a game, outright cheating on variety. he’s likened to a fox, when fans hand out animal personas for all of them. sly, but in a way that’s deemed cute. not the way they use it to talk about girls. he’s allowed to lean on his words, to stir up a personality for himself that’s entertaining. he’s not able to sweep the masses in an easily consumable package, but he’s entertaining to the fans. the type of person that edges on playful, but can real it back in with a quick sweep of his hand over his face. he’s not cute, and he’s no ice prince. he’s a quick peel of laughter, the one rewriting rules to make himself the predetermined winner. “your face doesn’t look very sweet,” one of the evaluators had told him that once. but that’s fine, that’s good. jeno doesn’t want to be sweet. he’s fine with playing this up instead. with letting them paint the picture of his face into a character, what one might assumes he acts like. casual enough for him that it’s not an immense burden to bear. he’s lucky, with this concept titanium’s portraying. there’s probably plenty other group ideas that jeno would’ve been cut from. but for this? it makes a decent match.

he’s often the member tasked with making clever quips on broadcasts. no fear of speaking, and if anyone jams a microphone into his face he’ll pick it up and make up some dialogue or another about their song. he’s not afraid of the camera, and jeno really does live to perform. he’s not one to push himself over the top, to ruin himself on broadcast. but he leans on his wit. his entire image comes back to revolve around it. cute and sly, quick witted. it doesn’t matter that jeno’s not really a genius, that he sucks at math. he’s just good at thinking up retorts and hates to lose, so it’s become who he is. the fans think he’s far, far cleverer than he is in reality.

IDOL HISTORY

chungcheong province,

childhood.

this is where jeno is born. in the hands of a mild december. his mother had wanted a fall child, but he’d disappointed her. a day too late ( and it wasn’t his last time to do so ). his parents own a sprawling strawberry farm, and a small outcropping of fruit trees dubbed an orchard. he grows up among the unruly thickets and bramble bushes. a wild child with thorns in his hair and leather-worn feet. raw-scabbed knees and the ability to climb through the forested barrier that fences in the farmland from the woods. he can climb up and down the tallest tree in the circle in under a minute, faster than the other three kids who live nearby can. jeno’s always loved to win.

youth.

his school was tiny, both in elementary and high. kids were bused in from every which direction, a collection of worn out sneakers and words drawled out slowly. like everyone has all the time in the world. it makes sense, they’re not moving everywhere. just standing still among the weeds, waiting for the roots to hold them down. a willing prisoner to handed down fate and obligations.jeno doesn’t even hate it, the farm. or helping out around it. but it’s a small town, and jeno figures out pretty quickly that he likes being the center of attention. he’s a big fish in a little pond, and his interests expand outside of the borders of his little farmtown ( quant as it may be ). not with aspirations, not at first. it starts out with pop culture. movies, comics, music. an interest in the more extravagant. new and upcoming. as a pre-teen, jeno got hooked on pop-rap. not really hardcore, but cooler than the trot singers his parents listened to, or the ballads that played, lost in the rattle of the old radio in his father’s pickup truck on the way to the market. he has a faraway daydream of fame. he thinks about it, lost in a daze as he doesn’t pay attention during lectures. fantastical in his mind, an escape. but not something he pursues seriously.

when jeno was fifteen, his friend invited him along with him on a day-trip with his mother. there were stops involved, but he wanted to go and see that stretch of cityscape. there was a step in the itinerary, msg’s open auditions, and she had wanted to audition. jeno had slouched inside with her while her mother went off to shop. whoever was in charge had assumed jeno was there for the same reason, so he fumbled his way through it instead of correcting him. surprisingly, he’d gotten a call back. to the last round, where he was summarily cut. but that put the precedence in his life. that drop of hope, the idea that maybe he could do that, if he really wanted. be famous. be an idol.

so he returned home. he put in the time. he watched youtube tutorial videos in the middle of his bedroom on a half-functioning computer. a self-taught performance rapper, and by all accounts he probably shouldn’t have made it. a big fish in his puddle of a pond, and maybe jeno should have been overlooked when he was dropped into the expansive sea of idols. he came back a year later, a few centimeters taller. tried out for 99 first, and midas soon after ( but not msg, fuck msg ). 99 rejected him, a testament to the fact that the raw talent of underground rap did not resonate within jeno’s soul ( fuck 99 ). but midas gave him a callback. and the another. the final audition, but this time he passed. he has a charm about him, and they can fine tune the rap. that’s never been midas’ main focus anyway.

his parents weren’t thrilled that he wanted to move out before he graduated. that he wouldn’t be inheriting the farm unless he failed miserably. but he’s stubborn, and they can’t hold him in place. at first he commutes back and forth, or attempts to. it leaves him worn and tired. dragging himself through life. they relent, finally, and allow jeno to move out by himself. sign off on a dorm space midas rents out. jeno picks up a part time job to scrape his way through life and the school they send him off too. jeno thinks it’s bullshit that he has to buy the ugly uniform himself.

olympus is already a ship sailed. jeno’s not so sure when he’ll get a chance to prove himself. if.

seoul,

post-youth,

jeno slogged through it all despite himself. midas poured their talent into him. shiny and gold. he focuses on rap, because that’s what he’s best at, what he fits ( midas standards, at least ). he figures out he doesn’t mind dance so much when he gets an actual trainer to work with. he leans hard on his own athleticism. trainees are whittled down. one by one – until there’s five of them standing there, confirmed for titanium. he doesn’t think he should be the main rap, but there it is. first and foremost, he’s an idol - a rapper second. probably the type of guy rap-focused groups swear at in their still manufactured pseudo-diss tracks ( fuck them, too ).

he’s twenty and finally feels like he stepped into himself, to some degree. but he’s always been greedy, and he wants more. wants the focus of a camera, wants to prove himself. he wants to act. but there’s a year of promotions first. finding their feet as a group. not olympus, not even close. they’re not meant to be olympus. so they don’t win an immediate music show, and their songs aren’t marketed toward the general public. after a year, he’s given a little more breathing room ( because they’re not olympus, they’re like a stand in child born in case the heir accidentally keels over and dies ). he wants to act, jeno keeps telling them. when midas lets him, it’s a trainwreck. it’s a repeat in history, he’s both angered and hopeful and finds himself a trainer. he rather likes midas’ endless resources. it’s years before he acts again, after two lackluster projects in the beginning that were met with extremely poor reception, criticism to his tonality and the too-slow way his words dripped out between cuts. more than one, though (just in case the first was a fluke or something, but it hadn’t been). titanium still doesn’t earn themselves a trophy. but they march on. they perform. they carve out a niche jeno decides he likes occupying.

he works hard, he takes lessons, he even goes to university for it. ( there had been a brief, small murmuring - rumors that he’d gotten in due to preferential treatment ). by the time he acts again, he actually does a decent job. but nobody bothers to watch it, he’s already stuck with that label of idol-actor, notoriously terrible ( fuck everyone ). jeno pushes harder, he wants for it - to be recognized for his work or his ambitions. he’s an idol first and foremost, and the public is quick to remind him of that.

[idolizerp]

LOADING INFORMATION ON TITANIUM’S MAIN VOCAL BAE HYUKJAE...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: N/A CURRENT AGE: 24 DEBUT AGE: 20 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 15 COMPANY: Midas SECONDARY SKILL: Music production

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): “Cutejae” only because it rhymes and his fans thought it was pretty endearing. He likes it, but you can always find him blushing when they call him that. INSPIRATION: Ever since he was very young, his mother used to push him to follow his dreams and keep fighting for them. Additionally to that, he used to listen to legendary singers (like Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Whitney Houston, James Brown, etc.) since he was a little kid, so of course, they all inspired him to sing and pursue a career in the business. SPECIAL TALENTS:

He can fit 17 animal crackers in his mouth. Although he does want to break his own record every time he tries it.

He can balance anything you give him with one finger. Unless it’s too heavy, he’ll use two, not before trying to do it with just one, though.

He can sing and at the same time do impressions of international singers. He doesn’t have the same tone, but the style is very similar.

NOTABLE FACTS:

He spent seven years of his life living in America.

While in school, he always participated in every play he could to work on his performance skills.

He’s an avid animal lover, so it is known he has the tendency of donating money and food to animal shelters.

He is left-handed, so has the tendency of doing things “the other way around”, which many find equally endearing and annoying.

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

He wants to keep improving. If there’s anything he has learned so far? Is that there’s always room for improvement and that’s exactly what he wants for himself. Obviously, to keep growing not only as a performer but as a person. Hopefully be able to keep helping those in need, and focus heavily on his hopeful next step: a solo career.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

He wants to see Titanium shine and of course, be able to help enough, not only as a performer, but also as a music producer. He knows this will take time, which is fine by him, it’s a learning process. Never taking his eyes away from the group, he wants to focus on his own solo career. As a kid he never imagined himself sharing the stage with other people (not that it bothers him, anyway), but he does want to achieve those dreams of getting the spotlight, of doing his own thing, his own music and be able to pat himself on the back for it. At the same time, he hopes more people will focus on his career, on what he’s trying to accomplish rather than obsess so much about his past and let that cloud their image of him.

IDOL IMAGE

He is the ‘cute’ one. He’s the ‘All-American boy’, even if he’s not. But that’s what he does, he pulls out English words in the middle of an interview and everyone finds it endearing, almost as if he forgot what he was going to say in his native tongue and decided to use the English version of it. But not really, no. What Hyukjae did was very simple: he used his resources.

The whole thing about: if you got it, flaunt it? He flaunts it.

He’s the one who wears the cute animals hats, the one who tilts his head from one side and then to the other, catering to the more-than-in-love fans who can’t get enough of his cuteness. He doesn’t mind it, he thinks it’s fun, he thinks it’s a good way to win the fans’ love. He’s not even embarrassed by it, because many are. But he’s not, because if he has it? He flaunts it.

That’s what everyone told him when he was a trainee, anyway.

“Use this. Use that. No, no, not THAT. Yes! That! That is perfect.”

He listened. He learned.

Maybe it was the gentleness in his heart or the fact he was always taught to follow the rules, who knows? At the end of the day, he followed every single thing he was told to do.

“Maybe say ‘oh my god!” when you’re surprised, they’re gonna LOVE you.”

He said it.

“You should definitely wear this. They will ADORE you.”

He wore it.

Hyukjae has always been perfectly crafted to be the sweet one, to be the one who stands between their group mates when they’re all jokingly having beef with each other, to be the one who laughs at everyone’s jokes and subsequently, to be the one telling the silliest jokes.

And he’s okay with all of it because if he has it, you guessed it, he should flaunt it, right?

But this image doesn’t work with anyone, or at least, not with a few eager to know about his past. What is he exactly hiding behind those sweet, gentle eyes? No one really knows, and they don’t really like it. Despite the image Midas has tried so hard to shine upon him, people see beyond all of it (or rather, they don’t see enough) and that is a good reason to not trust him, immediately turning into doubters, into ‘haters’ if you will.

Midas is aware, they’re more than aware and no matter how comfortable he is with his current image, he’s now being pushed to a much more serious side of him. The aegyo is perfect, but he’s gotten asked to tone it down. The English is cool, they want him to keep it up. But now, he’s forced to speak up about something he’s not too comfortable speaking up about. They want him to be more ‘open’ and they want him to lie about it. They want him to fabricate a past life.

But how is he supposed to flaunt it.. if he doesn’t have it?

IDOL HISTORY

No one ever understood how his mother married that man. When you put things into perspective? He didn’t either.

She was young. He was ten years older than her. No one really thought the age gap was an issue, the issue could be found somewhere else: He wasn’t a good person. But she didn’t think too much of it, she was young, in love, eager to be one of those school girls who get involved with the bad guys, with the rebel ones. Luckily (or unluckily) for her? She got what she wanted. The wedding came only 7 months after they started dating, and not exactly because they were deeply in love with each other (no, his mother claims she fell out of love three weeks into their relationship), but because she got pregnant.

One, two and then Hyukjae.

She was used to the comfort of a home. He was used to having someone willing to keep the house clean everyday. His parents were conformists.

But he surely wasn’t.

Hyukjae was the boy who pranced around their place, singing, dancing, disguising himself and pretending to be the star of a show. He was the boy who dreamed, the boy who wanted to reach for the stars, the boy who knew this kind of life wasn’t for him, no, no. He wanted more and he was going to aim for more.

He was six when his parents decided to move to the United States, to be more specific: Los Angeles, California. Of course, the boy was more than excited, that was the place where ALL of the big music and TV stars were, right? And he wanted to be one of them, one of those big music and TV people. What he didn’t know, however, was the reason why. His father’s version? They wanted to find better life opportunities. The real version? His father was afraid. He was afraid of getting caught; a scammer always on the run. He fooled people. He stole from them. He took things he shouldn’t possess. He was bad, and he didn’t want to be held accountable for his actions; so he ran and took his family with him.

Adapting? It wasn’t easy. He was only six years old when he was put to test, when he was told he had to learn another language, when he had to sit with the teacher during recess because she was kind enough to teach him as much as she could. At home? His mother did her best. His father did nothing. His older brothers didn’t care. So he realized: he was on his own.

There was one thing he had to applaud to his mother, however, that was the passion she gave him. The fire she used to motivate him. Even if her English wasn’t good, she tried and at the same time encouraged him to listen to his teachers, to soak in as much as he could, to reach his goals, to make his dreams come true. She tried the same with his brothers, but they weren’t interested at all, no. They were interested in the easy money, in the bad things dad used to do.

Except he didn’t ‘use’ to do those things and Hyukjae learned that when he was nine.

Whenever his father would take him and his brothers out, he’d try to encourage him to steal from people, to pickpocket them. After all, he was a child, who would suspect him? In his father’s words? No one. But Hyukjae was terrified at the idea, he was embarrassed to even imagine himself doing such thing, so he didn’t, and every time he refused? He got yelled at.

To suppress the pain, the boy with the dreams kept fighting for them. At school, he was the one who now sat down with his friends and tried to teach them Korean. Some thought it was silly, some thought it was cool. In return, his friends helped him perfect his English and it worked out for him. Soon, Hyukjae had built a reputation for himself, and luckily, a good one. Most of the girls were enamored by his passion, because he didn’t care about singing down the hallways or about auditioning for the school plays, casually always getting the lead roles. He was loved and admired and he was happy about it. Very.

But not everything is roses, that is for sure.

When he was thirteen, the chance of “his life” (or so he claimed back then) arrived. A TV show was holding auditions for kids, talented kids. Do you know how to sing? Dance? Do a trick? Have a special talent? It didn’t matter! That was the perfect opportunity for any kid who wanted to start a career. He told his mother about it, because he knew his father wouldn’t approve of it. She was elated with the idea so they secretly planned to sneak out of home very early to go to the audition.

That, however, didn’t happen.

Unaware that one of his brothers was listening to their conversation, the news didn’t take long to get to his father’s ears, who completely forbid him (and his mother) from going. At the time? She gave up. She said ‘okay’. She turned to Hyukjae and apologized. And him? What else could a thirteen year old do if it wasn’t to reassure his mother everything was fine? Not much else.

Days later, while his father and brothers were sleeping, his mother pulled him out of bed, got him dressed, gave him a backpack with his belongings and said; “We’re going to follow your dreams. Let’s go.”

Because for once and for him? She’d do anything. She had submitted herself for so long, she had done everything her husband wanted and that was fine as long as he only wanted to mess with her. But when he dared mess with her son? With his dreams? She wouldn’t allow that. She wasn’t leaving America completely happy, however, because she was leaving her two older sons behind, but what could she do when they were the same kind of people her husband was? Nothing. And if she could save Hyukjae from following their steps? She would.

Going back to South Korea wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like Hyukjae forgot his roots or his language (especially because Korean was what they used when at home), but adapting? It was hard. He was only six when he left, and he had spent time adapting to America, so doing it all over again as a teenager? It wasn’t easy at all. His classmates weren’t easy either. He was mocked because they had this “idea” he thought he was better than them only because he came from America.

It was not okay, but he pushed himself into believing it was just for the sake of ignoring it and focusing on what truly mattered: his career.

When he had just turned fourteen, Hyukjae attended his very first audition at KJH Global Creative. The line was long and he was intimidated. He saw so many kids, some singing, some dancing, some just trying to look pretty. He didn’t think he was a great dancer, but he did trust his singing abilities, he always did! From his perspective? He thought he did well. And maybe he did, but it wasn’t enough. Maybe he was too late, maybe there were far more talented kids in that line, who knows? Either way, his mother didn’t allow him to feel disappointed. “You’ll make it next time, I promise.”

His next time came a year later, his mother worked hard to afford singing and dancing lessons for him so this time, he felt much more confident about himself. Much more ready and prepared for it. And this time? It was Midas Media’s turn. Just as it was also his turn to prove himself. And he did.

His mother was elated, happy that her son was just one step away from making his dreams come true. But they surely didn’t know that the process wouldn’t be easy at all, though.

Everything he practiced as a kid, everything he learned during those singing and dancing classes prior to signing seemed like “nothing” compared to his trainee days. It was exhausting, it was almost painful. He put his entire heart, his entire soul, his entire mind into it. He gave his all, not only professionally, but personally too. He wanted to stand out, he wanted to shine, he wanted to show the world he could be whoever he wanted to be and he knew he wouldn’t be able to do that if he didn’t give his 200% to this. So he did.

And so, five years later, Titanium happened and he was starstruck. Was that a dream? Was he about to be woken up by his father? Get told he was an idiot for believing he’d make it this far? Nope, that didn’t happen. This was real and it hit him to think: that all of those years he spent practicing? That all of those years he spent training? They truly weren’t the beginning of his journey, no. This was.

But then he’s starts getting too fabricated. Then he’s being asked to say and do things that can make him stand out because he’s always just /there/, he’s always just /behind/. So he started pulling out the English (a thing he had put in the back of his mind when his Korean classmates mocked him for it), he started pulling his ‘cute’ stunts, he started trying to crack jokes, but failed. He pulled all of the stops and some work and some don’t, but he keeps trying.

For someone who only wanted to sing? He thought he was doing okay.

That is, until everyone wanted to know more about him. Yes, he lived in America, and? What happened over there? Yes, he was born in South Korea, and? What did they move to America? Yes, he has a family, and? Where are they? Why does he only talk about his mother? Why is his father not being mentioned? How about his siblings? What happened to them?

There were many questions and he didn’t have the answers. Or he did, he just didn’t want to share them. He got asked to fabricate them, but he couldn’t do that either. So the people started to mistrust him. They started to think there was something fishy about him. So sure, Hyukjae is talented, sweet, cute, he’s kind and he loves animals, he caters to his fans and he does anything to keep everyone happy.

But some people still think his life situation is.. shady.

So the speculations started to rain on him. “His father is probably dead, so it’s horrible he doesn’t want to talk about him.”, “What if his brothers did something bad?”, “I bet his family was involved in some sort of crime, maybe that’s why he avoids talking about them.”

There’s a new theory everyday. A new rumor. A new something.

In the same fashion, there are new fabrications on his shoulders. Maybe if he acts a different way, maybe if he tones something down, maybe if he starts doing something new. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe they’ll leave him alone.

But they don’t and they won’t and Hyukjae is aware of it. He’s aware that people will dig and dig and dig until they get the truth, and while they don’t get it? They’ll create, create and create until he gives up and speaks up. But he won’t, he won’t because he’s only human, because that’s something he wants to keep to himself, at least that.

Because in the end? He’s only a boy with dreams.