#however. i decided from the beginning that it would be set in 2008 and i refuse to back down and let the logical side of my brain win

[the-casbah-way]

Can i ask how old is Oct and Jed in the fic?

octavius is 45 and jed is 41 :3

and YES i will be describing the greying hair and permanent eye bags and smile lines so no one is allowed to picture them as sexy and young. and YES octavius is going to have shitty clicky knees during sex and probably will need to pop some viagra before the whole ordeal and i will be describing his dad bod in excruciating detail so that it’s physically impossible to imagine him as a twinkified 30 year old. only visibly ageing sexy men in my fics thank you very much

[intersexbookclub]

Summary: Chapter 4 of Critical Intersex

For many of us, Chapter 4 of Critical Intersex (2009) turned out to be a particularly rich source of information about intersex history. So I (Elizabeth) have decided to give a fairly detailed summary of the chapter because I think it’s important to get that info out there. I’m gonna give a little bit of commentary as I go, and then a summary of our book club discussion of the chapter.

The chapter is titled “(Un)Queering identity: the biosocial production of intersex/DSD” by Alyson K. Spurgas. It is a history of ISNA, the Intersex Society of North America, and how it went from being a force for intersex liberation to selling out the movement in favour of medicalization. (See here for summary of the other chapters we read of the book!)

Our high level reactions:

Elizabeth (@ipso-faculty): Until I read chapter 4, I didn't really realise how reactionary “DSD” was. It hadn't been clear to me how much it was a response to the beginning of an organized intersex advocacy movement in the United States.

Michelle (@scifimagpie): I could feel the fury in the writer's tone. It was a real barn burner.

Also Michelle: the fuckin' respectability politics of DSD really got under my skin, as a term! I know the importance, as a queer person, of not forcing people to ID as queer, but this was a lot.

Introducing the chapter

The introduction sets the tone by talking about how in the Victorian era there was a historical shift from intersex being a religious/juridical issue to a pathology, and how this was intensified in the 1950s with John Money’s invention of the optimal gender rearing model. 

Spurgas briefly discusses how the OGR model is harmful to intersex people, and how it iatrogenically produces sexual dysfunction and gender dysphoria. “Iatrogenic” means caused by medicine; iatrogenesis is the production of disease or other side-effects as a result of medical intervention.

This sets scene for why in the early 1990s, Cheryl Chase and other intersex activists founded the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA). It had started as a support group, and morphed significantly over its lifetime. ISNA closed up shop in 2008.

Initially, ISNA was what we’d now call interliberationist. They were anti-pathologization. Their stance was that intersexuality is not itself pathological and the wellbeing of intersex people is endangered by medical intervention. They organized around the abolition of surgical intervention. They also created fora like Hermaphrodites With Attitude for the deconstruction of bodies/sexes/genders and development of an intersex identity that was inherently queer. 

The early ISNA activists explicitly aligned intersexuality in solidarity with LGB and transgender organizing. There was a belief that similar to LGBT organizing, once intersex people got enough visibility and consciousness-raising, people would “come out” in greater numbers (p100).

By the end of the 90s, however, many intersex people were actively rejecting being seen as queer and as political subjects/actors. The organization had become instead aligned with surgeons and clinicians, had replaced “intersex” with “DSD” in their language.

By the time ISNA disbanded in 2008 they had leaned in hard on a so-called “pragmatic” / “harm reduction” model / “children’s rights perspective”. The view was that since infants in Western countries are “born medical subjects as it is” (p100)

Where did DSD come from? 

In 2005, the term “disorders of sexual differentiation” had been recently coined in an article by Alice Dreger, Cheryl Chase, “and three other clinicians associated with the ISNA… [so as] to ‘label the condition rather than the person’” (p101). Dreger et al thought that intersex was “not medically accurate” (p101) and that the goal should be effective nomenclature to “sort patients into diagnostically meaningful groups” (p101).

Dreger et al argued that the term intersex “attracts the interest of a large number of people whose interest is based on a sexual fetish and people who suffer from delusions about their own medical histories” (Dreger et al quoted on p101)

Per Spurgas, Dreger et al had an explicit agenda of “distancing intersex activism from queer and transgressive sex/gender politics and instead in supporting Western medical productions of intersexuality” (p102). In other words: they were intermedicalists.

According to Dreger et al, an alignment with medicine is strategically important because intersex people often require medical attention, and hence need to be legible to clinicians. “For those in favor of the transition to DSD, intersex is first and foremost a disorder requiring medical treatment” (p102)

Later in 2005 there was a “Intersex Consensus Meeting” organized by a society of paediatricians and endocrinologists. Fifty “experts” were assembled from ten countries (p101)... with a grand total of two actually intersex people in attendance (Cheryl Chase and Barbara Thomas, from XY-Frauen). 

At the meeting, they agreed to adopt the term DSD along with a “‘patient-centred’ and ‘evidence-based’ treatment protocol” to replace the OGR treatment model (p101)

In 2006, a consortium of American clinicians and bioethicists was formed and created clinical guidelines for treating DSDs. They defined DSD quite narrowly: if your gonads or genitals don’t match your gender, or you have a sex chromosome anomaly. So no hormonal variations like hyperandrogenism allowed.

The pro-DSD movement: it was mostly doctors

Spurgas quotes the consortium: “note that the term ‘intersex’ is avoided here because of its imprecision” (p102) - our highlight. There’s a lot of doctors hating on intersex for being a category of political organizing that gets encoded as the category is “imprecise” 👀

Spurgas gets into how the doctors dressed up their re-pathologization of intersex as “patient centred” (p103) - remember this is being led by doctors, not patients, and any intersex inclusion was tokenistic. (Elizabeth: it was amazing how much bs this was.)

As Spurgas puts it, the pro-DSD movement “represents an abandonment of the desire for a pan-intersexual/queer identity and an embrace of the complete medicalization of intersex… the intersex individual is now to be understood fundamentally as a patient” (p103)

Around the same time some paediatricians almost came close to publicly advocating against infant genital mutilation by denouoncing some infant surgeries. Spurgas notes they recommended “that intersex individuals be subjected (or self-subject) to extensive psychological/psychiatric, hormonal, steroidal and other medical” interventions for the rest of their lives (p103).

This call to instead focus on non-surgical medical interventions then got amplified by other clinicians and intermedicalist intersex advocacy organizations.

The push for non-surgical pathologization hence wound up as a sort of “compromise” path - it satisfied the intermedicalists and anti-queer intersex activists, and had the allure of collaborating with doctors to end infant surgeries. (Note: It is 2024 and infant surgeries are still a thing 😡.)

The pro-DSD camp within the intersex community

Spurgas then goes on to get into the discursive politics of DSD. There’s some definite transphobia in the push for “people with DSDs are simply men and women who happen to have congenital birth conditions” (p104). (Summarizer’s note: this language is still employed by anti-trans activists.)

The pro-DSD camp claimed that it was “a logical step in the ‘evolution in thinking’” 💩 and that it would be a more “humane” treatment model (p105) 💩

Also that “parents and doctors are not going to want to give a child a label with a politicized meaning” (p104) which really gives the game away doesn’t it? Intersex people have started raising consciousness, demanding their rights, and asserting they are not broken, so now the poor doctors can’t use the label as a diagnosis. 🤮

Spurgas quotes Emi Koyama, an intermedicalist who emphasized how “most intersex people identify as ‘perfectly ordinary, heterosexual, non-trans men and women’” (p104) along with a whole bunch of other quotes that are obviously queerphobic. Note from Elizabeth: I’m not gonna repeat it all because it’s gross. In my kindest reading of this section, it reads like gender dysphoria for being mistaken as genderqueer, but instead of that being a source of solidarity with genderqueers it is used as a form of dual closure (when a minority group goes out of its way to oppress a more marginalized group in order to try and get acceptance with the majority group).

Koyama and Dreger were explicitly anti-trans, and viewed intergender type stuff as “a ‘trans co-optation’ of intersex identity” (p105) 🤮

Most intersex people resisted “DSD” from its creation

On page 106, Spurgas shifts to talking about how a lot intersex people were resistant to the DSD shift. Organization Intersex International (OII) and Bodies Like Ours (BLO) were highly critical of the shift! 💛 BLO in particular noted that 80-90% of their website users were against the DSD term. Note from Elizabeth: indeed, every survey I’ve seen on the subject has been overwhelmingly against DSD - a 2015 IHRA survey found only 3% of intersex Australians favoured the DSD term.

Proponents of “intersex” over “DSD” testified to it being depathologizing. They called out the medicalization as such: that it serves to reinforce that “intersex people don’t exist” (David Cameron, p107), that it is damaging to be “told they have a disorder” (Esther Leidolf, p107), that there is “a purposeful conflation of treatment for ‘health reasons’ and ‘cosmetic reasons’ (Curtis Hinkle, p107), and that it’s being pushed mainly by perisex people as a reactionary, assimilationist endeavour (ibid).

Interliberationism never went away - intersex people kept pushing for 🌈 queer solidarity 🌈 and depathologization - even though ISNA, the largest intersex advocacy organization, had abandoned this position.

Spurgas describes how a lot of criticism of DSD came from non-Anglophone intersex groups, that the term is even worse in a lot of languages - it connotes “disturbed” in German and has an ambiguity with pedophilia and fetishism in French (p111).

The DSD push was basically entirely USA-based, with little international consultation (p111). Spurgas briefly addresses the imperialism inherent in the “DSD” term on pages 118/119.

Other noteworthy positions in the DSD debate

Spurgas gives a well-deserved shout out to the doctors who opposed the push to DSD, who mostly came from psychiatry and opposed it on the grounds that the pathologization would be psychologically damaging and that intersex patients “have taken comfort (and in many cases, pride) in their (pan-)intersex identity” (p108) 🌈 - Elizabeth: yay, psychiatrists doing their job! 

Interestingly, both sides of the DSD issue apparently have invoked disability studies/rights for their side: Koyama claimed DSD would herald the beginning of a disability rights based era of intersex activism (p109) while anti-DSDers noted the importance in disability rights in moving away from pathologization (p109).

Those who didn’t like DSD but who saw a strategic purpose for it argued it would “preser[ve] the psychic comfort of parents”, that there is basically a necessity to coddle the parents of intersex children in order to protect the children from their parents. (p110) 

Some proposed less pathologizing alternatives like “variations of sex development” and “divergence of sex development” (p110)

The DSD treatment model and the intersex treadmill

Remember all intersex groups were united that sex assignment surgery on infants needs to be abolished. The DSD framework that was sold as a shift away from surgical intervention, but it never actually eradicated it as an option (p112).  Indeed, it keeps ambiguous the difference between medically necessary surgical intervention and culturally desired cosmetic surgery (p112). (Note from Elizabeth: funny how *this* ambiguity is acceptable to doctors.)

What DSD really changed was a shift from “fixing” the child with surgery to instead providing “lifelong ‘management’ to continue passing” (p112), resulting in more medical intervention, such as through hormonal and behavioural therapies to “[keep] it in remission” (p113).

Cheryl Chase coined the “intersex treadmill’: the never-ending drive to fit within a normative sex category (p113), which Spurgas deploys to talk about the proliferation of “lifelong treatments” and how it creates the need for constant surveillance of intersex bodies (p114). Medical specialization adds to the proliferation, as one needs increasingly more specialists who have increasingly narrow specialties.

There’s a cruel irony in how the DSD model pushes for lifelong psychiatric and psychological care of intersex patients so as to attend to the PTSD that is caused by medical intervention. (p115) It pushes a capitalistic model where as much money can be milked as possible out of intersex patients (p116).

The DSD treatment model, if it encourages patients to find community at all, hence pushes condition-specific medical support groups rather than pan-intersex advocacy groups (p115)

Other stuff in the chapter

Spurgas does more Foucault-ing at the end of the chapter. Highlight: “The intersex/DSD body is a site of biosocial contestation over which ways of knowing not only truth of sex, but the truth of the self, are fought. Both intelligibility and tangible resources are the prizes accorded to the winner(s) of the battle over truth of sex” (p117)

There’s some stuff on the patient-as-consumer that didn’t really land with anybody at the book club meeting - we’re mostly Canadians and the idea of patient-as-consumer isn’t relatable. Ei noted it isn’t even that relatable from their position as an American.

***

Having now summarized the chapter, here's a summary of our discussion at book club...

Opening reactions

Michelle (M): the way the main lady involved became medicalized really made my heart sink, reading that.

Elizabeth (E): I do remember some discussion of intersex people in the 90s, and it never really grew in the way that other queer identities did! This has kind of helped for me to understand what the fuck happened here.

E: It was definitely a very insightful reading on that part, while being absolutely outraging. I didn't know, but I guess I wasn't surprised at how pivotal US-centrism was. The author was talking about "North American centric" though but always meant the United States!!! Canada was just not part of this! They even make mention of Quebec as separate and one of the opposing regions. I was like, What are you doing here, America? You are not the entirety of our continent!!!

E: The feedback from non-Anglophone intersex advocates that DSD does not translate was something that I was like, "Yes!" For me, when I read the French term - that sounded like something that would include vaginismus, erectile dysfunction - it sounds far more general and negative.

M: the fuckin' respectability politics of DSD really got under my skin, as a term! I know the importance, as a queer person, of not forcing people to ID as queer, but this was a lot.

E: it was very assimilationist in a way that was very upsetting. I knew intellectually that this was going on. There was such a distinct advocacy push for that. The coddling of parents and doctors at the expense of intersex people was such a theme of this chapter, in a way that was very upsetting. They started out with this goal of intersex liberation, and instead, wound up coddling parents and doctors.

Solidarities

M: I feel like there's a real ableist parallel to the autism movement here… It dovetails with how the autism movement was like, "Aww, we're sorry about your emotionless monster baby! This must be so hard for you [parents]!" And it felt like "aw, it's okay, we'll fix your baby so they can interface with heterosexuality!" [Note: both of us are neurodivergent]

E: A lot of intersexism is a fear that you're going to have a queer child, both in terms of orientation and gender.

E: You cannot have intersex liberation without putting an end to homophobia and transphobia.

M: We're such natural allies there!

E: I understand that there are these very dysphoric ipsogender or cisgender people, who don't want to be mistaken as trans, but like it or not, their rights are linked to trans people! When I encounter these people, I don't know how to convey, "whether you like it or not, you're not going to get more rights by doing everything you can to be as distant as possible."

M: it reminds me of the movements by some younger queers to adhere to respectability politics.

E: Oh no. There are younger queers who want respectability politics????

M: well, some younger queers are very reactionary about neopronouns and kink at pride. they don't always know the difference between representation and "imposing" kinks on others. In a way, it reminds me of the more intentional rejection of queer weirdos, or queerdos, if you will, by republican gays.

E: I feel like a lot of anti-queerdom that comes out of the ipso and cisgender intersex community reads as very dysphoric to me. That needs to be acknowledged as gender dysphoria.

M: That resonates to me. When I heard about my own androgen imbalance, I was like, "does that mean I'm not a real woman?" And now I would happily say "fuck that question," but we do need an empathy and sensitivity for that experience. Though not tolerance for people who invalidate others, to be honest.

E: The term "iatrogensis" was new to me. The term refers to a disease caused or aggravated by medical intervention.

M: So like a surgical complication, or gender dysphoria caused by improper medical counselling!

The DSD debate

ei: i think the "disorder" discussion is really interesting. in my opinion, if someone feels their intersex condition is a disorder they have every right to label it that way, but if someone does not feel the same they have every right to reject the disorder label. personally i use the label "condition". i don't agree with forcing labels on anyone or stripping them away from anyone either.

M: for me, it felt like a cautionary tale about which labels to accept.

ei: i'm all around very tired of people label policing others and making blanket statements such as "all people who are this have to use this label”... i also use variation sometimes, i tend to go back and forth between variation and condition. I think it's a delicate balance between being sensitive to people's label preferences vs making space for other definitions/communities.

We then spoke about language for a bunch of communities (Black people, non-binary people) for a while

E: one thing that was very harrowing for me about this chapter is that while there was this push to end coercive infant surgery, they basically ceded all of the ground on "interventions" happening from puberty onward. And as someone who has had to fight off coercive medical interventions in puberty, I have a lot of trauma about violent enforcement of femininity and the medical establishment.

ei: i completely agree that it's psychologically harmful tbh…. i was assigned male at birth and my doctors want me to start testosterone to make me more like a perisex male. which is extremely counterproductive because i'm literally transfem and have expressed this many times

Doctors Doing Harm

M: for me, the validation of how doctors can be harmful in this chapter meant a lot.

E: something that surprised me and made me happy was that there were some psychiatrists who spoke out against the DSD label. As someone who routinely hears a lot of anti-psychiatry stuff - because there's a lot of good reason to be skeptical of psychiatry, as a discipline - it was just nice to see some psychiatrists on the right side of things, doing right by their patients. Psychiatrists were making the argument that DSD would be psychologically harmful to a lot of intersex people.

ei: like. being told that something so inherently you, so inherently linked to your identity and sense of self, is a disorder of sexual development, something to be fixed and corrected. that has to be so harmful

ei: like i won't lie i do have a lot of severe trauma surrounding the way i've been treated due to being intersex. but so much of my negative experiences are repetitive smaller things. Like the way people treat me like my only purpose is to teach them about intersex people …. either that or they get really creepy and gross. I’m lucky in that i'm not visibly intersex, so i do have the privilege of choosing who knows. but there's a reason why i usually don't tell people irl.

M: intersex and autism have overlap again about how like, minor presentation can be? As opposed to the sort of monstrous presentation [Carnival barker impression] "Come see the sensational half-man, half-woman! Behold the h-------dite!" And like - the way nonverbal people are also treated feels relevant to that, because that's how autism is often treated, like a freakshow and a pity party for the parents? And it's so dehumanizing. And as someone who might potentially have a nonverbal child, because my wife is expecting and my husband and she both have ADHD - I'm just very fed up with ableism and the perception of monstrosity.

Overall, this was a chapter that had a lot to talk about! See here for our discussion of Chapters 5-7 from the same volume.

[buckybarnesss]

on fire: a teen wolf novel chapters 17-19 and final thoughts previous chapter

it is done. the final installment of on fire is here and i am finally free.

thank you @dear-massacre for listening to me rant about this book and encouraging me to finish it.

and a thank you to @give-emhalekid for inspiring this re-read of on fire to begin with. i can finally answer your asks appropriately!

in addition to my notes and final thoughts on this novel i did make contact with the author nancy holder and have been sitting on that email for over a month now. so i'll be talking about that too.

anyway.

We start this chapter in Kate’s narration in yet another flashback to six years prior. This is when she gets information out of Mr. Harris. 

The bar is called Randy Andy’s by the way. Which, and it may just be me, makes me fully believe this bar is playing Brooks and Dunn's 1991 hit Boot Scootin' Boogie on repeat.

She mentions that Harris hadn’t seen her around the school but she had pinpointed him quickly as someone weak and that she could use. This tracks.

She gets what she wants out of Harris and as she leaves the bar (which is handily across from her apartment) she sees Derek leaving with his school bag. She freaks out worried he’s onto her or found something in her apartment. 

She follows him home just to be sure she’s in the clear. Like a freak.

When she returns she finds a note Derek left her explaining what happened. 

However, feeling as though she could’ve been exposed, Kate decides to up the timetable of setting the fire. 

Because we cannot have nice things.

We then get a small scene where she’s filling the gas cans and apparently Alt Version of Mr. McCall is the gas station attendant but he’s on the phone arguing with Melissa over money and blaming her for things. He's actually worse than canon Mr. McCall which I didn't think was possible.

Kate goes on to have her inner celebration and reminisce over her seduction of Derek. You know, just girlie things.

Once again the timeline is throwing me off. Holder places the Hale fire near Wolf Moon which makes the show starting around the same time a nice call forward but she also has homecoming around the same time. Derek muses about Kate being a chaperone for the dance and Laura is at school that morning to attend a committee meeting for the dance. For me, Homecoming was always during the Football season in September. Not that I ever went but this in January if it’s the Wolf Moon. Football season is over. This doesn't make any sense to me.

We finally return to both the present day and to Derek and Stiles. It’s been 84 years. I've aged lifetimes.

Derek tells Stiles that you can’t trust human women and leaves him once more as Derek has caught the Alpha’s scent. This is Bizzaro Derek.

Holder has given us two different wolf references mere pages from each other. She has Derek listen to Wolfgang Gartner and Stiles apparently playing Wolfenstein on his phone (this may be Wolfenstien RPG which apparently came out on mobile in 2008).

I looked up Wolfgang Gartner -- because this is what I do -- and according to Wikipedia the earliest single he released under this particular name was in 2007 which would be after the fire. He does however have a single called Hot for Teacher. I am going to fight the author.

We’re back in Scott’s narration now. He’s not having a good time. There’s smoke making everything hazy and he senses the werewolf that bit him. He calls it his “waking, walking nightmare.” and the wolf side of him is conflicted by the threat but also by the sense of pack. 

Through the haze Scott does see the Alpha and they make eye contact. Once again Scott refuses to kill like in Pack Mentality. He references the incident by name. 

A burning tree falls down because of course it does. Some of the sparks get on Scott so he has to remove his jacket and shirt. This is Teen Wolf after all.

Scott fights the shift trying to figure out how to save himself and Allison from the blaze.

Allison begins to become overwhelmed by the smoke and goes into a coughing fit.’ Which, heh, kinda fits with Scott having asthma previously before the bite.

Next chapter opens back on Jackson who is still having a very bad time. His vision is doubled and tripled as he passes out.

Scott remembers that Allison once did gymnastics and suggests that she use those skills to get out so he lifts her up and she somersaults out I suppose. Like a goddamned Power Ranger.

I swear Stiles is the author’s least favorite. Stiles hears a howl and begins looking for Scott and or Derek. He’s yelling for them both as he attempts to track Scott’s phone. Derek shows up with a “Yeah.” 

Though I’ll admit this exchange made me laugh:

“Yeah,” Derek said, bursting from the trees. He was wolfed out, and Stiles let fly with a high-pitched, girly scream. “Was that you?” Stiles yelled. “No, that was you,” Derek said in disgust. “I mean the howl.”

Derek tries to assure Stiles the Alpha needs Scott but Stiles reminds him that he doesn’t need Allison. Derek says he also doesn’t need Allison which is a sentiment that Stiles disagrees with. Canon Derek would never. 

They talk about mountain ash because Derek recognizes it from the pictures Scott was able to send. The explanation holds up fairly well to what we’re told in the show.

They find Scott and Stiles tries to instruct him but he’s in a state of panic. Derek points out that he cannot make sense of what Stiles is trying to tell him due to the panic. 

E x c u s e M e. What the fuck did I just read?

Stiles wants to call 911 so a fire truck can gain access but Derek warns against it due to Scott being shifted. Derek then takes a swing at Stiles, Stiles shoves him and Derek falls off the cliff. 

I am so tired. 

This is a Stiles accurate line at least: “So many times, Stiles had wished for Derek to up and die. But he hadn’t meant for him to really die. Except that maybe had meant for him to really die. Just maybe not in pain, and not in front of Stiles.”

Scott pounces on Derek and they tussle. Stiles is conflicted on who he’s cheering for. 

Scott doesn’t have a shirt on.

And a moment later --

“A wind washed through the tops of the bushes and showered Derek with fiery debris, setting his jacket on fire.”

Derek rips off his jacket (RIP jacket) and his shirt now leaving him also shirtless. 

I see you Teen Wolf. The Weather Girls It's Raining Men is the unofficial anthem.

Stiles calls 911 because he clearly is the one holding the brain cell.

We’re back to Allison. She’s running through the woods calling for help when she spots what could only be the Alpha as she calls it an evil animal. It stalks closer to her but it moves away and she sees the wolf that she and Scott had seen earlier. 

The “good” wolf’s presence seems to scare off the Alpha. It then guides Allison to safety. This wolf is never explained but it gives me Expecto Patronum vibes.

Except her safety is Kate. 

Allison is now lying her ass off about why she was at the Preserve rather than with Lydia and Kate’s questioning her hard.

I had forgotten about Jackson. The van exploded by the way as the police came into the parking lot. He feels momentarily guilty about Cassie then he promptly passes out, which honestly I don’t blame him for. He’s had a shitty day.

Meanwhile back at Werewolf Rumble Derek is able to bring Scott back to himself and just as they begin to try to escape they accidentally do the memory ritual via Derek’s claws accidentally slicing Scott’s wrist and you know what? I don’t care anymore. 

We get one last flashback to Derek and Laura post fire. They’re at their burned home and insane with grief. In the remains Derek finds that stupid ring he gave Kate because she’s so evil and terrible. Like. Fucking hell. 

We cut to Jackson being taken to the hospital and Lydia ignoring the paramedics to ride with him. He feels guilty about Cassie’s death and tries to convince himself there was nothing he could do. In truth, there probably wasn’t. He ends up wondering if Bailey had really known about his biological father.

Allison at this point does in fact find it sus that Kate just happened to be out driving to the fire but she doesn’t examine anything too closely yet as she finds Scott and Stiles. She’s relieved that Scott's okay. 

The book ends with Derek watching the scene from afar. Kate catches his eye and taunts him one last time because of course Kate does. Derek doesn’t respond. 

The final line is kind of baller though. “There are more of us, bent on payback. And domination. And death. And we are coming.”

Some parting thoughts:

I remember mostly enjoying this book back when I first read it upon it's release in 2012. I think it's because I was so thirsty for more backstory on the characters and more adventures in the world.

There's a post somewhere on my blog about the book somewhere but re-reading ten years later I was definitely more critical of it and found it to be a frustrating endeavor. Maybe it's because I'm older or maybe it's because the show is over.

Largely I think it's because the book itself had no real resolution. It couldn't but I'll explain that later.

Even if there's reason for the open-ended nature of the novel it's still genuinely frustrating especially because this is a stand alone novel with no follow up.

I thought there were too many flashbacks and not enough time spent on the actual plot. Jackson is the entire plot yet we spend very little time with him in the book and he never actually interacts with the main cast except with Lydia through a text. Fucking wild. Some of Jackson's best character stuff is when he's bouncing off the other characters so it was a real shame he didn't interact with them.

The biggest issue I have though is with Derek's characterization. It just doesn't even seem like Derek to me even early season 1 Derek. The whole human slander isn't ever a thing with him.

I loathed how Laura was handled. The information we have on Laura doesn't even fill a thimble but I'd rather not know a damn thing than this version where she said the word "mateable" and isn't all that bothered by her sixteen year old brother being involved with not only an older woman but a teacher that has authority over him. Her reaction shuts Derek down so he no longer expresses his misgivings. I couldn't tell if this was on purpose or not.

I also didn't like how Stiles felt like the unfavorite here. Holder, I think had a decent grasp of his voice, but not how others reacted to him.

I also have mixed feelings about the world building Holder did via the werewolves. There were aspects I did like but overall I found it too heavy handed and too patriarchal. I think the direction the show took it was better. Talia Hale is a much better and more interesting choice.

I still do not understand why this book was commissioned at all. It isn't canon and it doesn't even follow the plot of season 1. Basically this was a promotional tool that fell short in my opinion. A waste of Holder's talent and the reader's interest.

However, there are reasons for some of this though like I said.

Back in November when I was in the middle of the book I did some research because I was insanely curious as to why this book was written the way it was. I found Nancy Holder's website which had a contact form.

I screwed up my courage and sent her a brief message asking about why the novel only referred to the first 5 episodes while largely being it's own plot. It's very unusual for a tie in novel

She answered really quickly and while her explanation didn't surprise me it still sort of did.

Essentially she was given a lot of freedom in developing her own plot as she was instructed to not give away any spoilers for the second half of the season. Which is why there's hardly anything to do with the Alpha plot line and Peter is largely left alone.

According to Holder, she is the one who asked Jeff if she would be able to fill in Derek and Kate's backstory so that whole plot is her own creation and he told to "go for it".

I think a lot of fanon seems to possibly originate with her due to this freedom which is interesting.

She's a huge fan of Teen Wolf and I found it super endearing even if I didn't like all her writing choices.

In conclusion:

[mask131]

I originally had this whole series of posts about Radagast in mind - but ultimately I will probably scrap the project so instead, I'll share random trivia and cool stuff.

And I will begin with something I don't see ANYBODY talking about anymore: Radagast ALMOST appeared into the Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson trilogy. Like... he was there, you had the actor, the costume, the place in the scenes, everything was prepared, but he was scrapped at the last minute.

You might have seen this picture before if you are a long-time fan of the LotR movies:

This picture of a live-action Radagast comes from the Decipher Inc.'s "Lord of the Rings Trading Cards Game", an official set of collectible cards affiliated with the Peter Jackson LotR trilogy. By affiliated I mean, "based on the movies and using exclusively images from the movies". Well... almost since some characters that did NOT appear in the movies still get live-action pictures (and yes this was LONG before the Hobbit movies were even in the work).

Here are the cards depicting Radagast and affiliated items:

If they are not from the movies, where do these pictures come from? Well, they were created by Weta Workshop - who worked on the Peter Jackson movies. A lot of the cards depicting subjects not appearing in the movies were created after the trilogy was concluded, completely with new material, the concept just being checked by the movie-team, but the Radagast cards are a whole other story, and truly fascinating in this regard...

Because the costume and props were already pre-existing before they decided to make this card game. As I said above, there were plans for Radagast to appear in the trilogy at some point - as a background character in unspecified scenes. Daniel Falconer revealed all that in interviews: John Harding had been cast to play Radagast, they designed his costume and staff, they made him undergo photo-shoots for the upcoming movie... But Radagast was ultimately deleted.

However all was not in vain, since when it came time to create Radagast cards for merchandising, all Weta had to do was call back Harding, put him back into the costume, and tadaa!

We still have a few, low quality pictures of the behind-the-work designing of Radagast - very precious pieces and some of the only clues of this iteration of the character. Here they are:

All these pictures come from a 2008 forum thread on The One Ring forum where the upcoming Hobbit movies were discussed (it was still the time when it was thought it would be a duology instead of a trilogy). Link is here.

The images originally came from the website of Weta Workshop - it was on the same website you could find many more pictures of their behind-the-scene works for the card game, as well as the interviews I evoked above. Unfortunately the pages do not exist anymore... But the Wayback Machine of the Internet Archive allows us to go take a look at them! Praise our lords of the Internet Archive!

Here are saves from 2004. Here Daniel Falconer's interview with assorted pictures ; and here an illustrated article about the making of the card game. (You'll find in these pages not just Radagast talks, but also talks of Glorfindel, Tom Bombadil, Beorn and more - and here is a third article about the making-of).

To conclude this post about a Radagast that never was, here is a picture that was taken of John Harding in his Radagast costume, standing between two cardboard cut-outs of Peter Jackson's Saruman and Gandalf. As such, we can see what the three most famous wizards of Middle-Earth would have looked like in the original Peter Jackson trilogy.

[transformers-mosaic]

Transformers: Mosaic - Transformers Animated

Originally posted on June 6th, 2008

"See you in August" - Waseem Bashar "Excited yet?" - Matt C. Adams

TFW2005 (announcement) | TFW2005 (update) | BotTalk

wada sez: Surprise, we’re back doing another event already! Prompted by the success of The End of the Beginning..., the Mosaic team decided to follow up with another event, this time themed around the fan-favourite Transformers Animated, coinciding with the conclusion of the cartoon’s second season. This event was deliberately more constrained, however, limiting the strips’ focus to a set list of characters. Perhaps due to these restrictions, or simply the tastes of typical Mosaic contributors, response was less enthusiastic, leading the deadline to be pushed back. Eighteen characters were suggested, and twenty-one strips were made; as with the previous event, they were posted on Mondays in batches of five or so, and thankfully this time the ordering was handled consistently. Of the suggested characters, only Blitzwing failed to receive a spotlight. Meanwhile, regular strips continued twice-weekly, though the submission guidelines changed: no longer did the Mosaic staff maintain a central “script pool”; instead, they only accepted submissions from people who already had a full creative team. Bashar’s preview here includes an unfamiliar design or two; these are actually character models for the strips he worked on. Now, readers, you’ll have to bear with me over the next few weeks, as it’s been years since I watched any Animated—so if you spot any errors in my annotations, please correct me! I’ve mirrored Josh van Reyk’s announcement for this event below the break, along with unobscured looks at Matt C. Adams’ Ultra Magnus art. Adams was apparently slated to draw an Ultra Magnus strip called “The Hammer Falls”, written by Mike Priest, presumably for this specific event; I’ve dug up the original script for it, but evidently it never came to fruition.

TRANSFORMERS MOSAIC REBOOT…

Well, sort of.

As the project quickly approaches its first birthday in June, the project team have decided it’s the perfect time to re-asses the project and how it runs.

Since its conception last year, the project has grown well beyond our initial plans / hopes, and now there are over 400 people involved with well over 250 pieces in various stages of construction.

These staggering statistics make it nigh on impossible to keep in touch with every member and keep things on track for all the pieces in production, and many people feeling concerned that their piece has fallen off the radar.

The Megatron Origin-based anniversary project has proven to be very successful, with the creative teams being set in place before work begins on a piece and all follow-up being performed each member of the creative team. This has kept things well on track for each piece. Also, we’ve found that specifying a specific theme/setting has really forced everyone to lift their game so to speak and has produced some simply amazing pieces of work.

Further to the issue, with 6 pieces being released per week (to combat the large backlog), we’re not pleased with the small amount of “air time” that each piece receives, as some do tend to get overlooked.

So what does all that mean?

Well, as of June 2008, we will no longer be accepting any scripts from anyone for regular mosaics and there will no longer be a “script pool” for artists to pick from. All Mosaics currently in production will still continue to be a part of the project and will be released as usual, though our plans are to cut down to releasing one piece per week, on Thursdays.

For any writer / artist / colourist wishing to work on a regular Mosaic, they will be required to organize the full creative team before work can begin. Scripts will need to be submitted to the Transformers Mosaic team for approval. The best way to gather up a creative team would be to send a call out on the IDW forums in the “Transformers Mosaic: Discussion” thread, or any of the other sites where Mosaics are posted.

Once we have been approached by a committed creative team, we will supply them with a (currently in progress) Transformers Mosaic Style Guide. This will be a .ZIP file that will contain a standardized TFM logo, layout templates/guides and lettering fonts.

The Anniversary pieces, which were originally intended to be posted all at once, will now be released 10 at a time, every Monday for 4 weeks, stating 7th of June.

For the whole month of July, Transformers Mosaic will be on holiday, so no Mosaics of any sort will be posted during this time and emails / queries will likely not be handled promptly.

After July, regular Mosaics will continue to be posted one every Thursday and to fill the gap on Mondays left by the Anniversary project, we will be running a similar project, but this one is to be set during the new Transformers Animated cartoon. The one downside we found from the anniversary project was that the theme was too “open” and resulted in more pieces than we had planned for, so we’re limiting the number of characters / pieces to be included in the project.

The following characters are to be included in the project;

DECEPTICONS: 1. Megatron 2. Lugnut 3. Blitzwing [claimed] 4. Starscream [claimed] 5. BlackArachnia 6. Lockdown (yeah, technically he’s not a Con, but…)

AUTOBOTS: 1. Optimus Prime 2. Prowl 3. Bulkhead 4. Ratchet 5. Ultra Magnus 6. Sentinel Prime 7. Jazz 8. Bumblebee

DINOBOTS: 1. Grimlock

HUMANS: 1. Sari Sumdac 2. Isaac Sumdac

The same rules will apply for this project as the Anniversary one, though each person may only be involved in one (1) piece, and each piece may only focus on one (1) character from the above list, though multiple characters may appear in one piece. It will be first come, first choice with character assignments. You cannot claim a character until your creative team is assembled and committed.

When you have a creative team lined up, email us at transformers.mosaic@gmail.com. We will base character dibs on receipt time of emails sent to this address ONLY. We will update the above list for availability as often as possible until all slots are taken. If you miss your first choice, re-submit a message for your next choice and so on.

The Transformers Mosaic team will reserve the right to edit / reject scripts at their discretion.

All scripts, listing FULL creative team must be submitted to Transformers.mosaic@gmail.com by 30th of June, 2007.

Concerned you might miss out on getting involved in this project? Well, we’re planning on making these projects and ongoing process, so there’s always next time. ;)  Also keep in mind that you can still submit regular mosaics if your creative team would still like to work on a TFA piece.

We understand that these new processes may seem unfair to some people, but the project is just getting too sprawled out to manage, and we feel this is the best way to keep things moving smoothly.

We look forward to the next phase of Transformers Mosaic! Huge round of applause to everyone who made it the first year so amazing!

[professorlizzard]

City23 Week #0

So I have decided to join City23, which is dungeon 23, but with a city. I joined two weeks late, so it took some time to catch up. The city is Embassy Town on the Azure Court of Hexaspace, the proto-UN of the not yet existing Federation of Nthspace. Azure Court is an ocean world, inhabited only by royal court of water elementals (people in the know understand that this is a lie, and its inhabited by something completely different), where the pseudo government was allowed to build its administrative centers.

Each week, I will pick one of the 13 clusters, and write up a few sentences for seven buildings for it. Each describes how various immigrants live in this beautiful patchwork town. Hexaspace will not have its own weeks, as we are already in there, but every seventh entry should be more linked to its residents. Let us begin!

Edit I lied, there have been Hexaspace specific weeks at the end, a week for robots, and a week for homeless species.

Further information: In this universe, there is a white void called OUTSIDE, in which bubbles of “spaces” float. Each usually contains one sun and one planet. Sometimes its multiple planets. Rarely its a disk. In one case, there is no sun at all.

Traveling between places is possible with the aid of Strange Energy, with voidships that traverse across temporary wormholes. Some spaces are tightly connected, you can travel between any two spaces within a so called “Cluster”. Travel between clusters is more limited, usually happens between two specific spaces.

Hexaspace, is a weird space. It has dozens of worlds, and space itself is warped, preventing planets from colliding, or ripping each other apart via tidal forces. Its also considered a cluster of its own, as you can only travel to different clusters from it. Six of them in fact. The people here like Hexagons so much, they demanded to be officially registered as Cluster #6, instead of the more sensible #1 or #7.

Nthspace is a rather bloated setting, its where I merged a large amount of my settings and OCs over the years, giving them a new home, and preventing them from being discarded. However, I love every one of these creatures. Hexaspace especially: it originates from an Mspaint Forum Adventure I ran in 2008, where the readers were posting suggestions about what planets would exist, and what creatures would inhabit them (this is why Pterodactyls are called the firstborne, they are the first species to have been created!). The end result was a collection of random worlds, but I think, that is okay, as it is a testament to the creativity of the suggesters and readers who participated in this project. And so, in Nthspace, Hexaspace became a space where anything could happen.

[yeonchi]

Doctor Who 10 for 10 Part 4/10: Series 4

This is the dream team, ladies and gentlemen. Following her brief appearance in The Runaway Bride, Catherine Tate was given the opportunity to reprise her role as Donna Noble, which she quickly accepted. During a tweetalong for that same episode in December 2020, Russell T Davies threw out the idea of returning to Doctor Who and asked Catherine Tate and David Tennant if they were interested. The two of them accepted and now, RTD is back as showrunner with David Tennant and Catherine Tate returning for three 60th Anniversary Specials in November 2023. But for now, let’s focus on their original series from 15 years ago.

This instalment will encompass the 2009 Specials alongside Series 4. During the production of Doomsday, RTD, Julie Gardner, Phil Collinson and Jane Tranter agreed to do two more series before putting the series on a break with a year of specials as they prepared to transition to a new production team, with Steven Moffat accepting the role of showrunner in September 2007. David Tennant had been offered to continue on for Series 5, but he ultimately declined and he announced his departure via livelink at the National Television Awards on 29 October 2008.

Interestingly, the production of Series 4 is probably the most documented out of all of Doctor Who. This is thanks to a collaborative project between RTD and Doctor Who Magazine writer Benjamin Cook, starting off as emails to create a series of articles in the magazine, but as the amount of correspondence grew, it was decided to create a book with them, resulting in The Writer’s Tale being released in September 2008 covering emails (and text messages) from February 2007 to April 2008. Later on, it was decided to compile another 18 months worth of emails up to September 2009, eventually resulting in The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter being released in January 2010. In those books you can get the biggest insight behind-the-scenes and see just how much planning and time goes into the production of a series of Doctor Who. You can also see RTD’s health slowly deteriorating as he oversaw three flagship programs over six years. Seriously, it makes me look like a joke, compressing decades worth of work into 10 years, and that’s mostly just writing, not all the filming and work that goes into pre-production and post-production.

Anyway, let’s jump into the retrospective for Series 4.

1. A Noble return

During the planning for Series 4, RTD intended for the companion to be a “leftover” woman in her mid-30s called Penny Carter, however when Catherine Tate agreed to return (possibly also because Penny’s character was similar to that of Donna’s), the plans were changed and Penny’s story became a continuation of Donna’s story.

Jacqueline King and Howard Attfield were signed back on as Donna’s parents, Sylvia and Geoff Noble, however during the filming of Partners in Crime, Attfield broke his leg after only having filmed a few scenes on a hill. After some quick discussions, Attfield was replaced by Bernard Cribbins as Donna’s maternal grandfather, Wilfred Mott, who was featured in the 2007 Christmas Special, Voyage of the Damned (the highest-rated episode of the revived era, presumably thanks in no part to the appearance of Kylie Minogue) and the scenes on the hill were refilmed. Cribbins’ character was originally named Stan, but after he signed on for Series 4, his character was changed to accommodate (luckily his name was never mentioned in the special so all they needed to do was change his name in the credits). If you ask me, given what we see in those scenes, I think Bernard Cribbins was a better fit in them, given what he was saying about aliens in the special. Attfield died a couple weeks after the recast, with his scenes being included as deleted scenes on the Series 4 DVD box set. The return of the Nobles marked the beginning of a storyline that tied the Doctor and Donna’s fates together, which would be concluded in the finale and later extended to the 2009 Specials.

The Nobles weren’t the only characters returning in Series 4, however. As RTD intended for this series to be his last, he wanted to make the finale as big as possible. Rose Tyler made a surprise appearance in the season premiere, followed by two brief appearances (filmed for one episode then added to the other) before her main involvement in the series finale and the episode before it. Martha Jones rejoined the Doctor for three episodes before returning again in the finale. Jack Harkness and Sarah Jane Smith also returned for the finale, bringing in characters from their respective spinoffs, namely Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Luke Smith, Mr Smith and K9. Harriet Jones, Francine Jones, Jackie Tyler and Mickey Smith also returned in the finale as well. Most of them would appear again for cameos near the end of The End of Time Part Two, including Alonso Frame (who was originally scheduled to return in The Stolen Earth but declined due to other commitments) and Verity Newman, the great-granddaughter of Joan Redfern from Human Nature and The Family of Blood.

Additionally, there were plans for the Shadow Proclamation scene in The Stolen Earth to feature various aliens from across the RTD era, but that was cut for time and budget, resulting in the scene only having a group of Judoon. A similar scene would be realised in The End of Time Part Two.

2. Warnings from the future

After Donna officially joined the Doctor, their first adventure (in The Fires of Pompeii) was to Pompeii in the year 79 AD, right on Volcano Day. Since they knew what would happen that day, the Doctor insists that they can’t change anything about it, even though Donna tried her best to do so. This story also shows that while an actual historical event was hijacked by alien forces, the Doctor’s intervention allowed history to continue as normal. Other examples would come later in Series 6 with the Silence and Series 11 with Rosa Parks.

The Pyroviles’ homeworld was lost, though a group of them managed to escape and crashed to Earth, eroding to dust in the core of Mount Vesuvius. Following an earthquake in 62 AD, the soothsayers began to predict the future accurately, but they were never able to predict Volcano Day because the Pyroviles were using Vesuvius’ power for their plan to convert Earth into their new home planet. When the Doctor and Donna managed to expose their plans, the Doctor explains that he can invert the system and blow up the Pyroviles, but in doing so, he would be the one to cause Volcano Day.

The Doctor and Donna push the lever together and they manage to get back to Pompeii. As they head back into the TARDIS, Donna insists to the Doctor that he at least save someone, and he briefly goes back to rescue Caecilius and his family.

Karen Gillan, who played a soothsayer in the episode, would be cast as companion Amy Pond for Series 5 onwards, while Peter Capaldi, who played Caecilius, played John Frobisher in the third series of Torchwood before being cast as the Twelfth Doctor in 2013. In the behind-the-scenes episode, RTD suggested that Frobisher may have been a descendant of Caecilius and that his conclusion was time reasserting itself after the Doctor saved Caecilius in the past. This was confirmed by Moffat in 2015, but the rest will have to wait until we get to Series 9.

3. Double returning villains

Series 4 saw the return of not one, but two villains from the classic series. The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky saw the reintroduction of the Sontarans in a story that has them utilise humanity’s reliance on cars, GPSes and petrol to turn Earth into a cloning planet. Aside from Martha’s return in this story, we saw the Doctor’s attitude to soldiers and weapons, as evidenced by his aversion to weapons and people saluting him.

Davros, the creator of the Daleks, also makes a return in the series finale, with him reuniting with Sarah Jane Smith many years after their first meeting in his debut episode, Genesis of the Daleks. Although the Sontarans and Davros appeared considerably less than the Daleks, Cybermen or the Master, the production team’s confidence in bringing back gradually obscured villains from the classic series was proven by the success of the series so far. A scene featuring a young Davros in the past was scripted for the finale, but like the aforementioned Shadow Proclamation scene, was scrapped for time and budget.

4. The end of the river

After two single-parter episodes in the last two series, Steven Moffat’s contribution to Series 4 was Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead, his last two-parter in the RTD era to round off his first two-parter in Series 1. The story featured the debut of River Song, a character at the end of her timeline who would become more relevant in future episodes as the Doctor’s timeline continues and her past is gradually explored. I think Moffat wrote the story knowing that he was going to be taking over from RTD and so he wanted to get a head start on his storylines.

The story also features the Vashta Nerada, carnivore piranhas of the air that live in shadows (thereby creating another innocuous thing for people to be scared of) and an underlying storyline involving the mind of Charlotte Abigail Lux, or the command node CAL. A century prior, CAL tried to save the 4022 people that were in the Library when the Vashta Nerada began to emerge, but since she was unable to teleport them away, she had to save their minds to the data core, leading to Donna being “saved” as well when the Doctor attempted to teleport her back to the TARDIS. In the end, River sacrificed herself to teleport Donna and all 4022 people out of the data core, but the Doctor managed to upload her data ghost into it, where she lived with the data ghosts of the rest of her crew and the avatars of CAL and Donna’s children.

5. Thematic story arcs

The story arc of this series was teased more subtly compared to previous seasons as multiple elements from the finale were scattered across the episodes of the series. Those elements included the bees disappearing, the Medusa Cascade, lost worlds, the return of Rose Tyler and the DoctorDonna. Other elements from other series were also resolved in this series, such as Harriet Jones, the mystery of the Doctor’s hand (which the Doctor retook possession of at the end of the last series) and Dalek Caan of the Cult of Skaro.

After Evolution of the Daleks, Dalek Caan’s Emergency Temporal Shift somehow took back into the Time War, which was meant to be time-locked. He travelled to the Gates of Elysium, where he managed to save Davros from the jaws of the Nightmare Child. Although his mind was damaged in the process, he gained the ability to clearly see through time, allowing him to manipulate events as he saw fit.

Davros was brought to the present day, where he used the cells from his body to create the New Dalek Empire before creating a reality bomb to destroy every reality. To power it, they stole 27 planets, some from different times, and relocated them to the Medusa Cascade one second out of sync from the rest of time. This caused some bees from Melissa Majoria to leave Earth as they sensed a disturbance.

Without the Doctor to stop it, the reality bomb’s effects began affecting other universes as stars began disappearing. Rose Tyler journeyed out from Pete’s World in search of the Doctor and ended up in Donna’s World, a world created around her when a Time Beetle was attached to Donna. It was revealed that reality had been bending around her since she was born, causing her to meet the Doctor again and be dragged into two parallel worlds, the other instance being in the data core of the Library.

In the Doctor’s universe, however, the Doctor’s absence led Harriet Jones, the former Prime Minister of Britain who was deposed thanks to the Doctor’s words near the end of The Christmas Invasion, to activate the Subwave Network in an effort to find anyone who could help contact the Doctor. Harriet found the Doctor’s former companions and used the network to call the Doctor, but the Daleks tracked her down and confronted her, but not before she gave control of the network to Torchwood.

Harriet was apparently exterminated by the Daleks, but in the anthology Now We Are Six Hundred written by James Goss and illustrated by RTD, there is a poem that details how Harriet managed to escape the Daleks by falling through a trapdoor and riding away on her motorbike. Phil Collinson was apparently not happy with RTD killing off Harriet Jones and “nagged” him about it ever since, so RTD took the first opportunity he could to send the poem to him. Collinson asked RTD if it counted and he said that he did. During the lockdown tweetalong for the Series 4 finale on 19 April 2020, RTD elaborated on Harriet’s escape, even going so far to suggest that it was a part of the Trickster’s long game, “but that’s a story for another time”.

6. My Choice, My Life, My Death

Fun fact - the title to this was the former title for my version of Turn Left in my personal project, which was a result of me ripping off bits of the RTD series while writing the first few series of Doctor Who.

Turn Left was the Doctor-lite episode of the series, double-banked alongside Midnight as the companion-lite episode of the series. As a result of the Time Beetle mentioned in the previous topic, a parallel world was created where Donna never met the Doctor, which led him to die in what would have been the events of The Runaway Bride. The timeline would continue to go on with the following differences; Sarah Jane and her group would take over the events of Smith and Jones before dying alongside Martha; the Titanic replica crashed into Buckingham Palace, destroying London and flooding all of southern England with radiation; the Adipose seeding happened in America instead of London; and the Sontarans activated ATMOS to convert Earth into a clone planet, but Captain Jack and the Torchwood team gave their lives to stop them.

Rose Tyler found Donna while in search for the Doctor. She kept Donna alive by diverting her away from London before the Titanic replica crashed into Buckingham Palace because she realised that she needed the Doctor and Donna together to stop the oncoming darkness. With the help of UNIT, Rose sent Donna back in time to where the split in the timeline happened and Donna ended up sacrificing her life to ensure that her past self wouldn’t make the decision that would inadvertently create the alternate timeline. Rose did manage to leave a message for the Doctor - “Bad Wolf” - to catch his attention.

7. The mystery of the Doctor’s hand and the DoctorDonna

After the Doctor regained possession of his spare hand at the end of Series 3, it has ended up playing a significant role in two Series 4 stories.

In The Doctor’s Daughter, the Doctor’s hand appeared to react as the TARDIS was brought to Messaline, which happened due to the creation of Jenny from the Doctor’s genes. Later on in The Stolen Earth, the Doctor was shot by a Dalek upon reuniting with Rose and proceeded to regenerate, sparking speculation as to whether David Tennant had resigned despite it being reported that he would be in the 2008 Christmas Special. In the next episode, Journey’s End, the Doctor ended up directing most of his regeneration energy into his spare hand, leading to speculation over the years as to whether a regeneration was actually used, though that was dispelled in 2013 when Steven Moffat confirmed as such in The Time of the Doctor. I wasn’t a fan of the regeneration twist initially, though I understand how it was needed for the rest of this storyline to work out.

The Daleks brought the TARDIS up to the Crucible and ordered everyone out. Donna became distracted by a heartbeat in her head and found herself unable to leave when the TARDIS locked her in. The Daleks dumped the TARDIS into the core of the Crucible, where it was to be destroyed, but as Donna fell to the floor, she reached for the Doctor’s hand, which formed into a copy of the Doctor while the ensuing biological meta-crisis gave Donna the Doctor’s mind, though it laid dormant until Davros shocked her. This allowed Donna to deactivate the reality bomb and send the stolen planets back to their original places in space and time. As such, Donna became the DoctorDonna, with the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor’s creation being the cause of the timelines converging around her, allowing her to meet the Doctor again despite missing events in previous stories through coincidences.

Sadly, the Meta-Crisis Tenth Doctor and the DoctorDonna weren’t able to stay in the Doctor’s universe for long. After destroying the Daleks in one fell swoop, the Doctor left his meta-crisis self with Rose in Pete’s World, because he was like himself when he first met Rose and he needed her to change him. As for Donna, she began to find herself being overwhelmed by her newfound knowledge, which would have killed her if not for the Doctor wiping her memories of their adventures together, thereby “killing” her mercifully. When the Doctor told Sylvia and Wilf of this, he noted to them that there are worlds out there singing praises of Donna, for she was the most important woman in the whole universe, though she can never know it.

8. The Time Lord Victorious

As stated at the start, there would be a series of specials broadcast throughout 2009 in lieu of a fifth series, which would come later in 2010 with a new production team. The Next Doctor saw the return of the Cybermen and a special guest companion, Jackson Lake, who began to see himself as a new incarnation of the Doctor due to an incident with the Cybermen. Planet of the Dead was an Easter adventure with scenes filmed in Dubai and the beginning of a mini-arc that would see the end of the Tenth Doctor’s life - “He will knock four times.”

The Waters of Mars shows the Doctor at his most reckless as he tried to avert a fixed point in time by saving Adelaide Brooke and two of her crew from Bowie Base One when an aqueous viral infection known as the Flood infested the rest of the crew. Originally, Adelaide was supposed to die with her crew and the cause of Bowie Base One’s destruction remained unknown. After the Doctor returned to Earth, Adelaide allowed the surviving members of her crew to leave and share their story. As the Doctor proclaimed to Adelaide that he was the Time Lord Victorious, Adelaide became horrified and angry at the potential of the Doctor’s power, so she took her own life in an effort to preserve the timeline, which led the Doctor to realise the seriousness of his actions, though he seemingly remained defiant.

I suppose I would have liked to see this attitude continue into the final specials, but it would be revisited a decade later with the multi-platform Time Lord Victorious series, covering books, comics, audios, games and webcasts. The series explored the Tenth Doctor going into the Dark Times, where he encountered a species known as the Kotturuh, who assigned lifespans to species based on their significance to the universe. By stopping the Kotturuh, the Tenth Doctor rewrote history and altered timelines, eventually resulting in the Eighth and Ninth Doctors allying with the Daleks and a group of vampires to make their future incarnation see the error of his ways.

Ironically, in the 2015 Titan Comics miniseries Four Doctors, the Tenth Doctor defied his fate and became the Time Lord Victorious again, conquering the universe before he was assassinated by a Raxacoricofallapatorian.

9. The evil of the Time Lords

Originally, three specials were commissioned for 2009, but in April 2008, Jane Tranter pushed for David Tennant’s final story to be a two-parter, and as such, RTD had to work hard in order to make The End of Time the big story that it was. The 2008 global financial crisis led to budget cuts across the BBC and with countries like Canada and Japan no longer deciding to buy rights to the series, RTD feared that the two-parter would be cut to 45 minutes each or that The Waters of Mars would be dropped, but luckily, Julie Gardner managed to raise the money to make all four specials possible. Both parts of The End of Time made up the 2009 Christmas Special and the 2010 New Year’s Special, the latter being the first of its kind before the Chibnall era decided to move the Christmas Specials to New Year’s Day.

Part One saw the Master being resurrected thanks to his contingency plan, but an accident left him with an energy deficit. Meanwhile, Wilf was contacted by a mysterious woman who told him to take up arms. Wilf manages to find the Doctor to see if he can bring Donna’s memory of him back, but he refuses to go to her. On Christmas morning, the Doctor finds Wilf again in an effort to find the Master, which he does thanks to a subconscious suggestion from Donna. Wilf goes with the Doctor to the Naismith mansion and confronts the Master, who uses the Immortality Gate to transform every human (except for Wilf and Donna) into himself, creating the Master Race.

Part Two sees two Vinvocci rescuing the Doctor and Wilf while the Master uses the Master Race to trace the origin of the drumbeat inside his head. The drumbeat was revealed to the the work of the Time Lords, who put the signal in the Master’s head when he was eight years old and was taken for initiation to the Time Lord Academy on Gallifrey. This was an effort by Rassilon and the High Council to win the Time War by breaking Gallifrey out of the time lock and ripping the Time Vortex apart, which was what made the Doctor destroy Gallifrey to stop them (apparently). Only two Time Lords opposed this plan, with one of them being the woman that contacted Wilf. The Doctor fell back into the Naismith mansion and confronted the Master and Rassilon, struggling to choose who to kill until a glance from the woman leads him to break the link, sending the Time Lords back into the Time War, with the Master going as well in an attempt to exact revenge for turning him into what he was.

In all honesty, it feels kind of surreal to see Rassilon becoming a villain in this story, given how he was revered by the Time Lords and also the fact that the Time Lords were written in a better light during the classic series (but what would I know, the only Gallifrey-related classic series episode I really watched was The Five Doctors). Then again, I don’t think the Doctor ever saw eye-to-eye with the Time Lords in the classic series, so it kind of makes sense how he wouldn’t see eye-to-eye with them in the revived series.

10. The grandest farewell

Once Rassilon and the Time Lords were sent back into the time lock with the Master, the Doctor was initially relieved to still be alive until Wilf knocked four times. After ranting about how he could do so much more, the Doctor couldn’t bear leaving Wilf to die and allowed himself to absorb the Immortality Gate’s regeneration to get him out of the control chamber. He then dropped Wilf off at home and went off on his final reward, visiting all his previous companions and other people he met (even those from spinoff media and the classic era, as would be revealed in SJA Series 4), seeing Donna at her wedding, and visiting Rose on New Year’s Day 2005 before struggling back to his TARDIS, setting it into flight and regenerating into the Eleventh Doctor, setting the console room on fire in the process.

Aside from the returning cameos in The End of Time, there was some bonus farewell content from the production team to celebrate the end of the RTD era. At the wrap party, two videos were produced by Jennie Fava for the cast and crew; a video of everyone singing to The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and The Ballad of Russell and Julie, featuring David Tennant, Catherine Tate and John Barrowman.

Although The End of Time was David Tennant’s final episode, he would also be involved in the filming of the 2009 BBC One Christmas idents and the SJA episode The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, which would premiere that October.

Unlike Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant readily embraced his role even after his time on Doctor Who, appearing at the Birmingham Lords of Time Fan Convention in September 2012, reprising his role in the 50th Anniversary special The Day of the Doctor in 2013 and making his Big Finish debut with the first volume of The Tenth Doctor Adventures, released in May 2016. And then of course, he returned again at the end of The Power of the Doctor in preparation for the 60th Anniversary Specials in November 2023.

In the end, there were too many things to say about Series 4 to summarise in 10 topics, so I’m putting in some honourable mentions below:

Was Mr Copper ungrateful?

One of the most notorious things about Series 4, or rather Voyage of the Damned, is the Doctor Who Magazine interview with Clive Swift, who played Mr Copper in the special and also Jobel in Revelation of the Daleks (he was also due to star in a Big Finish audio in 2003, but he withdrew due to a family illness). When Benjamin Cook interviewed Swift (on set in his trailer towards the end of the shooting), he didn’t seem to take the interview seriously, complaining about why Cook taped the interview instead of using shorthand and commenting about how he wasn’t getting paid for the interview. In 2017, Cook commented that RTD and Julie Gardner had to approve the interview before it was published, suspecting it was “testament to what a sod he’d been on set all month”.

Apparently, it was rumoured that RTD was going to have Clive Swift reprise his role in The Stolen Earth, but he changed his mind after the DWM interview. This was never confirmed, however his character was mentioned, as it is implied that Mr Copper established the foundation that developed the Subwave Network.

When Swift died in 2019, RTD apparently claimed that he should have not allowed the interview to be published as he felt that he had a duty of care to Swift, just as with any other actor. Although the only source for this is someone else’s Twitter without any primary source to back it up, it’s very likely that RTD actually said this because Benjamin Cook has replied to people replying to that tweet.

Something that can be verified, however, is a letter that RTD emailed to Doctor Who Magazine shortly after Swift’s death. This didn’t seem to have gotten much attention, but someone managed to take a snapshot of it and posted it online, which I’ll also attach below.

What do you think of RTD’s response? Do you think it made Swift seem less ungrateful about his experience on Doctor Who? Feel free to let me know what you think.

Keeping it (the timey-wimey) in the family

I’m gonna get flamed for the title to this, I just know it. But nonetheless, I’m still stating the obvious.

Peter Davison reprised his role as the Fifth Doctor for the 2007 Children in Need sketch, Time Crash. About a week before it aired, Davison’s daughter, Georgia Moffett, was cast as Jenny in The Doctor’s Daughter, meaning that a daughter of a Doctor was playing the daughter of the Doctor. After Tennant and Moffett married, Peter Davison became the former’s father-in-law.

Although Jenny was shown to have been killed near the end of The Doctor’s Daughter, the ending of the episode showed her being revived, unbeknownst to the Doctor, before stealing a shuttlecraft and leaving to go on adventures. Georgia Moffett was interested in returning to the series and although she hasn’t reprised her role onscreen, her character has returned in extended media, with Moffett returning for a Big Finish audio series featuring Jenny in 2018.

On a side note, former TVB actress Corinna Chamberlain (a Westerner) is literally Georgia Moffett and you cannot convince me otherwise.

That Time Lady

The identity of the Time Lady who contacted Wilf has never been openly explained on-screen, although the popular explanation seems to be that it was the Doctor’s mother since it was what RTD told her actress, Claire Bloom, and the production team. However, RTD acknowledged that it could have been any other Time Lady, such as Romana, Susan Foreman’s mother (aka the Doctor’s daughter) or even the Rani. And before anyone says it, it can’t be Tecteun because she would be with Division.

Another similar woman appeared in Series 9’s Hell Bent when the Twelfth Doctor returned to the drylands of Gallifrey. Steven Moffat said that he would rather leave it to the fans to decide who that woman was, whether she would be the Doctor’s mother, or even if she was the same woman from The End of Time.

“How many have died in your name?”

In Journey’s End, Davros reveals the Doctor’s soul, telling him that while he may abhor violence and never carry a weapon, his self-sacrificing nature convinced the people he meets to do the same, thereby making them into weapons, which makes him recall Harriet Jones and all the people who gave their lives in his name, including River Song and Jenny (again, he didn’t know that Jenny was revived). I’m sure there are many more examples of this from both before and after the RTD era, but that would be way out of scope for both the original episode and this retrospective series. I suppose I like to think that the people who are still alive are proud of having met the Doctor and would do anything they could to help him if he needed it. I mean, that’s what Harriet Jones did, didn’t she?

In my opinion, Series 4 and the 2009 Specials were the peak of the revived series, or rather the first of few. I didn’t get into Doctor Who for a few more years when this series came out (though I did watch one or two stories here and there), but even in Australia, the appeal of the show was as profound as it was in the UK. In primary school, I knew three kids in my year level who were fans of the show; one of them invited me to his house (or maybe his mum invited my mum and brought me along as well, idk) and we watched a story from Series 1 together; and the other two I played with in a Doctor Who-esque LARP with some Dynasty Warriors added in to boot; that LARP was one of the origins of my personal project which I would put to pen and paper (or rather, document and keyboard) in a few years’ time.

When I finally got into Doctor Who around 2011 or 2012, I took my time to watch the RTD era episodes as well; looking back, I only wish someone drilled it into me to start watching Doctor Who, whether by buying the DVDs or watching the episodes as they premiered on ABC, but knowing my mum back then, she would always have something recording on weekend nights, on the one DVR that could receive digital television, so I’d have to settle with watching on analog because the idea never came to me to buy the DVDs or find some way to watch it online (my 10GB internet data plan didn’t help things either).

This ends the Tennant and RTD eras of Doctor Who. Stay tuned for Part 5 as we enter the Smith and Moffat eras with my 10 takes on Series 5.

[enobullphotography]

NEW YEAR, NEW LOGO!! Lmfao. Sorry, I couldn't help myself! So last night I was up for about 2 hours using all the energy I had left to put together this blog post and the universe decided that it didn't want me to post! So here I am trying to do it again! (Sidebar, it happens again and this post is scrapped for life Lmao.)

So getting right into it! Throughout history every company has had a logo. The emblem that represents the company, the brand or whatever it is that said company serves. It's always been common practice for that logo to evolve with the times and such has been the case for some of my favorite companies and brands.

Among them there is Mercedes-Benz. Tied to the ideology of luxury, Mercedes (prior to becoming Mercedes-Benz in a merger deal) got its start in the early 1900's. They would go through six iterations of their logo before landing on their keeper in 1989.

Then there's Nike. Easily my favorite brand/company of all time. Prior to being named after the Goddess of Victory, Nike was 'Blue Ribbon Sports' in 1964. Seven years later in 1971 came the rebrand. Phil Knight co founder of Nike enlisted the help of Carolyn Davidson, a journalism major who switched to graphic design after taking an elective course. It was here at Portland State University where Nike was born. Carolyn designed the swoosh, and in 1972 BRS was reborn with a new name and new logo. A logo that would remain mostly untouched for the last 50 years.

And of course who could leave out Apple? (RIP forever to Steve Jobs) The very company that makes the laptop I'm typing on as we speak. Lol.

Apples original logo in 1976 was a picture (like from an old time book) featuring Isaac Newton reading a book under a tree. Because that's not pretentious at all! Lmao. But I'm not judging! A short year later Apple would change its logo to an actual apple with a bite taken out of it and throughout the years it would only change its color. What once was a rainbow apple has transitioned to black and eventually chrome. Regardless of its color it's undeniablly recognizable when you see it!

Which brings us to the only company that has my heart, lol! Eno Bull Photography. I imagine if you're reading this then you're somewhat aware of my photography journey, for those who may not be aware, I became a photographer in late 2008. In early 2009 with the money from my tax return I purchased my first DSLR and have not looked back since. When I first started shooting I had nothing but a camera. I didn't have photo shop to edit, nor did I have a laptop to download photoshop on. Lol. Therefore all of my early work was mostly unedited and the best I could do was type out "Bull's Eye Photography" punctuated with a crude graphic of crosshairs on the 'paints' program of my family Dell desktop. Lmfao After realizing that the name had already been taken I decided 'Eno Bull Photography' would be the name to carry my brand. However I knew from the very beginning that I wanted a logo. Especially in the era where any and all photographers were watermarking their work. My first logo was done by my cousin Buddy. He has a lot of graphic design experience and so I gave him an idea and allowed him to run with it. The first logo was a lens (which also happened to be the lens from my camera at the time) with a set of Bull Horns, you know, because I'm Eno. Bu... Anyway! Lol It served me well for a few years but I outgrew it quickly. I wanted something newer, something a little more subtle but still a representation of me and my work. I wanted something elegant enough that it could be the crest of a designer fashion house but still rugged enough that you could see it came from humble beginnings. Being that the Lion is my favorite animal, and I'm a Leo, I thought the Lion would make for the perfect crest. Seeing as how my name is Bull I saw it fitting for said Lion to have bull horns. I rested the lions head on the glass of a lens (the background) and incased it with what I now know is called a Meander and thus the newest EBP Logo was born. a logo I affectionately call the "Bullsace Crest." I "unveiled" the logo in 2016 when I inaugurated this site. It's been my logo since. a few days away from the New Year I decided the logo needed a quick little revamp. Nothing drastic seeing as how I'm very much a fan of it as it was but just a little freshening up. I took every single element, and simply remade it with newer pieces. And thus we have the latest iteration of the Eno Bull Photography Logo!!

If you read all of that you're a real one thank you! Cheers to great success in 2025!! Book Eno Bull Photography! Lol

Hope ya Enjoy!! Eno Bull Photography

[jacksonjb]

Social-Media Progress Update: Developing a Brand and What to Post

When making my social media page, some of the things I had to keep in mind were that the brief we were tasked with intended for us to create an entirely new artist, and so the social media had to give the effect of the introduction of a new artist on the trip-hop scene.

I had to come up with a new name, history and a fictional persona for them in order to make them feel like an authentic artist. I had already decided on my artists' name, Jardeeling, and now just needed to build their history. To do this I would make a varied array of posts that elucidate various factors of my artists life, from personal habits to likes and dislikes and more.

In order to do this, I would want to make posts that, while also presenting various products my artist has to offer like music and physical releases, would also demonstrate what my artist is like as a person. To begin with, the first post on my social media page was this:

For the caption, I used a pretty famous line from Shakespeare's Hamlet. I figured it would be tongue in cheek enough for people to be amused by the reference, but that it would also serve as a fitting piece to enter my artist into the world by. I also wanted it to set the tone and image of my artist a bit, hopefully evoking the tone and theme I wanted my audience to recognise when coupled with the photo posted.

After this however, and after making the magazine post and uploading it to the page, I began to be a bit uncertain as to how to move forward in creating my social media page. Because of this, I went back and did both a little more research and another plan as to what to post.

Further Research

I decided that if I really wanted to know what to post, I should know trip-hop even more. I followed a bit of trip-hop discourse online to try and gain some insightful and nuanced information about it all, and found that some people didn't consider trip-hop to be an authentic genre!

It was interesting to see, but it didn't really help with any of my knowledge of the (sub)genre, so I kept looking. One thing I did find important was that trip-hop by and large is considered to be a musical consolidation of hip-hop (obviously), jazz, soul, ambient, funk and various forms of electronic music (Hannaham, 2008). Bearing this in mind, it could be assumed that I could also incorporate some of those genre's approaches to marketing and promotion in my own. Looking at a favourite ambient/electronica artist of mine, Aphex Twin, I thought that some of his large-scale, enigmatic marketing like the posting of postering bearing the iconic Aphex 'A' logo around major cities globally could be recreated in a smaller scale on my social media page. As well as this, some more generalised ideas I found from research were photoshoots, music video trailers and even artist merchandise that could be made.

The Plan

After this, I began to make a simple bullet point list for what to include on my social media page:

In-studio photoshoot

MV trailer

Make a logo (and share it around)

Fan QnA's/meet and greet photos

Make merchandise and share it

[ar-fmp]

08/03 - Development

For International Women Day, I didn't know of any female games designers so I googled and started researching Corrinne Yu. Corrinne Yu is an American games programmer who has worked on titles such as Quake II, Halo 4 and King's Quest. In 2008, she was hired by Microsoft Studios to work as an engine architect at 343 industries just after the company had taken ownership of the Halo franchise. In 2013 she joined Naughty Dog, a video games developer, however she would go on to leave Naughty Dog to join Amazon. Ever since 2018, she has been working at General Motors as VP of engineering.

Getting started; I moved all of my castings to the end of my On Click event as I was told that where I had them before (at the start of my Event Tick) could use up lots of memory.

I was also told that I could simplify my blueprints, making them easier to read and easier to implement new features into. For example, the switch:

The switch is a lot smaller and easier to make than a branch of IF ELSE statements like I had before.

With the problem yesterday about the upgrades only applying to one tower and one farm, that has been dealt with using the For Each loop. This node works out how many times it has to run using an array, and for each actor in that array; it'll do whatever is in the loop. So with this, I can give all existing actors upgrades at once.

I've decided to remove the castle's shooting ability, because I feel that the player can easily stock up on farms rather than towers and rely on the castle protecting them - when it should be the other way round.

Another thing to simplify my blueprints are functions. I knew what they were and how they worked beforehand - however I overlooked their usefulness.

Instead of writing this each time I want to increase max health, I can make a function like this:

So I only have to put in these when I want to increase max health:

And I can put two of the same type if I want to give more health per upgrade.

This is what I've made so far with these new functions:

But for whatever reason, it will always pick 2 as the number for the power; but a random number for the name...

With a slight alteration to this blueprint, it now works normally.

This will help a lot as it looks a lot more uniform and controlled compared to this:

Another issue I have at the moment, is that at the end of wave one, the next wave won't begin after the player chooses their upgrade. The strange part is, that's the only wave that doesn't work - the waves after work fine.

What I believe to be the problem is that setting New Wave = true is before the get actor of class. In other words; I'm trying to cast to something that doesn't exist in the blueprint yet. So I made a function with all these castings and put it in front of the variables.

After a while I have now completed the middle button, this one is all about offense.

There is twice as many upgrades in the middle one.

I had to combine them together as it wouldn't randomize and play the animations for the other buttons when pressed.

For the right button, I'm gonna go with something quite different. The upgrades from this button are gonna be vastly different from the others. I want there to be stuff like "Double the attack damage of your towers, but destroy ALL farms" putting you in a terrible position. The third button is going to have some insane and situational upgrades.

One of the upgrades I'm adding is inspired from an item in Risk Of Rain 2, where the player gains a double damage; but loses half their max health.

Here is how far I got into the third button:

[assemble-at-the-intersection]

'Avengers: Infinity War' Review - Building a Villain

‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is the 19th entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also known as the MCU, and is directed by the Russo Brothers and produced by Kevin Feige. It is the first part of a larger two-part storyline, the other part being ‘Avengers: Endgame’, which begins the movement toward ending the ten-year storyline that has spanned the MCU since its establishment in 2008 with Iron Man and later the Avengers. The film follows our beloved heroes and heroines as they struggle to disrupt the mad titan, Thanos, from gathering the six artifacts - called the Infinity Stones - that have the potential to end half the lives in our universe. Stakes are higher than ever, and the film leaves us questioning whether we have finally encountered an unbeatable villain.

The film features almost every character that has existed in the MCU until this point in the storyline, and overall does a good job at utilising these characters in a way that helps progress the plot without breaking the movie’s pacing. The scenes between Iron Man and Spider Man, for example, take two characters and their relationship to one another to raise the stakes of the battle for our characters but also for us as viewers; with each passing scene, we find ourselves more and more attached to our heroes, invested in their bonds as well as their war against Thanos.

However, there were characters within the movie that did not get as much screen time. As the movie focuses mainly on the more major characters of the MCU, such as Iron Man and Star Lord, and their dynamics, secondary characters were often pushed aside within the narrative, with not much depth given to them beyond aiding in the battle against the mad titan himself.  

Often, this tendency to push secondary characters aside has extended to the villains they challenge. One of the MCU’s weakest aspects has to be their villains; with a pattern of creating surface-level villains and killing them within the same movie, the MCU struggles to extend its strength in characterisation to their villains. Consequently, these villainous figures end up seeming much more basic and boring in comparison to their more interesting comic counterparts. 

There are few exceptions to this pattern within the MCU, but ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is one of those few exceptions. I would go as far as to argue that the best character of the movie has to be the main villain himself: Thanos.

Thanos is the opposite of these lacklustre villains; his character has been set up for ten years, building him up as a looming figure that has the potential to become one of, if not, the biggest threat that our heroes have had to face yet. The movie successfully fulfills our expectations for the antagonist, as he is shown to be as ruthless and threatening as his comic counterpart. The savage battles featuring Thanos build upon his reputation, showing us why he is to be feared rather than simply telling us that he should be. Additionally, just as the heroes are given depth through their relationship to one another, Thanos’ past and his relationship to his daughter Gamora adds dimension to his identity, showing us his willingness to act upon his goals in spite of his own potential loss. 

Beyond his ruthlessness, Thanos’ character is fleshed out by his more sympathetic qualities. We learn his reasoning for the things he does, which allows us to understand and perhaps somewhat sympathise with Thanos himself. I would argue that the MCU’s version of Thanos is actually better than his comic book counterpart.

When it comes to motivation in the comics, Thanos never planned to wipe out half the universe, even after gathering all of the infinity stones, or infinity gems as they were called in the comics. Thanos only decides to do so as an attempt to impress his love interest: the living personification of Death. If this goal was not disappointing in itself, Thanos’ attempt to garner Death’s affection fails pathetically as Death is uninterested in Thanos. 

In contrast, the MCU provides Thanos with a less selfish and more understandable reason for achieving his goal. Rather than aiming to impress a love interest, the aim is ironically to lessen - or, ideally, remove - evil. While Thanos’ actions are not completely selfless and the character remains sinister, the film version of the villain allows for us to view the character as an anti-villain rather than complete villain. This depth of character, achieved by few villains - such as Loki - in the past, makes Thanos one of the best characters to date.

Overall, I would highly recommend this movie for both comic book readers and fans of the superhero genre as it is an amazing first part to the two-part finale of the ten-year superhero story. Full of amazing visuals, great characters and, perhaps, one of the best endings to a superhero film, this film is a must-watch. 

[divergent-one-1984]

Organized Crime Ring in Astoria, NY, in a neighborhood under the jurisdiction of 114th PRECINCT and in apartment buildings managed by CENTRAL ASTORIA, LLC. I have been the victim of TARGETED COMMUNITY HARASSMENT SINCE SUMMER 2016 because of my race and gender, I am an African American woman (because of a rumor / gossip mill started by staff at NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION while I was employed there from 2014 to 2016 I was made the victim of WORKPLACE MOBBING and TARGETED PSYCHOLOGICALHARASSMENT & TORTURE / EMOTIONAL ABUSE. Due to the illegal access and leaking of private, personal, confidential information by wiretapping / cloning / hacking of personal devices, accounts and illegal surveillance in my residence, etc. This includes leaking of confidential medical information (HPV diagnosis in 2008 (strains that can cause CERVICAL CANCER and an ABORTION I had in 2004) - SISTER / STALKER ONGOING GASLIGHTING

In addition to the HATE CRIME element to the ongoing stalking and harassment there is a RELIGIOUS Zealotry / Nuttery / Judgmental / FUNDAMENTALISM / EXTREMISM element to my daily harassment as I am being harassed by mostly MUSLIM and LATINO people.

Based on facts / my observation, I would estimate that 9 out of 10 people harassing me on a daily basis are MUSLIM or LATINO, with MUSLIMS ranking number 1 (the majority being MEN and BOYS), MUSLIMS who appear to be from MIDDLE EASTERN / ARAB countries and countries on the ASIAN continent, such as BANGLADESH and PAKISTAN where the majority of the demographic is MUSLIM).

I am STALKED and HARASSED by WOMEN and GIRLS as well (again mostly MUSLIM.and LATINO, however in lower numbers, seems to be a HARASSMENT CAMPAIGN led by MEN and BOYS, with their female counterparts ,associates, family members, etc assisting. SISTER / STALKER basically holding me hostage non responsive to me getting laptop or keyboard SO I CAN MOVE OUT OF HERE.

Starting In MAY 2023 I decided I had enough of my SISTER'S / STALKER'S HARASSMENT and the COMMUNITY HARASSMENT.

I want to leave so I can be on my own and take care of myself how I need to regarding the constant ORGANIZED GROUP STALKING AND HARASSMENT and other things.

I have zero money and a busted laptop. I made a request to purchase a laptop for less than $200, did the research and found at least 3 that fit the bill, my SISTER / STALKER who has been HARASSING / GASLIGHTING me for years, who actually tried everything to not allow me to move back into the apartment 2 1/2 years ago, now it seems to be wanting to hold me hostage and not allow me to leave based on her inaction regarding my numerous requests).

My SISTER / STALKER handles the HOUSEHOLD FINANCES FOR THE RELATIVE I AM CARING FOR, according to my SISTER / STALKER & CAREGIVER $200 was not doable, even though I stated you can budget for it and from the beginning I have stated I would pay the relative back.

BTW, my relative who I believe is a target as well, who has been intentionally medically neglected which lead to most of the health problems they have today, which has rendered them bed bound, was basically collateral damage.

When my TARGETED HARASSMENT began in the WORKPLACE in late 2015 and then my COMMUNITY in SUMMER 2016, at some point most likely and very seemingly ILLEGAL SURVEILLANCE was set up that was DIRECTED INSIDE and AT my residence as well as WIRETAPPING / CLONING / HACKING of PERSONAL INTERNET, DEVICES, AND ACCOUNTS occurred.

I was living with this relative at the time when my TARGETED HARASSMENT began, obviously there was some data gathering / hacking of personal information prior to in order to plan the HARASSMENT TACTICS and to continue to gather information to harass in real time and have the ability to adjust HARASSMENT TACTICS accordingly in real time.

Also, my relative lets my SISTER / STALKER HANDLE THE FINANCES BLINDLY, THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IS IN THEIR BANK ACCOUNT AND MY SISTER DOES NOT DO ANYTHING TO REALLY KEEP MY RELATIVE INFORMED OF THEIR OWN ACCOUNTS AS IF SHE IS BEING CONTROLLING AND SECRETIVE ABOUT MONIES AND ACCOUNTS THAT ARE NOT HERS.

As an alternative, a week or so later I asked relative if they would be able to purchase something that was no more than around $40, they were ok with that basically.

I requested an external keyboard to be purchased. I did the same thing when requesting the laptop, I did the research, sent some suggestions and I found, SISTER / STALKER WHO WON'T SHOW MY RELATIVE HER ACTUAL BANK ACCOUNT to actually see how much money is in there each month.

I believe my SISTER has set up online accounts for banking and bills that my relative is not privy to at all. My relative trusts her explicitly / blindly.

I researched keyboards that would be compatible with my tablet found 2, one was about $40, the other was about $25.

Per my discussion with my relative, they said this would be ok, more attainable, even though they really have no clue what is in their own bank account because of the secretive control my SISTER / STALKER has on my relative's household finances.

MAY 2023 I sent a text via my relative's cell phone asking if my SISTER / STALKER purchased the keyboard because I had not heard anything back and my SISTER / STALKER had sent a text to my relative's cell phone about packages that were being delivered, one of them was from Amazon, which is where my laptop and keyboard recommendations came from. Packages came, there was no keyboard and no response to my follow up text to SISTER / STALKER.

My SISTER / STALKER went from NOT wanting me to move back in the apartment, trying to thwart this as much as possible to trying to hold me hostage essentially, because she is part of this ORGANIZED GROUP STALKING AND HARASSMENT CAMPAIGN.

I am telling her I want out / to leave and she's silent on this when 2 1/2 years ago she was saying all kinds of things to get me to NOT move back even though it was a done deal, I had decided already.

FINALLY RECEIVED KEYBOARD FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2023, but not without some ORGANIZED GROUP STALKING GASLIGHTING SHENANIGANS IN BETWEEN.

SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023

Continued STREET THEATER skit my SISTER / STALKER delaying purchase of keyboard and performing all kinds of GASLIGHTING harassment.

My SISTER / STALKER ARRIVES SOMETIME AROUND 5:15 PM left before 8:38 PM, that's the time I came out of bedroom.

My SISTER / STALKER left a flyer on the living room table from CHERRY VALLEY GROCERCY STORE (a supermarket a couple of blocks from the apartment, that is next door to a LAUNDROMAT, even though I don't go to the supermarket).

My SISTER / STALKER handles the household finances for the relative I take care of, including groceries, which she has delivered at the beginning of each month from STOP 'N SHOP.

My SISTER / STALKER often leaves this flyer here when she comes over, even though its unnecessary because she purchases the groceries each month and I have no money to purchase anything and she does not leave money / cash in the house for my relative, she also has relative's debit card so even if my relative wanted something from the supermarket I could not go to get anything because there is no money in the house so she brings the flyer in as GASLIGHTING / HARASSMENT.

My SISTER / STALKER keeps bringing CHERRY VALLEY SUPERMARKET flyers here even though it makes no sense to because I dont go to the supermarket, our groceries are delivered each month and there is no cash / debit card / credit card for me to go out and purchase anything from CHERRY VALLEY or any other retail establishment.

(see photo of flyer attached)

CHERRY, in addition to the derogatory term most are familiar with of a woman losing their virginity / breaking / tearing of the hymen.

I think CHERRY is a jail / law enforcement term, like fresh meat in jail for sexual assualt / breaking someones CHERRY.

(Early on in my TARGETED COMMUNITY HARASSMENT, which began in SUMMER 2016, STALKERS in my neighborhood performing NOISE HARASSMENT constantly walk by or stand under my apartment windows making various loud noises, one particular incident involved a LATINO man walking under my bedroom window speaking loudly about rape, making a statement during a DIRECTED CONVERSATION he was having on a cell phone about "raping her", her was referring to me)

Law enforcement has been heavily involved in my harassment since it started while I was employed at NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

The straw that broke the camels back for me after months of MOBBING, was an incident that occurred where a female employee was physically blocking me from exiting the elevator to my floor for work.

I quit either that day or the very next day because I realized this was an elevated form of bullying going on here, they were not just trying to make me quit or fire me for a fabricated cause but it seemed as if they were trying to get me to have a lapse in judgment and put my hands on someone so I can get arrested.

After I quit and filed a complaint with NYS DEPARTMENT OF LABOR and while the investigation was going on suddenly everywhere I went there were FDNY EMT Ambulances and NYPD patrol cars, as well as NYS and out of state law enforcement vehicles, and FDNY fire trucks in my neigborhood and travelling in and around NYC.

Mostly FDNY Ambulances in the beginning, then NYPD cars, constantly parked at my bus stop by my home, driving past the bus stop while I was waiting for the bus usually right before the bus drove up and parked at the bus stop before I get there via walking to the bus stop or exiting the bus, parked outside of retail stores, banks, post office, etc.

I have been a New Yorker all my life and I have seen more NYPD and FDNY vehicles around me in the last 8 years since my TARGETED COMMUNITY HARASSMENT began, than in my 40+ years on this earth.

2 FEMALE NYC DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS employees, SHANNON and CHRISTINE, who sat in cubicles 2 rows behind me used to refer to me often in DIRECTED CONVERSATION with each other as "CHERRY".

I believe CHERRY is also reference to MY PERIOD, which I am harassed about frequently through various PSYCHOLOGICAL HARASSMENT TACTICS, including COLOR HARASSMENT, a CHERRY, obviously is RED like BLOOD, MENSTRUAL BLOOD IN THIS CASE, and VALLEY is low like your VAGINA / UTERUS is in a low position / the lower half of the female body.

My PERIOD will be starting in a few days.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 2023

MY PERIOD STARTED TODAY.

Same day my SISTER / STALKER scheduled a doctor's appointment for relative I am taking care of at the same hospital my former GYN has an affiliation with.

My former GYN also saw patients on this one day a week, WEDNESDAYS.

THERE IS A RELENTLESSLY DISGUSTING OBSESSIVE and PERVERSE ATTENTION PAID TO MY PERIOD AND VAGINA IN GENERAL AS PART OF MY HARASMENT.

MANY SYNCHRONIZED HARASSMENT ACTIVITIES ARE CARRIED OUT AROUND MY MENSTRUAL CYCLE.

I believe NATASHA LIGGINS-MODELO (former NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION employee who BULLIED ME and instigated WORKPLACE MOBBING against me while I was employed at NYC DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION) was instrumental in HACKING and LEAKING OF MY PERSONAL DATA, which included medical information (HPV DIAGNOSIS, strains that cause CERVICAL CANCER).

To me there is no other logical explanation for the degree of harassment, degradation, dehumanization, complete violation of CIVIL, HUMAN, AND PRIVACY RIGHTS, etc that has been done to me except IGNORANT PEOPLE feeling a way about someone who has an STD / STI, a very common one that some of the very people harassing me right now probably have and don't even know it or who will eventually contract it because the only way to avoid it is to never have sex because condoms won't necessarily protect you from HPV.

It's so damn common they have a VACCINE for it that they encourage people to give to their children ideally before they have entered the sexually active population, which will certainly expose them to the possibility, whether they had 3 partners or 300 partners, whether they used a condom everytime they had sex or never or sometimes used a condom.

No one is immune from contracting HPV , unless you NEVER EVER have sex or hump / rub your genitals on someone else's genitals, so the judgement is really silly and coming from an ignorant place.

I did not do anything to NATASHA LIGGINS-MODELO, or anyone else in thay workplace or in my life generally to where they would just do something like this to me out of the blue.

One of the goals of RELATIONAL AGGRESSION and WORKPLACE MOBBING is to humiliate the tareget.

They used the HPV as a justification for the HARASSMENT & ABUSE and as something to try to humiliate me for. This is the only thing that makes sense.

I believe the HPV was leaked in the workplace and to people from my personal life, namely past sexual partners and because they are ignorant and ill-informed they overreacted and did this to me.

Also, one of the persons I think may be involved I believe is the person who I contracted the HPV from, my ex fiance WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY, I was initially diagnosed in JANUARY 2008, I stopped having sex with WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY, about 6 months prior to this in JUNE 2007.

I had been with WILFRED SHAWK KIRKALDY from 2002 to JUNE 2007 and only had 1 sexual partner prior to him. The 3rd sexual partner I had was KIRK DOLPHY, who I started having sex with right after I ended my relationship with WILFRED.

So for about 6 months prior to my HPV diagnosis, I was having sex with KIRK DOLPHY (who coincidentally was a NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION employee at the time when I met him back in 2007 and when I eventually went to work there in 2014).

So, the only thing I know for sure is that I was diagnosed with HPV in JANUARY 2008 and that I had already had 3 sexual partners by them, so technically it could be anyone of those 3 people, which includes my 1st sexual partner (who I will never name because frankly I don't think he has anything to do with instigating this harassment against me), my 2nd sexual partner WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY and my 3rd sexual partner KIRK DOLPHY.

I believe a couple of sexual partners I had after my diagnosis have something to do with the instigation of this HARASSMENT, as well or maybe primarily, one is my 5th sexual partner DEVIN ELTON THOMPSON, the 6th sexual partner is a LATINO by the name of LUIS MARTINEZ.

If it wasn't 1 or more of these past sexual partners I have named it is associates of theirs, harassing me as some kind of a stan for those individuals.

(see previous posts for details regarding my total of 6 sexual partners I have had over the course of my life)

Based on some other factors along with timing of diagnosis I really think I contracted HPV from WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY.

I told WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY about my diagnosis in SUMMER 2008. WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY also has strong ties to NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, he works in the school system, also he was a basketball athlete growing up in the NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION system, also worked for the NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (NBA), which probably had some dealings with NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY, KIRK DOLPHY, & DEVIN ELTON THOMPSON, all have ties to NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, through employment and / or sports (BASKETBALL SPECIFICALLY for WILFRED SHAWN KIRKALDY & DEVIN ELTON THOMPSON).

Each of these men also are of JAMAICAN DESCENT, known to be an EXTREMELY MISOGYNISTIC CULTURE certainly capable and willing of doing this to a woman for this reason.

My SISTER / STALKER scheduled a doctors appointment (AT THE SAME HOSPITAL MY FORMER GYN WAS AFFILIATED WITH and on the same day my GYN had annual appointments, today, WEDNESDAYS) some days ago that is way too early, requiring me to get up much earlier than I need to be up even though I have told her in the past not to schedule appointments earlier than 11 AM.

This is close to the time relative has regularly scheduled appointments multiple days a week. On these days my relatives SCHEDULED TRANSPORTATION TIME IS 10:10 AM, today it is 8:30 AM, transportation times should never be earlier than this unless its like a surgical procedure where operating rooms have to be scheduled making time slots are a bit more limited.

A regular ass appointment, the patient decides day and time, not the doctor.

I have to do a lot to prepare this relative, they can't really do much of anything on their own. I have to prepare their meals, get them their medicine, bathe them, clothe them, transport them from bed to wheelchair with the use of a Hoyer Lift.

Because of this, I would prefer any kind of appointment where the relative has to leave the house not be that early.

Most reasonable people would feel the same, but when you are being HARASSED / GASLIGHTED by a STALKER, my SISTER and a relative who doesn't know what is going on and is not very bright and lets my SISTER do whatever she wants regarding things then I have to deal with nonsensical bullshit all too frequently.

STILL NO KEYBOARD as of today. My SISTER / STALKER has been here couple of times and purchased (through delivery and in person) items that are needed and items that are not needed and no one asked her to buy but the keyboard still not here.

SISTER / STALKER RETURNED SOMETIME BETWEEN 12:30 and 1:00 PM knocked on my door with no response.

I told my relative I don't talk to my SISTER / STALKER, she also knows I don't talk to her anymore therefore she knows there is no reason to knock on my door disturbing me. 2 meals have been prepared for relative, she only has to place them in microwave.

I don't have to do ish while SISTER / STALKER is here. SISTER / STALKER is one who showed me how to use Hoyer Lift so she can move relative from wheelchair to bed herself.

My SISTER / STALKER just knocked did not say anything in response to me asking wth she wants, so I kept my door closed and stayed in my room.

My door had propped open at some point so I went outside to see what was going on around 1:23 PM.

Asked relative if SISTER / STALKER and her son left because they did not appear to be in the apartment. Relative stated SISTER / STALKER and her son left the apartment to get some food.

Apparently SISTER / STALKER knocked on my door so that I could put relative in bed, however she did not say anything and I went on about my business because I told relative before they left for appointment this morning since SISTER / STALKER and her son were coming back to the apartment SISTER / STALKER can put relative in bed because I don't want to look at / be around SISTER / STALKER and her son (THEY DISGUST ME and I HAVE LOST ALL RESPECT FOR THEM for the things they have done to me / the ORGANIZED GROUP STALKING & TARGETED COMMUNITY HARASSMENT they have engaged in)

So, unfortunately, if SISTER / STALKER does not place relative in bed they will have to sit in wheelchair until they leave, which is exactly what happened.

I am not doing it though, SISTER / STALKER and her son went to the store, came back at 1:24 PM, about a minute after I came out of my room. I heard the key in the door and went back into my bedroom so as not to lay eyes on them, left relative in wheelchair, they stayed there until I came out of my room around 5 or 6 PM.

Again, My SISTER / STALKER is the one who initially showed me how to use the Hoyer Lift so she is proficient in its use. She can place relative in the bed herself.

My SISTER / STALKER let relative sit in wheelchair and did not place them in the bed.

So back to my VAGINA and the HARASSMENT regarding the smell, my HPV, my MENSTRUAL CYCLE, YEAST INFECTION, etc.

My harassment regarding my VAGINA involves all negativity, either smells like FISH or GARBAGE or both according to the HARASSMENT, also constantly referencing HPV and YEAST INFECTION (associated with CHEESE AND FISH and other things, using these and other urban derogatory terms to reference the status and smell of my vagina.

My SISTER / STALKER went to McDonalds to purchase a FILET-O-FISH WITH CHEESE sandwich for my relative, which they never get. My relative normally gets a BIG MAC.

This was done intentionally to HARASS ME because MY PERIOD STARTED TODAY.

Again reference My PERIOD, VAGINA SMELLING LIKE GARBAGE / FISH.

Attached is a video taken by me on NOVEMBER 29, 2019, at about 8:30 AM. The time stamp on the bottom right of the screen is an hour ahead because I had not updated time for DST. Next to a garbage lot for business (a supermarket if I recall correctly):

The grafitti written on the wall was, "✓ PUSSY" and "coincidentally" parked right at the curb was a SANITATION TRUCK.

I walked this route every morning to the train station when I was living in MIDWOOD, BROOKLYN and working at NYC DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS, in walking distance from my SISTER / STALKER during MAY 2018 to APRIL 2021.

So, I had been passing by this same wall for more than a year during my morning commute to work and did not see this.

Then in 2019, when I took this video this was like right after it appeared, probably a day or so afterward.

I had been walking this same route to the train station for work since I moved to MIDWOOD in MAY 2018. To me this is obviously a reference to going to GYN, me having HPV, but from a particular persons point of view because of the crude language used.

The only man that I have been with sexually who usee the word "PUSSY" freely in conversation, not during sex or anything like that but regular ass conversation was DEVIN ELTON THOMPSON

(see previous posts and image below for receipts, his quote was "I love PUSSY" or something pretty much close to this effect)

DEVIN ELTON THOMPSON has been frequently referenced throughout my HARASSMENT since the beginning while I was employed at NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, where the HARASSMENT began.

Additionally, this graffitti showed up in the month of NOVEMBER, which I am sure is no coincidence as NOVEMBER is the birth month of myself and DEVIN ELTON THOMPSON, we share the same birth date, different year.

Also, when you make an appointment with most doctors, at least with my former GYN, they always ask you what your DATE OF BIRTH is.

This graffitti along with other harassment I had been experiencing while employed at NYC DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS made me become aware that my USED DISPOSABLE MENSTRUAL PADS were being extracted from my garbage, not sure if it was from work, home, or both, but after that I stopped using DISPOSABLE MENSTRUAL PADS and began using REUSABLE MENSTRUAL PADS, which these STALKERS eventually went on to actually steal some of my REUSABLE MENSTRUAL PADS (4 of them to be exact) out of the LAUNDROMAT while they were in the dryer, I stepped out of the LAUNDROMAT to purchase CHINESE TAKEOUT.

They did not take all of them (They came in packs of 4, I had 12 or 16 of them at the time) so I did not notice until I got home to put away my dry clothes and hang up any wet / damn clothes that the 4 REUSABLE MENSTRUAL PADS were missing.

I backtracked and figured they must have stole them while I stepped out for those few minutes to get the CHINESE TAKEOUT because other than that my clothes were in my view the remainder of the time.

THURSDAY JULY 13, 2023

KEYBOARD WATCH / POTENTIALLY ARRIVING TOMORROW (on day 3 of MY PERIOD)

Today is DAY 2 of my PERIOD. (HARASSMENT & STREET THEATER skits around my MENSTRUAL CYCLE)

Per the relative I am taking care of my SISTER / STALKER purchased the keyboard yesterday and it should be arriving tomorrow.

FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2023 Keyboard arrived.

[crowleysgirl56]

It has been doing my absolute fucking head the way streaming services seem to still have “height of the pandemic” mentality. We are not stuck in our homes anymore with the ability to binge watch series the way we were back in 2020! My god, the world went back to normal (mostly), and everyone left the houses and started living their lives again! And maybe some of us want to like, sit with an episode of a show for five minutes and think about it and absorb and digest it, without having to quickly more onto the next bit because we’re afraid that if we don’t literally eat it up within the first two weeks of it dropping that’ll somehow prove to the executives that we don’t want it!

Parks and Recreation is one of the most beloved comedies of the last 15 years. Its first season SUCKED. And I know that had to do with the 2008 writers strike, but can you imagine if they tried to write it today? Hell, let’s say it was being written last year and the actors and writers strike of 2023 caused the same issues its first season had. It would be gone and we would never have gotten the other 6 amazing seasons of that show that brought me so much laughter and joy. Can you imagine that there is probably a show that literally had that happen to it right now? A comedy with a small following that got cancelled because it didn’t so well this year, but had issues because of the strikes last year? What amazing show have we completely missed out on because execs decided it wasn’t worth the financial risk?

Other wildly popular shows that had shitty first seasons: all of the Star Trek franchises come to mind! (Well not Strange New Worlds or Lower Decks, they’re badass from the beginning). Next Gen and Deep Space 9 were abysmal, but get to season 2 and they were fantastic! Even The Good Place had a kind of boring first season, until you get to the season 1 finale and that twist pulls you in. It’s where the popularity of that show started and you don’t get how amazing that show is until season 2. Can you imagine if that was cancelled?!

The one small thing I will say in defence of production companies (and I’m being really generous here), is that the way television is produced has completely changed in the last decade. Production costs have skyrocketed because companies realised that they could create television on the same level as a big blockbuster movie. We have Game of Thrones to thank for that, which completely changed not only how we view television (started the binging culture), but how television could be produced. But unfortunately when you make a blockbuster level TV series, you need blockbuster level audiences to watch them to recoup the amount spent. I don’t think that’s feasible for television. 20 years ago most television series would be set in the relatively same studio location and not contain huge amounts of effects. Now we need dragons and multiple locations and magic powers and spaceships and lightsaber battles in space. And I want those things. But how is it all paid for if there isn’t viewership?

And the worst part is this whole thing causes a catch 22: we assume a streaming service is going to cancel a show, so we don’t invest, we don’t watch it, because we don’t want to be disappointed when it’s inevitably cancelled. So they cancel it because their numbers show not enough people watched it. It honestly sucks.

I’m still however putting the blame square on the production and streaming companies though. It’s bullshit we get 57 seasons of the Khardashians and Love Island, but they can’t give us well produced drama or fun action packed adventures anymore.

So I haven't even gotten over the loss of My Lady Jane and The Acolyte and now I learn that Dead Boy Detectives has also been cancelled. The rage I am feeling is indescribable. Either 1st seasons have to be as popular as Season 4 of Game of Thrones or shows get immediely cancelled, how is that realistic, how is that sustainable, how am I supposed to be convinced of paying for these subscriptions and giving new shows a chance if they all get cancelled before reaching their potential. All the long iconic shows had weak first seasons there I said it and I mean it. Tvd's best season was s3. How I met your mother's first season was weak it only got better after s2. Charmed's first season was so corny but it became iconic after s2. Supernatural's first season is immaculate tbh I'll hear no slander of it but it was not the most popular while it was first airing the show built a cult following over the years. These three shows that I mentioned at the beginning of this post all had solid, decent, even excellent first seasons and could have become so popular if given the chance to find their footing and build an audience. But no. We can cancel everything within a month now. We have the technology to be at the Golden age of TV. Instead we get 6 episodes and a fuck you. I'm so tired. And I'm tired of getting invested in these characters and their stories and then being forced to abandon them. Especially when I'm autistic and they then live rent free in my head forever even if I try to throw them out.

[veliseraptor]

FFN-to-AO3 Fic Transfer Project Stats

I told you this was going to happen!

So for the past...several weeks-ish I’ve been working on transferring the previously uncrossposted works on my old fanfiction.net account and my old livejournal onto AO3, for archival purposes, which came out to include, in all, moving 403 works (366 from FFN, 37 from Livejournal) from between roughly 2006-2012. Me being the person that I am, I went “oooh statistics” and decided to do some fun with numbers about it.

One caveat that this still does not as yet represent a complete record of my fic writing posted online from 2006-present - there is still a substantial gap of fic that’s only on Tumblr right now and thus unaccounted for in this analysis.

But with that set aside, here is Lise’s Fanfiction Output By Some Numbers:

Total Works Archived on AO3: 924

Total Words Archived on AO3: 4,360,945

Number of Distinct Fandoms Represented: 48 (counting the MCU, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Doctor Who/Torchwood each as one)

The first thing I was curious about was trends of how much I was posting year by year, which I decided to look at both in terms of word count and in terms of number of individual fics. Taking the first first:

It is important to note that AO3 only counts words in a multichapter fic posted over time in the year that it is completed; this is most noticeable in 2018, when Life in Reverse was finished and which therefore gets all 200,000+ words tallied to that year alone despite the fic itself actually being written over the course of six years. There’s no real way to compensate here but that is the most significant outlier; Tear My Castle Down and Steve Rogers’ Halfway House for Notorious Supervillains are also skewing 2020′s data higher.

However, even with that there’s been a clear overall increase in the words I’ve posted over the years since I started, particularly beginning in 2011. Tracking by life events, it’s sort of funny to me that I can track “college-first starting full-time work-pandemic in terms of spikes and dips.

Then, when it comes to the number of individual fics posted year over year:

This mapped onto the first graph tracked with what I expected, more or less, which was to say “early on the trend was a lot of shorter fics, later on fewer but longer.” Notice the 152 posted in 2009 still totaling less than 20,000 words over the year. I think those 2008-2009 years in particular also marked me doing a couple different fic challenges, most notably 50_darkfics but also a lot of short writing for the westerosorting Livejournal community. The sudden drop after 2012 to a level that’s stayed pretty consistent since I would guess marked the end, more or less, of me doing that kind of numbers-based work (where I was trying to write a lot of short things in a brief period of time, or trying to fulfill a challenge, rather than adhering more to my own schedule).

I tried - I am still trying - to work out a good way of visualizing the word count distribution by fic by year (i.e. in 2009 how many of those 152 fics were between 100-1000 words, etc.), but have been struggling, most likely because there is (a) a lot of data points that I’m trying to map and (b) a very wide range. What I currently have looks like:

which is not exactly a very coherent looking/readable graph, though it gives you a sense of how front-loaded the distribution really is (mostly between 144-7800). Out of curiosity I tried cutting out some of the earlier years to see how that might change the shape:

Overall, basically the same, but it does become more visible how the larger buckets only appear for the later years - there is 1 2012 fic above the 221-10133 word bracket. Underlining, then, the shift in my writing trends from “many short oneshots” to “fewer longer works,” which I knew but now I have numbers and also (roughly) a timeline.

Finally (at least for now) the other curiosity I had was about what I think of as “fandom-cycles” - the rate at which I’ve moved through fandoms over the years, producing works for them and then moving on. I was curious about if and how much they overlapped, and what was a “typical” runtime for a period of high production in a single fandom. 

I cut this graph down to what I think of as my “major” fandoms.

This one looks a little crazed and is therefore harder to read, at least up until 2011-ish when I really started to become a “one fandom at a time” kind of gal - prior to that point there was a lot of overlap/simultaneity. One more than others, but multiple fandoms in activity at the same time (witness in 2009 the peaks for both A Song of Ice and Fire, The Silm, and Doctrine of Labyrinths). Black Jewels Trilogy had a shorter duration than I thought it would given the psychological influence it’s had on me; Wheel of Time shorter still, though it stuck around for a solid four years (compared to Death Note, which lasted about three).

My favorite thing about this graph is the way you can see the overlap of one fandom tapering as another takes off - most obviously, of course, with the MCU/Untamed overlap there in 2019, but it’s there with Supernatural and the MCU, and with A Song of Ice and Fire and Supernatural. It’s a visual representation of me moving out of one fandom and into another. 

(Also love seeing that little spike of Doctrine of Labyrinths coming back as the MCU wanes in 2019. There’s the reread! And also me trying to get everyone else I know into it.)

In general my fandom lifetime heyday, historically, seems to have been about three years, prior to the MCU, which lasted far and away longer than anything other than the Silm, which, while I wasn’t writing a lot for it or consistently, has been a presence from 2009 to, irregularly, at least 2020. Interesting way of seeing a fandom that is, if not a main squeeze these days, a relatively consistent presence in my fanfiction life, even if just barely. The only other fandoms to show this kind of longevity (disappearing and then popping up again years later) are Doctrine of Labyrinths (disappears 2014, pops up again in 2018) and Wheel of Time (disappears in 2012, pops up again in 2017 and 2018). This kind of makes me wonder if, at least for me, book fandoms have a longer “shelf life” than their more visual counterparts. This would make a certain amount of sense, as I have more of a historical habit of rereading than I do of rewatching (The Untamed has been a major exception), but could also be an artifact of bias from the fact that for most of, I’d say, the front half of my fandom career, my fandoms were primarily book-based over movies or tv shows.

So that’s what I have so far when it comes to Fun With Numbers: Lise’s Hobbies Edition. I might poke around more (the most insane idea I’ve thought of is looking at word count distributions within fandoms, i.e. where have I been writing the longest/shortest fics, but that is...probably not something I need to spend the time manually gathering the data for) but at least on a preliminary basis...voila.

I don’t expect the Tumblr crossposting to make a huge difference in terms of overall trends, except perhaps in terms of the number of fics per year - I wonder if that number has been in any way artificially deflated for later years when I transitioned in posting methods - it used to be I always would have posted the short things I’ve put on here to FFN or Livejournal, and now I’m less likely to. So it may be that those latter year numbers are only actually lower because they are no longer accounting for the short works that used to be getting posted by default.

Perhaps will revisit once that stage of the project is completed! That sounds like something I will probably do.

[hops-hunny]

Distance Makes the Heart Grow

CHAPTER 1

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Mafia Boss!Neville Longbottom x Reader

Pronouns: She/Her

Word Count: 1.8k

Summary: (Y/n) lives a normal life. But that’s the issue, it’s normal, it’s plain, and it’s growing boring. Everyday she wishes for something, anything to spice up her life. But, when her old school friend (and crush) shows up at her bakery with a new look (and what looks like a new life), what will it bring for her? Will their puppy love grow? Will his big secret lead to the end of them or will it spark a new beginning?

Warnings: None for this chapter!

A/N: Nothing major happens in this chapter, this is sorta just like the beginning stages.

(Y/n) let out a load groan, hand searching aimlessly for the alarm clock on her side table. “Where is it?!” she continued to slap her hand around on her table, many objects falling to the floor before her hand finally landed on the right one, the rooster noises ceasing as her hand collided with the big snooze button. She rolled over, sighing as she stared at her speckled ceiling. “Perhaps I really should take the time to learn how to use the alarm on my phone.” it wasn’t that she was bad with technology persay. It’s just if it was produced after the year of 2008 you could forget it. Could you really blame her though? During all her years at Hogwarts, she had never made the switch her fellow classmates made with modern technology. Sure she had a smart phone but the only thing she could manage to do with it is call, text, and make notes in the notes app (something she had just recently learned as well).

Unwillingly, she crawled out of bed, stretching as she let out a large yawn, bones snapping and cracking like a New Year’s firework. She made her way to the bathroom, looking into the same mirror she always did, watching the light in the center flicker the same way as always. Life for (Y/n) was seemingly unchanging. Day after day, month after month, was spent exactly the same. She’d wake up, get ready for work, and then travel a few blocks down the street to open the bakery. Her bakery.

It wasn’t that (Y/n) didn’t enjoy what she did. She happened to enjoy her job very much. All her friends at Hogwart’s had encouraged her, giving her the push she need to travel the journey of opening her own business. It was something she had always wanted to do but her parents begged her not to. In their words they didn’t want ‘an over zealous and unrealistic’ daughter on ther hands. However, their rude words simply were fuel to the fire. During her 5th year, she began to busk tables at various shops in Hogsmeade. It was hard work, balancing long shifts at 3 different shops and still maintaining decent scores in each class. But, she knew if she couldn’t handle that then there was no way she’d be able to handle running a bakery. So day in and day out she’d work, and work, and work and by the end of her 7th year she had a decent amount of money saved up! 

The first issue had been finding a place in a good area that would gain traction and attention while the second one was finding someone willing to sell to someone fresh out of school with no prior business experience. She’d spoken to many people in various different places, some good, and some bad before she finally had been blessed with the chance of meeting Mary and her wife Denise. It was a miracle really. (Y/n) was short on the money, exponentially so however, Mary had sold to her anyways. She said she saw a passion in the girl that she hadn’t seen for a very long time and that it was something she wanted to help foster considering she had had her time to live her dreams and explore passions of her own. So with that, a handshape was exchanged for a beat up envolope filled with the entirety of the girl’s life savings. She had invested every nickel and dime she had ever earned into the place and she prayed it wouldn’t blow up in her face.

Which brought her to where she was today: a proud owner of a highly successful business. And of course, with great business comes a nice chunk of money which caught her parents’ attention. They had began to call her everyday but when that they didn’t work, they showed up at her shop unannounced. At first, she had felt warm inside. Her usual cold and distant parents had come to visit her! However, when they started crunching out numbers and percentages, that short lived happiness was replaced by irritation in which she quickly kicked them out, placing a charm on the building that when they’d attempt to enter (if they really, truly, had the balls to come back), their bodies would be flung right back onto the sidewalk into the heaping piles of trash on the city side walks. Now, (Y/n) was by no means wealthy, but she made a nice amount of money to be engaging in something she enjoyed so heavily, which is why she was confused where they had gotten the idea she had money to share with the main two people who were the cause of her insecurities. Plus, every extra dollar she had she put right back into the shop. Paying her workers, building maintenance, ingredients. She wasn’t a fan of having too much money, her family had shown her what that could cause (and how easily you could lose it all). 

Yet still sometimes she found herself wishing she could live the lavish lifestyle her parents once did. She mainly dreamed more so of the more engaging parts instead of the status and power that came with it. As she frosted various different cakes with thick buttercream, her mind would wonder to vivid imagery of beautiful hotel rooms, with breath taking views. Michelin five star meals, coated in delicious cream sauces. Endless adventure waiting to be discovered.

And yet here she was, sitting at a table as she stuffed her face with a raspberry marzipan cupcake. It was a Wednesday, first one of the month and as per usual, her and Twyla were set together, sampling cakes, chocolates, and other treats for the upcoming days. Wednesday had been the official day  they had chosen due to the slowed flow of people that would come in. (Y/n) liked to have a different theme each day of the week. The customers lived for it and she had massed a group of frequenters who came each day, wondering what the theme would be that day.

“You know boss, I’ve gotta say it. Working here and sampling all these cakes with you is giving me quite the ass!” Twyla said, turning around as she wiggled her ass in the girl’s face for emphasis. (Y/n) giggled, rolling her eyes as she swatted at the girl, missing as she jumped away from her last minute. “Hey! You gotta take me out to dinner first for that.”

“Just because we’re sampling cakes doesn’t mean that the store is closed! Anyone could walk in at any moment and would you really want that to be their first experience here?” she asked, eyes scanning the silver platter in front of them. She decided on the new dessert flavored chocolates she had been working on. Popping it into her mouth, she let out a moan of approval.

“I mean, I dont’ see why not! We’d definitely make a lot more money with a cake like mine!” the blue haired girl said, sitting down as she grabbed a chocolate as well. “Besides, I don’t think those little noises you’re making would help the scene.” she stated, snickering as the girl across from her tensed up.

“It-it’s not like that! The chocolate- it just- I just- ugh!” she stuttered out, huffing as she crossed her arms over her chest, pouting at the girl. “If you’re gonna keep being mean we can end this process. Just tell me what you think of the blueberry pie chocolate so I can know if we’re adding it to tomorrow’s spread.”

“Oh come on (Y/n) it’s good! Every first Wednesday we sit here, you overly critique yourself, then me and Tiana end up picking out our favorites for the next day!” Twyla was right, even their patterns for trying new things remained the same. (Y/n) wiped her messy hand on her aprons, sighing as she stood up to go back to her position behind the counter. Her employee followed, grabbing the platter to put back into the kitchen before joining her boss behind the counter.

“You’re right. I swear everyday is beginning to feel the same.” She opened her notepad, beginning to take inventory of the sweets they had in the display counter. “I’m grateful for everything I have, I really am. But sometimes I just wish I could have something, anything….”

“New?” the green eyed girl added, catching the (h/c) haired girl’s attention. She nodded, looking at the girl who had snuck a cookie out of the glass case. “I feel ya, girl. Everyday feels the same. Sometimes even when new people come in, I can already tell how they’re going to be. How they’ll act, what they’ll order, what method of payment they’ll use.” (Y/n) eyed the girl up, raising a brow.

“Are you sure you’re not just using legilimens?” she questioned, watching as the girl shifted on her feet, scratching the back of her neck.

“Okay so maybe I do sometimes. But a lot of the times I don’t! Like the other day this weird guy came in and- woah. (Y/n) I don’t wanna freak you out but I have a feeling those hotties in suits across the street are going to be walking in here soon.” Twyla said, in an uncharacteristically quiet tone. The shorter girl followed her friend’s gaze, looking out the glass doors across the street. Three unfamiliar men were crossing over, all in suits that she could only assume cost as much as four months of rent. However, the one in the middle really caught her eye.

Before she knew it, the bell chimed and the three of them made their way in. They looked very out of place in the brightly decorated shop. The one in the middle looked the most important, towering over the other two men. He had dark slicked back hair, an eyebrow piercing, and tattoos that were visible on his neck and hands (which had a few beautiful looking rings on them (none of which were a wedding band…)), yet his hazel eyes held a soft look to them. To his left was a redhead boy, freckles danced all along his face. His eyes were bloodshot from god knows what. He had tattoos as well (not as many as the middle man) and a few unique ear piercings. The guy to the hot tall guy’s right was attractive too but not nearly as serious looking as the other two. In fact, he was humming a song under his breath, a smile causing the tattoo on the right side of his face to crease. 

As she went to open her mouth to greet them, the man in the middle eye’s grew wide, his mouth gaping as he stared at her. He walked closer, examining her face closely which caused her to grow confused.

“I’m...I’m sorry. Do I know you?” she asked.

“(Y/n)?” she gasped at the sound of the familiar voice, her notepad and pen dropping from her hands. She made her way around the counter, staring up at the tall man.

“Neville?!”

NEXT||

TAGSLIST: @vayeya11 @pink-hufflepuff @clancyscookies @beewitchedlou @nevillelongbottomsgirlfriend @redpanda-poetry @vibingaesthetically

[ayuuria]

Yashahime Translation: Livedoor News Interview

Please do not repost this translation without my consent! This includes screenshots of any type and amount. If you wish to share this translation, simply link to this post.

For more information regarding the use of my translations, click here.

The New Story That Continues the World of Inuyasha, Anime “Hanyō no Yashahime” Director x Producer Interview

With the Resolve to Reopen the Concluded “Inuyasha” World in Their Hearts. The Behind-the-Scenes Production of “Hanyō no Yashahime”

For 12 years from 1996-2008, “Inuyasha” (original creator: Takahashi Rumiko) which was serialized in “Weekly Shōnen Sunday” (Shogakukan) was a feudal fairy tale that depicted the heart of the battle between demons, humans, and half-demons for the Shikon Jewel.

Anime “Inuyasha” broadcasted from 2000-2004 followed “Inuyasha the Final Act” from 2009-2010, after the original work was concluded. It is a timeless masterpiece that is now loved around the world.

Continuing that world of “Inuyasha” is the new original anime, “Hanyō no Yashahime”, which began broadcast in October of 2020. Many Inuyasha fans were surprised at the shocking set up that the daughters of Sesshōmaru, a popular character in “Inuyasha”, would be the protagonists.

With everything from the production, background music, and cast performance having an Inuyasha flavor mixed in, being moved from seeing the new characters and the “Inuyasha” characters coming together on the TV screen, to the absolutely unclear mysterious developments, the hearts of fans around world have been grabbed once again.

Since broadcast began, despite having completed one cour (translator’s note: Cour = 3 months or 13 weeks/episodes), the full picture of the story still cannot be seen. We carried out an interview conversation with director Satō Teruo and producer Naka Toshikazu regarding the things of interest about the work up until now and ahead.

We Prepared a Device That Would Allow Inuyasha Fans to Enjoy (the show)

— One cour has passed since broadcast began. Are the responses reaching you?

Naka: The response is incredible. Especially on social media.

Satō: You’re right. I’m also on Twitter, so I get reactions from all over the world. I truly get a sense that it’s work that’s receiving a lot of attention.

When I look at comments on the official (Twitter) account, most of them are from overseas. Not only do I once again realize that “Inuyasha” boasts a worldwide popularity, I do my best while feeling the pressure of “Hanyō no Yashahime” being a work that inherits that world.

— Apparently the one who suggested the project was Suwa Michihiko of ytv Nextry, who was the producer for anime “Inuyasha” and “Detective Conan”. How did you two feel when you first heard about the project?

Naka: “We’re going to do a story that’s been neatly concluded once before again!? How!?” is what I felt at the beginning.

From the moment I first heard about it, I was still floating around what kind of story it would be. “I might make it a story about Sesshōmaru’s daughter.” was as far as I had gotten. I thought “If I’m not mistaken, if we make it like that, then there might be something to do”.

Satō: There were talks of “wanting to do it” for 2-3 years and Rumiko-sensei, Suwa-san, and the “Inuyasha” staff had mulled over the idea.

It’s just that not only was the story of “Inuyasha” itself was very neatly concluded, after “Since Then” (the special edition (chapter) depicting the after story) we had Rumiko-sensei tell us “There’s nothing left to do in “Inuyasha””.

There was a rather heavy responsibility in touching that and as an Inuyasha fan myself, it made me really think about “In order to create a new story out of a work that was neatly concluded, what sort of form does it need to take?”

I think Inuyasha fans would watch, so I felt that I wanted to release something that everyone would agree to as much as possible without breaking their (idea of) “Inuyasha”.

— In terms of the target audience for “Hanyō no Yashahime”, do you consider Inuyasha fans the main target? Or do you focus on the new audience that does not know “Inuyasha”?

Naka: For us, we want people to like the new characters so in that sense, we keep in mind the new people.

It’s just that a lot of time has passed since “Inuyasha” was broadcasted and I think among the people who watched “Inuyasha” back in the day are people who have become parents. I think watching it as two generations, parent and child (Mom and Dad who liked “Inuyasha” and the children who are touching it as a new work), is the most ideal.

Satō: The voice actresses who voice the three princesses (Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha), are from a generation that watched “Inuyasha” right when they were kids. They chit-chat while recording every week (laughs).

It would be great if the new target group could go back and watch “Inuyasha” because of “Hanyō no Yashahime” and think “There are demons that appeared in “Hanyō no Yashahime” too”. On the reverse side, I would like those who watched “Inuyasha” to enjoy “Hanyō no Yashahime” from the point of view of “It’s the demon from that time”.

For that reason, we inlayed different devices and components into the story.

Naka: We periodically put in devises that would make people who like Rumiko-sensei’s other works smile a little bit. Like the hoodlums who appeared in episode 2 or the monkey gag in episode 9.

— In other words, while still keeping in mind those who don’t know “Inuyasha”, you are of course creating a work that Inuyasha fans can enjoy as well.

Satō: Making sure we don’t destroy the image of “Inuyasha” characters is at the forefront of our minds, especially when we bring them out into the “Hanyō no Yashahime” world. This is so that people watching don’t think “That’s not the kind of character they were”.

Of course, when we bring them out, we always have Rumiko-sensei review the scenario. She’ll tell us “It should be fine if it’s like this” and apply that to the scenario which is how we’ve been doing it.

Naka: We’re careful so that when “Inuyasha” characters take the mound, they don’t eat into the spotlight of the new characters while also not losing their “status”.

— Among the fans, the way the broadcasting order of “Hanyō no Yashahime” to “Great Detective Conan” is similar to “Inuyasha” to “Conan” became a popular topic of conversation. Was that formation something Yomiuri TV-san was particular about?

Satō: The order is the same as when it was broadcasted during the golden hour of 19:00-20:00 (7-8pm on the 12-hour clock). We’re grateful that they’re nostalgic about it.

Naka: I don’t know if they were particular about it or not, but it was decided from the start that it would be broadcasted during that timeframe (before “Conan”). It’s possible that it just turned out that way, but from the production side, it felt “just like before” in the end.

Satō: It’s like (Yamaguchi) Kappei-san (role of Inuyasha and also Edogawa Conan/Phantom Theif Kid in “Great Detective Conan”) has 2 consecutive appearances (laughs).

Naka: Not only is the connection between the timeframe the same, but also when we heard that SixTONES would be doing the opening for the October cour, we thought the flow looked the same as “Inuyasha” since it would be a group from Jonny & Associates that would be singing (Editor’s note: In the past, V6 and Tackey & Tsubasa were in charge of the theme song for “Inuyasha”).

In the end, we’re also curious as to how the structure is the same as during “Inuyasha”.

A Character Cannot Come to Life Without Working Out the Fundamental Aspects

— Next, we will ask how story the of “Hanyō no Yashahime” was created. We just heard from Naka-san that “When I first heard about it “I might make it a story about Sesshōmaru’s daughter.” was how far I had gotten”, but were there any different ideas regarding the direction after that?

[Characters bios written following the question but I’m skipping it]

Naka: We proceeded with that intention as is.

It’s just that even if it’s a daughter, we couldn’t quite settle whether the daughter would be twins or an only child. We couldn’t decide until right on the line of “If we don’t decide what sort personality the character will have at this stage, we may have to relook things including the broadcast timing” (laughs).

Satō: We pretty much decided after directly talking to Rumiko-sensei.

— What did Rumiko-sensei tell you?

Naka: Regarding the character persona, she pointed out things such as “With only the setting, you don’t know why they speak that way” and “Why they dress like this doesn’t feel right to me”.

Especially with Towa, it took a long time for Rumiko-sensei to understand and agree to the part where “She dresses like a boy because she’s this kind of persona”. That’s where we struggled the most.

Satō: For Rumiko-sensei, apparently, she understood Setsuna and Moroha straight down like “So this is the kind of child she is”.

However, only with Towa did she say, “If you don’t clearly boil down and solidify how she will grow and what sort of foundation she’ll have, the story development will become blurred wouldn’t it”.

With that point, it was a lot of work deciding Towa’s character.

Naka: Not just the settings, but we had Sumisawa Katsuyuki-san (in charge of series composition for “Inuyasha” and now this work as well)  vigorously write the scripts for episodes 1 and 2 and show Rumiko-sensei “With this story flow, Towa will respond like this” and “We’ll use this language”.

With that, we put things in order in a “But, we probably don’t need this kind of language after all, right?” kind of way.

— It was explained in the story that Towa dresses like a boy because “It’s easier to fight in”, but is that one of the settings that was solidified like that?

Naka: Yes. The result of coming up with different reasons and many ideas was that we ended up settling on a conversely simple reason.

Satō: Rumiko-sensei casually said “Isn’t “it’s easier to fight in” good enough?” (laughs). We were turning up a lot of different rationalizations. (translator’s note: Not confident on this sentence) For example, “As a girl, there was something she didn’t like”.

But it also became “I don’t think that’s true” …… It made us realize it was fine to have something simple and straightforward.

— So Rumiko-sensei was involved with the character persona starting from the foundation.

Satō: I learned a lot from speaking with Rumiko-sensei as I was creating the characters. Rumiko-sensei’s way of thinking is very logical and upfront. For example, “Because (she’s) this kind of child, (she) behaves like this” or “(She) Won’t say something like this”.

That’s why, people who view the work will see their foundation. In my head, I knew “If you don’t work out the fundamental aspects, the character won’t come to life” but I came to realize that once again.

In the anime, there were many people who put out ideas starting with Sumisawa-san, but I thought it must be a lot of work for Rumiko-sensei to create a manga while consulting with the editors.

We’re Mindful of the Composition that “Towa Sets the Story in Motion”

— With the characters solidified, did you receive any orders from Sumisawa-san as you planned the story?

Naka: With “Hanyō no Yashahime”, it started with Sumisawa-san first writing the scenario that would become the first manuscript.

In that regard, we discussed with him things such as “Keeping in mind of the development ahead, please pay attention to this part” or “Please put this device in”.

More precisely, there was a lot of discussion about Moroha’s position at the beginning. There was the fact that Moroha was the easiest character to move, but we wanted him to keep in mind as much as possible that she (Moroha) should show her concern for Towa and Setsuna in a way that ensures they’re at the forefront.

Satō: To the writer, Moroha is like a “Mini Inuyasha”. Hence there was a tendency to naturally center the story around her.

However, Sesshōmaru’s daughters, Towa and Setsuna, are the protagonists this time so we wanted (the writer) to keep that in mind.

Because Moroha is easy to understand with her character and Setsuna is a female version of Sesshōmaru, when their vectors become conspicuous, Towa appears overshadowed no matter what. “The protagonist getting overshadowed by those around them troupe.” is something that happens in original works.

That’s why we’re conscious of the composition of bringing Towa into the center and using her to move the story whenever possible. That’s the part we especially placed importance on when putting together the story.

— Next, please tell us the appeals of the three protagonists. Starting from Towa please.

Naka: Regarding Towa, she inherited Sesshōmaru’s silver hair, has a boyish outfit, and has an outward appearance that would make girls think she’s attractive.

However, her values are surprisingly modern, and she has a naiveness about her which Setsuna calls out within the story. I don’t think there have been many characters who have been balanced like this thus far.

Although, at the current phase, there’s a point that what the goal behind her actions is might still be a little weak.

Satō: Just as Naka-san said, Towa has a half-hearted kindness and naiveté; how that will change as she travels with Setsuna and Moroha. Please look forward to that growth as you watch the story.

I think there are people who get impatient seeing Towa’s current indecisiveness (laughs).

What will that kind of protagonist experience and how will her feelings change from that. It will make me happy if people think “Towa’s changed; she’s matured” at the end.

Naka: I think having lots of room for growth is what gives her that protagonist feel. Conversely, Setsuna is a relatively standard character. However, on the one hand, she does have a kind side.

Satō: She does show a little affection after all (laughs)

Earlier I said “a female version of Sesshōmaru” so I think her nonchalant kindness is the same as his. The vector of her character direction is easy to understand which is her appeal.

— It seems Setsuna coldly pushes Towa away, but also shows concern for her. Despite saying, “The curse of the Dream Butterfly doesn’t need to be broken”, she goes along with Towa’s search for the Dream Butterfly.

Satō: Just as the line “I can’t readily accept that” in episode 3 said, Setsuna cannot accept Towa as her sister.

However, I believe she understands Towa’s virtues as an individual. We would like everyone to pay attention to how Setsuna draws the line of “I can understand Towa’s good qualities, but I can’t acknowledge her as an older sister” and the point at which that line is crossed.

Will the day ever come where Setsuna will address Towa as “Towa nee-chan” ……

— It feels as though the distance between them is getting shorter, like when she almost went along with Towa’s high-five in episode 11.

Satō: Little by little. Within that, we would like for you to please look forward to how their feelings intersect when the time comes.

Naka: In that episode, it looks as though she gets along with Towa, but when Towa tried to lay her head on her lap, she didn’t allow it. I was watching with great interest like “So that’s where she draws the line” (laughs).

— Next, Moroha.

Naka: Moroha is pretty much just what you see (laughs)

Satō: She’s a hybrid of Inuyasha and Kagome. If her theatrical elocution is like Inuyasha’s, then her actions are understandable like Kagome’s.

In that sense, I think she’s a character that viewers can easily connect with. There’s also the fact that currently, all the gag lines are relatively being placed on Moroha (laughs).

Naka: In earlier episodes, her level of participation was high but lately she’s been in charge of punch lines (laughs). For example, when they didn’t take her to the battle in episode 10 or when she got caught up in Setsuna’s attack in episode 11.

Earlier, we discussed how “We were careful not center too much around Moroha” but it put us at a disadvantage as a result and I feel a little bad (laughs). However, Moroha will be taking charge in episode 16 next week (1/23/21) so please look forward to that.

Satō: Not only will Moroha play a very active role, but it is also an important episode that depicts the environment that she grew up in. Why she has to collect bounties and what kind of relationship she has with Jyūbee will be touched upon. If you watch that, I think you’ll come to understand her actions up until now like “So that’s why she was doing things like that”.

From a composition standpoint, episode 15 revealed Towa and Setsuna’s past, episode 16 will reveal Moroha’s backbone, and furthermore, the story of Setsuna’s childhood will come hereafter. If you watch that far, the full story of this will work will become clear for the most part.

The first cour was a period of planting seeds, but now going forward, the composition is set up so that the fruit of the tree will ripen and fall, so please continue to look forward to it.

The Casting of Miroku Was Entrusted to the Sound Director for “Inuyasha”

— Next, please tell us about the casting. On what points did you decide the cast group?

Satō: It was fundamentally decided through auditions. If we don’t progress the script to some extent, sound director Nagura Yasushi-san can’t determine the direction of the roles, so when the script amount had accumulated, we gathered up people who could picture the characters and carried out the auditions from there.

It was right about the time when the COVID crisis was escalating, so we worried if we could really start broadcasting in October.

Naka: The balance between the three was the deciding factor. After we narrowed it down from a number candidates, we took a “If this person did this character, then the balance would probably become like this” kind of view and decided from there.

Satō: There’s going to be a lot of dialogue between the three of them not matter what, so in order to avoid having similar voice tones and similar ways of speaking, we created the characters based on that assumption.

Towa’s thought process and actions are modern and Moroha acts on her emotions. Conversely, Setsuna is always calm and collected like Sesshōmaru and makes decisions after observing the entirety of the situation. Then she’ll look for the best solution and take action.

Because each of the characters has that kind of nature, we ordered Nagura-san to look for a balance that enables you to easily tell the three of them apart when they’re conversing.

– Did you not look at it from a standpoint that the voices should or should not sound similar to those of the parent generation like Sesshōmaru, Inuyasha, or Kagome?

Naka: That is a point that we were not at all concerned about. We proceeded with a viewpoint that the person should match the outward appearance, the actions within the story, and the nature of the character.

When balancing the three of them, balancing the twins seemed difficult, so from there we decided on Moroha first as her position takes a step back. We decided on Towa and Setsuna at the end after looking at the balance between them and considering Moroha for a second time.

— What were the key points in selecting the cast outside the three girls?

Naka: We left it up to Nagura-san. There were times when he asked for our review and opinions.

For example, there was an idea for Riku (CV: Fukuyama Jun) to have a more feminine voice. But when we spoke to director Satō, he said “A masculine image”, so we went with that direction.

— The Miroku that Yasumura Makoto-san, who replaced the late Tsujitani Kōji-san, played was a hot topic but did Nagura-san decide on that casting as well?

Satō: Regarding Yasumura-san, we asked Tsuruoka Yota, who was the sound director for “Inuyasha”, to decide. We thought that fit more under the category of “Inuyasha” rather than “Hanyō no Yashahime”.

Of course, I’m sure the viewers knew (the voice) was going to change, but we received a lot of feedback saying “It’s Miroku-sama!” and “It doesn’t feel out of place at all!” when episode 1 was broadcasted.

I was in Tsujitani-san’s care many times as a sound director prior to him playing Miroku. I was still a newbie producer back then but even when I met him after that at the “Inuyasha” set, he spoke to me like “Hello~”

I was producing while my heart was pounding hard. During testing, when I was panicking because I couldn’t match up the lip-syncing, he reached out to me like “We’ll do the syncing so it’s fine”. The figure of him reaching out to me so nicely is strong in my memory.

It was such a shame that he died so young. However, this time Yasumura-san, who was also his junior at the same agency, is working hard as his successor, and I think he was casted well.

Naka: Director Satō, you said “The air around Yasumura-san is completely different now compared to when I worked with him in other works”.

Satō: In episode 1, it seems he was really nervous having to record with the cast of “Inuyasha” who are high level seniors.

He was relaxed to some extent in episode 13 which was Miroku’s episode. He said to me “I’m sorry about before when I was extremely nervous” (laughs).

Creating Scenes in A Way That’s Distinct from the Popular (Methods)

— In order to make viewers feel that this is a work that inherits the world of “Inuyasha”, do you do any devising on the production side?

Satō: I would say scene creation. We don’t really get onboard with the popular trends. We split the cuts and show things the way they did in “Inuyasha” in order to smoothly give it that “Inuyasha” feel. I think it’s distinct from what’s popular nowadays.

This might be weird way of saying it, but it’s like we’re using an old-fashioned way of creating. By purposely doing things in a “Works from about 10 years ago felt like this” sort of way, it brings out that “Inuyasha” feel.

For other parts, Sumisawa-san directs the theatrical elocution and we have the same sound team from “Inuyasha” working, so no particular explanation is needed. In that aspect, they’re making it a lot easier for me (laughs).

For me, “Inuyasha” was the first work I did as a freelance producer. Not only was it a work that taught me the fundamentals of producing, but I also learned (how to make) storyboards from “Inuyasha”. In that sense, it’s a very memorable work.

— At the beginning, you said you “Put in devices that connect to “Inuyasha””, but between episode 9-12, demons that appeared in “Inuyasha” were continuously making appearances and it became a topic of discussion.

Naka: That section was the “devoured by Mōryōmaru” series. We had to speed through things in “Inuyasha the Final Act”, so I brought out those demons thinking “If we could just use the demons that we couldn’t properly show back then, even just a little”.

Satō: After fall for Meiōjū, we only had the scene of Mōryōmaru taking the armored shell (laughs)

Naka: We explain that “The demon that appeared this time is actually in “Inuyasha”” on the official Twitter account. It would be wonderful if there are people who take an interest in “Inuyasha” after watching “Hanyō no Yashahime”.

Satō: I think there’s also a wonderful world laid out in that work, so we would certainly love for you to watch “Inuyasha” while enjoying “Hanyō no Yashahime”.

Picking Out Noteworthy Episodes and Explaining Them!

— From here, we will have you look back on episodes that have already aired. We have picked out a number of impressionable episodes, so please tell us some secret (behind the) production stories, memorable recordings, and scenes that left a lasting impression on you.

Episode 1: Inuyasha Since Then

Satō: It was like a “class reunion” (laughs). Although, we couldn’t have everyone record together due to the COVID crisis.

We had everyone take turns recording but they were all was greeting each other like “Oh my god~!” as they passed by one another. Likewise, it was a teamwork that went without saying.

Jaken (played by Chō-san) was adlibbing a lot and that situation made me really think “This is “Inuyasha””.

The first episode was mainly “Inuyasha” basically, but at the very beginning and end, we had the story connect to episode 7 of “Hanyō no Yashahime”. In that sense, the episode was pretty much full “Inuyasha”.

Naka: While we had director Satō do the storyboard and production, I saw the storyboard and felt “Ah, it’s “Inuyasha”. It will be okay”. Like feeling relieved (laughs)

Satō: When 10 years goes by, the producers from back then aren’t around anymore. The people I worked with are now at the director level. Explaining something like the rules of “Inuyasha” from square one to the new people is a hassle, so I was like “I’ll do this myself” (laughs).

The surprising thing is, we had the same group of people from 20 year ago with chief animation director Hishinuma Yoshihito (in charge of character design in “Inuyasha”. In this work, he oversees animation character design) and the animators from back then. It felt as though “Ah, nothing’s changed”.

I remember working while saying “Back then, I never thought we would do something like this 20 years later”.

Episode 2: The Three Princesses

Satō: You could say this episode was episode 1 for “Hanyō no Yashahime”.

Due to the COVID crisis, we couldn’t have the three princesses record together and it made me realize how important it was for everyone to record together. Even though it’s a conversation, when you have one person record first and the other person responding while listening (the recording), it changes the mood and rhythm.

Nagura-san tried to match up schedules so that the three princesses could record together as much as possible, but in the end, we couldn’t record with everyone. In a sense, episode 2 was very memorable to me in that it left the impression of “So we’re going to have to record like this from now on”.

I think all the works that started airing in the fall were in the same situation, not just “Hanyō no Yashahime”. Since we were recording in chunks, it became necessary to pay even more attention than before to ensure that we didn’t forget to record anything.

I’m grateful to everyone involved that we somehow managed to air every week, despite these difficult times.

Naka: The first demon that appears in episode 2, is a point where we kept “Inuyasha” in mind as we pulled Mistress Three Eyes from Mistress Centipede.

I think it was an episode where we appealed that “We’re aware of the “Rumik World”” by putting in the hoodlums mentioned earlier and Towa’s gag face.

Even though the original “Inuyasha” leaned a little more to the serious side, I think Rumiko-sensei’s taste of allowing a little bit of leeway while not shaking off just that (aspect) is there.

This time as well, including the broadcast time, there were views from inside stating that they didn’t want to make (the episode) too serious. However, director Satō had already added that kind of relaxedness even before that was directly said. He splendidly created that balance that wasn’t too serious.

Episode 7: The Apple Meeting

Satō: Riku, who appears in episode 7, is a character we aimed to have revitalize the story by plopping in a new character just when the story was about to get stuck in a rut. Rumiko-sensei also uses this technique; for example, Kōga and Mugen no Byakuya in “Inuyasha”.

I spoke with Sumisawa-san at the beginning, expressing my desire to introduce a new character to revitalize the story before viewers could start thinking “We’re going to just keep watching this journey?” as they watch the three princesses progress on their journey. He’s a keyman who stirs up the story.

Plus, the three Yashahimes are girls, so there was also the idea of having a romantic component like with Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kikyō. Although he ended up having the feel of a pick-up artist as a result of trying to add that component in (laughs).

Naka: Episode 7 is an episode that connects to episode 1. We intended to put in the device of connecting episode 1 to another episode when we organized it, but after watching episode 7 I thought “It connected pretty well”.

I think it was nicely organized as it turned into a spoiler episode where you found out why Towa was there and what Setsuna and Moroha were doing while Yotsume was telling the old tale.

Satō: Going forward, Riku will gradually involve himself with Towa, and we wanted to show why that is over a number of episodes.

I think you’ll understand to some extent in episode 15, but he’s a character that you don’t know which side he swings to (friend or foe?), so he’s a character to look forward to in that sense.

Episode 13: The Delicious Feudal Monk

Satō: It was a parent child episode with Miroku and Hisui (CV: Urao Takehiro) that we added with the desire to develop Hisui. He is the son of Miroku and Sango (CV: Kuwashima Houko) and I think everyone was wondering what Miroku was currently doing, so we thought it would be nice to introduce what Miroku was up to here and depict the parent-child relationship.

Naka: It’s an episode where Hisui finally plays an active role. It was a feeling of sorry to have completely kept you waiting in the first cour. I am glad we were able to give him an active role to some extent. Moroha ended up going somewhere else though (laughs)

Finally, Setsuna stole the show at the end when her true power was released. I think it brings out Miroku and other “Inuyasha” characters in a good manner while still having highlights for “Hanyō no Yashahime”.

Episode 14: The Mastermind Who Burned the Forest

Satō: This is the episode where the truth behind the fire that attacked young Towa and Setsuna is revealed. It’s a real binding episode you could say, and I think it’s a story that could be put in a modern setting.

Also, from this story, the distance between Towa and Setsuna that we talked about earlier will somewhat destroy a line, I think. There’s Towa who shows her anger towards Homura, the one who tore them (the twins) apart, and Setsuna who has some thoughts from seeing that.

If you can feel that, I think how you view episode 15 will change.

Naka: I thought Towa’s comparison to a smartphone at the beginning was a little off as she doesn’t understand the concept of jealousy (laughs).

Also, something that I thought was strange after rewatching episode 14 was how the gardener and the cook were fine with working in such a dangerous place (laughs). I thought it was amazing even though they’re just regular humans.

Demons and humans unexpectedly coexist in this world. In a sense, you could say it’s very open-minded for a demon. Demons were depicted in all sorts of places in “Inuyasha” too, so it was an episode that made me realize once again that it’s this kind of world.

Episode 15: Lunar Eclipse, The Sorrowful Parting of Fate

Satō: Why did Towa and Setsuna have to grow up separated (from their parents) when they were young? This is the episode that answers that and depicts the continuation of the brief flashback in episode 8.

Why Sesshōmaru and Kirinmaru confronted Inuyasha and Kagome becomes clear. With this, I think you can start to understand Sesshōmaru’s actions.

Naka: This episode was a little different. To begin with, we thought that patrons would be happy to see Inuyasha and the others at the end of the first cour, so we organized it so that the past would be discussed at this timing.

It’s just that it felt completely independent from the main story and Riku just suddenly narrates it, so I’m sure viewers were surprised. Riku was in there as like the navigator.

The three Yashahimes don’t particularly know this, and this episode was purely for the viewers. It would be great if everyone looks forward to what’s to come while keeping this in mind.

— Thank you very much. Lastly, please give a message to our readers who are looking forward to what’s coming up ahead.

Naka: Cour 1 has just ended and we have entered cour 2, so from here on you will learn the things that you wanted to know. Please see for yourself how Towa, Setsuna, and Moroha will grow as you look forward to the mysteries being unraveled.

Satō: After episode 15, “what each character must do” will continuously become clear, and it will become a story that pursues that. On top of that, it would make me really happy if you could enjoy watching what will happen to the three (girls).