#i think my twitter name is hilarious in part because i can't believe it wasn't taken

[serendertothesquad]

OKAY LET ME TALK ABOUT THE ARTICLE NOW.

There is...there is so much to discuss. How do I even start this post, honestly? Current stays winnin' with their long-ass articles but stays bitchin' in the worst way with their shitty-ass paywalls. Fuck paywalls, all my homies hate paywalls.

Anyway, look below the break.

casting calls ended on october 17th they just finished filming

Look, for 12 episodes, that's a hell of a crunch. Proud of 'em, really.

Also, I think we all know what it's gonna be marketed as in the States. If you don't then I'll give you the money to go to college so you can attend my Odd Squad class. It's only fair.

So I guess this explains why Netflix wasn't part of the deal. Either that or those articles I read were wildly incorrect on Netflix being a contributing helper.

...I mean okay, granted they could still be handed off to Netflix, just not in the US because...well, it's Fred Rogers Productions. They'll be damned if they plop their IPs into the hands of any streaming service that isn't named Prime Video.

This also means that maybe FRP will have a lesser hand in this than I thought, which isn't really all that surprising if one looks through their social media pages. Odd Squad was barely promoted on Twitter even before that account went near-radio-silent.

Okay, this is actually kinda interesting. Makes me feel like I should move to the UK just to see what, exactly, appeals to the British there. I mean outside of the comedy, of course.

Also, I know the pandemic affected a load of things about the franchise, but for it to birth an entire-ass new series is just downright insane. Not that insane, because that's how Lockdown was born, but yeah, pretty fucking insane!

...

Wait, Season 4 has 12 episodes? Like an anime? When Odd Squad already has anime elements?

Oh I'm gonna be an insufferable bitch when this comes out. Y'all have been warned.

Hey, hey, does anyone remember when Fred Rogers Productions got in trouble for not meeting grant requirements when it came to Odd Squad? Along with failing in accounting when it came to other IPs?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. I remember. No one else in the fandom remembers, but oh do I remember.

(Odd Squad cost $18 million for Season 1. Sit on that for a minute. Really think about how much that shit would be worth now, especially with inflation as bad as it is. It was a lot back then and it still is for some but it seems like mere pennies now, huh?)

I point this out because the fact that they had to seek out funding from outside sources that were not part of the hellshow of circus freaks that is the US government is absolutely hilarious to me.

You guys are married to TVO too, but you apparently don't like to talk about that. Shit's for people in all of those states that border Canada. Everyone else can go fuck themselves, not my quote.

That aside, though, I do like how PBS airing British media has finally implored them to do a "what if" scenario with their cartoons. It's been, what...decades? That's like swinging the bat long after everyone's left the stadium. Except for the audience, they're sticking around for some reason.

Look, Tim McKeon said the same thing about Season 3 and we all know how that turned out. I pray derivativeness is a virtue that will be buried deep into the ground by the time Odd Squad UK rolls around because we really can't afford to pick 12/24 episodes at random across 100+ of them to pry and copy plots from. And believe you me, I will know the difference between a simple harmless continuity nod and sheer derivativeness.

To put it simply: Sinking Ship and I have very different takes on "the same but also different".

Damn, RIP to Mark. I'm glad he's still working on the show, though for him to step down as showrunner for Odd Squad UK is...well, it's probably the best move looking at what we ended up with.

...I'm probably misinterpreting that. And/or it's journalism being journalism. C'est la vie.

I guess them sending over wardrobes is why Orli and Ozzie aren't decked to the nines in...uh...well, British versions of the Investigation agent uniform. Whatever those look like.

Again, you could say the same thing about Season 3 and we all know how that shit turned out.

I still have optimism, but there's a real damn pessimist side of me waiting to break free.

I'm choosing to believe "socioeconomic diversity" was how they picked about half to 3/4 of the writers for Season 3, because a majority of them either have very small resumes, have never worked on anything with a kid demo, or both.

The difference between them and the kids in this spinoff/new season, however, is that one group sucks and the other one likely doesn't.

(Yeah yeah, I'm making a lot of Season 3 jabs. But it's easy to make comparisons to that versus Season 1 and Season 2. Bite me.)

To maintain continuity with the original series' Canadian cast

Or "we need to have at least one Canadian thing to qualify for all those Canadian tax breaks and subsidies, and also uhhhhhh we're no lawbreakers".

There you go. I fixed it. Thank me later.

Also, they don't mention it, and it probably won't be mentioned until some article pops up in 2024 about it, but rest assured they're talking about Orli here. While I dig her backstory, I'm not so sure if I'm so keen on another audience surrogate after how badly they flubbed Osmerelda within 13 episodes. Granted, this is a different kind of audience surrogate -- Orli's not a "haha relatable funy thing for kids and the 'rents" surrogate, she's an "I'm a Canadian idiot who has never been to this country, please teach me" surrogate -- but still, I'm not so hopeful about them being able to write her well. Worst case scenario, we end up with a character who drinks maple syrup by the bottle, loves hockey, and drops an "eh?" every other sentence.

Oh I'm sensing a load of "tube" puns are gonna be made this season, lemme tell ya.

Okay okay, but real talk, this is actually kinda neat. Gonna be a little weird to see, but neat. The hell needs the lil' kiddie cars when you got trains to ride?!

Hey, hey, you guys remember when Odd Squad first premiered and PBS Kids put out a whole ton of new stuff for it? They had games at the ready and everything? They were so hyped for this shit they poured everything they had into it?

Pepperidge Farm remembers. I remember. No one else in the fandom remembers, but oh do I remember.

Needless to say, they don't really do that anymore for new shows. It's all the same cookie-cutter pre-release formula. When they did it for Odd Squad it was special. When they did it for Alma's Way and Elinor Wonders Why...not so much.

...Oh yeah, and the math stuff, the math stuff is cool, I like that. Here's hoping they can put new concepts into play instead of rehashing old ones.

"just 10-year-olds" the show is aimed at a 2-5 demographic

Now, see, this is where the funny irony comes in. Everyone laugh at the funny irony here. Now everyone cry because this seems more like a fitting comment for if GO! still existed and the show was on it.

Ahhh, now, see, this is where things get interesting.

Those of you keeping up with PBS Kids news might be aware of the network shifting to more short-form content as a way to nab viewers while also cutting costs significantly, hence why we're getting new podcasts and other short-form content in addition to full-length shows. PBS Kids has been in the short-form game since the late 2000s with the WordGirl shorts but they never truly dipped their toes into the short-form format until Elinor Wonders Why's That's So Interesting shorts and the Odd Squadcast came out. Those were the true floodgate-openers right there, paving the way for a host of old IPs being refreshed in addition to new IPs.

I remember when they dropped eight new shorts of two different series and thinking it was an April Fools joke because they were published on April 1st with absolutely no forewarning. I found out the news from someone else who had put the images up on the Wiki and I laughed my ass off at just how ridiculous it was. And then I found out they were real, and I sobbed.

...No wait, not the Meeting. Scratch that. I forgot it's changed dramatically since the days of yore. Moving on!

Whether this comment means we'll be getting Season 2 of the Odd Squadcast (which, y'know, is unlikely now), Season 3 of OddTube (ah, now that seems more likely), or more shorts outside of the two series we already have (Gadget Testers and Book of Games) is unknown at this point. But if anything, news is gonna break during upfronts like the TCA Press Tour and the PBS Annual Meeting.

It'll air in a year and they're already milking it for all it's worth. Byootiful. Clearly they have not learned from the last time they did a dramatic franchise shift and it paid off. AHEM MOBILE UNIT AHEM.

If they wanted to, they could grow some balls and go for broke. Do 28 more to be on par with Season 1.

No but seriously, I love how the fate of Odd Squad UK is so contingent on ratings. Let's not forget how Ready Jet Go and Let's Go Luna got unfairly sniped with no reason given (and then they brought back RJG with a movie like they still cared...lol get rekt) and let's not forget that they could easily do the same with Odd Squad at any time in spite of its ratings. They revived Super Why back from the dead, they revived Clifford back from the dead...they did it with Odd Squad and it's only been a wee bit over a year.

------------------------------

I'm not really opposed to Odd Squad being set in other regions -- it probably does better internationally than it does in the States, but we have no way to know that for sure -- but they're acting very sus with this portion specifically. I've got my eye on them.

All in all, this article has me pretty excited for the new spinoff/Season 4/how the fuck am I supposed to market this. Shame it's supposed to air in late 2024 (though maybe it'll air on CBBC in the spring because of that casting call...holy fuck I just thought of that as I was typing this post, real shit, lemme get my poker chips and bet on this RN) but I'm hyped for it either way and will happily lap up any and all press coverage on it until it airs. 2024's gonna be a big year.

If you guys reading this find any news on it, send it to me through an ask or a submission! We've got one more month before we launch into 2024 and if my theory about CBBC airing it earlier is true then we'll have to really be on the lookout for it as soon as January.

[swashbucklery]

Things I’ve been into this week:

1. Got my COVID booster, spent 3 days in a Side Effect Fever Nest and am just now coming out of it, science rules but also science hurts just a little bit.

2. Re: point 1, am now a scant 40 hours behind on Critical Role C3 which feels like ~practically nothing~. I have several complex theories on the ways in which EXU is secret lore dumping for C3 and am struggling with how to find the people in this fandom that are Cool To Engage With. Accepting recs if you know anyone.

3. I checked my Switch profile and did you know that I’ve played 375+ hours of Animal Crossing since March 2020 because fuck me I sure didn’t. It’s that ten minutes a day thing, it catches up. Anyway I’m really proud of my island and since I’m still working through 2020s pop culture please know that I just now discovered the acnh.guide app which has made it a million times easier to actually figure out which bugs and fish I’m missing. I’ve made a ton of progress on completing my museum which makes me happy. I’ve also made a twitter account to share photos of my island build bc I’m really pleased with how it’s (slowly) coming together, if that’s your jam I’m @mermaidlamp on Twitter and I’m happy to make a tumblr to crosspost photos to if there’s interest. It’s night themed so it’s mostly just me on an eternal quest for lamp diys but maybe that’s your thing!

4. Last night I was rewatching some Buffy and I got to the scene in Once More With Feeling where Willow and Tara have a whole number about oral sex and like. Just thinking about the ways in which people make art about queerness has changed and the ways in which - like - when you couldn’t show two women kissing on TV you had to think a little harder? And the ways that intimacy and longing and desire can be communicated without kissing and the ways that on the one hand we’ve made such progress and on the other hand I think there’s an art that’s been lost? And maybe this just circles back to Everyone Is Beautiful But No One Is Horny but I really felt it, you know?

5. Has anyone played RDR Online recently? I’m downloading RDR2 onto my PS5 finally and I want to play Sad Cowboy Horse Sim because Laura Bailey being bad at describing horses made me absolutely pine for the RDR2 horse engine, but also as with point 2 I don’t have time to get cyberbullied by children. I can always play infinite post-game and I probably will; I could start a new game on the PS5 but gosh that epilogue broke my heart, you know? Anyway, I like to know my options.

6. Has anyone actually played the RDR1 port on the new PS Store Classics Collection? Does it work? Is RDR1 actually a bad game when played with fresh eyes or does mourning Arthur Morgan along with John add a certain je ne sais quoi that compensates for the pre-2010 graphics. If it helps I’m very bad at video games and am very attached to a few of the modern accessibility features to make games work for me.

I hope you’re having a good Tuesday. I love you and appreciate you. I’m thinking of doing a Legends rewatch from the very beginning and trying to decide if I’m going to rewatch Supergirl in parallel or if the complexity of that will make me lose steam. Always accepting new recs for television that is a) good b) going to scratch the Genre Fandom part of my brain real good and c I cannot stress this enough) not spooky or gory.

[butteerfly]

Argentine Oikawa dating you

headcanons 🦋

ok well after not having seen any hc of Argentine oikawa, I thought a lot about doing it, I hope you have fun reading this bc I love it.

warnings: everyone age up, mention of alcohol and drugs

when you started dating Oikawa you never thought he would be such a clingy boyfriend

He can't take his hands off you, he always wants to hug you, he always wants to kiss you, he always wants you on his lap.

And the most shocking part of this is that he doesn't even mind being in public or surrounded by his Japanese friends. (can you imagine shoyo seeing a pretty girl on oikawa? omg)

He laughs at your shyness because he used to be the same, but after so long in the South American country he got used to many things and this kind of physical contact is one of those things. (Of course, if you tell him that you are uncomfortable, he will not insist and he will not invade your personal space)

ok but listen to me, he would FORCE you to try Roberto's mother's empanadas (the club's janitor) because he says they are DELICIOUS and he doesn't lie.

and the Milanesas? God, you can't believe how much he loves them.

you once looked for a tutorial on YouTube (which was hard for you to understand because paulina cocina only speaks Spanish) because you wanted to surprise him with his favorite milanesas and when he discovered it he just couldn't stop telling you how much he loves you.

now let's talk about alcohol

his friends did it to him and now it's your turn because oh no, you are not going to escape

the first time he made you try fernet you almost threw up all your lunch because god that thing is disgusting 💀💀

BUT when he mixed that drink with coke, everything was a different story and there you understood perfectly what your boyfriend was trying to show you.

He also showed you the mate and at first it was strange for you, mostly because it looked like weed 💀💀 he had to SWEAR to you that what you were drinking was not drug.

Once you went to Japan to celebrate the New Year and as a Christmas present he brought dulce de leche for everyone (he had a problem with customs and the airport for the amount 💀)

You didn't go for Christmas because he refused not to go to the family "reunion" of one of his friends ... when you arrived it was a big party full of food, drink and a big family

he made you dance "Rodrigo" and "Gilda" all night, you guys left the house at 6am and the party wasn't even over

ok it was ENOUGH with the food, let's talk about oikawa

He greatly appreciates that you decided to move in with him, even when everything is new and overwhelming, you accepted it without objection

Tooru likes to take you to Buenos Aires a lot and you hate him because it's a long trip from San Juan

sometimes he says "la concha de tu madre wifi de mierda tanto te ibas a cortar telecentro sos nefasto" AND YOU JUST- tooru are u okay? 💀

his new insults are strange

in fact his friends and teammates call him TOTO it's so hilarious, iwaizumi laughs a lot at that name

Oikawa is a very affectionate boyfriend and since he met you he never stopped dedicating soda stereo songs to you

once you looked for the translation of "Persiana Americana" and when you read "your clothes fall slowly, I am a spy, a spectator" "I know it excites you to think how far I'll go " you couldn't help but BLUSH

actually "La ciudad de la furia" is now your favorite song :)

yeah Tooru made you love old music

But that doesn't mean he doesn't turn Miranda up to the full volume he can when he wants to clean 🙄

he constantly says wos supremacy

his bio of his side on Twitter is stan wos or you will die, a whole drama queen

He doesn't know if he wants to take you on a honeymoon to Neuquén or to Brazil

He loves this new culture as much as he loves you and he appreciates that you want to share all these new experiences with him, holding his hand tight <3

🇦🇷 🇦🇷 🇦🇷

I did it too long and I probably bored you guys sorry 😭I'm also sorry for my mistakes, English is so complicated for me 🤧🤧

[coinofstone]

5x08 The Hollow Queen

What's Gwen doing out patrolling with the knights (jk I realize they're likely escorting her but it's still funny to think of her randomly deciding to join patrol when age wants to go for a walk or something)

I don't quite understand the correlation between the moon phase and frog catching but then I've never seen a wild frog in my life either. I did get kinda snooty when he said that tho cuz I'm like "she asked where you're going, not where you've been" 🤦‍♀️

Part of me wants to snark that this feels like it's about to be their first time actually boning, but the way Gwen casually calls for a hot bath... does she mean... after? Or....???

Stop he's like an angry barman 😂😍

Out of all the things I hate in S5, the way Gaius' chamber is lit is probably top 3, behind only the disrespect with which Gwen's character was treated all season and the fact that Arthur dies without restoring magic to Camelot, thus robbing us of the opportunity to watch King Arthur and Court Sorcerer Merlin handle various hilarious situations for at least a full thirteen episode season.

Yea this show is all medieval fantasy and whatever but Arthur, the grown ass man, not being able to find some very basic daily item that's right under his nose while standing helplessly in front of 'the clothing chair' and looking for someone to help him is tooooooo goddamn accurate.

There's no valid reason for this gif I just kept rewinding it so much I figured I might as well just gif it so I could watch it on a loop

Actually I guess I could use this moment to point out that since Arthur and Guinevere are married, we don't get the domestic morning scenes with Merlin walking Arthur up and helping him get dressed - presumably because they want to imply that Arthur's chambers is now *their* chambers, even though literally nothing has been done to it to suggest it's a shared space - beyond of course the one time we see Gwen's dresses hanging in Arthur's wardrobe and the extra changing screen. But there's no vanity, no second wardrobe ... it's really a very silly thing they're doing and I'm not entirely certain if it was intentional or overlooked or what. Sharing a bed chamber wasn't a common thing as far as I know, and even still a Queen needs a chamber of her own, even if the show wants to portray them as co-sleeping in Arthur's bed. It's just weird and inconsistent and I don't like it. Arthur's inability to dress himself, however - THAT I believe.

(Gif is from a S4 deleted scene)

Of course Morgana would tempt Merlin away from Camelot with tales of a Druid child in distress.

Gwen in that red queen outfit tho 😍

So, a couple things here. First off, this kid Daegal being like, "why are you being nice to me" to Merlin 😭 Second, Morgana leaving that kid alive is super ooc.

Merlin's little eyeroll when the kid tells him he thinks Morgana and Gwen intend to kill Arthur 😂

I love bamf Merlin

I don't particularly understand like... what Gwen is expecting to happen as Merlin is serving them dinner and Arthur brings up Merlin's girl. Like... she knows it's bullshit. At the end of the day despite everything that's happened, Morgana and therefore Gwen still don't know about Merlin's magic - they want him dead because a) Morgana knows he's thwarted her plans before and b) they know he knows or suspects Gwen - but how does she expect to play this off? 'Oh I assumed you were out shirking your responsibilities so I made up a girl to cover for you? Like??? What???

Commentary by Bradley and Alice

Wow they don't even record the commentary in order

Oh they actively cut the more 'suggestive' romantic scenes - like Arthur throwing Gwen onto the bed. That's like ... a lot more sensitive than I would've expected.

Omg Alice 😂 "what is it, Arwen? It's Arwen isn't it? Arthur/Gwen? Oh are you not with the speil? Merthur?"

Bradley: "I stay away from the spiel."

Alice: "oh come ON, Bradley get with the..."

Bradley: "I stay away from all that. For my own good."

Alice: "oh yea it probably is, actually."

Stop the name of the actor who plays Daegal is Alfie

I went to go follow Alice on Twitter and I spent an hour scrolling bullshit

They're saying Merlin wasn't cancelled, the BBC had asked for more but they said no because they'd planned to end it there

But they're also saying that S5 was great so I know they're lying on here

Bradley saying he wants to do theater but I don't think he's actually done any?

Omg Alice asking if he's seen Richard III and saying she went with Colin Katie and Rupert to see it but realizing they didn't invite Bradley and the awkward apology 😂😂😂😂

Alice said whose your favorite knight you can't offend then more than you have already 😂

Tomiwa was the smartest knight 😂

They're completely ignoring the episode and Alice is essentially interviewing Bradley with questions off Twitter

They had an awards thing at the wrap party? Oh it was awards made by Bradley it must've been for a joke

Alice just described the perilous lands episode as 'questy knighty' and suddenly I understand why I like her so much