#i think rouge will probably be introduced as a way for gun to keep an eye on shadow later

[aparticularbandit]

I'm surprised we're getting Shadow before Amy given that Amy was the one who unlocked his full Maria memories and led to his changing his mind on world destruction. Amy was a surprisingly important part of that game.

I know they can adapt around that, but.

By the way: I can accept Shadow because of what a big deal he is with the fandom. It honestly shows remarkable restraint that they waited until the third film to introduce him.

But so help me if the films introduce Silver before they introduce Amy, I will be very cross with Neil Moritz. (•̀⤙•́)

[thankskenpenders]

The Knuckles show

The announcement of a live action Knuckles streaming miniseries was surprising, to say the least. I mean, what would such a show even be about in a version of the Sonic universe with no Angel Island and barely any characters from the games around? Is he gonna go treasure hunting with the gang from Montana or something? Would a streaming miniseries have the CGI budget to squeeze in any new game characters, even briefly? Rouge? Amy? At least one member of Team Chaotix? Anyone?

Now the show is finally out, and it turns out what they actually made was a comedy show about bumbling deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, the minor comic relief character played by Adam Pally who you might not even remember all that well from the first two movies, with Knuckles as his sidekick. While, yes, Knuckles does get a decent amount of screentime and opportunities to punch bad guys and do cool moves from the games, large stretches of this show focus on Wade's personal life, to the point that a couple times I almost forgot I was watching a Sonic-related show. If you're judging it purely by the metric of how well it adapts and engages with its source material, this surely must be one of the worst adaptations the Sonic franchise has ever seen.

So then, despite some huge complaints... why do I kinda like it?

(This will contain full spoilers for the Knuckles show.)

A brief summary of what the show is actually about because I know half of you aren't going to watch it

The show picks up not too long after the end of the second movie. Knuckles is now living in Montana with Sonic, Tails, and the Wachowskis out of a sense of debt to them, though he doesn't really see it as his home. He doesn't feel like he belongs on Earth, and his life currently lacks direction. After communing with the ghost of Pachacamac, though, Knuckles is instructed to keep his culture alive by teaching "the ways of the echidna warrior" to a new apprentice: deputy sheriff Wade Whipple, who's currently more concerned about winning a bowling tournament in Reno than anything else.

Things are complicated by the interference of two rogue GUN agents - Agent Willoughby, played by Ellie Taylor in a bad wig, and Agent Mason, played by Kid Cudi. (Yes, the artist behind the second movie's credits song is one of the bad guys in this.) They want to steal Knuckles' power and sell it to a former associate of Robotnik's played by Rory McCann (The Hound from Game of Thrones), who now works as a black market arms dealer. Yes, they're still doing the thing where Sonic and friends' quills radiate some kind of super-energy that the bad guys all want. No, I don't particularly love this element of the Paramount Sonic continuity. Anyway, they go after Knuckles and Wade, complicating their straightforward road trip to Reno. Antics ensue.

The Wade show

So here's the thing. While the first episode focuses largely on Knuckles, the entire rest of the show is very much the story of Wade, and by extension the other original human characters invented for this miniseries.

Episode 2 is about Wade having to rescue Knuckles from captivity after the GUN agents get him. Knuckles spends most of the episode in a cage.

Episode 3 is about introducing Wade's Jewish family, including his slightly overbearing mother and weird sister, so that Knuckles can learn about their family traditions and have Shabbat dinner with them (and then save them from bounty hunters that the GUN agents hired).

Episode 4 only features Knuckles at the very beginning and very end of the episode, probably for less than a minute total. Wade is captured by a bounty hunter he personally knows, and Knuckles decides to let that be a trial for Wade to overcome on his own.

The last two episodes feature the climactic showdowns with the GUN agents and their arms-dealing ally, who comes in with a mech for the obligatory final boss fight. You'd think this would be Knuckles' time to shine, but really, these episodes are mostly about the bowling tournament in Reno where Wade encounters his estranged father, wrapping up his own personal arc. While Knuckles does get some fights, a lot of the finale is spent on lengthy bowling scenes where Knuckles isn't in the room or even mentioned. It frequently feels more like a spiritual successor to '00s sports comedy movies like Dodgeball, Talladega Nights, or Blades of Glory than it does a part of the Sonic franchise, and the presence of ESPN 8: The Ocho commentary in the finale only drives those Dodgeball comparisons home. They get so immersed in the bowling stuff that it's genuinely hilarious when the show suddenly pivots and remembers "oh shit we still need to do the final boss fight"

Throughout all this, Wade is the protagonist. He's the character we spend more time with, he's the character who drives most of the major events, he's the character who gets more of an arc. The emotional core is Wade's journey. Knuckles is still present - sometimes, at least - but he's there as Wade's wingman, and also just as the excuse for there to be some fight scenes.

How much Sonic stuff is actually in this show?

Honestly? Not much.

Sonic and Tails are only in the first episode. Sonic gets some good scenes, but Tails gets a grand total of five lines. I counted. Unsurprisingly, Jim Carrey is absent as Robotnik, though he does get mentioned a fair bit. (For that matter, basically the entire established human cast beyond Wade is absent, even including Tom, though Maddie is there in episode one.)

GUN is involved in the story, which helps it feel slightly more connected to Sonic, but it kind of feels like it's GUN in name only. They don't use any recognizable GUN tech, and they don't call in the military. It's just two agents in suits. They might as well be the Men in Black.

The Master Emerald is mentioned as something Knuckles has to guard, but it's never seen. Angel Island is pictured as a drawing during the show's intro, appearing exactly how it does in Sonic 3, but it's never referenced at all beyond that.

I guess the climax taking place in and around a Reno casino is a reference to Sonic's many casino-themed levels. That's something. I'll give them that.

Oh, and if you're wondering if this is the point where we finally start to get actual music from the games: no, it's not. The soundtrack consists of a lot of '80s needle drops, many of which are generic Hollywood picks like "Holding Out for a Hero" for the billionth time, thought it at least has some slightly less obvious picks than the Mario movie. The theme song is '80s rock song "The Warrior" by Scandal. You'll hear it many times. You'll hear the Adventure era Knuckles raps zero times in this. You'll briefly hear classic A Tribe Called Quest song "Can I Kick It?" before Knuckles takes the question too literally and breaks the radio in Wade's car.

Beyond a handful of surface level references for nerds (one of which is admittedly wild - we'll get to that), this is probably the least an officially licensed adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog has ever tried to actually engage with its source material. I struggle to think of another Sonic adaptation that has less to do with Sonic. For as much shit as I and countless others have given Penders for seemingly ignoring the content of the games in favor of building his own convoluted mythos, his Knuckles comics honestly included way more elements from the games than this show does.

Somehow, the one new(-ish) Sonic character introduced in this is the ghost of Pachacamac of all characters. Not even Tikal! Pachacamac! A very minor character nobody has particularly strong feelings about! You can't even use the excuse that they already had the character model, because they completely redesigned him compared to his cameo in the first movie to better match his Sonic Adventure design. And he's voiced by Christopher Lloyd! Honestly, so many of his lines are strained that it sounds like he's on death's door here, but then he'll surprise you with a more casual line like "just do it, man" and it catches me so off guard that I can't help but laugh.

Pachacamac here has basically nothing to do with the game character he takes his name and appearance from. Where the game character was a cruel warlord who kicked off a 3000 year cycle of violence, Paramount Pachacamac is now just this chill old man who gives Knuckles (and later Wade) advice in two episodes of the show. Hell, he also feels completely disconnected from his established role in the movies, where he's literally the guy who shot Longclaw. The show will not grapple with this contradiction at all. He's just here to be a thing fans like me will recognize from the games. Again, if that's all they wanted, it's kind of baffling that they didn't just use Tikal.

I don't love Knuckles in this

But what about Knuckles himself? Well, he doesn't feel all that much like Knuckles to me. Ironically, he sometimes feels like one of the weaker elements in his own show.

Back when the second movie came out, I noted that Knuckles' characterization seemed to be pulling heavily from MCU Thor as a gallant warrior from an archaic alien culture who doesn't really understand modern day Earth stuff. That worked for me in that movie. It was just there for spice. Just a little extra flavor for the character in what was otherwise a very faithful adaptation of Knuckles' storyline in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Without those familiar elements grounding him and with a much higher reliance on comedy, Idris Elba's Knuckles becomes a pretty one-note character in this.

In damn near every scene with Knuckles, he's going to say something about being a proud, honorable echidna warrior, or brag about his glorious feats of strength, or be confused about some Earth thing and call it sorcery, or act like every other character is also a member of some noble warrior clan. He still has his moments for sure, but this schtick kinda gets old fast, and it just doesn't feel like Knuckles to me. His entire character feels derived from the scene in the diner where Thor smashes the cup on the ground and goes "Another!" Sure, I can picture game Knuckles smashing a radio to turn it off and being a little too gung-ho about busting holes through walls. That's Knuckles behavior. But building a barbarian combat pit in the living room so the Wachowski family dog can fight the mailman? Nope. That's some other guy now. It really does just feel like them taking a broad character archetype from something popular that kinda sorta fits Knuckles and just running with that, rather than trying to actually adapt the character.

Oh, but don't worry, he wears the OVA hat for like two minutes! AND he loves grapes! See, Sonic nerds? We read the wiki! That's his favorite food! Grapes! This is gonna come up like five times!

Knuckles kind of gets an arc here, but not as much as Wade does. I think the stuff about him starting to feel at home on Earth thanks to Wade's mom and the way he connects with their Jewish family traditions is oddly sweet. This arc is kind of let down, though, by the fact that Knuckles' heritage is treated as a complete joke. He's a cartoonish pastiche of various historical warrior cultures stuck together in a blender and used mostly for comedic effect. When Pachacamac's ghost appears, he's reading a newspaper and bemoaning the fact that the Mets lost again. This is not the place for a serious examination of Knuckles' feelings on being the last of his kind.

This is far from the only time the show undercuts itself with its jokes and attempts at self-parody. In the first episode, for instance, Knuckles clashes with GUN Agent Mason and his tech-enhanced punches, leading to an extremely on-the-nose inversion of the "Do I look like I need your power?" scene showcased in the trailer for the second movie. Except this time, Agent Willoughby butts in and points out how stupid that line is in this new context, since they're literally trying to steal Knuckles' power. The fight can't just be cool, they have to get cute with it. A lot of stuff like that happens in this show.

Given all these complaints, the first two episodes left me thinking I'd be fairly negative on this show overall. This seemed like the version of the show from the fandom's collective nightmares, one that undoes all of the progress the movie series seemed to have been making towards faithfulness to the games. Like, just look at these cast posters. Is this what you want out of Sonic? Do these excite you?

But then, something strange happened. Over time, I just kind of let the jokes and shenanigans wash over me and basked in how fucking weird this show is.

And I started to actually enjoy it.

Look. The Wade & Knuckles Show was never going to be peak Sonic. But that sure as hell doesn't mean it can't be entertaining.

This show is so fucking goofy

Here's the thing.

The show is funny.

Unlike a lot of other people, I didn't hate all the wedding stuff in Hawaii in Sonic 2, because I thought a lot of it was funny, both in its actual jokes and in the ways in which they tied everything back to Sonic. Tom looking wistfully at some bodybuilders doing Top Gun shit and spraying each other with beer and being like "I wish Sonic had that" is weirdly funny. The twist that those muscle bros are all agents of the newly formed GUN, who orchestrated the wedding as an elaborate scheme to catch Sonic, is funny. Mr. Olive Garden becoming the fucking GUN Commander is VERY funny. Are any of these elements of my dream Sonic movie? No, of course not. But my dream Sonic movie was never gonna happen in live action.

The Knuckles show follows up on the comedy of the previous films by being probably the funniest live action Sonic release yet. Did every joke land for me? God no. There are some stinkers in there that made me roll my eyes. But enough of them landed that it worked out for me overall. A big part of this is the fact that they've got a good cast of actors and/or comedians here.

Adam Pally is funny as Wade, and I found myself liking him more and more as a character as the show went on. He becomes an oddly endearing loser, with some sweet moments in his personal arc that made me feel for the guy. I like Wade more than Tom now, thanks to this show. I will now be happier to see Wade in Sonic 3 than I would have been previously.

The supporting cast is frequently great, too, many of whom are playing completely cartoonish, over-the-top characters. They took a cue from how exaggerated Carrey's performance was as Robotnik and decided to just abandon all pretense that this is the real world. Stockard Channing as Wade's mom is funny, and carries some of the more sincere parts of the show. Cary Elwes as Wade's very British dad who abandoned him as a child to run off and be the world's most egotistical professional bowler is funny. Edi Patterson as Wade's sister Wanda is... well, she's kinda trying too hard, but she has her moments. The Mighty Boosh co-creator Julian Barratt(!!) as a scenery-chewing bounty hunter, who was also somehow Wade's former best friend and bowling partner, is VERY funny. I love this guy.

(Honestly, they should let more people who were on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace be in Sonic stuff. Where's Matt Berry)

This is kind of a stacked cast for a bunch of stupid side characters in a live action Knuckles show! And honestly, that just makes it funnier to me. Even when they're not funny, the fact that this exists makes it funny. They somehow convinced Paramount to give them a bunch of money to make a spiritual successor to Dodgeball about a schlubby guy who wants to beat his dad at a bowling tournament... except also Knuckles the fucking Echidna is there as his personal life coach. My life is richer for the fact that I can say that sentence. I think about all the little kids who are probably watching this show this weekend, going in expecting a show about Knuckles the Echidna and having to sit through extensive bowling scenes and lore about Wade's family, and sorry kids, but I just have to laugh. Wade isn't even on the poster! The poster is just a picture of Knuckles!! They punked those kids!!!

In a franchise where every single aspect is so carefully micromanaged these days, it feels truly special to get an adaptation this bonkers. It frequently appeals to the same part of me that enjoys the fact that there's an officially licensed Knuckles comic in which Charmy Bee's best friend (also a bee) dies of an accidental LSD overdose from a drug-laced chili dog. Or like, everything about the original 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie. Or the fact that they made seven direct-to-DVD sequels to Alpha and Omega, one of which is half a retread of the adventure from the first movie (with more annoying supporting characters in tow this time) and half a literal clip show of the first movie. The sheer absurdity of the fact that these things exist is charming to me. Except, with the Knuckles show, it has the added benefit of frequently being funny on purpose! This is why I'm not sure I'd call it "so bad it's good." Like, it's not amazing, but there were a lot of parts that I enjoyed in the exact way I was supposed to enjoy them.

Look. Here's a list of real lines of dialogue from the Sega-approved Knuckles the Echidna streaming show that they're billing as a pillar of the Paramount+ lineup, to drive this point home. Let these marinate for a minute:

"I only eat grapes, and Cool Ranch Doritos™."

"Annihilate this little girl, Wade. Crush her spirit. Humiliate her so badly her parents won't even look at her again." "Doesn't that seem like we're going a bit far?" "Not far enough."

"So is he Jewish?" "Half, I think."

"I had a friend who when he listened to Alien Ant Farm he could lift a Toyota Corolla over his head."

"I'm in dire financial straits. Due to my lawsuit against an unnamed rainforest-themed restaurant franchise, I don't have two pennies to my name."

"We're here in sunny Reno, Nevada, which is so close to Hell you can smell the sparks."

"You can't threaten me with your Jewish karate chops because I am a federal agent."

"I will say, regardless of how you feel about child abandonment - and I'm against it! - the deals at TJ Maxx can't be beat."

This is a Sonic show in which they got Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel to appear as ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators.

This is a show where Wade's mom insists upon pronouncing "Knuckles" with the throaty Hebrew "ch" sound, and declares that Knuckles is basically Jewish. Later, they watch Pretty Woman together while enjoying a nice slice of key lime pie. Knuckles comments: "I don't understand. This young streetwalker with a heart made of gold, why do the others treat her with such disdain? Is it so wrong to walk the streets?"

This is a show where the fourth episode is directed by one of the guys from The Lonely Island and features a hallucinatory low budget rock opera stage musical put on by the ghost of Pachacamac. It recounts Knuckles' life story, with Wade playing Knuckles and the "evil" Longclaw played by the bounty hunter guy who's played by the Mighty Boosh guy.

Look at this.

And also, Knuckles' singing voice is provided by Michael Bolton, which they proudly announce in the middle of the musical.

And also...

Also...???

IBLIS IS IN IT????????????

Yes, Iblis!

From Sonic '06!!

Knuckles is said to have looked for a mythical power called the "Flames of Disaster" to avenge his clan, which ended up being the power that was within him all along that lets him do fire punches yadda yadda yadda. As part of this, he apparently fought Iblis off-screen at some point, as conveyed with the giant singing papier-mâché Iblis in the musical.

...Then Iblis sings about hitting up Facebook Marketplace

How? How does any of this exist? Why reference '06 of all games? How did Iblis get into the live action Sonic movie universe before Amy and Metal Sonic? Why are they using Iblis and the term "Flames of Disaster" in such a goofy way that completely disregards their original context?

I don't know. I don't know how any of this happened. But I love it. We got a Knuckles miniseries in which Michael Bolton sings the phrase "the Flames of Disaster." The world is a beautiful place sometimes.

Some people will tell you to skip episode four. "Knuckles is barely even in it," they say. "It's dumb and pointless," they say. "They clearly just ran out of special effects budget," they say. These are people whose opinions you should disregard. The episode with the least Knuckles in it is somehow the most entertaining episode of the show. I would, in fact, go as far as to say that if you only decide to watch one episode of the Knuckles show to see what goofy bullshit they get up to, it should be this one.

I cannot be mad at this show. It's so dumb, but it completely owns the fact that it's a dumb and unnecessary spinoff. Inferiority is baked into its very DNA. It's very self-consciously redoing the premise of the first movie, but stupider. It's about The Other Cop from the movies, instead of the competent one. Instead of being into a "cooler" sport, his life revolves around professional bowling. Instead of going to Vegas, he goes to Reno. Even his tragic backstory that shaped his entire life sucks. He was abandoned by his pro bowler dad in a TJ Maxx. Not even a nicer department store. A fucking TJ Maxx. This whole show is a Dril tweet.

They put a ton of effort into making it dumb in an occasionally spectacular way. So much effort was put into that joke rock opera that fans will just write off as stupid filler. They put their whole pussies into it. This is not a poorly made show. This has better production values than half the shit made for Disney+. This was made with love. Maybe not as much love for the Sonic the Hedgehog series of video games as we'd like, but it's love nonetheless.

Maybe this show broke me and these are the ramblings of a madwoman. Maybe I'm just really nostalgic for the '90s and '00s comedy movies all the Wade stuff is modeled after. Maybe the Alan Wake fan in me just really loves it when a story pivots to a silly rock opera for no real reason. I won't discount any of these possibilities. This isn't high art. This isn't something I would recommend to anyone with zero interest in Sonic, and it also isn't going to sway Sonic fans who hate the Paramount universe. I really can't blame them for being bewildered by this show. But for a specific type of person, this is the absurd three-star Sonic-adjacent comedy miniseries of your dreams. It's a mid masterpiece.

Again, I just have to step back, realize the fact that this shouldn't exist, and smile. Sega's too afraid to do stupid bullshit with the franchise like this these days. And I can't blame them, after years of Sonic being a treated as a laughingstock. But part of me misses some of the goofy shit. No matter how much I tore some of the Archie comics apart as I was reading them for this blog, I just look back on stuff like Cal and Al or the Many Hands issues and laugh. And that same part of me looks at this show about Knuckles being the sidekick to this fucking guy, and just goes...

"We're so back."

In conclusion, I genuinely think this was a more enjoyable TV show than Sonic Prime.

I wouldn't go back and rewatch Sonic Prime anytime soon, aside from maybe, like, a couple of the Shadow-heavy episodes. Huge stretches of that show bored me to tears. The writers squandered all of that show's potential. But I would rewatch the Knuckles show, which takes a terrible premise and has a lot of fun with it, in a heartbeat. Even the bowling parts. The bowling scenes in the Knuckles show are more engaging than 70% of the fights in Sonic Prime. I am not trolling. I mean that sincerely, with all my heart. Don't @ me.

Stray observations

There is effectively zero meaningful setup for the third movie in this, unless Wade's family or the two GUN agents come back or something. Project Shadow is not mentioned in this. There is no secret post-credits scene with Gerald

The CGI in this is pretty good. Not quite on par with the movies, but pretty good. Sonic's weird forehead wrinkles are distracting in his scenes though. Please fix that

I wouldn't say I liked this as much as the second movie, which obviously gets a ton of points for, you know. The Cool Sonic Shit. But I had more fun with it than the first movie, which I still feel is a painfully generic family movie that was only saved by Tyson's redesign

"Grapes are an interesting choice for someone who doesn't use his individual fingers."

Agent Willoughby was apparently the one at GUN who had to buy the Olive Garden gift cards and set up the fake wedding. Her origin story is that she hated doing shit like that and wanted to go fight aliens

This miniseries contains another Keanu namedrop because Wade's childhood bedroom has a Speed poster on the wall. I swear, if Sonic doesn't say Shadow sounds just like Keanu...

Knuckles is familiar with Paul Blart Mall Cop

Near the end the ESPN 8: The Ocho commentators say that the 1974 Reno bowling championship was also interrupted by an extraterrestrial, and given that was exactly 50 years ago I can't write off the possibility that that was Shadow. Please for the love of god give us a sequel series after the third movie where Wade takes Shadow the Hedgehog bowling. I need this more than I need air

[miraculouscontent]

Didn’t Need Burrow (May 23rd-25th)

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Astruc admitted Sabine was based on an ex and Marinette is what he imagined their daughter to be like. He later admits Audrey was based on an ex and Chloe is what he imagined their daughter would be like. Despite moving on, he still bitter and created two teen girls as "payback" against his exes.

The whole “virtual daughter” thing still squicks me out.

Also, I don’t actually take “Didn’t Need Burrows” referring specifically to the staff/fandom since that’s outside of the show, but I also definitely think about them all the time and like sticking them in here.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Building off of the "Adrien knows about Marinette's crush on him and tells Plagg about it" Burrow, Plagg will point out to Adrien that this is a bad idea and what he is doing is wrong and that Adrien is leading Marinette on so as to stroke his own ego. He will not be listened to, and the show portray him as in the wrong, despite him being right, because anybody who stands up for Marinette's agency deserves to be shut down. In the meantime, Adrien will be allowed to continue

Bonus if Plagg will be considered “wrong” because Adrien not leading Marinette on would lead to him being sAd because Marinette isn’t fawning over him anymore (as if he doesn’t have a million fans).

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be presented not only as "Chloe if she was good person", but also as "Marinette if she wasn't constantly making mistakes"

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be basically  Marinette if "Marinette's Mistake of the Week" formula never existed.

Sounds about right.

Amazing what can happen when the show doesn’t have a gun to your head telling you to make mistakes in every episode.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: The show delves into a shitty harem as the writers forget that Adrien is not the main character. Who knows, maybe Zoe will join the harem.

The only reason I feel like Zoe wouldn’t be a part of Adrien’s harem is so she can ship the love square.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be Animaestro-type episode where Marinette "makes alliance" with (read: is manipulated by) Chloe or Lila against Zoe. In the end she is only one punished, while her "partner in crime"  (or rather person who manipulated her) walks away completely scot-free.

To the surprise of no one. Can’t have the antagonists be punished, because that would make sense.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: (narrative-wise) Agreste's family drama and Bourgeois's sisters drama will overshadow whatever Marinette character arc will be in season 4.

I’m taking this a step further and saying that Marinette in generall will keep having her plots/”arcs” overshadowed by everyone else.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Marinette will be akumatized. She will be easily defeated due to "bond" between Chat Noir and Temporary Ladybug Zoe. This will be presented like Ladybug's constant refuse to "bond" with Chat Noir was reason why their fights with Akumatized Villains are so hard. (bonus: This episode will be followed by a group of fans that would state that Zoe should replace Marinette as Ladybug Miraculous Holder and not Chloe as Bee Miraculous Holder.)

Uggggh, I’m always waiting for the “love square magical bond” garbage.

Also, the bonus reminds me of the fact that I don’t understand people who hate on both Marinette and Luka but continue to ship the love square. Like, wouldn’t they want to ship Adrien with someone “””worthy””” of him??

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Marinette akumatization has Miracle Queen-type set-up, Chat Noir will quickly defeat her and whatever all other Miraculous Holders alone (or optionally supported by Temporary Ladybug Zoe). This will be presented by narrattive as proof of why Chat Noir is Brawn in Ladybug-Chat Noir duo. (Bonus: After that episode Adrien stans will make mass of "I hope this will shut up everyone who think that Chat Noir is useless/weaker than Ladybug/etc." type posts)

At this point, I’ve just grown numb to Chat suddenly being able to do things that don’t make sense for him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Temporary Ladybug Zoe

Okay but is she keeping the black highlights or do they turn red. These are important questions.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Kagami will be changed (ret-conned) into  Adrienette (or other Love Square's part) shipper after "Lies"

Something similar is already on the card so that’s fun. :’3

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe, not Marinette, will be wearing that dress from the Season 4 Concept Art.

*eye twitch*

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Rena Rogue will be appearing even when she isn't needed to defeat Akuma of the Week. This will be probably used to justify Chat Noir's increasing resent up towards Ladybug and (probably) consequent reversal of Love Square.

anything: *happens*

Chat Noir: bad Ladybug

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Ending: Marinette will willingly sacrifice herself to wake up from coma/ressurect Emilie. Both Adrien and Gabriel will be happy that Emilie is back. Adrien will have his happy relationship/ending with Zoe whom personality is (or was ret-conned into) "Marinette in anything but name". (Bonus points: if everyone behave like Marinette never existed after Emilie revival)

I’m sad.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: If Akuma of the Week isn't Reflekta/Mr Pigeon/Gigantitan/etc,.Pig Miraculous"s "Gift" power will basically fail and only make current Akumatized Villain angrier and more determined to achieve his goal, basically restarting whole fight against Akuma.

PIGELLA NO

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will never react to Zoe becoming more popular than her

I imagine Zoe isn’t the same age as Chloe since they’re not twins, so Zoe at least won’t be in Bustier’s class.

Now, if they make her a Lila slave, then we’ll see.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow to know that Marinette is going to hate Zoe for being related to Chloe and this will be limited to her or she'll be the only one scolded for it (likely by Adrien), because you can't hate someone for who they're related to (which actually is a good lesson but ml will probably f it up somehow).

I feel like the writers just look at a character and go, “okay, how can we engineer them in a way for Marinette to mess up around them?

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need Burrow - Chat will find out Rena Rouge knows her identity and becomes angry bc "You and me against the world, m'lady." This will cause one episode of Adrienette becoming closer and Ladynoir drifting apart before Chat magically forgives her like it was no big deal after she makes a huge gesture to get him back.

You’d think they’d have worn out the reset button by now...

Anonymous asked:

Didn't need burrow: one of two things will happen, either Adrien will try to help Luka get back together with Marinette (basically the same plot as Mr. pigeon 72) or the relationship will not be brought up ever again and Mari and Luka don't really directly interact with each other anymore

“Bonus” if Adrien is “taught a lesson” that he shouldn’t meddle, and it’s only because he chose to meddle in Lukanette. “Double bonus” if his attempts actually get Lukanette back together but this is presented as a bad thing (for some reason)..

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Zoe will be(e)come pernament Bee Miraculous Holder.

This won’t be added because I think we already got official confirmation on this?

Oh, or do you mean “permanent” as in her keeping the miraculous eventually?

edit: yes, that’s what they meant (also, A+ pun)

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Every Miraculous Holder introduced in Season 4 will be will lose right to their Miraculous, except Zoe/Vesperia.

lol me just imagining them struggling over either making models or trying to not use those miraculouses anymore.

Anonymous asked:

Didn't Need Burrow: Luka will be forced to say Adrien and Marinette are perfect for each other in "Optigami".

Wow, show, why don’t you just prove more that you’re purposefully pointing out that you’re giving Marinette a grand total of One “Obvious” Option.

Anonymous asked:

Unsure if this one has been sent yet but | Didn't Need Burrow: Alya is going to continue Marinette to pursue Adrien even after Marinette broke down and said she doesn't have time for love right now.

We have some similar ones I think.

“Marinette’s feelings towards moving on are invalidated/ignored by one of her “friends” to push for the Love Square“

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sandboy 2.0: Ladybug's nightmare will be about Chat Noir abandoning/hating her

I was dumb enough to raise an eyebrow at this like, “Would they really reuse akum--oh wait.”

Anonymous asked:

I'm gonna try and go for a good Didn't Need Burrow: WHen Sole Crusher gets Marinette we'll either get a lovely King Kong moment between them, or Chat Noir will come in and save her (and it'll possibly be a moment of reverse love square).

If they have Marinette doing the cliche “crushing because they got saved” I’m gonna throw hands.

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to burrow:

Marinette will never have a heart to heart with Luka revealing she's Ladybug or even explain the reason for their breakup.

Just gonna slap a big asterisk on this because it’s like:

*despite Luka being an obvious choice and they could’ve worked out the issue but the show is afraid of the side ship they’ve created working out better than the love square itself

Anonymous asked:

Don't need to Burrow: For Optigami, the episode will barely or never acknowledge Luka's and Marinette's relationship/breakup. It will be ignored and we won't have any cute Lukanette moments. As long as Adrien is in the picture, Luka will be always sidelined.

Honestly that last one is basically one of the commandments of this show.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Lila will now only appear in cameos (probably without even any voice lines).

show writers, shoving Lila under a rug: Leela Ransai?? Never heard of him.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Since Lukanette is over, Luka can be ret-conned from show. Everyone will behave like he never existed at all (and Lukanette never hapenned).

We at least know that Luka now appears in a later episode, but this could easily be worded as “Luka can be retconned away from being Marinette’s love interest and everyone will act like he and Marinette aren’t that close or never made soft eyes at each other.”

Except I wouldn’t count on Lukanette being retconned because that would stop the show from being allowed to make Marinette feel bad and guilty and possibly cause another akuma over it, plus possibly Luka “rejecting” his feelings for her and thus making her feel worse that he sees her in a lesser light.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: There will be an episode that will break "Mr Pigeon" episode record of  "Don't Need a Burrow" and close calls.

Not gonna lie, I would be legitimately impressed if that happened. I’m just wondering what predictions would be mashed together to make it as such.

Anonymous asked:

Didn’t Need Burrow to know that Zoey (I heard somewhere that that’s how her name is going to be in America, it might be wrong), is going to get involved in the love square somehow.

Bonus:

Or she will replace Kagami’s role as Marinette’s friendly rival, and when her heart gets broken Marinette will be the one to blame, for no reason, like always. Or she will have an interest in Marinette, since it seems they are going to be close friends, only for Marinette to put her in the friend zone, and she gets akumatized. People will blame Marinette for giving false hopes to the girl, even though, she never acted different than how a friend would act.

All girls exist to comment/have an opinion on the love square, obviously, and they’re antagonists/villains if they have a negative opinion on it.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Writers will use Alya bashing concept of Alya proposing Lila as potential new Miraculous Holder. Marinette will obviously refuse, but due to fact that Lila is suddenly ret-conned into being good person this is Marinette's Mistake of the Week. She will repair it by making Lila pernament Miraulous Holder

Waiting for the one episode long Lila redemption...

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Sabrina will be redeemed. She will change from Chloe's servant... to Zoe's servant.

and it’s fine of course because Zoe and Sabrina are best friends and Sabrina is doing this all happily and willingly.

Anonymous asked:

Don't Need a Burrow: Alya will be changed into basically Marinette's Guardianship mentor

Somehow, this is one of the ones I hate the most because it seems accurate so far.

[popculturebuffet]

Darkwing Duck: Just Us Justice Ducks

This is it. 7 reviews, 10 episodes, 2 teams,  7 brave heroes, 13 villians but only 5 of which are relevant here. All leading to this. One big final review of one of the most loved, most important and most awesome Darkwing Duck episodes, the ONLY two parter outside of the pilot in the show’s long history. If your just joining us, as hinted at in the opening sentence i’ve been doing reviews of every episode of darkwing duck featuring the first apperances of the Justice Ducks and Fearsome Five. The only exception was Megavolt, but I ended up doing Negaduck instead, so I could cover both Megs and the original version of Negsy in one fell swoop (A great idea and comission from longtime supporter of the blog WeirdKev27). All so I could give this the build up  it deserved and get the background I didn’t have years ago when I wanted to watch this, wanted to see all of the first apperances first.. then just didn’t get around to it, not even finding out the episode order is an utter nightmare.  While i’ve given out about this before, allow me to do so again: Due to prioritzing what got done first over proper order, ALL of the justice ducks first appearances eps were aired after this and while Morgana at least got an episode before this, it was her second appearance. Same with LIquidator and Quackerjack though like Morgana, Quackerjack still got an episode or two before this one. So yeah as a result to most kids it was a bunch of heroes just introduced, up against two new villians and 3 old faviorites. You kinda see the problem. It’s why I watched it in chronlogical order: to have this be a gathering of established heroes against darking’s worst foes... and the debut of the worst of THE worst, the true Negaduck at long last. So with the proper build this deserves and not much else to say, let’s look at this two parter and see if all my effort was worth it and if the hype is real. Let’s, get, dangerous under the cut

We open in St. Canard in Darkwing Duck’s secret HQ over the bridge, where he’s getting ready to go out with Morgana and does... things to his hair. 

Excellently terrible hair do.. seriously I love a good pompadour as much as the next person, probably unheathily more than the next person, but this isa bit much and adding a curl to it is just.. 

I mean Superman’s hair looked better at this point, and for those wondering “Wait superman usually has a pretty good look”.. welll. 

Yeah.. post-ressurection.. he had a mullet. Look there are only 4 people in the world who can pull of a mullet: Brock Sampson, Patrick Swayze (God Rest his soul), Hank Venture and Daniel Cooksy as a teenager. And he ALSO put a curl in it and it still looked okay because that’s one of this things along with being selfless, and idiots calling him bland for you know, being a kind hearted symbol of humanity at it’s best. But man the mullet was just not for you bud. 

Morgana naturally tries to change it while Gosalyn watches and...

Yeah as you can probably guess a LOT has happened.. and all off screen. Morgana is not only fully on the side of good apparently, but she and Darkwing have gone from simply flirting with one another to dating AND Gosalyn has met her and they fought the astro mummies together.. no wait that was the Caballleros yesterday.. but still eveyrthing else is PRETTY important stuff and even with the messed up episode order the kind of thing you’d ASSUME an episode would be made about. I mean this is her meeting darkwing’s kid for fuck’s sake. That’s a big step in any relationship let alone one just starting out. And trust me, I didn’t miss anything: every other morgana ep seems to have them already in a steady relaionship. I DO think it’s stuff like this why some fans aren’t crazy about this relationship. Me I think he’s honestly too good for her. 

But before they can go out for whatever vauge date they were going to have the power goes out and DW notices it’s megavolt and prepares to go after him only for Morgana to question him about their date. 

Morgana.. sweetie.. the entire city is blacked out. Nowhere will be open.  But Gosalyn offers an alternative, Morgana go along with him and while both are reluctant they go with it. So Darkwing confronts Megavolt... and soon finds a bunch of chattering teeth. Yup, it’s Quackerjack as the two have teamed up, and together easily defeat Darkwing, putting him in an electric chair. The two also really get along which makes sense: Both have similar personalities, being kinda nuts indivdiuals with a singular obession , which compliment each other as toys often need electric power after all. THey strap darkwing into an electric chair, that got dark fast and he begs morgana to save him.. only for her to accidently turn him into jello. I mean.. they say pudding but.. their diffrent things. Just because world famous sexual predator Bill Cosby promoted BOTH for the jell-o brand doesn’t mean Jello is magically pudding. If he could magically make one thing 

Point is Darkwing is jello, the villians mock him then set up some kind of device and head off.. while also mentioning a mysterious boss. I wonder who it could be. 

Nah.. too obvious. Darkwing is humilated and of course blames. morgana.. for saving his life.. as while the jello humilated him he’s also you know not dead. 

Anyways Darkwing storms off while Morgana worries he likes her. Morg.. the guy got pissy because you saved his life the wrong way with some bad aim. And before that clearly just wanted you there as a trophy to impress you instead of because he valued you in any way but your looks, because let’s face it he’s shown no intrest so far in any way that isn’t superficial and neither have you in him. You both need to actually try to deepen this or end it.  Anyways enough me ranting at 90′s cartoon characters, it’s time for our next Justice Duck to enter the episode as Stegmutt is selling hot dogs now, but no one stops because they just.. run in terror. Poor guy, good thing he’s too oblivoius to notice. Maybe Dr. Fossil had a point.  Back to the plot and it turns out the next phase in the Fearsome Five’s plan is to take out the police... okay so wait are they the bad guys or not? Questions for later. Point is we get a nice mismatch as Bushroot’s timidity contrasts perfectly with Liquidator’s showman ship and he drowns them out. Darkwing prepares to attack, but gets interrupted by Stegmutt, refuses his help.. and we get the best and most iconic gag of the episodes: Darkwing makes a joke about playing pretend.. and senseing Stegmutt is a dummy have him pretend to “put out the darkwing”.. which equates to pulling a Droopy while saying “put out the darkwing”. So the two villians finsih their job and high five and this is one of the most charming parts of this 2 parter: the camradere between the five minus negaduck. The other four just.. easily bond and enjoy each ohters company, only fighting ONCE, and then being on the same page after that. 

It’s also what makes them so deadly: the go too for ANY superhero team in any medium is to simply get the vilians to fight each other as most vilian teams are built on REALLY shaky ground, a mixture of egos and ambitions that unlike with most superhero teams, can’t really be overcome with the greater good.. because their only in it for what they want. The thing that keeps any of these groups together longterm.. is camradere. I’ts why the Flash’s Rogue’s gallery is easily one of the most dangerous; while there are outliers like the reverse flash, most of them are part of the rouges, and ascribe to their rules and morals.. and thus the camradre and support that comes with it. One guy with a cold gun or a super flamethrower or a weather wand or mirror powers.. is pretty damn tough. All four and more together, willing to bail one another out, having their own tailor and weapons hookups. The four remind me of that: a bunch of guys who have the common goal of beating darkwing but likely just.. hang out when not trying to do crimes. Well except negaduck, hence the four thing. By not being able to just easily turn them on one another, it means you HAVE to take them all at once. Even if you got rid of negaduck as both the comics and the 2017 reboot have shown.. you still have 4 immensley powerful, quackerjack included, supervillians who easily can work together instead of a bunch of angry assholes who tend to work better one at a time and just with a united goal. Point is Darkwing Duck is Darkwing Fucked.  Darkwing once again refuses help and yells at Stegmutt, because he’s been evne douchier than usual, and then makes the mistake of yelling at Neptunia, who promptly has her octopus friend throw him into the distance because .. well he deserves it. So while Darkwing patches up that wound to his pride and his spleen, we finally meet our vilians new boss: NEGADUCK. And... they do not explain why a guy who looks exactly like drake is here, if he has any relation to the other negaduck he was inspired by, or why any of them would trust him. This would bother me more.. if A) it wasn’t too much of a stretch for darkwing to have foes we hadn’t seen given the whole casefiles thing and B).. well okay this isn’t really a logical opinon but since when have that stopped me. 

There’s a damn good reason that Negsy has one of the biggest episode counts of Darkwings villians. The guy is just.. the perfect foil to Darkwing, the Joker to his batman, the reverse flash to his flash, the green goblin to his spider-man, the sabertooth to his wolverine. He’s Drake’s equal and opposite number. While Drake can’t take two steps as Darkwing without wanting some attention, Negsy is happy to avoid having any until the moment strikes. While Drake wants attention as much as he wants to do the right thing, Negsy just simply loves doing what he’s doing. To quote the Spies are Forever song “Somebody’s Gotta Do it” “Can’t you see.. how much I enjoy this, i’d never avoid this, cause buddy i’m a diffrent breed. This is my calling, and though it’s appaling, I love making people bleed.” 

He just LOVES being evil. He’s as comically devoted to being a bad guy as Darkwing is to being a good one. He loves the idea of being able to shoot a bunny, he revels in his villiany and he loves every second. But as I said unlike darkwing he dosen’t let his flaws get in the way of his villiany as much. He still does on occasion, he’s still a version of Darkwing after all, but he has his eyes far more on the prize and is far less prone to distraction. He dosen’t care about toy deals or infamy.. he just wants to watch the world burn and laugh manically over the flames. While his obessions CAN be used against him.. as this episode shows it only lasts for a bout a second and he’s usually ready for it. He’s a Drake with no morals, no connections and few drawbacks. And he’s also every bit as clever, with him winning for most of the two parter. And not because the plot needs him too.. he’s simply THAT good at planning, with his plan here being geninely clever. I’m REALLLY hoping for Frank to lead the reboot because combining ALL of this with his reboot backstory will be divine if he gets to. Negaduck was very much worth the hype. 

So his next plan, itself clever.. is to dress up as Darkwing and inflitrate SHUSH, taking out the next possibly thing that could stop them. And he does so easily, even while Darkwing is there and to show off just how friggin awesome he is predicts what Drake will say. The only thing that trips him up is drake hilarious pointing out a cute bunny, because he and the other Negsy apparently share the same burning hatred, causing him to get out his shotgun. And can I just say how wonderful it is he can use a shotgun?  That’d never pass nowadays, which isn’t the worst thing but i do question why VILLIANS can’t be shown being reckless with fire arms. Their the bad guys, kids aren’t going to see it as a good thing. And they still equate laser guns with guns. They aren’t going to trivilaize gun violence because of Darkwing Duck or Looney Tunes. 

Even being found out Negaduck still acomplishes his goal and floods thing. So now both the cops and shush are down, and things aren’t looking great. Darkwing’s still determined he can do this himself and beat them.. but it’s transparent that not only he CAN’T and won’t admit he’s outnumbered but freely admits he just wants the biggest win of his career by taking them all out 4 to 1. Probablem is.. he’s not spider-man and this isn’t the sinister six. As I said he’s not fighting a villian group whose egos clash so badly , at least whent hey first formed, they have to take turns or in later iterations have some member blackmailed in> Their working in concert. He needs help but as we’ve seen multiple times now Darkwing just can’t accept it. He has to be in the limelight and while he does have to relearn the lesson .. it works better here as personality flaws aren’t the kind of thing that fixes itself overnight. Sometimes never. It feels less like it does sometimes in cartoons, where the character just.. never fucking learns, and more like Darkwing has learned it.. he’s just so very human and thus can’t resist sliding black. Less peter griffin more bojack horseman is what i’m saying. I mean there are still bits of just poor writing, but for the most part his ego is like most of his enimies: he just can’t get it to stay beat. 

So it won’t suprise you that when the national guard and gizmoduck are called he’s not happy. You may recall when I reviewed “Tiff of the Titans” I REALLY hated this verison of Gizmoduck. He was concited as Darkwing but treated like he wasn’t, treating the daring duck of mystery like a criminal for stupid reasons and was generally pretty useless and obnoxious. The fact that hamilton camps gizmoduck voice sounds not like a 20-30 something like Fenton is but like Grandpa Simpson mixed with a dash of dudley doo right dosen’t help. 

It’s not lost on me that Dan Castellaneta’s character is NOT the one that sounds like Abe Simpson either. But while that problem is still around... the rest of them.. aren’t. Gizmoduck’s character development actually stuck from last time, so rather than be a dick to darkwing he’s warm, friendly and happy to accept his help when Darkwing shows up, thinking his old “Buddy” is just volunteering to help instead of screaming at him for doing his job. Not only that but while he still has elements of a standard superman type “Cape” hero parody... their more toned down and actually funny with him giving giant speeches, and that being useda gainst him and being over the top.. but still being the noble, big hearted hero you’d expect from the roll, just wanting to do good not for the Glory he gets anyway, but because people need him. In short.. he’s 100% better thsi go round. Well okay 80.. he still sounds like this. 

Gos also brings Morgana along, because apparently she forgot the entire episode where her father was so obssed with being noticed he tried to upstage his 10-12 year old daughter... and you know the hundred other times Drake put his ego over his job. 

So he naturally wants to shoo her while Gizmo. .warmly welcomes the help because he recognizes that people are counting on them not counting on him.  Just then the villians make their move and activate the electro slave device from earlier which.. does nothing like that’d sound like and just creates a giant electrical wall, cutting off ST. Canard and bringing the plan full circle: The villains have now cut off the town and taken out almost anything that could oppose them. And despite you know everything Darking only gets more pissy when Stegmutt and Neptunia show up., Stegmutt because he still wants to return Darkwing’s change as Darkwing bought a hot dog from him and Stegmutt’s also a really sweet guy and Neptuina because well... .the ocean’s her thing and a bunch of bad guys just put a giant line through it she’s now on the other side of. Gizmo suggests the obvious: It’s a day unlike any other when a threat no one duck, or fish or dino duck, can face alone. It’s time to assemble! And Gos is more than excited about the idea, suggesting the name Justice Ducks which.. is honestly fairly weak in my opinon. Not BAD but very clearly just “Justice League” with Ducks in it. Given how good the series is at names, you think they’d of taken more than five minutes on this one. Maybe it was disney mandate I dunno.  But the concept itself.. is brilliant and I wish it came back in other epiosdes; Taking a bunch of other heroic characters in a setting and making them into a team is always a great idea, it’s why the tmnt unvierses have been using the mutanimals more and more lately, and they do ballance each other out nicely. You have a nice contrast of powers: while multiple have super strength, stegmutt is your bruiser, Gizmo is the tech guy, darkwing’s the strategy, morgana handles magic and Neptuina can swim in anything and is super strong and agile outside and inside water, so as long as she can keep hydrated, she’s useful> Which by the way has ALWAYS been the case for aquaman.. except the superfriends version. 

He really does suck and ruined it for the rest of them till Jason Mamoa and his mighty abs, coupled with Geoff Johns run on the charcter that served as the foundation for that movie, finally rescued the character from a fucking decades old cartoon’s smear campagin.  They have the makings of a great team.. it’s just Darkwing dosen’t want a team and screams at everyone to get out and that he dosen’t need them.. I mean he does try to be softer on Morgana but.. he’s still a dick and she really should dump him. Seriously, their attraction is superficial, at this point at least we’ll see in Feburary if it gets any bettter, he dosen’t respect her as a person, and now he’s having to restrain himself at yelling at her.. for HELPING HIM. When he clearly needs it. Holy shit... I was not prepared for that amount of douche. And this would sink the two parter.. were this not clever setup for one hell of a downfall and not a key part of his character. Like has been said: Ego is a massive part of him, and as Tad Stones has put it his real arch enemy. It’s been the basis for several episodes and as we saw in the pilot was his motivation for getting into crimefighting in the first place. He means well and clearly has a heart.. but this is just as much about thwarting evil as it is the attention. And here it’s used perfectly as in the reverse of the gizmoduck episode, where he wanted attention but for fully understandable reasons and judged Gizmo more on stealing his thunder, which while petty i’ll admit is a bit fair given Gizmo did NOTHING in St. Canard but got the key of the city while Darwing had saved it multiple times at this point. 

Here he’s being petty and selfish.. and he has no good reason. It’s just his own ego wanting the credit for everything when it’s not what he or the city needs. Honestly this feels like an ahead of it’s time parody of how Batman would be written when written poorly sometimes in the years after this episode:  a massive dick who thinks he knows better than everybody else and everything else should be entrusted to him because he’s the goddamn batman, the kind who throws people out as potential parts of his family for petty shit and acts like a controlling ass and okay maybe this is spiralling a bit. But the refusal to see any other way is right? Yeah that defintelyf its darkwing like a glove and eveyrone leaves either bummed or pissed at him. And the most pissed? Launchpad who while agreeing to it, his face and tone clearly mean he’s disapointed in his buddy for acting like this when now is REALLY not the time. 

And I wish.. we got more on this because Launchpad disappears till the ending scene after this. No really. Despite being Darkwing’s best friend and sidekick and despite warranting a spot on the justice ducks and despite having every reason to pitch in. he just vanishes. I mean Ducktales may of gone overboard in not having him around since Let’s Get Dangerous, but at least that’s a valid reason: he has another family, he’s really busy and Scrooge has another talented pilot to do the job for him. Granted he’s clearly still doing it offscreen at times but he was both a major part of an hourlong and will be part of any possible spinoff. And hell even back in season 1 when the character ballance was at it’s worst... Donald and Beakly at least HAD reasons for not being in a whole lot of episodes: Donald HATED his uncle, HATED adventure, and HATED the fact his kids were following in their mothers footsteps as he only saw death at the end of it. While they SHOULD have found ways to include him more and his exclusion was pretty bad... he at least had a reason. Here launchpad just has to go now his home planet needs him. And he’s not the only one Gosalyn gets more, she’s worried about darkwing, we’ll get to why in a second and wants to go but Gizmoduck refuses.. and then ALSO vanishes. Which makes even less sense as when has Gosalyn EVER listned to an authority figure? Especially when her dad might be dead? It’s just grossly out of character for her to agree to sit things out and not just tag along with steggmutt anyway once gizmo can’t stop her. I do get this is about the justice ducks but there’s no reason to neglect the other main characters. At least have Negsy capture them too or something. Cripes. 

So yeah the “thinking he’s dead part”. Darkwing sets out to find the five’s lair and misses the big honking flag Negaduck set up, but finds a crumb, puts two and two together and finds them.. as Negaduck planned. Down to the crumb thing as, in my faviorite line of the episode, he planned on Darkwing missing the flag and focusing on the flimisiit clue instead. Naturally they kick his ass, EASILY, and throw him out a window to his death and in classic bond villian fashion don’t check for proof of death. Krakoa would be ashamed. So part one ends with darkwing duck getting thrown to his possible death...

Only for part 2 to pick up with him landing in a trash truck before exiting. And this.. is what makes the ego parts tolerable.. Darkwing.. earnestly reflects, depressed he let his own ego get in the way of things and shoo off his only hope, and thus let the villians take over the city, with Bushroot’s plants harassing people, quackerjacks teeth running the police, and Megavolt having taken the power company and using it to shake down locals and Liquidator flooding part of the city for a plan we’ll get to in a moment. He’s at his lowest point and tht’s while it work: his hubris DOSEN’T get unpunished, he’s fully sorry for it and while he dosen’t out and out apologize to them, he’s not only genuinely contrite but does work well with them and evenly when he finally does get back to them.. but we’ve got a bit to go before that.  So with Darkwing missing Gizmo takes over as big good and not bein ga prick eagerly takes the others help Neptuina nopes out of helping, which fits her personality, so with only three left because he dosen’t consider children useful  which shame on you. I mean i’ts responsible from a real world standpoint but not from a cartoon show standpoint. But anyways they split up gang: Gizmo will go take the power plant back, Morgana will try and use her spells to find the lair and Stegmutt will find darkwing. I do like despite how they neglect Gosalyn that her friendship with Stegmutt was remembered and used as a plot point here. 

So we then get to a rather repttitive part of the two parter. It’s not lacking in good gags or character moments but it’s basically the same scene repeated 4 times just with a diffrent scenario and gag for each of the justice ducks and the fearsome five member they encounter. They do their respective schicks the hero is defeated.. this is 5 or so minutes of a 20+ minute episode. Not TERRIBLE stuff, iv’e seen worse repttition, but not terribly intresting compared to the rest of the four parter.  So, Neptuina encounters Liquidator, whose scheme is selling rafts to people to not drown in exhange for a millioin dollars.. or whatever they have he’s not picky, and they fight but Liqui ultimately wins, Gizmoduck, in the best of the four sequences, swoops in to stop Megavolt and not only lands on his foot.. but spends so long speechifiing Mega gets him from behind, phrasing. Stegmutt hilariously tries disgusing himself with Groucho glasses and is bested by Quackerjack, and Morgana finds the lair but gets taken out by bushroot, though her pet spider archie escapes to go warn the others. 

So after all that Archie makes it back to darkwing’s hq.. only for launchpad to squish him. “ew a bug!”.. just a great quick laugh. Thankfuly he’s more resilent than the average spider and is fine once Gosalyn scrapes him off and they now know the five are in trouble. Also I was wrong Launchpad does return.. for this one scene. And neither get into action once Darkwing returns and after an overly long bit of him deflecting blame to the point I was screaming. 

That being said it is nice when once Darkwing is aware of the situation he gloats a little.. but still goes to save them without any hint of caring about doing it all himself. He learned his lesson.  So at the Lair of the five, Negsy shows what a sadsitc bastard he is, another great side of him.. from a writing standpoint at least. It shows that like darkwing despite a comedic exterior.. he’s VERY dangerous. And he’s set up speciic tourtures for each of the five he has: He’s hooked up Gizmoducks armor to a device that lets him control it’s power flow, so right now it’s entirely drained.. but he can overload it and electrocute him to death when he flips THE SWITCH. Neptuina is stuck under a heat lamp and will fry when he hits THE SWITCH. Stegmutt is stuck in a weightless enviorment that will also loose air when he hits THE SWITCH and morgana is in a chair that will crush her tod eath when he hits.. THE SWITCH... he really loves THE SWITCH and props to him. A lesser villian would’ve had all the traps have a diffrent trigger which while making it harder on any rescuers is just a time waster asking for the heroes he hasn’t gotten to yet to break free. And while it is based in his sadism he still fully intends to watch the deaths personally. Seriously he’s got all his bases covered.. and would’ve won.. if it wasn’t for the rest of the five.  The rest of the five are fighting over territoiry: Buddies they may be but they all want the pie. Negaduck, in his most badass scene shuts them up by pulling out his signture chainsaw for hte first time and scaring the crap out of htem, then using it to carve up the model of the city: They each get a quarter.. and he gets all the loot. Which they dont’ like but agree to to not die today. Though really... what’s the value of that? They have a full city held hostage, control over a quarter each, and no real way to SPEND the loot without letting someone else, say scrooge mcduck, in to stop them. Just give him the money and let him sit on it Smaug style. You get a quarter of a new york sized city to yourself to live out your dreams. I’d love that... maybe nto become a supervillian for that but still, point is you have carte blanche jsut take the W.  Darkwing meanwhile uses Nega’s scheme against him and plans to be delivering skulls, after flowers only piss nega off, and then knocks the guy out.. though his attempt at playing Nega fails as the Four have wisely decided that since they outnumber him and a four way split of the loot is better than none of it, to kill him. Nega.. is not pleased and just wants them to attack him, and they do, and it seems darkwing’s going to have a front row seat for THE SWITCH. But Darkwing recovers, and we get a great tug of war between him and negsy as the switch is turnd on and off on and off till Darkwing finally wins, and then frees Morgana and apologizes and has her free Gizmo, and so on and so on. So our team is reunited, Darkwing’s finally ready to lead and thus we get our battle cries “Justice Ducks, ASSEMBLE!” “Fearsome Five, GET OVER HERE!” And the two face off

And the battle.. is fantastic. Easily the series best so far as everyone gets a moment to shine. Neptuina takes out both Liquidator and Megavolt, this time beating liquidator by creating a whirlpool inside him and turning him into a watery tornado and crashing him into megavolt before he can get stegmutt. Gizmoduck beats Quackerjack handily by using a drill on the teeth, great gag then giving Jacky some ansteic.. a boxing glove to the face. And Stegmutt takes on bushroot and when unsure of what to do.. we get a truly wonderous callback as Stegmutt.. honestly dosen’t know what to do.. so Darkwing gets some payback and tells him to “put out the bushroot, put out the bushroot” you can guess what happens next

Or if you want the more recent versoin

Point is three down two to go, and we get a call back to the pudding thing with Morgana trying to hit liquidator.. before Darkwing in a show of how much of a team player he is now, offers his help, simply having Morg teleport some instant pudding mix over the guy... I mean at least it’s brown this time even if i’ts still  in a jello mold. And to finish it off he and gizmo awesomely use a mixer on both sides. So our heroes have triumphed.. almost. Negs has the controls for the barrier and runs out planning to destroy st canard if they refuse.. then being Negaduck decides fuck it i’ll do it anyway... but Darkwing stops him and we get a slapstick beatdown as DW uses an anvil a pie and other classics and utterly curbstomps his nemissi in an wesome scne. The day is saved, the generator shut down and the city freed.  So we wrap up with the Justice Ducks celebrating.. with Gos and Launchpad. I have an inlking how that conversation went. 

Darkwing relcutnatnly is forced to eat his own words and admit he both enjoys the team and needed their help, before heading off on that Date with Morgana.. though Gizmoduck tries to make it a group thing. Dude no one likes a third wheel.. not even when i’ts ninja brian. So Darkwing uses the iris out to escape, but Stegmutt does try and give that quarter back first, with Darkwing, in a genuinely sweet moment, telling him to keep it and then going off, having earned his happy ending and grown as a person.  Final Thoughts: This episode was WORTH the build up I gave it. It turns out I really didnt’ need most of the intro epsidoes, as while it enhances the villians the heroes are all given decent enough introductions apart from morgana so tht even without the context of how darkwing knows these people it still works. It’s a thrilling, tightly paced for the most part, hilarious and wonderful two parter that ties a huge chunk of the show together into one hour long masterpice. I had my issues of course and i’ve stated them: Gosalyn and Launchpad doing nothing, the pacing towards the middle of part 2.. but otherwise.. it’s perfect. It’ has a great character arc for darkwing on top of everything, once again having his ego bite him in the ass but in a unique enough way it dosen’t feel like a retread of the pilot, and having him genuinely feel bad about it and grow. a bit smug when he learns he has to rescue them sure but he’s never smug to the heroes themselves. And ironically.. he gets his big moment. While he dosen’t beat the five himself he still infliatrated their hq, beat up their leader, saved his friends and then beat negaduck all by himself AGAIN. It may of not been the big moment he wanted.. but it’s the one he needed.  As for the road to the justice ducks itself.. it was a fun ride. Only one honestly two bad episodes; Tiff otf the Titans and Paint Misbehavin and even those had their moments, paticuarlly Misbehavin’s art sequences. The rest of the episodes ranged from alright to standout and overall it was a hell of a time.. so i’m going to rank all the ones i covered leading up to this review. Just Us Justice Ducks (Both Parts) Negaduck Beauty and the Beat Dry Hard Jurassic Jumble Ghoul of My Dreams Something Fishy Fungus Amongus Whiffle While You Work Paint Misbehavin Tiff of the Titans And i’m proud to say this is the first ongoing project on the blog, the first story arc or what have you, i’ve completed. While I DID do a four parter of catch as cash can, this is the first one i’ve done over several months that i’ve completed and i’m proud of it. Does this mean i’m done with Darkwing?

Next week we’ll be wrapping up some more unfinished buisness with another Darkwing Double Feature, this time covering the short career of Quiverwing Quack and in Feburary, and the reason I spent so much time catching up, we’ll be seeing both Morgana and Negaduck again just in time for Valentine’s day. After that?

We’ll just have to see won’t we? So until there’s another rainbow, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. 

[whirlybirdwhat]

flowers (still blooming)

Ace doesn’t know what his mother looks like. Makino met a woman twelve years ago. 

(There are flowers in Rouge's hair.)

Read on AO3 for better quality!

--

Makino runs a bar – this is common knowledge to anyone who has ever visited Foosha.

She’s always behind the counter or at serving drinks, all with a kind smile and a laugh at hijinks. No one misbehaves, and there’s a shiny new gun behind the counter for any unwanted visitors.

(Rumor has it a pirate taught her how to shoot.)

She a barmaid and a bar tender and a bar owner – anything really. The Party Bar is her pride and joy.

And left over from her mother, a generation previous, it is her information hub as well.

People come in from all sorts of places for the taste of beers delivered directly by Vice Admiral hands and homebrews from the other side of the island. With them they bring stories, and tales, and wanted posters, secrets about criminals Makino has never known and praise for villains she never wants to meet. Alcohol loosens lips, and it’s an easy task to ask the right questions to get the right answers.

Makino’s smart. She knows the power she holds with all the information locked tight in her brain. She sends letters to Garp, sometimes, to warn about an upcoming raid on some poor island, and smiles at the news of the Hero of the Navy saving yet another place.

(She calls Shanks sometimes, to hear his voice, and to tell him that some upstart is planning on challenging him, to tell him that the Marines are planning some ambush but its only rookies, really, to tell him that she misses him and Luffy isn’t in Foosha much now a days, so can’t he come visit?

He doesn’t. But that’s okay.)

Wanted posters find their way onto the Party Bar’s walls, for one reason or another. A nice young man who tipped well, off to becoming a pirate, or a couple of scoundrels smacked down by Garp the Fist himself. Shanks is there, serious faced over a hefty bounty, with the rest of the crew smiling alongside him.

(A spot is reserved on the other wall for the bounty of three young to-be pirates – she can’t wait to see how high their bounties soar.)

It’s not often Makino looks through them, but then she meets Ace, whose face is so similar to one she has known before – one who smiled at her and gave her a hug when her mother didn’t bother paying attention to her.

Makino visit’s Luffy’s brothers, and cries, just a little bit, when she gets home.

Luffy is so happy but someone dear is gone.

-

Garp keeps secrets when he wants to but Makino knows how to get them out of him. A drop of knowledge here, a drink there, a smile, a private place with no prying ears, and the mention of grandsons is all it takes for the tears to well up in his eyes and for the words to spill out.

Ace, his first grandson’s name is, adopted or not, Portgas D. Ace –

All the information Makino wanted, really, but Garp keeps on talking –

Gol D. Ace, son of the Pirate King –

And Makino’s heart shatters.

(Like any bar, the Party Bar receives its fair share of unruly customers, those with cruel words on their tongues and hatred for people they have never met.

The Son of the King? They say, referring to the only king that ever really mattered. Hope he doesn’t exist! Should kill 'em if he does, sins of the father, right? Drown him at birth, noose around the neck, whatever works! Kid will turn out to be just as bad as his bastard father!)

Ace has demons in his eyes. Makino knows why.

-

Ace proudly calls himself Portgas D. Ace, so Makino has hope, and she loves this boy because he is Ace, the one who Luffy calls brother and the one who makes Luffy less lonely, and because Ace is a child and deserves love no matter what she thinks.

She works past the lump in her heart, when she gets home from that conversation from Garp, and opens the chest in her room.

(Tears drip from her eyes and the Party Bar is closed for the day, but that doesn’t matter.

Whatever has, in the face of this bloodline?)

-

Makino was seven when the woman came into town. She was the most beautiful woman Makino had ever seen, gliding into port with hair the color of morning skies and a dash of freckles across her cheek. A flower rose in her hair, vibrant and beautiful, and her smile changed her face into something different, something Makino wished she had. She was pregnant but didn’t stumble under the weight of her still small belly, and instead stood tall and imposing, almost as tall as Garp.

Portgas D. Rouge came into port like a storm and exited like a whisper

“Child,” she had said to the only one at port that day, Makino, playing in the waves. “Where is everyone?”

“At the bar,” Makino told her blindly, because Foosha was small and had no need for anyone to be wary of strangers.

(The era of pirates was beginning today after all.)

“The Pirate King is being executed – everyone’s watching it.”

It was strange, how people’s faces broke at the strangest things.

“My name is Rouge,” the woman introduced herself. “Will you take me to the bar?”

“Sure.” And Makino did.

(She grabbed Makino’s outstretched hand when Makino lead her to the bar, and didn’t let go when they were inside. Makino didn’t mind (her mother never held her hand anymore). Eventually, the woman, Rouge, lifted her up and placed her on her hip, so she could see the Pirate King.

(He looked big, up on that stage. Who could ever kill him?)

They stood in the back of the bar as Roger shouted his last words – You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you'll just have to find it! – and an era was born with the death of one man.

Rouge cried when it happened, and Makino didn’t know why. She was smiling though, still smiling that beautiful smile she gave Makino, so she figured it was alright even as tears dripped from her face onto Makino’s hair.

She clung tighter to Rouge, hoping to give her some comfort.

(Hoping she could make this woman happy again.)

It worked, as they left the bar where people were cheering, screaming, at the death of a King. Rouge smiled and her tears mixed with the salt spray from the beach, as she and Makino played in the sand.

Rouge stayed for a week, playing with Makino and giving her more attention than anyone else ever did. She left a flower in her hair when she left, whispered secrets of men and women Makino had never known, and kissed her forehead when Makino went to sleep on her shoulder.

Makino loved her, didn’t you know?

(She left, and never came back.)

-

Makino knows the path to the bandit den like the back of her hand by now. She makes journeys up there in the middle of the week, when the bar is quiet, to give boys a well-cooked meal and some bandits some booze. Its tradition, at this point.

This isn’t her usual day, so it’s a miracle the boys are even at the bandit den (she had heard from an excited Luffy that they were hiding out in a tree house now.) They cheer at her presence and the meal she brought while Dadan gives her a curious look.

They are covered in bruises, a blessing from Garp before he visited Makino, but are still running around, screeching and wrestling in the mud.

Makino doesn’t mind, and in a quiet moment, takes Ace away to talk to him.

“Ace,” She starts, kneeling down to be at his level. “Garp told me about your parents.”

Ace locks up, body freezing as his eyes go wide. There’s terror in them, and Makino feels her heart break. His mouth opens and shuts, words not coming out, but that’s okay.

Makino knows his question.

“I don’t care, Ace, I still love you.”

His eyes well up and he bites his lip, like he can’t bear to believe it. He’s trying to stay strong, and Makino can’t help but wonder at how similar he is to his mother.

(The freckles are a spitting image of Rouge, and Makino can’t help but wonder what he would look like if he had his mother’s hair.)

Ace sniffles and she draws him in. He’s too flustered to fight back, to unused to hugs to hug back, but that’s why Makino drew him away from everyone else.

Her shoulder grows wet from his tears as she gently brushes his hair back. “Shh. It’s okay, Ace. It’s okay.” When he grows quiet, eyes dried up, just a little, she says what she truly came up here to do.

“I have a present for you.”

He lifts his head up, face curious. “More clothes?”

“No, silly.” She laughs and then laughs again at the redness of his face. “Do you know what your mother looked like?”

Ace shakes his head, stilling. “No. Shitty Gramps told me stories though…”

And by the tone in his voice, it’s probably stories of his birth – not the ones Rouge told Makino on Foosha’s beaches twelve years ago.  She’s going to have to fix that.

Makino pulls the old and faded paper out of her pocket. “Here”

Ace takes one look at the poster and promptly breaks again

-

Two weeks after Rouge left Foosha, the News Coos brings another round of papers. Everyone scrambles for one, eager to hear what has happened since the Pirate King fell, but Makino is lucky enough to grab her mother’s copy.

Her reading isn’t the best now, but she likes looking at the wanted posters that come with them. There are so many new pirates now

The wanted poster that falls out is a new one, an updated one, with a face Makino hasn’t seen on a wanted poster before - but has seen in reality, cupped in her hands and counted the freckles of a stranger’s face

‘SEA STORM’ PORTGAS D. ROUGE - WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE: 1.5 BILLION BERRIES

Rouge... the pregnant woman who laughed and dance with Makino as if she was her own child. is wanted? is a pirate? Why?

Makino can’t fathom it and worries for the woman who she had known for a week.

She hopes she’s alive

She hopes she comes back

(She asks Garp about the woman, once, and some strange happenings run across his face, like worry and concern and anger all at once. He curses then interrogates Makino about everything she knows about the woman, which she tells him, trembling. Her mother scolds her for being dishonest but Garp thanks her, tells her she’s keeping her safe. That Rouge will be safe.

Makino is thankful.)

Raids start for the pirate Kings son the next week. Makino stays at home, afraid and hidden as soldiers interrogate every woman on the isle, how long they been there, if any people visited port before the capture of the king.

She hopes Rouge, regnant and tall and bold, escapes it.

Her bounty comes in again with a New Coo a year later, when raids have died down, and Makino is sure she’s alive.

1.7 billion, and she’s smiling.

Rouge survived. Makino can’t wait to see her again.

(That is the last picture she ever gets of Rouge. It’s not put up with the others when Makino takes over the bar at 16. It’s much too precious for that. instead, she hides it in her chest of precious things in her room, taking care to make sure the paper doesn’t crumble or fray. It’s a treasure she doesn’t admit to having, and dream she doesn’t say to the world but keeps close to her heart.)

Makino sees ace and knows Rouge didn’t survive for that woman, who played with her when no one else would, would never abandon her child willingly.

-

The wanted poster is faded but the picture is still clear through meticulous care.  a woman stares out from in, angled away from the camera but with her face fully visible. her hair flows in the morning light of the picture, pink against the sea in the background, and freckles dash across her face. she’s closed mouth but smiling eye amused but with one eyebrow raised. A hibiscus, pink and blooming, is nestled in her hair. Her skin is warm and glowing and she looks like an older Ace.

Its Rouge, queen of the seas.

Its Rouge, Aces mother.

In the wanted poster he takes gently from Makino, he sees his mother for the first time.

“Mom?” he croaks out, voice shaky and so, so hopeful. Makino hums, and settles in, guiding Ace to sit next to her as they stare at the wanted poster.

“Yes. When I was girl she visited this island... you look just like her, you know? I knew it was her the moment I saw you.”

“What... what was she like?” Aces voice is soft and hopeful as he traces the bounty number, so unbelievably high for someone he has never heard of.

Makino smiles. “She was kind, so unbelievably kind, to me at least. Just wandered into Foosha one day and took my hand – I think she was pregnant with you at the time, isn’t that fun?”

Ace gives a tiny smile, eyes wide and big as he stares at her. He hangs onto every word, trying to show that he isn’t lest she decides not to tell it, which she never would, but it’s endearing all the same.

“But to others,” Makino continues, “She was the storm at sea. Sea Storm Rouge, the papers called her, a legend known by the burning flower in her hair. She would appear like a maelstrom at sea, suddenly there before you could blink and taking down ships at a speed no one could rival save for a select few. She would free slaves from nobles in the same breath she took off with all their loot. She took nothing lying down.”

Sabo and Luffy sneak in to their tiny clearing and find their place next to Ace, knowing there’s a story to be told and not willing to miss it. She laughs at their curious expressions, and continues wither her tale of the woman she might have called mother as Ace pulls his brothers in close.

“She told me once of how she stared a sea king the size of an island down because he was bothering her morning meal…”

-

Rouge leaves in the quiet moments of dawn, when the sun is only barely rising and all is quiet save for the fishermen already out in the waters.

She takes Makino with her, out to the shore, taking her by the hand and leading her out as the girl rubbed sleep from her eyes.

There’s sadness in Rouge, Makino notes as they leave, passing by houses and towards the abandon beach half a mile from Foosha.

She doesn’t like the sadness there, but she senses it’s not her job to get rid of it – it’s the selfish kind of sadness, the kind that comes with loving some great.

(Makino’s young, but all the children of this world know that feeling.)

They watch the sunrise together in front of Rouge’s small ship, and lean into each other. Rouge’s hand braids Makino’s hair as she plays with the sword handle at the woman’s hip.

“Rouge,” She asks, quiet. It’s not the time for loudness. “Why are you leaving?”

Why are you leaving me?

(Makino’s mother runs the Party Bar and doesn’t leave time for anyone else. Her father isn’t around and the closest she has is Garp and Woopslap, and it should be enough, but it isn’t. Not next to this stranger who has told her of legends and let her hold her hand and dance under the stars. It’s not enough to the raging storm of Rouge’s love.)

Rouge smiles, face softening as she finishes tying off Makino’s braid. “I have to, to keep those I love safe. If I fight, I can win, but others won’t. And I won’t hurt them for their selflessness.”

“But what if its selfishness?”

What if I want you here for me?

Rouge rests a hand on her stomach and one on Makino’s head, and the world seems to still. There’s a pressure from Rouge, one that seems to make the light from the sun flicker under the force from it. It relents, after a moment, but Makino feels safe.

Secure.

Rouge loves her.

“Then you must live with that selfishness, like I do mine.” Her voice is soft. Makino takes the words and keeps them in her heart. It’s hers.

The sun is half over the horizon now. Rouge gets up, and lifts Makino from the railing where they sit to put her on the sandy ground. They are both barefoot, now, having run in the sand half an hour before, and their toes sink into sand as water runs over their toes.

It’s a peaceful kind of ending.

Rouge kneels, soaking her pants in the shore to look Makino in her eyes. She pulls the flower out of her hair, still immaculately pristine and beautiful, and places it behind Makino’s ear. “A gift,” she says, and kisses Makino on the forehead, “so you don’t forget me, alright?”

Makino nods and knows she never will.

No one but Makino knows the Maelstrom of the Grand Line was on Dawn Island, but as Rouge sails off into the raising son, one child left behind and one yet to be born, she finds that’s quite alright.

She was there, and that was enough.

(Never, her selfish heart whispers, never enough.)

-

Ace is the only one still awake by the time Makino tells the last of her few tales. He’s tired, clearly, resting heavily on Sabo as Luffy rests in his lap, but he keeps on blinking his eyes open. The sun is setting now, and Makino must really be going, but she has one last thing to show him.

“Come on,” She says, pulling Ace up and leaving his brothers to collapse on each other. “I have another gift for you.”

Ace looks at the wanted poster still held so gently in his hands, and follows into the woods.

There’s a field on the west side of the island, the cliffside above the shore half a mile from Foosha. Its filled with beautiful hibiscuses the shades of vibrant pink.

Ace had seen it before, on his ventures.

But now, Makino shows him the truth.

“Your mother gave me her flower, one of them at least, that was in that poster. It started wilting after a few days, so I found a way to replant the seeds and pressed the original… they quickly spread over the valley…”

The sun makes them burn like fire, and Makino sees the love of a mother reflected in Ace’s eyes.

Saltwater falls down her cheeks as she sees Ace take a flower like it is the most precious thing in the world (like Makino had treated the flower Rouge gave her) and place it in his hair. It’s just long enough in the step that it nestles gently in his hair, and he smiles, so happily, like she hasn’t seen him do unless he’s with his brothers.

Tears mirror hers on his cheeks and suddenly she’s staring at Rouge on the day she met her.

He gives her a flower next, and they walk under the setting sun to Dadan’s hut with Rouge’s love intertwined in their hair.

-

Makino is a bartender, which means she keeps information, and it means she inherited the place where she met a woman who changed her life.

She sees Ace off on the same shore she saw Rouge off, and cries and waves with joy in every moment. He sails into the sun, brilliant and bold, as flowers float around the waiting crowd, and she’s so, so happy.

She is a bartender so she gets the wanted posters two months later first: information is key, after all.

The poster is put up on the reserved wall, a place of pride for three two boys.

Fire Fist Ace, it declares, Captain of the Spades Pirates WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE!

The picture on it is a smiling boy on fire, freckled and smiling. His hat has two charms around it and a wreath of beads is around his neck, a gift from his bandit mother. Expected, for a runaway pirate.

Intertwined in the hat and in his hair, however, are brilliant pink hibiscuses – a tribute to a woman forgotten by the world.

(The rumors Makino hears tell of a boy who doesn’t care what you do to him, but if you harm his crew or the flowers on his ship and hat, there will be hell to pay from a boy made of fire.)

Makino thinks Rouge would be proud.

-

“Rouge? What are you going to name your baby?”

“Ann if it’s a girl. I would name her Makino, but I think the one I know is great enough!”

“Sesesese! And if it’s a boy?”

“Then Ace! That’s the name his father loved – it’s a good name, don’t you think? I love him already.”

“Can I be his big sister?”

“Of course.”

-

(Makino is a bartender, and that mean Makino has connections.

She asks Shanks to fill Ace’s grave with pink hibiscuses, and for Rayleigh to give Luffy a bouquet of them to give to the cracks in the Earth at Marineford.

It’s not nearly enough, but she will be selfish, just this once, and will cry about it.)

-

She names her child Ann and calls her my little sea storm, my little flower. 

She knows Rouge would be proud.

[infinite-rabbits]

hey, hiii just wanted to ask about your thoughts/opinions on shadows character

Do you mean like.... Overall or how it’s been handled lately?

It also kinda depends on which version of Shadow. I mean, obviously from my set of 4 Shadows I have on my desk, I love him.

SO I guess we need to break it down.

Sonic Adventure 2 Shadow: I love this silly edgelord. He’s basically a teenager who’s also woken up from a really long nap. Have you ever had nap brain before? Because it sucks, and I like to think that’s part of why he’s so grumpy and also why he had so many memory problems. He might have been out of cryostasis, but his brain was still waking up. He’s moody, he’s probably going through hormone swings because, you know, teenager, and he’s trying to figure out where he stands in the world. This is the Shadow I was first introduced to when my cousin had the game system and I was watching him play it. I literally made my mom buy me a gamecube and the game because I wanted to play with Shadow. I’m always late to the game with stuff. I mean heck, I only just now started playing Sonic Forces and that’s been out since 2017, but this game REALLY impacted my view on the Sonic franchise.

Shadow in Shadow The Hedgehog: Okay so I know a lot of other people really hate his depiction in this game. They don’t like the idea of Shadow going THAT edge and liking guns and all of that stuff due to his PTSD with Maria. But honestly... I don’t mind it that much? Because there’s the whole thing about him having amnesia again or whatever. And what’s more interesting to look at from this game’s point of view is that, just like a lot of other things in the Sonic Franchise, it’s an AU. This is a choose your own adventure where you can literally decide if Shadow is going to freak out and go down the villain’s path, stay neutral and do his own thing, or realize that he needs his friends and go down the hero’s path. So even if you’re not super into him using guns, you could still have him go down that hero path and find his true self. Plus this thing has one of the most bangin’ theme songs Shadow’s ever had. Like all of his themes from games are pretty awesome, but I personally LOVE this one. Especially the extra m e t a l version by Little V.

Shadow in other games: He can be kind of hit-or-miss in the personality department here. You’ve got him in Sonic Heroes with amnesia... again. And possibly being an andriod. But honestly I love that “date to die for!” scene because it’s so dramatic! You’ve got him in Free Riders for some reason being willing to help Rouge get money in the race even though he’s never actually been willing to help before. In most games he’s just kinda sorta... there, and it feels like the writers don’t fully know what to do with him if he’s not the main focus of the game. There’s one big exception to that though:

Shadow in Sonic 06: The game everyone shits on, mostly just because of some of the graphics being shitty here and there in the actual gameplay and also the whole “Sonic hooking up with a human chick” thing. However, this is one of the best characterizations of Shadow. He cares about his friends, he gets given the support he needs, and in turn he also winds up giving that support to Silver. You know, after giving him a boot to the head. As bad as this game might have been, we did actually get relatively good character development for some of these characters, and Shadow was one of them. His willingness to do his part and take Silver “under his quills” as I’ve seen other people say, properly shows off his compassionate side rather than him just.... being dark and brooding. You know?

Boom Shadow: Eeeeh.... I’m not totally sure how to feel about this one? I love listening to his voice for sure. I like watching his fight scenes. But it feels like they’re making him edgy just for the sake of being edgy. And he’s really easily manipulated? I feel like, while Boom has done some great things with other characters, Shadow has gotten the short end of the stick. He’s kinda bland most of the time when it comes to his actual characterization, and he’s boiled down to a one-note kind of guy. So like, I don’t hate it but I really think I could do better.

IDK comics Shadow: They kinda did the same thing here. Shadow started out pretty darn great in that scene with Sonic and deciding what to do with Mr. Tinker. Seeing Sonic get under Shadow’s skin about it and making him back down was a great way of showing how the two have really gotten to understand each other over the years and that Sonic knows Shadow better than he’s willing to admit. That’s where my praise ends. Shadow then basically disappears until we get him back being stubborn as hell and jumping right into a pit of zombots and BOOM, just like that he’s taken out of the game. We’ll see how things go once this virus thing is over (because honestly I feel like it’s been lasting waaaay too long.) and if they use this to humanize him a bit more or if they keep him being super stubborn and one-note. But yeah, as of now I’m not super happy with how he’s been handled.

Shadow in the Archie Comics: HOO BOY I SAVED THE BEST ONE FOR LAST. And by best I mean worst. Where do I even begin with this one? Let me start by saying that I haven’t read all of the Archie comics yet. I’m working on it now, and I’m reading them somewhere online because they’re expensive as hell to get a hold of. But dear lord, this writing is usually horrible! Some of the writers work well together while others *cough*kenpenders*cough* don’t bother to read each other’s stories or will get pissy about their own plotlines not going anywhere and others having to fix them. Shadow is... yanked around so heavily in this series. In some stories, he’s great. He shows interesting characteristics and shows that he’s learning and growing. In others he’s just kinda.... there. In others he’s going completely against what he’s learned and is treating people like shit unless he’s manipulated to do otherwise. One of my absolute biggest complaint about the Archie series is: Tyrant Overlord King Shadow, from the 25/30 years later arch. It’s so bad, you guys. *disgruntled noises* Ken Penders basically had Shadow do a complete 180 despite everything he’s ever learned. He forcibly married Sally, became a tyrant of a king who ruled with an iron fist, and when Sonic kicked his ass and threw him in another stasis tube and he was brought back later, he unleashed this weird Tikal/Chaos creature out into the world to completely destroy it after feeding her so much chaos energy that he hurt her. Also the writer completely freaking forgot to actually END that story. Sonic and the New Freedom Fighters defeat and re-seal away “Tichaos,” but there’s no closure as to what happens to Shadow. It’s just Ken Penders going: “LOOK MY SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME OCS JUST SAVED THE DAY.” And it’s like.... okay, but what about Shadow? Did he escape? Is he still in the castle? Is there a second part to this? And sadly, that’s as far as I’ve read with that line and I don’t know if it got any further before they had to do the reboot. So yeah, Shadow is kinda shafted in these comics too.

Overall: I think he’s a really great character with a lot of wasted potential. He tends to shine more when the spotlight is fully on him because in that case, the writers realize they need to work on him more. But when he’s a side character, they boil him down to one-note and that’s really not a good thing to do with any character. (I should also note that I haven’t actually gotten to purchase the DLC yet of Shadow’s story for Sonic Forces, so I’ll need to go and watch the cut scenes before I can properly say anything on that particular game.)

The Sonic Franchise suffers overall from a case of: Too many characters. Now I wouldn’t change that about them, especially this late in the game. However we’ve been introduced to so many characters that none of them ever really get their chance in the spotlight anymore. Another artist that I can actually compare this to is actually VivziePop. She designs a LOT of characters for her works, and she puts so much effort into them that they all come across as “main character material” and completely overshadow the actual main character of the story. The biggest time that has impacted her work was in her comic Zoophobia. The main character was some human chick thrown into the world, but then she spent so long establishing all of the almost hundred characters she’d made for the world that the story itself felt like it de-railed. She’s gotten a bit better with Hazbin, but Charlie still gets really overshadowed. Some of the Archie comics got to be the same way. They had introduced so many characters at that point that they needed to do storylines that didn’t involve Sonic, and Ken Penders himself didn’t really like writing for Sonic because it was so restrictive, where as he had a lot of free reign with the other ones he’d made or that weren’t the main character. So he just kept making character after character to throw in there, and that combined with the characters we got from all of the assorted media over the years means a lot more characters to try and focus on. So the ones that don’t get their prime time in the spotlight just kinda never go anywhere. Also Shadow not being the main precious blue boy probably explains why his writing can be so wibbly-wobbly depending on the media he’s in. Because Sega isn’t breathing down anyone’s neck anywhere near as heavily as they are for Sonic.

I should probably stop typing now because I’ve written you a novel. XD

TL;DR: I love Shadow but he gets the shaft more often than not by the writers.

[eyeofnewtblog]

Chapter Ninety-One

Debbie catches sight of another three watchers, idling slowly through the junkyard, never really turning their backs on her family. She adjusts her grip on the 18 inch adjustable crescent wrench she’s holding, and angles her body towards Mary. She holds three fingers over her heart and scratches while she makes eye contact with her niece. Mary shifts her gaze, catches sight of them, and rolls her eyes. 

Zoh’ziof comes trotting up to them, brandishing something metal and complicated in his hands, yipping excitedly. 

“Baby, honey,” Debbie sighs, tapping her ear frantically.

“Yes, sorry,” Zoh’ziof finally manages, fumbling the translator on. “It’s just so surprising to find the kind of technology that we’ve been trying to build for the last ten years discarded in a junk heap. But anyway, this is going to take care of a lot of the hard drive issues we’ve been having. Now that we’ve welded wheels and very basic mechanical arms to most of the AIs, this is going to let them have even more autonomy! They can do data dumps of their core personalities onto this matrix, while still functioning in the real world like any other biologically made creature. I’m very excited about this! I wonder how you’ve managed to make the device so small; I bet it's some sort of derivative of quantum-”

“Zoh, I think the Doc is calling me, so I’m gonna do a perimeter sweep while I take this, okay? You go ahead and keep looking for stuff. You’re doing great.” Debbie pats him gently on the wrist, smiles, and tries to sidle away, especially from Mary’s glare. Sure enough, the Morin doesn’t care who he’s talking to, as long as he’s allowed to be excited at someone.

Debbie sweeps the yard with her eyes again, taking in the three she’s just spotted, the four that tailed them from the shipyard, and the two that were already at the junkyard when they’d arrived. Nothing special about them; plain clothes, a mix of species, but always at least one human. Guns strapped to their hips, maybe a few hidden knives, probably ex-fleet, but staying far enough away that they’re clearly just watching. Not looking for their own treasures, considering the fact that they never pause to look over anything that doesn’t have a reflective surface to watch them in. 

The human faces are vaguely familiar, like she might have seen them in passing more than a few times, but she knows for a fact that that she’s never had a direct introduction. It’s bugging her, an itch in her bones that’s growing like a missing limb, right up until she glances over at the entrance of the junkyard. 

One blond human male in a civie suit, flanked by five officials in riot gear, the refraction armor glittering in the weak sun. They scatter rainbows over the ground as they start toward her. 

“Mary, trebuchet! Zoh’ziof, Iditarod! Issac, circle the wagons! Adam, M’kxt, fast n’ furious!” Debbie screams across the junkyard, her voice carrying to every corner. 

Debbie white knuckles the wrench in her hand, feels her front teeth go dry from her lips pulling back. She knows the blond asshat in the suit; she walks slowly out to meet him, letting her family scatter behind her according to their coded instructions. 

She can feel the laser pistol in her hip holster rubbing against her thigh, the knife hilt rubbing at the small of her back, the wrench in her hand; the only thing she has to decide on is how to move her body. She can hope for movement of the watchers, but not court on them. 

“Harry. Hey. How professional do I look now?” She asks, stalking forward. 

“Well, considering the fact that you’re actually wearing sensible shoes, pretty good.” The blond man says. 

Debbie draws her arm back, flattening her palm, as she walks towards him. His eyes dart to her shoulder and back to her face, and she brings her arm around to slap him just as she kicks him in the balls. She brings the slapping hand down to her hip pistol as she pivots, bringing the wrench up to smash into the refraction shield of the nearest officer. 

The shield fractures, but she’s spinning away before her niece can fry a hole through brain matter. She doesn’t even bother with fighting the others, just draws her pistol and snugs the muzzle against the base of Harry’s skull. 

She waits for the whine of their rifles to shift to full power as Harry raises his hands above his head. 

“Not a smart move, Debbie,” he says. 

“You ever play blackjack twenty-one?” Debbie fires back. “I'm guessing not, because you really suck at counting cards.” 

She smiles as the crunch of gravel and the high whine of charged pistols sounds behind her. She doesn’t have to turn to know that the separate groups tailing her have come to her rescue.

“Harry, it’s only fair to warn you. I’m really fucking mad at you for calling my murder pumps unprofessional.” 

“I came here to arrest you, and you’re holding me at gunpoint over a pair of shoes?” Debbie grinds the muzzle into the base of his skull, wishing it was an antique revolver that made clicking noises. 

“Sweetheart, I’m gonna tell you the same thing Uncle Mike will. You made a bad play, and your plan didn’t work because you’re an idiot. Now, would my new guests care to introduce themselves, or do they want to remain anonymous creepy stalkers?”

“Nah, not right now. We just wanted to see if you were anything like Rachel. And if you were, we might want to negotiate some long term arrangements.”

“Harry, this is what good negotiation tactics sound like. In what way do I benefit from you arresting me? In another six months to a year, rouge AIs won’t even be illegal, so the thing you’re trying to achieve is pointless to begin with.”

“You really believe that the prime minister, the ACTING prime minister who was a designated survivor, can push through a bill that drastic-”

Debbie pulls the gun back and hits him in the back with the wrench. 

“I believe that Uncle Mike will want to see us for the holidays. Also, you’ve clearly never met him.”

“You’re not just violating the AI regulations, you’re also recruiting child soldiers-”

“You can keep talking, but I will bash your skull in.” Debbie waits, but she’s met with silence. “Alright, let’s get them cuffed and then get out of here.”

She holsters her pistol, then holds one fist up above her head. She extends one finger, makes a circle, and watches just long enough for Mary to get down and out. 

“Where you headed now?” One of her rescuers asks. 

“No idea. But you’re welcome to tag along if you’re interested.”

[stevenkodalys]

A list of (I think) all the changes that Moulin Rouge has undergone since Boston to previews to opening. If I missed anything or got anything wrong then please add on and/or correct me bc my memory is terrible.

Also let me preface this by saying the Boston show I saw was during the first week of previews so there are things that probably changed after I saw it there. I also saw the first two Broadway previews and then two shows after it opened. 

Act 1

- Boston and first previews: Zidler says “I adore each and every poverty-stricken one of you.” Now: Zidler says “I want to make desperate love to each and every one of you.”

- There’s a longer pause between Lady Marmalade and Because We Can.

- Zidler did not introduce the Duke by name until after previews in Boston. He originally said “come to me, plutocrats!” before it transitioned into the Duke’s money medley. Now the Duke is introduced as the Duke de Monroth.

- Bohemian medley in Boston started with Rhythm of the Night. First/second previews had them singing “Some things sure can sweep me off my feet. Burning down the house.” Now they sing “Watch you you might get what you’re after. *Rouge, baby! strange but not a stranger. I’m an ordinary guy. Burning down the house.” According to the Playbill, Rhythm of the Night is still in the show. Idk where though. There’s a bigger dance break, plus Baby Doll gets their own sequence.

*EDIT: I couldn’t tell what they said from my audios so I had googled the lyrics to Burning Down the House and assumed it was “Booms, baby!” but they actually say “Rouge, baby!” Thanks to @rhythmstarfruitcitrus and @promisesyoumadetome for confirming that for me lol.

- When Christian first starts telling his story about going to Paris he said Satine died in his arms in the Boston version. This was taken out for Broadway.

- Karen’s dress for her entrance has changed. It was red in Boston, it is now black and silver and a tad shorter.

- “Brick House” has been added to the Diamonds medley. It’s sung by the male ensemble.

- When Satine loses her breath, Nini now helps her up. The choreography during this scene has also changed since Boston.

- In Shut Up and Dance, Satine saying “I’ve heard that about your kind…’never carrying any money me’” has been removed.

- “Your Song” is sung differently from Boston. Emphasis on some notes has changed.

- Right before The Pitch when Satine tries to escort Christian to the balcony, only Ricky comes in through the window now. Sahr goes off stage and walks on stage from the side.

- Elephant Love Medley has gone through a lot of changes. After the Duke says he’s basically buying the Moulin Rouge, it transitions to Karen singing a reprise of “Diamonds are Forever.” One of my favorite additions is the pause between Christian singing “One Night. Just me just one night.” and Satine saying “There’s no way ‘cause you can’t pay” and Christian’s just standing there stunned lol. Boston version had Christian and Satine standing together with their backs facing the stage while Duke makes an offer to Zidler. This has been taken out and instead Aaron and Karen sing “We can be lovers.” “We can’t do that.” “We can be lovers and that’s a fact.” Come What May has been taken out and is now substituted with Karen singing “how wonderful life is” and Aaron singing “we can be heroes” simultaneously. Boston version had Max coming in off stage and tossing the pink umbrella to Aaron, now Reed slides (literally) from offstage and just hands it to him. Scene ends with Aaron and Karen in the sparkly blue coat and dress with Kyle and Bahiyah doing acrobatics.

Act 2

- Bad Romance has been taken up about 800 notches.

- Dialogue introducing Come What May has changed a bit.

- Boulevardiers just graced the stage in Boston. They now sing reprises of “So Fresh, So Clean” and “Ride Wit Me.”

- “Shake it Out” has been removed. Instead it’s just dialogue between Zidler, Satine, and the Lady Ms.

- Aaron’s dialogue in Boston before Chandelier about “going mad” has been removed. Instead, Zidler tells Satine he’ll deal with Christian which then transitions to Toulouse’s loft. Sahr sang the first part of Chandelier in Boston but now Danny sings it. Karen still makes her entrance as the green fairy but instead of being on stage for a split second like in Boston, she’s actually on stage more. Christian tries to chase her around but keeps getting held back. The dancing from Boston was removed and now just has the ensemble on stage drinking absinthe. Aaron singing “gotta get out now here comes the shame. here comes the shame” was taken out. Instead the ensemble sings out the last note in Chandelier and it transitions into Roxanne, which also has a much cleaner intro.

- First/second preview added some verses from Chandelier into Roxanne towards the end. A chunk of that was removed and he now sings “put on the red light” a few times but they did keep him saying “help me out, i’m holding on for dear life.”

- The scene when Satine has to break Christian’s heart is somehow even more upsetting than Boston. He tries to convince her to leave with him by singing “Come What May” and she interrupts him and tells him he means nothing to her.

- Crazy / Rolling in the Deep has a different ending. Boston/Broadway previews had Aaron on the way left and Karen on the way right. Now they’re both in the middle right next to each other, Karen on the left and Aaron on the right. Ends with Karen holding up her bloody rag and Aaron holding up the gun.

- Satine basically tells off the Duke and he just leaves. I thought they would fix this but apparently not lol.

- I probably don’t even need to add this bc it was so short-lived but In Boston (at least during the first week of previews), right before the start of the Finale, Christian came in from the back of the house, slamming the doors open yelling “SATINE!” as he went up to the stage. I think this was taken out a week later and when I asked Kevyn about it he said that part would never be coming back lol.

- Finale scenery has changed. Broadway version has a more vibrant background that’s a drawing of Satine’s view from her dressing room. Boston version was red/green and kinda dull. Satine’s dress has changed from the all black one to black with hints of blue and red. When Christian turns the gun on himself, Satine now sings “Come What May” to him before singing “Your Song.” The ensemble sings “Your Song” from the stage and audience while Christian and Satine sing “Heroes” and “Your Song” which I’m just now realizing is basically a reprise of the end of the Elephant Love Medley and now I’m FUCKING SAD.

- Boston didn’t mention the Duke having left Paris and never returning, but they added it for Broadway previews, but took it out again.

[starsmuserainbow]

!! !! !!

With every “!!” i get, I’ll introduce you to an OC! 

Thanks for sending some!

Those will be below a cut since I’d rather keep big images away from people’s dashes.

First off, I think it’s about time I actually explain why I have the icons that I use as mun-icons.

So here’s Cat!

(a few images together here, since I didn’t want to add too many in full size. The above two are self-drawn, the latter three done with character creators while the right one is probably the most accurate. And of course I would have used these icons as her faceclaim if I’d ever have started RPing for her:)

She’s very nice and friendly. She doesn’t like fighting much, and yet tries to do something against bad things happening. She’s a bit more mature than others her age would be, and she grew up in an orphanage.Of course, her original name isn’t Cat, she is Catherine, or more often Cathy, but she always had a liking for cats (hence why I draw her with cat ears on usually, she wears them whenever she can to the point that some might assume they’re real) and so one of her closest friends always called her ‘cat’ and it stuck with her.If they’re very strong (or if she doesn’t have her abilities under control), she will ‘hear’ thoughts of people around, without actually aiming to do it or focusing on it. This led to her being overwhelmed by everything before, especially when her abilities were still freshly ‘breaking through’, and even now she still sometimes just needs time for herself, best in silence or with calming music and/or scents around. She’s also capable of reading people’s minds and hypnosis, all only when eye-contact is established; and one time I actually wrote her also having, with very very much concentration, tiny amounts of telekinesis, like raising a needle or turning a key in a lock.

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

I thik I have mentioned all others that I can speak about here at least once before, but, another one that I’m still very much feeling and sometimes actually think about if I should try bringing her out there: Liquor.

(both pics here are done with char creators, I haven’t yet done a drawing of her. I did have a tektek-avatar (pixelized figure) of her which felt really accurate, but I don’t have that anymore.)

Liquor is very much not a good person. She works as an assassin, and thanks to her abilities has never failed before. Only very few people live to know her, too; she’s always kept most about herself a mystery. Her go-to colors to wear are green and black, usually rather revealing too.She normally uses potions/poisons to finish off her targets, and seems to have a knack in it as she often produces things that no one else really even considers possible (turn people older/younger, cause temporary obsessive love, things like these and probably much more) - or maybe she simply has a very rare and unique ingredient that no one else knows of or can use?She can turn into a water-like fluid, and move while in that state too. So anything that isn’t airtight (/water-tight, if that’s a word) is also not protected against her, as she can simply sneak inside. If in close-combat, she can turn only a part of her body liquid to let an attack pass through - or she can move the fluid part of her body around a part of her enemy, which will not end pleasantly once she ‘solidifies’ herself again. She tends to carry a lighter despite not smoking - if stuck in a situation where she can’t escape otherwise, Liquor, or Liq for short, will tear off a part of her clothing and light it on fire, using the heat to then evaporate her fluid-turned body and escape through the air (as long as her prison isn’t airtight).

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

Next up, to name a third one (also one I mentioned before), she’s another one I’m sometimes interested in bringing out into the RP-world but usually shy away from it: Mia!

(Again, I don’t have a pic I did myself, or at least not at hand right now - I think I did draw her once? Definitely with bad results though - so you get a pic from a char creator instead.)

I’ll just copy-paste what I once wrote about her here, since I still feel it’s nicely worded and so it’s easier than to write the same thing only in different again.

Blue hair, blue eyes, and she tends to wear light blue as a top, Mia definitely likes the color blue. Or maybe she just worked with what she had and figured fitting the color of her clothing to her eyes and hair would make sense.

She can be brash, a bit boyish too, and straightforward; she tends to say what she thinks and doesn’t hesitate to tell someone off or step in when something doesn’t seem right in her opinion. She has fought others before thanks to her personality, and it’s probably not been the last time, so she has some experience - and she probably learned some fighting skills from courses or something too, at least she can do it good enough to win most of the fights she starts, and she knows how to decently use most ‘tools’ too (bows, guns, staffs, etc).As long as you aren’t doing something ‘mean’ or ‘bad’, though, she’s definitely friendly. Maybe a little too intrusive and not giving others enough privacy once she’s interested in them, but still friendly. And good company, she likes to joke around, and she also likes to (strongly) encourage her friends (or people that she knows for longer than a few minutes) to do the things they actually want to do, regardless of what the consequences might be. As long as the consequences (and the action itself) aren’t illegal or hurting someone else, that is.

She doesn’t speak of family, but it seems that she lives by herself and so there’s a good chance that she doesn’t have anyone related to her. Or that’s how she wants it to look - Mia likes to play a role, every now and then.

Which brings me to her power. She can… she copies powers of people nearby, basically. Nothing that is an altering to their physical body, but she can copy powers otherwise. She only has them as long as she is close to the ‘source’, she can copy multiple people’s powers at the same time, and seems to have an easy understanding of how to use most powers too - it’s rare that she causes accidents by triggering a just-recieved power.[Again, this doesn’t really make sense science-wise, sorry. When using her, I basically made her able to copy things like Star’s flying and starbolts, but not Cyborg’s built-in weapons, if that explanation helps.]It makes her the ideal person to tell if someone is who they claim to be, especially when that one has powers or it’s about telling if there’s a shapeshifter in the group taking the role of someone else. (She’d be a very effective ‘way’ to tell when Madame Rouge is around, for example.)

She’s against crimes and hurting others, but she never quite took to hero-ing. Maybe every now and then when she comes across powers to copy (which happens pretty automatically by the way, she can’t really stop it, she can only try her best to not use the powers despite having them), but she never took up a disguise or a costume or anything, and even if she were to become a hero, she would probably just stick with her own looks without covering herself.

She’s also a fan of the heroes that are around, and sometimes she purposely goes somewhere where trouble takes place, only to get close to the soon-nearby heroes, to see them and watch the fight (and to get a chance to try, or at least “feel”, their powers too).

[thesygerproject]

Excerpt: Ch. 1

“Agent Miller, I have to say I was very surprised to find out that you would be joining us,” Jackson said. “We’re so glad you could make it.”

“Glad to be here,” Nathan said politely.

Dominic continued to make polite small talk with Jackson. Never having been one for pleasantries, Nathan tuned them out and scanned the room, noting who was working in the facility and who was a trainee. Which of the trainees were just killing time until the talk, and which ones were wrapped up in their work. Two trainees were already sitting in the front row, both leaning over the same notebook propped up between them, with a third sitting just behind them, leaned forward to speak quietly with them. The only other person in the front row was a young brunette woman sitting at the end, legs stretched out and arms crossed, head leaned back and eyes closed. She probably didn't even know there was anything going on in this room today. A couple other trainees were scattered throughout the chairs, some laughing together and others focused intently on the two raised chairs in the front, as though staring at them would make the session begin sooner.

"But we can get one if you want," Jackson said.

“Sorry?" Nathan’s attention snapped back to the agent.

Jackson turned his head to give Nathan a strange look while Dominic laughed. "I said we wanted to keep it casual, so we just put a couple of chairs on the stage. We decided against pulling out a podium, but we can get one for you if you want.”

“No, it’s fine,” Dominic said, resting a hand on Nathan’s shoulder. “Ignore him. He’s not good at human interaction.”

Nathan roughly shook Dominic’s hand off and shot him a half-hearted glare. “So when are we getting started?” Nathan asked, turning back to Jackson.

Jackson looked between them, apparently amused at the interaction, before answering. “In about ten minutes, the rest of the group should be in here. Whenever most of the kids get in here I'll go up and introduce you. The recruits were pretty excited when we told them that you’d both be joining us.”

Nathan thought he was just being polite, but it only took about seven more minutes for the room to fill. A few trainees were even left standing along the back wall or sitting in the aisles on either side.

"Didn't expect this much of a turn out," Nathan muttered under his breath.

Jackson laughed and clapped him on the shoulder, which Nathan shrugged off habitually. “Are you kidding? You two had a damn near perfect record in violent crimes. You’re practically celebrities around here.” With that, Jackson walked up to the stage and picked up the microphone that was sitting on one of the chairs. “I'm glad you all could make it," he said, pausing as if he expected some kind of response that he didn’t get. "You all hear me talk enough, so I'll skip the speech and get right to it. Our guest speakers today worked together in the violent crimes division of the FBI for nearly two decades, mostly chasing down serial killers and hired guns. Since then one of them has retired, and the other has transferred to the white collar division. But both of them have generously agreed to come out today and answer any of your questions about their experiences in the field and past cases. So now, here are my good friends and colleagues, Senior Special Agents Dominic Greerson and Nathan Miller.”

Nathan forced a smile as he followed Dominic onto the stage and dropped into the chair beside the older man, doing his best to ignore the applause from the gathered group.

“How are you all doing today?” Dominic asked into the microphone. He got several excited though indistinguishable responses. “Alright, well let’s just jump right into it. Who has a question? Oh, that’s more than I was expecting.”

About two dozen hands immediately went into the air. One of them belonged to one of the two trainees that Nathan had seen sitting in the front row. He was surprised to see that another belonged to the young woman sitting on the end, whom Nathan had thought to be asleep and unaware of the event.

"Alright, let's start in the back," Dominic said, pointing over the heads of most of the group. "You there in the corner.”

The man stood and accepted the microphone that was extended to him by one the staff walking along the aisles. ”How did you both start working with the FBI?" He finally asked.

Dominic looked to Nathan for a second, eyebrows raised in a silent question. In answer, Nathan took the microphone from him to answer first. “Well, since I was a kid I wanted to be in law enforcement,” he said. “My father was a police officer in Baton Rouge. So I decided to become a police officer. I worked my way up to homicide detective, and after that,” he hesitated a moment, ignoring the feel of Dominic’s eyes burning into the side of his head, but just shrugged and finished the story as quickly and cleanly as he could. “I guess the FBI was just the next logical step for me. Dom?” He added, handing the microphone back to his former partner. The questions went on that way for about an hour, mostly asking about each of their respective backgrounds in the FBI, and a few questions about specific cases they had worked. Several questions were asked about the Phantom Fires, which Nathan answered as carefully as he could.

"What was it like the first time you had to tell a victim's family that they were dead?" Asked a young trainee in the front row. She looked barely old enough to buy alcohol, but with the kind of determination in her eyes and voice that Nathan’d had when he was just starting out in the Bureau.

Nathan still remembered that moment perfectly. He held his hand out for the microphone. Dominic handed it over and leaned back in his chair. “When I was a detective, usually my partner at the time or another police officer made the call. The first time I had to tell a woman that her husband was dead, it was my first case with the Bureau,” Nathan said. He gave a wry smile and gestured to Dominic. “This guy said I had to be the one to tell her. Of course, I didn't want to do it; not on my first case.”

“It builds character,” Dominic said loud enough to be heard even without the microphone.

"That's a lie,” Nathan said without missing a beat or even glancing at his former partner. A few people laughed with him.

"Do you ever get used to it?" The girl asked.

"No," Nathan said. He glanced around at the subdued crowd before looking back at her, finally raising the microphone again to speak into the silent room. “You'll learn what to say, and how long to keep your mouth shut before you say it. But you will never get used to it. And you shouldn’t.”

Nathan paused in the silence and glanced at Dominic. The older man just gave him a smile and shrugged one shoulder; a silent confirmation. Nathan turned back to the girl. “You know what Agent Greerson said to me when I asked him that same question? He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘The day when that becomes easy, the day when you can look into a woman's eyes, tell her that she's a widow, watch her break down in tears, and not feel a thing, you hand in your badge and walk away.’” Nathan leaned back in his chair and looked out at the rest of the room.

Dominic’s voice echoed through the room even without the microphone, carrying over the silence. “When you lose what makes you human, you lose what makes you a good agent,” he said. Nathan remembered the hardened look in Dominic’s eyes when he’d said those same words to him decades ago. He could swear he felt that same hardened gaze boring into the side of his head, but didn’t look over to Cath the man’s eyes. The silence lingered for a long moment before Dominic spoke again. “I think we have time for just one more question.”

A couple hands raised in the air, one belonging to the woman down at the end of the front row, the one that had appeared to be asleep in her chair before the talk.

“Front row on the end there,” Nathan said, gesturing to her. He ignored the look he got from Greerson, who had been taking the initiative the entire session of leading the conversation and choosing the questions. The woman had been intently listening to every question asked and every answer given. She’d raised her hand at every point that Greerson was selecting someone to ask a question. She also just had a look in her eyes that made Nathan feel slightly off balance, and he couldn’t pinpoint why. Maybe it was the confidence clear in her gaze that never left the stage, or how everyone else was either typing away on laptops or scribbling in a notebook, while this woman just sat unmoving, attention never wavering, and yet Nathan had no doubt that she could recite back every question and answer given during the last hour verbatim.

The woman stood up and looked from Dominic to Nathan with all the confidence of someone who knew what she was talking about, and didn't give a damn who disagreed with her. She didn’t wait to be brought a microphone before she spoke, but still her voice carried.

"Where's Jessica Langer?" The woman asked.

Nathan's confident demeanor didn’t falter—he was too practiced for that—but he instinctively tensed at the question. He could feel tension rolling off of Dominic in waves, but didn’t dare turn to look at him. The small gesture would give away too much information. It would let this would-be agent know that she was right; that she knew something that only a handful of people knew. That only a handful of people should ever know.

Nathan was thankfully saved the trouble of answering when the silence was broken by someone laughing from the back row.

"Dead," someone called out. "Killed by the Phantoms."

"Maybe you should know what you're talking about before you open your mouth," another person yelled. More laughs broke out through the room, but still the brunette never broke eye contact with Nathan.

"Your friend's right," Dominic finally said. His laugh only sounded slightly forced, and Nathan wondered if the woman could tell. It took him all of half a second to decide that she could. ”Jessica Langer died in a Phantom Fire fifteen years ago. You should read your case files more carefully."

The young woman shifted her gaze to Dominic, the side of her mouth quirking up just slightly, barely noticeable. She knew that Dominic was lying. Nathan didn't know how in the hell she knew that Jessica Langer was alive, but somehow she knew it. Still, the woman didn't call his bluff right there. She only nodded and kept that confident smirk on her face. "Sorry," she said, sitting back down. Her gaze met Nathan’s again for a moment. ”My mistake."

As soon as she sat back down, Jackson jumped onto the stage. Dominic stood and handed the microphone back to him. "That's all the time we have for questions," Jackson said. "Thank you, Agents Greerson and Miller, for joining us today."

His statement was followed by a warm applause from the group as Nathan followed Dominic from the stage. He looked around for the young woman, but could already see her retreating out the double doors, already engulfed in a sea of students leaving the auditorium.

"Hey, Jackson," he heard Dominic saying in a forced casual tone. "Who was that?”

[thankskenpenders]

Given how the second movie handled Sonic's universe and characters, what characters at this point do you think are most likely to show up in Sonic 3 & Knuckles (that will never get old) and who would you be genuinely shocked by?

(This post contains spoilers for Sonic 2.)

Okay so part of me thinks that Shadow opens the floodgates for them to go beyond the Classic cast, but I also think that Shadow is just so absurdly popular (arguably still the second most popular character behind only Sonic himself) that he was always a shoe-in

I think right now I would say Amy is probably a relatively safe bet, just because she's a staple of the franchise who's been around since the Genesis days, and at a certain point you gotta start letting the girls in on the fun. Plus, she's a key player in Shadow's arc, so like. Duh. But who knows. I'm kind of surprised she's not there already.

Metal Sonic is also an A-lister who would be easy to include, but they might find him redundant next to Shadow. (You can absolutely have the two act as foils to each other, but I just don't know if they'd consider that too much for one movie to introduce.)

Like I said before, if we've now got both a Knuckles show and a Shadow-focused movie coming out, then they share a major supporting character, and that's Rouge. (Yes I am also a known Rouge stan so I'm biased lol.) If they wanna loosely adapt SA2 like how this movie loosely adapted S3&K, then Rouge is obviously a key part of that story, especially if they spent part of that movie setting up GUN. (Hell, have her interact with Agent Stone since he's infiltrating GUN!) And if they're trying to go full Cinematic Universe on us then setting her up in the Knuckles show so they don't have to do as much work introducing her in Sonic 3 makes a lot of sense. The problem with Rouge is just, you know... the boobs. It's the boobs. But I want to see them try to make Rouge work in live action because either they keep her as-is and general audiences are completely bewildered by the furry bait character, or they downplay it and thousands of people online all cry out in agony. Either way it's going to be very funny.

Other than that, I really don't know. Anyone in SA2 feels fairly likely just because they seem to be building towards a version of that story. The Knuckles show is really the big question. Beyond Rouge, people are guessing maybe the Chaotix, but like... for one, Knuckles isn't actually associated with them anymore, and two, as much as I like them, they aren't important characters to set up ASAP if the focus is on stuff from the iconic Genesis and Adventure stuff

Oh, and I'd be surprised if we didn't get a quick Big cameo as a gag before the end of this

Really I just want them to use all of the characters. I'm growing tired of Cinematic Universe shit where you have to watch a bunch of different movies and streaming miniseries as homework for other movies and streaming series, but I'll watch the shit out of any Sonic stuff they make if it keeps being this fun. Give us the Sol Dimension miniseries with Blaze. Give us Silver time traveling. Add Omega as the funny evil robot, audiences will eat that up. Give it to me

As for who I'd be most shocked to see, idk. Literally anyone from the comics? The Babylon Rogues, because they barely exist outside of the Riders games? Gemerl? Honey? Marine? Cream? Actually out of the major recurring cast Cream might be the least likely to ever show up lol. Sorry Cream

[prairiesongserial]

3.20

The men in suits took Cody up the stairs and marched him through a room of people gambling, none of whom looked up or seemed to regard the situation as anything out of the ordinary. Cody wished he could have made more of a scene, at least started shouting, but his mouth felt as dry as sandpaper. Even in the moment, his sense of being taken somewhere was a blur, with nothing distinctive to latch onto. He was still thinking about John standing so close, about the syllables of his name on John’s lips.

How long had John been walking around La Salle before Cody had noticed? Had he been watching Cody for the entire, horrible Mia game with Erma? For both Mia games? Cody’s heart felt like it was going to jackhammer its way out of his ribs. He felt like he understood even less about what was happening in La Salle Rouge than he had when he’d entered it hours earlier, fully confident in his plan to cheat the house.

The two men hauled Cody into a room beyond the large one full of gamblers. It was more of an office than another room specifically for gambling. There was a desk, with two chairs, one on either side of it. Sitting on a red handkerchief in the middle of the desk was a revolver. Sitting behind the desk was a woman Cody had never seen before.

“Sit,” she said, more of a command than a suggestion. Cody sat.

The woman behind the desk was tall and imposing, with strong features and a jawline that could cut glass. She wore a black suit with red lapels, and her hair was styled similarly to Quadrille and Jacquet’s - cropped short, slicked up and away from her face with pomade. A few loose strands had stuck together, curling into a sort of upside-down question mark on her forehead.

“You’ve been making an awful lot of trouble for me tonight, Mr. Allison,” she said, rocking her chair back onto two legs.

Cody found himself wishing that the woman would shoot him and get it over with already. He didn’t feel like sitting here and listening to her talk about how much trouble he’d made for La Salle, when John was somewhere downstairs doing God only knew what. Maybe even getting in trouble, himself, if anyone had seen him react to Cody the way he had.

“The word on the street, Mr. Allison,” the woman was saying, “is that you’re a wanted man.”

“Wow. Big fucking news you’ve got there,” Cody snapped. “Look, if you’re gonna kill me and collect the bounty from the Dead-Eyes, just do it already. I’m not in the mood to dance around.”

The woman grinned broadly. It was an expression Cody didn’t like, almost a baring of the teeth instead of a real smile. A shark grin.

“Well, let’s not dance around, then,” she said. “I’m not going to shoot you, Mr. Allison.”

There was a sudden, sinking feeling in Cody’s stomach that he tried as hard as he could to ignore.

“I guess I should introduce myself,” the woman said, finally slicking back the one loose piece of hair on her forehead. “You can call me Whist. I run this joint.”

Cody wondered if he should feel special or afraid that he’d been dragged to meet face-to-face with the owner of La Salle Rouge herself. He was leaning towards afraid.

“So, what, you’re gonna make one of those goons in suits shoot me?” he asked, hoping that was the right answer.

Whist laughed, a harsh, barking sound of mirth. “No, no. That would be too easy. What’s the point of a punishment if it’s over that soon? There’s no lesson in me telling a guard to shoot you. And there’s no fair chance in having your head blown off, just like that.”

“Nothing here is about fair chance,” Cody shot back at her. “You framed my friend for cheating so you could make him work for you. You make people work in the mines so their money can go right back into your pocket.”

“It happens,” Whist said, with a shrug.

“Fuck you,” Cody spat.

“Kojak,” Whist said, snapping her fingers at one of the large men guarding the door. “Hit him.”

One of the men stepped over, and swiftly bounced Cody’s face off the table, once, before stepping back into position. The whole action took seconds, and Cody barely realized it was happening until it was over. His ears rang, and he thought he could feel blood dripping from his nose, but his whole face was so numb with pain that any other sensation barely registered.

Whist sighed. “Here’s the problem I’m having. Usually, in this situation, I sit at this desk and give a little speech about how you’re going to be working for me from now on, cheaters never win, and so on and so forth. But Ombre put this on my desk.” Whist shook out a crumpled piece of paper.

Cody recognized his name, and a number. A big number. That was how much the Dead-Eyes were offering for him? He knew Ethan didn’t have that much. Or at least, he had thought he’d known. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“I can’t have the gangs breathing down my neck for serving them their cocktails on a platter carried by a wanted man,” Whist said. She folded the wanted flyer this way and that. “That would embarrass them, you see, if they ever found you here, right under their cute little noses. And you’re right, I could just hand you over and collect the reward. But for a dozen reasons that are none of your business, Mr. Allison, I’m not going to do that. So you see the situation you put me in?”

Cody wanted to mouth off, but the slow drip of blood from his nose was a good reminder to keep it to himself. Whist smiled her shark grin again, wider this time, and held up the wanted flyer, now transformed into a schoolyard cootie catcher.

“Here’s how this is going to work,” Whist said. “You’re going to take that revolver and fire it five times at your head. If you don’t die, you and your friend get to walk out of here debt-free.”

Whist opened and closed the cootie catcher five times, just to drive the point home.

And if I lose, I won’t be around long enough to know what’ll happen to John, Cody thought wryly. Still, under the circumstances, it was probably the best deal he was going to get.

“Fine,” he agreed, because he didn’t particularly have a choice, and he didn’t want to be hit again. “But I want to up the ante.”

Whist leaned forwards, the airborne legs of her chair touching back down on the ground at last. She rested her elbow on the desk and her cheek in her hand, looking suddenly more present in the conversation than she’d been since Cody had been brought into the room. Her dark eyes glittered with interest.

“How so?” she asked.

“Every time I fire the gun and live, you have to answer a question about this place,” Cody said. He wiped his nose on the sleeve of his tuxedo jacket, and was unsurprised when it came away dark with blood. “And you gotta tell the truth.”

“How are you going to know if I’m telling the truth or not?” Whist raised an eyebrow, looking thoroughly amused.

“I guess I won’t,” Cody admitted. “But there’s one in six odds that I’m gonna die here, so you pretty much have nothing to lose. Even if I win, you can just have one of those big guys snap my neck, right?”

Plus, asking questions and getting answers would let him stall long enough to think of a plan. There had to be a way out of this. He couldn’t shoot his way out of here with one bullet, but he could make it work somehow. He just needed a little more time.

Whist barked out another laugh. “I guess so.”

“So what’s it gonna be?” Cody asked. “Because I don’t have to play this roulette game. I can just shoot myself right now, or let one of your guys smash my face into the table ‘til I die. But it would be a lot less fun for you.”

He sat back in his chair and watched Whist, hoping he wasn’t leading her on for nothing. She seemed like the sort of woman who valued luck and chance over most things, maybe only because it was more fun that way. Maybe because there wasn’t much else to entertain a person, out here in the desert.

“Yeah, sure,” Whist said. “Why not?”

Cody was opened his mouth to say something back, but she pushed the gun towards him on the table before he could.

“I think we’re done negotiating,” she said, mouth quirking up into a satisfied half-smile. “You know how this works, right? Spin the cylinder and -”

“I get how it works,” Cody assured her.

He looked over the cylinder of the revolver, and confirmed that there was only one bullet in it. Nice to know that Whist hadn’t tried to screw him on that one. With surprisingly steady hands, Cody set the cylinder to spinning, deliberately looking away so there would be no telling where it stopped.

When it stopped, he held the gun to his temple, closed his eyes, and fired.

3.19 || 3.21

[having-a-hyperfixate]

Week 2, Day 7

Safety cut, line breaks where the original posts ended.

I’m sure the reveal of who the Ruinbringer’s leader is is going to end up destroying me somehow but I genuinely have no guesses right now. *finger guns* This’ll be fun.

I don’t know if there’s a point in trying to convince Motoi not to do something stupid. Like, I don’t know if I would be willing to trust him to take a 50/50 shot next week if we all work together this week. Also from a narrative standpoint there’s no way this is the last week so it’s a moot point but y’know. It’s the thought that counts.

Props to Shoka for not grovelling and going back to Shiba and co. … I think? Can I add her to the team tho. And is Minamimoto coming back. Cuz then the people on the cover would be the party and everything would make sense.

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

My brain, being an asshole while I’m at work: hey, what if Joshua is somehow the leader of the Ruinbringers for some bizarre reason.

Me: *very bad poker face* I cannot believe you’ve done this.

My brain is a troll and that wouldn’t make sense unless there was some serious bullshit afoot but like. If the leader isn’t someone we know, why haven’t we seen them yet? And they’re supposed to be crazy powerful. Aaaagh stupid rouge thought whyyyyyyyy.

I also managed to convince myself that it’s gonna be a twofer this week so yaaaaay….. I really wish I had been able to play day 7 last night. I’ve had way too much time to think and have random nonsense occur in my head.

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

Eeeeeeeh I have acquired Shoka!!

Oh god 5 inputs help.

I want to hug her. She’s so overwhelmed that we would even bother. :(

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

I really need to get better at these fights with Tiny. I think I understand how the tile flipping thing works now though. So that’s a plus. Barely survived that fight.

Demon Mr. Mew was harder this time. Not by much but by a little bit. Am I an idiot for not bring a healing pin? Yes. But it worked out so. >.>

*gulp*

I’m not ready for whatever curveball is about to happen. And we’ve already used Replay today. I am anxiety. >.<

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

WELL SHIT. SHE’S. TURNING INTO A NOISE. COOL.

I DO NOT HAVE A HEALING PIN EQUIPPED. I HAVE SOME REGRETS.

I totally didn’t go eat dinner what are you talking about.

Oh boy. Here goes.

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

Well that went better than expected. Only lost like 2/3 of my health. Those laser beams got nutty at the end. Her wings were so cool. Yes I am easily distracted.

I feel so bad for her… I’m pretty convinced she’s also a victim in all this. I want to help her.

Shiba’s here and about to pull some bullshit. “I’m not ready to end the fun just yet.” Oh fuck all the way off. I hope I get to destroy you later. You suck so much.

Tits, I think those are those weird glass Noise he just summoned. I have a problem. Hold up. REintroduce. I’m listening. I’m mad but I’m listening. OH YOU. YOU. AGHOIEHGPAIGHPIHSFSIJOIA MOTHER. MOTHERFUCKER. I. I HADN’T EVEN CONSIDERED THAT. AAAAGH. IT ALL MAKES SENSE. EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE. TINY’S APPARENTLY WIELDING TABOO. TSUGUMI BEING SOME KIND OF REAPER I GUESS??? WHY IT WAS THAT TEAM SPECIFICALLY. FUCKING HELL.

  Wow they really don’t give a shit about the rules.

I need to unpause the game but I’m literally just sitting here like

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

It makes sense that Shoka knew. Obviously. Beat figured it out when Tsugumi changed, which makes sense. He’s been around the block.

Oh NO Shoka no. Noooooo. That’s why she was so overwhelmed by them welcoming her. Because she was… She was going to betray us, and everyone was so willing to let her in. Oh no…

Well, we’re about to get that twofer, I think. It’s not going to be even remotely legitimate, not even on a technicality, but it’s going to happen.

Oh, Shoka. I wish you hadn’t listened to Ayano. That shit was classic manipulation. Fuck, they probably put out the hit on her purely so they could convince her to do this to ‘get back on their good side’.

God. Damn it. I don’t want to keep going.

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

OK. Okay… That. Was a lot.

There wasn’t a twofer, so that’s… something? *sigh* Oh Shoka, I really wish you had come to this decision before you spilled the beans about Rindo’s skill.

At least Kariya and Uzuki know now, so we can get the coup in motion. I would very much like to know why Shiba decided to destroy Shinjuku, but whatever. For now it’s enough that they know for sure and can start to do something.

I really want a massive, cross-plane, inter-faction effort to out these bastards. I also want to rip a few of them apart myself. And I thought I disliked Konishi… Turns out, I hate these guys a LOT more.

I never thought I would say this but

YES COCO. GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE WE GOT SHIT TO D- WHY IS. WHY IS MR MEW ALL. HELLO. WHY IS HE ABANDONED BY THE MOYAI AND ALL TATTERED?????????

RHYME (I assume) CALL IN THE CAVALRY. GET SHIKI. ERI IF SHE HAS BEEN INFORMED MIGHT ALSO BE GOOD. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WE GOT A CUT IN ITS DEFINITELY HER LOOK AT MY GIRL.

Oh we are getting the visions of the destruction again. That’s going to be a bad end that sticks in my brain for way too long I can already tell. It can live right up there with Beat getting fucking executed cuz uh. That is gonna haunt me for a while.

[captainsupernoodle]

HELLO!!

Okay so I was wondering abt your thoughts on garp potentially dying and then I saw your tags so!! I'm wondering abt ur theories/reasoning!!!

I also think that garp is gonna die, but it didn't occur to me until marineford (spoilers for that ahead, obv.) Roger kicked off the age of pirates, but I think another name would be equally as valid for the time period: the End.

The one piece world is united, for a given definition, under the World Goverment - basically an empire - and it's rotten from the top down. What do corrupt, old, massively powerful empires do? They fall.

What do the D.s do? Incite chaos!! Rouge, Ace, Law, Roger, Dragon, Teach, robin's giant friend - all of them, in one way or another, upset the order the WG has tried to impose. Garp himself incites chaos, but it's leashed to the path that he chose to carry out his dream, same as all other D.s. Luffy at this point is gunning for the position that the WG has gone out of its way to declare the ultimate evil, for reasons probably related to the poniglyphs and the void century (that might be confirmed, actually, I'm just not the best at lore and also only just passed the ringing of the ox bell)(which was insanely rad but that's for later lol).

So the WG sets itself against the pirate king, making them enemies but not innate ones, it's because of people's decisions on both sides and not necessarily because of their base natures. Circumstantial might be a good way to put it?

THEN we get their philosophies: "prevailing justice" and "absolute freedom", and that's when things get fun.

Justice is the imposition of limits on actions, freedom is the removal of all limits on actions.

THAT'S the inherent conflict between Luffy and Roger and the WG.

I don't have much info about the revolutionary army, so I could be wrong, but their whole thing is opposing the WG, right? They only exist because the corruption in the WG exists. Luffy and Roger would exist either way. They are, by nature, in conflict, but get this - the moral scale could go either way.

Uncompromising justice and absolute freedom are both principles that don't work in real life, because people need both rules and freedom. Were one piece a different story, Luffy could easily be the worst type of villain, because his whole shtick is breaking systems, and if you don't have the power to create your own system, the destruction of the larger cultural system can absolutely lead to consequences as bad or worse as what's happening under the WG. Think the aftereffects of Whitebeard's death on a much larger scale. Luffy topples governments. Only ones that get in his way and/or cause harm to someone he comes in contact with, but if some maniac is coming through and wrecking your city because he doesn't want to deal with the rules keeping everyone safe, it's the protective system's moral imperative to stop them! He wouldn't be a cruel villain, and I don't think it'd ever be possible for him to become a bad person because he applies his ideology equally to everyone, but carelessness can kill just as easily as malice.

When control goes out of balance, freedom eventually comes in and destroys the old system to create the new. It goes the other way, more destruction, new system. As far as I can tell, it's less a seesaw back and forth and more that the powerful only ever get more controlling, and eventually the weight of the people's suffering breaks that power, almost always violently. There's a period of anarchy or of freedom being a principle value, and then the new system is established and goes the same way.

(This is, of course, just a proposed model I came up with off the cuff - it's entirely possible this is an exception to the rule, or perhaps only happens when civilizations last long enough to avoid getting conquered or other elements being introduced. I'm mostly thinking about the fall of Rome and the French and American Revolutions)

ANYWAY, the WG is maybe not at the absolute pinnacle of its power but it's definitely The Power, and it's cracking. Roger was the spark in the keg, and now the End is coming. Whitebeard kind of seems like the beginning of the end in-story, but I'm thinking he could be seen as a herald while Roger was a prophet. The "apocalypse" was inevitable from Roger's point of view, he just gave shape to it. By the time Whitebeard dies, it's actively happening, most people just haven't realized it.

Roger and Whitebeard are very firmly Old Age. Sengoku and Garp are also Old Age.

Akainu, Teach, Coby, and Luffy are New Age. All of them are the extremes of the generation that came before - Sengoku could see the flaws in the system from the lawful good side, Garp could see the benefits in the system from the chaotic side. I don't know about Roger so much, but Whitebeard set himself up as a miniature power structure, so he acknowledges the benefits of systems even if he also recognizes that the current one can't stand.

Akainu is the distillation of the dark side of justice - Not the corruption that can flourish within a power system, like the Tenryouubito or Morgan, but pure justice itself, that exists solely for the sake of existing. Coby is the distillation of the higher purpose of justice, all the good things that come out of it, kind of the pure opposite of Akainu's justice. For Akainu, people exist to support justice. For Coby, justice exists to support people.

Teach is all the bad things about freedom, might makes right, etc. Luffy is all the potential good things about freedom, it's focus on self-fulfillment and everyone having an equal chance, no matter who you are. I'd have to do more research/rewatch Teach's scenes to say if or in which direction his freedom is diametrically opposed (and actually his could be dreams and not freedom?? I'm not sure), but it could be that his idea of freedom is the freedom for everyone to try anything they want, meaning that sure, you can kill your neighbor for no reason and your neighbor can kill you too, may the best man win, while Luffy's freedom is no, your neighbor would be wrong to kill you because that would be imposing on your freedom.

Basically self-centered freedom, where anyone can do whatever, vs. freedom for everyone, where it's a Wrong Thing to inhibit someone else's freedom.

ANYWAY, what I was getting to is that I betcha the Old Age archetypical characters are going to all die, and the New Age character are going to die down the light vs dark side (akainu and teach), because at this point none of the "dark vs light" archetypes on the field can exist with each other. There is no lesser evil and there is no compromise.

Rayleigh, I'm more fuzzy about. He's a bridge character, I think. Mihawk I also have no idea about!! I don't know where he fits into the themes of the larger story - chaos vs order, law vs freedom, things like that. The only "larger world" principle he really fits with is ambition, which I haven't thought about quite as much. I don't even know if there is a major opposition to ambition, or if it's folded into the freedom vs. control set.

ANYWAY. THOUGHTS. I HAVE THEM. AM CURIOUS ABOUT YOURS.

Ik this is from a couple days ago but I got thinking about the who’s gonna die before OP ends post you reblogged and now I am sad and have feelings about Mihawk because if Zoro wants to be the worlds greatest swordsman then doesn’t he need to kill him? Thoughts?

literally any time i think of the straw hats achieving their dreams i start crying so first things first: tears.

secondly!! i feel like this is one of those battles where i really don’t know. Like, say with Shanks and Luffy, if they do battle, Shanks isn’t going to die. But with Zoro and Mihawk, while there is an emotional connection now, its not the same as Shanks and Luffy. I see it going two ways, but im sure Oda’s going to come up with a third option lol.

But anyway! First option,  Zoro beats dracula’s ass into the ground and in a parallel of their first battle, Mihawk, knowing his bested, takes Zoro’s position and opens his arms, letting Zoro slice him open again, probably taking his eye too. Mihawk eyes shut close, and Zoro is worlds best swordsman. Mihawk lives, scolds zoro for letting him live while zoro is hanging out with the pirate king, and goes back to drinking wine and now being Hawk Eye Mihawk.

Second option - Zoro kills mihawk, still with the same battle from before but probably more, and mihawk in that final slice just fucking dies. The thing with this one while it is… less happier? i wouldn’t exactly call it sad, but it is more fufilling towards both of their characters - the do or die type. And mihawks already achieved his dream, and at this point it can be presumed that it is near the end (im not crying, you are) so there isn’t any point for mihawk to exist. It fits better with the swordsman culture oda’s got going on for him to die, but better with one piece’s thing for him to live, where death isn’t the end but rather the end of a dream is the end. .

I don’t know, truly, I just know its going to be one badass battle and i will be crying either way! I hope he lives though, because I want to see shanks and him commenting on the new era that luffy will bring forth because i feel like that would just be an awesome thing. Like. Luffy’s still tearing down governments but  shanks, one armed, is just chilling with mihawk, one eyed. Itd be good. 

[scarfninjawrites]

Scarfninja’s Jukebox/Music Writing Tag

Inspired to do this tag by @shaelinwrites even though I wasn’t tagged (you can see her post here). Of course, this gave me a great excuse to my another playlist on 8tracks again, which you can listen to here. 

The rules are:

1. List lyrics that best describe your characters from your manuscript (doesn’t have to be current)

2. List at least three characters/lyrics

Also, thanks to @sarahkelsiwrites for creating this. I love doing these sorts of posts so I hope to do it some justice. Here we go!

HOPE : “So you can throw me to the wolves/Tomorrow I will come back/Leader of the whole pack" Throne - Bring Me the Horizon 

To be honest, this song could pretty much describe like 90% of my characters. But seeing as Hope literally drags herself through hell, I think it’s best suited for her.

Hope is from the first arc of my first, giant project, which I refer to as The Saga. She’s the first of eight chosen to change the system of magic within their world. A bit of a stoic, you might be shocked to see how protective and loyal she is to her friends and family.

Also she has lightning magic. get it?

LOLA: “And I don't give a damn about my reputation/Never said I wanted to improve my station"  Bad Reputation - Avril Lavigne 

The second heroine of The Saga. Fun fact: Lola is actually the protagonist of the very first book I ever wrote. Also, like her successor, Rouge, I primarily associate her with the color red.

Lola is the closest thing I have to an anti-heroine. She has less gripes with doing morally gray things if it means achieving her goal. Admittedly, her motivation, returning ancient relics to where they belong, is a pretty pure one. But she has no problems with killing or blackmailing people, and she’s certainly not afraid of standing up to people.

She’s been discriminated against for her entire life for being a halfling, so she’s pretty jaded. 

ANDY: "One breath in this moment/We'll stay 'til we're chosen, and through it all/With our eyes wide open/We'll fight 'til we're broken/We rise and fall" Rise & Fall (Krewella Mix) - Adventure Club (feat. Krewella) 

The Saga’s third heroine, and another halfling. She’s also a knight, and has a strong sense of morality and holds her ethics in high regard. Probably the most honorable of the six Saga heroines.

Needless to say, Andy is not afraid of dying in battle if she thinks it will help. She takes her status as a knight and bodyguard super seriously. I can’t talk about her too much without getting into some spoiler territory, unfortunately.

I picked this song for her because I think it has a nice “breathy” element to it that she would really like. That’s probably a weird way of describing it, but it gets at her essence. 

SHARONA: "I'm such a star/Queen boulevard/Blaze through the dark/And never stop, it's how we ride/Comin' up until we die" Break the Rules - Charli XCX 

Sharona, or should I say, Princess Sharona, is The Saga’s fourth heroine and arguably its liveliest.

The best way to think of Sharona is if you take the easy-going nature of Son Goku and mixed it with pre-Angel Cordelia. Also while keeping Goku’s battle lust. Essentially, Sharona will do whatever Sharona wants. And if she’s bored, she will let you know in the bluntest terms possible. (”Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, this meeting is a complete drag so I’m going to leave now.”) If it weren’t for her older brother, Aodh , and his mastery of persuasion there would probably be more threats against her life.

Sharona is also easily distracted. Despite in being search of previously mentioned older brother, every time Sharona arrives in a new town, she immediately goes in search for the strongest person around to challenge them to a fight. And she will not leave town without fighting them.

In a contemporary novel, she would be your local party girl and upcoming Instagram model. Would constantly pose with her tongue sticking out and would drive a car with a detached roof just like music videos. 

CHRISSI: "I crawled over broken glass/To find a place in the sun/Was with me all along" Awesome- Darling Violetta 

The Saga’s fifth heroine has no magic or fighting skill, but she has a pretty unique skill. Chrissi is a “jademaker” or someone who specializes in making magically enchanted charms that help with the most mundane of tasks to enhancing entire armies.

In terms of personality, she’s a bit of a proto-Jenna; both are dreamers, and romantics at heart, are super optimistic about life and take a backseat to the hardcore action. Chrissi is a bit more confident in herself, however, and unlike Jenna, she got her formal schooling from going to an academy rather than a tutor.

Since the fourth and fifth arcs of The Saga have the shortest time gap (only four years), she’s actually introduced during Sharona’s story, and they have cute nicknames for each other - “Cupcake” and “Roni”. (Chrissi was only eleven at the time, cut her a break. Judge Sharona more). Despite all the teasing, Chrissi really looks up to her and wants to do well by her. In fact, Sharona was the one who encouraged Chrissi’s dream of studying and becoming a great jademaker.

CLARISSE/LIESE: "We play with fire/These yellow marks get glowing/Ember on the wire, I'm burning with you on this black tar road/When it feels this good, you don't let go" One Bad Night - Hayley Kiyoko

The last heroine of The Saga is also the youngest at fourteen. Until the night she was attacked by zombie (yes the story really goes there), she had no idea she was a fire mage. She was under the impression that her life would be normal (or rather, as normal as it can get in this world) and being inducted into an underground resistance was not part of that plan.

These lyrics were picked more for an on the nose reason - her fire magic. I think an older Liese would listen to a lot of Hayley Kiyoko and relate to her though, especially this song. More or less, she’s a pretty typical teenager thrust into a situation she’s unprepared for. Like Sharona, she thrives off of parties and people, though she’s got more tact and lacks Roni’s confidence.

Also, Liese is her nickname I chose because of one of my favorite video game characters. 

JENNA FELDBERN: "Waiting for love/Waiting for the same or/Dreaming on the other side/Hoping no matter how far I'll find my way to you/Following a rainbow" Rainbow - Colbie Caillat 

Hardcore romantic lesbian witch. Jenna’s story is probably the most easygoing I’ve ever written, and Elixir’s playlist (not the mini mix) has a lot of Colbie Caillat. This and One Fine Wire describe her best.

Jenna aspires to greatness, and wants to see if she has any secret witch abilities. It’s unlikely, considering the magic gene runs pretty low in her family. It was a major surprise that her mother was born a witch at all. Still, Jenna is determined to evolve her skills.

More to be revealed in my eventual All About My Novel post for Elixir of Heaven.

MELISSA: "My friends ain't gotta worry more/They meet outside the corner store/And walk the pavement, miss the cracks/I’d join them if I could relax" Hang It Up - The Ting Tings 

Melissa is from a short story I wrote called “From the Sidelines”. It’s essentially the story of a mistreated sidekick trying to do the right thing in the face of abuse and incompetence. 

In short, she’s Hermoine - super smart and gets everything done only for the “hero” to get all the credit. It’s only when she has her views challenged by the sidekick of the story’s villain that she has to really consider whether or not she can continue fighting the good fight the same way.

She also has a really cool friend she’d rather be hanging out with most of the time but can’t because of freakin’ Kevin.

ROUGE DELAVILLE: "We fight for the dream/We fight to the death/We fight for control" Fight Like A Girl - Emilie Autumn 

The second heroine associated with the color red. Rouge is from my Little Red Riding Hood reimagining Captain Rouge. Which is basically a retelling with sailing and magic.

She’s pretty similar to Sharona, though a bit more diluted. She’s also no where near as extroverted, and when actually trying to make friends, she struggles a bit. She’s kind of lonely. She’s also the only other noble character I have.

Still, Rouge has no problems speaking her mind, and has dreams of sailing across the oceans to see other countries. She’s definetely a fighter, and can often be seen training with either her gun or in hand-to-hand combat. She gets to sent to her grandmother to work at her shipyard, since her parents can’t tolerate her “bad attitude.” Rouge is also asexual and aromantic and has zero desire of being tied down in a political marriage, something that causes her endless stress. It’s also caused a strain in her relationship with her sister, Bianca.

I’ll be talking a bit more about her in my All About My Novel post for Captain Rouge, so I’ll cap it here.

MARIA VALENTINA: "Made of concrete made of gold/I am young and I am old/Preach the Son's eternity/You tell them lies/You tell them all" I Am Shell, I Am Bone - Gazelle Twin 

I’ve brought up this song a bunch of times, and I mentioned that it was one of the biggest inspirations for The Twilight Court, and specifically one of its main characters. I never revealed what her name was though.

Maria is one of the POVs in part 2 of the book. I can’t really tell you all that much more about her role, so here are some trivia facts instead: she’s also associated with the color red. She’s Italian and Catholic. Maria isn’t her real name. She’s unknowingly asexual and aromantic.

This was fun, so I might do another one soon, except with Disney songs.

Check out my other playlists!

The Twilight Court

Elixir of Heaven

Lola’s Novel (Dark Scarlet)

Also, I tag anyone interested in doing this.

[networkingdefinition]

Alligators Quotes

Official Website: Alligators Quotes

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• A gun is not a weapon! It’s a tool, like a butcher’s knife, or a harpoon, or an alligator. – Homer • All the pictures on the walls, they all white as lilies and smiling like alligators. – Charlaine Harris • Alligator: The crocodile of America, superior in every detail to the crocodile of the effete monarchies of the Old World. – Ambrose Bierce • Alligators and crocodiles are some of the most aggressive creatures on the planet – they’ll take down a boat if you come up to their nest. – Jack Hanna • Au revoir, jewelled alligators and white hotels, hallucinatory forests, farewell. – J. G. Ballard

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Alligator', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_alligator').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_alligator img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Besides alligators, the only animals to be feared are the poisonous serpents. These are certainly common enough in the forest, but no fatal accident happened during the whole time of my residence. – Henry Walter Bates • Donald Trump is my leader. And if he decides to drop the swamp and the alligator, I will drop the swamp and the alligator. – Newt Gingrich • Don’t taunt the alligator until after you’ve crossed the creek. – Dan Rather • Down in Louisiana where the alligators grow so mean, there lived a girl that I swear to the world made the alligators look tame. – Tony Joe White • Everything on Saturday morning [cartoons] moves alike that’s one of the reasons it’s not animation. The drawings are different, but everybody acts the same way, their feet move the same way, and everybody runs the same way. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an alligator or a man or a baby or anything, they all move the same. – Chuck Jones • Far off in the red mangroves an alligator has heaved himself onto a hummock of grass and lies there, studying his poems. – Mary Oliver • Feed the alligators and you get bigger alligators. – Helen Gurley Brown • First time I saw an alligator gar I damn near threw up. They ain’t natural anything get that big. It’s ten feet long and three feet at the girth. Not one of God’s creations like you and meSome say they ain’t afraid of alligator gar fish. Bullshit. You look at that thing. It’s big and mean. Swallow both of us. Them people say they ain’t afraid tellin’ lies. – Bukka White • I dislike the word ’emerging artist.’ Emerging connotes to me an alligator coming up from the water. I consider all artists to be artists, not rising, emerging, amateur, beginning, but the real thing. – Jack White • I look in music magazines now and see things on Luther Allison, and my name’s getting out there more, thanks to all the good people at Alligator Records and at my management company. – Luther Allison • I love The Inn at Palmetto Bluff, an Auberge Property in Bluffton, South Carolina. Its a spectacular corner of the world, with massive old trees lined with Spanish moss, and alligators swimming in the river. – Gail Simmons • I spent most of my 20s with these alligator wrestlers in the swamps of South Florida. – Karen Russell • I’m also fascinated by the difference between terror and fear. Fear says, “Do not actually put your hand in the alligator,” while terror says, “Avoid Florida entirely because alligators exist. – Mira Grant • I’ve tried that. I’ve tried aspirin, too. Rusty thinks I should smoke marijuana, and I did for a while, but it only makes me giggle. What I’ve found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany’s. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name. – Truman Capote • I’ve wrestled with alligators, I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning And throw thunder in jail. You know I’m bad. just last week, I murdered a rock, Injured a stone, Hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick. – Muhammad Ali • If all I can say is I’m not in this swamp, I’m not in this swamp then there is not a rope in front of me and there is not an alligator behind me and there is not a girl sitting at the edge eating a hot dog and if I believe that, then dying would be the only answer because then Death couldn’t come and say Peachy to me anymore and after all she has a brother who believes in hope. – Tori Amos • If an optimist had his left arm chewed off by an alligator, he might say in a pleasant and hopeful voice, “Well this isn’t too bad, I don’t have a left arm anymore but at least nobody will ever ask me if I’m left-handed or right-handed,” but most of us would say something more along the lines of, “Aaaaaa! My arm! My arm!” – Daniel Handler • If five years from now we solve the access problem, but what we’re hearing is all encrypted, I’ll probably, if I’m still here, be talking about that in a very different way: the objective is the same. The objective is for us to get those conversations whether they’re by an alligator clip or ones and zeros. Whoever they are, whatever they are, I need them. – Louis J. Freeh • If I could rest anywhere, it would be in Arkansas, where the men are of the real half-horse, half-alligator breed such as grows nowhere else on the face of the universal earth. – Davy Crockett • IGNORANCE I didn’t know love would make me this crazy, with my eyes like the river Ceyhun carrying me in its rapids out to sea,where every bit of shattered boat sinks to the bottom. An alligator lifts its head and swallows the ocean, then the ocean floor becomes a desert covering the alligator in sand drifts. Changes do happen. I do not know how, or what remains of what has disappeared into the absolute. I hear so many stories and explanations, but I keep quiet, because I don’t know anything, and because something I swallowed in the ocean has made me completely content with ignorance. – Rumi • Im Southern, so alligator tail is pretty interesting and yummy. – LeAnn Rimes • I’m that same David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half-horse, half-alligator, a little touched with the snapping turtle; can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey locust [tree]. – Davy Crockett • It embarrasses me to think of all those years I was buying silk suits and alligator shoes that were hurting my feet; cars that I just parked, and the dust would just build up on them. – George Foreman • It makes my skin crawl to think about the violent ways snakes, lizards, alligators and other exotic creatures are raised and killed for boots, bags and belts. – Kelly Brook • It took me the bulk of my twenties to write one book about a family of alligator wrestlers. Whereas somebody like Steve Martin is releasing his latest banjo symphony, having just completed another movie and acclaimed, best-selling novel. – Karen Russell • It’s so hard for me to sit back here in this studio, looking at a guy out here, hollering my name!—When last year I spent more money, on spilled liquor, in bars from one side of this world to the other, than you made! You’re talking to the Rolex wearing, diamond ring wearing, kiss stealing, whoa! wheelin dealin’, limosuine riding, jet flying son of a gun and I’m having a hard time holding these alligators down! – Ric Flair • It’s hard, when you’re up to your armpits in alligators, to remember you came here to drain the swamp. – Ronald Reagan • It’s the chauffeur’s outfit from hell, right down to the alligator shoes. I was wearing these alligator shoes and this very interesting and haunting chauffeur’s outfit, but what really did it for me was the hat. And then, when I eventually get my eye taken out, the gold eye really brought it home for me. – Dennis Haysbert • It’s what you’d expect out of Baton Rouge: people tailgating with shrimp étouffée, everything from alligators roasting on a barbecue to dishes that you would get in the French Quarter. These people are serious and they are legit and they’re ready to go. – Erin Andrews • I’ve just done a movie – Albino Alligator – with Viggo Mortensen, who’s an actor I idolize. He influenced me in a way that has helped me move toward getting lead parts instead of supporting parts, merely through his presence. So now I tell everyone, as a joke, that I’m entering my Viggo Mortensen phase. – Skeet Ulrich • Just take them rascals [rapists, killers, child abusers] out in the swamp / Put ’em on their knees and tie ’em to a stump / Let the rattlers and the bugs and the alligators do the rest. – Charlie Daniels • Maybe humans are just the pet alligators that God flushed down the toilet. – Chuck Palahniuk • My father being an outdoors person, he used to take us on quite a few adventures thorugh the wild areas down there, introducing us to alligators and rattlesnakes and all the trees and plants. – Jim Fowler • My mom was beautiful; she was supposed to be the original Jane in the original Tarzan movie. They asked her to put her foot in the water and there was an alligator in there, and she wouldn’t put her foot in the water. – Dr. John • My number one rule is to keep that camera rolling. Even if it’s shaky or slightly out of focus, I don’t give a rip. Even if a big old alligator is chewing me up I want to go down and go, ‘Crikey!’ just before I die. That would be the ultimate for me. – Steve Irwin • Nobody in the city of Los Angeles knows how to catch an alligator, … We have no experience in recreation and parks, the zoo or animal control. – Janice Hahn • Not much is known about alligators. They don’t train well. And they’re unwieldy and rowdy to work with in laboratories. – Diane Ackerman • On one hole, I hit an alligator so hard, he’s now my golf bag. – Bob Hope • Once when I was golfing in Georgia, I hooked the ball into the swamp. I went in after it and found an alligator wearing a shirt with a picture of a little golfer on it. – Buddy Hackett • People wrestle alligators but not once has someone done it without an audience. – Doug Stanhope • Places like Hilton Head, with water adjacency and nice climates, are in high demand, and land values are insane. In the case of Hilton Head, which was developed in 1970 on what had been a mosquito- and alligator-infested swampy barrier island, land value has leaped from nearly zero to now unaffordable. – Susan Orlean • Really, it was difficult to determine which I had most reason to fear—dogs, alligators or men! – Solomon Northup • Remember that postcard Grandpa sent us from Florida of that Alligator biting that woman’s bottom? That’s right, we all thought it was hilarious. But, it turns out we were wrong. That alligator was sexually harassing that woman. – Homer • Remodeling defies the principles of modern commerce. You shell out great sums of money to people over whom you have no authority or power, yet these same people are constantly insinuating that you’re cheap. (It reminded me of medicine, another area where you shell out great sums of money to people over whom you have no authority or power, who make you feel guilty for questioning a bill.) Construction workers are the blue-collar version of the snooty salespeople at Gucci who make $8 an hour but look down on you if you balk at a $400 alligator wallet. – Margo Kaufman • Sanford is a little redneck town north of Orlando. It’s right off Lake Jessup.Lake Jessup is the most alligator infested lake in the United States and I live literally 5/10ths of a mile north of that lake right off the swamp down here. I’ve lived here since ’94. When I left Nebraska my dad got a job at a private Christian school in West Palm Beach. People will say “You’re not really a country boy. You’re from Palm Beach, Florida.” Well, I moved to West Palm Beach, FL which is a far cry from Palm Beach, FL. There’s a reason it’s called West Palm Beach. – Larry the Cable Guy • See you later, alligator. After a while, crocodile. – Bill Haley • She gazed toward the marsh that grew thicker, deeper, greener with approaching summer. Mosquitoes whined in there, breeding in the dark water. Alligators slid through it, silent death. It was a place where snakes could slither and bogs could suck the shoe right off your foot. And it was a place, she thought, that went bright and beautiful with the twinkling of fireflies, where wildflowers thrived in the shade and the stingy light. Where an eagle could soar like a king. There was no beauty without risk. No life without it. – Nora Roberts • Skins tanned to the consistency of well-traveled alligator suitcases. – Russell Baker • So he left the lagoon and entered the jungle again, within a few days was completely lost, following the lagoons southward through the increasing rain and heat, attacked by alligators and giant bats, a second Adam searching for the forgotten paradises of the reborn Sun. – J. G. Ballard • That dreadful alligator attack in Orlando would never have happened if Disney had put up real warning signs, like other Florida resorts do. But wild alligators don’t fit the Disney image, so they were no proper warnings, and a child died for no reason. – Carl Hiaasen • The government competes in the private sector the way an alligator competes with a duck. – Mike Pence • The Marquis sighed. “I thought it was just a legend,” he said. “Like the alligators in the sewers of New York City.” Old Bailey nodded, sagely: “What, the big white buggers? They’re down there. I had a friend lost a head to one of them.” A moment of silence. Old Naeiley handed the statue back to the Marquis. Then he raised his hand, and snapped it, like a crocodile hand, at the Carabas. “It was OK,” gurned Old Bailey with a grin that was most terrible to behold. “He had another. – Neil Gaiman • The sensation of writing a book is the sensation of spinning, blinded by love and daring. It is the sensation of a stunt pilot’s turning barrel rolls, or an inchworm’s blind rearing from a stem in search of a route. At its worst, it feels like alligator wrestling, at the level of the sentence. – Annie Dillard • There’s a lot of time sitting in movies, so you can put alligators in people’s trailers in your spare time. So it [making a film] moves slower, which in some ways is great, because you can live with a scene and invest in it a lot. And in some ways it’s hard, because sometimes you can start to lose your energy a little bit, but both are fun. – Mary-Louise Parker • They will do more whether we do what we’re doing or whether we don’t do what we’re doing. And the idea that you could appease them [terrorists] by stopping doing what we’re doing or some implication that by doing what we’re doing we’re inciting them to attack us is just utter nonsense. It’s just – it’s kind of like feeding an alligator, hoping it eats you last. – Donald Rumsfeld • Three million alligators were killed in Florida between 1880 and 1900. Goody! – Will Cuppy • Turn the goddam music up! My heart feels like an alligator! – Hunter S. Thompson • Unoka went into an inner room and soon returned with a small wooden disc containing a kola nut, some alligator pepper and a lump of white chalk. “I have kola,” he announced when he sat down, and passed the disc over to his guest. “Thank you. He who brings kola brings life. But I think you ought to break it,” replied Okoye passing back the disc. “No, it is for you, I think,” and they argued like this for a few moments before Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola. Okoye, meanwhile, took the lump of chalk, drew some lines on the floor, and then painted his big toe. – Chinua Achebe • Well, Im wrestling alligators. – Claire McCaskill • What is a turducken? An exclusive culinary creation available by special order from some little Cajun town down south. Entirely deboned, a turducken consists of a turkey, stuffed with duck, stuffed with a chicken, like an edible Russian nesting doll. Some were stuffed with alligator, crap, shrimp; my favorite was the traditional cornbread variety. – S.A. Bodeen • When Amos Moses was a boy his daddy would use him for alligator bait, tie a rope around his neck and throw him in the swamp. – Jerry Reed • When I was a little kid, I was the first kid in my neighborhood to have a pet alligator. – Benicio Del Toro • When I was young, I had a big problem with warts. It started with one on the side of my little finger. A year later, I had it on all my fingers. My hands looked like the hands of an alligator. So I fist bumped people instead of shaking hands for a few years. – Berhan Ahmed • When we were shooting in Shreveport, me and a couple of friends went down to Lafayette, because they had a big Zydeco music festival down there. We spent two days dancing to Zydeco music, eating fried alligator… It was one of the craziest festivals I’ve ever been to in my life, but I loved it. – Alexander Skarsgard • Writing fantasy lets me imagine a great deal more than, say, writing about alligators, and lets me write about places more distant than Florida, but I can tell you things about Florida and alligators, let you make the connection all on your own. – Terry Brooks • Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators. – Richard Miller • You know you’re old when someone compliments you on your alligator shoes, and you’re barefoot. – Phyllis Diller • You’ve got forever; and somehow you can’t do much with it. You’ve got forever; and it’s a mile wide and an inch deep and full of alligators. – Jim Thompson

[clickbank-storefront-bestselling]

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'i', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_i').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_i img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );