#i wish the first season had gone with a less exposed character

[thenotoriousscuttlecliff]

Assuming they make another series, Tales of the Rebellion feels like the next logical step, although Andor is pretty much already doing that so Tales of the Sith maybe? Tales of the Clones? Tales of the Bounty Hunters?

[coraniaid]

#19 for person of interest and #2 for willow rosenberg

#19 ... one behind-the-scenes trivia fact I've learned somewhere and my thoughts on it.

I honestly don't really know that much trivia about Person of Interest. One thing I think I remember reading somewhere once is that the writers originally cast Amy Acker to play [a version of] Caroline Turing and only quite late in production decided on the twist that Caroline Turing was actually an alias for Root [at which point, presumably, they renamed her character, because she probably wasn't called 'Turing' before that].

Which is kind of amazing to me, if it's true: Amy Acker as Root is such a huge part of the show that's it's strange to think it almost didn't happen [and, presumably, the show itself would have gone off in an entirely different direction in Season 2 without Root: we'd have seen a lot more of Alicia Corwin for a start].

But, well, I can't find the original claim now and even if I did it probably didn't have any particularly solid proof to back it up. So maybe it's not true at all. (I think it's obvious that the writers hadn't yet cast Amy Acker as Root in Season 1's Root Cause, but that's a much less interesting claim to me).

#2 ... ...how I would have chosen to change their story from canon

Not an original take, I suppose, but to me the big problem with Willow's arc is the way that everything the show has been building up to since (at least) Becoming gets utterly derailed by the Willow-as-a-metaphorical-drug-addict subplot in Season 6. And, yeah, I can see arguments for this subplot: magic had been used as a metaphor for drug abuse before, and it does fit with Season 6's wider theme of exposing the characters to more bleakly quotidian problems like bills and dead-end jobs and (metaphorical) battles with social workers. But it just doesn't work for Willow or her arc. Willow's descent into villainy ends up being almost something that happens to her [because of bad actors like Amy or Rack or Warren] rather than something that evolves naturally from her own flaws.

And that's frustrating, because the show's already spent a lot of time setting up Willow's character flaws and how they will surely lead to tension between her and Tara and her and Buffy. We know Willow has self-image problems ["I'm not your sidekick!" she snaps at Buffy in Fear Itself], that she's afraid that people won't like her if they see the real version of her [see her dream in Restless for example], that she compensates for this by trying to help everyone and make herself useful ["I want to help", she tells Buffy in The Harvest, "I need to"].

We know Willow is prone to being jealous when other people get attention despite (in her eyes) not working as hard for it as she's had to or when they threaten to come between her and the people she loves [see: Faith in Season 3, Anya in Season 5]. We know Willow is very often unsympathetic to other people's problems if she can't personally relate to them [see ... well, many examples, but in particular Buffy in Dead Man's Party].

We know that Willow's been getting into magic to an extent that worries all the other sympathetic magically-aware people we know. We know that Willow has a strong sense of herself as a 'good person' despite the fact she often does things that are illegal or dangerous or unwise. We know that Willow is proud of her intelligence and her accomplishments and that she often ignores advice she doesn't like or lashes out at people she thinks are talking down to her [see, for example, the way she talks to Tara in their fight in Tough Love]. We know Willow has had trouble respecting other people's wishes and that her first reaction to relationships going wrong is to try to work out how she can "make" people forgive her [how she reacts to Oz discovering her with Xander in Season 3, for example].

None of this has anything to do with Willow being tricked into being a magical drug addict by a girl who used to be her pet rat. It just doesn't.

In my ideal version of Season 6, Tara still leaves Willow (for much the same reason she does in canon: Willow not respecting her boundaries, using magic to mess with her memories to 'resolve' arguments they have) and Willow still reacts terribly (and manages to de-rattify Amy). But Rack doesn't exist and more generally Amy is not at all the person she is in canon who pushes Willow to use magic more and more because she's some sort of self-destructive hedonist.

Amy should be more or less the same person she was halfway through Season 3. She shouldn't be luring Willow into drug dens [drug dens which she shouldn't even know about!]. She shouldn't suddenly be recast as a Bad Influence. She should be more or less the person she was in Gingerbread. She should be (honestly) amazed by how much better at magic Willow's gotten since high school. She should think of Willow as her friend and try to 'stand up for her' because she (thinks she) knows that Willow lets people push her around too easily. She should (unintentioally) feed Willow's ego: tell her that she's perfectly in the right and it's everyone else who's over-reacting to her growing magical strength.

And yes, maybe eventually she should start directly encouraging Willow to misuse magic (to help her 'fix' her relationship with her Dad, for example, or to get back into college despite technically not finishing high school). But it should be a gradual process. It shouldn't be something that starts fan theories about Catherine Madison somehow posessing her again. And the narrative should [and I can't stress how much it doesn't do this] care the slightest bit about Amy herself as a person, and recognize that she has gone through something awful and traumatic.

Amy's role in the plot of Season 6 should be to encourage Willow to keep telling herself she can use magic all the time whatever anyone else says because she's a good person. She should enable Willow, sure, but not intentionally. She's been a rat since she was 17; she shouldn't know things about the world she didn't know three years ago (except rat things, I guess). She shouldn't force Willow to do magic or trick her into it, because then what happens to Willow is no longer a consequence of who Willow is as a person.

You can make Amy a catalyst for Willow's continued bad behaviour without making her deliberately evil. You just need to make Willow the more active partner in their relationship. Wilow should be the one to decide to keep using magic but just keep it hidden; the one who keeps finding excuses for why she can treat people like objects and still be a good person; the one who keeps redefining where the line is everytime she steps over it. Until eventually Willow goes too far even for Amy, and she has to reckon with what she's been doing all this time.

And that makes Season 7 Willow works better too, because she's actually got something real to feel guilty about. She's not just sorry that after Tara died she reacted by temporarily going a bit crazy and having a relapse into her former addiction [and then being persuaded by some bad magical energy she absorbed into wanting to end the world]. She should be sorry about what she deliberately did to Tara (and to Amy, and to Buffy, and to Dawn, and to everyone else), not what she almost did to the world when she wasn't in her right mind.

I mean, sure, you can keep Warren killing Tara if you want [I'm not sure I would, but...]. Play up the parallels between Warren and Willow, even. Keep Willow killing him and trying to kill Jonathan and Andrew. Keep her trying to end the world, too. But the fundamental moral agency should be Willow's.

Her arc shouldn't be a temporary drug habit she's tricked into by her Bad Friend followed by going cold turkey for a bit and then relapsing after a random horrible event. She shouldn't decide to end the world because a coven of witches we've never met use Giles as a proxy for some elaborate and almost self-defeating 11-dimensional chess game (I quite like Grave, all in all, but that particular twist is infuriatingly stupid). Willow should drive her Season 6 arc by being Willow, only worse. By being the same "callous and deeply strange" Willow we know from the high school seasons, just more so, one who ignores Buffy's advice from Ted to "use [her] powers for good".

The writers shouldn't be afraid to acknowledge that Willow Rosenberg (who, to be clear, is one of my favorite characters in fiction) actually does have the capacity to be a bad person without external factors forcing her into it.

[bridgertonandchocolate]

Finished Bridgerton season 3 part 2 this morning and I have some initial thoughts after only one viewing. So I may forget something along the way. I have mixed feelings as a fan of the books. Overall if I didn’t have any book knowledge I would say it’s stellar but as a book fan there were parts I was certainly disappointed with. I’m sure the more I watch it I will get more used to it just as I did with part one but for now here’s some things I liked and probably some things I didn’t like.

Spoilers abound so if you haven’t seen it don’t continue reading.

My favorite episodes for part 2 were 5 and 7. While episode 5 was jam packed it was a good mix of things we love from the book.

I don’t think Pens family should have found out about her engagement in LW but that’s slim pickings to some other things that happened in this part. I loved Colin telling Portia off. I love how he was very much putting his love out there unabashedly. Whereas in the book the boy still didn’t have a clue. Everything that happened in their home from the mirror to everything else I thought was exquisite and well done. They packed it full of dialogue and book references so much so that I felt like they’d have nothing left for the other episodes. Loved the scene overall.

While I love the intimacy scenes with Polin I wish there was more. They promised so much steaminess and sexiness and it wasn’t there. There were many of missed opportunities throughout the other episodes too that I felt like they could’ve focused more on Polin than they did and more intimacy scenes definitely wouldn’t have hurt.

I hated how Colin responded once he discovered her. His arguments for being so angry felt so disingenuous to me. In the first two seasons he really didn’t pay much attention to LW at all and in fact I think at one point he even suspected Eloise so I don’t understand where this sudden hatred came from because it never really came about before. And then he just continued to be so angry about it. I hated that he wouldn’t even sleep in their room with Pen because he knows he still loves her. He still wanted a life with her. I think in the book he was still able to do that and he was much less angry and more concerned with her well-being. It’s just a difference I’ll have to get used to for the sake of my Polin heart. It just didn’t make sense to me. I also felt like this led to not much development for Colin. We see him feeling not so worthy and even not sure if Pen reciprocated feelings for him. All we really see is that he kind of gets over his hero complex and he realizes he was just jealous of her. They seemed to give a lot of his character development to Benedict in this part particularly about purpose and I felt this was a wasted opportunity. There was growth but nothing like we see with Pens growth. I loved this change from the book. That through Colin she used her new confidence to “save herself”. She was proud of that part of her and seeing her want to expose herself as LW was fabulous.

The Polin wedding was so beautiful and I nearly cried. I think Penelope’s wedding ring which is a claddagh ring is definitely a nod to Nicola Coughlan which I thought was amazing for them to do.

My favorite line from RMB didn’t even make it into the show. I was so disappointed about that and was yelling at my screen at times. I don’t know if I’ll get over it. The whole bit about him loving her with everything he is, had been and hopes to be and his past and future. And the future children and the smiles. All just gone. I wanted to cry.

I’m sure there will be more Polin thoughts. Overall I was mostly pleased but wished there would have been more spicy things and more character development for Colin. I want a Polin spinoff. I know they’re going to be in season 4 but if they end up doing to them what they did to Daphne and Kanthony I won’t watch anymore.

Here’s some other thoughts:

Benedict. Good grief. The first part his story was so nonexistent and then BAM it became nearly the main story in part 2. Stealing Polins thunder. Benedict seems so aimless in this season that I didn’t find anything about his storyline intriguing at all. It felt frivolous. I’m definitely thinking Benedict is season 4 now after episode 8 but it seems like Benny just wants to explore his sexuality and have fun more than anything else. I was so disappointed with the number of spicy scenes they put in. One would’ve sufficed since he wasn’t the season lead.

Francesca. They have ruined Francesca’s whole story now. Everything that made Francesca who she is is gone. Everything I loved about her book will probably not exist. I think changing the gender of Michael was not a good idea at all. I know that representation is important and I’m not opposed to people being gay. For me her whole story and basis for her character won’t exist and I’m not liking it.

Eloise. Girl. I hated you until about episode 7. I really was going into it thinking I needed mama bridgerton to get some sense into Eloise but I’m really glad she got there on her own. I was really pleased with where they took her in the last episode and that she’s going after something she wants and is actively trying to change her life instead of sticking around where she doesn’t feel she fits at the moment.

Kanthony. I thought part 1 was bad. Part 2 was worse. Some of their stuff was fine but it just felt overdone. Like they brought them back to play a key part and then they’re like just kidding now we’re going to India. Anthony was so cute in wanting their child to be born there and everything but I felt like then they could’ve explained their absence in part 1 differently. I am sure that Jonathan Bailey filming and preparing for multiple projects was a factor. Not sure if it was originally planned for them to play a bigger role but it definitely felt like the same dialogue between them and I hated it. I also didn’t like that they didn’t use Anthony more with Colin. It was mostly Kate and her newfound wisdom about marriage and zero from Anthony. He’s like raw eggs in the morning bro. Like come on. That did nothing for me.

I’m sure there will be more to come but for now these are my initial thoughts. As a thing separate from the book it’s fantastic as a fan of the book just wish there were certain things different.

[fast-moon]

I am so glad Russell T. Davies is back

No spoilers for the Doctor Who special, just general comments on writing differences.

I got into Doctor Who probably when Season 5 of the reboot was airing, and started from the beginning of the reboot with Eccleston's 9th Doctor. That first season was kind of hit-and-miss, but I stayed invested because even if stories about farting aliens or talking pieces of skin didn't always hit the mark, the human element of being exposed to those situations still did. And as the Davies run went on, the stories became less cringe and the human element still remained.

In those stories, the companion was always made to be the audience insert character. "There is this cool person who can take you anywhere in time and space, and you get to experience all these neat things."

Then in Season 5 the writing switched to Steven Moffat. And to me something felt... off. No longer did the companion seem to be the audience insert character, but rather the Doctor was who the audience was supposed to relate to. "Look at this person, he's so cool. Don't you wish you were cool and smart and important like him? Look at how impressed everyone is with him!"

Now, Moffat could do impressive monster action stories fine. It's just that the human element to them was gone. The characters were mostly there to move the story from cool scene to cool scene without any time to let it actually affect them in any meaningful way.

Then we moved on to Chris Chibnall, who had the opposite problem as Moffat. He knew how to humanize characters, but had a hard time putting them into crazy, over-the-top situations. So we had a cast of actual people again, but they weren't doing anything interesting.

And now with the 60th anniversary specials, Davies is back (and holy crap, so is Murray Gold on music which is even better). And let's just say... the human element is back, and so is the zaniness. And I so happy.

[canonizzyhours]

Similarly to one of the previous takes on here…

I wasn’t in fandom spaces between s1 and s2 so I wasn’t exposed to the Canyon takes at the time. Once the teaser and then the trailer dropped I was really excited. On the first day episodes 1-3 dropped, before I could even watch the episodes , I got spoiled that Ed was ‘’really unlikable this season’’.

It was gutting to read because he’s my absolute favorite and it put me on edge as I was scared watching the show would change my view on him. To hopefully help calm down the anxiety that comment brought on, I went looking for other comments. Maybe this was just one bad take, right? Wrong move, what was I thinking? So many negative comments about Ed! Takes after takes of how Ed was an abuser to Izzy, how he had gone way too far so they simply couldn’t root for him anymore and was now unredeemable in their eyes.

How could the writers make him this unlikable as a protagonist in a romantic comedy show?

It took me until the day before episodes 4-5 came out to to rip the bandage off and watch the episodes to see for myself what I thought and I was actually surprised at how much I disagreed with those people. I thought Ed dragging the crew down with him was not great (couldn’t care less about Izzy though, in my eyes he deserved it after season 1), but I could absolutely see the vulnerability and the deep depression that was plaguing him. It was such a nuanced performance that I empathized with him so much. Unlikable or unredeemable was far from words I would use for him.

It made me wonder if something was wrong with me because I didn’t feel the same as so many of the takes I’d seen. Was I missing something? And then after that, when I tried participating in conversations and express how I was feeling about Ed’s but also mostly Izzy’s storylines, I was often met with a lot of pushbacks and people being super defensive and demanding me to explain myself as if I owed them anything and it was sooo draining. I hate using the word gaslighting but some of the things those people do by basically establishing an alternate version of this show and bullying people who don’t play along, is truly something else. I think it’s then that I realize I was dealing with people that couldn’t handle opposing Povs, and I was over it. I ended up blocking Izzy’s tag and blocking users on every social media platforms because I just couldn’t deal with it anymore. It’s still blocked to this day.

I love season 2, flaws included, but the amount of discourse around Izzy is honestly ridiculous at this point and it really took away from my enjoyment when the show was airing. I wish he wasn’t such a talked about character, he takes too much space for someone who was actually pretty boring in season 2.

Anyways, RIP Izzy… I guess.

#35.

related posts: #31, #29

[mintedemrys]

The only version of the "everyone knows" trope that I actually genuinely enjoy these days is "okay so we all know about Merlin, we know what he gets up to, now how can we make it as easy as possible for him to do what he's gotta do without openly admitting that we know about it"

Because imo it's not the knowing that's the dangerous part but the admission of knowledge.

As long as they stay quiet about it, they can't be targeted for what they know. But as soon as it's out in the open - even just between them and Merlin - the danger increases exponentially. Because then not only is Merlin worrying about protecting himself from persecution but also anyone who confesses to knowing.

I think this is well proven by Merlin's reaction to Lancelot leaving Camelot the first time, after Lancelot found out about his magic. Merlin wasn't worried about him because he knew that his friend would be safer away from Camelot, regardless of whether he'd been pardoned or not by Uther. There was less risk in Lancelot leaving, despite the fact that he was leaving with no future plans and none of the security that he would've - could've - had in Camelot.

What I will say though is that I think the season 4-5 shift in dynamics, where Merlin remains a servant while literally all of his friends become nobles and are raised above him in status, will always make any kind of "they know" premise unbalanced. Because while yes Merlin is powerful in his own right, sorcerers have no political standing whatsoever in Camelot, every single one of Merlin's friends - because indeed they were all Merlin's friends first, except possibly Percival and maybe Elyan - had social and political power over him. Them knowing at all, even if they were on his side, even if they kept his secret, was a danger to Merlin himself.

Hell, all any of them really had to do if they wanted him gone was to accuse him of something far less heinous than magic.

(All of this being said, however, I don't think it's fair to think that none of Merlin's friends ever figured it out or had their suspicions. They're all fairly intelligent characters - Arthur included - and Merlin isn't exactly the most subtle man ever. After a while, enough unexplained disappearances, mysterious occurrences on hunts or patrols where bandits would get crushed by falling branches or suddenly fling their weapons aside or be burned by their own swords, etc, it all adds up eventually.)

This reply is getting ridiculously long but I also want to touch on something mentioned in the screenshotted tags from above ("especially when they include people in the know being sad and "I wish he would trust me" about Merlin and his magic when it IS NOT AND NEVER HAS BEEN ABOUT THEM")

See here's the thing about that, and feel free to disagree on this, but here's my thing. I think that's a pretty normal reaction to have. Not just for Arthur, but also specifically for Gwaine. Percival and Elyan not so much just because I don't really see them being as close to Merlin as Gwaine or Arthur.

Like, imagine you've known this guy for years, right, he's one of your best friends, you've been through hell together, he's had your back on a number of ridiculous quests, just as you've had his, and then you find out something monumental about him. It doesn't change how you see him, of course not, you're not like that, but it's something huge, and you didn't find out about it from him. It was an accident or someone else exposed it to you, and now you're left to look back on all those quests and all those years of friendship and you have to wonder why didn't he tell me? Like yeah obviously it's not about you, but that's probably not going to be your first instinctive reaction unless you're extraordinarily selfless. You're going to question it, you're going to want to know why he didn't tell you himself, and you're going to wonder if he just doesn't trust you.

The important part, though, is how the characters handle those doubts and how that reveal is resolved.

No offense to those who write them (and read them), but I’m starting to hate those fic where everyone knows about Merlin’s magic, but the only one who tells him is Lancelot. Because, while I get that they want to wait until he trusts them enough, he is living in a place where he could get actively murdered/executed gif he tells the wrong person. Trust is all well and good, but misplaced trust can get him killed. Trust is literally not a part of equation.

On top of that, he’s not going to tell them because he cares about them! He knows damn well that Uther would burn anyone if he even suspected they knew and didn’t report him.

It’s just overall not fair of them to not tell him, because not only is he suffering in silence while they give him even more responsibility that he does not need, he could be learning so much from their insight and experiences, and just how they actually learned so that he can know how to hide better!

He could have an actual support system, but no, they were all waiting on him to say something.

In my mind, it makes sense for Arthur to pull this shit, he’s kind of an idiot who’s been shown to be kind of oblivious to actual problems, and his thing with trust makes this kind of reveal understandable, everyone else? They have no excuse not to tell him, and I wish people in fanfictions would stop writing it this way.

[storiesofsvu]

Well… that was… *something*

Law & order premier event thoughts…

Okay, here we go!

(Fuck i just realized i never did a “what i hope/wish to see this season! I’ll do it after)

oh. Okay. We’re diving *right* into things with Ukraine? 😳 jfc

Cosgrove(?)’s daughter & all this talk about gunshots is terribly foreboding

SNIPED BY DADDY BENSON JEEESUS

I just do not like Cosgrove….

Oh GOD & NOW he’s fighting with Stabler?! We couldnt have gotten through this ep without a “whos dick is bigger” contest, could we? 🙄🙄 like i was *just* gonna say how frank’s acting like stabler & then stabler shows up… ugh. Bring daddy benson back pls

Ayannaaaaaaa lookin like a SNACK as per usual!😍

This “crossover” really is more like a 3hr movie. First 30mins moved pretty slow like the OG l&o vibes… now we’re into the OC feels. Where are my svu babies? Bring them in pls.

I cant decide whether this CI is a complete idiot or a genius.

Why are we being forced to deal with so many low neck, chest exposed outfits for stabler 🥴

Oh so we’re putting Amanda in oversized blazers this year?

Watching them do raids on l&o after watching so much Chicago pd is just pathetic. Like, they’d lose so many cops with how bad it is.

I’m sorry. But if i was going to raid a house of a very dangerous criminal… i’d put my hair up to make sure i could SEE what i was doing…

Loving this style update for Jet😍

Did ANYONE think the CI was gonna make it through the ep?? Like cmon that was obvious

There was 3:44min left on the timer & that was WAY less than that….

Are velasco & fin just like, kickin it back at the precinct watching tv or something rn?!

Yessssssss Sam is here now! 😍😍

But also hate the other ada

Wait… this perp (in pt3) has DEFINITELY been on svu before… he sold liv & elliot a baby… right?!

Sir… you are sitting like a lesbian…

WOW we just jumped two months!!

Where TF is carisi??

AMANDA ROLLINS IS ANTI TAYLOR SWIFT??!! I *NEVER* WOULD HAVE THOUGHT! Like she would be the number 1 swiftie…

FUCK.

Okay like i KNEW something like this was probable because dw wanted her killed off BUT COULD WE GET THROUGH A SEASON OPENER WITH**OUT** SOMEONE IMPORTANT GETTING SHOT??!!

Carisi’s gonna show up now, right??

UGGGHH PEEEETTEERR YOUR ACTING!!??? GOOD GOD. JUST SO SCARED & worried & 🥺🥺🥺😭😭😭

Wtf is this jacket olivia has on? I cant tell whether its leather or denim or leather posing as denim??!

Liv did what was right. Putting nicole out of harms way was way better than making her testify when she’s already almost been killed multiple times.

Oh fuck you mccoy

How is NO ONE from the da’s office even TALKING about/worried about rollins?!

THANK YOU SAM!!! I KNEW I LIKED YOU BETTER THAN ANYONE ON THIS DAMN SHOW (also she’s looked *bomb* in every outfit so far..)

I feel like we might be starting to learn more about Sam’s history/childhood thanks to this ep? Or like, this might be hinting at some future character arc?

UCK. I literally just said “at least elliot’s gone” and WOW he feels the need to come back…

There are TEN mins left & we still havent gotten an update on amanda??!! Come ON

Yo, dick wolf, tell me you hate amanda rollins without telling me you hate amanda rollins 😒😒😒

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! The crap scenes we GOT instead of:

a panicked emotional carisi at the hospital, a sympathetic & just as worried liv who’s trying to hide it to be the bigger supporter, a worried fin who’s watched her take a bullet already!! The REUNION & relief when they’re told she’s out of surgery & going to be totally fine. The CONVERSATION between amanda & sonny, the heartfelt confessions of how scared they were to lose each other, how carisi was internally freaking out about the girls and legally who would take care of them if amanda died, and how it should be him over anyone from her family. How the only thing aside from the girls amanda could think of was that she wished she had told sonny she wanted to be with him forever, be the dad to her girls, how life is short & they’d wasted enough time already. Followed by an untraditional proposal, one that neither of them expected & sonny doesnt even have the ring, but they agree to marriage anyways. FOLLOWED by liv, fin, velasco, jessie & billie coming into the room in a big happy found family wrap up…

Brb… just wrote a one shot that was better than the wrap of this damn episode.

Ugh 🙄🙄🙄

@bookpillows here ya go

[facelessfrey]

I’m thinking about Roswell and Motherland Fort Salem again....haha

I just feel like Motherland works in so many ways that I wish Roswell did, that it has/had the potential to but wasted it. 

Like obviously I’ve been talking about how I feel like Motherland handled Raelle missing for half the season compared to Roswell and Alex. And now that we have Raelle back and her and Scylla are engaged, I know what I want to happen from this eventual Malex reunion. But just...all along, it was so much better with everyone knowing that Raelle was missing. I mean, granted Raelle is the lead of the show really and Alex is clearly not that according to Roswell writers, but you know, he’s not. But still, having everyone know Raelle was missing and even though they had a lot else going on, there was always some sense of urgency to get Rae back, especially from Scylla. We’re getting it a bit from Michael now but imagine if we’d had that all season long. Imagine if he had gone undercover with Bonnie and Clyde to try and find clues to where Alex was. I just feel like it would have made a lot more sense and felt less like stalling. If they actually built Alex’s disappearance into the mystery of what Bonnie, Clyde and Tesca were up to, that would have maintained his presence in the narrative and kept some sense of urgency, even if it took a while to unravel all the clues. I don’t know, they better have one hell of a reunion when we get to it. 

But aside from that aspect, I just feel like Motherland excels in other ways too. A big frustration of mine with Roswell has always been the lack of threat against them, the lack of real stakes, the pacing. While I liked Jones, I think the biggest threat they ever had was Noah just because they knew so much less and the violation of body/mind control felt the scariest. But they had Jesse Manes and did next to nothing with him. Sure he supposedly had a bomb to kill aliens at the end of season two but there was so little real story leading up to that. No one was worried about such a thing until the last two episodes. It was such a weak story in a mess of a season. But he could have been such a great villain rather than just a despicable man. Project Shepherd could have been a real ongoing threat instead of just Jesse in his bunker or his severely understaffed prison with just Flint for a lackey. There’s never been a real threat to the aliens being found out by the government etc. And then you have the supposed Dark Triad where two out of the three are...not a threat and the third is just...dull? 

With Motherland, the Spree in the first season were genuinely frightening with their suicide balloons and infiltration and face changing. And while we knew they were fighting against conscription of Witches there were so many more layers to unpack there and then they were getting confused with the Camarilla, who are genuinely terrifying witch hunters. 

The Camarilla who are a very real threat and have infiltrated the government, putting the lives of our main characters and all witches in danger. And Hearst with his vocal chord stealing and using against them and Silver becoming President, the stakes are super high, especially going into the final two episodes with our main unit turning themselves in. 

I just...I feel no such stakes from Roswell and never really have aside from maybe a few points with Noah and a tiny bit with Jones. But Project Shepherd or fucking Deep Sky could have been real genuine government threats the way the Special Unit was in the original show and they just...weren’t. And it’s a shame. I’ve never once felt like our aliens were in real danger of being exposed aside from maybe in the teen flashback when Rosa died. And that feels like it should be integral to the story, especially since they do bring it up a lot for it never actually being a real problem in the narrative. 

And then there’s the relationships. Raelle and Scylla are the main ship of course in Motherland so they get all the good angst and focus, but they, like Malex, have been apart a lot but they’ve never tried to bring in third parties for extra unnecessary drama. And they’ve always let them have these great reunions that feel so earned even if they’ve spent entire seasons technically apart. And then Abigail and Adil are technically a more secondary ship but they’ve had plenty of focus as well and so much growth both individually and as a couple, even including Khalida feeling like family to Abigail at this point. It’s all really well done. And aside from the romantic relationships, the unit are so close and their friendship and sense of found family is so strong in a way that Roswell just fails on so much, and characters like Adil and Scylla and Anacostia and even Alder etc just slot into that so well. 

Maybe it’s because there’s more of a sense of character hierarchy that makes it work because all of the Roswell characters are kind of fighting each other for screen time instead of naturally slotting into their rightful places. But even when all of the Roswell characters, particularly this season and last are working together, they still all feel so separate and their are so many individual friendships that are lacking. 

Liz and Maria should be best friends, they should constantly be checking in with each other and they have maybe like one or two crumbs of scenes together a season. Liz and Alex are supposed to be friends and they’ve had like five scenes together in four seasons. Maria and Alex are supposed to be best friends, which they did okay with in the first part of season one and then made it weird and then never really repaired that friendship in any meaningful way on screen. It took till literally this season for people to actually acknowledge that Michael and Alex are a serious thing. Max and Alex literally didn’t have a scene together until last season. Kyle and Alex’s friendship was done so well in season one and then has just disappeared entirely since. Maria rarely interacts with Max. Maria rarely interacts with Kyle. They made such a big thing of Rosa being Kyle’s secret sister and then they’ve had like maybe four scenes together. Rosa and Michael are great but they rarely get to interact. I don’t think Rosa and Alex have ever had a scene together. Even like Maria and Isobel and Rosa had such a great thing going last season but basically nothing this season. There’s just such a lack of consistency, it’s infuriating. It makes any kind of relationship arc really hard to track or invest in. 

Whereas on Motherland, there are such distinct journeys for all of the relationships. The romantic ones obviously, but also Raelle and Abigail, the Bellweather unit as a whole, Tally with Alder, Abigail with Alder, Petra with Alder, Abigail and Scylla, Tally and Scylla, Khalida and Abigail, Anacostia and Scylla, Anacostia and Alder, Anacostia and the unit etc etc. And it feels like all of that is coming together in the final season. Anacostia is using Scylla’s work, Tally and Abigail are trusting Alder, Abigail and Tally are letting Scylla in and boding with her etc. 

The characters on Roswell are so good and the relationship are there to work with and yet....I’m constantly shocked when Liz actually talks to people other than Max...

Sigh...I feel like there’s about four people who might actually crossover with both shows and understand all of this but I just...have feelings. And I don’t want either show to be ending but I’m grateful to Motherland for being as good as it has been with what it’s had to work with. 

(also...the mythology and world building on Motherland...so much better and less messy than Roswell. At least they bothered to create a witch language rather than name people Jones and Bonnie and Clyde and call an alien planet the Oasis)

(also, Motherland only has ten episodes to work with instead of 13 and they usually do better to tell a much tighter story that doesn’t feel like they just drop things half way or rush other things)

Okay...I’m done with my rant now. 

[girl4music]

BUFFY REWATCH - S04E22 - Restless

Tara: “I think it’s strange. I mean, I think I should worry that we haven’t found her name.”

Willow: “Who, Miss Kitty?”

*shot of their kitten, playing with a ball of red yarn in slow-motion*

Tara: “You’d think she’d let us know her name by now.”

Willow: “She will.

*looking down at Tara*

She’s not all grown yet.”

Tara: “You’re not worried?”

Willow: “I never worry here. I’m safe here.”

Tara: “You don’t know everything about me.”

Willow: “Have you told me your real name?”

Tara: “Oh, you know that.

*Willow smiles, reaches for something. Shot of a paintbrush dipping into ink jars*

They will find out, you know. About you.”

Willow: “Don’t have time to think about that. You know I have all this homework to finish.”

*the camera pulls back so we can see Tara is lying face-down on her bed, naked, and Willow is painting on her back*

Tara: “Are you gonna finish in time for class?”

Willow: “I can be late.”

Tara: “But you’ve never taken drama before.

*shot of Willow dipping the paintbrush again, moving it across to Tara’s back, which is covered with Greek symbols*

Might miss something important.”

Willow: “I don’t wanna leave here.”

*Tara twists back to look at her*

Tara: “Why not?”

*Willow stands up, looking down at Tara. She turns away toward a dark red curtain. Walks over to it*

Willow: “It’s so bright.

*pulls back the curtain to reveal a brightly sunlit desert. The light falls on Tara, who looks over. Looking back at Tara, still holding the curtain open*

And there’s something out there.”

*shot of the desert, straggly plants, rocks. We briefly see something (someone?) moving, then it’s gone. Shot of the kitten stalking forward toward the camera, in slow-motion*

I have been so anxious to get to this episode and write my meta. For all the time I’ve brought up Willow’s insecurities, this is the one and only episode that lays them all bare for everybody to see, if - and this is important -, you are clever enough to decipher the code of visual symbolism and possess the ability of interpretation. Pretty much all of the episode ‘Restless’ requires you to interpret what you see. You’re not told straight-forwardly what the dreams, each of the core 4 Scooby members have, are about and that’s precisely what I love about it and why it is probably my most favourite episode of the whole show.

Now, obviously, I’m only going to be talking about Willow’s dream in the episode because if I were to do an analysis of every character’s dream, I’d be here all day and this recap would be incredibly long. I would suggest watching YouTuber Passion Of The Nerd’s analysis for it to get the whole picture. Much of what I will write here will draw from that as I agree with quite a lot of it and think it makes a lot of sense in understanding each character. Every character has fears, worries and insecurities, and that’s what these dreams are specifically about, but Willow’s go much deeper than can be witnessed in all of the show due to her “hiding” them under a “thinly-veiled” persona of who she wants to be. For the most part, you only get to see who she wants you to see. It is not until this episode that all of Willow’s real thoughts and feelings take center-stage - quite literally. There’s a reason why both her dreams in ‘Nightmares’ and ‘Restless’ have her performing on stage. The former, being more about stage fright and about wanting to go unnoticed. The latter, about acting like something she’s not and “putting on a show” of confidence and security to the other characters, who she fears knows about “the real her”, and the audience watching her. Now, “the real her” is as ambiguous as this entire dream sequence is - meaning: it depends on your point of view who Willow is. And this is why I clash with @confusedguytoo about Willow often regarding my views and opinions on Willow. They see something different to me. However, I’ll let them better explain that if they so wish to. I’ll only explain what I see - in Willow - and in this episode.

I relate Willow’s insecurities to her accumulation of power and need for control. For me, much of what I interpret in ‘Restless’ ties in and very much foreshadows Willow’s magic addiction and ‘Dark Willow’ storyline in Season 6 because, to me, Dark Willow is less about the Magicks and more about power and rage, (Anya interjects here: “and vengeance, don’t forget vengeance”). So I will go through the meaning of Willow’s dream in ‘Restless’ from the way I interpret it and in my own words:

Starting off, we have Willow sat on Tara’s bed with Tara (well, actually Tara is laying down on it and Willow is sat on it.) Tara is turned away from Willow as Willow paints some writing on her bare back (see Passion Of The Nerd’s analysis to know what is being written because it’s very significant to the scene.) This part of Willow’s dream has more to do with Tara than Willow, but it’s important to remember that it’s all from Willow’s perspective. Willow worries that there’s something about Tara that Tara isn’t telling her. Something she’s not “facing her” with and letting her know bothers her. But other than that - she has no worries. She feels safest with Tara and, as I’ve previously mentioned in another recap, is much more invested in the relationship they share than Tara is at this point in it. And the scales don’t actually equal in that because Willow becomes uncomfortably and unhealthily invested in that she starts to abuse Tara in such a way where she wants to make sure Tara pays the most attention to her. And magic has always been the best way for Willow to have “her will be done” well before Tara entered the picture of her life. And so, she knows it’s her bread and butter to getting her way.

Moving on, we now see Willow walking the halls of Sunnydale high school and Xander and Oz are in the dream. No Tara. Meaning this part of the dream is something passed in her life but still very present in her mind. Although this is of the past, the dialogue between all 3 characters is about Willow’s then-future. There is mention of Tara and of the drama class they will take in college. I interpret this to mean that Willow can’t entirely let go of what was to focus on what is or what will be. Hence why Oz is in the scene and why he says “Oh, I’ve been here forever” when Willow asks him if he’s ever took the drama course - at which point we see Willow trying to take something out of her locker but can’t seem to get it open. I interpret this to mean she’s locked out and cannot access that part of her life anymore despite still thinking about it, and specifically Oz, in it. You see, Oz may have followed Willow to college, but he never stayed. Their relationship was only one that existed in high school and Willow has regretfully moved on from Oz and entered a new relationship that exists in college and will last beyond that. She cannot access her high school life anymore. She cannot access Oz anymore. Thus, their love affair was tied to their high school life and Willow no longer goes there.

At this point we see Willow walk out of the frame, leaving Xander and Oz behind, to stand backstage of a production in their drama class - of which Willow has never even rehearsed for and hasn’t even had her first drama class yet. And the characters of Harmony, Riley and Buffy are dressed up in costume ready to perform the play and tell Willow that she’s late but she’s “already” dressed in “costume” and “already” in “character”. Giles then enters the scene as the stage director and his dialogue in rallying his actors to get ready to perform reveals that this play is all about Willow. In fact - she’s the main character in it (go figure) and everybody in the audience, including the cast, is there to watch her perform.

“Acting is not about behaving, it’s about hiding. The audience wants to find you, strip you naked, and eat you alive, so hide.” - Giles.

Next Willow goes behind the stage curtains (which are red to represent a vagina, apparently, according to Whedon in the commentary track for ‘Restless’) and finds Tara among them with her who tells her that things aren’t going very well. Willow says that drama class is not being done in the “proper” way, she doesn’t know what to do, and the play’s starting soon. Tara then tells her that the play’s already started and that’s not the point anyway. Willow doesn’t understand. As the play happens without Willow, Tara disappears, and what was following Willow attacks her.

Buffy saves her and we go back to Sunnydale high school. This time we’re in a classroom. It isn’t clear which class but it’s presumably English as Willow reads out a book report on ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Before she does that though, Buffy tells Willow that the play is long over and asks her why she’s still in “costume”. Willow responds that it’s not a costume, she’s just in her outfit of the day. Buffy tells her that everybody already knows about her and to take her “costume” off, to which Willow panics and refuses. Buffy rips her “costume” off of her to reveal her wearing the clothes she was wearing on the very first episode of the show. Now, Willow stands in front of a full classroom of her peers (both from high school, college, and the Scooby Gang) mocking her for her appearance and her reaction to being totally exposed to what she believes everybody perceives of her as the truth of who she really is. Still a shy loser. The dream sequence ends with what was following Willow and attacked her throughout; the first Slayer sucking out her soul and leaving the real Willow paralyzed in her sleeping state. Unable to escape from her personal Hell.

So what does it all mean? Well, it really all depends on the way you interpret her dream. Some things about Willow and what she thinks and feels are clear, some are not. But how I’ve interpreted her dream in ‘Restless’ is that Willow, despite appearing a much more confident, secure and assertive person, doesn’t have any belief in herself when it comes to her value and requirement of her from her peers, friends and lovers… Or everyone that’s not her. Her need for validation in who she is and what she can do from everyone. Her worthiness in her work. Her ability and capacity to love. Her appearance to whoever perceives her. Especially the ones she loves. And her insecurities run so deep in this that even she doesn’t recognize them. She’s not aware to how much she’s acting like someone she’s not in order to please, in order to have attention, in order to feel of use to people. Now, it is not that she is still the loser. She’s definetly evolved into a much more worldly and well-rounded person since her high school days. Stronger, smarter, wiser, and more confident. It’s just she doesn’t believe in it and she absolutely fears no one else does either. In her mind she’s still the lonely nerd and she’s doing the most to make sure people don’t see that. Even though she has the belief that they do and always will. So her need for power and control all stems from these deep unconscious insecurities. Magic just happens to be the most effective tool for her to accumulate this. And she only becomes addicted to it in Season 6 because she relies on it to make her special. Even though she’s special as she is - with or without magic - to which Tara does her damnedest to make her aware of and believe. And she’s about the only person in the show that achieves it - until, of course, her death… Which, of course, triggers Dark Willow.

Willow's need for power and control as Dark Willow is channelled through rage and pain and so no amount of it is enough. Willow isn’t enough without Tara. None of these fears, worries and insecurities are the truth of Willow. But getting her to believe in and trust in that is next to impossible. Tara is only capable of it because she’s the one thing in the show that Willow truly loves. Is truly committed to. Is truly invested in. And she feels like she means and is nothing without her, without her love, without her attention, without her validation, without her light. She abuses her the most because she’s the one person in all of the show that she covets the most. That she doesn’t want to be without, that she feels the safest and is the happiest with. That she won’t let leave her life. Yes, it’s unhealthy. But true love can be when there’s so much inner turmoil. When there’s such a storm inside threatening to be unleashed with every bad day. Every screw up. Every "spaz" feeling. That's what it stems from. A loser mentality.

That is Willow’s entire predicament throughout the whole show and why her character representation, development and evolution is the greatest, the most profound, the most detailed, the most poignant. This is a character that you absolutely fall in love with very early on. To see them go from that gentle-natured, quirky, inspiring and endearing person to one of the most abusive, frustrating, corruptive and destructive people is hard. Fortunately, they’re given the endgame they deserve and become the hero. They learn to balance both sides to who they are - the dark and the light - and they become exactly who they want to be. Someone of great power and control. Someone that is valued and loved. Someone that matters. Whether she believes it or not is up to you. 😉

[book-o-scams]

Ed, Edd n Eddy Series Bible (1996) -Analysis-

You can all finally read/download Ed, Edd n Eddy's official Series Bible right here! Thanks again to Chuckletons for sharing this with me and to Joey/Kongiscool0518 for sharing it in the first place, the Holy Grail of lost Ed, Edd n Eddy trivia!

One of the first posts I made for this blog was the Series Bible page. It was a composite of every source we had ever seen reference the series bible so far-- storyboarders in interviews, CN's old character guides, and the biggest source, an old CN UK posting about the show. Well, I figure now that we have the official source, I better update the old page (so everyone knows it's out of date), and make this new Series Bible post using the official source! Not much new information, but I was intrigued to finally learn the true phrasings of some things we had only heard paraphrased, as well as at least one detail from the movie that I couldn't believe came up this early in conception...

Unfortunately, Tumblr has apparently updated its post system to only let me add 10 images? Gonna try and only use images for what I need since you can read the actual document above, I guess I'll transcribe it too for easier reference and so we don't ever lose some archive of this.

Quickly, let's review what a series bible is:

A series bible is how creators pitch shows to networks. They can be called “pitch bibles” as well. Bibles do not usually get posted publicly, because they are initially under a strict Non-Disclosure Agreement by the network; also the creator may simply not wish to share it because it reflects the earliest stages of development.

The pitch materials typically include early concepts for characters, locations and episodes. Sometimes it exposes secrets, in this case, Ed and Eddy’s home lives, and sometimes the stuff in it is completely abandoned because it’s so early in production, in this case, casual references to school and adults.

Alright, everybody, it's time to gather 'round and read the Ed, Edd n Eddy Bible!

THE YEAR IS 1996.

YOUR NAME IS LINDA SIMENSKY. YOU WORK AT CARTOON NETWORK. A FRIEND OF YOURS, DANNY ANTONUCCI, IS WRAPPING UP A SHOW ON MTV. YOU GET THIS FAX.

Linda Simensky immediately fell in love with this concept because as a child, she was best friends with 2 other Lindas for seemingly no reason other than the shared name.

I love how Danny decided last second to pencil in the correct names over each Ed, since they're arranged out of title-order.

"They're friends because they have the same name."

-the Logline for the series.

Fun fact: one storyboard artist for the movie observed that the movie is essentially all about challenging the series' original notion that the Eds are friends ONLY because of their name.

"A Danny Antonucci Cartuna"

-the label Danny used to use under announcements of new productions.

PAGE 1:

Ed, Edd n Eddy

They're best friends because they have the same name.

A gag laden, beat generated CARTOON bumper car ride of 3 misfit youths on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs of America.

Through summer vacation, part-time jobs, or just hang'n out at the corner mail box, they want to belong....but CAN'T.

From home chores, helping neighbors or eating jaw breakers, they want to fit in...but CAN'T.

Ed is into "B" monster movies, model kits and is quick to break out into rashes.

Lots of luck...

Edd is into chemistry, biology and prone to crushes.

Later...

Eddy is into pranks, is stylish and flaunts himself to the world.

Ya Right...

Ed, Edd n Eddy is a show about confusion and contradiction, that awkward part of youth, pimples, big feet, oily hair and... girls???.

Puberty is unforgiving.

I was fascinated by the lack of art on this page, it makes the pitch feel very focused. AKA logo in the corner, the title logo again up top, then the logline appears again below.

I really love the breakdown of Danny's vision of the show. "Gag-laden, beat-generated, CARTOON bumper ride." Very accurate, and I think "beat-generated" is the phrase that interests me the most. I typically think of "animation beats" as sort of a give-in-- technically all things fit a rhythm, so all stories are essentially just a montage of beats. But this does make me realize how important the strength of the beats and their rhythm are to the pacing of a cartoon and making you feel like "that was a good one." I feel like the "seasonal rot" viewers feel over the course of a show, and the way that perception differs from person to person, depends on the type of beats you want. Even though I am very into the experimental beats of a show in its later seasons, I can definitely see how season 1's beats are more typically appealing to a wide-audience, and how important a focus on that is to the longevity of a show.

I found it really interesting how the scams are initially conceived of here as "summer jobs." It adds to the sense that adults were originally meant to be present. Honestly a little surprised nobody with access to this bible had ever thought to mention that-- scams are not referenced ANYWHERE. Their image in the Series Bible is that they have summer jobs and help neighbors, which is certainly a much cleaner reputation than the Eds ended up with in the show. Makes me realize though, were some of the early scams, like Ed's Hive Bee Gone and their newspaper routes, supposed to be leaning into this early idea of them with almost legit jobs for unseen adults?

I was very amused by the repeated phrase that the Eds simply CAN'T fit in.

Loved to finally see the official phrasing for the confirmation that Peach Creek is in America. Not much different than I was led to believe, but still nice to have the true quote.

Also love Eddy being described as "stylish and flaunting himself to the world." The bold-print reactions to each micro-description is a cute idea too, I truly wonder who we were meant to picture saying those things in reaction. Each Ed? Kevin?

The "corner mail box" is an oddly specific phrase-- the Eds do hang around mailboxes throughout the series, especially seasons 1-3, and I believe the canon map does have a corner mailbox, but the idea that the Eds hang out at one specific mailbox went the way of Bro's supposed secret treehouses.

PAGE 2:

Ed, Edd n Eddy

Show Description

Gag laden. True cartoon style, inventive, non parody, fast paced, stretch and squash

Beat driven. (even when characters stop they hold with a bounce cycle. Adults never bounce. Music can play important part, not just fill.) But not a musical.

Cartoon surrealism. (viewers see the show as Ed, Edd n Eddy would, less important things tend to blend into the background, while objects of Ed, Edd n Eddy's desires are focused. Premise driven.)

The school year's over, (yeah!!!!) and the long HOT summer vacation begins (gulp). What to do?

Stuck on a cul-de-sac in the suburbs of America is the last place you want to spend summer break, especially when you find life confusing and contradicting.

Ed, Edd n Eddy is about friendship, and serves to remind us that they're no "good ole days," just smelly runners.

You can tackle anything, when your with your pals.

Their days are spent, for knowledge, acceptance and some cash for jaw breakers. Armed with pimples, big feet and oily hair the three amigos trek into the unknown.

Ed, Edd n Eddy are dying to be grown-ups, but they're kids, and attack adulthood as only kids would. Simple situations turn into a manic rollercoaster ride. (Don't forget your barf bag).

They just want to belong, and they're willing to pull off any insane stunt to prove it. First they need to figure out what it is they want to belong to.

Found it interesting that on this page, the show's logo is replaced with the title written in a jumbled font. Seems like the font from the show's end credits.

Hehe, the continued reactions to the descriptions. Allow me to be Double D for a moment and point out the increased use of parentheticals on this page, as well as one wrong "your".

I love Danny's insight that season 1 is framed by the context of how hyped everyone still is just to be out of school, but also the sense of pressure to make use of their break.

I really appreciate Danny getting further into the details of his summary of the show's style on the previous page. It only makes sense that he had this much of a vision that early.

A second confirmation of the cul-de-sac being in America! I'm also really into the repeated focus on the Eds finding the world "contradicting." I always loved how EEnE's inexplicable cartoon antics supported that sense that the Eds are highly aware of contradictions in both societal things and the actual characters.

WOW, so I'm fascinated by this dual reveal. Before the wiggling outlines, which Danny usually calls a "boiling line" and describes as a tribute to wiggling inking in early animation, the series bible instead refers to him wanting the characters to do the iconic Fleischer "bounce," which is a much more commonly recognized rubberhose animation technique. Very interesting that Danny decided not to stick to that. Did it feel too out of place? Or was the overseas team not willing to animate a weight-shifting for every single held pose? Haha, guess I can see why boiling was an easier compromise. I wonder if he had any other ideas for how to make it more of a 1930s cartoon.

The other reveal to me here is that the movie's choice, that adults don't always wiggle in the show, was an idea from the very beginning! I guess I can better understand now why it's just too difficult to communicate a stylistic choice like that overseas-- no point making Bro not wiggle, that'd just create confusion.

Also, really disappointed that my wish for a musical is officially squashed in the series bible itself. That's a tragedy. The show's over, ya couldn't let me dream, Danny!? Conversely, I love Danny's forethought to say "non parody," I definitely noticed and appreciated EEnE's avoidance of derivative parody humor.

My spouse had to point out to me that Danny probably means sneakers here, lol. Canadianisms!

The comments about the Eds wanting to grow up but needing to figure out what they want to belong to are so great and relate to the movie so well. I've heard those comments before, but the correct phrasing was cool to see.

PAGE 3:

Ed, Edd n Eddy (image of Ed in right corner)

Character Description

Ed

Attention deficiency syndrome.

He has trouble...

He can't....um...

OK, he draws all day in class.

When Eddy gets a bright idea...Ed's in.

Ed is easily talked into doing Eddy's "hard work". He has great physical strength.

Ed's happiest with his Model kits and B-monster movies. He draws his knowledge from his movies.

Ed smells. Flies are attracted to him.

Ed has sayings for all situations

ED: "you can change your shirt, and Bingo was his name..."

Ed's perpetually a slave to his younger sister's whims and whines.

Ed may have to baby-sit his sister, or let her watch whatever she wants on TV, or let her dress him up in mom's clothes.

Ed breaks out in Rashes. He's allergic to practically everything, especially Guinea Pigs.

Ed's Mom xerox's his sketches and doodles for her therapist.

Ed's Dad hopes to pass on to his son, his knowledge on "pre-owned" auto sales.

Very cute bit wasting the space at the top of the page. Danny seems very invested in Ed's personality already. The old sources we used to have definitely tried to condense these down to simpler blurbs.

Weird how Danny wants to essentially diagnose Ed with ADHD here (phrasing it very poorly, but it was the 90s and... Canada?). I don't know enough on the subject to debate it, but I still gotta point out Ed's canonical cracked skull!

Interested in the comment about Ed being most allergic to Guinea Pigs. I don't think that animal was ever even mentioned in the show. Eddy mentioned an old gerbil once....

Neat to finally have the real phrasing of the official word on Ed's parents! I saw someone comment earlier that this seems to be hinting Ed's Dad is selling stolen cars. I've never thought to question the legality of his apparent second-hand-car dealership (I imagined he works with Eddy's dad, who has received a legitimate award for his salesmanship), but those quotation marks are certainly making Mr. Ed's practices questionable! Best case scenario, Danny meant that more like italics or something, but maybe Ed's dad IS up to no good...

PAGES 4 & 5 (Ed's turn sheet and expression sheet)

PAGE 6:

Ed, Edd n Eddy (image of Edd in right corner)

Character Description

Edd

is really smart.

is really quiet.

Edd is unnaturally-- polite.

Edd hasn't been allowed to take gym ever since the Dodge ball incident. He's been excused to free study time in the library.

Edd doesn't like it when people touch his things.

EDD: "You may enter in my room, but don't touch my Lego robot. Thank you."

Edd's learning to play Peddle steel guitar. (his Mom makes him)

Edd's prone to "crushes". Girls in School, in his neighborhood, TV, anatomy books. He mails "true loves" his socks.

Edd is always ready for action, even though he can calculate the implications.

Edd constantly mumbles.

No one ever sees Edd's parents. They both work nights. They communicate to their son solely through Post-it notes. Edd's not allowed to touch anything in the house while they're gone. Anything.

Interesting how Danny slightly differentiates the barely-used space at the top here from Ed's description, to characterize Edd as more quiet and mumbly, adding an awkward "--" mid-sentence, perhaps to create the impression that Edd halts to choose words carefully.

Everything on this page feels familiar, from the character guides and other old sources. The most interesting thing to me here is that Edd's Mom forcing him to practice Pedal Steel Guitar is established this early, don't think I knew that, but I had noticed that it existed in his room from ep 1.

I love how the explanation in the beginning for why Edd goes along with their dumb schemes even though he's smart is basically just "he's always ready for action." ?!? I guess in a way???

That weirdly phrased Edd quote amuses me because it references Lego, just like the original concept background for his room before somebody nixed the copyright-namedrop.

Edd's prone to crushes thing has been reaffirmed over and over in character bios even though it really doesn't come up outside of the cupid magic in HPH and the pilot-episode heart eyes at Sarah that are barely canon. Still, I've always loved the truly disturbing statement that he mails "his true loves his socks" and how that managed to make it into canon with a comic book example, a cel animation example and a digital era example.

PAGES 7 & 8 (Edd's turn sheet and expression sheet)

PAGE 9:

Ed, Edd n Eddy (image of Eddy in right corner)

Character Description

Eddy

Exhibitionist.

Megalomaniac. (quote from his report card)

Eddy is the unofficial leader of the trio.

He's always got a plan, a stunt or a weird noise.

Eddy's the "class clown". He loves showing off. He loves being the centre of attention-- no matter how stupid the reason is.

Eddy is the only kid in his grade to have been expelled for aw hole week from school. It was his turn to set up the video for science class. He switched "Our Friend Yeast", for a video he "borrowed" from his parent's room.

Before Eddy's brother went....away, he enlightened Eddy with the "legends" of the neighbourhood. Eddy knows where all the abandoned tree houses are, which sewer pipers are safe to spelunk, and the secret recipe for the "El Mongo Stink Bomb" (it's been in the family for years).

He is the one who is most able to pretend that he knows it all... and doesn't care what anyone else thinks about him.

His genes are working the fastest.

Eddy's Dad is constantly concerned that Eddy may grow up to be a ...figure skater.

Eddy's Mom never believes his little darling was involved in such a heinous act.

Funny choice that Eddy's wasted-top-space is just two one-word descriptions, and allegedly lazily swiped from his negative report card.

Wow, we knew the report card quote and the "Our Friend Yeast" story from the UK show guide, but now we also know Ed's page says that Ed draws in class, and now I realize that Ed and Eddy have series bible school blurbs to match Edd's classic dodgeball incident blurb. Anyway, it's great that Eddy's showed his entire school some sort of sex video his parents have.

Very interested that the phrasing for the Bro/El Mongo Stink Bomb blurb even seems to suggest it's a family recipe. Eddy's Dad did have prankster stuff in his closet in JJJ... did Bro learn his prankster ways from Dad?? The neighborhood's secret tree houses have come up in other descriptions (at best, I'd say this could be related to that creepy shack the Eds found in the woods), but I think it's new info that Eddy personally learned the sewer routes from Bro. Interesting...

Thankfully, I had already heard about the Bible's awkward reference to Eddy being the most pubescent as "his genes are working the fastest," lmao.

Once again the Double D in me comes out to point out that the description of Eddy's Mom seems to switch to the Dad's pronouns.

PAGES 10 & 11 (Eddy's turn sheet and expression sheet)

PAGES 12-14 (Sarah, Jimmy, Rolf, Jonny, Nazz, and Kevin lineup of all 6, then 2 zoomed in lineups of the first 3 kids and last 3 kids)

(Funfact: the kids' designs were allegedly freelanced to an outside studio, hence why their refined later-season designs are so different from these lizardy starting places, lmao)

PAGE 15: (images of Sarah and Jimmy next to their blurbs)

SARAH

Ed's baby Sister.

It's her way or the Highway.

She has everything done for her, if NOT she'll "make" them do it.

She can be quick to judge.

Whinney.

A tatrum for every occasion.

More than a handful for Ed...or Edd and Eddy.

Thinks Edd is kinda cute.

Wants Eddy to MOVE...to another planet.

JIMMY

Sarah's best friend

He is always playing with girls, boys are just too tough.

He is accident prone, when ever we see him he has a different affliction, ie: band-aids, patches, casts, lumps...etc.

He is very clean.

The Ed's frighten him, "They're such brutes".

I'm surprised how much of the UK guide was accurate to what was really in the bible for them! Also surprised Danny misspelled "whiney" and "tantrum," one right after the other. Is this how Sarah spells them? ...Sorry, Danny, I yam what I yam.

PAGE 16: (images of Rolf and Jonny next to their blurbs)

ROLF

First generation of a landed immigrant family.

Nationality not important.

He's proud of his heritage.

He has peculiar traditions and/or customs.

He eats "weird" things.

He has hair on his back..... "yuck".

He confuses the Ed's to no end.

He confuses the other kids to no end.

JONNY 2x4

He is a wanderer and very inquisitive

From early morning to supper time, he is always outside playing, with his buddy, "Plank".

"Plank" is a wooden board that Jonny drew a face on with a crayon.

Jonny has wonderful conversations with Plank. ...Plank is a piece of wood.

Jonny makes himself very "accessible" to the Ed's.

Found it interesting that Rolf's bio is less clearly phrased than the UK bio set it up to be-- there they made it sound more like he mixes up who the Eds/kids are, here it's unclear whether it means that or (more likely) just means the obvious statement that everyone finds him confusing. If it's that, what a lame hollow bio Rolf got. This kid's based on you Danny, show some of that personal side!

Always loved Jonny's description, his life sounds so cute. Playing outside literally all day. Interesting to have it confirmed that Jonny drew Plank's face, I preferred to think the Eds drew him and sold him to Jonny, but whatever.

"Accessible" has always been an important vague description of Jonny to me. It really only applies to how chummy they could be with him in season 1, but it still sorta applies to his personality throughout the series as well.

PAGE 17: (images of Nazz and Kevin next to their blurbs)

NAZZ

She's cool, calm and assertive.

She is the most matured of the kids, or so she thinks.

She's into make-up and fashion magazines and Boys.

Sarah thinks she's awesome, wants to be just like her when she grows up.

When she enters a scene, all activity stops... boys freeze, they sweat, their hearts beat faster and faster. They lose their ability to talk. When she leaves, they recover and conclude it was something They ate.

She thinks the Ed's are funny.

KEVIN

He is cynical and sarcastic.

He thinks he knows the "routine". That's because he watches "60 Minutes".

It got a big laugh out of me that Kevin's description is only 2 sentences long. Nazz even has a more detailed character description from inception than Kevin. Love this for them.

Who's the Eds' rival? Well, he's cynical, sarcastic and he watches 60 Minutes, doesn't that tell you enough!?

I love the "mature... or so she thinks" remark about Nazz, a grounded flaw for her to have, being a little overcommitted to being mature like Eddy. It also perhaps suggests naiveté that makes it a little more reasonable that they didn't notice they were dumbing her down at the end of the series, but I do think the movie version of her better reflects the Bible's concept.

PAGE 18:

The Other Neighborhood Kids

Lineup of May, Lee and Marie.

The Kanker Sisters

These gals are tough. They bother, bully, provoke and bewilder everyone.

They live in a motor home park on the other side of the Cul-de-sac. The other kids have never been there.

They are proud of their Tammy Faye Baker memorabilia.

Their project "Cooking with Ketchup" closed down their school for a whole week.

No one likes them, especially the Eds.

They are determined to marry the Eds. They want them to do their dishes.

Amused that the Kankers are essentially being labeled backgrounds characters here, the role they mostly fell into in season 5. "Other" neighborhood kids...

I love that the Kankers have a school blurb to match each of the Eds', and that theirs has similar destructive-intentions to Eddy's video premiere story.

I believe all of this was all known from the UK guide as well, but still, neat stuff!

PAGES 19 & 20 (zoomed in Kanker lineup and their height chart with the Eds)

PAGES 21 & 22 (early promo art that used to be on CN's old Eds webpage, the art of the Eds eating jawbreakers at the end of ep 1 with the overhead text "Ed, Edd n Eddy love JAWBREAKERS!!!", and the art of the Eds all running with overhead text "Ed, Edd n Eddy see something shiny...."Jiggers." That weird "jiggers" statement at the end was normally edited out and I don't know what it means. Looked it up and it seems to be Chinook jargon (like when Ed said he was "skookum at X's and O's") usually said in the same sense as "CHEESE IT!")

PAGES 23+:

The rest of the pages in that bible download are from a 2004 storyboard test. The storyboard sample "It's Raining Eds," which we've seen some submitted samples of before, interpretations with Ed attempting to fly or chew gum and Edd making radioactive gum, I was surprised to find out the outline is just the original outline for the opening sequence to season 3's 'For Your Eds Only', seemingly Jonny was not written into the original outline (or was excised for easier testing purposes) but Kevin's brief cameo was. Now I wonder if they knew this would be used for a test when they wrote it, and if they would've come up with a less random way to include him if weren't forced to be a concise bit for testing's sake. (Your limit is typically 40 storyboard pages in my experience.)

I also noticed that in the included background references, the anonymous adult neighbor house next door to Ed's is officially just referred to as a "generic house."

My analysis ends here, but be sure to download that sometime and enjoy all the raw storyboard sketches at the end of the document!

[terrific-togekiss]

Rewriting Sonic Characters into other Continuities: Cosmo The Seedrian

With the 18th anniversary of Sonic X not too long ago, many fond memories of the anime started to resurface, as a question begun to ponder...

What if Cosmo The Seedrian was in other Sonic related media?

She was one of the most memorable parts of the show in my opinion, mostly due Season 3 of Sonic X being an original story. With that out of the way, let's get started!

These are just rough ideas and I would love to see some feedback!

Classic!Cosmo: About a month after the events of Sonic CD, Little Planet appears above Never Lake for its monthly visit to Earth. Sonic and Tails decide to visit and are surprised to find a growing population of plant people known as Seedrians.

As it turns out, Dr. Robotnik used the power of the Time Stones to reverse the Seedrians into the Miracle Planet flowers and seeds, before they had a chance to fight back.

Now that Dr. Robotnik is gone, they live in peace and praise the blue hedgehog that saved their people.

As Sonic is enjoying the festivities, Tails bumps into a shy Seedrian known as Cosmo. They become quick friends, bonding over sciences (Cosmo is more a botany genius in this continuity) and Tails even takes her for flight on the Tornado.

Sonic and Tails promise to visit her every time Little Planet comes back to Earth, to see their new friend.

This Cosmo is more quiet and keeps to herself, but the moment you get to know her she talks all the time.

Modern!Cosmo: The Cosmo of this era is a lot older and more independent, as she now leaves Little Planet on her to explore the Earth more, fascinated by this planet.

I'm addition to other Seedrians being NPCs in any open world Sonic games.

This becomes a running theme for Sonic games where she's off exploring and being in awe of the planet's flora, or just hanging with either Tails, Cream or Amy.

During Sonic Heroes, she would form a team with Might, Ray and herself. Since the three of them love nature so much and would be known as Team Naturals. Mighty being Power, Ray being Flight and Cosmo being Speed. The Team Blast involving the three of them homing attacking a series of giant seed bombs.

In Sonic Riders, she has an extreme gear board called "Mother Nature's Embrace", when you unlock her.

During Sonic Unleashed, her and Tails were testing Gaia energy on the local flora and fauna, to see if stopping Dark Gaia was the only cure to possessed people.

With small lovey dovey moments between her and Tails in the games, since we all know about the mandates. Or just a friendship if they're that strict and carry over to other characters.

During Sonic Generations, she's the NPC for the stage "Tidal Tempest" from Sonic CD and remarks if Sonic found the Time Stones again, if Classic Sonic saved her.

During Sonic Forces, she's in charge of food production in the Resistance, due to her power over plants.

The Cosmo of the Modern Sonic games is more akin to her in Sonic X, except with higher self esteem and doesn't have motion sickness. She can be rather clumsy, very kind, gentle and quiet, with a preference for not fighting unless necessary and a bit of a temper. She has a huge passion for botany and medicinal sciences, with gardening being a hobby of hers.

Unfortunately, she doesn't always know her own strength, as Seedrians are born with tremendous strength for housework and helping environments.

SatAM!Cosmo: A ship full of an alien species is soaring through the galaxy, with one mission in mind: find a new home.

They are known as Seedrians.

Once they arrive on a planet that reminds them of the a Mobius Strip in its composition, only to be attacked by robots.

Dr. Robotnik intercepted the space ship transmission and plans to roboticize these innocent aliens.

The Freedom Fighters intervene later on and are only able to save the kids, as the adults are all roboticized into robots. That destroy nature, ironically enough.

Cosmo becomes quick friends with the Freedom Fighters, relating on being orphans and absent parents that are now robotic slaves.

She doesn't really get out on the field like the rest of them, but she does help liven things up for the other kids at Knothole.

Underground!Cosmo: A forest spirit that takes a liking to music along with her sisters, as Sonic Underground makes their trek through Mobius.

I can see a single episode where Robotnik wants to use their powers as ornaments for a fancy gala... only for Sonic, Manic and Sonia to show up and save the day.

Fleetway!Cosmo: There is a legend of a race of warriors that travel across time itself collecting the finest flora, knowing of their extinction in the present day.

They are known as Seedrians.

These legends are found on Miracle Planet... a home to them for a couple of centuries.

Dr. Eggman of course desires this time travel technology for himself and for better use than "flower collecting."

Unlike the time Eggman gained control over all time via the Omni Viewer, he uses the time traveling alien technology to make up a fake history of him as an ancient, prophesied warrior to all of Mobius.

(It's also revealed that the Seedrians disappeared mysteriously and Cosmo has been working like crazy to carry on their work and find her people)

Only for Cosmo and the Freedom Fighters to put a stop to Eggman.

The Cosmo of this continuity is a lot more business oriented and moves from one task to the other, with little time for not following a structure. Underneath it all, is a scared girl that just wants to see her family again, that would never wish anything like that on others.

She bonds with Knuckles over losing your people and spends most visits with him.

Archie!Cosmo: In the Pre-Super Genesis Wave Universe, The Seedrians are seen as a myth to all of Mobius. Mostly due to Little Planet only appearing above Never Lake once a year every month.

The people Albion know of their existence, due to the Time Stones and The Seedrians both being a closely guarded of theirs.

The Seedrians of this continuity are more of a race of peace keepers and warriors, training under Nicholas O'Tyme and the mysterious Knights of Kronos.

Cosmo's father, Lucas develops a curiosity for Mobius and leaves with many other Seedrians to discuss alliances. With Lucas and his wife Earthia meeting the Acorn Kingdom.

Which goes as well as you would think.

Only for Dr. Robotnik to show up he seizes his grip over the planet.

Cosmo and her sister Galaxina go into hiding, along with many other children of the Seedrian adults. Earthia calls upon the powers of nature to to create an entire island, that exists outside of time.

Dr. Robotnik picks up the strange energy waves and attacks the island. With The Freedom Fighters showing up and turning the tide of battle on Robotnik.

Cosmo and Galaxina join the Freedom Fighters, with Cosmo becoming quick friends with Sally due to looking up her confidence and being in a similar situation, but choosing to stand for what's right.

Galaxina is more a mathematics genius and becomes good friends with Rotor and doesn't always get along with Antoine since he always wants play hero and she prefers a more grounded approach to things.

The Cosmo of this universe loves to explore, is a botany and medicinal genius and has a habit of casually mentioning random historical events, due to expose to the Time Stones. She's very kind to others and comes off as very quiet, but doesn't stop talking when you get to know her.

Due to her plant like nature and physiology, she loves Rock and Roll music, leading to her bonding with Sonic.

Her and Tails have a bit of thing going on, but are both shy around it and Tails doesn't have the best experience with relationships. The two of them hookup during Sonic's voyage/"death" in space with Tails' parents being in full support.

A rift is formed between her and her father, as him and many other Seedrians want to keep and redesign Robotnik's technology, while she sees it as ghosts of a rather scary past.

She also discovers the Krudzu and her kind nature surprising leads to her quelling the Krudzu, turning it on the side of the Freedom Fighters.

After the Super Genesis Wave, Cosmo is a resident of Little Planet that leaves to help the Freedom Fighters fight Dr. Eggman. Her personality is more or less the same as the old universe. Her parents stay back and organize Seedrian-Earth relations.

Nicole causes her to remember various events from the old universe like helping prepare for Bunnie and Antoine's wedding, the disagreements with her father, when she first kissed Tails, "befriending" the Krudzu and almost dying by saving most of Knothole and turning into a Chaos energy filled Tree.

[variousqueerthings]

thinking about these awesome tags from @catzy88​ and wanted to just speak to essentially what they talk about and one of my favourite writing choices of the show (so far, considering my predictions for what’ll happen moving forward):

and it’s Johnny’s two-steps-forward-one-step (sometimes several steps) -back journey. 

1. Introduction

there’s a few of things that happen on the show that get wrapped up in a semi-fantastical/wish-fulfilmenty way (Miguel recovering from his back injury like he does, Daniel sorting out his dealership problems with Doyona, etc.) and I’m not mad about it, it fits in with the generally optimistic tone of the show + various circumstances that surround these choices, so they’re not one-note writing decisions - 

ex. aftermath of Miguel’s surgery will continue to be explored on s4 so it’s not done and over with without consequences versus the way Daniel’s journey to Okinawa is about healing in various ways, so that deus ex machina fits in with the tone of that storyline. People’s mileage probably vary, but I think it’s all relatively well-balanced (pun not intended) with the deeper, less-easily-fixable issues and character dynamics that the show explores.

2. Johnny’s Story

If everything on this show were easy it wouldn’t be so watchable. Which is where Johnny comes in (amongst other characters, but I’m gonna focus).

in contrast Johnny’s journey for three seasons has had a lot of good intentions - help Miguel, get his life in order, forgive and forget the past, mend his relationship with Robby, be generally better to himself and others - and the majority of it’s gone pretty badly. 

I have predictions that there’ll be a flip in s4 and Daniel’s going to spiral more obviously, while Johnny’s going to be healing/functioning somewhat better. I also think it’s important to show him failing despite being in a better place than end season 2/beginning season 3. And failing again. And failing again. 

Johnny (and Daniel, but I shall focus!) doesn’t come onto this show with easily fixed issues. He’s likely been an alcoholic since he was in his 20s, he’s isolated to the extreme, he can’t hold down a job, he’s still under the thumb of his stepdad, and his relationship to Robby is non-existent at best. 

In 100 different ways he’s trapped and he’s so trapped that he can’t even envision being less trapped. Starting the dojo is a fluke, combined by meeting and saving Miguel and wanting to spite Daniel. He’s not planning on “getting better,” hell, he doesn’t even think that he has a problem that can be fixed to begin with. Up until this moment life has largely just happened to him and his decisions have been reactionary (and if there were times we don’t know about before now where he tried, he obviously failed)

His thinking clearly goes something like this: “I’ll make this kid not get beat up... and I guess now I’ve got a business so I need other kids? and now I care about this kid I guess, oh and his mom’s pretty nice (and pretty) too... and now I’ve got a business I can buy Sid out, that’s cool... ” etcetcetc. (still reactionary to an extent, although that gradually changes) right up until the tournament happens and he starts to have to face some of the shit he’s been telling these kids and Robby’s with Daniel and Kreese has reappeared...

I’d argue it’s not until mid-ish season 2, when Kreese reveals he’s homeless and Johnny decides that their forgiveness is tied into one another and especially when Tommy dies (still got one thing I don’t... time) that he actually really starts thinking about what all of this means for him longterm, that he can and should want for the future and that he has real responsibilities to do so because of others. It’s also the first time he properly admits that it’s not just “the tournament as a single event,” but the whole philosophy that he was taught that fucked him up (which is scary, because then he’s gotta admit a whole bunch of other stuff - that he has deep-rooted issues and that he needs to try to get better. That he’s both a victim and a perpetrator of this cycle. That just saying things are shit and won’t ever change won’t cut it anymore).

And just as he begins this thought-process and is incredibly vulnerable because of that everything goes to hell.

All of the structures Johnny had been building were on sand, right up to the choice to handshake deal on the dojo, and they all come crashing down spectacularly all at once in the season 2 finale.

Back to square one.

3. Square one (but not really)

This is amazing! It’s giving us a narrative on top of the more fantasy-like narratives that goes: “Not everything can be fixed easily just because we want to fix them,” and, “some things need to fail so that the next time you try, you try better!”

It’s not square one at all. 

A whole bunch of shit that Johnny was carrying with him without being able to voice in the first season is now out there, in the open. The ugliness needs to be exposed before it can be healed and (as myself and so many people who’re dealing with xy and z know) when you first “discover” what’s fucked up you can feel like everything’s worse. Your ability to deal with that thing can get a whole lot worse. 

Johnny relapses into a version of himself that on the surface looks even worse than in s1, but actually he’s way more open to change, he’s got reasons to get back up again, even if it takes a moment for him to pull himself together to actually do that. It takes pretty much all of season 3 for him to get there (and that was necessary too), but now he’s there he can start from a much stronger place than he previously did.

And there’s so much he’s still not facing - can you imagine the fallout when he has to deal with being an alcoholic? 

Johnny as a character has made so many mistakes (note: I’m not a fan of using the word “fault” as a descriptor for characters (as in “whose fault is X”) because they’re fictional and it’s more about motivations than tracing faults) and those mistakes make a whole lot of sense to his character - a broke, drunk, traumatized guy with more failings under his belt than you can count. 

I confess, I’m not sure how I feel about him not visiting Robby in juvie from a writing perspective, however it’s on the show, so now we get to analyse how it can make sense - which, considering that Johnny isn’t good at prioritising - and as an ADHD that’s a mood - it can totally work. Is it very bad? Yes. Does it sound like something Johnny would do when faced between an easy-fix of his relationship with the Diaz family and his much more difficult and complicated relationship with Robby? Sigh, yeah... unfortunately parenting Robby is the biggest fear he has... it’s not pretty, but it’s not meant to be...

4. Anyway, TL;DR 

I’d have felt cheated if Johnny could just magically “become” better - both mentally and in his relationships to others. He’s made big mistakes, has a lot of unresolved mental health issues, and - ironically - has chosen flight over fight for so much of his life that “simply wanting to become better” being  enough of a motivator to change all of that around would’ve been unrealistic for his character and unsatisfying for a longterm plot in which we see how difficult it is and (hopefully) get to revel in the continued upwards journey despite that.

Also it would’ve been kind of insulting to these journeys in real life (to do a little conflating for a moment). 

Trying to make good is admirable, but it sure isn’t easy and it won’t always work, especially if you don’t know where to even start.

The joy of his story is in seeing someone continue to try despite that.

[amimons]

Miraculous Sweet-ember (Sept. 18th)

September 18th: Frightningale, Syren, Zombizou, & Frozer

Frightningale put Adrien and Marinette into a situation they both didn’t want to be stuck in; cosplaying as their super hero personas. This was for a Clara Nightingal music for her latest song dedicated to Ladybug and Chat Noir. Adrien was forced to take on the role since Gabriel was the costume designer and Marinette was thrown into it after Clara saw her act very ‘Ladybug-ey’ which she denied the role of course until it was given to Chloe. 

The anticipation of what was going to happened when Marinette and Adrien walked out of the fitting rooms was pretty intense. Of course I didn’t suspect them to get their identities exposed but the build up to the moment before they placed their masks on their face created a lot of suspense. On top of the fact that Marinette and Adrien who are actually partners are standing face to face in their maskless costumes both trying to seem less like their superhero selves was a lot of fun. This episode also focused in on their teamwork being relied on synchronizing with each other. Not only do we see them being able to effortlessly match each others movements we also see how similar they act before the akuma even was a threat. In the dressing room they both took the same course of action of reluctantly putting on the costume and hiding the masks in the towels.    

Syren is the first time our heroes use power ups. To be more specific its the one that grants them the ability to breath/fight underwater. It’s also has a critical moment for Adrien who is starting to feel out of the loop due to Ladybug’s secretary with Master Fu. It was Master Fu wish for Chat Noir to remain oblivious to his involvement with the miraculous for the time being and Ladybug had to respect that even though it pained her to keep information hidden from her partner. Even though Chat Noir has been very patience with Ladybug’s secrets everyone has a breaking point including Adrien. When he threatened to quit to Plagg he stated that he felt no one would care if he quit and no one care that he was gone. His lost of self value is most likely influence from his home life and the lack of receiving positive attention from his father. 

Adrien has a lot of patience and likes to give people the benefit of the doubt. He trusts and loves Ladybug but when the secrets keep piling up the more he starts to feel excluded from the partnership. I’m glad we saw Adrien reach a breaking point, it something that doesn’t happen a lot but when it does it caused by emotional distress. And Ladybug can sense that expressing this to Master Fu because she cares a lot about his feelings. When Marinette figures out the missing ingredient for the underwater potion she encourages Fu to let Chat Noir in on whats been going on. We finally have Master Fu properly introducing himself to Adrien for the first time, a long anticipated moment. With any relationships there is bound to be turmoil, but the most important this is communicating with one another to overcome that. Lack of communication can start to hinder things. Seeing the duo complications and how they work through them is something I see as significant and I’m glad we get to see it.  

Zombizou is the akumatized form of the student’s favorite teacher,  Miss Bustier. The thing is the akuma wasn’t meant for her...instead the akuma was meant for Marinette. After Chloe ruin’s Marinette’s present for Miss. Bustier, she confronts Chloe in the front of the class. Miss Bustier tries to defuse the situation by thanking both of them for their contributions and went outside to talk to Marinette. This is the first time Hawkmoth tried to Akumatized Marinette but it will not be the last. 

The show is building up to the moment where Marinette gets akumatized. This is something I’m very excited to see. Marinette puts justice very high and wants to hold people accountable for their actions. When there is a serve injustice directed towards herself or others she is quick to temper. And this time Hawkmoth had enough to be able to manipulate Marinette’s emotions to his benefit. All this can be seen as foreshadowing to Marinette’s future akumatization and pretty much was confirmed in the episode Ladybug that when the time Marinette is finally akumatized it will be along the lines of justice. This is a plot point I’m very invested in and cannot wait to see it fleshed out.  

Frozer was the Adrienette double date episode...just not what we were picturing for an Adrienette double date episode. At the beginning of the episode we are presented with Chat’s fantasy of revealing himself and his heart to Ladybug. Declaring his hopes of running away to a private island where they can just live happily together. The fantasy is popped when Ladybug reminds Chat that her heart belongs to someone else. Feeling dishearten about his unrequited love towards Ladybug, Adrien goes to Marinette for her opinion on Kagami. Long story short she ropes herself in to joining her crush in an awkward double date. When Adrien implied to Marinette that he likes Kagami more than a friend, she begin to question if her and Adrien were actually meant to be. 

Well after the events of the day wrap up to a close our two heroes hearts still haven’t changed. Marinette feeling a quick pulse of courage, runs after Adrien. Adrien stops and place and Marinette finally confesses her feelings for Adrien and- well she actually doesn’t. Mirroring the beginning of the episode, it was only a fantasy of what Marinette wanted to say to Adrien and what she hoped to hear. I’m not going to lie, Marinette had me in the first half. I was completely caught off guard from her (false) confession. For a brief second, I actually thought Marinette finally confessed her feelings and I was shocked. But that illusion was unraveled as soon as fantasy Adrien opened his mouth. I liked being caught off guard and being fooled into thinking Marinette finally did it...that she finally confessed to Adrien. And oh my gosh when Marinette actually told Adrien they should do this again and he looked at her with hopeful eyes and asked “you mean just the two of us?”  If only Marinette said yes to that... 

About Sweet-ember:

For the month of September I wanted to spread some positivity and praise Miraculous Ladybug on the things I’ve appreciated/enjoyed from the show.

Everyday I’m going to select one particular moment, event, theme, etc. from an episode of Miraculous and shared what I liked from that episode. Each post will discuss 2-3 episodes (from season 1-3; 78 episodes in total).

Whether its something big or small there is something positive that I can take away from every single episode of Miraculous.

Please feel free to add a moment from these particular episodes that you loved to this post as well!

Salt towards the show, characters, ships will not be tolerated!

Sweet-ember posts

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

[18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31]

[vaguely-concerned]

The Mandalorian s2 ep1 Reactions Post That’s right I’m BACK

and none of you not even god himself can stop me from rambling about space cowboy dad and tiny green baby stuff for much longer than any sane person should 

the TL;DR is that I still love this show SO MUCH, beware a bunch of spoilers under the cut!

- costume design wise I LOVE how badly the armour fits Cobb Vanth

 especially when you get shots with him and Din side by side for contrast:

It’s not just that it’s clearly not made for him (it seems he’s a lot lankier and more wiry than Boba is), he simply doesn’t know how to wear it, and he doesn’t know how to take care of it, because he doesn’t know what it means. Remember when Din’s breastplate got bent completely out of shape by the mudhorn and he had it repaired to the best of his ability long before they even finished with the ship? That’s why he looks so grounded and natural in it and Vanth has sort of a clumsy Spiderman-in-his-first-home-made-costume air about him. (also Boba’s helmet has a beautiful heft and solidity to it in this, they make all the beskar have a Feel and weight to it, makes it feel important)  

I like that Vanth is taller than Din; everything that drives home that Din’s strength doesn’t come from being naturally physically imposing or impressive is a joy to me 

- Boba’s armour seems to be confirmed to be real beskar, which gives me so much hope that they’re doing something actually nuanced and interesting with Boba and Jango’s cultural identities as Mandalorians (whether they do consider themselves that or not, for example), unlike George Lucas’ inexplicable yet unbending stance of ‘They aren’t and never were lol get fucked Fetts’  

the way the triumphant heroic part of the mando music sputtered and died when the man himself showed up tho... uh-oh this might be bad news 

man but that’s a stunning and surprising way to introduce a well-known character divorced from what makes them so iconic, though, just from that I’m going to trust they know what they’re doing (AND they got temuera morrison back I’m so EXCITED!!!). without the armor there’s the face of someone who shared that face with literal millions and at the same time must be looking older than his father ever got to at this point, and that’s super interesting as a starting point to me. (I... guess there’s still a chance it’s a fakeout and that it’s actually another clone, but that would be such a letdown when they’ve already given us this haha) 

- an excellent [mando sighs] moment

this opening scene did a great job of re-summarizing him for the audience -- establishing again that he gives you one chance at dealing with him fairly and if you insist on continuing to be an asshole about it, you’re toast, the fact that his fighting style is so much about being able to tank blows rather than not getting hit in the first place, the horror movie monster mando setup as he stalked the dude down and strung him up, the Poetic Justice predicated on some very careful word choices, and most importantly “where I go, he goes”... all wonderful, I’m sure I’ll watch this scene back for fine details and better looks at the background characters many many times 

(word seems to have spread about him and the baby for real now, which makes me VERY nervous btw)

- Pulserifle’s back! Jetpack’s back! Razor Crest’s back! Grappling line’s back! PELLI’S BACK!!!!!! Tattooine... is also back *Finn voice* Why does everyone want to go back to Tattooine????

I really enjoyed the way they fleshed out and (for lack of a better word) humanized the sand people, though, if you are going back to this desert hellplanet again that is a worthy reason to do it 

- Din swearing :O!! and one of the less egregious star wars swears too, I’m fine with this

- in campaign star wars news: I guess there was sort of both a binbon and a jubna in this ep! what a time to be alive

- as usual I love the jawa. a bright spot in any day, just a bunch of lil goblin-y friends hanging out having the best time loving sparkly crystals and rescuing silver foxes.  

get in loser we’re going shopping

-  

I uh. Do you think. Hm. Is there maybe a metaphor here somewhere. Is there perhaps a hidden, one may say double, meaning, at play, right here, in this image? Who can say, it’s just niggling at me (there’s a very similar set of shots with Toro in season 1, but seemingly the show went ‘I fear we might have gone too subtle with it, let’s amp it up this time’ over the season break loool)

honestly though this dynamic really highlighted everything I love about the ways Din performs masculinity. It’s so much softer and more community/collaboration focused and more comfortable to be around than Vanth’s version -- and Vanth isn’t a bad dude by any stretch of the imagination, it’s not hard to see why he’s like that considering where he’s from, he’s just such a... man. The lone person who can protect this village! The only man who’s got what it takes! It’s all on his shoulders and no one else’s, so do exactly as he says or he’ll put a hole in you! (I think it’s telling that one of his first comments to Din is ‘I’m sure you call the shots wherever you’re from, but ‘round here, I’m the person who tell folks what to do’, because as we as the audience knows, Din very much does not call the shots of where he’s from lol) I guess it says some nice things about the tribe of Mandos Din is from that this is how he approaches things, and it says some good things about Vanth how quickly he comes around to this smarter and less confrontational/domineering style of doing things once he’s been exposed to it and sees how it works. it’s just neat

(it’s smart of Favreau to set his ~*lone gunslinger*~ character up like this, too, it makes him so much more interesting and versatile)   

- With the way Din says ‘a Mandalorian Armorer sent me on my path’ it does seem confirmed that’s the equivalent of a priest role or a sort of shaman -- I wonder if he knows the name of ‘The’ Armorer or if they take on the role as a whole identity 

- the sheer contrast between the two people who wanted Din to take his helmet off for them in this ep tho... wants Mando’s armour off for horrible awful reasons and got exactly what he deserved:

wants Mando’s armour off for entirely sympathetic and understandable, just culturally uninformed, thirsty thirsty reasons & also having drinks together:

 (the sort of... little lick over his bottom lip he does there? keep it in your pants vanth my GODjflsadf he’s a good dude tho he understands and respects the ‘no armour removal before marriage’ thing and backs down gracefully)

- This is a nuanced thing: I don’t think I actually ship it (not in a requited way from Din’s side, anyway, Vanth I’m 100% sure about lol), but the incredible potential for out-of-context-taking of “Take it off, or I will”/”...we doin’ this in front of the kid?” is uh astounding  

(anyone got the vibe Vanth sort of had something with the bartender too? no just me? well well)

- I was never really scared Din was actually dead or hurt b/c baby wasn’t scared and I figure he’d know lol, a very useful fear barometer 

- “What’s the plan?” “Take care of the child” “What are you gonna do?” “I don’t know, but wish me luck *yeets his new bro out of harm’s way before diving in head first himself*” fksdjhfkjlashdfkjsldahfkasldjhfskldajhfsadkjfh WHAT a summation of Din’s entire approach to battle & life, dad please you carry a not insignificant part of my heart around with you be careful 

(Also with the heavy implication that Boba was watching the whole thing... can you imagine him just looking on as Din throws himself down that gullet like a madman. There must have been some ‘o_-7 *headscratch headscratch* ???’ going on for him there)

it’s kind of sweet that din trusts vanth will take care of the baby if something happens though, they really bonded quickly huh 

- the sand people who kept willingly going over to the krayt dragon’s cave are honestly braver and more admirable than anyone else has ever been, I kept just shouting in anguish as they were gobbled up, they deserved better 

- can we talk about how clear it still is that Din’s just... lonely. When he thinks he’s found another Mando and he sounds almost reverent with relief... and then it gets odder and odder (’uh... drinks? I guess... does he have drinking straws with him or -- HE’S TAKING THE HELMET OFF???’ oh buddy)

I wonder if they’re building towards something about him realizing it doesn’t have to be Mandos for him to trust and bond with people longer term? Basically all the characters he’s met and we’ve watched him form attachments to and get help from are non-Mandos -- Kuiil :’^(, Cara, Omera, Cobb Vanth, IG-11 :^’’(, Greef Karga to a degree. Establishing so firmly what he’s looking for this early would be good setup for a ‘what a character thinks they want vs. what they need’ thing later on just on a writing level, anyway, Boba Fett could bring in some interesting points of view about Mandalorianness too   

- baby’s happy gurgles when he sees pelli!!!!!! din speaking sand people language and petting alligator doggies!!!!!!

- pedro pascal’s voice work remains an utter joy to me. din’s measured, earnest, occasionally slightly stilted way of talking is still so good, and then he does things like inserting some more... idk life is the wrong word but that more charged and dynamic tone he took on when he said (”I thought you weren’t a gambler”) “I’m not”. *chef kiss*

- if the pulse rifle’s stun is able to do that to a fuckn krayt dragon... that’s some serious shit din is carrying around with him lol (interestingly the actual shooty pew-pew part of it didn’t seem to do much to it, but then I guess he was shocking it from the inside out and not through thick hide, so idk)

- my only real complaints about this ep: Vanth’s backstory ran a bit long, and not enough baby & dad interaction. the concept art’s got me tho: 

 (din often wears his original/old armour in concept art still, incidentally, don’t know what that’s about)

awwwwwww

+ omfg ;______;

- this sand people person conscientiously brushing a bantha’s teeth... blessed

- Customary flame thrower report: there was a rare useful deployment of the flamethrower. Good job Mando’s flame thrower for furthering the field of diplomacy

ETA: I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO MENTION THIS: DIN BEING COMFORTABLE(ISH) AROUND DROIDS NOW!!!! GROWTH????!?! IG-11 WE MISS YOU??????????

[agerefandom]

Safe and Sound

Fandom: Steven Universe

Characters: Regressor!Steven, featuring Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet as caregivers.

Words: 2,000

Summary: Steven decides to give up regression when he becomes part of the Crystal Gems, but one morning he finds himself physically stuck as a young child until he’s willing to accept the help he needs.

Warnings: ‘Little’ terminology used. Rose is mentioned in this fanfiction, Steven regresses from stress, and there is a mention of panic attacks, as well as a fair amount of described anxiety. Also, Steven physically regresses as well as mentally, because it’s canon that his body shifts to fit the age that he feels like? Cartoons are odd.

Note: This is set somewhere in season two, I think, but it’s a bit ambiguous. I haven’t seen Steven Universe Future yet, so excuse any contradictions, and the canon fact that the Gems are absolute disaster caregivers.

Steven loved the beach house that he shared with the Gems. He loved the constant sound of the waves, and the calm glow of the warp pad at night. He loved the short and familiar walk to town, his comfortable bed, and the bathtub deep enough that he could submerge his whole body.

The only thing that Steven hated about his home was the lack of privacy.

Even when the Gems were away on a mission, they could warp back in at any given moment. At night, Amethyst often wandered in to get a midnight snack, and Steven was sure that Pearl still watched him sleep, even if he hadn’t caught her recently.

So when Steven wanted to regress, he had to plan ahead.

At first, he had retreated into his mother’s room, knowing that no one could access it while he was inside. But as soon as he stopped being careful about what he wished for, Rose was always there, stepping off a nearby cloud to collect her son into her arms. Steven was happy to see his mother when he was little, playing and laughing and sharing his favourite stories. But at some point, he always aged up, and Rose would change into a figure who was silent, and looming, and distant. Steven would retreat from the room feeling more exhausted than before, promising himself that he wouldn’t go in again.

Lion became Steven’s source of escape. He would pack a bag, hop on Lion’s back, and tell the Gems that he was spending the afternoon with Connie, or Ronaldo, or even Sadie. He had enough friends that the Gems never checked first, and then he had a whole day to spend in a field in Alberta, or Texas, or even France.

Lion would pace around the area while Steven played, rumbling warnings at anyone who tried to approach. Steven would run, and explore, and eventually sit down and cry until his throat hurt too much to continue. Often, Lion would come and curl against him while he cried, turning his head away to feign indifference as his tail wrapped around Steven’s wrist.

Regression was only fun for a while, for Steven. Eventually, reality came crashing back in, harsher and bleaker in contrast to the bright innocent world he had inhabited for a few too-brief minutes.

Yet he came back to it again and again, not knowing a better way to escape the constant anxiety of his everyday life. He needed to forget about the most current threat to planet Earth, needed to forget about Pearl and Amethyst’s most recent fight. Needed to forget the guilt of walking in on his father crying over a picture of Rose.

Regression was a safe space like nothing else in his life was, ruled by uncertainty and continual attacks from outside and inside his family.

--

Eventually, it fell apart.

As Steven was expected on more missions, the Gems might need him at any moment. If Steven wasn’t where he said he’d be, then all hell would break loose as the Gems searched for him. He was scared that if it happened too many times, then the Gems would stop letting him leave with Lion at all.

So there was only one thing to do. Steven had to give up regression. There was no time or space for it in his life, he always needed to be available for Crystal Gem missions. It was alright that the others forgot he needed to sleep, needed to eat, needed to rest between missions spent running after corrupted gems.

Steven was a Crystal Gem now, and he needed to act like it. That meant no more running away to be a kid every so often.

Steven was going cold-turkey.

But of course, things didn’t really work out like that. Steven managed to hang on for two full months, hiding his panic attacks in the bathroom and trying not to fall asleep on the couch whenever he sat down.

At the start of the second month, he woke up to the morning sun with tears already running down his face. His clothes were too big on him, and his arms felt weak when he tried to move them.

Trying not to panic, Steven looked down at himself and saw a young child’s body, twisted in the sheets and teenage-sized clothes that he’d slept in. He needed to shift back to normal-Steven before the Gems came out to see him!

But Steven couldn’t stop sobbing, and however hard he concentrated, he couldn’t calm down enough to shift back to his usual size. His failed attempts made him cry harder. What was he going to do? No one could see him like this!

Just as he was getting ready to truly panic, he heard the warp pad activate. Hurriedly throwing the covers over himself, Steven tried to cry as quietly as possible.

The Gem’s voices were bright as they spread out across the house, Amethyst’s voice drifting towards the fridge as the others settled on the couch. Their mission must have gone well. Pearl sounded especially enthused, but Steven couldn’t make out the words through the pounding panic in his head. Any minute they would notice him, unless he kept absolutely still. He had to keep absolutely quiet, despite the way that his chest was spasming, and he couldn’t breathe, and he just wanted his paci-

“Steven.” Garnet’s voice drifted up from below him, low and calm. “We’re home.”

Steven twisted his fists into the blankets, making a renewed effort to calm his breathing. If Garnet thought something was wrong, she would know everything as soon as she thought to look. Steven tried to make his voice sound normal, even though his body wasn’t cooperating.

“Oh, cool. I’m just having a n-nap.” His voice hitched on the last word, and he froze under the covers. There was silence for a beat, and then Pearl’s voice murmured a question to Garnet, too quiet for Steven to hear.

“What’s wrong, dude?” Amethyst broke right to the point, and Steven could hear her coming towards the stairs. He curled tighter into the blankets, prepared to wrestle them away from Amethyst’s grasping hands. But she stopped at the bottom and called up to him again. “Steven? Are you sick? If you’re gonna throw up, I wanna see!”

“Amethyst!” Pearl’s voice was sharp until she turned her attention to Steven. “Steven, are you alright? Do you need some food?” Steven had snapped at her about needing to eat breakfast a few weeks ago, and she had taken to offering snacks at the first sign of Steven’s distress.

“Steven is fine,” Garnet said calmly, and the other two made questioning noises at her. Steven curled tighter into the blanket, confused. He wasn’t fine! What was Garnet saying? Was she lying, or did she somehow not know what was happening? “Steven, you can come out and see us. No one will be mad.” Steven whimpered. Garnet was definitely lying. She wanted him to come out so that they could fix him.

“Mad? Why would we be mad?” Pearl was saying.

“Come on, Steven.” Garnet’s voice was familiar, soft and certain. She always knew what was best, didn’t she? “You know we love to play with you. We always want to be with you, and spend time with you.”

“Of course we do!” Pearl’s voice was shrill. “We love Steven, he knows that!”

“Yeah, duh!” Amethyst added. “Steven is the best.”

Steven couldn’t stifle the tears as they spoke. They didn’t know who he was, didn’t know what he was hiding. They would see that he was just a stupid kid, that he couldn’t handle being a Crystal Gem. Why did they have to love him? It wasn’t fair. They would have just left him alone if they cared less, and then it wouldn’t hurt so much.

“Steven?” Pearl was the one to climb the stairs, her voice alarmed. “Steven, what’s wrong? Don’t cry.” She scooped Steven off the bed, blankets and all, to hold him tight. “Come on, Steven, stop crying. We’re all here.” She started to unwrap the blankets from around him, and Steven panicked.

“No!” he shouted, trying to push her away. “No, no, no!” Pearl gasped, and then Steven was on the floor. The blankets were in his face, wrapped around his neck, and all of a sudden Steven felt trapped. He pushed at them, rolling on the floor, kicking arms and legs that were too small and too weak. He couldn’t breathe, but then the next second the blankets were gone and he was drawing in a breath to cry out again, the wailing cry of an overwhelmed toddler. “Leave me alone!” Steven shouted, slamming his hands into the wood of the floor. “Leave me alone!”

Hands wrapped around him and he was lifted off the floor. Steven wriggled against them, but they held strong, and suddenly he was cradled against the side of Garnet’s hip, held stable and safe against her. Garnet bounced Steven lightly, practised and easy.

“Hush, little one,” Garnet murmured. “We carried you for years, you know that.” Steven hid his face in her shoulder, sniffling. He was exposed, yet protected. He was vulnerable, yet safe. He didn’t know how to feel or what he should do. He was starting to calm down now, so surely he should shift back to normal as soon as possible? Being big-Steven seemed so far away and impossible, even as the tears and panic subsided. Garnet’s arms were so nice, so familiar.

“Do humans do that?” Pearl asked from somewhere over Garnet’s shoulder. “I thought they were linear time-beings and rather bitter about it.”

“Steven’s only half-human,” Garnet reminded her. “He’s special.”

“Can I hold him? Can I hold him?” Amethyst’s voice was as excited as ever. “Is he young enough for a bottle? I still have some of them in my room!”

“Nothing from your room is going into Steven’s mouth without a good wash first,” Pearl said sharply. “But I do have a clean bottle or two stored in my gem, if it would help,” she added to Garnet.

“Steven gets to make the decision,” Garnet said simply, shifting her hold on Steven so that he was sitting on her lap, on the edge of his bed, looking outwards. Once his hands were free, Steven put his fingers into his mouth and bit down anxiously, trying not to meet the eyes of the three Gems watching him.

“Oh, those are filthy,” Pearl admonished, and the next second Steven felt his fingers being pulled away, replaced smoothly by a pacifier. The familiar pressure on his tongue made him relax, and he finally looked up. Pearl was smiling at him, her gem still sparkling from when she had summoned the pacifier. Was she not angry?

“What’d’you say, Steven?” Amethyst’s face was suddenly right in front of him, her eyes big and hopeful. “Do you want a bottle from your big sis Amethyst?”

“Amethyst,” Steven tried to say, but around the pacifier it sounded like babbling. He felt himself go red, and bobbed his head in a nod.

Amethyst pumped a fist in the air and said something enthusiastically, but Steven didn’t hear it because Garnet had put her hands over his ears. Pearl looked angry about Amethyst’s outburst, wagging her finger and pointing to Steven. Steven could feel Garnet laughing against his back.

“You have a silly family, Steven,” Garnet murmured when she took her hands back. “But they all love you very much.”

“Sorry, Steven,” said Amethyst, looking contrite. “I forgot you were little for a second.”

“Baba!” Steven managed around his paci, making grabby hands. Wasn’t Amethyst going to feed him?

“Coming right up!” Pearl sing-songed, dropping a kiss on Steven’s forehead before summoning a shiny bottle out of her gem with a wave of her hand. She passed the bottle to Amethyst, who did a front-flip off the bed, landed on the couch, and bounced all the way to the kitchen with one more jump.

“Oooh!” Steven clapped for her, laughing.

“Amethyst, use the stairs!” Pearl sighed, before kneeling down in front of Steven. “Hello, Steven,” she said gently. “Do you remember me?”

“Pearl!” Steven tried around his paci, and Pearl beamed at him.

“That’s right!” She tapped the end of his nose, and Steven giggled. “Now, what did you eat for breakfast yesterday?”

Steven let the paci fall from his mouth, barely noticing Garnet catch it. “Donuts!” he told Pearl proudly. “Walk all the way!”

“You do eat a lot of donuts! Who gives you the donuts?”

“Sadie!” Steven was bouncing on Garnet’s lap, giggling. “And Lars!”

“Good job!” Pearl produced a star sticker from what seemed like nowhere and pressed it to the front of Steven’s too-big shirt. “You’re a very smart little human.”

“Uh-huh!” Steven looked around for his paci, but Garnet was already putting it back in his mouth. He settled back against her chest, humming happily. He had the best Gems ever.

“I told you he was fine,” Garnet said without reproach. Her fingers scratched gently at Steven’s scalp, making him melt even further. “You remember his last birthday, he was even younger then.”

“We don’t know how a Rejuvenator would affect a half-human,” Pearl murmured. Her words washed over Steven as he hummed, wriggling closer to Garnet’s wonderful hands. “You know I like to be careful. You know who he is.”

“Yes.” Garnet sighed, trailing one hand down to tickle under Steven’s chin, making him giggle. “I understand. But I think this is part of our wonderful Steven. A little bit of the past, every now and then.”

“I got the bottle!” Amethyst burst back into the conversation, stomping up the stairs two at a time. “Where’s the Steven?”

“Baba!” Steven reached out for his food-bringer, grinning so wide that his paci slipped out again. He frowned, reaching for it, but Garnet had it in one hand.

“You’ll get it back after your bottle,” she told him, and handed him over to Amethyst.

Amethyst hoisted him up in the air, and Steven sniffled, feeling unsafe with all the air under his feet. “Oh, sorry.” Amethyst put Steven down before he started to cry again, sitting down with him on her lap. She cradled him like a baby, which Steven wasn’t, but he was pretty comfy so he relaxed into her arms. “Okay, little dude, open wide!” Amethyst made lots of funny faces and noses while Steven drank the warm milk inside the bottle, making him giggle and spill milk down the front of his chin. That made Amethyst laugh out loud, jostling Steven in her lap. Garnet and Pearl sat on the end of the bed, watching them both with fond smiles.

By the end of the bottle, Steven’s eyelids were as heavy as big huge rocks. He was trying to stay awake, but he was yawning to much to even keep in his paci.

“We’ll still be here when you wake up,” Garnet said, laying Steven carefully on a pillow as Pearl untangled the sheet from the ground and laid it over him, tucking it in carefully on all sides.

“Yeah! We can play little Steven tag!” Amethyst said, shape-shifting into the same size as Steven was.

“Lil’ Steven tag,” Steven yawned. That sounded like lots of fun, he wanted to play now but his eyelids were so heavy…

“We love you,” Garnet murmured, and that was the last thing Steven heard as he fell asleep.

[ofmythsandmadness]

MY THOUGHTS ON TUA SEASON TWO: PART ONE (spoilers)

So...I finished season two. And I’ve got a lot of thoughts.

I’m putting ALL my thoughts under the tab so please, don’t click unless you’ve seen it all, and/or you just....like don’t care about spoilers? But please if you’ve not watched it, watch it first ‘cause it deserves all the hype and attention. 

(if you haven’t watched yet, go into your settings and blacklist the tag ‘tua spoilers’ because that’ll help you avoid anything if you don’t want to be spoiled, at least on here)

Also, this is part one to my thoughts, because it’d be much too long to list it all here! Part two will be linked below this :)

This is going to be SO badly organized, but I’m gonna do my best to make it otherwise! I’m separating it all under sub-headers, just so you don’t have to read through ALL my thoughts on the series (but there’s a lot, sorry).

I legit just watched it all last night, so it’s fresh but also still jumbled and messy. So bear with me.

Also, let me know what you thought, I’m eager to hear others’ opinions of this show!

AS A WHOLE... So, so, SO damn good. I was scared, and worried and I thought there was gonna be a lot more pain...but it was so good. Arguably better than the first season, I think because the characters are fleshed out and have developed more, and I felt myself caring more for their wellbeings (even though I would have already died for most of them).

Honestly, no. This season WAs better than the first and I’m gonna stick with that.

I also really loved the colour scheme of it all?? I think they did that really well the first season too, but the colour choices and how they alternated between blue and orange, it keeps your attention and adds a vibrance to the characters that was there before but not so loudly.

I want to watch it again and admire how they shot/edited it too, because I actually really was impressed with the shots too (normally Netflix shows aren’t super cinematography-heavy, don’t know if that’s how to say that, but TUA really came through and I’m impressed). I don’t want to drone on about that because i know most don’t care about that as much, so I’ll leave it at just...I was impressed, and most happy with the overall presentation of the show.

LUTHER HARGREEVES...

The way i actually now love him?? 

I mean I felt bad for him in S1, but here he’s an actual character and I cared about HIM, rather than what he had gone through. From the moment he said ‘I don’t give a shit’ in episode one, I liked him again and I’m SO glad. 

I didn’t really love how he still pushed for him and Allison...I mean, I understand that you can’t just erase the feelings, they still stand, but I would have liked a little bit less of it. It’s just awkward to watch and to contrast with Klaus literally calling them out, I appreciate that it wasn’t so prevalent but it was still there. 

But overall!! He became a character I actually really liked, he was actually funny too?? Dorky too, and also just more sure of who he was as a person rather than the number...Luther rights.

DIEGO HARGREEVES...

One word: BIIIITCH.

He was one of my favourites from the show pre-S2, and now I can say he might just be my favourite. I would fight fire for that man.

I didn’t think he’d be almost the main character of this show (obviously one of them, because they’re all main characters ig) but I liked it a lot! We really got nothing about who he is as a person in Season One, and though a lot of people were able to fill in the emotional blanks, there was a lot more given to his character and who he is beneath the hard-headed vigilante.

I think David Casteneda did a brilliant job on his character, and had one of the best performances out of all of them. I knew he was good, but I truly was shocked at how good he did as Diego, and I’m happy to see him as an actor thrive and get more credit. He deserves it, and I’m quite happy. 

Surprisingly, he was the character to make me cry (I cried at Ben too, don’t worry, but!). When Reginald said that shit to him, I was in fucking pain. I won’t get too deep into it, but just the way his face dropped, and then the stutter - it struck a cord and I cried more at that then I did the rest of the show. Dunno. Maybe that’s just me.

But just like...I wish he had more support...everyone just kept calling him dumb and mocking him and I KNOW his obsession with JFK was dumb and aligned with the Luther moon thing and he didn’t have the greatest plans and I’m not saying all of his actions were right, but he was fucking TRYING. And some of it, they played it off for comedic effect but they were literally just trashing on him for doing the right thing and making him look stupid...it made me a little sad.

I am glad, however, at how he rekindled with all his siblings. Because arguably, Diego was an asshole to all of them and though again, arguably they all were and none of them are doing well and there are reasons - they were all assholes to each other, and especially him to them, especially Vanya when she really didn’t deserve it. And to see them at least begin to mend their relationship made me so happy. The way that in the end, they sat together?? And how he accepted her apology just like that?? I sob.

The scene where diego just says ‘there’s this girl I like - I CRACKED UP AND I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY IT’S SO FUNNY BUT JFC THAT WAS SO FUNNY. That and threatening Olga - top tier funniest moments of the season for  me. They really amped up the comedy this season and I’m happy.

One thing I didn’t get was in the last episode, when he bent the bullets’ trajectory for Five...did he know he could do that? Like I understand that he could do it, but we never saw him do anything else around those lines, aside from in the doomsday season ep1, but that was an alternate history so...I’m guessing Reginald taught him, but??? It was kinda random and I would have liked if they hinted at it at least once before.

To summarize, I love him. I love how far he’s come and I hope he just finds some happiness because he keeps getting the short end of the stick. He deserves the world.

(also, diego hargreeves a huge ass nerd. y’all can’t convince me otherwise. big dork energy)

LILA PITTS/DIEGO & LILA:

You know what? I loved her.

I didn’t like her character as much post maybe episode 6/7, basically once she brought Diego in I was disappointed but I liked her character. I think she was cool and different and chaotic and though I was disappointed that towards the end, she felt a bit thrown in, I still appreciated who she was. I was honestly hoping that she would have left the Handler a lot sooner, I thought they were gonna make her realise the truth a lot sooner but at the same time...this is her maternal figure, she’s been basically brainwashed into that support and there’s gonna be an element of love regardless.

I knew she was gonna be one of the 43 though, the second I saw 1993 I called it and I was happy I was actually right on something. Idk her powers, that too seems a lil bit messy but still, I thought it was neat. I just want to see more! And I think we will, hence why I’m trying not to judge her much, but i hope that we get to know more about her. I don’t want a half-baked love interest, and I was hoping that there was going to be a little bit more this season - but we shall see.

(ritu arya, though, is quite good in her role. and stunning. i quite love her)

I also didn’t HATE the relationship between her and Diego. I know it’s a divided topic but I liked it, I thought they were fucking cute and even though i KNEW there was something off about her, I was just HOPING that it’d be different. I mean, that scene on the bed with them???? I think my heart gave out. Palpitations, bitch. I was so fucking soft for them and even when she was exposed....I stillllllllll wanted the best. :(

And then like shit happened and then it got a little messy (y’all should learn how to communicate...throwing out boyfriend and ex-girlfriend terms like that???) and like yada yada, I was okay but I don’t necessarily like the ‘I love him/her’ thing. I mean sure you can, but THAT felt a little quick. I don’t know why tv shows just LOVE to throw out the I love you’s that FAST, but I’m not into it. 

TL;DR - I still REALLY like Lila Pitts, and I still like them together, somewhat (though like maybe slow your asses down folks).

(question though...are we supposed to think of them as siblings now?? bc...idk I don’t see it like luther/allison because they weren’t raised together and really didn’t associate like that?? but are they all reginald’s alien children cause in THAT case wtf am I suppose to think help-)

PART TWO TO MY THOUGHTS: here.