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loxbbg · 5 years ago

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The Scarlett Hero

Chapter 0: Being a hero's child sucks

Masterlist

Disclamer: This was originally written for an OC but for tumblr I made it x reader

You always knew what you wanted since you were a child, your parents always told you that they left Japan after finding out mom was pregnant. They named you L/N F/N, but N/N for short and said it was special that you were special. You were their one and only. They only wanted one child because they liked the idea of ‘spoiling’ you. Your O bāchan wanted you to be a boy to carry on the family name, even after finding out when you were a girl she begged for your parents to try for a boy but they never budged. Both your parents came from pro hero backgrounds from your great grandparents when quirks started appearing till now. They've been heroes before heroes were a thing. Your mother was Terepashī and your father was Terekanisu. Before you were born they moved to the U.S in Visalia California for you to live as a normal child, well as normal as a child with former hero parents who were also too rich for their own good can live. When you were born, you were their world. All they wanted was for you to be happy, well until you moved back to Japan. They missed the hero life. They loved being civilians but that eventually got bored, not wanting to do civilian work like in an office. So when their old job offered them their hero jobs and top spots as number 7 and 8 heros if they came back. They sold the house and packed up. You were 8 when you moved and your parents always talked about Japan. You went there to see your grandparents but never stayed long enough to really understand the culture. So after pulling up into a large driveway and a house bigger than where you used to live shocked.

“Mama where are we?”

“Were home darling.” She looked behind her car seat.

“What about home in Visalia?” You didn't fully understand what was happening until seeing people moving boxes that your parents packed back home.

“Remember honey when we said we were moving to Japan we’re staying here baby.” You began to cry.

“What about my friends.” The car stopped pulling up to the house.

“Well you'll make friends here. Come on baby you're a big girl you'll be okay and both your O bāchans are closer so you can see them whenever.” My eyes cleared.

As time went by and your parents got more and more busy being heros, when they made a comeback everyone went crazy. Everyone was surprised after 8 years of being silent they've come back as a force to reckon with. With that force came more jobs and less time to be with their daughter leaving her with nanny after nanny and staying with her

O bāchan. When she turned 9 her quirk finally appeared after years of worry maybe you were quirkless. It was your 9th birthday when you woke up to your parents not being home to wake you up. Your O bāchan had made you a cake and they celebrated but you really wanted your parents like how it used to be before they even moved.

When you parents came home they were tired but you just wanted to spend time with them. It had been a while since they even hugged you.

“Mama, Papa guess what today is!’ you said excitedly.

“Not now Hayami, we’re really tired.” Your dad said taking off his armor and dropping it on the floor.

“But Papa, today's special.” tears began to run down you cheeks

“Dear god F/N we’re tired just leave us alone and bother your O bāchan.” Red hue had seeped from you eyes flowing out. Your hands clenched around themselves, you were angry but sad you just wanted them to notice you again to be their world again.

“Aikia.” Your father Koto had tapped his wife on her side. Pointing towards their daughter only for them to be sent flying backwards by the ray of energy the child in front of them released.

“I just wanted a hug, It's my birthday I just wanted you to be here, please what am I doing wrong!” She was surprised at what she did holding her hands back stepping back from in front of them.

Siri play Sora Ni Utaeba

“No baby, you're doing good just calm down.” They stood up moving forward towards their daughter realizing their daughter had finally developed her quirk. Something this strong in a child is phenomenal. Just from that blast they can see she has her father's quirk but ampules the amount of power that he had at that age with no training.

“D-did I hurt you?”She quivered not wanting to touch them, the red hue still flowing from her eyes. Her father grabbed a hold of her bringing her close to her father and mother.

“No honey you didn't hurt us.” He wiped tears away from her eyes, eventually going back to her normal green doe eyes.

“You got your quirk baby.” Her mom held her hand, gripping it and looking at her hands trying to see what her hands were even doing. Red was still glowing from her hands.

“Mama what is this. Is something wrong with me?” She knew what quirks were but her’s never looked like her parents. In America the kids' quirks resemble their parents more or less. Her parents don't have any color coming from them.

“No honey it's okay I think you just need to be trained. What happened, I felt your power coming from it. How about you let your papa and I go get cleaned up and celebrate your special day and we talk about this tomorrow.” They picked up Y/N happy that she's gotten her quirk now she has a chance to be a hero.

Later that night after they put Y/N to sleep her parents and O bāchan had discussed what they were going to do that she's behind on training when they were her age they were training with pros.

“ What about her godfather. He’s training his own child to be number 1 and All might said he won't train a child no matter who they are.” They looked up at Koto as if he was crazy.

“Koto, Enji would never he's a godfather not a sensi. You know how he is with his own family no matter how hard he tries to hide it his children are separated from shoto.” Aika gave her husband a pinned look. She knows that's basically what his parents did to him but he had no issues with it.

“Hear me out Aika when my parents trained me when I got into U.A I was in 1A my mind was focused. I want the same for our daughter, and her quirk is so much stronger than ours you felt it you know she is. If Enji trains her she can be the top 5 hell even number 1 if she works hard enough and surpasses his son somehow. She's already behind Akia, if he says yes I have no doubt our daughter would make us proud.” He stroked the doubt from his wifes face. Letting her know this might be better.

“Maybe this would be better for F/N. Akia when you were a child you didn't train as hard enough and you didn't even get in the agency you wanted because of your marks. Don't let your child suffer. You want her to be the best. Right?” Akia nodded. Remembering her past failures never wanting her child to be rejected and always being the top.

“I'll make the call then.” Koto steps into another room away from his wife and mother in law.

Koto made the call to Enji Todoroki, the number 2 pro hero Mimi's godfather. Since they were younger and freshly married they had always talked about how powerful their children would be. Unlike Enji, Koto’s marriage wasn’t arranged he had known of his wife when he saw her at the sports festival their 3rd year, seeing her telekinesis at work he was entrances, he knew then that he wanted to be with her and didn't stop till she was his and that she was. It did cause him to drop in the hero polls because he focused on woahing the girl rather than his job but he loved her and that's what mattered to him then. It was full of love.

Enji knew to an extent that their child would be powerful and that if their children had worked together as partners in the hero world no one would be able to stop them. They would be the top heros. So after his long time U.A friend had offered the idea of training his child he took the opportunity never questioning. Him being able to have his song and goddaughter training side by side as partners. Helping her channel her power. This was an opportunity he was not going to waste. Having two future pro heros train under him since childhood how could he ever.

The next day her parents took her to the Todoroki household . She tried playing with the children that were in the courtyard but her father had called her to his side putting her in front of him making her be face to face with a boy with half white half red hair.

“Y/N you know your godfather Enji.” she had met him a couple of times enough to know she's supposed to trust him enough that her parents let him stay in their house in America and even babysat her. Well as good as he did that due to him just telling her to stay in her room and only come out if she needed to. He wasn't the best but her parents trusted him.

“Yes, hello.” She looked up at him smiling, he did not return it.

“This is his son Shoto.” He smiled at her, hers only getting wider getting a warm greeting from someone else in the house.

“Since you've gotten your quirk your mother and I decided that your godfather should train you on how to use it.” She and Shoto were shocked. Him because he's going to have someone else to train with and not be alone with his father. She started to tear because her parents are going to leave her with someone she hardly even knew right after her birthday not even trying themselves but passing her off as someone else's problem.

“Why can't you or mama train me?” she asked, confused. She thought that now that she has the quirk that they would spend more time with her.

“You are so powerful we feel that Uncle could do better than us. He's number 2 after all he will be better than us. Just trust us okayY/N.” She didn't want to make them stand there anymore so she stopped asking questions and went along with it.

That afternoon her father had left her in the care of her godfather that she refers to either ‘uncle enji or uncle Todoroki’ not wanting her to call him godfather. That afternoon training had begun. Shoto had been training his whole life while this was your first day. Enji had made Shoto and you spar telling each of them don't stop till he said to. Shoto was going easy on you knowing that it was your first time but his father had stood in front of him demanding why would he do that, screaming until he cried. Mimi had gone to Shoto’s to help him calm down, not wanting to see her new and only friend cry. Enji watched the scene disgusted that they wouldn't go full force. He walked out of the room demanding they straighten up before he gets back. Mimi had comforted Shoto enough that he stopped crying.

“Is he always like this?” Shoto nodded.

“He hits my mother and yells at the rest of us.” She was shocked she didn't know what to do. He explained to her everything that he even remembers in his 9 years of living.

“Please don't tell anyone you have to pinky promise.” He made her promise not to tell anyone. She had a faint idea that if she did say something maybe something worse would happen to him or even her. That day they had become the closest of friends.

“If we don't get up and start training before he comes back he's going to be even more angry.” Shoto had said, well more like a warning.

By the time Enji had returned Y/N and Shoto were going at it as if they were pros. Even though she only had her power for a day she had learned to dodge attacks from him and when she got behind him she was able hit him with her quirk sending him flying forward and when he sent his flames in her direction she engulfed them with her quirk sending them back to him. Enji had a smirk on his face when he saw them sparing without him actually training him standing there watching.

When her father had come to pick her up ,she had already eaten dinner with the Todorokis’ due to her parents having a job before picking her up. She was basically sleeping right next to Shoto with his head on top of hers. When her parents took her, Shoto’s mom took him to bed hers taking her home tucking her in not knowing what she went through.

Taglist: @fukyouthink

#bakugo katsuki x reader #bakugo x reader #bakugou katsuki #shoto x reader #todoroki x reader #enji todoroki #todoroki mha #todoroki #mha x reader #mha #katsuki x reader #bakugou x reader

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chadsinclair · 3 years ago

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safethaw · 1 year ago

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Will Standard Table Salt Do The Trick For Ice Melting?

Winter brings with it a host of chilling challenges. One of the most persistent is the accumulation of ice on driveways, sidewalks, and steps. Many people, in a bid to clear this frosty foe, turn to their kitchen cabinets, wondering: can standard table salt melt ice? Before sprinkling your next dinner's seasoning on your icy steps, let’s delve into the science behind ice melting and answer the burning question of at what temp does ice melt and whether table salt can truly tackle winter's icy grip. Understanding Ice Melting Basics The primary factor that determines ice melting is temperature. But how exactly do we determine at what temp does ice melt? Fundamentally, ice starts to melt and turn into water at 0°C (32°F). However, this is under standard atmospheric conditions. Real-life scenarios like wind chill, underlying surfaces, and even the presence of impurities can affect this melting point. Enter salt. Why Salt Has Been A Go-To Solution When salt is introduced to ice, it lowers the freezing point of water, causing the ice to melt at temperatures below 0°C. This is called "freezing point depression." It’s the reason why salt has been historically used on roads and pathways: to reduce the amount of ice formed, making the surfaces safer for pedestrians and vehicles. Table Salt Versus Ice Melting Solutions Now, while science suggests salt can indeed melt ice, it's crucial to differentiate between standard table salt and commercial ice melters. - Concentration Matters: Table salt (sodium chloride) is typically finely ground and may not be as concentrated as commercial-grade ice melters. Thus, while it can melt ice, the quantity required might be impractical for larger areas. - Temperature Thresholds: While we've understood at what temp does ice melt naturally, the introduction of salt changes the equation. Table salt works effectively down to about -9°C (15°F). In colder conditions, its efficiency drastically reduces. - Environmental Concerns: Excessive use of salt, including table salt, can lead to environmental problems. It can contaminate water sources and harm plant life. - Cost and Efficiency: Using table salt can quickly become an expensive endeavor if used in larger spaces. Moreover, its fine grain might not offer the same grip as commercial ice melters which often have a coarser texture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2uACuEGD4k The Argument For Safe Thaw When battling winter’s icy advances, there's a compelling argument to be made for turning to specialized solutions. Here's where Safe Thaw shines: - Chemical and Toxin-Free: Safe Thaw offers a robust solution to the ice problem without resorting to harmful chemicals. This means it’s safer for the environment, pets, and children. - Efficiency in Colder Climates: Unlike table salt, which struggles in the harsh cold, Safe Thaw is designed to tackle ice efficiently even when temperatures plummet. - Economic Solution: When thinking about when does ice melt most economically, using Safe Thaw can be more cost-effective than continuously buying table salt. Plus, with its specialized formulation, you'll use less product for a more effective result. Conclusion While sprinkling some table salt on your icy porch might offer a temporary solution, for enduring and efficient ice melting, specialized products like Safe Thaw are the smarter choice. They're designed for the purpose, environmentally conscious, and provide better value for money. So, the next time winter's chill covers your driveway in a blanket of ice, instead of raiding your kitchen, consider reaching for a trusted, effective ice melter like Safe Thaw. It's not just about understanding when ice melts, but ensuring it does so safely and efficiently. Read the full article

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roofanddrivewaycleaning-blog · 5 years ago

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8 Pitfalls of Ignoring Roof Cleaning Regularly

Do you care enough for your home’s roof like you care for the home’s interior? If not, then are you aware of the actual condition of your roof? Overlooking the actual condition of your roofing tiles (hard to see!) and making the assumption that they look ok and there aren’t any obvious leaks – very often, over time, leads to costly and disruptive repairs. Blocked gutters and downpipes are quite common as are leaks caused by water tracking back into the loft space. All are avoidable and sometimes very costly to repair.

Here are a few things around your home to look out for and therefore avoid unexpected problems and costs.

1. Growth of Mould

Unprotected and weather-beaten concrete roof tiles will hold onto water far longer as soaks into the somewhat porous surface. This can lead to the growth of mould, which can further lead ultimately to structural damage.

2. It Invites Infestations

With the growth of mould and various types of moss, the roof and the gutters (which are unable to remove the excess water) start harbouring insects that provide food for birds. The birds will also dislodge the moss which then rolls down into the guttering and very often, conservatory roofs.

3. Driveway Damage

Excess water that does not get directed in the right direction, will start pooling on the driveway which can then start to make it “sag” as well as cause cracks to appear.

4. Growth of Algae, Moss, and Lichens

Because of the improvement in the quality of our air in recent years, roof moss has started to appear exponentially. Our roofs have now become a breeding ground for mosses.

5. Leaves, Dirt, and Dust Leave Lasting Damage

When leaves and different types of pollution start to accumulate on the roof over an extended period of time, they very often start to build up in the otherwise unblocked drainage channels that roof tiles have, leading to water ingress into the loft area..

6. Damage To Aesthetic Look

Our external walls, patio’s and driveways are generally well looked after and maintained, probably because they are in our line of sight. Look up towards your roof and you’re likely to see a neglected, tired and very often, dirty looking substrate which detracts from the aesthetic appearance of an otherwise well-maintained home.

7. A Clean Roof Cares For Your Home

Equal attention needs to be paid to cleaning and maintenance of all parts of the residence.

Until you start doing that, you will not believe how a well-maintained roof will care for the house and you.

8. Cheaper Than a New Roof

Damage to the roof means the time can come early when you will have to look for replacing it. A regular maintenance routine can help you avoid spending on the installation of a new roof.

A professionally cleaned, repaired and sealed roof by a local roof cleaners will breathe new life into it and serve you well for many years.

#local roof cleaners

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austonm--atthews · 6 years ago

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my only one//auston matthews

masterlist

based off of my only one by all time low

chapter 20 june 26, 2016 aus’ pov “good morning beautiful.” i wrap my arms around jack, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek. “good morning aus.” jack smiles, tilting her head to look at me. “you excited to go home today, sweetheart?” i ask her. “yeah, i had so much fun with you though. are you excited to go home?” she flips over on her side to face me. “yeah, i miss home, but i had a great time with you.” i smile, looking into her beautiful hazel eyes. “me too, baby.” she smiles back. “we should get ready.” i tell her. “yeah, you’re right.” she agrees and gets up. we get changed and grab our stuff. we go to my parents hotel room and leave for the airport. i go with my dad to check in. i look around the airport, my eyes landing on my mom talking to jack. i walk away from my dad and sit next to jack and my mom. “i had a lot of fun, but i’m ready to go home. i can’t thank you guys enough for inviting me.” jack smiles at my mom. “we couldn’t just not invite you! it was my idea, actually. he was complaining about how much he’d miss you. i guess he didn’t realize he could just ask you to go, so i suggested asking you to go with us. he’s dumb like that sometimes.” she laughs. “hey!” i pretend to be offended. “i mean, she’s not wrong.” jack teases me. “hey! that’s not nice!” i try to act offended, but end up laughing. “and neither am i.” jack smiles spitefully. “you’re lucky i love you.” i wrap my arm around her shoulders. “aw, you guys are so cute! stay just like that, i need a picture of you two!” my mom gushes. “but moooom.” i whine.

“smile!” she says, snapping the picture. “i hope i look okay.” jack laughs as she looks at the picture. “stop it, you always look great.” i compliment her. “aw, we look so cute together.” jack gushes as she looks at the picture. “you’re right about that, baby.” i smile as i look at the picture. “i’m so glad he wised up and chose a girl like you. that might be the only smart thing he’s done.” my mom says to jack with a laugh. “i mean i can’t say you’re wrong.” jack laughs. “it’s definitely the smartest thing i’ve ever done.” i smile, looking down at jack. “i would agree.” jack smiles back. just then both of our phones go off. “oh, i sent you guys the picture.” my mom tells us. “aw, thanks.” jack smiles. just as my mom’s about to respond they call our flight over the loud speaker. jack and i still had our tradition of touching the plane as we got on for good luck. we got on the plane and got to our seats. “i think i’m gonna take a nap once we get up in the air.” i say as i take jack’s hand in mine. “yeah, me too. i’m actually tired for once.” she laughs. she had the cutest, most adorable laugh. “wow, you’re tired? that’s new.” i tease her. “yeah, at least we can just nap on the plane.” she agrees, looking at the window to watch the plane take off. “yeah, you’re right.” i agree, resting my head on her shoulder. “aw, hi.” she smiles, ruffling my hair a bit. “you’re so cute when you do that.” i smile. “aw, really?” she smiles. “yeah, it’s adorable.” i compliment her. “i might have to do it more often then.” “i would never tell you not to.” i press a sweet kiss to her cheek. “aw, you’re too cute.” she leans her head against mine. “thanks baby.” i wrap my arms around her tightly as we watch the plane get ready and take off. “you ready for that nap?” she asks when we get in the air. “yeah, i’m so tired.” “you don’t mind if i lean on you, right?” she asks me. my heart melts at how cute she is. “of course not, my love.” i smile. “good, i just wanted to make sure it was okay.” she says as she leans her head on my shoulder. “of course it’s fine. it’s you.” i pull her closer and press a cute kiss to her forehead. “goodnight, i guess.” she laughs lightly. “goodnight.” i close my eyes and fall asleep.

i wake up to the sound of the captain telling us we’re landing. i look over to see jack is still asleep. “baby, wake up. we’re here.” i whisper quietly as i gently shake her awake. “thanks for waking me up.” “no problem sweetheart.” i wrap my arm around her, pulling her close. “so, what do you wanna do when we get home?” she asks. “i don’t know honestly. i guess we’ll figure it out.” i shrug. we get our belongings and get off the plane. we finally reach home. since jack and i are leaving for training camp soon, we decided to hang out with both of our families until they decided to go home. “so, what do you wanna do now, austy?” i look to my left to see jack looking up at me, the cutest smile on her face. “the guys did text me saying they need one more player for their game in a half hour. do you wanna go with me?” i ask her. “of course i do! i love watching you play.” she smiles. “aw, that means a lot to me. really, it does.” i press a cute kiss to her forehead. “aw, i’m glad it does.” she smiles. “we should head up to my room so you can change if you need to and i can get my stuff.” i suggest. she nods in response. i take jack’s hand and we go up to my room. “yknow, the only reason why i started playing hockey was because i wanted to spend more time with you.” she tells me as she goes in my closet to find a jacket. “really?” i asks, shocked. “yeah, i had the biggest crush on you and i wanted to be near you all the time. then you taught me how to skate and i asked my parents if i could join the same team you were gonna be on.” she continues as she puts on one of my zip-up jackets. “i had a huge crush on you too. i was so nervous when i was teaching you how to skate. i was always so nervous around you. i still am.” i admit, pulling her into a hug. “if it makes you feel any better, you still make me nervous too.” she laughs. “at least we both make each other nervous.” i laugh lightly. “you’re right, desert boy.” she teases me, making me laugh. “anyways, we should get going.” i suggest. “yeah, you’re right.” she nods, unwrapping her arms from me. i grab my hockey bag and she holds the door for me. we walk out to my car and we leave for the rink. as soon as we get there i sling my bag over my shoulder, then taking her hand in mine. “i’ll see you after the game, my love. i love you.” i lean down to peck her lips. “i love you too, cutie. good luck!” she calls out to me as she walks away from the locker room. the guys come out onto the ice and i immediately find jack. i smile at her like i always did before games. i skate around, shooting pucks into the net and talking to the guys. the first period goes by without any scoring. as the guys get off the ice, i notice jack and send her a wink. she winks back, making my heart skip a beat. soon enough, the second period starts. a couple minutes in i found the back of the net. i always found jack in the crowd and winked at her. the game goes on and the score ends up being 2-0. jack’s pov “hey baby.” he emerges from the locker room, his hair a mess but a smile playing on his lips. “aus! baby! that goal was amazing! i’m so proud of you!” i pull him in for a tight hug, not caring that he’s a bit sweaty. “are you sure you wanna hug me? i’m kinda sweaty.” he laughs. “i don’t care. i can just put this in the wash.” i shrug as i pull away from him. “yeah, you’re right. you ready to go, my love?” he asks me. “sure.” he takes my hand and we walk out of the rink and to his car. the drive home is quiet, but comfortable. he laid out his arm on the arm rest, meaning he wanted me to rub his forearm. i rubbed his forearm, something i usually did while he drove. he pulled into the driveway and parked the car, both of us getting out. we walk into his house and go up to his room. “i’ll be right back, baby. i’m just gonna take a quick shower.” he pecks my cheek, then leaving the room to shower. i look around his room to keep myself occupied. there’s pictures of us recently and us as kids in frames around his room, along with family pictures, which also included me since i was considered family. i walk over to his bed, feeling my foot hit something under it. i look under the bed to see what appears to be a photo album. i pull it out from under the bed and put it on the bed. the cover reads “auston + jack”. my heart stops. he made a photo album for us? this is possibly the cutest thing he’s done, so far. i flip the cover over, but then he comes in. “did you miss me?” he smiles at me, then going into his drawer to grab a shirt and pants. “eh, not really.” i tease him. “you’re so mean to me.” he sighs, pulling a shirt over his head and pulling pj pants over his legs. “that’s my job.” i smile spitefully at him, earning a sigh from auston. “so, what do you wanna do now?” he asks as he sits down next to me, wrapping his arms around me and putting his head on my shoulder. “i found this under your bed so we could look at it.” i point to the photo album. “i meant to give that to you for your birthday! i must’ve forgot.” he laughs. “that’s okay! at least i found it.” i roll my eyes at him. “hey! don’t be mean!” he pretends to get offended. “i mean you did forget.” i joke. “true.” he agrees. “anyways, let’s see how ugly you look and how cute i look.” i say sarcastically as i open the photo album. “wow, i felt that.” he fakes hurt. “you know that i don’t think you’re ugly right?” i check with him. “yes, baby, i know you’re just kidding.” he smiles. “okay good.” i smile, then looking at the photo album, “you still look the same.” i poke fun at his appearance. “you’re the one who thinks i’m cute, so who’s the real loser here?” he jokes back. “i mean, i do tend to like ugly boys so...” i trail off. “you mean, you had a tendency to like ugly boys until you fell for me and my charming good looks!” “oh yes, it was love at first oink.” i poke fun at his pig nose. “my pig nose is cute and you know it!” he defends his pig nose. “i hate that you’re right.” i pout. “sorry i’m just cute.” he shrugs, causing me to sigh and roll my eyes. “anyways, we should look through this.” i point at the photo album. “yeah, you’re right.” he agrees. i flip it open. we look trough all the pictures of us. they’re adorable to say the least. “you still have the same adorable face.” i look at him, smiling. “you do too, baby.” he kisses my cheek. “what should we do now?” i ask. aus’ pov “yknow, we still haven’t played nhl16 together.” i look at her with a smile. “oh, you’re right.” “do you want to?” i ask her. “sure! i don’t see why not.” she smiles. “i’m so excited to play it, especially since it’s with you.” i smile at her. “aw, me too, aus.” she smiles. i set up the game and hand her a controller, laying next to her up against the headboard. “you ready to get your ass kicked?” i tease her with a laugh. “no, but i hope you are.” she jokes back. “ugh, shut up.” i roll my eyes at her. “like you’d want me to.” she teases me, nudging me with her elbow. “stop being right all the time.” i sigh, laughing lightly. “sorry, i can’t help it.” she shrugs. “why don’t you come over here and lay with me, baby?” i smile as i look over at her. “you want me to lay with you?” she asks me. “yeah, you can lay your head on my stomach while we play the game.” i suggest. “aw, that’s so cute. of course i will.” she smiles, moving to lay her head on my stomach. “aw, you look so cute like that.” i gush, causing jack to look up at me. “aw, really?” she smiles. “yes, of course you do.” i smile at her. “aww, thanks cutie.” she smiles, wrapping her arms around my torso. “aw, you’re too cute.” i smile, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. “i love you.” she tightens her arms around me. “i love you too.” i pull her closer. “we should probably start the game.” she looks up at me, laughing lightly. “yeah, you’re right. you’re so beautiful i forgot about everything else.” i look at her with a smile. “ugh, shut up.” she giggles. “it’s the truth, baby. i still get caught up in your beauty after all these years.” i smile at her. “aw, stop it.” she waves it off as her cheeks get red. “aw, is someone blushing?” i tease her. “no i’m not!” she defends. “yeah you are! you’re so red!” i tease her again. “ugh, fine. i’m blushing, but only because of you.” “wow, i still make you blush?” i pretend to be shocked. “yeah! all the time!” “aw, that’s so cute. you still make me blush.” i laugh softly. “believe me, i’ve noticed.” she teases me as she looks up at me. “ouch, i felt that,” i joke, “we should really start the game. we keep getting off track.” i laugh. “yeah, you’re right.” she laughs with me. “i hope you’re ready to get your ass kicked.” i tease her. “the only one getting their ass kicked is gonna be you.” she teases back. i finally start the game. it’s back and forth the whole game, but jack ends up winning. i look down at her to see she’s crying. “baby, what’s wrong? why are you crying?” i ask her, scooping her up in my arms. “i’m so proud of you. i’m so so proud of you. i love you so much. it’s overwhelming how proud of you i am and how much i love you. you’re everything i’ve ever wanted and more. i love you more than anything in the world. i would do anything just to make you happy. i would hate to see you as anything but happy.” she looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “the fact that you’re proud of me means the world to me. i’m always trying to impress you, even though you’re already mine. i’m always overwhelmed by how in love with you i am. i couldn’t ask for a better girl to spend the rest of my life with. i promise you there’s nothing you could do that would make me fall out of love with you. i’ll always be so in love with you, baby. i’ve always been in love with you. ever since i first saw you, when you moved in next door, i’ve been in love with you. all i could think about was you, you’re still all i think about. i’m always thinking about your beautiful face, your gorgeous smile, your amazing eyes, i could go on for hours. i love you, jack, so so so much.” i say just above a whisper, taking her face in my hands. i lean in slowly as she does the same. “i love you too, aus, so so so much.” she smiles as she looks into my eyes, tears still in them. “aw, cmere baby.” i open my arms for her. she immediately buries her head in my chest, wrapping her arms around me. “i’m so glad i met you. i was so mad when my parents decided to move me from new jersey to arizona. i loved it there and i didn’t want to leave. then i moved here and met a cute boy who ended up becoming my best friend. now i’m so glad they moved me because i met you. i don’t know where i would be without you.” she mutters against my chest, then making eye contact with me. “i’m so glad they moved you here. i would be lost without you. at first when my parents told me someone moved in next door, i didn’t care, but then i saw you outside. i knew i had to talk to you. something about you made me want to get to know you. i’m so glad i went up to you and got to know you better. that was the best decision i ever made.” i look into her eyes, smiling. “awwww, that’s so cute.” she smiles, hugging me tighter. “i try baby, i try.” i hug her back. “i just had a great idea! we should get sushi!” she looks up at me with a beaming smile. “that’s a great idea!” i smile. “then let’s go babey!” she smiles and gets up. “hell yeah babey!” i get up and take her hand. we go out to my car and she takes the aux cord. she was careful not to blast it until we got out of the neighborhood since it was 12am. once we left the neighborhood, she turned it way up, both of us screaming along to the story so far. before jack i only listened to rap, but she introduced me to all of her music and i grew to love it. i looked to my right to see jack bobbing her head up and down and moving her arms too. she looked so adorable it made my heart melt. we finally get to the store and get out of the car. i take her hand in mine as we walk into the store. “hey babe, i’m hungry. can you stop looking like a snack?” i say with a wink. “sorry, aus, i can’t help that.” she smiles spitefully. i roll my eyes in response. “so, what are you going to get, babe?” i ask, looking down at her as we approach the sushi. “hmmm, maybe a california roll?” jack says, unsure of what she was going to get. “shut up, i was gonna get the same thing.” i laugh. “ugh, you just love to copy me, don’t you?” she laughs, sighing. “why wouldn’t i want to copy the girl i love the most?” i smile, looking down at her. “ugh, shut up.” she waves off my compliment. “ha! you’re blushing again!” i tease her. “well, yeah! i still blush! so do you!” she defends. “you got me there.” i sigh in defeat. “i think i’m gonna get this.” she grabs the package of california rolls. “why don’t you get the bigger one and we can share it?” i suggest. “oh, you’re right! i wasn’t thinking.” she giggles, grabbing the bigger pack. “i guess i’m the brains of this relationship.” i tease her as we go to check out. “i guess so,” she smiles up at me, making my heart speed up, “ha! you’re blushing!” she teases me. “well yeah! you smiled at me!” i defend with a laugh. “i still have an affect on you? that’s so cute.” she smiles. “of course you do. you always will.” i smile at her, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead before backing out of the parking spot. “aww.” she sighs happily. we finally get to my house, heading up to my room to hang out. jack goes into my closet and steals one of my flannels. “you look so cute when you wear my clothes.” i wrap my arms around her from behind, resting my head on her shoulder. “aw, you’re too sweet.” she smiles at me. “only to you, my love.” i smile. “aw, stop it.” she smiles. “i can’t, baby. i love you too much.” i smile at her. “aw! you’re too cute!” “so are you, my love.” i flirt. “you’re way cuter than me though.” she insists. “no, you’re cuter than me, sunshine.” i insist. “ugh fine, i’m cuter than you.” she rolls her eyes. “finally!” i laugh lightly. “we should probably eat, aus, i’m starving.” she points out. “yeah, you’re right. i know this is cliche and you hate cliche things, but maybe we should feed each other?” i ask jack, hopeful she’ll say yes. “i mean, i do hate cliche things, but i’ll do it for you.” she smiles. “wow, you really love me, huh?” i laugh. “of course i do. but, who’s going first?”jack asks. “you want me to go first?” i ask her. “sure.” she smiles. i grab a california roll and feed it to her. she has trouble eating it, causing both of us to laugh. “aw, that was so cute.” i gush over her. “it wasn’t as cliche as i thought it would be. you were cute trying to feed it to me.” she smiles. “aw, i’m glad, but now it’s your turn.” i smile. “yay!” she exclaims. she tries to feed the sushi to me, which is the cutest thing ever. my heart melts at her cute facial expressions and giggles as she tries to feed me it. we continue to go back and forth, taking turns until all of the sushi is gone. “as cliche as that was, that was so much fun.” she admits. “awww, jack enjoys cliche things.” i tease her. “shut up.” she rolls her eyes and laughs. “so, what should we do now, princess?” i ask her. “we could just cuddle?” she suggests. “you know i could never refuse cuddling with you.” i smile at her as we lay down and i pull her into my arms and she puts her head on my chest. we lay in silence for a minute, her hand on my chest and my hand rubbing her back gently. “aus?” she asks, looking up at me. “yeah, jack?” i respond. “listen, i don’t want you to change because you got drafted first and now you’re getting all of this attention. please don’t let all the attention and fame get to your head. i don’t want to lose the auston that i know and love. i don’t want you to forget about me, and i don’t want to lose you.” she looks into my eyes with tears in hers a serious look on her face. “awh, don’t cry. i promise you i won’t let it get to my head. i promise you i’ll never change. i’ll never forget about you, my love. you’re my baby, i could never forget about you. i promise you i would never leave you behind. i’ll always take you wherever i go. you’re the love of my life, and i would never even think of hurting you in any way. i would never cheat on you or leave you or do anything to break your heart.” i say in a comforting tone. “you promise?” she holds up her pinky. “i promise.” i link my pinky with hers. “it’s silly, but it made me nervous.” she laughs it off. “it’s not silly, honey. i get it, but you have nothing to worry about. i won’t forget about you or leave you or cheat on you or anything like that. i could never hurt my baby.” i hold her tighter, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “that means so much to me, you have no idea.” she smiles against my chest, holding me closer. “aw, i’m glad it does. you mean a lot to me, love. you really do. you’re my girl, and i’d be lying if i said i didn’t need you. i need you because you keep me sane, you make me forget all of my worries, you make me laugh until i cry, and you make me the happiest guy alive. i really love you with all of my heart, my love.” i bring her hand up to my lips, pressing a kiss to it. “aw, aus, that’s so sweet. i need you too. i love you with all of my heart.” she holds me tighter. “awww, you’re too sweet.” i smile. “i try.” she shrugs with a smile. “i just had a great idea! we should play just dance!” i laugh. “yes! i love playing that with you!” she says excitedly. “me too, baby.” i say as we get up and set up the game. we pick a song and the dancing starts. somehow i fall over, taking jack down with me. i land on her with my chest to hers. “wow, you’re even more beautiful up close.” i flirt with her, a smile tugging at my lips. “ugh, you’re so annoying.” she rolls her eyes jokingly, sighing. “you know you love me.” i wink. “ugh, shut u-“ i interrupt her, pecking her lips. i pull away. “sorry, i couldn’t resist kissing you any longer.” i wink again. “ugh, get off me before my lungs collapse.” she rolls her eyes. i push myself up and get off of her. i hold my hand out to help her up. she takes it and gets up. she immediately wraps her arms around me in a tight hug. “i love you i love you i love you.” she repeats as she hugs me tight. “aw, i love you too i love you too i love you too.” i repeat as i pull her in for a kiss and wrap my arms around her. “aww, that was so cute.” she hugs me even tighter somehow. “aw, thanks baby.” i hug her tight. “we should probably get back to the game.” she points to the tv. “yeah, you’re right.” i smile. we dance for a couple more songs, laughing and fooling around with each other. we sit down on the bed and try to catch our breaths. “do you wanna cuddle again?” she asks. “i could never say no to cuddles with you.” i kiss her cheek. “me neither.” she smiles as we lay down. i pull her close to my chest and she wraps her arms around me. “do you wanna watch a movie?” i ask jack. “yeah sure.” she nods. i put on a movie and lay back down with her. next thing i know jack grabs a pillow and hits me with it. “ow! what was that for?” i turn to look at her. she grins mischievously as she looks at me. “pillow fight!” she yells. i grab a pillow and wack her with it. she hits me back and i hit her again. it keeps going back and forth, both of us laughing and giggling. she ends the fight with a kiss to my nose. “how are you so cute after beating me up with a pillow?” i look into her eyes. “i could ask you the same thing.” she smiles. “do you wanna watch a different movie? this one is pretty boring.” i ask jack. “yeah, it’s boring. you can find something else if you’d like.” she says. “you wanna watch a comedy?” i ask her. “aw, i’d love that.” she leans forward, planting a kiss on my nose. i get up and put on a comedy, then crawling back into bed to cuddle with jack. “yknow, your bun is in my face.” i tease her. “yknow, your bun is in my face.” she imitates me. “ugh, you’re so annoying.” i jokingly roll my eyes at her. “you’re so mean to me.” she sighs. “no, you’re mean to me.” i argue jokingly, rolling over and pinning her down. “no, you’re mean to me.” she rolls over and pins me down. “no you’re mean to me.” i roll over and pin her down. “you’re just mad because i can out skate you!” she rolls over and pins me down. “aw, that’s cute babe.” i smile up at her. “it’s cute you think that’s cute.” she smiles back. “of course it’s cute, it’s you.” a smile spreads across my face. “i love you.” jack presses her forehead against mine. “i love you too.” i smile into the kiss. jack lays on top of me, her head on my chest and her arms around me. “babe, would you wanna go on a walk to get coffee?” i ask her. “of course i would!” she smiles wide. “then let’s go!” i smile. we get up and walk downstairs, going to the front door and walking out. i take her hand in mine as we walk out of my house. jack’s pov auston and i were walking down the street to get coffee when she appeared. she meaning his ex girlfriend. i felt my blood boil at the mere sight of her. auston looked at me, knowing i hated her more than he did. i was hoping she would continue walking, but no. she had to stop and talk to us. “auston! congratulations on making it to the nhl!” she smiles at him. “thanks.” he smiles awkwardly in return. “how’ve you been?” she asks. better now that you’re gone, i think to myself. “pretty busy, but good. you?” he asks, as if he actually cares. i knew him well enough to know he didn’t give one shit about her. after all, she broke up with him. “i’ve been good.” she says. “good.” he responds. “we should do something tonight, if you’re free. my dad owns the best restaurant and bar. he’d be able to get us free drinks” she winks at him. “i don’t drink.” he says awkwardly. “oh, sorry. i didn’t know.” she says. “it’s okay.” he sounds extremely uncomfortable. ”have you been working out? you look more buff than you did the last time i saw you.” she flirts with him. it was taking everything in me to not knock her out. “um, uh, y-yeah i’ve been working out.” he stutters, rubbing the back of his neck. “aus, honey, we should probably get going.” i butt in the conversation. “matty, who is she?” she says in a snarky tone. “this is jacquelyn, my fiancée.” he wraps his arms around my shoulders, pressing a kiss to the crown of my head. i stare her down. “oh, so this is the lucky girl who gets to marry my matty.” she smiles mischievously as she looks at me. “yes. it was nice seeing you, janet, but jack and i should probably get going now.” auston says awkwardly. “bye! i’ll see you around!” she smiles at him. “bye.” auston replies in a dull tone, taking my hand and walking away. “i’m really sorry about her. i had no idea she’d be so flirty. are you okay, baby?” he asks me.

aus’ pov

“i’m okay. she just pissed me the fuck off. i don’t know how i didn’t fight her. she’s such a bitch. how you went out with a bitch like her is beyond me. if i see her again i swear to god i’ll fight her. she had the audacity to say my matty. fuck off, he’s not yours and he never was. she has no right to flirt with you.” i look over at jack to see her jaw clenched, something she only did when she was angry.

“someone’s jealous.” i tease her. “of course i’m jealous! did you hear how she was talking to you? did you see how she was looking at you? she basically eye fucked you! she was undressing you with her eyes! the whole time she was looking at you like a piece of meat!” i start to laugh at her ranting. “why are you laughing? that is not funny at all? she’s lucky she’s still alive, fucking janet. who names their daughter janet? why would you willingly date a girl named janet? ugh!” she rants. “wow, you really love me that much?” i ask her. “well, of course i do! you’re MY matty,” she pauses, “but god, out of all your exes, she was the worst. granted i hated all of them, but i hated her the most. i was so happy when she broke up with you, but it was weird because you weren’t upset.” she looks at me with a confused expression. “yeah, i realized i didn’t like her that much. i was planning on dumping her anyways.” i shrug. “oh you were?” she asks me. “yeah, i was gonna ask you out.” i smile at her. “aw, really?” she smiles. “yeah, i realized i loved you.” i look down at her, smiling. “aw, you did?” she holds onto my arm as we walk down the street. “yeah, i realized i kept ditching her for you. you gave me this feeling i couldn’t shake. i didn’t feel anything when i was with her.” “aww, baby.” she holds my arm tighter. “don’t worry about her. she’s got nothing on you.” i wrap my arm around her shoulders, pressing a quick kiss to the top of her head. “no, aus, i’m not worried. i completely trust you and i know you would never do anything to hurt me. i don’t like it when girls flirt with you. that’s my job, not theirs.” she continues to rant. “damn right it is. you’re my girl.” i pull her close to me, squeezing her. “aw, you’re the cutest.” she squeezes me back. “no, you’re the cutest.” i boop her nose. “shut up, we all know you’re the cutest.” she rolls her eyes. “not true.” i disagree. “ugh, fine. we’re both the cutest, which is why we’re together!” she looks up at me, smiling. “god, i’m literally the world’s luckiest man. i get to live out my dream of playing professional hockey with my dream girl by my side. i don’t know what i did to deserve this, but i can guarantee that heaven can’t be better than this.” i pull her closer to me, smiling down at her. “please cactus i’m going to cry.” she laughs softly. “no you won’t.” i laugh. “do you see these tears?” she looks up at me, pointing at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “awe, look at you. still pretty even when you cry!” i look her in the eyes. “shut up. you’re lucky you’re cute.” she smiles shyly. “oh yeah? what are you going to do about it, short stuff?” i tease her. “guess someone doesn’t want any cuddles or kisses.” she smiles spitefully. “what? that’s not fair!” i get flustered. “yes it is!” she says. “but.” i look at her with a pout. “no.” she looks away from me. “please.” i move so she can see me. “no.” she looks me in the eyes. “but baby.” i look her in the eyes again. “auston, i swear to god.” she tries to be serious, but ends up laughing. “pleeeeease.” i almost beg. “fine, if it’ll get you to stop, i’ll do it.” she gives in with a sigh. “yay! thank you baby!” i give her a kiss on the cheek. “ugh, shut up.” she sighs jokingly as we walk into the coffee shop. we go up to the counter and order our drinks. both jack and i ordered iced coffee since it was hot out. “do you wanna stay here and people watch?” i ask jack. “sure.” she smiles. we find a table next to the window. “babe, look,” i tilt my head towards an old couple, “that’s us.” i look over at her. “well, one of us is getting there.” jack points out the old man, who just so happened to be bald. “hey!” i pretend to be offended. “i’m not wrong and you know it.” she smiles spitefully. “true.” i agree. “hopefully i can put up with you for that long.” she rolls her eyes. “hopefully i can keep you for that long.” i sigh. “not with that hairline you won’t.” she mutters. “hey!” i pretend to be angry. “you had it coming.” she shrugs. “true.” i sigh. “i still love you though so it’s okay.” she leans over and kisses my cheek. “aw, i love you too. do you wanna get going now?” i ask her. “sure.” she smiles and gets up. we walk back to my house and go up to my room. “do you wanna watch the x-files?” jack asks me. “i’d love to, sweetheart.” i wrap my arms around her from behind. “i’ll put it on then.” she smiles. i go over to my bed and sit down as i wait for her to do the same. she sits in my lap, my legs crossed. i pull her in close and attack her with kisses on her shoulder and neck. “auston! stop it!” she says through laughter. “auston! stop it!” she says again as she starts to laugh. “nooo!” i squeeze her tight, pressing one last kiss to her shoulder. “you’re too cute.” she kisses my cheek. “aw, cmere baby.” i open my arms for her. she lays her head on my chest.

#auston matthews #auston matthews imagine #auston matthews imagines #toronto maple leafs #toronto maple leafs imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagines #nhl #fanfic #hockey #hockey fanfic

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safethaw · 1 year ago

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Heat Track Snow Melting Mats: Innovative Solutions For Safe Pathways

Winter paints a picture of tranquility, yet with it comes an often overlooked dilemma: the icy peril beneath our feet. The question "What temperature does ice melt at?" may seem elementary, but its implications resonate from simple home solutions to substantial infrastructural endeavors. Understanding The Melting Point: What Temperature Does Ice Melt At? Let's begin with a brief science detour. The freezing and melting point of water is 0 degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit). Simple, right? Yet, there are nuances. The environment, pressure, and salinity can slightly tweak this value. Keep in mind, this is the point at which ice begins to transition into water, not when a solid block of ice fully becomes a puddle. The Problem With Ice: The Hidden Dangers Of Winter Walkways Winter's icy grip can make pathways hazardous. The traditional response has been salting or using chemical deicers. However, these methods have their drawbacks such as environmental harm, pet health risks, and property damage. Enter Snow Melting Mats: The High-Tech Solution? Innovation brings us to driveway snow melting mats. They promise a snow-free surface, offering the convenience of not having to manually remove snow. Sounds idyllic? But hold on. The Unseen Challenges Of Heat Track Snow Melting Mats While these heat track snow melting mats could be viewed as a wonder solution, they have their complications. Firstly, the expense is considerable, not only for purchasing the mats but for their ongoing operation. The energy they consume is substantial. Furthermore, they are prone to damage, needing regular replacement. Lastly, the heat they produce can cause damage to concrete, tarmac, and other surfaces, leading to more costs. Introducing Safe Thaw: A Sustainable And Effective Solution We all desire a perfect solution: something that melts ice effectively, without adverse effects on our environment or pocket. Safe Thaw presents just such a remedy. Unlike chemical salts, Safe Thaw is non-toxic and eco-friendly. It protects your pets, your property, and the environment. It effectively lowers the freezing point of water, thereby melting ice swiftly, even in extreme cold. Safe Thaw, thus, can be an essential tool for winter maintenance. A Word Of Caution No matter what solution you opt for, always remember that new concrete surfaces, less than 12 months old, should not be subjected to any form of deicing, not even Safe Thaw. This is because the concrete is still curing and could be damaged by deicers. Winter Brings Ice, But We Bring Solutions It all comes back to that seemingly simple question, "At what temperature does ice melt?" Ice is an inevitable reality of winter, but it doesn't have to be a hazard. As we look beyond traditional methods and high-tech but flawed solutions like snow melting mats, the spotlight focuses on Safe Thaw. The winter might be cold, but with the right approach, we can ensure safety and convenience even in the heart of the frosty season. Read the full article

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onlyfangirlsunderstand-blog1 · 7 years ago

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I Love You- Bucky Barnes Imagine

(Hey, it’s Jay! I’m a strong advocate of anything Bucky Barnes so here we are. Send in requests for random stuff and I will try to write it. Enjoy!)

Warning: death(?)

The 1st time you can remember Bucky saying “I love you” to you was back before grade school. You were 4 and he was 5 years old playing in your playhouse in the backyard of your childhood home.

“Y/N! James is here!” your mother shouted from the bottom of the stairs. Your head perked up and you straightened out your blue dress before making your way down the stairs quickly.

“Bucky!” you shouted in excitement as you saw your best friend waiting for you at the bottom steps. He smiled while looking at you before your feet sent you tripping over a loose rug and toppling over, taking the poor boy down with you.

The both of you laid flat on your backs with no sense of pain, just a burst of giggles coming from your mouths. He stood up and pulled you to your feet. Your best friend was taller than you by only two or three inches, but you still had to look up at him. “Thank you, Buck.”

“No problem, Miss.” He joked with a slightly deeper voice, tipping an invisible hat. You laughed with a tiny eye roll and dragged him to the backyard.

“Come on, I just got a new playhouse.” You said with nothing but excitement in your voice as you held his hand, leading him past your moms and out the back door. The adults laughed and watched as Bucky tried to catch up.

“Woah, this is huge!” He exclaimed. In reality, it was only a foot or two taller than you guys, but he was still amazed.

“Yeah, my daddy built it for me for my birthday.” You smiled brightly and he looked at you happily.

“Come on let’s play house,” he exclaimed with a smile plastered on his face. You nodded excitedly and let out a small screech mixed with some giggled as he pulled you into the house.

You guys played for hours until his mother called him back inside, saying it was time to go. Frowns made there way on both of your faces as you made it to the front door slowly with him by your side.

“Bye Buck,” you frowned as he stood in the doorway.

“Not goodbye, just see you later. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He said flashing you that lovely smile.

“Promise?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t lie to my best friend. Love you Y/N,” he spoke happily before engulfing you in a hug before running out to his mom’s car.

“Love you too, Bucky!” you yelled after him as he ran down the driveway.

The next time you can remember him saying those three words were when you were 14 and he was 15. He had stuck up for you to some punk like the hero he was born to be.

“God, where’s Bucky? We said to meet by the front gate.” Steve whined. Steve was still the scrawny kid you had met in Kindergarten. Bucky was a year older than the both of you and on you’re the first day of high school for you and the sickly boy next to you, Bucky was late to walk home.

“I told him, but he never listens. You know how Buck is.” You sighed with your books in hand. In the back of your mind, you had thought some girl distracted him. Bucky had been treated very well by puberty. He was almost 6′0 even and compared to Steve, he was a giant. You had grown to with your baby fat filling in your bust and hips enough to be noticed by those around you in a subtle way.

“Wait here, I’ll go look for him real quick,” Steve said before walking towards the halls. You were about to stop him, but you realized that was probably best.

So you waited alone for five minutes that turned into ten and then twenty. You huffed as you looked at the clock. You were stood up by Buck and had lost Steve, so you were over it and wanted to go home.

Before you could start walking away, a boy in your history class had walked in your path. “Hey you’re Y/N, right?” You looked up at him and nodded. He was tall but not quite the giant Bucky was.

“Uh, yeah....and you are?” You weren’t annoyed with him just frustrated with the other two boys you were waiting on.

“Oh yeah, Joesph, but you can call me anytime.” Now you were annoyed...flattered....but annoyed.

You looked at him with a face that you didn’t mean to make it just happened...

“Look, I’m just trying to be nice, Doll. Let me take you out sometime.” Doll. You only liked it when Bucky called you that. When Buck said it, you felt your heart beat outta your chest in the best way possible. But when this kid in front of you said it...your heart shriveled up like... a raisin.

“Um, no thank you. I better get going actually. I’m waiting on a friend.” You said nervously, trying to get a headstart to anywhere but where you were.

“Hey come on, babe. Don’t be like that.” You felt his hand grab your arm as you tried to walk off.

“Let go of me. I’m not interested.” You said trying to get out of his grip.

Before another word could come out of his mouth, a more comforting and familiar voice appeared. “Hey! The lady said back off, so buzz off or we’re gonna have a problem, Punk.”

Bucky’s presence caused the guy to let go of you and stand up taller to Bucky. “What? Is the broad you’re or somethin’?

“Don’t call her a broad.” Bucky pulled him by the collar and you watched as the guy gulped and looked up at your best friend. “And if you don’t wanna get your teeth knocked out, I suggest you walk on outta here before I really get mad.”

Quickly the guy was thrown to the side and he scurried out of the campus like a scared rat. Bucky looked pleased with himself as he saw the sight and then looked over to you. He put his arm around you and spoke up. “You okay, Doll?”

There it was. That feeling in your chest was back as you looked up at him.”Yeah, I’m great. Thanks for that. It was really nice of you and-”

“Hey don’t mention it. It was nothin’. I just don’t like it when people talk to you that way, is all.” He was blushing slightly and pulled you into a hug to hide that.

“Still. Thanks, James.” You knew he liked it when you called him that and you were almost positive his face was as red as a tomato.

“Anytime, Doll. Love you.” He mumbled with his arms around you before planting a kiss on the top of your head.

You both pulled away, but he was still rather close to your face.

“Hi,” you giggled while looking up at him.

“H-hey,” he smiled at you. You both stayed there making a comfortable eye contact. His pearly whites were flashing at you and his eyes pierced into you, flashing from your eyes back to your lips.

You could have sworn he was leaning in until, as if on cue, Steve came running from the corner. “Hey, I found him!” You both jumped back as Steve popped up between the two of you. “Let’s get going, punks.”

The next memorable time was one of the most important times to you. In your bedroom, while you both laid down, he said it...and he meant it.

You sat on your bed with a record playing in the background. You were thinking and you were thinking really hard.

Bucky was on another date. It seemed as though after that whole incident, over a year ago, was nothing after all. You knew you had gotten your hopes up. You and Bucky were just meant to be friends.

You plopped down onto your comforter and stared at your ceiling. After twenty more minutes of self-depreciation, there was a knock on your window. You opened it and saw Bucky in a branch next to you.

“James Buchanan Barnes! For god sake, you know where the spare key is!” You yelled at him, not loud enough to wake your household. “Get inside before you fall off that damn branch.”

He only laughed and climbed into my room. “I know, I know. I just didn’t want your dad to catch me coming in again. He always comes at me with his pistol.” He hopped in and stood in front of me. “And hello to you too, Doll.”

And that feeling came back. But it means nothing. You told yourself everything you could to believe that, but it seemed as though it wasn’t going anywhere. You could only laugh and close the window. “Why are you here so late, Bucky?”

“Why are you awake so late?” He was trying to tease you, but you only rolled your eyes.

“I asked you first, Buchanan.” She said, making him roll his eyes in response. “Shouldn’t you be on a date with blondie?”

That’s when Bucky’s demeanor changed in only a way you could have noticed. “Uh, yeah...but I canceled.”

You raised your eyebrows at him. “I thought you were excited about this one.”

“I wasn’t and I haven’t been excited about any dates if I’m being honest.” That made a weight lift off your heavy shoulders. Oh, thank God.

You wanted to ask a question that had been bugging you for over a year. “Then why do you go on them?”

And why didn’t you kiss me?

“Because I thought I could distract myself.”

“From what?”

“F-from you.”

“Me?” You felt your heartbeat and you’re eyes widen a bit as he let out a nervous laugh. He sat on your bed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Yeah.” Then there was silence. You didn’t know if you wanted him to keep talking. “I keep trying to stop thinking about you and I can’t. I tried to distract myself because for over a year I’ve been kicking myself in the ass thinking that I should have fucking kissed you.”

And right there and then you knew something amazing was gonna happen, no matter how it ends. “I wish that you did too.”

And with that, he stood up and did what he should have done a year ago.

“Y/N, I love you.”

“I love you too Bucky.”

After that, your future was full of “I love you”s for months that turned into years. When he graduated and you graduated a year later, he asked you to marry him.

Of course, you said yes. The next important I love you was at the edge of the aisle.

Your father linked arms with you as doors opened and music filled your ears. You looked past the crowd and the decorations to see him. All your nerves went away as everything surrounding you faded away and you saw James Buchanan Barnes waiting there, waiting for you.

You walked down with your dad and wiped away one of his tears of joy before he gave you away. You smiled widely at Bucky and he smiled back. You both stood in front of each other, waiting for the vows to begin.

You watched as Steve handed him the small piece of paper, but Bucky looked at it and gave it back. You watched him with a raised eyebrow as he looked back at you.

“I know that I wrote vows but standing here in front of you makes me realize I don’t need them. When I loved you yesterday, I didn’t love as much as I do now. When I love you tomorrow, I’m not gonna love you the way I do today. I’m gonna love you more. I’m gonna keep loving you more as our years go by. I’m gonna love you for as long as God allows it. And right now, all I know how to say I’m so grateful our mothers were best friends. I’m so grateful that I went over to your house for every holiday and birthday and day in between that. I’m so glad that you stuck around for the last 18 years of my life and yours because I know that there is nobody else I could have ever loved as much as I loved you yesterday, I love you now, and as much as I’ll love you for the rest of our lives.”

By the end, you were a mess. Tears ran down your face as you smiled at his beautiful face and saw his eyes water.

“James Buchanan Barnes. The day I met you, I was probably 2 weeks old. The first memory of you that I can actually remember is when I fell down the stairs we used to slide down during the snowy winters of Brooklyn. It was on one of those days that your mom came to gossip with mine and I showed you a playhouse my dad built. That once the first time we said I love you. As our days go by, I've become more and more grateful that it wasn’t our last. I love you Bucky.”

You were married and planned to live happily ever after. Planned.

“Y/N, I have to-”

“You don’t have to do anything! This is their war!” You felt yourself losing your sanity at the idea of him going anywhere you knew wouldn’t be safe. “They-they can find someone else to fight it.” You screamed at him as he had that stupid letter in his hand with a bag beside him.

“I have to do this...You know I have to Y/N and I’m sorry. I wish I could have it another way, but I’ve gotta make sure you and whatever family on the way is gonna be safe in this world.” He grabbed your flailing hands and held onto you. “I’m sorry. I love you, but I-I’ve gotta go.”

You moved your arms around his neck and wiped your eyes. “Goodbye, Bucky...don’t you dare think about dying.”

“Not goodbye, just a see you later. I’m not gonna leave you anytime soon.”

“Promise?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t lie to my best friend. I love you Y/N.”

You let a few tears slip out before putting your head in his chest. “I love you, James.”

But Bucky didn’t keep this promise.

The next time you would say I love you was to a closed, empty casket.

And you thought that would be the last time you ever got to say I love you to Bucky until a week ago.

It had been two weeks since they had told you he was gone and a week since you realized you were pregnant when there was a knock on your front door. You hesitantly went over to see who was there to find a note in place of a person.

Backyard. I had something taken care of for you and any family I fought for. - Bucky.

What?

You put on some slippers and went to your backyard. A small gasp left your lips when you saw it. A small wooden playhouse with bright yellow paint surrounding the outside. Just like the one you had.

“Oh, Bucky....”

You went over to the house and saw another card.

I loved you then, and I will love you forever. -Bucky.

Then you cried and held the note tightly, saying your final goodbye.

“I love you Bucky.”

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lookbackmachine · 6 years ago

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Disney Afternoon Part 2

The Disney Afternoon Pt 2

Subscribe:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-look-back-machine/id1257301677?mt=2

0:00:00 Speaker 1: The Disney Afternoon hit an unexpected hiccup a few years earlier that was finally starting to rear its ugly head. Eisner and Katzenberg would try to strong-arm their former boss Barry Diller, which would lead to unexpected new competition. In 1988, Eisner bought a television station in Los Angeles that eventually became KCAL. With his new station, he obviously wanted to air Disney product. There was a problem. They were already airing the Disney Afternoon on Fox affiliates, Barry Diller's network.

0:00:32 S1: According to DisneyWar, Eisner had Katzenberg call Diller. In Diller's recounting of the discussion, Katzenberg said, "We want to renegotiate the Disney Afternoon, and we're taking away the LA market." Diller was shocked. They had a contract. "That's not fair," he protested. "I know you bought an LA station, but give us two or three years to replace this. Let's be reasonable." Diller called Eisner, who refused. "We were there for you when you needed us," Diller reminded him, pointing out that he'd bought the original programming for Disney Afternoon. Eisner still refused. "Okay then, we're out of business," Diller said. Fox promptly dropped the Disney Afternoon from all of its wholly owned stations and encouraged its affiliates to do the same. Still, that wasn't what put Diller over the edge. Even though he felt Eisner had betrayed him, it was when Disney sued Fox on antitrust grounds claiming Fox was trying to monopolize children's programming and then complained to the FCC that Fox was a morally unfit broadcaster with programming like the Simpsons.

0:01:35 S1: When Disney lawyers approached Diller about a possible settlement, Diller said the only settlement he'd consider was an apology. Disney ended up dropping the suit in 1992, but Diller told David Geffen, "I'm never going to speak to him, Eisner, again." Fox would launch its own kids programming in 1990, which would eventually cut into Disney's ratings with the cultural phenomenon Power Rangers, not to mention Batman, the animated series, and Animaniacs. Power Rangers was a show that no one wanted. It was turned down by everyone, and then became the show everyone wanted and wanted to replicate. Premiering in August of 1993, by December it was the biggest kid show by far. According to the Baltimore Sun, it was averaging a 12.5 on weekends with kids two to 11. Fox's X-Men was doing a 10.0. And it was first on weekdays. It was doing a 7.5 rating. Second was Fox's Animaniacs with a 5.6, and the highest rated non-Fox show on weekdays was Bonkers with a 4.5. Also in 1994, Power Ranger toy sales would reach nearly a billion dollars. At their highest height, Ninja Turtles had done only $450 million in sales.

0:02:50 S1: The butterfly effect was now spreading its wings, and the Disney Afternoon would take a hit, as did the future of syndication as networks realized they should be promoting their own IPs instead of other companies. It would even happen to Fox when Warner Brothers would take its popular hits, Batman and Animaniacs, and put it on their own WB network. And it wasn't just network competitors anymore, cable had entered the market as well. Nickelodeon had popped into the world of animation and their first three cartoons, Ren and Stimpy, Doug, and Rugrats had all been big successes. The syndication window was closing in the not too distant future, but for now Disney Television Animation was about to change with the times.

[music]

0:03:43 S1: Greg Weisman, creator Gargoyles.

0:03:46 Greg Weisman: The pitch for Aladdin, that I pitched to Eisner, it was just one poster shot of Aladdin and the Genie and three words, "Aladdin the series". He's like, "Sold." That was it. And I knew that. In other words, going in, it was like I could have given this whole pitch on Aladdin, but I thought anything I say would only give him a reason to say no. Aladdin's this huge movie. Let him imagine what the show is.

0:04:11 S1: Tad Stones, creator of Darkwing Duck.

0:04:14 Tad Stones: At the end of Darkwing, I said, "Okay, now Darkwing worked much closer." I think I can get even closer with my next show, which was going to be a science fiction show. Again, a comedy. The staff loved it, but the boss did not. I never got to pitch it to Michael and Jeffrey. You know, had a meeting, I said, "Oh, I'm gonna get a chance to do it." And it was like, "No." They wanted me to do Aladdin. Now, Aladdin was done by Ron Clements, John Musker. I said, "I used to room with... In the same office as Ron Clements." I mean I was literally four feet away from him. "Let me talk to those guys." With Aladdin there was the other thing that I did the first direct to home video, Return of Jafar. And all I was trying to do was keep our budgets up. And I thought, if there's one more source of revenue that comes in from our shows, this would be the excuse to not cut budgets or give us the money we need to pull off some of this stuff. I called up Home Video and said, "Technically, when I do this four part episode pilot to set up the show, technically it's the sequel to Aladdin. Are you interested?" And the guy took it to the higher ups and they were not.

0:05:25 TS: Then they put out Aladdin on video. Again, it broke records. They made a huge amount of money, and I called the guy back and again restated what I was doing. And this time he took it to the top and they were very interested. And we had a story meeting with my boss where he gave all sorts of notes. And I said, "Well, we got... That's a lot to pull off. We have to do that by March 14th or whatever the date was." He said, "Why?" I said, "Well, Home Video was willing to put this out on literally video at that time." And he said, "That's gravy. Do these notes and if you get them done in time, that's fine." And I had to be told this later by people who were in the room 'cause I had forgotten that I had said, "Okay we have to take those notes, but it also has to be done by this date so I can get it to Home Video."

0:06:11 TS: We did. And Return of Jafar was made for $3.5 million and it made something between $180 and $200 million domestic out on video. This may be apocryphal, but I was told that it was the first quarter where the company wouldn't have grown. Well, I don't know what, ten percent or whatever the number was, and I guess a bunch of executives had bonuses tied into profit growth. Evidently that was the first quarter that there wouldn't be bonuses, and then suddenly everybody got a bonus, and it was because of Return of Jafar, that out of nowhere this thing came in and making all this money. And that started the whole direct to video thing.

0:06:53 TS: All I was trying to do was to keep our budgets up. The stories involving the bonuses, they tried to do things like Lucas had with Star Wars had given everybody involved points or some sort of bonus, so they had X amount of money and they divided it up so everybody got something. And what that led to is whoever was last in line, some of the lower level people, got a bonus, a check of $50 or $100, whatever. People who basically were in the department who didn't work on the show, and all that did was piss them off 'cause they knew how much the movie had made. I got $14,000 and I told that to Ron and John. Now I was not an idiot. I knew that the only reason why the movie made that much money is because they had done an incredible Aladdin, and I remember telling that to them and their reaction was, "You got ripped off." And I realized, yeah, in live action terms, if you do a crappy spinoff of something that made a lot of money and your crappy spinoff makes a ton of money, you get a five picture deal and a new car in your driveway as a present from the studio. In animation, I was happy to get the bonus. But get a pat on the back and then you move on, do something else for us.

0:08:09 S1: Jymn Magon, writer.

0:08:11 Jymn Magon: Disney's had a definite style there for a while, of... I think we cornered the market in the comedy adventure genre. When Disney execs felt like they needed to branch out, I felt like the formula fell by the wayside. And it's like, "Hey, look what John Kricfalusi is doing on Ren and Stimpy. Let's do something like that. Hey, look what Warner Brothers is doing with superheroes. Let's do something like that." And I felt like, "Oh, this is interesting." Obviously, we're branching out, trying new things. But it felt weird to me that where we had before had been sort of chopping our way through the jungle, creating our own path. Now we were sort of following other people's paths, copying them. And that always seemed odd to me. But anyway, department does what the department does over the years, and the changes, and the new policy, and it gets worse or it gets better. And is it Disney? Yes, because it's Disney TV Animation. They're Disney and this is the show they're doing. It becomes part of the canon, you know.

0:09:15 S1: In 1994, Variety reported that Disney was spending $50 million to boost its afternoon, which resulted in two new series, Shnookums and Meat, and Gargoyles. Gargoyles, Aladdin, and Shnookums helped cut into the lead of Fox, but there was a larger problem that television animation was about to encounter. Disney's syndication contract with networks ran only through 1997, meaning that other networks could produce their own shows and make more money. This would leave Disney Animation without a home because Disney didn't own a network. In fact, earlier in the year, they had tried to buy NBC but failed. Total viewership was also in decline during this period, which had to do with VCRs, computers, and video games offering alternatives to television. And to add to the uncertainty of 1994, Jeffrey Katzenberg left the company and he left because he was fired by Michael Eisner.

0:10:12 S1: In a walk in Aspen together, according to Katzenberg, Eisner promised him that if anything happened to Frank Wells, Katzenberg would take over Wells's role as president. Eisner would later say that Katzenberg misunderstood this conversation. Unfortunately, something did happen to Wells. He was killed in a tragic helicopter crash on April 3, 1994. But business stops for no man, and Eisner went back on his word and did not put Katzenberg in Wells's position as president, nor did he name him as his successor. To make matters worse, in a white glove slap to the face to Katzenberg, Eisner took on the role of president himself. This led to a further deterioration of their relationship and Eisner gave Katzenberg his walking papers. Eventually Eisner also refused Katzenberg part of his contract, which stated Katzenberg would get two percent of all profits from any of the projects he had worked on at Disney.

0:11:08 S1: So, like all great Hollywood love stories, they went to court. At one point it came out that Eisner had said he hated that midget, referring to Katzenberg. The case could have been settled for $90 million at one point, but instead it was eventually settled for $280 million in Katzenberg's favor. And then to further complicate matters, Katzenberg went on to form DreamWorks with Spielberg and David Geffen. In the midst of all that, Shnookums and Meat, a funny cartoon show, was being made. Bill Kopp, animator.

0:11:40 Bill Kopp: And then I got a call from Disney Television, which I had never heard of. I didn't even know they had it. And Gary Krisel and Bruce Cranston made me an offer. They said, "Hey, we need some new funny stuff and we really think your eat show is funny, and can you come and do a funny show?" And I was like, "Well, like what?" And they were like, "Whatever you want." Seriously. I didn't have to pitch anything. They were just like, "Just come over and we'll do whatever comes out of your head." It was incredible. So I had a sketchbook full of stuff, and I just came in. And they said, "Well, how about a cat and a dog?" I said, "Okay." We started with that, and that must have been 1992 or 1993, something like that. I forget. Pitching at Disney now. I'm not saying [0:12:22] ____. I mean, it's legendarily hard. It's like running a gauntlet. There's all these people in these giant buildings and you just got to carve your way through. And then once you do get into development, you're gonna be there for a year or two just trying to get it through. My experience was, we had lunch and the next week I was there with a contract.

0:12:40 BK: There was no feeling of pressure or ever like, "Oh my God, the wheels are coming off." It never was like that. And we had a saying that Disney [0:12:49] ____. It's like, "Well, if something's... If something crashes, well, I'll just throw money at it." You know. Nobody bothered us. When they said, "You can do whatever you want," they never brought it up. I remember sitting in the editor room with Gary Krisel, who was a great guy, and he'd look at some of the rough animation coming back. He'd look at me and he'd go, "Is that funny?" And we're like, "Yeah, that's funny." He just trusted us, and it was awesome. Now, Jeffie came over one day, as he frequently did, while we were kicking it around. And I said, "The cat's kind of abrasive. So let's give him the opposite kind of name," you know, Shnookum, 'cause he was kind of a dick. And then we were just like, "What the fuck are we gonna call this dog?" We had no clue. Just nothing. And Jeffie came up with the name, and I think we were actually barbecuing something, which we also frequently did. And I think he just said, "Meat." And we had the design already. And I said, "Fuck, that's it."

0:13:40 BK: Shnookums and Meat. A little confusion came when they made the SpaghettiOs though. I had a can of them around here, they finally just deteriorated. I had to get rid of it, it was gonna explode. And it said, "Shnookums and Meat." It was like SpaghettiOs. The lawyers were like, "No, no, no, man. You gotta say that it's not meat. It's not a meat product."

0:13:58 Shnookums: Hey, what happened to your head?

0:14:00 Meat: Hey, what happened to your head?

[music]

0:14:07 Shnookums: Oh my gosh, my brain's gone.

0:14:10 Meat: Oh no, mine is to. What we gonna do Shnookums, what we gonna do? We don't have any brains.

0:14:21 Shnookums: Now, let's stay calm. I don't think you have too much to worry about, but I know I do. They couldn't have gone far.

0:14:27 BK: Right after the first two shorts went on to [0:14:29] ____ said, "Okay, let's make it a whole half hour. What else do you got?" And I just pulled out the Pith Possum, and the Tex Tinstar bit was gonna be a space serial called Guy Guy and the Space Vigilantes. We were all set to go, and then I got a call from John Kricfalusi, and I had Fontanelli there, you know, all of Kricfalusi's guys, [0:14:47] ____ was there. A couple... Eddie Fitzgerald. And John called me. He goes, "Hey man, I heard you're expanding your show, but can you maybe not do a space thing?" Actually, it was like getting a call from the Godfather. He was like, "Yeah, don't do a space thing." And I was like, I go, "Why?" And he goes, "Well, 'cause I'm working on one. I've been working on it for a while." Actually, Fontanelli brought that up to me too. So I just turned it into a western, which was easy because I was happy to accommodate. But I guess he never sold his space thing.

[music]

0:15:14 Speaker 8: Pith Possum. At one time an ordinary laboratory possum. He was changed forever by an experiment gone wrong, an experiment that endowed him with ultra possum-like abilities, turning him into Pith Possum, super dynamic possum of tomorrow. Maintaining his secret identity by cleverly disguising himself as Peter Possum, copy boy for a great metropolitan tabloid. He defends truth, justice, and the forest critter way for the good citizens of Possum City.

[music]

0:15:56 Speaker 9: Let me just grab what I have in store for you. The rope that holds you up Tinstar, will soon be burned through by that candle. When you fall, you'll land head first on this trampoline, which will send you flying into the pen full of rabid badgers. As you go down the ramp inside the pen, this torch will be knocked over, igniting the trail of gunpowder burning toward that cannon. Your barrel will roll toward that cannon and your head will become stuck. The gunpowder will burn the cannon's fuse and the cannon will fire. The blast will ignite the waterproof fuses on the dynamite surrounding your head. The cannon will shoot you through the roof of the barn, and then down into this giant tank full of man-eating sharks. The sharks will eat you. Then the dynamite will explode. The whole mess will be blown skyward and your remains will fall into this envelope, which I will place on a boat bound for Tunisia. So long, Tinstar.

0:16:48 BK: Anyway, and that was Shnookums and Meat, but again, that was so busy and I was the only writer. I wrote all 39 of those because I didn't know any better. After the show was on the air and we were done, Jeffie and I sat around. I went to Hawaii for six weeks to recuperate. I came back and they were just like, "Well, we don't know about the second season." And I mean, Shnookums and Meat was not... It was amazing that they let us do it 'cause it's not Disney, really. Well, it's not out of line, but it's weird. So we were just sitting there waiting to get the word, and I mean the writing was on the wall. I was like, "Yeah okay, there goes that. What are we gonna do next?" And I was there still getting paid. I developed other stuff. Jeffie and I were like, "This is gonna crack, man. What are we gonna fucking do now?"

0:17:34 BK: We didn't have a plan. And then, what happened was they said, "Oh, sorry boys. You're through." And we were like, "Ah fuck, okay well, at least we got that out." I mean that was three in one, dude. You got Pith and Tex, and Shnookum and Meat was actually our weakest link in the thing. And that was the only part that was foisted on us. But right after they canceled it, that was when Gary Krisel and Bruce Cranston left to go to Dreamworks, and we were like, "Ah." And it was like a sad goodbye and stuff.

0:18:06 BK: A new executive moved in, and we just weren't part of their plan. Because... And rightfully... They didn't know what to do with us. We were like a weird thing that, they were like, "Huh? Now what with these guys?" But we had a good time. I think we sort of knew in the back of our heads, it was like, "Wow, this will never last here." It isn't Disney material. The real story of that time was they were trying to keep up with Margaret and Fox Kids, and they were right to try crazy things. To their credit, they really, they stuck right by it. And then they... And Gary and Bruce did the same for us at DreamWorks when we went to do Toonsylvania.

0:18:42 S1: Greg Weisman, creator Gargoyles.

0:18:44 GW: We had the Disney Afternoon, which we viewed as sort of like the dragon that you had to feed a virgin to every six months. So every six months, we'd go up in front of Michael Eisner. In those days, Michael personally chose the shows. And we would pitch him six or seven shows. And he knew he always had to pick one to put into production. He could pick more than one, but he had to always pick at least one.

0:19:10 S1: Jymn Magon.

0:19:11 JM: Yeah, what we would do is every week, we would have this writer's meeting that I think it was Wednesday mornings, and it was like any new writers out there, any new talent, any new ideas, it was always looking for what are we gonna pitch? What's the next big thing? And of course, like everything in Hollywood, it was basically, what was the most recent hit film? With Star Wars, Indiana Jones, whatever. But people would come in and they'd pitch all kinds of things. And the things that were noteworthy would get... I'm not sure we did artwork on all of it, but at least we had a list of shows that we would take to the meetings with Eisner and Katzenberg and say, "Okay, this is called Wonder Weenie. It's about a guy in a hot dog suit that gets kidnapped and taken to another planet, where they think he's a hero 'cause of his television commercials." And it was like, Gong. [chuckle] "No, next." And we would just do that. We would come up with these sort of one, two sentence pitches and they would go, "Nah, or yeah."

0:20:13 S1: Greg Weisman.

0:20:14 GW: We were all sort of keeping an eye on Batman, and sort of seeing was this going to be a success or not? It was a serious drama on cartoon, and would that work? Because the conventional wisdom is it always has to be comedy, and often it's a pendulum and that conventional wisdom swings back into the forefront all the time. But Batman was working, it was working so well they tried it in prime time, and then it didn't work in prime time. And so the desire for us to do something along those lines sort of waxed and waned, often with Batman's ratings. And we didn't have superheroes in our camp so to speak, so we didn't wanna do Batman, we didn't wanna copy that, but we wanted to try and do something different. But that's not how Gargoyles came about at all. Those are almost two separate discussions that dovetailed later.

0:21:08 GW: Gargoyles was initially developed as a comedy adventure, very much inspired by and along the lines of Gummi Bears, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, which was a show we were really proud of, created by a guy named Jymn Magon. We thought was great. It had this very rich backstory and we thought it didn't get enough respect, and we thought that the main reason for that was because there was brand confusion with Care Bears. Care Bears was a sort of sacchariney sweet, kinda awful show, from my point of anyway. But the brand confusion was understandable because both shows featured cute, cuddly, multi-colored bears. Gummi Bears wasn't that. It was an adventure show. It was funny. It was exciting. It had a great comedic villain in Duke Igthorn and great sidekick in [0:21:54] ____, and great characters, and just a lot of fun. So we set out very consciously to create a show in that vein with the same sort of rich backstory, but that would get more respect. So everything in the 90s, the sort of buzz word was everything had to be edgy. Instead of doing cute, cuddly, multi-colored bears, we did cute, cuddly, multi-colored gargoyles. Gargoyles having been something that fascinated me since I was in high school.

0:22:23 GW: And we thought that's edgier. And instead of setting it in medieval times, we'd have this rich medieval backstory, but we'd set it in the present. We'd have gargoyles have a spell cast on them and they'd wake up in the 20th century, and that seemed edgier too. And so we thought, we can do this kind of show and have this fun comedy adventure with Gargoyles. So we put together a pitch, and we pitched it to Michael Eisner, and he passed. But we really liked the show and my bosses, Bruce and Gary, both really liked it. And they were like, "Well, take another pass at it." So I showed it to a number of people, just the original comedy pitch, to try and get some feedback and see what else I might do with it. One of the people I showed it to was Tad Stones.

0:23:06 TS: Gargoyles had a long history of things that are in a direct line that ended up with Gargoyles. And some of them didn't involve Gargoyles at all. They were gremlins, or whatever. The last thing I'd been playing with I think was a Three Musketeers version of these gargoyles. I had just seen the rough cut of Beauty and the Beast. So again, I'm instrumental. I'm not a genius, at least not in that meeting. Greg had asked me in just to talk about things and be in the discussion with his assistants basically. Again, he was an executive. And I said, "What if he was the last of the gargoyles? This could be your Beauty and the Beast 'cause you've already got the female there." He is one of the fastest thinkers I've ever seen. While he's watching a movie, he is analyzing, dissecting it. And walking out of a movie he'll have all sorts of comments, where I'm going, "Well, I thought the colors were nice." Anyway, he was on to something, he kind of said to his assistant, "Okay, you follow up on the Three Musketeers angle. I wanna work on this."

0:24:07 GW: And that really clicked for me. And so I created the character of Goliath with the artist Greg Guler, and we took the whole show, the whole comedy development and put it through the prism of Goliath and came out the other side fundamentally with the show that made it on the air. And we were so enthusiastic about it, we came up with all these concepts for villains and adventures and stories and put together this huge long pitch and pitched it to Eisner six months after we'd pitched it the first time. And he passed, killed it. And so I thought it was done. We tried. It wasn't the first time I'd pitched a show and it had gotten killed. And the next day we had what we called a postmortem meeting. In those days, Jeffrey Katzenberg was... And Michael ran the whole company, but Jeffrey Katzenberg was head of the studio. And so Jeffrey had been in the meeting with Gary and Bruce and I, and we were having this postmortem meeting where we were discussing actually the shows that Michael had said yes to and what the next steps would be. And so after having this discussion about the yes shows, we all got up to go. And as I'm about to go, Jeffrey said to me, "Oh, and you're gonna work on Gargoyles some more, right?"

0:25:20 GW: And Bruce and I sort of looked at each other, and I was like, "Well no, Michael killed it. He killed it as a comedy. He killed it as a drama. I don't know what else we'd do with it." And Jeffrey said, "Oh, Michael didn't kill it, he just thought it needed more work." Now I had been there the day before, and I knew that he had killed it. But what this was telling me was that Michael may not have liked it, but Jeffrey liked it. And in those days Jeffrey wasn't gonna contradict what Michael had said, but he still felt it was worth pursuing. I also found out later that Gary had talked to Jeffrey about the need to diversify the Disney Afternoon from the standpoint of all we had in those days were very similar, funny animal comedy adventure cartoons, and that if we just kept doing that over and over again, eventually the audience would get bored with those kind of cartoons. No matter how good they were, they'd just get bored with them. And we had to bring other types of things in, which led to shows like Goof Troop, which was really more sitcom than comedy adventure. Shows like Shnookums and Meat, which was more sort of Tex Avery short cartoons, and Gargoyles.

0:26:36 GW: And so we went back to the drawing board for a third time to try and figure out how we were gonna pitch Gargoyles for a third time. And we looked at the show that we had, and we thought, "Nope, this is the show. We don't wanna change the show at all." So the problem isn't the show, the problem is the pitch. And what you realize is that we had just put way too much into the pitch. It had diffused it all and gotten confusing and we hadn't been crisp and clear. So we just pulled things out, things that we eventually did use in the show, but we pulled all these elements out and really narrowed it down to the key idea, which frankly, was the Beauty and the Beast idea.

0:27:16 GW: It was this relationship between Goliath, the lead gargoyle, and Elisa, the cop, who befriends him in the 20th century after he wakes up. And we very much played it like Beauty and the Beast, which actually was a movie that had done very well for Disney recently. So six months later, we pitched it to Michael a third time, and this time they bought it. We had added nothing to this pitch, we just subtracted. I'd reordered a few things. We may have redrawn a card or two just to clarify an idea, but there was nothing new, it was just shorter. Jeffrey turned to me and said, "You added a lot to that pitch didn't you?" And I said, "Yes, I did." And that was history. We went on and made the show.

0:28:03 Speaker 10: One thousand years ago superstition in the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness, it was a world of fear, it was the age of Gargoyles. Stone by day, warriors by night. We were betrayed by the humans we had sworn to protect, frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Now, here in Manhattan, the spell is broken and we live again. We are defenders of the night. We are Gargoyles!

0:29:01 GW: And so, yes, relative to Goof Troop it's dark, but I don't think of it as dark. There's tons of humor in that show. The color palette is rich, full of blues and purples and magentas and neon. It's not a dark show either visually or thematically. It's fundamentally a show about a guy, Goliath, who's an optimist, who believes that the world can be a better place, that bad things happen but they can be fixed, that the next generation can do better or that we can make it better. And so it's got a fundamentally optimistic tone to it. In terms of supervision, the advantage there was that I'd been the executive at Disney for five years when we went into production. I often compare it to a lunatic asylum, TV animation, in that there are inmates and then there are trustees, and the trustees are actually also inmates, but they're considered by management to be less crazy.

0:30:07 GW: So they give the trustee a stick, a baton to keep the other lunatics in line. And so that's how I sort of see my role on Gargoyles. I was the lunatic most trusted. So because of what was going on, both in the larger company and at TV Animation, there were a lot of shows in crisis for various reasons. And because of that and because I was in charge of Gargoyles, which I produced with Frank Paur, we were both producers, but from an executive standpoint it was still me. I was the lunatic most trusted at Disney TV Animation, so they kinda left us alone. And I remember at one point, Frank and I had lunch with Gary during season two and Gary said, "I wanna apologize to you guys. I have not been paying attention to Gargoyles at all. We've had other things going on. How is it going? What's going on? How's it going on the show?"

0:30:54 GW: And we said, "Well, it's going pretty good. Schedule's tough, but we're managing and we're happy with how things are turning out." He's like, "Great. What kind of stories are you doing?" So we started telling him about that and at one point we told him about Xanatos and Fox getting married and having a baby. And he goes, "Whoa, whoa. I wouldn't do that. You can't have the bad guy have a baby. You can't have the bad guy raising a kid. You gonna take the kid away from him? That'll be bad. And if you don't take the kid away from him then you got a villain raising a kid. Don't do that one."

0:31:23 GW: And we were like looking at each other and then I say to him, "Well, we already did it." So there was this long pause. And Frank and I are both sort of like what's gonna happen here? Is he gonna still reject it and force us to sort of tear the whole show apart and start over? And you could sort of tell he's thinking the same thing, like he doesn't like this idea at all. But on the other hand, this was the one show that was going smoothly, and if he rips it all apart, then he's gotta get another show in crisis. So after this long pause, he says to us, "Well, don't dwell on it." I said, "Okay, we won't dwell on it." Whatever the hell that meant, but so we didn't. I mean we didn't do it, we didn't change anything, but that was the kind of thing, we had very little supervision because of where I had come from. We pretty much made the show that Frank and I wanted to make and had almost no interference whatsoever.

0:32:25 GW: Gargoyles was sort of superheroes done without flagging that they're superheroes. No tights, no capes. For all intents and purposes that was the genre we were doing. A year or so later, I was in a meeting with Eisner where he announced his desire to buy Marvel, and I watched his corporate strategic guys talk him out of it and say, "Marvel's a disaster. They've got their rights sold all over the place. So you'd buy the company and then find out you can't make a movie about Spiderman because they've tripled sold the rights to three different companies. And Fantastic Four is being held by this company. And blah, blah, blah, blah."

0:33:05 GW: Now of course, years later Bob Iger just bought it anyway, and yeah, couldn't do X-Men, couldn't do Fantastic Four, couldn't do Spiderman, at least not at first, bought it anyway. Of course, it's been a huge success for Disney. But Eisner was talked out of it that day. So he turned to us, to Gary and Bruce and myself and says, "Can we use Gargoyles to start a Disney superhero universe?" And I said, "Yeah." And we began developing spinoffs, which we would do backdoor pilots for during season two of the show. But by the time those things got on the air, Jeffrey had left the company. Rich Frank had left the company. Frank Wells had died. Bruce had left the company. All the main supporters of Gargoyles had gone, and so that notion of using Gargoyles to launch Disney's own superhero universe sort of fell away.

0:34:01 GW: But for, I don't know, three or four months, it was like this is what we've got to do 'cause we can't buy Marvel, and Warner Brothers has DC. And on one level, and I don't think we even appreciated it at the time, but the great thing about Michael himself picking the shows was that everyone in every division got on board or got out of the way. In the years that followed, when Michael stopped picking the shows personally, those decisions began being made by committee. You found you had to get literally unanimous vote in order to sell a show. You needed not just one important person to say yes, or two or three, but literally you needed something like eight or nine people to say yes. And if even one said no, the others would jump off the show. And it became much harder to sell. So Michael was sort of the last of the moguls from my point of view, and we didn't appreciate it at the time 'cause there were so many shows he passed on that we thought were great, but what we didn't get was yeah, that may have been so but the shows he picked we got to just make. And that hasn't been the same in most places since then.

0:35:12 GW: I think what happened was, is that over time, there was this sort of sense within the corporation that Michael was micromanaging, not from us per se. I don't think it had anything to do with TV Animation, but just in general. And there was this sense that he had to start giving some things up. One of the things he gave up was choosing the animated series, but he didn't invest that power in another individual. Again, sort of became a decision by committee, a committee where any one person could derail something.

0:35:40 Speaker 11: Five-eights today to close at 42 and five-eights, one day after the company announced the resignation of Disney studio's chief Jeffrey Katzenberg. While rumors run rampant about where Katzenberg will end up, Disney chairman Michael Eisner said today, the company will likely produce fewer films.

0:35:57 GW: Jeffrey left. Rich Frank left. A lot of this was in the wake of Frank Wells's death, which was a tragedy in it's own right, but also destabilized the company. Roy Disney was not happy with Jeffrey. Ultimately, not happy with Michael either. So ultimately, both departed and Gary had at least a couple job offers that I know about, maybe more. I think Jeffrey wanted him at DreamWorks and had an offer out to him, and then when Bruce Cranston left to go to Dreamworks, Gary decided that DreamWorks would be a good place to sort of work with Bruce again and reform that team. So Gary also picked DreamWorks. So you had Jeffrey, Gary, and Bruce all at DreamWorks. Those were the three guys who I'd worked with. So at Disney, everyone sort of assumed that I'd be going to DreamWorks.

0:36:50 GW: When my deal was up at the end of the second season of Gargoyles, that I'd leave and go to DreamWorks. And I didn't actually want to. I wanted to stay and do a third season of Gargoyles. But it became this self-fulfilling prophesy. They were so sure I was gonna go to DreamWorks that they stopped inviting me to meetings, 'cause they thought of me as I was already spying for DreamWorks or something. It was kind of ridiculous. But they didn't make a job offer to me until a week before I was leaving, at which point, I did end up going to DreamWorks because I didn't have any other job offers. A week out they finally made an offer to me too late. So I went. And they really kind of made it clear that I wasn't welcome there anymore.

0:37:36 GW: In November of 1995, I wanna say, they came to me, and said they wanted me to do the third season of Gargoyles but they were offering me a demotion from producer to story editor. They said the show was going to be animated at Deak, but Deak had a very bad track record in those days in terms of the look of the thing, and that it would be pre-produced there as well. And they gave me a schedule in November of 1995, where the first script was due in October of 1995. And I looked at the schedule. I said, "Well, do you have a time machine? Because I don't know how I'm supposed to go back and deliver a script in October when it's already November and we haven't started." And they're like, "Well, we know that schedule's gotta be adjusted, but we wanted you to see where it had to end so you'd have to catch up. Not instantaneously, but by the end of the season you'd have to catch up." And so it felt to me like they were asking me to preside over the demise of the show. That they were reducing the budget, reducing the quality of the animation, reducing the quality of all the preproduction, giving us an impossible schedule, and then asking me on top of all that, to take it to motion.

0:38:57 GW: And we didn't even talk about money. That... We didn't even get to that. I just said, "Look, I need the weekend to think about this." And they said, "Great. Take the weekend." And then I came in Monday and they had hired my replacement already. And I said, "What the hell?" And they said, "Oh well, you can still say yes. You're a... We just figured we needed someone in case you said no." Which basically said they were trying to get me to say no. They were trying to make the deal so horrible that I'd say no. So I just said, "Fine, I'll walk away." And so I winded up going to DreamWorks, and they all sort of patted themselves on the back and said, "See, we knew he was gonna go to DreamWorks." But of course they're the reason I went to DreamWorks 'cause they basically kicked me out. Not literally, but basically.

0:39:44 GW: I ended up writing the first episode for them, which they gave to other people to add it into whatever. So the version that got on TV was, I thought, a mess, but still better than the other 12, which were done by good people, but good people who didn't know the show and didn't have time to familiarize themselves with the show. And so those last, that last season of Gargoyles, the fans and I just don't even count it as canon to the series. And we look at the comic book series that I did years later as the sort of true third season. I watched the third season. I watched every episode exactly once. That's not quite true, I watched the one that I wrote more than once, not a lot, but the other 12 I watched exactly once each and made myself do it. I don't know why, but I did. It was very painful for me on a lot of levels, not just again, not just because I didn't think they were very good, which I didn't, even though I know a lot of good people worked on them, but characters were just behaving out of character. And the stories just weren't up to our standards. And it was just a different show.

0:40:57 S1: The original Mighty Ducks movie was made because Eisner's kids liked hockey. So it got a green light. And based on the success of the movie, which the company termed market research, Eisner bought an expansion NHL team and promptly named them the Mighty Ducks. And with that purchase came an addition to the television line up. The Mighty Ducks, the Animated Series, premiered in September 1996, and Joe Barruso, and animation veteran, served as a director and supervising producer.

0:41:27 Joe Barruso: The reason I was able get a job at Disney, and went from Deak to Disney I think had more to do with the fact that the show that I had directed and produced, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, had won an Emmy in '95 as the best children's animated program. And it was one of the first shows that they called edutainment because it had this emphasis on providing real information, whether it was historical or science, in combination with an entertaining story. It was a detective-type story where a couple of younger kids were pursuing Carmen Sandiego. It was based on a computer game that was very popular at that time. They were looking for someone specifically for Mighty Ducks at the time. They needed a producer and director. And so yeah, I went and interviewed specifically for that project.

0:42:20 JB: In the initial meetings they showed me what they had done to that point and it wasn't a lot. It's funny, thinking back on it, it had started because Friends was very popular at that time, hugely successful at that time, so they wanted something like Friends. I remember them pitching it to me that way, and I thought, "Oh well, that's interesting." In the development that I'd seen to that point, when it was the Friend's concept, it was like we had in the show ultimately, it was human characters with duck heads, so it was sort of breaking with Disney tradition in terms of DuckTales and things that were clearly Donald Duck type characters. This was a new twist on the ducks for them. And that wasn't tremendously interesting to me, but then I can't recall at what point it shifted and became more sci-fi based, you know heroes in the image of sort of Ninja Turtles. And that's when David Wise, the editor, came on board.

0:43:22 JB: It was clear it was gonna go that direction. He had had a great deal of experience with Ninja Turtles, editing those shows, so he brought all that thinking and that expertise in terms of that particular genre, in going in that direction. He bought all that. That's when I was excited about... Sci-fi had always been a big interest for me and then anime was just getting really a lot of attention at that time. It really caught my interest, so that when we started talking that way, I was like, "Oh well, this will be great. We can use anime influences on this." But yeah, I think the old school that was there, because it was ducks, was a little uncomfortable. But our character designer, Greg Guler, he had had a longstanding relationship with Disney TV, and so he had done it all. He really knew it inside out. At the same time he had a great interest in superheroes. His background, he had originally come from comic books, so his first love was superheroes. So here he had a chance to combine Disney ducks with superheroes, so it was really a perfect opportunity for him. He was just a fantastic artist. So it all sort of came together.

0:44:32 JB: I was relieved that it was moving away from sort of a Friends sitcom to something more sci-fi and hero based. All our influences in terms of doing the art were harder edged. We never really got to go as far in that sci-fi direction as we would have liked to, but the way it's done is in terms of the development and art direction, it's sort of a consensus. So you have to put it in front of a whole bunch of people. And that included at the time, that included Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz. We had meetings where they reviewed the artwork, and so they would have their input. I was kind of reaching for one end of the spectrum, and them pulling us back to something that was a little more comfortable. I was pleased that we were able to go as far as we did, given what they had done with ducks to that point.

0:45:24 Speaker 13: Six hockey playing ducks appear out of nowhere and suddenly six vigilantes in comic book get-up start showing up whenever there's trouble. Spill it. Where are they from? Another planet?

0:45:36 Speaker 14: Not another planet babe. A whole 'nother universe.

0:45:40 S1: And in this universe, there's a planet inhabited entirely by ducks.

0:45:45 Speaker 15: They called it Puckworld in honor of their greatest hero, the legendary hockey player, Drake DuCaine. He was the ultimate team captain. He saved Puckworld from a horde of conquering aliens, called the Saurian Overlords, hundreds of years ago.

0:46:00 JB: Michael Eisner, he was excited about it because he was excited about the hockey team. So here was just an opportunity to promote it.

0:46:07 Speaker 16: Well, this is sad news indeed for Duck fans. It looks like the Mighty Ducks season long winning streak may be coming to an end. They're tied with the Maine Quahogs with forty seconds remaining at Quahog Center. John Luke [0:46:20] ____ is aiming to score again. Oh, a spectacular save by the Mighty Ducks goalie, Wildwing. You know, not only are these ducks mighty, they're really ducks.

0:46:36 JB: Interesting thing that we did, which was sort of unconventional, was after the shows would come back animated, we would of course assemble them. It was decided that they were not funny enough. I would spend large amounts of time each day sitting with two comedy writers who would rewrite the shows. And rewrite jokes into the shows. And we would sit and we would have to make sure, because the shows were already animated, we would have to make sure that the new lines would work with the mouths that we already had. So, it was a grueling exercise of... They're trying to be funny, trying to... Coming up with jokes, but we had to make sure that they could work in the animation, as it was already completed. That was different, yeah, maybe one in ten were actually worth all the time and energy.

0:47:29 S1: So these hockey playing ducks were attacked by a dinosaur named Dragaunus. Am I hearing you right?

0:47:36 S1: You're bright, you got it babe.

0:47:38 S1: Beautiful. I could have stayed home watching sci-fi chiller theater, but this is much funnier. All right, what happened next?

0:47:48 JB: It was kind of disappointing that it went away just after 26 episodes 'cause there really was a big push behind it. The Disney marketing machine and merchandising machine was behind it entirely. And Mattel was on board entirely for the toy line. And I guess it was the second largest toy line in Canada, second only to Star Wars at that time, which makes sense 'cause it was hockey. And I know for a fact that Mattel was disappointed that it went away 'cause they had planned years of it. It never did horribly, but some weeks it would be just average, but other weeks it would be doing really well, so it was a surprise when we didn't get more episodes. I had worked my whole life towards the point of having the opportunity to do the traditional look, and a big thrill for me was to finally be at Disney, which was a personal goal. And so I was happy that I was able to do Mighty Ducks and sort of kick it up a notch in terms of duck properties.

0:48:47 S1: Jymn Magon. The last show the Disney Afternoon would produce was Quack Pack, a descendant of DuckTales, but with the nephews as teenagers and Donald as the parental figure instead of Uncle Scrooge. It should have been a perfect ending to Disney's run, but some things are not meant to be.

0:49:04 JM: I did move after the Goofy Movie into development on Duck Days, which eventually became Quack Pack. By that time, the whole mindset of the studio was changing. People that were valuable before were being sort of pushed aside and people that weren't valuable were being elevated and there was a lot more what I call baby suits showing up, middle management who were making decisions, creative decisions about things, people who had never made a single frame of film were making decisions. And it just got very strained, and it got so strained that I eventually said I need more money or I'm gonna go somewhere else, which was very, very difficult for me because I loved Disney. I thought I would retire from Disney, and it just didn't happen.

0:49:58 JM: From then on it was just like, I can't even follow what they're doing anymore. Well, it was part of the deal breaker. We were trying something new. We said, "How are we gonna do a series with Donald Duck when nobody can really understand Donald?" He's fine in a short where he goes, "Oh brother," or, "What's the big idea?" That kind of stuff. But to do dialogue is crazy. To try and hang a show on someone that you can't understand was gonna be very difficult. And we had some radical ideas and management looked down their noses at us. And I remember at one point our producer on the show, Larry Latham, was listening to management spouting about something or another. He looked over at me and he just, he did the throat cut, like cut, I'm out here.

0:50:51 JM: And shortly after that Carl Gears and I, who were the executive producers on the show, we just said, "We're happy to continue working on this, but we can't be running the show because management doesn't believe in it." And management said, "Okay fine." They never even called us and said, "What's wrong?" Accepted our statement and, which was basically a big, you know, forget you. And it was like, "Well, they don't care about us anymore." Like I said, that was sort of a turning point, for me anyway. I think it was a turning point for the department as well. But anyway, and I left shortly after that. We had a terrific run, and then just things felt... Started to get weird, that's all.

0:51:36 JM: And again, I can't put my finger on it, but to me, it had a lot to do with we stopped doing what we were good at and started following other people's leads. Every show we did was like number one in its slot, and so it wasn't like, "Oh ratings are slipping, let's do something different." To me, that genre, that style of Disney comedy adventure could still be going as far as I know. But it was like, "No, let's do Shnookums and Meat, and let's do Gargoyles. Let's do things that look like other studios." It just felt wrong to me. But again, I'm not in charge, I don't make those calls, I just, I'm a stupid ass show developer and story editor. I don't get to make the big decisions.

0:52:18 S1: Dean Stefan, writer.

0:52:20 Dean Stefan: And then of course Quack Pack was originally called Duck Days. The way I hear it, and I don't know, 'cause you know. It could be not exactly true, but I think it's true. Jymn Magon and, I think, Carl Gears were set to develop it, and much like Tad Stones was locked in his office for about six months or so when I first started, coming up with Darkwing Duck and all the artwork or whatever. Jymn and Carl were figuring out the show for Duck Days or Quack Pack. And at the time, Home Improvement was a big hit for Disney ABC, and they got the idea that Donald would be like the Tim Allen character. And he would have Huey, Louie, and Dewey, much like Tim Allen was the harried dad of the three kids. And the conceit was gonna be 'cause Donald couldn't really, he didn't have that many phrases he could say that... Disney actually had a list from the 30s they would hand to us, say, "These are the phrases that are recognizable, that Donald said." Because there just weren't that many words that you could make out, the way he talked.

0:53:26 DS: So their conceit was that he would have been a tailgunner in some kind of war and nobody could understand his instructions, so the military sent him to allocution school. And he would learn to speak clearer so that now he could do the sit-comy stuff with the kids and they can interact and stuff like that. So they had this whole thing worked out based upon the harried dad interacting with... And the way I hear it, they went to pitch to Katzenberg and the whole table of Disney suits. And they said, "Okay so, in this Donald, he went to allocution school because nobody could understand him in the military. Now he can speak a lot clearer." And that's about as far as they got.

0:54:07 DS: And Katzenberg says, "Wait, you wanna change the duck? You're gonna change the way Donald Duck talks?" And that was pretty much the end of the pitch, so that was it. So six months of work down the drain, 'cause without that they didn't really have a show. So then it became just really harried and it became Daisy Duck would be a roving reporter, and the kids would be tagalongs and Donald would almost be comic relief. You'd cut to him in the hammock doing gags and stuff like that. And it was a weird time at Disney 'cause we were between shows. And I think I wrote the Bible for Quack Pack, but I guess the show was okay. I'm not sure how it did in relation to the other ones. I don't think of it as one of the great ones.

0:54:49 S1: Jim Peterson, writer.

0:54:51 Jim Peterson: The origin of it is kind of muddled a little bit 'cause it kinda went through a whole bunch of different creative hands. So there was, I think it was originally Jymn Magon's project, and then he ended up leaving Disney. And Carl Gears took over. And then Carl got taken off the project and it was turned over to Kevin Hopps, who was our original story editor on Darkwing. And on the artistic side, Toby Shelton was running it, and they had kind of very different views of just between the two of them, how they wanted the series to run. And Toby really loved classic Donald Duck cartoons, and he kinda wanted to take it that way. And Kevin was more, it seemed, more on the sit-comy kind of stuff. We came in. There had already been a couple scripts written, but we ended up rewriting on what would become essentially the first episode, which was where Donald Duck gets drafted back into the Navy, of course, for some bizarre reason.

[music]

0:56:14 JP: The one that came out, kind of was still watchable was an episode called "The really Mighty Ducks". In it Huey, Dewey, and Louie become superheroes and Donald becomes a super villain called the Duck of Doom. And the whole battle is just about Donald trying to get the boys to clean their room, and they're doing everything humanly possible to, or duckly possible I suppose, to avoid cleaning their room.

0:56:41 Donald Duck: Clean this room or else.

0:56:47 Speaker 20: Clean our room? The nerve of some people.

0:56:50 Speaker 21: We're much too busy.

0:56:52 Speaker 22: We got a million things to do.

0:56:55 S?: We got nothing to do.

0:56:57 JP: And when Duck Days was winding up, it was an era where Disney was letting go of all of their staff writers. During the Bonkers run, they were also doing a couple other series at the time. So there were like 51 staff writers at that point, at Disney TV Animation. And when we finally left at the end of Duck Days, there were less than ten. So part of the reason was that Disney lost their market when Fox acquired the rights to the NFL. And a lot of stations that were independent and carrying the Disney Afternoon, signed up with Fox and had to drop the Disney Afternoon for the Fox cartoons. But at the time, that was our perception on the executive explanations for why the affiliates were dropping the Disney Afternoon. So that and also, at the same time, Turner acquiring Hanna-Barbara. Then he let go of all of the staff writers and decided to go freelance, and Disney kind of followed suit on that 'cause there were a bunch of writers available on the freelance market that didn't used to be available.

0:58:01 S1: In 1997 Disney purchased ABC, which was the final nail in the coffin for what had been known as the Disney Afternoon. Not only was that over, syndication was basically over as well. With their new network, Disney went full Nickelodeon, even bringing in Geraldine Laybourne who headed the Nickelodeon network. And Disney Television Animation changed quickly in response.

0:58:24 S1: In an attempt that the press called The Nickelodeonization of Disney, they bought Doug out from under Viacom and brought in Joe Ansolabehere who helped develop Hey Arnold! And Paul Germain who co-created Rugrats, to launch Recess, which became the flagship show of Disney's One Saturday Morning. With One Saturday Morning, Disney would retake the title of the number one kids block. The shows were far different than what had been done in the past, and the familiar faces that had transformed television animation like Gary Krisel, Greg Weisman, Mark Zaslove, and Jymn Magon, no longer wandered the halls. But a few were still there. Tad Stones.

0:59:02 TS: They had a luncheon at the rotunda restaurant where they invited the key people in the department, key creative people in the department were all there for the executives to introduce themselves. And Jerry Laborne, [0:59:17] ____ that she's talking about her direction. And she says, and obviously they had worked this out before. Says, "Dean, I hate ducks." And then that was Dean Valentine, and he replied. "I hate ducks too." Which was basically crapping on 80 percent of the people in the room, to say nothing of you would not have been offered a job because there would be no job to be had if it wasn't for those shows that you're currently crapping on. I was luckily on vacation during that luncheon. I don't know how I would have reacted. I wouldn't have said anything, but I might have walked out, which would've had the same effect. But it was totally disrespectful.

1:00:00 TS: You can certainly say, "You guys have done a fantastic job. And now the market's changing, we want to do something entirely different and we're looking for new ideas, and here's the ideas we're starting with." It's like, "Why do you have to piss on something to move forward?" So that was, again, this... They had a pitch, they had a strategy. Upper upper managment had signed off on it. So it's just basically, here's our show runners and some of you are gonna be working on these shows and some of you are not. So it's just a management thing. It's not like a slow evolution. It is just, "Hey, this is what we're doing now." And it's like, "Okay, are we doing any more of that?" "No, we're not gonna do any more of that, but we're still gonna do those feature spin-offs 'cause they're still doing well."

1:00:45 TS: That's that, you know.

[music]

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-look-back-machine/id1257301677?mt=2

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