#it was so perfect as a concept too: an episodic monster-of-the-week kind of show is LITERALLY made for scp

[simcardiac-arrested]

astute viewers might have noticed that i;ve been scpmaxxing lately. and so yesterday i rewatched confinement after like, 6-7 years? and the most bizarre thing about that show is that it was actually good. it was actually good.

[spnfanficpond]

June 2024 Angel Fish Awards

(Angel Fish design by @slytherkins!!)

Every month all of you fantastic writers work your asses off to post some truly incredible stories. Our Angel Fish Awards are the way for all of us, as a community of writers and readers, to lift each other up and give praise to those who have captured our attention and deserve a few kind words. (Click here to learn more about how to nominate a fic for an award!)

Nominated by @autisticandroids

The Horror of No Detrimental Redaction by sp8ce (AO3)

Really top tier whump that is also a super attentive cas character study which is also willing to sit with him in a really uncomfortable space

The Trapdoor by hal_incandenza (AO3)

it's an epic rewrite of dabb era with a level of attention to detail that i've rarely seen in any fiction. the metatextual elements are carefully woven in and the character beats feel real. plus, it's an almost episode by episode rewrite and the new monster of the week casefic elements are fresh and fun. also it answers the question what if apocalypse world was good.

finer things by @explainslowly

i think it's maybe the ultimate pinnacle of the deancas triangulation of desire genre. when dean and cas have weird sex via a woman... one of my favorite things. and this is my favorite iteration.

By Your Hand by @restlesshush

this is my favorite relitigation of moriah that i've ever encountered. cas is so crazy in it. you can kind of feel that things will eventually work out without that coming off as cheap. it's perfect

~*~*~

Nominated by @candygrammes

LIMBO by entselene (AO3)

It's the creepiest. angstiest, scariest story I've read this year. Sam wakes up in Sioux Falls Hospital horribly injured, with no idea what happened. Not only that, but Dean is nowhere to be seen. Why? Has Dean abandoned him?

Nominated by @charliethealpaccaso

Strange Encounters by deanandsam (Ao3)

I loved the idea that there are dog versions of dean and sam along side the main sam and dean that I found it cute but also opened up a whole side story I wish there was more of.

Dogs Don't Pay Taxes by Zetal (Rodinia) (AO3)

There oddly is a huge lack of dog!sam fics on A03 that I love to try and spread the word of the ones that are out there. This one was cute both prompt wise and just made my day when I came across it

Faithful Companion by brokenlittleboy (AO3)

What if during season two Sam developed a whole new issue with his psychic powers and turned himself into a dog then this is the fic for you. Dean does mess around with him in this fic but I think it was a fun and interesting read for the concept

~*~*~

Nominated by @glygriffe

Why’s every song is about love (or drinking too much) by @quietwings-fics

They didn't give us enough Sam and Castiel scenes in the show. Here's a bitter-sweet one between the two of them, talking about Dean and the whole 'unrequited love' thing. A ficlet the gives a Destiel fan just the right amount of heavy heart.

It’s the Stars that Lie by @seperis

Ok, this fic doesn't need recommandations, but it's still needs public praises. To fully appreciate it, you need to read the fever dream that is Map of the World first, but I love how the author builds on the glimpses that the episode The End gave of the apocalypse!world. The OCs are interesting (and many of them are POC), and the lovely slow burn between Dean and Castiel is spiced up with the fake boyfriends trope.

Since I've Been Loving You - Remaster by tgel210 (AO3)

I like Castiel's first-person POV, Dean being a musician without being a rock star: it feels close to home like my next-door neighbor is talking to me about the love of his life.

Closer than they appear by sunkenfox (AO3)

Dean and Castiel figuring out what their life could be together by looking at Misha and Jensen is interesting. Even more interesting is the concept that like it or not, the Supernatural characters would not exist in their world without the writers and the actors in an other world. That Dean and Jenses share more than a face; same for Misha and Castiel (even if the difference are more obvious between the last two). A story of discorvery on a meta level, hiding inside a cute Destiel and RPF romance.

he feels no control of his body by withthekeyisking (AO3)

A wonderful but sad exploration of Sam Winchester throughout his life; from his lack of bodily autonomy to his dying faith in god(s) and humanity. With just enough brotherly love to leave the reader aching from loss and something like betrayal. (I love Dean, but he his a royal dick to his brother sometimes)

~*~*~

Nominated by @handsliketruth

evergreen endless by @whiskeyjuniper

A glimpse of endverse!Dean and Castiel during the earliest days of The End, via Chuck (prophet? god? something in-between?) as he continues to chart their story...and struggles to keep them from their inevitable collision despite their wildly infuriating pattern of falling into it... (full disclosure, this one was a gift for me, but I would rec this anyway 💛 dark, spicy, funny, clever meta fun)

But I Ain't Dead Yet by @bloodydeanwinchester

I cannot wait to see how this one plays out! Clever and charming with a fun hook: what if s4 Dean and Cas time-traveled back to 1x12 Faith to save Layla? (I would read a million words of Dean watching faith!Dean and Castiel get along 😂)

~*~*~

Nominated by @heavenssexiestangel

Bad Day Love by @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes

it's a cute pick-me-up story with one of my favorite ships. I really like how Arthur is so soft with Dean here.

Bedtime Routine by @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes

It's another rareship of mine andI love how they care for each other here and take care of Emma.

The Fool's Journey by @ladyknightskye

I know I was the artist for this story but - what Meg wrote for my art is awesome and it features one of my favorite characters - Gadreel. The journey he has in this fic is extremely important

~*~*~

Nominated by @jinkieswouldyoulookatthis

Presence by @ani-coolgirl

This story broke my heart in the absolute most beautiful way. It's sad and sweet and doomed and it haunts me still.

~*~*~

Nominated by @mariekoukie6661

Stitches by @kittenofdoomage

Its cute! I like it!

Sweet Little Lies by @impala-dreamer

I like how funny it was despite all the angst!!

~*~*~

Nominated by @masoena

Nothing Ever Really Ends by @nyxocity

Beautiful heaven fic with Sam and Dean, bring tissues, post S15E20

In Silence Sealed by @fiercelynormal

Dean loses his hearing but starts talking his thoughts out loud beautifully written Smitty short

Love, Your Brother by @eninkahootz

Sam and Dean communicating by letters btw heaven and earth post-series. Work in progress and so well written

~*~*~

Nominated by @mrswhozeewhatsis

Cretaceous by tiamatv (AO3)

This is a cute, fluffy romp through Jurassic Park as a Destiel fic! You don't have to love dinos to love this fic, but I imagine it would make it even better. If you're looking for something sweet and light to read before bed, this is the bedtime story for you!

~*~*~

Nominated by @rainythursdaynight

Clean Air by @anactorya

I read this story when I was maybe 16 and re-read it twice or three times in the year after. That being said, I can remember it almost excruciatingly well. I'm a post-apocalypse gal and I crave anything in that genre, so it was doubtless that I'd love this story. But the world-building done in this story? The characterization? The tension it manages to build? It's so gripping and exciting and I remember reading it worried out of my mind for the characters and exhaling the deepest breath as the story drew to a close. It's a not too dense read and an enveloping one, you'll forget you're above ground by the end of it!

Empty Spaces by @schmerzerling

This story made me fall in love with writing again. It's so heavy with how it distributes emotion in its words, but also so soothing too. This reads like watching a glass vase get tipped over the edge of a table and, maybe distantly, wondering if someone will catch it in time. But it doesn't quite matter because the flowers are beautiful and if you're crying then it's about the flowers and not the vase. I highly recommend this story to everyone, heavy as its contents may be. I felt safe reading this, I ached, I adore this story beyond words can capture.

Phantasma! by @thisisapaige

I very rarely read things that are horror inclined (funny as that is given the nature of Spn), and maybe this story is not considered horror either, but it left me just on that edge of eerie and it was exhilarating. Most of the story is sweet, and cathartic, as Dean rebuilds his life outside of his family and finds that in Castiel. But the mystery of it all, the unknown, it left me waiting for the other shoe to drop and this writer was excellent at making that payoff worth it.

The Art of Falling by @zipegs

This story was gritty and ugly and didn't pull back punches when it came to its emotional weight. Recovery is a nightmarish process of relapse and pain and relief and this story embodied this with its characters beautifully. This story was lonely, in the sense that its only two characters yes but it also felt a lot like reading about two characters pitted against the backdrop of everything. The world, the universe, existence. It made me feel small but so vast at the same time, and it was so utterly human (funny given the context of the story). It's a short and beautiful read that left me aching but in a way that was comforting as opposed to alienating.

With The End Came You by @lotrspnfangirl

I adore zombie apoclaypse AUs but so few of them focus on the characters' growth alongside the events of the series. And so few of them do side characters justice. This story was THE exception. Not only does the progression of the characters not sideline the plot and vice versa, but the story handles people so so well. You have those that stick around for long, and those that don't, and it treats both parties so faithfully that I'm left emotional over side characters I've only had a page worth of content with as much as the main characters I'm with the entire time. This is a zombie apocalypse AU that puts people first and foremost, and its so human and such a rewarding story to those that have even the smallest interest in these types of AUs. And the progression of the plot is so smooth and natural, TWD could never (and I love that show so take with that as you will).

~*~*~

Nominated by @samanddean76

Dark As Midnight (And You Don’t Look The Same) by @kassyscarlett

This is a story that follows a young Dean (17 years-old) out looking for a good time and running into an older man that gives what he wants. Not realizing he knows him, that he is in fact his Sammy. This story is so good! Time-travel, the follies of youth, needing to be protected from yourself, and realizing years later what that random encounter really was. It is part of a series, but works as a stand alone. But the entire series is worth checking out.

Coming Out Of The Dark by firesign10 (AO3)

It's a story about others helping one they know is broken, giving him what he needs so he can move on and live the rest of his life. The Richesters visit Sam in the bunker after Dean's death, and give him one final night together, so that he might carry on. It tragic and beautiful and has all the feels. Highly recommend.

~*~*~

Nominated by @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes

Interspecies Romance and Its Associated Perils by suspiciousflashlight (AO3)

I have read this story many, many times. It’s adorable and hilarious. It’s cute and awkward in a way that someone who isn’t sure how to tell about a weird scar or birthmark is. The ending is the best part of the entire thing.

A Helping Hand and Thrilling Touches by mydestielbabies_67 (AO3)

I don’t normally nominate smut but this was just amazing. It was beautiful, and what and intense.

The Cherry Pie Club by zation (AO3)

This is a work in progress. It’s great! Zariah is such a great writer in so many genres. This one is about Dean exploring bdsm for the first time and ends up also realizing things about himself too. Poor Dean learns the hard way that it is Cas he loves about bdsm but still. Their connection and energy with each other is felt as you read. Highly recommend reading!

Absolute Beginners by @ahurston

Chapter 5 made me scream then go feral and foam at the mouth.

Dancing moves by faithlesshunter (AO3)

I am not normally one to read infidelity fics; however, this is destiel. It’s the holidays and Cas and Dean get left alone to reconnect. They tried to be a couple at the beginning once Cas came back from the Empty but they weren’t ready for it. Now, years later and they are! The confessions and the hot smut is just so exacting for them. It’s gorgeous! Dean has always loved Cas and Cas still loves Dean. Oh, I’d love to see how it works out but this reconnection is just purely intense and the dopamine is addictive. Good luck. MUST READ!

The Case of Dean and Castiel's Extremely Resolvable Tension by CanonFodder (Tartan_Temptation) (AO3)

This is hilarious and hot AF! It starts out explaining the premise and drives right into it where Dean finally gives in. He is so happy he does too. He gets a wonderfully deserving reward. Poor Sam and his need for eye bleach. Lol!

Objects May Appear Smaller by @valandrawrites

The instant connection of Cas and Dean, and the science of this story makes this a one-of-a-kind a/b/o. Despite it being incomplete, it’s such a fluffy and fascinating read. It keeps you wanting more with every one of the six chapters. I hope one day they get inspired to write more.

Sentinel by Followsthebees (AO3)

I love this story. I love that it’s a different take on Castiel—he’s a gargoyle. It’s such a fascinating story and their connect is seen by the readers but not Dean. It’s interesting how Dean starts to notice and how intense and romantic it gets. Sex and flying are fascinating, man. This is written oh so well!

Three's Company by @luci-in-trenchcoats

Cas x f!Reader that becomes Cas x f!reader x Dean. It shows a very healthy ethical non-monogamy relationship. I love how the Reader initially freaks, I think, and when Cas and them come to talk to Dean, he freaks too. Everyone is patient with each other though. It’s as it should be when introducing polyamory to non-poly experience people. It’s so sweet and wonderful to read. It’s adorable. This is how poly fics should be.

Ketch and Release by NichePastiche (AO3)

Oh, the fluff and growth! I love this series so so so so much! I always get excited when I see they wrote more. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

~*~*~

Nominated by @spnbabe67

Finish What You Started by @dean-winchester-is-a-warrior

I love the tension that melts into silly goofiness.

Spin Cycle by @winchester-girl67

I usually don't do a lot of fluff but I loved the way the writer did this one.

~*~*~

Nominated by @thoughtslikeaminefield

Take A Shot by @rizlowwritessortof

It's just so sexy and Dean. Guh.

Rest by @zepskies

It's swoony and cozy and melancholy, and I love that for us.

The Iceman Cometh by @talltalesandbedtimestories

Ice play is one of my favorite things. Pair that with Dean Winchester, written by Sandra, and, well, you've got a winner.

Damned If I Do by @zepskies

I liked Lisa and Ben, and this is a very satisfying way to show that!

~*~*~

Nominated by @whiskeyjuniper

Truth & Despair by @shallowseeker

It's so compelling, every time a new chapter is posted I'm so excited to see what happens next. Also it's Shal's first fic and they're almost done with it so I wanted to celebrate it :)

(Divider by @glygriffe)

THANK YOU ALL, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK, AND AS ALWAYS, HAPPY WRITING!

- From your Admins and Manta Rays, @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, and @heavenssexiestangel!

[themundanemudperson]

Power Rangers Dino Charge: End of Season Review

So I thought making reviews for every Power Rangers season that I've seen would be fun! (And I'm ignoring the physics lab report I have to do lmao)

Don't really expect anyone to read this but eh this is for fun

Fave Character: Prince Phillip III of Zandar. He's my little bitch babygirl <3

Fave Ship: Chiley!!! Green/black ships my beloved. My fave rarepair is Phillip/Ivan. The gay devotion in knight/prince ships is peak

Fave Non-Romantic Relationship: Kendall, James, and Phillip. Auxillary Rangers ftw!! (fuck Zenowing)

Fave Episode: The Tooth Hurts! Chiley ep of all time

General Thoughts:

Dino Charge was the first season of Power Rangers that I'd ever seen, and was the thing that got me into the fandom, so I'll always have a soft spot for it. But even rewatching it recently has it hold up.

The characters in this show are what I think makes it one of the best Power Rangers seasons, and the best Neo Saban. All of them are so great, and while they never got too much depth (curse you adults that think kids can't handle complicated things) but they're still such interesting people. Dino Charge had a large cast, and they didn't always handle that many people that well (the auxiliary Rangers unfortunately get little to no attention), but the cast, in my opinion, is what made it so great.

The main cast is so lovable. Tyler, while he can be a little bland at times, is a little cutie so he's great. Chase is an interesting character that's very fun to watch. Koda is the heart of the team and he's a perfect little angel. Riley is our canonically gay (via the actor) overachiever representation. Shelby is also overachiever representation, with academic pressure from parents too! Then you have Ivan. Our loyal and chivalrous knight out of time. The gay devotion is real with this one.

I'm going to cut myself off here, because you probably get the point. I love the cast of Dino Charge. Barring Zenowing and Keeper. They're just useless to me

And because these characters are interesting people, they also have such fun dynamics with each other. I love that the Rangers really feel like a found family. You can examine any relationship between the Rangers and have something to talk about. I mentioned Kendall, Phillip and James earlier as my fave platonic dynamic, but there are a lot more to look at. Tyler and Chase as himbo bros, Riley and Shelby as gay besties , Koda, Kendall and Chase with their familial bond as they were the first Rangers together... they're all great.

And the villain situation in Dino Charge was.... interesting.

The concept of fighting a bounty hunter that captures his monsters from all over the universe is cool, especially because it gives an explanation as to why the monster of the week fights so hard - they'd win their freedom if they brought back an energem. But Sledge himself was kind of a boring villain to me. He never actually has any kind of motivation for getting the energems - we don't know if he wants them for universal domination or to sell them to the highest bidder. So he felt kind of flat to me. I did love Poisandra, Curio, Wrench and Fury though. I liked that they had more personality. And Poisandra is my girl and I love her. She should've gotten a redemption arc. Fury was also an interesting character because of his rivalry with Ivan. I do wish they explored it more, but what we did get was cool.

And after Sledge was defeated, we got Heckyl and Snide! Quite obviously a Jeckyll and Hyde reference, these two were much more interesting to me than Sledge. Heckyl's backstory is so sad 😭 and I love him more for it. The concept of a villain infiltrating the Rangers place of work and pretending to be their friend was so awesome. I wish he was a double agent for longer (and that they didn't wipe his memory of their base) but I liked it.

Then you had Arcanon for a little bit. This was so fucking stupid. Dino Charge made an original villain in Sledge, so I think they shouldn't have bothered with trying to work Arcanon in there (his Sentai counterpart was the head villain). It felt too rushed and they could've introduced the dark energem with something else.

And then surprise! Sledge again! Also hated that to be honest. They defeated him the first time. Why bring him back.

We don't talk about that finale. We don't

Technically I have to if I want to talk about Dino Charge (unfortunately) so all I'm going to say is that it's stupid and I hate it. Ivan and Koda never leave and they never fuck up the timeline with that dumbfuck idea thanks <3

(Genuinely there's a discussion to be had about the character assassination that was committed by making Koda and Ivan - who had accepted that they were men out of time and living lives with their new family - went back in time for some fucking reason, but that's for another post)

Now! Onto something I actually want to talk about! The Sentai adaptation vs the Power Rangers. I've seen both, so y'all are getting my thoughts as to how well they adapted it. I think Dino Charge did an amazing job. They didn't take what happened in Kyoryuger and copy that exactly (cough cough Samurai cough cough). They made their own story and used the footage well

I also want to talk about the thing that makes Power Rangers iconic - the actual Ranger bit. I'm talking about the power source, the suits, the zords, and the Super mode.

I really liked the energems as a power source. The idea of ancient stones created at the dawn of the universe that bonded to dinosaurs, then people, is really cool. I have issues with the "energems give them immortality" bit (because I'm sad that they have to watch their friends and family die) but it really does make sense. They are bonded to something that is ancient and powerful, and there should be some side effects from that.

Now for the suits! (One could argue that the suits are more of the Sentai's influence but I'm treating them as solely Dino Charge right now). I really love the Dino Charge suits. They already get points in my book for not having fucking lips (which I hate with a burning passion), but they do look cool on their own. I love solidly coloured suits that don't have white or black pants. The helmets are also really cool, and I love the dinosaur heads incorporated in them. So the DIno Charge suits are great to me

The zords in Dino Charge are also awesome. They look really cool. I wish they could be small to hang out with their Rangers, but alas, we can't have everything 😔

The Super mode in Dino Charge was a pretty solid one. I liked that Rexy could be small to fight alongside Tyler. Don't love the white on the suit, but at least his normal suit is a nice, solid red.

So yeah! That's my Dino Charge review. Thanks for sticking around after that word vomit lol. I love this season so fucking much

[wolfstrong]

okay everyone btvs season 5 thoughts and reflections! Sorry this review is about to be so incoherent. As is the tradition of btvs i think, this season started off really good but then started to drag its feet a little towards the end. However it wasn't as guilty of this as season 3 and 4, and some of those feelings might come from the fact it took me a couple weeks to get through the last couple of episodes. it was my own fault for not having enough time to sit down and enjoy the show, i haven't been watching it consistently since mid-April. Anyway though here are my thoughts about the overarching plot.

There were good parts and bad parts, but overall i think the main plot was WAY WAY better then season 4 and honestly a bit better then season 3 if not comparable. I personally don't like it when a show gets to a certain point where they are like "WE HAVE GOT TO KEEP RASING THE STAKES" so every season the big bad has to get bigger and badder. So like Glory being an actual god was kind of cheesy and lame to me and also didn't really have a function other then title to make everyone gulp like woowwww this monster is so terrible! she didn't really have godlike powers so like idk what the point of that was. kind of dumb idk. See the thing with season 5 is if you really think about the plot, it kind of makes no sense at all and its really stupid. but like also who cares if its dumb its literally btvs. I could really go into a list to point out how dumb a lot of stuff was. like why did the monks turn the key into a little girl who lives in the same town as glory when they could have just like turned the key into a rock that they threw into the middle of the ocean. If glory didn't know the key was a human for so long then why did the ritual to open the portal involve draining the blood from the key? wtf was the key before it turned into Dawn because from our understanding it was just like an object or pure energy or something. so like where does the blood come in. why was buffy able to close the portal by throwing herself in there and also why was she just like a dead corps after that don't you think she would have been sent to the hell dimension or wherever the portal lead. WHO THE FUCK WERE THOSE FUCKING KNIGHTS ???? LIKE SERIOUSLY WHO WERE THOSE KNIGHTS THAT WAS PROBABLY THE MOST STUPID PART. okay i could go on but rant over because it really doesn't matter, it was fine.

Glory was a pretty good main villian although her having the Ben alter ego was just kinda like. why is this happening. Ben was DUMB AS HELL. i feel like he very easily could have not been there at all and the plot would have barely been affected. Glory was good because she was like sooooo crrrazzzzy and i liked all her simpy minions and her always throwing fits and stuff but tbh sometimes the actors performance left something to be desired. it was like ALMOST there. she was ALMOST perfect it was just a wee bit off but i do like the concept of crazy girl main villain so bravo. They really put Buffy the fuck through it this season man. I was watching clips from season 1 and is like holy shit. she used to be a teenage girl. so I think this season did a great job of showing her struggles with having to grow up way too fast and dealing with having to be an adult in charge of a lot of important things but having no clue what she was doing. things were def a LOT heavier this season which is like nice because it was done pretty well but also kind of painful. i just want everyone to be goofy and happy again. lets break it down a bit and talk about episodes i liked

Buffy Vs. Dracula: I like how they started off this season with just a silly fun romp that really had nothing to do with the main plot. it was like a nice bit of breathing room after season 4 and solidified the feeling that the gang was all back together again. This episode is an example of like peak buffy in my opinion. just the right amount of self awareness.

Family: this episode was SO SWEET i love tara so much and I'm very glad they explored how she fits in with the rest of the group. like yeah maybe they will never fully understand her but they accept her as one of them and that's more important

Fool for love: The perfect spike episode honestly. also super fun directing and story telling at points, i love how spike is an unreliable narrator but we see the truth of his tales through flashbacks. This episode just like so perfectly explains why spike is like that, you still don't like him but you GET IT after this episode.

Triangle: this was just like so funny haha goofy episode and of course i love anything that focuses more on the secondary characters. I'm glad they addressed some of the tension between Anya and willow but tbh i need more! we need to talk about it more baby!

The body: yeah

The gift: tbh good final episode. the few before this were kinda like uhhhh but things got rapped up in a pretty epic and exciting way. i know its hard to have the right payoff for a season long arc so this was pretty satisfactory

Episodes i didnt like:

nothing was like soooooo bad just some felt a little off. the worst was probably Into the Woods. everything just felt so OOC and Riley leaving could have been done SO MUCH BETTER. probably the worst episode of the season.

Characters:

Dawn: i guess dawnie is kinda the only new character idk if ben and glory count but i kinda already talked about them so whatever. I LOVEEEEEEE DAWN SO MUCH I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! simply awesome I'm so excited shes part of the show now shes so funny and cute and younger sibling and a great addition to the cast

ALRIGHT THEN. lots and lots of people say the show falls off after season 5. actually initially i said i wouldn't watch seasons 6 and 7 but brother you KNOW i gotta. I'm way too obsessed. From the spoilers i heard it sounds very..... but maybe since my expectations are so low ill actually enjoy it. bu bye

[shazzeaslightnovels]

March 2023

(Series: Tensai Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei | Artist: Yuri Kisaragi)

No. of Reviews: 4

List of Reviews:

Urasekai Picnic 8

Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei 6

Aohal Devil 2

Danmachi 18

The Winter Anime Season has ended I have Thoughts on the shows I watched.

BOFURI 2 - This one had a rocky first half for me where it was very battle-focused and was starting to feel repetitive but it picked up a lot in the second half. I think once the concept of tame monsters was expanded with the other characters getting their own monsters was when I started to enjoy the series again. The best episode so far has definitely been Maple and Sally’s date episode where Kon and Syrup get power-ups. It was really cute and fun. This was delayed due to COVID so it hasn’t finished airing yet so I might touch back on this next month if anything changes but for now I think this is a solid season that’s not quite as good as the first but is still really enjoyable.

Danmachi 4 part 2 - While I’m glad J.C. Staff decided to give this plot more room to breathe in the anime than they have previous story arcs, I definitely found that it dragged far more than than the novel did. These volume are LONG and I was fine with that in the light novel format because I was able to read them at my own pace but having to be stuck in this plot for week after week with the situation changing little each week really made this season hard to keep interest in. It doesn’t help that it follows a few different groups and it became harder to keep track of who was where. I think this season might work better if it’s binged rather than watched weekly. I do want to give massive props to Saori Hayami though. She was fantastic and really made those emotional scenes land. I do also kind of wish there was one more episode as well to try to end the season on a more lighthearted note. Either an anime original episode, or one adapting parts of volume 15 or, even though it’s meant to take place earlier in the story, it would have been great to have gotten a condensed version of the first story from Familia Chronicle Episode Lyu. I just feel like a light hearted episode would have given us more catharsis after being stuck in this darker storyline for 11 weeks. Still a good season though, especially if you like Lyu, and I look forward to the inevitable season 5.

Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady - A perfect adaptation that reminded me of what makes this series special. The adaptation made the already stellar character work shine. I really enjoyed watching it every week and I’m so glad that Diomedea gave this series the love that it deserves. Also, watching the anime made me appreciate Tilty more. She didn’t make much of an impression on me in the light novels but the anime really made her stand out more. I probably wouldn’t want a second season given how directionless the story feels after volume 3 but it would be cool to see an OVA focusing on Lainie and Ilia and how they get together.

Misfit of Demon Academy 2 - I caught up on this one the week the delay was announced RIP. This season has had a fairly interesting storyline but it’s also messy and confusing and I was already struggling to understand it so this break isn’t going to do it any favors. I’ll probably touch back on this one at the end of Spring season but tbh I don’t remember much from the last episode I watched and I don’t really want to rewatch it so I might give up on it.

Digimon Ghost Game - Caught up on this as soon as it’s end date was announced. And while I don’t regret finishing it, I’m also really glad that I put it on hold when I did because that was such a disappointing finale and I would have been much more pissed about it had I not taken that break. Ghost Game started out so good with a lot of intriguing set-up and fun mysteries but pay-offs for all of those mysteries were really disappointing. It took far too long to advance the plot and when it finally did, the plot was rushed. It suffers from all of the same problems that the Adventure remake did. At least with this one I enjoyed a lot of the stand-alone episdoes so I’ll give it that. And I also want to give big props for Sawashiro Miyuki’s performance as Gammamon as that’s a major reason why I stuck around for so long and why I probably will rewatch this in the future to see if it holds up better if it’s not consumed weekly.

Next season, I am obviously hyped for the second half of The Witch from Mercury and I’m also looking forward to Yuri is my Job which I’ve read some of the manga volumes for and enjoyed. I really want to try Pokemon Horizons. I finally got a switch over christmas because Scarlet/Violet looked so freaking good and I really enjoyed it and it got me back into the franchise. It was my first pokemon game since Black/White 2 because I never got a 3DS so you can imagine how blown away I was by how many advancements the franchise has made. So I want to watch the anime, especially because Sprigatito’s in it, but it’s gonna depend on if I can find a place to watch it weekly in Japanese because I want to hear Suzuki Minori. I’m pretty sure I should be able to watch it with a VPN but we’ll see. Otherwise, I really like the key visuals for The Galaxy Next Door. The plot doesn’t seem all that interesting but I’ll probably check out the first episode.

[metalandmagi]

Winter 2021 Anime Worth Watching!

Since 2020 basically sacrificed itself to give us the most stacked anime season of all time, I’m currently buried under the weight of almost 20 shows airing per week. So for anyone who’s looking for some anime to watch this winter, here’s some first impressions! I’m speed running my list this time by only talking about the new shows...because otherwise this would be my great American novel. 

If anyone’s interested, I have master lists for both 2020 anime and 2019 anime, because there’s no shortage of fun things to find. 

New Shows!

And before anyone asks, So I’m A Spider, So What? isn’t on here, because CG spiders freak me out.

Cells At Work Code Black: This...less comedic spin off of Cells At Work (made by a different studio) takes the wholesome concept of Osmosis Jones meets cute anime girls and turns it on its head. In this much more depressing version, we follow a rookie red blood cell who works in the body of an overly stressed, alcoholic smoker who puts every strain on the body imaginable. I love Red Blood Cell AA2153 and his co-workers, but man am I glad we get the regular Cells At Work airing this season too, because I need something fun and uplifting after seeing my sweet son go through hell every episode. 

*Heaven’s Design Team: Have you ever wondered how God came up with some of the weird ass animals that live on this planet? Like, what’s the deal with giraffes? And why can’t we have dragons and flying horses? Well this is a comedy about the engineers and designers in heaven creating the new animals that are going to inhabit the Earth. That’s it, that’s the show. It’s kind of in the same vein as Cells At Work, having comedy blend with a surprising amount of educational information. If you want something light and funny, this is the show for you (though I don’t think it needs to have full length episodes). I’m just hoping there’s an episode about how the hell the platypus was created. Also it’s the only new one available on Crunchyroll.

Horimiya: A romantic comedy about a girl named Hori who fits the image of a perfect queen bee and a quiet bespectacled boy named Miyamura who never makes an impression at school. When the two meet by chance outside of the classroom, we see that Hori is practically raising a younger brother by herself, and Miyamura is actually a sweet guy who happens to be covered in tattoos and piercings. This show is an exercise in breaking down the images people have of others in their minds, and it’s a concept that really hits home in a fun and meaningful way. Honestly, this has become one of my immediate favorites. The characters have great chemistry, and I can’t wait to see more of them!

Monster Incidents (Kemono Jihen): When big shot Tokyo detective Inugami is called to a rural town to investigate a series of strange animal deaths, he finds a mysterious boy with the nickname Dorotabo who has been shunned by the other children in town. As the detective gets closer to Dorotabo, he discovers that there may be more...inhuman secrets to the boy than he realizes...and Dorotabo discovers that Inugami has some secrets of his own. This is a hard show to sell without spoiling the first episode, but it had twists and turns that kept me engaged from start to finish. I’m really interested to see where the plot goes, because I thought this was going to be something totally different just from the PV and series summary. If it plays its cards right, this could be a great paranormal detective show!

Wonder Egg Priority: A psychological drama about a girl named Ai who starts having dreams about a mysterious egg that promises to give her what she wants most in the world...a true friend. Before long, she begins to see how the dream world and reality are tied together, and trippy antics ensue. It’s hard to say more without spoiling anything, but I had to go back and add this one in because I made the mistake of thinking it was an OVA when it’s actually a full series. And what a series it’s starting out to be. This anime has all the psychological discomfort of a Satoshi Kon product with the beauty and style of something from Kyoani (even though it’s made by Clover Works). It’s really one of those anime you just have to see to understand.

Sk8-∞ (Skate the infinity): An original skateboarding anime from Bones, featuring a typical sports anime protagonist who takes a new transfer student who has never skateboarded in his life under his wing. Together they compete in dangerous races and take the skating community by storm. The character designs rival Appare Ranman’s in outlandish creativity, and I can smell the main characters’ ship dynamic a mile away (considering they’re exactly the same as the protagonists from Robihachi). If you’re looking for some wild and crazy fun with top notch skateboarding animation, don’t skip this!

2.43: Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley-bu (Seiin High School Boys Volleyball Club): Yes, it’s another volleyball anime. And no, it’s not just a clone of Haikyu. This story follows Yuni Kuroba, a physically built but emotionally weak teenager who finds out his childhood friend Hajime is moving back to their hometown for high school. Yuni discovers Hajime has become an exceptional volleyball player and they join their school’s volleyball club hoping to turn the unknown team into a rising star. If anything, this anime is much more like Stars Align or Free, where the sport is a backdrop for letting the characters explore their personal problems. Or at least it seems that way after the first episode. I went into this show ready to throw it in the trash because how could anything compete against my beloved Haikyu, but I found myself really enjoying the dynamics of the main duo and I’m curious to see what the rest of the team is like.

And speaking of sports anime rip-offs…..I can’t believe I’m including this but…

Skate Leading Stars: The show where the animators clearly wanted to design another throw away idol anime but saw how popular Yuri On Ice was so they decided to make whatever the hell this show is instead. It revolves around a fictional team sport called skate leading, and we follow the world’s most insufferable main character, a former figure skater named Kensei who wants to return to the ice and join his school’s skate leading team after he finds out his childhood rival is going to compete in the sport. Look, this show is just trashy enough to get a certain type of audience hooked, and it mainly has to do with the best boy of the winter season, Hayato Sasugai, the aspiring team “coach” who pulled most of us into watching this show with his punk appearance, snide comments and smug personality. He’s basically the lovechild of Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajima in a high school sports anime setting. The show treats itself with the perfect amount of sincerity to get away with being absolutely ridiculous most of the time without making you feel like you’re watching it from a dumpster...like Try Knights. You will know after one episode whether this show is for you. All I can say is, Hayato is worth the watch, and I haven’t seen any 3D animation used for the skating scenes (yet) so that’s a win for me. 

Honorable mention:

Jobless Reincarnation ( Mushoku Tensei): Yet another isekai where the main character is hit by a car (big surprise) and gets reincarnated into a fantasy world...but he happens to remember his previous life and narrates himself growing up as a jaded adult. I’m only including this because it looked amazing animation wise, and I love the opening where getting hit by a car and dying is actually traumatic. And I love the protagonist’s parents (who are retired adventurers who just want to bang all the time). But honestly...the main character is the fucking worst, and I don’t know if I want to keep watching it because of how creepy and weird he is. Like...he’s the hit on your fantasy mom as a baby kind of creepy and weird. But for anyone who wants a cool looking isekai that had an amazing PV, it’s worth checking out. 

Continuing Series!

Because the real gold of the season is in all the established anime getting their next seasons, I’m just going to list some of the things that are also amazing and definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already (because I’ve already talked about most of them at some point and don’t know what else to say).

Attack On Titan season 4

The Promised Neverland season 2

Beastars season 2

Log Horizon season 3

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 2

Re: Zero season 2 (second cour)

Dr. Stone season 2

Cells at Work season 2

Osomatsu-san season 3 (second cour)

Higurashi New (second cour)

Jujutsu Kaisen (second cour) 

Not to mention all the shows I don’t watch that everyone else loves...like World Trigger (which I have seen quite a bit of, but long shounen shows are too much for me now) Quintessential Quintuplets, and Non Non Biyori. 

So there’s just some of all the anime airing this season. Hopefully, someone can find something they like. Here’s to a great year...well, of anime at least...

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales: Jaw$! or How Lena Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Webby (Lena Retrospective Commissioned by WeirdKev27)

Trigger Warning: Part of this review contains discussions of abuse which can’t be avoided but I still want to be senstive to my audience and any trauma they’ve gone through.  Welcome back weblena world to Shadow Into Light: My Lena Sabrewing Retrospective. And Jaw$ is here, long live Jaw$. Tiffany was a shark who bites the law she was in an episode i’m reviewing called Jaw$. 

And it’s the money shark before the storm as next month i’ll be going from two Ducktales reviews a week with the Lena retrospective and the last few episodes.. to three, as i’ll ALSO be covering the Della arc from season 1 in the build up to shadow war. And if your wondering if I expertly planned this to coincide with the finale, to the point the shadow war review and those leading up to it will be on the same week as the finale.... nope. I just got REALLLLY lucky as I already had all of that planned out, and the schedule for the  new episodes happened to synch up perfectly, ending just in time for me to revisit the series start and having Magica’s big in person appearance reviewed a week after we get her backstory in Life and Crimes. Though I am VERY happy it worked out this way as I get to properly celebrate the series end with more ducks than ever, and get to cover the pilot the same month as the finale, all things i’d of loved to do anyway and probably would’ve rejiggered my schedule to do. Point is lot of Ducktales content coming for this blog if you like that so stay tuned, but for now join me won’t you under the cut as we dive into a money bin of gay ducks, shadowy machinations, and Bad PR. 

We open as Lena and Donald awkwardly sit on the couch, waiting for Scrooge and the Kids to get home. Understandably it’s just.. dead silence.Given their a cynical teenager secretly working for and forced to obey a horrifying shadow monster and a 35 year old man who dosen’t like living in this house due to painful memories of his presumed dead sister.. and painful memories of pain in general, you have a huge awkward bowl of chips and “I really don’t want to be here right now”. 

Our heroes return though, and Louie tries to take some of their haul for himself but Scrooge stops that “It goes in the bin not to next of kin. “... Man in a Hurry if you would please. 

Thank you. Man in a Hurry everybody. He has to go now, he’s in a hurry. 

 As you can probably guess I do not like this, as it reminds me WAY too much of Scrooge’s worst “quirk” in the comics: how he’d barely pay his nephews, who are often hard up for cash mind you and one of whom is supporting three children ALONE, take them around the world and reap all the benefit for their hard work. It’s not like he did nothing, he did, but it’s way to exploitive for my tastes and can often sink a story if taken too far. It’s not AS bad... but they all went on the mission they all deserve at least something. I DO get keeping the rarest and most dangerous stuff for himself, as he is bankrolling things and does have two bins and a massive garage to safetly store them. But this just comes off as douchey for this version, who while liable to make mistakes with them, is far more nurturing towards his boys and girls. 

Thankfully this was course corrected next season. While Scrooge’s greed was properly restored.. this sort of treatment wasn’t. “Treasure of the Found Lamp” had him undergo character development and realize simply hoarding his treasures isn’t right or fair, and set up a musuem wing so both duckburg and his descendants can see them and get the stories behind them. And on not getting to take things clearly he’s eithe relaxed or stopped the policy as our heroes do have souveneers from time to time. Not a LOT mind, but little things like Dewey having a giant sword or Scrooge outright giving Louie one of his things show he did soften up. Though Della’s return and likely lack of tolerance for this stupid policy in the first place probably helped a lot, I also like to think he did change a bit and realize it was deeply unfair they didn’t get more than a few treasures of their own. So the writers did realize they kind of went overboard here.  I suspect this was more to setup for the episode’s subplot and to make Scrooge’s karma at the end feel justified. Speaking of which we get the start of said Subplot as Beakley comes in with a money cart and the news the board called. Why they called his house instead of his phone I don’t know, some things slip through the cracks when you running both a billion dollar company an da trillion dollar fiendish organization  for world larceny. I mean they clearly worked themselves so hard the other two apparently died between seasons. That or it was the diet of whiskey, orphan tears and grease in a wine glass both had. Bradford always told them it’d kill them though to his credit he only said I told you so twice at their funeral. 

For once no their not mad Scrooge is spending all the money they use to buy fowl jetskis, but because the Company’s having a bit of a PR nightmare now that Scrooge is back in the adventuring game. And we cut to the beanstalk they just adventured on having tore up a good chunk of the town and destroyed large swaths of it just to sell the point this isn’t their normal old man yells at other old man for spending all me money schitck, but a serious problem. As such they’ve booked him an interview with Roxanne Fetherly to improve his image and the companies. 

Scrooge scoffs at this, baffled why he has bad pr as his adventuring is GOOD for the city in the long run: He pays for any damages it causes, and likely at a cost no less which is a LOT coming from scrooge, and puts most of the money he makes on these adventures back into the city and his company, creating more jobs and better living conditions. He does get a wakeup call via  truly hilarous gag as Launchpad pops his head up to say “Good news mr. mcdee, it missed the orphange!” before getting ready to chainsaw the stalk for him. He quickly realizes MAYBE he needs some PR and agress to the interview. 

 This whole subplot really plays into one of the series main themes, one Frank brought up a few months back: Risk vs Reward. Adventuring is entirely about this, that adventure is dangerous, can cost you a lot as we see with Della and the aftermath of her terrible decision making, and can hurt people.. but it can also help people, bring money to those who need it, free those who are being oppressed and open new worlds to everyone. This subplot distills it down great: Scrooge is right that his adventures do bring in money, and as seen with the first episode brought in clean water and power with no drawbacks and only asked to be paid for it, which is fair given he still has to run machines and likely help relocate any workers whose jobs are now redundant to other parts of the company and retrain them. But it costs people their homes and jobs, not forever but still as long as it takes to construct, tears up roads and puts people in danger. It’s plots like this that make Bradford the perfect final boss for the series: He’s someone who blinds himself to the reward of all this and only sees the risk, and raises valid points even if he himself is deeply wrong. He’s right Scrooge causes a lot of danger and threat to the world.. but wrong in that he dosen’t see it’s all worth it for the good of everyone. 

But enough about future story arcs let’s get back to this one, as Webby excitedly greets Lena and hugs her, realizes she’s not hugging her back then gives her another squeeze anyway after claming to hate hugs when just a LOOK at Webby would tell you that’s false. The two are having a sleepover, Webby’s first ever.. and given Lena’s essentially an Emo Hobo and the closest thing she has to home is that starlight ancient amptheater that’s never properly explained. Seriously ancient ruins near Duckburg dosen’t suprise me, but at least tell me what they are and why Magica chose them. And why Louie hasn’t tried to sell tickets to Dewey boxing a gorilla in them. Or probably a possum I mean their on a budget and gorillas snap necks, but still i’d pay to see that as would we all. 

Point is it’s their first sleepover and naturally Webby’s first bit of smalltalk.. is how tucking in can be used for interogation techniques. I’d be more suprised if earlier this season it hadn’t already been shown Beakly regularly enrolls her daughter in the no murder, unless you really want to, hunger games every year. The fact Webby hasn’t become the bat is only because she hasn’t found a costume that’s the right combintion of pinks and purples to instill pantswetting terror yet. That shit takes time. 

Lena goes to the bathroom.. to talk to Magica who we properly get to meet. She did speak last time, but this ep is the one that properly establishes her personality for the reboot: she has clever plans, tons of power, if sealed currently, and is a genuine threat.. but she’s also a bit of a ham, in love with the old ultra violence and really short sighted in her plans, something we got hints of last time as her best solution to the Beakly Problem was  to just leave her to die and hope scrooge and webby, two people who love solving mysteries and unlocking puzzles, don’t investigate the horrifying death, accident or not, of their only friend and grandmother, and that neither, especially the 12 year old spiraling with grief, would suspect a former spy died. Thoguh in fairness on the spy thing it’s plausable Magica didn’t know that, but still it’s a bad plan. Magica has good ideas but is just so obessed with the brute force way of doing things she forgets the subtle approach works better.. and so far it has well for Lena.  Problem is it’s VERY clear by this point that Lena likes Webby, maybe not romantic styles JUST YET but it’s getting there. Webby on the otherhand has been in love with Lena from the freaking concept art which showed her blushing around her.. and that was in her 87 design.. which they thankfully changed. It’s not terrible but it just dosen’t fit well with this universe. Point is Lena is catching feelings and Magica realizes this and tries to gaslight her telling her she’d never acccept the truth abotu her and so on. As we all know and as we’ll see that’s bullshit but it’s an effective manipulation. We also find out Magica’s plan: she had Lena sneak a jewel into the treasure going into the bin, and it’s going to turn into a monster that will seek out the Number One Dime for them. She also vaugely hints that there’s something Lena needs from Magica. 

Once Lena returns, and Webby let’s her rabbit know the interogation isn’t over, she gives her possible future girlfirend a gift: friendship bracelets! They both put them on and it’s really fucking cute.. and will be both a tangible symbol of hteir friendship and a plot point several times, something I honestly hadn’t thoguht about till now. Lena, put off by the gesture not because she dosen’t aprpciate it because of the crushing guilt of lying to the one person who cares about her under the insucrtions of a sociopath, goes to Webby’s big old corkboard which is always fun to look at.. especially since it’s clearly the ONLY glimpse at Hortense we’re going to get all series. 

We’re not getting Grandma Duck either. Though at least Frank actually regrets that one. But the important part is one of the posts mentoniing Scrooge hates magic, something Webby elaborates on: He hates spells, hexs curses and what not and feels them a shortcut.  From the man who has a garage full of them. 

I do kid as I did realize there’s a valid expliantion for this: Scrooge will use magical items, protection spells that sort of thing.. but he uses them like anything else as needed. He’s too pragmatic to not say, use the jewel of atlantis to give a city clean energy and water he can montizie, or the split sword against FOWL.. but more often than not he just dosen’t need them. He collects them because it’s fun, oftne profitable.. and their simply SAFER in his museum wing, garage and second bin will get to in two weeks. He’s seen time and time again how people misuse magic, forget it has a price, or just rely on it instead of actual skill. He’s also clearly been on the bad end of a LOT of evil sorcerers and soreceresses, especially magica. Magic isn’t inherently bad, which in itself is a BIG message of Lena’s arc, it’s just somethign that’s the OPPPSOITE OF everythign scrooge is: sacrifcing others for power, relying on something besides yourself, distance attacks versus up close and personal phsycial attacks.. it was never going to be for him and tons of bad experinces with it only cemented it. He’s just not so stubborn outside of the santa thing to avoid something if it’s going to net him a profit or come in a pinch. 

So naturally Scrooge has banned any magic books from his house, as he has no use for spellcasting and any he’d need to keep for saftey or history’s sake are likely at the archives, but just as naturally, Webby smuggled one in and wants to try it with Lena ducking it and asking to play some games. I”m sure Huey has a few yugioh decks in his room go bug him. But before they can decide on one, the boys attack for a PILLOW FIGHT.... which is a sweet gesture and them just wanting to hang out, but ends with them all eating the ground and questioning why they thought attacking the duck equilvent of cassandra cain was a good idea. Louie decides to salvage it with a swim.. but since their pool has a boat in it he has a diffrent location in mind: the bin.

So while they head off to get head injuries, Beakly tries to prepare Scrooge as the Media are vultures and looking for the next scandal with public figures and it’s accurate. But given Scrooge’s natural mood is grumpus, this dosen’t go well at all and even a spray bottle dosen’t exactly help.. I mean it is the best method to deal with grumpy old men but it can only do so much. 

At the bin we get a lovely bit as Dewey prepares to dive and his brothers treat it like an olympic one, with both doing commentary, Dewey’s apparently response to if he was worried about brain damage was Nerp, and we get the wonderous national anthem of dewdonia. Just nice as well as lovely to see the brothers just having a crack and enjoying each others company with their own weird injokes but without the injokes feeling as forced as they were in “Beagle Birthday Massacre”. Things take a turn though as we see just what magica created with the stone... a giant shark made of scrooges money who eats that fucker in a single bite.. in this case Dewey. Louie and Huey naturally run off panicked.

So while Huey and Louie gain another scarring memory to tell their therapist when their older, Scrooge begins his interview with Roxanne Fetherly who.. honestly just weirds me out. Not for any personality stuff but because she has green feathers. And it just.. really feels WEIRD. I mean green ducks are a thing in real life.. but it just looks off to have such a pastel color on a duck when the other colors are white or tones meant to invoke real world races, allowing ducks to be black, latino, asian and so on and so on coded. That’s fine and blends in fine.. but with that metaphor the green just really dosen’t fit well at all. It feels like an early decision they made, but decided not to retcon or go with for anyone else which makes it all the more weird. We’re 3 seasons in , almost at the end, and the only other green duck we’ve seen was like that because of magic and the offputting nature of it WORKS for magica. Here I just don’t get it and I never well. But naturally Roxanne starts in on invasive, gotcha questions with no real good answers or time to respond, so fox news level questions, and then asks what part of ireland he’s from. 

Naturally that sets him off so while that rant goes on, literally next time we see him he’s still going on about it, we cut to the girls playing truth or dare.. and given Webby’s first question is about deepest darkest secrets the boys once again save her by running in... to report on the monster she created that just ate their brother. Lena brushes it off but does get them not to go to scrooge claming he’ll throw them to the shark himself. I mean he’s not comics scrooge so he probably woudln’t but their also two scared 11-12 year olds so it works well enough. They just need a way to go after the money shark. Enter launchapd who in the second best bit of the episode, says he sensed his best friend dewey was in danger. Beck’s delivery is what sells it.. and I’m not going to question it. He’s somehow alive despite presumibly living off a diet of spaghett-o’s, barely avoiding a car accident on his best days, and as we’ll find out later believing children in costumes are monsters he summoned when he was 8. The fact he suddenly has spider sense specifically related to people he cares about is honestly less of a surprise than the fact he’s not in heaven crashing God’s Speedboat into God’s Golden Castle with God’s Golden Lion riding shotgun. 

So they do the natural thing and.. steal Donald’s houseboat while he sleeps. He has no more involvement in this episode other than noticing it’s back and not in great condition at the end. I bring this up because this is one of Donalds ONLY apperances this season, and it’s part of the larger more irritating problem that he’s hardly ever used.. despite promoting him as a major part of the series. 

I will talk about this more during the Della arc as i’ts more relevant there, but needless to say it bothers me a lot and not knowing how to ballance it’s massive main cast was a constant struggle for the series even up to the final episodes going on right now. 

So our heroes head out on the bin late at night, where could the Jaw$ be she’s nowhere in sight. So they decide to use other treasure as a lure they either fished out of a bin or out of scrooge’s bathwater. How bathing in coins gets him clean I don’t know and frankly I dont’ think we want the answers to that and the idea of scrooge fully naked is so horrifying I forgot what I was talking about.

Ah yes our heroes are playing bait the money monster and find out it’s a shark, and Lena.. is not okay with that and goes to talk to Magica inside the boat. Magica tells us she has a name, Tiffany. Awww what a lovely name for a money shark. I would of gone with Rags to Bitches, but I may have brain damage.  Lena understandabily does not like the idea of getting eaten by a shark, asked to be informed and while Magica is mad at her for going after the thing, Lena reasonably points out that it was this or Scrooge got involved.  Up top Huey tries catching it with a bit of treasure on a rope.. after not shutting up about shark facts because “Facts comfort me when i’m nervous!” Precious angel. But Huey’s leg gets caught and he and Louie, somehow on the latter get thrown up in the air and chomped. Back bellow Webby has a suggestion: using magic. Lena naturally not wanting to blow her cover or really liking magic period is against it for now. 

Back at the interview, Roxanne brings on a special guest to prove people don’t like scrooge: GLOMGOLD!

Glomgold may create some issues for the subplot and we’ll get to those in due time, but damn if it isn’t always a pleasure to see him. He’s also on good terms with Roxanne... are.. are we sure this is local news and not fox news? Taking the word of a conservative greedy billionare over a progressive one seems like a fox move. Though I might actually watch fox news if glomgold was a commentator.  “I propose a red new deal instead of this blasted green new deal, I throw Scrooge to a tank of sharks connected to a generator, the tank turns red with his blood and that somehow creates power! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT MCDUCK” 

So we get the best bit of the episode as Glomgold tries to complain about his building being destroyed which would be fair... if he hadn’t tried to blow up Scrooge’s bin twice this week, with Glomgold going for THREE.. for threee.. for three... it dosen’t go off but it does get scrooge to say he’s glad the building was destroyed. Which is fair but NOT super great PR.  

Back at the shark things don’t get better as Webby and Lena argue over the use of magic, I mean as much as they can argue Webby just wants to know why she’s so cagey about this while they go with plan “Launchpad crash into it”. Launchpad also gives a hell of a monologue. Good on you bud. As you can see launchpad’s gotten 100% better since his low point in our last episode. That’s because it’s clear the writers had some struggle ballancing his amped up stupidity with actual competence, making him primarily jokey comic relief in the first few episodes and I wouldn’t be shocked if Terror of The Terra Firmians was written before a lot of the later episodes despite airing around the same time. But by mid-season he’s got his much more lovable charactersation of a dangerous moron..l but one who CAN be competent and is genuinely charming due to how much he cares about his friends and his job. They also dialed down the stupid down to an acceptable homer simpson level: still a danger to himself and others but hilariously so. Point is they fixed it and while i’ll complain about mistakes the show made I will give this crew all the credit for course correcting time and time again and actually listening to fan feedback.

So Webby figures they tried the Jaws option and lost the boat and launchpad, time for plan Magic. They hold hands, EEEEEEEEE, and try a spell.. and it clearly starts working but almost works TOO well, as Lena starts glowing first purple.. then blue. Hmmmm... intresteing. Lena breaks it off and Tiffany breaks out of the bin.. just as scrooge says on the news his adventures aren’t dangerous. 

Scrooge naturally goes to face it while Webby wonders why Lena didn’t go for it. To make it a triple Scrooge shows up in time to distract tiffany.. with the number one dime, which as lena found out earlier is on his person rather than at the bin like the public thinks. So while Scrooge puts up a good show.. seriously it’s really awesome and really neat looking, though he also gets VERY upset that people are naturally holding out buckets for the cash shark, which he’s not happy about because well.. he did EARN that money. Most bin money is stuff directly earned by him so fair enough. But while he’s you know, Scrooge Fucking McDuck, and thus puts up a good fight the monster eats him.. and gets the dime stuck in it’s tooth with Magica wanting Lena to grab for it, forgetting that minons, while mildly disposable, aren’t really replaceable when your SOUL’S ATTACHED TO THEM. That’s where Magica’s weakness is. her plans aren’t half bad but as I said, she’s far too bloodthirsty and short sighted. She has better ones than glomgold but ironcially they share the same problem of not thinkign them through. And Magica cares so little for lena she’s blinded to the fact her own personal saftey is tied up in her. 

Lena naturally dives for her future girlfrriend and heads into the belly of the beast. And it’s here her REAL moment of truth is. While the one last episode was noble.. it was also easy enough to brush off internal as pragmatisim. Letting Beakly die would’ve brought too much heat and been too easy to quickly go terrible, while saving her got her off Lena’s trail and gave her free reign of the manner. But here? Webby is about to slip into Tiffany’s stomach and whle she hasn’t digested anyone yet given who made Tiffany with it’s likely just because she hasn’t had enough mass to create chainsaws to carve them all up. It’s the Dime or Webby. Lena’s own freedom or the girl she loves. Nothing good comes from saving Webby.. other than Webby. Other than the one person whose truly loved her. I mean think about it: She was created by magica, abused for a good decade and a half. No one but Magica has had a chance to care about her and as we’ve seen Magica only sees her as a weapon to get back at scrooge and not as a person. Webby was the first person she’s ever made a genuine connection with, that’s been there for her, that loves her unconditionally and woiuld be there for her no matter what. And it’s in that moment Lena realizes she can’t sacrifice her for her own good... that after years of having to be selfish to surivive being chained to that monster... she can’t be this time. No mastter what it costs her.. Webby is priceless. So Lena recites the spell, growing bright blue and blowing up tiffany. Lena gladly hugs webby who reciorpates, awww gaybies, and Launchpad hugs dewey. Awww... what it’s still precious he’s a good surrogate uncle. The wacky kind who sleeps in a van on your lawn. 

So Scrooge is glad.. though it’s here his subplot falls flat. Him getting attacked by the media and getting a compupance by loosing tons of money from tiffany is fine. Evne if he earned it, his lack of care did bring this on him.. hte problem is they take it too far by having all his nemies show up, him unable to say anything and glomgold blatantly doing so just to steal from him. Otherwise the subplot is fine, a bit heavy on scrooge being a dick but it has to to work and puts him in an awkward situation. But this ending just feels to over the top to realy enjoy. And the series does do over the top humor well so I don’t know what happened here. But having a bunch of outright thieves steel his money instad of a bunch of citizens who didn’t know better and deserved it for the damage, feels wrong and it tastes wrong. 

Speaking of feels wrong and tastes wrong we get an INTEINTONAL dose of that as back at the amptheater, Lena and Magica argue about the situation and Magica trying to kill her. Lena tries to walk away but can’t.. phsyically. Magica won’t let her. And this is honestly a very crushing and very well crafted metaphor for how abuse victims sometimes CAN’T escape their abusers. Magica is verbally abusive, treats lena like she’s disposable and constnatly downtalks her self esteem. To Lena magica is nothing but a tool.. but like MANY children caught in horrifcally abusive situations Lena can’t get away. It’s a literal metaphor, an da good one, for how you can’t ALWAYS escape abuse easily, and this especially true for kids who have nowhere to go and hte law on their abusers side more often than not. It’s hard to escape an abusive parent and even harder when they dont’ consider you a person. I thankfully have no personal experince with this but it dosen’t make it any less of a problem nor any less noble of this show to tackle the subject in a frank, if fantastical, way, and a good chunk of Lena’s arc is overcoming this abuse and not letting her abusive past drown her. But for now.. all she can do is agree to do what Magica says till she can hopefully be rid of her. But the light at the end of the tunnel’s coming.. there’s just a whole lotta darkness first. 

Next Time: We take a break from the episodes to cover some Lena related comics for a double feature; The first Spies Like Us has everyones faviorite lesbian ducks go on a spy adventure that was never printed in the us for silly reasons we’lll get to and then the 87 ducktales comic dime after dime which features Lena’s predecessor Minima. 

Later Today: Close Enough Season 2 is here! I”m going to talk about it! Exclimation Points! 

If you liked this review feel free to follow for more. And if you have an episode of Ducktales or another animated show you’d like me to cover just hit me up via my asks or direct messages on here and comission it. And if you’d rather just support me on a monthly basis, head over to my patreon. THE LINK IS RIGHT HERE.  Even a buck a month would help and the more of you that donate the closer we get to my Duckcentric stretch goals. The current closest ones are 15, which would lead to reviews of The Goofy Movies and Treasure of the Lost Lamp, and 20 which would lead both to a review of the Super Ducktales mini series, and monthly darkwing duck reviews! So if you like me talking about ducks and want to bolt some duck reviews to the schedule, even a dollar a month would inch me closer to that goal. Eveyr bit helps. But money or not, it’s been a pleasure and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

[sickofthistoxicshit]

4x14 review - don’t read if you haven’t watched

I’ve been trying to write the review on and off the entire day, but the truth is that there are too many details and I sure as hell can’t go over all of it in one post so here’s my initial one and the rest will come in bursts later.

First off I want to start by saying that I’m glad that Maddie told Chimney, she looked so miserable, and she loves Jee-Yun so  much, she was so happy to have her and the fact that PPD can creep up on a new mother and mess with her head like this is so horrible. 😭😭

I truly hope that she and Chimney will be able to overcome it and enjoy (read exhaustingly but happily) raising Jee-Yun. I have to complement both JLH and Kenneth both did their parts so well. I absolutely love them together! ❤❤

Second (and I know it’s at the end but I’m too excited) I was so happy to see Nia!! 😍😍😍 I had the stupidest smile on face that wouldn’t go away, and now that they met by chance Hen and Karen can be part of Nia’s life too, make a new friend and Nia will be able to see her Denny regularly. It was a perfect scene! 👏💕

Third, I’m glad Athena and Bobby managed to finally sit down and talk about the attack from 3x17. It starts with both apologizing which is good, I’m curious to see how it would have played out if Eddie hadn’t been shot. 🤔

But that was such a sweet and heartfelt long overdue conversation, I absolutely adore bathena and I would have been a wreck if they broke them up! 

Bobby telling Athena: ”There’s this thing people say, ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ Because losing someone you love is such an alien concept you don’t want to imagine what it’s like. I was sitting in that engine thinking I was listening to you dying and I didn’t need to imagine anything, I knew what my life feel like without you in it, and it scared me.” - It was something that held true in this episode for both bathena and buddie, and it was completely heartbreaking. 🥺🥺

Bobby finally coming to terms with what happened and Athena going back to work, once she explained why she kept it from him. And both say the name of the episode as is apparently now tradition lol “Survivors” - and they really are.

I love how Athena talks Buck into helping her get into the building, even though it was a ‘help me save your dad’ moment for a lot of people, in my eyes she is appealing to the Buck who just nearly lost Eddie, begging him to help her not to lose her husband. 

Buck is reluctant at first because he knows how much Bobby loves Athena and wouldn’t want her to risk her life like this, but Buck has been on Athena’s side very recently and understands Athena’s pressing urge to go in for her husband.

Buck wanting to go in with her was expected, Athena’s insistence that she will not be able to protect him in there was expected too, she is going to save her husband but she wants her chaos child to be safe outside. I loved the Buck and Athena’s interaction here. 🤗🤗

“I got you.” Was said by two people in this episode, and in both cases it was to the most important person in their lives. 😭❤ (I meant adult partners, don’t give me the ‘but they have kids’ - kids always come first, it’s different.)

“I didn’t imagine that part right? you actually walked through fire.” Bobby was so cute asking that, it sounded half teasing - something similar to “You like me”. 😉

But Athena’s answer was serious, “Well, you were inside, I wasn’t going a little fire to stop me, I needed my partner back.” 🥺❤

We got a call back to 4x02 - only the roles were reversed now:

Bobby telling Athena, “Thank you for coming to get me.”

And she promises, “Always.” It was sweet, and moving. 

Have I mentioned how much I love them???

A little side-note - Athena telling Bobby that she wasn’t going to let a fire stop her from getting her partner back - is paralleled here, in my opinion to Buck actually going through gunfire to get to Eddie - to get his partner back.

Athena never walked through actual fire, the firefighters deal with, before.

This was Buck’s first time operating under sniper’s fire - something Eddie has experience with. (”At least no one is shooting at us.”)

They both committed this extraordinary acts to get their PARTNERS back!! 

Fourth and last for this post, Congratulations firefighter Albert Han - tell the truth, we all saw this coming from day one, when Albert was fangirling over his brother the life-saver and Chimney was trying to be rid of him lol.

I’m happy for him - I really like John too, I’m happy he’s sticking around.

Now, I know you’re missing my buddie part of the review - but it is so long - it’s getting it’s own post this time. 🙃

Overall it was a good episode, we got a mostly good story told here, I do however take issue with the time-jump. 🤦‍♀️

I mean what is that? Sorry too much actual, emotional, vital stories can be written here, but you know us male writers, we’re not good at this so we’ll just time-jump to where we can screw with you in other ways and leave you wondering about what actually went down in the time elapsed.

I will say this, however, this isn’t a monster of the week kind of show, emotional baggage and trauma doesn’t just disappear. And though I am concerned that we will not see the emotional fallout of Buck and Eddie’s shared trauma and the fact that they heal together this time, I’m talking about Maddie - showing her like this and then just give us an ‘oh, it was fixed when you looked away and she’s good now’ excuse, that will not be tolerated! - this storyline deserve a proper process and resolution.

Hope you enjoyed this post, buddie post will come up soon. 👀💜

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

Everyone needs a distraction sometimes, so open the gates of soliloquy, step out, stare up at the starry skies and tell me: what does Doctor Who mean to you ?

I quite literally did stare up at the stars for a little bit today so I could answer this XD  What does Doctor Who mean to me....the short answer, the best one, the most poetic one: the evergrowing expanse of fantasies, of kindness, and of love. Consider that to be the core idea, the thesis statement, to my soliloquy though, since you asked for one. When I was a little girl one of the first memories I have is of being in my grandparents house and seeing Rose and 10 on TV, I remember being a little obsessed with those two actually because of the adoring way he looked at her, and because of how powerful I thought Rose was. She’s far from my favourite companion now but her and 10 hold a special place in my heart as the first faces I remember watching on TV. When I got a bit older, maybe 7? I saw a bit of the Christmas Invasion, the whole time I was waiting for Rose to appear but then the Raknos spider lady scared me and I never finished it, I couldn’t sleep for weeks and my mum banned me from ever watching the show (I wasn’t really allowed to watch it in the first place). I was quite alright with that, but I eventually got round to watching the show again. This time, an episode from Martha’s era, New New York the rerun, and I loved it, saw The Eleventh Hour as well and I loved that, but I was still too frightened of any monsters there were so I avoided the show. It wasn’t until 2013, the anniversary episode, that I finally properly sat down and fell in love with the show. What made me fall in love with it, what did it mean to me? As I said, the fantasy, the kindness, and the love held in it. I think I fell in love with it way back when I first saw it, I just needed some time to grow into it. Whatever it was that interested me all those years ago, that dormant fascination I had, awoke the second I saw Clara and 11 onscreen and their unbeatable chemistry (or so I thought at the time). Not only the chemistry between them, the best friends, the Impossible Girl and the Impossible Doctor, but the sheer....ethereality and at times ridicule of the story, the perfect blend of emotional, and humorous. You’re giggling over 10 and 11 bantering and messing with War, then you’re depressed because “how many children were on Gallifrey that day?”. You’re impressed and empowered (I was at least) by Clara’s confidence, her courage even when in grave danger, her dry wit towards the boys as they “show off” and then deeply touched at those big brown eyes and the sorrowful compassion she holds in them, as she tells the Doctor, reminds him, of the standard he holds himself to. “You told me what your name meant once”. The moment I realised that the Doctor was a girl as well, and she was a Doctor that day, as she always has been. Everyone has one Doctor that is theirs and while I would definitely name 12 as my Doctor, I think Clara came first. She was the reason I kept watching after 11 became 12, because of course I was deeply saddened by that, but in time, came around again because of Clara, and stayed for...Whouffaldi.  Whouffaldi does have the greatest claim on my love for Doctor Who because they, as a story, embody everything I love about the show. The extreme kindness that the Doctor is, and should be, the love that is held in every act he commits for the universe. There’s losses, of course, but there’s this unbound idealism to their time in the TARDIS together. “If you have 2 choices and you don’t like either of them, make a 3rd choice” - a concept I think that is held throughout the entirety of Clara’s run, the standard she holds him to, but it’s never shown quite as blatantly as the both of them standing at the end of the universe, and all she needs to do is clasp his hand in hers, and ask him to stop. The fantasy aspect is not only the various and illuminating worlds they travel to, the dangers they face and tackle (if it was, then well apparently London is a fantasy since one of my favourite 2 parters is the Zygon Invasion/Zygon Inversion, for the beautiful and heart wrenching analogy for war that plays like a faint symphony in the

background right until the climax where it rises to an unforgettable crescendo) but the way they tackle it, the hope at the heart of every adventure. Whouffaldi is a romantic fantasy, a completely equal and loving relationship, the woman uplifted as far as she is to growing into his true equal as no other has, and in some ways better because of the power of compassion she holds and holds him to, however the fantasy element of the show is just the sheer idea of....the everyday ordinary person getting to run off into space, and do the most daring things, finding the bravery in themselves that they never knew they had, and equally, finding the extreme capacity for human kindness that they hold in their hearts. There’s a great deal of difference between RTD and Moffat era companions, with the most distinct one being that Moffat companions more overtly teach the Doctor of their humanity and this is conveyed through Moffat’s brilliant framing of the everyday as the ethereal, but at its core it is always this mad and entrancing alien who is made his best by the humans he love, by his Companions. Companions, such an archaic term don’t you think, for a friend? The show could easily call them his friends, they are, but they choose to stick with Companion in canon as well as out of it. And one could argue it’s due to the legacy of the show, but I prefer to think of the implications narratively, it’s a romanticism, there’s a connotation of a deep bond to the title of Companion. They keep him company, they are his comfort, they ground him as nothing else does, these “mayflies living for a day”. Companion is the one word summary, the one word answer, to this question, because the strength and weight of the stories are given by the companion, because we see it all anew with every new soul who enters those big blue doors, we are risen to courage and kindness with each new character who rises under each adventure. Whether it’s the Girl In The Shop and the Last Of The Time Lords, the Girl Who Waited and her Raggedy Man, The Impossible Girl and her Daft Old Man, whether it’s only to cross paths for a day or to be bound together til the end of time (or as can be the case with this very topsy turvey show, both), whether platonic or romantic, as caretaker, imaginary friend, lover, husband or teacher, the unrelenting power and commonality to every adventure, every story, is the Companion, is us, living the fantasy of fantasies. The dream of the impossible, of being ordinary and daring to run through space and time being as brave and kind as possible, seeing all the wonders over and over again, never the same because nothing is ever the same, and doing the best they can to make some kind of difference in the universe, without even realising they’re doing it, finding that ordinary is a special sort of extraordinary. If the Doctor offers the whole universe, within those doors, the Companion offers their soul in the humanity they teach him, in the moment they love the Doctor and take his hand, and their face is “seared into [his] hearts”. The universe and the soul.  The exact fantasy that a lonely little girl who was afraid of her own shadow needed. “Never be cruel, never be cowardly, and if you are, always make amends.”

[may-shepard]

Supernatural and Me, Painting With What I Hope Will Be Gradually Increasing Skill 1x01: The Pilot

In celebration of This Thing That Is Happening I’m watching Supernatural from the beginning. I’m a bit of a completist when it comes to media so I will very probably watch every episode, which means it’ll be sometime next year before I get to the glorious ending but heyyyyyy tv shows are forever. 

Remember when, unless something went into syndication or ended up in reruns, you could never see it again? Remember enjoying stuff and having no ability to rewatch, and never, ever, being able to obsessively rewatch or start anytime or decide what time of day was convenient for you to watch? When the only things on at 4pm were Sesame Street and Oprah?

Me neither.

This is going to seem like a total nonsequitur but recently I’ve become aware that (1) I have too many home projects to do and (2) I have been skimping of self care and R&R and (3) one of those projects involves teaching myself how to paint petrykivka, because I’ve always wanted a kitchen that looks like this:

Okay, not exactly like this because I have modern appliances and my city bylaws wouldn’t support the use of a woodstove no matter how aesthetically awesome it is but I totally have ambitions to paint my kitchen cupboards in a much less accomplished version of this style.

I have no artistic training but there are loads of tutorials on this online and I’m willing to paint my way through as many episodes of Supernatural as I need to in order to feel like I’m not going to totally fuck up this fun project so WHEEE and also fair warning: if you don’t want to watch a non-artist struggle with basic concepts for a longass time, maybe look away. Also if you don’t want to watch a previous not-viewer of Supernatural watch it from the beginning, well, you’d best also look away.

Also fair warning: I’m a horror fan, and since we’re in horror territory I’ll probably talk about horror tropes a bit. I’ve got an academic background that includes writing about Victorian horror lit so I’ve got a high tolerance for the representation of masculinity in pop culture and I also think it’s hilarious, so I might make some fun of the show, but just know that it’s all in the name of enjoying it. If that perspective isn’t your cup of tea, you know what to do.

Anyway here’s Supernatural s1e1: The Pilot. For painting, I’m going work on the brush loading and stroke technique from the first five minutes of this handy tutorial which won’t embed for some reason.

THE PILOT

I have many favourite moments so far but I think my absolute fav is the high male doofery of John hearing Mary scream, run upstairs to see what is up, find baby boy child Sam comfortably tucked away in his crib, and forget completely about Mary or whatever is up with her (HA! see what I did there?) until her blood literally starts dripping onto their son. Lol 100% realistic in my opinion, this is what happens in the male brain when a woman has a genuine problem.

I’m fine, by the way.

12 minutes in: oho! a highway that eats men. I approve.

15 minutes: oho! a Victorian ghost lady in her Victorian ghost underwear who eats men. I APPROVE. [Later note she’s not Victorian but her underwear kind of it? I continue to be confused by this.] I love that she glitches like a bad VCR tape and this driver dude doesn’t blink, hahahaha.

Something I really enjoy--and I mean genuinely enjoy--about horror-esque media made by and for men is that male sexual anxiety as a driver for monsters of the week makes for incredibly powerful female monsters, like, I know this one will probably be defeated but I am all for her apparently enormous sexual appetite, demand for compliments, perfect mid-2000s eyeliner, and relentlessness. also like lolol don’t be led by your dick bro, I once knew a guy who got a bird thrown at his face and then ghost-eaten is a message for the ages.

Can I say I am really looking forward to watching this whole deal become increasingly gay, like, what a treat.

Also ayyyy non-recurring goth gf:

And non-recurring goth gf gf:

Can someone please point me to the fic where these two solve supernatural occurrences through vaguely Satanic practices? I headcanon that they’ll exorcise your house by infesting it with a larger, more powerful, but somewhat more polite demonic entity than the one you’ve already got. Problem solved!

Today’s palette has been determined by the abundance of mismatched colours I have left over from various stencil projects, most of which I have yet to complete. In any case I’ve got some nice acrylic paint but for practicing brush strokes this old chalk paint will maybe do (spoiler: it smelled bad and it did not do, but I got at least one hilarious piece of art from it, see below). Today I’m working in indigo, pepto bismol, and gold. 

Petrykivka paint strokes are charmingly simple until you try to do them. Today I’m practicing with one colour at a time, and then mixing. (This video explains the different strokes.)

To be fair, this paint is very thick and crappy, so the struggle is real, lol.

I mean the victims are all men, this is quite a fantasy yeah? like, WhAt if thErE wAs a GHost wHo eNDANGered the MenS??? 

Like, Dean searches for this:

And he gets this:

Hahaha ao3 tags: extreme AU, on what planet? not this one

“Sooner or later you’re going to have to face up to who you really are” oh Dean.

Like though the ghost lady supposedly died in 1981...maybe her whalebone corset killed her? Anyway she drives the Impala for a bit, so like, steals the symbolic penis of the male protagonists, lol. Good times, you go ghost lady.

38 mins? Rapey ghost is rapey. Uncool, lady ghost. Very uncool. Also I think you might have a plumbing problem. Okay a pretty serious plumbing problem. I like the effects as the ghost kids flush her (and themselves, I guess) down the spiritual toilet. Nice work.

44m from a previous viewing attempt I have a vague recollection of being somewhat attached to Jessica, and Jessica in her smurf pjs, and then being just a little disappointed by the end of the pilot and here we are...hooboy

Is it Sam? Is it Sam’s psychic Need for Adventure that is slashing the midriffs of these women and sticking them to the ceiling? Was it so intense that it manifested practically the moment he popped from the womb?

Please enjoy my half arsed brush stroke techniques that I practiced on this terrible portrait of Jessica and / or maybe Mary but probably Jessica. I didn’t want to use as much orange and yellow as I would have needed to do flames around her so I did a bunch of flowers instead lol.

[totallypathet]

Episode Three

First of all...what the fuck was that challenge. And what the fuck was the logic to judging it?! I spent so much of this episode just being confused. I think it would have been so much better if they were allowed to come up with their own ideas and characters, instead of having this really narrow space to work in; that was bizarre to me. Like Just Jan could have done a really delusional, high energy character who was the worst singer in the world; that would have been funny! Instead they stuck them with these bizarre storylines that made no sense, and had very little humour in them. Idk whose choice that was but it was a choice. Anyway, let's get into the rundown!

1. Aiden Zhane

I am not living for Aiden at all. Her attitude in both episodes has let a lot to be desired for me. And also, that runway? What was that? I could buy that dress on Asos, glue some bows to it and have that look. The concept was cool, the bows falling on her? Cool idea. But if you're going to do that then you need to Do It, yknow? Like it would have been cool if she'd had a huge wig completely made of bows. Or if she'd had an umbrella and made it look like it was raining bows, or something, that could have been really cool! It could have been amazing and she took a really easy way out. Disappointing. And her performance was dull. She deserved to be in the bottom more than Nicky Doll.

The only thing I will say for Aiden in this episode is the way Brita and Redacted behaved towards her was really uncool. They did that whole "you didnt lead us at all", and then told her that they carried her? You know that if she had led them they would have totally thrown her under the bus and said "well we do this professionally and we wanted to do this, but she was the leader and she made us do that". It was totally a damned if you, damned if you don't; and that was really unfair.

2. Brita

Guys, I am Bored of Brita. I am over it, and I am underwhelmed. I haven't seen anything from her that I've enjoyed! Her looks have been dull, she's not that funny, and I dont like the way she behaves (like I said with Aiden). She wont be next to go home, but hopefully she wont be long.

3. Crystal Methyd

STOP TRYING TO CHANGE CRYSTAL METHYD! I'm so sick of them going "oh her makeup is always the same", when it has been different each time!! She has a style and a brand, but it's not the same face!! Aiden Zhane does the same fucking face, none of them have picked that out! Loads of queens come in and they only have one face! Not mentioning any names Silky Nutmeg Ganache and Roxxxy Andrews. They got away with it because they were beauty mugs and that's the type of drag this show is biased towards. Crystal Methyd is an artist, let her do herself! That runway look was ugly though. Having said all that. Her face was gorgeous, I loved her makeup, I just thought that look wasnt very her! It didn't suit her somehow, it wasn't right. But she tried really hard during the improv, and I think she did a passable job! She honestly should have been safe, fight me. I just really hope she doesn't change herself to please the judges bc she has such a great vision and point of view, and I don't want her to lose sight of how great she is.

4. Dahlia Sin

Dahlia, Dahlia, Dahlia. Speaking of being underwhelmed, am I right? I had such high hopes for Dahlia, but this week she just didn't pull anything out. I personally think the fruit sketch was really funny, but it would have been exactly the same if Dahlia hadn't been in the group. She was so focused on being ~sexy~ (which is tough in a broccoli costume), that she forgot about everything else. Plus her bows and buttons look was just...odd. from the neck up it had this very avant garde, couture feel, but the outfit itself just looked unfinished. And then to have this weird arse peekaboo thing? Really weird choice. She deserved to be in the bottom and, after that lip sync, she deserved to go home.

I have seen a lot of posts about Dahlia "storming out", and I genuinely don't understand what they're talking about? Like, okay, she didn't say anything before she walked off, does that really constitute storming off? If she'd walked off while Ru was still talking, or if she'd yelled/screamed/sworn, then sure, maybe - but from what I saw she was just upset and wanted to leave as fast as possible. Idk, also they haven't released Untucked on the UK Netflix, so maybe there was more I didnt see.

5. Gigi Goode

I live for Gigi so much. I mean come on! Her character in the improv was passed out half the time and still had presence! She's so funny, and she's not afraid to let loose and get ugly. I think she did a good job in the improv, especially for someone without all that much experience, and her look on the runway was incredible. Solid 8/10 for Gigi this week.

6. Heidi N Closet

Heidi was robbed. I bought everything Heidi was selling this week. I bought it, I didn't stream it, I didn't rent it from the Netflix, I bought it. She was so funny during the challenge; the flipper? She spat out? Iconic. She had me dying the whole time, her, Jackie Cox and Gigi Goode should have their own series, I'd watch the hell out of it. Then she came bouncing down the runway as glitter Pinnochio, and she told that story about when she was at school and I loved every second! Shes so charming, and loveable, and relatable, and Jaida Essence Hall must have been gagged when she was top 2. She was robbed, she should have won, and she should keep her name! That whole thing with "the mouth has to change shape and it's not satisfying to say"? Bullshit, utter bullshit bitch. Heidi N Closet 4lyf.

7. Jackie Cox

Jackie made me so happy this week! Their whole group was hilarious, but Jackie doing the bad ventriloquist act just sent me, I loved it. And she just seems like the sweetest person as well! Her runway look was gorgeous, I loved the reference, her makeup was absolutely stunning, Jackie Cox is seriously the whole package. Her and Heidi should have been top 2 together.

8. Jaida Essence Hall

Jaida came in looking like a pageant queen, but she seriously flexed her comedy muscles this week! Her "bad apple" was hilarious, and she really committed to it! She was a firm leader in the group, but she was a good team player in the scene, she let everyone else have their moment too, and it was a good performance! I was a little bit disappointed that her runway look was very very similar to her spring mini challenge look from last week, but it was still a good look, and honestly I probably wouldnt have noticed if it hadn't been one episode after the other. She has shown a lot of diversity already, I think she just set the bar so high last week that I was really expecting something incredible, and I got something that was "just" good instead. She's still one to beat at the moment!

9. Jan

Jan made me so proud this week!! She was really funny in the skit, she had so much energy and enthusiasm, I loved it! Her jokes were funny, she picked a solid character and played it well, and can we talk about the runway though??? I really expected her to come out in something cute, because her personality is so bubbly and instead she gave me horror high fashion, monster couture and she Sold. Every. Second. It was a total transformation from the challenge to the runway and that, at the heart of it, is what I love about drag; that transformation aspect is just art to me. For me, Jan has it all. She definitely should have been top 3 this week. I think she's served the best runways so far, and I cannot wait to see what she does next week.

10. Nicky Doll

Okay, you guys know I love Nicky Doll. This week was not a good week for her. I appreciate that improv must be so hard in your second language, but I think she suffered a little bit from Dahlia Syndrome: she was so focused on staying pretty that she didn't really deliver anything. I kind of wish her character had literally just been French and spoke no English - part of the joke could have been that language barrier and Crystal/Window not understanding a word she said and her getting more and more frustrated about it. That could have been really funny. Also, her runway look...I know where she was going with it, it was a cool concept, and it was executed okay, there was just something missing, you know? It felt a little bit rushed, and again there was this real focus on being ~pretty~. Maybe if she'd looked a little more Cinderella ish, like her makeup wasn't perfect, and her hair was tied up like she was actually sewing, it would have sold me a little more character. I'm not sure, everything was just a little off for me this week, but I still think she's fierce af, and we all stumble sometimes. I'm looking forward to seeing her get back on her feet next week!

11. Rock M Sakura

Rock M was picked last for the challenge, I could not believe it. She deserved better than that, I was shook. She definitely picked the right group though, she was really funny as the Orange! She looked like she was having fun, and that's what I love about Rock M, is that I have fun watching her have fun. Her jokes were great, she matched Jan's energy, and I think she did a good job. I loved her runway look as well, the Alice in Wonderland concept was great, and I love that she kept the dress pretty simple so that the focus was on her hair and makeup! Her makeup was gorgeous, and the detail of the buttons on her face was stunning! It was a great concept, well executed, this week was a great week for Rock M, and I'm going to be furious if she gets picked last again.

12. Widow Von Du

Widow is getting The Edit. The edit that queens of colour who are talented get, where they paint them as bitchy, or loud, or as stepping on the other girls' toes; so that the audience isn't too pussed off when they get eliminated. Widow is exceedingly talented, and funny, and filled with personality. She also serves looks and delivers incredible performances. I will not let this edit take that away from her. She did great this week. She delivered everything I ordered in the challenge and more, she completely transformed for the runway, and she sold me a great presentation. Widow is definitely one to beat.

[blackmissfrizzle]

Unveiled

Summary: They boys find out about the reader’s true lineage. Based on episodes 2x21 & 22

Characters: Dean Winchester x black!reader

A/N: So, I’m basically doing a series rewrite of my favorite episodes. This is is based on the the reader’s and Dean’s relationship through the years. Its based on A Match Made in Hell Series.  I’m not doing this in a linear order, but I’ll make a separate masterlist for this series and put the fics in order

One minute you were in a diner with Sam, grabbing Dean a pie and the next you and Sam were in some ghost town with the other psychics like Sam. Most of them were freaking out and getting on your nerves. One even died because of her stupidity. She tried leaving and a demon killed her for it. Now you were stuck with Ava, the girl who had similar powers to Sam and been missing for weeks; Jake, the super strong dude; and Andy, the pothead who could control people with his mind.  

Finally, you were able to find a house and set up camp there. To make it easier, you and Sam decided to switch off on keeping watch. So, while he and Jake were on the lookout, you took a little nap.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” You heard. Opening your eyes, you saw yellow eyes staring back at you. Immediately, you called for Sam, but when he didn’t come running to help.

“This is a dream, isn’t it?” You asked. Your dad would do this all the time with you. He knew if he talked to you in person you would attack him, so visiting you in your dreams was the safest option.

Yellow Eyes or Azazel as you knew him outstretched his hand to help you get up, but you slap it instead and got up on your own. “Oh, look at Ms. Independent.”

“What do you want Azazel?”

“Uncle Azazel,” he corrected you.

“I’m not calling you that.” You brushed past him, going outside for some much-needed air.

Azazel followed you outside mumbling about how disrespectful this new generation is. “How’s our boy, Sammy doing?”

Giving him the evil eye, you replied, “Fine, despite being kidnapped!”

“Kidnapped? Sweetheart, this is a competition!”

“For what?”

Yellow Eyes turned to dramatically and waved some jazz hands. “For the best and brightest soldier!” He continued to tell you that he just needed one of these psychic kids to lead his demon army not multiple like you and the boys thought. And to top it off, he was rooting for Sam. The demon went as far as killing sweet Jessica because Sam was getting soft.

“Okay, only the strongest win. You know if I really wanted to, I could kill all of them, so what am I doing here?” To you it made no sense for you to be there. Sam and the others may have demon blood in them, but you were half-demon and much more powerful.

“My sweet girl, you’re not here to compete. You’ll work with the winner. That’s why I’m going for Sam. You two are a well-oiled machine. Both of you have the brains and the brawn.” In the middle of cussing him out, Sam woke you up, telling you that Ava was missing.

Eventually, her screams alerted you and you and Sam found a dead Andy, but something wasn’t right. Why did Ava go out of the house? Why was the salt line by the window broken?

Ava tried her white woman tears, but they weren’t working on you and Sam. Soon, as she stopped the fake crying, she admitted everything. She wasn’t missing for 5 months; she was here the whole time killing others. What a fucking psycho!

Jake snapped her neck just as she was conjuring a demon to kill you and Sam. But now he was tripping as well. Azazel got to him and told him only one of them could get out and for some strange reason, he believed he was the one.

“Listen dumbass, Yellow Eyes is not to be trusted. Come with me and Sam, and all three of us can kill him!” Behind you Sam put his knife on the ground as a sign of good faith and never in your life had you wanted to slap Sam silly before this. In your gut, you knew you couldn’t trust Jake and here goes Sam being all kind-hearted. “Sam, don’t,” you cautioned him.

“Its all good, Y/N/N. Look,” he pointed to a Jake putting down his own weapon. But as fast as he put down the weapon was as fast as he knocked you and Sam across the yard. Damn, that nigga really was strong.

Luckily, for Sam he wasn’t as hurt as you and was able to fight off Jake. You on the other hand got a piece of the broken fence piercing your side.

The fight didn’t sound like it was going too well. Bones were cracking and they weren’t Sam’s. You got up in time to see Sam standing over a knocked out Jake. He had the crowbar in his hand, ready to deliver a fatal blow, but he decided to let him live.

Sam walked to you and let you lean on him even though he was injured as well. “You good, Y/N.”

You lifted your shirt to show him your wound. “It’ll be a bitch to pull out the splinters and I’ll probably need stiches, but other than that I should be good.”

“Sam!!! Y/N!!!!” Dean’s voice called out to you. Sam and you traded looks, and hobbled towards the sound of Dean’s voice.

There he was with Bobby. Both looked ragged, but happy to see you and Sam. “Dean,” Sam said with a sigh of relief.

“Sam, Y/N, look out!” Dean warned, but it was too late. Jake stabbed Sam in the back and by the sound of it, it was fatal.

Surprisingly, Jake didn’t try to fight you. He threw you over shoulder and ran, and in your state and his super strength you couldn’t fight him off.

The last thing you saw was Bobby running after you and behind him your dead best friend being held by his heartbroken brother.

—

My eyes never left the colt since Azazel gave it to Jake. The very moment he said it could kill him, you had to restrain yourself because Azazel threatened to kill Jake’s family. Even if you hated him, you couldn’t endanger his family.

The whole walk to the middle of cemetery was Jake practicing his powers, which he was picking up incredibly fast. Ava was right the learning curve is insane.

Clicking of guns caught your attention when you and Jake reached the crypt. Finally, the cavalry was here.

“Sam,” you questioned. It was impossible for him to be alive…unless Dean did the unthinkable. One look at him and you knew he made a crossroads deal. Fucking idiot! This family doesn’t know when to stop sacrificing themselves for each other.

Being too focused on Sam’s resurrection left you unaware of the conversation going on around you. Jake was prattling on about how Ava was right, but you couldn’t focus once again because your eyes caught the crypt.

Almost instantly you knew what it was. A damn gate to hell and the colt was the key. Luck wasn’t on your side, but when was it ever? Jake forced Ellen to put the gun to the side of your head while he ran to unlock the gate.

“Forget about me! He’s opening a damn hellgate!” Dean and Bobby wrestled the gun out of Ellen’s hands while Sam went after Jake.

Sam was able to kill Jake, but not before the gate opened. Though with Jake dead, you, Bobby, Ellen, and Sam were able to close it.

—

*Dean’s POV*

He’s here and so is the colt. I may be going to hell but imma take that yellow-eyed some of bitch with me.

“I got to thank you. You see, demons can’t resurrect people unless a deal is made. I know- red tape, it’ll make you nuts. Right, Y/N/N?” With a snap of his fingers, Y/N was beside him.

Thing is she didn’t look even one bit afraid and seemed too familiar with the demon. “Thanks to you Dean, I got the perfect pair.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?” I yelled at him. He put his dirty hands on Y/N, who was begging him ‘please don’t.’

“Sweetie, you didn’t tell him?” He asked her, almost as if he cared. “Well, Dean-o, thanks to you I couldn’t have done it without your self-loathing, self-destructive desire to sacrifice yourself for your family! But I also, many years ago I have to thank the beautiful conception of a lovely human woman and one of the best damn demons to make this beauty.” His hands framed a Y/N’s face.

The tears on her face confirmed it was true. “You lying bitch!” I couldn’t believe I trusted her.

My thoughts on how Y/N betrayed us overcame and I didn’t notice that Yellow-Eyes was about to kill me, but Y/N stopped him. He slammed her to the ground, before he could incapacitate her further, a soul from hell grabbed him. Not just any soul, dad.

Dad gave me the jump I needed. Yellow-Eyes was distracted enough for me to put a bullet in him. It was finally over; we got the demon that ruined our family. Now I just gotta deal with one more demon bitch.

—

*Reader’s POV*

You were fucked. Dean had to have told Sam the truth about you. You slipped away while they reveled in killing the monster that took away their family.

“Where you going, bitch?” The rage in Dean’s voice made no effort to hide.

“Dean,” Sam tried to reprimand him. He knew in his hearts of hearts that you had a good explanation. Yeah, it hurt that kept a secret and lied, but none of your behavior ever hinted to you being a danger to the brothers.

Lifting your hands in surrender, you turned around to face the boys. “I know you’re pissed, but this is the last time that I will allow you to call me a bitch.” Dean could be mad all he wanted to, but you refused to be disrespected. Especially, when he didn’t know the whole story.

Sam made an effort to get closer to you, but Dean pulled him back, as if you were a danger to him. “Y/N/N, why? Why lie to us?”

“Doesn’t matter why. She still lied.” You tried pleading to Dean with your eyes, but it wasn’t working. His anger blinding him from listening to you. “The only reason, I’m giving you a head start is because you tried to warn us about the gate and helped with Yellow-Eyes. You got to the count of 3 and if you’re still here I’m putting a bullet through you.”

Dean didn’t give empty threats, but you tested him anyway. Standing there firmly until he pulled the trigger of his gun on 3. In the nick of time, you teleported back home before the bullet could pierce you.

In the comfort of your solitude, you broke down and cried, letting a crowd of emotions run through. In a day, you found your best friend alive only for your other friend to make a deal; the hellgate opened releasing a slew of demons; Azazel revealed your secret and died; and probably the most heartbreaking you lost your best friends.

Tags:  @titty-teetee @cocooned-butterfly @nervouspetsonanime @thefaithfulwriter @meishaabae @dannixchristian @blacknthemix @mml232

[campchitaquamemories]

What are your top 10 Queliot moments?

Nonny, thank you so much for waiting patiently for this one! 

I was just going to write out a list (after I got done being EXTREMELY stumped because- you expect me to just pick 10??! Rude.) but then I realized that I just hit 600 followers (what?!), and I wanted to do something a bit more to say thank you to all of you for putting up with me while I’m on my bullshit. So I went back through my favorite episodes and made some gifs for you, too! 

Here you go. Hope you like it!!

Gigi’s Top 10 Queliot Moments (YMMV):

10. This is from 1x03, Consequences of Advanced Spellcasting, and… it’s such a great breathing space. This whole episode, the Eliot + Quentin sideplot to retrieve the book was a delight, and it only happened because Eliot is so far gone on this boy. He could have taken literally any of the Physical Kids with him, but no, he’s got a crush on the super cute nerd that just moved in and so it HAS to be Q that comes with him. Eliot is highkey flirting with Quentin here, both as emotional support, and - I will maintain until my dying day - if Kady hadn’t blown the hinges off that door he was planning to make a move on Q that afternoon.

9. I have so many feelings???? This is from 2x01, Knight of Crowns. Things are complex interpersonally between the whole gang right now, but out of everyone parting ways with Eliot, Q is who we get to see saying goodbye. Eliot is actually high king now, and he’s not any less depressed, or damaged emotionally or mentally. It didn’t immediately fix him like he wanted (much like how magic didn’t immediately fix Quentin, but that’s a meta for another time), and now he’s staring down being all that and an unknown future ruling this frankly odd kingdom (from books he apparently never bothered to read? El, baby. SMH.) potentially for the rest of his life without his friends. The two of them are so tender, Q initially leaning against Eliot to provide support, and then he doesn’t hesitate even a moment when Eliot asks for a hug. What at that point could be the very last hug he ever gets from Quentin in this lifetime. There is such a depth of feeling here between the two of them and I’m so glad the show gave us this (in S2! I’m!).

8.  1x11, Remedial Battle Magic. Look at our babies and how happy they are?! I know they’re drunk on wine and emotions and about to seriously fuck their friendships up, but have they ever gotten a moment to breathe and be happy in each other’s presence since this? They haven’t. It’s been arguments and recriminations and quests and beasts and averting world-ending disasters since they woke up from this night. So I treasure this moment of soft smiles and touches (even Margo, I am not opposed to Marqueliot in this list at all). And of course, the threesome it is leading up to, and all of the implications and interpretations of that night that they take forward into the series with them.

7. “I’m trying to tell you, you are not alone here.” From 1x02, The Source of Magic, this bonding scene has always felt very profound to me. These two boys have literally known each other, what, less than a week now? And here is Eliot “feelings are for other people” Waugh, opening up about his past traumas to try and connect with Quentin. The only other person we’ve ever seen him do this with is Mike - Eliot’s other love interest - and we know he told Margo during their Trials. This is Q confessing his biggest fear - that if he loses magic, he will lose his tenuous hold on his mental health - and Eliot reciprocating that confession: inducting Q into the very, very select circle of Eliot’s confidantes. This is each of them accepting some measure of comfort from the presence and understanding of the other, and a moment that underpins their entire relationship from this moment forward.

6. I’m cheating with this one, but I wanted to show both sides of this dynamic, and Quentin and Eliot have not had a chance to fight for their relationship together in the main timeline yet, so these will have to work for now. The first gif is from 4x06, A Timeline and Place, and the second is from 3x13, Will You Play With Me? It’s so, so important to see these moments - even if our boys are dumb and they don’t start fighting until the very last second - when they are willing to lay down everything, and burn down the world for each other. Quentin will NOT let the Monster kill Eliot’s body, and Eliot will NOT let Quentin throw away his future to play jailer to a sociopathic child-god. When push comes to shove, they will choose each other every time. Now if we could only get them to do that when the stakes aren’t life and death, am I right?

5. Another moment from 2x01, Knight of Crowns. This coronation scene is just… Remember that they are fractured leading up to this: we’re coming right off of the fall out from the threesome, and Eliot has been spiraling for episodes now. But then we get this super tender declaration from Quentin: “So, destiny is– it’s bullshit…. For what it’s worth, I think you’re going to be a really good king.” And Eliot’s eyes just, light up, his whole face lifts. Because here is someone who believes in him, wholly and truly. Even after everything they just fucked up together, and separately, Q (someonee good and true) has faith in Eliot, and it’s infectious. They’re both looking at each other here like no one else exists in the world, like nothing is important in this moment except each other. And thats?? Beautiful?!

4. I fucking love this shot. Q kicking over those tiles and then saying “Oops.” is a whole-ass mood. Okay, so this is obviously from 3x05, A Life in the Day, and I could easily have made and entire top 10 list of JUST moments from this sequence because it’s all SO AMAZING. The beauty of all life, amiright? But this moment is so important to me. Making a conscious choice, every day to choose this quest and choose each other takes a toll. Ask anyone you know who’s been in a committed relationship for years. Sometimes it’s just fucking hard. They’ve been at this for so long that their clothes from Earth (which, I’ll remind you, they were still wearing at their 1 year anniversary) have worn thin, and they’re wearing traditional Fillorian garb. This was supposed to be over years ago, but they’re still going.  And Q is struggling. And Eliot is struggling. And they argue, but neither of them walks away. I always have to stop and pause at this part of the episode, because this is so domestic and realistic that it makes me cry. And if I start crying here, I’m useless for the rest of the sequence once we get to Arielle and Teddy.

3. 1x01, Unauthorized Magic. So, so many people have talked about Q and El’s first meeting, how Eliot spread himself out on the Brakebills sign elegantly and Quentin’s one bisexual braincell shorted out to the point where, for a moment, he couldn’t even words. But I so rarely see people talk about this moment, when Quentin asks Eliot if he’s hallucinating. This look, right here, is so soft, and sweet. I’m sure Eliot gets hit on all the time, and he was 100% flirting with Quentin when he jumped off that sign and gave him an “I could eat you up” once over. But this is the moment Eliot decided that Margo needed to know about the cute new boy who thought Eliot was exactly the kind of person he would dream into existence, if he made those kinds of decisions. Right here. The beginning of it all.

2. Back to 3x05, A Life in the Day, and if you’re surprised this is my #2 moment you must be new here. This is a kiss that has been brewing for a long time. One not rooted in emotion bottles, and not one that can be passed off as being too drunk to know what you’re doing. Quentin sets his cup down, and starts to say something, but ends up finishing his thought with this kiss. It’s short, but not tentative, and Eliot is… look at his face. He’s surprised, because he’s pretty sure they fucked up their chances at this a season and a half ago. But Q is there and he’s not apologizing and he’s not panicking, and that gives Eliot the courage to reach out and pull Q back in. And for a little while, it’s not about the quest, it’s not about defeating a monster, it’s not about fixing anything they’ve fucked up. This is just about them. 

1. “Fifty years. Who gets that kind of proof of concept? Peaches and plums, motherfucker. I’m alive in here!” 4x05, Escape from the Happy Place.So, this scene is where I live now, my trashcan, if you will, with these dumb boys and their dumb faces. Eliot’s absolutely perfect timing, and his delight to see Quentin is just- Just beaming out of his face here. This is the first of many chances he’s going to have to set the record straight, and he does it with style. This was a declaration of love - peaches and plums - and one that only Eliot would be able to give, and only Quentin would be able to understand. Q has been so beat down and defeated this episode, like he’s walking through a world that has faded into black and white, but we can see the moment he understands and the light comes back into his eyes. “Eliot’s alive. He’s alive.”

Honorable mentions to: “I’m Team Eliot.”, “Could I maybe have Eliot back?”, “I find you, and I don’t say magic is real, but I do seduce you”, and the extended throne room scene from 3x05/4x05 - which only didn’t make the list because I couldn’t pick a single shot to slice up for a gif.

[fizzingwizard]

I wanted to do the Kizuna countdown these guys made but I uh forgot. And I’m gonna forget again before friday because I tend to pass out after work and dinner. Sooo... I’m just gonna do it all right here right now, since it’s the last weekend before Kizuna!

First thoughts when Kizuna was announced:

“Holy shit they’re making another one!? How long will they try to squeeze every drop of nostalgia out of us? Because as for me I’m pretty sure that well is bottomless soooo can they just go on making new Adventure movies forever and ever?”

Expectations for Kizuna:

Based on what I’ve heard it kind of seems like the Digimon sequel we would have expected... but got Tri instead. I really enjoyed Tri, though it was far from perfect, so I’m not sure how to feel about Kizuna! But I’m really excited to see the kids as adults trying to balance adulting, their dreams, and the things they care about in their daily lives.

A headcanon/theory you’d like Kizuna to make canon:

Can’t think of anything, sorry.

Expectations for the new characters:

New girl has a butterfly in her hair. She’s probably a harmless guide/informant type. New guy looks strict and apparently is rather blunt. But my guess is he’s not the big bad either... maybe distrusting of the digital world though. There’s probably more to both of these guys but Idc as usual, I only care about my children.

First Digimon memory:

Was a 10 year old Pokemon fan. All 10 year old Pokemon fans thought Digimon was a rip-off (how were we to know it was actually the older of the two, and already part of an established monster tradition in Japan!). We were also obsessed with Pogs and had fights over Pogs on the playground, which I think says a lot about our mental state.

My bro rented some Digimon VHS from Blockbuster (fuck yeah 1999!) and it was the whole Devimon saga. I scoffed and then sat down and watched with him. Then I was freaking HOOKED. I turned on the TV to see the new eps, but actually the show was starting back at reruns before moving on to the Myotismon saga at the time, so I got to watch the whole thing from start to finish in chronological order. I cried buckets when the final episode aired and mourned for weeks.

Favorite Adventure series:

does this mean Adventure or 02? or including Tri? Anyway the answer will always be Adventure. That’s nostalgia central for me. A lot of it was pretty straightforward storytelling, other seasons did more creative stuff, but I think that’s to be expected - this series built the foundation for all that. And it’s great in its own way. What I particularly liked was always the whole “kids trying to figure shit out on their own” bit. For a kids’ show, they actually did it pretty well. Usually kids in that situation act just like really competent adults and don’t really struggle. Digimon certainly had that too, but it let the kids be crybabies, be selfish, be ignorant... it was really about their personal growth and that’s why they got to be kids as well.

Favorite Adventure Chosen Child (older 6):

Taichi!! Do I even need to explain myself? I will anyway. I didn’t care about him much when I was ten. For a long time I didn’t have a favorite character. It was Yamato for about thirty seconds, and then it was Takeru for about two years. After 02, I rewatched both seasons, and suddenly realized Taichi was Everything to me. I never really went for leader characters, never liked brash, brainless, bring-the-brawn types, or stern, distant ones, cold except when showing their passion for their mission.

But Taichi isn’t like either of those. He has bits of both - he can be brainless, and he’s pretty brash, but he’s calculating too. I liked that mix, but mainly I liked that he just seemed like a regular kid who the others were naturally drawn to as a leader because he was Mr. Get-shit-done. The older I get, the more I appreciate that proactive factor in people. Sometimes you just need someone to say the thing that’s on everyone’s minds. It can be scary. So I feel gratitude when someone takes the lead when I can’t. I think that’s how the other kids felt towards Taichi - for all his flaws, he kept them going, he didn’t let them waffle and miss their chances. I like him for a ton of other reasons too but I’ll end there for today!

Favorite 02 Chosen Child (younger 6):

Takeru. He was my original fav and I really really wanted to see him be awesome in 02. Unfortunately, he and Hikari didn’t really get much development. (They still made out better than all Frontier kids not named Kouji, though.) But I loved his anger issues and his facing his trauma. They should have done so much more. I really wanted him to bond with Ken over the fact that they’d both lost partners... I loved seeing older Takeru in Tri, the trauma issue came up again when he was the first one to realize his partner was infected. I’ve never been so moved by a crying plush doll lmao. Also his fashion sense, woot.

The runner-up is worth a mention since she wasn’t part of the original Adventure group and therefore could be considered my true 02 fav - Miyako. I loved the nerdy glasses girl because I was a nerdy glasses girl. I wasn’t as outspoken as Miyako, but I could go on and on about things I liked. I loved how pure and flawed she was and I loved her inner sense of right and wrong and her frankness. It’s refreshing when so many characters hide their true feelings. And I loved her and Hikari. Hikari and Miyako are the true girl friendship in those series. Sora and Mimi are nice but didn’t get the same level of development. Of course, I headcanon they were all awesome girlfriends.

Favorite Digimon partner:

This is an IMPOSSIBLE question, I love ALL OF THEM. I can’t pick one.

Gabumon: the way he and Yamato don’t need words, he just understands him, and when he doesn’t, always assume the best and gives him space. Their connection through music. And the way Gabumon will tease him especially over Taichi XD Gabumon keeps Yamato in line.

Gomamon: the way he is just what Jou needs, someone to keep him positive. I’m anxiety-prone myself and one reason I love my job working with young children is they make me see the bright things that I used to be able to see all the time when I was a child. I never really wanted to grow up. I think Gomamon is that for Jou, the child in him he doesn’t want to let go of, and doesn’t actually have to, because we take that part of us into our future.

Tentomon: because was he not MVP of the YEAR in Kokuhaku!?!?!?!?! That was amaaaaazing. Also he is easily the funniest Digimon and I love how he brings out the affectionate side of Koushirou. Again he’s exactly what Koushirou needs.

Patamon: Because he’s cuuuuute!!! and gives Takeru something to nurture and protect while also protecting him. Takeru, the youngest, who needed to be protected but also needed to grow, got a Digimon with those exact same qualities. PERFECT MATCH.

Hawkmon: I always loved him paired with Miyako. He was my favorite 02 partner. He was grumpy and irritable yet caring with Miyako, basically the compass she needed when she felt panicky. And he was COOL. Like he had the best evolutions lol. And as the only male/female partner set (I know Digimon don’t have true genders but this isn’t a made up thing either), there was a slightly different dynamic, like Miyako needed someone a bit more her opposite than other Chosen, to help push her in new directions.

Agumon: He gets honorable mention in particular because of Tri! But also because of 02. In Adventure, Taichi didn’t have a strong grasp of what it meant to raise his partner. He and Agumon saw each other as equals - which they are - but you do see a shift in that balance as Taichi gets older. Agumon is very powerful, but very child-like and thoughtless. In 02 and Tri, we see Taichi taking care of him much more like a big brother with a young brother. In Adventure, they just played together and wound each other up. What this means is Taichi’s grown up to be quite the caretaker, out of necessity - his partner is a bit high maintenance compared to the others! And caretaker isn’t usually the quality that jumps to mind when you think of “anime protagonist” or even leader. So I LOVE it. Also, Agumon struggles to express big concepts. But he can express really important things in simple ways, and Taichi needs that simplicity when his head gets all muddled with complexity. We definitely saw that in Tri. Agumon is kinda the Doraemon of Digimon, lol.

And I love literally all of the others and could go on about them for ages. But I’ll stop here. Will continue the countdown (er, I guess I can’t call it that when I’m doing it like this) later.

[venus-says]

Kamen Rider Wizard Episodes 01-17

Where's Kaede? The magical show is about to begin.

The fourth installment in my "watch all of Kamen Rider" series is here! I'm two months and I still haven't given up, I'm not gonna lie I'm very surprised with myself. XD

As much as I was excited to start this new series, the bad taste Fourze has left into my mouth got me a little apprehensive. But, while Wizard isn't a perfect show, I was very pleased with this first third of it.

This is a show about hope and, much like its predecessor, the show isn't subtle about it. But somehow it works here, first because the dramas the MOTW victims go through feels more grounded and believable, and second because it's not just a bunch of teenagers going around dealing with stuff that to an adult's eye seems very dumb. It also helps that, for the most part, the characters here don't have a twisted notion of what Hope is, though there are some times where "hope" is mixed with "dream" and it feels a bit weird, but I think the two themes are correlated so it's not that big of a stretch.

If there's one thing I don't like about Wizard is the bad CGI. I understand that the effects aren't the best, after all, this show is heavily dependant on special effects because of all the magic spells so they can't use the best and most expensive CGI all the time, but I can't deny that they feel very wonky. I think if the engage sequences inside people's underworlds didn't exist or included actors in suits doing the monsters instead of large CGI creatures, they could afford better and more polished effects. Sadly that didn't happen so that's a letdown, at least the only instances where this bugs me is in the underworld scenes and during the Flame Dragon form attack so that's not that big of a deal.

Another thing I also don't like is the villains, the concept of the Phantoms is really good but the generals they lack a loooooot of personality. Phoenix is the hot-blooded villain and Medusa is the stereotypical female villain, in terms of design Phoenix is basically Ankh and Medusa is basically Mezool so it just shows they don't have a lot going on for them. Though the reveal that happened in episodes 14 and 15 made me interested so I didn't lose all hope in the antagonists just yet.

I'd like to come here and say that thankfully the other side of this coin has amazing characters that balance out the blandness of the villains, but sadly that's not the case. While Haruto is very cool, everyone else on his gang aside from Wajima isn't the greatest. And what's more sad about all of this is that each member of the gang has things that could make them great, but most of the time they're there being used as comic relief so when it's their time to shine is hard to take them seriously. Rinko could've been very interesting to see as a rookie female detective that has a strong sense of justice, but she's very underused and more often than not she's there playing a comedy role. Shunpei is naive and has a genuinely pure heart, and he would've been a great companion if the show didn't make him very extra and exaggerated making him look dumb rather than a kind kid too pure for this world. Koyomi should be the most interesting of them all since she's an empty shell powered up by mana, but we barely see her and her "introductory" arc was very rough in the edges with them making her seem like she is "jealous" of Haruto and has feelings for him. I wanna make clear that despite my problems I still like these characters, they had times where they shined a lot which made me like them, but they have those flaws and I can't overlook them. Of course, this is only the beginning of the season which means there's still more time so they have opportunities to grow so I'm very open-minded for them.

A character I don't have any hopes for is Kousuke, aka Beast, aka the mid-season Rider. As much as I appreciate that the dude didn't just appear out of nowhere during a fight, he still follows tradition and I don't like him, in fact, I hate this dude. I've seen him only once but I already hate him more than any of his predecessors. I don't wanna go for very long since he appeared only in one episode and the next arc will be more focused on him, I believe, so I'll have plenty of time to dish on him next week, but for now, let's just say I want to see choke him with his bottle of mayonnaise while engaging on his gross eating habits.

Talking about the man of the time, Wizard himself, Haruto is a bit weird, but in a good way. I appreciate that his "default mode" is a more serious one, it doesn't make him look off whenever the moment needs him to be more grounded/angry, but also gives openings for him to be playful and crack a few jokes here and there, I really like that in his personality. I feel like his backstory is a bit too much, but all main riders so far had some sort of tragic background that seemed way too heavy to be believable so I can't hold that against him.

Wizard is a rider I really like both in design and powers. Weird helmet shapes on his side forms aside, I really dig everything on his design. I never cosplayed on my life, but if I ever did a Kamen Rider cosplay it would probably be Wizard. The hand in the belt and the gun/sword, and the rings are way too big for my taste, but these need to be sold as toys so I think that's the reason why they're this big and I can get past that. I absolutely love the droids for this season and I love even more that they're called familiars if I had the money I'd buy ALL OF THEM. I love Wizard's elemental powers, but his "side rings" are weird and very situational, it seems weird to complain about that coming from a season with 40 EXTREMELY situational side powers, but c'mon, they have a spell that makes the user smell bad, what use does that have? Though I can't deny I'd love that sleep spell because my insomnia can be a bitch sometimes.

I'm a little thorn on the first power-up Wizard got, while I love its design in all of the three forms we've seen so far, and I love when the dragon parts merge with him in the Hurricane and Water Dragon styles, I hate how they came to be. Especially after seeing that Wiseman was the one that gave the stone for Flame Dragon and Water Dragon I expected this power-up to have a bigger thrown back to not make them as spammable as they are, and these things were supposed to be dangerous after all they use the power of Haruto's inner Phantom so, it's a bit of a letdown when you think about them under these lenses. They're still pretty cool though, I love them, aside of Flame Dragon form while doing the special attack, that head coming out of his chest is cursed and it doesn't deserve any love.

To mention a few episodes I really enjoyed I wanna highlight episodes 6 and 7 that had a very interesting plot centered around a con artist, I really liked the outcome of that one. I also loved episodes 8 and 9, as much as I think it's a bit forced I liked seeing Haruto's backstory and drawing a parallel with the victim of the week and what he was going through on its absurdity it felt very real and strong and I was all here for it. Episode 14 was kinda interesting, but it was more because of the reveal rather than the main story of that episode.

My favorite episodes were 12 and 13, as well as the Christmas episode. Both of these stories were very beautiful and emotional, I usually pause a lot to take screenshots and notes during the episodes but in these three episodes I had almost 0 pauses, I was really invested and felt very touched by these stories. 12 and 13 was Shunpei time to shine and it gave me a new appreciation for his character, it was also a great story about passing a legacy and keeping traditions alive, I also appreciate that the story ended on a very positive note despite of the Gate closing his business after everything that happened - that was a very good move on my eyes. And the Christmas episode was a real surprise to me, I usually don't care for the holidays' episodes but this episode was very beautiful, the thing with Santa appearing and giving a special spell that restores the destroyed gifts was a bit of a stretch, but I can't deny that I was very happy to see it happen just so that we could have a good ending so I'll give it a pass this time.

And that pretty much sums it all for now, I'm pretty hopeful *winkwink* for the next portion of Wizard even though I hate the new Rider so I'm excited to come back next week. What are your thoughts on Wizard? Let me know in the comments. I'll see you all the next time. o/

[clarabosswald]

this week on gallifreybase: my attention’s been turned to a brilliant post summarizing all the unmade episodes in new doctor who some of which i knew about, some i didn’t i love this kind of behind the scenes stuff to death so here is the post under the cut for everyone to enjoy

Series 1 -The Paul Abbott episode Originally in RTD's Series 1 Pitch document, Episode 11 was just called "The New Team" and just said "The Doctor, Rose and Jax. A small scale adventure, character stuff" presumably to be written by RTD himself. Then it was retitled "Pompeii" after RTD saw a documentary on the event and thought similar SFX could be used a Who episode. Then Russell managed to tempt his friend, successful showrunner Paul Abbott to write an episode. So the pitch document for Ep11 was re-titled "Paul Abbott Episode" There's no evidence that Abbott used the Pompeii idea. Instead, according to Russell, Abbott's story pitch was that Jax would discover that the Doctor had been secretly manipulating Rose's life, in order to make her the perfect companion and there would be conflict over whether to tell her. RTD was hesitant over the idea, because it ruined his own plans for the Doctor & Rose, but he allowed Abbott to continue to develop it. However after a few weeks it became clear Abbott wouldn't have the time to do the episode, Russell replaced with his own script "Boom Town" Series 2 -The 1920s by Stephen Fry In RTD's Series 2 story outline, Episode 11 was called "The 1920s" and was to be written by Stephen Fry, partly based on research for his film "Bright Young Things" The episode was also based on the story of "Gawain and the Green Knight" giving the story new alien origins. It included a scenes of the TARDIS landing on a strange planet. It was reportedly set in 3 different time periods (incluiding the 1920s) The story apparently involved the Gawain character falling in love with Rose in the wrong narratative order for viewers, and for Rose herself. However, late in 2006, it was decided that the story was too expensive for this point in production and it was pushed back to Series 3 & replaced with "Fear Her". It has also been said there were issues with violence. Unfortunately by 2007, Fry didn't have time to rewrite the script further or alter it for the new companion and so he wrote a letter to RTD and it was abandoned altogether. Some have said (off the record) that the script's tone was was very different from RTD episodes, closer to the Classic Series (e.g. It began with the Doctor & Rose playing chess in the TARDIS by candlelight) in 2011 Fry has said he would like to re-use the idea, taking out the Dr Who elements and turning into a novel, when he has the time, but since then nothing has happened. Series 3 -Ood story by Chris Chibnall After his first successful year show-running Torchwood, Chibnall was invited to write for Dr Who, Series 3 Episode 7. He told Starburst Magazine "Russell said, “Come and write this episode"... It was one with the Ood, and it had Zack and Ida from The Impossible Planet, and it was like going to see what had happened to them afterwards. There were tiny elements of it in Planet of the Ood but it wasn't the same story. And so we did a lot of planning on that; and it was an alien planet. And then I finished all my writing duties on Torchwood and we had the meeting and it was like, "Actually we can't afford to do that. We need an episode set in corridors, with no monsters, because we couldn't afford monsters. That's probably why there are no real aliens" Series 4 -The Suicide Exhibition by Mark Gatiss This was planned for Penny's (later Donna's) Episode 3 (which was later swapped with "Planet of the Ood") RTD's Series 4 breakdown describes this as "World War 2. Monsters on the loose in the Natural History Museum as a Nazi strike force invades...Plus an Indiana Jones-type chamber hidden beneath with sliding stone doors" Gatiss said the story was based on how, during the war, museums would put out less well-known exhibits, so that if they were bombed they wouldn't lose any great treasures-Suicide Exhibitions. He also said the monsters were based on the preserved bog-men found in the museums, like "The Lindow man" "After the first draft, Russell said, "Let's make it the Nazis and do the full Indiana Jones on it." The whole museum was a puzzle box of sliding doors and traps and stuff." Gatiss worked on the script for a year, and a script was ready to film, but when the production team discovered it'd be possible to shoot an episode overseas, the story was abandoned in favour of "Fires of Pompeii" -Century House by Tom MacRae An companion-lite episode. The Doctor goes live on reality TV show "Most Haunted" to track down a ghost known as The Red Widow. Donna & her family watch him at home on TV. It was set in a big old, abandoned, spooky house on a cliff top, with OB vans and tricks with cables rings around the house. Certain rooms would flashback to the 1950s/60s. There was a big fire sequence towards the end. If I remember correctly, MacRae compared moments in the episode to Sapphire and Steel. This was an idea RTD originally gave to MacRae to develop for Series 3 (so Martha and her family) Unfortunately they found there wasn't a place for it there, so it was held back for Series 4, episode 8. Unfortunately, despite MacRae working on it for over a year, RTD and the team were concerned that the setting was too similar to "The Unicorn and the Wasp" and that the concept they had given him wasn't strong enough. Shortly before pre-production, RTD challenged himself to try to come up with something better in a few days, and ended up quickly writing "Midnight". In a later interview, MacRae was quite sanguine about this, saying that if his episode had to be replaced, he was glad it was with one of the best. The Specials -Space Opera/Alien Hotel by Gareth Roberts and Russell T Davies One of RTD's earliest ideas for the 2009 Easter special would be have to the TARDIS arrive in the middle of an interstellar war, complete with aliens, spaceships, and dogfights in space. He gave this idea to Gareth Roberts who wrote an outline. RTD has issues with the result, including later scenes set in an outer space hotel where guests were having alien eggs secretly implanted (a gruesome reference to easter eggs) So the story was abandoned in favour of what became "Planet of the Dead" -A Midwinter's Tale by Phil Ford and Russell T Davies A grandmother (possibly to be played by Helen Mirren or Judi Dench) is trapped in a posh hotel with her unruly family at Christmas. Wishing that they'd all just disappear, she storms out, only to find the corridors deserted, her family has disappeared, and as she searches further, so has all of humanity. Finally, she comes upon the TARDIS and the Doctor. Investigating, they discover eight-legged centaur-like creatures abroad in London. It transpires that aliens from another dimension, the Shi'ar, have frozen time on Earth in order to hold a festival celebrating the marriage of their queen. The life of the grandmother's family becomes endangered, culminating in a race through secret tunnels beneath Buckingham Palace. This was a story idea by RTD given to Phil Ford, planned for when there would've been only 3 specials: Easter 2009, Christmas 2009 and the Doctor regenerating at Easter 2010, leaving a few weeks before Series 5. "Midwinter" would be the Christmas special. Eventually it was decided there wasn't enough incident for an hour. "Waters of Mars" was developed instead, which was then moved to November with a new two-part Christmas regeneration. Series 5 -Death to the Doctor by Gareth Roberts This was originally planned for Series 5: Episode 7, the "Amy's Choice" slot. According to Gareth Roberts on Twitter,it was set on a Holiday planet like Las Vegas in middle of huge star war. The planet totally peaceful, with the law rigorously enforced. , There were police robots called Fleetfoots. If anyone committed any crime they had to fight a duel with a giant cyclops, and then the Doctor got arrested on a minor offence... Amy and Rory would have to find a way to get him off world without whole planet going up in war. The story also involved a disgraced Sontaran character called Commander Skorn. This story got as far as CGI being designed for the cyclops. Unfortunately as Series 5 went on, there was a budget crunch and it was realised they couldn't afford their original plans. So Hungry Earth/Cold Blood was rewritten to be cheaper, Neil Gaiman's Episode 11 was moved to Series 6, and Roberts' episode was abandoned altogether. Instead Roberts and Simon Nye were hired to write new, cheaper stories for episodes 7 and 11. However, even though the episode was lost, Moffat reinvented Commander Skorn as Commander Strax for A Good Man Goes to War, delighting Roberts. -Fear Itself by Paul Cornell (from Paul Cornell's Newsletter https://paulcornell.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=198e8a011b70a7fa79dd704d6&id=de506d08cb) This was to be a companion-lite episode. It was a loose adaptation of Cornell's Christmas story "The Hopes and Fears of All the Years" The story involved the Doctor visiting a boy (Tom) every year on his on his birthday, because the Doctor knows he will, on one birthday, save the boy's life. It charted the life story of the boy, then the man, through the Doctor's regular visits on the same day. The story went through at least six drafts with the threat the Doctor was protecting Tom from changing during this process. By the Sixth draft it an alien computer that turned surrounding people into monsters for a few minutes each year. Tom had a green glowing lump on his neck & the computer's directive was to obtain it/destroy it. The story got as far as Cornell being brought in to to talk about casting, with some big names being discussed for grown-up Tom. Eventually it was decided the story was too expensive for Series 5 (Two scenes of birthday visits through the decades would've depicted the two World Wars) and the episode was pushed back to Series 6. However when Series 6 started, Cornell was told they weren't going ahead with his episode after all. Series 7 -Craig of the Gods by Gareth Roberts This was intended for episode 5 of the original Series 7b when Beryl the Victorian nanny was to be the companion. Craig was playing a computer game with real people trapped inside. The Tardis landed in game, Doctor and Beryl looked up through the clouds to see god and it was Craig. The story was seemingly abandoned when Beryl was replaced with Clara as the companion Roberts later observed that similar ideas were used in Series 10's Extremis. -Craig's Wedding by Gareth Roberts This would've featured the return of Craig, Sophie and their son. In one interview, Roberts said "I had this idea where Craig and Sophie were going to get married and were on this beautiful island somewhere near Greece and it was all going fine, then you turned around and saw the Doctor water-skiing away from a Sea Devil. Then you’d have Craig trying to keep him out of the wedding.” However someone who had read the Series 7 outline says that Sea Devils weren't there, instead a different monster was featured. Roberts later described the episode as "Nuts In May on Alzarius" Nuts in May was a Mike Leigh comedy about a slightly dull married couple (Craig and Sophie?) who try to go camping, but keep having their peace interrupted, often by the husband's jealousy. It may have been cancelled due to James Cordern's rising stardom in America. From what we can gather, it seems to have been replaced with "Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS" Series 8 -Strax on Trial by James Henry Detailed here http://jamesandthebluecat.blogspot.com/2018/01/always-spell-check-your-email-headers.html Briefly, James Henry (writer of Green Wing, Campus and Smack the Pony) was asked to pitch stories for Series 8. Eventually Moffat asked him to develop one his own ideas, where Strax is kidnapped by his fellow Sontarans, taken back to his home planet, and put on trial for helping humans and the Doctor. An outline was written (read the blogpost) and it appears it was in competition with "Mummy on the Orient Express" and "In the Forest of the Night" for the final two slots. For various reasons, those two episodes were chosen instead. Series 9 -Vampire story by Paul Cornell Paul Cornell was asked to come in and submit ideas for Capaldi's first series. One story idea was for the Doctor & Clara to encounter a community of peaceful vampires in London and for the Doctor to get bitten and become one. The story was a sort of inverse 'Human Nature', going with the idea that this was to be a Doctor who couldn't quite be trusted. This story idea was accepted and could've been made for Capaldi's second season (per Cornell's reddit AMA) but it was never developed further than a one page outline. Series 10 -Jamie Mathieson's New Monster In 2015, when Moffat was first talking to writers for Series 10 episodes, he told the Radio Times "[Mathieson] has just been in and pitched a brilliant idea, a brilliant new monster. I just read his first pass at a storyline for that and I’ve no idea where we’ll end up going with that story. But that’s him. Being Jamie, he came in with 20 ideas and this one is just a belter" Early next year, Mathieson told a convention he had received an email from Moffat beginning "I can't stop thinking about your monster" However, in a 2017 DWM, Moffat reported that although they had tried to make Mathieson's monster story, they'd never managed to get the script to work, Moffat thought that it would still make an amazing horror film. Instead he asked Mathieson to develop another different story based around astronauts. -Sleep No More 2 by Mark Gatiss When planning his story for Series 10, Gatiss originally planned to do a semi-sequel to "Sleep No More" He told the Radio Times "I had this idea [that] I'd like to do the double in a kind of Yeti way, to have two stories about the same monster.”  "Although it was still in space, 'Sleep No More' was originally going to be on a trading floor; it was a stocks and shares thing, with these executives who were trying to stay awake in order to be more productive...I thought there was something in that, and actually maybe I could do a modern day one, set in the City, where they’d invented the same process but actually thousands of years earlier, and it had the same effect.” So the story would have been more of a prequel, set in Modern day London, The Genesis of the Sandmen. Gatiss said he abandoned the episode when he realised that this could be his last Who episode, so he asked instead to write the story he'd always wanted to do: Ice Warriors on Mars. -Pride & Prejudice & Daleks by Paul Cornell Paul Cornell was again asked to submit ideas for a later Capaldi series. One idea he developed, involving Daleks in the Land of Fiction was paid for because it was similar to an idea another writer was working on and they wanted to be able to use his ideas (this is standard practice with writers) However the latter story was never made. List of writers that were commissioned, but we still know nothing about their stories Series 3: Matthew Graham (possibly the man who can drain color that he unsuccessfully pitched for Series 2) Series 5: Rob Shearman, Jack Thorne, Amanda Coe Series 7: Tom MacRae, John Fay, Jack Lothian, the mystery original writer of Series 7b Episode 2 Series 10: Russell T Davies (Moffat said at Cambridge that they had a story all worked out, but then he became too busy) At some point during the Steven Moffat era, Charlie Brooker & Jed Mercurio were asked by the showrunner if they wanted to write Doctor Who stories. However Brooker was too busy & Mercurio wasn't interested in 2018 acclaimed writer Sally Abbott said that she worked on a Doctor Who story for several months, but wouldn't say more except it was "a few years ago" Paul Cornell has also said that around 2011/2012 he worked with Caro Skinner on another TV Doctor Who spinoff, which he's going to discuss on his newsletter at a later date. So if you want to read about that in full, I encourage you to subscribe https://paulcornell.us17.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=198e8a011b70a7fa79dd704d6&id=de506d08cb)

to those of you who are on gb, here’s a direct link to the post: