#it's jane doe from Ride the Cyclone >:3

[stupidloafofbread]

Tbh i only play it because the ✨chaos and drama✨ and because i can make almost any character i want-

Teehee, roblox :3

I haven't played meep city in actual years

Geez

[theangelcatalogue]

Me cause I'm possibly the one and only who showed Daphne Satine Jane for this fandom:

[watermel0ns-dumb-cringe]

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate :)

And happy Hanukkah since it starts tomorrow !

[plussheep]

lmao . rofl even

bonus (full paint canvas)

[janeya]

i love unique jane designs

[sleepboysummer]

rtc hcs i have that most of the fandom doesn't agree with bc i am realizing my perceptions of the characters don't match up with a lot of ppls?

(maybe i just really love abingdon mischa cause genuinely i can NEVER picture mischa as anything different than him)

noel is a baggy pants guy. where did we get it from that he ONLY wears super skinny jeans?? cause i feel like everyone agrees on that

speaking of. noel totally loves horror movies what are u guys even thinking

ocean has black hair

tammy is super popular and randomly decided to take penny under her wing to try and make her popular too. the Almighty Ruler of st cassians.

constance absolutely smokes weed and if anyone tells me differently u guys are WRONG!! tired of seeing her being the only 'responsible' person cause she literally is NOT!!

however.. penny.. she tried to smoke once and coughed so hard she cried and threw up. she is too embarrassed to try it again and will choke anyone who mentions it.

ocean has never once questioned her sexuality because she thinks that thinking of Anyone romantically is wrong and against religion. like she thinks even straight romance is bad

noel is asian (i feel like everyone sees charcters as looking like the 2016 cast but idc be creative like u are for ricky and jane :3)

'savannah' wasn't a name for ricky, but the name of his favorite character he wrote about

ocean is not short

also. mischa IS short. noel is like 5 inches taller than him

ricky and penny are autistic and mischa has adhd

ocean and constance have never liked each other in either direction..i just can not see it..

the only ships im rly into are spacedolls and passionflower/mischalia personally :3 others are cool too but those r the ones that i like

ricky doesn't dress super crazy or nerdy, he only has little touches in his clothes of things he is interested in (like a planet bracelet or stickers on his headphones) and he actually is cool as fuck

i only have one genuine queer hc and that is ricky is def queer but. i feel like that is basically canon after sabm especially the earlier versions. i am queer myself i just usually dont think abt characters sexualities or anything like... ever? but he is just so obvious

i also fully believe that penny lamb isnt a reincarnation or her original life.. she was penny before and after the accident... karnak is literally magical who says he cant let her restart from when the accident happens (but without dying this time)

[full-time-femboy]

Look, oc content never gets any attention, but I am very proud of this piece I made like a year ago and never shared

please do not repost my art ❌️

but reblogs are appreciated 💜

[ethereal-occultist]

I am proud that only 3 songs from musicals made it into my top 20 this year. And only 12 total in my top 100.

[kaleidoscopiccc]

its very important to me that penny and ezra have the brightest damn green eyes youve ever seen

[jesncin]

Spirit World, Ride the Cyclone and Death. A weird comparative analysis

Gonna combine my musical nerd and cape comics fixation together for a rambling meta thought. I've been reflecting on how taboo the topic of death is in media after getting into Ride The Cyclone (highly recommend watching the slime tutorial and Waiting in the Wings' documentary on it) but also contrasting that musical with how Spirit World handled similar topics.

Both stories cover characters whose lives were cut short from a tragic circumstance, but while Cyclone directly talks frankly about how each character uniquely grieves over their lost life (and eventually accepts death)- Spirit World uses death as largely an aesthetic to a generic fantasy superhero adventure.

[spoilers for Ride the Cyclone and Spirit World]

Spirit World is about non-binary, half dead half living Envoy Xanthe Zhou, as they go into the Spirit World with John Constantine to rescue Cassandra Cain Batgirl. They eventually go toe to toe with the spirit of a bitter dead poet.

Ride the Cyclone is about 6 choir teenagers who die in a roller coaster accident in their small town. In the afterlife, they are given the chance to vote which one of them they believe should be resurrected.

For Spirit World, do we even know how Xanthe feels about being "half dead"? What does that even mean? They died as (what looks like) a 3 year old, and have clearly aged 15 more years since then. So they can age? Do they need to eat or drink (they're seen with a drink in a Pride comic)? Xanthe keeps mentioning they're half dead and half living, but the comic doesn't seem to want to discuss what that means. How would Xanthe feel that they were essentially given a job as an Envoy the minute they died as a very young child? Was this even a choice?

We've already covered the numerous plot holes in Xanthe Zhou's poorly thought out backstory so I won't go over that again. But honestly apart from the thematically loose "the dead shouldn't be forgotten" moral, a lot of how death is presented in Spirit World feels so superficial. When Xanthe is formally introduced as this cool character with a giant sword hanging around a gravesite, fighting all these hopping vampire creatures... this scene would play out the same if you swapped the setting with a forest and zombies as bad guys.

The Spirit World is less an afterlife for the spirits to move onto and more an MMORPG setting for our superheroes to travel across and fight generic evil beings and encounter eviler, bigger, boss battles at the end. Then there's the poet clout villain whose problems are just easily solved by Xanthe promising to remember her. I've already covered what a lost opportunity thematically this character was in my last Xanthe essay, but this time I want to contrast her with Ride the Cyclone's Jane Doe. I also want to compare Xanthe with Noel Gruber afterwards.

Ride the Cyclone's musical numbers follow each character performing a song reflecting their wishes, and musings on life (this sounds depressing but the musical handles all this with comedy and wit), hoping to prove themselves as worthy of a second chance at life. Of the characters, Jane Doe is the mysterious odd one out. The accident decapitated her, leaving her to enter the after life with no memories and the people of the living unable to identify her.

You might see where I'm going with this. So in Spirit World, Wan Yujing was this famous poet mourned by an entire empire. She only goes monster mode when a handwave-y "time erodes all" happens in the Spirit World and she is eventually forgotten- so she becomes desperate to demand to be reincarnated by the Jade Court. Because her clout ran out. Again, I already made the critique in my previous essay that this villain would better link to our protagonist if she was a queer poet whose poetry was being purposefully straight washed as an act of queer historical erasure. But I want to bring up how truly unsympathetic this villain is. She gets Shakespeare levels of clout but still demands more because she isn't getting reincarnated fast enough. Xanthe promises that as an immortal "half dead half living" person that they will remember Wan Yujing, so she too can be immortal in some way.

I think about all the Jane Doe-s in the Spirit World who don't get to be famous poets that have Empires remembering who they were. People who died anonymously without a past. In Cyclone, the main character chooses Jane Doe as the person who should be brought back to life. Our cast of teens come to terms with the fact that while it's tragic that their lives ended shortly, they conclude "to say that if one dies young, they die needlessly... that is to discount the years we had. We had a life, she didn't. That's my vote." Since Jane Doe has no memory of who she is, it's only fair that she is given that second chance.

I get that Spirit World is choosing these "larger than life" characters as villains, but it's at the expense of their own supposed themes. Of all the people to die and face off our hero as the villain, a character who's essentially an influencer but somehow has an entire empire forget about her anyway feels thematically hollow.

Modern Superhero comics are suffering from a specific problem right now; they're not really about anything. Characters don't feel like people with interior lives informed by the context of who they are. Class, race and bigotry are only touched upon as lightly as possible. Queer characters are now Pride ads with no personhood or flaws. They punch gentrified crime and fight for no one in particular. Even recent adapted media such as My Adventures with Superman and Caped Crusader follow this. Superman fights white-washed xenophobia, while Batman fights gentrified, white-washed classicism. It's why comics like Superman Smashes the Klan, Catwoman Lonely City and Alan Scott Green Lantern stand out so much. It's been a while since these characters talked about anything that matters. Don't get me wrong, slop that's about nothing exists in every industry. But when these characters and worlds historically used to have more bite- it's especially obvious.

If I could be playfully conspiracy theory-like for a second; I believe Xanthe Zhou was pitched so that DC Comics can buff out their Pride Anthology or AAPI anthology with a new younger character. The company will give this character one limited series, but that's it. Xanthe will appear in the larger DC universe whenever big magic plots happen, but that's it. Maybe they'll get a YA graphic novel. I would love to be proven wrong, but the problems with Xanthe are baked in the dough.

Because they don't feel like a person, Xanthe feels more like an industry planted Pride ad. They're designed to be the most palatable and marketable image of Asian androgyny. They literally have no flaws to grow out of, and their backstory makes no sense. They weren't built to be a sustainable solo character.

So I want to contrast Xanthe Zhou against Noel Gruber from Ride the Cyclone. Because they're both queer characters whose lives were cut short at a young age.

In a dramatic lament, Noel Gruber expresses how if he had a chance to live, he'd want to live the horrible cinematic messy life of a French sex worker woman in post-war France. He struggled as the only gay boy in a small town and never got to kiss a boy before he died. It's a look into a queer life that could've been lived, one with all the messy texture and self destruction Noel couldn't have but desires. We get to see how death and queerness intersect into rich, unflattering, gender-messy themes. "I want to be that fucked up girl." Noel sings.

But what's Xanthe's deal? They died as a 3 year old, got brought back, avoided their family at all costs for 15 years, and then had a transphobic confrontation with their family when they're invited to dinner way later. If Xanthe grew up in a transphobic household, how did they ever figure out they were non-binary when they were 3? Could they even verbalize it? Or did they instead figure out their queerness after they died? But how is that possible when they already held a level of familiar resentment towards their family's transphobia as if they've had several fights about it? It's hard to picture a 3 year old having multiple heated debates about gender with their parents for this level of resentment to make any sense.

Details aside, how does Xanthe's queerness intersect with themes of death and grief? Well, it just doesn't. This scene ends with Xanthe's sister telling them that she bothered remembering them even though their parents moved on from their death (which makes no sense since the parents wanted to have dinner with a random 18 year old they correctly assumed was their long dead "daughter" but whatever). Honestly, the only reason queerness exists in this family drama is so that Xanthe has a tense relationship with their family. The story would be exactly the same if Xanthe was a troublemaker that brought shame to their family. Who they are isn't specific to whatever grief exists in the comic.

When people give the critique that modern Superhero comics aren't about anything anymore, we usually think of these comics as "lacking political bite and commentary". We don't often think of something like Death to be political. And even though it is in many ways, it's also a social taboo to talk about. Death is an uncomfortable thing to confront, even in the safety of fiction. It's what made Ride the Cyclone such a difficult stage musical to market.

So how does a modern mainstream comic like Spirit World fit into that? It just sits there in this non-committal way. Yes, this is a story about a trans teenager who died, but only in a cool Superhero Origin Way, not in any way that would make readers uncomfortable. Bury Your Gays is a stereotype after all, so we can't talk about how queer people feel about death. We don't get to know how Xanthe feels about death as a non-binary Asian American. Especially if it's messy. It's the reason why Wan Yujing's character can never commentate on themes of historical queer erasure. God forbid superhero comics be about something.

I think about how, in the original Hellblazer run from the 80s, John Constantine had an elderly gay friend who was diagnosed with AIDS but was killed by a homophobic hate group. The comic openly talks about the sheer amount of gay people dying of the epidemic, a looming threat that informs John's queer life. It's such a culture shock, to contrast these early comics with how John Constantine is written in Spirit World. A character stripped of his own queer history and is at the mercy of incessant slutty bi jokes. Where is the desire to talk about how death informs a queer person's life? The mourning of a lost generation to the AIDS crisis? Something John lived through?

How about how any of this intersects with being an Asian American queer person? Queer people of color are often erased or purposefully excluded from queer history and communities. As a Queer Asian American, what does it mean to have identities that are often perceived to be in conflict with each other? Would your queer Asian ancestors even be remembered? Cultural differences with how you'd mourn your communities? But answering any of these questions means an uncomfortable conversation for Spirit World. For Xanthe. It threatens to be about something.

Which makes it all the more silly that, of the two stories, a musical about teenagers dying from a rollercoaster malfunction is more willing to have that uncomfortable conversation. You should ride the Cyclone.

[starberry-cupcake]

I've been thinking about Ride The Cyclone and, from entirely a narrative point of view, I have 3 reasons why I like how Jane Doe being Legoland Penny Lamb functions, solely from a storytelling standpoint:

The fact that, in the group, she has an entire backstory while nobody else has one but, to the audience, she's the only one lacking a backstory when everyone else has one. The name drop and birthday at the end switches the entire perspective around in the last second, if you're aware of the intertextuality, and flips the situation upside down.

The fact that, as someone who was desperately trying to find somewhere she belonged, the idea of Penny seeing an empty seat at the Cyclone and a group of classmates who seem, to her, a unit, would prompt her to go and occupy the last seat last minute, without any of them noticing she did, just to be a part of something.

The fact that, in the play, Penny is constantly labeled against her will (which angers her) but, in Cyclone, she gets a clean slate (which scares her). The community she is born into labels the world for her, the bullies in school and the guy she admires all label her with words meant to insult her, but nobody knows the real her, maybe not even herself, as her and her brother are stumbling through discovering the world. Cyclone strips her off these labels and her history, leaving her entirely blank, but that scares her and makes her question her existence. In the end, though, she gets to come back, which gives her the opportunity of a life through her own choices. She, therefore, gets three acts: the play, with labels that don't represent her, the musical, with a clean slate that scares her and the resurrection, with a future she builds for herself.

And I kinda really like that, if it was up to me to choose an interpretation, all details and specifics notwithstanding. I think it's neat.

[theangelcatalogue]

She's how I imagine Jane to be sometimes, it's crazy.

[moonriseblueeyes]

Spotify Shuffle

Tagged by my beloved @fireplceashes. Again, I'm sorry it's been too long. I get into a mental funk sometimes during the academic term. Also, your list is amazing. Wicked Game is just...💜 put your Spotify (or non-spotify equivalent) on the 'on repeat' playlist, shuffle it and then share the first 10 songs. then tag 10 people 1. Jane Doe's Entrance from Ride the Cyclone

2. Finesse by Bruno Mars

3. Prelude in G Major by Víkingur Ólafsson

4. Louder Than Bombs by BTS

5. Red by Taylor Swift

6. Teenagers by My Chemical Romance

7. Respect by Aretha Franklin

8. My Heart Will Go On by Céline Dion

9. Death By A Thousand Cuts by Taylor Swift (live from Paris is superior imo)

10. Stupid Cupid by Connie Francis

pressurelessly tagging: @storybook-tiles, @theannoyeddragon82, @moderatelyluckypenny, @yelenapines, @mayfieldss, @reddiesetbyler, @silentspacebee, @mental-breakdown-machine, @lonelypersonhere, @outofthewoods-tv

[demigodseameg16]

🎶🤍✨when u get this, list 5 songs u like to listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (positivity is cool)🎶🤍✨

Oh I haven't done one of these asks in a while! Thanks so much!

1. Flame by KATSEYE (Jentry Chau V.S The Underworld the show that you are)

2. The Ballad of Jane Doe from "Ride of the Cyclone" but especially the Annapantsu cover

3. Noel's Lament from "Ride of the Cyclone" but same thing with the Annapantsu cover

4. 3 Daqat (AlRawabi Cover) by Noor Taher

5. Curses by The Crane Wives

Instead of spamming asks I'll just tag ten people, cause I know it will reach better that way. You don't have to do this if you get tagged tho!

@depressed-teacup-inc @yendts @artzychic27 @broadwaycutie16 @sillysiluriforme @anna-scribbles @pocato @megatraven @sboochi @callimara

[shackledpuppy]

( reposting dis on my LPS account from my main account )

Jane Doe LPS (based on majestic rep theatres Ride the cyclone)

She's the first one I ever made months agoooo :3

[jesterheartz]

My Imaginary Ride The Cyclone Hybrid Live-Action and Animation Feature Film that only exists in my head: Part 2

Here's the link to Part 1!

Apologies for splitting it into 2 parts. Tumblr literally wouldn't let me post it as one big chunk. 😭

Continuing on:

To refresh: This would be a hybrid film that combines both live action and animated segments. The majority of the movie would be shot in live-action under a sepia filter, but all of the choir member's songs would be animated with different art styles. "What The World Needs" is in CGI Disney style, "Noel's Lament" is black-and-white 2D animation, "This Song is Awesome" is stylized graffiti, and "Talia" is in watercolor.

Of course, "Space Age Bachelor Man" will use an art style resembling Silver Age comics (which, fun fact, is around the time Silver Surfer was introduced). The song sequence will actually show most of the events Ricky details in his fantasies (ie., him getting abducted to Planet Zolar, laying with the sexy cat women, stopping the war between K-9 and Zolar, etc.).

Side Note: We don't actually see Ricky get freaky on screen. But we do see him and the kitties in snippets of suggestive action accompanied by on-screen sound bubbles every time Ricky says "Meow!". (This movie is already getting an R-rating for every time Noel says "Fucked Up Girl".)

Another side note: I know that in the 2018 version of RTC, Constance plays the "Zolarian Queen". But because this is MY movie concept, I get to do what I want. And I say Jane Doe is the Zolarian Queen instead (SpaceDolls 4 Ever! <3).

"Ballad of Jane Doe" will be in stop motion (either using paper or puppets). In the first half, we see her recount the accident. She looks like how she does now (with the doll head). She hits the ground right before "And from the ground beneath my feet", and her head falls off. We see her laying headless on the ground for a some time while other carnival patrons are screaming and getting away from her. On "Just John and Me" she stumbles back to her feet. And on "Forever Eternally Jane Doe" she screws her head back on.

In the next verse, we see Jane try to reach out to the other carnival goers, essentially trying to identify her family and friends. When she finds none, Jane boards the rollercoaster again on "Time eats all his children in the end"

Essentially, the idea is that because it's her only memory, Jane is forced re-live the accident over and over again through her song sequence. She desperately wants to find out who she is and what her past was. But the only memory she has to dig through is that of the accident.

She falls to the ground again on "Forever Eternally Jane Doe". Then gets dragged onto the ride a third time by carnies. She looks tired like she doesn't even want to do this anymore. On "Like John I'll be eternally a forgotten name, some lost refrain" we see her fly and float through the air (like how the other choir kids did during Uranium suite). But this time she never hits the ground. Instead, at the end of the song, she just reappears in the warehouse.

Constance's song, "Sugar Cloud", is the only individual segment that isn't animated. Instead, it's shot in live-action, but in full technicolor! Think like how vibrant Barbieland looked in the Barbie movie. Like that. The reason why "Sugar Cloud" is in live-action is because Constance is romanticizing her life as it was, rather than what it could have been.

Constance begins her first verses, still in sepia, at the warehouse. But when she goes "Let me take you away", she struts forward and the scenery changes behind her to that bright technicolor look. And instead of being at the warehouse, they're back at the carnival. But everything is bright and sunny and idealistic.

During Constance's recorder solo, the choir gets new outfits that reflect each of their personalities. The outfits magically poof on out of thin air. The choir members keep these new outfits for the duration of the song, then go back to their school uniforms after the sequence is over.

When Jane Doe is chosen to live again, her body fades away, leaving behind a roll of film. Ricky slides this film into a projector, and the choir watches the reel of Penny Lamb’s life together.

After Karnak’s death, we see the sepia filter lift off from the film. Along with it, we finally get to see how much decay and disrepair has taken over the warehouse. The choir members have a spiritual glow around their bodies.

The choir members perform the last song, “It’s Not A Game/It’s Just a Ride” inside the warehouse. As the sun rises, their bodies fade away.

Title card rolls at the sound of crashing metal.