#its really wacky and out of character LOL

[surrender-souls]

thinking about my left behind 60s villain to the creeper proteus

[theferbtones]

HERE ISSSS MY COMPREHENSIVE FIRST THOUGHTS ABOUT THE FIRST PART OF PHINEAS AND FERB SEASON 5 (FROM THE POV OF A LONG-TIME SUPERFAN)

SPOILERS BELOW!!! DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE NEW EPISODES OKAY!!! THANK YOU MUAH

General thoughts:

animation is actually quite good! I think summer block buster / license to bust were noticeably rusty but everything else was pretty good + there were some moments that were really well animated. especially in the b plot scenes

I like that they overdubbed phineas' lines in the theme song! I think that should have happened a long time ago!! like, yeah im used to the original lines, but it sounds more cohesive in my opinion

adding onto that I'M SO GRATEFUL THAT THEY DIDN'T REMAKE THE INTRO OH MY GOD THANK YOU DWAMPY THANK YOU TH

Voice acting was great! There were some wacky moments but like overall I didnt have any issues with any of the voices. I feel so bad I was so concerned because there was Candace’s theme song takeover and Ashley Tisdale’s voice sounded so autotuned there but in the show she sounds just fine. All the new VAs did great as well (ily David errigo jr. as ferb)

Buford’s bread bowl hot tub joke the whole season was really funny to me. Honestly, buford overall was SO awesome this season. he was carrying the backyard gang

I also quite liked ferb and baljeet so far. my sillies

---

Episodes:

Summer Block Buster / Cloudy With a Chance of Mom

great way to reintroduce the characters. Im glad we didn’t linger much on the school part and we jump right into summer

The twist with Linda being vaporized was perfect. I liked how the gang interacted with cloud Linda.. seeing Candace be emotional is always SO important to me okay

Idk what else to say. Super solid beginning, great intro song, summer is starting right now is a new fave for me

Submarine Sandwich Submarine / License to Bust / Dry Another Day

I love how normal these episodes were!! Really feels like they could fit into season 2 or 3

I don’t have a ton to say about them other than I really liked them all. seeing Candace finally get her license felt like a proud parent moment lol. loved the callbacks to mud mud world!

Deconstructing Doof:

NOT what I expected from this episode but I was not opposed to it! The therapist character was insane but it was interesting. I liked having a Candace and doof duet again… love seeing when the connections are acknowledged in the show :smiles:

Linda was really pissing me off in this episode though. girl pay attention to your daughter oh my god!!!

Tropey McTropeface / Biblio-Blast!

oh my god. Tropey mctropeface I laughed SO hard at some of these gags. It was an out there idea, but I loved it! Zoetrope god canon. thats all I have to say

Dont have much to say about biblio-blast either it felt like a standard episode (good) 

I liked the part where they all jumped into the air high school musical style. Did they make it just to include in a trailer? Probably… but I still like it. 

A Chip to the Vet / More Than an Intern

the vet episode had SO MUCH potential. But . I did not like it thaaat much. Perry and doof’s fighting was cool, but otherwise the big invention for the day just felt too similar to phintastic ferbulous car wash :’(

Also WHY ARE WE USING SCREAMING GOAT IN 2025. THE EPISODE DID IT NOT ONCE NOT TWICE BUT *FOUR TIMES*. SERIOUSLY it really took me out of the episode

I like that its canon that ferb went feral. Feels in character

More than an intern was good and I liked seeing carl’s life outside of owca.. I feel bad for him. Im glad he got to vocalize some of his feelings

Also the setup and payoff with ferb in more than an intern made me laugh

The Aurora Perry-Alis / Lord of the Firesides

aurora was OK, nice to see monty again! And the scene with Perry and Stacy!!! I liked the song in this episode as well

also why do the Flynn fletchers keep going on cruises. these guys are loaded /silly

I feel like lord of the firesides was fun at first but it was too repetitive if that makes sense… the song was a banger though

The Candace Suit / Agent T (for Teen)

the Candace suit is horrifying. Can’t wait to see more of that freaky thing

Loved seeing buford be a little freak honestly. Loved the continuity regarding the “I have life sized molds of all of my friends”

Why did Isabella make fun of Candace for liking ducky momo

STACY HELPING WITH OWCA / PERRY. ITS ALL WE WANTED. ITS ALL I EVER WANTEDDDDDDDDD YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAA NO NOTES GREAT EPISODE PEAK PEAK PEAK PEAK PEAAAAAKKKK I LOVE AGENT P AND STACY FOREVER AND EVER

The Haberdasher / Out Of Character

I LOVED THE HABERDASHERRR I like learning about the extended OWCA staff! Such a fun episode. For sure going to be one of my faves from this season

Moth doof was weird but in the BEST way possible. reminded me of my OCs (if you know my OCs... you would understand what I mean.)

Out of character was pretty standard but im sad baljeet didn’t actually get a role

Meap Me in St. Louis

sighs heavily. This was for sure my least favorite episode in the season (so far) (I HOPE nothing is worse than this) as someone who really likes the meap saga this episode was such a slap in the face after really looking forward to this :(

What happened to meap’s og actor? Like I understand about Jeremy’s but AFAIK Lorenzo lamas hasn’t done anything crazy. (If he has let me know bc im unaware of it). And WHY did they have to redub the iconic meap soundbite? It was unnecessary… no shame to his new VA but I guess im just so used to the og it caught me off guard. AND WHY DID THEY DITCH THE MUSTACHE TRANSLATORS. CAN ANYONE HEAR ME. HELLO

I just hate how the episode felt like it was trying to meet the requirement of existing rather than actually continue the story? Like, the meta part was fun (AT THE BEGINNING). But it quickly turned annoying and like an excuse to not make things cohesive. Nothing really felt relevant and they just shoehorned each part of the trailer (especially the jerry part).

I liked mitch as per usual and I liked the song that the backyard gang sung (do the tidy up is probably my favorite of the season honestly????), but otherwise it just fell so flat…… meap deserves so much better…

No Slumber Party / The Ballad of Bubba Doof

YEEEEAAAAA VANESSA CANDACE STACY BEING FRIENDS . WE WIN!!! 

The jokes in this episode really landed for me. The friends parody, baljeet falling asleep after his bedtime (so true dude) and Lawrence sleepwalking were all so funny

Ballad of bubba doof was fun, honestly i’m surprised they hadn’t had an episode like this earlier. Ah yes my favorite PnF character: lunch <3

---

Overall, I think the pros were the B plots (all of them were really solid to me, and that’s saying something, because I’m generally more invested in the A plot) and the successful feeling of “more of the same” (in a good way of course). You don’t watch phineas and ferb for something new— well at least I don’t…

Cons were that some jokes that fell flat / went on for too long, and I think there weren’t enough standout songs either. Hopefully as the season goes on we get more iconic song moments.

I can’t wait to watch the rest of the season! I have no doubt that things will find its footing. Its got a really strong start, perhaps I’m just being too nitpicky…

Some things I’d like to see in the future:

More Jeremy?? Please??? Can anyone hear me

Actually just more of the teens overall. Vanessa content… now!!!

I just want to see my favorite guy forever (phineas) sing more OK. Thank you

Also I want another fireside girls centric episode (akin to Isabella and the temple of sap / bee story)

Favorite episodes: The Haberdasher / License to Bust

Least favorite episodes: Meap Me In St. Louis / Chip to the Vet

[arahusk]

Just thinking about both the Hazbin pilot and the main series, and while I did really like the pilot and would go back to rewatch it every few months, I really think the show did well when it came to showing more aspects of the characters and fleshing them out.

Like, they're good. They're complex. And they're so fun! The show was what finally endeared the characters to me and made me see them more than just deviantart concepts that liked to say the fuck word a lot. Like, no shade on the pilot, because I did still like it! But it was tough for me to see past their zany furry designs. Now they feel fleshed out and just... Like actual characters now!

And I just appreciate that.

(This got too long again, so have a cut).

The pilot served as the introduction to the show and its concept, so it makes sense that each character would mainly be... a sort of type, or a trope. Charlie was the precious cinnamon roll, Angel was the flirt, Husk was the grouch, Vaggie was the angry one and so forth. And it was nice in the show we could see beyond that for them.

Seeing Charlie's righteous anger with Adam in the finale (and with Valentino earlier on), seeing Angel reveal his self-destructive ways as how he copes with his situation and the trauma he endures, Husk showing his empathy and concern for others while being burdened by his own fuck ups, Vaggie ALSO dealing with her trauma and insecurities from being an Exorcist, Alastor showing off more of his petty side and this underlying fear he has because of his own mystery contract, and Niffty... Well she's still a crazy little gremlin, but we do see her getting upset if she thinks she's not doing her job well. Also her being a dominatrix, hope we get more of that.

Even with the show's fast pacing and some plot holes, (also, first episode is a bit shaky because it kinda just drops you into this world expecting you to see the pilot that's not even the same exact vibe anymore lol) seeing these characters finally become more than their initial tropes was really so refreshing. Listen, I never would have thought Husk would eventually become my favorite years back to when I first saw the pilot. Like, yeah he was fun, but I honestly thought Angel would have been my fave until Husk revealed more of his character. And then seeing him and Alastor's complex relationship put even more seasoning for me, plus with Niffty, oh gosh I love it.

I love that we get more of these characters and their flaws, and their hopes, and their fuck ups. And so when I see opinions from other fans of how the show was worse than the pilot or it ruined the characters, it just confuses me. There's more layers to these characters now! There's so much to play with and theorize! Sometimes it feels like some fans expect the characters to stay static, like with Alastor. Idk I just love him being a petty little bitch that soon gets emotional for others and may even like them! Then he gets wrecked by Adam and sings about it in his broken radio tower of how he almost gave his life away for others oh no!! It's so juicy to me. I like him as a wacky radio man but seeing how imperfect he still can be was *chef's kiss*.

Also not to mention seeing other new characters and their role in the show (please let's have more Velvette). I don't think the show is perfect and some writing can still be tightened up but man, the characters are fun. The characters are layered!! I want to pick each one apart with tweezers and look at them through a microscope. (Especially Husk. I want to rip this cat man apart and put him back together again).

Anyway, show good and I'm gonna watch it again soon.

[salad-006]

i'd really like to know the premises or any info you can spare abt the split personality matt AU (even tho i can already guess, i still wanna hear abt it), slime matt, shadow matt, ZMR, mattputer, the white mask, project m411, and the gingerbot AU

a very quick very short summary for each will be satisfactory, especially because i know i'm kind of asking a lot here. i just really love seeing matt get put through the ringer or into some wacky shit <3

@four-bastard-bustle

Split personality matt . Oh god

To put it bluntly, this ones bad . Like kinda just. abelist bad Out of nowhere Matt suddenly develops a condition where if he hits his head, he flies into a manic rage and starts trying to kill the first person he sees . There's apparently no reason he just does that now

Eventually we learn the 'evil matt' (later dubbed Ttam) is actually an alter ego. A.... split personality if you will.... I don't remember what his motives are, i guess he just likes killing people or some shit. Anyway Eventually ttam takes control long enough to escape the house, and when he returns he's got a mirror with the good matt trapped inside. Gulp !

Oh and then like because he's in control all the time he learns the concept of remorse and guilt for his actions and some shit idk it was dumb . Here's the only proper drawing i made of ttam

Numba 2 : slime matt

Slime matt was very much just an art experiment, so it doesn't have all too much lore to it. And when it does have lore, it's kinda subject to change. Generally though all thats really contained is that Matt is transformed into a fuckoff slime thing and he's miserable . The au was abandoned not very long into its existence because I learned that people turning into slime was a fetish , which made me too nervous to draw it lol

Speaking of which here's some of the original doodles

Shadow Matt is very much an enigma of a character. Simply put, I generally have no recollection of what he was, or why he existed. Looking back at old art he's a somewhat consistent regular when it comes to matt mega collection drawings, but. I dont know what he does. I dont even know his name. Sometimes its labled as ttam, sometimes he's shadow matt, and sometimes he's not named at all . I have no fucking clue what this guy is or when he came to exist

Ohh god zmr . Full name Zombeh Matts return . It was a comic I started that started as a simple 'zombie attack iv' concept and ended with utter madness. I had a decently long thing written out, howver im realizing just how long it got before i even finished 20 pages, so im keeping this one short.

Tldr, matt is kidnapped by the red army, and attacked by Zombie Matt who's come back from the past. A few days later they find zom has broken into the house, and ends up killing tom. Edd runs away like a coward, leaving him alone as a zombie apocalypse starts.

He calls up laurel who comes to visit, and together they go out to try and find Matt or Tom. In the end they find 'Matt', who's actually zom in disguise. He suggests they resurrect tom with the necronomicon, however on the way there they find the real matt, realizing it was a trick. By the time they get to the cemetery zom has the book, and turns himself into like a fuckoff demon thing. Immediately he decapitates matt and laurel, leaving edd to run away like a coward again

And this is only like. The first 20 pages. I'm realizing now that there's still sooo much to explain, including a good and bad ending. So if someone REALLY wants the rest of the zmr lore, let me know cause otherwise im moving on

Mattputer. Funnily enough the mattputer part of the au has like. No relevance in the story pretty quickly

The tale of tMat is probably the most ridiculous in the long run. It starts out simple: Matt died in a car crash, and unable to cope with the loss, Edd makes an ai chatbot of Matt to help him cope. (Not very well ages nowadays of course)

It's funny though because the chatbot part hardly matters overall. Gradually as the story goes on we learn Tords role in the story, how nervous and erratic he's been, how there's Something definitely haunting him specifically.

Eventually we come to learn the truth, which is that Tord was the one behind the wheel when Matt died. Now because of it Matts ghost (tMat) has been haunting him.

This is where it gets Dumb though . As the story progresses tMats appearance is changing. As it would turn out, as conveniently explained by Tord, ghosts brought up by hate will turn into demons 5 years after their death, at which point they'll have no memory of their past life and only exist to bring suffering. So Tord has to stop this, and to do so he calls apon the audience (it was an ask blog btw) to remind Matt of his life while he sets the fucked up ghost trap.

What ends up happening is this: Tord pulls the blue matt clone from spares out of the closet (apparently he just went braindead a little while after the events of the episode) and leaves him in the evil ghost circle. Then he lures tMat into the circle and gives a chant, which separates the demon half and ghost half from Matts soul. The ghost goes into the clone vessel, and the demon gets sucked into a mirror. Edd walks in and sees Matt's alive again. Happy ending.

But . Thats not where it ends. See we keep following tMat after he goes into the mirror, where he's in this like. Big void full of bubbles. Bubbles that lead into other universes. He's in the goddamn salad mutliverse.

After stumbling across me sleep at my desk (no joke) the ask blog was ultimately scrapped right as he came across a room full of "abandoned Matts." however my plan was to make an overarching multiverse story, where tMat became this looming figure in the background of all my storys until eventually, all the matts of the multiverse must band together and defeat the evil. You'll be sad to hear that plan never played out at all

The white mask is a fanfic i made for a Halloween contest a few years back. This one I'll also only explain partally, just because it's probably the longest fanfic i ever wrote single handedly . Once again if someone wants the full thing let me know

Matts gone missing. One day he went for a walk, and never came back. And at the same time, theres a killer on the loose. He's been killing people Edd and Tom know, making Tom question if it could be Tord

Edd is stressed about the whole thing, given his best friend is most likely dead in a ditch somewhere. He tries to continue life as normal, despite the killer on the loose. One night while he's driving to the store he spots the killer in an alleyway, watching him. Scary!

He gets his stuff from the store and begins heading back home. However as he's driving, Edd realizes there's movement in the backseat. There's someone back there.

He tries to keep driving and park somewhere else, just to make sure this guy doesn't know his address, but its too late. As Edd drives past his house, the murderer pipes up, and reminds Edd that he went too far. So edd backs up, parks the car, and heads inside while leaving all the groceries inside.

And the next morning, the groceries are sitting on the counter waiting for him.

Project M411 started as another fanfic, which starts right after Tord blows up the house during the end. However this time Matts the one in the house instead of Tom, and he's the one that gets blown up

Edd rushes in to try and find Matt after Tord Also gets blown up. However apon unearthing him Edd discovers that Matts skin has been blown off on one side, and underneath is robotics . He's a machine!

After learning he's not a person, Matt gets kinda depressed and reclusive. One night Edd persuades him to come with him and Tom on a walk, only for them to get beamed up by aliens. The aliens from space face i forget what theyre called. Vanity fuckers idk

As it would turn out, Matt was actually a drone dropped off by the aliens to scope out the planet. However only a few years in they suddenly lost connection with him, and now they were finally back to retrieve their droid, and reset him back to default

Unfortunately this is kinda the point where my work on the concept tampered off, so im not 100% sure what else I had planned. I know i wanted to do something with alien bob ordering the factory reset Matt to execute Edd, only for the power of friendship to override Matts systems or something blah blah blah who care

Finally, gingerbot. This ironically is very similar to both car crash cyborgs and mattputer. It technically has two variants, however I'll probably just stick to the most current version. Just know that this started as the first version of the tally hall au, and it involved the mafia

One night, Edd and Matt get kidnapped while out driving. By whom ? The evil and dreaded bing and larry. They're held prisoner in bings basement, up until the point where Edd manages to pull free of his ropes. He tries to get them both free, however in his panic he changes his mind last second, and chooses to come back for Matt instead. So he leaves and runs all the way back home . Only to pass the fuck out immediately instead

Fearing the consequences of not immediately reporting the crime, Edd panics again and clamps up. No one knows where Matt went, and it stays that way until a year later when they find parts of his body in a dumpster. Oopsie

A few more years later, and Edd is met by an unexpected visitor: matt. However he's not quite the same. Not only does he hardly remember anything, but he's also a cyborg.

Tldr theres a lot of drama inbetween edd and matt. Once matt remembers who he is properly again he blows up on edd, finally revealing to the world what happened that night. Edd does what he can to try and fix the situation, and hopefully one day give Matt a reason to forgive him

But they're not quite out of the water yet because WHOAOA bing and larry are still on the hunt for their little science experiment. As it would turn out, Larry is essentially the prototype to Matt. A cyborg with a similar design, however he's considered a failure thanks to being resurrected completely devoid of emotion. I hope they dont find the gingerbot!

[ducktracy]

TDTEBU is now the definitive Looney Tunes movie that understands the characters, but for a long time, it was LT: Back in Action. Imo, I believe there is a great movie in there. But despite its problems, I still enjoy it a good deal. It’s wacky, looney, high-spirited, the writing has aged surprisingly well, and it’s some of Joe Alaskey’s best work as Daffy. Not to mention Eric Goldberg’s animation is crisp! What are your honest thoughs on BIA all these years later?

YESSSSSS a tried and true Looney Tunes movie!! it's still really kinda bonkers to think that this is the first film in the series' 95 YEAR HISTORY that's all animated... not tacked on with human sidekicks...

MY HONEST OPINION ON BIA. well.. it's, it's honest HAHA. it UNQUESTIONABLY was the best LT movie pre-TDTEBU, but is also my least favorite LT movie (not counting Space Jam 2, but it's Space Jam 2 cmon). BiA is a much better film than Space Jam 1 tenfold, and i genuinely respect and am happy people hold it in the admiration that they do

but MAN, it's just not a movie for me. no movie is for me if said movie makes a joke about every Daffy Duck fan being a basement dwelling incel and repeatedly talking about how unlikable and hated he is. i know it's a joke!! but i really can't stand that era of disdain for the source material cynicism, because it's not cynicism, it just feels like punching down on these characters for no reason and insulting the people who love them. maybe i'm proving the exact point of this joke. but the entire hook of Friz Freleng's fame hungry Daffy in particular is that he IS talented! he IS amazing! he IS really, really good! and Bugs wins out by doing absolutely nothing! Daffy himself says this in BiA with the "chomp on a carrot and everyone loves you" line which, i'm sorry to say, is a line I ABSOLUTELY DETEST LOL UGHHHHHHH. i was just talking about this the other day about how TDTEBU had so much better pathos than BiA in that regard, i cannot at all take Daffy's self pitying seriously and it makes me roll my eyes to the highest of heavens. the pathos just feels so forced in BiA and something about that moment feels particularly out of character to me--at least for it to be played so straight and for so long. Daffy is not a self loathing or pitying character. he has his lapses, but regardless of characterization he is INCREDIBLY quick to rebound, and that often lands him in even more trouble than he was before. there's a certain defeatism here with that scene that makes me roll my eyes and just feels misguided. i get they gotta have the emotional beat, but nothing about it feels sincere to me and instead just irritates me. maybe this is because i wanna grab the screen, shake it, and scream "I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!"

ANYWAY. i just derailed my first point. i really dislike that BiA plays up the whole "Daffy is a loser and loved by losers" thing because it completely misses the point of the original dynamic that this is built on, in that Daffy is actually an extroardinary talent and goes above and beyond to prove it and absolutely nobody recognizes it. and the film seems half aware of this, again through the aforementioned carrot line, but to my recollection they don't push it far enough in Daffy's favor. they don't push it to show the commentary that he is in the right and deserves to be celebrated. it instead just feels like it's punching down on him from all sides, often beyond intent. extremely exhausting! and i've said it before and i said it again--if i were Brendan Frasier i would absolutely be overjoyed that Daffy is in my presence. i think him being annoyed and apathetic towards him all the time is a skill issue. give him to me. Daffy i'll treat you right

i also just don't like it that much because the cast is so limited--it wasn't always going to be the case! executive meddling very much screwed this film over, and i'd love to have seen what it would've been like if Joe Dante's vision went undisturbed. but i'm already not very keen on the Bugs and Daffy shorts (though i'm much warmer on them than i was the last time i've seen this film in full), Daffy and Brendan Frasier are really the only two i'm interested in at all.. i know this is hypocritical of me to say because i always go on about how i think the LT characters should remain independent of each other and not cross universes, but i do wish we got some more of the others. there are a lot of deep cut cameos in the film i enjoy! they did their research! but i'm not big on Bugs and Daffy's dynamic in general, and i'm ESPECIALLY not big on the "gentrified"/misunderstood Bugs and Daffy dynamics of the modern era. this film is just full of bad habits and red flags for me that i really do not like

it is a very well crafted film, though. it's taken me an embarrasingly long time to come around to Alaskey's Daffy, but he's fantastic. Daffy himself is the best part of the film, when they're not running over his brains and telling you how much you should hate him and how much he's hated. the art direction and animation is gorgeous, especially Eric Goldberg's museum sequence. the political correctness joke makes me roll my eyes into the high heavens as well, but i like that Porky gets a cameo, especially because what he says about losing the stutter and being told he's not something is based on a true story lmao. the thinly veiled contempt for Porky's character of the 90s-00s makes me see red. it's by all accounts a much better film than Space Jam... but i prefer Space Jam because it's at least so stupid that it's a bafflingly fun time. i hate how self serious BiA can get (again, the carrot line) and i don't really find its tone cynical so much as i do berating and exhausting. maybe this is all coming from a "well, I love Daffy. why didn't they take me into account for this? huh? wow. smh" perspective.

i actually just found some thoughts i laid out last year discussing my predictions for TDTEBU and how it would handle any emotional moments and comparing it to BiA--seems i was mostly right (there was indeed a "dumb confrontation scene" but i say dumb in multiple senses, some with affection because that scene is a doozy LMAO iykyk)

but yes, needless to say, TDTEBU blows everything out of the water for me HAHA. it actually loves the characters it stars, for one!

[homeofthemany]

jack's family & his relationship with kai

the parents in kickin' it as a series are generally not mentioned at all, or they're mentioned for concerning jokes. you can take it as them being somewhat absent depending on which main kid we're talking about, but it likely comes down to kickin' it being a show for young teens that wants to follow other young teens around—not their parents, but other weird wacky adults.

most of what we can gather about each character's family is either said in passing, as a joke, or implied through other things. i think it's fair to say that jerry has some of the more remarkable examples like being raised by wolves [1x03], having too many siblings / cousins to the point where he's being neglected & sleeping in a locker [1x17], you get the idea. but we actually know very little about jack's family & he's arguably the main character of the show.

very long analysis incoming! also i don't remember season 4 very well, so if i'm missing something, whoops. i'm going to drift into some darker territory [abuse, specifically] so if you're triggered by that or are of the "it's a kid show it ain't that deep" opinion, this probably isn't the post for you lol.

again, TW for general discussion of abuse—physical abuse & neglect in particular. it's very light & i don't go too far into detail, but just in case.

jack's parents

going strictly off of canon, jack's parents themselves are only mentioned once or twice. if i remember correctly, "a slip down memory lane" [2x15] is our most direct mention of them [i forgot if they're mentioned in 2x14 when he's about to leave for otai academy lol] because rudy says that they're out of town, having called them after jack gets a concussion and develops amnesia; they don't think it's necessary to head back and take care of him?

it's worth mentioning that depending on their circumstances and where exactly they traveled, they might not be able to make it back in time to help him with his recovery. in real time though, jack probably wouldn't recover in just... 30min-1hr? since memory recovery can take several days depending on mechanism of injury? not even talking about the actual concussion, by the way, which could take longer on its own. but i'm not a doctor lol. so to be fair, last-minute traveling isn't exactly necessary if they truly trust rudy enough to watch him until they get back.

on the other hand, it's odd that they didn't want to stick around to watch him break the world record in the first place, so it makes me wonder if he'd even told them he was training to accomplish that—and if he did, whether or not they chose to leave seaford anyway. at best, jack's parents are vaguely absent, and at worst, they're negligent.

we're also not given any clear evidence on whether or not they're supportive of his martial arts. we can assume that they're at least aware of it since it seems to be a family tradition of some kind ["my family were really embarrassed of kai," - jack 1x19], but they're never really shown to be openly supportive like jerry's family, or initially disapproving like milton's dad until he comes around in the pilot.

we see jerry's family, milton's dad, kim's dad, eddie's mom, & rudy's uncle, but don't see jack's parents once throughout the entire series. the only relative of jack's we get to actually meet is one he has a very negative experience with.

also he literally goes to china for a tournament he'd been "dreaming about since he got into martial arts" without them there to watch his fights. actually all of the kids go to china without their parents!! AND THEY LET THEM GO WITH RUDY LMFAO. but speaking of china!

jack, kai, & their grandfather

...assuming that jack & kai are first cousins. lol.

we know that jack has a cousin who beat the shit out of him two years prior to the episode we meet him in [kai, seen in 1x19 & 3x09], and he also has a grandfather who trained one of the biggest martial arts action stars in the kickin' it universe [mentioned in 1x01 & 1x06; oh, bobby wasabi the character that you could've been].

other than that, we don't have much else to go off of other than his line about his family in general being embarrassed of kai. because of that, i'm going to assume that the fight they had was part of some kind of family event / tournament. with how skilled jack & kai both are, as well as how skilled & respected his grandfather is [assuming he was at least somewhat famous for training bobby], it's not a stretch to assume that training in martial arts is very much a family thing, or at least is highly important to the majority of them too.

to look at jack's relationship with kai, we're going to drift out of canon while looking more towards his grandfather & how they were both trained. this is where the abuse part comes in!

although there is no real canon evidence of this because it's a kids show, i think the idea of jack & kai having a very strict and unforgiving grandfather is a very interesting one to consider. i don't think i have to go into detail here, but i can imagine jack & kai being overworked & overtrained, experiencing a lot of negative reinforcement, & potentially being physically punished for not getting things right or mastering things at the pace he wanted them to. i think he would push them past their body's limits & be either satisfied or disappointed depending on how well they'd perform afterwards.

back to kai, it's interesting to me that jack doesn't talk about his family's reaction to his supposedly devastating loss to kai ["a kid named kai beat me so badly, i gave up karate till i came here," - jack, 1x19].

it seems like kai isn't necessarily considered better than jack despite winning the fight. it would be easy for a kids show on disney to make it a "he won & got all the praise, but he cheated & my family never believed me so i want to prove myself to them / find my own closure" plot, but the conflict between jack & kai is completely personal. their family probably tried to forget the match ever happened, or more likely, regard it as an event that should just never be brought up again because it was so disturbing and / or tragic—or worse, they thought it was disappointing.

kai didn't gain any respect, he just won the fight. in fact, his presumably violent win is what got them cast out in the first place.

jack & kai are childhood rivals who would likely be competing for their grandfather's praise, so as a result, kai takes things too far to prove himself and seriously injures jack during the match that he lost. rather than gain his family's approval, though, kai's display of aggression gets them both exiled; they look down on jack for losing to "someone like kai", while also disapproving of kai's brutal & undisciplined display of power. jack shamefully gives up karate [i have other thoughts about how something like this would traumatize him] while kai continues to train, but now has even less of a regard for maintaining his "honor". if it wasn't about hurting people before, it certainly would be now.

small thing about their match

i'm more interested in how exactly kai won against jack LOL. i feel like there's a certain point where their sensei has to decide "okay, this is going too far", but then again, if we assume that their grandfather was the one to set up the match? ouh. he already wasn't training them in healthy ways, so he might not have bothered to stop them. did somebody step in or was it already somewhat of a dirty match to begin with, just so he could see how far they could push themselves? because neither of those stubborn students would tap out themselves.

after a certain point, i think their grandfather would probably step in but less because of jack's injuries & more because of kai losing his form. we've already established that he trains these poor kids to hell and back so i think that if anything would get him to call the match, it'd be something like that.

in conclusion

hooray, traumatized disneyxd characters! i was going to do a breakdown of "kickin' it in china" here too & what it must've been like for jack to face his past while fighting for his future, but then i realized the post was getting too long lol.

[dufferpuffer]

🏳️‍🌈: Which character who is commonly headcanoned as queer doesn't seem queer to you?

💕: What is an unpopular ship that you like?

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

omg its the OP I didn't expect that are you sure you want Harry Potter answers lol because I reblogged intending to give Harry Potter answers, idk if you're into that...?

Ask game Reblog. Anyone feel free to ask the same questions again I'll probably give different answers on different days B^)

🏳️‍🌈: Which character who is commonly headcanoned as queer doesn't seem queer to you?

James. I like Sirius pining for James, but James not reciprocating specifically because he is straight - and so Sirius gets really intense about being his and Lily's knight and it's unhealthy. 'If I can't be your lover then I'll be your pet' sorta thing.

💕: What is an unpopular ship that you like?

Predictable - but Snupin. Often wacky and encourages exploring the more subtle parts of both characters. Can work at many points in time and many different ways. You rarely know what you're getting into when you encounter it. I find they can both often be done OOC… but all is forgiven for the sake of a ripping yarn B^) …This has been a newer concept in my head but I want Sirius and Arthur to fuck

💔: If you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

I don't know if I would remove anyone… but if I had to choose: Ginny. She's mostly wasted IMO and is kinda plain.

Or Hagrid because I am reading the books out loud to my boyfriend and sometimes he gets PAGES of dialogue - and doing a crap version of his deep gruff voice DESTROYS ME. SHUT UP OLD MAN

[yuukei-yikes]

Sometimes I think about that “Would they accept Kyubey’s contract?” account and that time ayano was on it and it's like WHOA madoka magica kagepro au

ayano makes a contract and becomes a magical girl, and at first it’s something she gets really into because of her whole thing with heroes and her desire to help people, but then the horrors hit and she just has to pretend to be normal . which honestly isn’t far off from what happens anyway, but I'm not sure if having the kagepro horrors and madoka magica horrors coincide in this instance would be too much, but also idk, maybe her messed up situation would influence her into making a contract.

anyway magical girl ayano

ayano is so perfect to be a magical girl it's not even a joke. it's like she's in the wrong anime genre. she was meant to be a madoka magica type or even get isekaid but instead of becoming god she became a snake with an obsolete job. and her good end counterpart has to walk back from killing herself like heeey guyssss

i think what's so funny about kagepro is that they're literally on their own to figure things out. the one person who could explain things to them is azami and she's in another world, and the times she does speak to all of them when they die one by one, she talks in cryptic messages. kido's the only person who had an actual prolonged conversation with her but then concealed their own memories of it, so they're all super clueless.

i usually don't care for the Super Genius Character trope but it works insanely well for shintaro because of retaining eyes. he's always been academically "gifted" or whatever u call it but retaining eyes has made him as bored as he seems in canon. he's already lived this so many times he's done these exams so many times. sure he doesn't remember he did but he also does remember. yknow. it's smart it's fun.

i think an interesting part of the shinaya dynamic is the fact shintaro's very condescending and ayano's got very low self esteem, and for ayano to end up giving up her "heroism" or "relevancy" to shintaro because she realizes he's the one who can do it is so sad for her as character. i think this is all from jin being sorta terrible at writing female characters and being mostly focused on the male characters, so i doubt it's intentional and its rather jin writing ayano as the damsel in distress and shintaro as the hero and savior. ayano herself never having her own pov in the novels, second manga route being evil and stupid... but like much of everything in kagepro, the idea is very much there and it is very much Good.

another piece of media i LOVE is amphibia and i think it does a similar thing because it's got a protagonist (anne) who DOESN'T wanna be a protagonist and is like, really not on board with the wacky adventures at first. when the series start, she's bratty and selfish. meanwhile, an important but still secondary character, marcy, loves this world and the spotlight and being a hero. it's just not her story, and she ends up getting the short end of the stick in every possible way, forced to be used as a puppet while everyone else, who didn't even wanna be there, save her. it's awesome.

in my kagephibia doodles (heeehehee) i've drawn ayano as anne bc. idk her with the leaves in her hair and one shoe is cute, so it was mostly for aesthetic purposes. but she'd be marcy, 100%. marcy as haruka is funny too cause of the evil guy using ur body to do the evil deeds + lol get inside the tank u freak! but truly marcy and ayano are the same type of characters, who want more than anything to help, to be a hero, to be relevant, to be needed... but because they can't do the first important thing, which is to Believe In Yourself, they fail, and someone else has to come to their rescue. so tragic when characters like these have an ending where they're like "wow, i didn't get any personal growth out of this experience. if anything i just hate myself more now" and like, THAT'S THE ENDING FOR CHARACTERS LIKE AYANO AND MARCY. i'm so obsessed with it.

coming back to the point (sorry i love amphibia), in kagepro, everyone gets some sort of character development. but ayano, with no agency over the story even though she desperately wants to... really doesn't. get the chance to grow like everyone else. when she's back in str, she's the same depressed girl she was when she died. looking at friends like haruka or takane, who died the same day and DIDN'T wanna die or be part of this story, are hopeful and glad to be back. what does she end up with, other than all this regret??

ugh. sorry. this is all over the place but i love u tragic side characters who think they should be the protagonist.

[dejabooooo]

Gravity Falls Characters Pokemon Teams - Part 5: Mabel

Stan | Ford | McGucket | Bill

I love how it took 5 parts to get to one of the actual protagonists lol. Building this team of silly cuties really reminded me of how much I love Mabel 🥹 I made myself emo about her on the last one. As always, little excerpts about their wacky adventures and adorable bonds under the cut!

1. Spoink (Bounce Pokemon) > Grumpig (Manipulate Pokemon)

Spoink Pokédex entries: “SPOINK bounces around on its tail. The shock of its bouncing makes its heart pump. As a result, this POKéMON cannot afford to stop bouncing - if it stops, its heart will stop. … It doesn’t stop bouncing even when it is asleep.”

Mabel’s Spoink is a bouncy and energetic little thing just like his trainer. Though all Spoink are bouncy and energetic out of necessity, he’s actually quite lazy for his kind. Often idly bouncing in place as he dozes off around the shack. Stan loved to complain about the constant “thud, thud, thud” of his spring tail on the old rickety shack floor, but he has a secret soft spot for little guy—especially after the Aerodactyl incident. He is also charmingly unique from his kind in the way that his bounces are a bit wobbly, earning him the nickname Wobbles.

(Excerpt from Bulbapedia: “[Spoink] may also be based on the Biblical phrase "...neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you" from Matthew 7:6. The pearls were supposed to represent wisdom given to an audience who would not appreciate the teachings.” I find this amazingly fitting for the “Abaconings” story Stan came up with!)

During the harrowing moment of Weirdmageddon where Mabel broke out of her bubble, Wobbles evolved into Grumpig. His wobbly bounces turn into wobbly dances, having been highly influenced by the many impromptu dance parties Mabel involved him in when he was a Spoink. Said dances are quite persuasive on anyone who sees them, so even though Mabel’s parents told her they wouldn’t allow even more Pokemon in the house, she gets the feeling that changing their minds won’t be difficult.

2. Tarountula (String Ball Pokemon) > Spidops (Trap Pokemon)

Tarountula is Mabel’s knitting buddy! She found this little one back home in a tree on the playground, and while the other kids were grossed out by this sticky icky bug, Mabel was fascinated by her and her yarn-like webs. Being the knitting aficionado that she is, Mabel was inspired by her yarn ball appearance, and resolved to take her in and knit sweaters out her pretty white threads themselves. Since the threads are so incredibly strong, wearing a garment entirely composed of them is like wearing a suit of armor, her sweater turning out to be as durable as a bullet proof vest. Be careful putting it on though, it’s so sticky it might never come off.

Tarountula often seats herself on Mabel’s shoulder or crawls up to her head, rarely returning to her pokeball. Mabel doesn’t mind her cute friend crawling across her shoulders as she pleases, though others are often freaked out by the girl who keeps a spider in her hair. Neither of them pay much mind to the judgement. Tarountula may seem small and fragile, but her wound up threads always keep her safe, any and every attack bouncing right off.

After a harrowing adventure that entails thwarting Gideon and saving Dipper, Tarountula evolves into Spidops. As a Spidops she can use her threads like a… GRAPPLING HOOK! Now both equipped with the tools, her and Mabel can zip up into the trees and swing around like ninjas. Her webs are also great for setting traps and binding foes, but she still prefers to just peacefully knit sweaters by Mabel’s side.

3. Luvdisc (Rendezvous Pokemon)

Luvdisc Pokédex entries: “LUVDISC’s heart-shaped body is a symbol of love and romance. … In some places, you would give a LUVDISC to someone you love.”

Luvdisc is a Pokemon that Mabel had admired for a very long time. It’s cute and pink and a symbol of everlasting love—that’s gotta be the most romantic thing ever! From the very beginning (since her boy crazy phase started), she’s always dreamed of being gifted a Luvdisc from The One.

Much to her delight, she is gifted the sweet little fish by another sweet little fish. Soon after Mermando leaves Gravity Falls, he wastes little time sending Mabel love letters, but among the love letters also appears a bright pink love ball containing a Luvdisc.

Luvdisc is a passionate and lively little thing that cutely flits about the water and takes an interest in anyone and everyone. She’s always excited for new experiences with new people to get to know better. When Mermando regretfully announces his arranged marriage, Mabel is sadden and misses him at times, but Luvdisc remains, reminding her that there’s plenty of fish in the sea.

4. Plusle (Cheering Pokemon)

Mabel’s Plusle as well as Dipper’s Minun, were drawn to the twins like a pair of magnets—both having been with them for as long as they can remember. Plusle is an endlessly positive creature. She always tends to look on the bright side of things, and is ready to dole out encouragement for anything. Whether it’s cheering on Mabel in her artistic endeavors, romantic endeavors, or her endeavor to break the world record for how many gummy worms can be shoved up a nose—you name it! No matter how odd Mabel’s ambitions may be, Plusle is 100% on board every step of the way, cheering her on with sparking pom poms and helping however she can.

She’s always sure to cheer on Dipper and Minun too. However, when it comes to the two of them, Plusle and Minun are ever so slightly competitive. She smugly one-ups Minun whenever she can in an attempt to impress her trainer. He’s usually more exhausted than offended, or at least that’s how it seems on the surface but he won't hesitate to do the same. Siblings being siblings.

5. Galarian Ponyta (Unique Horn Pokemon)

Galarian Ponyta Pokédex entry: “This Pokémon will look into your eyes and read the contents of your heart. If it finds evil there, it promptly hides away.”

After the incident with a certain rude unicorn, Mabel was a bit disappointed to learn the true nature of the creatures she once greatly admired. However, during Mabel and Ford’s expedition to Bill’s statue where they sealed it with spells and unicorn hair, they encounter this gorgeous creature on the way back. Mabel’s first thought was that it was one of the unicorns from the enchanted glade, but Ford enlightened her as to what she really was. Unicorns are just judgy talking horses, but Galarian Ponyta and Rapidash are the real deal, able to truly read the hearts of people with a tendency to run away from those it deems selfish and bad.

When she approaches them, Mabel is almost surprised. Relieved. Ford is too. He doesn’t tell her but Mabel can tell. The friendly Ponyta gallops around them, nuzzling their sides every now and then comfortingly. Mabel and Ford laugh together with tears in their eyes as she gallops straight home with them. Mabel doesn’t catch her, but somehow she’s waiting for her when she gets home to California too. From then on, she always remains by her side. A reassuring sight to Mabel always.

6. Minior (Meteor Pokemon)

Minior Pokédex entries: “Originally making its home in the ozone layer, it hurtles to the ground when the shell enclosing its body grows too heavy. … Although its outer shell is uncommonly durable, the shock of falling to the ground smashes the shell to smithereens. … If its core stays exposed, it will soon die off.”

On the very first day that Mabel arrived in Gravity Falls, she saw a shooting star. She made a wish on that shooting star: to have the most perfect summer ever! Boys, besties, and fun forever! Soon after making that wish she finds a fallen Minior with its shell miraculously intact right next to the bottomless pit. She eagerly adopts the lost star, lifting it from its dazed, grounded state and inviting it into her lively world.

Minior is a closed off Pokemon when Mabel first meets it. It seems hesitant to join her on adventures, easily spooked and quick to protect itself by hiding away. The adventures of Mabel and her brother in Gravity Falls do prove incredibly dangerous, as Minior takes quite a few hits from many anomalous and formidable foes. Being that it’s shell is so durable it doesn’t break. However, it does start to chip bit by bit, revealing more and more of the delicate and colorful core underneath with each weird and wild day in Gravity Falls.

Surprisingly, this seems to cause some positive changes. With each adventure and each endured hit, Minior begins to become more sure of itself. It starts to come out its shell—literally! The more its shell breaks away, the more its vibrant and expressive personality shows. It starts to enjoy itself, looking forward to whatever fast paced escapade Mabel will run them into next. It and Mabel become true kindred spirits, untamed and always living in the moment, enjoying what life has to offer to the fullest.

One day, after fighting off the rogue unicorn that deemed Mabel impure of heart, Minior’s shell shattered completely.

They were both ecstatic! Minior finally felt like it was completely free. Thanks to Mabel it could finally live exactly how it wanted.

Ford seemed less enthusiastic… Upon seeing the shell-less creature he took Mabel aside, knelt down on one knee, placed a hand on her shoulder, and gently told her exactly what its new form meant. Things change. Summer ends.

Minior doesn’t understand why Mabel is suddenly so sadden, why she suddenly believes the unicorn was right about her after all. When a strange man with glowing eyes promises them a way to stay together forever, she says yes but Minior knows something is wrong. Minor, and this time Mabel too, end up encased in yet another shell.

Thankfully, Mabel frees them from their shackles. And… as the Summer comes to a close, Minior starts to feel weaker. It feels itself fading, falling, flying. It soars through the sky above Mabel’s head in the night sky once more before it leaves. Nothing but elated gratitude for all the love and fulfillment she gave it in every bit of stardust that dissolves from its body in a streak across the sky. Minior hopes it did well to grant her wish, it hopes she knows that she granted Minior’s too.

[skaruresonic]

It's hard to describe what Sonic Shuffle is like because there's really no other Sonic game quite like it.

It's balls-difficult in the unforgiving way that old games often are, with an added wedgie for good measure; it's unapologetically weird, which ig makes sense since it takes place in the characters' dreams; you can clearly see where they copied the Mario Party formula, but if it was just that, it wouldn't capture my imagination the way it has.

Despite being closer to SA1 in tone, it has a definite early-2000s "radicool" edge to it that leans ever-so-slightly SA2. But it really can't be lumped into one camp or the other; the differences between Shuffle and SA2 bemuse me the more I think about them.

One example is a minigame where you have to escape a building before Eggman's bombs explode. All I kept thinking was "...you can tell this was a pre-9/11 game."

You can say the same of SA2, which shows its age with the mention of "weapons of mass destruction." But it's like? Really bizarre in Shuffle's case? You're having a heehee hoohoo time in Maginaryworld, a colorful and wacky land of dreams, and one of the minigames is "hey Eggman rigged the building to explode." There are a lot of minigames that have to do with bombs, in fact, but that one in particular stood out to me.

You'll be driving tanks that resemble kart racers, trying to pew-pew your fellow competitors, when Eggman appears yelling "OH YEAH" like the Kool-Aid man and I am not even exaggerating.

One minigame has you fry your friends in a pan. Another one has you scratch a giant record (whose mechanics I still can't parse). Throwing tennis balls down an escalator. Playing jump-rope with a giant snake over a pit of acid. It's weird in that way dreams often are, but with the added milieu of 2000s aesthetic. You play chicken with bombs dropped into basketball hoops. The mini events are RNGs set against a vaguely VN-esque aesthetic, and somehow I fear those even more than the minigames because the penalties are brutal and the wins, with a few exceptions, almost entirely arbitrary.

And yet despite continuously getting my hopes and dreams crushed, I now find myself thinking "huh maybe I should play Shuffle today" lol

[renard-dartigue]

Today's Bravern episode was awesome, had alot of funny moments. I'm convinced Bravern's VA is having a blast lol.

Also

Lulu: You got games on your phone?

Spoiler discussion below

So Superbia is back and that is genuinely fascinating because he might give us more hints as to where Bravern and deathdrives come from.

Something that really stood out to me was the fact that before Superbia could speak Japanese, he was clearly trying to communicate in his original language. Isn't it strange how Bravern doesn't understand this language? How does he know Superbia's name then? I legit believed Bravern knew because Superbia told him during their fight in Hawaii. But I guess that wasn't the case???

Its also strange how Bravern isn't baffled by Superbia's return, almost like he expected him to come back after exploding. Like how do I put this? Ok so clearly, this isn't the same Superbia as the one Isami and Bravern defeated. He must have been rebuilt. Whether or not he has the same memories isn't clear since Superbia doesn't seem to know Bravern. Or maybe he does but because of the language barrier he didn't understand Bravern's fancy introduction. Regardless, there is a possibility that Braven doesn't know everything about deathdrives.

My biggest questions right now are: Is there a chance to bring Superbia to their side? Does Superbia only want Lulu because she makes him stronger? Or does he have a similar attachment to Lulu as Bravern does to Isami? Because if its the latter I could definitely see Superbia joining their side if its the only way he can protect Lulu. Cause let's face it, ain't no way that girl is leaving her dad's(yup thats Smith) side willingly. Personally, I hope Superbia joins the team just to see him and Bravern talk more. I'd love to watch two giant robots bicker over dumb shit while Isami losses his mind lol.

Also, I love Smith dude. This isn't American bias or anything. (Especially given what my country's leaders are doing right now but let's not get into it). When Smith is positive its so infectious and I think him and I are on the same wavelength. There is this moment when him, Isami, and Bravern are flying over to Japan and Bravern says one of his wacky phrases followed by an awkward silence. I literally, out LOWD, say "Ookay". And right after that Smith says "Ookay" in the EXACT same way and I started wheezing dude. 💀

Ok ok that's enough rambling lol. Now to wait another week for (hopefully) some answers.

For once I gotta say, the English in this hasn't been as painful as some other animes I've seen. Both Smith and the Major have been pretty alright. (What I'm saying is that I'm not cringing as much when a primary English speaking character doesn't pronounce English words right.)

[blue-mint-winter]

ANH rewatch

Andor and Rogue One just have to be followed by watching A New Hope. I haven't seen it in years, so this was fun. I definitely gained new appreciation for ANH. It's the Classic among classics, so good that I can easily give it a perfect score. 10/10

Here's some commentary:

First of all, the galaxy feels so big! You get the feeling that you've seen only a small part of it. The Empire doesn't have absolute power, that's why they NEED the Death Star. It sounds like the Senate was pretty influential and could be swayed, so the Emperor dissolving it (and so getting rid of the whole bureaucracy) and instead giving power to the governors was huge.

The big bads don't seem so powerful and untouchable. Vader is chill most of the time, it's like for him it's just Tuesday and he's at work. Jabba doesn't seem like a big threat, he shows up to talk to Han at the dock, no palankins or slaves. You don't get the sense that he's super rich. He's more like a local crime boss on Tatooine which is a total backwater. Maybe he just gained more money and power later on.

I kind of enjoy that ANH allows for completely different take on the backstory and worldbuilding than what evolved over time. Like Obi-Wan and Anakin going on some "damned fool crusade" raises some questions.

Droids are characters in their own right and have their own adventures and character development. Threepio starts with leaving Artoo behind, he's rather bitchy towards his counterpart, speaks harshly to him all the time, but the movie ends with Artoo damaged in battle and Threepio offering his own parts to repair him.

Luke gets saved all the time! All the time! It's amazing how the Force was mostly his friends bailing him out of trouble. He screws up a lot. I lol'd so hard when Leia tells him to extend the bridge on the Death Star so they can cross the chasm and he says "I think I just blasted that control panel". At the same time, Luke is a driving force behind the rescue and motivates Han to join. Also, despite his screw-ups Luke has a total, unshakeable confidence in his own ability to pilot the X-Wing and make the shot to destroy the Death Star. And he does it! No experience except some shooting TIEs with Han, first time in the X-Wing and he nails it. Unbelievable.

After watching Andor and following all these characters planning, preparing and scheming so much, ANH turns things completely on its head because the heroes don't really plan - they just fly by the seat of their pants and somehow still manage to save the day. The Death Star shenanigans are especially wacky when you realize that Vader planned to let them escape anyway, so they probably didn't need to do most of this stuff.

It's interesting that Tarkin tells Vader that he took a personal risk by agreeing to let Leia escape. That means that Tarkin's position wasn't as certain as it was later portrayed. I think it makes sense that in the Imperial culture of jockeying for power, Tarkin could have the Emperor's favour at the time, but was still replaceable.

Big question - what Aunt Beru was cooking??? Was she making a green smoothie? A soup? Something else?

The CG creatures on Tatooine are a bit jarring and distracting. They don't really fit the mood.

It occurred to me that the stormtroopers that were mind-tricked by Obi-Wan were probably the same ones who killed Owen and Beru. They had the flamethrowers.

I love how Luke was so outraged at Han ripping them off. LOL. And then he uses Han's greed to get his help in rescuing Leia.

I remember some discussion about how Obi-Wan was too harsh when he cut off the arm of that guy in the Mos Eisley cantina. Here's the thing - the guy bragged that he had a death sentence in 12 systems! And then attacked Luke for no reason. Obi-Wan was merciful with only taking that dangerous criminal's arm. He still gave him a chance to reflect and change his life.

I think Leia and Han are very similar because Leia is also a smuggler, just for the Rebellion, and she bullshits people, mostly Imperials, all the time. She even dropped her cargo by sending the DS plans with droids to Tatooine.

When Leia comforts Luke after Obi-Wan's death and tells him that there was nothing he could have done, it really feels addressed to herself as well. There was nothing she could do to save Alderaan. Maybe that's what she was thinking when she was imprisoned in that cell.

On this rewatch, I really enjoyed the trench run. I liked how the Red Leader stayed calm even when he was about to crash.

[bonnyhoddie]

What indie game and/or company do you remember seeing the start of and just can’t get over how quickly it went wrong?

For me it’s Voidpets. Anyone remember Voidpets? It got popular in 2021 for being mental health Pokemon.

I remember really liking Voidpets back when the web was super popular but also kinda just starting out. And uh… Well, it’s proudly whitewashing its own characters now.

I shit you not. It went from great, to “hey the devs are actually quite shitty, especially in their Discord server and with how wacky the project management is, they keep abandoning really good projects like the web, haven’t actually developed the story, there’s a lot of question over where the 800K they were given from funding has gone since they can’t afford a social media manager, and that they can’t listen to criticism or even let it exist in the server” to colourism because “dark skin doesn’t look good in animation”

And I just can’t get over how downhill the development of the game has gone.

How it feels:

Might as well drop this too while I’m at it cause I'm kinda sick of it and I'm not expecting this to get attention anyway, but at least 5 people might look at it LOL

[night-unfurls-its-splendour]

Hi! I was just wondering who's your favorite phantom actor?

Can be from any Poto play, or movie, or anything really.

I'm really curious!

This and similar questions have been popping up so much for me in the last week lol

I like to be extremely specific so I will give you a few of my favourites

I have been meaning to re-examine my favourites for a while now

So my favourite overall, my number one, my blorbo, the phantom closest to my heart is always going to be Gerard Butler. Say what you want about his singing, but ain't no other phantom ever done Pleading Eyes (tm) like that man.

For stage Phantoms the one who has a hold on my mind that just will not let go is Tim Martin Gleason. I love a tall phantom. I love that in the title song he does not order Christine to sing for him, he asks her. He conveys, with his intonation, that he asks for the honour of having her sing for him. I love how expressive he is. This man made so many choices.

Vocally I think the best singer that has ever played the phantom is John Owen Jones. But I think my favourite phantom Vocally is Tomas Ambt Kofod, because he--more than ANY other Phantom I have heard, sounds like Erik. His voice is remarkable in its smoothness and delicacy, but also very powerful.

He's also so sensual and gentle. He loves to administer loving touches and caresses to his Christine.

His final lair is also devastating

The Phantom actor I think I respect most is Ethan Freeman. This man has such a dedication to this character and to the book specifically. He refused to read Phantom by Susan Kay because he didn't want an apocryphal version of the character to influence his interpretation, which he specified modeled off of Leroux's Erik, adding touches pulled directly from the novel such as kissing (or almost kissing) the hem of Christine's robe during "Stranger Than You Dreamt It", as Erik kisses the hem of her dress in the book.

Seen here in the West End in 1995 with Jill Washington:

And here, in Essen, 11 years later with Anne Görner:

It seems that over time he evolved this moment to the point that he appears to abandon the thought before he brings it close to his lips--probably thinking he's not even worthy of touching her vestments.

He's got an almost faerie-goblin quality to his interpretation. Like he's just scuttled out of the Black Forest. He also leans into the idea of Erik-as-Magician

He's not afraid to be sensual either, though.

I think the most emotional phantom is Earl Carpenter. One of the first full boots I ever watched was Earl Carpenter with Rachel Barrel. His Music of the Night changed my brain chemistry forever. The gentleness! The vulnerability! The vacillation between confidence and fragility!!

The way he would jostle Christine a little when he caught her, his face a picture of panicked concern!

Though I think his interpretation of Erik as (for want of a better word) asexual is a little wacky (considering the text), it strangely works in favour of Erik's particular brand of sensuality, and it paired particularly well with Rachel's timid and apprehensive interpretation of Christine (which I generally dislike--here, though). And his singing has only improved with maturity. The raw emotion of his All I Ask of You (Rooftop Reprise) in his 2023 run is shattering. Absolutely shattering.

My favourite feral Phantom is without a doubt Scott Davies. If you ever want to see the most unhinged "Let these freaks be together" e/c show you've ever seen you have GOT to watch Scott Davies with Meredith Braun. Ethan Freeman's got the Goblin King energy and Anthony Crivello has the Sewer Gremlin vibe, but if you ever want a Phantom with a real primal streak, you can do no better than long-standing West End understudy Scott Davies:

This guy tackled the role with a ferocity and an audacity that you don't generally find outside of Russian productions.

His Phantom hands? Oh Lordy!

And the best part is that Meredith's Christine was picking up EVERYTHING he was laying down. Her Christine is just as mad, just as feral, just as unhinged. And especially paired with such a hearty goodfellow Raoul as Matthew Cammelle--Raoul would have done well to gtfo of there. He was NOT prepared to handle this lmao.

And then there's Ted Keegan. Who for me will always be the Phantom that got away. If I had just done a little more research before--just three months into my poto obsession--booking my tickets to see phantom before it closed on Broadway, I might have had the transcendent experience of seeing Ted Keegan live. As it was, I had no idea he was even still playing the phantom, and wound up with Ben Crawford instead.

And I would be remiss if I finished this list without naming Thomas James O'Leary. Like Ethan Freeman, O'Leary leans into Erik's ghostly persona, with a magician's touch. I think he took a lot of inspiration from Lon Chaney's Phantom (note the position of his hands here).

His "Sing for me~" is one of my all time favourite line readings and got a very embarrassing reaction out of me when I first heard it.

And then, as if that wasn't enough, there was the moan.

[ducktracy]

What are your opinions on Looney Tunes: Back in Action? I personally have a soft spot for the movie nostalgia or not, plus it was my introduction to the Looney Tunes so I'll always love it for that.

I'M DUE FOR A REWATCH! i'd like to give it a fair shake, because i think the last time i saw it was in 2021. i unfortunately am not the biggest fan :((((((((( my stance on the LT movies i think is "i prefer Space Jam [the original] over BiA while acknowledging that BiA is superior to Space Jam in every way".

BiA is not an exhaustive shoe commercial, so that helps immensely. it's clear that it was made by fans of the shorts and there are a lot of deep cut cameos that i really value and appreciate. i think part of my aversion stems from my contrarianism that i've been able to curb PRETTY well in the past few years, but being a child of the early '00s, i grew up surrounded by the Corporate Chuck Jones LT aesthetic and BiA is the pinnacle of that to me--i naturally have an aversion to that style and i've been good at overcoming it (i now love Joe Alaskey as Daffy, but it took me a long time for this to be the case), but BiA falls into so many of the trappings of that era that i really just don't like. stuff like acting like The Hunting Trilogy shorts are the only LT shorts ever made

i also have a hard time taking it seriously, and that is a problem because i felt that this film often tries to get you to take it seriously and i just can't. i said this last year and still stand by it in discussing its "Hollywood pathos":

I THINK PART OF IT ALSO IS LIKE. again. unrealistic contrarianism. sorry but if Daffy Duck were thrust in my lap and i had to go on a wacky road trip with him i would be ECASTATIC. i hate how he's treated as like "uhhhhhh only people who live in their mom's basement like you as a character lol because you suck and are mean and rude!!!!", and i know he's trying to prove otherwise etc but i'm just soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tired and averse to that narrative. Bugs is amazing Daffy sucks yahoo yippee. it feels like they missed the intent of the originals in that Daffy Does Not Actually Suck and is in some cases exhaustively more competent than Bugs, but he's just so quick to be foiled by his own impulses and vices.

most of my critiques against the movie are moreso in regards to my tastes rather than an indication of its objective quality. i do wish other characters got more screen-time, i think i would like it more... i'm not the biggest fan of the Bugs and Daffy cartoons because they enable a lot of my aforementioned gripes. i've slowly been able to turn around on them and even love shorts like Rabbit Seasoning! but their dynamic always runs into the same trappings and i get rubbed very raw by those trappings. what i want from Bugs and what i want from Daffy, i don't get out of either of them at all when they're paired together. and so i'm obviously not going to like an entire movie centered on that dynamic

i do want to give it another shake though because i may be able to appreciate it more now or, at the very least, be able to suspend my reservations more. but it's just not for me. which is a shame! because, kind of like TLTS, i've tried many times and seen it multiple times to try and understand and see what other people see in it but i just can't. the curse of being too protective of the duck

[labyrinthe-exe]

laby_log 0.1

gosh. where do i even begin? yes i'm totally writing in lapslock, because that's just how i am... LOL

anyway, wow!

okay...

where do i begin?

last year i did a 100 day art challenge at the beginning of 2024, i totally knocked that out of the park. this isn't really a year wrap-up sort of post but i promise it's relevant! so, flashback to early 2024 in like april, i've been drawing 100 days back then and finished in april... and then for the rest of the year i spent it procrastinating...

i had FINALLY progressed my art, jumpstarted and kicked back into gear the budding sprouts of falling head over heels back in love with art... and i totally wanted to jump to the wind and just shout...

"HELL YEAH, I'M SO BACK!" and catapult myself into the most productive year of my life.

so did i end up actually keeping up with art? no. i arted very intermitted...ly... and then i worked on like everything else but art ( my mental health for instance, cause woo boy i went through a LOT of changes in 2024... but not gonna get into that, wow boy howdy totally a wild ride mentally... )

i ended up being inspired by artists that i follow and interact with, like wow :plead: they're literally all so amazing :sobbbb: crying all over the floor, for the fact they could all pull through, so could i!!!

i knew i wanted to do winter jam, i wanted to do and make visual novels and games... I HAVE LOTS OF AMBITIONS! but golly, gosh... am i a procrastinator... with a perfectionist streak...

i wanted to do spooktober, otome jam, etc and failed all those... that's why i was finally WINTER JAM WILL BE THE BEGINNING and it was!

in like three days i created a shitty visual novel demo called "it's only december, always december" about seasonal depression and it was like a psychological horror... i had LOFTY AMBITIONS! and it's not that i couldn't do them... its just the entire month of december was hectic... crazy... totally batshit insane... i was robbed of both time, mental energy, and my goals until i was nothing but a collection of ambition, fatigue, and all my wirings all sticking out... totally a not good sight!

but i promised myself, i will make a visual novel! so i got my ass up, collected the time that i had... and birthed up... "it's only december, always december" and finagled it on the last freaking day and WHAM BAM! that's the beginning of my wannabe villain origin story!!!

and thus after december ended ( finally ) it was decreed that january was to be born and it was 2025... THE TRUE BEGINNING of my totally super cool and amazing visual novel developer journey !!!

i decided like idk like 2-3 days into the year that i was going to make the most crazy and ambitious idea ever... for a complete newbie beginner fledgling dev... yes... i was going to make a gothic horror romance visual novel with SWAK ( sealed with a kiss jam )... with a whole whopping... you guessed it...

EIGHT WHOLE LOVE INTERESTS!

A MAP SYSTEM

POLY ENDINGS

A TOTALLY SUPER COOL PROTAGONIST ( CAIN my baby )

STAT BUILDING

AFFECTION POINTS

POINT AND CLICK MECHANICS

INSANITY COUNTERS

now if this sounds unrealistic, believe me, it is. LOL but i am nothing but incredibly idealistic... so i charged on with an idea! no programming knowledge! no idea how to make gui! and like literally no story or outline because i'm a fucking pantser! honestly, it started out pretty fun?

i concepted some gui, i made some progress and i was having fun thinking about and talking with dev friends about my totally wacky dreams! i spent the first week really researching gothic horror and like trying to get myself in gear, drawing concept art of beloved characters and trying to figure out the art direction i wanted to go for!!! this is where my first mistake was...

trying to change my art style!

my art style is naturally kind of super sketchy and retro inspired, my art direction was also super retro inspired: think matsumi inomata, castlevania, yuki nobuteru ( sorry if thats spelled horribly ) ... you know !!! vibes! but the thing is...

i'm still not a proficient artist, so consistency is something i really really struggle with UNFORTUNATELY!

pictured up here are sketches i went through, trying to design the love interests ( focalor, october ) and cain my beloved baby boy is the one that looks like griffith's child... yes i'm super aware of the resemblance but i swear they're totally not the same!

at this point, i was still super optimistic! i ended up discussing with a friend who told me some of my gui wants were possible!!! and also opening up renpy documentation and fully prepped to spam another friend w/ like a million programming questions... but also super excited to just tough it out! cause i _do_ love coding... mostly from a css/html background though...

i love learning though!

but golly, i underestimated how much the gui would send me into emotional turmoil. i was constantly second guessing myself like "does it actually look good? does it look nice? is this going to be slop just like always december was? am i going to give up? am i even cut out for game dev at all?" things like that...

keeping a positive mindset and taking care of my daily irl chores, spending time with friends, and being a cheerful person was kind of hard and especially as i hit a low point this past week...

i really really wasn't feeling up to par this week... i wondered if i sounded silly or irresponsible to my friends or like a totally dumb scatterbrain... i wondered if people looked at me like a totally naive super unrealistic nobody who would never achieve anything at all even dialing it back... i nearly spiraled!!! but...

good news though, i practically finished the gui!

but before that, i ended up drawing some more beloved characters in hopes to cheer my mood up and contemplate the story i would tell for yandere jam... and if i hadn't mentioned it before then... yes... i do plan to join jams literally all year and release a full game of always december for next winter jam!

it helps because i'm a hikikomori coded neet... i'm just trying to push myself into a more consistent schedule so thats why i'm doing the whole "go big or go home" because if i don't push myself like this, i'm just not going to do anything at all... so even if i fail or stumble, it helps me in the long run!

ta-dah!!! one part of the gui... i had so much lovely and amazing help from dev friends getting this all squared away from colors to how to shade better and encouragement to keep going! i love them so much ;--;

i spent like 2wks totally fluffing about, still haven't written jack shit ( but i'm confident in my writing ) and now venturing into sprites and background artwork!!! and since today is like 11 at night on the 17th... well i only barely hve 2 weeks left to get everything else squared away...

thank gosh, this is only supposed to be a demo! so all those lofty features i mentioned earlier... thats just for the full game! haha!

so where am i now? well...

ive made like two sprites! the gui and.... i'm a bit bummed out... i wanted to do full body but i decided today in the middle of drawing them after being unsatisfied and nearly crying over it...that i can just cut their knees off! :D ( which was suggested earlier but like in an actual cut their height down way cause they're all tall giant not human love interests )

it really sucked running into that roadbump, cause i realized i am lacking when it comes to my art... yes i know i'm improving but i am not proficient in full body and 3/4 angles and other angles at all and i really need to practice but i told myself i would try to get creative and look for other solutions... i did!

so now, i feel confident i can complete the rest of the cast... which i'm thinking that i'm cutting the demo interactables to just 4! which honestly is for the best and i can finish the next two tmrw or tonight... if i feel like drawing again..

but while i've hit hiccups and i'm not doing as much as i could be doing throughout the day... i am having a lot of fun! i'm learning a lot, what works for me and what doesn't... i'm learning that chatsims are actually massive ( i wanted to do one... i guess i'll hve to spend some time researching it ) and honestly... i haven't even TOUCHED music or audio but i'm excited to deep dive into that too...

and here's another side quest of art that i did while i was trying to improve my mood the other day... i really do yo-yo hard and while i wanted to cry today... i'm super glad i persevered... that's to say... uh... dont always do that LOL

OH! and here's what it was gonna look like if i managed to do all full bodies but i hated it cause like his feet was too big and his head was just- it was hard! okay!!! anyway... i'm also gonna have to learn proper marketing too but overall... i feel good? i feel like this year i will learn like super much like a million amount of knowledge...

i look forward to posting another log like idk next week ( don't hold me to that, i'm like all over the place... )

...and maybe i'll actually get up a site or post more art here or like on bsky... etc... but for now! i'm just doing my best to get a consistent schedule!

anyway, laby logging out <3