#jatp speculation

[thedeathdeelers]

nothing would be funnier or more on brand than if jatp starts trending on tumblr for the first time in years purely because everyone’s making posts about how they “keep seeing people speculating about a renewal even though there’s no chance for a renewal”

[tangledstarlight]

i keep thinking about a juke au where they've been together for years. like full on childhood sweethearts, they were each others first for basically everything except maybe a first kiss and are happily in love. but they desperately want to write a good breakup album. like they've done all the other 'genres' and it's the only one missing.

so they. stage a break up.

and they're a pretty famous band by this point and everyone knows they're in disgustingly in love, so it makes headline news in place and everyone is freaking the hell out. alex and reggie are seen looking annoying and refusing to answer questions, julie and luke aren't seen for weeks. everyone's speculating that the band is gonna break up.

then it cuts to like a month later where julie and luke are spotted holding hands while they get coffee together and the next week it's announced jatp have a new album coming out that summer based on recent heartbreaks. the world is confused. alex and reggie are tired. julie and luke are in love and proud of themselves.

[fallinginaforrest]

Okay, here's the deal: I heard in the rumour mill that the next Starkid musical may be about pirates. Of course, even that's speculation, but here are a few different options for who I think could write the music:

Nick Gage: His score for Holy Musical B@man is so fun, and similar to Clark Baxtresser, his music tends to have a really epic feel to it, and for a story set on the high seas, it could work. Nick works with layering and dynamics in a way that I havent really seen in musical theater, the kind of melodic breakdowns in HMB are so unique that the only thing similar that I've heard was the breakdown segment in Lah Dee Dah Dah Day.

Clark Baxtresser/TalkFine: What do SAF, Ani, and VHSCC have in common? Clark Baxtresser understood the assignment. ESPECIALLY with VHSCC. Not only does what I said about Nick Gage apply here, but the way Clark can build so much narrative tension and bring in so much emotion to his songs means that his work could only compliment any narrative starkid decides to produce. He also displays so much versatility, adapting to all sorts of contexts, whilst still maintaining a kind of signature feel to his work that maybe some retro Starkid fans might appreciate.

Meredith Stepien + Mark Swiderski: This writing team could absolutely EAT UP a sea shanty with those perfectly devastating harmonies and percussion- heavy tracks. See: Firebringer and the ENTIRE JIM AND THE POVOLOS DISCOGRAPHY. Also Nick and Clark are in JATP so TELL ME I'M WRONG I DARE YOU.

WILDCARD!!!

Matt Dahan: Now, Matt hasn't written for a starkid show before, However he wrote the score for workin' Boys and is Hatchetfield's Music director. He works with motifs and melodies in a way that I have not heard before, and this is especially apparent in his own work. For example, he wrote the music for the Musical "Starry" as well as being the Lyricist alongside Kelly D'angelo, and also does the Songs and lyrics for his musical radio series "Pulp Musicals" where he tells a musical story through only audio. He can create an atmosphere and story from like five different motifs and weaves them in and about eachother that feels different every time. And if this isn't convincing enough, he literally wrote sea shanties and pirate adjacent music for pulp episode 3!!

Anyway yes rant over.

[zerolostwalks]

✅🥺✨

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

This is probably going to be a similar answer to the one gave Inny I'm not very good at keeping track of my fics, but introspective free form inner dialogue appears all the time.

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Sooo it's real easy to get put in the feels with JatP. Canon, Canon-Divergent, AUs. It's easy to fall into it, what with all the speculative head canon's and angst potential hidden away amongst the fluff. And then the fluff and love!! Like they choose love and each other and it saved them all in different ways.

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

Thank you! Every writer needs this from time to time, little confidence boost. I think I'm pretty good at 'm pretty good at taking an idea at putting a little twist to it(sometimes a big twist). I think I'm also pretty good at angst.

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask

[thereigning-lorelai]

Totally sorry for barging in like this. Hope it's okay.

Just wanted to let you know that I'm always so impressed by your JATP gifs. There's only so little content, yet you keep making these amazing gifs. As a person who was pretty late to the JATP party, I only heard stories about how huge this Fandom once was. So it must be extremely hard and frustrating trying to produce new gifs from the sparse source material for a Fandom that's getting less active by the minute. So I'm just so happy and grateful to see that there are still people like you here cherishing this little ghost show and creating new art.

So thank you for all the hard work. 💜

hi there! ♥️♥️♥️ no reason to be sorry, it's absolutely okay to barge in. honestly this message made me cry, you have no idea how much i needed to hear this right now.

i wasn't around for the first few months of the fandom either but i still experienced those hopeful months before the cancellation and i still miss these days a little bit tbh. all the crazy (and often times much too specific) theme weeks, the appreciation weeks (jukebox week my beloved), the speculations for season 2—it was something else and so needed after some really stressful and trying years. i love the little renaissance of activity the polls gave us. as a gifmaker though it's more often than not a mix of delight (because hey! new idea!) and crippling self-doubt (because hey! no notes!).

so i'm really thankful for this message and again realising that some people are still here, liking the stuff i come up with. it just means the world to me and i'm trying not to cry again.

thanks for still being here with me! ♥️

[localspacelesbian]

I am SO intrigued by so many of these wips... but I will limit myself to asking about the bexie soulmate au because i miss them and the "which jatp member is gay?" one because it sounds very fun

ok i think the bexie one was originally based on a tumblr post, but i have no idea where it is lol. basically, the premise is that bex and bowie met once when they were little kids and then didn't see each other again, so they both already have soulmarks but no idea who their soulmate is, so bowie's trying to track down bex. unfortunately, i probably won't finish it. I didn't get very far, and the doc was last edited on oct. 8th 2020... but here's the first paragraph:

Bowie and his mom walked into the apartment that suddenly felt too big, too quiet without his dad. They’d just come from the funeral. His mom busied herself with making tea, and he helped her. They worked in silence and then sat down across from each other at the kitchen table. As they drank their tea, he looked down at her hand. Where it once been covered in vibrant colors, it was now just shades of gray. He thought about the mark on his own shoulder that had been there as long as he could remember. His mom had told him not to worry about it, that he’d find his soulmate eventually. After all, they were destined to be together. The Universe wouldn’t make two people soulmates only to have them meet once as children and never again, right? But the Universe would happily take his mom’s soulmate, his dad, away from them way too early. So who really knows what it’s capable of? One thing Bowie knew though, he wasn’t going to sit here and wait for his own mark to fade to gray before he even got a chance to meet his soulmate.

the jatp one might have also been based on a tumblr post? i don't remember even a little bit (this doc was last edited on June 6th, 2022). basically, it's an au where the boys are alive, and jatp is an established band. there are rumors that one of the members of the band is gay, but no one knows who it is, and they all trying to make sure no one finds out that it's alex. anyway, here's a lil snippet:

"I'm sorry. She was really cute, and I was slightly drunk, and I really didn't think she'd tell anyone."

"Who'd she tell?" Alex asked.

"Right," Flynn said. "That would be the problem. I'm not sure exactly who she told or what she told them, but it's kind of all over twitter?"

Julie sighed, "Flynn…"

"I know."

"How sure are you that they don't know who it is?"

"Very," Flynn said confidently. "The reason it's all over twitter is because everyone is speculating over who it is, and believe it or not, Alex isn't the most common guess."

The four band members shared looks with each other. Alex asked, "Who do they think it is then?"

"Well, a lot of people think it's you." She pointed to Julie, whose eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Mostly just cause you were at the bar with me, and it was, you know, a gay bar." Julie nodded her head to the side, supposing that was probably a fair assumption. "Though just as many people think it's you." They pointed at Reggie, who seemed bewildered more than anything else.

Alex laughed and then immediately tried to cover it up.

"Why would people think it’s Reg?" Luke asked.

Flynn and Alex shared a look. Like it should be obvious or something. But Julie and Reggie were just as confused as Luke. "Reggie," Flynn started, "You're wearing a flannel."

"So?"

"It’s August. In LA."

[mouse-fantoms]

Reggie makes Luke a beanie bc obviously and Luke is so incredibly touched he wears it all the time he shows it off all the time, “Jules, make sure to let the fans know that Reggie made my hat 🥺”

I just imagine the band just gradually starts wearing more and more crocheted things and then the Jatp fanbase in universe speculates on it so much “JULIE MIGHT BE INTO IT” but then her classmates will say like “idk she’s never talked about it before that she does it” and then the fanbase is like “IT MIGHT BE THE BLOND” but no one ever suspects Reggie bc of his look ya know with his leather jacket, black jeans, dark top and playing bass like that’s all their fanbase can go off of is their look and it’s great

I saw someone with a crocheted Fanny pack and my brain just went “Alex Mercer would-“

[where-theres-smoak-2]

10 Little Things I Missed in JATP The First Time Around.

So after binge watching Julie and the Phantoms in one day naturally the first thing I did was go back and watch it all over again and on the rewatches I noticed some things that I didn’t the first time around. Now I’m a few months late to the party so most of these are probably things that most people have already spotted but I figured I’d share them with you anyway just because I love how much detail they put into this show and I need to fangirl about it lol. Obviously there are spoilers. 

1) Missing Persons. In episode 1 when the boys are eating the hotdogs, behind luke you can see his missing person poster showing that his parents were looking for him and trying to get him to come home which is honestly just heartbreaking and tears at my soul. 

2) Signs, all the Signs. In episode 2 when they go to check on reggie’s parents and find the bike shop the name of the bike shop is ‘Petals on the Beach’. Julie’s mum was in a band named ‘Rose and the Petal Pushers.’ Then in episode 5 when we see Willie at the Hollywood Ghost Club we can see that he has a flower pin on his jacket. 

I don’t know for sure if it’s a dahlia or not but it does look like it is to me. Then in episode 6 when Luke goes to see his parents there is a vase of Dahlia’s on the counter behind them. Obviously these flowers link to Julie’s mum and I think it’s interesting that these three things are being linked to Julie’s mum. My theory is that these are connected to each of the boys unfinished business somehow and Rose is leaving hints for the boys. I also think their unfinished business might link back in someway to their parents. We know that they all left their parents on bad terms. Reggie’s parents were having troubles and were close to divorce, Alex’s weren’t accepting of his sexual orientation and Luke ran away leaving on bad terms. We’ve seen a little bit of resolution in Luke’s regard but the other two still haven’t had any. I also don’t think its any one thing that’s their unfinished business but more like a collection of milestones they need to resolve. 

3) Fire, Water and Leather Vests. In episode 6 when the band performs finally free Julie is wearing her mum’s vest, its the same one we see Rose wearing in episode 1 when she meets sunset curve. 

Since then either rose or julie has added doodles to it. One of the doodles looks like flames, fire is a symbol of rebirth or resurrection. Another of the doodles looks like waves/ water. Water is a symbol of both life and freedom which makes it kind of perfect for a song called ‘finally free’.  

There is more fire symbolism in Stand Tall with the special effects behind the band showing fire like imagery. Throughout the performance it shows glowing embers and fireworks. 

Which is also similar to the firery effect made by the lights in the background of their Finally Free performance. 

These along with other symbols of rebirth and resurrection is obviously connected to how the boys were brought back to ‘life’ again by Julie but also how they brought Julie back to life too. 

4) More Doodles. Again sticking with episode 6 when we see Julie drawing on her microphone she is drawing a birthday cake which is meant for Luke. We know that she only seems to draw things that are important to her on the microphone the other doodles include a rose and a dahlia obviously symbolic of her mother, the words double trouble which links her to Flynn, the words I’ve got the music and music notes, this is her connection to music. Then the final thing she draws on it is the birthday cake which shows how Luke is important to her. I also think its important that she does this right after learning more about him and seeing a deeper side to him, I do think this is when her feelings for him really deepened. 

5)  Braided Together. This is one that I think alot of people noticed but the braids in Julie’s hair in both I got the Music and Stand Tall are the colours of the three boys, red, blue and pink. Again showing how intertwined all of their souls are with each other and with music. I think it very much represents how the boys brought music back into her life.

6) The Power of Purple. Both Caleb and Julie have the rare power of being able to make ghosts visible to lifers and most likely have other mystical powers too if that last scene with the band glowing and being able to be touched by Julie is any indication. Both of them wear the colour purple. 

The colour purple symbolises magic, mystery and spirituality. I do feel like Julie and Caleb are the opposite sides of the same coin. They both posess similar powers but they are using them for very different reasons. I think they very much represent the living and the dead. Julie kind of brings people back to life whereas Caleb draws people to the otherside, the afterlife. 

7) Greek Mythology. Speaking of the afterlife, in episode 5 when at the Hollywood Ghost Club, Caleb encourages the boys to eat some food, on first watch this just came across as a kinda funny scene but when I rewatched it I realised something. I actually think this is a nod at the myth of Persephone and the pomegranate seeds. In greek mythology if you ate or drank anything in the underworld then you would be trapped there forever. Obviously we know not long after eating Caleb brands the boys with his club stamp forcing them to make the decision of joining his band for eternity or being destroyed by the jolts. He decieves them just as Hades decieves Persephone.  

8) Full Circle. Both the band’s first performance (Bright) and last (stand tall) starts with Julie on stage alone unknowing that the boys are going to show up. In the first performance she doesn’t know yet that they can be visible when on stage with her and in Stand tall she thinks they have been destroyed by the jolts already. It brings her journey full circle. 

9) Maternal Ties. The first time we see Luke perform and the last he has the same scarf tied around his arm.

He also has this same scarf in his back pocket during finally free both the performance and the episode as a whole. My theory is that the scarf belonged to his mother. During Unsaid Emily when you see him packing and arguing with his mother the scarf is in his back pocket. You can see it in his back pocket again during unsaid emily when he is singing as a ghost if that makes sense. 

It tends to show up, from what I can tell, either when Luke is having a big moment like the night that was suppose to be sunset curve’s big break at the Orpheum or Julie and the Phantoms performance at the Orpheum. Or when it has something to do with his mother like in episodes Finally Free and Unsaid Emily. I think he carries it as a good luck charm. 

10) Butterflies and Roses. In episode 7 during the edge of great performance the butterflies on julie’s top are the colours of the band. Red for Reggie, blue for Luke, pink for Alex and purple for Julie. Butterflies are a symbol of transformation and again another symbol of rebirth and resurrection. Also during the final performance Reggie has butterflies and flowers on his vest. Luke has roses on his guitar strap (also skulls but lets ignore that for now) and Alex has a rose in his suit jacket. 

Again the butterflies are symbolising the rebirth of the group but also could be to do with that transformation the boys go through at the end where they can now be touched. (I have soo many questions about that scene.) Also we have the roses which again shows the link to Rose and how she brought Julie and the boys together. 

Like I said I’m sure most of these are really obvious but I get excited about little details like these and the producers really did do an amazing job at weaving them throughout the show. I’m sure there are even more that I’ve missed so if you know of anymore please feel free to enlighten me. Still keeping my fingercrossed for a season 2.

 Edit: I found more fun little details and yes I am obsessed, part 2 can be read here if anyone is interested. 

[pinkmoonmp3]

i can not stop thinking about the fact that the song that seemingly broke the curse with caleb was the one julie had started writing with her mom and finished with luke, like rose is definitely involved in all of this

[juliemolinaandherfantoms]

I like how everyone assumes Bobby even saw the guys die. They were down the road eating their street dogs, we don’t even know how Bobby found out about it. Presumably he was still in the Orpheum when it all went down..we know the news article Julie found said he disappeared around the same time they died, so what did he actually see happen, if anything other than police once the ambulance was called.....

[missjoolee]

Throwback to that time @story-courty woke up to a chat where @claire8216 and I spiraled ourselves from season 2 speculation into a castaway au thing 😂😆😂😆🤣🤣

[justmefeelingtherain]

The amount of answers I need after season 1 of JATP could easily fit into three more seasons

[julies-butterflies]

this is the stupidest goddamn thing i’ve ever written, and it’s all based off of this one tiktok.  why did i see this tiktok and immediately think, “ah yes, reggie?”  i don’t know.  i have no answer for you.  this boy is from the nineties, he has no context for cake pops, and as we all know, he’s a little questionable.

if anyone knows wtf this is, let me know.

“Oh my god,” Julie mutters, burying her face in her hands. “Oh my god.”

“I genuinely don’t see the problem,” Reggie says, profoundly confused.

“That’s not — I don’t — how do you even—”

Wordlessly, Flynn lifts another cake pop from the plate. It’s a blue one this time; according to Reggie, the blue tastes way better than the white. (They’ve tried to explain to him twenty times that there’s literally no difference in flavor, only the dye of the melted chocolate… but he doesn’t buy it. “It literally tastes like blue!” “What’s blue supposed to taste like?”)

Flynn regards the empty seat in front of her with wide, wary eyes.  She might not be able to see him, but that doesn’t make it any better. After a moment, her elbow digs into Julie’s side; she nods vigorously towards the chair, where Julie’s ghost bassist is taking up space on this mortal coil.

“Just give it to him,” Julie mutters, defeated. “I don’t wanna watch.”

Flynn slowly holds the cake pop out… and in an instant, the stick is plucked from her hand. It only lasts half a second, the distance from Flynn’s hand to his ghostly mouth, before the actual cake of the cake pop vanishes into thin air.

“Come onnnn,” Julie whines, peering through her fingers.

“What?” Reggie’s left cheek is inflated like a hamster; he struggles to speak around the ball of pastry in his mouth. A scattering of sprinkles fly past his lips when he exclaims, “I’s cake! Li’rally a ball uh’ cake!”

“That’s not how you eat it though!”

“How’re you s’posed to eat it?”

“Bites, Reggie! Human bites!”

“He can’t keep just—” Flynn gestures vaguely down at the plate of cake pops, then back up at Reggie’s chair. Her expression is a mask of horror… and she can’t even see the awful facial expressions Reggie’s making as he struggles to swallow the entire cake pop at once. He looks like he’s passing a kidney stone.

“He can!” Julie exclaims, leaning forward to yell in Reggie’s face. “He shouldn’t, but he is!”

Whatever Reggie tries to shoot back is lost amid the mass of masticated cake pop.

“Jules.” Flynn’s voice is very urgent. “We spent hours making these, we used literally all the chocolate in the house, and your ghost boy’s downing them like freaking Tic-Tacs!” When her best friend can’t find the words to reply, Flynn seizes her by the arms, shaking her back and forth. “Whole, Julie! He’s swallowing them like an iguana!”

“What do you want me to do about it?” Julie moans.

“Hey, guys, can I have another one?” pipes up Reggie, already reaching out for the plate.

“NO!” Flynn and Julie bellow at the exact same time.

Wide-eyed, Reggie sets the cake pop down, and holds up both hands. It takes three seconds for his shock to turn to offense; then he’s just pouting at them, sitting back in his seat with his shoulders slumped, like a kid told to get out of the cookie jar. Something in Julie’s chest twinges. While she’ll gladly go toe-to-toe with any one of the phantoms, upsetting Reggie is a little like kicking a puppy. She never feels good about herself afterwards.

When she turns to her best friend, beseeching, Flynn visibly murders a groan.

“Fine,” she mutters, waving a hand towards the tray. “Go crazy.”

With a tiny gasp of delight, Reggie descends on the cake pops. Even though she knows what’s coming, Julie can’t look away. It’s like watching crows descend on a dead animal; like watching a cow sit on a baby. Reggie swoops in, all floppy hair and leather jacket and absolute lack of shame, and immediately inhales a cake pop.

Just. Shwoops it.

It detaches from the stick with a tiny, audible ‘pop’. He moans at the sweet taste. When he lifts his head to Julie, victory shines in his eyes. See? he seems to say. Do you see how I disrespect your many hours of labor, spit in the face of the love and care you put into these pastries, just to knock them back like a starving anaconda?

“Theesh’re ‘mazing, guysh,” he declares, spraying sprinkles into Flynn’s lap.

“He says—“ Julie starts to translate, but Flynn cuts her off.

“Thanks. I get it.” Slowly, she reaches out — not taking her eye off the floating cake pop stick, even for a second — and pulls the tray away. With great care, Flynn tucks it behind her, saving the remainder of their batch from the bottomless pit that is Reggie.

Reggie looks between the two girls, utterly dumb, before offering Julie a wide, cakey smile. He’s got sprinkles in his teeth.

“Think I can have another?”

[shrinkthisviolet]

EXACTLY THIS! I hope the show ends with them crossing over, Carrie being Flynn and Julie’s friend again, Bobby/Trevor having reconciled with the band, and Julie being more confident in herself and her music. Because that’s really why her mom sent the boys to her in the first place–she recognized that her daughter would be hurting and withdrawn and wanted to help in her own way.

I feel it would cheapen the gesture to just make them actual people. The boys touched the lives of those whom they’d hurt, and now they get to move on, fulfilled and happy, leaving behind people who are also much more fulfilled and happy because of them.

this might come off depressing but it bothers me just a little when people say they want the boys to come back to life because they don't want everything that makes julie happy leave, but isn't that how life works? it hurts so bad but it does get easier. It's more beautiful for the ending to be them crossing over and julie learning how to mourn in a healthy way, she keeps them with her the same way she kept her mom and physically, she still has her family and flynn, nick and hopefully carrie

no, i totally agree with you! i don’t think the boys will cross over until they are fully at peace with everything, until they feel ready to leave and i have a hard time seeing them feeling ready without them knowing julie would be okay. i mean, i think a huge part of the story is for julie to fully find herself and who she wants to be and she is doing that with the help of the guys. keyword there being help. she isn’t doing it for them but for herself and as the guys starts to feel ready to let go, so will she. it will be sad and they will all feel melancholy over it all being over but they are ready to say goodbye. they are were they are supposed to be and it will be fine, she will be fine. 

[rekikyan]

so, tomorrow marks three months since the show was realeased and today they announced the last names of two of the main characters. netflix frequently renews shows after they’ve been out for three months. hmmm i wonder if anything is going to be announced tomorrow 🤔🤡

[sapphosclown]

madison fan girling on tiktok live over olivia and wanting to be her friend but also being like “DONT YOU DARE HARASS THAT POOR GIRL AB ME I WANT HER TO LIKE ME”

my favorite thing to happen all day