#like if it was any other episode it'd be great but for the FINAL episode i'd hope to see abit more of my silly little guys yk??

[twelfth-dykector]

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT

[blackbird-brewster]

Highlights from Catherine Tate's Q&A Panel at Armageddon Expo 2024 (NZ) :

[I took notes best I could during the panel but some may be paraphrased]

Q: What's your favourite Doctor Who alien?

CT: The wonderful Ood!

Q: Who's your favourite Doctor? (Crowd gasps in anticipation)

CT: Well, I get asked this a lot, and obviously it's David (Tennant). I don't know what number he is, he keeps coming back. But definitely, David. Although, someone recently pointed out that I was technically the first ever female Doctor. So you know what? Me, I'm my favourite Doctor.

Q: What's your favourite episode you were in of Doctor Who?

CT:The Runaway Bride, because that's where it all began.

Q: What's a favourite memory of working with David Tennant on Doctor Who?

CT: The scene in 'Partners in Crime', the one with the Adipose, there's the scene where Donna and the Doctor see each other from across a room. But they're both behind glass and they have the whole mime scene with the windows. Well, I remember it was about 3am when we were filming that - - Russel really likes to film at night if the story is taking place at night - so it was 3am, and I said to the director 'Uh, right here it just says Donna Mimes' and he said 'Yeah do whatever'.

So that whole scene was ad-lib during shooting and David and I were so in sync with it, we did that first take and the director said cut and print!

Q: How emotional were you filming your final scene in Journey's End?

CT: So, we didn't always film in order. And I'm not really a sentimental person, but I will say I thought Donna's ending was absolutely perfect. When she meets the Doctor she was always yelling at the world, and she was so different than what she was by the end, she had so much growth with the Doctor and she changed so much in her time with him, but then, she forgets the him and all those memories. And that final scene, what really got me was how he says 'Donna, I'm off' and she's just, I think she's on the phone, and she just waves dismissively. She doesn't know him anymore. Russell, the way he ties things together, he's brilliant, that man.

Q: What was it like working with Bernard (Cribbins)?

CT: Oh, Bernard. God, I love him. He was so funny and talented. He always had stories and voices and sound effects. He loved making people laugh. But we had a gag where every single time I called him I'd say (Donna Voice) 'GRANDAD!'

He'd say, "Who is this?"

"It's Catherine."

"Catherine who?"

"Catherine Tate"

"Never heard of her."

We did this every time I called him and I loved it.

Q: Is there anything annoying about working with David Tennant?

CT: No, absolutely not. He's perfect. He's the best person to work with. I will say though, I was annoying him a lot. When we did the 60th Anniversary specials, our trailers looked exactly the same and I never knew where my trailer was. I'd walk into his all the time!

Sometimes I'd walk in and see his shoes in the trailer and instead of thinking 'Oops, wrong trailer', my brain went 'What's he gone and left his shoes in my trailer for?'

It got so bad, sometimes I'd walk up the stairs and from inside I'd hear 'NO.'

Q: Was it weird coming back to play Donna after all these years? Especially when it was along side David Tennant?

CT: It was a bit weird, more in the 'Oh I hope i still know how to do this' way than anything. But I did think it would be hilarious if David and I arrived on set and every take we just did completely wrong voices. Just thought it'd be hilarious for him to go (in an airy upper-crust British accent) 'Ohhhh, hellloooo. I'm the Doctor'

Q: If you could take any prop from set, what would you take?

CT: Ohhhh, I'd have very large pockets and see what I could fit. But mostly I think it'd be a sonic screwdriver. It's gotta be a sonic screwdriver, doesn't it? It's small and mobile... Easy to steal. Plus, it'd fetch a great price on Ebay!

Q: Best show you've ever worked on?

CT: The Office, they paid me tons of money.

Q: My mum loves David Tennant, is there something you can say to dissuade her?

CT: Hm, something to convince her he's not.... Oh, he doesn't believe in astrology! I'll say 'It's Mercury Retrograde' and he'll say 'NO, NO, NO I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT'.

Other Highlights:

As soon as she came out, she saw the stage had no steps to the audience, so she stayed on mic and went the long way round to go into the audience and interview people, trying to find who had traveled the furthest to be here. She was sorely disappointed everyone was just from Aotearoa 🤣

Donna Lines She Performed:

"Oi Spaceman! You're not mating with me sunshine!" (Crowd went wild for that)

"Binary. Binary. Binary." (🥺)

She did some of her characters: Lauren Cooper mostly, but also wished someone Happy birthday as Nan

[scimagic]

SMG4: WOTFI 2024 Thoughts and Analysis Masterpost

WOTFI 2024 is finally here and I had so much fun watching it! I've even watched it a few times already!! I'm so glad this was my first ever live WOTFI, it makes me wish I knew of SMG4 earlier but alas! I'm still so happy I found SMG4 and it's wonderful community the way I did!

This is one large compilation of all my reactions, opinions and deeper analysis... -es on WOTFI 2024! I will go over the entirety of the video almost scene-to-scene with my OWN OPINIONS! (And yes, it gets hella long) I divided it into sections of the video and even included pictures for viewing convenience!

Hope you enjoy reading essays <33

Warning: Spoilers (duh).

✧ Before The Show

As said before this was my first live WOTFI, since the episodes release at 9AM for me I had to put on my alarm one hour before but I shut it off fhjkdsa

So you can imagine my panic when I had to make my breakfast 10 minutes before it started

Not my greatest planning but I managed to (somewhat) make it on time!

✧ Let's Jump Right In!!

WHUH HAPPEN

Loved the spin off of Mr Puzzles' jingle, I knew I was going to get it stuck in my head the moment the lyrics switched

I was amused when Puzzles re-enacted his life, thought he'd give a little more meat to work with but I'm glad he just explained what we already knew. Some of his charm lies in the mystery that is his life

"So I did what any ambitious, misunderstood young soul would do... I locked myself in my room and watched TV all day!" So real tho-

I'm surprised I didn't see many people react to Puzzles cursing so loud hfdskja maybe we're all busy with the rest of WOTFI but I SCREAMED when he went "-WERE VIOLENTLY FUCKING CRUSHED BY YOU LOT!!"

LET THAT MAN CUSS FREELY!!!!

"... yyyou!" <3

LOVE EVERYONE'S COSTUMES TOO!! They all look great!!

Maybe it's because of the teasers they gave but I thought the crew was going to go against Puzzles himself with the challenges, but pitting them against Mario and SMG4 made me pleasantly surprised (I will be a lot throughout all this!)

I ADORE THIS INTRO SO MUCH!! It's so fun and vibrant and the way it was animated was so cool!! I WANT THE POSTER SO BAD!!!

Haeheh big Puzzles from the website!!

Love how Saiko is just screaming at Puzzles too fhdskja

✧ Fun Carnival Torture Metho- Games!!

I didn't say what my challenge was but it was called Chuck N' Dunk: Who can dunk the other first in shark-infested waters?

It didn't make it but I do see shark-infested waters, so either I gave a bit of inspo or I'm just delusional hfdsjka

"I have to deal with internet comments all day! This is nothing!" HAH!!! THAT'S MY FUCKING YOUTUBER RIGHT THERE!!! (He still lost)

Love to see SMG3 and Puzzles appreciate the beauty of destruction together, gotta love two villains vibin over causing chaos, it'd make for a fun dynamic if SMG4 ever considers it

On that note, when SMG3 tries to shake Four's tight rope I knew that was Three straight up

Even under Puzzles' control, the cast still retains a bit of their personality, as shown here and in the Puzzlevision episodes

Bob has like- the coolest costume ever holy shit- I really wanna draw it some time

I KNOW IT'S JUST A MASK AND SOME RECOLORING ALRIGHT IT JUST FITS HIM AND HE LOOKS COOL

I LOVE HIM SO. FUCKING. MUCH. HE'S SO SMUG THE BASTARD

This is a really funny joke actually

PIE GUN GO BRRRRRRRRRRRR

I liked seeing Karen included in this WOTFI, she was a main character in a few episodes and her dynamic works well with the others! Just a tired mom wanting to work but pulled along silly adventures, grounding in a badass caring way

CHANGE THE WORLD. MY FINAL MESSAGE. GOODBYE!! God I haven't heard that meme in so long

Plus [Italian vc] YOU SONSOFFA BITCHES

"Hope you two have your running shoes on!" said in the gayest villain voice ever, I love him your honor

Bob going for the clown girl instead of the exit is the Bob-iest thing ever and it just drives my point of the crew retaining their personalities even under control, so people shouldn't be surprised when it happens fhdjksa (cus I've seen it!)

FOUR ONLY WINNING BECAUSE HE'S A CLOWN IS SO FUNNY YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND

So... Ben (SMG4's Thumbnail Artist) posted a lot of Gokus when someone mentioned Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls

That's why I thought there'd be some kind of reference to it in WOTFI which... now that I say it out loud sounds kinda dumb hfsjdka

But the moment Mario appeared as Goku I immediately thought of Ben and it had me gigglin fhdsjka

You'd think Tari would be in the ducky mini-game but you'd be wrong! <3

Final thoughts of the games, this year's WOTFI challenges were delightful!! They were all very clever from the audience and well chosen from the crew! Congratulations to the folks that got their prompt in!

✧ WHACK-A-LEGGY (aka forgive me father for this next part)

You........ CANNOT tell me he wouldn't treat you right- God- DAMN.

LISTEN. HEAR ME OUT. YES I'M GONNA BE SIMPY IN THIS REACTION POST FUCK YOU.

Puzzles is the type of guy to give you the best of the best simply because you say so and deserve it, doesn't matter if it's as tame as a big bouquet of flowers OR as extreme as absolutely destroying your enemies through the most painful torture you have ever witnessed

He would treat you RIGHT!!!!

THAT IS THE MOST PERFECT MAN RIGHT THERE

Oh yes and I love his interactions with Leggy, they're adorable, yes FHDSKJA

THEY MAKE A CUTE DUO

Speaking of Puzzles treating you right: I am on the FUCKING FLOOR. THAT MAN IS PROTECTIVE TOO.

It's just so endearing to me how protective he is of Leggy (yes yes I know I know he's done evil shit to Meggy I know) BUT LISTEN.

In an actual redemption arc, I can see Puzzles as the most loyal motherfucker that you've ever befriended, that man is going to go to the edge of the earth and fight for you if needed BECAUSE you're his friend and that is so lovely to me

It's cute how he's trying to tell Leggy where to go, where to hide and just how worried he is of her

Mind you, the contrast between Puzzles being worried and SMG4 and Mario wanting to curve-stomp that goomba to death is hilarious fhdsjka

So forgive me if I giggle like a schoolgirl over that man

✧ I'm Gonna Get Real With You For A Moment

MR STINKY

Oh this scene now- lots to unpack

First: Adore how this scene plays out, I love the portrayal of Puzzles' meltdown, induced by grief, sadness, anger and frustration over how things are playing out. It's a big "I'm supposed to win! Why don't you let me win!" moment, I simply adore when those happen.

The pitiful cries when you don't get your way when you've meticulously planned everything and done Everything to get it, and do everything did Puzzles indeed try

Second: The colors, the dramatic red light, the destruction of the park out of anger and overcharging it seems

It's basically a tantrum

Third: The voice acting is phenomenal, and that's been said all throughout the Puzzlevision arc, Brendan (Mr Puzzles' voice actor) is so good at his job- he's perfect in those high pitch inflictions of emotion and the lower threatening tones, that scream is chilling and painful

Fourth: I can try and decipher that blue screen

FATAL ERROR A problem has been detected and Mr. Puzzles has been shut down to prevent damage to himself. PUZZLEVISION.EXE Check to make sure any new show or movie is properly installed. If this is a new installation :It's not: ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any PUZZLEVISION updates you might need. :I don't need any: If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable CPU(?) memory options such as Unused Shows or Movies. If you need to use safe mode :I don't: to remove or disable components, restart yourself, press :nuhuh: to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode. :NO: Technical Information: *** STOP: 2xREADING (... xACTUALLY)

That last line is ineligible to me but I tried my best for y'all <3

Lots to unpack just in this tiny little message

In his system, Puzzles is programmed to shut down if damaged. Which is CRAZY TO THINK ABOUT. His OWN SYSTEM shuts down to prevent damage to himself.

Also he's SPEAKING THROUGH THE BLUESCREEN, he's actively saying No to "Safe Mode" and REFUSING any repairs his system suggests

THIS MAN DOES NOT CARE FOR HIS BODY (if you couldn't tell by the TV head part)

AND HE'S SO UNSERIOUS HE STRAIGHT UP TELLS HIS SYSTEM NUH UH!!!!

A little easter egg that someone else on Twitter found :)

Puzzles has become a rage horror monster and I'm here for it, the horror elements do go hard when they're played

URGH. AND THIS MOMENT. Many have pointed it out by now BUT THE TRAUMA OF THE CASTLE!! I AM SO WEAK

Puzzles REALLY plays into those psychological torture methods, it is so RUTHLESS of him, intentionally or not!!

✧ STEP RIGHT UP, MY FRIENDS, TO PUZZLEPARK!

He looks horrible in armor despite being everyone's pathetic knight in shining armor FHJDSKA

"You're MINE" I SURE AM SIR!!!

THAT GROWL THO- BRENDAN STRIKING AGAIN WITH THEM VOCALS!!!

AND THIS!! IS THE MOMENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR OH BOY!!

The transition into the actual song is SO GOOD, instead of going higher like the actual Disney intro it goes LOWER and it's PERFECT for the intro!! It makes Puzzles sound INSANE (RIGHTFULLY SO!) It also tricks you because you know the melody so well until UH OH!! WE'RE IN DEEP SHIT!! LET'S GET THE FUCK IN!

3!

2!

1!

IMMEDIATELY threateningly playful I LOVE IT!!

It sounds so much like the songs in Nightmare Before Christmas, Kidnap Sandy Claws, Oogie Boogie's song, it has their same vibes! The same devilishly playful with their victims kind of vibes and it's RIGHT UP MY ALLEY BABY

It has SUCH an energizing beat too!! It makes you wanna jump in your seat to the beat!

The set up is so fun too, purple is an interesting choice to go with.

I cannot stress enough how GOOD THE VOCALS ARE TOO I WAS ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT

AND THIS PART. GOES EXTREMELY HARD. THEY ALL LOOK GREAT

They cooked with the choir of minions fr!! They sound great together!!

The chorus of the song is just as catchy as Creative Control, I had worries that I wasn't going to like this one as much as CC but I was SO wrong!! It's right up it's alley! They both have their strengths and their unique way of presenting Mr Puzzles, I wouldn't be able to decide which one is "better" since they both have different points to send across

Creative Control is jazzier, it taunts the crew and introduces Puzzles as the master villain with a bit of backstory, it's used to show the control on the crew both visually and lyrically with Puzzles putting them in different scenarios while singing how they can't leave

Meanwhile Puzzlepark, while similar in the controlling part, has more going on. It's not just Puzzles trying to control/stop Meggy, SMG4 and Mario, it's also them fighting back when they couldn't in CC. It also has the rest of the group trying to detain them, mind-controlled by Puzzles. It's crazier than just putting them in shows and popular culture references, it's throwing things at them, attacking them and messing with the world, trying to enact revenge yknow!

I particularly like when Meggy and Puzzles sing together, their voices contrast well

"But it's time for you to die now." Haehah! Hello!! This is the part where I kill you!!

AND A LAWSUIT ARC REFERENCE TOO!? OH I'M IN HEAVEN!!!

The lyrics scratch at a very nice part of my brain, I think SMG4 has always had a knack for rhyming, they've perfected it over the years and it's paid off well

And combined with the change in beat it goes for extra points, mwah!! Chef's kiss!!

"That child is gone... Six feet under right WHERE YOU AND YOUR STUPID FRIENDS BELONG!!"

MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PART FUCKING EVER!!!! THEY ABSOLUTELY COOKED

IT'S ABOUT HOW THREATENING PUZZLES IS IT'S ABOUT MEGGY STILL TRYING TO HELP HIM DESPITE IT ALL IT'S ABOUT HIM ABSOLUTELY REFUSING THE HELP BECAUSE THAT'S. JUST. HIM. PUZZLES. REFUSES. HELP. THINGS go his way or they don't go at all!!!

AND THAT ENDING NOTE MYYYY GODDDD GIVE THIS MAN AN EMMY RIGHT ABOUT FUCKING NOW!!!!

That was such a clean note, Brendan has an amazing singing voice and I'll be listening to this on repeat for A WEEK

SMG4 RELEASE PUZZLEPARK ON SPOTIFY NOW AND MY LIFE!!! IS YOURS!!!!

✧ In The End... It's For The Better...

They like using the trope of going inside a character's brain/heart/whatever to talk to them huh...

I'm not saying it as a bad thing! It's just a pattern I'm sure we've all noticed! I think it's cute!

SMG4 wouldn't be SMG4 if they at least didn't Try to save their villains, sure there's distasteful ones like that lizard that absolutely deserved it, but all the other villains had redemption arcs, heart to hearts, sympathy before dying... SMG4 is about chances, finding your people and having a heart even towards those who wronged you, even if in the end the worst happens to them

And I think that's beautiful

Regardless of having a heart, however, Meggy has the absolute right to be angry at Puzzles, maybe it wasn't right but I don't blame her for snapping at a kid, that kid Is Puzzles after all

I see two possible interpretations of Meggy becoming Leggy one more time: either- Truly to get close to Puzzles and become a true friend, or simple manipulation to get him to stop. Either are possible in my book, maybe with a little more thought I'd be able to know which one but for now I remain satisfied with being skeptical on this one, I don't care to find what the real intentions were since I know the ending.

Plus nothing is in black and white, there's a lot of layers to Puzzles' and Meggy's relationship........

And speaking of that ending-

HAH!!!!

I THOUGHT THAT SHIT WAS HILARIOUS!!

IN TRUE SMG4 FASHION YOU (SORTA) REDEEM A VILLAIN AND CELEBRATE SAVING THE DAY WITH A STUPID MEME

WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO FOLKS IT'S SMG4 IT'S THE FUNNY HAHA MEME SHOW!!

STOP TAKING IT SO FUCKING SERIOUSLY THE WHOLE TIME!!

IT CAN BE SERIOUS AND STUPID!!!!

Mr Puzzles SHOULD go to the psych ward, HE'S FUCKING INSANE

YOU DON'T GET REDEEMED IMMEDIATELY AFTER ALL THAT!!

I'm glad they didn't redeem him completely! I didn't believe him at all when he said he learned a valuable lesson! I was like No The Fuck You Didn't!

You can have a redemption later! That's okay! I trust the writers with handling the arcs and making them good! And you heard Luke, they might bring him back later! (Which is a definite yes!)

I would love for them to take it slow with Puzzles, not immediately of course, let him breathe and write another arc right now, settle things with everything and everyone and THEN you can break him out, the universe is full of possibilities, and I'm SURE I will enjoy whatever the SMG4 crew writes

Haeheh she looks like a nerd with those goggles

Someone's Artist Puzzles AU just came true btw-

"And Didney shut down..!" :D

The Showgrounds is gonna start looking more like an actual carnival too!! Wahoo!!

I WANT THAT FUCKING HOODIE-

That Puzzle plushie looks so ugly I LOVE HIMMMM

I WANT THAT FUCKING POSTER AND KEYCHAIN

SOMEONE PLEASE FUCKING COMMISSION ME SO I CAN BUY THEMMMMMM AEUGHHHHHH

Thank YOU LUKE AND SMG4 CREW FOR GIVING US THIS WOTFI!!! I LOVED IT WITH ALL MY HEART <33

I would love to hang out and go get some pizza with Mr Puzzles :(

And finally... that lil jingle to end with the rolling credits

✧ Final Thoughts

Believe me when I say I think this is the best possible ending for Puzzles, he doesn't die, he doesn't get completely redeemed, but he does face consequences and he gets a chance for the future, best of both worlds me thinks

I loved this rollercoaster that was Puzzlevision, I might've hopped on the train sorta late but I stayed for all the duration of the ride and I had a blast <3

Mr Puzzles was great and maliciously loveable, learning about all these characters and growing to care about them was amazing, I'm really happy I have a new series I can watch and analyze and enjoy!! I'll be remaining in my seat with my one ticket until I get off the SMG4 train, not sure when!! But until then you can expect me to still love this show, draw for it and analyze it much more than any reasonably normal person should.

If you've read this far, I love you soso much and hope you enjoyed this hell of a scroll, because I spent so many hours on this shit YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND-

K BYEEEE <333

[skruttet]

What are your thoughts on s4? Personally I was actually kind of disappointed, a lot of the characters felt... off?? Not like themselves. Snufkin really didn't appear much and the Comet Episode was confusing and wasn't really all that Book-Accurate... And Snufkin got the 90s Movie treatment :(

Like there were definitely scenes and a few episodes I liked, but overall I feel weird about the season. And I'm curious what your thoughts are.

I will say that overall, I was disappointed.

To be fair to the series though, it arguably largely stems from my personal expectations and hopes? The two biggest disappointments for me were Joxter and Snufkin not meeting, and snufmin's relationship.

The Joxter stuff on the whole I adored, and really could never have dreamed of happening. Just seeing him - or any of the Oshun Oxtra crew, really! - interacting with the characters in "modern day" is great. And then he reunited with Mymble and it was so exciting, and then Little My started wondering about him and Snufkin, and then-! ...They didn't meet. Honestly baffles me why they'd give us so much fanservice but not include probably the main thing most fans would want to see with Joxter. Also interesting that they're afraid to even touch Snufkin's issues with family but they KEEP bringing up Little My's.

The snufmin thing surprised me because my expectations were LOW; during the wait I kept telling people not to get their hopes up, that snufmin would never be explicitly "canon", etc. And I still say they would never do anything explicit with them, however, I was expecting at least for the relationship to be on the same level as it was in season 3, but it seemed to take a step down unfortunately. I wanted more romantic subtext, more hints that something was up between them, and for about the first 4 episodes I thought Moomintroll and Snorkmaiden were finally just interacting as friends and I was hopeful, but unfortunately it was soon clear that they were still supposed to be romantically linked. To their credit, Moomintroll and Snufkin's relationship does maintain some of the development it grew throughout the series, and it funnily ends up presenting it almost as one-sided on Snufkin's side; he's now so much more openly affectionate and patient with Moomintroll, and their communication is a whole lot better, but the latter continues to pursue Snorkmaiden instead. I think Snufkin himself feels so mellowed out in this season, like he's no longer fighting against his own feelings or pulling away from others as much, which is nice to see (though I can see others complaining he's too out-of-character compared to his original counterpart, which is understandable, but I'm personally fine with the characters being "different versions" of themselves in adaptations).

Another disappointment for me was, like you mentioned, the Comet finale... it just wasn't as epic as I thought it'd be, and the stakes weren't high from the start, and after the journey was over the rest of the episode taking place in the valley was a bit dull and directionless. And inaccuracies from the book I expect by this point, but I'm personally not a fan of the ending change with them all just waiting outside to die but the Groke sacrificing herself but actually this is a family show so she's actually alive yaay 😂 Just a bit strange and not the send-off I was quite hoping for.

On the positive side, I LOVED Mamma and Pappa this season. Moominpappa kinda stole the show, and whilst the creators clearly favoured him in past seasons, in this one he finally lost that meanness he sometimes had in s1-3, so he was just a delight to watch.

The guest stars and characters were fabulous, which is a bittersweet thing as it makes it all the more sad that this is the final season and it's all we'll see of them.

The animation and music and sound and acting were all as wonderful as they always are. The crew did such a great job and it's a shame the story decisions dampened the experience for me.

[justin-chapmanswers]

I recall someone saying you wrote backup scripts for Invitational episodes in case the Immunity Votes messed anything up. Can you share with us any scenarios where things might have gone differently? Like who would have gone home in episodes 2 and 4 if Fan or OJ had been immune? And is there any way we could ever see any of those backup scripts? No worries if not!

Great question! So with my scripts, at least, I didn't really feel I've needed to worry about that, by chance. I worked on episodes that were set to have eliminations for: OJ, Tea Kettle, Test Tube, The Floor, and Bot (and of course none for the finale). For OJ's ep, based on the prior votes, we were thinking it'd likely be Yin-Yang or The Floor, maybe Paintbrush. For Tea Kettle it was very very likely Balloon, mayyyybe Nickel. By the time of Test Tube and the Floor, it was pretty clearly going to Yin-Yang, Bot, or Balloon. So just a lot of luck there, especially through pre-merge. I was very very excited at the notion of needing to get creative and play fast-and-loose were a situation to arise where we needed to boot someone other than our planned character, just didn't come up. As well, I don't recall if anyone else's scripts included alt drafts, I could ask around.

That-said, The Overthinkers had a different issue. We felt pretty confident based on prior votes (like Silver!) that OJ would not be immune, but we were less-positive that Yin-Yang WOULD be the one with immunity, which was plot-relevant that episode. Yin-Yang has been getting the votes prior, but it seemed like The Floor's vote percentage had been going up. Would it be enough to surpass Yin-Yang's come ep four?? We had to prepare! So, while not the craziest thing, there was a slightly-alternate draft written that covers this. Here's that!

[fandomsfordays21]

Unlikely Sans AU friendship idea I CANNOT get out of my head...

So... I've been thinking about these two for a while and I've finally decided to post it on Tumblr.

Hear me out... Fresh and Lust as besties.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Fresh would be disgusted by Lust or he would avoid him!" or something along those lines and/or another type of excuse as to why the wouldn't get along, HOWEVER! I disagree.

I actually think they could get along despite their differences and that the dynamic could be really interesting. Fresh is overall a chill, family friendly guy, right? We know that he hates swearing (Cause one of his powers is to literally censor it when he's around) and that he hates things like drugs and alcohol, right? But he's also a kinda flirty guy, and canonically has a list of people he has kissed and loves to add to it. I definitely think Fresh would be against dirty talking and stuff like that, but the overall idea of sex wouldn't really bother him. I mean, he wouldn't have any interest in it, but it's just a natural thing some people do. As long as they keep that behind closed doors, he wouldn't care. This is the reason I think him and Lust would get along.

Their relationship would definitely not be good at first, with how incredibly vulgar Lust is and how much he talks about sex, but I think that is actually how they would learn to get along. You see, my version of Lust is an Angel Dust like character. He's used to being seen as nothing more than "The sex fiend" and is probably used to people thinking that's all he is, so he acts like it. Lust is used to being seen as just a pretty face and body, but Fresh literally wouldn't care. Fresh wouldn't be all over him, nor would he be particularly disgusted by Lust, he just would want the guy to stop talking about sex all the time.

I think that, at some point, they would both reach a point of understanding about each other, and Lust would become more comfortable around Fresh. Maybe even comfortable enough to act a bit more like "himself" instead of the front he puts up. Lust would grow to like the nonchalant nature Fresh has, because he knows it's genuine. Fresh isn't pretending to have emotions he doesn't have, Fresh isn't pretending to be nice because he wants to get a discount on Lust's services. Lust wouldn't have to check every food or drink he's given, wouldn't have to analyze the tone of Fresh's voice to see if he's being lied too, because Fresh genuinely has no interest in Lust outside of friendship.

I headcannon that, even though Fresh doesn't really feel or understand any emotions, he will listen to other people vent about theirs, 'cause it'd be unrad of him if he didn't listen to his pals when they needed him to. I also headcannon that Fresh is the type of guy to tell when a person or place has bad vibes and will keeps his friends away from there. He's walking down the street with Lust and a guy is looking predatory? Lust is getting covered with a jacket three sizes too big for him because, "It's windy broski, ya need to learn to cover up." and then Fresh will give the guy a look that you never want to get from him. Lust wants to go to a club and/or bar? Fresh won't go due to the unrad substances inside, but he will be right outside the door waiting for Lust to come out and/or on high alert for any signs of distress from inside. Fresh would be the kind of bodyguard friend who no one realizes is a bodyguard friend because he's so casual about it.

I feel like Fresh would also be really understanding of Lust's hypersexuality, and that Lust can't help how he feels sometimes. Imagine Lust having a really bad Hypersexuality episode, the kind I sometimes have where it gets physically painful and you feel so ashamed about it where you just want to cry, and Fresh just covers him with a blanket and sits next to him so Lust feels safe having someone he trusts nearby so he's not so vulnerable. Lust doesn't have very many of those people, and I think it'd be great for him to have someone he's 100% sure won't take advantage of him.

I have so much more I want to talk about with this that I can't fit into this post since it's already so long, BUT DO YOU SEE THE VISION???

[onecentpie]

2025 Project Updates!

Heyyy people! It's been a busy few months and a while since I've given any public update on what I've been working on, so here's that now woohoo.

ODDBALL ADVENTURES

FINAL EPISODE: EVICTED

We're still working on storyboards, but I have a little jump on animation. We posted a preview of it on the channel back in November. We also wanna get started on a special side project for it too, and that'll be a surprise teehee. Here's a few more board previews oooh.

SUBWAY HOTDOGS

Also shared a preview for this back in November. We've had this audio laying around for a while and we finally got to it boarded by the amazing Anselmo and staticbrain_tv. This will be a slightly longer short and have limited animation like the Christmas Spirits video last year.

You can find it's own Tumblr blog here with comics and more updates galore yay.

WORK IN PROGRESS

PILOT

So what's going on with WIPToon? Last year I got the first quarter of it all animated! 2 and a half minutes of animation are done. Before I got back to boards, I wanted to do re-write of the second half. I think it flows much better now thanks to the help of @commanderrcat.

Everything is thumbnailed and I'm working back on storyboards in-between my other freelance work. Here's some previews!

SNOW DAY SHORT

A few months ago I had a cute little idea for a WIPToon Snow Day short. A few weeks ago, @commanderrcat, @fishiecomics and I finally got around to writing it. Without those two it'd probably stay just in my head haha. It still needs a board artist but hoping I can work on that on and off in-between the pilot.

Here's it's own dedicated Tumblr blog too!

MORE STUFF

I've been working on a music video on and off for about a year or so- actively since about November (A lot of that time was just finding a visual style I liked for it). I'm like 60% animated with it and hoping to finish it soon :D

I've been busy on a lot of projects last year. I was a cleanup artist for The Boys: Paranormal Paranoia, I've been doing a lot of animation for TheAmaazing, and I was even the lead animator for Eddsworld's latest episode, Pinheads. Aside from one post I didn't talk about it much because I took my break right after, but it was great to lead the team as a proper animation director and have an even more direct hand in designs and visual style. Maybe I'll post a few concept arts and layout drawings in a future post, who knows.

Been a busy few months working on stuff behind the curtain. I'm excited to share all these new things coming. Have a happy new year everyone!! xoxo -PB

[raayllum]

Thought I'd do a little update to my formal Key of Aaravos analysis now that we know more about the Key (+ book) and because we have more scenes. Will also revisit some (4x04) now that we have new potential rune foreshadowing understanding. I also realized that I never talked about any of its appearances in end credit art, so I'll be doing that as well. This is, as always, operating under the assumption that rune placement can foreshadow scenes, since Callum's rune placement in his dark magic 2x08 dreams foreshadowed him doing dark magic in book 5 ocean and for Rayla (moon rune on display).

First things first I want to talk about 4x04 again now that we know the Cube unlocks a book of knowledge, which makes this sentence be more direct and overt regarding the mysteries the cube/Aaravos could answer for Callum.

For great mysteries we have Moon, Ocean, and Star on display, which seems appropriate as the Moon is related to secrets/depth, Ocean is something Callum will unlock the following season, and Star in equalling Aaravos (or the Cosmic Council) is the mystery we're trying to solve. Earth feels like a callback to other cube appearances (its 2nd first, Harrow's letter) that potentially foreshadowed books 4 to 6 (aka Earth, Ocean, and Star) being the true Mystery of Aaravos with book 7 being more of a book of revelation. We then see Callum flip the cube from Earth to Sky, likely foreshadowing that later this episode he will lose his freedom / he will spend the next 4ish books attempting to fully reclaim his freedom from Aaravos. It could also refer to Zym, who may have an important role to play.

Then we have Star-Moon-Sun trifecta which feels more apt because we know it's possible that Moon and Sun magic is required for Aaravos' machinations to invert life and death / that using Sol Regem + Sunfire elves (s6) and potentially Rayla in S7 are important elements of his plan. This could also foreshadow Callum and Claudia, two of his most present pawns, getting the Moon and/or Sun arcanums respectively.

For end credit art, there are four sketches the Key of Aaravos appears in, three of them in S2.

Heart of a Titan (2x06), in which Callum learns what the Key is and what it's called, which harkens back to its 2nd shot appearance in 1x04 (hence the three runes) and features keys:

Fire and Fury (2x07), where we see the game and key motif with it get merged further, and the scratches on the ground indicate that the cube is being pulled from somewhere. 6x02 directly picks up this thread but does not feature in end credit art (we'll talk more about it later). The rune most prominently on display is the Star rune but right side up, as well as Earth (patience, book 4) and sun (Karim, Pharos). These are also the following books (Sun, Earth) after S2.

In 2x08 Book of Destiny the cube has only dark magic sigils on it in the end credit art. This represents the closing doors on Callum's potential that dark magic poses, the hold this will give Aaravos over him without knowing, and seems to be the biggest hint pre-S6 that the cube would be associated with a literal and not just metaphorical book of destiny.

This is also one of the reasons I thought it'd be fitting for the cube to be something bad at first, and then become something good and helpful to Callum. Just as he reclaims his agency/identity, he can reclaim the cube (and book 'of destiny') from Aaravos and make it his, now, and use it for good. But first... dark magic.

I'm going to wait to talk about the final end credit Key art from S6 because I want to talk about it in context with its episode / what we know about S7 so far.

In the meantime, I'm going to make a brief pitstop to 5x08 as despite the season not featuring the Key at all, or Callum being that worried about Aaravos' hold over him (he's much happier in the beginning of S5 compared to the beginning of S6, despite the mission to stop Aaravos being in a much worse place in 5x01 as compared to 6x01), the pawn intro featuring the key and its bright light is here to remind us that's still in play. Additionally, Callum's experiences in 5x08 and what he learns about himself and his strengths/vulnerabilities are a clear turning point that makes him more worried and paranoid in S6, which we see directly with the cube in 6x01.

He starts off by pacing/looking at the Star rune, if him being with the cube wasn't enough to bring Aaravos to mind. The show then has him be nervous when the Star rune itself glows up, once again the upside down version we're more prone to associating with Aaravos (and possibly Callum is too) + a little bonus Moon rune, which feels fitting that Rayla is about to show up in like 2 seconds.

We then get Callum's hand holding/covering the cube by the Sky rune (since Sky and Star are literal opposites on the cube, how's that for thematic design) and pushing the Star rune end into Rayla's hand with Moon on full display. As a treat for me and my "Callum will sacrifice his freedom (Sky) for Rayla's life (Moon) to Aaravos (Star)" and then all those things will be inverted with Rayla helping to restore his freedom to him from Aaravos back again (just like in S6).

Then we have a couple of wide shots where the rune changes despite the fact that it shouldn't (which happens in 2x08 of Earth and then to Ocean for the actual closeup / important shots) because it's not changing position. However, both the ones presented — Earth and then Star — have their own valid meanings.

For Earth, it can contrast Rayla's continual willingness to wait (let's maybe not try to destroy the pearl right now, no I'm not going to free my parents right now) — right or wrong — in the face of Callum's growing eagerness and impatience. For Star, it's precisely because he's discussing star magic and it's book 6 stars.

Then finally we have Rayla shifting to hold the cube to the point you can barely tell she's holding it, like it's part of her body / synonymous with her, and Callum looking at her after his "Somehow, Aaravos is going to use me" fear talk (cue screaming).

Then we have Callum looking at the Ocean rune after Rayla, Earth is most prominently on display, and Star (surprise surprise) on top.

He rolls it and since Sky is on top we know Star is on the bottom (even if I don't think that's the one that hit the ground, or that these ones particularly matter - but here for posterity anyway).

Star is again on top when he picks it up, with Moon most prominently on display (I wanna see this one as Rayla foreshadowing for me, particularly since it's related to where the cube is being pulled but like, who knows). I do in all seriousness think it's interesting that Moon and Sun are most on display given Aaravos' apparent desire to invert life (Sun) and death (Moon) next season, and presumably the Key plays some kind of role in... letting him get to the place where he can do that, at least as a step one.

Then we have the big reveal at the end of the season in terms of what the Key unlocks. This also put lines that felt like foreshadowing with the cube / Callum but it wasn't clear how exactly ("That the entire world would be in danger if she let me live with this knowledge" / "Having knowledge isn't the same as knowing knowledge")

No surprise again that we see the Star rune most on display, and again we get a shot of Sun and Moon.

We see the cube flip around (it seems like Aaravos is trying to decide which one) before he settles on Earth. We don't know enough about the Earth arcanum to really say if this is going to have meaning or not; it could reference that Book 4: Earth is when this plotline really got started in arc 2; it could be that Callum is going to use the book to help cleanse corruption (like the mushrooms for Zubeia, and maybe even Lux Aurea or corrupted elves/people/animals). It could also be Earth because that would be the easiest to visually convey spreading over the book for the audience's understanding.

The white light the Book emits when the cube goes in also intrigues me. On the one hand, we know that Moon and most overtly Star magic can take on a white light (although Moon also has blue, and Star has magenta) that might be analogous to the white light the cube flashes in the pawn intro. Alternatively, the white flash there could just be an evocation of the book itself (fitting, again, if Callum is going to eventually reclaim it alongside his identity).

As a finale note, I'm also assuming we see the Ocean rune here just to emphasize the insertion of the Key > any particular meaning and they needed Earth on top. I do find it interesting though (and maybe it was just shot composition) that they didn't want to go with the rune opposite of Ocean that also could've worked, as Sun presumably ties into 1) Aaravos' machinations with the Sunfire elves / Sol Regem and 2) symbolizes the life part of his life and death plans, whereas Ocean has almost exclusively been used in reference to either his prison or Callum's dark magic use (2x08, 5x08) / inner depths of the lengths he's willing to go for his loved ones. But hey, an nb can dream

In the meantime, I'm curious if the Earth rune's prominence here and in the Cube's appearances throughout the season will eventually come to pass foreshadowing wise in S7 (or in the future), but we'll just have to wait and see!

Last but not least we have the final end credit art from 6x09

Yet again, we have Star (upside down Aaravos) and next to the book, now that they're reunited - in terms of us knowing about them, anyway. Then we have Sun and most prominently Moon on display overall, which again bodes well for 1) life and death stuff and 2) possible Rayla connection to build on their prior consistency. I would've expected Star to be most evident or even just Sun (as it is on the side display in the pawn intro with Callum facing Star), but not minding the reinforced Sun-Moon that we've seen more and more the past couple seasons either

And that's that until we get another cube sighting! Dragons out

[loopnoid]

hey! I'm trying to indoctrinate my girlfriend into enjoying Queap... which episode should I show her first?

oh dear i'm just now seeing this so sorry!!! it depends on your girlfriend's tastes imo. because queap does genre eps so often and covers so many topics i feel like it's easy to be like "hey you like boxing movies? court dramas? noir detectives? vampires? mummies? glam rock? milfs??? let's watch This Episode

other than that though:

my personal favorites to use are private dancer (3x14) and miss deep south (3x06) because i feel like they capture the social justice themes of the show without being too intense as other Issue Episodes can be, plus private dancer is a great sam romance and miss deep south is thee girlsam episode, another two big aspects of the show<3

i've never introduced anyone through honeymoon express (2x01) but i feel like it'd go over wonderfully as well, as the first "okay now we actually know what we're doing with this show" episode it's a very good introduction to the show

good morning peoria (2x06), another mother (2x13) and sea bride (2x21) are some great lighthearted ones to get to know the characters

i wouldn't necessarily recommend starting out with the more dramatic episodes but if you think that'd get them hooked over anything else, unchained (4x10) and good night, dear heart (2x17) are great standouts

and finally "play ball" (4x01) is a good episode with a pretty standard leap but also featuring thee sam thesis statement (i know you! you're terminally good. if it was up to you, you'd save everyone) and the absolutely devastating reveal of sam and al's first meeting and the basis of their whole relationship so i feel like it'd probably work quite well too.

i definitely would not recommend starting with any lore heavy episodes like m.i.a. or shock theater or the leap home because those gain their strength 100% from already knowing the characters through their more goofy masks which is why the tragedy hits you like a freight train. other than that though yeah that's my 2 cents! this ask is like a month old so you've probably already shown your girlfriend some episodes so this reply might be useless BUT i'm still sharing in case it helps anyone else :-)

good luck and happy queaping <3

[sehtoast]

Hello there! Just watched s4 finale and have lots of feelings especially about Homelander and Ryan’s relationships. S4 had lots of great moments with them but i wish we got more (i can’t believe they didn’t show us the moment when Ryan found out about the bad room). I still think Ryan will be the one to kill Homelander cause it’s the only way it’ll make sense (even tho i know it’s gonna break my heart, cause i love their dynamic a lot). Personally i want Homelander to snap and destroy everything and everyone in the end but i know there’s no way they’re gonna end the show like that. I’ll be disappointed if Butcher or Soldier boy or someone else ends up killing him, it should either be Ryan or Homelander himself. What do you think will happen, any theories?

s4 finale spoilers:

i'm also incredibly bummed we didn't get to see if/when/how ryan found out about the bad room. i like to think he saw homelander coming into the penthouse after ep 4, all covered in blood, and had questions (who wouldn't). or maybe he was told outright. things like this are why we need more than eight episodes, because this would have added SO MUCH to our understanding of ryan's thought process in the moments before he shoved mallory. knowing what humans are capable of, knowing what they've done to the strongest supe on earth- it all would have been gasoline on the fire.

i 100% agree though. i've been saying for a very long time that i think ryan will be the one to put both butcher and homelander down and it shatters my heart to think of him having to do that. the boy's been through so much, and there's so much more coming.

if i had to pick a theoretical route for them to take, it's definitely that (i also haven't given it much thought yet on other possibilities, admittedly). maybe add in some some plays on caesar and brutus since homelander and sage seem to respectively match those roles so much. i'll be annoyed if they take him out with the virus in some manner, especially if it's related to his milk consumption, and very disappointed if butcher or soldier boy lands the killing blow. like you said, ryan or homelander himself has to do it. it'd fucking KILL me to see either way happen, but those are the only ways that don't like... suck lol

personally though, my ideal ending for him isn't even death- although i doubt kripke would go any other direction. i think the most satisfying (and heartbreaking) ending is for homelander to be depowered and put back in a box. death is almost too... good? it's too gentle and seemingly impossible anyhow. depowerment brings real agonizing consequences for his actions. he's thrown right back into his nightmare and childhood agony by being put in another bad room. again, this whole thing BREAKS MY HEART, but i do think it's the most appropriate ending for homelander all around. i reaaallly want to say this is a theoretical ending, but i still doubt they'd do it.

[vanmarkus]

idk if you've been asked this before but is there any scenario where you would be happy/ok with a bucktommy breakup? your gifset made me think he's already pre-approved by the most important people in buck's life and they (accidentally or not) made it work so well lol what on earth could they have planned IF they're not supposed to be longterm anyway

mm i do get some form of this question every once in a while, but you know, things change, people's opinions change, so i don't mind going into a bit again

to be very real, regardless of where this and any future relationship of Buck's goes, it won't really have a bearing on my enjoyment of the show, so let's start there.

i have my opinions and ideas about where the show might be headed, but you know, this could be the very last season or there could be 10 more and the writers have to kinda work with that in mind too, so whatever happens and when that happens have to work for either scenarios which is not an easy place to be in

but ngl a bucktommy breakup would definitely break my heart (shatter it to teeny tiny smithereens more like) however amicable it'd be and i absolutely wish that if that's something coming our way they stretch out their time together before, so we can see them bloom as partners and get to know more about their dynamic, maybe let us see some milestone moments (yes, i am very aware that it'd just hurt more, but if it's gonna hurt anyway, at least give me this!!)

more on the perspective of the show though... yeah, Tommy has everyone's approval and he's clearly a great match for Buck in many ways that we already saw and possibly in other ways we haven't yet seen. but that's not a guarantee of anything, good relationships can hit just one roadbump that's too big to overcome, people deeply in love can break up due to wanting fundamentally different things, life is a bitch and that applies universally, even in fiction.

i do think they will be longterm though, whatever that'll actually mean in the terms of the actual episodes. i also think Tim might be a bit more cautious this time around to take the fan's reactions into account and that he might have a general idea of where he wants to go with them, but the man writes episodes 2 days before the first day of shooting, so i think there's a lot of wiggle room either way

in any case, they accidentally turned this relationship into a narrative goldmine, so they'd be real stupid not to exploit it as much as they can (and give us a beautiful love story in the process, final outcome notwithstanding)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

So basically there was no plausible way Azula, or any other character, could have been not straight because heteronormativity?

It wasn't because of heteronormativity, it was fulll on HOMOPHOBIA. Cultural homophobia and network homophobia, that were a result of literal decades of full on censorship and legally enforced homophobia on TV and films.

Until 2003, just two years before Avatar, it was totally okay for every state to have laws that were openly anti-gay, and some of them took full advantage of that. We're not talking just "No getting married or adopting kids" here, we're talking "You could get fired because of it. You could go to prison for kissing your partner in public."

Obscenity laws are still a thing today in some states. What are obscenity laws you ask? Basically a legal loophole that allows authorities to go "This thing you did is not illegal, but it offends me personally, so I can treat you like a criminal anyway." When asked to describe what even is obscenity, because that's a REALLY vague concept, one of said authories even said "I know it when I see it" and that was it. That was all you needed then, and if the "criminal" doesn't know their way around legal technicalities, it's all you need now. One dude getting offended at a song, movie or, you guessed, cartoon aimed at children, could make the thing ILLEGAL where he lives.

Nickelodeon would not allow non-straight characters in 2005. There were writters that had been trying to go there since the freaking 90s, and at best it'd result in banned episodes/episodes never got greenlit, and at worst in their shows getting cancelled - likely as a result of decades of the Hay's Code being legally enforced, and still having an effect on TV and film once it was no longer mandatory.

What did the Hay's Code forbid you ask? Oh, just a few things like showing married couples sleeping on the same bed, or interracial romances, or any mention of gay people - unless they were the villain AND the story not only highlighted that they were evil BECAUSE of their sexuality but also killed them in the end as punishment for their sins. That's where the "Bury your gays" trope came from.

Nickelodeon's primary goal is to make money. They were not going to spend money on a show that would result in angry parents, boycots, and episodes or the entire series becoming ILLEGAL in parts of the country.

Bryke themselves said they didn't even think to ASK PERMISSION to make Korrasami a thing until the very last second, almost a whole decade after the original show, because "Any kids network is gonna say no, and if you ask multiple times they might get mad and fire you" was the rule and everyone knew it. And even when they got permission to do it, it was just the two of them holding hands, in a season that was mostly only shown online because of the shows poor performance on actual TV. They didn't get explicit with the "THEY ARE A COUPLE" thing until it gave the show a HUGE popularity boost - aka when corporations like Nickelodeon FINALLY realized "Ooooohhhhhhh, gay stuff is PROFITABLE now, not something that will make us lose money."

It's great that gay characters being straight up illegal/something deeply controversial that could sink an entire series is not the reality anymore (for the most part, again, obscenity laws still exist), but lets not kid ourselves into thinking it was always common to see LGBT+ characters in children's shows.

It's totally valid to reimagine characters from Avatar as being gay or bisexal or whatever you want, but to claim it was CANON is pure delusion AND shows complete ignorance of the history of LGBT+ rights. I'm not even from the US and I know that shit, people, learn a bit of history for God's sake.

Oh, and lets not forget: now that Avatar CAN get away with gay characters, they made Kyoshi openly bisexual. Azula meanwhile continues to only show interest in boys and want only boys to think she's attractive, even after ships like Tyzula became so popular that the voice actresses themselves started to like it. It's almost like the writers ALWAYS INTENDED FOR HER TO BE STRAIGHT, STILL VIEW HER AS STRAIGHT, AND WILL LIKELY ALWAYS THINK OF HER AS STRAIGHT!

We can make headcanons and ship her with whoever we want, but let's not pretend the message isn't loud and clear here. It took years for her to finally be allowed to be written as anything other than just a walking ableist stereotype of a mentally ill person and be treated with any shred of humanity in the comics. Bryke literally said Azula fans are like a cult for feeling sorry for her. They are not interested in almost any reading of her as sympathetic. Not once have they ever so much as acknowledged the popular fanon idea of lesbian Azula.

They're not giving her a girlfriend, guys. It's already a minor miracle that Spirit Temple finally acknowledged she was also a victim of Ozai, and it still ends with her all alone and convincing herself that she is Totally Not Sad about it and will find herself a new group of friends that will Totally Not Leave Her even as she relapses into bad habits. Stop setting yourselves up for failure.

[mahi-does-some-art]

Sakuya's gonna be real lucky considering he probably drinks Mahiru's blood once in a while. (But he probably wouldn't realize it he would probably just be like "of course this blood is delicious, it's Mahiru's and everything about Mahiru is amazing)

Since Sakuya drinks blood like any other vampire via having to attack humans in secluded areas, blood-bags or blood-bags, he absolutely would notice. Mage blood is better than normal human blood and yes Sakuya has likely tasted his fair share but I do think Eve blood would knock the socks off any subclass.

I think it'd be a lot funnier if nobody knew the blood of an Eve was so much better because no subclass had the balls to try to feed off of an Eve or died trying.

I don't even think any of the Servamps would have known. Mahiru is Kuro's first Eve and any blood he had tasted was both hundreds of years ago and in a time where he'd absolutely dread it regardless of anything so Mahiru is the only blood he's had that was at a time he could properly take. He wouldn't have been able to tell the difference because of the gap in time. And Tsubaki is the only one whose never had a (human) Eve and feeds off mage and human blood-bags like his subclass.

The rest of the Servamps all have had Eve's one after another and get their blood pretty much exclusively from them and the taste of any non-Eve blood they may have found in their mouth would probably have been cast aside simply because it was unwanted or they weren't in good states.

So Mahiru is like. The first Eve to actually offer his blood to a subclass and it's Sakuya. Kuro wouldn't have any problem with it as long as neither of them get actually hurt in the process and all the other Servamps are just "Good for them".

So I think it'd be great if Sakuya finally tried and nearly passed out after he was pulled away because he just tasted the equivalent of vampire ambrosia. The reaction would make Mahiru worry, poor thing www

But also the next time Sakuya feeds like he normally does without Mahiru he can barely stand it because it doesn't even come close. His tastebuds are fucked like Kirito and Asuna in that episode of SAO abridged lol

[popculturebuffet]

TMNT Month: Rise of the TMNT: The Evil League of Evil Mutants: The Very Model of a Terrificish TMNT Episode (Patreon for Brotoman.EXE)

Hello all you happy mutants and welcome back to TMNT month. As we wind down, it's only fair we visit one of the most recent TMNT cartoons, a fan faviorite of some renown and a show I dearly love for doing something fresh and unique with the franchise. While the Franchise is still in first class hands in it's new Mutnat Mayhem era and i'm proud to say it's a worthy succesor to Rise, I still miss Rise and wish it'd gotten the love from the network it deserves. A throughly goofy show that didn't lack heart or pitch perfect action, wasn't afraid to be silly or change major core sof the franchise, and was always gorgeous to look at, Rise will always stand shoulder to shoulder with the other tmnt runs and while it's short run meant it didn't get to go the distance, it at least means unlike all other three shows it didn't stumble as it went either. It only got better , ended on a high that got the second best tmnt movie ever as a coda one I would'v ecovered this month had nthe sheer exaustion of the year and a slight cold not caught up with me. Still brotoman threw me the best consolation prize possible.

The Evil League of Mutants is Rise's mid season finale for season 1 and a big turning point in the series. Up to this ep, the seeds for a story had been planeted as we saw Draxum in the premire and a followup and the Foot Clan in the second episode and a few after. The main villians were there.. but the seralized story hadn't fully kicked in. This was a problem at the time, as some wondered why they spent all this time on all this wacky nonsense as the turtles dealt with a famous tv chef trying to eat other mutants, a news anchor who thought he was their arch enemy, a new zeland hippo stage magician, a repo man..tis, anamatronics gone amok, april's inability to hold down a job and of course Splinter stealing his son's car for a joy ride. It was mostly antics.. because while the series has great characters, some development and a nice story at the spine... doing goofy antics is kind of i'ts mo. The turtles are sillier without being complete jokes, a needle that was hard to thread in the era of everyone trying to do a teen titans go but was done well. The boys here.. are goofy morons, something Mutant Mayhem would take and run with while making a touch more realistic (Including hiring actual teens), the most teen the characters had been up to mutant mayhem.

Their not four ninja warriors who are also goofy people in thier spare times, but four goofuses with the bare minimum of training lead by someone who can barely rangle them. It dosen't make them any less likeable but explains why the series bends more towards comedy while still keeping the action tight: these turtles splinter , due to his own trauma and laziness, didn't take their training all that seriously so they still have skills but start a few pages behind their other versions, who even when not trained well to start or having their past lives skills and years of training like the idw comics. All versions of the turtles grow, get better with time and have a steep learning curve, but the rise ones start at rock bottom and climb up. These boys are teenagers first, fighters second.. and that works. It works with who this splitner is and what this series is and makes their growth even more noticable than usual as we see them go from barely being able to use their mystic ablities to ending the series on a knock down drag out fight with an evil godlike shredder using all their powers in concert. It's a clear evolution done masterfully and it begins here as the turtles are first slapped in the face with both their biggest obstacle and their lack of training, and left without their magic superpowers to fall back on. Cna our boys hack it.. well yeah this is only the mid season finale. But it's a solid ep that paves the way for the series to rise further and has a truly awesome music number from john fucking cena. What's not to love? So join me under the cut as we see why he's the very model of a warring warrior scientest

We open with the boys fighting the Sando Brothers, two crab mutnat acrobats who easily floor our heroes. Their played by voice acting greats and How Did This Get Made? Co Hosts Ben Scheer (the future Chip Whistler) and my boy Jason Mantzokus (Alex from Close Enough and tons of other voice work). IT's nice ot see the two together, close friends in real life and reminds me of the later pariing of scheer and his wife June Diane Rapheal for Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

The boys are floored by what would normally be one off jobbers for them, trying to use their powers.. but not really succeding with Leo still at that phase where he can't portal his way out of a paper bag. It's a fun fight with the sandos really showing off why they should've been used more: they have great cordination, a killer look and neatly tuck their heads inside their shells to avoid damage, something Mikey can also do in this incarnation if not nearly as well. It's a shame they didn't get more screentime, if understandable: the show already had some more well developed villians it found more to do with. There just here to set up the plot and pad out the villian team.

Speaking of which before they can dine on turtle soup their mysteriously teleported away. The Boys have no idea what happened, as it wasn't Leo (He makes that very clear), and Raph is forced to do the one thing his brothers have dreaded: they have to train

Leo is naturally the first to moan, which still feels weird to say even with how much I LOVE this version. All four frankly: I like Raph as less of a rage head or a smart ass and more a joyful if still impulsive booster, mikey focusing on his fun side and heart instead of his stupidity like 2012, Donnie as an amoral but loveable mad scientest, and Leo as the slacker for a change, taking Raph's role while still being unique in it: Unlike Raph in most versions he dosen't WANT the role, as he fears the responsiblity. He can do it, he just chooses not to since someone else wants to.

Still Raph convinces them: They need to be able to handle guys like this like a boss and need help. Enter splitner and like the rest of the cast I love how diffrent Splitner is. Dont' get me wrong, I love the classic versions and each version tweaks them slightly, but when your four cartoons, four major comic continuities and way too many other iterations for me to take the time to count it's okay to you know, switch it up. Try something different. And I like Splinter as a good dad, who geninely loves his kids.. but also a burnt out husk of a man with a ton of baggage who prefers to be lazy, can't seem to learn his childrens names, and will steal their car to go on shenanigans. He's a mess and had he just stayed a comedic mess he might've worked.. but the series slowly gives him depths and it starts here: Most versions of Hamato Yoshi took their transformation with grace. This one, already having tons of baggage we find out over the course of the show... just kinda gave up. He gave his sons a good life and good training, but he's not this steadfast wise warrior. He's a man who lost his old life completely and wears a kimono less out of a symbol of heritage or because it fits hima nd more because it means he dosen't have to put on pants.

It says something though despite what we learn later and what we've seen at this point that the second the boys ask for more formal training... he's EXCITED. He was happy to just give them the basics, but it's clear getting to share who he was as Lou Jitsu... is just nice. He won't actually tell them due to his own issues, but it's clear getting to share his techniques with them is great. It's also telling given his strained issues with the rest of his clan that he teaches the boys HIS techniques: specifically using fish and ladders as weapons... which is situational as fuck, but is a valid lesson: use what you can grab and don't rely just on your weapons. It is something the boys needed to learn: they have great power with their mystic weapons, but using something else isn't bad. Granted this being the show it is it's SPECIFICALLY just fish and ladders, but it's a ncie point snuck in there.

Sadly the boys.. dont' get the point, mock splinter and are genuinely dicks wanting to get to the good part without getting what all training in martial arts fantasy and reality is: hard work that takes time. THey have to work up but assume SPlinter doing this is just him. It's an old cliche.. but it works here because the boys are both that impulsive and Splinter take sit personally, taking their weapons and being understandably hurt.. yet still not able ot tell them why. By spitting on lou jitsus' techniques.. their rejecting what HE made for himself after leaving his past as Hamato Yoshi behind. Who HE is and given how little the poor man has left outside of his boys it's heartbreaking.

The boys have bigger issues though as we find out WHERE the sandos were sent.. a raddison hotel.

Their mysterious backer has also kidnapped a buffet of previous foes and for those of you who haven't seen rise, or need a refresher we have: Meatsweats: My favorite out of the Rogue's Gallery, an angry gordon ramsey style chef turned deranged pig mutant who wants to eat his fellow mutants. Hypnopotomus: A hypnotist turned hypo. What I like about this guy besides being voiced by Rhys Darby, which will always be a plus, is that while they do do the "supervillian has a stage magician gimmick" they go for a diffrent flavor with him being a hypnotist: he has a turban and instead of using the usual gimmicks as his main attacks uses that simple connecting ring trick as controllable glaives. It's really cool visually and a nice change of pace.

Repo Mantis: A... we don't really know his origins, just that he' sa repo man whose also a mantis. He employed MIkey and Donnie breifly but that broke down after they tried to make him repo Todd: Truly nice guiena pig mutant. Rescues puppies. Not actually evil. Only here because he makes good lemonade.

And crashing the meeting

Warren Stone: An egotistical anchorman turned earthworm who thinks he's the turtles greatest enemy and stole a guaantlet, later turns out to be a piece of the shredder long story that, that gives him one musicalr arm he has to drag around

Todd accidntly throws on the light revealing who brought them here: Baron Draxum. He wants revenge on the turtles for turning on him which.. might've gone better had he not thrown leo off a roof once, something he brings up this episode. Also probably not helping he's calling his new band the league of evil mutants. I mean I get Magneto retconned it as an ironic thing or a "let me be evil situation" but I don't get why Draxum does it given he thinks h'es righetious, wanting yokai and mutants to rebel against humanity.

So the rest of them understandably wonder "Hey why should we listen to you" .. and also keep interuptting with lemonade. This episode has a LOT of good jokes and Draxum's increasing irritation is great as is his own delighted expression when having some later. John Cena is great comedically even in a more dramatic role. I also like the voice Cena used for Draxum, something diffrent from his normal register, a bit lower and more authorative. A shame he coudln't of stuck around

So Draxum's gargoyle minons hugin and munin decide to hype him up, one voiced by sam richardson of I think you should leave fame. Not really necessary to note that but it's important to me. I love him. Hope he gets a better scooby doo role some day.

So they sing the episodes centerpiece, warring warrior scientest, a parody of Modern Major General from HMS peneafore. Why did the crew do this? Because they could. Was it worth it.. yes. This is one of the shows best moments. It has a crack or two: the chorus is kinda distracting as it's clear none of the voice actors for these characters are actually singing it. But it's just so enjoyable, not only breaking down a tone of fresh lore but also nicely setting things up, and I love the lighting on this, using bright pink to show off the crowd. And of course it climaxes with Draxum himself singing the song, proudly as he uses his plant powers, rivals his new team and says he'll need all their skills including anchorman.

As for the lore.. it's a lot as this reveals Draxum CREATED the turtles in this continuity, planning as part of his revolution to create an army of mutants and modeling them off the strongest fighter he could find, king of the battle nexus and movie star.. Lou Jitsu. Lou didn't exactly ike the plan, something a later flashback in season 2 elaborates on, and rebelled with the turtles and lou seemingly pershing... instead.. Lou became splinter. Draxum dosen't know it, the turtles don't know it, but we do.

Since this has been common knowldge for a while you have to understand when this was revealed.. it instantly made Splinter a deeper character. He went from an obnoxious asshole to a tragic figure... who was still a bit of a dick, but you understood WHY he was so lazy and hands off training, evne more as more backstory got layered on.

So with the team assembled they just need to lure the turtles who have snuck out. I love the gag of Donnie having left very obvious dummies behind banking on Splitner's lack of awarness.. and it works. The turtles get a suspicious invite to a dinosaur dj in jersey. Raph is against it because.. jersey. I mean come on man ther'es some really neat people in jersey

Naturally it's a trap and we do get some more good gags with Mikey somehow thining Draxum dj's on the side which no.. but he did used to rap so tha'ts something. And their shock at TOdd being there.

The fight begins and the turtles.. naturally get beaten pretty badly.. until they land, lamenting that splinter was right. They shoudl've listned etc etc heart of the cards, and then notice their in a fish and ladder festival being set up.

The following fight.. is gorgeous. Rise is awesome at action scenes and it's something that really helped it stand out: most shows going for an action comedy tone kinda focused more on the comedy part, like Teen Titans go. In contrast, the action here is fluid, smooth as butter and the fight is exciting as hell, with us seeing why this strategy works so well: it's not about the fish and ladders, even if the boys think that because they share one brain cell, it's about the improvisation, not leaning on thei rpowers but on their skills and dominating.

This.. rattles Draxum who reocgnizes the techniques realizing Lou taught them.. and revealing to the turtles who their dna daddy is. And their actual father but they don't connect those dots. They fanboy out and Draxum, with his forces decimated, decides to just kill the boys himself.. until HE gets yanked away. Our heroes have won and go back to splitner.. who apolgoizes, and they do in kind, not only revealing they know who their mutant dad is.. but that they don't care. Splitner raised them, they love hima nd they respect them. And Splitner.. decides to keep the lou jitsu thing to himself. For now.

Draxum wakes up pissed to find the foot clan, in this series reprsented by a smaller wrinkly guy and his brute muscle/sidekick/best friend. They happen to have a shared enemy... and could use someone like Draxum. He agrees and that's something to be covered anothe rday.

For now.. this episode is solid. IT's not the series peak just yet, it'd blend action and comedy better and better as it goes, but it's the start of things taking a slightly more serious tone, while still keeping the comedy, slapstick and goofiness of our heroes in tact. But the jokes are pitch perfect, making me mad at my past self as I wanted the series to sober up a bit.. when really.. it was good at that and unlike the 2012 series righ tbefore it it ballanced the tones better. 2012 is a solid enough series, woudln't mind covering some of it someday... but it's decline was in part because it's penchant for wacky nonsense like the sasquatch what fell in love with donnie or the nightmare on elm street beavers clashed with the esclating stakes. It was fine to have a one off about mikey fighting a pizza monster when new york wasn't being occupied by alien invaders ya know? Rise knows when to fold that, but keeps the stakes in the background, the villians to the shadows so our heroes dont' tend to jackass around when bad stuff's going on. It strikes a perfec tballance of comedy and action and still holds up as one of the franchises gold standard, one I need to watch more of. This ep may not be it's best.. but it's still so good it reminds me why I miss this show and it's characters so much. Thanks for reading and remember: i'm pulling for you we're all in this together.

[according2thelore]

I just saw a writing prompt that I HAVE to share with you when we talk about the Codependent Brothers(tm) because it'd be hilarious.

A reversal of the "there was only one bed" trope. Instead, I offer: too many beds

I just love the idea of Sam and dean, maybe post getting together, not knowing how to function when having to sleep separately. They're so used to cramped motel rooms with single beds, and after becoming official(read: declaring their love to each other in the moonlight and then fucking nasty in the impala) they feel even LESS able to handle this dilemma.

Maybe they have to put up an act for someone, maybe they are forced to eb separated by outside forces, or maybe they just forgot that that was an option. Either way I just think it would be hilarious watching them fumble their way through realizing they have to sleep in separate beds for once.

(This would also fit in the LS/ES Verse because LS! Sam and Dean would have to hide their relationship from their younger selves, who make it a point, and take great effort to actively Not Be Too Weird Or Clingy around their brother who they're secretly desperately in love with.)

"there's two beds."

dean looks up at sam's flat tone, and his stomach sinks as he realizes, oh shit. there are two beds.

the clerk at the counter must've given them a key to the wrong room.

they'd been carefully "accidentally"ing themselves into rooms with kings since that night a few months ago, dean's blood soaking underneath sam's nails and sam finally kissing the fuck out of dean--the absolute hell out of him--as he'd slipped into hypovolemic unconsciousness.

since then, dean had talked sam into sleeping in his room in the bunker. it started as sam sleeping over after sex, but they weren't twenty anymore, and after the sixth night of marathon acrobatic fucking, dean had said "maybe we could watch a few episodes of game of thrones" and tried very hard to strategically fall asleep on top of sam so he couldn't get up and leave.

after that, the convincing got less...well, convincing, but sam stayed anyway. somehow, his clothes migrated over to dean's dresser. his toothbrush sat next to his on the sink. his house shoes stayed next to the bed.

that's it. just the one bed. but now...

"i could," dean clears his throat. "i could go ask him to switch us."

sam tears his eyes away from the damning beds in question.

"huh? i mean. no."

dean blinks. sam shrugs, looking unsure.

"nah, it should be fine, right? it's just for a night."

dean nods.

"yeah. i mean we've slept in separate beds for thirty years." dean agrees, a factual statement. they stare at each other. they stare at the beds.

just two red-blooded american guys staring at two separate beds.

like god intended.

dean is in front of the clerk thirty-nine seconds later, being told that there's a boxcar rally in town. he won't find a king bed this side of the river.

or the next river. dean asked.

dean has been sleeping in a bed by himself--he does the math--for almost thirty-six years of his life. he knocked off three cumulative years for how often he and sam shared beds as kids and that year with lisa.

so he's used to sleeping in his own bed. never mind that dean has never been sleeping better than the past few months. he thought he just slept poorly, but he dares any person alive or dead to not sleep like a goddamn baby when sam has his hulk-hogan arm wrapped around your torso. you can't. it's a scientific impossibility.

it turns out that the regular soothing effect of hearing sam breathe that could get dean to sleep for the first forty years of his life (minus the first four for obvious reasons, dean doesn't really count those anyway) worked exponentially better when sam was actually exhaling against dean's sternum. who knew?

dean was getting a full six, a full eight, a full nine hours of sleep tucked up behind sam, and the hair in his mouth--while a trade off that deserved consideration--could be overlooked.

dean is sitting in his bed later that night, unsure of where to put his arms. or his legs. or his body. sam is standing next to his own bed, looking confused.

dean looks at him, and damn. this room is huge. he's like...really far away.

"so." dean says, voice a little louder so sam can hear him all the way over there, "we should get up at seven. to get to montana by tomorrow afternoon."

sam nods.

"yeah, okay." he says. he sits down on his bed. dean realizes that because he's used to sleeping on the side closest to the door, and sam is used to sleeping on the opposite side, that they're pressed to opposite sides of their separate beds, giving the maximum amount of space between them.

dean frowns. he turns the light off.

he can barely hear sam breathe in the dark. how the hell did he hear him before? he scoots over, and finds that sam has already done the same. they stare at each other across the three foot space between beds.

dean is hot. like he's...really hot. he kicks the blankets off.

sam has pulled his blankets up to his chin. how the hell is he cold right now?

minutes tick by. they build up on top of each other like snowflakes on a drift.

dean has his eyes closed, and thinks he's probably close to something, but just as he's maybe getting somewhere, sam turns over, and dean loses the sound of his breathing.

dean blinks up at the ceiling, wide awake.

"hey. hm. hey sammy. can you. uh. can you turn back over?" dean whisper-calls.

sam turns back over.

dean looks at the clock. it's thirty two minutes past when they laid down.

"what the hell?" dean smacks the clock a few times. it stays the same. he watches for over thirty minutes as it turns from 11:23 to 11:24. dean flops back against the bed. this is a fucking nightmare.

sam sneezes.

"gesundheit." dean says. sam thanks him. dean starts counting cars that go by on the interstate. he makes it to forty-seven when sam sighs heavily.

"okay," he says, firm, and he stands up. dean whirls back around to look at him, and watches as sam crosses the chasm between their beds, and kicks dean's body with his knee. "move."

dean rolls over immediately, tangling in his blankets in his fervor to get over.

sam wraps his humungo he-man arm around dean's waist as he crawls into his bed.

dean is asleep before his head hits the pillow.

in the morning, dean's left arm and leg are cold and numb, sam having squished all the blood and feeling out of it. they sleep through their alarm, they sleep so well. dean is pulling sam's hairs out of his mouth for the rest of the day. sam has a crick in his neck that dean sees him wincing about every time he turns his head.

"next time," sam says, folding himself into the passenger seat of the impala as they get ready to drive away, "we'll go to the next state if we have to."

dean nods.

it would be easier. it's not like they need it, though, or anything.

~~~

ES/LS BONUS!

"yes, it's time to go sleep in my bed," dean says, standing up. his teeth are clenched. "by myself."

his younger self looks at him like he's speaking a different language. dean glares at him. it's his fucking fault he's not getting any goddamn sleep around here.

"yeah." sammy says, hauling himself up. he sounds defeated. "a night of 'sleep' will do me good."

"why did you say it like that?" sam says, brushing his bangs out of his face, and looking up at his older self. "i heard those air quotes. what was that about?"

"because we sleep normally." sammy says, bitterly. "like regular people."

"do y'all hang from the ceiling or something?" younger dean asks. "what the fuck is happening right now?" "we're going to bed!" dean snaps. "because we're regular people, who treat each other regularly!"

"i have never felt more normal in my life," sammy agrees solemnly. "good night."

dean and sammy don't see the baffled what the fuck sam mouths at younger dean, or the way younger dean makes sure he has his silver knife in his pocket. maybe things aren't all they seem around here. bc what the hell was that?

but their younger selves don't see the forlorn look dean shoots sammy before he closes his door. sammy sighs ten minutes later, thunking his head on his own closed door. he forgot his toothbrush in dean's room.

~~~

this ask was DELIGHTFUL!!!!!!!

this was SUCH a fun prompt, and i had such a great time writing it, thank you sm bestie 🥹

trust that i have seen your other ask! i have been in a ES/LS rut for the past few weeks as i work on my big bang piece (an ES!Dean/LS!Sam fic that i'm excited for y'all to see later this year!). but i shall answer! i promise!

thank you for this ask, animangalover! mwah <3 hope you're doing well!

-lizzy

[real-total-drama-takes]

I think alenoah is similar to aleheather in the fact that they are both great rivals to lovers' ships. While I feel like alenoah started out as perhaps a crackship of sorts, I think if it had been cannon to any extent, it wouldn't have been a bad relationship.

Just like aleheather, I feel like it would be entertaining to see how Noah and Alejandros' relationship would grow, especially if Noah had been kept in the game after the I See London... episode. I feel like Noah would would try and convince the rest of Team Chris is Really Hot that Alejandro is bad news, but would fail for the most part, only having Owen somewhat believe him. I feel like the dynamic between Alejandro and Noah would be interesting if Noah continuously failed to convince his other teammates that Alejandro couldn't be trusted.

We could be given many comical scenarios of Noah failing to convince other contestants and Alejandro teasing him for failing. I feel like their dynamic would be similar to Alejandro and Heathers, with the distrust and flirting. Overall, it wouldn't be too different from Aleheathers dynamic, besides the fact that Noah isn't as "villainous" as Heather, so that's a difference that could possibly make the relationship better and maybe move it along quicker? (I don't think it'd harm the relationship any, perhaps they'd get together sooner than Alejandro and Heather though)

Now I don't know where Noah would be eliminated if he wasn't Eliminated in the I See London... episode. I feel like maybe instead of not eliminating him, we bring him back for merge instead of Blainley. (No offense to Blainley lovers, but she was very much, in my opinion, a filler character.) For obvious reasons (aka Heather deserved to win.) Noah wouldn't make it to the final two, maybe final four? (Perhaps replacing Sierra?) Honestly, I'm not too sure.

Personally I like this ship, and it is my favorite out of all Canon and non-canon total drama ships. I'm not sure why it's so appealing to me, but it is my favorite, so perhaps I'm slightly biased. But looking at it from a purely analytical view, I don't think the ship is bad in the slightest and would rate it a good 8.9/10

(ALSO NEMMA, ALENOAH, NOCO, AND ANY OTHER NOAH SHIPS THAT PEOPLE ARGUE OVER... CANT WE JUST ALL KISS AND BE CHILL?? thank you for reading this bs 💕)

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