#louie has claimed it as his main one

[world-cinema-research]

Week 7 Short Essay Part 2 – Sex, Lies and Videotape similarities to Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

By Christian Lavarello 

The films, Sex, Lies and Videotape by Director Steven Soderbergh and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai by director Jim Jarmusch have more differences than similarities, yet some noteworthy similarities to mention.  

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai was released by director Jim Jarmusch which tells the story of an urban samurai, a man who was saved when he was younger by Louie, a mafioso. Sometime later, Ghost Dog reappears before the mafioso and, in accordance with his samurai ethical code, admits he is in debt with Louie. Louie turns Ghost Dog into his own efficient, uncatchable hitman and nobody knows his "real" name and they communicate via carrier pigeon-delivered messages.  

Sex, Lies and Videotape follows the intertwined lives of four individuals living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: John, Ann, Cynthia, and Graham Dalton. John is an attorney who is having an affair with his wife Ann’s sister. Ann claims to not want sex anymore, being excessively concerned about world issues. Graham is ‘brutally honesty,’ especially about the fact that he is impotent and the only way he can have some physical satisfaction is by videotaping women talking about sex and their sexual encounters. With his arrival, everyone’s deceptions and hypocrisies come to the surface and so does Ann’s desire to have to sex again.

Sex, Lies and Videotape received a few awards and mostly positive critical reviews, Robert Ebert stated, “I am not sure it is as good as the Cannes jury apparently found it; it has more intelligence than heart and is more clever than enlightening. But it is never boring, and there are moments when it reminds us of how sexy the movies used to be, back in the days when speech was an erogenous zone”. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai received a mixture of review, but mostly positive one from The Howlander, states, “On the surface, the film is monotonous and the characters unfeeling, but a strand of profundity runs throughout the film, and that’s where its subtle intelligence lies”. 

As stated previously, films received a lot of positive reviews and they focused on the strengths and messages from each category, yet they both have a deep artistic meaning to them. For instance, throughout Ghost Dog: They Way of the Samurai, director Jim Jarmusch structured his film is from a Samurai Hagakure passage in which Ghost Dog narrates himself and each Hagakure passage demonstrates a new lesson on being a proper samurai. These passages make the audience see a deeper side of the main character and connect with them by understanding their actions in more depth. Sex, Lies and Videotape does an amazing job of keeping the audience guessing and trying to figure out the characters’ actions and behaviors. Director Steven Soderbergh delves into themes of intimacy beyond sex and the unspoken connections between characters which also connects the audience to the characters themselves. The audience gets to see a vulnerable side of the characters and beneath their perfect exteriors.  

Both directors did a great job of creating connections to their audiences in very different ways and they did this while sticking to a tight budget. Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) grossed about $36.74 million worldwide, including $24,741,667 in the United States and Canada. The film's opening weekend in four theaters on August 4, 1989, brought in $155,982, with an average of 30 people per showing. It eventually played in 534 theaters. The film's estimated budget was $1,200,000. While Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai grossed a worldwide total of $9,380,473, of which $3,308,029 was in the United States. The film’s estimated budget was around $2,000,000.  

On a lighter note, with respect to historical events throughout the time of both films, in 1989 when Sex, Lies and Videotape was released so was the very first episode of The Simpsons which aired in December 1989 and who didn’t love The Simpsons. Also, in 1999 when Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai was released The Titanic movie became the first film to gross a billion US dollars. It made the Guinness World Records. In conclusion both films were very different from one another, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai was categorized as crime/thriller while Sex, Lies and Videotape was categorized as drama/indie film, yet both were produced with smaller budgets while still being profitable and had their own artistic and deeper connections to the characters by the way in which the stories are told. Both were unique, great films to watch regardless of their genre.  

[selfdiagnosedeyemotif]

Buckle up chaotic let me take you for a ride-

Ok! So! It all starts in Pikmin 2. In the intro, Olimar (the protagonist of Pikmin 1) returns to his home planet of Hocotate (after repairing his ship and escaping from a planet he crash-landed on in the first game), only to discover that his employer, Hocotate Freight, has gone into debt! Louie, on his first job, was tasked with delivering some very valuable golden pikpik carrots. Unfortunately, Louie claims to have been attacked by a ‘ravenous space bunny’ whilst transporting them, and they were all eaten! This, of course, sends the company into deep debt. The President (after learning that a bottle cap Olimar brought back is worth a hundred pokos (pikmin currency)) immediately sends Olimar (and Louie) back to the planet Olimar just crash-landed on and barely escaped from in order to find treasure to pay off that debt!

Now. this is where stuff gets funky. The game plants seeds of doubt towards louie’s credibility early on, namely with these 2 e-mails you can receive from the president.

Now, sure, Louie’s story seems a little flimsy, but I’m sure he’s perfe-

OH WAIT THERE’S MORE! Just a little peek into the Piklopedia (a bestiary, essentially), you can see Louie's notes about all of the indigenous life on the planet! In which he explains how to best prepare them for consumption! 

While that’s already disturbing enough on its own, let’s connect the dots here. The President says there’s no space bunnies on the route Louie took… and we know Louie will eat anything…

if you still can’t figure it out, don’t worry! The game spells it out for you! After 100%ing the game, you unlock the secret cutscene, ‘Louie’s Dark Secret’! Where it's revealed…

Louie ate the golden pikpik carrots. The space bunny was just a story he made up to save his hide.

The entire central conflict of Pikmin 2 is entirely Louie’s fault.

And you wanna know the worst part, Chaotic? He doesn't care.

Look at him. Does this look like a sympathetic man to you? No. Louie is a cold, uncaring monster.

Oh. You think that’s it. You think that’s the worst of the worst, huh? Chaotic. Poor, sweet, chaotic. You have no idea.

For now.. We move onto Pikmin 3.

The only important story details you have to know is that our main characters are 3 astronauts from the planet Koppai, whose population are suffering from a food shortage! who were sent off to the mysterious planet (now officially known as PNF-404) to retrieve edible matter (fruits) in order to save their planet!

After the 3 captains crash-land (no one in the Pikmin universe knows how to safely land on this planet…) and eventually regroup, they discover that not only is Captain Olimar on this planet, but also that he has their cosmic-drive key, which they need if they ever want to head back to their home planet!

About halfway through the game, our 3 captains get a transceiver call from… Louie! However, due to a few incorrect assumptions and Louie's inability to form complete sentences, our captains are under the assumption that Louie is Captain Olimar. So, they set off to save him from the area boss in order to save him!

They do that and bring him onboard their ship, only to discover that his suit’s put him into forced-sleep mode, so they decide to call it a day and ask him about the key tomorrow.

Now. Louie would have probably died had our 3 captains not come to his rescue. So, what do you think Louie does to three people who just saved his life?

He commandeers the ship while you’re sleeping, lands it, steals all your juice, AND one of your captain’s rubber ducky, and books it. He leaves you for dead.

This meme? This is canon-accurate. Louie steals all your juice and he might as well have called you a bitch.

Of course, he immediately gets eaten by the next area boss, so you have to go save him. The only dialogue Louie has in the entire game is him yelling ‘Food!' like 7 times.

I hope you enjoyed this journey and have a newfound love/hate relationship with this fictional spaceman, chaotic. It’s been fun.

Oh this is a bastard of a man ain't it

[totopopopo]

18 & 25 pretty please ! have a wonderful year ^^ !

18. A memorable meal this year

My group of friends had family dinner every week where one or two people would cook a meal for everyone and everyone would sit at a big table and eat and I’d have people go around and share their favorite and least favorite part of the week and I guess for this I’ll chose the first time me and my best friend cooked together for the family dinner, we made tacos and i smuggled in tequila (cause this was in the common room of our college dorm so no alcohol technically allowed) and one of my friends siblings made margaritas and it was just really nice :)

25. Did you create any characters (in games, art, or writing) this year? Describe one

Oof yeah so I mean the main creative endeavor I’ve been working on this year was my thesis and that actually took up many years, not just 2022, and so the character creation aspect of that took place between 2020 and 2021 so basically all of the writing I’ve done this year has been with characters I created before the beginning of the year. Especially because a large portion of my thesis involves pre-existing mytho-religious “characters” so like even if my version of, say, Papa Gede or Charon solidified and was technically created this year, I can’t claim to have created the characters themselves, and of course they’re only “characters” within the context of the creative work that is my thesis, but to call them characters in a greater sense within the context of their religions is inaccurate, reductive, and borderline insulting, and also wow this is a rant that nobody asked for and that even fewer people can understand because none of you EVEN HAVE THE CONTEXT OF MY THESIS LMAO… anyways.

I guess the character of Louie really didn’t solidify until early 2022 so maybe I can count him (even though his conception was earlier.) Louie is a character in my thesis project that I did for my BA in religion and that will, one day, god willing be a published work. He is a second generation Haitian American. He is about 24, and he works in a warehouse of a large grocery store in a failing city on the verge of physical collapse. He works in this warehouse with Lupe, the main character. He laughs often and easily, and though he’s soft-spoken, his laugh is bright and loud. He loves his mother. He loves to cook, and he’s not bad at it, though he’s not as good as his mother. Life is difficult, but he approaches it with a sense of humor and cheer that borders on defiance. Lupe, who is less sure of herself, and less sure of her ability to be happy, loves being around him, loves the person he is and tries to be, loves his laugh, and loves his company. When an earthquake hits the warehouse and he dies, Louie finds himself in a limbo space within the land of the dead along with the countless other souls who are either traveling to or do not know/cannot find/might not have a final destination among the many underworlds and afterlives. Lupe is looking for him. This is the crux of the story.

…that’s almost definitely ten thousand times longer than you were prepared for or than was necessary for the question, sorry. Woooooooo happy new year!! Good luck in your own creative endeavors! May this be a year of creativity in all forms :)))

[webbiigaiil]

NAME:   Webbigail “Webby” Vanderquack AGE:   Twenty-Two  SEXUALITY:   TBD HEIGHT:   5′1″ PRONOUNS:   She/Her/They/Them/Webby (third person) - honestly, Webby is comfortable in being referred by anything OCCUPATION:   History & Archived Science Student

When it comes to Webby’s past, there isn’t too much that can be said about it. Literally, the only thing the blonde could tell you was that she grew up having her granny, Bentina Beakley, as her sole guardian, and that she had little to practically no recollection of who either of her parents were. And it wasn’t as if she hadn’t tried to learn all she could about them! But whenever she asked her granny, her granny would always say that one day she’ll learn all about them, but for now she was much too young to find out. To say that response was satisfying would be an understatement, but Webby always accepted it and let the topic drop. For now.

To compensate, the girl directed her interest elsewhere - which ended up spending her years learning about all she could about the man who her granny worked for and whose home they both lived in - Scrooge McDuck. Particularly, Webby became enthralled by his life as one of the greatest adventurers alive! Great how she was able to grow up in his mansion then, as all around the decorated walls of that place there were all sorts of information she can get her hands on when it comes to Scrooge McDuck. This includes documentations and artifacts regarding his pasts adventures, photos and letters depicting who his family was, and books! Lots and lots of books! And with every new piece of information she discovered, Webby in return documented as well. Especially when it came to any unsolved mysteries!

For many years of her life, Webby was surrounded by the walls of the manor, never once stepping foot outside unless it was to the backyard. And at first, Webby didn’t mind not being able to leave as there was so much that she could do and explore within the manor alone. But after growing up in that place as the only child among grown adults, even the most exciting if pastimes for her began to get boring and Webby’s curiosity about the life within Echo Isle’s grew. Wonders like If there were anymore adventures that she could embark on her own? What other secrets Scrooge wasn’t able to find? How did a hamburger actually tasted like? Or heck, how would it feel to be able to interact with people her own age for once! The answer to all those questions especially the last one was finally then answered for her one day when, her granny informed her how Donald Duck and his nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie were moving into the manor to live with them.

Of course Webby knew who the triplets were long before meeting them, but that didn’t dissuade the vibrating excitement she felt the day she finally stood before them. Finally! People her own age! And they were related to Scrooge McDuck! And after making a slightly terrifying first impression by mistaking them as intruders, the blonde was able to become fast friends with the boys! She’ll even proudly claim that they were all best friends (and Webby never had a best friend before if you didn’t count her granny)!

It was after the boys moved in was when her granny thought it was okay for Webby to start attending public school instead of her usual home-schooling that she has been doing for most of her life. It didn’t happen right away of course as her granny was still kinda hesitant on letting Webby go, but she also knew that her granddaughter was growing up and would eventually have to make and be responsible for her own choices. So ultimately, Webby ended up getting what she wanted, and she finally got to explore the isle all on her own.

She decided to have a dual major in both history and archived science, with history as her main focus and archived science as her secondary. And why these two you ask? Because Webby knew there was so much to discover when it comes to Echo Isle! Even among all she learned about from Scrooge’s own research, the girl wanted to see and find out with her very own eyes. And who knows? Maybe Webby would come across something that has yet to be discovered!

Due to her years of combat training with her granny, Webby has a lot of strength to her. Which is something that isn’t as apparent due to her dainty-like physical appearance, but believe that this girl is one fighting machine who should not be messed with. She’s skilled in all forms combat such a martial arts, and even knows how to handle all sorts of weaponry if needed.

She’s overall a very athletic person who can do things such as cartwheels, and summersaults at a whim.

Terrible at reading the room and understanding social cues. The boys had tried to teach her all they know (especially after experiencing first hand with her), but it’s still something that Webby is trying to adjust to. Webby also tends to take everything a bit too seriously and jokes can go way over her head with her sometimes not understanding that it was meant to be a joke until a little while later.

Has a habit of laughing, even when she’s feeling uncomfortable or confused about something because she feel’s like doing so would help her come off as more ’normal’ than she is. But naturally is the giggly type as well.

Owns a pair of night vision googles in which she likes to carry around with her often and use whenever it’s nighttime or if she’s somewhere that’s super dark. Actually, owns quite a few weapons just for fun but her granny always advises her not to use them unless necessary or provoked.

Churros are one of her favorite foods and would go nuts over them whenever she can.

Is a horror movie lover! Any and everything within the horror movie repertoire is considered a favorite to her. It doesn’t matter how cheesy or bad it is, if it’s a horror movie, chances are that Webby will want to see it and will end up being the one who enjoyed it the most.

Loves to wear skirts and dresses, and is often the girly-girl type by visual, but by mannerism, Webby can be deemed as a tomboy. She likes to call herself a tough girl instead because she is!

Will sometimes refers to herself in third person. It’s another habit of her’s she adapted after living as the only kid for so many years. Webby use to have many conversations with herself and would come up with her own characters and gave them names, the habit of speaking in third person ended up sticking with her.

Often feels her emotions very intensely, which most likely factors into why she does basically everything in an intense manner even without meaning to.

Despite her thirst for adventure, exploring and knowledge, the number one thing that’s actually most important to Webby is the idea of family. She always told Huey, Dewey, and Louie how lucky they were to not only have each other as brothers, but how they had both their uncle Donald and Scrooge as their family member, plus some others. And not because they had the Scrooge McDuck as a great uncle, but because despite how even the boys own family life wasn’t so perfect, they still had people who were actually family. And yeah, Webby has her granny and Webby loves her to death and would never exchange her granny for anyone or anything in the world but….sometimes she wishes she had a big family of her own. Sometimes she even likes to imagine the boys as her own brothers and both Donald and Scrooge McDuck was her own uncle and great uncle.

[marjaystuff]

Guest Review:  Death at the Falls by Rosemary Simpson

Death At The Falls

A Gilded Age Mystery Book 7

Rosemary Simpson

Kensington Books

Nov 29th, 2022

Death at the Falls by Rosemary Simpson is an historical mystery that brings to life the Gilded Age.  This time the main characters, Prudence MacKenzie and ex-Pinkerton Geoffrey Hunter, travel to Niagara Falls for a dangerous assignment.

“I have been there twice.  I wanted to take Geoffrey and Prudence out of New York City.  I gave the characters the feelings I had of the mist in the air, leaning on the railings, with a titillating “what if.” It was a very famous vacation spot especially for celebrities. The Falls was making a transition from a touristy place to a center of hydroelectricity. It has always attracted oddities including those who wanted to be the first person to go over the Falls. This is where Crazy Louie came from.”

The mystery has a seventeen-year-old woman, Rowan Adderly, due to inherit millions when she turns eighteen.  Her father and mother disappeared seven years ago but before he went missing put valuable newly purchased land into a trust for Rowan.  The problem is that her grandmother, Myra, attempts to block the inheritance, claiming the girl’s mother was promiscuous and she’s another man’s child. Myra falsified documents and has threatened the lives of those close to Rowan, intending to prove her son and the mother of Rowan were never married.

Rowen’s life was like Cinderella. “Yes, she was, even though that image did not pop into my mind, the mean grandmother replaced the mean stepmom.  When I wrote this book and needed a character to center the attempted fraud, I thought of a young Irish soprano singing Irish ballads that I heard. She is composed, intelligent, too trusting, and feels she does not belong.” 

Newly minted lawyer Prudence and her partner Geoffrey are more private investigative agents then lawyers. They have been asked by Prudence’s Aunt Lady Rotherton to help her friend Lady Ernestine Hamilton who wants to protect Rowen. During their investigation, they try to connect the dots when a barrel sent over the Falls supposedly containing a sheep has a dead man inside, the corpse of a surveyor’s assistant who suspected collusion between corrupt government officials and those seeking profits from Niagara land. As Prudence and Geoffrey dig deeper into the region’s undercurrent of opportunistic greed, their investigation is impeded at every turn by murder and attempted murder. They will have to work quickly to solve a convoluted case before a determined killer sends one of them on a fatal plunge. Needing more help, they call their team to Niagara to help in the investigation. Amos Lang working undercover is tasked to sidle up to Crazy Louie to see if he was behind the assistant surveyor’s death. Josiah Gregory is in his element, acting as a cataloguer/archivist at the Hamilton estate, whose job is to find the records that Myra wants hidden. 

Historical descriptions of Niagara Falls are a treat. A book quote explains, “Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest state park in America, established in 1885,” it’s like the wild, wild west. As they say, “There’s gold in them thar hills,” which translates to prescient folks realizing that harnessing the power of the awesome Falls will fuel hydro-electric plants.” Crazy Louie represents all those who went over the Falls in a barrel, trying to build barrels, hoping to become the first human to traverse Niagara Falls successfully.

The mystery was riveting with twists and turns. The characters and story were believable. The descriptions and historical events described in the book are very captivating that anyone who has not traveled there should want to go.

[tokkiheart]

A List of Dramas w/Good 2nd Lead Couples

My one and only friend with whom I can talk to about K-Dramas asked me this today while talking about many things, including Doom At Your Service:

What shows can you think of that had secondary couples that you did like??

And I thought that it was worth making a list about lol

So let’s go ahead and get into it!

Business Proposal

This drama has a wonderful B couple in my opinion! Like the A couple, the B couple has some really great funny moments as well as great cute romantic fluff moments!

I never found myself wanting to skip their parts of the show or thinking “okay, when is this over so I can see the main leads?” These two had a great relationship and it didn’t feel like a separate story that should have been made into a separate show.

The romance between them is pretty fast, but not in a bad way (the kdrama is only 12 episodes long after all)! I definitely recommend this if you just want romantic fluff and wholesomeness!

Shopping King Louie (aka Shopaholic Louis)

For this show, I consider the romance between Mr. Kim and Ms. Busan Hatchet to be the B couple of this show (I can’t remember her name right now, but I remember her nickname lol). I find there’s very few shows with a love line for older characters who are 40+, especially when the A couple are younger and in their 20s.

I found that these two had a interesting, funny story and honestly I loved to see their romance. ❤️

My Roommate Is A Gumiho

I actually really liked the B couple from this show. Even though their relationship originally spawned as a way to get a good grade in a class, these two idiots in their own different ways managed to make me be interested in their relationship. I love that the 2nd ML tried to help the 2nd FL to understand euphemisms and I loved that the 2nd FL was willing to lay claim to him and tell off his ex-gf.

Goblin: The Great & Lonely God

The B couple of this drama were really good (certainly good enough that people wanted to see the actors in another drama together)! Their romance was tinged with plenty of sadness, but they had some great moments in my opinion and their romance didn’t feel like it felt out of place next to the A couple of the show.

Extra-ordinary You

The B couple of this show are Do-hwa and the female lead of the comic book, Ju-da. I loved how even though it seemed futile, Do-hwa still tried his best to stand out and be remembered by Ju-da as something other than just a friend or “guardian angel.”

I’ll admit that I mostly watch this show for the A couple, but I find the moments between these two to be cute and sweet. ❤️

Descendants of the Sun

This drama isn’t high on my list of things to re-watch, but I can’t deny that the B couple of this were really good and enjoyable to watch. They had plenty of funny moments as well as trying moments just like the lead couple and I didn’t find myself irritated by them or wanting to skip past their scenes. I think my only qualm with them was that the 2nd FL would pull rank a fair amount, but despite that, I didn’t dislike this couple at all.

And that’s…that’s really about it honestly. I mean, I’ve only seen 44 K-Dramas so far, so this probably says something more about me than anything else lol There’s a number of dramas with B and C couple that I liked, but didn’t add because I didn’t know which to consider the B couple lol This list may get edited at some later point as I watch more dramas and maybe rewatch some previous ones and realize that I liked the secondary couple as well.

I find that I’ve watched way more dramas with meh or just flat out horrible 2nd lead couples than ones that I like. I may one day make a list for the K-Drama 2nd leads that I really didn’t like, but for now I like just doing a nice wholesome post of good 2nd leads ❤️

[memesnotwelcome]

In case the paywall is up:

As the House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack heats up, some of the planners of the pro-Trump rallies that took place in Washington, D.C., have begun communicating with congressional investigators and sharing new information about what happened when the former president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Two of these people have spoken to Rolling Stone extensively in recent weeks and detailed explosive allegations that multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.

Rolling Stone separately confirmed a third person involved in the main Jan. 6 rally in D.C. has communicated with the committee. This is the first report that the committee is hearing major new allegations from potential cooperating witnesses. While there have been prior indications that members of Congress were involved, this is also the first account detailing their purported role and its scope. The two sources also claim they interacted with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who they describe as having had an opportunity to prevent the violence.

The two sources, both of whom have been granted anonymity due to the ongoing investigation, describe participating in “dozens” of planning briefings ahead of that day when Trump supporters broke into the Capitol as his election loss to President Joe Biden was being certified.

“I remember Marjorie Taylor Greene specifically,” the organizer says. “I remember talking to probably close to a dozen other members at one point or another or their staffs.”

For the sake of clarity, we will refer to one of the sources as a rally organizer and the other as a planner. Rolling Stone has confirmed that both sources were involved in organizing the main event aimed at objecting to the electoral certification, which took place at the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6. Trump spoke at that rally and encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol. Some members of the audience at the Ellipse began walking the mile and a half to the Capitol as Trump gave his speech. The barricades were stormed minutes before the former president concluded his remarks.

These two sources also helped plan a series of demonstrations that took place in multiple states around the country in the weeks between the election and the storming of the Capitol. According to these sources, multiple people associated with the March for Trump and Stop the Steal events that took place during this period communicated with members of Congress throughout this process.

Along with Greene, the conspiratorial pro-Trump Republican from Georgia who took office earlier this year, the pair both say the members who participated in these conversations or had top staffers join in included Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).

“We would talk to Boebert’s team, Cawthorn’s team, Gosar’s team like back to back to back to back,” says the organizer.

And Gosar, who has been one of the most prominent defenders of the Jan. 6 rioters, allegedly took things a step further. Both sources say he dangled the possibility of a “blanket pardon” in an unrelated ongoing investigation to encourage them to plan the protests.

“Our impression was that it was a done deal,” the organizer says, “that he’d spoken to the president about it in the Oval … in a meeting about pardons and that our names came up. They were working on submitting the paperwork and getting members of the House Freedom Caucus to sign on as a show of support.”

The organizer claims the pair received “several assurances” about the “blanket pardon” from Gosar.

“I was just going over the list of pardons and we just wanted to tell you guys how much we appreciate all the hard work you’ve been doing,” Gosar said, according to the organizer.

The rally planner describes the pardon as being offered while “encouraging” the staging of protests against the election. While the organizer says they did not get involved in planning the rallies solely due to the pardon, they were upset that it ultimately did not materialize.

“I would have done it either way with or without the pardon,” the organizer says. “I do truly believe in this country, but to use something like that and put that out on the table when someone is so desperate, it’s really not good business.”

Gosar’s office did not respond to requests for comment on this story. Rolling Stone has separately obtained documentary evidence that both sources were in contact with Gosar and Boebert on Jan. 6. We are not describing the nature of that evidence to preserve their anonymity. The House select committee investigating the attack also has interest in Gosar’s office. Gosar’s chief of staff, Thomas Van Flein, was among the people who were named in the committee’s “sweeping” requests to executive-branch agencies seeking documents and communications from within the Trump administration. Both sources claim Van Flein was personally involved in the conversations about the “blanket pardon” and other discussions about pro-Trump efforts to dispute the election. Van Flein did not respond to a request for comment.

These specific members of Congress were involved in the pro-Trump activism around the election and the electoral certification on Jan. 6. Both Brooks and Cawthorn spoke with Trump at the Ellipse on Jan. 6. In his speech at that event, Brooks, who was reportedly wearing body armor, declared, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.” Gosar, Greene, and Boebert were all billed as speakers at the “Wild Protest,” which also took place on Jan. 6 at the Capitol.

Nick Dyer, who is Greene’s communications director, said she was solely involved in planning to object to the electoral certification on the House floor. Spokespeople for the other members of Congress, who the sources describe as involved in the planning for protests, did not respond to requests for comment.

“Congresswoman Greene and her staff were focused on the Congressional election objection on the House floor and had nothing to do with planning of any protest,” Dyer wrote in an email to Rolling Stone.

Dyer further compared Greene’s efforts to dispute certification of Biden’s victory with similar objections certain Democrats lodged against Trump’s first election.

“She objected just like Democrats who have objected to Republican presidential victories over the years,” wrote Dyer. “Just like in 2017, when Jim McGovern, Jamie Raskin, Pramila Jayapal, Barbara Lee, Sheila Jackson Lee, Raul Grijalva, and Maxine Waters tried to prevent President Trump’s election win from being certified.”

Dyer also suggested the public is far more concerned with issues occurring under President Joe Biden than they are with what happened in January.

“No one cares about Jan. 6 when gas prices are skyrocketing, grocery store shelves are empty, unemployment is skyrocketing, businesses are going bankrupt, our border is being invaded, children are forced to wear masks, vaccine mandates are getting workers fired, and 13 members of our military are murdered by the Taliban and Americans are left stranded in Afghanistan,” Dyer wrote.

In another indication members of Congress may have been involved in planning the protests against the election, Ali Alexander, who helped organize the “Wild Protest,” declared in a since-deleted livestream broadcast that Gosar, Brooks, and Biggs helped him formulate the strategy for that event.

“I was the person who came up with the Jan. 6 idea with Congressman Gosar, Congressman Mo Brooks, and Congressman Andy Biggs,” Alexander said at the time. “We four schemed up on putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting so that — who we couldn’t lobby — we could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body hearing our loud roar from outside.”

Alexander led Stop the Steal, which was one of the main groups promoting efforts to dispute Trump’s loss. In December, he organized a Stop the Steal event in Phoenix, where Gosar was one the main speakers. At that demonstration, Alexander referred to Gosar as “my captain” and declared “one of the other heroes has been Congressman Andy Biggs.”

Alexander did not respond to requests for comment. The rally planner, who accused Alexander of ratcheting up the potential for violence that day while taking advantage of funds from donors and others who helped finance the events, confirmed that he was in contact with those three members of Congress.

“He just couldn’t help himself but go on his live and just talk about everything that he did and who he talked to,” the planner says of Alexander. “So, he, like, really told on himself.”

While it was already clear members of Congress played some role in the Jan. 6 events and similar rallies that occurred in the lead-up to that day, the two sources say they can provide new details about the members’ specific roles in these efforts. The sources plan to share that information with congressional investigators right away. While both sources say their communications with the House’s Jan. 6 committee thus far have been informal, they are expecting to testify publicly.

“I have no problem openly testifying,” the planner says.

A representative for the committee declined to comment. In the past month, the committee has issued subpoenas to top Trump allies, government agencies, and activists who were involved in the planning of events and rallies that took place on that day and in the prior weeks. Multiple sources familiar with the committee’s investigation have confirmed to Rolling Stone that, thus far, it seems to be heavily focused on the financing for the Ellipse rally and similar previous events.

Both of the sources made clear that they still believe in Trump’s agenda. They also have questions about how his election loss occurred. The two sources say they do not necessarily believe there were issues with the actual vote count. However, they are concerned that Democrats gained an unfair advantage in the race due to perceived social media censorship of Trump allies and the voting rules that were implemented as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Democrats used tactics to disrupt their political opposition in ways that frankly were completely unacceptable,” the organizer says.

Despite their remaining affinity for Trump and their questions about the vote, both sources say they were motivated to come forward because of their concerns about how the pro-Trump protests against the election ultimately resulted in the violent attack on the Capitol. Of course, with their other legal issues and the House investigation, both of these sources have clear motivation to cooperate with investigators and turn on their former allies. And both of their accounts paint them in a decidedly favorable light compared with their former allies.

“The reason I’m talking to the committee and the reason it’s so important is that — despite Republicans refusing to participate … this commission’s all we got as far as being able to uncover the truth about what happened at the Capitol that day,” the organizer says. “It’s clear that a lot of bad actors set out to cause chaos. … They made us all look like shit.”

And Trump, they admit, was one of those bad actors. A representative for Trump did not respond to a request for comment.

“The breaking point for me [on Jan. 6 was when] Trump starts talking about walking to the Capitol,” the organizer says. “I was like. ‘Let’s get the fuck out of here.’ ”

“I do kind of feel abandoned by Trump,” says the planner. “I’m actually pretty pissed about it and I’m pissed at him.”

The organizer offers an even more succinct assessment when asked what they would say to Trump.

“What the fuck?” the organizer says.

The two potential witnesses plan to present to the committee allegations about how these demonstrations were funded and to detail communications between organizers and the White House. According to both sources, members of Trump’s administration and former members of his campaign team were involved in the planning. Both describe Katrina Pierson, who worked for Trump’s campaign in 2016 and 2020, as a key liaison between the organizers of protests against the election and the White House.

“Katrina was like our go-to girl,” the organizer says. “She was like our primary advocate.”

Pierson spoke at the Ellipse rally on Jan. 6. She did not respond to requests for comment.

Both sources also describe Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, as someone who played a major role in the conversations surrounding the protests on Jan. 6. Among other things, they both say concerns were raised to Meadows about Alexander’s protest at the Capitol and the potential that it could spark violence. Meadows was subpoenaed by the committee last month as part of a group of four people “with close ties to the former President who were working in or had communications with the White House on or in the days leading up to the January 6th insurrection.”

“Meadows was 100 percent made aware of what was going on,” says the organizer. “He’s also like a regular figure in these really tiny groups of national organizers.”

A separate third source, who has also communicated with the committee and was involved in the Ellipse rally, says Kylie Kremer, one of the key organizers at that event, boasted that she was going to meet with Meadows at the White House ahead of the rally. The committee has been provided with that information. Kremer did not respond to a request for comment.

Both the organizer and the planner say Alexander initially agreed he would not hold his “Wild Protest” at the Capitol and that the Ellipse would be the only major demonstration. When Alexander seemed to be ignoring that arrangement, both claim worries were brought to Meadows.

“Despite making a deal … they plowed forward with their own thing at the Capitol on Jan.y 6 anyway,” the organizer says of Alexander and his allies. “We ended up escalating that to everybody we could, including Meadows.”

A representative for Meadows did not respond to requests for comment.

Along with making plans for Jan. 6, the sources say, the members of Congress who were involved solicited supposed proof of election fraud from them. Challenging electoral certification requires the support of a member of the Senate. While more than a hundred Republican members of the House ultimately objected to the Electoral College count that formalized Trump’s loss, only a handful of senators backed the effort. According to the sources, the members of Congress and their staff advised them to hold rallies in specific states. The organizer says locations were chosen to put “pressure” on key senators that “we considered to be persuadable.”

“We had also been coordinating with some of our congressional contacts on, like, what would be presented after the individual objections, and our expectation was that that was the day the storm was going to arrive,” the organizer says, adding, “It was supposed to be the best evidence that they had been secretly gathering. … Everyone was going to stay at the Ellipse throughout the congressional thing.”

Heading into Jan. 6, both sources say, the plan they had discussed with other organizers, Trump allies, and members of Congress was a rally that would solely take place at the Ellipse, where speakers — including the former president — would present “evidence” about issues with the election. This demonstration would take place in conjunction with objections that were being made by Trump allies during the certification on the House floor that day.

“It was in a variety of calls, some with Gosar and Gosar’s team, some with Marjorie Taylor Greene and her team … Mo Brooks,” the organizer says.

“The Capitol was never in play,” insists the planner.

A senior staffer for a Republican member of Congress, who was also granted anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, similarly says they believed the events would only involve supporting objections on the House floor. The staffer says their member was engaged in planning that was “specifically and fully above board.”

“A whole host of people let this go a totally different way,” the senior Republican staffer says. “They fucked it up for a lot of people who were planning to present evidence on the House floor. We were pissed off at everything that happened .”

The two sources claim there were early concerns about Alexander’s event. They had seen him with members of the paramilitary groups 1st Amendment Praetorian (1AP) and the Oath Keepers in his entourage at prior pro-Trump rallies. Alexander was filmed with a reputed member of 1AP at his side at a November Stop the Steal event that took place in Georgia. The two sources also claim to have been concerned about drawing people to the area directly adjacent to the Capitol on Jan. 6, given the anger among Trump supporters about the electoral certification that was underway that day.

“They knew that they weren’t there to sing “Kumbaya” and, like, put up a peace sign,” the planner says. “These frickin’ people were angry.”

[sammyheroes]

Ok! Time to over analyze Webby’s Board:

OK, so we have Team Science with the following members: Gyro, Manny, Fenton, Gandra, Boyd, Lil Bulb, and Quackfaster. My reasoning for Quackfaster to be in Team Science might be because she works at the Money Bin, therefore, works closely with Gyro to some degree. Plus, she keeps guard of the archives.  I love that they are considered part of the family. They all work closely with McDuck and have had various adventures with the kids at some point during the series, sometimes more than once, especially Huey. I believe they are considered some sort of extended family.

We also see Drake Mallard (Darkwing) is tied by a question mark to Gosalyn, signaling that they don’t have an established adopted father/daughter relationship yet or even see each other as such, but it’s a big hint for the future. Also, we see a newspaper clip of Launchpad that says “Local Buffoon Crashes Six Planes in One Day, Unfortunately Survives Unharmed” if you zoom in on the picture. I just think that this is really funny that Launchpad canonly crashes more planes that the whole US Air Force (Just a joke!)

There’s also a picture of Penny connected to Launchpad’s newspaper clip that says ‘Just Friends’. I’m not sure if it refers to the pilot and herself or just Webby referring to Darkwing, Gosalyn, Launchpad and Penny as a whole group. But it could be the first option as we see a string attaching Penny to Della claiming her to be Della’s best friend.

Also, the drawing of Darkwing made by Launchpad is adorable, but I don’t think he is depicting Drake Mallard here, but Jim Starling because of the classic uniform instead of the new one. Remember that they believe him dead and not as Negaduck. Launchpad might have felt bad for him and might have asked Webby to add him.

Then we have the Main Family at the center of the board. At the top we see that Webby has added a stone drawing of Bubba, which I think it’s adorable that he was added in such way. Then we see Fergus and Downey, Scrooge’s parents. At the top right we see Goldie, which I’m pretty sure was a locket kept by Scrooge first before it somehow got into Webby’s hands. Then we see Scrooge under his parents with Hortense and Matilda at his sides, his sisters. Beside Hortense we see Quackmore (I’m still salty that we didn’t get an episode explaining what happened to them!). Underneath them we have Donald and Della, Donald being connected to Daisy and The 3 Cabs. Gladstone and Fethry are connected here as cousins. Finally we have Huey, Dewey and Louie with the new addition of May and June at the bottom. Mostly, I can’t say much here since we already now how these are all connected, but the Bubba addition is adorable.

Finally, we have an area dedicated to the villains at the top. I found it weird at first, but then I remembered that Magica is related to Lena and Webby considers her her sister, therefore Magica would be some sort of distant relative. I don’t know why Mark Beaks and Glomgold are in there.

We also see Djinn and Amunet at the top with no strings. It might be because they are considered friends only and not close enough to be considered family, but they’re important enough to be added.

Then we have Webby’s circle. We see Violet and Lena attached to Webby under the name of Shadow Friends, a nod to the time Lena herself was a shadow. We also have her connection to Beakley and her parents, who then turns out they weren’t actually hers if you know what I mean. But they are still related to Webby because of Bentina. (Or that might be Bentina herself when she was younger with her husband, who knows at this point)

There’s also a small section at the bottom for the dead, where we see Duckworth in his regular form and his demon form. Even in death, you cannot tear a family apart.

[tigirl-and-co]

Fave eps of the 63 astroboy anime?

Okay, so I'm only at episode 55 out of i think 109 in the english dub, but I can tell you my faves so far!

this got real long real fast, so I'm putting it under a readmore :3c

-episode 11, 'Strange Voyage' I've talked a lil' bit about this one before, but I'll elaborate. I think this episode is tastefully dark, but has some really great sweeter moments as well. Like when Louie(?) agrees to watch Marble, and then... proceeds to do so. He's never mean to her, and while he's not kind, he's willing to talk with her. Also Astro decides that keeping the little girl away from the notorious criminal is unnecessary, and decides that she and the criminal should play chess instead. As for darker moments, the ending and this particular line come to mind

and then Marble, who is like 5, claims that there must be a heaven for robots, because Astro deserves to go to heaven. Also they try to kill a man by shoving him out the airlock. But yeah, if you're looking to decide whether or not this show is worth it, check out this episode

-episode 7, 'Zero, the Invisible Robot' So this is the Denkou episode, and for some reason they made him a gorgeous man that I'm in love with. But he's named Zero here. I don't know what else to say that hasn't been said, other than I maybe teared up a lil'. Don't judge me. I'm a sucker for 'I just want to be good/do a good job' type characters (which is why I'm also a fan of bobo and abra cadabra) and I think it's really funny that they were like 'we have to make him BEAUTIFUL' and he's only visible for like 5 seconds total.

-episode 53, 'Dogma Palace' This episode is absolutely dumb as dogshit and I'm completely obsessed with it. It seems like it's gonna be cool and dark and in the last like 7 minutes you find out that everything's all fucked cuz the king was like 'o ye i used 2 keep bees! My favourite bee was this fucked-up evil one from outer space that liked to mind control people!' and he did not see how this could have ever gone wrong. May I recite to you the greatest lines of dialogue in tv history?

*while panning over freed child slaves* "You can be a king who believes in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!" "Yes. I'll start a new country, a country without slaves, or monsters, or super-bees!"

also the king is named 'El Doopy' and his elite task force are the Super Troupers

-episodes 44 and 45, 'The Heart of Cleopatra' It's another 'I want to be Good but I am forced to be Bad episode, with the added bonus of being Cleopatra-themed. Also it was bizarre but heartwarming to see Muslims and Islam being treated (somewhat) respectfully in a cartoon from 1963. Like they were literally just praying. It might not have been *tactful* bc this show has never heard of tact in its life, but I don't think it was *offensive* and it certainly wasn't mean-spirited

-Episode 10, 'The Spirit Machine'

-Episode 52, 'The Snow Lion' I had been looking forward to this episode after hearing that the 80's version was batshit, and I was NOT disappointed. The main villain is this little space wizard man with a flying lion made of snow, except the snow is alive and eats energy, and also apparently the wizard called in the girl scouts to help him invade earth. Sadly, the girl scouts were never seen.

like right in the middle there's this fucking somber as hell scene where Elefun hold's Astro's lifeless body, and he says 'I'll put you in the robot hall of fame if it's the last thing I do.' and so we get a 30 second long sequence of Elefun somberly walking down the halls of the robot hall of fame with Astro in his arms, until he reaches a pedestal. He then sets Astro up, and goes 'at least we can face the end together' and kneels down and rests himself on the pedestal, and fucking. just sits and waits to die.

And then some stuff happens and we get back to astro fighting a flying space lion made of snow.

~

Thank you for the ask! This was really fun~ I know I tend to ramble a lot lol, but I hope this gave you some insight into what sort of stuff I like!

[ninja-go-to-therapy]

Can I ask what’s so wrong about Della Duck? Because I had a Della Duck blog follow me when I first made mine, and now I kinda wanna know why yours is a hate page 😂

Oh my god. There are so many reasons I dislike her.

First off, she knowingly did something really, really bad, days before her children were expected to be born. Considering they’re ducks, they were eggs, and she wasn’t actively pregnant, but she still endangered her own life like that.

The bad thing in question was stealing a rocket ship, going into space alone, and abandoning her unborn children. Her claim is that she wanted to “give them the stars”. (The subtext, if you pay attention to the backstory episode, is that she didn’t want children at all)

So anyway, she got lost in space and her children grew up without her. I’m not faulting her for getting lost or anything, I’m just faulting her for making such a horrible decision and being that selfish.

And that’s not even my main qualm with her.

When she does get back, it just so happens that Donald Duck, who raised the kids, is away.

With him gone for the month, someone needs to take care of the kids. But she immediately tries to insert herself into their lives specifically in the role of “mom”. And she does it horribly.

Within the first day, she directly causes her kids to get sick and injured (and traumatized, because she told them an R rated bedtime story!)

She also encourages one of her kids to steal a plane with her (and stranding a family member in the middle of nowhere by doing this), and then break into a place designed to be a shelter for the apocalypse, destroying it in the process, endangering her son’s life.. so they can see a cool tree.

Another time, she led her autistic (coded, not canon) son into a meltdown because she didn’t like the way he liked playing his favorite video game.

And here’s the big one.

Her other son (cause she has triplets) did something pretty bad. Like a good parent, she grounded him. A lot of people think that we have a problem with the fact that he got grounded. No! He deserved to be grounded!

The problem is how Della handled it. She took away one of his biggest dreams. She forced him to go to his room, alone, after he went through an incredibly traumatizing experience. His family vanished from existence. He was the only one left. He was scared out of his mind. And she made him go be alone after that?

She handled that entire situation horribly.

And then! When he was grounded! She decided to take the whole family on a fun vacation! Specifically to the one place he ever wanted to go. He’s forced along on trips he hates almost every day, but the one time he desperately wants to go somewhere.. he’s left alone.

An 11 year old boy was left home alone while his whole family went out (on an overnight trip, mind you).

His only babysitter was a robot that was created by a guy who has a reputation for only being able to create very evil things. The robot fired lasers at the boy, btw.

The cherry on top is that Della left a video for Louie to watch! About why he’s a bad person! And! She threatened his place in the family!

She’d barely been back for a few weeks at this point, remember.

He was a kid who made a poor choice of judgment and did a bad thing. He didn’t deserve the emotional abuse that ensued.

On halloween, Della also advocated for legitimately traumatizing children, so.

As someone who was “jokingly” attacked by an adult like that on Halloween once, that made me really upset.

I have a million more reasons, but these are the ones I could think of right now. Della is an awful parent and doesn’t deserve praise. Thank u for coming to my Ted Talk

[yandere-toons]

How about a platonic yandere headcanon of Donald, Huey, Dewey and Louie. Let's say that reader would be her little sister (which would make them quadruplets) and niece, and they are super protective of her.

Yandere Donald, Huey, Dewey & Louie Duck (Platonic Headcanons)

Warnings: psychological manipulation, implied violence, toxic mindsets.

A.N. - Donald is typically someone whom the triplets have to hide their behaviour from, so his added assistance brings a whole new level of intractable power to the table.

I found "nibling" to be the most popular gender-neutral term for nieces and nephews and will be using that from now on.

Donald put a stop to their chances of adventuring before they ever received an offer. If it was not for Dewey's habit of sneaking his youngest sibling into the world in hopes of becoming their favourite, they would never leave the houseboat. Louie often assists via distracting Donald or Huey to spite the latter, having been promised a day of his sibling's undivided attention should he succeed.

Huey catches wind of the scheme before long and has a meltdown. Donald tries and fails to prevent him from taking to the streets and rampaging through Duckburg, only to do so himself the moment he sees a stranger speaking to his nibling.

The most common rendezvous with Dewey occurs inside Funso's Fun Zone, wherein he attempts to hide behind his sibling before begging for clemency. Huey is the main threat in this scenario, as Donald is more concerned with ensuring their health and attacking anyone who he suspects of harming them.

Louie expects payment for delaying the assault, but Dewey is uncooperative. Huey tries to ban his brothers from being in his youngest sibling's presence, prompting Donald to step in and separate them all for a while. It is a welcome vacation, albeit one that drives the ducklings to their last nerve and heightens their future clinginess.

Dewey becomes miserable in his sibling's absence and pleads with his uncle to show mercy, Huey is irritable and spends his days obsessing over every bad circumstance that may befall them, and Louie pours his soul into bending the rules and utilizing all sorts of back-alley methods to visit them.

No one plays the adolescent authoritarian role better than Huey, who, as an older brother, is positively excruciating. His regulations extend to them not being allowed to eat unless he inspects and approves of the food, unable to fall asleep any earlier or later than a designated bedtime, and powerless to leave the house without his supervision.

Friends, other than their self-proclaimed best friend Dewey, are subject to impossibly high standards and extensive criticism when they inevitably fail to meet them. These perceived charlatans are subsequently plucked from his youngest sibling's life and disappeared via a combination of not so righteous fury and McDuck ingenuity.

Dewey is their best friend. He accepts no other narrative and often claims it was destined to be from the moment they were born. Anyone who threatens to dismantle this delusion, whether through earning the title themselves or presenting evidence to the contrary, is declared an immediate danger in need of extermination.

The rambunctious duckling never gives his youngest sibling a moment of privacy, perpetually chattering at their side about his latest adventure and monopolizing every second of their day until Huey and Louie complain and persuade Donald to drag him away.

While his brothers dominate their life with oppressive restrictions and endless tales of boasting, Louie is left feeling cheated. He gets the least amount of time with his youngest sibling, and it vexes him quite a bit. To compensate for this apparent inequity, he strives to form a special type of bond with them that his brothers do not share. This schemer becomes their confidant, encouraging them to share any secrets or repressed grievances with him.

Every time they complain about Huey or Dewey, it is a massive ego boost. If they mention a bully or express an interest in obtaining something, Louie will see gold. He wants his youngest sibling to admire him, and this is a prime opportunity to showcase his influence and prestige. Make a few calls, pick a few locks, remove a pest, and drop a present in their lap. Engaging in illicit trades is a small price to pay for their gratitude.

[mai-fanblog]

Ducktales Antagonists

Hello everyone, here I bring you the antagonists of the three seasons of Ducktales. 

Since the show ended, I want to highlight the three antagonists of the show of the three seasons: Magica De Spell, Lunaris and Bradford Buzzard.

The following points will be rated:

Who are they? 

Their purpose and relationship to the season? 

Threat to the characters 

Personality

Process of your plan

Impact on the season and history

First point 

To quickly summarize the three characters, I would describe them as follows:

Magica De Spell: The most powerful sorceress and the most evil member of the De Spell, who wields dark magic (shadows); who was created in 1961 by Carl Barks in the comic book "The Midas Touch";  in the reboot she lost her brother to her and Scrooge, massacred an entire town causing the birth of Phantom Blot, was locked in her enemy's first dime for 15 years, psychologically abused Lena, generated chaos with the shadows, was temporarily without powers after she recovered them for Webby and Lena and transformed Bradford into a common animal.

Lunaris: He was the leader of the moonlanders, his first appearance was in 2019; he lied to all his people and Della, he wanted to conquer the earth, because... superior (even that sounds ridiculous); he invaded the earth, was defeated by 4 characters (by a millionaire idiot, a mutant krill, a lucky deux ex machina and his lieutenant) and was left orbiting the earth (And possibly he died).

Bradford Buzzard: The C.E.O. of F.O.W.L in the DT17 version; his first appearance was in the episode pilot, he was a discreet character until his moment came in the end of season 2; he was the grandson of a famous adventurer, he worked for S.H.U.S.H, he had ideals of keeping the world safe with strong methods, he had a justification about adventures and negative consequences, he allied with Black Heron to accomplish his goals, he was using Scrooge discreetly until the middle of season 3 he was discovered, he put Scrooge and his allies in check, he was defeated and transformed into a common animal.

When summarizing the three, the difference in actions is very noticeable; Lunaris is the weakest in terms of description, Bradford has a definite backstory and Magica is better known for her appearances in the original series and the comics.

The point goes to Magica, for being the most known and generating more intrigue; I'll give a half point to Bradford for his backstory (which they made a little effort). 

Magica: 1  Lunaris: 0  Bradford: 0.5

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Second point: objective and relationship with the season

In the first season, Magica's mission was to obtain McDuck's No. 1 dime in order to get out of the object that was locked up and take revenge on him; for this she used her "niece", Lena. The relationship in this objective of hers, was related to the search of Dewey and the theme of his mother, since both are looking for something related to Scrooge and the negative impact on the life of the two ducks;  besides that they are very focused on themselves and don't care about the rest more than main goal. This gives a good parallelism and the different conclusions that both came to. Magica's story will be deepened in the penultimate episode of the series.

In the second season, Lunaris wants to conquer the earth to be superior and to be feared. The objective of him and Louie are very different and has no direct relation on the theme of the family, Lunaris only wants to destroy the main family because if, that is, it has no basis; his motive is very absurd because it has nothing to do with the actions of Scrooge, so it is ridiculous that he wants to kill his family, it is more for simplistic drama than something substantial. In terms of situations it may be there, however, they executed it half-heartedly and it doesn't manage to be memorable as the previous case.

In the last season, Bradford is revealed as the head of F.O.W.L and wants to acquire control of the world to keep it safe from the dangerous adventures it affects economically and physically. His and Huey's goal have some similarity, in the sense of how they handle adventure and different points of view; they both want to have treasure, only Huey wants to search it to leave it intact and Bradford wants to confiscate it for "safer" uses. While their goals were different, they managed to get to the same point where they meet.

Bradford's motivation is reasonable and he has a certain reason, Scrooge's adventures, his influence as an adventurer, brought bad times to those close to him and swallowed several huge expenses; his idea gives for a lot of analysis. In this section, I will give the point to Bradford for being the most interesting and fresh to the franchise, I will also give half a point to Magica because it was the initial hook in general intrigue.

Magica: 1.5  Lunaris: 0 Bradford: 1.5

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Third point: Threat to the characters

Here if the threats are of massive scales, it's complicated which one to choose; it all depends on how the season is handled. 

I'd give a point and a half to all three, because if they had a powerhouse, even Lunaris, walking around that his army are idiots (except Penny), at the last minute he got the urge to be threatening all by himself, that's an accomplishment. 

Magica: 2  Lunaris: 0.5  Bradford: 2

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Fourth point: Personality

Villains must always have striking qualities to be memorable, at Disney in the classic and golden era, they have made iconic villains. In the show, they tried to do the same, but with some becoming fondly remembered and others detested.

Magica easily steals the show every time she appears, I know she is more cruel than her original version, but she also highlights her moments of evil, brazen and sarcastic that she manages to be; an addition that strengthens her personality was the loss of Poe, which shows that she did love someone and justifies her hatred against Scrooge.

Bradford is very strict, equally I highlight those moments with Heron which shows more of his personality clashing with a more impulsive one. 

Lunaris is manipulative, however, he is very bland in terms of personality traits.

I give the point to Magica, as it is more charismatic and entertaining to watch, I know that many do not like them for mistreating Lena, equally that what makes it more remarkable. 

Magica: 3  Lunaris: 0.5  Bradford: 2

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Fifth Point: Process of the plan

The plans of the three are carried out in very different ways and failed.

Magica takes a long time to get her plan started, using Lena as a puppet was good, even when she was revealing herself, she blackmailed her to go along with her plan, that was good.

Although I hate Lunaris with all my heart, I do recognize that his lie was well thought out and the strategy of the fake ship at the beginning was good. However, he was defeated in the most absurd way by Flintheart, demonstrating that he isn't as smart as he claimed.

Bradford was more calculating than Lunaris, keeping his identity from being revealed, although he was later found out in the most convenient way by half, I still applaud him for taking several steps forward than Scrooge.

The point I will give to Bradford, for the possibilities he had at hand to complete his plan, I will also give half a point to both equally. 

Magica: 3.5  Lunaris: 1  Bradford: 3

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Last Point: Impact on the season and history

Here if I discard Lunaris, although he has made an invasion, he had no relevance in almost any character, except one; it is only mentioned, but as if it was an anecdote.

The Bradford case, with all its plot twists, can be shocking to some because of the confusing and far-fetched nature of what happened at the end of the series. Although it was discreet in the two seasons, it gave hints of something bigger that in the end happened.

As for Magica, if the consequences are few, they were important, the development of Lena, the introduction of Violet, Glomgold's past and Blot's revenge. Although she temporarily lost her powers, she did manage to achieve certain consequent actions, especially in Lena.

The last point is for Magica. I could give Bradford half a point, but with the whole clone thing, which confused a lot of people, I didn't give it to her.

Magica: 4.5  Lunaris: 1  Bradford: 3

So with a lot of difference with one and little with the other. Magica De Spell is the best antagonist in DT17. 

 (Likewise kudos to Bradford for putting up a good fight, though he lacked a bit more. And... fuck Lunaris, no one will miss you.) 

That was all, Chao

[cosmcther]

[ abatina, belladonna and iris :) ]

     this ask was in my drafts for a long time and now that im actually back on this blog, im gonna use it as an excuse to wax poetically and dramatically at 6 am. cheers, see you under the cut.

abatina :   is there anything in life your muse has changed their mind about over time   (  due to becoming more educated on the topic ,   certain experiences  ,   etc . ) ,  or that they   would   change their mind about under certain circumstances ?

     As a being who’s been alive for quite some time now, I would most certainly hope that some views and ideals that have changed during the centuries she’s been around for. 

     But... frankly, it’s only recently that some deep-seated concepts had started to be questioned by the cosmic mother. The Great Qbby Debacle of 2020 is the main change she’s undergone, realizing that she had an immense bias for those she herself deemed as special and important instead of the universe at large. She claimed to be the protector of everything under the stars, yet she greatly played favorites. Such was exposed when taking Qbby’s seeming mundanity into view. 

     Basically, it was your typical god complex. Her time was too important to expend on the little people, she would internally claim. It stemmed from the fact that her time was indeed being cherrypicked by the Star Spirits who actively told her to behave this way when she was first growing up into the protector she was quickly becoming. She never meant to be so harmful and ignorant to the plights of the lesser folk, she supposed, but it was simply instilled into her. Yet the blame was not all on the Star Spirits. 

     For a woman so insightful, never did she take the time to see past her so-called wisdom and see that it sometimes did more harm than it did good. Never did she take the time to consider that she was wrong. Thankfully, these misgivings her brought to her attention, allowing her to reckon with this poor mindset and better align herself with the masses. With her head so far in the stars, she forgot about those below them.

     Another instance was her misunderstanding of creatures like Nightmare or even Yuck themself. Beings forged with one purpose and one purpose only. Nightmare was the malicious embodiment of his namesake, what else could he do besides be a horrid person to the core? There was no chance to save him, it was physically impossible for him to harbor the desire to change, for his way of creation made it so he lacked it completely. Surely that was the truth, right? A being made of nightmares must be doomed to be nothing but a waking nightmare, correct?

     And if it wasn’t for the utterly shocking nature of Nightmare that showed her that he in fact was changing for some... twisted sense of better, she surely would’ve seen the same in Yuck if she ever found out about the nature of their creation. As for Nightmare, through interactions with Olimar, Louie, Jae, Gwen, and more beyond, it was shown that he was strangely dependent on his relationships with these people, emitting genuine signs of despair in his perception of their ‘betrayal’ after they deemed him too dangerous to be around. She knew Nightmare before and after his interactions with these people, and it was clear to her that... something had changed. Something he once lacked was now a part of his being. Never was she capable of pinning it down, but it was apparent that he had grown. He had changed. For better or for worse.

     Still he was a vile creature that wouldn’t succumb to good-natured change, but the fact that he could even show these traits was... beyond fascinating to Rosalina. It changed her view of ‘embodiments’ almost instantaneously. 

belladonna :   how does your muse respond to silence ?  do they take comfort in soundlessness ,   or seek to fill the void with noise ?

     Her acceptance of silence varies extremely. She’s no stranger to the delight of peace and quiet; with an observatory filled to the brim with little star children, you’ll be thanking the stars themselves for even a minute of tranquility. So if it’s silence from external noise, it’ll be taken happily. Settle down with a book, grab a nice cup of tea, and have a little Rosalina time~.

     But she, too, is no stranger to a roiling mind that gives no time for enjoying peace and quiet. A train of thought that runs wildly off of rails when touching down in the flat, untouched plains of silence. There are times where she’ll beg to fill the void with any noise at all, she’s lived lifetimes and has the memories of them all. It’s easy for a mind to try and look back on the day and accidentally stumble into a pile of horrid memories she’s long-since dragged to the back of her mind, damning the names and faces, the planets and traces of people she couldn’t save to a lockbox labeled ‘do not touch’.

     If her state of mind is capable of being salvaged, she may recenter herself with one of the countless music boxes she keeps underneath the floor of her bedroom. Or perhaps make up a tune on her acoustic guitar and adlib some lyrics to go along with it. 

     Sometimes, when proper activities are too much to handle and she simply needs to keep herself from dissociating, a technique she’ll use is focusing on the sounds and textiles she owns and creates. Fingers will pinch and rub the laced patterns that make up the sleeves of her flowing dress, mind instead filling with the mental image of said patterns to focus on that. She may take off her crown and trace a finger across its decorated metal as though she were reading braille. 

     Or body will cut its magical levitation short and instead walk upon the ground, listening to the clicking of her heels. She’ll preform a small sashaying dance so that heels then scrape and drag across the floor in a rhythmic pattern for the mind to follow. If things are particularly bad and these things fail to center her, a trip to the Comet Observatory’s Fountain Dome is where she’ll next find herself. It’s a room made for meditation, which means there are many sounds and sensations for the body and mind to connect with. The cool, trickling stream of water that circles the center platform. Unseen critters chirp and buzz, and mind may fill with piecing together what animal belongs to what noise.

     And... if her state of mind deems that she is not worth saving, the sickly mesh of silence will overcome her completely and place her on the very edge of the Comet Observatory, legs dangling limp overtop its side. There will she sit, stiller than the depths of space. Mind tearing her insides apart, punishing her for the sins she’s committed. For she deserves this. She knows she does.

iris :   if your muse could convey one last message to someone they have lost or left behind ,   what would it be ?

     Oh, what is there to say in the face of true abandonment. There are a million things that she would like to say: I never meant for things to end this way. I’ll fix this, I swear it. I’ll return, I promise you. I love you, please believe me. 

     But these tear-soaked phrases can’t change what she’s done, she knows that most of all. To the masses she’s abandoned in favor of the many others she had to aid first, to the people she called friends and families she’s seen once and never again. To the innocents who believed in her rose-tinted words and waited for her return... To those she simply deemed as not worth it. 

     The only thing she can say is “I’m sorry,”. Excuses rest where bone marrow should be, but if she is to speak to them all one last time, not one more falsified promise is to pass her lips. 

[riverdale-retread]

Riverdale S3 E21 (Spoilers!)

-  Help me Jughead Jones, You’re my only hope. I mean, honestly, this is me, about this show and this writing project.  So this makes me = Ethel.  Great.  The rewatch has changed a lot of things:  I hate Betty and this makes me very unhappy, because I want to love Betty and at one point I did.  I want to give Veronica a copy of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis to be like, This is how much a bad boyfriend can fuck up your whole life girl, so get a grip.  Archie is just a scary white man who wants to hurt people.

Jughead Jones Investigates, Solves, and Is Kind

- Jughead and Curdle Jr.: Jughead is asking the coroner how Hal Cooper could’ve faked his own death and he’s the one asking questions, with Sheriff FP off to the side.  It’s truly amazing how Jughead looks to his dad like, “This is important to the case!” in reaction to what Curdle says, and FP just wants to vomit and cry and get out of there asap.  

- Jughead is so irritated every time he needs to talk to Doctor Curdle Junior and I wish he was nicer about it.    Because Curdle Jr loves talking to Jughead. I can see him happy-creepy humming to himself as he got ready to make a presentation to the only person who ever listens to him carefully in his whole life. He got the hand out of the fridge, laid it just so on the table, covered it with a perfectly ironed sheet, then does a dramatic reveal, folding down the sheet into a neat triangle with the most precise hands.   And I just realized that Dr Curdle Junior is really very tall, like Sweet Pea level of tall, at least two heads bigger than Jughead.

- Jughead and Louie:  Jughead gets information that it was Ricky acting as messenger for Gargoyle King/ Black Hood (he thinks, but it’s actually Ethel) on prom night, gives Louie $20 and then steals his apple.  Jughead Jones eats fruit?  Also Jughead tosses it nonchalantly as he saunters off.

- Jughead and Jellybean talk about Ricky.  Jellybean has the most adorable braids, which start from up behind her ears.  She’s a kid who can fix cars so maybe she did it herself, but actually I think Glady used to do JB’s hair and now Jughead does them.  Prove me wrong but until you do, Ambidextrous Jughead is the one  braiding his sister’s hair.

- Jughead runs through Fox Forest looking for Ricky looking like Peter Pan That Fucks and I love it. He’s so lanky and he’s established as being a really fast runner when needs be (why was he not on the long distance running team?)

- Jughead has the highest EQ of anyone in the main four (Highest IQ I think still belongs to Veronica) because when he finds Ricky about to drink the poison he treats him gently, with empathy and pity and kindness, using the same supersoft tone of voice he uses with Jellybean.

- ETHEL IS HERE. I’m sad she only claims ‘Princess’ for herself and not Queen.

-  So Jughead has been chased through the woods by insane boys who would’ve stabbed him to death for fun, and it’s all because of Ethel, and Ethel put Betty in danger.  So he does a human thing of almost losing his temper, almost getting his Serpent King shout on, and looks that feral mean way that he did when he was threatening Joaquin.  Then Ethel, sad sack & never-been-kissed Ethel, weeps and says she “loves” the “beautiful” G-King and Jughead’s innate abnormal capacity for forgiveness kicks right in.  

Jughead understands loving people who hurt him (because everyone that he loves hurts him - FP, Gladys, and of course, later, Barchie). 

- Ethel and Jughead get lured (?) to the junkyard, to the Gargoyle bus, find the missing kid, and then have a scary encounter with the Black Hood.  In a review of Casablanca someone said that the reason everyone thought that Humphrey Bogart was so hot in that movie was because Ingrid Bergman melted every time she looked at him.  Hal Cooper is not scary, and because I know that’s Hal in there, the Black Hood is not scary, but in this bus scene, watching Ethel and Jughead both become so overwhelmed with terror they close their eyes and stop breathing was extremely affecting and I was scared of Hal Cooper for the first time, because they were so scared.

- Jughead understands how touch-starved Ethel is as well.  He gives her a comforting hand on her shoulder, and then accepts her rather terrifying lunging hug.  She has weird sexual predator tendencies, so he could’ve made a no thank you rejection very clear when she starts to tell him, “You deserve a reward for your bravery” but instead he just looks at her with eyes full of sympathy.  I think Jughead was won over by Ethel’s genuine concern for all those little filthy savage kids, her being aware of their ages, and her wondering where they are now that they’ve been brought in from the woods and so on.

- The show is so mean to Ethel.  Her brooch is a white elephant = a possession that is useless or troublesome, especially one that is expensive to maintain or difficult to dispose of (Oxford Dictionary). You could’ve and should’ve done more things with Ethel, Show, and I am not amused by this visual pun.

- Jughead digs up Jason’s grave and the coffin is empty and because I know that poor semi-embalmed not-quite mummy Jason is going to be hauled around the house in S4 it was inadvertently funny.

Veronica Defeats Hiram with Reggie & Mary Andrews’s Help and Then Abuses Reggie (again)

- Veronica fully trusted that her dad really handed over the deeds and never got a second opinion from Attorney McCoy to ensure that things were on the up and up.  Hiram is not wrong to smirk at her, that this is a lesson learned. Get your own lawyer, always. 

- FBI Agent Adelia is brought in by Mary. They’re girlfriends or ex girlfriends, right?  Also the FBI is just a pile of poopyheads because they can’t make anything stick, but at the end of this episode apparently they at least shoved Hiram in jail. 

- Hiram’s plan to buy the town of Riverdale is finally revealed to Veronica. OK so, his habit of buying towns and decimating them was something Jughead found out early in this season, but I guess he didn’t have time to write an expose or anything about this, or tell Veronica.  How much could have been achieved if Jughead and Veronica had worked together as a team?  He’s an investigator and she’s a person who makes things happen.  Instead, Veronica (because doormat  and therefore is trying to make him a Protagonist again) brings in Archie, and everything involving Archie has to be dumbed down to inflicting grievous bodily harm through violence.

- Hiram v Archie Boxing Match.  Hiram cheats, and Archie loses his temper and they take gloves off, and then Archie gets overpowered and almost murdered. So Archie and Hiram are not that different.  This is a very ugly, brutal fight, and none of the grace and athleticism of Archie’s other action sequences is involved in this one.   Mary Andrews, the most ineffectual mother of all time, asks her son Are you ok? when she’s witnessed this entire fight, where he probably would have died.

- REGGIE IS HERE. Veronica recruits Reggie as ‘the best con man’ for a job.  Not, you know, my most loyal friend, the only boy I’ve ever known who actually helped me in a project that was important to me, the only boy I’ve kissed who actually sacrificed something for me.  Because Veggie is an abusive relationship, in essence.  Reggie is hopeful - he uses words like ‘mixing business with pleasure’ and ‘how can I resist’?   At the Speakeasy, later, when thanked by Veronica (so, you know, V at least has better manners than B), Reggie is a gentleman and only asks in return, “How are you holding up?”  Oh the Big Bruiser  Ride or Die of my Dreams, Reggie Mantle.   Reggie is not a petty bitch at all  and he still has affection for Archie because he treats it as an emergency that Hiram may kill Archie.  And the he gets fucking cockblocked by Archie!  

We don’t even get the scene (the one that Sweet Pea at least got with Josie) where Reggie gets to say “I want to be with you no matter what” in such a way that Veronica replies “I want to be with you too” and they got nice music to go with their two pretty faces looking at each other.  Show, you robbed me.  Archie asks IF THAT’S TRUE while Reggie is standing right there.  Low blow, you red-headed mofo.  Reggie is a bully but he wasn’t ever a rapist.  What do mean, Is that true?  But before I had enough time to get properly worked up about that, Veronica says “That is what I said” because Veggie is an abusive relationship to Reggie. Goddamn it.  And then she invites Archie to stay and Archie I think does the only truly intelligent thing I’ve ever seen him do and leaves.  Veronica, what.

 - Veronica gets to say I WON to Hiram so yay, I guess. Hooray for you. 

- By the way -  Veronica finally calls FP “Sheriff Jones!!”  This is the first time anyone has ever done that and she does it to look right in front of the captive audience of her guests and she’s talking to the FBI.

Betty Fails At Everything At The Farm

- Alice is off her rocker completely.  So, assuming the whole bit with the serial killer gene is true, this is what she is saying happened:  

Betty fell off the bike which lead to a concussion (was she not wearing a helmet?) --> they did a full DNA work up on a concussed 8 year old (for shits and giggles, and also because this is super affordable in Riverdale where Fred was almost completely bankrupted from his gunshot-wound surgery) ---> found a serial killer gene -->  nobody told her about or did anything to help for 10 years -->  but now Alice thinks that her ripped fuckboi guidance counselor at the cult can ‘fix’ a DNA code and heal her daughter’s... DNA.  

- Betty’s response is How.... how... if.... if... before she can start speaking and who says Riverdale doesn’t have realistic dialogue? 

- Edgar is also a crystal bitch.

- POLLY IS HERE. Oh that’s right, Polly knows that Edgar is a sick manipulative bastard and willingly participates in trying to brainwash Betty, which means she’s been doing this for him for other Farmies when they needed a young blonde body.  I hope Polly is fucking dead in S5 and mothmen or the trashbag trucker or whoever fucked her up before she died. (And here we go with Riverdale making me wish violence on women - what is happening to me?)

- Betty actually says to Jughead “I thought the Farm would keep me safe from the Black Hood” like he didn’t just offer all of the Serpents as her personal bodyguards last episode. (But!  Bright point maybe? Does this mean Betty has finally relinquished her unearned position as ‘Serpent Queen’?  Please?)  

- I am gratified to see Jughead scowl irritably with his whole face while on the phone with her, which is something he almost never does when he’s looking at her because, you know, Bughead.  Oh but immediate annoyance:  She speaks as Gryphon Queen to Jughead, calling him Hellcaster, and it’s supposed to be Bughead Fizz, but it’s not, not to me.  It’s just Betty always being like, But I Am Most Important Though. I’m irked that after being so superior about G&G she just does this now that it’s all about her.

- Breakfast at the Farmies. The food and decor of this place looks amazing, like a high end resort, and then realized, oh this is from Betty’s Blossom inheritance!  

- Betty Assaults Kevin.  Betty straight up lifts up Kevin’s shirt with no warning in public.  Disrobes him without consent.  The music goes  Dun Dun and I think it’s supposed to be about the involuntary organ donor scar that he has but actually the dire thing is Betty doing that. I’m calling it - Betty is a homophobe, deep in her heart, and her contempt for Kevin as a person is bottomless.  Kevin has much more restraint than I have, because he has the reflexes to stand up immediately but he doesn’t punch Betty in the face.  Classy Kevin says “Dont Ever Do That Again, Betty” and Betty has absolutely no idea she’s done anything wrong, and then when an appalled Cheryl fully turns her back on her (go Cheryl) Betty looks at Choni so confused, so unknowing, like, Why can’t everyone see that I am right?  Betty’s obtuseness is actually what drives Kevin further into cult insanity.  

-Edgar Evernever missed a calling as a theater director. He is so good at setting this stuff up.

- Betty makes me really want to learn how to pick a lock, though nowadays many door locks are electronic gizmos powered by little computers.  

- Betty fighting back, not crumbling in tears, when she’s in the straps and it’s clear Edgar is going to do something terrible is heart-tearing. Her fighting to the last second, resisting anesthesia by screaming, by threatening Edgar back, her absolute faith that Jughead (and his dad) will come for her, are all so affecting. This is the Betty Cooper I remember loving, the brave valiant girl who never backs down. 

- VERY important tiny Choni subplot:  Cheryl rescues Toni, and I guess you know, Betty comes to get Kevin and Fangs because she assumes she’s forgiven. Cheryl frees Toni and also SHE HAS HAND TO HAND COMBAT SKILLS. Toni hears Cheryl’s heartrending screams but keeps running because that’s the smarter thing to do.

Notes on Fashion

- I like Jughead with all the rings, but I do want some sort of moment where Betty asks him about the rings or, you know, we see him take off the rings or put them back on before or after Bughead ahem-ahems (Oh wait, probably fanfic will do me.  NVM).

- Hermione is yelling at Hiram wearing the most gorgeous black dress with flower prints (Dolce? Valentino??) and Hiram’s tie cannot compete.

[twin-images]

Mild Rage Against 'Mitchells VS the Machines'

As you probably already know, Netflix's The Mitchells VS the Machines has been taking a victory lap amongst critics and viewers alike. Myself, I thought the movie was...OK. I don't think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread like so many journalists on my Google Now page seem to think, but I liked it fine enough.

I only really had 3 real gripes with the movie, and interestingly, all of them revolve around the Mitchells' young son, Aaron.

First, that voice. Gah! He doesn't sound even remotely like a kid. "But Damon", people tell me, "He's voiced by Michael Rianda, the director of the movie. he worked on Gravity Falls!" Great, good for him, but that doesn't make him qualified to voice a child. How about we hire an actual kid to voice the kid, or at least an adult who can properly simulate the voice of a child? What is this trend of young boy characters who sound like 30-year-old dudes? First Dipper Pines, then Huey, Dewey and Louie, now this. It's freaking weird.

Second, there's this Z-plot where it's revealed that Aaron is carrying a torch for the neighbor kid, Zoey. NO. Just no. Bad movie, bad! 'Cause of course we have to tack on some cheesy romantic subplot (or sub-sub-sub-subplot in this case). We did not need this, it added nothing.

The film already dropped hints that the lead character, Katie Mitchell, was LGBTQ+.

Nothing heavy, mind you, just an ambiguous line here, a queer flag pin there; they finally drop the bomb in one of the film's final scenes, where mom Linda asks Katie if her 'friend' Jade (whom she was seen briefly talking to on her laptop) will be coming back with Katie for Thanksgiving, you know, just enough to be edited out for China. That's fine, Katie is clearly old enough for that kind of stuff, but Aaron is what, 8? 9? 10? In a word, gross! I don't ship characters, I especially don't ship kids. Pop culture's obsession with romance is grating enough, but depicting little kids macking on each other is just creepy and weird; cut that mess out. Just let the kids be kids already.

Finally....

HE'S WEARING HIS GODDAMN SHOES ON THE BED! Was this kid raised in the woods? America, this is your wake-up call: ish like this is why the rest of the world thinks we're disgusting pigs. Take your ding-dang shoes off when you come home already!

But I want to end this on a positive; there were other things that I really liked about the movie: among them, the character of Linda Mitchell.

Her very presence left me with a sigh of relief. For once a living mother in a kids' movie! No dead mom for the main characters to angst and feel sad over. Not even the much admired Wolfwalkers can make that claim.

A whole-ass family in an animated kids' movie. What a concept!

[scream-into-the-voiddd]

the writing style of dt17

Hi there I am bored and a bit sick so I have decided to go on a huge rant/ break down about the “writing style” of Ducktales 2017.

the writing on the show is fantastic and is wonderful example of masterful writing, in both character and mystery’s. So after re-watching the show (again) I have put together the basic formula that the seasons have.

first things first, I have to explain the difference between a Plot line and a Story line. now these terms in this context, means that a ‘story line’ can out live a ‘plot line’.let me beak it down.

---------------------------------------

in Season one, 

the Plot line- 

Magica de spell made Lena and she got close to the family to steal scrooges dime and free Magica. 

with me so far, now. 

the Story Line -

is about a family coming back together after years apart.

-----------------------------------------

now even when the ‘plot’ is not around the ‘story’ still continues. So each episode focuses on one or both of these elements.

How do they do that? simple, character focus.

both the ‘plot line’ and the ‘story line’ are embodied by one to two characters (as the focus)

in season one the plot focused character was Lena.

meaning that whenever she showed up in s1 the audience knew that something plot related is going to happen. Lena pushed the s1 plot line forward with every appearance, until the every last episode of s1. 

she was the connection to Magica, she was the one with the ‘plot secret’ and it was reviled with her character. 

simple enough. 

the characters pushing the story line in s1 were

Dewey and Scrooge, 

Dewey in particular was the one pushing the ‘story line’ as he (and webby) was the one most involved with finding out WHY the family had been apart so long (why and how his mother was missing).

so whenever an episode focused on Dewey the audience knew that the ‘story line’ was moving forward. the way Scrooge fits into this is what makes the writing on this show so damn amazing.

the way dt17 uses characters to play off not just each other but the story is what makes it all so impressive.

Scrooge in s1 was ‘holding all the cards’ as it were as he already knew how the whole thing happened BUT when it is revealed and the audience, like Dewey thinks we have all the answers this happens 

Here (4 mins in)

we (the audience) think the story is over the truth that Dewey (we) wanted was reviled but at the last turn, we find out the story is not over, that there in another peace that was missing. why scrooge pushed everyone away in the first place. this showed that the story was not over, and that there was more to it then anyone realised. ok so we know that s1 ends with both the story line and plot line merging and then concluding at the same time. the family came back together to beat De Spell (but they would have come back regardless which is important to the story line) 

ok so that was season one 

Season Two 

has a similar formula in that it also uses characters as focuses points for both plot and story.

The plot line-

 of season 2 is, that the moon is trying to invade earth and made it into a moon.

 the story line-

is about Della finding and reconnecting with her kids.

the focus of this season is a little different though as the plot is not driven by a single person like last time but a location.

the Moon

whenever the moon was given focus it moved the plot along regardless of who it was following. weather is was 

- Della

- Penny 

- Lunarus

-Donald

the location is what made episode plot related not just the characters themselves per say, same as s1 whenever the moon showed up the audience knew it was plot related in some way. 

moving on to the Story line focus of s2  was

Louie and Della

Louie’s arc in s2 (which i will expand later) is basically him finding how he fits into the family and what his ability’s are.

Della’s as stated above is about finding and reconnecting with her boys,

Della is was connects the story line to the plot line this season as she was the character involved in both. the consultation point of both the story and plot is in the scene pictured about.

Here

this sealed the connection between Della and Louie and lead into them all ‘rejoining’ the plot.

thus concluding season 2′s story and plot.

------------------

Now with all of that in mind what does this say about s3 and how it does and does not fit this formula.

so far it does fit this formula as each of the seasons starts with an episode about the “Story Line” which focuses on one of the boy’s

what do I mean,

s1 (for sack of agreement lets say woo-woo and the Atlantis ep are one ep)   

the first ep focused on Dewey and how he wanted to show how daring and bold he is but that gets him into trouble for not thinking anything through, but it also shows that Dewey is emotionally in touch with himself and others like when he tells Donald all he can do is let go and trust him.  

s2 

the frist ep is the game night and how Louie feels like he doesn’t fit in and that he feels useless, but the ep shows what his, ability's really are “seeing all the angles” and how he can use it to befit himself and his family.    

both of these eps shows the boy’s strengths and weakness 

Dewey - 

pro - Brave, adventures, emotionally aware

con- don’t think things through, brash, attention starved

-------------

Louie-

Pro- is a thinker and a planner, smart in a business way, and understands the people around him 

con- insecure about his place in the family, greedy (in a kid way tho), can be manipulative

---------------

now this leads us to s3

the plot of season 3 is simple enough

FOWL wants to steal the world.

that it, how remains to be seem.

the story line is most likely set up in ep one that was about Huey,

and how his greatest weakness are

- having no guide 

- failure

-anger (the duck family anger is strongest in him)

- fear of not knowing what to do/ what is out there

- his self worth is fragile (no woodchucks “no him” idea)

- making bad choices under pressure   

but mostly Accepting Change (he can’t understand)

but his strengths are

- humble (in defeat) 

- willing to try anything

- can admit when wrong 

-smart and capable when claim  

- makes good friends easier then the other main kids (as Boyd and Violet became friends with Huey much faster and both of them are good kids, unlike say Doofus and Louie and Lena (at first) for Webby, point is Huey didn’t have to change them (lena) or get way from them (doofus))  

now how will this tie into the plot?  no idea. but none of the other two seasons tied that in, until at least halfway through the season anyway.

but this does give us a look into the story line of this season might be about.

the next question is who is the other character Huey will be ‘bounce off of’ in the story line, and so far I think that it is either

- Donald

or

- Launchpad

as Lp was give plot focus in ep 3, and Donald was given character focus in both ep 2 and 5.

so atm my money is on Donald in the story line part of this season.

now what is the conflict here? or what could it be?

looking back at the last 2 seasons the story conflict is shown in each focus character.

s1- Dewey asking questions and Scrooge having the answer

s2- Louie trying to “fit into” the family/ find himself  and Della trying to space her her past idea’s into the family 

(ep. “Louie should stop scheming” as appose to “I will show you the scheme with/for the family”)

so if s3 follows suit the story line might be something like.

Donald wants to ‘move on’ with his life but Huey want things to stay as they are.

or

Donald wants to have a life outside of his family which he has not been able to do for 10 years or so, due to raising the boys by himself. but now that Della and Scrooge are back in the picture Donald can spread his wings. He got the band back together and is finding love (Daisy) so he may want to leave the house boat and travel with his friends and Daisy, without the family (not all at once tho).

so Huey might freak out at these changes as Donald is the one contain in his life. never changing always the same uncle Donald, until now 

but i can’t say for sure that’s just one idea.

it could be that Huey might feel that he failed Donald somehow?

or 

that Huey makes a bad choice under pressure and that makes Donald upset at him?

or 

Huey could have an out burst at Donald that leads to a riff between them?

the point is, that the story line this season is going to be looking at Huey in away we have not seen him before. 

Angry and unsure.

and depending on who “Huey’s nemesis” turns out to be (as hinted at by show runners) that is what will shape the rest of the season 3 ‘story line’.

is it a FOWL villain 

like say Gandra or Funzo  

or is it a personal one like

Daisy (for “taking” Donald away), Gosalyn (as she was meant to be in the first ep and not violet) or even Donald (idk)

but this show is just so well put together and written that whatever the case is its going to be good.