#me in season one and half of two: haha little alien show

[kinnsporsche]

been thinking about torchwood so much lately and every time i do it’s just

[facelessfrey]

Roswell New Mexico - Season 4, Episode 11

Okay...aside from OH MY GOD ALEX IS BACK AND HAD ACTUAL SCREEN TIME WITH MICHAEL AND IT WASN’T JUST THE LAST TWO MINUTES OF THE EPISODE HOORAY!

Three things first:

1. Did we really have to bring Alex back just to have him say “oh yeah by the way I’m totally dying from radiation poisoning”? Hahaha. What the fuck?! I mean, I’m gonna go ahead and assume that Vlamis and Tyler wouldn’t be happy with the Malex ending if Alex literally dies. So I’m going to assume that means he gets healed somehow. Perhaps everyone will finally get that handprint moment they’ve been begging for. But I’m just going to have to go with “he’s definitely not dying” or I’m going to lose my mind. 

2. If they fucking have Dallas marry them in that permanently twilight world with only Bonnie for a witness, I might also lose my mind. I’m sorry, I’m gonna need A) light and B) everyone else in attendance. 

3. Was there an actual explanation of what the Alighting is in Clyde’s ramblings? Because I don’t think there actually was beyond “I’m gonna go home” and like...is that it? Just going back to Oasis? Cause that’s boring. Anticlimactic. I mean, I expect nothing less from this show but still? Why have a fancy word for it if it’s just “point my star map home and walk through a portal”? That doesn’t sound like “THE ALIGHTING” to me. I mean honestly, I need someone to explain the show’s whole alien mythology to me because my god does it not make sense to me AT ALL. This show makes me feel so dumb sometimes and I’m pretty sure it’s just bad storytelling but also....maybe I’m missing something?? So I was rewatching bits of season one because I was having Malex feelings and I ended up watching Noah’s whole scene about “coming from a war torn planet blah blah blah the Alighting and when they come to take us home, I was going to trade you for leverage” and he talked about a stowaway??? So like...why did all these aliens come? They were trying to escape Oasis because of Jones the Dictator? But then Jones stowed away? But like...there were a bunch of his Ophiuchus disciples on that ship too? Noah, Bonnie, Clyde, Tesca etc? So wouldn’t that be more than one stowaway?? And then what were Nora, Louise and Theo actually trying to do? Were they trying to go home? Or were they just trying to save their kids and take Max from Jones so he couldn’t transfer into him? And Theo was undercover helping Jones but also creating pocket dimensions as decoys???? Like...what the fuck is any of this supposed to be?!?!? HELP! I have so many questions and I don’t feel like any of them have been answered. 

Aside from those three things....

I was very glad to see Alex in half the episode rather than just the last five minutes like I feared. Still annoyed at the “hey I’m dying part” but remember, we’re ignoring that cause he’s gonna be fine okay. But I like that we really are just full on paralleling Motherland and Raylla and Alex is immediately like “we found each other again let’s get married!” Which is very sweet. And you know...no hang ups there in saying yes...just the whole....dying part but anyway...moving on. 

PRESENT DAY, PRESENT TENSE I LOVE YOU!!! ABOUT DAMN TIME! Bless. 

They have incredibly cheesy lines but at least one of them isn’t “you’re my turquoise” because I swear if I have to hear Max say that one more time to Liz I’m going to lose it. Haha. 

I have to thank Bonnie at least for letting Malex have some alone time while she and Dallas went on their little fruitless errand. I may not really care about her arc but at least she gave us that. 

There were references in this episode but I don’t think there were any Harry Potter ones? Maybe I rage blocked it out immediately but I don’t think there were?!?

I continue to adore the Kybel awkwardness and also the fact that Rosa and Max totally know. I desperately wish they had just let Isobel date Anatsa all last season and started fresh with the Kybel slowburn this season so we could have had more time with this but alas. It is what it is. They’re super cute and I can’t wait till they make it official. 

I was very glad to see so many Kyle and Rosa scenes in this episode because despite Kyle finding out she was his sister in season one, I feel like their sibling scenes have been pretty nonexistent so yay for those. Especially him telling her how far she’s come and her being like “yeah so Isobel is totally in love with you too you idiot”. I really wish we had gotten so much more but this was great. 

I still just...don’t care about this Liz plot that, shocker...was solved in an episode. Well...at least the addiction part. There was that preview (that preview that had no Alex in it again ..ugh) where she said her brain is broken so I guess there’s consequences but still...obviously very rushed. 

I feel like Shivani wasn’t totally wrong about Echo because I don’t feel like they’ve really resolved any of their actual issues. But sure...I guess we’ll see. 

I suppose I should be happy that they’re all of a sudden now making an attempt to make Liz’s student relevant to the plot but uhhh...yeah...not so much. It all just feels kind of ridiculous to have that whole GED class plot and trying to be a mentor just so she could be used by Clyde like nine episodes later. 

I suppose I should also be glad that Clyde is trying to make Shivani and her cryo daughter relevant to the plot too but uhh...I’m sorry I still don’t care. Plus, I really can’t believe that Shiri Appleby was used just for that weird mindscape episode but I feel like they’ve just wasted her if she’s not going to suddenly be relevant at the end. But also...do I even care about her actual character beyond that she’s OG Liz? At this point? No. Although still the fact that she’s apparently related to the Valentis and we didn’t even see her when Kyle and Eduardo went to find her for...reasons? to get Alien console pieces? is just kind of also absurd. She was vaguely plot relevant and we didn’t even see her??? So strange. 

Speaking of Eduardo....why were we meant to care at all about him and his estranged daughter if it was literally a twelve second plot point that meant nothing?? Like literally...other than Kybel hooking up, that whole Mexico excursion was thoroughly pointless. 

Anyway....I would like Alex not to die now that we’ve got him back. I would like to actually get to see Sanders in that tux at their wedding outside the pocket dimension. That is coincidentally the only thing I still care about aside from Kybel and Rosa’s happiness. The plot is meaningless but I still would really like someone to explain it to me just cause I want to understand. To be honest, I’m not even sure the showrunners and writers could explain it if pressed. 

[an-emovision]

hi there! im hoping you watched aot and if you did could you do platonic league of villains with a reader who's personality is like hange and armin?(she is more of an extrovert,talkative,very smart,can be manipulative,caring and strong) good day/night!

A/N: Hi hello! thanks for the request! yes i have seen aot, i cant wait for the second half of the 4th season honestly. I did shigaraki, toga, and dabi since those three are most popular haha, Hope you like it! Warning(s): Mentions of blood bc of Toga, cursing ——————•°•✿•°•——————••——————•°•✿•°•—————— 𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓼𝓽 𝓶𝓮𝓮𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾... 𝓣𝓸𝓰𝓪 𝓗𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓴𝓸: ❀-Oh my god... ❀-You're adorable ❀- As soon as you walked into the bar Toga knew she had to be friends with you, and as soon as you said you wanted to be a member? she almost lost it ❀-Hopping out of her seat she ran over to you and took your hands in hers, shaking them violently ❀-"Hi! im Toga! whats your name? oooo whats your quirk???" she never broke eye contact with you as she spoke. ❀-After answering her questions as fast as you could she some how managed to convince Shigaraki -the man who you assumed was in charge- to let her show you around ❀-He huffed seemingly giving her the okay because before you could prosses what was happening she was dragging you off to show you the ropes. 𝓓𝓪𝓫𝓲: ❀-Honest to god couldnt've cared less ❀-He didn't even spare you a glance until Shigaraki told you you could join. ❀- "Dabi, show them around" ❀- "The fuck? why me?" ❀- It was then that he looked up from his drink to see what he was working with. You looked...average. Nothing outwardly special about you. ❀-He stood from his seat and headed for the door at the far side of the room, you assumed it lead to the back. ❀-"well? are you coming or not?" ❀- You let out a small 'oh' and made your way towards him. 𝓢𝓱𝓲𝓰𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓴𝓲: ❀- "Whats your quirk?" Was the first thing out of his mouth as soon as you stated you wanted to join the league ❀-You explained your quirk to him with a polite smile, his head was turned towards you as he was seated at the bar. ❀-You couldnt read his facial expressions with the severed hand covering them but by the end of your explanation he seemed some what satisfied. ❀-"Any special talents?" He asked, an odd question perhaps but you answered any way. ❀- You were good at strategizing and had an impressive amount of scientific knowledge for some one who looks like an average college student. ❀-he simply nodded as he got out of his seat and stuffed his hands into his pants pockets ❀-"Alright, follow me ill show you around" 𝓗𝓸𝔀 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻... 𝓣𝓸𝓰𝓪 𝓗𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓴𝓸: ❀- you often find yourself either shopping with her or letting her play with your hair at home, there's no real in between. ❀- When you do go shopping of course you have to hide your faces a little but shes still determined to make the most of it. ❀-You'll go to various clothing shops with her. ❀-"Look at this coat! isnt it cute?! it'd go great with this skirt dont you think?" ❀-You're not really one for fashion so you mostly let her pick out your outfits and absolutely loves the fact that you let her ❀-"Wait! look at these pants! try these on!" ❀-When you do stay home you'll probably be watching some shitty reality show as the two of you gossip about boys. By this i mean you listening to Toga talk about some kid named Izuku Midoriya, of course you made comments ❀-She showed you a picture "Why does he look like that?" ❀- "What do you mean?! hes adorable!" ❀- "He looks like he's never brushed his hair before bestie..." 𝓓𝓪𝓫𝓲: ❀-Watching movies on the couch probably ❀-watching really bad si-fi movies with really shitty cgi ❀- "Haha that alien kinda looks like you" ❀- "HUH?? fuck off Dabi" ❀-throw something at him please ❀- he can and will make your mom jokes but dont make any back, not unless you want him to ignore you for reminding him of his trauma. ❀- Dont fall asleep while watching your movies, not unless he falls asleep first. he will draw dicks on your forehead. 𝓢𝓱𝓲𝓰𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓴𝓲: ❀-Playing video games for sure ❀-You're like really good at them and super smart but like let him win every once in a while ❀- you cant be rocking his shit all the time. ❀-strategizing how to

destroy the heroes while beating each other up in a game ❀- "And how do you propose we get rid of all might?" ❀- "Easy, snipe him when he's not looking" ❀-"Right like that would work" ❀- "You asked me a question and i answered okay?" ❀- if you do let him win expect him to call you trash ❀-Please throw something at him and whoop his ass for the next three rounds thanks. ——————•°•✿•°•——————••——————•°•✿•°•—————— 𝓕𝓮𝓮𝓵 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓻𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽!

[pepperonitimeline]

There is an interesting emphasis on timelines in Steven Universe

but like. Why?

Hypothesis: Steven Universe is made up of multiple timelines, but shown in an order that makes the events seem linear. read part 2 here!

I'm not the first person to speculate this at all. A lot of this stuff has been pointed out by @dogcopter​ @arrozbrillante​ @stevenutheories and many others on various platforms!

I just gathered the most conspicuous "evidence" into 1 post. If you’re interested in SU theory and analysis you should check out their blogs. :o) This was as short as I could make it..

And a big thank you to @love-takes-work for her podcast summaries!!! 

So, most ostensibly there’s Garnet, who can see multiple futures. In Pool Hopping she begins to call her visions timelines specifically.

Garnet: In this timeline, we do the opposite of that. Hey, you! Have a pizza!

Steven: Hey, Vidalia's house is around here. Let's bring her the last pie.

Garnet: Now, that would be nice. She must be upset that her son was taken into space by those Homeworld Gems. (referring to the events of I Am My Mom)

Steven: You mean Onion? He isn't in space. He's right over there. *points*

Garnet: Sorry, I-I must be thinking of a different timeline.

-

Garnet: My bad. I was sure we were in the pepperoni timeline.

-

Garnet: It's important to keep in mind that all these horrible things did happen to you in alternate timelines. Safety is fun.

In Steven and The Stevens:

Yeah

It was confirmed on the podcast that the Steven we see from that episode on is a different Steven than the one from episodes 1-21. In “The Fantasy of Steven Universe” Sugar explains:

"I think, early on, we knew for sure what we wanted to do was to create episodes that feel self-contained but give you a new piece of information or change the characters fundamentally. So, Steven and the Stevens, is tight but Steven does change fundamentally after having that experience. He's not the same- in THAT case he's LITERALLY not the same character..."

It’s muffled because they're all laughing but right after they say this Matt Burnett goes “He died.” 

Link to the episode

Love-takes-work also has a text summary of the episode

But something I haven't seen discussed very much is the time travel chase scene. Granted it’s very blink-and-you’ll miss it, there are some Stevens who witness the other Steven’s fighting but that don’t end up in the Sea Shrine at the end.

Way back in 2015 @stevenutheories already did the math as to how many alternate timelines may have stemmed from the time shenanigans: 3 to 5. Not counting the original one who is definitively gone. 

Technically quantum mechanics don’t work like that and those Stevens should have been Thanos’d too. I’m not going to pretend I understand physics, that is just what I’ve been told by someone who does. But then again the magic time thingy wasn’t bound by rules of real-life physics in the first place… so ??

Let’s cross-examine SATS’ accompanying KBCW post.

“At any given moment, if you asked me what I was thinking about, the answer would be one of two things: katana swords, or THE POSSIBILITY OF ALTERNATE TIMELINES RUNNING PARALLEL TO OUR OWN!

Proving the existence of these timelines can be pretty tricky, even for a seasoned paranormal investigator such as myself.  An inter-temporal incursion caused by the momentary weakening of the time-space continuum doesn’t really photograph well.  And all the cross dimensional time travelers I know don’t want to go on the record about their experiences.  Frankly, the only thing I can submit as evidence of alternate timelines is the fact that THEY ARE PROBABLY JUST SO COOL AND AWESOME THAT THEY HAVE TO BE REAL.

Think about it!  What about a universe where that asteroid missed Earth and we had DINOSAURS for pets instead of dogs?  Or a universe where someone was like “Hey, zeppelins are way cooler than planes, let’s just do that!”  Or a universe where AN ALTERNATE VERSION OF ME CAN GROW A FULL BEARD?!  What an amazing life that Ronaldo must have… in THIS stupid reality I have a really hard time getting my moustache to connect to the rest of my facial hair and it’s incredibly frustrating.”

KBCW and Ronaldo’s commentary in general are usually half-right. Like the “Polymorphic Sentient Rocks are aliens who want to hollow out the earth… to make it lighter so they can transport it back to their star system” thing.

I can't help but think the "Dinosaurs for pets instead of dogs" is a reference to the live action Super Mario Bros. movie- where the meteor that killed the dinosaurs sent them to a parallel universe instead, causing mammals to go instinct in said universe. (Don’t know about the zeppelins.)

And then, and THEN there’s Keep Beach City Safe, KBCW’s more obscure rival blog run by (most likely) Onion under the pseudonym "The Observer". Apparently he’s planted cameras all over town to record Steven’s adventures. There's also a "Recruiter" and second mystery narrator calling themselves "Marco Díez", it's a whole thing,

Assuming it’s real, here’s one of the posts I think are the most relevant.

“I have been on zero gem hunts over the years, and what i have learned over the years is: always be prepared for anything, and everything. Connie’s already knows that and this her first mission. I, wasn’t so fortunate on my first mission. It was a crisp Autumn morning, - with notes of cinnamon in the air. I was the mountains, the air temperature, humidity and level elevation levels, were perfect.

Then, I noticed the creature, it was charging me. I tried to evade the gem monster, but it just kept on coming, and coming! There was no escape! And then- Wait! I just remembered. I never been on a gem hunt! So where did I get that story from?”

This was posted on August 1st alongside Gem Hunt… and the day after the Greg The Babysitter post, which was deleted earlier this year, right after people started interacting with it again.

Being a Babysitter is hard, especially if your Greg Universe. This guy, in the picture above me. Wait did I just become self aware? Hey, I did! Haha, I always knew I was more to me than just a narrator. Actually this is the first time I thought about, Because I'm self aware baby! Woohoo, yeah! Wait, what was I talking about? Ah yes, Gregory. So this Greg guy,Has to Babysit this cool baby, because he owes her for letting him mooch off her. And Greg, is like totally irresponsible, he some how lets the baby climb a Ferris Wheel. How does that even happen? This dude is so not getting payed. And what's up with his hair!?!

So here it is, another story, told by Greg, about his past self. I wonder how many times I started a paragraph with the word so. And when he was telling this story, we got some clues that could finally tell use when all of this started. We know about the gems and what happened  thousands of years ago, but we don't know about the hems and  what happened thousands of years ago. They wee being very vague about the whole thing. Almost intentionally, well it was obsessively intentional.

?

There are subtle inconsistencies in Beach City's layout. ("The Observer" points this out, too.)

Remember Danny’s? In Bubble Buddies and Joking Victim, there’s a shop named Danny’s Salt Water Taffy.

Then in Watermelon Steven it’s gone.

As for a prop: Chaaaaps used to just be Chips

That’s from Monster Buddies, the episode right after Steven and The Stevens.

It's just as likely someone on the show simply thought the background/chips looked a little too busy or whatever. But re-doing stuff costs a lot of time and money, yknow? Neither of which is the animation industry very generous about. Did you know even props have model sheets?

Of course it could just be another brand of chips. Maybe Utz got involved somehow.

Lastly I want to highlight a quote from a Rebecca Sugar interview regarding SU ending.

“The story is continuing off screen and I do know what happens next, at least in certain timelines, for the characters,” Sugar says. “But I would have to decide how and when I’d want to dig into that, or if it’s best to give them their privacy.”

yeah so like what the fuck

[harveyscape]

IM BORED. my top three farscape eps from each season::::::: looking at these i think season two has the best EPISODE concepts (it was hard choosing faves from that season bc i love so many) but season 4 is my favorite for just,,,,,,, the hecking Yearning + domestication in each episode but i dont particularly favor the episodes themselves 

Season 1:

through the looking glass - i always saw this ep as being the first completely filler ep that really felt like farscape with the crew all working together and having a VERY CUTE little laugh about it at the end. i love the vagueness of it, it’s not annoying or cliche??? and i’m particularly fond of the yellow moya scenes like rygel’s like “shall i disrobe so it will be memorable” is one of my fave lines from him.

a human reaction - mY TRASH. MYYYY TRASH. just one of those farscape eps that are so Abstract in concept, they are just Default Faves for me like Always haha. so many good little j/a crumbs, the kiss in this ep is one of my BIG FAVES, i love everything about that scene and the ones leading up to it. LOVE THE RAIN SCENE. it’s probably the very first time john is like ‘maybe Earth bad’ and,,, ‘maybe space girl Good’ and i love that thruline of the show. this ep stands soooooo far apart from the majority of season 1 for me.

nerve: the hidden memory - “THE RADIANT AERYN SUN.” stark isn’t unbearable in his debut episodes woah! i like him as a sad boy who isnt a plot device! love gilina, love her death (rip), love seeing how far john and aeryn have come since they’d last seen her, love aeryn and crais’s interaction in this episode like YES GIRL SLAY, love whenever aeryn has to juggle with feeling WEAK and having to put her big girl pants on to save her himbo, love any interaction between d’argo and aeryn LOVE THAT.

Season 2:

crackers don't matter - the DIALOGUE in this episode is Insane and i LOVE IT i think there are so many line deliveries in this ep that are so memorable and Iconic they all just live in my mind rent FREE. i wish the commentary for this episode wasn’t about the more practical aspects of it because UUUHUUH i genuinely would love to just Absorb the mindset behind it. GOD TIER FILLER. 

out of their minds - i am such a whore for body swap tropes it’s humiliating. another ep with a lot of iconic line deliveries! i love cb playing as john! love that for her! bb as rygel too is amazing i love all their stupid accent switching SO MUCH. love the skeksis love that they joke about them looking like skeksis because it’s jim henson and they can DO THAT. 

won't get fooled again - any time i think about this ep im like man how Opened Third Eye was it to have john just immediately be like “haha ok this is fake lmao” like it’s so SUBVERSIVE in what it does pretty much right off the bat in introducing the moya crew as “normal” humans. eps like these are just ALWAYS my faves in tv series because of how crazy they can get and this one does and i love it so much for that.

Season 3: 

scratch n' sniff - any time i get the moya crew on a pleasure planet or at a rave im like HELLO. :) I LOVE RAXIL she’s such a funky little freak. describing this ep is so weird its like Oh Yeah The Boob Juice Sucking One. JUST JOHN AND D’ARGO BEING BACHELORS, WHAT BLISS. i wish i got more john + d’argo shenanigans in this show ‘cause they are like such a fave together dynamically mwah mwah mwah. <3 

into the lion's den: wolf in sheep's clothing - its a little crazy how much i Hate the first half of this two-parter which is super PANDERY AND BAD and then the last half is like so Insane and such a good close for the season. EVERYONE’S SO MISERABLE. the scorp shots with the imploding ship and the water UGHGUGHUGH <33333 love aeryn in this love her trying to save the Peacekeepers, love JOHN, love the little scientist nerd who works under Scorp i forget his name WHOOPS he has a nice design. THE CRAIS + TALYN DEATH IS SO GOOD;;;; LOVE THAT FOR THEM;;;;; <3333

 dog with two bones - i think the fact that literally no other tv show has pulled THIS MESS off really speaks to the uniqueness of farscape and its ABILITY TO TELL ROMANCE??? theres so much in this that is just like WOWOWOWOW THIS EP IS SO GOOD. the part where they kill the rogue leviathan and rygel is celebrating on the comms and it transitions to aeryn Going Insane in her prowler over everything that’s happening. FIRE. the dog with two bones analogy UGHGUGHGUGH <333333 I LOVE THE AERYN > EARTH THRULINE WITH JOHN SO MUCH ITS JUST AT ITS PEAK HERE WHICH MAKES IT GREAT BY DEFAULT. the coin scene is SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD THE ENDING SCENE OF THIS EPISODE IS SOOOO GOOOOOD.

Season 4: 

john quixote - MY FAVE EP OF THE SERIES LOL. love the COSTUMING love the POP CULTURE REFERENCES love that its SEASON 4 love that we GET A ZHAAN CRAIS JOOL AND STARK CAMEO. another conceptually abstract episode so of course i love it lol. love the scene in the end with john and zhaan where he’s kinda a sad boy!!!!! actually funny story about this ep the first time i watched this i was in elementary school still, i grew up on this show this is my Nostalgia Baby series, and did not know what the word “porn” was so like for a very concerning amount of time i always assumed “porn” was an Alien Word and not a real word. BECAUSE LIKE, in context you see chiana holding up a Gooey Boy and going “and this? porn!” and that was all i had to go by the end.

crichton kicks - I LOOOOVE SAD JOHN. I LOVE HIM. I love the character beats we get out of a john that CHOSE THE GIRL over his home and instead of GETTING HER he is punished for it, losing his chance at BOTH OUTCOMES like mentioned in “dog with two bones” despite him having chosen One of the options and not both. love the introduction to 1812 whenever john gets a named thing i am like Yes. :~) my boy, my little man. he’s a little crazy and a little sad.

terra firma - the YEARNING in this ep man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this ep waters my CROPS one of my Biggest Fave scenes is when Aeryn and Jack are in her prowler talking about john and he’s like Do You Wish You Were Human and she doesnt answer and im like LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! more of that John Not Vibing With Earth Anymore trope which I LOVE. literally all fics surrounding this episode i will SNORT LIKE CRACK. 

[ordinarytalk]

I just finished the first season of Kid Cosmic and I have opinions I must share with the internet right now!

(Non-spoilery TL;DR – It kind of had some first-season growing pains, but overall it’s good and has potential to get even better)

Okay, so, first of all: It is great, I love Jo, I love Chuck, I love Tuna Sandwich, I can’t wait for the next season. I think they have three seasons planned, but not necessarily three seasons approved, so let’s all hope Netflix gets good enough ratings to renew it! Holy cats, the music? That old-school comic-book rockabilly desert adventure vibe? Love it! This show is like how the perfect road trip feels.

But now I need to criticize some things, because I criticize the things I love, especially if they were really close to being perfect but didn’t quite make it!

Moderately spoilery review below the cut!

First of all, I’m not quite sure if they really nailed down whatever tone they were going for. Like, the theme is supposed to be “story about what the reality of being a hero is vs the fantasy of being a hero,” so it’s supposed to be a little more grounded than the standard superhero story. But, it kept sort of wobbling between that more serious tone and very cartoony goofery. I like both approaches, but not at once! The lack of continuity in tone kept on pulling me out of the story.

Like, they were playing superheroes and fighting fun aliens! But the aliens they were fighting were definitely dying, not just going unconscious and/or leaving like more traditionally kid-oriented shows! But some exploded into glowy video game particles and disappeared when they died, so it didn’t feel real! But others left big, messy corpses, and it wasn’t clear why they didn’t disappear too. But no blood or bones or organs even if they were chopped in half, so it didn’t feel real! And the team were supposed to be in real danger, like Papa G’s clones kept dying in horrible ways, but about half the fights were won with slapstick non-realistic antics. And while Kid was clearly suffering trauma from the death of his parents, and Papa G was a pacifist trying to help him through it, all the death and danger and violence of the fights did not cause anyone any trauma or second thoughts whatsoever, aside from the rare funny throwaway line. 

It kind of felt like they kept on raising the stakes (This is real life! You could get killed! An unstoppable force can destroy everything you love!!) and then immediately lowering them (Let’s all wander into this obvious trap that we say out loud is a trap because it will make Kid cheer up! Haha, the baby killed an alien with her butt! The unstoppable force can be defeated by a speech about helping people!).

I just...want them to commit to a tone. I think they were kind of getting it at the end, or at least they had a little more continuity in the last few episodes, although it was at the cost of some of the humor of the earlier eps. I swear there’s a balance there that they can get to between humor and seriousness, and I hope they can strike that balance in the next season, because I very much want to see more of these characters.

But that brings me to another thing! There’s a pretty sudden shift in direction starting with Episode 6. Suddenly the episodes are all continuous, instead of little monster-of-the-week vignettes. Stakes get raised immediately and stay raised until the end. A lot of the slapstick humor straight-up vanishes. Tuna Sandwich starts talking, which is kind of fun, but he also immediately starts acting fully sentient and sapient and is more like a human-in-a-cat-body than an actual literal cat, which removes a lot of the comedic potential that his earlier scenes had. And Chuck’s whole deal changes immediately.

Like, okay, we all knew Chuck was getting a redemption arc. And we wanted that! We’re glad he got one! But I kind of wish they’d extended Chuck’s heel-face turn a little, or at least spent a little time focused on his feelings about being betrayed by his former leader. Where’s his snark? Where’s his wounded pride? Where’d his personality go? He suddenly became a much more two-dimensional character. I think some of that might be due to his reduced vocabulary – for all we know, he has a lot of feelings (and sass), but he can’t really communicate them now. I really, really, really hope that in the next few seasons he gets a translator back. And like...a wheelchair? Some robot legs? A monster dog he can ride on? Seriously, give the disabled man some assistive devices already! (although the various ways he got around during the rescue mission were some excellent physical comedy)

Also, Chuck got to shoot a gun. Like, an actual, real gun. He shot a real gun, that he stole from the military. Not a space laser, not a jedi sword, not some pew-pew lightning nerf thing. The cartoon alien had a real gun. This is not part of the criticism. That was actively hilarious.

Last thing – Rosa is not four years old. Just...just cast her as a seven-year-old or something. I’m aware Craig McCracken wanted to make a character based off his four-year-old daughter, but if she’s going to talk and reason like an older child, please….please just make her an older child. Four year olds do not act like Rosa. Believing Rosa was four was possibly the hardest thing for me to try to suspend my disbelief on. Craig, you have a four-year-old. You know what they’re like. Seven is still a little kid! Hell, six! Maybe a very mature five-year-old! You could still have your little kid character! But unless you redo a lot of her speech and reasoning, she’s not four.

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

I really don’t get why people keep saying Allura was SO awful or horrible to Keith after learning about his heritage. She just gave him the cold shoulder for an episode or two, and it’s not like they brought this up later in the show as a way for her to hold some other grudge against him. People are just blowing it up as something bigger than it actually was. And like many people have said, her liking or “suddenly” being nice to Lotor wasn’t bc oH he’s Altean (1/2)

Continued anon message: “There were several moments between their first close encounter and him revealing his heritage which prove that trust was developing before then, but I guess people just overlook those (2/2)”

Hi, anon! Thanks for the note! Yeah, haha, this topic of “is Allura racist?” is an interesting one because for me, it boils down to looking at the show’s design decisions and details. And those design decisions came from real human beings who aren’t any more objective than the rest of us. So as a content creator myself (who feels incredibly human and and whose stories and portrayals are also imperfect by virtue of their imperfect creator), I have to recognize that it’s impossible to create a totally woke, unproblematic creative product—and it’s also impossible to ensure that everyone around the world interprets everything in exactly the same way, no matter how well-intentioned the project.

That said, I do think a lot of fans are victims of how this show may have manipulated/gaslit them to feel, not just about Allura but also about other characters and events as well—and that there are benefits to analyzing what went wrong with VLD.

My hope is that, as content creators and fans, maybe we can learn from VLD’s narrative mistakes or even better understand how two fans can have totally opposing interpretations over the same creative work. In the case of VLD, as I’ve mentioned before, the show uses a screwy and imbalanced narrative lens when portraying victims. To add to that, the show design also consistently undermines details foundational to the show universe (such as using an unreliable narrator to express what the show actually accepts as objective fact or history). This is important, because the way in which something is told/shown ultimately manipulates audience emotion for or against something. This gets into how propaganda and subliminal messaging work at a technical level. And when the narrative lens is handled in a biased way that undermines other story elements, audience reaction/interpretation gets messy, no matter what the stated events/facts are in the story. We are attuned to pick up on cognitive dissonances (inconsistent patterns) as part of our human survival instinct.

I’m not convinced that VLD dev team wielded the Power of the Narrative Lens very well—if it had, season 2′s portrayal of the conflict with Keith and Allura would have looked different.

In an s2 with a more balanced narrative lens, we likely would have seen at least flashes of Allura’s memory, showing some s3 backstory of Allura’s fear upon realizing that previously faithful Galran allies were killing multiple civilizations upon an order from their own kind...and coming for Altea next. Or maybe there would have been something/someone else involving Allura’s traumatic experiences so that the audience could have an empathetic, emotionally connective moment with her. We would have, in equal parts, still seen Keith’s plight as the suffering saint trying to figure out what being half-Galra means. And we would have seen the other paladins trying to resolve the conflict and understand how to recalibrate together as a team and a family.

Instead, in provided canon, we see Hunk (of all people, why Hunk?) make racist microaggressions at Keith, further alienating Keith without any recourse. And for Allura, the visual lens shows her making a cold glare at Keith without further explanation. It’s a very alienating moment. In season 2, you feel that coldness from Allura because the show’s visual lens aligns you to Keith’s gaze for several agonizing seconds, and the narrative bias of the animation is to show Keith as the singular victim in this situation. It is a very targeted, lonely, and disquieting moment for Keith. The other paladins and their reactions to Allura and Keith even feed into this. It’s not until s3 that we get an emotional glimpse into the omnicide of an entire solar system—and even then, that history focuses more on the motives of the instigators rather than showing the brutality experienced by victims. By that point, we’ve blown way past the s2 issue, which creates another layer of cognitive dissonance: that the situation doesn’t feel totally...resolved, somehow, even though plot-wise it actually is.

So I think there are indicators that the dev team’s own biases and agendas informed, at times for the worse, the very lens through which we consume the VLD story. I don’t think the dev team was aware what tackling genocide while visually portraying Allura’s trauma as antagonistic and alienating would result in? And I think this oversight gets into why some fans feel a certain way about literally anything in this show, haha. So I feel like we’re all victims of a show with amazing potential and incredibly fascinating elements but just…poor execution. 

One other thing I have to give faith on when I have a disagreement with another show fan—it’s a 78-episode show. How often are people holistically watching and critically reviewing this show in order to catch every little detail? I’m pretty sure I can’t remember all the details either, even though I re-watched the show not that long ago. So there’s a whole other layer here, where fans have a separation from the source content itself. So take those emotional negative “impressions” people developed while watching s2 or any other moment where Allura has been less than the ideal woman (oof, fandom is so forgiving with men but so unforgiving with women), and then suddenly muddy those memories with 2 years of not re-watching the show holistically. Typically, the brain is better at storing negative reactions than positive ones. So if someone had a negative reaction to Allura’s actions with Keith in s2 or elsewhere, without an empathetic moment to balance it out, then that negativity is going to stick, and every detail to the contrary is going to fade out.

I know for me, I’ve really had to fight the memory problem because after over a year, for example, I was building up impressions about VLD history that actually were missing some important details from s3. And that was kind of a shock to me. So I do think selective memory plays a part in adding to a biased dissonance one might feel from the actual story.

Ultimately, this whole unnecessary fandom split on “is Allura racist?” is one reason why I feel that VLD—for all of its good things that I genuinely love so much—had a lot of troubling issues. Despite all the canonical good that Allura ends up doing and how she overcomes trauma to champion genuine peace for all, there’s subliminal messaging against her because of how the visual and narrative spins  or hides things. And that issue has nothing to do with the characters but everything to do with the development team and how the show was written/directed. And that, I think, informs ongoing fandom perceptions of Allura and creates just some really painful and unnecessary messes, to the point of creating an overall inaccurate take like “Allura is racist” when in fact, she’s just traumatized from very real and significant abuses and overcomes that, even.

It really makes me, as a writer, try to look at my own stories and attempt to understand “why” I portray certain things as I do while writing—and if that lens portrayal is really the best one for the effect/message I want. Because the way in which a story is conveyed can really play mind games with the audience, and that might not be the right effect for a story that isn’t another Inception or Crying of Lot 49, lol.

[darkestwolfx]

Deep Search - Re-Review #29

Short-ish one today I’m afraid, but let’s see how much we can get through!

Firstly, meet Buddy and Ellie Pendergast (probably also soon to be series regulars, let’s be honest) who once again have a camera and film their adventures! Hell, it’s like Francios Lemaire all over again... although these two at least have some sense and skill. Oh, and Gordon loves them, so they’re instantly better than Mr F. Lemaire.

“Buddy and Ellie Pendergast are missing? That’s terrible!”

“They do have a flair for the dramatic!”

“Then what are we waiting for? We gotta rescue them!”

“This is no ordinary rescue, Gordon. They’re on Europa. It’s the sixth closest moon to Jupiter.”

“For starters we should take Thunderbird Four. That means you’ll go Gordon.”

“Yes! Maybe I can get their autographs?”

“Oh man! Why does Gordon get all the good missions?”

Um, Alan, I wouldn’t say Gordon necessarily gets all the good missions. I mean, he gets trapped in sea caves, nearly knocked unconscious, nearly breaks his back, nearly gets squished by a plane (thank you @psychoseal for the reminder) gets trapped in an ancient tomb, nearly falls into a pressure high sea trench, goes potentially life-threatening fishing inside a gravity well, nearly gets blown up... let me know if I’ve missed anything there anyone - please feel free, @psychoseal, yes I’m looking at you!

“He won’t be going in alone. Europa isn’t exactly next door. You’ll be in command from Thunderbird Three.”

“Command from? You mean..?”

Uhh... Scott? Are you sure about that? Oh, too late, he’s said it now, watch as the power goes to Alan’s head;

“We’d like you to take the lead on this mission Alan. You’ll be in charge.”

“Don’t worry, Scott! I won’t let you down!”

“Really?”

Although I must admit, I’m still kinda with Gordon on this one.

“Alan’s our best deep space pilot and I want him to get more decision making experience under his belt. You think he can handle it?”

“I’ll keep an eye on him.”

In fairness, that would never have happened in Series 1. Back then it was all, keep Alan at home, and make sure he studies, and don’t let the youngest near the danger unless we must. It does show that the family are seeing his growth and that they are taking it seriously. It’s a nice little thread of development.

Anyhow, it could only ever be these two for this rescue. If it had been anyone else in place of one or either of them, then the episode would be half the length, because we all know Scott and Virgil would have turned around sooner.

And as much as these two love each other and play off each other, it was nice to see them genuinely annoying each other at points. After all, it’s only natural that it would happen, and the two of them have completely opposite specialties: space and water are two very different things.

“Oh, how many of these do you have?”

“Only twelve seasons! They haven’t released the thirteenth yet.”

Yeah... definitely missed the point there, Gordon, top marks, well done.

Oopps... just realised I spent so much time watching the episode that I haven’t written much... oh dear.

Um, basically, it’s ice, they drill beneath it, they find Buddy and Ellie and launch a rescue attempt! Oh, and they only have 10 minutes until their way out freezes back over leaving them trapped and likely to die. Did I forget to mention that bit?

It’s nice to see Thunderbirds Three and Four out on the same mission though.

“Scott put me in charge, it’s my call.”

Yeah, there we go, went straight to his head. Wait for it;

“Of course you could try and talk me out of it!”

“It’s all on you little brother.”

Of course it is, because there is no way Gordon is letting Alan pilot Four.

“We could be the first human beings to see something extraordinary.”

What? You mean beside like the whole International Rescue, special equipment and mass mission set extraordinary that you already see and do every day? I mean, really Gordon, you want more? Hes’s like Oliver.

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life wondering what you’ve missed?”

“Scott would never consider risking our lives for something crazy like this.”

“But you’re not Scott. He put you in charge! This is your decision, Alan.”

Yeah, nicely done there, Gordon. He really is the master of exploitation.

Their faces at the alien life... it looked like fish to me...

Haha, Gordon’s eyes looks red at one point in this episode.

And... the way out is gone... Of course it is. Although that was the shortest three minutes of my life, I will be honest.

“This is all my fault. I shouldn’t have let us get sidetracked!”

“I would have done the same thing, Alan. We all would.”

“Look, if anyone’s to blame, it’s us.”

Oh hoorah! Look, they know how to accept blame as well, unlike a certain other member of the regular rescue club, not naming names. *Lemaire*. Did someone say something? No? Good, let’s go on.

“We just sort of got swept up in the moment.”

“Swept up..? That’s it. Gordon, steer the ship back into the current. The strongest current you can find.”

“I think I know what you’re thinking, and I like it.”

Of course Gordon does. He loves a thrill. Still, nice thinking though on Alan’s part really. He is capable of being in charge, even if he is still young. In fact, this is the sort of experience he needs to be gaining, and I think it’s great that the writers - his brothers have managed to realise that now. It’s a good call, even if it could come with some risks.

I have a feeling this photo is probably in Gordon’s bedroom, and that he probably got a copy signed at some point.

[let-me-make-you-proud]

Tangled: The Series Q&A with Kait.

This is a recapitulation from today’s (September 14, 2019) Questions and Answers session with Kait on the Tangled Discord Server.

Q: Which Disney princesses outside of Tangled the series can you see Varian being friends with? Nonfranchise ones included.

A: I think Belle is the first one who comes to mind!! She’s super studious and goes against the grain…not to mention her father is an inventor who’s a little off-base! 🙂 I think he’d be super comfortable experimenting with Belle and her dad and reading awesome stories! (Maybe even sharing the Tales of Flynn Rider with her! …Assuming she hasn’t read it! Haha. ) He could also eat ham sandwiches with Anna. Sorry. Second thought. Lol!!

Q: So Kait, as a storyboard artist on the show what kind of little details, quirks or creative touches did you or any other artists put into Varian scenes you or others storyboarded?

A: Ha!! Any acting scene with Varian I had…I pretty much based off of Anna Lencioni (my best friend/ another board artist on the show.) Anna makes these very specific expressions and she gestures to herself a lot and closes her eyes and creases her brows and says things like “A-huh! Actually…” or “Um!!” Before making a point and it’s always reminded me of him.

She kept a “flynnolium” prop from Halloween with green goo in a vial in her cubicle at work so long it grew mold. She said she was studying it. She found scrap metal in her boot one day. She has a basement lab for her experiments and crafts. She befriended two raccoons at her last apartment. She is the most accident-prone person with freckles I’ve ever met…she’s pretty much him.

Jeremy Jordan’s reads give you so much to work with…and I love that character so much I feel a natural sort of understanding of how he might say something or do something…but Anna would always do these specifically Anna things that I had to use for Varian.

Q: Do you have any specific advice for aspiring storyboard artists or people who aspire to work in animation?

A: Gestural drawings help you learn to draw fast…which is a very important part of storyboarding. I would say storyboarding‘ s biggest requirements are clarity and speed. Lots of productions have different requirements in terms of what they look for from story artists. Tangled‘s leadership cared a lot about drawing skill, animation, layout, etc. because it more strongly informed the animation studio to have those things. The show I’m working on now (Monsters at Work) is a 3D show…so for our production, the emphasis is more on story and speed. We pitch ideas more than we pitch drawings…so clarity is important and acting is too, but we’re far less precious about tying down drawings and animating since we shift into the 3D production pipeline after story. The boards are still very important…but the more technical aspects are a *little* less so. The focus is just more on story and character and what the board artists can bring to their scenes.

So I’d say just practice drawing…maybe try and give someone a prompt or ask a friend for one. Choose a theme! Maybe vampires? What’s the worst thing that could happen to a vampire? What’s the best thing? What’s the funniest thing? What if they were also an alien? Or fused with a werewolf? Or chained to one? What would happen? Giving yourself a starting point for an idea will inspire you to explore all the possibilities for humor, drama, etc. in that idea. If you’re struggling to give yourself a prompt, try looking online…or maybe choosing a song you like or a passage from a book for inspiration.

There’s also this really fun thing you can do to study cinematography and shot composition called a “three tone” exercise. Basically…put on your favorite (live action) film, grab a sketchbook, grab a black and grey marker, and use the white of the page for your third tone. What you wanna do is (as you’re watching or while pausing) sketch a small thumbnail using only three grey tones of what you see on the screen. Draw the shot- where the characters are, try and duplicate the lighting…it teaches you a lot! 🙂 (Phew!)

Q: Do you have any fun non-spoiler head canons about Varian?

A: I think his favorite dessert is apple pie and I think he bakes recreationally very often! He’s probably a good cook. (Though he may have one or two minor accidents……a burnt thing here and there. Minor oil splatters….haha!!)

Q: What’ve been your favorite episodes, both to storyboard and in general? Of course, no specifics if it’s S3

A: Haha! Well…What The Hair and Queen for A Day have special places in my heart because they were such big moments for my favorite character…(Varian, haha.) But I’d say the episodes I had the most fun boarding are all in season 3!!! Which is exciting! I have to start compiling some work to post! 🙂 I think the episode I had the most fun with is one you guys will really enjoy.

Q: Will we get some interesting surprises (In Season 3)?

A: Without any spoilers- absolutely!! The show is always full of those.

Q: So We’ve heard many fans express why they love Varian as a charcter before, I’d love to know what drew you and Anna to Varian as well and why you guys personally found him to be a great character.

A: When Shane Prigmore originally pitched the character to me, he was much younger. He was like 11 or so, I think? Maybe 12? He’s still pretty young…but what Shane said was that he wanted him to go from this wide-eyed kid to this dark, angry person whose bangs fell over those wide, bright eyes…just full of rage. That idea was super interesting to me…it just hit on something in character development that I felt like I’d never exactly seen before? He was so young and it was such an interesting idea to me to make a child the villain and to give that child a strong reason to be angry? It felt like it was taking this child very seriously, which I appreciate. It felt very real and very dark.

The thing that threw me through a loop but also evolved my fascination with the character was Jeremy Jordan’s casting. I listened to a lot of the auditions they had for various actors and I had seen a ton of Shane’s concept art of the character…a lot of them were VERY different than what we have now. One version Ricky Roxburgh (writer) contributed to had Varian cast as an adult in the story. But when I heard Jeremy I felt like I totally understood who Varian really was.

He was a well-intentioned disaster with unchecked emotions. That. Is me! Haha!! I see myself in his imperfections, his emotionality in spite of his creative and often intellectual thinking. He wants to ascend to these levels he may not be ready to ascend to…he feels this need to prove himself and seek validation. I don’t know, I guess I relate to that! And I’m just a sucker for good guys gone bad. The other half of this, of course, is that he’s very charming and cute and super reminds me of my best friend, Anna Lencioni.

Q: Which character do you most like seeing interacting with Varian?

A: It’s a little spoilery for me to reveal that……..but I think you guys are gonna know when it happens! Haha!

I can’t wait to post THOSE boards

That’s actually right out of the episode I think I liked boarding the most, haha.

Q: If there was one prop (furniture, object, the like) from the Tangled series that could be made real and you could keep, what would it be..?

A: I think it’d have to be those little alchemy orbs that Varian throws? They just suddenly clean the whole castle hallway somehow and like…could use me some of that. He also has the one that removes stains from tablecloths, so. I’m sloppy. That’d be a big help. Haha!

Also his staff is pretty cool 😉, I boarded/created that staff…David Lee (prop designer) did its final design…haha

Q: I have a question about a scene in season 1. When Varian got back the first part of the scroll he mentioned that it took him a while to translate it. Has he really been able to read it or has it been a bluff?

A: Varian can indeed translate what’s on the scroll. 😉

Q: Do you have any networking advice for those trying to get into the animation industry?

A: Post your work!! Make it easily accessible, tag it well, just show what you’ve got online! Upload boards, animatics, drawings, etc. Creating an online presence can really help put your name out there. Apply for internships, jobs. I know it’s hard to network because a lot of industry professionals don’t have time to answer specific questions or give portfolio reviews…so it’s sort of important to take some initiative on that and be self-motivated.

For me, I studied the portfolios of Disney feature story artists, CalArts students, etc. and tried to structure the presentation of my work based on that. Also, it helped me get a sense of what pieces of work would best showcase where I was trying to go and what I was trying to do. I’d ask yourself those questions as you develop a portfolio and artistic voice online! 🙂

My first feature job after a trainee program in New York at Blue Sky happened because Doug Sweetland (Pixar animator, feature director, awesome dude) found my work online and liked it. He just reached out based on that!

Shane Prigmore actually reached out to me for Tangled similarly.

Q: Besides Varian, do you have a favorite character that you’ve boarded?

A: I always love Eugene. He’s the second character I think I’m most like. His acting was really fun to play with and I felt like I could push his expressions a lot because he’s so funny. I loved boarding Lance too (I boarded a lot of Lance in S3!!) but MAN was he hard to draw, haha! His face shape is just really hard to draw at certain angles.

Q: With Varian cosplay that is going on, what Disney character would you like to see Varian dress up as next?

A: Jack Skellington! Halloween is afoot. Jack is another well-intentioned disaster. Guess I have a type!

Q: What’s Varian’s opinion on raccoons, are they his favourite animal?

A: I imagine it’s because Ruddiger is always finding interesting things in the trash and giving them to Varian to use in his experiments. Also, they’re fat and cute.

Q: There’s a bit of an argument going on over how many freckles Varian has. Can you confirm how many he has?

A: Ha!!! Yes…one second… 14!!

Q: How big do you think Corona is? Like Vatican City small or Arendelle big?

A: You know, with the wall and all, it actually feels a little on the smaller side to me? I’m sure there’s a little bit of discrepancy between the movie’s version of Corona and our version…but based on where we went within Corona on the show, I’d say it feels on the smaller side.

Q: Are there any non-spoiler Varian scenes or moments that didn’t make the cut that you can share?

A: MAN. Yes. There is one scene that changed after I rolled off the episode and I’m very sad about it. I’ll post it after the episode airs! There was also a line of Varian’s that I boarded to a specific read from Jeremy Jordan and that read was not chosen in editorial later so…I’ll post that one too, haha!

Q: What is your favourite song from the first two seasons so far?

A: All my favorite songs are in season threeeeee…hahahaha!! I think Let Me Make You Proud or the Buddy Song are my favorites. Buddy Song still gets stuck in my head now and then.

Q: What do you think Varian would order at a drive-thru? Specifically at chipotle 😂

A: Chipotle isn’t a drive thru!! Hahaha He’d get the kid’s quesadilla from chipotle. I think Varian is a fries/chips kind of person…something to snack on while he works! He probably also likes milkshakes.

Q: (Continuation from the question above) Chocolate or vanilla?

A: He’d revolutionize by combining them both. FOR SCIENCE!

Q: What is, in your opinion, the most challenging part of varian’s design to draw?

A: His goggles, hahaha. Or just his…hair in general.

Well it’s funny too because when you board these guys, you get used to doing a shorthand for them and then when you go to draw them FOR REAL you realize how complicated that actually is and how wrong your shorthand actually was? Hahahaha

Q: is Varian ticklish at all?

A: I feel like Varian, Eugene, and Lance are all equally ticklish. To the point of absurdity. Cass would fight it as long as she could…but when it finally got to her, she’d laugh uncontrollably. Rapunzel, she’s the TICKLER.

Q: What do you think Varian opinion and belief on magic is now that he’s seen it with his own eyes?

A: I imagine that he certainly believes in it now and no longer underestimates its powers…but I imagine he’s ultimately more comfortable staying in his own lane and working with worldly properties!

Q: If Varian would have been able to meet Demanitus…how would their conversation had looked like?

A: I feel like Varian would have had a TON of questions about his legendary device and whether or not he truly traveled dimensions.

Q: Did Varian have any other friends in old Corona before he met rapunzel?

A: Probably not many…he’s a bit of a hermit. I think Ruddiger is his best friend……. It’s sad but I also think that’s kind of why it hurt so bad when Rapunzel wasn’t able to help him. Also why he was SO excited to have Rapunzel, Cass, and Eugene come visit.

I think the village looked at Varian as a little unstable or worrisome. I’m sure everyone knew he was very nice…but they were likely very unnerved by his inventions.

Q: Do you think Varian ever tried to synthesise gold or the elixir of life like a real alchemist?

A: I’ve wondered that myself!! I think his alchemy has proven to be more about other people…helping others, making people proud. Maybe if someone he cared about was in need.

Q: If you were to meet Varian in real life, what would you say to him?

A: What elixir did you make to get THAT kind of volume? His hair’s so POOFY! Honestly, I’d probably just give him a hug.

Q: How much does Varian know or remember about his mom?

A: I’d say about as much as the photo of her on the wall.

Q: Is there spoiler about his hair streak? Or is it just by design?

A: It’s totally by design. I think it’s safe to assume it’s probably the result of some lab accident!

Q: In what ways is Jeremy Jordan like Varian?

A: I don’t know Jeremy Jordan personally, haha! But I think a lot of these inflections he adds to Varian sort of off the cuff probably come very naturally to him. I know he often wants to do his own pass at the musical arrangement Alan Menken writes…like he’ll want to do something a little different, in his own way, and it will change the song completely!! In an awesome way. That’s a little Varian-esque. In the “Let Me Make You Proud” reprise…Alan Menken had sung that “they are going to pay…they…will…pay” all in a low, downward tone. Jeremy wanted to scream it and make it powerful and angry and loud when he said “PAY” and you could just hear the spite in his voice for the “they will pay.” Genius!

Q: What was the most shocking moment/revelation of the series to you (minus anything season 3)?

A: It’s hard to say because I knew most of what was going to happen long, long ago. I think one of the things that made me go “oh dang!” was something Tom Canfield boarded. It’s that part in Destinies Collide where Lance slices the entire statue down the middle with a sword. What a BAMF!

Q: What were your thoughts on the early concept of Varian having an apple orchard and being a farm kid instead of a young alchemist?

A: He still kinda has those things! Quirin is a farmer as well as the village leader and there are apples on their little farm estate! 🙂 I think that makes Varian very unassuming as a mad little scientist. I’m sure that’s how (Ruddiger and Varian) met! Remember, he used his purple tacky goo stuff to catch raccoons so they wouldn’t eat the crops! And Ruddiger’s favorite snack is apples. 😉

Q: What is his official height and weight?

A: Smol.

Q: How did you guys come up with Varian’s name? And was there any other name suggestions for him before the name ‘Varian’ was chosen?

A: I’m not sure who came up with that name, actually! I’m sure it has something to do with the meaning of the word “variant” which means something that varies, changes in form.

Q: What’s his last name?

A: His last name!! I have NO idea and it bothers me!!! A Disney magazine referred to Varian, Ruddiger, and Quirin as “The Ruddiger Family” and I still haven’t stopped laughing about that.

Q: What sad Disney movie moments would make him cry?

A: Oof. Lion King.

Q: What musicals do think Varian would enjoy?

A: Little Shop of Horrors! I think he’d see himself in Seymour! Or Wicked…you know, that villain arc.

Q: How did Arianna and Fred meet?

A: I actually don’t know off the top of my head!

Q: Would Varian enjoy rollercoasters?

A: I think he’d enjoy how they’re MADE and then scream his head off while riding one, throw up his cotton candy and corndog, and go play carnival games instead. Then get mad that they’re rigged.

Q: So what comes next for you now that the series is almost over? Any big plans?

A: Well the series wrapped for production a while ago! I’ve been on another show for almost a year now! 🙂 I’m working on the new Disney+ show Monsters at Work as a director! It’s an awesome, awesome show…totally next-level…I’m shocked that I’m getting to be apart of something like this. It’s a direct sequel to the movie that serves as an office comedy (a la The Office, Parks and Rec) and has so many characters that fit immediately into the Monsters Inc world. Monsters Inc is my favorite Pixar movie…so I literally come to work and leave work on the same high! It’s an awesome, awesome show with a great crew! 🙂 It’s also just really exciting to be apart of the first original animated property for D+!

Q: How would you compare working as a director to working as a storyboard artist?

A: It’s hard work, just as hard, but in a different way! For me personally, I’m a little easily fatigued by drawing? I get a little creatively frustrated because my thoughts move quicker than my hand. Or because I don’t always feel like I can execute in a drawing what I’m thinking in the way that I want? Part of that is just being an artist…and it’s not ALL the time that I feel that way…but I think I have a certain stamina for drawing that I found challenging to increase.

Directing is just different! It has a lot more to do with managing a team, communication, coordinating, listening, speaking up, problem-solving, being very aware of story as it applies to ALL parts of a production. I don’t draw as often anymore. You have to consider a lot more…more people, more constraints, more difficulties, more opinions, more solutions…it’s just MORE. And you also still have to draw! 🙂 It’s very busy work, but it’s AMAZING and I love it. I feel like I’m contributing to animated storytelling a lot more in this role, actually. I love working with people, I love workshopping, and I love helping! I’m also just spoiled to be working with some great people right now. It’s a blast.

Q: Are any Tangled: The Series crew joining you on that show?

A: Yes!! Tom Caufield and Wendy Sullivan were on it for a minute, but they’ve both moved on to Dreamworks recently! James Suhr (board artist), Isabelle Gedigk (season 3 board artist), Naomi Hicks and Casey Coffey (revisionists), David Lee (props), Ricky Roxburgh (writer), and I are all working together again! It’s awesome.

Q: Does Varian, deep down, blame himself for the amber?

A: I believe he does.

Q: How do you deal with artist’s block?

A: I try to think about the intention behind what I’m doing. Why is the scene I’m working on very important to the story? If it feels unimportant or boring, how can I make it interesting? What can I do on my end to make it more inspiring or fun without going too far off the rails and still serving the scene’s purpose?

If it’s not work-related, I try and start with some fan art or something familiar for me to draw. I have a lot of scribbly Varians in the margins of a lot of my sketch documents. I use him as a warm-up a lot. It helps build my confidence to draw something familiar/ that I think I can draw pretty well.

Q: What’s the hardest scene you’ve ever had to board?

A: Oh God. ANYTHING with action. I’m not an action gal. Lots of stuff in S3. I was board partners with Wendy Sullivan and ended up getting a lot of action to board even though she’s WAY better at it than me!! It was an interesting challenge…but it was very, very challenging. Ben (Co-EP) was a great mentor to me in the scene I did for the mid season. He was very patient with me, despite my shortcomings as an action board artist, haha. I enjoy boarding for comedy much more.

Kait: Anyways, I should probably head off now! Thank you guys so much for all the questions!!!! You’re awesome! I hope you’re all super excited for S3! It’s a great one.

[captainillogical]

Devil’s Ballroom ch.1

A year after the events from the earth’s final attack, Little Homeworld is finally complete, and there’s a new jazz bar where gems and humans mingle and drink. - As you’re typing back a reply, someone pulls the stool out next to you and takes a seat. You see a sliver of pink out of the corner of your eye as you try not to actually Look. Oh god. It’s her. God can’t help us now.

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants

Beach City was a small, lovely town, where pretty much everyone knew each other from the inner city to the boardwalk. You've lived your whole life there, and you loved it. It was home. It was also a really strange town, and you're pretty sure the world almost ended like six times in the last 4 years. Although honestly, you never had to worry about that much, since Beach City was also home to the Crystal Gems, and that Steven Universe who just always managed to save the day. So you’re told. Steven was a fun kid, and grew to be one of your good friends (he’s so insistent on being everyone’s friend. It’s very charming and you love him for it), but you’ve mostly spent your time at work this summer.

One of the easiest jobs to get is Funland, since that always tired Mr. Smiley is chewing through people constantly as the pay is shit, the hours are long, and it’s so hot. Like Mr. Smiley says, "Funland is funderstaffed". You feel like he says that to mock you a bit, since there’s just the two of you here. You really only cared to work there on your off season to help dad out with bills, and to see your best friends. Except THIS summer you guess, since all (2) of your best friends had to go out of town for summer either because of family get togethers or romantic getaways. Those bitches. And you were finally of drinking age this summer. You weren't about to let that get you down, or ruin any plans you’ve made yourself in the next upcoming weeks though.

You’re on the last forty minutes of your shift doing the work of four people. Emptying tills around the food court, cleaning tables, emptying trash cans, and jesus christ this task list seems longer today. It feels ever so fucking slow. And warm. You’re melting, you feel disgusting, and you just want a shower. Thank god it’s payday and you have the next two days off, because you seriously wanted to go out and unwind. See, there’s this newly renovated piano bar you’ve wanted to go to for weeks here locally in town, and you had planned on going with your friends.. but. You know what? Screw waiting on them. You’re going tonight. And besides, who knows! Maybe you’ll meet some new people and make a friend, or show your best friends that you can finally get a girlfriend!! Haha.. or at least get drunk enough to ignore the growing loneliness you’ve been feeling as of late, and desperately trying to ignore.

Funland never truly got busy, so you quickly closed the food court that had been dead for hours down. The last 15 or so minutes you spent sitting at the ring toss booth, and very thankful for the protection from the beating sun on your face. 

"YOOOOO (Y/N)!!!" You hear a familiar voice shout from your left. You put down your phone (obviously looking at memes) and lean over the counter just in time to see Amethyst, accompanied by Steven, jogging over to your booth. 

"Oh, thank god. Finally some human interaction." You responded to the purple gem as they reached your booth. Steven smacked down some tickets for the game and grinned.

"Just spending some time away from the temple". He says, and you nodded as you handed him two stacks of rings. He joyfully pulled them towards himself as Amethyst snickered. 

"He means to say his A/C broke, and Pearl got tired of hearing him groan about it so she kicked us out." The short gem elbowed Steven playfully. 

“Us? Why’d she kick you out too?” You say, giving Amethyst a pointed look. “That’s because Amethyst brought up like 7 of the junk fridges from her room to try to create some sort of.. open fridge cold air whirlwind right in the middle of the living room. It didn’t work as intended at all, though. I’m pretty sure those fridges were really old, or something, because 3 of them caught on fire and now we have scorch marks all over the floor. Anyway, Pearl was pretty mad about it. Sooooo, now we’re here!” Steven says while laughing, and attempting to toss the rings onto the obviously not rigged bottles. 

"So anyway," Amethyst turns to you and leans her elbow on the counter. "Any big plans for tonight?" She steals half the stack of rings from Steven and starts chucking them in the most violent way possible without actually breaking anything. She somehow gets 3 perfect.

 “Ughhh, yeah actually. I sort of convinced myself I’d go out and drink tonight.” You say with a tired grin. “I’ve been kinda daydreaming about not being here all day, and I’ve been wanting to try that one place.. the uh.. piano bar. That new one.”

“Isn’t that the place Bismuth helped fix up, and now bartends at?” Steven says to Amethyst. “She said this place was 1930’s themed with a stage, a spotlight, a piano and everything! It sounds like fun and I want to go.. a lot of the gems from Little Homeworld hang out there. Bis says I’m too young.” “Yeah,” You say, “You’re what, 17? You’re still just a baby, dude. If you want, I can try convincing Bismuth to let you in sometime just to sing.” You say to him and wink. Amethyst bursts out laughing. “You can try!! Bis won’t even let Peridot in!” She laughs. “She says her maturity ain’t the right fit. Whatever that means. She lets Lapis work there sometimes though when she wants, and Peri is still mad about it.”     You watch Steven miss every single shot. How can this kid be the person who saved the planet? His aim is terrible. Amethyst also misses the rest of her shots. 

“Have you guys actually ever won anything here?” You say out loud. “Only when Amethyst cheats.” Steven says. “And anyway, I really want some food. Amethyst. Pizza?”

“Duuuuuuuude. I could eat at least 10 pizzas right now. PLEASE.” She slaps her hand down on your booth. “Y/N. Go out tonight. Have some fun for the both of us, because it’s my turn to clean the kitchen, and if I skip out again Pearl WILL make me do my own laundry.”

“Wooooow, jeez, it must be so terrible to be self-sustaining and clean your own shit,” You’re smiling while chiding her, “and yeah, I will. Maybe next time come with me?” “And leave me all alone!?” Steven whines while starting to walking away. “Go hang out with Connie, you turd. At least you HAVE a girlfriend!” You reply. “You’ll find one eventually Y/N!! Maybe tonight!!” He yells back while waving before they both disappear from your field of vision.

“I really fucking doubt that.” You say to yourself, alone.

You busy yourself cleaning up, and walk over to the main building to clock out. You check your phone, and it looks like the group chat pinged. It’s Harper. FINALLY. Harper has been MIA for the last week. Well, not missing, per se, but she’s been on a roadtrip with her girlfriend of 6 months and didn’t invite you..or your other best friend, Alex. And yeah, you would’ve had to decline because your dad needs you to pick up some slack while he’s out on business, but.. STILL. Shit kinda hurts. But it seems like she finally got service and remembered you guys exist. It’s actually just a selfie with her and her girlfriend with a mountain in the background. She captioned it “I wanted to dive right into mt st helens but she wouldn’t let me get close enough.” You grin and decide to reply with, “Maybe next time Leah won’t let you pussy out”. Honestly, you really didn't mind being the 'single' friend most of the time, but sometimes you wished you could finally meet someone. Then you could also be sending cute couple pictures to your idiot friends, and finally feel like maybe you’re worth someone’s time.

Alex just responds to the chat with 14 flame emojis in succession. Before you can send any knife emojis back, your phone lights up with a call from your father. You answer on the second ring.

“Hey dad. What’s up?” “HEY KIDDO!!” Jesus. Your dad is enthusiastic and as loud as ever. “HOW ARE YOU TODAY, my sweet, dear offspring?”

“I’m chill. Getting off work. You?” You smile to yourself while grabbing the rest of your things to leave for home.

“Just got out of like, my fifth meeting today. It’s awful. I think they’re trying to kill me over here? I’m pretty sure they only paid for the plane ticket because they’re going to reap my organs after they LITERALLY bore me to death. I’m 100% sure my presence isn’t even needed for any of this.” He rants into the phone.

“Dad. You’re the lead project planner. You have to be there. It’s like.. your entire job.” You laugh into the phone. “I thought my entire job was so sit there and look pretty?” “Really? You think they’d choose you for that when they have Brian? Dad, come on. You know how beautiful he is.” You hear your dad sigh wistfully. “Yeah, that gorgeous bastard. Anyway. I’m real sorry in advance, but they’re extending my stay for another couple of days, and instead of being back tomorrow, I’ll be back next thursday.” He says, sounding apologetic.

“Oh, okay. That sucks.” You try not to sound disappointed. “Kiddo I’m sorry! If I could come home tonight I would get on that plane in a heartbeat. I hate this as much as you do.”

“I know. And it’s alright. I’m going out tonight anyway, and I’ll hold down the fort until next week yeah?” “You know you’re my favorite kid, right?” He says. “Dad, I’m your only kid.” You scoff into the phone. “That YOU know of! Love you!” and he hangs up. You roll your eyes, stuff your phone into your pocket, and head out.

Your house wasn't very far from Funland, meaning you could walk home alone safely even at night. Not that Beach City was ever an unsafe town.. if you conveniently happen to forget the aliens trying to destroy the town several times. 

Within minutes you were unlocking your front door, toeing off your work shoes, and heading up into your room. You drop all your shit onto the floor, and flop on your bed. You wonder to yourself, should you be putting more effort into your appearance tonight? Steven did say it was 1930’s themed.. you don’t have very many dressy clothes. You feel like the only color you look good in is black, so you get up and open up your closet. Flowery dress.. God no. Overalls? Noooooo. You swipe through too many sweaters, honestly. There’s a couple decent things in here to put an okay outfit together, or.. wait. Ha! There. That cute black dress you wore 2 years ago for your aunt’s funeral. It’s the best you’ve got, you admit to yourself. And you even still have those black flats! Look, like basically zero effort involved.

You head to the bathroom with your things for tonight and take a shower. It feels nice to scrub off the layer of sweat and grime that come specifically from working at Funland. Oh and, not having to smell like carpet deodorizer and stale caramel popcorn is always a plus. Once out of the shower, you dry off and get into your clothes. You style your hair in your favorite way, and just put on a small bit of makeup. You know, small efforts help to feel less like a paper bag. You look nice for once, you admit to yourself. 

You head downstairs, stuffing your phone and wallet into a small shoulder purse. Grabbing your keys, you put your shoes on, say goodbye to your cat, and walk out the door, making sure to lock it behind you. With your keys safely stored in your bag, you headed into town. The bar was roughly ten to fifteen minutes away, so you decided to hoof it. No need to waste money on a taxi when you had two perfectly toned legs, ya’ll.

[yakumtsaki]

Welcome, dear readers, to Part 2 out of 3 of the Union Comeback Season Premiere Episode (title under construction, part 1 here). Right off the bat, let me just admit what everyone is thinking, yes, mass-deleting default replacements was clearly a huge mistake. Looking good in the heart boxers, boys, especially Jojo! Very on brand and not at all ridiculous. On a lesser but equally annoying note, our windows have suddenly turned red while the exterior AND interior of the house are purple. Dark days ahead..

..but not for Goro, who has returned home since running away and is immediately being kicked out again. Good to see you Goro, now pack up your shit, D’vorah won the cat heir position so it’s time for you to move to Melody and Daniel’s farm.

-Well I’m a cat so I don’t have any possessions to pack.

Thank you for providing an example of why you lost the cat heirship via this painfully boring reaction to the news of your defeat.

-No, he’s right, we cats don’t have any possessions to pack.

Omg D’vorah shut up. How on earth you boring flops are Alegra/Ronroneo’s grandchildren AND Sophie’s children I’ll never understand. I’m this close to making Maxx the cat heir and he’s not even a cat.

-Correct, I’m a dog.

Worst group of pets e v e r. 

Oh look who autonomously woohooed for the first time in a century, I guess those base game heart boxers were simply too hot to resist. If one of you gets knocked up a week away from elderhood I’m gonna have a meltdown the likes of which the world has never seen.

-For the love of God, can we get some privacy here?

I’d love nothing more than to give you two bozos eternal privacy by never looking at either of you again, but the headmaster is here for Wulf so put some clothes on-

-WHAT THE FUCK. Why do we keep getting new headmasters instead of the ones we’ve already terrorized into submission?? Now we have to ‘show BJ a good time’ and ‘maybe we could give BJ a tour’, I’d honestly rather give BJ a bj and get this shit over with, I’m tired of threatening headmasters with murder. Hopefully it doesn’t come to sexual favors but if it does, Wyatt, you’re up. 

-Pourquoi moi???

Pourquoi toi still haven’t gotten promoted and toi sleep 22 hours a day, it’s high time toi pulled your weight around here. 

Good, that’s the spirit.

-Bonjour, monsieur Headmastér! I wòuld introdûce yoù to Wûlf but hé is très busý with unpàid çhild labόr.

-Haha, what a hilarious joke, Mr. Union!

-Alright Cinderello, after you’re done cleaning the flooding shower you’re going to need to jump out the second floor window and go study in the crypt, so the headmaster doesn’t see you and ask you any uncomfortable questions about whether I acknowledge you as my son. I have to go help your father charm our guest by giving my trademarked speech on how I never got impregnated by aliens and what a blow it was to humanity’s future. 

-Ok Mr. Jojo!

-For the last time Wulf, it’s not ‘Mr. Jojo’, it’s ‘Mr. Union’. God.

-Ah hello there Headmaster BJ, apologies for my lateness, I was tucking little Wulf in bed because I definitely acknowledge him as my son. As I do all 3 of my children and not just Cyneswith. Ask anyone! But not Wulf or whatshername.. I want to say Shenar? Anyway, now that that’s been cleared up, what are we talking about here? The fact I never got impregnated by aliens and what a terrible blow it was to humanity’s future? I assumed as much.

-Haha aliens?! Well you are just a family of crack ups, does your son share this amazing sense of humor?

-Oh yes yes he definitely does, and he is definitely OUR son, that’s exactly how I view him as well, not solely as Wyatt’s offspring just because he appears to not have a drop of my DNA. I mean who even cares about that? Not me, that’s for certain. Yes, Wulf was just telling me the funniest joke while I was reading Cinderella to him before I put him to bed-

-Man, it’s so hard to concentrate on math with a broken leg from jumping out the window and Grandpa’s disembodied head floating around.

Grandpa’s disembodied head?? 

OH FUCK KOMEI

-What?

Nothing! Looking good! The decision to delete default replacements didn’t affect you in any way!

-Thank god, have you seen Vic with that base game hair? Talk about scary. 

Yes, talk about scary indeed. Do you happen to know if the matchmaker performs the occasional exorcism?

-No idea.

Well she hates me anyway so that was solution was dead in the water. I have to go back to the headmaster fuckery now, but I want you to know I’m really sorry for what Salome did to you. 

-Sό, monsieur Headmastér, the όnly tràck reçord which est bettér than the όne we havé with bébés wόrking, est the oné we havé with our animàls rûnning awaý!

-Oh my.

-He’s joking, he’s joking Headmaster BJ, we’re both excellent pet owners and excellent parents, if you’ll excuse me the phone is ringing-

-Cyneswith darling! An adult bartender is calling for you and he has the Komei face! You might be 14 but he’s clearly future husband material!

-Be right there, daddy!

-Alright, I think I’ve seen enough here.

No you haven’t! Wyatt, take off your robe!

-No need, I’ve made up my mind..

-..you’re obviously a perfect match for our school! 

What the hell? How? Even by our standards we legit didn’t do shit.

-Headmaster Jitmakusol left a very distraught letter regarding your family before he was institutionalized, the gist of it being it is pointless to try and keep you people out of the school, and his successor should simply ‘roll with it’. 

Well ok then! Pleasure doing business with you, BJ.

-The pleasure was all mine, please don’t ever contact me again.

We’ll make sure to be in touch.

In the meantime, Komei has recovered his body!

-Why me? WHY ALWAYS ME? CYNESWITH IS RIGHT THERE

-Sorry honey, we play poker for it every night and Victor won dibs on Cyneswith.

-That’s right, the first one to scare everyone gets ghost-bingo!

Are you fuckers playing ghost-poker or ghost-bingo?

-It’s a hybrid, we have a lot of time on our hands, being dead and all, so we developed an overcomplicated gambling system for our scares. 

Yea ok congrats Victor, now can you fuck off before you actually do kill one of the kids?? They have 10/10/9 energy, they literally never sleep.

-No can do, if you actually kill someone you get Yahtzee!

How many fucking games are involved in this bullshit?

-We told you, we have a lot of time on our hands. SUCK IT VICTOR, I WIN FOR THE NIGHT

Win for the night? Who cares about that, you have Wyatt cornered, go for the Yahtzee!

-Oh, but you said our games were bullshit!

That’s before I realized Wyatt was awake for his allotted 2 hours per day non-sleeping time. Wyatt istfg bro, are you half French-Arab and half panda?

-Pandàs eàt for 14 hourès idiόt, ne pas slèèp.

Well look who knows a suspicious amount about pandas now! Almost like he’s descended from them.

Oh good, everyone’s favorite couple simultaneously has the day off. How about I take you two out for a nice date at Londoste since you’re about 55 years old?

-How about hard pass on that architectural monstrosity of a restaurant and we hang out for 6 hours in our front yard instead?

-Oui, oui! Très blanc garbagè of us!

Well at least we’re not forgetting our roots. 

Alright then, we’ve crossed into white trash territory unironically with the yard pda and we’re also freezing to death, how about we take this inside?

-Non!

-Yes, non indeed! I love how frozen your hands are, dear, it’s like you’re a real corpse!

Oh my G-

-Catch me, Creature!

-Je t'aime, dr. Frankènstèin! 

Ok, new suggestion, how about instead of going inside we visit a nice church?

-How abοùt you lôôk awày, pervertir!

Bold words from someone doing Frankenstein roleplay, and I’D LOVE TO, but the kids are at school and the animals are sleeping, so there’s no looking away from whatever the fuck this is. 

Oh thank god, Cyneswith is back from school and ready to cockblock her parents as always. First time I’m genuinely happy to see you, Cyn.

-Straight A’s again! Ah, we may only have one child but she is THE BEST. Wyatt dear, come here to congratulate Cyneswith and further inflate her ego. Wyatt?

-Why is he ignoring my straight A’s, daddy?! 

-Ugh, he’s probably jealous since everyone is jealous of you, darling. Pay him no mind, let’s go inside so I can give you the diamond tiara I got you for your birthday.

-But my birthday is in four months, what will you get me then?

-A throne to go with it and anything you want from Sihara’s and the other one’s rooms?

-They have no rooms, remember? They both sleep in the crypt.

-Right, well how about I act like I got them presents, give them to you and make them watch as you unwrap them?

-Aw daddy💗

-Je ne pas fèèl bien..

Yes, you’re dying, so it’d be some real Frankenstein shit if you did feel bien.

Is this Komei-clone bartender serious, first he calls while the headmaster is over, now he calls while we’re dying, FEEL THE FUCKING ROOM PAL

..and there we go. RIP Wyatt, it’s been sorta ok having you in the fami-

-WTF HOW ARE YOU ALIVE

-HA. I lièd, I AM hàlf pandà and mon beàr gènes protéct moi! 

GODDAMMIT I KNEW IT. Is that why the one child you gave birth to is your exact clone?

-Oui! Wulf est 1/4 pandà, et toi wènt et namèd him WULF. 

Well, to be fair, not a lot of famous pandas I could have named him after even if I knew. 

-Toi çould hàve namèd him Pandà!

Oh man, Panda Union does have a nice ring to it, especially next to the other names.. ~Shajar~, ~Cyneswith~ and PANDA. Thanks a lot for depriving me of the opportunity by withholding your genetic info.

-Je think Wulf est ontό it.. 

Onto the fact he’s 1/4 panda? I highly doubt that.

Yea nevermind, he knows. 

Oh great, Shajar has brought yet another uggo with a culturally appropriative hairstyle home from school. 

-That’s what you get for letting her out of the crypt.

Give it a rest, Jojo, we’ve had enough of your incredible parenting to last us 10 lifetimes at this point. 

-And then it goes: I send the thunder from the sky, I send the fire raining down, I send a hail of burning ice, on every field, on every town! I send the locusts on a wind, such as the world has never seen, on every leaf, on every stalk, until there's nothing left of green! I send my scourge, I send my sword, THUS SAITH THE LORD🎵

-Great, thank you, Shajar, for singing the entirety of the ‘10 Plagues’ song from The Prince of Egypt 27 times. I’m really sorry but I have to go home now-

-It-was-nice-to-meet-you noogie!

..Shajar, please, PLEASE see a doctor. 

-My sister Shajar may be super popular, spoiled and beloved-

WHAT LMAO

-but I have the friendship of animals and that’s all that matters!

Yea, Cyn, no offense, but it feels like you’re trying to cultivate an underdog Disney princess persona for yourself that is the exact opposite of actual family dynamics around here.

-What makes you say that?

Your tiara and throne vs Shajar sleeping in the crypt come to mind.

-So to be an underdog you need to be a loser?

I mean narrative-wise kinda, yea. 

-Message received. 

No, no that wasn’t a message-

-Yes it was and I got you, loud and clear.

Oh god.

-WHAT? YOU’RE REJECTING ME BECAUSE I’M TOO PRETTY? MY HEART IS BROKEN! I DON’T THINK I’LL EVER GET OVER THIS

-Uh, who are you again? Shajar invited me over, ordered a pizza and has been hiding in the bushes for 1 hour waiting to noogie the delivery guy. 

-I CAN’T BELIEVE WHAT I’M HEARING! I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SING ABOUT THIS IN AN ENCHANTED FOREST FOR ABOUT 3 AND A HALF MINUTES

Jfc, where are the ghosts when you need them. 

-Mommy has dibs on you tonight, Jojo! 

-Mom please no! Your hair is so damn hideous! Just stay in your urn until the default replacement has been put back!

-Ah excellent, I have upgraded my robotic abilities up to cleanbot level! 

That actually is excellent, I really want us to fire Kaylynn. 

-Cleanbots don’t change cat litter. 

..UGH then why even bother, Jojo? The cat shit is 90% of our problems, make something that fixes that or stop wasting airtime with your nonsense. Istg some people. 

-Alright sis, how about we go out again tonight and ~play the field~? If I get rejected by a couple more mean boys I can earn my underdog princess badge!

-You are so stupid, Cyneswith, if you want to earn your underdog badge all you need to do is board a doomed ship, Titanic style, and then give the floating door to someone you’ve known for a couple of days while you selflessly and pointlessly drown in the freezing ocean despite the fact you could take turns sharing the door.

-But then I would be dead.

-I know right? Everybody wins. Let’s go get you some tickets.

Yea, let’s not, but let’s get out of here because the ghosts are out of fucking control and you two aren’t sleeping anytime soon.

-Shaj-and-Cyn-in-da-club noogie!

Shajar FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, ENOUGH. 

OMG IT’S SOPHIE MIGUEL. SOPHIE MIGUEL IN THE HOUSE

-Whaddup dildos, ‘tis I, Sophie fucking Miguel, the meanest townie teen there is. I’ve only taken 4 steps into this place and I can already tell I’m surrounded by a bunch of beta turbocucks. 

SHAJAR GO TALK TO HER!!!!!

-HEY BITCH, I’M NOT A BETA TURBOCUCK, I’M ALPHA AS FUCK. I’M NAMED AFTER SHAJAR AL-DURR! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO THAT IS?

SHAJ WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, WHAT IS THIS APPROACH

-Of course I do, the first Mamluk Sultana of Egypt. Nice. 

OMG THAT SHIT WORKED. LAND THE PLANE SHAJ

-Ohhhhhhhh😍 Do you want to talk some more?? Do you like the 10 Plagues song from the Prince of Egypt???

-Nop, as suddenly as I came into your life, I’m dramatically getting the fuck out for no discernible reason, cause that’s just how I roll. Gone with the wind, baby! I’m like an outdoor cat. You’ll never see me again.

-Oh but I will..

YES YOU WILL SHAJ. I’m so on board this particular Titanicesque crackship that it’s un.real. I mean Sophie Miguel literally came into this place, talked to Shajar for less than one minute and then left the bar entirely, in turn leaving us dick in hand. What.an.icon.

In the meantime Cyneswith.. did this. Game-changing night for everyone!

[msayalailalim]

“My Hero Academia” inspired Fashion Week

          Earlier this year even when I was just counting down the days till I file my resignation already, I was still so numb from everything but there's this Anime show that pulled me out of it: "My Hero Academia". I was so excited to go home every after my shift to watch it like how I was excited to go home from school to watch my favorite cartoon shows back when I was still in elementary. It felt pretty nostalgic. ☺ I fell in love with everything about it so here I am with my 2nd fashion week project dedicated to the series!

          This time I challenged myself by making 7 looks! That's 2 looks more than my first one! I took this opportunity to use new materials for the designs like cotton swab, candle wax, clay, and foil wrapper. I even used more sewing thread for her wig here with different colors! 🤩

          Presenting my BNHA Fashion Collection! 😎

Instagram caption:

          “My first fashion week project was very fun and productive despite the challenges I encountered during the process. I certainly learned a lot, and now I'm headed to my next ball! 🤩 This week I'm challenging myself to create looks inspired by characters from this Anime series I love so much: "My Hero Academia"! 🥳 My goal is to incorporate the character's personality, design, and story with the looks I'll create this week as high fashion as I can. 😊 I'll be sharing what I'll come up with here from today until Sunday (October 4).

          Today is the first day, and I'm kickstarting this project by giving you nothing because there's literally nobody here! 😆 Only this vintage-looking ball gown with the letters "UA", the name of their academy, embellished on it (just like how their PE uniform is designed) with matching floppy hat! This whole look and also the absence of the one wearing it is inspired by the girl with the invisibility quirk/power named Toru Hagakure. 🙂 With this design I made sure that even if nobody can see her, you can still clearly see that she's fashionably plus ultra! 😊

          One thing I especially love about this Anime series is the fact that it features a diverse set of characters. They even have one who's literally invisible! I just really appreciate that they used different quirks as a symbol of their world's diversity because just like in our world, I believe we are all unique in our own ways and we should all celebrate that. 🥰 - Marv :)”

          When I was choosing the characters I'll take inspiration from, I knew I had to do Hagakure. Not because it seems easy but because it's fun and actually challenging! Taste the Fashion Plus Ultra realness! 🤗

Instagram caption:

          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 2! 🤩 Serving you hot and cold realness sprinkled with introversion and some daddy issues, this is inspired by the undeniable fan favorite, Shoto Todoroki! 🥰

          It wasn't on my initial plan to put bangs on it but when I tried to, I realized that it perfectly captured Shoto's mysterious, quiet and calm nature. I know he wouldn't let his bangs grow that long, it was just me being extra thinking it looks so high fashion. 😆 I went for the robelike outfit that's two toned representing Shoto's two quirks, and I cut it in two showing her tummy which is so stylish for me. 👌 Overall, I think it's a simple look but I believe I was able to project that subtle elegance and charisma I see in Shoto with my interpretation. 🥰

          Todoroki is really one of my favorite characters from the series not just because of his character's aesthetic but also his depth in general due to his high-pressure and toxic upbringing. I'm just glad that in the recent season, there's already a development in his relationship with his father, Endeavor. I want nothing but the best for him. 🤩 - Marv :)”

          "Sia in the house!" is what it seems but it's just my doll challenging her Todoroki fantasy! It was supposed to be a robe but the material I used wasn't the most cooperative. Nonetheless, I believe this is still a serve! 😎

Instagram caption:

          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 3! 😊 This look is inspired from the ultimate ship of the series, our boy Deku and hospitalization. ☺

          I know this project wouldn't be complete without our beloved hero, Izuku Midoriya so here it is! The look is based on his need to be healed after constantly using his much powerful quirk beyond his limit since he's still learning how to have full control of it. I wrapped my doll with bandages, and gave it a plunging neckline to make it look so chic. There's also a touch of sky blue in it since it's a common color used by hospital with their gowns. Then, I added the cane and shades to complete the posh just-got-home-from-the-hospital look! 😎 I didn't have a "Deku" shade of green for the hair though. Nonetheless I believe this "Billie Eilish - Grammys 2019" shade perfectly fit the look I was going for. ☺

          Deku is really that protagonist that you'll definitely root for. His character is so well written so I can't help but feel proud of him with all his heroic deeds! Indeed, anyone can reach their dreams as long as they believe, and go plus ultra! ❤ - Marv :)”

          Serving you fashionable hospital discharge fantasy! A little fashion won't hurt, baby! 🤣

Instagram caption:

          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 4! 🥳 The fashion inspiration for this look is none other than the "Alien Queen", Mina Ashido! 😊 Her quirk is the ability to secrete Acid which she skillfully uses for offense and defense! 😍 Without a doubt, she's one of the most lovely characters from the series with her fun and upbeat energy as a student and hero! 🤩

          The concept I was going for with this look is to kind of reimagine her character, and this time as a fashionable member of the League of Villains! Anyone should already be warned by the flowing Acid from her hands to her dress that she's about to make ALL FOR ONE proud even with her eyes closed. *Evil Laugh* Just kidding. 😂 Anyway, I had so much fun doing that Acid effect using candle wax! I've been meaning to use it for one of Ayala's looks for a long time now so I didn't let this opportunity pass, and I'm very happy with the outcome! 😭

          For the record, this is one of my favorite looks I've done for my doll so far. Cheers! 😭🥳 - Marv :)”

          Make way for this diva! One of my favorite looks that I've done so far. I was just so stunned by it the whole time. Even now. Speechless. 🤤

Instagram caption:

          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 5! 😊 If I were to create a look inspired by Class 1-A's incredible homeroom teacher: Shota Aizawa, I might as well do one that I know will get his approval which is none other than using his yellow sleeping bag! 😂

          This had certainly been done by many fan arts already but it didn't discourage me to not do one myself since it's indeed iconic, fun and relatable! I just had to put my own twist on it so it would fit this project I'm doing perfectly. I made it look like a fitted dress with a hoodie while still making it obvious that it's in the shape of a sleeping bag. I also styled her hair in a way that would cover half of her face to channel Aizawa's elusive nature just in case the attachment to sleeping bags isn't enough to do so. 😆 I even added a sleep mask with false eyelashes 'cause why not? HAHA. 😂

          I believe I could've done more with this look, but the clay wasn't super friendly to me at all. 😂 Regardless of that, I still think that this is a fun look, and it surely makes me squeal over how cute it is. It's so comfy that even my doll fell asleep during our photoshoot! 😂 - Marv :)”

          There was a silhouette I planned on doing with this one which is like the base of a wine glass but I don't think I achieved it. Anyway, still had fun with the clay. I'll shut up now, we wouldn't want to wake up a sleeping diva. 😆

Instagram caption:

          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 6! ☺ The hero I'm channeling today is the funny and lovable Tetsutestsu Tetsutetsu! 🤩 Simply mentioning his name makes me giggle already. 😆 I find his steel quirk very cool so I knew I had to include him in this project! 😍

          The narrative I was going for with this look is a straight guy heading to the basketball court alone with his fashionable streetwear. No one wants to join him out of intimidation from his looks. First of all, he's got an awesome luminous skin tone. He's confidently rocking a crop top which makes their fragile masculinity even more fragile, and he'd rather play using his ball with pastel blue color because he can. They simply can't catch his drip! His daily mental reminder is: "Well, you can't blame them." 🤣

          I wasn't planning to do a menswear for this project, but when I thought of the idea, I couldn't let it go! Metallic skin tone, black and white combination plus crop tops for men plus oblong shaped shades and even that pastel colored ball, they're all so thrilling together! I believe that all the colors worked well with each other, and with that I'm sooooo satisfied! ☺ - Marv :)”

          Second time doing a male look! Catch all this drip, Mama! 😎 I don't play basketball but if you give me a pastel blue ball, I might. 😅

Instagram caption:

          “My Hero Academia Fashion Week, Day 7! 🥳 For the final look of this week's fashion project, I have chosen to create one that's inspired by the current Number 2 Pro Hero, Hawks! 😊

          Obviously, I didn't stray away from the basic elements of his overall look, I just really took inspiration from each of it and tweaked some with the hooded trenchcoat with a horizontal V-cut in the middle (which isn't really obvious in the photo 😆), face shield that covers the entire face, and glittered wings! His look is just too good to be changed entirely so that left me no choice. ☺

          I'm so excited to see more from Hawks in the Anime! He wasn't really featured much in the recent season since he just got introduced, but he's definitely outstanding already with his personality, quirk and majestic wings! 👑

          I'm so happy that I got to finish my second fashion week project! It's been a fun and fulfilling week for me! I can't say this is the first and only tine I'll feature My Hero Academia because there really are a lot of inspiration I have from the series, the ones I featured this week are just some of my many favorites. For the meantime, the long wait for Season 5 continues. 😭😆😍 - Marv :)”

          Brace yourselves for the landing of my finale look! Again, I'm just in awe. Speechless. This time, I really felt fulfilled. I just finished my second fashion week project! 🥳

          By the end of it, I got this comment from a lovely fellow doll lover who's obviously a BNHA fan as well.

          There really are a lot of characters from that show, and I do plan on making more soon but getting a request like this from a fellow doll lover for the first time means so much to me as someone who's a beginner at this craft. 😭

          I'll definitely use everything I learned this week to go beyond! Plus Ultra! 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️🦸‍♀️

[seyaryminamoto]

I like how you do OCs. So many fanfictions make them overpowered and without flaws. But your ones come off more natural, half of them aren't even martial badasses but just regular people getting by. Like Kino, or Shouji. If I recall, Rui Shi was once some nameless caption before you developed him. Hina is, haha, yeah, a bitch, lol. Is it just me or would Ozai's assassin and Toph make a great comedy duo? The blind girl and the invisible man. Even Xin Long has personality. My fav is still Rui Shi.

Well, like I always say, Shoji isn’t an OC :’D he’s another repurposed one-time canon character who got a much bigger role in Gladiator than in ATLA, just like Song. This is him! It’s possible that it will become more obvious that he’s a canon-based character in chapter 201, but even if it’s not that obvious, now you know the truth!

Either way, I’m glad you like my OCs! Rui Shi is one of the best of them, without a doubt, so I take pride in knowing he’s your favorite. I guess there are many secrets to making OCs for fanfiction, because chances are you will need OCs in a long-term story like my own… but when I started out with the story, I always kept them at a minimum both because I wanted to use as many canon characters as I could (hence, Shoji), and because I knew of the stigma that surounds fanfiction OCs. There’s people who do like reading about OCs… but the majority of the readers will open a fic out of interest in the canon characters they already know and love. If your story isn’t outright about OCs, you risk alienating readers by introducing characters who could feel out of place in the setting (and that, I think, is what bothers you with OCs who are overpowered and flawless).

Admittedly, it may sound like I’m talking out of my ass because of characters like Rhone and Seethus, who probably do fall into the overpowered OC cliches… but uh, small secret: they’re not exactly my creations. They were a suggestion by a friend, one of Gladiator’s staunchest supporters from its very inception (being upfront, Gladiator wouldn’t even exist without him), and I did my best to accommodate them into the story despite there were some things in his original ideas for the characters that would have been quite difficult to work with. Seethus seems to have been received much better than Rhone, which is a relief for me, but the truth is that neither of them are 100% mine and they follow entirely different character-building principles because of that.

Outside of those two, though, the other OCs we have generally obey the need for these characters to exist in this world and setting: when it comes to the soldiers in the Fire Nation army, the show portrayed them as real people by the last season but I wanted to flesh out some of them further than that, beyond showing they can be nice to prisoners (Iroh’s friendly prison guard) or playful with each other (the ones from the Boiling Rock). That’s where Rui Shi came from, the most exasperated and tortured Royal Guard in the history of the position. Part of Rui Shi’s success, I think, comes from him being 100% loyal to Azula despite being 100% exasperated by her antics just as well :’D he’s a cool guy, but all he ever wanted was to protect a Princess who refuses to be protected and who seems to make a sport out of making his job more and more difficult xD which results in his constant clashes with her and his little patience for the ridiculous crap she gets up to more often than not. He serves as a counterweight, I think, to all the characters who are starstruck by Azula and Sokka: he’s a grounding character, helps us see these two are a pair of reckless dorks in love who need to get reeled back into their best behavior once in a while.

And then there’s Kino, who basically breathed life into the South Pole and created much more fun dynamics with those characters than everything that had preceded him. Kino was a REALLY lucky hit, a completely random night-time idea that came to me when I was about to go to bed… and when I woke up the next morning I couldn’t remember him anymore :’D it took a while for me to remember what that damn great idea had been… I was so glad when he returned to me, honestly xD Kino is a lot of fun, and as comedic a character as he may appear, that comedy is what makes him an individual rather than just another soldier. The idea of him being largely ignored by his fellow soldiers and commanding officers started off as a funny way to ensure he could hang out with Katara and Aang without trouble… but in Part 3 that will result in a pretty useful skill that everyone shall cherish him more for. He’s a counterweight to main characters too, in a sense, but in the opposite way Rui Shi is: he lightens up the generally serious and heavy South Pole chapters and embodies the common, ordinary Fire Nation citizen who has been indoctrinated since youth but who can find a new path for himself, learn better, cherish new ways of living once he’s removed from that very toxic environment.

I could talk for ages about the OCs in the story: Xin Long being so feisty, for instance, comes from my need to give him a visible personality, reminiscent of Azula’s own, just like Appa and Momo had in canon. Otherwise he’d feel like a mere object to be ridden back and forth between places and nothing more… which would be really demeaning for a proud creature like that, huh? :’D But I think you’ll get bored of reading too much of my OC theory, because I’ve thought about this stuff a lot xD Still, I’d like to add that there may be some characters who feel a little more complex, who may have more substance to them than initially obvious…

… And it’s because they do have more of it: I had an original story before Gladiator, pretty dense and huge story, and I’ve littered Gladiator with cameos of those OCs EVERYWHERE, it’s just not something anyone can tell because that story was never published (and never will be x’D). So… remember the Priestess of the Flames, from the Dragon’s Pit? She’s one of my favorite characters from that story xD some of her defining traits in Gladiator are outright taken from her original iteration (if you don’t remember her, no worries, you’ll see her again in the upcoming Slave Riot arc and I suspect she’ll make more of an impression there). Your Doom, his sponsor, the Ruthless Hero, the Dark Rook, Scoundrel and his sponsor too… they’re all crossovering OCs who got small roles in Gladiator xD in general, these repurposed characters have always been background or secondary characters (the ranking is FULL of these OCs, even if they might never get speaking roles, because that way I could fill up the ranks a little faster :’D), but that they already have established personalities allowed me to work easily with the ones who do have a starring role in the story, without needing to spend more time than I could afford fleshing them out so they felt believable.

I guess that really should be my final point: the OCs have to feel believable. If it looks like they have a life beyond interacting with the main cast, I don’t need to devote too much time to developing them unless strictly necessary (as was the case with Yang and Haiyan, as a quick example). OCs are, ultimately, characters: they have flaws, they have personality, they have a history just as everyone you walk past in the street does, even if you can’t fathom what it might be. As much as the world absolutely revolves around Azula and Sokka in Gladiator, each ordinary individual’s world doesn’t revolve around them. These two are as good as celebrities to admire, leaders to look up to, obstacles to overcome or nuisances to deal with… but they’re not the center of everything for the average citizen, as things stand. They’re not the only thing on their minds. Each OC has their own struggles, their own pursuits, some more mundane than others, just like every canon character does. It’s easy to think of characters, especially OCs, through a very simplistic “helpers” and “foils” filter… but real people are a lot more complicated than that, and so are they :’)

[dbphantom]

Canon: Zane Flynt fucks

Me: haha u know what this means ;))))

Me:

Me:

Me: merfolk glamour time

[[MORE]]

Alright but for real tho u wanna see how deep I am in this fucking universe? Lego

I don't even know where to begin with this universe (Zer0 is an alien! Hammerlock is a werewolf! Troy is psychic! Tannis is a skag! Wait, no, wrong shitpost...) so imma open the 140 page document and start from the beginning

Annnnd Clay! Junpai-7.

When Zane meets Clay for the first time he mentions they did a smuggling job together on Junpai-7, u know, the water planet, so obviously this is good news (This made me super happy because my discord channel's name had been the junpai-7 moon pool for a while so I was like 'holy shit it's canon now' :') )

Timeline wise this isn't the beginning, but I don't write in chronological order and I don't order anything in chronological order, either, so. Eh.

Speaking of chronological order, I once got a line where Zane was like exclaiming something and used the moon instead of idk a god or powerful figure or smth and I was like 'lmao that's canon now'

So the moon... Elpis fucking got yeeted halfway across the galaxy or smth, and, considering we've seen (more) ocean on Pandora in 3 instead of just, like, Liars Berg (getting to THAT) or Tretchers landing, I feel bad for the tides. But that's good news for everyone else. Unless you were on Elpis, I guess.

Also hoh boy the 'end' of the game where Troy Phaselocks the moon was fun to write (it actually wasn't, I lowkey hate writing Moonstruck phases because... It hurts and I can't do it well.) also can we talk about how in tps the psychos are called Moonstrucks in tvhm because this makes me so happy. I really hope they did that intentionally considering H2O is an Australian show because my two favorite things combined can and will kill me. Wait actually the Troy boss fight is gonna be hilarious to write mostly because of that one attack with the tidal waves lol oh no

Also, also, also, you guys it's only explained in a guide book and never actually in-game as to why Captain's ship is Like That (TM) so I took some liberties and uhhh blame the Crackening. I mean the crackening happened after dahl pulled out of Pandora/Elpis so it works. It sorta works. It mostly works. Fuck. It works okay? shut. That's why Liars Berg is all frozen ocean [shoves 3 page essay about climate change on Pandora into the trash] don't need that anymore.

I was gonna talk about smth else

Oh yeah

Mostly brain freeze and trick of the light. That one meme video I made of Tannis and the Flynt Brothers imposed over that one clip of H2O (so let me get this straight: you freeze things, you explode things, and you boil things) wasn't just for laughs, it was actually a warning.

Each Flynt has a thing and Zane's is ice, Baron's is explosions, and Captain's is fire. (Glorious cleansing fire) Because it fits. It fits so well. I will say right off the bat that Mako Mermaids isn't my canon. I lowkey want to write out Charlotte as well (lol) because I've seen the 2nd season so many times and tbh I much prefer them having 1 really strong power over having 3+ really weak powers. Also Charlotte did nothing wrong in the first half of that season. Cleo was just a bitch to her. And Mako Mermaids is just. Not great on the power side of things. You can TURN INVISIBLE. USE IT. Soooo. (also cam got destroyed in s1 and I'm so glad they ended up making him work in s2 and 3. Because he deserved better and Zac was a terrible friend to him and only got away with it because he's a main character). /rant sorry I have so many feelings about these shows. Grew up with them soooooo.

And if ur wondering why I brought up trick of the light it's cause the 13th year exists and that movie was bopping. U guys remember Jess? Good times... Tuba pool scene is iconic. U know the one. I would also bring up aquamarine but ngl that movie was weaksauce comparatively. They hid that bitch in a water tower and iunno talked to earrings. Meanwhile in the 13th year they bring Jess back from the fucking dead and climb on walls like Spiderman. Clearly one is superior.

"but cruddy Aurelia has ice powers too and she's not a mermaid" no she's a werewolf like her brother we already went over that. Did u think I was kidding? No! I'm never kidding unless I am and I fucking love werewolves so I'd never kid about that. I love werewolves and I love Hammerlock and it's perfect I just love the idea of this gentlemanly hunter being a werewolf because I want to see a giant hulking monster being all proper and shit. They're just really cool. Werewolves > vampires and ngl I'm sad skyrim screwed over werewolves with the dawnguard dlc. Anyway Aurelia's ice powers are nanobots as explained in-game and listen I already lore-scienced this okay? Let me say it's amazing the things science is capable of when it thinks it's trying to beat out a competitor and doesn't realize non-Siren magic exists. Even better now that we know Sirens are not Eridian and actually existed before Eridians. Makes me giddy to think about. The universe is tearing me APART Lisa.

Oh speaking of, can we talk about the witch's brew quest on eden-6 because holy shit I had been writing Hiromi and her fascination with discovering all the secret circles long before the game came out and then learning about the group of witches and The Pact (TM) made me lose my shit because 'oh my god it's actually canon now'. We're on the canon path nowwwww. Soon. I hope we get a water planet dlc. I wants it, GB, I wants it.

Also I was totally gonna write a clip in the main story of the game (because I write a lot of backstory stuff if you can't tell, I only have like 3 scenes that take place during the events of the game and like 4 that are speculatory from before the game came out (including a scene from before I realized Troy was Like That but I edited it so he's more in-line and also has Maya's powers now so that's... Hm. In line with the storyline somewhere, but not an actual scene in the games story. Because its not possible with how the game does things (seperating Vault Hunters) I suppose I could just insert a 5th Vault somewhere and say it's the 4th Vault connected to the Machine (with nekrotefeyo's being the 5th). Fuck it.) and then 9,000 are backstory) where Hiromi comes back after like decades of the two not seeing each other and she's been hired to assassinate Zane by one of the many corporations looking for his corpse for a multitude of reasons (And Emma and Nino are both d e a d a s f, you know, for context). And like Barnabas (ya old bastard) Zane is still joking around and just having a grand old time catching up with his black ops buddy meanwhile she had just tried to blow his brains out (she's a sniper) and got pretty damn close. She's not even amused because of her psychic powers so she's just like 'ok' every time he opens his mouth because she already knows what he's going to say she's mostly just frustrated that she missed because she thought she knew him well enough to go off instead of just listening to her intuition but alas people change after, like, 3 decades of not seeing them.

Oh since we're talking about Hiromi that reminds me why Zane wears the black suit. In my non-h2o universe it's because it looks cool and provides some protection from dots. In the H2Oniverse it is because it's waterproof. Okay wait hang on context so Hiromi doesn't like take off his suit or anything, she's extremely gay and not interested, because I realize now how that sounds me relating Hiromi to the clothes, they just get into an argument about how Sirens don't have to follow any arbitrary rules to hide their magic and how it's easier to hide magic without giant glowing tattoos (and mind you this is before Zane even knows Tannis exists though he does immediately know she's a Siren and that's a whole nother can of worms) and hr's like 'I wear a bodysuit for most of my waking hours, so I am pretty sure they can try wearing long sleeved shirts and makeup for a day. Just a suggestion' but like way more in character (and for the scene) because do I sound like I'm in character right now? I'm not. I'm me. And God what a terrible thing to be.

So context for the context: ~magic is real~. If you've got it then you can usually tell who else has it if you're looking. It's especially clear if they're 'similar' to you (if ur a werewolf and u meet another werewolf then you sorta just know they're a werewolf) or if you're psychic (like Hiromi) then you can make some informed guesses. Like. Same Hat? Same Hat!!! Sirens are basically such powerful magic users that they are in literally a whole nother ball park. They're leagues above everyone else. Kill you just by looking at you sort of deal. So sirens normally don't feel other magic because their own magic is so strong it just 'overwrites' the other signals. You know, to not only explain why Lilith isn't immediately like 'who the fuck are you' to Zane and also how Amara couldn't tell Tannis is a Siren. I had a whole thing with Troy (who is psychic) being able to tell Zane had magic despite being near 4 Sirens at once because Troy grew up with Tyreen always at his side so he's used to it and knows how to look through it. Meanwhile Hiromi is basically incapacitated when she's near a Siren because she gets overwhelmed because her powers make it easier for her to read other people's magic.

Oh, context, the black ops outfit worked with Atlas for a short time (the group being Zane, Hiromi, Emma, and Nino. Emma is the yeehaw captain. She's the leader) and ended up meeting Steele for a little bit. Hiromi was just dead the entire meeting, Zane was totally out of it, and Emma and Nino were too busy eyefucking to really care that there was a Siren in the room so. Just imagine one person lying face down on the floor and crying, another staring at the wall without blinking, two undressing each other with their eyes, and then Cmdt. Steele standing in the middle like 'how the fuck did I get here'.

So that was everyone's first experience with a Siren.

There are more but ehhhh I'm tired and I mostly wrote this because I wanted to talk about it with someone else but they haven't read the whole thing yet so now I can scream into the void about it and not feel like I'm bothering them.

Hooray!

[sillygurl1021]

Plance Mega Meta

Attention all Fellow Gardeners! LOOOONNG Post Ahead!!!!

This was a pain in the butt to make but well worth it! It's all over the place but it still presents my point of the many reasons why Pidge and Lance is most likely Endgame. Some may be a stretch but most of them have meaning! I know I missed some but it was hard to fit all this together and still remember everything lol

Ofcourse, whether your for Plance or just scrolling around, it's your opinion to agree or disagree! It's fine! This is just an analysis of mine and other gardeners of why Plance may be endgame in our eyes! :)

Alrighty Then!

Okay, I’m starting off with all the comics of them that I know of!

“Lance’s Guide To Falling in Love” explains that you need activities that you both like to do each other. That sounds a lot like Pidge and Lance with the Game Console they both got! That’s a similar activity they always do! “Love is about feeling vulnerable. [. ] finding your best friend. That’s why you have to create opportunities to fall in love.” That whole line pretty much explained Lance and Pidge’s relationship. They are pretty much best friends and I’m so sure they have been vulnerable towards each other in many ways that I will explain later on as well.

That second image on the right is just so cute because Lance is holding her shoulder for reassurance as she plays that chess game they’re lives depend on!

The second two images I put an arrow on so u guys can see which scene starts first. On these two panels, first, Pidge had forgotten a lot of things when she put on that crown. I think it was that it gave her too much knowledge that it made her forget things or something but slowly started remembering and the first thing she remembered was Lance. If that doesn’t show she cares about him, aside from her actually saying she’s glad he’s not dead, then I don’t know what is! I'll also add that the last bit where he said "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me" and she replies "Is that true?" maybe made her question herself because maybe she thought, Why would I be mean to him if I know I like him? Who knows. Lol.

So the third row of two pictures with Pidge, we all know she super smart and loves intelligent puns and Lance, well he tries to catch on. On the second picture he made a pun that Shiro caught onto so what is his reply? To not tell Pidge lol That just shows how much of an influence she’s become in him!

The fourth picture going down, we have Lance and Pidge saying some sort of jokes where they switch it up the next time they use those phrases again but I just love how close they seem and how gentle of expressions they seem to give each other on the second half of the panels!

As for the famous picture where Lance and Pidge are playing their game, well, Lance says that after seeing his family and so on that the next thing he will do is be with Pidge, and not just that! Take her her favorite cookies as well! That’s a great boyfriend right there! ;)

The last picture all the way on the bottom left is just cute banter and oh gosh. They are so cute!

Now, the final picture on the bottom-right, we have a page of Kaltenecker. But wait, his name is colored in a shade of Cyan… Cyan is a greenish-blue color, the color of the two Paladins who own her! Pidge and Lance! That’s just so darn… ugh! And the fact that Lance replied “Moo” for all the answers and the part where he said “we presume” only means they did all this together! That’s just so boyfriend/girlfriend of them!!! Lol

I’m sorry ahead of time if this gets confusing. I added what season/episodes some are in that I remembered.

The first four I want to talk about (First Two Screen Caps on the first and second row) are from 1x1 (Season 1 x Episode 1) where they are talking about a ship entering earths atmosphere. The fact that they didn’t say spacecraft or shuttle but chose SHIP makes it feel that DW (DreamWorks) did this on purpose because as soon as Pidge says it’s a ship then Lance snatches the goggles, that she is still holding, and uses them! And then she says “We gotta see that ship!” and Lance FOLLOWS! Only Lance! Hunk stays behind!

Top Right>> Okay so now I’m doing this to make it easier lol. This SC (Screen Cap) is Lance noticing that the Kurboros Mission is a touchy subject for Pidge. He’s been close to her since they met so that only makes their bond stronger. That and Lance has amazing Intuitive Skills that we all know of which I will bring up again later!

R2 SC3 (Row 2 Screen Cap 3)>> Pidge is annoyed of Hunk touching her equipment. You know who she isn’t annoyed of touching her things? Lance. 😏

R3>> This whole row is just dedicated to their lack of personal space towards each other! Just a few from many SC! This has to be another foreshadowing man lol

R4 SC1-2>> 7x6 The episode that gave us all heart attacks lol I’m sure you all have heard this already but this episode had so much Plance/Kallura. The cinematic perspective of this whole episode just yelled Plance and Kallura. In these two scenes both couples specifically grab onto each other, there being SC of only when Keith grabs Alluras hand and Lance grabbing Pidge's. The shot where those light creatures come around them, you see Pidge, while holding Lances hand in the sweetest way in the back and same with Allura with Keith. Its just so… so… cinematically pleasing if you go for either ship lol

R4 SC3>> This was just a cute shot of them I put in to fill in the gap lol but its great!

R5 SC1-3>> 1x4 This episode was when Lance saved Coran from the explosion the fake Rover made. When Shiro and Lance are captures by Sendak, Pidge goes to save them only to be captured by him but Lance suddenly woke up from his unconscious state to shoot Sendak and save Pidge. He then falls back to the floor. I think this shows so much. Sure, he has yet to know Pidge was a girl at that time but he’s so close to her that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, even when he’s unconscious lol.

R6 SC1-2>> 1x1 Going back to this episode. I had seen this since I started watching the series but didn’t think much of it until I really put attention to the scene the second time around. Lance was showing off to Pidge, calling himself “The Tailor” and what not. Pidge in response gave a small blush, even of he did fail the simulator test. Sure, he obviously has yet to know she’s a girl but whose to say that’s just how their relationship has unknowingly built up? ;)

R6 SC3>> 2x6 This is interesting because Lance made fun of Pidge first saying her fancy Galra Finder didn’t work, then her showing her annoyed face. It then changes the scene to Shiro talking to one of the Aliens telling them the Galra were there only to change the scene back to Lance and Pidge, Pidge saying “So the Galra were here, Lance.” With a smug expression causing Lance to blush. Why would DW go back to this scene? It’s just playful banter BUT playful banter of them hinting us of a relationship to be maybe!

R1 SC1-2>> It’s cute how Lance is all excited telling Pidge “That’s my thing!” when she didn’t believe he was a good shot haha like he gets excited telling her things!

R2 SC1-2>> These both are from different episodes but are of both Lance and Pidge blushing. Lance from him acting cocky and Pidge from seeing Lance in a body suit (at least that’s what I think) where she can see all the toned parts of his body ;) She is a teenager after all lol

Top Right Down Three>> All these SC are symbolic to me. A foreshadowing because these are a few of many where it shows them together in a single scene or doing the same. This shows me that they can’t be any more similar than they already are! They are one in the same honestly.

Last Three Down>> 5x6 This scene is one of my Favorites! Allura and Lotor had left to check out where Altean Alchemy is held along with the knowledge of Alteans and Lance is freaking out talking to everyone asking if she will be alright or if they are doing anything as Pidge and the rest try to turn the Castle back on. This whole time Lance interrupts them as Pidge works on the castle. Sure it sounds that she’s simply annoyed but if you listen to the tone she sounds more than annoyed! It’s like she’s annoyed, not just because he’s interrupting them, but because he’s over exaggerating about Allura. Obviously everyone is worried but Lance just goes overboard causing Pidge to also go overboard as everyone just stares at both of them back and forth. Haha.

Last 3 Second Row Down>> These three shots are from different episodes but you can see that it’s Hunk and Pidge doing their Team Punk Bump as Lance watches. I don’t exactly remember the order of it and some scenerios are different than others but you can see that he’s not always keeping a big smile. Almost like he’s jealous that they have a ‘Thing’ while he doesn’t have one with either of them *cough* Pidge *cough*.

Last 3 Third Row Down>> This could kind of be related to the last point. 6x3 When they are done playing M&M, Pidge and Hunk got out of their stump from what they are doing, make an explanation of what to do next and run off. Meanwhile Lance looks somewhat annoyed, saying that he doesn’t understand the science words as much as the fantasy ones but his expression from looking at them then look away seems to show otherwise!

R1 SC1-2>> These two scenes have Lance with Pidge’s stuff! Her headphones and some of her pillows! Strange that she’s okay with Lance getting her stuff but not Hunk lol

R1 SC3>> 1x6 Where Pidge reveals she’s a girl and everyone BUT Lance knew. It’s weird that he didn’t know because he has amazing intuition. It kind of feels to me that maybe he’s playing dumb? Maybe he DID know? That’s why he’s always been ‘show offy’ with Pidge. Maybe… just maybe… that’s a big stretch right there but an interesting thought lol.

R2 SC1-2>> These two are a little different. The first one, Hunk and Pidge are teasing Lance because Allura is with Lotor but Pidge is kind of teasing in a ‘Haha she won’t return your feelings’ kind of way because she likes him. In the next one Lance and Pidge are teasing Hunk with Shay but her expression is more playful. Hmm. Interesting. ;)

R2 SC3/R3 SC3>> 7x1 “Wow. They’re a lot uglier than I thought they’d be.” “I think it’s cute. You know, in a creepy hideous sort of way. Like you Lance.” The fact that Pidge acknowledged Lance was even remotely cute shows she likes Lance! C’mon y’all! The look that Coran gives Pidge after that comment just kills me haha. He’s like “Ahhh. I see you Numbah five.” 😂 but really. The fact that Pidge says that right after Lance talks shows it even more!

R3 SC1-2>> So I actually have these two flipped wrong but the one with him by himself is when Pidge calls him the goofball of the team. At first it seems like he didn’t care much, since it’s their usual banter but then when Lance talks to Allura, it seems that Pidge’s words do somewhat get to Lance. Not in a mean way but Lance is vulnerable when it comes to Pidge.

R4>> 2x4 It’s taken me a while to figure this scene out because it was always strange to me how Pidge’s tone is. (Also, sorry I cut off some of the subs 😅) Pidge is amazed by how beautiful the tech is while Lance replies saying “It’s not a sunset Pidge” because maybe he loves sunsets. In that, Pidge replies “Your right. A billion sunsets just happen every day” with a kind of somber tone. Maybe she’s never really cared for sunsets? But in that third SC in the row, there is a small picture of a sunset on a beach on her wall. Maybe she’s coming to enjoy sunsets because of Lance? Maybe he’s talked to her about it? Maybe it reminds her of him? Interesting. There is also one more piece I will bring up in the next set of SC’s.

R5>> These! 1x4 Lance sees Rover but right away wonder where Pidge is because he knows she’s close to it. 7x4 The third SC is from The Feud when Lance is trying to remember Rolo's name. Interesting that right after trying to remember Rolo he says “Yeah. Pidge loved that Robot.” Not “Nyma was awesome.” Or “They tricked us”. He could have said any of that but chose something that reminded him of Pidge!

R6>> 2x2 Lance mentions he likes mermaids (maybe because he’s always loved the beach) and in 4x2 in Pidge’s room, she has a stuffed Mermaid!

Out of context but I just realized that for the whole Rover thing, its on Ep 4 of S 1 & 7. For the mermaid thing it’s on Ep 2 of S 2 & 4. What a weird coincidence lol.?

R1 SC1>> 6x2 Chulatt and Chuchule making a heart with their cute little mice tails! This scene is where the mice tell Allura Lance’s secret of him liking her. What I feel gives away plance, and is ironic, is that those two specific Space Mice create the heart! The little one (Chulatt) is Pidge and the pink one (Chuchule) is Lance. We know this because there was a photo of the mice in Paladin Armor and they were in those specific colored armors. If anyone wants to add that picture in the comments, knock yourself out lol.!

R1 SC2-3>> 2x7 Hey look! Another sunset! And not just that. In the store they got a game console that they worked hard to get together, along with their Moo Child, Kaltenecker! 😏 Lol. This episode really brought out the relationship they have in full bloom! First! Lance was originally going to go with Allura and get her something pretty and shiny BUT instead, he stopped flirting to go and help Pidge get something she really wanted! Plus, had a blast doing it! The tender look he gives her when she’s holding the game is so heartwarming and he’s just as excited as she is to start the console up! Remember what he said is a point to falling in love? “Love is about finding your best friend.” Welp. There ya go Lance.!

R2 SC1-2>> 4x3 Before this scene Matt had complimented Pidge for being smart, so she responded with a goofy smile. Lance also compliments her intelligence right after Matt. She gives him this soft look. I rest my case. Lol.

R3 SC1-2>> 7x9 The Paladins arrive back on earth where their loved ones await them. The most anxious is Pidge as she jumps to her mom and who, you may ask, does it change to right afterwards? Lance. The shot has Lance and Hunk but it’s more zoomed in on Lance with the gentlest look that I believe he’s ever gave honestly. He then gets interrupted by his family running to him, him in tears of the joy in seeing them. THIS is another reason why I believe they are endgame because both love their family so much, who reside on earth. I can’t imagine them wanting to stay in space once the war is over. They are made for each other honestly haha.

Top Right going Down SC 2-3>> These two scenes are parallels. They both have strong feelings for eachother and are extremely protective of one another. 7x3 First Lance with his “Don’t you touch her!”. His choice in words just scream I’ll kill you! Because of how protective of her she is. Knowing he is tired up and unable to do much, he still tried to rescue her. 2x10 Pidge’s “Lance! No!” Just tells me she has liked him for so long. Her feelings were already strong since the beginning. This scene didn’t need to emphasize on her wanting to save Lance and showing emotion but DW did it this way on purpose! ;)

R4>> 6x3 Ahhh. Monsters & Mana again! You know how we’ve all found out that the filler episodes aren’t actually fillers but a foretelling of future things? Well, look at these cuties once again having lack of personal space! And then the second SC is of Pidge looking up at Lance instead of looking at the view like the others but still enjoying herself with her big smile! The third SC is now of Lance giving her that gentle look once again. Instead of looking at the view, he looks at Pidge as she is having the time of her life!

R5 SC1-2>> 5x1 I kind of messed up on my choice of SC but I’m sure you all will still understand. This episode is when Matt and Pidge failed in saving their dad. Pidge is there hugging her legs from the thought of her dad not being around anymore. Lance is the first to turn to see her and then Hunk. What I see though is Hunk having a worried expression and Lance looks a little worried for her as he is turning but once he is standing and looking her way, he looks more determined. Determined for her to get her father but for her to also be safe maybe? Last thing is that on the SC where it shows her hugging her legs, Lance is still in the shot. I would say that this is a vulnerable scene for Pidge because she is so in distress because of her father.

R5 SC3>> 6x7 Just a simple SC of Pidge looking back at Trash Lance as they get ready to leave the Castle of Lions. Trash Hunk is there too but she looks over Trash Lance lol.

R6>> 4x3 This whole row scene is just so cute. Lance and Hunk run to Pidge as she lands. Lance being the first one to get to her just smile at seeing his girlfriend back lol. She gives them all a smile as she holds her little space mouse.

R1 SC1 Down First Two SC>> 1x10 I don’t think many think much of this scene but how can you not? The first SC Pidge messed up the robot and said “Whoops” but the second one was after Lance was asking about Allura, giving off a goofy smile until Pidge’s robot smacked him in the face. Afterwards she said “Whoops” again but in a more sarcastic tone. That’s jealosy at its finest lol.

R1 SC2 Down First Two SC>> Lance is showing off the pictures of him with the alien girls but to Pidge. I sometimes wonder if he did it on purpose to get a reaction from her because she was smiling before he showed her the picture. Jealousy moment numero dos! Lol

R1 SC3 Down First Two SC>> 1x10 I love this scene because as soon as Keith leaves after Lance told him to not leave, he glances over to Pidge who is very unimpressed. Afterwards he turned his head with a smug expression saying “I think I told him” and Pidge responding with the most sarcastic “You are the paragon of leadership, Lance” with him still being all proud. Its all just ugh. I love their relationship hahaha.

R3>> Dancing buddies? I think Yes! Lol how much more perfect can they be for eachother? Hahaha

R1>> 2x4 Yet another scene I love because in this scene Lance and Pidge are kind of moving in sync. Lol. It’s so them haha.

R2&3 First SC>> 7x10 This is another scene that I don’t think that a lot of people take too in depth but Allura and Lance just had a moment where they both blush. Afterwards, all the paladins head out to their destination as they concentrate but Pidge looks like the only one that’s a little… sad? Distressed? The little lines under her eyes show a different emotion than the other paladins. She looks like she’s just thinking. I think she may have seen Allura with Lance and now is torn by her feelings because Allura might reciprocate his feelings. Right after her shot of the green Lion arriving to her, it turns to Lance who is calm and ready but we all know that scene that red showed up just in the Knick of time. I think red knows that Lance is meant to be with another, not with the one he wants but someone he will need.

R2&3 Second SC>> 6x2 This is where Lance is trying to get Alluras attention but she’s too into Lotor to care. Lance says “She’s smart, courageous, and makes me want to be a better person”. Adding on that aside from being an alien princess, she’s those things but that he isn’t a prince like Lotor so what does it matter. The first SC he honestly explained Pidge so if that’s what he is looking for in someone then maybe that was a hint to us. And then he goes on saying that Allura won’t take his feelings seriously and that he has nothing to offer. Maybe this is another foreshadowing that Pidge is going to take it super serious and he doesn’t need to offer anything with her because the way is is already everything she wants ;) That is a stretch though lmao.

R2&3 Third SC>> I’m just going to show you guys and not explain to much with this haha The Plance Nebula! We all know it but I don’t think we all yet know that it’s been in front of our faces all this time! In the intro of every episode when the screen pops up. That’s the nebula just on its side! Now answer me this. If it wasn’t important then why would it be right after Pidge’s Nebula in the trailer for S8???? That’s the only different nebula aside from all the others being the Paladins themselves!

I’m telling Y’all that alllllll this is what makes me think that Plance is Endgame!

This I needed to add alone because they are so cute! They are the only onea that did this lol

7x13 If these scene itself isn't enough to have you think they are foreshadowing them together then man. I don't remember seeing any other two Paladins do this when they use their bayards at the same time on voltron. Its just such a powerful scene for a super power couple!!!

Omg guys I can't believe I finished this. If you read all this then kudos to you! Please let me know what you guys thought or what your opinion is because I put alot of work into this for everyone to have their plance super watered lol

Thanks for the help guys!!! :) @callmesath @ohfishwall @truegryffindorforever2 @gracekogane

💦💚🌱💙

[msbeccieboo]

Arrow 7x21 Brain Dump

Late, late review…oops! This episode was SO GOOOOOD!!!! I’ve seen a real mix of reactions for 7x21, but personally I LOVED IT!! TOMMY MERLYN guys…nuff said!! Obviously, it was painfully Olicity-light, which is criminal given our time restrictions, but when an episode was this good, I can overlook some things haha! I’m going to take it as an episode in its own right, even if we should have had it earlier in the season, again. I actually thought that this would be a short review this week as, being a bottle episode, not a lot really happens. But with Tommy back in play, a whole boatload of emotions, and my flash-forward Olicity babies being back in play, it got long as usual. Sorrynotsorry.

Oliver and TOMMY!!!!

Oh Oliver. Poor Oliver went through it this week. The episode picks up where we left off last week with Oliver in a concrete sandwich (luckily dodging all the rebar), after sister-dearest dropped a building on him. Coming to, he calls for Overwatch and John (he knows who’s important) he looks up and we hear:

“Need some help?”

*Roll titles* Da da da da da da dah-da!!🏹

More beneath the cut

TOMMYTOMMYTOMMYTOMMYTOMMYTOMMY!!!!! Once more for the haters….TOMMY MERLYN!!!! YAAAAASSSSS!!!! In case it isn’t clear, I love me some Tommy Merlyn 😍😍 I will gladly accept any and every version of him that they can give us. Rat Poison Hallucination Tommy? Yup. Flashback Tommy? Sure. Earth 27.3 Evil Clown Tommy? Bring it! Any version, any time, anywhere, I’m there! So that is where I stand on the Tommy Merlyn debate haha! I loved how he was used in this episode. For me it didn’t feel like it had been overdone before, as I’ve seen some people say. We have actually had very little Tommy since he died. We have only had him as a ghost/hallucination for one tiny scene in 2x09 (I’m not counting the Alien dream as he didn’t even speak, and was just a really bad CGI job), since then he’s been back either in flashback, Earth X, or Human Target form, so the opportunity for a prolonged vision-Tommy, as the voice of Oliver’s morality?? Sign me the hell up!!

Colin still knows, and plays Tommy so damn well. He slips straight back into the character, and he is so like the character we knew from S1 conversationally, and in his mannerisms. How he has differentiated between the various versions we have seen over the seasons is just testament to Colin’s acting ability. Ugh, he’s fabulous.

So Oliver escapes from the rubble with help from Tommy and a trick arrow, and then a whole emotional rollercoaster ensues for a decent portion of the episode. I liked that straight off the bat, Oliver notes that he must have a concussion, he knows he’s dreaming, and he doesn’t care, he just goes along with it for the opportunity to ‘speak’ to his oldest friend again. I was living for the easy nostalgic conversations they had. They joked about the whole secret half-sister thing they now shared, with a cute little nod to Thea, Tommy’s beard 😂and a story of ‘Ollie’ hotwiring Malcolm’s car and getting grounded. This was so cute and light, given the dire circumstances.

Source: smoakmonster

The conversation eventually turns round to Serious Things, and a hashing out of Oliver’s duelling feelings on Emiko, on redemption, on killing for the right or wrong reasons. Oliver’s Daddy issues manifest, and it was emotional to see just how fucked up Oliver still is by the actions of Robert and Malcolm.

Tommy warns him that he needs to break free of his and Robert’s cycle of lies and hate that he is trapped in. He has a chance of a clean slate, to keep his past from hurting his kids, but Oliver won’t listen, convinced that he must kill Emiko to keep his family safe. He eventually breaks out of the room and joins the team. Not heeding Tommy or Dig’s words of caution, he leaves the team and pursues Emiko, intent on killing her. She tells him she knows about the baby, and the rage we saw on Oliver’s face was epic!

Despite Dig catching up with him and telling him not to, Oliver takes aim and shoots Emiko in the chest, killing her. However, when Oliver turns around he sees that Diggle has an arrow in his chest, and he falls down to his death, where we see the rest of the team, also all arrowed!! Then snap!! Back to Tommy…it was all a dream.

Source: arrowdaily

WRITERS, NEVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!!! I NEVER WANT TO SEE JOHN THOMAS DIGGLE DIE!! 😭😭😭

We get back to Oliver with Tommy, with Oliver crying over Dig’s ‘death’ 😭 no baby nooo!!! Tommy tells him his vision was a “reminder of what it feels like”. Oliver replies "Of seeing my loved ones die? Of seeing my family be threatened?" His voice breaking on the family part ended me 😭😭😭

Source: olivergifs

Tommy likens these feelings to how Robert must have felt; that fear leads to vengeance then to cruelty and abandonment. And that as long as Oliver keeps giving in to his worst impulses, he will never be free of Robert’s cycle. He advises him on what he needs to do regarding Emiko.

A lot of Tommy’s words to Oliver here and throughout the episode sounded more like Felicity in their nature, from the lighter parts:

Source: ebett

To the more supportive words he had for Oliver: 

“Lean in to the best parts of yourself; your loyalty, your selflessness, your courage, your compassion, and show that side to Emiko. You are living proof that people can change, and you’ve got to find a way to see that in her too.” 😍

I can almost hear Felicity telling him ‘Tommy’s’ words. And this makes sense, with being a dream/hallucination and all. These are all voices in Oliver’s head; a mix of his own thoughts and the words of the two people who knew him best before (Tommy) and after (Felicity) the island. So, once more for the Tommy haters in the back…this wasn’t a conversation between ‘Tommy’ and Oliver, Oliver wasn’t asking for Tommy’s opinion; it was an internal dialogue between two conflicting desires within Oliver; it was Oliver’s conscience having a little tête-à-tête.

Oliver hears the team coming for him, and realises his time with Tommy is up. He says goodbye to his friend by telling him:

Source: misomeru

DEADED! Sobbing.like.a.baby. This felt like a true, final goodbye. Oliver took his realisation from ‘Tommy’. He knows what he has to do to stop Emiko and keep his soul and his family safe.

Anyway the team rescue Oliver and take him back to the lair, where they learn that Emiko and co. have stolen back the bioweapon from last week and are in the middle of slaughtering the SCPD, with Emiko dressed as Oliver *le sigh*. Oliver confronts her on the roof of the SCPD (ah, the memories…), has the opportunity to kill her, but doesn’t. He tries to reach her, offers her a chance at redemption once more “help me end our family’s cycle of violence”. Instead, half-sister-supervillain tells him she is going to kill him, his family and his city, then dares him to kill her. Oliver tells her no, and she actually looks…disappointed?? Then just zooms away on a zipwire arrow…see you next week Emiko!! The team arrive on the roof, just as an SCPD helicopter arrives to apprehend them….the end!

With regards to Oliver’s stance on not killing Emiko…I am totally ok with it. I don’t think its’s character regression on his part, it’s his choice to end a cycle of violence and guilt. I wrote a little more on redemption here, but my personal take is that redemption isn’t necessary for Emiko, just the opportunity of it. Oliver could easily detain her indefinitely and help her to redeem herself, or not, that is her choice. But it is important to Oliver that he tries his hardest to give that chance to her. I hope that he sees her choice in the matter by the end, and doesn’t continue beating the proverbial dead horse. (Or, you know, that someone else just kills her, or she falls off a cliff or something 😂)

Olicity

Ok, yes, I was hoping for more this week…a hug at least! We got the concern and the love, both separately and very briefly face-to-face 😡. Much as in my perfect world all episodes would be full of Olicity moments, this week, taken as a standalone, didn’t need a lot of Olicity in order to be a good episode. It was a great episode…on it’s own, in a vacuum. But it’s the penultimate Olicity episode ever. I would have liked more focus, that’s all.

Anyway, here’s the pretty:

Source: olicitygifs

Source: olicitygifs

Bonus: Cheeky bum grab 👀😏

Source: lucyyh 💗

Felicity

Felicity wasn’t the primary focus of the episode, this was definitely an Oliver episode, but given her dual storylines in the present and the FFs, we still got a lot of her on our screens. My gripe is that this would have been fine in any other episode, but this was her penultimate show!! But it is what it is…onwards and upwards and all that!

We first see her, back at Smoak Tech HQ, where Alena tells her that the SCPD are there with a warrant. All Felicity wants is some tech to help her locate Oliver (said tech is being manhandled by ‘Lieutenant Butterfingers’ LOVE HER 😂😂), but Sergeant Bingsley (ugh) has other ideas. Emiko has sent them the footage of Roy killing the guards, and they also linked the Ninth Circle bomb to Archer, and Archer back to Smoak Tech, and he is there to arrest Felicity…RUDE!!! Felicity and Alena escape, by taking out all the officers with a supercharged Canary Cry-esque burst from Felicity’s security system. YAAAASSSS GIRL!! 👑👑👑

I liked the focus on Alena and Felicity’s friendship in this episode; meant to mirror the ‘reveal’ in the FFs, and set up Felicity’s leaving, no doubt. Alena tells her that of course she will help her “I’m not letting you do this alone”, and they head to the bunker to find Oliver and the team. (Side thought: if the team are now working for the SCPD, why don’t they SCPD know where the lair is? Why don’t they go there to arrest Felicity/Roy/anyone else? Huh.) Felicity gets in touch with the team, but not Oliver, and helps to guide them through the building. Classic Overwatch. I loved how Alena was all of us when she asks Felicity how she breathes when she does this!

Then we see Emiko show up at the lair. Change. the. locks. people! 

Source: felicitysmoakgifs

NOOOOOOO!!!! Save baby Mia!! But now Emiko knows agggghhhhhh!!!!! I loved Felicity’s attempt at reasoning with her; her baby is innocent, just as Emiko was, and it seemed to work, as Emiko left them unharmed. This was really a reality check moment for Felicity, of the direct danger that her baby would/could be put in if they continue this lifestyle as it is for much longer. I think Felicity is just so naturally positive, and has such faith in her own abilities, and in Oliver, that she had honestly believed that they would all be ok up until now.

Source: feilcityqueen

Felicity’s reality, her feelings, (and her hormones) all come crashing upon her at once, as she compares her situation to her own childhood experiences. And where she had always hoped that things would be different when she had her own children. Her whole speech about her comparing her childhood with her dreams for her own children, and her doubting her parenting ability was just heart-breaking:  

“Growing up my parents made my life miserable, and I promised myself I would do better when I became a parent...I imagined this life and this is not it. Somehow I have done something worse...I can’t even keep my children safe.” 😭😭😭

NOOO!!! I just wanted to give her a hug! This leads into Alena suggesting that there’s ‘another way’ for Felicity. She tells Felicity that she can go off the grid, run the company remotely, but raise her family with Oliver in private, away from the SCPD and all the ungrateful fucks in Star City (I may have paraphrased slightly there!). This seed planted here is likely going to be how we see Felicity written out in the finale next week 😭

Source: ebett

Team Arrow

Roy Freaking Harper. The man. The legend. Love him. He’s the hero Team Arrow has deserved, and has been missing. NTA could never. And it was never more apparent than in this episode. After the blast, Felicity gets in touch with them and updates them with the SCPD developments. 

As the generator kicks back in, they realise that the blast bringing the building down blew out a gas line and the whole of the lower level is filled with a toxic and flammable gas. Gas + generator = BOOM (hmmm this plot sound very familiar). Unfortunately the generator is on that same lower level, and needs turning off in order to save them all from going up in flames.  So on one side we have Rene crying over his rep, Dinah bitching about losing her job and saying that Roy should give himself up to save the rest of the team. Then we have Roy, who just parkours straight into the toxic gas, sacrificing himself to turn off the generator and save the team. Eat it NTA. And they did! The overreaction by Rene, and especially Dinah, who sinks to the ground like the love of her life has just been killed (again 😬) is just ridiculous! Roy, being the badass parkour ninja bunny that he is, manages to jump back up and out of the gas. Yay Roy! Next thing, Dinah’s guilt clearly kicks in and she’s giving a still remorseful Roy a pep talk, telling him how the world and the team needs a hero like him. What the actual fuck Dinah? MAKE UP YOUR DAMN MIND! This woman could win the world yo-yo championships. Her weekly, or hourly, flip-flopping from one completely different viewpoint to another is tedious, exhausting and whiplash inducing. Go away. I beg of you. This pep-talk should have come from Dig. He’s Uncle Dig, pep-talks are his jam. And he would actually believe and stand by his words. Instead, Dig was sidelined again for more ridiculous bird action, because comics.

Roy’s guilt and apparent suicidal tendencies over the pit-rage-fuelled killings last week, combined with Dinah’s “dying is the coward’s way out, every day that you stay alive you try to redeem yourself” can only be leading to his exile on Lian Yu, surely? That will be where he seeks his redemption. But 20 years?? Man, I think he might have some more pit-mishaps coming up first!

FFs

My boy William is back!!! YAY!!! We got some overdue future family Clayton-Smoak-Queen feels this week. First off, just look at these little Olicity babies…those expressions!!!! 😍

Felicity says that in order to stop the Archer-powered Army, they need to take Archer down for good. William tries to help, with a ‘quick and dirty virus’, but Felicity denies him, insisting that he keeps safe. He rebuts with another plan to take Archer down by hacking Slimy Galaxy One Dude in proximity, employing a little flirty-flirt…Season 1 Felicity reference FTW!!!! Felicity again tells him no, that she wants him safe. This leads to him blowing up at being excluded, just like when he was a kid, and his anger at being left behind come up. Felicity apologises for not coming back for him, and tells him they just wanted him safe, and to have a normal life, but she is interrupted by a hacking emergency and Will walks off. This leads to him opening up to Mia about his feelings of abandonment, and this was another chance for us to see Mia’s softer, empathetic side, especially in her defence of Felicity. She reminds him that Felicity was still watching over him, that she backed his company and helped him to succeed, to which William replies “I didn’t need her money, Mia, I needed a mother” 😭😭 I just want to hug him!! Mia tells him that the only way to come to terms with it, and to find out their real reasons for ‘abandoning’ him is to confront her head on. This never gets to happen in the episode, but this conversation must surely mean that this will happen next week? And I’m guessing her answer will come with a surprise of some sort (hopefully of the Oliver-variety!!).

Will decides to ignore Felicity, and goes to hack Archer directly from Slimy Guy, who is still as cringe-inducing as ever. Not nearly as cringeworthy, however, as Rene’s terrible hair, as he is brought out as the man who ‘inspired’ the Zeta project?? Ugh, ratty rats must be killed. Squeak squeak Rene! Slimeball gets an alert and leaves them, only to return moments later with a gaggle of Zeta soldiers. They have detected William’s DNA, and Slimer announces that he knows who William really is, with “Such a pleasure to finally meet the son of Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak”!!!!! I adore hearing him be called both of theirs son soooo much!!

Meanwhile, back in the lair, we meet the “mad scientist that converted Archer into Frankenstein’s monster” (Felicity’s words haha), who turns out to be non-other than…Alena! Ok, so not the biggest reveal ever, but I still loved the scene. Felicity summoned her to help destroy Archer by freezing her bank accounts and passport (still got it!), and we get to see angry protective Mia confronting her, while Alena looks at her, rather softly, and laments:

Source: eloquence-of-felicities

She then goes on to apologise to Dinah for what happened to her Canaries. And she means it. She explains how she came to releasing Archer to Galaxy One. I liked here how they didn’t go with her being an outright evil mastermind...she tried to license out the program, then was subject to a hostile takeover, and had her loved ones threatened by Slimey Dude Kevin Dale. A shared look between them implied that maybe her 'loved ones' possibly included Felicity? Or maybe just that she was hoping Felicity would empathise with that choice? We never get to know, because the lair is suddenly swarmed with Zetas, as the remaining team (minus Connor and Zoe) are apprehended by Galaxy One. 

To be continued…

Bonus:

William: *hacks*, Felicity: *that’s mine*, Mia: *who can I punch?*

So yes, exciting times in both timelines!! ONE EPISODE LEFT GUYS!!! HOW ARE WE GOING TO MAKE IT?!?! 😬😬😬

Thank you as always to the fabulous gif makers, you beautiful people! 😍😍 (The uncredited, poor quality gifs are mine haha!)