#most old fandoms that I've fallen out of are pretty well in the past for me

[untitled-tmnt-blog]

Hi hi! I love rotg, very exciting to hear others do too! The fandom is pretty small nowadays. Do you have any favorite creators?

Hello!

To be honest, I haven't interacted with the rotg random much in the past decade or so! The Guardians obsession sort of went into sleep mode, and it gets briefly woken up every now and then when somebody mentions it.

I'm pretty out of touch with anything more current, because of that... but there are a handful of 10+ year old FFN fics/chapters that I tend to go back and re-read every now and then! The one I return to the most is probably Acorn Eyes (the chapter is part of a collection, but it's a stand-alone oneshot and can be read by itself).

My favorite rotg fics can pretty much be summarized as: hurt Jack (physically or emotionally), then let Bunny take care of him. Those two really fed into my love of hurt/comfort, in my late teens.

[umazane-muesli]

Jukebox January Day 28: soundtracks

Yes I've fallen off the Jukebox January wagon yet again, but I've been looking forward to this prompt because I love listening to soundtracks! I have a massive playlist (like 40+ hours) and I mostly use it to study, read or focus, but not only.

There are so many that I love I'm not sure how to organise this post, but I'll try.

There are composers that have composed several soundtracks that I like. Some more old-ish/classic/iconic ones include John Williams of course (you know who he is, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and so many more), John Barry (if a film is from the 80s and vaguely outdoorsy, it's probably him (Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, Born Free...), Ennio Morricone (italian westerns, The Mission...), or Yann Tiersen (anything european with piano music, like Amélie Poulain or Goodbye Lenin). I haven't even seen some of those movies lol, I just love the music.

Some composers have composed the music for movies that you wouldn't necessarily associate, it's kind of funny. Like Henry Jackman made the music for X-Men first class and the Winter Soldier, but also Puss in Boots for some reason (the Puss in Boots soundtrack is an unexpected banger btw). Alan Silvestri made the Avengers and Captain America soundtracks but also Forrest Gump and Back to the Future. Talk about an extensive career. Alexandre Desplat also composed some cool soundtracks, like the Shape of Water and a bunch of Wes Anderson movies.

I'm also a big fan of the Doctor Who soundtracks, there are so many seasons now and yet the music is never repetitive while still making clever callbacks through themes and motifs. It must be such a massive undertaking and I think it's done beautifully, all the characters and creatures have such distinct themes that I adore, and the atmosphere is also established through the music (for example the time period, etc.). The composer was Murray Gold for more than a decade, and now it's Segun Akinola, who I think is doing a good job of continuing his legacy (I'm quite behind on Doctor Who stuff so I've only really listened to series 11 from him but I like it).

I also love the music from Ghibli films, most (probably all? I haven't checked) were composed by Joe Hisaishi. I love many of them but I have a particular soft spot for Kiki's delivery service <3

There are some soundtracks that I know because I've played them in my brass band. Soundtracks are some of the fun fun things to play in my opinion, more accessible than full-on brass band music but less repetitive than pop songs (which I find kind of annoying to play, and the arranging is sometimes pretty bad lol). Some of the ones I remember playing are Braveheart, Band of Brothers, Planes (yes, the Cars spinoff lol, I haven't seen it but the music is weirdly good) and Dances with Wolves and the Magnificent Seven.

I also have to mention the Visitor from the Future (le Visiteur du futur), my first (fandom) love, I bought the CD when I was 16 and the main theme will be engrained in my heart forever.

Then a bunch of miscellaneous films that I think have great soundtracks: Il Postino, Brokeback Mountain, Eddie the Eagle, Blancanieves, How to Train your Dragon and Luca.

Some TV shows as well: Anne with an E, Outlander (even though I'm a whimp and never got past the end of season 1 lmao, but the music is nice), Torchwood (even though the track titles could have been a little bit less spoilery, I listened to the soundtrack before watching season 2 and that was a mistake let me tell you), Agent Carter, Good Omens, Ted Lasso and The Witcher (at least season 1, I think the soundtrack for season 2 is weirdly pretty bad?). Hannibal and Killing Eve also have pretty distinctive musical atmospheres.

I don't really play video games, but some of them have great soundtracks, like Skyrim, Mass Effect 3, Outer Wilds and Undertale (I listened to so much Undertale music when I was studying for my high school diploma, now it's forever associated with that period in my brain).

Sometimes I like when classical music is used in soundtracks, if it's done in an interesting way. Particular shoutout to Beethoven's 7th symphony which I think was made for cinema, even though it was obviously composed before cinema was even invented. It was used in the King's Speech, for example (and also in the visitor from the future lol).

Lastly, I want to mention some movies and shows that have great soundtracks made from pre-existing songs: Palm Springs, Hot Fuzz, Derry Girls, Our flag means death, Russian Doll, the San Junipero episode of Black Mirror and Pride (yes I love 80s music lol).

[sometipsygnostalgic]

When'd you get into Adventure Time the first time, and how'd it happen? Been thinking of giving it a watch (especially after all the good stuff that's been said of Obsidian and, admittedly, all the stuff I've seen you post and reblog), and it got me curious

This is like my favourite story, and it is the only good one I remember from being a teenager (life from back then has been super foggy since I moved out of my mum's but it is all good now):

When I was 15 I made a new friend who wanted to write a comic about Teen Titans with me as the artist, TT being my second-favourite childhood show after DBZ.

I started bingewatching Teen Titans because I now had a computer and was able to do so. I learnt about the voice actors.

Starfire was played by Hynden Walch. I learnt that Hynden's latest role was Princess Bubblegum on Adventure Time. I checked it out on wikipedia. It seemed kind of cartoony for me.

One thing that caught my eye is when the wikipedia page said PB "may have had a past relationship" with Marceline, the vampire girl with the really pretty hair. I was confused by this, and rationalised it to myself as they must have had a history as friends or enemies. It didn't say what kind of relationship and I thought there was no chance of it meaning "romantic".

For the time being, I didn't look into AT further.

A couple months pass. After several months of tension, I get a text while in school telling me that my dad was breaking up with his fiance, and I would need to move back into my mother's place immediately. This was smack bang when I was about to start my GCSE exams - the timing couldn't be worse. My mother's house is a shit hive and I went between having a tiny box room to myself or sharing a messy bedroom with my sister and mother. There were no standards for hygeine and there wasn't a stable supply of food.

I decide to finish my binge watch of Teen Titans. I spend all day doing this every day. I rewatched it once I was done. It was what I did to cope.

At the same time, my Teen Titans comic friend confides in me. She tells me she thinks she might be a lesbian, and she is scared her parents will reject her. I sympathise deeply. At the time, I was waist deep in the closet to the point I couldnt accept certain things about myself either, but having a friend come out to me made me reconsider LGBT matters.

I looked on deviantart and saw some art for "RaeStar". I thought it was wrong to ship them (I shipped RobStar hardcore) but, well, the art was so cute. Their interactions were healthy and sweet. It was nice. This became my low key first gay ship.

Then, I start bingeing RebelTaxi's Teen Titans video reviews.

Once I am dry on Teen Titans content, I see RebelTaxi did a review on Fionna and Cake, and on Ryan North's Issue #2 of the Adventure Time comic.

The first video, Fionna and Cake, was appealing to me. The show had an amazing art style, and a decent sense of humor. I loved that they did something for the fans, making a genderbent fanfic episode based on popular fan characters. It was unprecedented and very post modern.

....But it was the SECOND video that made me take a very sudden interest in the show.

RebelTaxi was referring to a scene with PB and Marcy in the bottom of the Lich's bag. There is a joke where Marcy turns into a tentacle monster. RebelTaxi always makes hentai jokes when tentacle monsters are involved, but he interpreted this scene as referencing the characters' "lesbian undertones".

...Wait, WHAT? Hynden Walch's character and the pretty vampire have Lesbian Undertones?!?! Haven't I heard this somewhere before?!?!

A quick google search of "Adventure Time Lesbian Undertones" later, I discover the Mathematical! Controversy - how an episode with some incredible songwriting seemed to imply they had been girlfriends in the past who have residual feelings for each other. A podcast had been made by the producers fangirling about this possibility, but it was taken down, and the director fired. Nobody had outright said the subtext was not there, but they said they didn't want the podcast to sound like word of god. There had been a lot of upset in the gay community over this. Oh, by the way, there's a gay community of cartoon fans who really ship PB/Marcy.

With a combination of everything, from how my friend had just come out to me and was struggling with homophobia, to how I was a Hynden Walch fan, to how the show had already impressed me with what little I'd seen, I became IMMEDIATELY invested in finding out as much as possible about these potential LGBT characters and their relationship.

So I checked out a ton of Adventure Time videos on youtube. I checked the vids that had Marceline's backstory in, vids with funny moments from PB and all the other characters, I checked Deviantart for fanart where I made my first engagements with the fandom's gay community, I checked the Wiki talk pages to get ALL of the discourse. It changed who I was basically overnight.

I decided Adventure Time was a fun show with clever writing, and absolutely worth my attention. During the break for exams, I binge watched it all day, and then I would cram for my GCSEs between midnight and 3am on the day of the exam. I was addicted!

When I caught up, Goliad aired. This was the first ep to come out with me being in the fandom.

At the time, even though Hynden had drawn me to the show, Marceline was the character I was most invested in. She had the amazing backstory and music and character design. PB was fun, but there was relatively nothing to her character.

Oh boy, that ALL CHANGED with Goliad! People were intensely debating what the episode was saying about her. Is she a good person, a bad person? Why was she so troubled in the episode's opening, and why was Goliad corrupted?

Discourse only escalated with Princess Cookie. The top post on the wikia was "Is Princess Bubblegum evil?"

Thinking about her character was so interesting for me. These two episodes made me realise PB was a character with her own internal battles, who was struggling with the responsibility to do what was right for her people vs what is the Right Thing, with her own psychological wellbeing caught in the middle. My interpretation of Goliad was that PB was a naturally neutral person who had decided to be good, whereas Goliad had been corrupted by Jake's anger, and this contrasted with Finn who was a pure good person. The Princess Cookie episode reinforced my ideas, because she was doing something that was neither objectively good or bad but was a result of her own morality, and it went against Jake's morality. The idea of the "good guys" having such different values was so engaging, and they managed to come around at the end, with baby-snaps being submitted to rehabilitation.

Princess Cookie was also the first episode where PB was shown to be an adult while a currently adult character was a child. Either candy people age quickly, or - more likely - Pb is keeping her age a mystery. After thinking about this, I opened up a page on the wiki forums saying "Is Princess Bubblegum Old?"

This is what sealed my position in the fandom. I became a well known regular of the community after that, on Wikia and then Tumblr. It was my first fandom. So many good memories of theories, debates, analysis and fanart, the satisfaction of my theories being confirmed in season 5 onwards.

The most important thing to me, about engaging with the AT community, was how those initial interactions around the LGBT content were the groundwork for me being comfortable coming out of the closet. If it wasn’t for that, if it wasn’t for speaking specifically to Thisfreemind and Illeity about how gay relationships are perfectly fine and healthy for kids to see, and no less clean than straight relationships, I might be a person with far more conservative views today, and I might have fallen out with several of my closeted friends over internalized homophobia.  

I would have also probably failed high school. My grades improved drastically over the next year, because my online community life had made me happier.  It was comfort and stability during a difficult couple of years. 

[fyeahfantasticfour]

Hello! I've recently gotten into Fantastic Four comics and have fallen in love with this blog. I was wondering if you have any comic recommendations for Sue Storm specifically? I love her and she's such an underrated Marvel lady! Thanks for your time.

Aw, thank you! You’re so kind! And, yes, Sue IS very underrated and fandom always misses how much of a badass she is. I tend to prefer stories where she is depicted as the badass she is, as a a mentor to younger women, and…well, I ship BenReedSue, so I love the shippy comics too.

So if you haven’t read many FF comics, it might be a good idea to start out with the Marvel Adventures Universe (Earth-20051), since in that universe Sue is a founding member and the leader of both the Fantastic Four and the Avengers. It’s pretty great! She appears in all of Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four, and she’s in Marvel Adventures Super Heroes v1 #17-21 and v2 #1-11 and #23. If I had to pick out specific issues though, I’d go with:

Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four v1 #9: “The Master of Sound”: Klaw decides to take down the Fantastic Four one-by-one, in what he determines is strongest to weakest…and makes the mistake of leaving Sue for last.

Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four v1 18: “The Spy I Couldn’t See": Nick Fury recruits Sue to moonlight as a SHIELD agent.

Marvel Adventures: Fantastic Four Vol 1 47: “Grimm Smash!”: A universe where Sue has Reed’s intelligence and Johnny’s powers and is best friends with Natasha Romanoff.

Marvel Adventures Super Heroes v2 #2: When Galactus apparently puts an ad on Craigslist searching for a new herald, Sue and her Avengers investigate.

I also love Tales of the Thing v1 #3: “Invisible Things,” where Sue and Ben take on the Wrecking Crew alone, which takes place in the Marvel Age Universe (Earth-50302). She’s cool in Fantastic Four: Season One and in Mythos: Fantastic Four, although that centers less on her. 

Cut for length.

As for the Prime Marvel Universe (Earth-616)…I tried to stick to comics that more-or-less focus on Sue and also are more or less understandable (I hope!) as stand-alones.

SUE HELPING OR MENTORING OTHER WOMEN:

X-Men First Class v2 #1: “The Job Shadow”: 
A flashback to Sue mentoring a teenage Jean Grey.
 (These First Class comics are officially listed as 616, but…they don’t 100% line up with 616 continuity. Just to warn you.)

The Pulse v1 #11: “Fear, Part 1”
: A pregnant Jessica Jones goes to Sue for advice on superhero parenting.


Marvel Knights 4 v1 #28: “Private Lives, Public Faces”
: Sue deals very viciously with her employee’s abusive husband. (CW for discussion of a pretty horrendous case of marital rape and domestic abuse)


Spider-Girl v2 #1: “Family Values”
: Sue mentors Anya Corazon (aka Spider-Girl), whose father is the FF’s unofficial reporter.

X-Men: To Serve and Protect v1 #3: “Invisible”
: Kitty Pryde turns to Reed for help when she discovers that she is permanently intangible; Sue offers comfort and advice.


X-23 v3 #13-19: 
Laura Kinney meets the FF and ends up babysitting Franklin and Val for Reed and Sue on their night out.

SUE IS A BADASS:

Marvel Team-Up v1 #88: “A Child Is Waiting”: Sue’s son Franklin is kidnapped by some overly ambitious mobsters, so she teams up with Spider-Man to rescue him. Read if you love high speed car chases and also watching Sue beat the shit out of mobsters who dared to abduct her baby.

Fantastic Four Vol 3 2: Be It Ever So Humble: The FF adjust to their new home on Pier 4…until they are attacked by a mysterious new foe that only Sue can see.

Fantastic Four v3 22: “Lost Hope!”: An AU Sue’s teenage daughter, Valeria Von Doom, materializes out of the blue. Sue rejects her.

X-Men / Fantastic Four Vol 1 1-5: Sue joins the X-Men to investigate a NASA space station that abruptly went silent.

Fantastic Four v1 #501-502: “5th Wheel, Parts 1-2”: Sue tries desperately to help her traumatized son recover from Doom’s most recent vicious attack, which involved throwing Franklin into Hell.

Marvel Knights 4 v1 #5-7: “The Pine Barrens, Pts. 1-3”: Ben, Reed, and Sue take their son Franklin and his friends on a camping trip that is more eventful than they’d anticipated.

Captain Universe: Invisible Woman Vol 1 1: “Empowered”: Sue temporarily absorbs uni-power, Gladiator wants it back.

Fantastic Four v1 #547-549: “Reconstruction, Chapters 4-7”: Sue is captured and tortured by the Frightful Four…and then she gets her revenge.

Fantastic Four v1 #558-562: “Death of the Invisible Woman, Parts 1-5”: A mysterious team of supervillains arrives from the future and abducts Victor Von Doom.

Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1-5: Reed’s first use of a multiversal portal called the Bridge goes wrong and sends Sue and the rest of the FF to the prehistoric past, and we also see AU versions of the FF, where Sue is a sheriff, a queen, a spy, etc.

Fantastic Four v1 #583-588: “Three”: Sue agrees to serve as the negotiator between the kings of New and Old Atlantis.

Fantastic Four Annual v5 #1: Fed up with her 3yo daughter’s decision to stay in Latveria, Sue goes to get her back.

S.H.I.E.L.D. v3 34: “Fuel”: S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Phil Coulson recruits Sue to help out on a top secret spy mission.

BENREEDSUE:

Fantastic Four: The Wedding Special: A celebration of Reed and Sue’s decades-long marriage.

Fantastic Four in ¡Ataque Del M.O.D.O.K.! Reed and Sue go on a romantic island getaway that is interrupted by M.O.D.O.K’s shenanigans.

Fantastic Four: Isla De La Muerte!: Ben disappears every year on a mysterious vacation, and Sue and Johnny are determined to figure out where he goes.