#my neighbor / my creator EP

[ghostconch]

...but I don't believe in heaven, so I have to have you now.

[fuckyeahaudiodrama]

🪸 JULY LISTENS 🪸

(ft. some lovely coral for those of us caught up on The Magnus Protocol😌)

this month, i’ve been working through some of the stuff that’s been languishing on my listen list for approximately a million years as well as revisiting some old favorites. here’s what i enjoyed most in my earholes:

G.O.B.L.I.N.S — (pilot, crowdfunding now!) for fans of Stellar Firma, the Meredith brothers have reunited with some other familiar voices to spin a story about an overly ambitious human office worker who gets dragged through the veil into the fae realm by a pair of chaotic goblins. the show is scripted but it’s marked by the same sense of humor that has characterized the Meredith’s other improvised works. 8 episodes projected if it funds.

Larkspur Underground — (11 eps, complete?) a fictional exposé about the sole survivor of a serial killer’s disturbing abduction and grooming. i was giddy to discover this one as an ardent fan of Showtime’s Dexter. it’s gory and glorious, and if you’re keen you might spot some clues; if not, the final episode is going to shock you. creator wants to make more, but it’s been a few years so who knows.

I Found A Wormhole — (5 eps, complete) a short yet existentially harrowing series. exactly what it says on the tin. mind the content warnings on the final episode but by the time you get there you’ll definitely know what’s coming tbh.

The Grotto — (10 eps, ongoing) a pull-no-punches exploration of messy grief with a supernatural twist. season two is here! this series has an absolutely killer soundtrack and immersive sound design. it has such a unique vibe. you’ll definitely like it if you like WOE.BEGONE.

Dear Bastard! — (16 eps, complete?) an epistolary comedy about a bunch of squabbling neighbors. i like to use this show as a palate cleanser when i’ve been listening to a lot of gruesome horror, because it’s just so light and fun.

Deviant — (10 eps, complete) a space pirate dramedy! i stumbled across this purely by accident and did a little binge. i love an absolute mess of a protagonist, so this was right up my alley. it’s a little abrasive at times but overall i enjoyed the narrative and it wrapped up nicely.

Murphy — (6 eps, s2 in production) a folkloric monster-of-the-week mystery with very charming characters. the first season is complete and although it is short, the episodes are long and make great use of their runtime. pleased to see their recent crowdfunder has been successful so there will be more!

Ghost Wax — (45+ eps, hiatus) a horror anthology facilitated by a “reclaimer” who can extract the final statements of the dead. this is similar to How i Died but the lore feels much more fantastically intricate. i don’t want to spoil too much of the meta plot but there’s a LOT going on, and i’m looking forward to s2.

Fulmar’s Folly — (12 eps, ongoing?) people on reddit love this series so i decided to give it a spin. fans of zombie survival like We’re Alive are most likely to eat this up. it can be a little overwrought at times, but the constant tension feels genuine in context. episodes are quite long but the length feels satisfying and necessary.

Nowhere, On Air — (46 eps, ongoing) another spooky small town radio show about a girl in a world she doesn’t belong to. this is one of my favorite genres of AD. fans of WTNV, King Falls AM, Tiny Terrors, and other shows of that ilk will probably enjoy this. it leans a little more surreal and introspective than comedic. IMHO, the host also just has a lovely voice. the meta plot is currently really hitting its stride.

All In My Head — (19 eps, ???) night terrors turn out to be something much more sinister. so intriguing, i was devastated to realize it may have been abandoned. i’m not going to completely give up hope for a final season though!

Zoinks! — (11 eps, complete?) a darkly comedic homage to scooby doo and other childrens detective fiction. i loved the way the narrative approached the subject of child neglect, while still maintaining a thread of silliness that saved it from complete bleakness. s2 has been mentioned but it’s projected release date has come and gone without a word, so it may or may not happen.

Trice Forgotten — (10 eps, ???) an aspiring cartographer gets accidentally mixed up with some pirates. i relistened to this series in honor of its anniversary and was just blown away by the sound design all over again. the setting is made so rich and alive by the effort put in by the production staff! and the character dynamics are so intricate and gorgeous. i am especially a fan of the tension between alestes and gammon. beautiful first season with SO much left to explore, i really hope to see this come back for a s2 someday.

[ghostconch]

I can't sleep until I see you sleeping. Curse my mind and its all-seeing eye. Watch the rise and wonder if you're breathing, against your will, you are alive.

I Hope You Die - Wye Oak

[sweetdevil-sims]

Get to Know Me - Sims Edition

I was tagged by several people (thank you!), so I decided to get off my ass for once and answer this 😆

What’s your favorite Sims death? I think the mummy's curse one! There's just something about that ominous vignette during the countdown days, only for the sim to dissolve into dust at the end 😩👌

Alpha CC or Maxis Match? Both! Maxis Match for clothing, Alpha for hair.

Do you cheat your sims weight? Nope! I leave them at whatever weight they happen to be, unless they want to learn/practice the Athletic skill. I do cheat to give them more muscle tone if they're super muscular already, though; EA really should've made that slider move along the muscle mass one :/

Do you move objects? Oh yes. I can't imagine decorating without it.

Favorite Mod? Nraas Master Controller my beloved 💖 Can't forget BrntWaffles's lighting mods, they make the game look so beautiful that sometimes I like to just leave it on 2x while watching the sunset over the sea.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack? The first EP I got was World Adventures and it's still my favorite. The first and only SP I have is HELS, along with bits and pieces from the others.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing? The latter, though this question tripped me up the first time I saw it 😅

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Ohh that's a tough one. Fergus Vane is definitely among my favorites, he was a Johnny Bravo knockoff who eventually got married and I swear that he and his wife could NOT keep their hands off each other 😆 First is him making friends at uni, second is him with his wife.

Have you made a simself? Oh yeah, when I got the game and was trying to figure out how to play. Didn't last long until I started making serial black widows, lol.

Which is your favorite EA hair color? That platinum blonde looks so tacky that I can't help but love it.

Favorite EA hair? I think EA struck gold with: Loose Curl, Dramatic Ponytail, La Dolce Vita Updo, Chorus Girl Curl, Pin-up Pretty, Skinny Dreads, Wavy Bob, Elegance Style, and Wild Fire.

Favorite life stage? Young Adult, because it has the most things available.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Ohh it depends. I go through phases when I'm not interested in gameplay at all, mostly when I set up a savefile for the first time. But now I've been more into gameplay for a few months.

Are you a CC creator? Yeah, mostly with CAS items and minor annoyance fixes.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad? I have a lot of simblr mutuals where I feel like a nosy person sometimes poking their head above the neighbor's fence to see what's going on 😆

Do you have any sims merch? / A Youtube for sims? Nope.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing? I give my concrete boxes a few more decorative elements now 😅 For once, I stopped playing serial killers (mostly to avoid the NPC pudding spam that ensues), and am making an effort to not micromanage sims as much and to fulfill their wishes instead of ending up with mostly level 10 chefs and gardeners all the time.

Who’s your favorite CC creator? Oh man do I have to name someone?? SimplexSims, @aroundthesims, Mutske, @simtanico, @simaddix, @twinsimming, @bioniczombie, @martassimsbookcc, @simbouquet, @plumdrops, @ifcasims, @sim-songs, @deniisu-sims, @bellakenobi, @brntwaffles, @omedapixel, @wanderingsimsfinds, @simlicious, TheSweetSimmer and on and on.

How long have you had Simblr? 2016! Sometimes I can't believe it's been so long.

How do you edit your pictures? I have a few customized Gshade presets, and only convert gameplay screenshots to JPG. For CC previews, I may change the background color and will combine several previews into one image (and I occasionally correct small issues like unsightly clipping due to the poses).

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite? World Adventures is #1, followed by Seasons and prooobably Supernatural.

Oof we're at the end! Thank you for tagging me and for reading, and I tag ✨anyone who wants to do this���!

[jerzwriter]

Much has been made about this statement by David, even by the show’s creators. The belief is Ellie does have a violent heart. That as effed up as David’s words are, there is truth in this statement. I am not sure I agree… even though agree.

Ellie has absolutely committed acts of violence. As time goes on, she is very comfortable doing so when warranted. Those last two words matter and help form my opinion. Ellie will do whatever is necessary to protect herself and Joel, but that is for survival, not a natural inclination to violence.

Had Ellie been born to the “old” world, I believe she would have been very different. Contrast her to Sarah in episode 1. After Joel kills their elderly neighbor, Sarah is shaken. It is the obvious to all that “something” has happened. It’s day 1 of the cordyceps outbreak, so they aren’t sure what, but she is attempting to harm/kill Sarah. Joel is merely acting in protection of his daughter, but it is still upsetting to her. (Yes, there is shock value, but still…)

Imagine Ellie in the same situation. She would have shrugged it off and moved on with her day. But I don’t think that means Ellie has a violent heart and Sarah didn’t, it is just that each child is a product of the world they live in. In the current world they inhabit, it is adapt or die. Given the spunk and fortitude Sarah showed in the brief time we saw her, I believe she would have adapted and done what was necessary had she survived.

One more note on this. When Ellie kills the man attacking Joel in Kansas City, after Joel expresses distress that Ellie, a mere child of 14, had to do that. At this point he hasn’t fully bonded with Ellie, but he still takes on a paternal role of wanting to protect “his child” and allow her to retain some semblance of innocence in such a vicious world. Ellie quickly dismisses the notion. It wasn’t her first time.

It is after this point where we see Joel begin to take a more active role in “training” Ellie, not merely protecting her. Earlier in the series, I saw that dynamic between Tess and Ellie. Had Tess survived, I believe she would have made Ellie a protégé in time, training her to be more of a badass than she already was. Joel, initially, doesn’t seem to follow suit. In my mind, this is because of Sarah. He wants to protect Ellie in some way, even if he has yet to care for her as more than cargo, because he would help reconcile (a tiny bit) for being unable to protect Sarah.

Eventually, Joel sees that failing to “train” Ellie to protect herself and it’s a detriment and, at that point, I believe a new level of bonding exists between the two.

Lastly, we have yet to see the ramifications of Ellie’s brutal, violent (and well deserved) murder of David. The disassociation and horror she displayed at the end if ep. 8 is not indicative of someone with a natural inclination to violence. But, this may have changed her…

I would live to know others’ thoughts.

[nicklloydnow]

“Anhedönia has been getting more acquainted with Ethel Cain, the character whose story she’s been tracing across multiple projects since 2018, and whose background she plans to explore further on an EP planned for later this year. Listeners first got to know the full, tragic arc she had in mind on her 2022 debut album, Preacher’s Daughter — a stunning release that showed Anhedönia’s atmospheric production and her knack for Southern Gothic imagery and intense themes, like religious indoctrination, sexual violence, isolation, and family trauma.

Ethel Cain is a work of fiction, one that first came to Anhedönia on “A House in Nebraska,” a spine-tingling song she wrote at age 19. Ethel and her creator share a lot in common. Both are women who took off on their own, leaving their oppressive Christian communities: Ethel grew up in Alabama, while Anhedönia herself came from a rural town in Florida called Perry, where she was home-schooled and brought up Baptist. But Anhedönia takes Ethel into much darker terrain from there on Preacher’s Daughter, having the character grapple with abuse at the hands of her father as she treks out west, where she encounters drugs, sex work, and dangerous men — until eventually she’s kidnapped, killed, and cannibalized.

It’s a violent, fatalist plot told over dazed pianos and dramatic blasts of distortion, Anhedönia’s voice often steady and dreamlike even at cruel turns. She’d long looked up to artists like Lana Del Rey, Marina, and Florence + the Machine, and her debut album feels like a twisted collage of those references playing over a feverish Donald Ray Pollock novel — he’s one of her favorite writers, along with others in the Southern Gothic canon. The EP she’s working on now covers Ethel’s high school years. Anhedönia says she envisions it as another chapter to a longer story she’s been telling: “I feel like this is truly laying Ethel Cain to rest.”

(…)

There was one part of secular culture that Anhedönia recalls being allowed to explore: horror movies, which she watched at her grandparents’ house. “I was really anxious and scared of everything. And so my pop, in all his wisdom, decided I should come spend the night and watch every R-rated horror movie that he had.” They’d go to Walmart and buy a Betty Crocker cake with strawberry icing to eat while they watched The Blair Witch Project, The Ring, or the Final Destination series. “He was like, ‘Watch this, you won’t be scared anymore,’ ” Anhedönia says.

But slowly, real-world uncertainties began to set in. Anhedönia says she’d always understood, somewhere deep inside of her, that she felt an attraction to both sexes. “I had crushes on girls, I had crushes on boys,” she says. “And I didn’t even really know what that meant.” Her neighborhood was small and full of old ladies, as she describes it, and she’d noticed that people treated one of her neighbors, a gay man who lived in town, differently. “I started to get this inkling in my head at some point as I was approaching adolescence, like, ‘Is that not allowed?’ ” So when she was about 11 years old, she turned to her parents with an innocent query. “I thought I was just going to be like, ‘Hey … I have a question.’ ” This is often painted as Anhedönia’s coming-out story, but the truth is, she was just a kid asking about something she didn’t fully understand. “I was like, ‘I think I like boys.’ ”

In a community obsessed with upholding puritanical ideals they believed would keep the devil at bay, all hell broke loose, she says. Families from her church would tell her mom that Anhedönia couldn’t play with their kids. Her parents sent her to therapy. Her life grew even lonelier and darker, cascading into several years that she now says she hardly remembers — in between home-school lessons, she spent most of her time in bed with the curtains drawn. “Living in that environment, you just want to get out of it,” she says. “I remember just kind of locking away parts of myself and thinking, ‘You’re going to wake up, you’re going to eat, you’re going to deal with whatever happens today, you’re going to go to sleep, and then you’re going to keep doing that until this is over.’ ”

(…)

At 16, she started taking classes at a community college, then went to school to become a nail technician at 18. By then, she’d flown out the door and started living on her own in Tallahassee, indulging in her new freedom. She experimented with acid, opioids, Xanax, meth once. “When you come from such an oppressive upbringing, you tend to spiral for a moment,” she admits. It was right around then that the idea of Ethel Cain began blossoming in her mind.

She found other answers, too. “It wasn’t until I was nearing adulthood when I discovered what being trans was, through Tumblr of all places,” she recalls. “I didn’t even know you could do that. I didn’t know that was a thing.” Up until then, her church had told her she was gay. The actual identity she came to understand for herself “wasn’t even in the conversation in any way,” she continues. “Wrong letter.”

Anhedönia is careful when she talks about being trans, emphasizing that her gender identity is only one fact in a complex personality. “When you are trans, you are living a very specific experience that not many other people in the world have,” she says. “I wanted to not be known as a trans artist, I think, not because I didn’t want people to know I was trans, or because I didn’t want to be proud of that fact, but.… It has shaped the way that I am in certain ways, but it’s not everything.”

(…)

There’s a sense in which it’s hard to imagine Anhedönia being contained by any music-business paperwork, because of just how expansive her imagination is, and just how much she wants to do. Before Ethel Cain came to her, she’d been sketching out three characters: Teddy, an androgynous altar boy with a vigilante streak; Salem, a woodsy witch with long white hair; and Carter, a time-traveler with a portal in his basement. Then Ethel Cain came along. “I knew it was going to be music, but I was like, ‘Can I write a story? Can I make a film? I want to draw this,’ ” she says. “I’m so obsessed with this story. I want to tell it in a million different ways.”

Later this year, she plans to leave Pittsburgh. She’s chasing brutal winters to match the tone of her next full-length album, which she describes as dark and cold. It’ll focus on the story behind Ethel’s mother, and see her grappling with her daughter’s death. The one after that will dive into Ethel’s grandmother.

There are other characters lurking in her head, waiting to come out — but she still thinks she has a lot of time to spend with the Cain women, and a long time before she reaches the end of the story. “This is going to be 15, 20 years from now,” she says. “I work very slow. That’s how I like it.””

[hislittleraincloud]

If you scroll far back enough to October 2023, you can see her reposts and where she stands.

I know you’re not a Percy fan, but this circles back to him and how people tore apart his alt account (that didn’t even have his actual name attached to it). Where are those people for this person? Since they love holding people accountable for their actions and words. The hypocrisy is insane.

Don't need to scroll back that far to be able to tell that she's a Zionist. One of those mealy-mouthed ones who say (and repost, like she did) stuff like this: "As an Israeli and a Jew, I want innocent Palestinians to have every freedom and dignity possible. But I will never accept anyone telling me Palestinian rights should or can be grabbed through mass murdering Jews." as if Israel hasn't been continuously fucking the Palestinians for decades since its inception (and is fucking it now, with 42,000 Palestinian casualties vs. 1,700 Israeli casualties).

I was far too old when I dove into the history of the region, but I did, after Rachel Corrie's death. While I studied some International Relations, Middle East/Gaza conflict escaped my modules, so I caught up after she was bulldozed by the IDF.

The war did not start on October 7, 2023, but people like to pretend that it did. It's never too late to learn about the atrocities, not just towards Palestinians. My Jewish friend/neighbor had no clue that Israeli officials admitted to giving birth control to Jewish Ethiopian (read: Black) migrants without their consent until I informed her of said fucked up fact this past spring. There's a lot of shitty things that state has done, and criticizing it should not be equated with anti-Semitism.

But back to Alpert herself. What exactly can those vicious little Wenclairs do? You know they're gonna watch W2 regardless (as will I...just to see how shitty it turns out to be, since it's really Millar & Gough's show and they don't know how to tighten up their stories). Alpert probably stayed on the team as both writer and EP; can't say that for certain, but given the nominations the show received (the bar really is very low*), I'd want to stay on as well.

*The bar is very, very low given their win for this:

when the special effects makeup for Wednesday and Thornhill/Gates at the end of the episode was utterly fucked and incongruous.

What will people do? They don't really give a fuck what their creators think or do, so long as there's an opportunity to virtue signal on an issue that makes them believe themselves to be free of moral blemishes, and it's created an atmosphere of vigilante discourse, where everyone's afraid to say any goddamn thing in fear of being canceled.

As for White, I don't think I said I wasn't a fan, I said I'm not a stan. I don't think I've even had the opportunity to become a White fan because I've only seen his work in Wednesday. Really want to see that craptastic romcom he made with Ortega, and My Old Ass.

To address the other shit, I simply cannot say anything either way, since one of the main defense articles I was sent was full of broken links to the accusers' accounts/deleted tweets (and the spam that Isis bombarded me with was irrelevant and nonsensical shit, save for her insistence on sending me the nudes and not comprehending what in fuck I was trying to tell her in her own native fucking language; escrevo um português muito básico, mas ela estava a responder como alguém gravemente subdesenvolvido neurologico 💀).

He was accused of some heinous shit, and as of today, October 8, 2024, there hasn't been a whisper or word that any cases are going forward with prosecution, or that these accusers are even standing their ground. Trump's accusers have always stood their ground. Weinstein's, Epstein's. Not a tweet or article rescinded or deleted. Hynes White isn't and has never been some kind of power player (despite being a nepo baby) in the industry and those girls have little to fear by standing their ground, especially when fucking Danny Masterson had the whole of $cientology and half of Hollywood supporting his shitty ass and he still got 30 to life because his accusers stood their ground.

I don't think I'm being unreasonable for asking for the truth of the accusations; not just whether or not he did anything that they said he did, but also whether or not they were just plain false. False allegations are always fucking bullshit, no matter who makes them and for whatever reasons. Firing someone because of false allegations is also bullshit (we saw that happen with Depp), and if they were indeed false, then the whole of Netflix and the Wednesday crew would owe White a huge apology...not that that would ever happen (the WB & Disney have yet to apologize to Depp, and the recast of Grindelwald was terrible).

Anyway. I feel like this kid was cast due in part to his type-similarity to White

(same height as White, lanky, pale, same weird, recessed eyes/slightly sunken in look) because you know that the non-chronically online people are going to be tuning in expecting to see Percy as Xavier but then they'll see this guy and be all, "Wait...is that supposed to be the kid from the last season? Why's he look different (and more attractive)..." and then when they realize that he's a whole different character they might wonder what happened (and Google for answers). This has been a thing in lots of shows, lots of soap operas in particular, and I feel like this is happening with W2. Shake up the cast, distract with whole ass non-continuity, et voilà...the audience is dumb and won't notice, right.

Honestly, I wish that it had just been a straight-on recast, because if Painter was the new Xavier, I'd go strong for Wavier again. He's much more attractive than White and Doohan.

Damn, that was a ramble. I did mention that it's hot in here and I can hardly think.

[voyeuristicvixen]

Captains Log No. 37_February;It came & went *whoosh*

Wow, wild quick photo dump because my Aquarius Square Taurus needs to do things in order and I cant post anything else until I do something with all these pics and post this lmao.

Moo.

Gigii is my soul mate 5eva! I am so grateful because we get to connect and just vibe out being mystical dreamy souls everyday. ~ Blessed

Been leveling up the mystoryyyyy! Proud of the growth every second more people creating a business and thriving and look how good this shi looks! Lucas lameth mystory foodssss. I’m obsessed.

Valentine’s day w my boo. I was so surprised when he had me pull up because he has been spendin more time on Fivem working on his server and things. Im like woaaah when did you even have time because im always tryna get you online. I was tearin up yall. He had my name up in balloons, special trees on the property, lights and gifts, he got me some boots and set up a date doing the most Sag ass thing lmaoo base jumping and skydiving.

Sexy ass... :P

Here we are on this high ass mountain in the brick ass cold about to jump lmao. I was like only this man could get me to do this. XD

Then we played w guns :)

These pictures are not synchonized in time so yea for a brief moment in time my girl Videl (Now Valentine) was living across the street from me, It was a fun cute day we had before she had to go live with her new Soro sisters to pledge but maan it was so fun! She def deserves all the space much bigger than what she had so I dont blame her for moving AT ALL. I cant wait to see her new spot though im sad we not neighbors anymore. :(

Us and our lil ones enjoying lunch and icecreaamss XD

I do enjoy riding around the mystory south sim. So chill for me when im seshing.

Wav’s rez day was such a great time, it was all our newly made friends and we got to see who’s really down with us. Blessed & grateful!

BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY ROCKIN EVERYWHEAA!

We recorded a whole episode of meta love talks and never put it out, we had this whole idea of an event that we wanted to do that we plugged and prepared application forms for and did not go through with it. . . not yet at least! That pic is from the unaired ep. XD

Lol it be like that.

Me and mini me taking produc pictures for the new cakepops for starseeds botanica! now available on marketplace:

https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/138024

Super proud of being able to call this gentleman my pops, and to have spent Feb hearing some important history and lessons that are going to be ingrained in my mind and spirit forever! Carter G Woodson thank you for creating black history month for us! Bless!

PANDA PANDA! Great poet, loved hearing them spit bars on the last poetry night event. New people came up that were so good and inspiring forreal!

BHM events were amazing, tap into Meroe facebook for all the pics and updates about thaaat. Wav and my dad Ras went off and it was so heartwarming to see them working and collabing together. So much more I can say about it but words aren’t enough. Grateful, grateful. Ase.

Chillen on the farm, abundance is our birthright!

Now my life is filled with ritual iw and rl, I love starseeds botanica products. I am proud of myself for creating them. Better than I imagined and just the beginning! I got so much more to create! Inshallah

One of the most synchronistic things that happened last month, I ran into the Oatsmill sisters. I was just telling Wav days before about how I saw one of Sage’s sister’s mystory shops being advertised, I didnt realize she had sisters before then. I told him how important legacy names are in that regard, because I respect Sage as an artist, creator and businesswoman I trust her family automatically. So after having this convo I am at my favorite spot in the sandbox. I literally have this particular spot saved in my favorites... and I come back from being afk and there are the Oatsmill sisters working on things nearby me.. just randomly we were all there at the same time. I had never met them inworld until that moment. It was super magickal and we connected instantly. I got to see some cool stufss and eat chicken you know Sage can COOOK! I LOVE THEM!

Salsa nights at Teranga Absinthe lounge is a vibeee, I am super happy to have connected with these beautiful black women , feb felt like faith being restored day by day. Loved it.

[happilylovingchaos]

Post-ep Thoughts:

*: for plot points that might need suspension of disbelief

“I’m so fired.” On-nose, I like it. (What? It’s called levity)

Conflict of interest is probably gonna be one of those plot points where you have to suspend your disbelief— for instance, no way would Grace be allowed to take point on a call involving Judd. *

Oh god, Judd…

That’s some weird advice to give, making grand gestures. Also was this what TK talked about later, with the guy hanging off the tower? (“Y’know, I once rescued a window washer from the 44th floor of the Chrysler building.”)

I thought that Owen said, “Gotta love NY” but the Hulu captions say “God, I love NY”. ???

Honolulu’s Chinatown is probably up there with New York’s Chinatown in terms of apartment rent costs— but TK lucked out in his living situation. His unit looks nice, for how little it’s been shown. (And… I wonder if his OD would have happened the morning or so after he met with Alex?)

Side note on this: “Were you trying to kill yourself?” (From how TK acts later in the series, I think… yes but also no? I get some passive suicidal ideation from that previous OD).

Not that anyone cares much after 4 years, but looked up the actor who played that character— he’s Harrison Grant.

Now I get why some of y’all fanfic writers present Alex as low-grade ass. He was really just used as an inciting incident.

I don’t say much about Mateo, but I had no idea his character shared an actor in common until after. Also, I really wish I had your tenacity when it came to the JLPT, man.

Boy, I wonder if the ep director/ creators asked Liv to portray Michelle with a troubled vibe? I mean, I’ve heard that some fandom members think her character is not all there, or shallow… IMO it is kind of a unexpected but welcome play against her more pure-/ ethereal-/ wise- esque character types. (But, as much as I respect the missing-sister issue and grief, Michelle… you are really not helping your own case with that guy’s neighbors.)

With the benefit of hindsight, I think I see why some of you guys were caught off-guard with the Blakes being mentioned again in season 4– I did get the feeling that Carlos’ scene with Michelle was something you had to read between the lines to find context for. (Plus, aside from the interaction that shows he’s been her arresting officer long enough for both of them to treat it like routine, and his calling her constant searching “a rut”… maybe he did try, too, to look for Iris until the non-leads piled up too much for him. What is certain is that another party had a role in the disappearance but to what end, unclear.)

Related to the portrayal type: Michelle does have a soothing presence when she and her team have to treat patients. So… character is like

Marjan might need an agent at this point?? I wonder how long she’s been Firefox, or if she’s been allowed to film on calls.*

Paul sounds like he could be a Hero of Another Story, with the commendations he received, his gender identity, and how he dealt with the mean streets before joining Chicago FD.

TSP (Time Skip Passing): I’d guess it takes much longer IRL (edit: RFMarch mentions at least 1 year) to rebuild a damaged/ nonexistent firehouse, let alone assemble a new team. Since the old 126 hadn’t been touched for 6 months but presumably already most of the main appliances and furniture were functional… okay, that’s six months grievance + hiring processes of the new team + construction time + extra factors.

I’m using TSP for my own reference to figure out how much time passes between plot developments in this show. Note: I’m going with my gut and wits on this, so just know this is not a reliable thing. If you don’t agree with this, then that’s okay.

Adjusting to fit, I’m assuming the show’s timeline starts sometime in August 2018 (factory explosion around then in Austin, with Strands’ arrival occurring in March 2019 give or take a few days). 38 weeks + 6 weeks max hiring + expedited firehouse rebuild of 6-12 months (~52 weeks or 364 days)… and. Came out to 96 weeks.🤨🤔Pretty sure the showrunners aren’t gonna confirm, I just wanted to start somewhere.

I think Jim Parrack didn’t get enough mention for his acting. He plays off of Rob Lowe’s dead seriousness and goofy side so well, that their interactions really felt like a budding friendship (with Michelle? Let’s just say… she’s not as demure as she appears).

Emergency Notes:

Nice call forward to 4x15, but GOOD LORD. You men should just sell those peppers and stick to Tabasco from now on if you’re so set on vitriolically resolving your issues.

The logistics of the car accident aside, I’m just really grateful that that baby seat saved the baby’s life.

Episode 1x01 Pilot Discussion Thread

Please feel free to use the comment thread and tags of this post throughout the week as a place to liveblog while watching the episode, discuss with friends, post your metas and thoughts etc. Anything you’d like to discuss while watching the episode is welcome!!

Please reblog this post for visibility!!

[hullomoon]

hullomoon was very busy in may: a roundup

i was exceptionally busy this month so i thought i should do a little round up just in case anyone missed anything. well that and i haven’t had time to make tumblr posts for them all, lol

Writing

The Blouse Barn Divorce Ranch | co-author | multiple pairings | wrote rachel’s chapter | ~26k

 Hello, I am Wendy Kurtz, proprietor of the Blouse Barn Divorce Ranch, the world’s premier spot for couples looking to get a speedy divorce and connect with other soon-to-be divorcees.

 I’d like to highlight the stories of five couples, who rearranged into five other couples, from some past summer. These ten people came to the Blouse Barn Divorce Ranch with the intention of ending a marriage, and got that and so much more.

 I could recount their journeys with 100% accuracy, but where’s the fun in that? Let’s let them tell us themselves.

OR: One crazy summer in Las Vegas brings the heat and then some.

Featuring art and podfic with every chapter!

out of the mouths of babes | david/patrick | ~1.1k

Coming home from the dentist and still high from the anesthesia, Patrick accidentally lets something slip. David, panics.

 my 100th work

when i’m with you it feels like home: chapter 2 | david/patrick | 429 words

an epistolary interlude

Suited for Each Other: Chapter 4 love room  | stevie/ruth | 100 words

and i’ve known you for a long time | stevie/twyla | 574 words

While moving in together, Twyla discovers something from their childhood

if you try to hide it, it’s gonna shine even more | david/patrick | ~1k

After David performs the Number, he and Patrick have a chat

a quiet moment | stevie/ruth | 451 words

After Ruth comes home from a trip, she struggles with jetlag. Stevie helps.

stormy weather | ted/alexis | 565 words

During a storm, Alexis confesses a secret to Ted

save it from the funny tricks of time | david & moira | ~1.1k

While David helps her pack up her wigs, Moira reflects on their relationship.

Maybe, Baby: Canon Divergent Twylexis Drabbles | alexis/twyla | each 100 words

Chapter 5: Start Spreading the News

Chapter 9: Housewarming

Chapter 12: Smoke Signals

Chapter 18: Singles Week

Chapter 21: Wine and Roses

Podfics & Podcasts

The Blouse Barn Divorce Ranch | multivoice | voiced ted | 3:07:20

[podfic] Good Morning | alexis/stevie | 01:10

Stevie feels good this morning. Real good.

[podfic of Good Morning]

[podfic] Can we always be this close | david/patrick | 03:47

And suddenly, suddenly he understands what David has been trying to tell him for weeks, about letting go of expectations and doing what makes you feel right.

Or, the first time Patrick sat on David’s lap.

[podfic of Can we always be this close]

[podfic] Sunday Morning | david/patrick | 03:21

A soft, waking up in the morning ficlet.

[podfic of Sunday Morning]

[podfic] It’s Well Worth the Wait | david/patrick | 03:44

Patrick lets his hair grow out, David isn't adequately prepared.

[podfic of It's Well Worth the Wait]

[podfic] A Whole Lot to Gain | multiple relationships | multivoice | voiced ted | 12:15

A story about identity, gender, and coming out.

[podfic of "A Whole Lot to Gain" by yourbuttervoicedbeau]

[podfic] i got a feeling (there’s a miracle due) | joceyln & twyla | 07:57

 "I'm okay. Really, I'm fine." Twyla tries a strained smile. "I'm used to being alone."

 "I know," Mrs. Schitt says after a moment. Her eyes are kinder than they have any right to be. "But that doesn't mean you have to be."

When Twyla's mom doesn't pick her up from high school, Mrs. Schitt gives Twyla a ride home.

[podfic of i got a feeling (there's a miracle due)]

[podfic] Gonna Watch You Shine | johnny & stevie | 06:12

Found Family Feelings: The Johnny & Stevie edition.

[podfic for Gonna Watch You Shine]

[podfic] i had been lost to you sunlight | david/patrick | 08:05

David and Patrick have an afternoon picnic

[podfic of I had been lost to you, sunlight]

a quiet moment | stevie/ruth | 02:36

[Podvid] Dear Apartment Five | multivoice | 04:41

Notes from the Community Message Board: the residents of Patrick's apartment building have a few thoughts/concerns to share about the newest neighbors.

[Podvid of Dear Apartment Five written by blackandwhiteandrose]

stormy weather | ted/alexis | multivoice | voiced narrator | 04:13

[Podcast] Razzle Dazzle Rose Voiceteam Podcast Ep #1 - The Blouse Barn Divorce Ranch | multivoice | 1:22:07

In this episode, petrodobreva interviews eight out of the twenty-six creators of The Blouse Barn Divorce Ranch, a Tropefest 2021 fic and podfic (with art!). Listen to discover how the project came about, the processes involved in wrangling all the contributors, exciting behind-the-scenes stories, and more!

[podfic] Catfishing | david/patrick | 09:01

After some prompting from David, Fisherman Patrick reminisces about the day he found his cat, Mackerel, and brought him home.

[podfic of Catfishing]

[podfic] I’m a M*therf*cking Starboy | david/patrick | 05:43

This guy walks into Ray's and rocks Patrick's world. He's over the moon. It's the love story of the Centauri.

[podfic of I'm a M*therf*cking Starboy]

[Podfic] It’s Well Worth the Wait | multivoice | 03:54

Patrick lets his hair grow out, David isn't adequately prepared.

[podcast] Razzle Dazzle Rose Voiceteam Podcast Ep #3 - Voiceteam 2021: A Look Back | multivoice | 1:03:59

In this episode, five of the members of Team Razzle Dazzle Rosé discuss their experience with Voiceteam this year.

also, i sewed a pair of knit shorts and cut out the pattern for a jumpsuit 😅

[spookizfanblog]

Spookiz Multiverse Theory

Some people noticed that Spookiz the Movie had some differences from the series. Though, I’ve never seen all of them mentioned anywhere so I decided to write them down. I didn't take into consideration the Spookiz Cookie, music videos and commercials since they don't actually take place anywhere at all. It's pretty understandable why Cula has a phone in Spook it Up! but doesn't know what a cellphone is in the movie. So my points for Spookiz Multiverse Theory are the following.

1. The Roles

I think, everyone noticed that in the movie Cula and Kong Kong are not so naughty and mischievous as in the series. Kebi, on the other hand, seems more prankish and a little bit more aggressive than his show counterpart. Ofc, Cula as a protagonist cannot do pranks and gloat over other kids anymore, and Kong Kong as his sidekick cannot do the same. Also all Spookiz need to look weaker comparing to the hunter so we could sense the danger of the situation better. Thus, a role of a trickster is left only for Kebi.

2. Cula as a Student

Cula seems to be a good student in the movie while in the series he is constantly distracted or asleep in class and, as a result, he fails tests completely. I actually would have expected Cula’s academic performance to deteriorate in the movie after having ruined his sleep patterns for several weeks to meet with Hana. Though, It is possible that he learnt a thing or two that helped him with his classes. Either way, he is a nerd in the movie.

3. Cula’s OCD

Even before the series hit YouTube, Cula's Facebook official bio indicated that he had OCD. OCD is the uncontrollable, irrational actions that people take to get rid of anxious thoughts that do not correspond with reality. In the movie, Cula claims that he simply can't stand mess. However, we could see him panicking when Sam was getting his desk dirty, and how he simply couldn't resist cleaning it in the middle of the day, risking his health and getting caught by a human. Also, Cula never changed his sit in the movie and didn't care about other desks in the class being dirty, which means he needs to take a particular seat and always keep it clean to get rid of certain anxious notion and feel safe again. In the series Cula constantly changes seats and although he is squeamish, he doesn't seem to take such repetitive irrational actions. Not to mention times when Cula didn't care about the mess or forgot to wear his gloves.

4. Character Design

Some characters got new design elements. In the movie Kebi has shaggy hair and Kong Kong has a darker palette. Reaper Sam got a black fog as if he was from the sims. Also I thought that I found an interesting difference that in the movie the school security guard didn't have the mole on his cheek that (I thought) he had in the series. Unfortunately, it turned out that he had the mole only in Halloween special which is a shame bc I think it was a nice design detail. Still his eye colour was charged for the movie from amber to black (which is also kinda sad to me).

5. The School

In the movie the entire school looks different and that's okay, it is supposed be more realistic and detailed than in the series. Its structure seems more complex than in the show, it has some sort of H or more likely _T_ shape: two buildings are connected through the walkway on the second floor. Here Cula and Kong Kong got new spots to live. Instead of being neighbors on one of the floors, Kong Kong lives in a box in the attic/the part of the main building where the clocks are, and Cula's locker is on the ground floor (I believe) in a smaller building. The classroom the Spookiz study in is on the third floor of the main big building which is actually far from Cula's spot.

The classroom interior is also entirely different but I would like to point out two major things. The first thing is that in the movie they had single desks while in the series there were double ones. They needed Hana to be the only human kid involved in the story, which would probably be difficult if she had a deskmate. The second thing is that there are two different world maps in the classroom. In the movie there's a European (?) world map with Europe being closer to the centre of the map. In the series there's a Chinese (?) world map with China being closer to the centre and Americas being on the right side of the map.

6. Accessories.

Cula has at least two accessories that got a new design. The first one is his bag. In the series he and some other of the Spookiz have purple nylon (?) schoolbags. In the movie Spookiz's bags are brown and made of leather or imitation leather. Another thing is that Cula has red earphones with the symbol λ as a logo on them. In the movie Cula has the same earphones except there's a bat silhouette as a logo.

7. Timeline Mismatch

Some people assume that the movie takes place somewhere in or after the season 2 since Cula has a photo with the moon that he got in the ep. 7 of the season 2. First of all, what was the necessity for the creators to change the other two photos? Could it be another hint that what we see in the movie is similar to the show but not entirely the same? Second of all, in the end of the movie Cula has learnt to appreciate his friends but in the season 2 he didn't even take the first steps on this path. He got major character improvement in season 3 but by that time Kebi had already grown strong feelings for Zizi, and I don't think he would fight her for a candy as he did in the movie. It means that either the series should be in a different chronological order (and some of them really should) or the movie has its own timeline independent of the show.

8. Age Difference

OMG this one is so obvious I forgot to mention it, lol! But I think by now everyone know that Spookiz are 9-10 y.o. in the series. I'm pretty sure I saw information that Cula was 11 but i can't remember where i saw it. Anyway, in the movie Cula states that he is 109 y.o. and this is a strong proof that the movie is another universe different from the series.

Thus, there are lots of differences between the series and the movie. Some of them can be explained by the difference in genre and by a new plot. But most of them are details that weren't necessary unless the creators wanted to make a new universe on purpose. A universe where Cula is not an irritable and mischievous gloater but a slightly anxious nerd. Still narcissistic as always.

[its-elvie-innit]

Hello!! I’m a massive Oh Hellos fan, and they put out a new ep for the first time in actual years last October, something that I had been waiting for for literal months. this was also the Zephyrus ep, because of course christian bands are massive greek mythos nerds. This *specific* song was *also* put out just four days befoe I created this blog, a-k-a, *October fifteenth*

A-K-A

11:59 PM

ON THE DAY BEFORE *THE FESTIVAL.*

This is INSANE to me. I’m actually committing to this storyboard because of how much I loved this album, and I wanted y’all to hear the song too!!

but quick disclaimer--->   A few of the fans of the oh hellos seem kind of upset in the comments. OH’s normal fanbase is small. They don’t have a lot of spaces to talk, and I know that it happened with Dear Wormwood and Soldier poet king [we’ve all heard that song lmao] so seeing it happen again, a-k-a, the ignoring of the actual song in favour of the title, seems to annoy them like 10x worse. So I made like, a commenting etiquette list for this!!

When you comment, don’t comment “Welcome Home Theseus” or “MCYT community???” because there’s so many of them it pretty much counts as spam

Talk about the song too!! Not just the dsmp! If someone makes art of a brown puppy, there’s a big difference between “The brown puppy from my neighbors yard is so cute” versus “Oh I love this! It reminds me of the brown puppy in my neighbors yard :D” The creators don’t know you like it if you don’t talk about it!!

Be respectful around non-mcyt comments! None of them know wtf we’re talking about so it must be kind of jarring to have comments reffing a minecraft roleplay they’ve never heard of.

Be respectful and yell with us!!!! [please!!!]

[popculturebuffet]

Mission Hill Review: Plan 9 From Mission Hill or I Married a Gay Man From Outer Space!

Commission for @weirdkev27​. Hallowen Havoc marches on! For my first commission ever, I take a look at the cult classic mission hill’s final produced episode and one of it’s most loved. Kevin’s visit to an x rated movie pays off less with boobs and more with a friendship with his elderly gay neighbor and film buff wally and a new appreciation for cinema, only for this new friendship to nearly end over Kevin’s good natured attempt to spotlight Wally’s only film, the man from pluto. Gay spaceman, a touching gay love story, and a surprisingly likeable guy with a neckbeard insue. Spoilers and full recap FROM PLUTO, under the cut. 

Well this was a nice suprise. After the utterly draining process of my review of “Let’s Get Dangerous”, it was a nice suprise to find out one of my handful of fans had tried to comission me a while back and I hadn’t realized it, and I was happy to oblige him. I was even happier when I found out what his commission was: Plan 9 From Mission HIll, an episode i’d planned to cover for pride but got squeezed out due to how little i’d planned the month out in advance, a lesson I still REALLY need to learn. Regardless not only was it a nice, funny, and heartwarming ep to cover after the sheer amount of analysis and recapping the last one took, I realized it ended up fitting the spooky season, as there’s just as much fun to be had in truly fantastic horror movies like “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Get Out”, “Child’s Play”, “Tales from the Hood” and “The Thing” as there is from so bad it’s great horror films like “House (The Japanese one), C.H.U.D. II: Bud The Chud, Terror Toons and House Shark. Seriously watch House Shark i’ts hilarious. Hell I fully plan on watching the Gary Busey film Hider in the House tomorrow. I mean it’s a film about hollywood’s favorite nutball  living in the walls and attic of someone’s house. What’s not to love? Maybe it might be entirely boring but that’s the risk you sometimes take to find so bad it’s gold filmaking. Plus cheeestastic films like these are the reason we have the classsic and incomprable mystery science theater 3000 and it’s succesor rifftrax. So while I need to watch more of them, I have a spot in my likely overtaxed heart for this kind of film, and as a result this episode resonated with me on rewatch in a way it didn’t the first time around, even if it was still my faviorite. 

Backing up a bit as usual I like to give my history with a show first time covering it: Mission HIll was one of a handful of shows picked up by Adult Swim in it’s early days. Since most of Adult Swim’s early originals were 11 minutes at a time when this was still a new and radical thing they were doing having 11 minute shows that weren’t sold as half hour pairs of 11 minute episodes, they likely needed more shows to fill up the air and clevelry simply bought the rights to several shows that had only had one season, along with Family Guy and Futurama which as history would bear out both made the shows into huge names in the animation industry but brought both back.. though in Family Guy’s case sometimes dead is better. Point is, several shows got a second life thanks to Cartoon Network if sadly not more seasons, with the sole exception of the utter classic Home Movies which I really need to talk about at some point, and thus are really more associated with Adult Swim than their original networks. Hell before doing this review I genuinely didn’t know what Mission HIll’s original networks. But now you know the framework this show came out in what IS Mission Hill anyway? 

MIssion Hill was a cartoon from the wonderful brains of Bill Oakely and Josh Weinstein, no relation to the MST3K one who due to this confusion now goes by J. Elvis Weinstein instead, who showran the simpsons and did some great episodes, my faviorte of there’s being $pringfield, aka the casino one. 

The show was about Andy, a 24 year old slacker whose happily lazing about after college in his loft with his friends Jim, a stoic but friendly stoner played by Brian Posehn, and Posey, a sensitive hippie. However when he goes to pickup his childhood dog he ends up with an unexpected roomate: His nerdy, sheltered and neurotic brother Kevin, who has a love of sci fi, a type a personality and a habit of going bling blong to focus when studying or just whenever. He’s also voiced by future robin and future psychopath claming to be robin Scott Mellinville. Also in the building are Carlos and Natalie, an unemployed artist and college professor and their baby Nameless.  I forgot they existed.  And of course saving the best for last we have the brother’s neighbors, and a very early gay couple for animated television Wally and Gus, played by the legendary Tom Kenny and Nick Jameson who hasn’t done much of note but does a great job anyway. Wally is a fastudious, Gus is angry and very brooklyn, but the two genuinely love each other, makeout frequently, with their first showing off the two as a gay couple, and are an adorable but very beliviable couple. It’s part of WHY I wanted to spotlight them. The late 90′s/early 2000′s, the show originally aired in 99 and into 2000 and aired on adult swim in the early 2000 for the curious, were not a great time to be gay in animation with most gay characters used as punchlines and hardly any queer stories. Not only that but just a year earlier will and grace had to have one overly camp chracter and one “regular” gay character in order to get made. Granted that show has it’s issues but still, the point stands having a gay couple that plays fairly realistically, is shown to both be sexually active and love each other and who’ve been together for decades was a hell of a step for a medium where Family Guy around the same time had a joke with the punchline “Whoa transvestite back off!” Granted Family Guy would do far worse to both the gay and trans communities, but we’ll get to that someday. Or sooner if you commission me, but I swear if you do I will pull a gary busey on your house. Point is not only is it INCREIDBLY forward for it’s time but it holds up even now. There’s a reason the creators are working on a spinoff/revivial focused on the two and a reason these two tend to be one of the most talked about elements of the show. That and frankly their hilarious having realistic banter.. and also having one episode where Gus has a knife in his head for a whole episode. It helps that this episode, their spotlight one and the last one produced, is also one fo the series best. So with all that build up let’s take a look shall we? 

We open with Kevin passing a theater showing x rated movies and are shown, over a bunch of times of him passing it him condeming it publicly but his tone clearly telegraphing the classic battle between a teenage boy and his dick. Dick wins and Kevin heads inside and gives us... this. 

.... If you will excuse me, please enjoy the musical stylings of the late great Zorak while I go shower the “EeEEEEEEUUUUGGggggggHHHhhuuuuuuggghhhhhhhhewwwwuuuuugggghhhhggooooodddddddwwwyyyyyy” off me. 

God rest his soul. Okay i’m good now. Thankfully this isn’t an episode about Kevin getting addicted to x-rated theater, and they already did an episode about him masturbating. No really it actually had a good message as Kevin was so embarassed about the incident, he nearly let two other guys, granted not remotley good people who were stealing from there anyway, take the fall. Andy even ends up giving a great speech coming to his defense

“People, you mock this boy, but it's your fault he's here today. Your hypocrisy has made this boy a prisoner, terrified of his own sexuality. So much so that he'd rather send two relatively-innocent men to prison than admit he looks at pornography! He thinks his natural urges are filthy and perverted, and why? Because of your conspiracy of silence! Nobody dares admit the truth - that you're all just like him!”

IT’s a damn good moment and a good message. That sadly is still relevant as America still views sex as worse than violence for some weird reason. At least he has the internet now. Anywho when Kevin goes to see what’s up he runs into Wally who explains the confusion: He’s just showing old “X-Rated films”. Now some of you are probably wondering “Wait non-porn films used to use that?” Or “Wait what’s an x-rating?” Well while I knew some films did used to do that I was honestly curious myself as to why it was retired and why porn films got to use it and took a quick hop to google to find out reading both the wikipedia article for the rating and this vulture article on the subject to get a slightly deeper look at it. 

It’s actually quite intresting as I genuinelly also didn’t know when the MPAA ratings started for films: When the rating’s board started in 1968 there were four raitings: G, GP (Later flipped to PG), R and X. X was the modern equivlent of today’s R really, and films like Last Tango in Paris, Midnight Cowboy and a Clockwork Orange, with Orange even having a poster up at the cinema in this episode and Midnight Cowboy being part of the plot very soon. We’ll get to that in the moment. Point is it allowed filmakers to push the envelope break barriers all that good stuff and makes me curious about those very films, which is a good thing as i’ll admit to not being exactly a film buff.  But as Kevin’s confusion here shows, eventually the porn industry took a hold of it, using the X as a way to get sex movies into regular cinemas and have an air of legitimacy, hence why Debbie Does Dallas was a mainstream hit.. and yes that’s an actual film that I only know about thanks to I Love the 70′s. If your wondering why the MPAA just couldn’t you know, tell them to know or why they didn’t take over other ratings it turns out for some weird reason why the G and R ratings were owned by them, and later PG , they forgot to trademark X and by the time they even thought of it it was too late. Hence terms like XXX rated and what not or the ungodly stupid XXX porn parodies. Just.. just give them actual names and slap “A porn parody” ont he end if you want to avoid a lawsuit.  Naturally the film industry struck back and X soon went from a way to have daring, interesting films.. to basically a threat by the MPAA that your film wouldn’t be carried by any major distributors if it had one, with Dawn of the Dead having to just go unrated just to get distributed. The 80′s brought the killing stroke: With the rise of big theater chains, mall theaters with restrictions I wasn’t aware of, and big home video outlets like blockbuster that didn’t carry porn, the x rating was well and truly dead and the MPAA lukewarmly added NC-17 which serves the same bullshit purpose as theaters still refuse to carry them and the MPAA still uses it for essenitally the same reason. Nothing changed! If your wondering why people sometimes have problems with the MPAA, yeah there’s your answer, as they could’ve campaigned harder for NC-17 but clearly enjoyed having a raiting to hold over films heads. 

So yeah if you don’t know, know you know bud, let’s move on. So yeah Wally explains the confusion and decides to educate Kevin on film by showing him Midnight Cowboy, with John Voight “Before his head looked like a radish” and Dustin Hoffman. Also Andy brings up Sphere.. a film I also know nothing about. Hang on... checking Letterboxd and okay. It’s a Dustin Hoffman starring Sci-Fi film about a research team investigating a mysterious sphere at the bottom of the sea. Huh.. I prefer Cube myself but to each his own.  But once Kevin clams up he really enjoys it. Will grant the episode lays it on a tad thick, with Kevin comparing the film to , of all things, Armageddon. I mean I get MIcheal Bay is a good metric for crowd pleasing schlock but still, even nerds have standards. My standards aren’t very high at times mind as I still want to watch this sometime today. 

But I still think even awkward teens have better standards. Then again one of my faviorite films at the time was Saving Silverman which while I can’t hate it due to nostalgia , having watched it from 5th grade well into my teens, I can see was not very good. Though it did have R. Lee Ermy being both really funny and turning out to be gay so that was awesome. 

And he does make a good point that heroes like Ratzzo Rizzo don’t go well on Taco Bell cups.. though it also feels weird to me in 2020 where while not big sellers films with deep stories and unlikeable heroes are some of the biggest on tv and one of them was one of the greatest animated series of the last decade, so things must’ve been pretty damn bleak in 1999. The two also run into Gus who wants dinner and a fight ensues between the couple about the fact Gus owns a restraunt, could just bring his lunch etc. It’s hilarious and as I said I like how they feel like a couple you’d meet in real life. Sadly I don’t have an elderly gay couple in my neighborhood but here’s hoping. Or maybe i’ll be the neighborhoods wally when I grow up who knows. Also Tom Kenny’s delivery is great. 

Kevin later relays his fun day to his loftmates, with Andy expressing genuine suprise at Wally’s job and love of art house cinema, as none of them knew what he actually did. Andy’s genuinely shocked and mildly appalled they’ve lived near Wally for so long but having no idea what he does.. but really I had a sweet old lady, Delores who lived next to me for almost my entire life before she moved to be closer to her family, visited her house frequently pet her cats, went to her house after school at one point.. and I cannot tell you what he did, so it’s incredibly relatable. However in a scene that’s both hilarious but also really, really sweet, the three relate that they do know him well and due to being neighbors after all and know Gus and Wally’s morning routine: They wake up at 8, Wally brews the Coffee, Gus reads him the funnies, then they shower together while singing college fight songs, and then, with Jim saying this part so picture it in Brian Posehn’s voice please you won’t regret it, argue or have gay sex and then it’s off to work. It’s really sweet, both in showing off their well worn dynamic with each other, and the fact that the loftmates really DO know these two even if they dont’ know everything and they are close in their own way. Kevin can only give out a “Hm” in response... which is probably the closest he can get to saying touche without breaking into nerdy giggles. 

Cue the good times montage as Wally introduces Kevin to Ingmar Bergman, who I have heard of even if i’ve never seen any of them, and some director I never heard of who made old timey comedies apparently. IT’s a really nice sequence. Kevin also shows 2001: A Space Oddesy to his friends, who are bored to tears by it while Kevin’s enraptured. Which I would say was another heavy-handed swipe at late 90′s cinema but being a teen myself who had mostly watched things like Star Wars, I did not gel with 2001 and need to rematch it at some point, so I totally relate to his friends utter boredom and confusion with it given it’s rep. It’s a visually stunning film. I will however stand by not liking Star Trek: The Motion Picture, as that film TRIES to be 2001 but is instead just really, REALLY boring. 

But naturally things can be entirely good natured bonding between an elderly gay man and , as Wally puts it in the best line of the episode “The son god never wanted me to have”, as Kevin notices a film coming up that Wally apparently made, and looks to star gus. Wally panics and shoos his young protégé away... which yeah he could’ve just you know told him he doesn’t like the film or anything else and prevented this episode but then we wouldn’t of seen the gay equilvent of plan 9 from outer space so fair enough. 

At the Gus’ Diner, the loftmates and their neighbors I mentioned earlier look over the poster, and we find out from Gus that that is him, and he starred in a movie.. and naturally Wally explained never showing it to his husband in the simplest way possible: By claming a shark ate it. You know while I watched the show I didn’t quite get it when I was younger and it’s probably why it took me decades to revisit it.. but I wish I had sooner this show is REALLY damn funny and i’m really looking forward to that spinoff with Wally and Gus. 

Wally continues to dodge Kevin, so Kevin, trying to find info about the film and it being lost, goes to the video store.. back when those existed. Something I have to give the show is honestly the use of vhs, visits to video stores, and the movies Kevin mentions are the only things that really date this film. While swapping another Dustin Hoffman film in proved impossible, it is plausible Kevin would see it streaming somewhere. and it’s easy enough to swap Armageddon for Rise of Skywalker given that film’s just as good.. Last Jedi was excellent though. Point is this story REALLY holds up, which is the sign of a good story: where even if some elements are stamped to the time, the story itself could easily be told again with few changes. It’s also why i’m not AGAINST Reboots, as my coverage of ducktales makes obvious: As long as stories can still be told or you can retell a story in a unique and intresting way, it’s fine to reuse something. I do think hollywood overdoes it, but I’ve never thought there was genuine harm in it or reviving old franchises. It’s all in how you do it.  But yeah while the local video store dosen’t help at all, Andy happens to know just the man for the job, though Jim and Posey nope out of going with them. Also something to note is the series animation: It’s animated like an old 30′s cartoon or a comic strip, modernized a bit in color and realisim, but still having comic strip stuff like shaking head lines, heat lines coming off coffee that sort of thing.  I really love it. 

Anyways the brothers head off to a funky out of the way video store, I wish there were more hole in the wall used media stores where I lived. We mostly have chains like Vintage Stock and Half-Priced Books, though I genuinely love both of those stores and VIntage Stock is the modern equilvent of places like blockbuster honestly. Anyway after Beardo confuses Kevin for an Employee kevin asks him about the man from pluto which Beardo reveals he knows about but is very rare and has few prints. I like Beardo.. he’s a neckbeard who seems more liable to complain abotu some reboot on the fact their rebooting it again rather than “gasp” women are involved. I prefer my neckbeards just a tad pretentious rather than you know, sexist, homophobic, deranged assholes with nothing better to do. I mean i’m still living at home and didn’t get out much before the pandemic either but you dont’ see me bitching every time a franchise gets a female lead. 

Anyway, Kevin is inspired by that and with help from everyone gets the word out about the film. As you’d expect though this can’t end well, as Wally tries avoiding the premire entirely (And we get a great bit where Jim happens to see him trying to flee down the fire escape and Wally’s expression is priceless) 

Huh.. I bet that’s what Rob Reiner when North had it’s premire. As you can probably guess the showing dosen’t go well: The film itself is a hilarious combination of the day the earth stood still (the general plot as we’ll find out more in a second) and Plan 9 From Outer Space (A cheestatic no budget film with a hulking man brute who can’t act as the lead), and in catching the feel of a b-movie it’s utterly perfectly done. This film would go perfect on MST3K and the audience’s howls of laughter agrees with me. 

Wally however is utterly humiliated and doesn’t want to speak to Kevin which.. yeah is about the only issue I have with an otherwise marvelous episode. While I get Wally’s humiliation was Kevin’s fault.. Kevin GENUINELY meant well. While Kevin is book smart at his core he’s a dumb kid who didn’t know any better and didn’t realize Wally hated his film and it’s Wally’s own damn fault for not telling him.  Sure Kevin should’ve picked up the hint, but given the kid is oblivious and didn’t even know what an x raiting is it’s clear he’s not the sharpest crayon in the box when it comes to life experince. Wally had every opportunity to just explain his story but didn’t. And I put most of the blame on Wally when he’s you know, the adult. He’s a 60 or so year old man. He should know better. But it really doesn’t take away from the episode entirely.  But the loftmates clearly love the film and are quoting bits from it, with jim having a fishbowl on his head, when they run into Wally, though Wally is fine with them admitting it’s crap and he knows it is. We then get what REALLY makes the episode and really makes me primed for a spinoff: Wally and Gus’ backstory, which also makes it obvious the crew was probably going to use the two more had the series got another season. 

Anyways it was the 50′s, Archie Andrews was an average teen and not shredded both in muscle and by a bear that one time, Fonzie was out and about and eyying, and Wally was a first unit director given a shot as the studio asked him for a script having utter faith in him. HIs script was a day the earth stood still esque parable on the Cold War.. until he met Gus who, naturally for Gus, was outrunning a ton of police having stumbled on set and likely defeated them all bare handed because Gus is as incredible as the hulk and likely also comes back through a glowing green door when he dies.  So Wally made the tragic mistake of mixing his love life with his career, and lost both Kurt Douglas, who he bumped down from lead for Gus, and Charleton Hesston who just walked off and they got a dinkier stage and worse actors as a result. The resulting film ended Wally’s career but he was able to sell the rights to cinemas to make enough for them to start over in mission hill and buy the diner.. and at least they had each other. It’s a really great story that explains why it upsets Wally so much: This was his baby and while he dosen’t even for one second regret meeting gus or the life they’ve had, he regrets that his one film was a total trainwreck and goes off to the theater to mope as he plays his film for laughing crowds, as it was naturally held over. I mean when you get the next plan 9 from outer space, this was a bit before the room mind you, you hold onto that shit. 

Kevin, who heard the whole thing, goes to mope by watching what is likely a MIcheal Bay film, who was a target even then folks. Oh you poor poor fools you knew not how much worse it could get... i.e. robot testicles. Just.. robot testicles. And their MAKING A DELUXE MOVIE DEVISTATOR. Why. Just.. why who wanted this after that scene. He’s sworn off good movies as he feels he no longer deserves them. Andy however bluntly tells him to cut the pity party, while he’s moping his friend really needs him and when you love somebody, you put your pants on for them. When you love somebody you see it to the end, when you love somebody the conclusions forgone when you love somebody you put your big boy pants right onnnnn! ... I’ll put the song at the end. Point is Kevin goes to help his friend, and as Wally is moping in the projection booth and wonders what he was thinking Kevin tells him the obvious truth: He was thinking of how far he’d go.  “You taught me the best films are personal stories.. and this film is your valentine to Gus” While Wally starts to break a little, he does point out it doesn’t make it good.. but Kevin rightly counters that he’s not so sure of it. Wally sees the audience enjoying the film and goes down, with all of them carrying red light bulbs like the one gus has to show when he’s mad in the film. And Wally finally realizes waht I got to in the beginning: It doesn’t matter if a film’s good or bad, what matters is someone enjoys it. A film can be utterly terrible, and still be good. It can be a mess and still have merit. And Wally finally realizes it doesn’t matter if it’s the film he wanted, it’s the film he made for his future husband, it’s a film that brings laughter and sticks in people’s heads and really  brings them a godo time. It’s a film worth remembering and Wally finally accepts that and his film as his own.  Later that night Kevin and Wally exit the theater, with Wally no longer mad at him and the two still friends or as Wally puts it in the second best line of the episode “As close as an elderly gay man and a straight boy can be” Awwww. The two depart and we get a touching final scene as Wally comes home and finds a bottle of wine and a note from gus saying he has a suprise for him> Turns out Gus put on his old space helmet.. but fell asleep in it. So we get a really nice tender moment as Gus takes the  helmet off, smooches his husband on his bald head and smiles brightly as the episode ends.

Final Thoughts on The Man From Pluto or I Married a Gay Man From Outer Space: Before you ask each episode had two titles for funzies, the first one to get past the censors and the second for fun and likely what they would’ve gone with if they could. As for this episode.. it’s spectacular. It holds up well even 20 years later, it’s touching, sweet and really damn funny and makes me want to rewatch the show as a whole again. I highly recommend seeking it out and hope mission hill is eventually made officially available somewhere. Till then you can find the whole series including this episode on YouTube and despite being the last one you could easily watch this one first if you want and it’s a decent enough intro to the show as a whole. I highly recommend it, an utter pleasure to watch.  If you liked this review, you can comission your own by PMing me on this very blog, just mention you want to do a comission and we can talk it out. As this review proves, it dosen’t have to be a show i’ve done before or even one that’s remotely recent. Hell i’d gladly do Fonz and The Happy Days gang, the animated happy days spinoff that’s like dr. who but with the Fonz. Yes really. Whatever you want i’ll do it as long as it’s not porn for just 5 bucks an episode and 10 for a movie. YOu can also join my patreon, and for 2 dollars a month get acess to my discord (that i’ll start once I get patreons) and once I get enough patreons exclusive polls or 10 bucks for all of that and a review of your choice each month. You can find said patreon right here. And even 1 buck a month would be apricated if you can spare it and if not simply reblog this and share it around.  You can also follow this blog for weekly ducktales, loud house and amphibia coverage as they come out.  I’d also personally thank WeirdKev27 for both being a long time fan of this blog and for the comission. 

Until we meet again say safe, wear a mask, check your atttic for Gary Busey and happy Halloween! Play us out Mr Heere!

[arinaco]

Keith and Shiro: The Hero’s Journey

Translated and edited by @Nadezhda932 

Once I was asked if I would write a meta about Keith or Shiro, and then I refused, because their story at that moment seemed to me simple and clear. But since then, a certain amount of nuance has accumulated that could be written about, so I decided to write a meta.

Warning – the topic of Sheith won’t be raised. All the ships are respected here, but in order to avoid any controversy, in this meta the relationship between Shiro and Keith will be considered exclusively in the context that was declared by the series itself, where Shiro became like an older brother for Keith.

Shiro and Keith’s storylines are closely related, so it’s pointless to look at them separately. Moreover, if Keith’s story is in many ways the standard story of a teenager growing up, then Shiro’s story touches on a completely different – not childish – question.

And I’ll start with the most scandalous – if I may say so – part of Shiro’s storyline. His flashbacks in S7. In the interviews, EPs said they planned to introduce these flashbacks much earlier, but many didn’t believe them. And I’ll start with them because they have an important storyline for Shiro in S8, and most likely one of the reasons why Shiro’s story arc was practically cut out there.

To answer the question of whether these flashbacks were inserted at the last moment, we need to go right back to the first seasons to remember the strange behavior of Shiro, the weirdness of which passed us by, because at that moment there was no clear explanation.

In S1, Shiro appeared before us as a young strong man, mature and confident in his professionalism. He’s almost 30, and this is the very age when a military man can finally begin to count on some serious shoulder straps and a promotion. And suddenly this young man begins to talk with Keith that he may lead the paladins instead of Shiro. As if he was about to retire and needed someone to replace him, although future successors of people at this age usually command an army of plush toys.

I want you to lead Voltron.

After being wounded, Shiro remembered that he was mortal… and that death was very close to him

Of course, the situation was difficult and there was a constant risk, but only Shiro prepared a successor in advance… as if he was about to die. Why did the young man have so many thoughts about death? And here I’ll ask you to remember the plot of flashbacks from S7. Because it’s only in the flashbacks of S7 where we find out… that Shiro was really going to die.

He was ill. Terminally ill. And he knew that soon the very time would come when he lay down in a hospital bed and would never leave its walls again. Yes, the Galra, who had big plans for their new champion, cured the disease, but Shiro didn’t know about it.

And this can serve as the main proof that yes – the flashbacks were indeed planned initially. And only the creators of the series know why they were introduced to the series so late. And they must be taken into account when we talk about Shiro’s storyline, as well as his relationship with Adam.

So where does Shiro’s journey actually begin? It’s unknown when exactly Shiro found out about his illness. Perhaps already in adulthood, or perhaps he even experienced difficulties when entering the Garrison, because the selection for pilots in terms of health has always been very strict. The main thing is different – how Shiro reacted to his illness. He turned out to be one of those people who decided that if they were destined to burn like a match, then they had to shine so as to eclipse the supernova. The entire closet in his house is filled with commemorative awards and diplomas; he’s called the best pilot of the Garrison in plain text. And that’s why his close friend, Professor Holt, decided to take him to Kerberos – this was a gift before his death. At that time, this would probably have been the highest achievement for a space pilot. The title of the discoverer of deep space for planet Earth. Gagarin of a new era, who, by the way, also died young – at 34.

Clear your mind. Now imagine your Lion.

At the same time, of course, it should be noted that Shiro as a whole was a selfless person, striving to take care of others. Perhaps it was a way for him to come to terms with impending death – to live for others, forgetting about himself. The presence of the disease made him a person who doesn’t think about his future and believes that his personal problems don’t matter. If he dies soon anyway, what’s the difference?

There was a difference, though not for Shiro himself. Adam is the very best friend of the hero who always remains in the shadows, behind his back. They started as co-pilots, friends and associates. They worked in one team. Pilots often work in pairs to duplicate each other, and Adam was the one to back Shiro on combat missions. And so their photo together was in the same closet where the awards that Shiro had so eagerly sought to receive were located.

And to better understand Adam… how do you think, who in this situation made sure that Shiro took pills on time, followed the regimen and went to the doctors? Despite the fact that Shiro chose the path of absolutely not giving a damn about his life.

I think the answer is obvious.

While Shiro dedicated his life to the stars and serving the community, Adam dedicated his life to caring for Shiro. And from a moral point of view, this is a very difficult role: to take care of an incurable patient, to take him to hospitals, to monitor his condition, to look at disappointing forecasts with despair, but still continue to fight the disease, winning if not a year, then at least a month… Shiro told Keith that he had only a year or two left, but I think Adam could have given more accurate numbers.

And the problem with this situation is that… Shiro didn’t look back. Only forward, only to the stars. And Adam couldn’t help but start wondering how much Shiro appreciated his efforts. Shiro had a couple of years of normal life left, and Adam wanted them to spend these years together, but then a dangerous, though truly starry peak appeared on the horizon, and of course, Shiro decided to conquer it, even though the high command spoke out against it…

But this is more than a mission, this is your life at stake.

And… Adam just couldn’t stand it. All these years he obediently covered his back, but now Shiro was going on a solo mission, and if something happened, Adam wouldn’t even have anything to bury. So he just left. Broken. It’s very hard to love and care for someone if you don’t feel the same in return.

Takashi, how important am I to you?

How did Shiro feel about this? Perhaps, at that particular moment, he even thought that it would be better this way, because Adam one way or another would have to continue to live without him. Being a selfless person, he probably wanted Adam to be happy after his death, and in order to move on, the dead must be left in the past.

I’m going on a mission.

It didn’t even occur to him that Adam would fulfill his promise in the most literal sense. And that the very question «How important am I to you?» would remain unanswered.

This was the starting point of his journey. The journey of a person who, due to illness, began to regard his life and problems as something insignificant. A person who’s used to devaluing his personal needs and health. And it’s the question of depreciation that runs like a red thread throughout his entire storyline.

Only… it’s easy to devalue your health and feelings when you’re generally a happy person. Maybe Shiro even wanted to die before becoming a helpless vegetable. Better to die a hero than live bedridden. But then the Galra appeared in his life – the very variable that he couldn’t take into account. And uninvited guests «rewarded» him not only with good health, but also with strong PTSD. After all, Shiro, like all other paladins, including Allura, grew up without war. He didn’t know the war. The difficult tasks that Shiro had to solve in space came from an aggressive environment, not from aggressive neighbors. The last war on Earth took place long before his birth.

And Shiro was really shocked when he met the Galra. «We’re unarmed, what are you doing?» – quite a classic reaction of a person who lived in a prosperous, peaceful society. There were thousands of them – boys who, from their usual peaceful environment, unexpectedly went to war, and then returned as crippled combatants. And PTSD in Shiro’s situation is a tragic, but quite natural development of events.

If you open some serious scientific text on PTSD (and I found one, not even a very old one – 2015 edition), then it’ll be written there that one of the main problems of sufferers of PTSD is that they don’t perceive symptoms as one whole and just don’t understand that they need help. And a man like Shiro thought that amnesia, flashbacks and nightmares were his own problem, which shouldn’t prevent him from playing the important role of leader and nanny of other paladins. No, under favorable conditions, PTSD can really go away on its own – new emotions and positive experience repeatedly assure a person that now everything will be fine, and after a certain time his psyche relaxes. But Shiro didn’t have such conditions. He sharply turned out to be the most important and eldest in the company of children, and his task was not to go into space to conduct experiments, but to stop the aggression of a huge empire. And his PTSD from the acute phase just turned into a chronic one.

And here we need to briefly recall how PTSD affects a person. PTSD is a state when tragedy doesn’t let go, when a person continues to cycle through events, and as a result begins to fear their repetition. And he spends all his efforts to prevent this from happening. The simplest case: I was bitten by a dog – so I’ll avoid all dogs. By keeping my distance, I’ll be safe.

And all of Shiro’s changes – his desire to control the situation, his bitterness throughout the series – it all grows out of this. And that’s not even considering the influence of Haggar. Ever wonder why the clone had the memory of the real Shiro? Because Haggar thrust her fingers into Shiro’s mind and didn’t want to let go. As she appropriated the souls of the old paladins, so she did with Shiro, and then used him to protect herself from the White Lion. Only in S7 Allura managed to rid Shiro of the last fragments of this influence.

I won’t listen to you!

Are you saying this to Sendak or to your memory?

Fortunately, Keith was next to Shiro. At the time of their first acquaintance, Keith was still a child whom Shiro took into care. Shiro saw in him that very problematic teen who needed support, and naturally he couldn’t pass by. Under his leadership, Keith became more balanced and was able to reveal his pilot talent. Shiro saw potential in him and wanted to help Keith channel his energies in a positive direction.

Keith, being a lonely child and an orphan, saw Shiro as his only close person and naturally couldn’t agree that Shiro’s health and well-being were something unimportant and unnecessary. He was ready to tear his veins in order to save the only semblance of a family that he had, and thus repeatedly proved to Shiro that yes, Shiro was important, that yes, he must live, because his life was valuable even without victories and awards. Keith literally forced Shiro to accept help, forced him to put up with the fact that Shiro couldn’t always control the situation. Keith helped Shiro learn to rely on others again.

And that’s why they win Sendak together. Sendak has been Shiro’s personal enemy since the first episode, but the truth is, alas, that Sendak and Shiro are fighters of different weight classes. Sendak is more than ten thousand years old, he’s a Galra from the days of old Daibazaal, he was trained personally by Zarkon. There were only three fighters of this level in the universe at that time, and, unfortunately, Shiro wasn’t included in this three. And Lotor wasn’t allowed to kill Sendak, otherwise it would have been a shame that Lotor had killed all the main enemies of the paladins.

Shiro objectively couldn’t defeat Sendak alone. And that’s why Shiro killed Sendak together with Keith – Shiro accepted his help and said not «How many times will you save me again?», but a simple «Thank you».

But then… after S7 everything goes downhill. And scraps of Shiro’s story arc stick out like torn threads. And this applies to two aspects:

Shiro’s personal life;

his being a paladin;

First, I’ll tell you about him as a paladin. Despite the fact that Shiro is no longer a Black Paladin, the last episodes of S8 clearly show us that he’s still a paladin. His eyes also shine along with everyone else, and… against a WHITE background. And the background at that moment was the color of the paladin’s Lion.

Because Shiro became a White Paladin, although this has never been officially confirmed. Most likely, this moment fell under the carving knife along with many other cut scenes. But we still can trace the general outline of this story arc.

And here we need to remember the Alteans and their culture. The Alteans had a real cult of sacrifice, most likely as a consequence of the potential danger of the alchemists (say hello to Honerva). Therefore, the test on Oriande isn’t a check on whether you’re good or bad, but a check on the conformity of belonging to the Altean culture.

Stage 1 is a pass from Honerva’s storage. Perhaps this pass was given to every alchemist without any explanation of how to use it. The alchemist had to guess it, but Honerva for some reason couldn’t. And only an Altean could get such a pass.

Stage 2 is checking basic knowledge. In the space age, the ability to use the Teludav was most likely a must-have for any alchemist.

Stage 3 is the most important. White Lion, testing not your moral qualities, but your belonging to the culture of the Alteans. Understanding the cult of sacrifice. That’s why Lotor didn’t pass this stage – his upbringing is different. A true Galra must not die for his homeland, he must make his enemies die for their own.

But Shiro, one might say, is the ideal member of this cult. Pass a sea of quintessence through yourself so that Professor Holt can hack the ship? Yes, please, he doesn’t mind. The White Lion appreciated that. More precisely, the White Lion appreciated Shiro even earlier, when Honerva used Shiro’s soul to pass the trial. And Shiro… actually passed the trial of sacrifice in her place. The White Lion saw him and realized that Shiro was really selfless to the extent that a true Altean should be selfless.

And Atlas didn’t transform into a robot because the brilliant Professor Holt was able to build a second Voltron. It happenned because the White Lion came and said to the other Lions: «Hold my beer, now I’ll show you how to save the universe». By sacrificing himself, Shiro initiated himself as a White Paladin, and combined with the Castle’s crystal this allowed him to summon the Lion to the Atlas.

A very important nuance in fact. But it flies past us, forcing us to wonder how a huge bucket of nuts from the backward Earth managed to catch up with the creation of King Alfor.

The loss of the second aspect of Shiro’s storyline was so great that couldn’t be unnoticed. Shiro abruptly lost touch with other paladins, and his behavior became authoritarian and aggressive. As if as soon as Shiro sat in the admiral’s chair, power hit him in the head.

And then at the end of the story, he unexpectedly quits his job and marries a random character. I’m sorry, what?! O_o

For unknown reasons, someone abruptly decided to delete Shiro’s line from the story, due to which the character completely lost the logic of his behavior. And we can only guess what was really there, armed with common sense and a reference book on psychology.

The most obvious line that was cut (of which I’m 90% sure) is the line of Adam’s death. When Shiro learns about Adam’s death in S7, he remembers his name with great anguish. Until then, the thought that Adam might die before him seemed inconceivable to Shiro. And here he was left alone with the very last question, to which he never gave an answer. And when Shiro says that «their deaths won’t be in vain», he speaks first of all about Adam. And he rushes into space «to do good» with thoughts of Adam. Despite the fact that the Galra Empire is no longer there, there’s no one to fight with. Only to catch small associations throughout the universe that do no more harm than ordinary pirates, and in most cases they just try to survive. Shiro in S8 behaves exactly like Allura in S1, who shook her fist and threatened all Galra with revenge in a desire to fulfill the command of her deceased father and save the universe.

Adam…

He never told Adam that he was really important to him, and tried to express these words with his actions. And against the background of this grief, which remained unmourned in the series, the wedding looks weird. He didn’t refuse Kerberos mission for the sake of Adam, but gave up his life’s work for the sake of the first comer.

All Shiro’s experiences, all his pain were simply put under the knife, as if it never existed. As a result, we got a character whose behavior changed dramatically, as if instead of Shiro there’s again another clone.

And if you evaluate the arc from the point of common sense, Shiro should have shared his grief with his friends. With Keith at least. Express it, rather than go through this stress alone. Otherwise, it turns out that Shiro’s entire storyline was just about nothing. So many times Keith saved him, but he still continued to keep all the problems in himself, not telling anyone about them.

It truly feels like the light has gone out in our lives

The rest of the storylines have no real confirmation, except for theories, so I won’t describe them. Moreover, against the background of the main experience mentioned above, they look less significant and practically don’t affect the plot.

The epilogue of Shiro in the original script, most likely, was supposed to be a significant political position, but a peacemaker, not an aggressor. The conduct of diplomatic negotiations between the races, which flashed for a couple of seconds, fits well into this image.

Now let’s talk about Keith. It’s even sadder with the end of his arc, because it’s completely lost. And as a result, instead of normal development, Keith sharply turned into Marty Stu. And I have to admit, probably the Keith’s storyline in S8 is what comes second on my list called «Things That Piss Me Off In This Season». Only Romelle’s storyline pisses me off more than Keith’s one. And the reasons why it pisses me off can be divided into two categories:

Category 1 – Keith as a «good Galra»

Category 2 – Keith as a «great leader»

I don’t like the first one for one simple reason: Keith is not a Galra. Because belonging to a people isn’t determined by a set of genes. Because any nation is primarily a language, culture and history. When an invader wants to demonstrate his power, he forbids the people to speak their native language. And the fact that Keith is very similar to his mom doesn’t make him a Galra. Keith was born on Earth, raised on Earth and is psychologically an Earthling. He’s an Earthling with Galran blood, nothing more, nothing less. And that’s why, when he tells Lahn that he’s also a Galra, Lahn replies something like «You don’t say» with obvious skepticism in his voice. Because the Galra are a people with a very ancient culture and their own special collective psychology, and all this can’t simply be inherited through genes. Through genes, only temperament is inherited, and a certain belonging to culture in a person appears only during upbringing. Moreover, in the series we see an example of the fact that no matter how strong the desire to become a part of another culture is, it doesn’t always help. Who is this example? The answer is simple – Lotor.

Lotor has spent his entire life studying the culture of the Alteans, and he’s nearly ten thousand years old. But at the same time he was born among the Galra, was brought up by the Galra and lived according to the principles of the Galra. As a result, Oriande said goodbye to him. Lotor wanted to be part of the Alteans, but he couldn’t – despite the fact that he’s half Altean. Half the blood didn’t help him in any way.

But for some reason, Keith has suddenly become a real «good Galra» just by the wave of a magic wand. Despite the fact that he never showed interest in the Galran culture, and even among the Blades he remained on his own special wave. He felt at home among the Blades not because he was a Galra, but because Galran society was historically formed to be able to live in close groups and get along with each other. And when Keith went to the Blades, they just took him under their wing, and thereby gave him what he needed then. Therefore, this is why Keith felt that he belonged, not because of some mythical voice of blood.

The second category is worth talking about after analyzing Keith’s storyline.

Keith’s storyline is the Hero’s Journey. Almost a classic version. A young man must leave the comfort zone, perform a feat, receive a reward for this feat, and return home matured after the trials he has endured.

The reward for Keith is finding a family, and his trial is becoming a leader. Now remember his epilogue. Do you remember what happened there?

In the epilogue, Keith never appeared with his family – neither with Shiro, nor with Krolia, nor with Kolivan, but he got a chance to take the imperial throne. The trial was turned into a reward, and Lotor’s generals, almost strangers to him, became his circle of friends. Who, by the way, betrayed Lotor, so Keith should watch his back.

It looks so cute, if you forget that Zethrid has problems with aggression, and Ezor is a hidden sadist…

Just because Keith had to become a leader doesn’t mean he wanted to be. The fact that he has assumed responsibilities doesn’t mean that he has dreamed of fulfilling them all his life. But, in order not to be unfounded, let’s take a closer look at how Keith’s personality changes according to the plot.

The Hero’s Journey of Keith

Stage 1. Everyday World

To understand what his Call to Adventure was, as well as the Unknown World and the Trial, you need to look at where it all started.

After the decision was made to change S8, Keith was compared to Lotor, despite the fact that they’re two completely different people with completely different fates. And if Lotor’s childhood was stable and predetermined (from birth he was in the hands of the governess and from birth he knew that his destiny was to rule the Galra), the situation with Keith turned out to be radically opposite. He knew nothing about his mother, except that she was missing. It was even sadder with his father – he died, leaving behind only a dagger. It’s sadder, because it was the father who embodied for Keith the stability and security that every child needs. And although everyone said that Heath died as a hero, Keith, who ended up in an orphanage, didn’t get any easier from this knowledge. The exact period of his father’s death wasn’t named, but most likely Keith at that moment was at least 6-7 years old, mature enough to remember his parent well.

Keith was by nature a classic introverted child (which, by the way, isn’t a Galran character trait at all) who needs his own corner and wants to be able to be alone in this corner. An introvert prefers that his social circle is limited to a certain list of people, and he’s morally stressed by the constant need to be in society, since he’s simply mentally tired of this.

But, alas, the orphanage isn’t the place where they will give you your own room when you want to be alone. And against the background of a hot temper, this led to the fact that Keith didn’t get along with the children and educators. He desperately wanted to regain the very cozy world where he and a strong loving dad were, but those around him simply couldn’t give it.

Ultimately, this resulted both in the absence of friends, and in the reluctance of educators to spend time on him. After all, they had others – talented, not problematic, excellent pupils with perfect discipline. And without support – especially the support of wise adults – Keith has turned into a kind of a little mouse that wants to sit in a mouse hole, categorically unwilling to protrude into this dangerous unknown world, where everyone can offend him. And if this tiny mouse does get out, it begins to run and grind its teeth on everyone, so that every potential aggressor knows that this mouse, although small, can bite you.

Stage 2. Call to Adventure. The first Mentor appears

Maybe you’ve got what it takes?

At first glance, it may seem that the Blue Lion has become the Call to Adventure for Keith. But in fact, the Unknown World for Keith was not distant space, but life itself. And this Call happened much earlier than the events of the first episode.

Namely, the appearance of Shiro. The very moment when he came to school to tell the children about piloting and offer to play the simulator. The big man saw this very little mouse sitting in the corner and offered him his hand. He offered to show that the world outside the mouse hole isn’t so scary, and even interesting and wonderful.

What did our mouse do in the first moment? That’s right, he bit this hand. Keith perceived Shiro as another potential aggressor and didn’t want to make contact.

But Shiro’s tenacity was beyond measure. He told Keith over and over again that he needed to be bolder. He showed him the spaceship and told him about the astronauts who weren’t afraid to go into the unknown. He jumped off the cliff with him, demonstrating by his example his willingness to step towards this terrible frightening thing called life. And he explained that even such a flight can be controlled if you’re prepared for it in advance.

The mouse bit him on the finger, but he continued to offer his hand, promising to protect and help, to become a guide in the world around him, and under the guidance of Shiro, our tiny animal got out of the hole and began to gradually look around. Keith kept snapping at the people around him, but Shiro’s guardianship helped him start to feel a kind of security and certainty. He got a new father figure in Shiro and began to stabilize mentally.

But this process was cut short in the middle.

The first alarming call was the news about the illness. Keith of course told Shiro that he’s grown up enugh for this kind of news, but just remember how hysterically he spoke about it. The possibility of losing a father figure (for the second time!), guaranteeing stability and security, seemed daunting to Keith. He didn’t want to believe it, he refused to believe it, and by the events of the first season he simply threw this knowledge out of his head as unwanted information.

But then something happened that we already know. The expedition with Shiro disappeared, and the mouse, left without a protector, scaredly bit everyone who was nearby, and at the first cosmic speed rushed back into the hole. Keith quarreled with others and was expelled from the Garrison for deviant behavior, and then returned to his old house, where he once lived with his father. We now know that Heath lived there because he was guarding the Blue Lion, but then Keith simply returned to that one place where he felt comfortable and safe.

2.1 Supernatural Aid

As the saying goes, sometimes a decisive step forward is the result of a good kick from behind. Either the Blue Lion sensed the approach of the Galra, or she was simply bored, but she started sending Keith signals to go to look for the «anomaly» and, in the end, brought all the main characters of the series to her.

And by the will of the magic princess, for a more comfortable confrontation with the world around him, Keith receives a transforming sword, a stylish suit and a mechanical cat with character.

2.2 Refusal of the Call

No, I can’t take it.

Keith refused the Call from the beginning. But. Up to this point, Shiro played the role of the Good Father: he didn’t demand that Keith decide something himself, he stroked his head and persuaded him to trust father’s decisions. He took full responsibility for himself, allowing Keith to remain in the role of a child.

Now, with the arrival of the Galra, everything has changed. Shiro was no longer the same, and the world around him wasn’t the same. Shiro found himself in a situation where he was appointed commander-in-chief in a war against a huge hostile empire, and instead of the army he was given a handful of teenagers. Moreover, Shiro was sincerely convinced that he would soon become incapacitated, and the newly acquired PTSD demanded to keep everything under control. This means that he – Shiro – must take care of everything, including what will happen when he can no longer lead the team.

And in this situation, it turned out that Shiro really knew well only Keith. He knew what Keith could, and he knew Keith was trustworthy. In Shiro’s eyes, there was no longer a child, but a rather grown up guy, and Shiro treated him as an equal. And he began not to persuade Keith to go forward, holding his hand – he began to insist that Keith go and lead the others.

If you become a leader, you’ll have to act wisely.

From that moment, from a Good Father, Shiro began to gradually turn into an Evil Father, who demands that his son pull himself together and grow up. The Evil Father isn’t actually bad, he loves his son, but he believes that it’s time for the boy to stop being afraid of the outside world and become a man.

But Keith wasn’t ready yet. The child has just learned to stand on trembling legs, but here they’re demanding that he not only run forward, but also drag someone along with him.

So Keith began to refuse. To give up not so much the role of a leader as the obligation to take responsibility for himself. From the obligation to become an adult.

But the more the son resists, the angrier the father becomes. Because you can’t hide forever, and you can’t remain a child forever. Sooner or later, a moment may come when a father, out of love for his son, simply throws him out of the nest so that he forcibly learns to fly.

Stage 3. First Threshold. The second Mentor appears

3.1 Threshold Guardians

Trials can only have two outcomes.

First Threshold is the line that the hero needs to pass in order to enter a new unknown world. In Keith’s case, a new, unexplored world of maturity. At this turn, depending on the behavior of the protagonist, he’s met by either the Threshold Guardians or the Belly of a Whale.

What’s the difference? In the first case, the hero meets the Guardians, and they check the hero, whether he’s ready to cross this line. And only after passing their check, the hero receives permission to go further. In the second case, the hero is metaphorically killed, that is, he’s forced to change so that he meets the necessary requirements for entering a new unknown world.

Knowledge or death.

In Keith’s case, the first scenario happened. And Kolivan, accompanied by the Blades, becomes the Guardian at the turn of the new adult life. The one who will later become Keith’s guide through this world.

When the Blades meet Keith, they demand that he return the dagger to them, but Keith refuses. The fact is that for Keith the dagger embodied the very bright past that he desperately wanted to return. The last connection with that wonderful childhood, where he and his loving dad were. And the hope that if he tries, if he’s lucky, he’ll understand what this dagger means, and will know who he is and where he belongs. Where is his home and family.

But the Blades, as Guardians of the threshold of maturity, ask Keith how much he’s willing to give for this last hope. What are his priorities. For a very long time Keith turned away from people, from the whole world, in order to cherish dreams of a bright past in his head. And then he was forced to ask the question: how much he values these dreams. And he had to answer. Give the answer not to them, but to himrself.

Ultimately, between a childhood dream of a family and an adult responsibility to others, Keith chooses the latter. He passes the test of his willingness to begin the journey to maturity, and the Guardians let him through.

But think: what marks the passage of this milestone for Keith?

It’s marked by the battle with Zarkon, in which Shiro is killed and merged with the Black Lion.

Moreover, after these events, Shiro, in the person of Kuron, finally turns into the Evil Father. He simply refuses to lead Keith by the hande. And he inherits the Black Lion and the title of the Black Paladin.

Remember my words about throwing a chick out of the nest?

This is exactly what Shiro did. By becoming one with the Black Lion, he forcibly made Keith the Black Paladin.

Stage 4. Road of Trials

You wanted me to lead Voltron? This is the kind of leader I am.

It’s difficult to say how correct this decision was. Rather, Shiro simply didn’t see other options, since the Black Lion itself was made for an adult, responsible leader, and such ones don’t lie on the road.

And Keith, who was left with no choice, began his journey. On his trembling legs, the child began to walk forward, constantly falling and dropping the rest of the children following him. Naturally, he wasn’t happy about this. He constantly looked back, looking for thefsther figure and hoping to take him by the hand again. But dad saw was no longer a kid, but an adult and wasn’t going to help at all.

However, such a harsh decision did bear fruit. Other kids helped the main character; they walked tightly holding each other’s hands, and Keith began to feel grateful for the support and responsibility for the fact that when he falls, everyone else falls.

But then comes the second most important event in Keith’s life.

4.1 Test challenge & prepare hero

Shiro: Here’s the plan. Keith: Okay, team, we need to…

A sure sign: two housewives in the kitchen will lead to broken plates.

To accurately understand the meaning of this stage, I’ll briefly describe this stage in understandable language: this is the moment when the main character tries to defeat the main boss of the game for the first time. The main boss kicks him, but doesn’t kill, and the main character retreats, realizing that his level is too low.

And yes, the main boss of Keith’s game is the Evil Father in the person of Kuron. Kind dad has become a terrible dragon, and the boy must figure out what to do with it.

Kuron-Shiro returns. He returns, and the paladins receive not one, but two Black Paladins at once, which entails the need to establish a hierarchy. Because two drivers can’t sit behind the wheel at once – sooner or later a conflict will begin.

And on the one hand, Kuron actively advocates for Keith to be in command, and on the other hand, out of habit, gives instructions himself. And Keith needs to enter into some kind of rivalry in order to arrange roles and finally establish himself as a leader.

The boy has just begun to walk firmly, and dad is already offering to run a hundred meters for a bet.

And what does Keith do in this situation? He runs away He runs away to the Blades because he feels completely unprepared for such a challenge.

There’s only one question: why to the Blades? At first glance, the answer seems obvious: Keith learned that he was half Galra, saw his own kind in the Blades and decided to go to them. This is exactly what the paladins thought, and therefore they forgave Keith for such a decision.

In reality, the main motivating reason wasn’t race, but the behavior of the Blades in relation to Keith. More precisely – Kolivan’s behavior.

You broke protocol.

Statement of fact without any punishment.

If Shiro saw Keith as an adult and treated him like an adult, then for Kolivan – from the height of his past centuries – Keith was still a child. Colivan didn’t read him speeches about the need to become a leader and didn’t arrange competitions, and therefore, faced with an insurmountable obstacle, Keith simply fled under his wing.

And he got in Kolivan exactly the one he needed all these long years. Kolivan saw how the boy was unstable on his feet, took his hand and led him. He didn’t require Keith to walk on his own, but didn’t interfere with his attempts to do so. And he didn’t threaten with this terrible word «responsibility», but only reminded that every action has consequences, that if Keith falls in his desire to rush forward without looking, it will hurt.

You didn’t consider that something could have happenned to you.

Kolivan didn’t go easy on him, because such behavior was contrary to the Galran culture based on survival. But under his leadership, Keith became calmer, more concentrated and more confident in himself. He was in the position of an ordinary soldier, and therefore he wasn’t required to make decisions. On the other hand, Kolivan kept him nearby and from his example Keith learned what it means to be a leader.

Shiro: You must defeat the dragon! Keith: o_o Dragon called Life: You can’t defeat me, hero! Keith: O_O Kolivan: Dayak’s Galran Recreational School offers dragon-fighting training services Keith: Six months, please.

The evil Shiro demanded that Keith go ahead and lead everyone. Kolivan the mentor showed Keith how to do it.

The long-lost father returned home, and the child, having ceased to fear for his future, finally regained his balance. He began to stand harder on his feet and walk harder, because he felt that now he wouldn’t fall.

Again, speaking in gaming language, up to this point, Keith was offered to level up in locations with enemies above his level. It went slowly, the enemies were killed badly, and they could also kill Keith himself, and then he would lose experience and go back. Now he found a location with enemies of his level, and the process went quickly, fervently and without unnecessary risk.

Stage 5. Nadir/Abyss

So, Keith has leveled up and is ready to face his dragon again. What happens to him when he comes close to the moment X?

5.1 Meeting with the Goddess

The Goddess embodies for the Hero the personification of unconditional love, as the beginning of life. And meeting with her allows the protagonist to learn this aspect and understand that life is not only a series of suffering.

And here I can’t help but remember that initially a pairing with Acxa was planned for Keith, but then, to the great joy of some of the fans, this pairing was cut out. Since I hate it when the screenwriters cut a ready-made script, I can’t say that I’m satisfied with this fact, but at the same time I can’t but admit that this pairing practically didn’t play any role for Keith’s storyline. In Keith’s storyline, pairing isn’t at all important or even needed, because an abandoned child needs a completely different manifestation of love.

And his mother becomes his Goddess, the one who bestows unconditional love. Kolivan – who probably quickly guessed whose son Keith was – gives Keith a task and sends him to meet with Krolia. Subsequently, they travel together for several years, allowing Keith to satisfy the need for maternal love and close the state of his relationship with the maternal figure.

5.2 Woman as Temptress

And here we’re beginning to say hello to the edited S8. Temptress or Deceiver. A person encountered on the path of the protagonist, who takes advantage of his weaknesses and manipulates him for their own purposes. Historically, most often this person appears in the image of a seductive woman, because:

men in life easily trust beauties;

intrigue is a favorite female way of achieving a goal

Keith’s Journey at this stage is still a classic version, but thanks to the people who edited S8 this moment is completely lost. And it’s very bad.

Because the moment disappears when the hero realizes that he was deceived. When he realizes that his weaknesses have been taken advantage of. When he realizes that weaknesses can’t be indulged if you don’t want bad consequences.

So who is our very woman-temptress? That’s right, this is a sweet helpless girl Romelle, tearing out the metal sheathing with her bare hands and knocking out the hatches with her foot. (In this meta, I went through the scenes with Romelle in detail to explain why I consider her a liar )

Keith, look at those sad innocent eyes, how can you not believe them? Look how lonely she is, how she suffers after losing her brother.

What is Keith doing? Keith makes a stand: I see the goal, I believe in myself, I don’t notice obstacles.

When they flew to the moon base, he was already mentally prepared to see evidence of Lotor’s villainy. At the base, they didn’t see either guards or any warehouses with quintessence, but he immediately concluded that Lotor would get it from the Alteans. Why? Because «Do first, think later» is the main motto of the Red Paladin. After all, they were following the trail of the blue quintessence, and Romelle said that Lotor was taking away the Alteans. And Keith hastily decided that there’s a direct connection between the two events.

In mathematical logic, there’s such a concept as necessary and sufficient conditions. A sufficient condition is a condition that is sufficient to declare that the theory is correct. A necessary condition is a condition without which it’s impossible to prove that a theory is correct. The sufficient condition can’t exist without the necessary, but the necessary condition can’t replace the sufficient.

And it so happened that Keith used the necessary condition as sufficient and as a result came to the wrong conclusions. And inspired by righteous rage, our protector of the innocent flew to punish the big bad Lotor. Punished, well done. So that the whole universe backfired.

5.3 Atonement with Father

Here it is, here is the main moment of the feat. When the hero is faced with the dual figure of the father: both a protector and a tyrant. Literally dual in the face of Shiro and Kuron.

Kit tries to save the Good Father, Shiro, and at the same time – save the last echo of his childhood. But the Good Father says that he’s lost forever and can’t be returned in any way, and Keith has to come to terms with this. Because his friends need him. Because paladins need their leader.

And only at this moment, when Keith agrees to give up childhood and accept responsibility, he comes to terms with his father figure.

The Evil Father waited until his son became an adult, and ceased to be a source of fear and aggression. Kuron and Shiro merge, returning not Good or Evil, but just a Father to Keith. Not an all-powerful protector, but a person who’s ready to support his son and needs to be supported.

The feat was finally accomplished. The dragon is defeated without firing a shot.

But is this the end? No, this is not at all the end of the Hero’s Journey, but only the middle. The only problem is that the next stage – leading up to the recieving of the award – has been ripped out of Keith’s storyline.

But this is the most important stage.

Stage 6. Transformation

Having accomplished the feat, the hero changes internally and looks at the world with new eyes.

This stage for Keith began in S7 and should have reached its top by the middle, if not the end of S8.

Keith stopped running from responsibility. He agreed to become a leader. But he must also understand how to do it correctly. Draw conclusions from everything that happened in the past.

Shiro taught him to be decisive and not afraid of the unknown. Keith learned this lesson.

Now it’s time to learn Kolivan’s lesson. A lesson of realizing that every action has its consequences. And that you need to calculate and think before you do something.

But thanks to the changes in S8, instead of a process of awareness, instead of seeing the consequences of his actions and drawing conclusions, Keith suddenly turned into a «wise leader», infallible and invincible. So wise that he even teaches Zarkon.

Keith. Teaches. Zarkon.

You know, I sincerely admire Zarkon as a person. A great warrior, a great strategist, a wise ruler who concluded peace treaties and alliances for the good of his people. A loving husband and father. He was mistaken in only one thing – when, in desperation, he risked everything to save his wife and son.

Whatever one may say, but this is the most well-written pairing of the series.

And even mad after the shock dose of the quintessence, he – having in his hands only a disadvantaged people and a handful of ships practically left without energy – managed to build the strongest empire in the universe.

And Keith teaches him. The same Keith, who more than once abandoned everything and everyone to save Shiro.

When I watched this scene, I wanted to say only one thing: boy, you are now lecturing a man who came out against your Red Lion with one bayard and almost rolled you into a pancake. And you screwed up so many times that the entire universe burns with a bright flame.

Who are you to teach him?

Neither you nor your whole bunch of paladins were able to defeat Zarkon. Lotor did it, in a fair one-on-one duel.

Who are you to look down on him and claim victory over him? You didn’t defeat him. You weren’t even with the team at that moment.

And who is Keith for the Galra to offer him the throne of the emperor? He’s a savior to Earth, but to the Galra he’s nothing. They don’t care that he’s a Black Paladin, but they know that the paladins of Voltron destroyed the empire and thus broke the lives of many representatives of their people.

I could understand if they tried to make Lahn the ruler. Lahn tried to save at least something left of the empire and took care of his people. Or Kolivan, although the Blades always tried to stay in the shadows. But Keith has done absolutely nothing for the Galra to claim such a title.

Child, instructing adults – quite silly content for children. And all I can do in this case is an endless facepalm.

Someone who seemed to have Keith as a favorite character decided to give him a cookie in the end. To take this cookie from another – hated – character and give it to Keith. True, Keith didn’t need it at all, but the main thing is that another – hated – character has lost his cookie.

But let’s get back to the Hero’s Journey. What was really going to happen there?

Fortunately for us, the initial outline of Keith’s transformation is still being felt. This allows us to make fairly strong assumptions, and not just poke a finger in the sky.

The first – the earliest demonstration of Keith’s internal changes – is the scene with Zethrid. The episode was added in S8, but let’s keep in mind that it was originally planned for the beginning of S7.

Keith forgives Zethrid. Remember what Keith did to any hurt he got as a child? He got into a fight. Why did he do it? Because an insecure, scared person is afraid to appear weak. Therefore, any aggression is immediately responded to, if suddenly someone decides that they can offend him with impunity.

You need to have inner strength and confidence in order to respond to aggression with calmness and mercy. Lotor forgave his generals not only out of sentimentality, but also because he was confident in his abilities. A person filled with inner strength remains calm and merciful even to enemies, because in his soul there’s no fear for his life.

Keith became more confident, and therefore calmer, and most importantly, more merciful. And he found the strength to understand Zethrid, forgive and respond to her aggression with compassion.

There’s nothing special about killing your enemy. True valor is needed to understand them and forgive them. And he needed it, it took him later at the end of S7 to learn an important new lesson.

Unfortunately, to really understand the essence of my reasoning below, you’ll need to read my meta about Admiral Sanda. There’s a lot written there, and I wouldn’t want to drag it all here, so I’ll just build my ideas on what I wrote there.

Now I’ll return to the most recent events of S7. When the team of paladins ends up in prison and learns that it was Admiral Sanda’s fault.

Have you ever wondered why at the moment of confession we’re shown Keith’s face? And what was that face like?

Keith had been running away from the title of leader for so long, because even then he realized that this was a difficult role. Keith became a leader against his will and felt that he was carrying a huge burden.

But becoming more self-confident, more mature, Keith also learned to be more indulgent towards other people’s mistakes.

He understood Sanda because he knew how terrible it was to hold other people’s lives in his hands. And he forgave her, because he found the strength to respond to the stab in the back with compassion.

And Sanda taught him something that no one had ever taught him. Neither Kolivan nor Shiro.

Sanda taught him how to behave as a leader if he realized that he had made a total mistake.

She made no excuses, throwing the blame on Sam Holt.

She didn’t quarrel with the paladins, proving her case to the last.

When she realized that she was mistaken, thereby substituting people who depend on her, she admitted she was wrong. She admitted and asked for forgiveness. And she did everything to fix it – standing up to protect the paladins in a moment of danger.

And this is the most difficult option for taking responsibility. Taking responsibility for the fact that your actions have hurt other people. Who aren’t obliged to forgive you just because you threw up your hands and said «I’m sorry».

And Keith, whose actions brought trouble on dozens, if not hundreds of planets, badly needed this lesson. Sanda, without knowing it, gave Keith advice on how to act in such a situation, and later – in S8 – Keith began to use this advice.

When? Remember the conversation with Lahn. Did Keith have any need to reveal that it was he and Krolia who released the monster? No. Would Lahn ever know about this? Also no. Only Keith and Krolia knew why this creature was free. They might have shoved responsibility on the long-dead Galra, and no one could ever prove otherwise.

But Keith felt guilty for the death of Lahn’s subordinates and felt it right to confess. To take the responsibility. Would Keith from the first seasons, who sought to hide from responsibility behind his Father’s back, have done this? No. That Keith would have said nothing.

The completion of Keith’s Transformation stage, alas, is associated with the return of Lotor and therefore has been completely cut out. After the events of Clear Day, the true details of the events on the Altean colony were to surface, and Keith had to decide how to react to this information.

One thing I can say for sure: a conversation with Zarkon would have had a completely different tone. It’s unlikely that Zarkon would have been struck to tears by the fact that he fought with the entire universe, because for the Galra, all life is war. But he wouldn’t forgive himself an attempt to kill his own child. He wouldn’t forgive himself for the betrayal of his only son.

And Keith, from the height of his guilt – after all, it was he who left Lotor to die – couldn’t help but try to support Zarkon in this moment. And in the end, Zarkon would talk to him about responsibility, not that «Galra blood is cool, it made you a leader».

Upbringing made Keith a leader, the Galra blood gave him only beautiful eyes and chic hair.

Stage 7. Apotheosis

The hero receives his reward, consolidates the experience gained and sets new goals for himself.

Everything is quite simple here. The Blades in the face of Kolivan and Krolia join the celebration of life again, and they all decide what to do with Honerva. Keith has a mom, dad and an older brother. Keith paid off his debts, got his family, and the only obstacle to returning a quiet life is Honerva, not Keith’s personal problems.

Stage 8. Return Threshold

8.1 Refusal of the Return

About this, alas, nothing is known. The only thing I can assume is a state when a person who has returned from the war can’t learn to live peacefully again. In the case of Keith, he’s used to being the leader of the paladins and perhaps so got used to this role that he will no longer want to leave it. But whether Keith had this in reality is unknown.

8.2 Magic Flight

Flight of the paladins between realities on the mega-Voltron.

8.3 Rescue from Without

The Lion Goddess helps the paladins follow Honerva.

8.4 Final Challenge

Paladins meet Honerva in the space between realities. Allura and Lotor leave to restore the worlds, the guys return home.

Stage 9. Return

Free life, the hero becomes the master of his destiny. Epilogue.

From my point of view, there could be no disbandment of the Blades of Marmora. There are enough problems in the universe to require the services of an elite combat unit. And Keith could have stayed there as Kolivan’s assistant. It’s a bit early for the leadership, and it’s not a fact that Keith wants this. By the standards of the Galra, he’s still a very young man, with a whole life ahead of him. Surely there would be scenes with family and friends. Keith should be shown as a serene mature person.

What conclusions can be drawn from everything described above? Well, I personally understood for myself why it was Keith who gained such wild popularity among fans. Monomyth, as always, worked flawlessly and took the minds of people with it. I’m even beginning to suspect that the screenwriters simply took Campbell’s book and used it as a scheme for work, as Lucas once did when creating the old Star Wars trilogy. Keith had every chance of becoming Luke Skywalker of VLD, but, alas, not with that ending.

It’s a pity that such a wonderful work was let down the drain, I hope the screenwriters will please us in the future, and the result of their work will fall into more gracious hands.

[s7evendaysageek]

Ep 15: All Things Streaming!

Tune in this week as the geeks tackle their segments with abandon in what turns out to be an almost 3 hour show!  These guys don't know the meaning of the word “condense” apparently!  Your favorite segments are here and awaiting your listening attentions.  The Geeks update you on all things coming to the Peacock as well as what to stream and view during the quarantine. (and how to keep your sanity). And it's all wrapped up with the WWP review of Blue Ruin, picked by the Quadfather.   For those of you who like to get all Skippy check out the timestamps below!

  5:15 Getting Political early!  Seeds, Mayors, and Social Distancing, march on Lansing

6:45 it's never Too early for Nazis and my body my choice

8:15 boozing it up during quarantine!

10:00 Tiger King wrap-up (meh basically nothing new)

11:45 Disney editing (Splash and Lilo and Stitch)

12:45 SSC got NCs attention as a teen

13:45 Jamie Lee Curtis Hot or Not?

15:45 Put some pants on people!

20:15 Trailer Talk (PEACOCK EVERYTHING)

  Saved by the Bell (KC vs AC Slater hooking up with Milfs)

Punky Brewster

Quad with his two thickness socks!  Hes Daper folks!

Angelyne quad knows her, she used to babysit for him

NC doesnt like Boob Jobs

The geeks are Misogynistic!

Lot Lizards and documentaries 

J and O brings the Quad clarity

Brave New World (some mystery there) 

Solar Opposites (Creator of Rick and Morty) looks promising, funny

  35:15 Catching up with the Geeks

  JAG gets called out for not being prepared

NC is a diva and calls out Quad for not following the rules

Quad gets a spin bike!

Serendipitous or Alexa listening in?

JAG suggest that the Quad is cheap

The conspiracy of the Caulkins

Humiliation ideas

Quad needs the competition and betting in his life (betting on UFC computer simulations)

PPV missed opportunities with the UFC

Little Quad hits 100k subscribers

Annoying driveby birthday parties

NCs “little cheat meal”

Peanut butter fluff and Bacon Sandwich!

Competitive eating takes its toll on NC

JAG does the Bang Bang and white trash Adobe Nachos

Competitions taking their toll

Its easy to lose weight!

JAGs hair cut warnings go unheeded

7 year old ex wife cutting hair

Credit card Reader gets missed!

Neighbors who take care of eachother

#bigpeopleproblems

JAG putting out the content!  On Hiatus, DD, SASS, and others

That wont ever heal if you don't stop picking

8 truly's equals 1 beer

Joe Rogan Podcast Charles Manson Talk blows our mind

JAG and Righting wrongs with Delivery drivers Modern Day Abe Lincoln

Tipping?  Quad hates the Homeless

  1:19:30 GEEKING OUT (Quad Only)

  Dave Chapelle Mark Twain Award

The Invitation 

Through my Fathers Eyes (Ronda Rhousey)

Bad Boys II

IT2 NC is still a big baby

Tales from the Loop

Snowpiercer

  1:31:15 Weekly Watch Party (Blue Ruin)

  Conversation and rating of the movie Blue Ruin on Netflix

  1:35:50 Clip from the movie

1:52:00 Humiliation Talk?

1:54:45 Quad exits stage Left

1:56:00 Geeking Out (JAG and NC)

  New mystery listener!

No Men Allowed Past this Point

The Master (loosely based on L Ron Hubbard's life)

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press 1st Amendment and Hulk Hogan

Jinx confessing on Mic 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (You have been warned)

Molly's Game

Circle (Brain Teaser/Lifeboat movie)

    Check out this BRAND NEW episode of 7 Days a Geek. Share it with your fellow tumblrs!

[spoonsthings]

Today will be a three-for-one, as I am not only uploading a WCIF for the Cottonwood Hills Fire Department (”Fire Station”) but also its neighbors, Buckthorn End (”Hangout”) and the nearby parking lot / carpark lot, because this lot wasn’t very involved on its own, so I felt like there was room to squeeze in the smaller WCIFs as well.

WCIF List for Fire Station

WCIF List for Buckthorn End + Parking Lot

Notes:

Cottonwood Hills Fire Department:

This is marked as a “Fire Station”, straightforwardly enough. As such, it require Ambitions to be a fully functional and playable lot (though I suppose you could still install it as a deco lot, if you really wanted). A lot of the appliances also come from University Life, including the mini-fridge and vending machines in the common room.

Store items don’t really play a large part here, but I did notice a lot of decor from the Fast Lane SP, so you might notice the lot looking a bit sparse or weird if you try to place it without that pack.

Buckthorn End:

No EP is required, per se, but you will probably need the University Life EP to experience this lot to its full potential, because that’s where all the graffiti comes from. In addition, the basketball hoop is from the store.

While you’re at it, you might want to switch the designation from “Hangout” to “Rebel Hangout”... just make sure to replace the basketball when you do that, because that’s the item that gets deleted whenever you change lot designations.

For all lots, I have listed some individual items that are from EPs and SPs, when I thought they might be easy to mistake for CC. I have also listed all Store content, where identifiable. Some EP / SP items might be left out, however, just because I forgot to write it down.

Feel free to send me asks / messages at this tumblr (or contact me at the Pixelated Puddings forum) if you feel I have left anything out, or if a link turns up broken.

Tips about missing CC + notes about playability:

As I did for a few lots I have covered in the past, I am reuploading some of the custom content. I do not take any credit for the reuploaded items, I am merely sharing them after their original creators became unable or unwilling to do it themselves. I have explained the grounds on which I decided which content to include or exclude on the main page for the Cottonwood Hills project.

I want to stress, again, that my reuploading the content is not meant in any way to imply that I take any credit for the creation of these items. They belong to their original creators. I’m just making them available to the newer downloaders who may not have had the opportunity to snag these items when they were still around.

Fire Station | Buckthorn End

All custom patterns for all three lots are properly identified and sourced, partially because Martine didn’t use very many of them in these three lots. Any patterns used were also totally free of any sims3pack --> package conversion related bugs, which means absolutely no texture adjusting is needed.

The telephone on the desk of the fire station will not appear. The specific item used by Martine was a Sims 2 mesh by 8x3 atelier, which was converted by Baufive. However, Baufive has since removed his mesh conversion from availability, saying it wouldn’t be fair to 8x3 since he never got permission to share conversions from that creator. I would also like to honor Eric’s wishes, not just because he’s done a lot for the community and has always been a passionate advocate for creator rights in the past, but more importantly, he has always himself walked the walk and been scrupulous about using only his own meshes and textures for his work. You can still find several other versions of 8x3′s telephone mesh, including one he has converted himself (available in this archive of all of 8x3′s work for TS3). My personal favorite version is by Milla.

The bill posters by Alopex will also not appear and will have to be re-placed manually. Alopex did update her files at some point, and must have done it in a way where the instance ID was changed.