#not all of them are rewatchable as an adult but quite a few actually are

[allisonreader]

It's funny how big of an impact things we watch as we grow up leave.

Like I just read an article interviewing Alyson (last name not remembered) who played Lunnette the clown on The Big Comfy Couch.

My parents and I still quote things from the show. One line in particular.

"Who made this big mess!?"

Then we give blame to who did. Messy hair day, still referred to the person as Major Bedhead. We'll still even reference Molly the dolly.

The Big Comfy Couch is hardly the only thing that gets referenced.

There are still times when (though my brothers don't really know the show) that we reference Skinnamarink TV with Sharon Lois and Bram. Especially some of their songs. (Skinnamarink-y dinky do- I love you. I love you in the morning and in the afternoon. I love you in the evening and underneath the moon...)

Ants in the Pants is another one that still gets a reference at times and that show had some fun music on it. Songs that I still think about to this day.

I still think about Babar a lot, but we don't necessarily reference it, though I do like to pull out (moonmen never kid) at times. I also still think about Theodore the Tugboat and will go and listen to the theme song at times.

And of course there are the classics like Little Bear, Franklin, Arthur and others, but they're not ones that necessarily actually get directly referenced. Though I'm sure that there are many shows that I'm missing.

Anyways that's just my little musing on kid shows.

[chiibinomonodamon]

WHO WANTS TO HEAR ME RAMBLE ABOUT GAY FURRY DEMON SEX? XD

(damn, there's a sentence I never thought I'd say....)

Okay...so I see some Stolitz confusion and bashing online and I need to type up a defense here because I won't be able to sleep otherwise lol

I consider myself to be a Ship Critic and someone who takes shipping rather seriously.

What I mean by this is, I like to analyze and break down romantic relationships between fictional characters because it's just interesting to write for me. I especially take delight in friendly debating with opinions that I strongly do *not* agree with.

Let me start off by saying I am NOT a "this ship is awesome because gay furry sex lol" type of girl.

FAR from it. I'm generally more passionate about hetero ships between human characters (because I can relate to them more) among other reasons. So if you wanna dismiss my defense as "shallow fangirlism", you can forget about that lame excuse.

I fell in love with Hazbin Hotel when it was finally released in February and suffered waiting for each new two-parts per week. During that time, I decided to watch Helluva Boss as well, after a friend showed me a particularly soul-crushing clip (Moxxie's childhood trauma about his mother).

Yes, I like funny sex jokes as much as the next goofy adult but scenes like this, scenes that carry a very heavy emotional weight are what really get me in the end, even moreso when VERY little dialogue is exchanged. I knew I had to watch the entire episode run after seeing that the creators had a talent for this.

I saw people asking:

"How did Stolas go from using Blitz as a sex toy to being painfully in love with him?"

Oh I can tell you. I can tell you the EXACT moment this is revealed. But it's not spoon-fed to you; it's quite subtle actually and this is why lots of people miss it.

See, one of the strongest talents Vivenne has shown me is that she REALLY knows how to get her characters to communicate their feelings to the viewers JUST from their expressions and body language. These can be 'blink-and-miss-it' teeny little scenes and it may require a couple rewatches.

But since people demand time stamps for all information others post here, I'll rewatch a few scenes from S1 E7 'Ozzie's' as I'm typing this.

'Ozzie's' remains to be not just my favorite episode of HB...but probably my favorite episode of any adult-targeted animated show outside of Japan (aside from S2 E7's Mid-Season Special)

It has this huge reveal for both Blitzo and Stolas.

We'll first address Blitzo's irrational, stalkerish behavior of Moxxie and Millie.

He's obsessed with them. He finds both of them very attractive, fantasizes about threesomes with them and is constantly inserting himself into their personal lives.

Why?

Because they have everything that he badly badly wants for himself.

They have the perfect marriage and he is trying to live THROUGH them.

This was hilarious to me at the beginnning of the show but it's slowly revealed that it's one of the most tragic and depressing things I've ever seen. And it's scarily realistic too.

But you know this already so let's move on...

Blitzo follows the couple to Ozzie's but he can't get in without a date. So he calls up Stolas and yes, this is very low but he doesn't realize how much this means to Stolas (hell, I'm not sure even Stolas realizes it himself!) but the owl man is giddy with joy, he rushes over and they enter Ozzie's.

When Ozzie and Fizz mock Moxxie for being so sappy towards his wife, this strikes a chord with Blitzo (because they're his IDEAL relationship) and he speaks up to defend them.

NOW PAY CLOSE ATTENTION; THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART:

Fizz, still holding onto his past grudge turns on Blitzo to humilate him:

"Some nerve you got commenting on a relationship"

Time Stamp: 11:37

As Fizz says "-ship", Blitzo VERY QUICKLY makes eye contact with Stolas who has a look of panic on his face. Blitzo is seeking VALIDATION from Stolas in this sharp, subtle second of screentime, as if to ask

"Well, ARE we in one?"

And then what happens next...Stolas remains silent, Blitzo's ex joins in to announce how selfish Blitzo was in bed with her, tearing him down further. Stolas stands up like he's going to put a stop to it but then Ozzie notices him and interrogates him about sleeping with Blitzo.

Blitzo looks incredibly ashamed and guilty as Stolas blushes with similar feelings...and hides his face behind his menu; HIS BIGGEST MISTAKE IN THE SERIES SO FAR.

Time Stamp: 12:24

The look on Blitzo's face as he grits his teeth and darts his eyes away basically says

"Yeah, I should have known...boy am I an idiot for trusting him to stand up for me".

(look how SHOCKED he is...wow, this hurts fr ;_;)

This is a silent betrayal on Stolas's part. Afterall, his reputation is on the line, so if he were to defend Blitzo, it confirms they are in fact, dating. He chose his pride over Blitzo and Blitzo is crushed by this betrayal.

Moxxie finishes his song and kisses his wife tenderly. Stolas watches this and also wants to have an affectionate moment with Blitzo (who is rightfully glaring daggers at him) and tries to reach for his hand.

Blitzo rejects his touch and suggests they leave. As they do, Blitzo still looks furious and hurt. Stolas is now realizing how badly he screwed up with a "What have I done?" face (13:41)

He even looks disappointed with himself.

After Blitzo drops Stolas off, he thanks him and tries to smooth over the awkwardness with sweet talk but Blitzo just rolls his eyes in disgust and pulls on his face like "I don't want to hear this bullshit".

He responds coldly and curtly, "Yeah." Stolas makes more suggestions to spend time with him, which just makes him even angrier and he snaps

"I'm not fucking you tonight, okay!

I'm really just..." (14:28)

he pauses to wipe a tear because at this point he can barely hold it together (top notch voice acting and animation directing btw)

"...not in the mood, Stolas."

Stolas still tries to talk him into doing couple things unrelated to sex.

Blitzo's face switches back to anger and frustration because Stolas isn't getting the message so he goes for the blunt tactic;

"Stolas, don't act like what we have is anything but YOU wanting ME to fuck you, okay?"

(14:42)

"You make that really clear all the time."

(again his voice sounds like he's about to break down)

"But I-I just can't do it tonight, okay?"

(Finally meets his eye)

"...I'm sorry."

I believe this is code for "I'm sorry we're even in this situation and how your reputation got damaged. " Or, more painfully, "I'm sorry I'm such an embarrassment to you".

Stolas replies "Okay" and takes a deep breath to compose himself. They say goodnight and depart.

An important note here is that Stolas calls him "Blitzo" instead of "Blitzy" to show more respect.

As Blitzo zooms away coldly, Stolas looks up at the sky with tears in his eyes, surprised at how much it hurts.

He then sits down with his head in his hands in anguish...because he's getting that

"Oh...no. These feelings are real" epiphany.

And as if this wasn't enough angst, Blitzo collapses onto his couch at home, goes through the memories on his phone and starts sobbing.

I'm going to be real with you; this is the most heart-breaking shit I have ever seen in an adult show of this type. It's also the first time a show of this type got me to cry.

The last six minutes have revealed so much information without spoonfeeding it to the audience because the show RESPECTS its audience.

To recap:

*Blitzo takes Stolas on a first official date to use him

*Stolas is extremely happy about it

*Blitzo gets humilated and looks to Stolas for validation

*Stolas betrays him and breaks his heart

*Blitzo snaps that their relationship is nothing more than lust-driven sex

*Stolas realizes he's actually in love with Blitzo and it's a huge problem because (he believes) that it's unrequited.

*Blitzo breaks down because the ONE person whom he thought would protect him didn't do so.

So these two are convinced that neither one loves the other...while the irony is, it's quite the opposite.

Because if Blitzo REALLY didn't feel anything towards Stolas, he would not have gotten this emotional.

Yes, they are both lonely...but I really don't think that's all there is between them.

So..........we know WHEN they started falling...now the question is why;

I think the answer's quite simple; single-target affection.

It was mentioned in S2 that Stolas and Stella did sleep together ONE TIME...but Stolas didn't enjoy it at all. He is stuck with a wife who hates him so much that she put a HIT on him...and a daughter who thinks he's a loser. Blitzo is pretty much the one person in his life who is able to make him happy. That one small, bright spot. He enjoys the sex with him but he also simply enjoys his company, as shown in Ozzie's episode. He is thrilled to simply talk to him about his day...and do anything else that couples do. They're complete opposites. Stolas is an intellectual but naive and sheltered. Blitzo is poorly educated but cynical and street-smart. Opposites attract...though this is likely more from Stolas's POV than Blitzo's.

In other words, Stolas is into bad boys xD lmao

In Blitzo's case, Stolas is the only character who shows him physical affection which he desperately craves. He's pretty tsundere about it most of the time...but I think he actually does enjoy that attention...especially when he's always getting disrespected by Moxxie and Loona..and quite a lot of people around him. BUT he's too scared to get serious with anyone because of past trauma and he also believes that no one could possibly love him as a person. :(

Reasons I Think This Love is Real

Aside from what I pointed out in the Ozzie's episode...there's quite a lot of evidence, esp from Stolas's POV.

After he realizes he's in love, he goes to Asomodeous for an ALTERNATIVE method for Blitzo to use so they will no longer sleep together. He wants to set Blitzo free. Which means he DOES truly love him because love is about being generous to the other person. He COULD be totally selfish about it but he isn't.

Asomodeous mentions how against love potions he is and Stolas agrees. He thinks that's out of the question.

'Look My Way' music video. Lol I don't have to say anything more.

In S2 E6 OOPS

This exchange at 16:57

Fizz: Seems your taste has gotten more 'regal', lately?

Blitz: Yeah, well unlike you, I fuck who I want WHEN I want. I'm not gonna be tied down to some big blue-blood asshole.

Fizz: You coulda fooled me the way Prince was cozying up to you at Ozzie's.

Blitz (gets very defensive) HEY! Stolas only cares about have a rugged peasant raw-dog him into his mattress, okay!

It's nothing...(gets hesistant and looks away)...you know...

(Fizz gives him a 'bitch please' look xD)

"it's nothing else."

Fizz: Then why were you even there?

Blitz: OTHER very important reasons of course.

Fizz: Whatever. I don't actually care.

Blitz: Stolas is just a loud, thirsty BITCH!

(Fizz is rolling his eyes again)

Blitz: He loves feeling the thrill of getting dicked by the lower class.

It's a novelty to him.

Fizz: LITERALLY just said I don't care!

Blitz: And then he'll call me and try to see how my day was!

And he'll pretend to care about me and comment on my photos laugh at my jokes...

Fizz: (Smirking) OH! That's definitely your clue right there that it's all bullshit!

Blitz: I KNOW, RIGHT??

Fizz: (Making a 'What in idiot' expression, shaking his head)

Blitz: HE'S JUST A FAKE, PRIVELEDGED ASSHOLE...

Fizz: Sounds like you just hate him for being a prince!

No one (laughs) and I mean NO ONE pretends to care that much just for a cheap lay.

All right. IF ANYONE knows what real love is like, it's Fizzaroli...who is in a very HEALTHY relationship with Asomodeous. He recognizes the signs because he's IN that place. He sees it...and he's annoyed that Blitzo keeps denying it and brushing it off...yet clearly can NOT stop talking about Stolas (amusing irony)

To sum up (this freaking essay lol) 'Stolitz' ABSOLUTELY has the potential to be pure and true...these two just need to communicate...or Stolas has to PROVE to Blitzo that he's serious about his feelings in another way.

There is no doubt that this ship is 100% endgame and is a case of the 'Earn Your Happy Ending' Trope. I look forward to the rest of the journey. Ron is putting my feelings about Stolitz in a perfect phrase:

[stxrr-strxckk]

Something I noticed about I Saw the TV Glow that I haven't seen anybody mention yet

I saw this movie in theaters back in early may when it was released (Twice!), and it's been lingering in my head ever since then. Something I noticed on my second watch through: When Owen (and the audience) first see the Pink Opaque, we see Tara and Isabel in this sort of 90s nostalgia light, and I always thought they looked quite similar to Maddy and Owen. For example: Here is Owen and Isabel next to each other for reference.

While it's not entirely the same (Owen has softer features and is warmer toned, Isabel is more sharp and cool toned), they do look like they'd at least be related, cousins at least?

Same with Maddy and Tara, though not as much. (They looked more similar after Maddy's haircut, but I'm too lazy to change the photo)

But then, at the end when Owen is rewatching Pink Opaque? It's completely different. That nostalgic effect is gone and all of a sudden Tara is nowhere to be seen (Since Maddy left the world they were trapped in), and Isabel is completely different. Instead of being the confident, strong, WOC we see her as originally, she's just the same boring white protagonist of every little girl's show we grew up on.

And of course Owen is panicking, realizing that he lost his chance: He buried Isabel; she's dead underground, without her heart and instead of being who he truly is where he truly belongs, he's just... Owen. Stuck in suburbia, living the hell of being a queer kid growing up in the suburbs. Except now, he's an adult living a lie, knowing what he could have had is gone and he's stuck.

And another thing: I think the choice of the fun zone being where Owen works is deliberate. Sure, they could have kept him at the theater, but the theater shutting down is not only accurate (sad but true- please support your local movie theaters!) but shows how everyone is moving on from that experience of going to see a movie (and also from the joy of childhood and into adulthood while Owen is still stuck that awkward teenager!) in person- choosing streaming instead.

And we also notice this change in the Pink Opaque when Owen is watching it streaming. This is a reflection of how media felt more special growing up when it was in a physical form. Cds, vinyl, Dvds, casettes, film reels, even game cartridges, we've always had some physical object that bonds us to the worlds of creativity in which artists express themselves. And whether you've noticed or not, it's a special sort of feeling that just... Dies with streaming. Its like you own a piece of the media. Like saying: "This is mine, it's my personal piece of media that belongs to me and only me." and that's always made it feel special. Sure, there may be multiple copies, but this one belongs just to you. Not to mention the ritual of actually putting in cds, dvds, casettes into a player, or playing vinyl on a record player. There's this action you have to take to consume this media that's familiar and sort of gets you to anticipate what you're about to watch (much like Owen and Maddy's ritual of Maddy taping the show then leaving them around school for Owen to find) whereas now, you're just on a streaming service that lots of people own, and you're just mindlessly scrolling through hundreds of options.

Another thing: What do we see when Owen cuts his chest open in the final few minutes? TV static. Like when a tape finishes and you don't take it out of the player. His tape is over, Isabel is dead, and all that's left is the static of his fake life as he slowly rots in this husk. Now with streaming, you don't get that static. His connection with the Pink Opaque stems from his friendship with Maddy, the nostalgia of his favorite childhood show, and of course: his own queerness.

It's no secret this movie is about growing up queer and feeling like something is wrong. Like some part of you missing, the part that makes you normal. I've seen many reviews on IMDB that clearly missed the point, so I really want to spell it out here: THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT QUEER PEOPLE FOR QUEER PEOPLE. And I've never seen a movie so perfectly encapsulate that feeling more than this one.

From my experience as a queer POC growing up with little to no representation I know this feeling all too well of seeing someone and realizing: "Wow, that's me." And projecting who I wanted to be onto that person. Even though they're not queer, they're not a poc, they're just a character. We try so hard to make them into who we want to be that the image of this character becomes so distorted you barely recognize them. Then, later revisiting that media to realize that a: you've become them, your true self, or b, in Owen's case: that you've buried that person alive and barely recognize yourself now.

It's really such a unique experience that I've never been able to put into words before. These scenes gave me such a visceral feeling and I almost cried in the theater. The scene of Owen in Isabel's dress is just the cherry on top. I myself am lucky enough to not need to transition and growing up I didn't feel as much dysphoria as my other trans friends, but this reminds me of a good friend of mine who used to dress in heels, makeup, skirts, and dresses to try and lessen the dysphoria she felt growing up in the wrong body.

I also love how the movie shows being queer in school.

Like how Maddy asks Owen if he likes girls or boys, and he replies with: "I think I like TV shows."

Avoiding the question because you either don't know the answer, or are so afraid you're gonna get bullied even more for being who you are.

Growing up, there weren't many queer kids in my school. So when we found each other, we stuck together. But for most of school, we were alone. No groups, not many friends, no space at the lunch table for us.

And seeing Owen, I just felt this connection to him almost immediately. Alone, not part of any group, until he finally finds Maddy. They don't have anything in common except the show, which is really the only reason they're friends, but it keeps them together, They're bonded.

For me, I see this as finding another queer kid in a mostly straight school. You may not have much in common, but that identity means you two will stick together, no matter what.

TLDR: I love isttvg, it makes me cry, everyone is gay and fuck imdb.

[helluvapurf]

*deep breathes* Sooo, those last couple mins from the latest "Full Moon" ep... lets talk about that🍵🍵

Welp, here it is folks... the ep that finally gave us that hyped up "Asmodeon crystal" exchange teased at in the S2 Pt. 2 trailer. And... hooooo boi, I have formed so. many. thoughts. upon rewatching that scene a few times. Some that are... kiiiinda on the rant-y spectrum the more I lingered on 'em, so how bout I share them here lmao

Fair warning in advance, this maaaaay not be particularly "nice" to Stolas in these rambling thoughts, so if anyone out there's a big Stolas(+itz) fan... yall might wanna skip reading ahead- lol .w.;;

*claps*

Okay, so to start things off on a (semi?) positive note, the animation & lighting here is quite beautiful to look at. The glittery curtains, the shine in Blitz's eyes throughout his shifting emotions, even the shots of that one broken chandelier (which I thiiink might've been the same one him & Stolas played under as kids?) was a neat bit of symbolism ngl.

Props to Brandon Rogers as well for his voice-performance on Blitz here cause... gawd did it hit me in the heart how much hurt you feel from his yelling ;-;💔

Curious to see more of the use of Blitz's new Asmodeon crystal in future adventures (esp from that one shot in the trailer w/ him using the portal effects against the DHORK crew), it looks cool~ ✨👍

....ummmm, ok I think that about covers my positives atm. Onto the problems I have with this exchange:

Stolas... okay, you were this close to actually doing a good job ending the Full Moon deal. Admitting to how "wrong" the transaction part of their dynamic was, allowing Blitz more "freedom" via-the crystal (that could also help avoid any legal issues that the Grimoire gave), even wishing him good luck with his I.M.P. business as the night drew to a close... ...buuuuut then Stolas just had to muddle everything up by his whole "even tho you don't have to be with me, I want you with me if you want it~🥺" ...which honestly came off selfish to me than anything else?? Like, dude... if you really ARE regretful of how long you let this deal go for, and truly DO want to let Blitz go... you CAN'T throw in such sappy, lovey-dovey words on top of that?? Otherwise, how can one blame Blitz for getting as confused & flustered as he was throughout that convo... you've basically just sent even more mixed-messages in the grand scheme of things, my dude-🤦‍♀️

"I have wanted you for SO long, the fact that you couldn't believe that I might have these feelings about you, that your first instinct is that its always about sex..." ...Ummmmm Stolas... did you seriously forget HOW this whole deal of yall's started?? 🤨 Waaaay back in the initial-series pilot, to the first official ep, and pretty much the majority of Season 1:

As far as I checked, Blitz wasn't the one who kept making everything about sex... that. was all. YOU. 😒Heck, literally one of the first things you told Blitz upon reuniting as adults in "The Circus", was that you expected he wanted to "ravish" you-

-so like, get outta here with the whole pushing-the-perv-responsibility-bs onto Blitz... you ain't helping your case >>

Finally... like, it was already getting bad enough by the point of Blitz begging & pleading out of fear he'd lose his livelihood without the book, AND not being allowed space to breathe after getting further pushed away (and thus, more pissed off-)... but THEN on top of all this, Stolas just haaaaad to throw in this lil gem: "Blitz... I think so very highly of you. I didn't realize you think so low of me..." ...Stolas, with all due respect... stfu with that lousy, last-minute uwu-ing self-pity party crap😑Just because you TRIED to show more attentive care & concern post-"Ozzie's", outside of the typical bedroom stuff... that ain't gonna prove shit if you're not gonna be consistent with it. Where was that "high opinion" of Blitz during the two of you getting stuck in the sitcom set during "Seeing Stars", when Blitz was having that panic attack performing live, where all you ended up doing was... just hitting on him/praising his bedroom skills again?? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Like... couldn't you have just, I dunno... TRY to actually cheer him up/comfort him like an actual friend, would? Encourage him on his jokes, "just be yourself", promising another way out of there on his own merit... literally, anything could've worked fine and it wouldn't have come off so skeezy imho >>;;

...*sighs* so, yeah... thats basically what I had to get off my chest regarding the ending of "Full Moon". Honestly, had the writers actually committed to Stolas cutting off Blitz (even if harsh), giving the crystal with no strings, then going about their separate ways afterwards, I would've been totally fine with the scene tbh. But all this... odd lowkey-blaming of Blitz thrown in, the sappy words, and Stolas not once actually-apologizing during all this (Like, literally I checked and the only utterance of "sorry" seemed to come from Blitz's end before he got kicked out... for what, I dunno- 🤷‍♀️). Sorry for the length btw, but hopefully that about covers my thoughts on the matter-

[real-total-drama-takes]

Sighs so I’m sure a lot of people here saw that tweet that blew up about a TD movie “supposedly” being talked about by the production crew. I really don’t think this is going to happen and I wish everyone would shut up about it because a movie just doesn’t really work with TD’s format but what’s really pissing me off rn is how everyone is saying if this movie happens it’s for sure gonna be about gen 1. I into another fight with a genwunner about this and need to share some points I made:

So like, think about it: logistically, gen 1 coming back, at least not without pissing off some of the same fans who act like any TD content that doesn’t involve gen 1 isn’t feasible. First off, there’s the voice actors. Some of the gen 1 characters VAs no longer live in Canada and legally wouldn’t be allowed to be hired again to work with Fresh so they’d have to be replaced. Not to mention there’s several POC characters who have white VAs; you’re going to piss people off no matter what happens there (yes, I am on the side that POC characters shouldn’t be played by white VAs, but yeah there’s some people who very strongly disagree with that). Given how much genwunners whined about Chris’s VA change, I have no doubt they’d whine here too.

Second, a lot of genwunners complain that the reboot lacks the “edgy humor” of gen 1. The thing is, too much of the humor from gen 1 just wouldn’t fly today. I tried rewatching Action during the summer and literally could only get about 5 episodes in before quitting because of how disgusted I was by the constant misogynistic jokes. There’s definitely misogyny in the reboot too, but at least Chase and Ripper aren’t spewing it out literally every five fucking seconds like Duncan. There’s just so many jokes in gen 1 where the punchline is racism, homophobia or the characters being sexualized. That last one could be fixed if they visibly aged up the characters and stated that they’re all adults now, but given how many people have said the complaint that Owen wasn’t aged up for his reboot cameo is “ridiculous” I don’t think the genwunner crowd would be too fond of that idea. A highly profitable studio like WB isn’t going to approve a show with problematic humor without seriously watering it down before release because it’s 2024 and they know their studio releasing content like that marketed at children could get them labeled as problematic and lead to a drop in profits.

Speaking of which, a gen 1 movie probably wouldn’t do too well at the box office. Total drama is marketed at ages 8-16, the majority of whom were not alive during 2007-2010 when the first three seasons were airing. Given how successful the reboot was in both the US and UK, it’s safe to say that it’s very likely the reboot was popular with its target audience. When all the kids who watched the reboot hear about the movie, they’re gonna be really confused about why a total drama movie doesn’t have the total drama characters they’re familiar with in it. I know there’s plenty of people who grew up with gen 1 who are still active TD fans, but not a lot of adults care that much about shows they watched as kids and haven’t thought about in years. I’m an adult who loves cartoons (and there’s nothing wrong with that) but there’s def quite a few shows from my childhood that I haven’t thought about in a long time because I grew out of them and I certainly wouldn’t be opening my wallet to buy a movie ticket or streaming service subscription should I hear a movie was made about one of said shows. Again, there are plenty of people who grew up with the show who still care, but I don’t think the majority of the people who watched TD as kids who are well into their 20s now are gonna be all that excited about a movie. I could definitely be proven wrong on this one, don’t get me wrong, but still

As I said before I don’t think a TD movie is actually gonna happen and that tweet was just a rumor/misinformation, but if a TD movie does happen it needs to be about the reboot cast. It just doesn’t make sense for it to be about a cast that isn’t up to date with the standards of what is socially acceptable for children’s shows in the 2020s.

-🐈

[langernameohnebedeutung]

Thinking about writing a 14 year old girl who starts out bratty and grows and changes, but thinking about the best way to write her in a bratty manner without seeming like I'm bashing on teenage girls in general, any thoughts?

Oh, that's actually something I have quite a few thoughts about!

the shortest answer I can think of is to look at teenagers you know in real life and their behaviours - that's a good start to make that character authentic. A lot of people get age milestones wrong when writing kids (personally that's why I avoid writing kids) and especially with girls, it feels like a lot of authors can only write 'basically an over-sized toddler' and 'she only cares about boys and sex'. Now, teenagers are also tricky because they are all very different. I think learning about what actual 14yo do in their freetime, what interests them, what music they listen to, what jokes they make - or to maybe look at some of the things you did at that age - can be very helpful to avoid being too "how do you do, fellow kids!

Tbh, I always feel like the biggest issue with the way people write the 'bratty teenage girl' is that she's always there to be the 'reaction character'—because she's written by adults, and it reflects how adults feel dealing with teenagers, especially teenage girls. Usually, you have a main character, typically a middle-aged man, who is doing something, and the teenage girl character is standing on the sidelines, chewing gum and telling him he's boring or uncool or be like 'urgh, old people'. At the end of the story he wins her over and, in a heart-warming scene, she will say something like, '…actually, you're not that bad,' or '…okay, maybe you are pretty cool.' It mostly just feels like the adult author feeling insecure about their own age and whether they're still in touch with The Youth, and it's been done A Lot.

Then you often have teenagers as damsels to be saved—and the bratty factor often makes them more difficult to save. That's also a very common trope that often results in people hating on the character, even though, in my opinion, that's often unfair (and very often especially unfairly directed at female characters).

If you think of teenage girl characters who work really well, I think it's the ones that sincerely reflect the experience of being a teenage girl (or a teenager in general). Or whose experiences serve as a good allegory for those experiences. Think of your classic 'teenage detective' stories where the adults just. don't. listen. In those stories, 'bratty' is often a label assigned to the main characters BY adults who ignore them—we understand the context of why they are bratty. It makes perfect sense for them to be that way. Or think of your YA protagonists who stand a little outside society, who often try to do what is right but get very little recognition for it. Or think of all those shows featuring teenagers that have aged well and are still popular with adults—shows like Avatar or Kim Possible. They are usually stories that take the problems of teenagers and the world they face quite seriously - by placing them side by side with actually world-threatening events. While at the same time, the dismissive way adults treat teenagers is a giant threat to these worlds.

Now, obviously, these were shows specifically FOR kids—but I would argue that similar rules apply when writing a teenager in any other genre, especially if you want to avoid bashing them. Take their issues seriously. Explain why they are 'bratty.' Explore what it means to be 'bratty.'

For example, right now I'm rewatching Gotham (a show not for kids), and a major character is Selina Kyle, the young Catwoman, who is living on the streets as a homeless girl. She has a flippant, careless, often mocking demeanor and doesn't really let people in. A lot of people see her as a 'brat'—but because you see her in many situations, you understand what her life is like. You see how people treat her (she's frequently referred to as 'street trash'), and you understand perfectly why she acts that way.

When she does show that she cares about someone, when she lets people in, or when we find out, for example, that she takes care of other kids on the street or the stories she tells herself to feel better about her family, it’s not just to make some adult character feel better. In those moments, we actually learn something about her, build a meaningful connection with her, and see what makes HER tick. She is more than just the 'bratty teenager.'"

Obviously, it doesn't always have to be a giant tragic backstory. That really depends on the story you're telling. Personally, I would argue that even being a teenager (especially a girl!) in normal middle-class society comes with enough reasons to be a 'brat.' There you are, 13 years old, and old men are cat-calling you on the street. You're in your training bra while the beauty industry bombards you with insane beauty standards. Your parents are divorcing, and when you want to understand why, everyone talks to you in a baby voice. You get bullied in school, someone makes deepfakes of you and shares them on Snapchat, and when you try to explain that to the teacher, you can see their eyes glaze over because they don't have a clue what you're talking about.

One very common statement I hear about teenage girls is "they do it for the attention" - which, to a point, is true. Obviously, they want attention. Everyone wants attention to some degree. But notice how this is the same language often used to ignore and neglect the needs (especially medical needs) of adult women. Teenagers also often don't have the language to communicate the complex feelings and situations they are dealing with now. Being bratty or sulking or similar behaviours are they way of trying communicate their feelings. A good way to write a teenage girl like that is to explore her character and to be true to the motives and reasons why she is acting like this.

For example, I think a lot of teenagers are in a very alienated position in society. They're in a very difficult phase in their lives: They are growing into adult problems and adult feelings, adult routines. But those are still VERY big shoes for them to fill. It is overwhelming. This is also why they make convenient main-characters for these kinds of YA novels - because these are not yet integrated into society. They often have an outside perspective. They question the status quo. And this also appeals to teenage audiences because they are in the position where they start questioning the world around them, their family, school, gender, religion, politics.

Teenagers want to have an identity for themselves, make their own decisions, and explore who they are—but very often, the adults around them still treat them as kids, limiting them without even bothering to explain why. Much of the environment created for teenagers is out of touch with their interests—it's often condescending, lecturing, and not very empowering. Every time they have new hobbies - Pokemon Go, Fortnite, some new band, they are always mocked relentlessly by the same adults who don't even know how to entertain them. Some kids on youtube are eating tidepods and suddenly their entire generation is being blamed. The same messages are repeated over and over at teenagers and they're preached to in this way regardless of their own experiences or behaviour. If you are a teenager, no one cares about YOUR life, situations, or struggles—which, at this time, can be quite serious. You want to take charge of your own life, start captaining that ship—but very often, you stand by while some adult does it for you, telling you not to start smoking (it's dangerous!! Don't listen to your friends!!). (again, doesn't it make sense why teenagers see themselves in girls fighting dystopian governments?)

When kids become teenagers, their parents often stop being the most important go-to people in their lives—this is when their friends become their social bubble, and they share many things ONLY with them. So, the things adults often mock about teenagers (like 'But daaaaad, I reaaaally want to go out tonight!' or 'Muuuuum, I really need that One Direction tattoo!!') genuinely are that important to them. 'But everyone is going!!!' really is a valid reason in their eyes. And they often experience adults who not only don't understand but are extremely mocking toward them. Another reason why they might seem bratty to adults - when their behaviour might seem perfectly sensible to them.

Also, consider that when teenagers are portrayed as dumb or naive, that's usually the adult perspective on kids being less cynical and experienced than adults - and that's why they get angry when you say no to something or get bored and annoyed when you lecture them. They might genuinely believe that a new top or a trip to the clubs will help them win new friends, or that this boy might really like them if they do what he says. It seems real to them because they haven't lived through it yet. They have hope that these things will work, and they're a lot less worried about risks because they haven't seen things go wrong as often as adults have. (Just recently, I walked down a narrow street on a steep hill that I used to skate down at breakneck speed without any helmet or protection as a teen—where I could never have slowed down or avoided a car—and back then, it hadn't even occurred to me how dangerous it was. As an adult, I had a 'how am I still alive??' moment seeing that place.)

You know how we often say, 'Be nice to toddlers and babies, this really is their first time on a plane/in a car/in a supermarket'? The same applies to teenagers when it comes to things adults find childish. Wearing THAT outfit or going THERE really is that important to them. And do you know who they hang out with? Who some of their most important social contacts are? Other teenagers, who also think THAT is important. That romance book with its familiar tropes or those song lyrics we've heard a thousand times really are That Deep for them—because it’s new to them

They also don’t live within the same contexts as we do—they don’t have jobs, they go to school, and they don’t get money or immediate rewards for what they do. Is a teenager sulking during a trip or on holiday? Well, they worked just as hard at school this year as you did at work, but they don’t get a say in where the trip goes, most of the time. When they mow the lawn, they don’t really care what the garden looks like—because it doesn’t impact them. So of course they roll their eyes when you ask them to. They live in a world where they constantly do things without seeing any direct benefit, while the things they do find rewarding are often mocked or forbidden by adults

So yeah, one way to make a bratty teen sympathetic is to explore why she is bratty and to show her side of events.

Also: You can explore what makes her less bratty! Perhaps she's nostalgic for simpler times or she really loves animals or she moved and misses her old home or she is passionate about a hobby or music or drawing. These things might make her more approachable to people who also respect them and we see the personality beneath the brattiness.

And also you can explore what bratty means! There are many different flavours of "bratty teenagers". Some are already well-established tropes like the rich brat* or the goth kid. But the real challenge to making a bratty teenager likeable, imo, is to give them a distinctive personality and to make their bratty behaviour reflect real life motivations. In which way is she bratty? Does she disagree with everything you say? Perhaps there is a bigger thing she feels she's not listened to about. Is she reclusive? could be there are a lot of arguments happening around the house she wants to avoid. Does she have specific opinions and viewpoints she stands in at all times? Or is she contrarian on principle? Are there people she's particularly bratty towards? How does she act around her friends, teachers, strangers, neighbours, parents etc. I think the more you explore that the more she becomes a person and the more she becomes a person, the less it feels like you're bashing or mocking teenagers.

On the other hand, you could also write a character who really is a huge dick or even a villain. There's also many flavours of that - anything from the pissy older sibling to the mean girl bullying people in school to the Creepy Kid. (Think of characters like Joffrey from Game of Thrones, that's how far you can go with an evil brat villain even in adult story.) In these cases, I would also explore why they are who they are - even if the answers to this might be less sympathetic.

If you do that, you could also include other teenage characters with very different personalities to show that you are not making general statements about teenagers but that this is just one character you are describing. Or you could give her parents who act similarly. Or maybe it's a question of schooling - that's another popular trope for teenage villains, they might be a reflectin of a dysfunctional social environment like their school or the place they live.

*the thing about the rich brat trope: As someone who worked as a teacher at a boarding school for very wealthy kids, I often have issues with the very shallow depictions of this that basically boil down to "this kid gets everything they want so they suck". There are some very specific forms of neglect that are common among rich people and tbh, I think if you want to go in that direction, I would also look at what life this kid lives and WHAT they are lacking.

[starboysbrainrot]

I have never publicly said this but : Jet drowning Gaipan and Zuko burning down Kyoshi Island are

1) narrative parallels

2) are widely exaggerated by the fandom as actions taking place in a 100 years war and performed by two teenagers

because yes context does matter. and you CANNOT possibly think that these actions come even close to the atrocities of what the rough rhinos did to Jet’s village or what Ozai intended to do to the Earth Kingdom.

NO THIS IS NOT ME EXCUSING WHAT THEY DID. DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON THIS.

all I’m saying is that context, intentions and knowing what is going on in a character’s head are actually important in that case for a better understanding of their actions.

let’s take a look at Jet. he’s an orphan boy, who grew up with this very idea that every thing that went wrong in his life was caused by the FN (which is true) and that the only way for him to survive is to fight the FN (which is, again, true). therefore, the logical conclusion to years of trauma, and impregnated ideas of vengeance and wrath is to loose touch with your sense of morality and ending up doing heinous things because he’s convinced that it is the right thing to do. the ONLY thing to do. to survive and to escape the war. what people like to forget is that Jet didn’t grow up like Sokka and Katara, who even though faced a terrible tragedy after their mother’s death, and had to live in a tribe that had been weakened by the FN, also lived in a sheltered place for most of their lives, with their Gran Gran and father’s love, with a community, a family. Jet grew up in constant solitude, hunger, pain, fear, death and had to become a parent to those around him. and that’s not me trying to compare them. but you cannot seriously think that they grew up in the same conditions. growing up like that you just CANNOT turn out fine. the absence of love and protection coming from an adult actually does that to a kid. as time passes he realises that he, as an orphan boy, has to do what has to be done in order to survive. the question of morality doesn’t even crosses his mind. because fear and anger are the only thing left for him to survive. and all of this leads to him drowning Gaipan, and committing this heinous crime. which well doesn’t really happen because everyone is safe ! everyone survived ! yes the village is destroyed but that’s material loss. that doesn’t come near the loss of actual people.

now for Zuko, his core character trait in season 1 is that he’s very short sighted. he only sees his goal, and never what’s in between that. this shortsightedness comes from years of obsession fuelled by extreme (FN) propaganda, indoctrination, trauma and anxiety in regards of what awaits Zuko if he never gets to catch the Avatar. like Jet, Zuko’s anger and fear brings what’s most ugly in him : his lack of regards for any collateral damage he might provoke while trying to reach his goal. which ultimately leads to Kyoshi Island burning down. however, they are a few things that need to be said here. he never steps a foot on Kyoshi Island with the intention of burning it. that’s actually where it diverges from Jet. Zuko is extremely short sighted and his only goal is to find Aang. nothing. else. which differentiates him from his sister especially. who wanders through the earth kingdom while yes chasing Aang but also never stopping (or at least trying) to expend the FN’s power in the EK. Kyoshi island burning down comes actually from him being shitty at managing his firebending (and his crew) in season 1. it’s quite literally collateral damage and most of the damage on Kyoshi Island actually comes from Zuko’s soldiers (who we never actually see receiving orders that would indicate Zuko wanting to burn the island. he only says “I want the Avatar” before splitting up, and go rewatch the scene if you don’t believe me). we do actually see Zuko shooting a few fireballs at Aang but we see only one of them actually hitting the cabins. so it would be logical to assume that it was Zuko’s crew, while fighting the Kyoshi Warriors that did it. after the gaang left, Katara even says “he would have destroyed the whole place” meaning it wasn’t destroyed. and then Aang eventually saves the village and Zuko and his crew leave.

what I’m trying to say with this is that I cannot keep seeing people actually demonising and adultifying Jet and Zuko’s actions (especially at the very beginning where both of them are clearly villains with the narrative intent of doing heinous things) with using these two specific scenes, where, ultimately, no one got hurt (except Sokka & Aang while fighting Jet and the Kyoshi Warriors while fighting Zuko).

this post isn’t me denying what they did. at the end of the day, Gaipan got destroyed and Kyoshi Island lost a lot of infrastructure and cabins. this post is me explaining why I’m tired of the over exaggerated claims in regards of these two characters.

the problem with this fandom is that people will talk about Jet and Zuko’s actions in episode 10 and episode 4 like they would talk about Long Feng’s actions or Ozai’s actions.

like, no, two indoctrinated traumatised teenage boys in a war cannot be held accountable in the same way that two adults (who funnily actually did kill people !) are held accountable. like, textually by LAW they cannot be held accountable in the same way. because of their age, because of the circumstances, the consequences, etc etc.

and what’s even more important is that both actually do their best to make amends. even though doing this after years of indoctrination is actually hard. jet dies while doing so and Zuko nearly dies at the hand of his father for doing so. (and that’s without even talking about his actions as a Firelord)

you can dislike Jet and Zuko as characters. but the hate these two get will always look ridiculous at the end of the day. because it’s either completely exaggerated or out of context or doesn’t apply to them because they actually did change. and did try to make amends.

again, this is not me saying that they weren’t villains at the beginning of the series. this is also not me saying that these actions are excusable or even remotely okay. no, it’s me begging the fandom to just use their brain for two fucking seconds. it’s me begging the fandom to just understand what the war and it’s consequences does to people, especially children. on all sides of the war. especially war children.

[strawberrylollipop26-blog-blog]

Movie/Show Round UP

I haven't done one of these in awhile. As always, my thoughts are short and to the point. I don't go in depth. I'm not a professional reviewer, just my thoughts.

Under the cut there are reviews for Fly Me to the Moon, Inside/Out 2, Despicable Me 4, A Quiet Place: Day One, Dune Part 2, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, The Fall Guy, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Civil War, Madame Web, Argylle, Abigail and The Bikeriders. TV shows: Legend of Fei and Halloween Baking Championship.

Fly Me to the Moon: I saw this movie during a three show day at the theater. It was the middle movie and the biggest question mark. Turns out, the whole 'did they or didn't they' land on the moon theory was actually interesting. While I have zero interest in a rewatch, definitely worth attempting for first time viewers.

Inside/Out 2: This movie was exactly the same as the first. There's nothing new here except for possibly children experiencing new emotions. As an adult, I was bored.

Despicable Me 4: Cute. This film added nothing.

A Quiet Place: Day One: I thought it was nicely done. Still, didn't knock my socks off like the first one. My spouse wanted to know exactly how people learned to be quiet. I tried to tell him that they showed it in the second movie. He wanted more of a show. He was also annoyed that we know nothing about the aliens and it's the third movie. Slight spoiler, I wish we didn't know something about a certain character because it would've made the ending decision so much more impactful.

Dune: Part 2: Well, he tried to warn them about what would happen. I like the action that happens even though it all folds into a pretty box.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: I barely remember this movie. It was sort of reminiscent of the previous one. A typical unite to defeat the super evil blah blah blah.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: Disturbing T!k T0ks regarding the leads aside, this movie was enjoyable. Although, I had no idea a new movie series was starting. There were quite the few holes left so I'd see the second one.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die: I saw this before the previous one so I was quite confused in certain parts. All in all it was enjoyable. There are some funny moments. I've had the urge to watch again.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: I haven't seen this in awhile. From what I remember there's a side character hero in here that's pretty funny. Pretty textbook, you know what's going to happen before it does.

The Fall Guy: I've heard people talking about this one and disliking it. I thought the whole purpose was to have an outrageous fun movie showing crazy stunts the doubles do. Is it the best movie? No, but if you like action it's worth a watch.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga: I'm an action girl. I highly valued the first Mad Max. This movie is obviously character based therefore slower to catch the stages of development (it's even told in chapters). I was bored. All the story shows in the normal character faced adversity, lived a hard life, finally goes for their revenge. Zero interest in a rewatch. I'll turn on the first one again.

Civil War: A weird movie full of numerous holes. A waste of my time.

Madame Web: I thought it was okay even though this movie was review bombed. There's nothing special about it, but it's not the worst movie that people complained about. Then again, to each their own.

Argylle: Another movie that was review bombed. I also guessed the likely story in this one. I think this movie suffers mostly from trying to be too many things. It goes for serious, yet wild and fun, yet logical. I think if the movie with the effects stayed 'out there' then people would've found it more enjoyable. Maybe.

Sidenote: My husband is always surprised that me (comedy hater) loves Rat Race and Joe Dirt. My response is always the same. Both movies are unapologetically insane. They don't take themselves seriously at all. I think Argylle should've done this as they had moments before deciding to become a serious spy movie.

The Bikeriders: First of all there's a narrator to this movie. Threw me off a bit at first, I normally don't watch those type of movies because i feel it leaves off clues. The movie's okay. Practically a drama in a bikerider setting. There isn't much mystery so another one that's easy to read.

Abigail: I enjoyed this movie until the ending. Not much I can say without spoiling.

Legend of Fei: I finally finished this show. Took me forever as it has good episodes, and others I cared less for (admittedly skipped scenes). Some characters were so annoying. Thankfully, Fei stopped passing out which was killing me. Xie Yun is my absolute fave. I might be biased, but all his scenes were so much fun except for the ones where he's sick :( . I've read reviews where people say they can watch this repeatedly, I'm not one of them. One and done. Sort of reminded me of WoH main storyline.

Sidenote: I love the one scene where he's reminiscing the past in his dreams and he no longer has money. The way this man kept opening up his pouch and dumping it over to make sure there were no coins. So relatable in my younger days.

Halloween Baking Championship: An era has come to an end or at least caught up in the seasons. I really like this cooking show. I hope people have some out of the box creations in the new year coming up.

[hashmap]

Hello. Candy hating anon here. The one who fucking hates joy and happiness. What are your favorite movies and/or tv shows if you have any.

Don't worry you're safe here.We do that here. We don't eat that here.

These are my favorite movies. Favorites can bounce around a little but generally speaking these tend to come back most often or have never moved. Naked Lunch is an adaptation of a book which is also very good. I don't recommend watching it with someone else unless you're confident it's their speed it can really fucking bore people and a lot of what can be considered comedic is maybe unsavory. Just speaking as someone who thought it would be a good idea to show it to 2 people who were definitely getting absolutely nothing out of it. I've always loved Saw 2. It was the first one I watched, and it was the year it released. Personal bias aside I have a lot of thoughts as to why it's the best installment from traps to matters of story and design. Meet The Feebles comes and goes but I always hand it the most positive regards and I always love showing that one to people. It's a completely solid dark puppet horror-comedy made by Peter Jackson (yes that one) and TDC speaks for itself. I grew up watching it just about every day when I was living in a tattoo shop. We had a tv in the lobby and I'd come down to put on He-Man/TDC and draw. As for shows I actually like quite a few. I love Venture Bros. It's a huge staple for my head and I owe it a lot for my general development in my pre-teens even if it wasn't the most appropriate thing to be consistently watching at my age. I never dropped it and have rewatched it A LOT. I don't hesitate to call it my favorite show of all time. I also enjoy BrBa/BCS as much as the next person and have also watched both of them multiple times, but I'm not really into "fandom" and I don't post about it or anything apart from sharing some pieces that jadenvargen created when it randomly hit a gay-viewer peak. In any case they're also favorites. I really liked The Walking Dead and binged a shit ton of it a couple yrs ago. Unfortunately while I LOVE zombies I am picky about them and as soon as we started getting into More Drama Less Zombies territory I got really bored. I never finished it. I do really enjoy the first handful of seasons though honestly, specifically when you can see the VERY strong highs and lows Rick faced and reacted to and what happened to his head. HIs son pisses me off. I'm not immune to doing obnoxious character impressions when less than sober. I'm a very passive anime watcher but I really enjoy the ones I get into. Panty & Stocking is great, I like Naruto as a show but don't have interest in anything after Shippuden. I liked Mob Psycho. I liked Golden Kamuy but ended up reading it instead at some point. FMAB was the 2nd anime I ever finished and I still like it a lot even if I seriously have never brought it up. Easy favorite. I like seeing how peoples thoughts regarding it have changed and spun over time and influenced other work. I enjoy most Muppets stuff. I like the show more than the movies. Hate abc's Muppets. Fraggle Rock is a come-and-go favorite. Sesame Street I don't watch as much but I enjoy it with about the same energy attached to the fault of their larger puppets being some personal favorites. M*A*S*H is a huge favorite but I don't watch it as often as some of the aforementioned as an adult. I like Transformers (G1) I think it's funny and great and I try to show it to people often. Maybe a strange curveball but I have guilty pleasure reality tv shows I enjoy a lot. They were/are all on Oxygen if that helps you narrow down the flavor. I named my schools of tetra fish after some of them as a kid. Come to your own conclusions. One of them was named Jersey Shore but I didn't actually like that one too much I got sick of looking at Pauly D. Sometimes shows on TLC get me but I don't tend to finish them or see the storyline out. I have no explanation. I'm sure something big is probably slipping me but maybe this does the job. I like a really wide variety of shit and I rarely fully turn something down without some kind of investigation, even if it's a trailer or a 1 episode watch for water testing.

[absolutelyfibulas]

Dutch's Terrible Toku Takes

Much later than I said I'd do it, because of reasons. Gonna do them in chronological order, and I'm splitting them into different posts because jesus it's a lot - Rider first because that's what I got into first. I've tried to avoid being too specific about spoilers.

A note: if I absolutely shit on a show/character/concept you love, this is not a personal attack. If any mutuals find me dragging a show/character/concept they love, this isn’t a callout or plea for you to stop posting about that content or whatever. I am an adult who knows how to curate my dash. Also I’m a hater who loves hyperbole.

Go in peace, etc, etc.

Kuuga

One of my top five series, and one of the few phase one shows to really balance the grimdark with hope and silly antics well. Very different vibes to later stuff and that’s not a bad thing. It does take a while to really get going though, which I can understand people dropping it because of (there’s a period between like episode 5 and 15 where I myself was going “nothing is FUCKING happening auughghgh”, and then bam, all of a sudden it clicked).

Godai and Ichijou walked so other Heisei gay ships could run, and has one of the few het pairings I quite like, albeit one that took me a bit by surprise.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: If someone says they couldn’t get into it because of the special effects, I immediately assume they were born after 2000. I guess this isn’t a take so much as me being over 30.

Agito

Inoue at his most “normal”, and honestly, not a bad showing for it. Plot is…Inoue. But as with most Inoue things, it’s got interesting characters (save for my One Lukewarm Take) with distinct personalities and motives. Definitely trying to lean more into the grimdark hinted at by Kuuga, but not really succeeding at it, beyond the odd “dude, this is for kids” moment. 

Still, funny and entertaining enough. Shouichi remains one of my fave lead riders.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I cared so little about Ryou that I straight up forget he exists, post watching.

Ryuki

It’s fine ™.  I’m not a big fan of the battle royale series (ironically, given my teenage obsession with the Battle Royale film), and I consistently got extremely bored about 20 episodes in with Ryuki. 

Outside of the first four or so guys I couldn’t tell you which rider was which, because they were all some variant of “oh hey some new little shit signed up for power/money/general dubious motivations”, with no real difference in how they were disposed of or dealt with. 

It has its moments, don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed most of the sillier stuff with Ore Journal, and I REALLY liked the choice to [REDACTED] in the penultimate episode. It just didn’t really do anything for me otherwise. 

Kitaoka and Goro are a married couple of all time, Shinji and Ren’s whole deal is amusing…but I also was annoyed that one of the only characters to permanently [REDACTED] was the sole female lead.

Basically, I think it’s objectively decent, just really not for me.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Eri could have been a potted plant and Ren’s story would have had the exact same emotional impact. Not that she’s the only female character this applies to in toku...

Faiz

I love it. I hate it. Both are true.

The good: characters are fun and distinct. As infuriating as they may be they generally act on consistent motives and attitudes, and outside of the het nonsense their dynamics are fun and interesting. I really like the orphnoch as antagonists and creatures, as well as the show’s occasional touching on themes and questions in the ballpark of “hey is a group actually evil if they’ve been treated like shit before they ever did anything vaguely in retaliation?”.

The bad: do I really need to say it? The romance bullshit, the Inoue of the women - hell, the Inoue of everything. I would gladly rewatch a cut of this show where everything involving romance was removed. The show would be maybe half the length, but significantly improved.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I strongly read Mari as aroace. Her crush on Kiba absolutely reeks of “well I guess he’s the most appropriate guy who is a) not Takumi or Keitaro, and b) not horrendous to women?” comphet. Some folks take this as "she's a lesbiab" thing which is fair, but it just never rang that way to me.

Blade

The tl;dr:

I will only give the long version if specifically asked because, to be honest, I get mean.

Okay, now let’s note things I liked: Suits were decent. The Inoue two-parter was pretty funny. Show is very memeable. The resolution of creating a permanent stalemate in a battle royale where its end means APOCALYPSE was neat. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Coming out of this show where I could barely believe any of them were friends, never mind Comrades And Cuddlers, then seeing how widespread and passionate the Hajime/Kenzaki ship is, was uh.

I mean, ship what you like, but that was a real “running face first into a wall Wile E Coyote style” moment for me, fandom speaking. 

Hibiki

Shouldn’t have been a Rider. It’s pretty apparent it was intended to be its own thing and I think it would have been better off for it. That said, I liked what it was! Nice, gentle coming of age thing, with nice suits and sweet relationships.

…Then episode 30 onwards happened and to be fair, that last chunk would have been fine in literally any other show (for a certain measure of “fine”, I guess), but in Hibiki it was just sort of amusingly out of place.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Tbf, the finale DOES do one thing right, which is to have Asumu decide to become a doctor instead of an oni. It was clear from the start he wasn’t going to be one and I don’t know why they bothered trying to pretend he wanted to. Doctor is the perfect role for him to help out and stay involved without fighting.

Kabuto

I mean it’s not good, but it’s not awful either. Tendou and Kagami being extremely funny and gay cover a lot of sins.

The initial Big Thing (the Hiyori thing) I actually quite like! It’s done sort of competently, and introduces a really interesting situation for Hiyori! Sadly they don’t do much with it (which I appreciate is partly because the actor had to leave for a while), and pretty much every plot after that reveal is very sloppily put together. It strikes me that they probably only had that initial plot planned, and then kind of went “shit, we’ve still got half a show to do”, which would explain some of the things I found unsatisfying. Didn’t stop them being unsatisfying though.

Basically a series that is saved entirely by its characters. It’s not terrible but I also wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, you feel me?

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Daisuke and Gou bored me to tears pretty quickly. I am DONE with the whole “minor girl acts like an adult man’s wife-mother-maid and this is treated as cute rather than weird as fuck” thing they keep doing. Been done with it since Amane and Hajime’s whole fucking deal.

Den-O

Bottom half of my top five. Very sweet and funny, though that’s kind of a barrier to enjoyment too - if you’re not into Japanese comedy tropes and slapstick stuff, you’re not really going to gel with it.

Another one where the plot is second to the characters and cast, but not terrible by itself. The imagin steal the show though, let’s be real. Excellent work from the suit and voice actors. Ryotarou is the lead rider I most want to give a hot chocolate and blanket.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I ship Yuuto/Airi pretty much exclusively because they didn’t get them together. 

Kiva

This is…a weird one. It’s not wildly, terribly, incompetently made, but also, it sucks. 

Inoue at his most Inoue (dropped concepts, ignoring the more interesting themes in favour of het nonsense, love triangles, shitty about women) and also, his least Inoue (characters are forgettable, there’s no whimsy, just rehashes plot points from 555 that 555 did better).

I liked Wataru. I liked Jirou because Kenji Matsuda (also, I’m sorry, he was being Weird About Breeding for sure, but the attempted rape was very obviously a “shit, Yuri has more chemistry with this dude than the one we want to get her together with, come up with a reason to not support it that we will then completely ignore afterwards as if it never happened QUICK :)” choice). Everyone else is just kind of a mass of characters melded together to me.

The suits, music, and general aesthetic FUCK. That much is unarguable. That…was about it. I found it paternalistic as hell, and honestly just kind of annoying past a certain point. BUT, it was at least occasionally funny.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: (This might be an actual hot take for once lol) 

Getting to henshin once because the men around you decide to let you have a try does NOT mean the show has a female rider. Those IXA transformations were some of the most condescending horseshit I’ve come across in toku re: women and that’s saying something.

Decade

I wish this show had been given a full episode run, because you can see exactly where the potential for a decent, coherent plot lay. It’s funny, I love the foursome, but look, yeah, it’s. It’s not exactly good.

Tsukasa is my favourite lead rider because he’s such a shit. I would still watch Zi-O for him over Decade itself, though it’s criminal Natsumi and Yusuke didn’t get to turn up even briefly in that show.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: They needed to go all in on the AU thing if that’s what they had to do, instead of occasionally tip-toeing into the originals. All or nothing, baby.

W

Another one of my top 5, another one where it’s mostly the characters over the plot, and another one where the women are treated Weirdly. 

Plot is okay, not amazing and a bit messy/rushed towards the end, but the noir-esque framing was charming. I loved the gimmick of the two-in-one rider, and the characters were good fun! Akiko in particular is one of my fave female characters, because she got to have an actual goofy personality, rather than being kind of generically nice but occasionally nagging to show she’s the designated Love Interest (in fact, she HAS a love interest rather than BEING the love interest, which was a nice change).

I was…not really big on Wakana. I was much more interested in Saeko, and wish the show had ended with the two of them going off to sort out their issues together as sisters, but y’know, it’s a toku. What the fuck did I expect. 

Philip and Shoutarou’s whole deal is some of the gayest shit I’ve seen, bested only by Banjou/Sentai and Ichijou/Godai.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Akiko not becoming a rider is the sole reason she survived to the end. You KNOW if she’d been a rider they would have killed her off like their lives depended on it.

OOO

Very fond of this one, for its flaws! Also in my top 5. Something about it just hit right when I was in the middle of lockdown induced mental breakdown. 

Plot is generic but competent, the characters are memorable and likeable. Suits are good and the villains are entertaining. My only real complaint is that the Big Bad is kind of meh, though at least amusing throughout.

Was also pleasantly surprised to see a show like this basically all but use the words “depression” when talking about a character’s mental health. Baby steps and all that.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I’m not opposed to Eiji/Ankh but lbr. Date/Gotou are the real outstanding homosexuals here.

Fourze

Saying this feels like kicking a puppy, but…it’s not my bag. Pretty much entirely because I’m just not really into high school stories. 

The characters are fine, the plot is. Well. It is what it is. The suits are excellent. I just never really clicked with it or felt any of the emotional beats. That one scene that everyone seems to cry over just had me sat there waiting to move on. I think the strongest emotion the show ever elicited from me was bewilderment at the last minute het hookup.

That said, I don’t think it’s bad. It’s just, like with the battle royale series, not for me.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I actually don’t think I have one for this series? I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about this one and often forget it exists > . >;

Wizard

I went into this knowing that it was a series people were funny about, and fucking loved it. Not quite in my top 5, but top 10 for sure. 

I loved Haruto as a contrast to his predecessor, Beast is my favourite secondary, and hey! First female rider treated decently! (Her suit sucks, but that’s a separate issue.) 

Rinko is fine, but they obviously kind of stopped knowing what to do with her. Koyomi was so clearly signposted for [REDACTED] that I didn’t really feel any reason to care about her, which was then exacerbated by her not being as present as a character with her level of import should have been. Shunpei mostly felt awkward to me. He’s clearly the kid appeal character, which, fine. Whatever. Not for me to enjoy.

That aside, it’s otherwise a sweet, funny series, and the aesthetics pop the fuck off. The main issues are balancing the cast, the pacing, and the fact that for some reason, the last two episodes are just Random Antics. 

Look, I love getting more Decade any goddamn time, but those 2 episodes should have been Wizard’s last two episodes, not “hey let’s show off the new guy and harken to nostalgia!”

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Shunpei shouldn’t have been a Main Character, he should have been Recurring. Specifically, he should have been given his finale role MUCH earlier as a reason for him to be around.

Gaim

Woof.

Battle royale, so meh. Dance battle concept should have been committed to but they were COWARDS, in which case they should have not bothered with it at all.

I am not a huge Urobuchi fan (I loved Thunderbolt Fantasy for the puppets, and have zero interest in Madoka), so this series wasn’t really a great advertisement for him. I also found this series more offensive about its women than any Inoue series, which is saying something! 

Inoue shows seems to recognise women are people. They might not care much for the Brand Of Person they are, but they are very much under the “person” category. Meanwhile Gaim is so dismissive of its women that you can hear the “UGGHHH I GUESS IF WE HAVE TO” every time a female character gets a line of dialogue. 

The female rider’s only selling points are that her actor seems cool, and that she’s a female rider (I can’t even remember her name which kind of says it all). Mai is so disrespected by the plot that they literally turn her into a prize to win - and anyone who tries, unironically, to argue that that it’s ~satire~ of other media doing the same thing, needs to remember that it’s not satire if you just bloody do the thing.

Ending sucks, while clearly thinking it’s doing something subversive. Has way too many characters it expects me to care about. Worst wigs in toku, somehow.

…And yet, parts of it compelled me. There are moments of potential, of interesting ideas! Kouta is great fun as a lead rider because he’s that specific brand of idiot that everyone is at 20. Long live the buff short king, etc, etc. Oren is Iconique, and deserves to kick the ass of all these annoying teenagers hanging around.

Which is to say, god I hate it, but I was willing to suffer it all for Kouta and Oren. Oren and Kouta are worth any and all suffering. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Kouta/Takatora have more chemistry in their around 4 scenes than Kouta and Kaito did in the entire show.

(On which note, godspeed Kaito’s actor, I hope you’re living your best life.)

Drive

A mixed bag. Has good moments, has crap ones. Weird vibe due to the whole “state sanctioned superhero basically commits genocide” angle. Has one of the rare het pairings I’m okay with, except for how they got them together which is one of the stupidest two episode plot arcs I’ve seen a Rider shoot itself in the foot with - mere episodes before the end!

Chase best boy. Gou is a little shit of the “oh, he needs therapy therapy” variety. I can’t talk about Kiriko without devolving into the I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream monologue aimed squarely at the writers. The little cars are weirdly cute and made me care for them.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I hate when people do the whole “it’d be good/okay/whatever but you know, COPS” hand-wringing. We’re grown ups here, I think we can take it as read on toku tumblr, of all places, that none of us are watching this thing going “well golly gee I sure do love policemen they seem like reasonable fellows who can do no wrong ever!”

Make actual criticisms if it’s relevant, otherwise it’s just weird and performative.

Ghost

Nowhere near as bad as various other toku sources seem to think it is. 

Takeru is a sweetheart, Akira is a great Science Badass. I love the team in general, and it’s a rare series where a good monster of the week gets to live.

It’s also a bit muddled, and the plot does meander somewhat (based on Saber, I suspect this is an issue the lead writer has in general), and the big bad escaped my brain the minute the show ended. 

I’m not touching the incest shit because it doesn’t deserve the energy wasted on engaging with it. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: I'm almost impressed at how this show managed to make non-incestuous potential pairings seem incestuous.

Ex-Aid

When I first watched this show I came away really unsure how I felt about it, and figured I’d rewatch it to determine if I liked it on a second viewing. Candidcantrix said she wanted to watch it, which was a perfect opportunity, and I did indeed get my answer!

I don’t like it 🙂

Plot is very standard battle royale-esque stuff. Every single character under 20 is annoying as hell (Nico faintly improves when she and Taiga become the shithead siblings, but it takes them a while to get there), to the extent even Cantrix - who I generally deem much nicer than me - was going “let the little fucker die then” at the multiple plots involving kids being shits to Emu.

Suits are cute. Gaming stuff is funny. Kiriya and Kuroto are fun, though sadly not present for enough of the show to make up for the other dudes.

Emu is…fine. He’s a perfectly okay lead, just not particularly outstanding. Taiga I didn’t care for until he and Nico became a duo. Hiiro is...hm. Let’s just say it’s always rough when you don’t like the character who seems to be a fandom darling/bicycle. Which is a shame because I actually really like his actor.

Poppy I wish was treated halfway decently by the writing. Also, while not a surprise, it was still infuriating as hell that Nico “COMPETITION IS MY LIFE AND ALSO I’M RICH AS FUCK” Saiba says “I was inspired by you doctor guys with your doctoring!” and becomes…a nurse. 

Not to knock nurses, but y’know. It was a very clear "Boys Become Doctors, Girls Become Nurses uwu" message, that immediately brought to mind the news story of that medical school that fucked with applications from women and made me want to commit violence.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: …I don’t care for Parad either. 

Build

Current top 1? Definitely vying with Kuuga for that spot. Characters good, story good and better written than it had any reason to be.

Not much more to say, really. 

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Kazumi/Misora are fine.

Zi-O

Where’s that “Zi-O is good, you all are just mean” meme?

Basically fun. Plot is…certainly an attempt at a plot. Made the mistake of trying to instigate rules about the Other Riders (none of which were good), then realised the rules suck and dropped them quietly about halfway through. Which, y’know, I will at least give them the fact that they realised the rules should be dropped.

Suits are good, the core gang are fun, DECADE IS GOOD, and it’s very funny.

Unfortunately it doesn’t balance tone very well, so the more serious stuff towards the end felt very unearned and disingenuous.

Also Tsukuyomi should have got more than 20 seconds in-suit. 

Otherwise? I quite enjoyed it. Was nice seeing the older riders who came back, and the team having Antics.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: NEEDS MORE DECADE.

Zero-One

I have a category called Forgettably Inoffensive, and Zero One falls into it.

It’s fine. It’s not terrible but it’s not brilliant. Aruto is fun. Fuwa is a mixed bag who gets better as the show goes on. Yua is a blank slate they completely fumbled, to the point of frustration because they could have done some really interesting things with her, but waited 10 episodes too long to break her out of [REDACTED] which was the main source of the issue.

The good suits are very good. The plot is average, but does at least handle its synthetic characters with a bit more decency than Drive. Yet another show where the only character to permanently [REDACTED] is a woman (I am biased by my personal views on consciousness here so some people might disagree with my definition of [REDACTED]).

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: This is one of the rare media where I prefer fandom’s version of the female lead to the canon. This is mostly because canon’s version doesn’t actually get to have her own motives and agency until about 4 episodes from the end.

Saber

YOU DO NOT NEED 800 RIDERS.

Plot wanders all over the place, and I assume the pandemic was responsible for a chunk of the issues but also, like. Fucking make sure your writing team are vaguely aware of what everyone is doing. The lack of direction is painfully apparent, resulting in various half-baked ideas that don’t really go anywhere (did Touma need a 2 episode berserk suit arc? Really?), and characters treading on each others’ toes. Too many chefs spoil the broth, etc, etc.

Reika didn’t need to have her brother be an actual character in the show. She didn’t need her only characterisation after Evil Arc (which was, itself, NOT GREAT) to be more of Ghost's weird incest shit. She DID need actual focus and a personality, but she’s a girl so fuck her, I guess.

Touma, Rintaro, Mei, and Kento? Grand, love ‘em as a core squad. Rintaro/Mei is one of the few het couples I’m fine with. As much as I think Mei should have been given a sword too, I also wasn’t particularly upset with her handling when compared to uh. Other Female Characters.

It’s a mess. It’s an entertaining mess, but I won’t be watching it again. Perfectly okay if you turn off the part of your brain that handles comprehension.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Didn't need more riders past Ogami. Daishinji was fine as a tech, Ren was a waste of time, and. Well. I've touched upon the Reika And Reika's Brother issue.

Revice

Revice is Fine. It’s literally Fine. It is the definition of average which is, by Kamen Rider standards, fine.

It’s not amazing, but it’s also not terrible, and I'm not really sure why tumblr toku fandom acts like it is, beyond people deciding to dislike it before it aired because Vice's VA is a known cunt. Which he is but like, he wasn't in charge of the show.

The main problems with it were Vice (who is massively toned down fairly quickly), pacing (not a unique problem), and being somewhat muddled towards the end (also not unique). Otherwise it’s a perfectly okay series that isn’t even remarkable in the issues it does have.

Would have benefited from the writer’s original intention of having a female lead - Sakura is basically the main character after a certain point, and it’s irritating that they keep having to call Ikki back to do The Big Shit despite him not really being involved. I remain convinced the show would have been improved with Sakura as primary, Daiji as secondary, and Ikki as a surprise Meddling Big Brother third.

George was funny. Hiromi was adorable, as was Lovekov. Kagerou was hilarious.

The weird plot with the doctor towards the end baffled me because it tried to act like she was part of the gang all along, and she hadn’t been in the show for like 20 episodes by that point? I didn’t even know her name.

Same for that one guy from Weekend who they clearly wanted to be a love interest for Sakura - I spent pretty much every moment he was on screen going “who are you again?” 

(Meanwhile they tried to sister zone Hana in the Girls Extra which was fucking hilarious. True equality is getting no homoed with the same level of effort as any given dude ship, I guess.)

I shall stay in my “Revice Is The Defintion Of Okay, You All Are Just Annoying” cave without digging too much deeper though, because it descends into conspiracy and me being a miserable cunt.

Dutch’s Lukewarm Take: Better written than Saber. That's it, that's the take.

Geats onwards:

I’ve not watched any Rider past Revice, mostly because Geats and Gotchard really didn’t grab my attention. Geats for being a battle royale AND a Takahashi show.

Gotchard mostly put me off by being a high school type thing, buuuut I was further put off by the fact that there was hubbub about having a female secondary…and then I've seen exactly zero screenshots, gifsets, or clips of her in-show. Which does not bode well for how she was treated.

Gavv I’m faintly interested in, due to me generally enjoying the lead writers’ shows, but I’m waiting until it’s done (and I have more time) to watch it.

So.

Tl;dr: There's a reason I only have a few toku mutuals, and it boils down to me being a miserable old coot sitting on my porch going

[inkofamethyst]

January 18, 2025

Been thinking about Promising Young Woman recently and ugh so chilling. Part of me wants to rewatch it with my island-friend and her partner and then discuss afterwards because I feel like they would be into it.

Speaking of visual media, forgot to mention some things I watched while home. Finished Superman and Lois with my dad, and it had a sweet ending, something Superman stories so rarely get to do in my experience. Watched binged Agatha All Along with my dad, enjoyed it a lot!! Watched binged Squid Game S2 with my dad (I'd seen one episode of S1 with my sister (the marbles one, also during break) and was able to get by mostly by asking her questions during that episode and during the first episode with my dad) and it was also quite good, loved the commentary.

I do have quite a long watchlist to tackle, unfortunately. Arcane s2, LoVM, Dragon Prince, so many CR eps, a bunch of Marvel stuff (we're going to see Captain America for my birthday!!), Halo s2 (even though it won't be getting a s3), Severance s2, Star Trek... maybe I should get Paramount for a bit. I should probably get on Arcane though bc that might be banned soon too lol. And then after that maybe I'll watch some more CDramas. Bloody Romance scratched that medieval-fantasy-adventure itch, so I'll probably look for others of that vibe.

To switch gears, I do actually have a social life, if you can believe it. I've been making a concerted effort these past few days to schedule get-togethers with friends over the next couple of weeks. This upcoming semester is going to be a toughie, but I don't want to completely abandon the relationships that are important to me. So, at least for now while I don't want to hole up in my apartment (at least not all the time), I want to spend time with the people who make me happy :)

But back to me being an ipad kid (im jking im an ipad adult), I barely touched my devices when I was home. I was at PEACE. But my screen time this past week??? yikes. I mean part of it is trying to soak up as much tiktok content as I can before whatever happens at midnight tonight (seeing people recreate 2019 and 2020 memes is bittersweet, as was getting my final dabloon), but it's also that I'm trying to fill a hole or something, I think. As much as I enjoy it here, I still can't help but miss home, a year and a half in. At least I'm not crying at the airport anymore.

Today I'm thankful for the movie night I had with my island-friend and her partner last night. We went to a really swanky part of town that I've never been to before, and the movie was both funny and poignant and we had a nice little discussion about it on the way back. Also I've come to understand why I enjoy their company so much: as an Eldest Daughter I never really got the experience of having someone slightly older, slightly wiser, but still categorically in friendship capacity to hang out with. Outside of them just having fairly different perspectives and experiences from me, there is also this older-sisterly feeling that feels.. nice.

I've long held that I have no desire to settle when it comes to a romantic relationship and while part of that is because feminist movements have made it such that attachment to a man is no longer a necessity, I also feel like I have such solid friendships that have shown me what being cared for can mean. I mean, for example, when my photo-friend and I went to a dance in college, he explicitly said he was going out of his way to show me how I should be treated. And while I understand that romance supposedly has differences, I am thankful that I know not to settle for anything less than what I have experienced entirely platonically. It also means that I know what it feels like when I want to express care for someone and engage in someone's life and be there for someone and want the best for someone.

Downloaded my 1500 tiktok favorites to an external drive. Took four hours. 9 GB. A shame about all the 300+ deleted videos I'd once saved, now lost to time. Even if the president-elect manages to strike some deal to restart the servers.. if today is not the end, the twentieth will be the beginning of the end.

[lightwise]

TBB S3 E10 Reaction

Life has been a bit busier the last few weeks so I am finally catching up on my episode reactions (I’m determined to do all of them this season!) And I apologize y’all, this episode made me very snarky apparently.

I’ll be honest. When this episode first came out I was nowhere near as surprised by it or horrified by it as reviewers seemed to be. Nothing about Palpatine hunting down force sensitive children as experiments and using Cad Bane to do it is a surprise, and the Vault feels so much like Andor. But even on a rewatch this episode holds up so well and honestly just starts to give a cold chill under the skin as the quiet horror of it sinks in.

- Cute kid. And the Batch nowhere to be seen. This is going to be a different episode isn’t it

- Oh no. He’s force sensitive 😫😫😫 hmmm how could that possibly go wrong

- This is giving Andor vibes 👀

- It’s always interesting seeing “regular people” in Star Wars and little markets and how they’re just trying to go about their daily lives.

- Don’t go around snitching people! Nothing good ever comes of it!!!

- Yeah this guy is worse than Timm from Andor. Wtf dude. You’re turning in a baby!!

- Also is it just me or typical Star Wars “houses” end up being pretty dark and depressing?

- Wait okay okay. So this is the CX chamber. Why can’t we see any of them yet 😩😩 what is this red fog? What are these weird conditioning pods? What kind of armor is on this datapad?? *trying to crawl inside my screen* I NEED ANSWERS JENNIFER!!

- “Do you trust me?” Ooooh why do I think that’s going to come back around

- But also, babygirl, I don’t think you actually know what you’re signing up for

- “I could be more useful” “you wish to be the new chief scientist Dr. Karr?” “I believe I’ve earned it.” Alright. This. This is interesting. This fully encapsulates the dynamic that these two have shared. Emerie knows that Hemlock only values things that are useful, and probably only sees her own value in the light of what she can contribute, due to how she was raised and the circumstances she has been trapped in. Hemlock’s tone of voice implies that he has never considered her as being the new chief scientist, and yet he acquiesces quite quickly, almost as though he’s just too busy to think about it and if it means things are brought back up to production standard then he’s fine with it. His utter disregard for Emerie as an actual human and someone with merit is disgusting though.

- But I get it, the man’s busy, he’s got a lot of evil shit he’s trying to do all at the same time 🙄

- So we have “the assets”, which is the area that Hemlock took Palpatine in the first episodes, where the orange containment pods are and the zillo beast is being kept. We still don’t know what those assets are. The Vault is something different.

- Well. Shit. It’s Andor and Narkina 5 for kids. Lovely 😳💀

- “There are few adults left with such characteristics” I WONDER IN THE NAME OF ONE EMPEROR PALPATINE WHY

- Okay so this entire exchange is awful. The kids are so cute! Hemlock is so cold. “Specimens. Assets” ughhh Emerie what are you getting yourself into!!

- Is this the first time we’ve heard the word glasses in Star Wars?

- Oh no. So THIS is why Cad Bane was brought back 🥺🥺

- The score in this episode is perfectly eerie

- Lol Todo is not good with kids huh 🤣

- That poor mama when she wakes up and finds her baby is gone

- I hope that dude has his entire life flash before his eyes as he’s trying to pick all of those credits up

- “My name’s Eva” 🥹🥹🥹 Emerie has no idea how to handle this 😂

- I still wanna know what’s happened with these commandos. No way a clone of Jango Fett is able to look a child in the eyes, call them a “specimen” and not have even an ounce of remorse as they stun them point blank.

- “Jax?” And Eva just points. The power in knowing someone’s name vs a dehumanizing number

- It’s also interesting that these kids are species that are red, blue, and green, and when they get Bayrn in, he’s white. RGB colors make up white light when put together.

- The little peeks of Emerie’s backstory we keep getting are so interesting. She was abandoned by Nala Se. She knows that these children don’t belong here, the same way that Omega told both her and Crosshair that they didn’t belong here either. Nala Se says that the Empire will hold these kids to control them. Emerie feels like she has no power to do anything differently. So much to unpack here.

- Why is Tarkin’s holo so large?

- Lol I honestly love getting to see the backbiting politics of how the Empire functions. It’s so bad and so funny

- Also love that Project Necromancer is so secret that even Tarkin doesn’t know what it is. He’s so nosy

- Okay why does he bring up the CX schematic again and why is it so different than the one we saw earlier??

- Whoa Cid was tortured???

- “The other operatives aren’t ready to join you in the field” why????

- We’re visiting a lot of space stations this season

- Man I wish Emerie had fudged this test

- Nooo let the poor baby go home 🥺

- Oh and now we’re putting kids in solitary confinement. Great.

- C’mon Emerie. Keep clicking that moral compass until it points north

- She kept the straw Lula. She’s giving it to Eva 😭. There’s hope for her yet

[leupagus]

Three-Legged Puppy Fics

List five of your least-popular fics, as well as when/why you wrote them.

Home to the Weary: Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, 2010.

I wrote this at the request of a friend who wanted, I think, something Gwen-centric. Because I was not a fan of the show I decided to focus on an AU in which Gwen backflipped out of that whole situation and founded her own sort of kingdom, only meeting the terrible trio years later. It was really fun and was the first time I'd ever tried writing a fic that hinted at a larger world going on around the characters, if that makes sense. This one's a little pretentious but you can definitely see my "style" as it were.

Treads on the Ground: Babylon (not the sci-fi show, the short-lived british cop show), Liz Garvey/Finn Kirkwood, 2022.

This was written during my Bertie Carvel phase where I'd watched "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" and was desperate for something, anything, that didn't have him wearing terrible prosthetics or playing a psycho. He still sort of plays a psycho in this show, but he looks super hot and angry all the time which is really all I needed. (Also bonus hilarity: Liz's boyfriend in this show is played by none other than James Lance, playing "louche asshole" to the absolute hilt.) Anyway I wrote this because I really wanted a fake dating AU for these two AND a "Finn is secretly in line to the throne" fic and this was the perfect way to combine these two. I'm still legitimately really proud of thsi fic.

The Bright Relief: 1776 musical, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson (and a little bit of / in there, if I'm honest), 2010.

I wrote this because my friends waldorph and screamlet and I were having the Summer of 1776 Feelings and we all wrote various (wonderful) crimes and misdemeanors in that fandom, mostly revolving all the ways in people who love John Adams make fun of him. That was a truly terrible summer but made a whole lot better by those two, and by William Daniels being the most John Adams to ever John Adams. (I actually rewatched the miniseries a few months ago and Paul Giamatti does a great job but that thing is SO DREARY. Although I will say Stephen Dillane first caught my eye in the role of TJeff, aka once again playing a guy who's down real bad for someone smarter than him (in this case both Abigail AND John). The scene where he first meets Abigail is just nonstop flirting, with John making faces in the background. It's great.)

Happy Tails To You (Until We Meet Again): SGA, Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, 2009.

Oh lordy — probably the worst fic I've ever written, but I can't quite bring myself to delete it. I've been on the periphery of fandom for most of my adult life (what up X-Files yahoo groups and Prodigy Star Trek RP rooms), but SGA was what made me start thinking of writing fic after a long period of only reading it. (Yes, there is college-era gus fic out there. No, I'm not posting it on AO3.) I never quite got a handle on Sheppard or McKay but I did enjoy writing this and the other SGA fic I wrote, but yeah this deserves its obscurity.

Honey Now I'm Not One To Complain: Dalgliesh, Adam Dalgliesh/Kate Miskin, 2022.

Another one of my "Bertie Carvel is extremely attractive when he's sad and/or a cop" flash-fandoms, although I wrote a pretty good primer on the first season that I think gives a good case for the show as a whole. I wanted to write that largely because the show is so resolutely grim and I prefer stories that are... not grim, so I gave myself the challenge of putting these guys into one of the classic tropes. I did toy with the fake dating/marriage trope but honestly I think this was funnier, and I would always rather commit to the bit.

Tagging uhhh let's see, @laiqualaurelote, @themardia, @sadcypress, @auntieclimactic, and @eyebrowofdoom, if they (or anyone else) wants to do this.

[puellaphantasia]

Oddity found this JCA meme on Deviantart, time to cringe like it's 2010. Elaborations on some of the questions under the cut

2). It would literally be easier to list the characters I don't like than my favorites, I do genuinely love most of the cast, they're all really fun and bounce off each other so well.

3). I appreciate that the Ice Crew has fans, but I just couldn't stand them, they were poor replacements for the Enforcers.

Oddity and I both are both of the opinion that the Ben-Shui monks are kinda creepy, not sure I can elaborate they just...ew

I don't remember liking Paco when I watched this as a kid, he didn't grow on me on a rewatch as an adult, and I'm not sure I'll learn to like him in my reboot fanfic- but my god I'm going to try.

Viper...I genuinely forgot she existed. Even when I did a second rewatch with Oddity there was a whole episode that I remembered seeing in my initial rewatch that I completely forgot Viper was in. I wish I liked her more than I do, but she's just really boring.

4) Again, it'd be much easier to list characters I don't like than ones I do. I would have put Tarakudo on the favorites list, because I remember really liking him as a kid, but when I did my rewatch he didn't hold up as well as I remembered so he didn't quite make it to the favorites list even though I still like him.

6) Seasons 2-4 are the whole reason to watch JCA, honestly. S1 was a good foundation, but it didn't really start to shine until s2, but even then, I have to admit the Demon Sorcerers arc got pretty reputative and the non plot episodes sort of dragged on. There's very few episodes outside of s5 I didn't like, so I wouldn't say skip 'em but I think they could have been interlaced in the Demon arc a little better

S3 gets a bad rep in the fandom, and I get the complaint of it just being the Talisman Hunt 2.0 but honestly the character interactions are at their best in this season, several of the Nobel animals themselves have such fun personalities. I wish that s3 had it's own Mcguffin to collect that I could buy replicas of on Etsy, but it's not a big complaint to me compared to just how fun s3 is

S4 had the best individual episodes. I think more could have been done with Tarakudo interacting with the other characters, he was a little passive until the final episode and that's why he didn't make the favorites list, but the new types of Shadow Khan, their powers and the different situations the masks created were some of the best scenarios in the whole series.

8) Mei Xing and a cast of other OCs will be appearing in my fanfic Jackie Chan Adventures ↺ -wink wink-

9) I didn't actually create Mei Xing to ship with Tso Lan, it's just something that ended up happening while I was planning out her part in the story. It's just really funny to me that after I decided this aspect I looked to see if there was other Tso Lan/OC pairings, and saw two others who were also named Mei- I swear this wasn't done on purpose.

10) Just for the record, I also considered drawing the scene where Daolon and Uncle froze each other while Big Jade was fighting the Ogre, that scene just sticks out to me as one of the funniest in the show because of how they were both that stupid. I love them. They need to kiss.

[befuddledcinnamonroll]

Love is Better the Second Time Around - final thoughts

If you've already seen some of the final takes going around for the finale of this show, I'm of much the same mind. It started really strong for me, but the last couple of episodes did get muddled.

As much as I would love longer Japanese BLs, typically I feel like they work quite well in their shorter formats - Perfect Propose and My Personal Weatherman both felt like complete and satisfying stories to me. But this one did seem to suffer from the lack of time.

Pros:

Loved the two leads. They were excellent and did so much with microexpressions and body language. And hella chemistry.

The assistant - he was a fun character, and I'm sorry we didn't get to see him turn his bitchiness on Sugimoto. His helping Miyata also made sense to me, because he cared about Iwanaga.

It was refreshing to have a show not treat sex as some sort of end game final reward, but rather a part of relationship building.

The acknowledgement that the two of them running away as teenagers probably wouldn't have worked in the long run, but they were in a better place now to be together as fully actualized adults. I enjoy stories where young people get together, but there's also a part of me that is very dubious about longevity - it's just a part of life experience and seeing how few people are able to maintain that kind of relationship long term, especially considering how in your 20s you are still learning & growing so much.

The ending song slaps.

Cons:

I do want to be careful here, because I feel like some of the things that didn't work for me had strong cultural elements. For example, the discussion with the mother at the end. As a Westerner, I would just be all "fuck you" and peace out with my love, but I know some of that is being from a more individualized and less deferential culture. But it just felt unstructured and I didn't quite see the point of it.

I feel like they tried to make Miyata take a lot of the blame for what went wrong as kids, and that just didn't work for me. He was less popular, less wealthy, and more isolated than Iwanaga, and we're supposed to blame him for thinking he was being made fun of?

The breakup just annoyed me.

Sugimoto. Having both him and the assistant be in love with Iwanaga was a bit much, and just didn't really make sense to me considering his actions. It would have made more sense if he was wanting to take over the family business and was trying to get Iwanaga out. And then he's supposed to be helping in the end? But why? It was too short a series to introduce a dynamic like that last minute.

I enjoyed it, but don't expect I'll rewatch this one.

[panelshowsource]

If you had to pick a top three favorite episodes of any panel shows EVER, which would you choose? One of mine would have to be Terry Wogan guest hosting old NMTB, which I am dying to watch again in my lifetime. Your old-NMTB-posting reminded me just how amazing and formative those old episodes were for me. Anyway, it got me thinking… I would love to hear yours!

as long as i'm allowed to answer this totally subjectively...! because the objectively most iconic panel show episodes are probably quite different to the ones i gravitate to especially for rewatching — and especially in this difficult recent climate 🫥

this choice is almost bizarre knowing me, a huge huge huge sean lock fan, but this episode of cats does countdown — without sean! and not even golden era, probably, whatever that is in my mind — is so ridiculous and chaotic and stupid that i've watched it about 1000 times. there's something very specific about the dynamic between jimmy, jon, roisin, and joe without sean; those four have been in quite a few episodes without sean and they're like actual children without an adult in the room: jon is goofier and completely lets go of the game, jimmy throws even more to roisin (we do not talk enough about what a fucking kick jimmy gets out of her), roisin and joe's insane sibling dynamic becomes next level. anyways—this episode, which includes rly funny mascots, glory hole, the fucking hoop game and joe eating an onion and jon eating peppers???, THE UNICORN, its sheer childishness just cracks me up every time :') (if we're gonna mention the golden age, 2.02 is very iconic — from rhod killin it and always arguing with jimmy to claude to nick x susie hahaha but i have sooooo many catsdown episodes i love love love)

i really love the episode of 8 out of 10 cats following jimmy's tax scandal. it's not one of my favourite panel shows in general, but the circumstances of the news and the discussion epitomised what the show was meant to be: panel show meets reality tv meets a comedy central roast. watching that live, as the news was running it so heavily that even the prime minister mentioned it, as the press and twitter were reacting to it... wild times. it holds up incredibly well — it's hilarious watching them rip him to shreds, because he deserves every word and they're having a ball doing it to him, and i really appreciate jon grounding the conversation in just how tax avoidance hurts their country and some of its hardest workers — a really interesting, engaging mix of comedy and anger and wit and disappointment and political commentary that is not only funny but strikingly relevant no matter how much time passes. like so, so many people who were so, so disappointed in jimmy, this was the foundation of his carrying the responsibility, shame, reflection, and growth that people wanted to see — and that he truly needed to. since then he's talked a lot about not only righting the wrong (in paying back what he owed in avoidance) but just how the system is so broken — and taking the least complicated, most honest road forward since.

now i want to pick 1000 different things this is why i don't make lists or rank things!!!!! while my instinct is to pick a big fat quiz, i'm actually gonna go top-level nostalgia and say this episode of buzzcocks when stephen fry was a guest. what can i say — simon, stephen, it was two intellectual, mildly bitchy homosexuals on a stacked panel including josie long, dominic cooper, and yet another skinny white rock man for simon to pretend he's not trying to flirt with. stephen saying "there is a history, in pop music, of recto-veginal insertion" and denouncing god, like, in the first 5 minutes? stephen doing the intros round?? did i mention history boys-era dominic cooper??? such a throwback!!! (not to cheat but this ep with josh groban & martin freeman is my runner up)

i want to apologise to big fat quiz, taskmaster, wilty... THE WHOLE HISTORY OF PANEL SHOWS... I WISH I COULD CHOOSE YOU ALL