#okay but real talk: while obviously a ot can happen in the next season to change my mind- at this time

[nocakesformissedith]

SEASON TWO

Vox: Now I've come for you so you're not killed like the rest of these losers.

Alastor: You promised no hypnotism.

Vox: I know, but don't you see? With it, we're unstoppable. We'll rule Hell mercilessly!

Alastor: But I don't want—

Vox: I̵̢̛̠̲̪͖̼̳̞̝̟̳̟͚̞͍̱͍̲̫̘͎̹̯̤͍̖̮̲̘̳̳̮̣̯͗̈́̇̀͋̏͐̅͒̄̈́̿̏̎́͛͜͝͠͝ ̴̨̧̧̢̧̖̮̥͍̳̳̬͍͍̙̳̱͓̥̻̤̖͍̪̜̮̳͕̯̠̝̟̞̦͖̌̒́͜͝ͅͅd̴͈̯͉̗͓̰͉̞̼̪͉̰͖̲̹̝̞̖̰̞̝͍̠̠̤͙͇̤̬̘͔͕̲̞̊̆ő̶̧̧̫̲̩̪̪̦̟̗͎̦̫̥͙̐͗̓ņ̸̡̧̨̨̨̛͓͕͙͕̺͉̣͔̮͍̟͍̳̩̘̘̥̞̲͉̫̱͈̞͍̤̞͛̈͆̍̃́̀̇̂̽͗̅̄͊̓͆̓́̅͌͌̔͗͊͑̈́̈́͝͠͝͝ͅ’̶̡̢̧̧̹̣͙̦̱̳̹̱̤͍̩̭̠̺̪̦̖̤̱̜͉̏̿̽͆̈́̇̈́̓͋̽͑̕ͅͅt̷̢̢̡͈̠̖̻͔͇̣̜̯̺̫͚͙̱̯̝̻͙̯̠̖̬̬̃͂̊̿̏̎͐͗̈͛̄͌̊̅͋́̓̒̕͜ ̸̗̈́̕͝C̶̡̡̨͔͈̲͈͉̜̼̥͎̖͖̗̭̱͓̩̺͚͕̜̮̻͍̈͆̇͋̀́̋̀̿̾͌̚͜ͅͅĄ̷̛͙͔͍̞͎̥̝̗̯̠͖͉͙̺̯͙̼͓͍̜̲̰̙̩̇̌̿̓̈́́͆̂̄̋̄́́͑̽̈̋̊͂͌̕̕͝͝͝͠͠͝R̵̡̧̛̛̟̤͕̰͖͎̮̙̝̰̣̲̻̞̘̬̗̜̻̠̯̤͎̹͌̊̈́̍̽̽͐̅̅̒̾̓̎̃̃̂͌́̏̇̓͑́͂͘̕͜͝͝Ȩ̷̨̧͓̯̞̙͉̠͍̱̗̖̭͉̺̙̰̘̥̳̫̰̝̥͔̈́̐͐̈́͗̓͋̍̎̏̉́͗̔̈́͐̔̃̾͑̅͒̔̀̉̓̈́̈́͒͛͆͊̃̏̍̂̚͜͠͝ͅ ̴̢̧̻̬̫̳͎̖̙̯͚̹̜̬͍̲͉̭̘̥͓͍̮͙̝͖̩̆̉́̏̐͛̈́̆̚ͅẅ̴̨̡̨̢̛̛͔̤͓̣̲̱̼̮͙̜̠͖̫̜̞͚̪̑̿͒̽͘͜͜͠ͅͅh̴̀̈́̌̎̉��̣̟̝͓̮̹̬̠͖̭̂̓͐̇̉̿͋̍̈́̎̀̏͒̋́̈́́̍̈́͐̏̽̆̌͜ą̸̢̢͇͉͔̤̬̹̮̳̬̦̰̟͍̺͍̻͌̍̈́́̿̌͗͌̍͋̇͆̑̐̃̆̿̈͋͑̊̎͘͝͠͝ͅͅt̴̜̝̳̪̦̝̫͎͖̓̐͑̂̄̂͆̀̎̋̔̄͆̋͌̓́̀͊͌͆̓̔͂̂̀̋̅̕̚͝͝ ̴̨̢͉̭̣̳̝͚̠͇̤̖̳͙̼̝̬̭̲͓̼͍̯͖͔͎̬̙̟̮͎͈͇̣͍̞̘̞́̈́͐̾͒̈͛͒̚͜͜͜ý̶̢̧̧̡̘̜̺̬̻̗̖̜̘͔͍͖̠͚̰̟͚͈͔͔̯̈́̑̽́̿̚ͅơ̵̛̛̞̻̊̂̈́̽͑͌̂͆̇̉͑̊̒̈́̈́͌̀̔̂̎̓̋̑̅͘͝͝ư̷̢͕̯̜̘̣̤͎͉̙̰̝̤͉̹̼̗̺͖̻̟̞͍̹͚̦̪͐̄̀̔̿̅̆͌̿̓̊̎̄̕͝ͅͅ ̷̡̨̞͚̬͙͈̟̞͍̮̼̼̠̳̙̳͓̱̭̝̬̱̳̟̪͙̹̬̙̜̗̔́̽̋́͛ͅw̴̨̢̨̢̜̜̳͇̺͙͈͈͕̮̼͈̼̖͎̹̘̬͉̜̬̞̥̱͈͚̼͔̬̳̬̉̎̇͗̀̾̕͜ͅą̶̢̡̗̯̫͍͔͖̺̬̗͕̞͕͈̙͔̌͌̍̐̋̀̐̈́̐̒͂͘͘͘͠ͅn̵̛͙͗̆͌̄̄̇̉̈́́̆̓̄̅͑́̊͌͐̊̈̽̀̎̔̉̆̌̐̎͘͠t̷̛̜͇͈̥͍̓̎͌̽̉̈̐͐̉͋̆́͂̐̔̍̀̿̕̕̕͝͠!̸̳̩͑̋̈́͆̈̔͌̄͗͌̈́̈̒̿̒͊̇̃͑͒̿̑͋͘͠!̸̺̠̯̮̞̱͓̦͈̘̖̘̐̋͆̀̋͐̏̈̋̔̚̚̕͝͝ͅͅ

Charlie: Oh, my goodness.

Angel Dust: [Bleep] is cray-cray.

Alastor: I won't leave the hotel. It's one thing being an evil Overlord, it's another thing to be a capitalist sellout, and I would rather die than join the Vees!

Charlie: Me too.

Husk: And me.

Angel Dust: And me!

Vox: Right, well no one invited you lot, but whatever.

[popculturebuffet]

Jake Reviews Stuff: Star Vs: Friendenemies

Happy pride all. I’m getting ahead of this one for a number of reasons:  1) It’s pride month and this episode is one of the most shiptastic things i’ve seen with two male characters since Robochris from bravest warriors. I mean it dosen’t quite reach “Creating a skull robot of your best friend because he won’t touch you a lot to make him jealous enough to do that” levels of romantic tension but it tries. 

2) My good friend @jess-the-vampire​ is a tomco shipper, and with things being rough for her I figure she could use this sooner rather than later. 3) Shows are actually coming back with Amphibia emerging from it’s year long odinsleep the same week Close Enough finally escapes from it’s dumpster after 10,000 years to conquer earth before it gets put back in there then escapes again and marries lord zedd.. I lost the metaphor the point is I want to keep Tom train, and other star arcs I have planned, moving at a steady clip. 

So with all of that yeah, i’m ready to go. No real exposition to dump again, come on let’s go after the cut!

We open with Marco at his laptop nervous about something and Star coming into his room tangled in christmas lights... so normal day at Casa Diaz.  Anyways Marco can’t help star out of her latest self made prison because he’s preording tickets to a Mackie Hand Film Festival. Mackie Hand is Marco’s faviorite martial artist and movie star, who died performing a stunt on himself.. accidentally.. did he give himself a death punch? Is this the same universe as regular show.. please say yes.  Anyway as is natural for Marco in the first two seasons as god apparently hates him, the tickets sell out instantly and he dosen’t get them, banging his head against his laptop as Star TRIES to comfort him , saying he might still be able to get them. Marco also says “Good things don’t happen to me”

I mean just look at Season 3. Anyways tom comes in licking a rainbow snowcone for no explained reason other than they wanted to make it obvious this was the Tomco episode. Tom asks to hang out and after Star, understandably at this point given you know, the horrible date where he tried to murder her best friend and the gaslighting a few weeks back, tells him a million times no, Tom explains he’s not here for her.. he’s here for Marco. Marco, given tom’s threatned to kill him twice now and tried to at least once, isn’t biting. Tom naturally has tickets to the festival as a trump card, and assumes that time he kidnapped marco and played him in ping pong for his freedom counts as a friend hang out, and geuinely apologizes for his behavior promising not to get angry. Really while as you probalby know we DO get the reveal later he was partly doing this whole thing to finish his anger managment... I do get the sense this apology, and a lot of this is GENUINE. We’ll get more into the why in a bit, but he does seem to genuinely want to bury the hatchet.  Marco pulls star aside and, given the last two times he saw Tom, the boy had some horrible scheme up his ripped sleeves, he understandably, and as it turns out correctly, thinks Tom is once again up to some sort of scheme, star is fully on board. I have. mixed feelings about this. On the one hand STar did forgive tom for the previous episodes mess and Ponyhead for much worse and it does set up the tiny plot curnel of corn that would grow into an entire corn field of her still having some friendly feelings toward tom. But it just feels weird, even with how cahotic star can be to have her flip flop from “Stop calling me” To “You should totlaly go on a date with the guy who harassed me and tried to kill you twice now. ��. Especially since next time she has an episode with Tom, She’s fully resentful of him and a bit snarky and spends and episode, in part thanks to aformentioned magical severed ponyhead, suspicious of him playing games with her head again. We’ll get there soon obviously, i’m just saying it feels mildly off. 

So Marco decides, much like bart simpson that getting where he’s going’s worth it even if he has to ride with the devil himself and reluctantly agrees. We see the inside of Tom’s carriage for the first time, and see my good personal friend dead horse again on the outside, and it’s really nice.. lit by torches because mood lighting, but similar to his room it’s plushly decorated and even has two serious speakers and according to Tom 6 flatscreens. Damn I wish I had one of those.. that and I wouldn’t have to drive since I can’t due to my anxiety. Plus who wouldn’t want a firey horse skelton sidekick? Anyways Tom offers Marco cold cereal and Marco is frank with tom, pointing out he’s suddenly being nice to Marco after never being nice to him before and understandably isn’t sure he’s even a mackie hand fan but a bit of banter and trivia shows Marco that no, Tom really seems to be telling the truth.  Tom then confides in marco that he gets why Marco didn’t belivie him: Most people dont’ get past their preconcived perceptions of him. And here the series does flesh tom out a bit: Tom admits to not having many friends.. which frames the previous two episodes in a diffrent light. Sure his actions to Star are still very much not okay... but you at least see WHY he was so obessive about her: She was probably the first real friend he had that wasn’t a casual aquantince, his own family member, or a pet. Most Mewman kids his age probably weren’t too keen to hang out with what to them was a monster, rich or not, little raicst shits. And in the underworld most people probably just did whatever he asked because they were afraid of his temper or his parents fury, even if his parents are the nicest people in the underworld. So when he lost her, Tom didn’t know how to properly react and while his first attempt to win star back was genuine, it was marred by his refusal to adress his anger or control issues that likely lead to Star dumping him in the first place. While Star’s forgivness HERE is a bit werid, her willingness to give him another shot wasn’t: Tom was SEEMINGLY genuinely trying. He was in therapy, he’d been anger free for several days and most glowingly, when a stranger karate chopped his hand off in a misguided attempt to protect star.. he got upset but instnatlly went into his coping mechanisms.  The problem was as I covered in that review.. Tom didn’t WANT to change. That’s the thing about changing: you need to both know there is a problem and WANT to fix it. And even then, as we’ll see sometimes i’ts hard. I know, i’ve had my own personal issues i’ve had to change up as years went on. It’s a slippery slope you have to constnatly climb up. And BMB era tom.. just didn’t WANT to change he just wanted to do what he thought star wanted that would get her to take him back, and couldn’t understnad why she wouldn’t just listen to him and obey, two things not in star’s vocabulary for anyone much less her ex. 

So , much like I did, rather than blame himself for screwing things up, he just saw it as Marco being in the way and tried to fix that. And so he sunk to rock bottom.. but it didn’t fix their relationship and it took Marco having an honest conversation, as someone who was also very close to her and knew her well, to get him to see that Star wasn’t going to take him back unless she wanted it.. what he was doing was selfish and self destructive.. and Tom probably realized in that moment he had to stop. He let her go, and thus as I put al ot of emphasis on last time, made his first step to being better.  And to me that’s why this makes sense as his next step: While it’s partly to fufill a checklist... you get the sense he really DOES like marco on some level. They hung out, which I do feel tom did genuinely feel was like friends hanging out instead of you know the second highest stakes game of ping pong i’ve ever seen. 

The first if your curious. So while part of this is Tom just wanting to get through anger managment for likely his parent’s sake, part of it is also him genuinely wanting to be somebody’s buddy, anybody but a bumbling butler. It’s just being Tom, he dosen’t know HOW to make friends or get them to see past who he is surface wise; a spoiled angry boy and see the inside, a nice kid who just has no idea how to talk to people beyond a surface level or understand them and we’ll see that more both in this episode and as we go. Speaking of going back in the episode proper, two bros drive up and insult Tom’s carriage also wondering if he’s going to his grandpa’s funeral. Fuck you both.. both on general principal and becaause his grandpapapapapapaaaaaaaaaaaa is alive and magnificent. 

Satan bless you Relicor. Anyways, Tom is naturally pissed at this and Marco challenges them to a race.. but eases tom off actually following them as, since this isn’t a fast and the furious movie, the police immidelty arest them and we get the blessed image above. Let’s see that again.

NOGODWHY

Not right but it’ll have to do I fear what may happen if I try again.  ONE BALLON DICK GIRAFFE LATER, our boys are on a high, as Tom finds there are things more fun than obletarating people. #tomhaskilledmultiplepeopleandisstillthebestboy. Marco is reminded of a song from his faviorite band Love Sentence, and Tom, suprisingy given his My Chemical Romance with a splash of metal astetic, is not only a huge fan but has a giant Helga Patiaki esque shrine to them complete with a cd player with shuffle. Fancy. 

We then get a wonderful, shiptastic montage of the two just hanging out, hanging out with a white tiger. Having themselves a party. And given the song itself, sung by 98 Degrees and horrible realtiy show Newleywed’s alumnus Nick Lachey, even says “we used to be enimies but now we have chemistry” yeah I think this is intentional and they are a good ship. Are they my prefered ships for the characters? No tha’ts kelly and flame princess... the last one was recent and I love a good crossover ship sue me. But I do headcanon both as still Bi and still find the ship great, it’s just not my main one. 

However the good times can’t last as it is film time... but Tom refuses to let marco leave befor eblowing his top off... dude that’s not how you build a suppportive relationship, you know this by now. Turns out the white tiger I haven’t mentioned to now is actually Brian, vocied my boy Stephen Root who apparently just.. lives at DIsney’s animation studios now as he has a tendency to show up in every other animated disney show. You may know him from Gravity Falls as Bud Gleeful, THe Mayor from Amphibia, or , in non disney voice work, Bill Dautrive. Turns out as I haven’t even tried to hide, Tom was in the final stage of his anger managment class and to get out of it had had to spend 3 hours with the person he hated most. As I said I do think part of it was GENUINE on tom’s part, that he was trying to be what he thought friends were... it’s just he didn’t get that Marco, if grumblinignly, probably STILL would’ve agreed if he were honest.  However.. it’s still a step up. While i’ts still a scheme, and his LAST on the show.. it’s more benign after the last two; Instead of being harmful his scheme this time is just “Bribe my worst enemy into hanging out with me and get out of anger managment” it’s still not quite right, but compared to the things he’s done with star, it’s an improvment and a sign he is changing despite himself. He could’ve just kidnapped marco again and forced him to spend the three hours.. granted this might’ve just been Brian saying, obviously no tha tdosen’t count, but still, instead he tried being nice and giving an apology. Even if it was for personal gain on some level, Marco’s words clearly got to him and he’s now trying genuinely unselfish tactics. It’s also notable since he spent the three hours with marco, and at least half an hour of awkarndess before it got all fun, WITHOUT getting angry or falling back on old stratgies and only beefing it at the end because, as i’ve established, he dosen’t get people.  So naturally tom gets mad.. while it is a sign he’s getting better he dosen’t do his trademark horrifying demonic EXPLOSION of rage... he’s still being petulant and sore over his failure is mad at marco for pritoritzing the tickets nad destroys them. Marco naturally calls him out, angry over him manipulating him to get some badge , as he puts it, calls him a jerk and a liar, accurate and the worst part to marco? “I WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO FALL FOR IT”

Credit where it’s due while I may not LIKE adam mcarthur as a person...as a voice actor he is excellent and his delivery here is perfect as you do get the pain in Marco’s voice as he genuinely ahd grown to care for tom. Wethere it was friendship or wanting to make out... probably wanting to make out, you get the pain in his voice. Tom admits the love sentence hting wasn’t a lie.. but too little too late.. whcih is marco’s second faviorite love sentence song and leads to another moment of shippy goodness. Seriously I see why this ship exploded in popularity after this. Also I will say both Adam and Rider have damn pretty voices.  So Tom does what any romantic lead faced with a third act breakup would do.. say a demonic chant and bring Mackie Hand back from the dead. This is also the first time we see just how fucking powerful tom is. Before we’ve seen him summon his carriage and immolate some stuff and easily reattach a hand.. but this is the first time that we see he’s every pit as powerful as star, who probably could raise the dead she just dosen’t want to. Granted I don’t know why this sort of undead stuff hasn’t been used on say, Moons assitnated mother, but presumibly anti-monster stigma combined with the fact that we don’t know HOW she died or how much was left, and are probably better off that way solve that. It goes a long way to explain why Tom’s family are allies instead of the conquered like most monsters: They have equal , if far diffrent and spookier, magic power and are the only kingdom with this trump card besides the butterfly kingdom. 

So as we close Marco tries to use Mackie to get in, the usher dosen’t buy it and a fight insues, but Marco and Tom patch things up, Tom becoming a fan of Mackie now he’s seen what the guy can do and Marco forgiving tom since, evne if his actions were still a bit greasy, he immidetly did his best to try and fix what he broke. The two are friends again despite them both saying they hate each other... but they clearly mean it playfully. The End.  Final Thoughts: After the Slog that was last episode this one is a fan faviorite for a reason... well okay 2 reasons. One...

And two.. it’s excellent. I feel bad it took me years to see this one, but it’s one of season 2′s finest. It’s funny, has great character stuff for both boys, introduces a new ship that’s fantastic and a great new dynamic between Tom and Marco that would carry for the rest of the show. It also beliviebly advances Tom’s character arc: He’s TRYING a bit but he’s still got a bit of the scheming and selfishness that defined his earlier outings, but it’s telling that after this episode, and hurting marco, he stops. This episode REALLY gets him to change that and for the better.  Sadly Tom would only make one more apperance this season in Naysaya, an episode I will cover when I cover Jackie and Marco at some point, but has him show up for a cameo when it turns out the episodes antagonist, a curse that takes the form of a sentient head that spills the target’s worst secrets and insecurities when they try to ask someone they like out, is Tom’s fault from back when he was a baddie, and Tom genuinely apologizes and tells him how to vanquish it, if ribs marco a bit since he cast that curse presumibly sometime between BMB and MCC and is delighed and suprised that Marco seriously hadn’t asked anyone out in that time. But it’s a nice bit that shows their not only still friends but Tom is genuinely sorry for some of his earlier behavior. We’ll see more of that as we go and more of tom trying to be better.. he’s made up with Marco, next time we come back to tomtrospective, we’ll see how it goes with Star. 

Coming up besides the obvious, as Pride Winds down I’ll have my first steven unvierse coverage, one of the first openly gay couples in western animation, and some asexula pride as we take our first look at Bojack Horseman..’s loveable rommate todd. Until we meet again, stay safe, black lives matter and later days.