#or at least former wings? xD

[sinvulkt-art]

Art inspired by Flightless by @ravenite-void as part of the Vaderkin Creative Festival 2024 organised by @vaderkin-is-a-lightning-rod

You can also find the art by @fancyfrey who inspired the fic in the first place here.

[echosong-87]

Muah hahaha

OMG I just thought of how Clay is supposed to be the serious one that's until he mets Branch who is the king of being serious and how Clay is the least serious person Branch knows jajaja

XD Branch has the most flex out of his brothers.

And... Technically, Branch is the most smartest troll out of the band of brothers.... he learned and survived as a feral loner, battling unknown monsters and creatures... travel through unknown vast territories and dangers... all while still being a child... he learned a whole new culture once found by Trollzart. He learned how to fly and learned how to cope with the pain of earning his wings... he had to learn how to be a future leader... he builds his bunker/dragon's den within the mountain.... and fought with and led other tribes to stop a full rock invasion from completion.... and learned to mentor/help rebuild the Pop village to its former glory.... he is also mentoring and teaching two queens.

But to answer that statement is that yes.. yes, Branch is the most serious... far more than Clay could ever achieve to be.

None of the brothers knew this info until they entered the tribes and their meetings.... so yeah...

[sapphirepastries]

Savanaclaw Pokemon

and here they are! i tried to make them a surprise, but their cries in the fic pretty much gave them away xD

Pyroar (Male)

Trainer: Leona Kingscholar

Moves: Flamethrower, Fire Fang, Dark Pulse, Noble Roar

Pyroar is the embodiment of a noble king, fair and just. He's not a big fan of Leona's underhanded ways, but understands that's just how Leona is. He does his best to at least minimize the scheming his trainer gets up to. He also isn't afraid to try and get Leona off his lazy butt and do something other than sleep. Despite Leona being his trainer, Pyroar always listens to Yuu.

Lycanroc (Midday Form)

Trainer: Jack Howl

Moves: Accelerock, Stone Edge, Thunder Fang, Body Slam

Lycanroc is a very loyal Pokemon, loyal to both Jack as his trainer and Pyroar as the former leader of their group when they were wild Pokemon. Pyroar took Lycanroc under his wing when he was a Rockruff and has followed him ever since. He admires Jack's tenacity and beliefs and enjoys going on morning runs with him. Lycanroc is quite strict with himself, but can be playful with others.

Thievul

Trainer: Ruggie Bucchi

Moves: Thief, Foul Play, Acrobatics, Night Slash

Thievul, like Lycanroc, was taken under Pyroar's wing except he was already fully evolved by the time they met. Thievul once tried stealing food from Pyroar only to be beaten by him. Instead of leaving Thievul there after beating him, Pyroar shared his food with him and since then, Thievul has followed Pyroar. Like Ruggie, Thievul always eats everything he's given and is good at stealing things. He's partial to stealing shiny things.

[desultory-novice]

Hello! I had a silly idea :0 - Yume Nikki Fangame with Adeleine as protagonist.

She has the perfect age range and body type for it!

...I will say, I don't think Adeleine is a good fit for a YNFG protagonist thematically. Those games are often about exploring powerful subconscious TRAUMA through dreams. Can you imagine this Adeleine with the, "iya, iya" ("no, no") reaction in front of a door?

Now, while I've nitpicked once before on the issue the fandom (and I'm not innocent of it) has with stretching and squeezing Adeleine too much to try and cram her into any of a dozen different roles she's not a good match for because she's the only human member of the cast and–at least on the surface–the easiest one to project onto (Really, KIRBY should be the easiest one to project onto, and indeed, Kirby is primed for a YN fangame, as Ondaja already figured out! ^_-) her being seen as Kirby and friends' grounded-in-reality Christopher Robin does mean it at least wouldn't be that unusual/unexpected.

So let's explore the MOST cliche scenario we could use:

I call it, "Dess McGee's Adeleine" XD

Adeleine is a patient undergoing therapy in the real world because Dream Land, Popstar, and everyone there are merely delusions she's having to cope with something awful/frightening in her life. This is her "iya, iya", where she doesn't want to leave her bedroom and continue getting treated so she can face the real world. She wants to go back to sleep so she can keep crutching on her comfort fantasy, though the two "realities" are now battling in her subconscious.

Her dream realms might consist of twisted versions of familiar Kirby landscapes that have intersected with or been awkwardly fused with elements of the real world and various psychoses that might hint (but never explain) why she withdrew from reality in the first place.

The characters might superficially resemble the familiar Kirby cast but not be acting like themselves. Some would shake their heads and walk away or ignore her, some might act aggressively and blame her for trying to "kill them" by getting treatment (these would probably be your chasers), others might look normal but start to decay in a jumpscare-like manner if you interact using certain Effects.

One could even play with the Adeleine/Ado thing here. Perhaps "Adeleine" is part of the delusion. The forever-young child who never has to grow up while "Ado" already resembled someone in her late teens. You could have a series of chasers who look like Ado, or are tall and lanky and represent other aspects of becoming a "grown-up"

Among the Effects are things like Kracko and Ice Dragon as rideables of different speed + inducing various handy weather effects, as well as her trusty paintbrush which could have a variety of functions including a return to hub effect? She should have a Dark Matter-adjacent Effect too, as a former possession victim in 64.

She miiiight also have the crystal gun as her Weapon, though to be true to the YM-style, using it on people should be more violent and semi-permanent than expected. (Oh no, real world consequences are invading my comfort space!)  And of course, there is a "Ribbon" Effect that gives her fairy wings if you equip it.

The Good (?) End has Adeleine embrace her reality as the now grown up Ado and leave her room at last. The Bad (?) End has you go to sleep one last time, only to return to a fully restored, fully healed Dream Land with all her friends happy that she's back at last! ^_^

[quinloki]

Hi, Quinn!! I've been getting back into making One Piece OCs lately and always appreciate a chance to talk about them! 😊

Meet Shriek! The bat mink lookout of the Kid Pirates. I wanted to give the Kid Pirates a mink because they're the only ones of the Sabaody crew trio to not have a fluffy crewmate, but also she was inspired by what we learned in the Zou arc about how minks are capable of fighting and using Electro from birth. So Shriek is 5-7 years old and was raised by the Kid Pirates since they found her as a baby in some caverns in the South Blue.

1. My favorite thing about her is how she's this blend of a fun-loving, hyperactive, curious, sweet kid and a gleefully vicious little beast who literally drinks the blood of pirates and marines and rains down red lightning upon islands to cause wanton destruction. She's the friendliest of all the Kid Pirates and it's through her that more of their soft sides are shown, but she's still just as violent as they are at the end of the day. Maybe even more so in some ways, since she's so in touch with her animal instincts. And based on the stories I've heard from some of my friends and co-workers who are parents, children already plenty feral so combine that with a werebat and you have a recipe for chaos. 😆😆😆

2. Her worst traits are what you would expect from a child- impulsive, stubborn, easily loses focus and wanders off, prone to tantrums at the worst times (especially with Kid as a role model). Also, since she doesn't interact with other children very much, her social skills aren't the best. I mean, her go-to way of making new friends is to give them presents of bugs and bones and offer to commit acts of violence on their behalf.

3. I first came up with the concept for her in 2018 and only started writing headcanons and little interactions between her and other characters this month.

4. I don't ship her with anybody for obvious reasons. Although when Shriek grows up and becomes the captain of her own pirate crew, the Leather Wing Pirates, her first mate is also her girlfriend. She's a hyena mink who I'm still planning out.

5. Her favorite foods are all the bat favorites; blood, bugs, and bananas. Her least favorites are broccoli and peppermint (the former because what kid doesn't hate vegetables and the latter's a reference to how peppermint deters bats)

Oh a LITTLE OC \o/ Young'un, tiny tot, lil' tater - xD I love her!

A member of the Kid Pirates of all crews - and I love your reasoning for it too =3 I really think Kid is actually really good with kids, kind of surprisingly to everyone else. He strikes me as someone who'd be like "Of course they did some dumb shit, they're a kid."

He'd still be correcting things as he wanted, cause just cause you're a kid doesn't mean you can't learn or whatever, and he'd be very Kid about it. But I think he'd be surprisingly patient with kidlets.

He can't have that electricity messing up his stuff though, so yeah

I love this though - and the ART TOO \o/ Thank you for sharing!

[danwhobrowses]

My Highlights from Royal Rumble 2024

So it's people throwing season again, soon to be sign pointing season

The Royal Rumble remains perhaps the secondmost highlight of WWE's calendar, mainly as it sets the wheels for Wrestlemania. This one however has a stacked amount of names but an air of distaste given the lawsuit against Vince McMahon, allegations which are horrid and egregious and would justify anyone who sought not to watch the show in response to it.

Still, the PPV was something to check out...albeit not through paid transaction, so let's talk about the positives of the show

Spoilers for the PPV

The Pre-Show is worthless save for Paul Heyman who always delivers on the promo

Pat McAfee always feels happy to show up at least

Nice to hear Naomi get a pop again

Even though it failed in the end, Kairi's hold-on was pretty cool

Showing the top 3 active wrestler's times was a nice bit of information too

Big ass wings from Zelina

Shotzi got a bigger tank this time

Oh Truth...

Bayley was very much the right call to win too

They at least explained why the count wasn't made during the stack, even if it's bull

Oh Hey Logan Paul actually has some decent gear...

Putting the Usos to start the Men's Rumble is a clever move

Andrade's extra headpiece for his mask was cool

Reminder that technically since nobody entered in place of Rey Mysterio last year and that Cody left over the top rope that he technically won last year's Royal Rumble

Kaiser with the casual sidestep as Lashley brawled with AOP next to him

GUNTHER, that is all

Truth trying to tag in XD Then doing the Cena 5 moves of doom

Gotta hand it to him Dom sold the hell out of being thrown over

SAMI, would've been a great surprise winner

'Sami Zayn used to have a windpipe'

The mini match of Cody and Punk started well, kinda showing that really they could've had a Mania match and left the rumble winner a surprise because they got too obsessed with each other

Conclusion

Eh, I didn't have as good a time as I'd hoped I'm afraid. A lot of dead space or things not clicking; the US title and UNI title matches were forgettable, the former's finish was awful. Jordynne showing up was a surprise spoiled already but even then it happened last year with Mickie anyway, not much novelty there, plus she eliminated nobody and was felled in a minute against Belair, classic WWE-ism of 'oh this is a top person for you? Well they're not as good as our non-champion'. Pat eliminating himself was a waste of time, and as much as Jade had a good showing like, Nia? Really? We've seen many pick up Nia Jax let's be serious here. Also neither Jimmy or Jey eliminated each other, what was the point of them as the first two? GUNTHER deserved better than being eliminated by Cody yet again and Drew and Punk literally did the same thing before they were eliminated.

I suppose it'd be enjoyable if you were a WWE-only who believes everything commentary says, even when they contradicted themselves on the night when Waller and Theory referenced Luger/Hart's win and then later Cole went 'no rumble has had 2 winners'. But even then the men's rumble was woefully obvious, Cody winning back to back just feels uninspired too, they're literally trying to run it back after dropping the ball last time - except, with no WWE championship anymore Cody can't really finish the story of winning the title his father was robbed of winning now can he? It's just, not surprising, and that's been the theme of this entire event because you saw most of it coming a mile off; Jade, Naomi, Jordynne, Andrade, Cody/Punk final two, Solo interferes in Roman's match, Logan Paul wins beat cheap means it's just meh, the only genuine surprise was Sami coming back and he barely lasted. Also I gotta say that WWE's method of lying to media to try and put people off the scent; 'Ronda Rousey isn't returning in the rumble' (not this year ofc), 'oh Punk talks fell apart he won't return at Survivor Series', 'Cody's not finishing the story this year', it isn't a misdirect it's just fucking lying. And man Punk's credibility continues to drop when he talks about how great it is in the company that he accused of making him mentally ill and then doing a Pedigree in the ring, bad enough that Cody does one as a face after he kept teasing it as a symbol of a heel turn in AEW and then left before he did.

On the plus side at least, Bayley deserved that win.

[commenter2]

"Masquerade" review

Angel deals with things.

You could instantly tell this was going to be a porno since Angel never tried to use the 3rd set of arms he hides to escape.

Charlie I think everyone else wouldn’t mind if you had said that Angel’s work was very inappropriate to show. Where was that same courage you had when dealing with Adam?

Again though I’d be okay if one of these problems Charlie has is about her parents, I’m still hoping it’s not on the same level as those with similar problems in Helluva Boss.

So were finally getting the “abusive relationship” story with Angel and Valentino. Nice to see Charlie instantly noticing it.

Admittedly I got a chuckle at the animation of Charlie banging her legs on the floor.

I brought this up in my Charlie and Vaggie “trailer” Tumblr post (link) but I think throughout the series (definitely later this season) we will learn that Charlie sees her royal status as a bit burdensome (maybe it’s also connected how this is related to how she canonically doesn't like wearing dresses XD) like maybe she always just wanted to be treated like everyone else but for her it was hard given she was nicer than most demons and I bet it was even harder to tell who liked her for who she was or if they were doing so out or obligation or using her for fame. That last part could be another good reason why she broke up with Seviathan von Eldritch. Another reason I bring this up is that we will likely see Charlie struggle with doing this until near the end of the season as seen with that makeshift army she makes of her friends and Rosie's people she recruited via singing which does seem to make Charlie a bit confident.

I think what you’re describing their Charlie is getting close to the definition of intimidation. DO IT!

Travis is back, and is an employee of Val’s. Guess the fandom really liked him.

Great first Adam NOW Val, you have the right to defend yourself Charlie! There better be a lot of fan art of Lucifer kicking Val’s ass posted soon.

Val’s robe are his wings. Does this mean if he was in a cold area, he would have to put a jacket over them to actually keep warm XD.

Uh oh here it comes :(

Is that angelic paper Val has or could all contracts look like that?

Since Charlie is the princess of Hell, you think she or someone else could get Angel out of his contract with Val? 

That song number was cringy to watch and I hope something is done soon so we don’t see another one like it.

Looks like Charlie was beating herself up all night for causing Angel’s miserable night.

Angel’s extra eyes are out. Oh crap Angel is going crazy! Its Fizz at M’s clown contest all over again!

Wait it’s still the same day? I thought Val told him to work all night?

Charlie seems to have learned her lesson about boundaries.

Were finally going to get some true Husk and Angel interaction time.

Nice throw Husk, The Joker would be proud.

I think the writers did a good job at describing/showing how self destructive people are like.

Husk being a former Overlord confirmed. Well technically the theory was that he was a still an Overlord but that was being kept secret, no one accounted him losing his title. Hey I guess Overlords can lose titles.

Looks like the Cat in the Hat’s Nobody found his heart! No wait his heart grew 3 times that moment XD

Did Husk just flirt with Angel :3

Angel says because Val has bad eyes he can’t count, but I’m still going to think that it’s because he is so dumb that he can do math.

Aww Angel is starting to change, even making Charlie proud that she cries. 

That or, and I hate ending this on a bad note, the crying could be related to something deeper like people never expressed such emotion to her before. PLEASE LET ME BE WRONG, at least when it comes to her mom and dad.

I’m mix on this episode.

Yeah I know this was going to happen eventually but it was still a bit sad to watch Angel go through all of that, yet still deny help from Charlie. At least it looks like Angel had a breakthrough and will likely decide to finally start to heal himself as well as aid Charlie in achieving her dream. It was also nice to see Husk not be the cranky old cat we know and love him for, bet those who ship Angel and Husk are happy too.

The biggest flaw of the episode was that the plot was a bit hard to get into since the shows spinoff series Helluva Boss has pretty much done this 3 times already, so we know how this is (probably) going to end and are just waiting for the inevitable scene where Angel stands up and finally becomes free of Val. Still it could have been worse when it came to the similarities (check out my review of Seeing Stars) and a few points for not having Ange’s character storyline end in just 1 episode.

We are already halfway done with the first season, and I can already tell that the last 4 episodes are going to be the most intense episodes yet, especially since the next one will have Lucifer in it. I hope that one won’t be as cringy as this episode given the franchise’s history with parents (specifically dads) but at least the good news is that this is only the first season so if it is, there is a chance the characters will change.

[hazyaltcare]

TW: POSSIBLE TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, ED, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, RELIGION, SPECIES DYSPHORIA, ABUSE AND EXOTRAUMA (ONLY MENTIONED NO DETAILS), BLAMING OURSELF FOR PAST EVENTS, AND VENT

HEY Y'ALL XD. COULD WE GET POSITIVITY TO OUR SYSTEM? WE'RE DEALING WITH A LOT OF SHIT RN AND JUST NEED SOME KIND WORDS TO HELP CHEER US UP AND YOU GUYS ALWAYS HELP A BIT :3. ANYWAYS.

WE GOT BROKEN UP WITH A FEW MONTHS AGO AND JUST CAN'T SEEM TO GET OVER IT AND ALSO WE'VE COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT THE RELATIONSHIP MAY HAVE BEEN TOXIC XD. WE RECENTLY RELAPSED WITH OUR ED AFTER NOT HAVING ISSUES FOR PROBABLY A YEAR. OUR SYSTEM IS UNSTABLE AND KEEPS MAKING US SWITCH HOSTS WHICH IS GETTING VERY TIRING AS WE NORMALLY ONLY SWITCH HOSTS EVERY FEW MONTHS. OUR DEPRESSION HAS GOTTEN A LOT WORSE LATELY AND MAKING US WANNA GIVE UP ON LIFE (WE'RE SEEING A DOCTOR ABOUT OUR DEPRESSION :3). WE'VE BEEN DEALING WITH SEVERE SPECIES DYSPHORIA OVER WINGS AND OTHER THINGS. WE'VE BEEN MISSING OUR PAST LIFE AS AN ANGEL AS IT WAS SIMPLER (WE CONSIDER OURSELVES COLLECTIVELY FALLEN ANGEL KIN NOW SINCE WE WERE THROWN OUT OF HEAVEN). BUT ALSO WE FEEL KINDA BAD FOR MISSING IT AS THE DEITY MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABUSIVE, AND WE SORTA FEEL AT BLAME FOR CERTAIN THINGS AND MAYBE THE ABUSE. AND WE'RE ALSO DEALING WITH A LOT OF CONFUSION AROUND A BUNCH OF OUR SYSTEM LATELY XD.

SORRY THIS IS VERY ALL OVER THE PLACE AND FOR MY TYPING QUIRK AND FOR THE LENGTH AND FOR THE POOR WRITING XD. TY FOR ANY POSITIVITY OR ADVICE OR ANYTHING AT ALL. WE UNDERSTAND IF YOU CAN'T ADDRESS MOST OF THESE ISSUES AS A LOT OF THEM WEREN'T KIN OR SYSTEM THINGS.

-MANGLE🏓 :3 FROM ⛏️🏳️‍🌈 (WE WOULD PREFER IF YOU REFER TO US WITH YOU& OR OTHER PLURAL TERMS) TYTY AGAIN AND SORRY FOR THE VENT.

Hello Mangle🏓 and all else from ⛏️🏳️‍🌈,

I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your& relationship. That is hard enough to deal with on your& own even without adding on the complexities of possible toxicity in said relationship. I want you& to know that it's okay to be upset, and to take all the time you& may need to heal. You& can't rush the grieving process, and the grief over the loss of a relationship is as real as any other kind of grief.

I can understand how all of this happening would make you& think back to a former life where you& felt happier and more sure of your& place in the universe. Even if the deity who ruled you was toxic, you're& still allowed to yearn for what felt like a safe space at the time. A lot of us here who have alternate and/or past lives feel similarly about them, even if they were in unhealthy situations in these aforementioned lives.

Even under waves of traumatic exomemories, there can still be those jewels; those pockets in time and space where everything, at least for a moment, seemed okay. There's nothing wrong with treasuring those memories.

I'm also sorry to hear you& are struggling with a flare-up of your& eating disorder. Relapsing isn't a moral failing on your& part. Don't blame yourself& or your& body for your& own stress response. Maybe you& could find an online support group to help you& get through this? While my situation is different, I have found support groups to be very helpful when it comes to some of the mental illnesses I have been struggling with, and you& deserve recovery.

Never apologize for being yourself&, btw, because who you& are is a wonderful soul& who is deserving of love and kindness. Your typing quirk doesn't change that, a toxic relationship doesn't change that, and reaching out for support certainly doesn't change that either.

We all wish you& Light and healing,

Mod Haze (☀️Sol)

[untitledducklett]

double team, steel wing, confide!! 💐

Meme: Pokemon Asks: TMs (ORAS) @flowerliker Currently: Accepting

TM32:Double Team - What do you think are some of your good points?

I'm determined, strong willed, kind, willing to go above and beyond for others.

TM51:Steel Wing - What do you do to express your gratitude?

I am notoriously bad at expressing gratitude to be honest. Though I am good at repaying debts. I suppose that counts? Mom did make sure to drill saying please and thank you into me at least XD

TM100:Confide - Who do you trust?

I trust my parents, Berior, and my (former) Queen with my life. Though the latter I didn't trust much with my secrets. Hopefully I still get the chance to fix that.

[queen-scribbles]

Wedge Antilles pleaaase!!! 👀💖

My favorite line Pfffft, just one ? From snarkmaster Wedge Antilles? I'll try nope can’t do it

“I’m Corellian, I have no use for odds.” 

I’m going to have to have a talk with Luke and find out how he puts up with his 3PO unit- wait, that won’t work, I don’t have a sister here to foist the droid off on.

“It doesn’t matter if we were good or lucky out there today--and I’d rather the former than trust in the latter. What matters is we all survived, and that’s as close to a miracle as I ever expect to see in my lifetime.”

“If you continue to map the Unknown Regions, you’ll have to call them something else.”

[That faith(in the New Republic) will be tested] “Your face will be tested when I kick in your teeth.”

[Isard “I expected you to be taller.”] “I expected you to be dead.”

My favorite moment Him and all of Rogue Squadron quitting and telling Fey’lya to suck an egg over a morally wrong set of orders at the end of The Krytos Trap. OR in Spectre of the Past when the battle alarm sounds when he’s in the middle of eating dessert and he seriously considers just shoveling the last three bites in and running for his X-wing with a mouthful of cake KING

My favorite strength He's gonna do the right thing and doesn't give a fuck who he pisses off along the way, keeps his word, main focus is keeping his people alive.

My favorite weakness He has 0 care when to NOT mouth off and it’s beautiful. xD

My favorite personal headcanon Actually don’t really have any that I can think of, but I do love reading other people’s WAIT NO, not sure how much of a headcanon this is bc I”m pretty sure he does it at LEAST once in the books somewhere, but he’s one of those people that says “With due respect” when he means “Kiss my ass”

[popculturebuffet]

Goof Week: Goof Troop: Forever Goof Review (Everything’s Coming Up Goofy, Good Neighbor Goof, Gotta Be Gettin Goofy) (Commission for WeirdKev27)

Yahhahhooooeeeey all you happy people!  WELCOME TO GOOF WEEK! Now normally when a character who got their start in theatrical shorts has a birthday, I do a marathon of them. I have since last year with Donald and it’s one of my favorite things: it allows me to explore Disney’s rich history of them I was largely unaware of till Disney+, and allows me to revisit the shorts I grew up with in the case of The Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry while discovering new favorites. SO naturally with Goofy’s birthday in two days I intended to do the same for him, especially since I’d covered Donald and Mickey the same way.

But fate had other ideas. Not thinking about this tradition, Kev, my patreon, friend and the guy who commissions a LOT of reviews from me ($5 an episode if your curious and I WILL make room on the schedule so your commission gets done as soon as possible), suggested reviewing the Goof Troop pilot movie Forever Goofy, later split into the episode Everything’s Coming Up Goofy and Good Neighbor. I loved the idea since I genuinely loved Goof Troop, and decided to do both that week.

It’s then I got a great idea.. why limit myself to JUST doing two things? I hit my 15 dollar patreon stretch goal, so a review of the Goofy Movie was on the Horizon anyway, and for it’s anniversary year Kev has been commissioning House of Mouse Episodes, so it wouldn’t be THAT much of an ask (and it wasn’t) to simply randomly select from a pool of Goofy-Centric episodes instead of all the episodes. 

Thus GOOF WEEK was born, and Kev once again proved vital to all this by suggesting the special Sports Goof from the 80′s. I’d like to give him special thanks as outside of the Shorts Special, which as a patreon he still got to pick one and if you’d like to pick one for Donald’s special, sign on up even one dollar patreons get the honor. , this week is either entirely paid for by him or in the case of A Goofy Movie, is partly thanks to him. I wouldn’t be able to do NEARLY as many reviews nor make money off this without you bud, so thank you. 

So naturally given the idea to do this two parter gave me the idea for this week and that Goofy Movie makes a logical finale for said week, it only made sense to start the week with Goof Troop. Bop-dop-da-da-do-bop, YEAH. 

Goof Troop is the first Disney Afternoon show I ever watched and the only one I watched when I was younger, as Disney Channel used to play it ocasinally when I was younger and Toon Disney would do the same and I even got to Marthoon it when Disney XD did a weekend marathon. Given it starred my faviorite Disney Character, Donald hadn’t worked his way up to tying with him quite yet, I loved what I could grab of it. And as an adult.. it still holds up. It has problems i’ll get into, but it is a real good time so I was exastic to get an excuse to watch some of it and much like with Darkwing wish I had sooner. 

Before I can h-h-h-hit it though, I have to talk about the series history. I ALMOST didn’t find anything: much like the other Disney Afternoon shows there really wasn’t much on the Disney wiki nor wikipedia, google turned up nothing... it wasn’t till I went to the Tv Tropes Trivia Page for the series, where i’d remembered reading about some early versions of the show, that I hit gold: A two part behind the scenes blog post by series co-creator Michael Peraza. You can find part one HERE and part two HERE. It’s a short but fascinating read. 

Speaking of fascenating Peraza himself is someone i’d never heard of till reading this article but damn if he isn’t a legend. Seriously the guy’s career is as an unsung hero, starting work under the Legendary Nine Old Men, and working on some of disney’s greatest films: The Great Mouse Detective, Aladdin, The LIttle Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast, along with live action cult classics Tron and Return to Oz via concept art. And concept art is where he’d hit his stride: he did conceptual work for all the big Disney Afternoon shows apart from Gargoyles, being one of the key guys in the early days of Disney Television animation. He didn’t stop at just designing things either as he worked as Art Director for Ducktales, The Proud Family and of course given how vital he was to it’s creation, Goof Troop, and to this days gives lectures with his wife to aspiring animators. He even did some guest work for the 2017 Ducktales Episode “Treasure of the Found Lamp!”. So yeah dude’s awesome

So how did he come to be a key part of this show’s creation? Well he’d just finished up some concept work on some other Disney Afternoon shows, and being a company man was glad to report to the Goof Troop..ers to help as the show was having trouble getting off the ground. The reason for this was the creative exec, who Peraza didn’t name out of kindness as the guy wasn’t a BAD person.. just a clueless one, this being his first job in film and tv.  As such rather than work hard to develop around goofy or focus on his strengths the kid threw out one concept after another: The series got it’s name from a pitch that had Goofy as a scoutmaster, something I was glad to finally know. To quote Peraza

“ Although while I was doodling versions of the show that were destined to never see the light of the TV screen,  the pitch date remained etched in stone and kept creeping closer. Various versions would find their way to the surface only to sink again into the wasteland known as the roundfile (trashcan). One moment Goofy was the Captain of the Fire Department, the next day a detective out of the Maltese Falcon mold, or a swash buckling hero fighting The Flying Dutchman. 

The supporting cast he came up with really wasn't very supportive when you consider they sometimes included alien dragon babies with wings along with a large gorilla. Somebody at Walt Disney Television Animation must have really had a thing for giant gorillas around this time as they were plugged into almost every concept we  assembled.”

It was clear that while Goofy COULD fit into just about anything, this exec was just throwing everything at the wall, nothing was sticking, and rather than try to refine his supporting cast, they kept having to throw them out and start over. And dont’ get me wrong, cartoons go through a lot of development and changes as they go.. but it’s usually born from a concept and usually by this point, they at least have what the show will be ABOUT in stone. While i’ve had the same creative changes and what not when coming up with projects that ultimately never saw the light of day, and currentlly some I hope to but might not, I’m not being paid by a studio to do this nor had a hard deadline. I was just spitballing trying to get something anything off the ground before reviewing gave me a steady outlet for my creativity and thus ballanced me to take my time with stuff. Peraza WAS turning out amazing art, like this concept art for the fireman pitch that honeslty makes me want to see it as a series. Who DOSEN’T want to see 9-11 with Goofy as the main character? Throw in Donald and grown up versions of Max, PJ and PIstol (And even not THAT much for the former two, as they did go off to college and all), don’t forget Roxanne this time out and you have a worthy goofy movie sequel. 

So yeah this wasn’t working and the latest pitch was not great: Putting Goofy in ToonTown as a cabbie driving the Cab from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. As Peraza TRIED to point out to the exec, putting Goofy in a naturally goofy setting didn’t really play to the characters strength, his whole shtick being a goofus in a normal world. Enough of an every man to root for but also a slapstick joly weirdo. 

The executive’s INCREDIBLY douchey response, especially since Peraza was a Disney Vetran at this point and had spent quite a lot of time on Ducktales, so he knew what he was talking about was “Do it anyway and leave the “Visionary” part to me”

As you can tell by MR. OOC there, this might be one of the most punchable sentences i’ve ever read. 

So Peraza wasn’t in a great place and was naturally terrified when he got a call from Gary Krisel, president of Disney TVA, asking about the show and to see him about it. 

Turns out though Krisel was a nice guy who already had a great working relatinship with Peraza, and genuinely wanted to know what was going on there and wanted his honest opinion. It’s why i’m not AGAINST executives in animation as sometimes they can come in when somethings clearly not working or allow a smooth transition of power if a propelmatic creator has to be booted off their own show so the show and i’ts crew don’t suffer as a result. It’s just more often than not they cause headaches or cancel shows for entirley stupid or self motivated reasons. But I will give credit where it’s do and point out times where there NOT stupid or homophobic or what have you and this is indeed one of those times. 

Peraza was indeed straight with him: pointing out all the concepts they’d gone through, and like with the other guy honestly gave his opinon the ToonTown Pitch wasn’t working.. and he not only agreed but asked Peraza himself, actually respecting his experince instead of yelling at him that he has a vision that wouldn’t last the end of the day probably. 

Peraza was HOPING this was where this was going and gladly gave him a far less high concept pitch and one truer to the character, quoted in full bellow:

“ My spiel went as follows, "Goofy is a recognized star of Disney animation, so why re-invent the wheel? His son is an average kid dealing with many of the usual issues they face: peer pressure, young love, grades, school bullies, and so on. On top of all that, he has the zaniest, wackiest GOOFIEST dad to live down. No matter how insane the situations get though, they will always love each other. They're a family." Gary asked how I would pitch it and I replied, "It's ONE day in  the life of Goofy and son. From getting up in the morning to fixing breakfast, we see their difference side by side as his son tries to distance himself. No matter what though he knows deep inside that his father will always be there for him, whether he likes it or not."

If your wondering if Peraza noticed that that original pitch line is basically the peremise and emotioinal core of The Goofy Movie down pat.. your extremley correct and he notes that the film was based on said pitch even if he had no involvment with it that I could tell. The series would still use this but the whole embarasment aspect was toned down, and honestly fit a teenager better than an 11 year old.. 

So the exec loved it and Peraza shaped the core of the series: the idea of having Pete as his nemisis, pete having a nuclear family including a gorgeous wife, and the show being more slice of life and what not. He made some great sketches, got roaring approval and then pitched it to rousing success and the rest is history. Goof Troop was a moderate success and The Goofy Movie after it is a classic beloved by all. We have this wonderful man to thank for all that and I also thank him , on the offchance he ever sees this, for bringing Goofy into modern times in a way that did the man-dog justice.  It’s thank to you we got this fun series, two great movies, and a goofy the way he is today: the best of everything about him rolled into one. Thanks man, free review.. not htat you NEED It since you’ve worked on things i’ve covered and what not, but I feel like I should offer.  Outside of Peraza, I found one last bit of making of stuff before I get to the premiere proper. These two early concept shots:

The first has Max who both looks older and has red hair like he did in the shorts. Honestly I see a lot of his Goofy Movie self in thiis design, the only diffrence obviously being the red hair which was wisely changed to make the boy look more like goofy, something kept for the movie. 

The more intresting one is this shot of the Pete’s. Starting with Pete he’s more athletic and has a perfectly tacky outfit. While changing him to be a bit more slovenly honestly fit this version of the character better, I do wish they’d kept hte outfit as the tacky gold and green jacket, the gold chain, the open ollar.. it all fits this version of pete so well, as well as his illusion of being a big shot when he is in fact a medium one. Peg is both slightly younger looking and far more doting and is so different I swear this picture looks like Pete remarried after the divorce and got some lipo. Pistol has about the same design but with a vastly different, more Isabella-ish outfit. Finally we have PJ who looks the same, but has a diffrent outfit and a far more sour demeanor, probably meant to be a bully. My best guess is sthis stuff comes from the pitch, and was likely made to simply get the basic premise across before fine tuning the characters for series

So with all of that out of the way i’m calling eveyrone to join in the fun under the cut and report to the Goof Troop. 

Everything’s Coming Up Goofy:

Our first episode opens in a small but cozy trailer, where Goofy’s cooking up lunch as only goofy could: by making osme meatballs then serving them to his son over a game of table tennis, with Max doing the same. It’s really freaking adorable, and a dynamic i’m not used to since i’m more familiar with Teen Max. Seeing Max genuinely get into his dad’s hyjinks and enjoy them.. it just warms the heart and adds weight to The Goofy Movie by knowing there was a time the two really were thick is thieves before the stygian hole that is high school drained all that out of him. 

So the two are like buddies and pals until the Mailman arrives, not even phased at this point. Turns out it’s a Diploma, and with this Goofy can get a job he’s been up for in Spoonerville and plans to move immediately. Max is devisated he’ll loose his friends and runs away to use a magical mystery box to keep them together only to end up in a land full of frogs with an old man who sounds like his dad minus the drawl and two other tinier frogs and ... I may have the wrong show. In fairness you try dislodging a finale where Keith David runs a 13 year old through with laser sword and then talk to me. 

Goofy is sympathetic though: While he seems a tad oblivous to Max’s worries, it’s very clear he’s jumping on this job and this move so far to give his son a better life. Sure he runs through all the cartoon moving away talking points that don’t work in real life or most other cartoons such as there being a nice lake and that max can make new friends, and Max accepts it weirdly fast because this episode is only 22 minutes and they don’t have time for that subplot... but it’s clear the idea of a better paying job, a secure home not in an alleyway, and some stablility for his son is the real reason Goofy’s doing this, and he probably wants to simply give the boy the childhood he had growing up. 

Meanwhile in Spoonerville, we meet Pete. To my shock this is where Jim Cummings took over the roll he was born for and has played since and with good reasons as Cummings is just amazing with Pete no matter the incarnation and excels here  his penchant for playing jerks, hams and gravely voiced guys all coalesicing. Pete is planning on building what modern toxicly masculine weirdos such as himself would call a Man Cave on his lawn, because Pete is a very SPECIAL kind of douchebag. He also plans to stretch it into the neighboring property, tear down the house there and set it up. 

This is news to his wife Peg, played by fellow voice acting Legend whose stillg ot it, April Winchell in her star making role. Peg is Pete’s strong willed wife who dosen’t put up with her husbands crap.. you know that trope that infected sitcoms for kids and adults of the doofy husband whose either a manchild , a skeevy self serving quipy asshole or some horrible combination of the two. The kind that has still been so prevealant the wife from one of said sitcoms helped produce a show about the wife finally doing the logical thing and plotting to kill the bastard. No really.. that’s an actual thing that’s happening. It’s even got a Little Bit of Alexis as Anne Murphy plays the poor, poor wife. 

And why yes the series is called Kevin Can Fuck Himself. And why yes said former sitcom wife was the same one on a sitcom called Kevin Can Wait who was fired because they wanted to retool the show with the wife from Kevin James other sitcom. That also is very really a thing that happened. Payback is a bitch aint it? Fun too. 

But yeah from minute one Pete is a terrible husband: Peg is a realtor and thus is trying to sell the house because it’s her fucking job instead of letting her husband throw their family deep in debt to very likely illegally demolish a house so he has a giant yard to play in. I mean even if this is all played for jokes i’ts just not funny enough to not make him an utter bastard. The fact his response to her VERY valid criticism and subtextual worry he doesn’t’t take her career seriously is to fake a panic attack, from a very REAL tendency he turns out to have giant breakdowns under stress, to try and guilt her into letting him have his giant public man cave just backs this up.. as does the fact she simply glares at the camera as he’s clearly DONE this before. 

Since I have to put up with this version of him for the rest of this episode, the next, AND a portion of the movie, i’m proudly introducing the Pete Sucks Counter. This will carry over to any other appearances of the guy from here on out. So that’s one for his insane plan, one for disrespecting his wife’s career and one for faking a panic attack to try and win an argument Pete Sucks Counter: 3

So because this episode ran short Peg caves and compromises: He can have the property if it isn’t sold by 9. So Pete does what ANY husband would do: uses his spy camera and booby traps he’s set up in the other house to try and scare away prospective buyers. 

Yeah.. while the show TRIES to have Pete not as his old-timey villian self.. they traded in for him being fucking MODOK. I mean he is a grotesque monstrosity who has a nuclear family and spends all his time in a chair thing and can barely function as a Husband or Father. Though at least I can belivie MODOK LOVES his family which not so much with Pete. 

To prove this Pete tries using a fake spider to scare some buyers then CALLS THEM TELLING THEM PEG IS A CON ARITST. I.e. something that if they mention to her bosses could get her FIRED. He respects his wife’s autonomy, what she wants and what she’s asked him for, which is a fair shot to sell the place before he tries to wreck the place, as well as likely what his neighbors want. I mean I can accept breaks from reality for comedy, snakebird is my boy. 

So I can accept pete has this stuff.. I just can’t find it funny when these shenanignas very transparently show that while he surface level loves his wife he dosen’t respect her or actually listen to her except when she gets angry. He IS the villian so he’s still a slight step among monst sitcom dads but i’ts not great. I can find it funny that his den also functions as a super villian lair though. That shit will never not be great. Also Pete Sucks Counter: 6 For the record: one for the spider itself, one for having traps set up in a property hat both isn’t his and his wife is trying to sell and another for threatening her job and her self esteem as she is baffled at what she possibly did wrong. 

So Goofy and Max get on the road, leaving moving the rest of their stuff to an old coot whose a friend of theres. So it’s goodbye Duckburg, Hello Spoonerville! And yes I headcanon this as Duckburg. Goof Troop is one of two shows that very clearly happened in SOME form, the other being Tailspin, the only difference being the time period (Goof Troop taking place in the 90′s and Tailspin in the 30′s or 40′s) and any adjustments for clashes with the 2017 verse. So going off that, we also know Donald and the boys KNOW goofy and didn’t remotely question his presence, as did the rest of the cast. 

So figuring out the timeline, Goofy likely met Donald in college, even if he never finished college as per an Extremley Goofy Movie, which may not happen the same exact way given Goofy still has his old job and may not loose it in this timeline, though i’d like to think he still meets Sylvia. But point is he drops out, possibly to marry Max’s mom, they end up moving to Duckburg for her work, she sadly dies, and Goofy is left raising Max alone. Donald and Goofy likely bonded as single parents struggling in low paying 9-5 jobs. Goofy left here, likely said goodbye to Donald and the 5 or so year old boys offscreen , and left. As for how anyone else knows him that’s simple: he probably visits whenever he can.  He’s a good friend, genuinely loves Donald like a brother in all continuities, and of course would show up with a progressively more then less grumpy Max every time. As for what I think the rest of the cast would think of him: Scrooge would hate him for his disaster area ways, but at least respect him as a hard worker, he just wouldn’t personally hire him which is.. it’s fair. Beakley would be aggravated by him. Webby would of course like him because she’s essentially him but competent and gay, and Launchpad and him .. god that’d be a joy to see. And drive up Scrooge’s insurance. Della would also like him obviously. I”m really disappointed we didn’t get a season 4 if for nothing else the fact we probably would’ve got another Goofy episode. It also feels weird he’s not in the finale in any way shape or form you know? Why have such a big guest spot for him and then just not bring him or Max back? GIVE ME MORE MAX DISNEY DAMN YOUUUUU So they move right along with Goofy excited to get back to where he once belonged, and to call Pete with the good news on his 90′s cell phone. Pete is utterly TERRIFIED finding out Goofy Comin and tries to send him off course to prevent it. Naturally despite nearly running into a truck, Goofy makes it to Spoonerville by evening anyway and we get a delightful bit that shows off BilL Farmer’s comedy skills as he rapidly lists off all the things in town while driving Max through town. It’s so damn smooth. This also is notable since before this farmer had just played the character in some DTV music videos, which stands for Disney not Denton but god I now want Shock Treatment with the Disney Crew. I mean who wouldn’t want Donald as Brad, Daisy as Janet, and Gladstone as Farley Flavors I ask you. Not sure who every one else would be i’m sorting that out. And if you don’t know what Shock Treatment is, here have this trailer with a nightmarish opening. 

Dammit now I want to watch Shock Treatment again... so I am. Found it in full on YouTube, and I feel no shame in sharing that as it’s not on VOD, nor any streaming service, the DVD, which I own, is out of print, and the Blu Ray is a UK exclusive. This film both needs to be seen more and needs another proper US release damn it!

So naturally Goofy somehow finds Pete’s house.. I dunno maybe Peg’s been sending him letters. Can’t blame her for having a wondering eye long as she dosen’t act on it. She’s married to a walking lump of ego, selfishness and cholesterol and likely only held on as long as she did for the kids. Which for the record Peg as a child of divorce whose parents got divorced rather than keep up a sham marriage or anything.. it’s not worth it. I was MUCH happier that way in the long term. 

Anyways Peg and Goofy happily reunited while they awkardly try to get the kids to meet, with Goofy and PJ not warming up to each other at first, likely because Max just lost all his friends, and PJ clearly had none going into the series from context we’ll get later in the pilot. We also get a hilarious bit where Peg alternates between warmly greeting the goof’s and hilaroiusly shouting at Pistol to not play with worms.. in what honestly sounds like a protype for Miss Finster’s voice. 

Meanwhile the kids try to hide a small crack in Pete’s boat.. which he notices as he’s just about to steamroll the house despite NOT having asked Peg if she sold it yet and just assuming, possibly opening himself and her to a lawsuit

Pete Sucks Counter: 7

Discovering his boat is trashed, he has a comical panic attack, which I can forgive since this was 1992 and they weren’t as well known as a serious problem. Seriously while pete is a bastard man.. the animation on him is GORGEOUS as it is HILARIOUS, while Jim Cummings brings the hell out of it. He’s kept the roll for three decades as of next year for a reason. Goofy ends up accidently destroying his boat in the process of trying to help him as you’d expect. 

So Pete reluctantly lets the goofs sup with them.... and by reluctantly I mean he don’t wanna but Peg’s forcing him, which is pretty much the other half of their relationship in a nutshell: When pete isn’t lying and betraying her, Peg is forcing him to do stuff. As you can probably guess by how harsh i’ve been this aspect has aged INCREDIBLY poorly for me. This is your standard sitcom setup: asshole or dumbass or both dad, put upon wife who has to keep him in line.. but it’s just not how a GOOD marriage works and got so damn draining over time. Again and again we got things saying marriage is awful, comitting sucks unless your young, again and again. It’s why i’m REALLY happy we’ve been getting far better sitcom dad’s and marraiges lately. Bob’s Burgers is naturally the example, with the wife being the less sane one but both having their quriks and neither being so entirely dysfunctional you ever question the marriage. The Louds are another good example: Lynn Sr. And Rita NEVER right with each other that i’ve seen, have a perfectly happy relationship despite 11 kids, and wholly support each other, with Rita happily giving her husband the go ahead to quit his soul draining desk job so he could pursue his deream as a chef, and later letting him take a massive fincial gamble and open up a restraunt, purely because she belivied in him. Finally we have the Williams from Craig of the Creek who are easily one of the best married couples i’ve seen in western animation and one of them’s played by Terry Crews so that shoudln’t be a shock. I could prabobly find more but my points made: this trope REALLY ages the show poorly, more than any of hte 90′s specific tech or swinging theme song I just realized I forgot to talk about. Eh i’ll save it for the next episode. 

I have NEVER liked this trope anyway: only simpsons has really made it work for me and Family Guy did until they just stretched it too far, and with Simpsons at least they freqeuently have episodes pointing out how unehalthy it is. It dosen’t help this trope somehow STILL isn’t dead, as evidenced by the fact Rick and Morty has it in spades and for SOME damn reason got them back together.. I mean they don’t fight anymore but it dose’nt fix the problem. So yeah while I’m not holding against the show TERRRIBLY as this trope wasn’t as widespread at the time, it still dosen’t make it GOOD even at it’s core. 

Things get worse for Pete though as while Goofy praises him (And the Pete Kids rightfly wonder if Goofy is from space given the logic of ANYONE being that fond of pete. ) Pete finds out GOOFY bought the house he was going to demolish and will be staying with them till they move in. I have only one response to his misery....

Max also futzes with the tv which you THINK would lead to Peg finding out her husband is the antagonist of a Blumhouse movie but instead just does nothing. 

So then we have Dinner where we find out SUPRISINGLY, Pete actually has a somewhat valid reason for resenting Goofy: Goofy cost him the big game in high school as Goofy and Peg were on the cheerleading squad together and Goofy accidently kicked pete in the face at a crucial moment, which Pete got the blame for. Granted I did say SOMEWHAT: Goofy is genuinely apologetic and says Pete shouldn’t of been blamed and Pete’s apparently been hiding the truth from his kids this whole time. I do call bullshit on that as while admittedly i don’t get into local football or any sportsball, Pete works at a dealership. At least one asshole would bring it up to either rile him up or out of genuine rage at something that happened at the very least a decade and a half ago. Pete hasn’t let go of this footbullshit DESPITE owning a successful dealership, having two wonderful children, an even more wonderful wife, and a friggin nice boat.  But really.. it speaks to Pete’s character in any version: His ultimate undoing is his greed, his tendency to keep going and never settle. It’s something he oddly shares with Donald but Pete lacks Donald’s’s heart or redeeming moments. Pete just wants and wants and wants no matter who gets hurt because he’s inehently selfish and will simply TAKE It if he can’t get it. But it’s why he’s miserable, and ultimately ends up divorced: He can’t be satisfised so he often looses what he has. 

So with Pete on the rampage Peg sends the boys upstairs. It’s here we get PJ’s first Woobie Moment: He has a room FULL of cool toys, comics and what not but his dad is such a greedy asshole he refuses to let the kid actually use them. He even knows this isn’t normal but is just resigned to it. Rob Paulsen is phenomenal as PJ, being funny and energetic, snarky and off to the side or depressed and fearful all with grace and ease and all making this all feel like the same sweet kid. 

I mention this because Paulsen’s action is so good it highlights an issue with PJ: the writers lean way too hard into how much a hardass Pete is, to the point the series, likely intentionally, HEAVILY implies he physically abuses pete and the stuff on screen isn’t over the top enough, at least for tehse episodes, to get away with how he emotionally abuses him either. He talks down to him, doesn’t let him play toys and as seen by various episode synopsis and the next episode, uses mind games to keep him in line. THIS is why I can’t stand this version of Pete. He’s an abusive monster to this poor boy and I won’t stands for it, nor it being played off as a joke, especially since they try to ping pong between using it for comedy and using it seriously which just.. doesn’t work. 

So Max earns his future best pals’ friendship by trying to help him.. and succeeding by pointing out that while he said not to use the Tank anywhere on the ground.. he didn’t mention the celling or walls and has the tank going up the walls. And clearly by the fact PJ is seen sleeping with it later, despite Petes’ss anger at this, Peg presumably ripped him a new one once she found out about the toys thing. 

So that night Pete can’t sleep with Goofy tromping around the house and tries to whack him with a Golf Club. I’d give him another sucks count.. 

But given my brother lives in the basement and I sometimes accidently wake him by tromping overhead without meaning too, I DO get getting a bit fed up with someone clomping around and waking you up, and it is a slapstick cartoon so trying to physically assault someone is less of a crime here and more a setup for a punchline. 

So get an UTTERLY hilarious scene as teh combination fo tripping on golf balls and Goofy singing his family lullabye, camptown races with lyrics

So Pete proceeds to have another freak out this time RUNNING ALL THE WAY TO DUCKBURG, THROWING THE OLD MAN OUT OF THE CAR AND THEN BRINGING IN THE GOOF’S BEDS AND BOXES BEFORE TOSSING THEM IN THE HOUSE. It is truly an amazing combination of Jim’s utter talent as he babbles hialriously and the animators as they just make it sing. It’s a great climax to part one. So with that the goofs are home and Pete semeingly gets to go to sleep.. until they start working on unpacking. 

Final Thoughts On Good Neighbor Goof:

This is an excellent start to the series. The jokes are really well paced, the characters well introduced and the humor top notch> I had my complaints obviously.. but i’ts more systemic issues with the series, and stuff that honestly it dosen’t hamper my viewing experience for the most part. The PJ stuff does, but it’s not as big a deal this episode as he barely interacts with his Dad, but otherwise it’s stuff that just hasn’t aged well and they can’t be faulted for not seeing a deluge of terrible sitcoms a comin. The cast is top notch: I didn’t get to them in the proper review so Dana HIll deserves praise as Max, giving just the right amount of 90′s TV Kid mixed with real honest emotion and i’ts a tragedy she’s gone. She would’ve been right up there with the rest of this amazing cast in history. Though at least she got a worthy succesor.. but that’s not for now. For now we’re taking an interlude to look at the wonderfully 90′s music video that was aired along with this special:

Gotta Be Gettin Goofy:

This was my raw reaction to this video. Now is it bad? No the song has great flow it somehow manages to scratch Bill Farmer’s goofy vocals with the beat, the rapper makes the cheesy lyrics work, and the chorus of “gotta be getting goofy” backs a great bit. It’s not a bad SONG.. but the video is a hilariously insane mess. We have two of the poor dancers forced to wear just.. HORRIFYING looking Goofy costumes that look like the Dog based sequel to cats that thankfully only exists in my nightmares

I pityt hose poor dancers. Meanwhile the rest of the dancers are wearing Goofy Baseball uniforms and letterman jackets for some reason. is it beause Goofy likes sportsball. I thoguth they just had them lying around but now I see the g’s on the uniform. They CHOOSE to do this. Max also does a shredding guitar solo, not the max up there the animated max. Combine that with LOTS OF random clips from the show and you get this thing.. and i’ts worth a watch> it’s just hilarously what the shit.. not the most hilariously what the shit thing i’ve seen.. not even this week... that would be this thing from the Eurovision Song contest...

Your welcome. So moving on because this is already badly behind. 

Good Neighbor Goof:

So our second episode opens with the Goof’s trying to move in and pete being upset their being loud. Now being upset your neighbors are being loud is one thing: Mine set off fireworks all week around fourth of July. Granted Pete would probably be the one doing such nonsense but still, I get it.. but it’s fair to have a lot of noise when your moving in and in Goofy’s case also trying to patch up a massive hole in the place. 

So he does what any reasonable man would do and activates the earthquake machine he hid in the basement. 

I wasn’t kidding about the MODOK comparisons. Granted the thing uses a belt to somehow do this.. but it’s designed to SIMULATE AN EARTHQUAKE AN DDOES SO WELL. The only reason Goofy’s not dead is that pete uses a low setting that instead ends up unpacking everything. IT’s a neat gag but again... PETE HAS AN EARTHQUAKE MACHINE.

Which Goofy accidently destroys his boat with. Meanwhile the boys try to talk over tin can phones only for Pete to notice and try to stop it because he’s a dick and doesn’t want his son to be happy because he hates Goofy. So Pete’s idea of a punishment is for PJ to wear the family shoes to go crush cans while wearing a helmet and given Pete mutters to himself about this keeping PJ away from Max i’ts likely something that he made up to torture his son soooo..

Pete Sucks Counter: 8 Max being a good pal agrees to help his friend crush the cans down to recycle for money and comes up with a zany scheme to do so

Meanwhile we get a few scenes of Pete trying to eff with Goofy’s day: Peg is making food for Goofy like a good neighbor/someone planning for their eventual divorce, so Pete makes him some too with tons of hot sauce. By the laws of classic cartoons, naturally Goofy loves it and wonders if Pete has hot sauce, while Pete trying it explodes his head Scanner’s style. 

He then tries giving Goofy a chainsaw loaded with some kind of explosive or something... so yes he’s esclated to MURDER over.. Goofy annoying him a bunch as he’s apparently given up on the whole taking over that lot thing. 

Pete Sucks Counter: 9 But it is hilariously petty and naturally backfires again by cartoon law as Pete ends up starting it for Goofy who can’t get it going. 

Meanwhile PJ and Max inact the plan which is to drop a bolder with a rope on the cans, but end up having to ride the cans down when PJ lets it go too early and it ends up sweeping both boys on top of the box. They have fun though, with PJ actually getting to enjoy life for once and loving having a new friend.

So as his lot in life Pete has to ruin it by yelling at PJ for getting diryt, then for hanging out with max as he can SMELL the goof on him.. which means he’s either exaggerating or he knows what goofy smells like. 

So he forbids PJ to see him insluting max.. while Max is hanging out the window and ends up crying. Oh and Peg never gets involved in any of this across both parts, likely because she dosen’t know.. which makes it even MORE horrifying as it gives off the implication Pete gets away with his abuse of his son because he hides it, like a real world abuser. But even then some things like trying to break up his and Max’s friendship or the toys thing you’d THINK she’d notice. 

So we get more untetionally telling stuff as PJ says he’ll treasure this day and the only time he was happy.

Pete Sucks Count: 14 2 for the last scene, 3 for ALLL this one implies. But Max won’t give up the ghost no he won’t give it up. They haven’t the strength to hold on for long but if they both hold on together they can make each other strong. So he has a plan: have Goofy throw a Luau and invite the petes.

Peg naturally forces him to attend and Pete is a dick about it at first, but eventually enjoys himself when they do a conga line. The pets, Waffles and Chainsaw get into some antics. I do love Waffles because I love a kitty. Chainsaw is okay even though I love me a good doggo. Especially this one.

You are a Good Boy, Good Boy. But eventually while playing a party game about passing coconuts, Pete considers the coconut and considers the trees but dosen’t consider Goofy kicking him in the face AGAIN

So Pete is naturally a dick about this despite it being you know, an accident. But he takes it a step further by insulting Max Pete Sucks Count: 15 So Goofy gets mad. But here’s where a rather sizeable flaw shows up in the episode as Goofy.. acts exactly like Pete does about the insuing feud. He forbids Max to see PJ makes up rules and is generally petty and vindictive. And look Goofy could be in the shorts. He’s endlessly adaptable.. but here nothing about his character has shown he’d sink to this and it feels forced to bring abotu the climax. 

Thankfully said finale salvages thing: That night Max pulls PJ into his room via the cans, and comes up with a plan.. weirdly asking PJ to hit him with a muffin to save their friendship... but it’s not random it turns out. His plan.. is brilliant. While I really don’t like these types of feud between neighbors make our kids suffer by making them not be able to be friends because we’re being petty children plots, this one has a REALLY clever solution to that: Max and PJ FAKE an oversclated fued similar to their parents, starting with insutls and throwing mulch and escalting to taking down each others fences and then throwing food at each other, before injuring their dads with planks and stuff, nothing serious just slapstick stuff, all to get both to settle down and try and get the boys to stop fighting.. it works like a charm, it’s full of great bits like Peg offering the boys pie only for Max to use it as amuination and i’ts just a great way to end one of these episodes. Not that I WANT more of these episodes but if your going to do this stock plot you might as well be creative with it.

So we end on the Petes and Goofs having a BBQ, all friends again, with Pete having his marina and Goofy nearly burning Pete’s house down and us getting a photo to end the episode.

Final Thoughts:

This one was a step down. Pete’s abuse is REALLY highlighted here and the plot is very paint by numbers and forces Goofy to be out of character for the last act for it to work at all. He just strikes me as too genuine and noble to hold onto a grudge this easily. Peg is also reduced from her usual feisty self to being oddly useless, not stepping in at ANY point to stop any of this depsite it being grossly otu of character. There’s a few great gags and a great climax, but the whole product is just okay

Later Today: Goof Week and Goofy’s birthday continue as I complete the trilogy of Shortstaculars with one about my boy! Featuring Goofy’s first apperance, his first short and the first apperance of what would eventually become Max! 

If you liked this review, follow me for more and consider joining my Patreon which you can find RIGHT HERE. Even a buck a month helps me keep doing these and more gets me to my stretch goals, the next one up being the two remaining ducktales mini series, a darkwing duck episode a month and a reivew of the danny phantom film the ultimate enemy. And even a buck a month gets you access to exclusvie reviews, my patreon exclusive discord and to pick a short any time I do one of my shortstaculars. My next one is for Donald’s birthday next montha nd there’s only 6 days left to get on that pay cycle so if that sounds good to you get on in NOW while you still can and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

[cypris-thalsian]

I posted 367 times in 2021

60 posts created (16%)

307 posts reblogged (84%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 5.1 posts.

I added 23 tags in 2021

#cricket - 8 posts

#music - 3 posts

#youtube - 3 posts

#cypris - 2 posts

#hahaha - 2 posts

#if we're being honest - 1 posts

#story - 1 posts

#ava - 1 posts

#the fire-starter and her daughter - 1 posts

#cy-dance - 1 posts

Longest Tag: 33 characters

#because i could see cy doing this

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

What if it was the fire-starters son?

"What if it was the fire-starters son? I'm not sure I catch your meaning. What if my daughter was a son instead?" Cypris pondered the concept, "It's really hard to say. If I had to guess he probably would not have found his way back to me as she has. Likely followed closer in his father's footsteps, been schooled differently. Or he could have seen things as she had."

"If you mean of Dorian, Only time will tell with him. Percival doesn't seem to think he's cursed as he lacks certain traits of my own and Ava's. It may very well be, dove, that its a women only trait. If it were passed to the men, I'd be dreading the toddler stage far more than I do."

@captzexx thanks for the ask!

6 notes • Posted 2021-08-10 23:31:03 GMT

#4

"What's something you've always wanted to ask me to try—but assumed I wouldn't like?"

Cypris hummed with bemusement. “You sure you want -me- to answer that?” Brows rose as she leveled a pointed gaze on the warlock.  There was a roll of her shoulder with a haphazard shrug before simply stating, “Pegging... Any hinted motions that might have lead to it were redirected. It’s not for everyone. It’s not so much something I’ve wanted to ask for but there is the occasional urge to be on the giving side for a change.” Cypris chuckled, her gaze held on Percival for any likely reaction or lack thereof.

@thalsianiii Thanks for the ask XD

6 notes • Posted 2021-05-17 02:07:03 GMT

#3

23. Who is better with kids?

Gonna vote Percival. Mainly because I’m pretty sure he has more patience than Cypris. And he’s more likely to read a parenting book or find advice while Cypris wings it. Though she has a tendency to be more logical.

@thalsianiii

6 notes • Posted 2021-08-15 19:54:21 GMT

#2

Percival looked over the little infant.

"It's so tiny," he commented as he inspected it closely.

"Ten fingers, ten toes, one noes, two eyes..." Percival counted all the bits.

"And... it's a boy! It's definitely a boy!" He praised with giddy excitement.

"We made a boy Cypris. A teeny tiny boy!"

( @thalsianiii )

11 notes • Posted 2021-07-02 20:48:15 GMT

#1

The Summons, (DWCreunion/afterlife)

"Josalora Adombrare..." The name rolled off the captain's tongue with a fantastical irony that came with seeing the other woman cross the loading plank. "I thought we'd agreed to keep our distance."

Cold eyes scanned the deck and beyond before coming to rest on her former compatriot. "We both know our paths are more mingled than not. You're not truly surprised, are you? Been hearing peculiar whispers and thought the least I could do was pay my respects." The ghost of a grin curled beneath deceiving kindness.

A lip curled as a leather-bound heel pressed into the damp board of the deck. "Not surprised. No. I assure you, however, dove, that your respects are not required. I suggest you get to the bit where you need a favor."

Jos reached into her satchel procuring a small wrapped gift which was placed idly on the ship's rail. A trio of steps carried her further onto the ship as if to make herself at home. "Who's to say I'm not here to do you a favor. We both know you're getting bored in that cottage. Truth be told I'm a little surprised you've chosen to spawn with that... I am surprised. That's all that truly matters."

A hollow laugh sounded. "It's not often that happens anymore. So I come in a charitable mood." The cool grin turned to find Cypris.

Unphased by the insinuated insult, Cypris kept a droll gaze on the deathwitch. "I'm really not in the mood to go rounds with you, Jos. Out with it or get off my ship."

Reaching back to the satchel, this time Josalora withdrew a scroll extending it out. "All work and no play makes for a very boring day. Takes years off your life you know. You're probably running thin at that rate." Pale brows popped up in a teasing wag. "I could help you with that."

Snatching the scroll, Cypris santered away from the witch that she might glimpse the scroll with a modicum of peace. Blood runes she'd not seen in some time-stained the lining. A hollowness not unlike the witch's own sank against her fiery core. Unfurling the scroll further still exposed the etching of a map. A tired voice answered the witch over a shoulder. "I'll need a day to finish the supply reload and finish a few things here."

"Done." Josalora chimed with a thinning smile. "I'll be back in the course of two tides. We're going to have so much fun. Just like old times."

See the full post

14 notes • Posted 2021-09-21 03:22:46 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[sirloozelite]

20 First Lines (Tag Game)

Thank you for the kind tag @minniethemoocherda. Go and check out their 20 lines at this tag: https://minniethemoocherda.tumblr.com/post/647816200779350016/20-first-lines-tag-game

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories.  See if there are any patterns. Then tag more of your mutual authors!

Minor side note... I don’t have 20 stories. I do have lots of one shots though... so I’ll use some of those that I like! All are from Star Wars. XD

Double side note, I’m rubbish at hyperlinking stuff. I don’t understand how to do it, so if you want to find any of the stories in question for whatever reason use this: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirLoozElite/works

1: The Former Apprentices

Malachor was dark, and not just in terms of visibility.

2: The Tale of Two Fulcrums

How did she get here? When did she get here? Why was she here?

3: Vendettas and Stratagems

He was lost. Days, weeks, months of searching for him on this miserable planet.

4: To Take Down An Emperor

The Lambda class shuttle landed with a resounding thud in the hanger day, the engines powering down from the long flight.

5: Agent of the Chancellor

The temple was burning, something that should have never happened under any circumstances.

6: Zabrak in a Cave

"Maul? You ok?"

7: Target Profile: The Spectres of the Ghost

From the office of Grand Admiral Mitth'raw'nurodo to the office of ISB Colonel Wullf Yularen and office of Emperor Sheev Palpatine, the following is a target dossier on the individuals of the rebel cell Phoenix Squadron referred to as the 'Spectres'.

8: Earwigging

Very few people sat with him during his off hours, and Alexsandr Kallus knew why.

9: Old Friends, Now Foes

Rebels have infiltrated the base.

10: The Healer

Every time Ezra flew an A-wing, he seemed to crash.

11: Sparring Practise

The first time it happened, he learnt a valuable lesson, one he had only heard Yoda preach before.

12: The Harrowing Fate of Davits Draven

Davits Draven's head hurt… a lot!

13: The Name’s Kallus, Alexsandr Kallus

'Agent Fulcrum we have a new mission for you.

14: Ahsoka and the Acolytes

They had caught her completely off guard, and with no way of defending herself.

15: The Sith Afterlife

Darth Sidious awakened to find himself in unfamiliar territory.

16: The Machinations of the Son (Part 1)

"I have a gift for you."

17: Parting of the Ways

The smouldering wreckage of the Venator that had nearly been a death trap for them both was the last thing on Captain Rex's mind right now.

18: Nightmare

An endless swarm of blaster fire erupted in her direction, each shot either missing her by inches, or being precisely deflected away by her sabers.

19: Kaeden’s Secret Article

"So… when's the wedding?"

20: Rex’s Nightmare

The blaring of the siren, coupled with the dense black smoke awakened Captain Rex of the 501st from his slumber, his head pulsating in agony, a clear sign of a nasty headache.

... not really sure if there is any constancy with my first sentences, but it was fun to see them all. Hopefully they all set the scene good at the very least, or nab the reader’s attention.  As for tagging people, I’ll hit up @rangerslayer-97 and @swgoji2001 as usual, but I know they might not have 20 stories either, so if they want to do it they can improvise like I did. Plus anyone else who sees this and wants a go, by all means go ahead. XD

[phantomwarrior12]

A Timely Rescue

Prompt: All of y’all insisting on another chapter xD

Word Count: 2,478

Summary: Sometimes hunters are the ones who need to be rescued.

A/N: Hey folks!

It’s here at last! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! Upon popular demand, here if chapter two of A Lonely World. I do apologize for the delay, y’all would not believe how crazy life has been since I released chapter one. And, since I wrote this one, I opened my dumbass to a whole ass series, so, y’all have that to look forward to! xD

So, feel free to leave a like/comment to let me know your thoughts! Without further adieu!

Enjoy!

~Phantom

A Time To Know Your Enemy (Ch. 3)

--------------

The tip of biting steel traces along your skin, a whisper of fear over flesh as you stare with unwavering defiance into midnight.

This wasn't how the hunt was supposed to go. They weren't supposed to be here. This was supposed to be a vamp nest.

Your jaw sets as the blade draws blood and your features contort into a grimace, trying to conceal the searing fire that sings through your veins with an ill-timed, "That the best you got?" You're not prepared for the blade to delve deeper. You're not prepared for the tears to slip traitorously down your cheeks and provoke taunts from your tormentors.

"What was that, little hunter?"

"You gonna cry? We should find a spell that calls for the tears of a human and see just how many different techniques can bring a hunter to tears."

Spite and fury churn in a dangerous concoction in the pit of your stomach. Somewhere, there's a twinge of indignation. Somewhere, there's a building flame that ignites along your ribs and flares along your forearms. Somewhere, there's a nagging fragment that leaves you anxious and wondering if anyone is actually coming to your rescue.

The Winchesters don't know where you are. You're not sure if your prayers are reaching Castiel and there's no chance in heaven or hell that you're going to escape your bindings with two demons circling you.

Yet, despite the hopelessness tugging at your soul, somehow you know these demons are well and truly fucked.

At first, it's a blast of brilliant light that permeates every inch of the room, forcing your eyes shut and your face towards the floor. Then it's a deafening cacophony that splits the air in a high pitched whine that has you straining against your restraints in a desperate attempt to shield your ringing ears.

Somehow, through it all, you can hear the screams of your hell-spawned tormentors. You steal a glimpse of their collapsed frames, eyes burnt out and forms limp as the light and sound fades. As silence falls, you blink slowly, trying to clear the disorientation, barely registering footsteps off to your left. Hunter's instincts kick into overdrive and you're not sure if the newest arrival is better than the former company. You summon what strength you can, feebly wrenching your wrists against biting metal before you feel two fingers press tenderly against your temple and your frame eases beneath their touch. There's a faint whisper of something cool flourishing across your skin, a steady thrum of energy you swear you recognize from somewhere - somewhere celestial.

"Cas?" It's all you can manage in a feeble whisper, swiftly silenced by a violent scream that rips through your chest when the blade is pulled unceremoniously from your shoulder. And then it's gone. Wounds mend, bruises fade and the sharp ache in every muscle ebbs but your head feels heavy and your eyes beg to be closed. When you roll your head to the side, it isn't the tan trenchcoat of your angel friend, but rather dated leather and blue jeans. Confusion emerges victorious before your eyes sag shut and consciousness caves to exhaustion.

----------------------

The next time you open your eyes, there's a soft breeze dancing through the curtains of your motel room, filtering sunlight streaming over sheets with each whisper of fresh air. The palms of your hands dig in, scrubbing at the sleepy daze over your eyes, willing it to disappear as you sit up on the ancient mattress with a series of squeaks and groans from the springs.

As your gaze shifts over the room you realize all is as you'd left it, a pristine order that suggested the previous evening's events hadn't happened. It's then that the memories come rushing back and you reach instinctively to check what should be a gaping hole in your shoulder.

"Rescued, right? Not Cas, he'd have stuck around," you murmur, swinging your feet onto the floor, fingers threading through disheveled hair, "Balthazar's still on the run...that leaves--" you lift your head, tugging the sleeve of your flannel up and stare at the patch of skin where the invisible sigil hums soothingly along frazzled nerves. Your fingers trace along the skin as your eyes squeeze shut, "Gabriel, I know what you are. I know you're there." You take an uncertain breath, a silencing anxious wave crashing over you. If the archangel is anything like his brother, he can sense it, but he doesn't come.

You wait a long moment before you summon the composure to speak, "Gabriel - I want to thank you...properly." Your eyes open and drift over the room, "Can you at least show yourself before you hit the road again? It's not every day an archangel comes to my rescue."

One. Two. Three minutes pass with utter silence, the only noticable trace of movement being the curtains.

Your shoulders sag, features falling with a dejected breath, "All right. Message received," you stand, moving over to your pack to retrieve a clean set of clothes, pausing only when you detect the unmistakable rustle of wings, "I didn't take you as the shy type, tough guy." You cast a glance over your shoulder, quirking an eyebrow.

"I like my dramatic entrances. Besides, I prefer the term cautious. Humans are unpredictable, and after Cassie let the cat out of the bag? Well, let's just say I'm not overly eager to have all of heaven on my tail any time soon by showing my mug once too often." Gabriel props himself against the bathroom doorframe.

"Then why come to my rescue?" Your head tilts as you turn, studying his blank features for any trace of the warmth they'd held the first night you'd met him, "Why the branding?"

"Is that a hint of disdain, sweetcheeks?" A cocky grin slides easily across soft lips, a mischievous glint flaring to life in alluring whiskey as they trail over your frame. You straighten up, fighting to maintain a detached expression despite the heat rising in your cheeks beneath his weighted gaze.

"Curiosity, at best. Enochian sigils seared into your skin is a little more drastic than getting a man's name tattooed on your arm after the first meeting. So, do I get to hear the story behind my new invisible ink?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Oh, I'm sure it ties in to that night at the bar, but why I earned such a rare branding is still a mystery. You brand every woman you meet?" There's a shadow of a smirk tugging at the corner of your lips as your arms ease into a comfortable cross in front of your chest.

"What happened to that 'proper thank you' you promised me?"

"I need some answers first." You gesture to the bed expectantly.

"Bed? I like where this is going." he flashes you a wry grin and a wink that sparks a stutter in your heartbeat.

"Don't get your hopes up, smartass." You retort as you take a seat on the mattress, determined to remain composed. Though, despite your best efforts, you're failing spectacularly. Your only saving grace is that maybe, just maybe, he won't notice.

"I'm nothing but hope, sweetcheeks," he glides onto the mattress beside you, leaving very little space between the two of you.

He knows. There's no way he couldn't and yet, you can detect nothing more than light-hearted heckling in those glimmering flecks of honey and hazel. The same warmth you'd glimpsed that night in the bar all those months ago. He's different. Granted, he's an archangel and that, no doubt, is to be expected. Still - he's different in a way you can't quite describe. In a way that's there, and yet just out of reach as he reclines on the bed, propped up on an elbow with a broad grin.

"You gonna ask your questions, sweetcheeks? Or just admire the view?"

You're flustered. You're out of your depth and this is stupid. So, you fall back. You slide further onto the bed and cross your legs, squarely facing the archangel and the grin fades to something unidentifiable. You wouldn't call it affectionate or heated but - you don't know what you'd call it as you adjust your flannel and roll your sleeves back down.

"Depends. You going to give me straight answers this time?"

"I gave you straight answers then," he tilts his head just enough to seem all the more adorable. Of course, he probably intends to it to convey his truthful intentions, but the glimmer in those honeyed hues is damned distracting.

"You did," it's a reluctant concession, "but you weren't altogether forthcoming. You left some key information out in those answers."

Gabriel's lips tug upwards into an almost condescending smirk as a golden brow arches, "You're a hunter, sweetheart. You know better than anyone that your opening line shouldn't be monster-related. And given your history with angels," the smirk falters and with it, the playfulness of his voice, "You'd have been out of that barstool in two seconds flat."

You look down at your hands, almost ashamed. He was right, you would have run, regrouped with the Winchesters. But in your experience, archangels haven't been on the side of humanity, and based solely on that fact, you'd never have let him as close as he had been that night - not by your side and certainly not in your arms.

His voice draws your gaze back to his features, "But you knew something was up. The moment I sat next to you, you tensed - like you sensed something was off about me." He props himself up a little higher, honey flecks flickering over your features as if he were trying identify that piece of your soul that separates the human from the monster-hunter, "Didn't you?"

His question is more of a statement than an inquiry and you offer a solitary nod.

"But you didn't run. That hunter alarm had to be going nuts." He slides a little closer, reaching a seated position, "You've been around my baby brother long enough to sense that--" he pauses, reaching out and his hand hovers over your knee, "spark - that faint buzz on the edge of your senses that only comes around when something divine enters the room."

A shy smile slips across your lips at the tingling sensation along your knee and you dare to meet his gaze, "Even if I hadn't, your inability to keep your grace in check gave you away."

He chuckles lightly, "You seemed drunk enough, I figured I'd test just how much. I could see the confusion in your eyes, but you...let it slide. Why?" There's intrigue building in his eyes, determination drawing his brows together into a gentle line.

"I thought I was asking the questions," you deflect, ignoring the sudden weight of his hand on your knee through the thin layer of your sweatpants - though when you'd changed from jeans to sweats, you had no idea.

"Indulge me." His head tilts and the rapid flutter of your heart forces your gaze to the dwindling space between you.

"I've - sensed that buzz in a room when an angel enters. Sam and Dean don't understand it," your fingers wind around the string attached to your pants, weaving in and out and over and under to occupy the anxious thrum through your veins, "but I can also sense their intentions. Their hatred when they're looking for a fight. Their fear just before that blade falls. Their anxiety," y/e/c locks with honey, "when they stride up to a hunter in a crowded bar and attempt to make small talk because they're just as lonely." Your voice fades to a soft murmur, "Their relief when they realize they're safe, if only for a moment, in a loud room with a complete stranger. And their warmth when the walls falter," you lean in, holding inches from the archangel's lips, "and they can be what they are."

"And what are they?"

You could swear there's a twinge of fear in his voice, as if a being of his magnitude could be terrified of the next words to come from a mortal's lips.

"They're--"

I'm on the highway to hell! Highway to hell--

Your shoulders sag, your chin dropping to your chest as you lean past him to pick up your phone, "Hold that thought."

He smiles gently, watching you stand from the bed and pace a few short steps away and answer the phone.

"Dean?"

"Y/N! Thank God!" You can hear the relief in the eldest Winchester's voice, you can only imagine what his expression is, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine--"

"We've been trying to get ahold of you for hours. When you didn't check in last night, we got worried. What happened?" It's Sam's voice you detect next as you steal a glimpse over your shoulder at Gabriel who seems enthralled with a loose thread in your sheets.

"Wasn't a vamp nest," you lean against the dresser, watching the archangel absently, "It was a trap."

"A trap? A trap set by who?"

"I wish I knew. If--" you stop yourself as Gabriel lifts his head, concern flashing in whiskey as they lock with y/e/c.

"If what? Y/N, you still there?" Another twinge of fear in Dean's voice.

"I'm here. Uh," you rub the back of your neck, "If I hadn't brought my angel blade in, I'd have been screwed. I was jumped by two demons.

"How'd you escape?" Sam pries, no doubt exchanging a concerned look with Dean.

"Lucky, I guess. Everything's kind of a blur." Your fingers find their way to your temple as you begin to pace, taking your eyes off the archangel on your bed. "All I know is we'll need to have a chat with Crowley."

"Could be Abbadon, but we'll check it out all the same."

"Sounds like a plan." You turn, gaze falling to the empty bed and your heart sinks.

"Alright. Send us your location, we're on our way to you right now."

"Will do. See you in a couple hours." You hang up, hand falling to your side in defeated resignation. You drop the phone unceremoniously onto the bed and glance around the room, taking note of the brilliant red on your nightstand. You cautiously move around the bed, a soft smile tugging at the corner of your lips as fingers curl around the singular rose he'd left in his wake, something Enochian inscribed into the ribbon wound elegantly around the green stem. You'll need Cas to translate, but you realize you never got to ask your questions. Part of you wonders if his disappearing act was a deliberate attempt at preventing it. Though, one thing was for certain - the archangel had no concept of manners.

Would it kill him to bid a proper farewell for once?

------------------

Chapter 3

Taglists are open! Send me an ask/message to be added!

Gabriel Squad: @thewhiterabbit42 @erisunderthemoon @stuckoutsideofthebox @nuvoleincielo @lyselkatz @high-church-of-the-holy-dick @loch-ness-moron @lovelyhexbag @shaylybaby2032 @soul-bandom @archangelgabriellives @datajana @quixoticcat @jtownraindancer @hindustani-diaspora Forevers: @heaven-hell-imagines @currentlyfangirling99 @bofa-deans-nuts @emiwrites3reads

[threadsketchier]

i'm the anon asking about Luke's Jedi school, i guess i meant the whole who, what, when, where, why thing? who was there? what did they do, in general? when was this (which i guess means how long after ROTJ)? i guess the where and the why can be skipped cause you said it was on yavin iv (right?) and the why is obviously the "pass on what you have learned" so yeah. also a random question haunting my brain is how did they, like, get groceries, were they near a town or something? thankssssss

OK  *cracks knuckles*

The Whoozle - Luke’s first class attendees were:

Tionne (a scholar/historian and musician)

Dorsk 81 (a clone from an entire society of clones)

Kirana Ti (a Dathomiri witch)

Kam Solusar (a former member of cloned Palpatine’s Dark Side Elite)

Brakiss (an Imperial spy who never fooled Luke but he kept him on hoping to turn him to good; he eventually ran off and got recruited by another failed student, Dolph)

Streen (a Bespin tibanna gas prospector who kept himself isolated from sentient contact because he couldn’t control his strong latent Force empathy from picking up everyone’s thoughts and emotions around him)

Gantoris (tormented leader of a forgotten colony on a deadly volcanic planet)

Corran Horn (attending under an alias of “Keiran Halcyon” for Reasons™, otherwise a cocky asshole from the X-wing novels lol)

Kyle Katarn (a dude who got his own graphic novels/video games; he didn’t stick around for long and had a bunch of adventures on his own - and actually spent some time tutoring Mara Jade)

Kyp Durron (a sadly messed-up kid who was fucked over by the Empire real good and thrown into the spice mines of Kessel before he could even reach puberty, so he carried a really big traumatic chip on his shoulder; he was like barely 17 or 18 when he was busted out and started at the academy)

Cilghal (a female Mon Cal - a niece of Admiral Ackbar, and also a New Republic ambassador - who possessed a natural talent for healing)

Mara Jade (that baddest bitch we all know and love from the Thrawn Trilogy lol)

***There’s a few others mentioned on Wook but I’m not including them here because they’re kind of sprinkled in from various other EU media and don’t make an appearance (that I can recall) in the actual JAT series.

The Whatzle - everything got started in the Jedi Academy Trilogy by KJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

*cough* sorry  XD

Fun fact: apparently it was Mon Mothma’s idea to suggest the location and not Luke, go figure.

The Whenzle - about 7 years after ROTJ (I get annoyed with Legends EU always dating stuff as “X years ABY,” meaning After the Battle of Yavin, so I always gotta mentally subtract 4 years from those dates).

The Wherezle - yep, Yavin 4, a nice green steamy joint much nicer than Dagobah, where you can still get swamp-ass without the swamp.  They repurposed the ancient temple that the Rebellion had used as a base in ANH.

The Whyzle - Luke eventually let the fire under his ass get lit and petitioned the New Republic to get his Jedi school started so he could finally not be the only fucking Jedi saving the whole-ass galaxy all the damn time...aka, yes, “pass on what you have learned.”  (Like I mentioned, this took place barely a year after Palpatine tried to come back and wreck everything again, so there was definitely some motivation from that plus the Thrawn disaster that happened the year before THAT.  The GFFA is always crisis-central so the Jedi needed to make a serious comeback.)

WHAT DO - Like I also mentioned, Luke was still figuring everything out regarding the old Jedi Order, and his own training had been the severely abridged Cliff Notes version (plus, um, these books were written way ahead of the prequels so...they don’t mesh well), so needless to say his teaching methods were not nearly as formal, and he tended to use examples from his own training.  Because he was the only master to go around, there wasn’t any pairing up for “padawans” at this point, he was teaching everybody simultaneously, so there were a lot of group lectures and activities.  They’d also gather to hear Tionne sing about Jedi history that she’d researched and turned into ballads.  In order to keep everything running, there also likely had to be task assignments as part of everyday life - somebody’s gotta clean the toilets and cook, etc., but that’s technically extrapolation.

JEDI DOORDASH - no, loooool, considering that this place was on a jungle moon, they had a nice tropical climate but not a ton of clear space for agriculture.  Keep in mind Luke’s a former moisture farmer (and I can’t believe the only thing the Larses were harvesting was literal moisture) - he had to have extensive knowledge of hydroponics or other indoor farming, and that temple is huge, so it’s totally possible they could grow at least some of their own produce.  But they need a lot more supplies than that, especially at the beginning, so they had supply runs from cargo ships who would bring them stuff - and hey, Mara herself was one of those supply pilots sometimes.  Some of my fellow Legends peeps also conceptualized the academy as opening up to some tourism to contribute much-needed funds - come chillax in the hot springs and learn more about the “mysterious” Jedi that used to creep so many people out back in the day, and see they’re just ordinary folks like everyone else...

...except that, yeah, they can technically kill you with their minds.  :)

In Legends it seems like the academy (also known as a Praxeum) was the only habitation on Yavin 4, but in Disney nu!canon there are other settlements on the moon; Poe Dameron’s parents Shara Bey and Kes Dameron go live there with a baby Force tree.  Feel free to remix and mash-up whatever elements you dig!

[secret-engima]

So - in the female!Ardyn 'Taur 'verse, how does the romantic relationship between Cor and Ardyn develop? (Nox, meanwhile, is having - slight hysterics in the background, because The Immortal and the (formerly) literally Immortal Accursed? It's like a bad joke). And, for that matter - how does everyone *else* react to that relationship? (Regis is. Not sure how to feel. On the one hand, Cor is going to be *literally his brother*, squee! On the other, Cor is *dating his sister*.)

*cackles evilly* oh THAT’S easy-

They start dating out of Pure Spite.

See, Cor has been doing everything he can to get out of formal events WHENEVER he can for years because he’s the Marshal and the Immortal and all the widows and older bachelorettes seem to think they can win him over with enough makeup, perfume, primping of their fur, and fluttering of their eyelashes and Cor HATES IT. Always has. Regis has told him that if he actually GOT A DATE with someone maybe they’d back off, to which Aulea just rolls her eyes and says that they’d turn into sharks and shred whatever poor soul Cor tried to take as a plus one. Cor agrees, he’d have to find a Plus One that was even more deadly in the political and verbal arena, as well as one of high enough status to survive the gossip, and frankly it’s not worth the effort to look for such a wonder woman.

Then Ardyn happens. Then Ardyn is revealed as female in private, and after much discussion agrees to be revealed as female in public as well and the bachelors start calling. Cor watches for like- a year at least, probably closer to two as Ardyn deals with the same issues he does only in male form, as she tears them apart with a smile and leaves them thinking they’ve been complimented and not mocked to death. He watches, and knows that Ardyn is watching him too.

Then one day, on the cusp of YET ANOTHER Gala (okay there aren’t that many but they ARE annoying and Cor dreads each and every one with a passion), he comes home to find Ardyn IN HIS APARTMENT, lazing on his couch, all four paws in the air, and staring at the ceiling as she plays with her hat. “How did you get in here?” Cor scowls.

“Picked the window lock and opened it enough to shove my knife through, then I warped.” She says casually like that isn’t the most impressive form of warping there is, to be able to slide through a space that her mind should have told her was impossible to fit through and thus prevented the warp. Before he can demand she leave, she rolls off the couch and lands on her belly and paws on the floor like she’s the felinedaetaur and not him, “Court me,” she says with a manic gleam in her eyes, so manic her blue eyes are now bright gold.

Cor wonders if Regis will forgive him if he ends up drawing a sword on the king’s half-sister because this is like all of his worst nightmares in one, minus Gilgamesh being there, “No.”

“Yes.”

“I’m not interested.” He manages past stiff lips.

Ardyn hisses, low and feral, tail lashing in annoyance and wings mantling there on the floor before she settles with bland, “I’m not either, obviously. Come now, Immortal,” he growls at the hated nickname, “I thought you were the smart one of my brother’s troupe. The Gala is three days from now and we both know what that will mean, you’ll spend all evening choking on rote niceties to all the female nobles you can’t insult without it reflecting on your king and I will spend all evening wasting time verbally shredding all the male idiots who come with dreams of being a prince instead of letting me drink my fancy wine in peace.”

Cor senses one of Ardyn’s mad schemes on the horizon. Unlike Clarus and Titus, this actually makes him relax. Ardyn’s schemes are usually brilliant in a brutally unorthodox way, and if she has a plan to get them out of the Gala... “So?”

“So,” she parrots as she frisbees her hat to him, making him catch it on instinct, “court me, and we’ll have the perfect excuse to tell each other’s crowd of respective blithering stalkers to go skin themselves.” Cor’s eyebrows shoot up as he finally lets himself stalk into the living room, tail swishing in thought as Ardyn grins, her fangs glinting in the light, “Think about it,” she purrs low and seductively, tail waggling like she’s making a proposition and not plotting to help him out of all his propositions, “No woman will have a prayer of competing with me in status or prestige, I’m the king’s sister, a dragontaur and former Chancellor of an empire. At least half of them will leave you alone knowing they have no chance and the other half will be easy for me to scare off.”

Cor’s mind begins working overtime as he unthinkingly settles on the carpet in front of her, paws tucking under his chest as he crosses his arms, “And your suitors will thin enormously as well rather than compete with me, the King’s favored and Marshal of the Crownsguard.” And the famed Immortal, he doesn’t say, because he hates that nickname with a passion.

Ardyn’s grin grows bigger, “Exactly,” she rumbles seductively, looking far less like a mortal Taur and fare more like a tackily dressed succubus trying to talk him into selling his soul for a night’s pleasure, “So? What do you say? Want to give all of Lucian high society a nice heart attack?”

Cor feels his lips twitch and passes her ugly old hat back to her, a deal as good as made in blood, “We’ll need to match clothes and be seen entering the Gala together,” He says after scrounging in his brain for all the things Regis did to announce his courtship with Aulea. He paused, then held up a finger and padded off to his room. A few minutes digging through his chest of knickknacks and junk found on missions and he returns with a glittering tail-band of gold, engraved with lions and with sapphires for eyes. A prize found when wandering through old ruins, he’d only kept it out of boredom. Ardyn smiles viciously as she accepts the “courting gift” and slides it onto her tail, then pulls a shimmering ebony foreleg bracelet out of her armiger, engraved with the symbol of Lucis and with rubies set in the eye socket and outline of the skull. Cor raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t question where it came from, just slides it on to make sure it fits. It does, perfectly, and he suspects she had it commissioned for just this scheme.

He expects the tailors to throw a fit over having to provide matching outfits on such short notice and in secret, but instead they start crying for joy (“No checker patters or plaids!” one sobs as he carefully cuts out the silk pattern, “Only three layers!” wails another for joy as he alternates between taking a bemused Ardyn’s measurements and dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief).

They don’t tell anyone else in the Citadel, and Cor just tells Regis and Clarus that he’ll be a bit late for the Gala (Regis eyes him suspiciously, like he thinks Cor is going to play hooky, but Cor just blinks solemnly and Regis lets him go with a sigh).

The utterly dead, stunned, horrified silence that falls over the Gala when the frazzled goattaur herald announces, “The Marshal Cor Leonis and the Princess Ardyn Izunia Caelum.” and everyone watches as they stalk slowly, languidly down the stairs in matching finery, Ardyn’s short hair done up with tasteful gold ornaments, hat nowhere in sight, the golden lion-engraved band on her tail glinting like an executioner’s freshly sharpened axe while Cor’s foreleg band of black and rubies stands out sharply against his golden fur.

They don’t have to announce a thing or say a word. Everyone present knows what this means. To bear each other’s colors and symbols, to arrive openly together, Ardyn’s arm linked delicately through Cor’s, to be wearing matching attire-.

Cor decides instantly that this entire charade is worth it when he sees several of his more annoying stalkers straight up faint and Clarus choking on his wine while Regis gapes.

 (Of course, after gloriously and shamelessly fake-dating for three months, Ardyn gets bored and asks Cor out to coffee somewhere public, to really sell the whole courting thing. After that, Cor, as thank you for the help against all the harpies in his life, drags a willing Ardyn off on a prolonged mission out in the wilds where there are no people and no rules, just him and Ardyn hiking through the wilds, spying on the Nifs (blowing up the base like Regis expressly told them not to do without backup) and pushing each other into the nearest body of water when one or the other gets too cheeky/sarcastic and-

You can see where it spirals from there. XD. Nox is losing his mind a little because his Uncle and his Aunt are DATING. But also yay? They’re dating? Regis is a Crisis because how do you Shovel Talk Cor? You can’t! And he can’t Shovel Talk Ardyn either because that’s his sister dating the lion Regis raised as a little brother figure and oh no think of what those two will get up to Clarus. Think of the chaos. Aulea, literally the only person other than Nox and Titus to realize this is fake dating, is very gleeful in carefully nudging them into REAL dating with Titus’s help. By the time Cor and Ardyn realize the trap it’s too late).