#teen short story contest

[kingsbridgelibraryteens]

Frankenstein Short Story Contest

Submissions now open! Deadline: Sunday, March 17, 2024 | 11:59 PM ET

Calling all teens! Get creative for the chance to win up to $250! The English writer Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein following a terrifying dream she had of a scientist creating a monster. To coincide with the special Fate of Frankenstein display in the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures, the Library invites you to write or illustrate a story based on your own dream or nightmare. 

About the Contest

We're looking for your short stories, comic strips, and artwork inspired by dreams and nightmares. Send us your submissions by Sunday, March 17, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET for a chance to win!

Five winners will be selected in two age categories: 13–15 and 16–19. 

One winner in each category will be awarded $250, one runner-up in each category will be awarded $100, and three honorable mentions in each category will be awarded $50.

Written work of up to 2,000 words will be accepted as will comics or narrative art of up to five letter-sized pages (8.5 x 11 inches).

See all terms and conditions.

Apply Now!

[kathaynesart]

And with that, first place prize for the Replica Holiday Special Cover Contest is complete! Thank you again @abbeyofcyn for your patience and your amazing, winning cover!

Cyn's request was simply to have Donnie from their Krang Infection AU interacting with Replica Donnie. It was supposed to just be a colored piece but I got the idea of Rep!Donnie giving teen Donnie some pointers and decided to do a short comic instead. This was so fun to make, so thank you for the inspiration and your wonderful version of Donnie! He's one of my all time favorites.

If you haven't read it I highly recommend checking out abbeyofcyn's Krang Infection AU as well as it's continuation. It's such a wonderful story!

[thecynthh]

end game - M.S

synopsis - through matt and y/n’s life both of them never thought they would be hooking up, but what happens when everyone finds out about them and it blows up in their face.

2.6k words

notes - IM NOT HATING ON MADI I JUST NEEDED SOMEONE TO USE FOR STORY PURPOSES. (im her biggest fan dont cancel me)

(synopsis for a new series that i’m working on is featured)

this is for @annamcdonalds67 contest!! i saw the post and saw how many taylor swift songs were there and this was one of my favourite ones out there and i got insanely inspired. please share some love to anna as well bc she deserves it for organizing this !

warnings - smut->angst, small matt sub, riding, oral (fem receiving), childhood best friends to fwb to lovers, badboy!matt x goodgirl!reader

for lacysturniolo and her amazing work and dedication to her fans, i’ll look up to you, forever and always

-

matt barely made it through the door before his arms were strangling me in a death inducing kiss. in my whole 17, almost 18, years of life i never expected in my life did i think my childhood best friend would be the one crushing me with his lips. we’ve both dated around but through it all we ended up here.

“fuck, matt” the breathy name escapes from my mouth feeling him move down to my neck leaving stinging hickeys with his talented mouth. “god im glad your parents aren’t here, don’t think my good kid image would keep up if they heard you.”

“you’re so inappropriate matt” my eyes roll listening to him rub in how much my parents love matt. “come on, i don’t like the idea of you fucking me on any other surface than in my room especially in my parents house.”

“whatever you say princess,” the small smirk he’s always had since he was 12 still looms over me as i lead him towards the grand staircase. he followed very close behind me keeping his arms and mouth on my neck.

it doesn’t take long till he’s holding my arms above my head with his fingers intertwined with mine. “matt, fuck, please can you just fuck me now.”

“you don’t get to be impatient, you called.”

“and you came.”

“you are about to as well.” i wanted to wipe that smirk clean off his face if his body didn’t feel so right pressed up against mine.

we haven’t told anyone about us yet, not even nick or chris. we both knew it would only make things worse, and i was alright with keeping it a secret. i’ve spent enough of my closeted and innocent. I'm a teenager, teens are supposed to do this type of thing. teens may hook up but maybe not with their childhood best friends

his mouth trailed down from my neck, to my sternum, all the down to between my thighs before he yanked my legs down to come closer to the edge of the bed.

3RD PERSON POV

matt’s hands never seem to have left y/n's body, exploring every last inch of her body. her arms, legs and heart were his. matt spends no time wasted connecting his lips to her clothed heat, within seconds she’s shimming her pants and underwear off.

there was a small knock on the door with an awaiting friend, madi was there to meet up with y/n to pick up the homework she had missed that day. without an answer from the door, madi looks around the house through windows and cracks in the blinds.

only seeing a light shown through from the living room, she wanders off to the balcony and fire escape on the side of the house. it was only a flight of stairs and a half till madi was on par with the balcony, it was a short climb till she was onto the balcony. the only thing blocking madi and the couple was a transparent creme coloured cloth with embroidered rose accents.

y/n’s loud moans escaped flooding her bedroom, escaped through the window. the curtains sway giving madi an opening to see matt fully down on her friend and her enjoying it. madi’s mouth gapes open as ashe slides her phone out of her pocket.

the camera app opens quickly as she swipes to record.

the small blip of her phone pipes up as she capturns the full scene on camera, the summer sunset gave a yellow glow to the recording. matt rips off his shirt with one arm dipping right back to y/n’s core.

madi’s only thought was to share it to her best friend, nick. little did she know nick wasn’t the only one she sent it to, but her homework group. madi continued to record through the small slit of the window.

science 4 group

madi 🩷

* view one attachment *

HOLY SHIT LOOK MATT AT Y/N’S HOUSE!!!!

Y/N’S POV

“matt, matt, matt” the release came to me in an instant. “come on baby girl, you did so well. you ready?” the sound of his belt come undone only made me hotter. before another word could be exchanged i grab his shoulder pulling him down to the bed rolling on top of him.

“i’ll ride you till your dick is limp and your begging me to stop.” matt’s reaction only made me feel even more aroused. “anything for you baby,” matt said copying my tone of voice.

stationing my legs on either side of his i bend down to kiss him, pressing my pebbled nipples onto his bare skin, slowly grinding down onto his raging hard on.

his whines only intensify the burning seer of his skin touching mine. my hand follows in suit with my hips feeling every last vein of his dick through his boxers. “a-ah!” matt whines due to me pressing my finger into his slit.

pushing his boxers down his dick springs out slapping against his happy trail. “please please please y/n please.”

“please what, pretty boy?” i mock feeling the surge of power flow through me.

“please fuck me,” he whimpered out. for such a bad boy exterior, he sure doesn’t act like it now.

without waiting another second for him to say something else i sink down onto his throbbing dick feeling him fill me up so well. “mhhm, matty you feel so good.”

“ugh, only for you b-baby.” matt’s barely keeping it together, while i bounce up and down on his cock. speeding up every second. i begin to grind onto his pelvis as i slam down onto him with his body slightly grazing my clit in the best way possible.

“matty, im a-about to c-cum. do it with me.” his hands sneak onto my love handles as i lean up against him again, he attaches his mouth to my nipple that was dangling in front of him. his hips snap up and down, pushing insanely deep inside me. “m-matt!” a loud pornographic moan comes out of my mouth feeling the knot in my stomach break, feeling a huge relief. he follows soon after letting out a guttural grunt.

i roll down beside him, both of our deep breaths fill the room. “fuck, oh my god.” i breathed out, heaving my chest. i turn to face him, putting my hand against his chest and my head onto the arm that was stretched out near me. my curtains move and sway with the blow of my fan as i see a shadow fall off of my window, it must've just been an animal.

“i don’t think i can walk,” i confess feeling him look over to me. my hand travels to feel his scruff that he’s been growing out the past few weeks, it’s never gotten that long but it’s still very apparent. “hmm, lemme take care of you okay? we can even get mcdonald’s, im fine driving out to the further one if you're scared of people to see us.” he combs his hand through my hair, tugging a little relieving some heat and pressure my head has collected.

he pushes himself up and goes to the bathroom, turning on the shower and coming back to retrieve me.

-

this whole day it felt like people were staring at me left and right, i haven’t even been in the building for more than 20 minutes and i’ve had three people quickly lose eye contact with me when they were the one staring first.

i haven’t matt yet but i was really hoping we would be able to meet up at our usual spot, im snapped out of my trances feeling someone's hand on my shoulder squeezing it a little. i jump a little whipping my head towards the rest of the hands body, thank goodness it’s just nick. “babes, we gotta talk.” he said in a monotone voice, “why what’s up?”

“just give me a second, stop moving.” i listen to him and stop in my tracks seeing nothing wrong with today but the staring. “okay now what happened last night,” nick said now holding me down with both hands.

“well if you must know, my parents are out of town, like you knew and i stayed home studying before going out for mcdonald’s.” the lie slipped out from my mouth with ease hoping to keep matt and my secret a secret for a little longer.

“okay then maybe it isnt that serious…” nick trailed off, his shoulders were very visibly tense, not letting off since he caught up to me. “what are you talking about? but come on lemme at least go to my locker.” he reluctantly let’s go knowing i’m stronger than him.

“y/n wait– just know i have no clue if its true or if it's even you.” he says following in suit with me. “nick, still no clue what you are talking about.” my locker lock clicks a few times before i'm able to get it open.

a large barrage of papers fall out of my locker all having the same image pasted on them. my mouth drops open as i turn my head to nick. he picks one up from the top of my locker, unfolding it and making a sour face to it. “what? what is it?”

he slowly hands it to me, folding it back up before i get ahold of it.

my heart dropped.

it was a grainy picture of me riding matt last night, his hands on my hips and my face looking at him with pure lust. it was taken through my window and luckily you couldn’t see much of matt’s face and next to none of mine. but people knew, everyone knew it was me.

picking up a few other copies, some of them have the words slut and whore written on them in large words. if they printed a picture it must’ve been everywhere online, i cannot stand being here another minute.

stuffing a couple copies into my bag i storm out of the building feeling tears stinging my eyes, y/n how could you let this happen? what’s going to happen when harvard finds out about this? there goes your life, your friends, your boyfriend and your future. quadruple kill.

i sit in my car and just drive, drive to the only place that’ll bring me any kind of peace at this time. it was only a 3 minute drive from the school to the large forest that surrounded the school. i parked my car on the slightly wet gravel, hearing the crunch of the rocks beneath the tires.

i walked and walked till the trees seemed to clear a bit, the grass was wet and squished under my shoes. brunette hair peaks from behind a tree, it was like the picture was being painted in front of me this whole time. matt came here too, he came to where we met the first time.

he stumbled into the forest after getting chased by a couple of guys once he tried to start a fight.

something brushed by the bushes alerting me, a boy in an oversized hoodie over his stained red white tee. jeans scuffed and a little dirty as he flops down on the grass in front of me. i can hear him panting as his chest rose and fell with deep breaths.

he tilts his head to finally see me, i still sit there frozen with my book in hand slowly reaching for my keys being cautious incase he tries to go for me next. “i see, you know. im not gonna hurt you. i would never hit a girl.” his words are slow and very unconvincing. “do you talk? he asked, glancing at me again. he finally sat up and came closer to me, my hand clutches the house keys even harder as he steps plop in front of me.

his body collides with the tree as he sits next to me, his sweet and salty cologne fills my senses, feeling it cloud my thoughts. he takes the book from my hands and closes it looking around at it.

“everything has changed by cynthia atlan, we crave love so much we would trade anything for it, including ourselves. caleb and cam grew up together, had their first kiss together but still haven’t thought about getting together. when highschool life takes a horrible turn the two become separated and distant, caleb doesn’t wanna let cam go but life takes turns and loops. how are they able to navigate hormones, relationships and life? sounds like a hoot.” his sarcastic voice says otherwise.

“this caleb guy doesn’t sound like he really deserved her huh…” he flips through the pages quickly glancing at a couple words per page.

“well, i guess i should go, but i’ll see you around here i hope.” his smile beamed brightly as he pushed himself up and looked back at me.

“hm, maybe” it comes out almost as a whisper. his face lights up as he takes my words as an accomplishment. “yeah, i’ll see you around here, tomorrow.”

he never gave me my book back before he left and i didn’t even realise it. i guess that’s one way to make me come back

“matt?” i get out between choked sobs. i didn’t even need to see his red eyes and face to tell he’s also been crying.

he peered over to where i was looking up and down before attempting to wipe away his tears and sadness. i didn’t think twice before joining him.

his brown hair is tousled by him running his hand through it many times and his tear stained eyes tell more than what he wished.

“y/n i-i’m so s-sorry.” his tears spilt once more making any effort of wiping them away futile. he wrapped his arms around something and hugged it tight. it was my book he stole from me when we first met. “i’m so so so fucking sorry i’m such an idiot.”

“matt, please it wasn’t your fault. but i am terrified, i don’t want to ever go back to school.” my voice cracks while trying to get through that sentence. matt doesn’t even utter another word before he tugs me into him, straddling him as he wraps his arms around me in a tight hug.

“i’m so sorry y/n, i didn’t wanna face anyone after i left. when i walked in everyone was applauding and people shook my hand, i had no clue why until chris and nick texted me about it.”

his pure sincerity makes me suffocate him a little more not wanting anyone else around but him. he puts a hand around my cheek guiding it to him to kiss, i get a good look of his equally dishevelled face.

“we are so fucked.” i giggle a little thinking about how much a shit show this will be when we get back.

“is this what they mean in everything has changed that high school life would take a bad turn? because i’m happy to go through it if it means we get our happy ending. you’re my end, end game.”

“yes matt, this is everything. we are the happy ending. we are end game” my quivering lips connect with his.

[amongsnot]

template by @/le__lex on twitter!

anyways i want to reread some of my favorite nu fics, so i figured i would do it while simultaneously recommending them at the same time :)

[DISCLAIMER] some of these fics are locked to guests! please keep that in mind when clicking a link :)

The Neutron-Turner Family Memory Book by TheBlossomingFox (teen | oneshot ) : this fic is adorable! it’s an aged up jt fic where the author explores their dynamic as parents. it’s adorable and funny and one of the best slice of life fics i’ve read :)

2. Another Day in the Future by JesterJazz (gen | oneshot ) : this fic is definitely one of the funniest fics i’ve read in this fandom. following jimmy and timmy when they accidentally time travel to the future, landing in the house of their future married selves. it's jimmytimmy focused, but it highlights their friendship and fun bickering really well.

3. twin fantasy by nousernamesorry (teen | 4/? ) : jimmy receives a message telling him that he's needed in space, and he quickly leaves. only, he doesn't come back, and timmy has to learn to heal. i'm going to be completely and fully honest when i say that this is the fic that got me into writing for the nicktoons team. op has a writing style that is incredibly heartwrenching, and the small amount of fluff before the latter chapters completely breaks me everytime i read it.

4. more than cartoons; battle of the bands by anonymous (gen | oneshot) : spongebob squarepants is putting together a band for the annual school contest! with his makeshift team of muscians, he has to beat the syndicate before they win the tournament! this fic is SO fun! it's definitely my favorite of the author's oneshots, and it's amusing and charming and just aljewfwabkfd

5. only have a moment before it's all over (a burning desire that cries again) by whisper_into_my_heart (teen | 14/50 ) : i have to be completely honest, i was REALLY late to the party with this fic!! mpreg (and preg in general) really is not my jam, but i instantly fell in love with op's oc hannah, and the dynamic between the girl andher parents. im not exactly caught up with the story (no spoilers please :3) but i am SO excited to finish the next few chapters and then for the rest of the story to be completed!!

6. We're Perfect Punting Height by CrystalMarbles (teen | drabble ) : this fic is a drabble, but i think it's pretty funny!! it's about the gang having a conversation with each other discussing the syndicates less than evil traits. like plankton's height, or crocker's obsession with finding fairies. definitely a good short funny read!

7. Rewinding the clock by Pastacurls (not rated | 7/? ) : (grabbing onto your shoulders and shaking you) SECOND PERSON!! I LOVE SECOND PERSON. anyways there's barely any three word fics in this fandom that i could find. i know this is hypocritical of me but im going to say it anyways. this fic is my JAM though. amnesiac timmy after his eighteenth birthday, stumbling through the remains of his life as he loses his fairies and his friends. i could talk about this for hours.

8. new phone who dis by rbt_lvr ( teen | 9/? ) : the old fandom is rottmnt. unapologetically. they're technically nicktoons so it counts in my book. plus, this is genuinely my favorite fic that ive read like uh ever. it's a silly chat fic where all of the turtles are gaslighting each other into thinking that they are normal people. donnie makes a mom joke that never fails to make me laugh. leonardo's raised by the gay hippo and worm. they treat lou jitsu like taylor swift fans treat taylor swift. it's absolutely insane. 10/10.

9. lead single by nousernamesorry (teen | 2/2 ) : if nousernamesorry has 100 fans im one of them. if they have 10 fans im one of them. if they have no fans im dead. i love all of their works and every single one makes me swoon. lead single is KIND of cheating with this prompt because most of the setting takes place on a beach. and it's also kind of during the summer. but it's about jimmy and timmy spending their birthday's apart, and the setting makes me wild. like the vending machine intro and the beach ending to the first chapter. like all of that screams summer to me idc idc.

10. The Art of Cooking and Cleaning by AbsoluteFooling (gen | 1/1 ) : GUYS IM SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS FIC WITH YOU!! i love this fic so muchh oh my god. i had the priviledge of reading it before it was put on ao3 and oh my goddddd. makes me insane. it has spongebob and timmy dynamic (which we need MORE of) and its just. its just glorious i cant explain it in words. its about timmy questioning his self worth, and spongebob helps him. and its OUGH cant even put it into words. please go read it. if theres a fic i want you to read on this list its this one.

11. Are you Satisfied with an Average Life? by Anonymous (not rated | 3/? ) : i was really surprised by the lack of fics with lyrics as their titles... guess ill have to write more in order to continue doing my part. OKAY but this fic is REALLY GOOD. i absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE anything that relates to timmy's amnesia. this fic focuses on the main nicktoons as they help timmy recollect his memory, and timmy immediately hits sbsp in the head with a baseball bat and it is GREAT and the writing style is GREAT and i do think this is a necessary read. i really hope the author updates, but it has been a while, so i'll treasure the chapter's we have!!

12. Bad at Flirting by ShippingMyWorld (teen | 1/1 ) : because im cool and unique and whatever the kids are talking about with that demure stuff the other ship is tigerghost. which i KNOW is cheating considering i wrote a tigerghost fic, but i main jimmytimmy and its important to me that you know that. this fic is a fluffy, silly little fic where danny and manny talk about manny's love for cheap and cheesy pick-up lines (established relationship). shippingmyworld ALSO has a really cool tumblr account AND a bunch of other cool ao3 tigerghost fics so this is my absolutely desperate plea for you to go check them out.

13. but he's got a gun in his hands, and a burden in his heart. by Anonymous (teen | 1/1 ) : hi yes its me hello. totally anonymous user here. why havent you guys yelled at me to make my fic titles shorter omfg that's like an entire essay within itself. it's REALLY hard for me to choose one of my fics, because they all hold a special place in my heart for a different reason, but specifically the ending of this fic makes me break everytime. i won't spoil it but i love the metaphors. anyways this fic is BASICALLY just a bunch of timmy and (sort of) danny whump. check it out if you're interested :D

14. Of Memory Loss and Manipulation by EepyTheSleepy and @c0dydoesntknow (teen | 4/? ) : hello YES this fic is really great and it definiely falls right in line with my other interests. as soon as somebody says timmy amnesia fic i am GONE. the plotline in this fic is great, and the characterization is even BETTER. like you guys need to go support these two because they are amazing people and even amazinger authors!! their story is about the evil nu gang gaslighting timmy into thinking that the og nu gang is evil, which is GREAT because timmy just ends up being really confused the whole time

15. When rain falls, love blooms by 23ster (gen | 1/1 ) : kissing in the rain is SO romantic guys when is some girly gonna come and do it with me? this is a friend to lovers fic by the all time BEST person ever 23ster, and it perfectly conveys the idiots that are our favorite characters jimmy and timmy. from the trope of there is only one bed, to the all best ROOMMATES, and then the romantic yearning love confession(slash argument) in the rain. this fic ruins you, but its so so so great i swear.

16. So... Zinnias? by suluswife (gen | 1/4 ) : guys idk what kind of fics you want from me for this one i gotta be honest,, i love nala and all that he does (and i know the second chapters in production!! it also writes ninjago fics please for the life of me go check them out) and this fic just. IT JUST FITS THE PROMPT!! i read this at 3am!! it has the conversation at midnight and that writing that just FLOWS you know?? it's a platonic jt fic (im trying really hard to find nicktoon fics in general, i pinkie promise) with a soulmate au! jimmy and timmy are both idiots in this, but they have a conversation on the roof while staring at the stars so its a great fic by all standards.

17. best two out of three by dhe20 (gen | 1/1 ) : theyre so funny in this fic i love them so much.. if youve looked at my reblogs you know that i love it when they say just the stupidest shit ever, and this fic DEFINITELY fits the bill. it's so funny it kills me every time! plus the way the author writes converys the battle scene well, and im so happy that this fic has a number in the title so that i could convey my love for it here!

[drawingducktalesducks]

You make great art!

Your opinions on Vi’s alternate designs?

I could stare at her all day. Perfection.

Design wise? Her final one is (chef's kiss) SUCH a good balance of showing and contrasting Violet’s personality.

And the alternates show why!

She’s a nerd. Shorthand for that is usually glasses, as seen in almost all her alternative designs. (Think Velma from Scooby Doo.) Not a bad trope.

But at the same time, does her character need a visual short hand for smartness?

Just the way Violet SPEAKS tells you she’s a nerd. She uses big words, and calls people by their full names. When we first meet her it’s in a LIBRARY and her and Webby instantly start switching between various ancient languages.

We don’t need glasses to know she smart and a nerd.

So unless the show is willing to commit to some moments or gags where Violet loses her glasses / takes them off specifically not to see something / cleans them regularly as a character tick (think Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Conservation of Character Design says get rid of them.

Which the show creators did.

(also her introduction scene includes Quackfaster, and I appreciate that, instead of them both wearing glasses- a thing that isn't actually about smartness literally it's just wanting to be able to see- the thing Violet shares with the Terrifying Librarian is... hair tie / hair band, including the color thereof.)

(It's a more personal choice. And it's message is "Practical")

Next is clothing style. Most of her alternates have a more fancy, ‘outfit’ kinda look to them. Like this is something she put together to get a specific Look. Nothing wrong with that. Nerds can be fashionable (Ellie Woods queen thereof).

But… there isn’t anything in Violet’s personality, story, or situation that connects to that idea.

Her things are Books, Learning, Forbidden Magics, Honorable Conduct in Contests and Duels, Adopting Stray Shadow Teens Off The Street As Her New Sister, Brining Pie To A Sleepover, Smacking Invading Moon People With A Spiked Mace, and Using Tibetan Breathing Techniques To Survive Eating Three Bowls Of Deadly Hot Spices In A Row.

The closest she gets to caring about her appearance is when her and Webby (and then her and Lena) put on gruesome costume make up and prosthetics for fun.

So a snazzy outfit, while cool, doesn’t really… jive with the vibe of Violet Sabrewing.

Nerd clothes, like a vest, isn’t needed the same reason glasses aren’t. Also the details would be a pain to draw over and over again. Even Webby’s clothes don’t have that much little bits in them.

High collars again look cool… but Lena’s already got that covered. Stand them next to each other, and where’s the contrast?

Violet wouldn’t “pop” next to Lena if they had that on top of Violet’s dark color scheme and Lena’s dark sweater.

Wearing the same thing (to show characters are connected to each other) works best when either the color or the style DOES contrast sharply

(Huey Louie Dewy and May June wearing basically the same thing as their siblings, but in very different colors)

(side note I’ll make a separate thing for someday: Lena and Webby with button down collar shirts worn under something, but with different style, effect, and colors)

The leggings are seen on two of Violets alternates and I think that got picked for Meta Simplicity and also In-Character Practicality.

They’re athletic, the kind of thing that isn’t at risk of snagging on stuff (befitting an eventual Senior Junior Woodchuck), and the dark color balances out with her hair. And they’re VERY easy to draw. Very good!

Sweater.

Sweater with turtle neck (unless it’s one of those very loose ones) usually gets used as shorthand for “Comfort over Appearance” (Velma again, contrasting Daphne)

And in this case it’s a contrast with Lena who LOOKS like she doesn’t care at first glance but actually has put maybe the most effort into her outfit (sweater stolen from favorite band, dyed her hair, wears bright colored converse in a world where most people go bare foot)

and Webby, who is wearing basically a uniform (picked by her Granny or by herself while daydreaming of experiencing Normal School Things???)

So to balance out Lena’s rebel teen punk look, and Webby’s prim and proper look, Violet has a comfort and practicality look.

BUT!

They kept the eyeshadow.

A VERY GOOD MOVE.

See, eyeshadow on someone who wears an ‘outfit’ (Lena, Daisy) says fashion minded and image conscious.

(this includes Beakly the former spy taking up the role of grandmother).

Eyeshadow on someone who wears a non-snazzy turtle neck and legging with her hair tied away from her face in a simple ponytail says something else completely-

It says, Violet likes eyeshadow, and that is the ONLY reason she wears it.

Either she doesn’t notice that it’s unusual to do this, or she doesn’t care.  

THAT is showing her personality.

If it’s that she doesn’t know it’s unusual, then that fits with her in the Woodchuck Challenge not knowing about smack talk until Lena teaches her, and in Friendship Hates Magic brining a pie to a sleepover, and in The Split Sword of Swanstantine wondering in the middle of a fight if she should change in to more occasion appropriate clothes instead of, you know, running.

Smart yes, savvy to social norms? Not so much.

If it’s that she doesn’t care, then that fits with her direct and blunt way of getting what she wants out of situations, never mind others' objections-

-Instantly running to Webby’s loft so she can see the picture of the demon lord and confirm the crookedness of his fang, repeatedly pressing for using the runes to try contacting the shadow realm despite Webby’s nervous boggle deflections, happily employing smack talk so she can learn it properly without stopping to ask what it’s effect on her competitor might be..

So the clothes of her final design all work really, REALLY well telling new parts of Violet’s personality, without just repeating what we’d instantly know from listening to her talk for half a minute.

Hair.

One of her alternates has loose floofy hair, which I imagine is what canon her would look like without the hair tie, and it rocks.

But the hair tie is kinda important.

Violet isn’t a book nerd who never leaves the library- She’s active, she gets in the thick of things, she’s happy to jump in a fight, and she’s a Junior Woodchuck. Practicality, again, makes more sense. Keeping her hair out of her face works with her character.

Her little flop of bangs is really fun to me too because… well…. It reminds me of Lena.  

Again, it’s different enough to pop while the two stand together, but it’s there. Lena has flopped bang thing. Violet has a curly bang thing. They are sisters. It’s cute!

Also helps her silhouette stand out more against Webby and Lena, who’s hair is pretty smooth and down in general. Gives her this sharp thing that moves around and makes her extra easy to pick out, even when you just see part of her head. Important for a main side-character.

If you're going to add detail, add it to the silhouette -> very big visual payoff.

Colors! COLORS!!!!

Already mentioned the pants balancing her hair nicely, dark on top, dark below, but then there’s her eyeshadow and sweater!

They ALSO tie her with Lena!!!!

Lena’s shirt, hidden under her sweater, is pale blue- the same color her friendship magic is later- it’s the color of Lena being happy and being connected to people.

And Violet’s eyeshadow, is also blue? And Lena’s eyeshadow is purple! Like Violet!

Eyeshadow! That thing both her and Lena wear, them the Sabrewing Sisters, but Webby doesn’t!

That’s so cool! That’s a way to show a connection between them AND their personal tastes, before they even become family! And once they ARE family it helps them visually LOOK like one!

Also, Violet’s green sweater?

Again we’ve got the color contrast compliment thing (huey red dewy blue louie green) this time with Team Magic: Webby pink, Lena blue, Violet green. It helps them feel… individual in scenes they’re all in frame together, while also making them look good next to each other.

The choice of all of team magic’s colors to be either more pastel or duller than the Primary Colors Trio also lets all six of them work together visually, like in Nightmare on Killmoter Hill.

But again, LENA.

Lena has two other bright colors tucked into her design, aside from her pale blue.  

The pink in her hair (visual cue to Webby) and her lime green shoes. Green. GREEN. It’s enough of an important color for it to ALSO be in her friendship bracelet.

And it’s the main color Violet, her adopted little sister, wears.

Oh my heart….

Finally, it’s looks like they tested out ideas of Violet being some kind of, parrot maybe, or wren, or such.

I love her being a humming bird for one very queer reason.

Female violet sabrewing humming birds are actually green, not purple.

And Violet.

Is purple.

Just like her dads.

(also name puns for the win yeeeeessss)

So on the whole, looking at the designs Violet could have had, I guess I’d say they’d make nice occasional outfits for her...

but if you’re going to make her an important supporting member of the cast and if you have to draw her over and over again, almost always with the same other two characters… and if those characters are Webby and Lena...

Then they picked exactly the right design to go with <3

[azures-bazar]

What a Party 

A happy (and long) one shot ! .... based on real events lol

I needed to write some happy stuff, especially considering the overall mess happening in France right now (you know, riots, overall strikes, arrogant politicians voicing their hate on common folk...) :')

I tried my best to make it short, but there were too many things to be said ! There's a part filled with some "I love you" quotes. Please excuse my mistakes, you already know about my very peculiar writing schedule... and my weird English, lol

Arthur Morgan x GenderNeutralReader 

Word count : 3.5k

Short summary : Let’s be honest : you’re drunk. And Arthur, being a little less drunk than you during Sean’s return party, really hopes he can tell you how much he loves you tonight. 

A/Note : Arthur’s tent has got some flaps !

Tags : chapter 2, soft, alcohol, you’re drunk, Arthur’s drunk, Sean’s return party, Arthur loves you, the ground is moving, soft, nausea, cigarette, drunk behaviour, Hosea being a dad, ring dang doo

"Got a hole in the middle, and it's split in two !"

You kept singing along with the rest of the gang, holding your whiskey bottle in your right hand and a cigarette in the other. You could not recall how many bottles you already had the opportunity to gulp down, being dragged by Sean into a drinking contest. You knew about your upcoming fate, so did he. You were supposed to be on guard duty by sunrise, which was going to be complicated considering the amount of alcohol your body had to evacuate overnight. 

"And that's what ya call the ring dang doo !"

You could easily recall that the gang was not often in such a great mood. You had been a member of the Van Der Linde gang for about a decade, having been around since your mid-teens after Dutch and Hosea had found you struggling with the law following a fight you had with another kid, who happened to be a sheriff’s son. Hosea had used his scamming skills to pretend you were his child and that he had been looking around the area after you ran away following a minor dispute. The sheriff believed that story well enough, and this event marked your official induction into the gang. 

In ten years, you had seen the gang’s ups and downs. You had witnessed Arthur grieving his son, Bessie Matthews’ passing, the arrival and death of new members, the birth of the very first gang’s child, John’s departure and return a little less than a year later… and you took part to the Blackwater incident. Arthur had begged Dutch not to let you participate to it, wanting to take your place instead, believing things were not going to go according to his plan. Indeed, Morgan was right, and you left Blackwater with numerous wounds on your arms and a rather tiny hole on your calf after being shot multiple times. 

You and Arthur were close, very close. Ever since a few months, to say the least. Anyone could easily tell he had a soft spot for you prior the Blackwater ferry heist, even you could notice how different he was when you were around. Arthur was good at hiding his feelings behind a rather stern and grumpy face, often looking away whenever your eyes would meet his, turning shades darker each time he would be greeted with a smile. Neither you nor him had ever made a first move towards the other, which was frustrating to the eyes of the girls who openly voiced their discontent. 

"These two are made for each other and won’t even talk !" Karen often sighed 

"Isn’t that romantic ? Two souls, so in love… yet unable to communicate !" Mary-Beth would smile

"It ain’t romantic, it’s stupid."

And despite not openly voicing your feelings, Arthur was very good at making you feel adored. Your tent was right next to his, he would often bring you some coffee in the morning, share a meal with you, discuss about arts, landscapes and plants before moving forward. Such a brawny and menacing-looking man talking about the beauty of some flowers never ceased to surprise you ! As Hosea would often say : Arthur was not as dumb as he looked, hiding a high intelligence, often being taken for an idiot by many people. His low self-esteem was the main reason why he never openly showed how smart he was, and how much he cared about you. He was too shy and not confident enough to move forwards, but could easily talk about everything he liked with you without having the feeling of being looked down as a random intimidating outlaw with no brains.

He had awkwardly brought you a bouquet one day after collecting a few flowers nearby, hiding it behind his back while his face was as red as a tomato, stuttering a few words you could barely understand due to his heavy Southern accent and low voice. After he gave you that bouquet, Arthur proceeded retrieving to his tent and hide his red face behind his hands while you kept his gift in a vase near your cot, humming the scent of these flowers for days while the girls had clapped his move. 

"One big step forward !" Tilly had exclaimed 

That night, everything was possible, every door was opened for you to make a first move towards Arthur. You were drunk, laughing, dancing, displaying a rather eccentric side to the rest of the gang which had undoubtedly caught Morgan’s eye as he had stopped drinking his beer while sitting at the table with Bill and John to look at you. He watched Uncle wrap his arm around your shoulders as you sang with him louder and louder, believing you would loose your voice at some point. But you kept singing, not even bothering about what was going on around you, enjoying the moment as you somewhat believed it would not last long enough. 

Hosea had tried dissuading you from drinking so much, using his fatherly tone to refrain you… but you did not care about his warnings. You were aware of the consequences of your sudden desire to drink this much, knowing about your upcoming state early in the morning when you would have to patrol around the hideout with your riffle while enduring a rather heavy headache and an endless nausea. It was not your first time being drunk and certainly not be the last. Sean was back ! How many drinking contests you were about to have together ! Hosea was already excepting the worst to happen to you, knowing that being drunk was quick to make you unleash your child-self, and nobody wanted to have two children doing a drinking contest. 

"Easy, Y/N !" he sighed, looking at you gulping down your whiskey. "Leave some for the rest of us !"

"Don't worry, old man !" you smiled.

Dutch had switched his gramophone on, you spotted him dancing with Molly while Arthur danced with Mary-Beth, chuckling a little, glancing at you whenever he had the chance. He could easily tell that making you stand up would not be an excellent idea, watching you gulp down another beer after cheering with Karen who sang on Sean’s lap. Arthur’s vision was getting a little blurry with time, he also had drank too much. A little less than you did, but enough for him to have some serious issues walking straight from a tent to another. Mary-Beth left him to get a drink with Tilly, Arthur approached you and smiled. 

"Ain’t that a nice nighty night !" he exclaimed, placing his large hands on your shoulders 

"Damn, Morgan’s already drunk !" Uncle exclaimed 

"Nah, I ain’t drunk !"

"Yes you are !" 

"I ain’t drunk, you old fool !" 

Your vision was so blurry, you would loose balance even while sitting down ! Your hand instinctively reached his, causing Karen to clap her hands and Pearson to smile. Neither you nor Arthur would have done something like this being sober ! 

"Alright, maybe a lil’ tipsy." Arthur laughed

"Good lord..." Hosea sighed, leaving his seat

On occasions, you would only touch each other when you were stitching up your wounds. One day, your hand had accidentally brushed Arthur’s, which caused him to awkwardly smile and stay petrified for a minute before hiding in his tent. He had wrote a three pages long journal entry, expressing how sweet the tip of your fingers felt on his skin, how unexpected it was, and how much he would have wanted to catch your hand at that time, but was too shy to try it. A third of Arthur’s journal was filled with entries about you… and you would probably never get to read them as he always kept his sketchbook to close. 

"Well, ain’t that a great move !" Karen exclaimed 

"We’re literally doing nothin’." Arthur grumbled while unconsciously massaging your shoulders as you let out a loud moan escape your lips

"No, you really ain’t !" John shouted from the poker table

"We ain’t doing nothin’ !" you answered. "We ain’t !… Keep goin’, Arthur…" 

"Sure thing, Y/N."

The sound of Javier’s guitar mixed with Dutch’s gramophone and the gang singing old ballads created a very peculiar symphony you enjoyed, singing to yourself while looking up and down, still holding onto Arthur’s hand. You could hear him sing above your head, mumbling a few words whenever the lyrics were unknown to him. You laughed so often, nearly crying at Sean’s jokes, unable to keep breathing at times. This moment was a fine one, especially knowing that Arthur was standing behind you. 

At some point, Morgan helped you up to make you walk a little around camp, feeling the need to take you away from the others. Despite being drunk himself, Arthur still appeared to be self-conscious and was aware of the surroundings, knowing that not everyone was going to celebrate Sean’s return, that some of you were on guard duty and others, like little Jack and Abigail, for instance, were already asleep. While you were singing and, unfortunately, ended up throwing up a few feet away from Kieran’s sleeping spot, Arthur would be looking around, gently patting your back. The worst was probably the fact that you regretted nothing. 

"You’re alright there ?" he chuckled 

"Nah, I ain’t alright !" 

"You’ll be alright, then !" 

You sighed at Arthur’s sarcastic answer. It took you a few seconds to calm yourself down and stand up again, Arthur firmly held you by the shoulders in order to keep you on your feet. Your balance was weak, and Morgan’s one was certainly not any better as you would zigzag while making your way back to camp after straying away. Your common drunkenness did not make you notice that Dutch was supervising the two of you from his tent and had dragged Hosea into this rather peculiar activity. They kept judging Arthur’s overall behaviour, finding it a little too childish, especially knowing who Arthur was and what his tasks usually were. Collecting debts, robbing shops and banks, sometimes beating people up… the list was longer than that, indeed.

"Remind me how old Arthur is, Hosea…" Dutch muttered, smoking his cigar 

"Thirty-six." Hosea sighed. "Our boy’s thirty-six." 

They watched you making your way back to the poker table to join John and Bill who were probably as drunk as you were. You could not sit down, clinging onto Arthur’s shirt as he calmly tried pushing you to one of the barrels for you to rest your legs a little. Morgan’s vision was a little less blurry than yours, and your wellbeing had to be put before his. He was aware of how drunk the two of you were and was not going to miss the opportunity to openly show his love to you ! 

"Nah, can’t sit down !" you said, looking at the ground who was literally moving like a river. "The ground’s movin’ !" 

"The ground’s movin’ ?" Arthur chuckled, suddenly looking down. "Holly shit, John, Bill !" 

"What ?" John wheezed, tilting his head

"You ain’t gonna believe it, but the ground’s movin’ !" 

"Movin’ ?" Bill’s eyes widened. "You sure ?"

While looking down, Bill fell from his seat and bursted out laughing, unable to get up anymore. Hosea grumbled as Arthur grabbed you by the waist in order to lead you to the domino table for you to get some quiet… but your destination was quite unsure. The two of you kept tripping, you laughed loudly enough. Wild animals were probably running away from your location at the moment. As you passed by Jack and Abigail’s tent, Arthur grabbed your arm and rubbed it, chuckling like a mischievous child, placing his finger before his smiling mouth. 

"Shhhhhhh !" 

"Aye ! Shhhhhhh !" you responded, mimicking him 

Arthur grabbed your hand as you tiptoed towards the back of Pearson’s wagon, grabbing a beer and drinking it together before leading you to the domino table on which you decided to sit, kicking your legs back and forth. Arthur moved a little forward, placing his hands on your thighs. Despite your blurry vision, you could easily tell Arthur was giving you his absolutely adorable puppy look, along with a charming smile. He was certainly about to ask you something… or was going to faint due to his overall state of drunkenness.  His face said it all. 

"Hey, Y/N." he sheepishly said

"Yeah ?" 

"Can… can I steal a kiss...?" 

"Been waiting for that for so long ! Sure you c…-" 

You had no time to finish your sentence, Arthur bent and dropped a sweet but quick kiss on your lips, stepping back a little. He had done it ! He had finally moved forward and kissed you ! What an exploit for such a shy and not confident man ! Arthur felt butterflies flying in his belly, he was turning shades darker just by looking at you. You were so amazing, so gorgeous, so sweet ! He wanted to cup your adorable face in his hands and cover it with kisses, but his rational side was still in control and forbid him making another step forward. 

"Wait." you whimpered, somewhat unhappy about such a short kiss

You did not allow him to step further away, forcing him to bend one more time by holding him by the collar. You were seeing him twice, unable to understand where you had to look in order to return his kiss. Your heart was melting, and in no way could you just stay here doing nothing ! You had waited for so long for Arthur to make such a huge step forward and, despite the condition you both were in, drunk but somewhat conscious about your actions, you were not able to let go of him. You did, however, notice that Sean and Karen were standing somewhere near you. 

"I love you…" Arthur desperately mumbled, feeling a sudden freedom invade him. "I love you ! I love you !"

"So do I, Arthur…! I love you too ! So much, so bloody much !" 

"I love you ! I love you ! And I’ll repeat it ’til the end ‘cause tomorrow I’ll be shy again ! I love you !" 

"Oh my god, this is happening !" Tilly cheered. "Mary-Beth ! Mary-Beth ! They’re saying they love each other !" 

"No way !" Mary-Beth answered, clapping her hands 

At this moment, what was surrounding the two of you did not matter anymore. You had completely forgotten about the fact that you were being watched and closed your eyes. Arthur moved forwards, leading you to an incredibly passionate kiss you wanted to be endless. You were perfectly conscious about what you were doing, and were proud. Happy, and proud. You could feel Arthur’s hands move behind your back, your legs spread wide for his body to touch yours. Even Sean had stopped courting Karen for a moment to witness such a peculiar event ! You and Arthur were kissing each other !

Your bodies fused into one being, one entity. So warm, so beautiful, so sweet… something good could come out of the two of you, something amazing. Mary-Beth was right, the two of you were soulmates. You deserved each other. Your kiss was so intense, so exciting that you almost forgot about all these people watching you. Things escalated quickly as Arthur pushed you on the table to lean above you, causing Hosea to run towards your direction and separate the two of you before Arthur or yourself would start stripping down due to the overall excitement this single kiss had triggered. 

"Easy there, fellers !" Hosea said, helping you standing up. "Do I need to remind you where you are ?" 

"No." Arthur shook his head, holding himself onto the table. "Sorry, ‘Sea." 

"You two should get some sleep. It’s getting late and Y/N’s on guard duty in the morning." 

"Can I sleep with Arthur then ?" you asked with a rather childish tone 

"What ?"

Arthur turned his head to you with a large smile while Hosea remained a little surprised at your sudden request. Being drunk made you loose your actual adult filter, words escaped your mouth without you being able to control them. Indeed, you never needed anyone’s approval, especially not for something as casual as sleeping in someone’s tent ! You had done this a numerous amount of times with John without even asking Dutch, but felt the need to inform Hosea about your current desire not to finish this night alone. 

"Sorry, Y/N." Hosea chuckled, gently patting your shoulder. "Why do you ask ? You’re a grown adult, you don’t need my approval for that." 

"Let’s take it as a yes, then." Arthur smiled. "I’ll go get the bed ready !"

"It ain’t wise. Really ain’t." 

Noticing the three of you talking, Dutch came closer to you to cut out a potential argument. Hosea was shaking his head, not wanting the two of you to sleep in the same tent because of the overall noise you would potentially cause. Hosea had always been quite protective towards you, being genuinely attached to your overall personality and sweet behaviour which often led him to feel the need to watch over you, especially when things were not going well… or when you were drunk. 

"Dutch !" Arthur said with the exact same childish tone you used. "Can Y/N sleep in my tent ? Hosea says it ain’t wise." 

"Why the hell are you asking that ?" Dutch laughed, not hiding his surprise. "Of course they can !"

"Dutch, I don’t think that’s reasonable…" Hosea sighed, covering his face with his palm. "Y/N’s on guard duty in the morning. They’re drunk and might end up throwing up on each other all night long." 

"Let those kids be, Old Girl." 

Hosea rolled eyes and sighed. Leaving two drunk fools sleep in the same tent that night was probably not wise, but what could he say ? Arthur held your hand and led you to his tent, carefully closing its flaps after placing a few empty buckets underneath his bed in case of an emergency. Arthur took off your boots and suspenders, proceeding to do the same before laying down with you. there was no much space for the two of you to properly fit in, so Arthur held you close to him while you buried your head into the crook of his neck. His breath was calming, especially considering the fact that Karen and Sean were actually having fun in John’s tent at the moment. What a party ! 

Surprisingly enough, your night was rather quiet. You woke up with a heavy headache, calmly looking down at Arthur who was sleeping like a log. However, as soon as sensed you were no longer in bed with him, he whined and stretched a little, opening his eyes to look at you. His eyelids were heavy enough for him to grumble as he could see you struggle putting on boots on, blinded by the only ray of sunlight which passed between the tent’s flaps. Arthur rolled over a little on his cot and reached out to your hand, leading you to blush and sit near him. 

"‘Bout yesterday…" you sheepishly mumbled. "I… well I…" 

"I love you, Y/N… I didn’t forget anythin’… I didn’t… and I still love you…" 

"I love you too. Now, get back to sleep."

You were so thankful to be able to remember what had happened last night ! Arthur smiled a little, your free hand caressed his cheek. You dropped a soft kiss on his forehead as soon as you noticed he was drifting back into sleep. You wanted to join him, burry yourself into his embrace, roll into his blanket and remain with him all day long ! You analysed Arthur’s chiseled cheekbones, his sleepy smile, his little scars, his beard. You envied his eyelashes, so long and furnished. His beautiful green orbs were moving underneath his eyelids, he was already dreaming ! 

"Y/N !" Javier shouted from the outside. "We’re on guard duty, come on !"

You sighed, dropping another kiss on Arthur’s forehead while replacing the blanket above his shoulders, looking at him nuzzling his head against his pillow while whining a little. How sweet he was, how angelic he looked ! You left his tent and headed to the entrance of Horseshoe Overlook, rubbing your head a numerous amount of times, struggling not to fall asleep for hours until Sean came to replace you, instructing you to drink some whiskey to calm your heavy migraine. You and Arthur often met while taking care of camp chores, smiling at each other despite your overall pain. Both of you had strong headaches almost incapacitating you, but you kept moving. What a night you had ! When the sun went down, instead of heading inside your tent, Arthur dragged you to his one again… and you could not say no. 

It had taken him a few drinks to finally move forwards and tell you how much he loved you. He was not going to let go, and neither would you. What a party you had ! Your feelings were blooming, burning you from in inside, despite your increasing exhaustion. You nuzzled against Arthur’s chest after the sun went down, recalling the events of the other night with a large smile. These numerous drinks had helped you moving forward, you would not be resting into his embrace otherwise. 

Oh, what a party it was, indeed.

[greencharisard]

I don't think I've ever shared this guy here, he's an old character that I had semi-abandoned after the group he was made for on dA disbanded (Glowchus). It was something I longed to be part of since I first found out abou it in 2013 or so, and I finally won a spot from a contest... it lasted a few months before being nuked from the internet and tbh I still don't fully understand what happened.

You may wonder what exactly spurred me to work on him again. Well I found out Glowchus have been revitalized and like... have a website and stuff??

I could use his first design and register him on the new site, but tbh I've learned my lesson about trying to develop a character while relying on other people's OCs to create interactions.

So he's not a glowchu anymore, where does he go? Why into the PMD universe of course! He's a regular old pichu obsessed with a book series that sees two factions of special 'chus at odds with each other.

He loves to infodump about the lore to anyone that will listen, including his best friend Nathan (Nathy for short) the shiny lotad! They love to play pretend and want to become a rescue team when they grow up.

He evolves into a pikachu by his mid teens and that's when he started becoming a bit delulu.

Because he has a bit of an unique tail marking he convinces himself that he's a descendant of the characters from his favorite book series (he isn't). He starts adding a marking to his tail with fur dye, wearing leather gloves and earbands to also mimic it, gets a tatoo; the works.

He and His friend Nate become a rescue team and he names it "Team Elementals". Since they're both pokemon that evolve with elemental stones they make a promise: they'll waith for each other and evolve together.

Things are going great for a while, despite Tobio's habit of taking on dangerous outlaws; that is until they finally got their hands on a water stone and a thunder stone. Tobio had gotten so deep into his delusion that the possibility of the evolution not reaffirming it terrified him, and when they eventually got to evolving his fears came true.

He was just a normal raichu, no special traits, no fancy markings, no elemental powers...

For a while he's deep in denial, he keeps dying his fur and drowns himself in dangerous jobs, until reality comes and kicks him in the face: on a mission to capture an outlaw he and Nate punch too far above their weightclass. They go after an extremely dangerous Salamance criminal and while Nate comes out of it with just scratches and bruises, Tobio in his stubborness to prove himself a hero gets his leg bitten off.

It's an harsh wake up call, the recovery takes months, but Tobio's spirit is what takes the hardest hit. He becomes jaded, bitter, starts taking on jobs based on the reward only, stops caring about the dye job on his fur ecc.

Aaaand that's how far I got here! I have a multitude of ideas on how to continue his story but that will come later once I have more characters ironed out. Love my idiot son and I'm glad I decided to bring him back to the pokemon world <3

PMD by Nintendo

art and characters by me, do not copy, trace, repost, reuse ecc without my permission please.

[secondbeatsongs]

Please elaborate on the Judy Blume fact

from the mid-00s to the early '10s, Random House had a website called "Random Buzzers", a place for kids and teens to talk about books

they had fun activities (short story contests, writing prompts, quizzes, etc), and for some of the activities, you got rewarded points, which you could then use to buy books in their online store.

it was a fun time! I really liked writing short stories and poems and stuff for the contests, and this wasn't like (afaik)...predatory? it wasn't something where the site was going to take these stories and use them later, it was just...for fun.

unfortunately, the site is down now, and with it all of the cool stories/art/poems/etc that people made. :/ but thankfully, I have most of my stuff backed up.

anyway! this site also had events where an author would join their discussion forum for a few days to answer a bunch of questions and talk with people. and one time they had Judy Blume join, and I got to chat with her a bit!

I talked about the books of hers I'd read, and showed a picture of my copy of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, and she told me that she was impressed I had a copy that was so old, and also that she'd always been annoyed with the cover art for that edition, because the cut of Margaret's dress made her look pregnant. xD

I also talked about how because I was homeschooled, I liked reading books about kids going to public school, because I would never know what that was like - and she said that made her wish she had written her books more descriptively, which I thought was sweet.

anyway, we had a nice talk, and she left the forum a couple days later, and that was that.

then, some time later, Judy Blume was at the national book festival, so I went, hoping that she would sign my book. and when I got up to the front of the autograph line, I said, "hi, I don't know if you remember me, but I talked with you once on random buzzers"

and...she did remember me! she knew my username, and that I was homeschooled, and she was excited that I had come to see her, and that she got to sign my book (even if it was a cover design she didn't like xD)

she just seemed really nice, and I'm glad to have had that experience.

[gardensofthemoon]

End of the year fic recs

Thank you so much for tagging me, @curufiin! I am veeery new to fandom and fan spaces, and I started reading silm fic in August, but I have already devoured lots of great stories and I’m eager to share some of my favourites. I read mostly ship fics, so that will reflect on my recs.

Recommend up to 5 series or multi-chapter fics from 2023 that everyone should read (multi-year WIPs count, if the last update was in 2023).

Recommend up to 5 single chapter fics/one-shots (long or short) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Recommend up to 5 fics NOT from 2023 that everyone should read (oldies but goodies).

Recommend up to 5 of your own fics (completed or WIP) from 2023 that everyone should read.

Multi chapter fics:

The Long Road by whyyesindeed, WIP, Mature, Fingon/Maedhros, 26k. I adore the author's previous works, and this one is a chaptered story in progress, an AU where Fingon and Maedhros go to Beleriand 48 years before Finwë’s death. The prose is impeccable.

Half-brother in blood, full lover in heart by @ettelene, WIP, Mature, Fëanor/Fingolfin, almost 200k. This is my favourite Feanolo, with lovely writing and compelling plot. The chemistry between the leads is sizzling and I hope that in this AU there will be a happy(/ier) ending.

Moonlight In His Cave by @cuarthol, WIP, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 15k. Canon compliant Curufinrod, I don't need to say anything more. I cannot wait to read more; the prose is absolutely gorgeous and I LOVE how the familial relationships are portrayed so far.

Curufinwë Atarinkë’s Journal by @curufiin, WIP, Teen and Up, minor Curufin/Finrod, 9k. This one made me love Curufin so much and understand more of his mind, it's crack treated seriously and it goes from baby Curufin scribbling in his journal, to adult kinslayer bearing a horrible burden. I read this three times and each time, I love it more.

Know Thyself by LiveOakWithMoss, completed, Teen and Up, multiple relationships, 9k. Absolutely hilarious, couldn't stop grinning: First Age Feanorians are magically transported into the modern world and meet their human counterparts. Chaos ensues (Maglor duet contest, selfcest, Maedhros is elected Assistant Manager in a mall shop, some interdimensional threesomes). I adore every word.

One shots:

Mirror Image by @swanhild, Gen, various familial relationships, 4,5k. A few fluffy moments between the Feanorians and the Arafinweans, with Feanor and Arafinwe watching. It's endearing and heartwarming with some ominous foreshadowing. It made me cry.

Mapmaking by am_fae, Explicit, Maedhros/Maglor, 3k. Super funny and clever with lots of puns, and a steamy sex scene. Lots of sexy geography talk.

The dining room by @ettelene, Teen and Up, various familial relationships, 9k. A peek into the cooking preparations and subsequent dinner at the Feanorians' house. With a larger cast, lots of witty dialogue, a Huan cameo and underlying tension, this is a splendid read with great characterisation.

Of doves, letters and darker things by @elevenelvenswords, Explicit, Curufin/Finrod, 3,5k. Super atmospheric, a glimpse into the complex power games between the cousins that ends up in hot throne sex.

Oldies:

Outlast the Forests by daphnerunning, 2021, completed, Explicit, Beleg/Turin, 68k. If I could convince any silm fan to read a fic, THIS WOULD BE IT. It's my TOP favourite longfic, canon compliant, slow burn, mortal/immortal. It's based off of Children of Hurin, rife with tragedy, heartwrenching, incredibly loving and ladden with longing. I read it four times and I still think about it on a weekly basis. This is canon to me, it gives alllll the doomed feelings. I don't even need to read other Turleg fics, this is perfection.

And All Our Wounds Forgiven by Marchwriter, 2012, completed, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 9k. The writing style is fantastic, tolkienesque, the atmosphere the writer has created is unparalelled, like a fairytale, but infused with tension. One of the first Curufinrod pieces on ao3 and a MUST READ for fans of this pairing. I cannot stress enough how beautiful the prose is.

Those Who Favor Fire by @clothonono, 2022, completed, Mature, Fingon/Maedhros, 41k. The author is already one of my favourites on Russingon, but I love this fic in particular because of Maedhros' portrayal post-Thangorodrim, as it fits in line with my headcanons. It also explores the morality of the first kinslaying and Fingon's attempt at justifying himself. It ends with a gut-punching line.

your shadow at morning, rising to meet you by crownlessliestheking, 2021, completed, Explicit, Feanor/Fingolfin, 5k. Fingolfin goes to Formenos to talk sense into his brother. Excellent characterisation and I specifically liked the dialogue.

Correspondingly so by LiveOakWithMoss, 2016, completed, Teen and Up, Curufin/Finrod, 2k. Notes and letters that are funny and witty as hell and full of subtext. I love ALL of LiveOak's Curufinrod pieces, but this was one of the first ones that I read and I remember snickering so much. Another one I reread multiple times and it has in fact inspired one of my fics too.

Mine:

Fëanor posts on r/amitheasshole, Teen and Up, various relationships, 4k. Pure crack. I laugh every time I reread this and I had a ton of fun writing it, I recommend it for when you want some shits and giggles.

Immortal Longings, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 5k. Epistolary and humorous, written for a 'sexy letters' prompt. Falcon shenanigans, banter, mentions of steamy scenes and golden lingerie that ends up being treated by historians as valuable artefacts from an ancient age. It ends up in tragedy but I am very proud of this one.

Give me shelter, the night is dark, Mature, Curufin/Finrod, 5k. I consider this my best written fic, prose-wise, and I am very pleased with the dialogue (I adore writing Curufinrod dialogue). The premise of it is basically 'Curufin does drugs and Finrod does Curufin.'

This took way longer than expected! I truly believe I have not read ONE badly-written silm fic, and it was quite difficult to choose from many well-loved works. Tagging all authors mentioned here, if you'd like to join.

[thehorrortree]

Deadline: April 30th, 2024 Prizes: The GRAND PRIZE winner will be published as the featured story on the Baen Books main website and paid at industry-standard rates for professional story submittals. The author will also receive a handsome engraved award and a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books. SECOND place winner will receive a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books. THIRD place winner will receive a prize package containing $300 of free Baen Books. Theme: Any form of fantasy Baen Books is excited to announce the eleventh annual Baen Fantasy Adventure Award. The award recognizes the best original adventure fantasy short story in the style of fantasy greats like Mercedes Lackey, Larry Correia, Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Elizabeth Moon, Andre Norton, Brandon Sanderson, J.R.R. Tolkien, and David Weber. Contest Rules Write and submit a short story of no more than 8,000 words. It must be a work of fantasy, though all fantasy genres are open, e.g. epic fantasy, heroic fantasy, sword and sorcery, contemporary fantasy, etc. No entry fee. But only one submission per person...we suggest your best one! No reprints (i.e. the story must be unpublished). All entries must be original unpublished works in English. Plagiarism, poetry, song lyrics, settings and/or characters from published gaming worlds or another author’s works of fiction will not be considered. Any AI-generated stories will be automatically disqualified. E-mail submissions only. Send entries as .RTF attachments to: baenfantasyaward@baen.com Please put BFAA SUBMISSION in the subject line when sending a contest entry and BFAA QUESTION in the subject line for questions to the contest administrator. Please include the following in the body of your email: the title of the work the author's name, address, and telephone number an approximate word-count The manuscript should be a RTF attachment, in standard manuscript format, and should be titled and numbered on every page, but the author's name MUST BE DELETED to facilitate fair judging. Click here for our standard manuscript format guidelines. Employees of Baen Books and Staff of Dragon Con are not eligible. Previous Grand Prize winners are not eligible (previous second and third place winners are eligible). Contest opens for submissions on January 15th, 2024 at 12:01am EST. (Entries sent before that date will be deleted unread.) Contest closes for submissions April 30th, 2024 at 11:59pm EDT. What We Want to See Adventure fantasy with heroes you want to root for. Warriors either modern or medieval, who solve problems with their wits or with their weapons—and we have nothing against dragons, elves, dwarves, castles under siege, urban fantasy, damsels in distress, or damsels who inflict distress. What We Don’t Want to See Political drama with no action, angst-ridden teens pining over vampire lovers, religious allegory, novel segments, your gaming adventure transcript, anything set in any universe not your own, "it was all a dream" endings, or screenplays. Judges Entries will be judged by Baen editorial staff. Prizes The GRAND PRIZE winner will be published as the featured story on the Baen Books main website and paid at industry-standard rates for professional story submittals. The author will also receive a handsome engraved award and a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books. SECOND place winner will receive a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books. THIRD place winner will receive a prize package containing $300 of free Baen Books. Finalists will be announced no later than July 1st, 2024 Winners will be notified no later than July 21st, 2024. (Only the winners will be notified.) The winners will be officially announced during the Baen Traveling Roadshow at Dragon Con, in Atlanta, Georgia. (We would prefer the winners attend the convention, but it is not required.) Submission Checklist All identifying information (author's name, address, email) has been removed from the manuscript and manuscript file name.

Manuscript is an .RTF file and in standard manuscript format with title and page number on every page. Guidelines for manuscript formatting can be found here. Author’s name, address, email, and phone number are included in the body of the email. Please note all times for submission deadlines are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)! Via: Baen.

[jackfrombaskinrobbins]

daredevil fam x teen!intern!reader [pt. 2]

CLICK HERE FOR PT. 1

type of writing: headcanons / scenario

word count: 1.5k

request: yes / no

original request: DYING over your matt post– i'm a sucker for casual family hcs with teen readers, it's always the cutest !! could i request something similar like the whole team (nelson, murdock, & page) taking care of an intern? just a teen who usually takes care of filing ends up wandering into the whole found family dynamic they have set up? thanks !

dynamic: daredevil fam (nelson murdock & page) x teen!intern!reader

characters: reader, matt murdock, foggy nelson, karen page

a/n: hiii tysm for this request!!! i love found family hc's too -- especially with daredevil bc i feel like i haven't seen many :( if y'all ever have more daredevil requests like this i would be more than happy to write them!!

taglist: @nutellani @thecloudedmind

(fill out this form if you'd like to be on my taglist!!)

-----------------------✰----------------------

in fact, you got up the next day actually excited to go

like yk in 500 days of summer when he’s like skipping around and like ppl are dancing and he’s smiling

you felt that level of happy

and then you got a text 

“hey y/n it’s foggy 🌫️🌫️lol (LAUGH OUT LOUD) get it? it’s fog!!🌫️🌫️🌫️🌫️ anyways, we (karen and matt and i ofc (OF COURSE) ) have to go out on a case today 🏛️🏛️it’s kind of interesting 🕵🕵 i’ll tell you about it l8r (LATER) ⌚⌚the door should be unlocked 🚪🚪 so you can still get in 👍👍 we shouldn’t be gone for long, have fun & be good 🥳🥳”

(i love writing foggy’s texts in case u can’t tell)

GUYS I JUST REALIZED THAT IF YOU REARRANGE THE LETTERS IN “FOGGY” YOU CAN KIND OF SPELL GOOFY

like “ggofy”

so that’s ur new contact name for him 

anyways so you got to the building

and the door was LOCKED

like totally locked

and you tried like five times

so you decided to call karen

but it went to voicemail obvi 

bc they were busy w a case

but u actually got a text back pretty quick

“you got locked out?? i KNEW we forgot something… how about you come down to the station? there’s plenty of places to sit.”

so you did!!

karen was waiting for you when you got there, and they even let you sit in on the conversation they were having

it was kinda intense but honestly rly cool to see what being a lawyer was actually like

so that took like an hour or two

but then they were finally done.

“you hungry y/n? we were going to go to lunch. there’s this place right down the street from the firm that’s really good.” matt said.

“sounds great!!” you replied, grateful that he had suggested it

and so that’s how you found yourself at josie’s in the middle of the day, laughing harder than you ever had before and having a chicken wing eating contest with foggy and some random regulars

josie was so nice too, like she seemed to love you from the moment you came in

and the wings she made smelled so good

so then one of the guys who was at the bar (kinda drunk lowkey but like fun drunk???)

he pointed at foggy and he was like 

“i bet i could eat more wings than you.”

and you were like “uhhh i kind of doubt that bc i saw him eat his lunch yesterday and he’s like an animal with that stuff”

which was a lie you actually had no idea if he could or not

and matt was literally about to spit out his coke he was laughing so hard

“oh yeah?” he asked

imagine that villan eyebrow raise

“well then. looks like we have ourselves a competition!!”

and so then you got to sit at the bar with foggy, the man (whose name was marv btw) and another guy named brian

idk

and y’all ATE

figuratively AND literally

karen was so proud of you

she was cheering so loud

and again, matt’s coke was gonna go through his nose he was still laughing

long story short you won

ofc

duh

and marv was so funny he was like “well done… you might not beat me next time.”

and josie was like “ok marv”

anyways you were grinning from ear to ear. 

you had never been happier

as you were walking back to the office, you decided to tell karen, matt, and foggy about how the people at school made fun of you when they found out where your placement was

and like how it had made u feel really bad at first but that you were so happy it turned out alright

BETTER than alright

“hey, kid. we DO have more fun!!” said foggy, clapping a hand on your shoulder.

“yeah. i know the type that would say stuff like that.” karen replied, making a twisted up face that made you laugh.

“you know you can come here anytime. even when you’re not technically scheduled!!” she said.

“it’s nice to have a fourth person around the office. someone with more sense than these two knuckleheads.” matt grinned. “who knows? maybe one day it’ll be y/l/n, nelson, murdock, and page!!”

“yeah, you can inherit it from us when we’re old!!” foggy said, enthusiastically nodding

“aw, you already are old!” you said, and karen laughed

and that’s when you knew you were right where you belonged :)

-----------------------✰----------------------

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things: The Other Side Review

WARNING: The following review contains MAJOR SPOILERS from season 4 of Stranger Things. It discusses the comic, how parts of it might tie into the upcoming season, and possible theories that may or may not pan out in season 5.

Synopsis: The Other Side explores the week Will spent in the Upside Down (UD) between the evening of November 6th and November 12th, 1983, as he fights to survive the terror within.......

Observations:

When I'm asked to name a great Stranger Things comic, The Other Side comes to mind. Not just because the story is engaging, but because a.) It expands on Will’s character in a meaningful way, b.) It fleshes out a part of the show that audiences wanted more details on (i.e. what was going on with Will in the Upside Down), c.) It’s something that could be considered a part of the canon, and d.) There are aspects of the comic that could either constitute foreshadowing for season 5 (especially for fans who believe Will played some kind of role in the Upside Down being frozen in 1983) or simply provide some juicy theories.

I know there’s a sentiment in the fandom that the Duffer Brothers were hands-off when it came to the comics. While that might have been the case in certain instances, just based on how this particular comic was written, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out they sat down with the writers and artists for The Other Side to give them information about what Will was going through in the Upside Down, as well as particulars about how the Upside Down worked.

Speaking of which, Jody Houser is once again the writer for The Other Side. She’s also written the stories for Stranger Things: Six, it’s sequel Into the Fire, the short story The Game Master, Stranger Things: Science Camp, Stranger Things: Dungeons and Dragons, and the currently ongoing comic Stranger Things: Tales from Hawkins. Unlike with Six, there aren’t any continuity errors (at least from what I could tell) and the comic is careful to follow the events taking place in season 1.

Will gets put through hell (no pun intended), but I like how, in spite of that, the comic highlights his resourcefulness, his intelligence, and his bravery. There are several instances where he’s able to fend off the Demogorgon when it comes for him. He manages to draw it away from his mom at one point when it’s about to attack her. He attempts to come to the aid of both Barbara Holland and Hawkins resident Henry when they’re in danger (and is only unsuccessful because the Demogorgon gets to them first). He also deliberately acts as a distraction for the Demogorgon to protect Nancy when she later ends up in the Upside Down and is cornered by the monster:

Will was responsible for saving Nancy’s life in season 1 without her realizing it.

On top of that, the comic manages to balance both the Upside Down arc with Will’s flashbacks to previous D&D campaigns he had with his friends as he draws on those experiences while making choices in the UD about whether to hide, fight, run, or come to the aid of others. It also contains a great moment of Will and Mike bonding in the library over D&D and Stephen King:

They lay it pretty thick here that out of all of Will’s friends, he’s closer with Mike. In one of the later comics, Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons, Mike even goes out of his way to design a D&D campaign specifically to help Will recover from his trauma of being in the Upside Down. This has always been an emotionally gripping relationship, and I'm hoping things end well between them by the time season 5 is over.

Mike’s words to Lucas, Dustin, and Will in one of the flashbacks was also another aspect that stuck out: “It isn’t a contest to see which of you is the strongest or can get the most kills. You live as a party, or you die alone.”

It's a recurring theme in each season that every main character, from the adults to the teens to the younger kids, play a role in defeating the malevolent forces of the Upside Down. It’s always been a team effort. Vecna knows this entire group poses a threat to him, which means he will inevitably step up his game and do something to irrevocably break the group and separate them so he can pick them off one-by-one. I’m still convinced that at least one or two (or maybe more) main/recurring characters will end up dead by the time season 5 is over. It’s a question of who it will be, and how it will happen.

The Demogorgon’s behavior during the comic left a lot to think about: Unlike other victims, like Dale and Henry where it proceeded to make a meal out of them, the Demogorgon seemed more invested in trying to capture Will instead of outright killing him. There are several instances when it corners Will, which forces Will to use his gun to defend himself, only for the monster to disappear before Will can cause it any real damage:

Based on how many times it keeps appearing at (or near) the Byers house in the comic, it had to knows Will was hiding there. Just like in the show, it isn't until the very end when the Demogorgon finally succeeds in taking Will to its nest for Will to get impregnated with the pollywogs that he later vomits up after escaping the UD.

While it could be argued that Will’s gun scared the monster off during the times it tried to attack him, it’s doubtful considering other instances on the show when the Demogorgon’s been shot at and still stood its ground. For example: the season 1 finale when Nancy unloaded bullets into the Demogorgon to get it off Jonathan, only for it to turn on Nancy and attempt to slaughter her:

Or when the Russians in season 4 fired at the Demogorgon they'd been feeding, and only succeeded in pissing it off (which resulted in them all getting killed):

The reason I bring this up is because it’s questionable if the Demogorgon disappeared on its own accord whenever it was about to confront Will, or if Vecna forced it to leave during those moments and then sent it back later. There are several instances where the Demogorgon seems more interested in making sure Will is trapped where he is, and there’s one particularly tense moment when Will hides under his bed and the monster lingers as if it knows he's there. Given what’s revealed in season 4 about Vecna and the hive mind, this particular Demogorgon was likely being controlled by Vecna the entire time. Vecna knew Will was going to stay close to his house since it was an area he was familiar with, and he probably knew about the other areas Will ventured to, especially since the vines and other monsters in the UD are connected to Vecna and would have constantly alerted him to Will's whereabouts whenever he moved around.

There’s also the moment at the beginning of the show when Will is chased by the Demogorgon and runs inside his house after locking the door, only for it to unlock itself:

I used to think the Demogorgon caused this, but given what’s revealed in season 4, as well as how we mostly see the Demogorgon use brute strength in later encounters with its prey, I suspect Vecna telekinetically unlocked the door to let the monster into Will’s house.

The whole implication is that, for reasons still unexplained, Vecna not only intentionally targeted Will the night the gate was opened by El, but maneuvered things so Will would end up as a prisoner in the Upside Down for a certain period of time.

I know Will got impregnated with the pollywogs, which would later grow into Demodogs in season 2, and that the Mind Flayer (under Vecna’s control) possessed Will to use as a spy. However, I don’t believe these were the ONLY reasons Vecna took an interest in Will. Vecna had other victims (Barb for instance) that he could use to impregnate via tendrils and force said victims to grow pollywogs inside of them before letting them escape. He didn’t specifically need Will to achieve that.

On top of that, we've seen Vecna can use remote viewing similar to El when he wants to spy on people (like when he searched for potential trauma-laced victims in season 4 to reopen the gate). There's also Will having hallucinations of the Upside Down and the Mind Flayer way before it possessed him, and how he continued to feel its presence in seasons 3 and 4 long after Joyce forced the black particles out of him. Whatever connection exists between Will and Vecna, it goes beyond Vecna only wanting to use Will as a spy or as a means of spreading his monsters throughout Hawkins.

There have been some cool Tumblr GIFs circulating that draw parallels between Will and Vecna, suggesting the idea that Will is a doppelganger to Vecna, or even an alternate version of Vecna himself. I'm skeptical about the show going the route of making Will evil, but I do think Will had a role in the Upside Down being frozen in time on the night he disappeared, and I have a few theories as to how that could be:

Theory 1: The world of the Upside Down acts as a power-source/visual representation/template for a person’s broken psyche, and the terrain is able to shape itself around that. For example, Vecna's Mindscape from season 4 was shown to be a perverted version of his twisted psyche that held dark, disturbing memories from his past: The house he moved into in the 50s, the grandfather clock he used his powers on for the first time, the spiders he was fascinated with as a boy, and the mutilated bodies of his victims that he keeps as trophies. Even the way parts of the Creel House are fractured and floating around aimlessly could be interpreted as a representation of how distorted Vecna’s mind is. All of this is built and powered from elements within the Upside Down. Likewise, the twisted version of Upside Down Hawkins we currently see on the show, which may be from the last memory Will had of Hawkins before he was forcibly taken by the Demogorgon on November 6, 1983, could actually be Will's Mindscape without Will realizing it yet.

Theory 2: Vecna was trapped in the Upside Down for 4 years. During that time, he formed the Mind Flayer from the black particles he found, and used it to enslave the monsters from that dimension. He was also responsible for terraforming the place from an empty hellish wasteland into a twisted version of Hawkins based on what he could see of present-day Hawkins via remote viewing. When Will got taken to the UD, it froze the process Vecna was using to transform the Upside Down (which is why the UD is stuck in time on the night of November 6, 1983), and it’s why he later tried to possess Will via The Mind Flayer: He believes if he could take complete control of Will, it would allow him to unfreeze the UD and regain his ability to transform it to his liking.

Theory 3: Will has powers similar to Vecna, Kali, El, and the other kids at Hawkins Lab, except they've been dormant or deeply suppressed. Vecna was somehow able to sense this from Will when he was remote viewing Hawkins from the UD, hence his creepy interest in Will. When Vecna sent the Demogorgon to take Will to the UD, Will's powers were activated by the trauma of being chased down by the monster, and that surge of energy, fueled by the terror he was experiencing in that moment, changed the landscape of the UD into what it is now: Will's last memory of Hawkins on the night of November 6, 1983. Vecna wants access to whatever power Will has inside of him, and possessed Will with the Mind Flayer in season 2 to either try to assimilate that power into himself, or at the very least be able to control Will if he was unable to obtain that power for unexplained reasons.

At the end of the comic, there’s a haunting hallucination Will experiences when he’s captured by the Demogorgon and has the tendril shoved down its throat. The scene unfortunately wasn’t in the show, but it should have been:

This could just be a hallucination from Will, but there's also the possibility these really are the collective consciousnesses of Vecna/The Mind Flayer's victims that have been assimilated into the hive mind and are communicating with Will. What’s insidious is the idea they might still be alive and aware of what's happened to them, but are powerless to do anything about it. They are bound to Vecna/The Mind Flayer’s control. Vecna and Dr. Brenner even talk about this with El in season 4:

Henry/One/Vecna: They're not gone, Eleven. They're still with me (points to his head) in here.

Dr. Martin Brenner: You must understand, when One kills, he doesn't simply kill. He consumes. He takes everything from his victims. Everything they are and everything they ever will be. Their memories, their abilities.

It's eerily similar to what Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street did to his victims: He would absorb the souls of the children he gruesomely murdered, meaning they would be trapped in him forever, prevented from moving on to the next life, all the while giving him power.

This leads to the horrific implication that ever since Max's "death" in the season 4 finale, Max’s consciousness is now a part of Vecna. It would explain why she’s currently “brain-dead” and why her mind was blank when El tried to read it.

If that’s the case, one of the main arcs in season 5 may center on freeing Max’s conscious from Vecna’s control and allowing Max to get back her sense of identity and self.

And then there are the conversations Will has with Mike, Joyce, and Hopper in season 2 when he discusses how the Mind Flayer operates:

From “Will The Wise” (Season 2, Episode 4):

Jim Hopper: Does he talk to you? Will Byers: No. It's like...I don't have to think. I just know things now. Things I never did before. Jim Hopper: And, uh...what else do you know? Will Byers: It's hard to explain. It's like old memories in the back of my head, only.......they're not my memories. Jim Hopper: Okay. Will Byers: I mean, I don't think they're old memories at all. They're...they're now-memories, happening all at once, now. Jim Hopper: Can you describe these now-memories? Will sees an extending tunnel Will Byers: I don't know. It's...it's hard to explain. Joyce Byers: I know it's hard but can you just... Can you try? For us? Will Byers: It's like...They're growing and spreading...killing. 

From “Dig Dug” (Season 2, Episode 5):

Will Byers: It's like... It's like I feel what the shadow monster is feeling. See what he’s seeing. Mike Wheeler: Like in the Upside Down? Will Byers: Some of him is there. But some of him is here, too. Mike Wheeler: Here, like, in this house? Will Byers: In this house and in me. It’s like...It’s like he's reaching into Hawkins more and more. And the more he spreads, the more connected to him I feel.

Mike Wheeler: And the more you see these now-memories.

Will Byers: At first I just felt it in the back of my head. I didn't even really know it was there. It's like when you have a dream and you can't remember it unless you think really hard. It was like that. But know it's like... Now I remember. I remember all the time.

Are these “now-memories” actually the memories of Vecna, or his victims? Or both? If they are the memories of his victims, is the idea supposed to be that they’re so meshed together in Vecna’s head that they’re incoherent and alien to Will when he tries to understand them? Vecna likely found a way to control the stream of memories and consciousnesses he’s accumulated over the years without getting overwhelmed by them. Additionally, he’s also erased any sense of identity from his victims by taking them into himself, and whatever power he wields over their essence and consciousness, he directs towards his never-ending goal of destroying everything and everyone. They are his slaves doing his bidding.

On another note, Will’s ability to communicate with Joyce in the Upside Down plays out similar to how it happened on the show: Being able to hear voices from the other side, communicating via the lights, etc.

Also, Will is initially able to deal with the toxic air in the Upside Down during his week there, before it begins to overwhelm him towards the end. Based on this, one could argue characters could technically spend a few minutes, or at least a few hours, inside the Upside Down without masks or biohazard suits, and still come out okay without it doing long-term physical or physiological damage. It’s probably why Nancy, Robin, Steve, and Dustin were able to be in the Upside Down for a few hours in season 4 during their battle against Vecna, as previously questioned by fans. If they’d spent longer than that in the UD though, the atmosphere would eventually take its toll.

The only exception to this appears to be Vecna. He survived 7 years (1979-1986) in the Upside Down, at the cost of being permanently mutated. Chances are if he didn’t have his powers, he would have been dead a while ago. I wonder if he ever killed and ate any Demogorgons for food? I doubt there was anything else in the UD that was edible to eat.

Overall, this comic gave me a lot to speculate on. Check it out when (and if) you get the chance. If you have any theories you’d like to share, feel free to do so in the comment section! :)

[jemstone55]

Small idea/thought of a avatar various x fem!reader

I'm just writing out whatever story i just thought of, don't judge me :")

(first time using tumblr posting something so i am not sure if i did this right tbh)

Atwow various × Kanao Tsuyuri!reader

Y/n lived in a very poor place and had been abused when she was very young. After being beaten,starved and miserable almost everyday,one day she broke psychologically and became an empty shell.

One day,she was eventually sold off into slavery but got saved by two sisters who are scientists. The sisters adopted and raised y/n as their sister. The younger of the two sisters named Shinobu Kocho was reluctant to adopt y/n at first but warm up to y/n and took care of y/n with her older sister. The older sister ,Kanae Kocho, gave y/n a coin and instructed y/n to flip the coin if she needs help making a decision.

As a few years went by, the kocho sisters were given the chance to go to Pandora as a part of the good scientist there. They brought y/n along to Pandora as they couldn't leave y/n behind and wanted y/n to also have a better life in Pandora. (Set two years before the twow)

When the three sisters got there,they were amazed with the sceneries of the planet. Kanao went out exploring one day and was just looking around, distracted by the life in Pandora,she didn't notice four pairs of eyes on her.

All of them being entranced by her beauty. The smallest of them all accidentally step on a twig and cause the human to turn around quickly in surprised. All four beings starts to panicked looking at the human while y/n just stares at them in a calm posture but have sweat dropping and feel alert.

The four pairs of eyes being Spider,Lo'ak,Kiri and Tuk.

They slowly come out of their hiding spot and all of them just have their eyes looking into y/n eyes. After a while of having a mini staring contest,the reader ran away quickly. The four quickly ran to y/n catching up to her. Then they talk cautiously to y/n,then y/n just flips her coin when they asked her some questions. Sometimes she just smiles and didn't answer the question,sometimes she answers them but in short sentences. This makes them all even more interested and curious about this human girl. All four of the strangers likes y/n's voice and wants to hear more so they ask y/n lots of question. At the end,after getting to know each other more,the three teens sorta have small unnoticeable crush on y/n while Tuk really likes y/n as a mysterious friend. They talked until dark and went back their respective home.

The Sully kids all talked about y/n to their brother, Neteyam, and their parents. They met y/n and likes her but is kinda weirded out by her using the coin making decisions. Wonders why she does it but doesn't ask since it's not really their business.

Neteyam,like his siblings, is mesmerized by y/n's beauty. Never thought a human could look this pretty-

Does feel a little envy that his siblings and friend got to know y/n first.

Neytiri was cautious and doesn't really like Y/n at first but starts to like and accept her seeing how y/n helps healing and protecting her kids(especially Lo'ak) when they go out doing something reckless and also because of how y/n isn't annoying or pretending to be one of them like a certain someone she dislikes *ahem* spider *ahem hem*

Like her children,she also likes y/n's voice and would make an effort to get to know y/n and sometimes would talk to y/n.

Jake just thinks of y/n as another daughter and would know his children is infatuated with the human girl.(Neytiri knows as well)

Y/n is always called by the Sully's kids +spider to hang out in their place or the kids use the excuse of showing y/n around to actually hang out with y/n

Y/n starts to help around the clan as she doesn't wants to be a burden when she's going around in their territory.

The clan accepted y/n as their own because of how the human helps around a lot and is really nice even tho she is mysterious and a bit weird in their opinion.

When the forest was burning,the kocho sisters sacrifice themselves for y/n to escape safely.

Y/n then also fights the humans with the na'vi as her sisters wish for her to help and protect the place and its people. Y/n became slightly colder but the Sullys are there for her and it kinda makes them a bit worried when y/n doesn't cry for her sisters death. She finally told them her backstory and how her brothers got killed just for crying,making the Sullys,the clan and others feeling sorry and protective of her and even more angry towards the sky people.(i really want someone to write their reactions towards characters backstory)

Y/n kinda just get adopted by the Sully family.

Jake decides to bring y/n along with them to the metkayina clan because she also got caught by Miles Quaritch with the others and he is worried that y/n is also gonna be targeted.

At the metkayina clan,ofc the clan members were angry,scared and wary of y/n's presence. The Sullys held a protective stance in front of y/n, Kiri hold y/n's hand to soothe y/n(or herself). But they didn't really need to, with the way of how y/n is,being calm and quiet,made the members intrigued by her. Her smile is so pretty that the members let some of their guard down. Ao'nung and Rotxo couldn't really make any remarks about y/n as they were mesmerising her beauty. Tsireya couldn't help but stare at the pretty human girl as well, intrigued and in awe.

Ronal harshly criticized y/n but stopped when y/n never say anything and have some thoughts that maybe this "demon" isn't quite bad.

After being accepted into the clan,the reader tried her best to learn the metkayina ways. She impressed almost everyone with how she learns fast and really well. Tsireya always wants to hang out with y/n to get to know each other.

Rotxo and y/n starts to have a pleasant friendship.

Ao'nung and his friends tried to taunt y/n but she just smiles and say nothing,making Ao'nung and his friends a bit frustrated. But Ao'nung can't help but wants to get closer to her,since he's not good with feelings and wants to keep his reputation infront of his friends,he just bullies y/n for being a "demon" and also taunts her about her coin.

The Sully kids gets really protective of y/n when they see Ao'nung and his gang trying to bully her.

One day,Ao'nung just gets really frustrated with y/n that he just threw her coin into the water. Y/n just panicked and franticly gets into the water to find her coin. Ao'nung and his gang was just surprised to see her like that since she's always in a calm posture. They did laughed at y/n but starts to worry as she didn't come back up for a while. The Sully kids,Rotxo and Tsireya saw the entire thing and did quickly ran to the scene but was too late when y/n rush into the water.

Y/n was so focused on finding her coin that she forgot her breathing lessons and just starts to drown without much care tbh, she's just thinks about the coin,the coin is the last thing she got from her late sister,it made her thought of how she lost the coin like she lost Kanae and Shinobu again.

Ao'nung quickly rush to save y/n while the Sully kids,Rotxo,Tsireya also dived into the water wanting to save y/n while Ao'nung's friends all waited for them to come out.

Ao'nung did saved y/n,but she was unconscious,everyone grew even more concern and scared.While rushing to Ronal to get y/n treated, the Sully kids and Tsireya all scolded Ao'nung and Rotxo just wanting to bring y/n quickly to the Tsahik.

The adults(Tonowari,Ronal, Neytiri and Jake) asked what happened. After telling them everything, Ronal and Tonowari just gets angry at Ao'nung and scolded him then make him apologize to the Sullys and especially y/n after she wakes up.

The metkayina na'vi then asked about the coin,then the Sullys just explained about it and told them y/n's backstory.

Ao'nung and his friends felt even more terrible after hearing what y/n had gone through as a child and now the metkayina clan knows why y/n is like this. This make the metkayina leaders have a sorta soft spot for the girl. They and the clan does accept her as a good sky person and also fully part of their clan.

Ao'nung changed and starts being nicer to y/n after the event. Developing a nice friendship. This made the Sully kids a bit jealous like prince fish lips was a big bully and now he's just being nice like all of a sudden stealing their best friend.

They were also jealous when the metkayina people starts to hang out with y/n more,making them spending less time together. But they feel less jealous when y/n always says they'll never be replace by these people.

Now the sully kids and the metkayina kids starts to have a competition of stealing y/n's attention wherever or whenever they can.

Now i feel embarrassed

I wrote too much lol

Once i start writing,i couldn't stop

[panelshowsource]

it's actually been leaked for some time, although — and not to sound whiny — any time i've posted it or just talked about it i've gotten 10+ anonymous messages telling me i'm the devil and ruining the establishment of taskmaster with my irresponsible gossiping. so i didn't post about it and deleted any of the asks/convo about the new cast, even though ofc everyone has had tonsss of thoughts about it 😅

anyways would have laid down my whole life betting john robins (one of THE most obvious future tm contestants, being such a good friend of alex's!) and joanne mcnally would be on so i feel very vindicated — and excited! — in that regard! we're gonna have a great time :)

someone sent an anon asking about people i'd bet — not who i want, but who i'd bet — would be on the show so i'll think more about that and post later this week! the series will def have more seasons so i'll try and get some guesses in heh

OMG ME TOO her name is mabel! she's sooooooo cute ≧◡≦

hello anon!! actually you don't need me for this, it was recently posted on tv_bunny :)

enjoy!

she's great! she reminds me a lot of roisin, in that when she's not doing her semi-pre-written joke material, she's supremely good at hanging, bantering, fitting in with the vibe. i really appreciate that when it comes to panel shows particularly! but i can't say i've seen much of her standup

(wait — can i digress for a second — roisin is one of the ONLY recurring catsdown contestants who actually brings in sensible mascots that have the purpose of helping her/bringing her luck, and her presentations of them are always so hilarious and she deserves more credit for that)

+ not important but i really like her voice

thank you for sending her well wishes <3

i appreciate the message and you weren't the only person to say this, but i think some people are only part-way informed as to her journey reclaiming her name. her intention was never to scrap the nickname shappi or stop people from calling her that; it was 1) to reconcile her experience growing up in the uk with her name and how that led to her committing to shappi as a teen, and 2) to be published, credited, and billed as shaparak in professional capacities. she has clarified many times, including here and here, that it is totally acceptable to call her shappi; people on tv & radio still call her shappi after formal introductions, like in the new wilty when everyone calls her shappi throughout the entire episode; her social media handles are still shappi; and so on. she's shaparak, but that doesn't mean she "no longer goes by shappi". there is some confusion here i think some people are taking her journey, which was lovely to follow, as rejecting shappi — but that isn't the case.

i already updated her tag to 'shaparak khorsandi' a while ago and would definitely credit her full name where necessary, but socially, colloquially, like in the quick text post i made asking people to give shappi some love, there is no disrespect in calling her that! of course, plenty of people are credited by one name and are regularly called another/a nickname, like olivia colman who is actually called sarah by her family and colly by most everyone else. she seems really happy with having done her book and her recent show under her full name, and it's been beautiful to see her come around to love shaparak as much as she has loved shappi :')

btw for anyone who doesn't know, shaparak means butterfly in farsi!

hahahahaha that is hilarious

long story short is just that keith lemon is a disreputable character (and i mean character literally, he's not real, he's played by leigh francis!) who spends a lot of his energy shouting and oogling over boobies etc

i think it's fair to say hating on white supremacists does bring us all together 😅

i'm sorry i haven't seen it! but ugh tamsin greig is one of my longest-time crushes fr i actually think the friendship between her and stephen mangan is one of my roman empires. i have a list of scripted tv rewatches i plan to do this year — the thick of it, peep show, and so on, some of my faves ever — and green wing is def on the list so maybe i'll add friday night dinner!

—————

PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS / NON-PANEL SHOW WATCH LINKS FAQ / TAGS / ASK

[alixx-black]

LOOKING FOR LABOR DAY WEEKEND READS?

A list of for-free stuff that I've written that I think you'll enjoy.

ROMANCE:

The Five Year Plan: A multi-chapter story about a hetero-passing LGBTQ+ couple that agree to an arranged marriage and has a happy ending.

I Remember: A short story written in the form of a letter about a same-sex couple.

Well, That Was Impressive: A short story about two boys were friends, went separate ways, and came back together as lab partners.

GENRE FICTION:

Virtually Innocent: A multi-chapter sci-fi story about a guy who was wrongfully convicted and put into a virtual reality retraining program.

A Love Vigilante: A contest winning short story about a succubus who takes her job very seriously.

We Need to Be Nice: A super short horror story about creepy children with a psychological twist.

Life Advice From the Recently Deceased: A how-to journal-style multi-chapter story written in first-person and details the work of ushering souls into the afterlife.

The Girl In My Reflection: A short suspenseful horror about mirrors.

REALISTIC FICTION:

Never Stood A Chance: A short suspense piece about an abusive and toxic home where someone goes missing.

The Freedom Kitchen: A short story about a woman's schedule while volunteering in a soup kitchen.

A Place for Me: A short story about a teenager who struggles with social anxiety and fitting in with her peers.

POETRY STORIES / POETRY COLLECTIONS

Night & Day Poetry Collection: A collection of poems that are reflective of one another about burn out and burn out recovery.

The Life & Death of Being A Human: A poetry series that tells the story of the human experience from life to death.

terminal: An epic poem that tells a fictional story about a child diagnosed with terminal cancer and will have the final chapter go like on September 1st!

NONFICTION ESSAYS:

Are My Scars Tattoos: A reflective essay about self-harm scars.

Changing the Way I Love You: A personal essay about loving children as they grow up.

Things Only Get Weirder From Here (For Both of Us): A humorous essay about raising a child through puberty.

FANFICTION AS LONG AS A BOOK, BASICALLY:

Make Memories: A "Girl Meets World" fanfiction that was inspired by "Every Little Thing" in which Maya Hart goes to summer camp in Canada and gets bunked with Lucas Friar - who is the last person she expected or wanted to see on her summer break. Teen romance, happy ending, 49K.

A Carry On Dictionary: An alphabet prompt inspired series about the Carry On character Baz Pitch and his love life. Melancholic and dark moody piece. 23K. Mind the trigger warnings.

I Don't F*cking Care: A one-shot song-inspired fanfiction for Carry On about the complicated relationship between Simon Snow & Baz Pitch. Very sad and dark reach. 25K.

The Song of Morgana: If I Were A Boy: A one-shot song-inspired fanfiction for BBC's Merlin that tells the story of Morgana in a modern setting. Bittersweet ending. 13K.

Dear Reader: A multi-chapter Harry Potter fanfiction that tells the unlikely love story between Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Moody romance. 49K.

And Then There Was Us & Always Going to Be Us: A duology of multi-chapter fanficiton pieces for Girl Meets World that follow the teen romance and adult life of Maya Hart and Lucas Friar. Romance, friends-to-lovers with a happy ending at the end both times. 124K in all.

Little Talks: A multi-chapter song-inspired fanfiction for Merlin that rewrites the entire show cannon while remaining compliant in critical ways. It also explores the relationship between Merlin and Morgana Pendragon. Moody and bittersweet read. 15K.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Looooong post incoming...

THE INCREDIBLES and INCREDIBLES 2 have been on my mind, lately.

Writer-director Brad Bird’s 2004 superhero movie, done up at Pixar in the days they weren’t owned by The Walt Disney Company, was like a formative film for me. Like STAR WARS was for many kids growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, THE INCREDIBLES was probably that for 12-year-old me, among a couple other movies. (That same year, I was also blown away by SPIDER-MAN 2 and… Umm… I, ROBOT?)

And I’m one of the few weirdos that really, really dug the contested sequel. Well, contested by people online. It did get good critical reception and got an Oscar nom, made a truck ton at the box office, but it’s one of those weird “big” movies that came out, made tons and tons of money, but I hear few talk about it to this day. I feel some other recent Pixar sequels fit that bill as well, like FINDING DORY and TOY STORY 4. These absolutely massive movies that people raced to see, because they love the originals and the characters in them so much, but then seemingly… Forgot about? I think it has a lot to do with just how much stuff comes out now, that it kinda all gets lost in the shuffle. They don’t stick the way TOY STORY 3 did back in 2010, before we got so inundated with lots and lots of stuff oozing out of every pore: TV, streaming, other movies, podcasts, more streaming, etc. etc. Plus, there's that special sauce with the originals that tends to make them hit different than the sequels, no matter how good the sequels may be...

But no matter, I loved INCREDIBLES 2 and still do, even if I think it falls a little bit short of the original. That was a hard act to follow, after all. I did go over some of the few things about the sequel that I thought could’ve been expanded a bit, a few months back… And I’m thinking about them again.

I think the main point of contention with INCREDIBLES 2 was the Screenslaver, and the whole twist being that he was a fictional character, a face that was created by a disgruntled telecommunications company exec who wanted to keep superheroes illegal.

I get it, in a way. Screenslaver looks cool, and that one action sequence with him in the strobe light cage with Elastigirl? I fuckin’ LOVE it. Such a dynamic, well-done action sequence. I guess it made people wish that both Bob and Helen, and the kids and Frozone and maybe those weirdo superheroes like Screech and Reflux, took this guy on. A slender, creepy mask-wearing mind control villain… It's what you expect in a superhero movie, the heroes fighting a rather weird bad guy!

And yet, in a way, I feel like Screenslaver being a mere face. A distraction. Makes INCREDIBLES 2 every bit as subversive as the original. Especially since INCREDIBLES 2 came out in 2018, which was literally a superhero/comic book movie-heavy year. Maybe the heaviest? You had AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, DEADPOOL 2, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, TEEN TITANS GO! TO THE MOVIES, VENOM, SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE (!), am I missing anything? That year was S-T-A-C-K-E-D.

By contrast, in 2004, THE INCREDIBLES debuted opposite of SPIDER-MAN 2 and HELLBOY… And also BLADE: TRINITY, THE PUNISHER, and CATWOMAN… Much different times. Especially when it was greenlit by Pixar in the year 2000… What was happening in superhero movies that year? X-MEN had come out, and that was after a fairly successful BLADE movie… And years after BATMAN & ROBIN was lambasted and put the Batman movie format to rest for a good while. (Now it’s inescapable. Every few years, a new actor portrays Batman in live-action.)

THE INCREDIBLES stood out in 2004, I feel, not just because of the freedom animation allowed for the superhero concept (which put it above many of the live-action spectacles being made at the time), but also because it rung closer to a ‘60s spy movie than a typical beat-em-up extravaganza. It’s clearly set in a midcentury modern world, a stylized retro futuristic early ‘60s that is informed by the presence of superpowered beings. Or “Supers”, as this franchise has always called them. While there isn’t a wealth of material explaining how world events played out, it’s all implied and hinted at in both films.

By the mid-1960s, American animation had kinda been pigeonholed as an outlet for cheap, reliable kids’ entertainment on Saturday mornings. The closest thing to an American “spy” movie in the animated medium back then was, of all things, a FLINTSTONES movie: 1966’s THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE. THE INCREDIBLES almost feels like a lost animated movie made for a slightly older audience circa 1965, but dusted off decades later and done in CGI. That’s a Brad Bird staple. Born in 1957, he loves midcentury modern retrofutures, and just that setting in general. THE IRON GIANT is set in the late 1950s, he had a cancelled take on Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT that was set around the time it was introduced, his long-gestating RAY GUNN has been described as a 1930s sci-fi noir retrofuture, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE is of course a ‘60s spy show and a series of feature films (Brad’s feels the most ‘60s out of the movies), TOMORROWLAND… Need I say more? Even RATATOUILLE, which doesn’t involve super heroics or gadgets or futuristic technology… It’s literally a movie about cooking! Even that movie has a retro vibe to it. It’s set in the then-present, but it’s timeless in its look and feel.

Anyways, THE INCREDIBLES plays as much James Bond as it does, say, Batman. You have the whole Nomanisan Island lair, close-quarters fights with armed men, Michael Giacchino’s score, it’s a just-right mix. The first INCREDIBLES has a rather conventional bad guy in Syndrome. An evil guy in an eye-catching suit, with all these various man-made powers, as opposed to other Supers’ natural-born powers. INCREDIBLES 2’s villain is merely an average woman, roughly in her 30s? 40s? She has no powers, she’s just a master manipulator, almost a filmmaker in that regard. I mean she’s an artist and a designer, that’s made perfectly clear the minute you see her, so it makes sense that she could pull off this elaborate show. Mysterio in SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME - which was released a year after INCREDIBLES 2 - needed drones and such to do that. That the Screenslaver is merely a brainwashed pizza delivery guy is part of her brilliance.

So, that’s what makes INCREDIBLES 2 stick out from the other superhero movies circa 2018. A year where the majority of the villains were clear-cut, like a big purple alien guy who wipes out half the universe… and here’s INCREDIBLES 2 with a very crafty woman who essentially puts on a big show. And that in the second half, it’s her and her use of mind control technology that are the big obstacle for the Supers. Not a creature or a conventional superhero bad guy. I think it works, honestly. Like, what’s a different kind of challenge? What if all the good guys got brainwashed, leaving a few… Namely the KIDS, to fend for themselves? That’s a very cool idea, honestly. But again, I get why detractors wanted the shadowy mind control guy instead. Part of me would love to see that version of INCREDIBLES 2, too, if it ever existed. According to interviews w/ the filmmakers, Screenslaver was a late addition to the plot. INCREDIBLES 2 was supposed to come out in summer 2019, but Disney had pushed it up a year, which apparently affected a lot of the decision-making. For some, it shows.

Maybe if INCREDIBLES 2 came out in 2008 instead of 2018, and had the same exact villain twist… In a world where other Disney Animation and Pixar movies with twist villains didn’t yet exist (i.e. Hans, Callaghan, Bellwether, Ernesto), it’d be received differently? I do not know. But that’s why it all works for me. I can tune out the succession of “twist villain” movies, and take INCREDIBLES 2 on its own merits.

In my previous piece on INCREDIBLES 2, I did kind of find fault with its rather rushed third act and how the film doesn’t really bite into the meatier political aspect it kind of teases. The whole idea of a society being dependent on superheroes, rather than getting up and helping pitch in to make the world a better place. (Not dissimilar to TOMORROWLAND’s message.) It’s really all just there to serve Evelyn’s character, which I’m totally fine with… It works in that context. But on the other hand, I feel like this could’ve gone further and explored the whole idea of superheroes being - to quote Jenny Nicholson in her review of JOKER - a “band-aid solution” to crime. And it being a PG-rated mass-market Disney release is no reason to keep me from speculating about this version of INCREDIBLES 2.

I get that Brad Bird probably just wanted to keep it simple and streamlined, and that the “who needs Supers anyways” idea is just a device for Evelyn, not there to make a larger statement. I do believe all art is political, even these movies, but how far the creators want to go with the politics is another story. Ultimately, Evelyn’s methods of getting her way are wrong, but she has points… What if a better society could be created that didn’t depend on superpowered beings having to clobber criminals or threats to save the day?

Clearly the world of THE INCREDIBLES needs superheroes, though, because you have things like mole men with massive drill-mobiles cutting through cities like they’re nothing. But I feel that in a world where we are hyperaware of the system’s flaws and how it’s mostly a failure by design and pretty much creates crime (I’m getting political here, heads up), INCREDIBLES 2 could’ve possibly said something about that. Instead of having superheroes, a stand in for the police when the police themselves or the military can’t handle the threat, what’s causing all the crime in New Urbem and Municiberg in the first place? What systemic inequalities are happening? How progressive is this world because of the presence of superheroes/cool tech? Why are there are robberies? What’s the poverty rate? Etc. etc.

And you may be thinking, this is just an animated family movie, it doesn’t have to be that deep… But I disagree. Plenty of family films, and good stories in general, don’t shy away from this kind of stuff. Art is not made in a vacuum. A lot of actual real-life kids LIVE these sorts of things, too.

But even PG-13 Marvel movies, probably because they’re released by Disney - and Disney tries to play moderate when it comes to political stuff (though they are still too far left for dinguses who yell “WOKE” at everything), don’t really go that far either.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR chips at whether there should be government regulation of superheroes or not, until it settles for being a story about two friends turning against each other over a family death… and then a few MCU movies later, none of that matters - the superheroes are ultimately needed to stop the big purple guy in space… THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER asks why, in a post-Blip world, a universe where half of all the living beings just ceased to be… Why are there still such inequalities on Earth, after Thanos’ snap and subsequent revival of everyone who was unalived? It’s all the catalyst for the Flagsmashers, and leader Karli herself. She was so nuanced as an antagonist, and you also had this ersatz Captain America guy who straight up murdered a person in cold blood. I was loving where it was all going, until a few episodes in, they just made Karli a straight-up murderer. All that nuance is flattened, and the final episode is just another big fight scene. Outside of Sam Wilson’s speech at the end, what really changed on MCU’s Earth? What did this Disney+ series have to say, really? Other than bringing up those very real problems we face in the U.S. and around the world?

I think INCREDIBLES 2 is just more interested in being about its characters first, which, again. Is fine. I don’t think less of the movie because of that. The first INCREDIBLES was about the family dynamic first and foremost, too, and not the spectacle. I don’t require Brad Bird to share all of his political views with me. I appreciate that the movie even posits the question to begin with, it’s ultimately why I’ve been thinking about it! Maybe Bird sees that world as simpler because it’s one where superheroes have been around since at least the turn of the 20th century, and things are different because of that.

This is probably why some people get a very Ayn Randian reading out of THE INCREDIBLES, when I think Bird’s conceit was merely “the villain is someone who uses technology to be a pretend-superhero”. It’s all there to inform Syndrome’s character, not necessarily to declare to the audience that people without powers CAN’T be superheroes. Syndrome kills several Supers so he can enact his plan and make everyone into Supers, because he’s big mad at Mr. Incredible, and that’s why he fails. He could’ve just grown up to make super technology to make other people super, not kill a bunch of them. Heck, if he had turned out better, he could’ve singlehandedly ended the outlawing of Supers… And not natural-born Supers… Imagine THAT movie…

The original movie, I feel, just doesn’t necessarily make a case for whether people born without superpowers can be Super. This dichotomy is just there to make the villain what he is, and hint at what he could’ve been instead of a villain. Sure, the Parr family and Frozone saving the day at the end upholds this apparent status quo, but I don’t think Bird was thinking about it like that. He had denied the Ayn Rand comparisons as far back as the release of the first movie.

The likelier reading of this film, and some of Bird’s other films such as RATATOUILLE and TOMORROWLAND, is informed by Bird’s career trajectory. He was mentored by Milt Kahl, of all people! One of the greatest animators, one of Walt’s Nine Old Men… He was mentored by him as a teenager! But most of Bird’s career, as noted by Mark Mayerson, was a long series of denied opportunities. His aforementioned SPIRIT movie didn’t take off in the ‘80s because who during that period - a time when SECRET OF NIMH came and went, and when features like TWICE UPON A TIME couldn’t get an audience - wanted to sink money into an animated action movie of that caliber? RAY GUNN didn’t go through in the 1990s at Turner Animation, and Warner Bros. dumped THE IRON GIANT in the late summer of 1999 with an ineffective marketing campaign that caused it to flop at the box office.

Because IRON GIANT did so badly, Bird took his toys and left Warner Bros. He headed to Pixar with his superhero movie concept, and he got in despite those who didn’t quite want him around. John Lasseter was not fond of an outsider coming in with this very different pitch for a movie. Up until that point, Pixar was literally what I like to call “Team TOY STORY”. John Lasseter, TOY STORY’s director, also directed A BUG’S LIFE and TOY STORY 2. Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton, where instrumental in TOY STORY 1 & 2, directed MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO respectively. Lee Unkrich, an editor on TOY STORY, co-directed on TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS, INC. and FINDING NEMO. Lasseter fired Jorgen Klubien off of his CARS, which was in the works at the time, and took it over. Tight-knit building. Bird was an outsider, and Lasseter wasn’t thrilled about that. But luckily, Steve Jobs staved him off and also kept Michael Eisner’s doubts about THE INCREDIBLES at bay. Bird got to make his rather outre superhero movie at Pixar in spite of Lasseter, Eisner, etc…. And it was a big hit and an Oscar winner. Lasseter was singing a different tune after that.

Future directors didn’t have Jobs’ protection, though, which meant that Lasseter could fire them more easily… And he did… Brenda Chapman, Bob Peterson, etc.

So then after THE INCREDIBLES, Brad Bird really wanted to get a live-action adaptation of the novel 1906 off the ground, but that didn’t go anywhere. He took over RATATOUILLE at Pixar, made a big hit out of that, and then tried to pursue other endeavors. His MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie (GHOST PROTOCOL in 2011) did very well, but then after that, he made TOMORROWLAND and it bombed… And then took on an INCREDIBLES sequel. He is just now starting to get his cooler ideas off the ground, as his RAY GUNN is finally in production at Lasseter’s Skydance Animation. Funny how that works, right? The guy is over 60 years old and is just getting started.

If anything, his movies are more about that. He’s a guy with really cool, game-changing ideas for animated movies in an industry that isn’t interested in that… So… The INCREDIBLES movies being about superheroes who want to help people but not being allowed to by the system, RATATOUILLE being about an animal that doesn’t belong in a kitchen wanting to cook for people, GHOST PROTOCOL being about spies still trying to do the right thing and save the world after their unit has been shut down by the system, TOMORROWLAND being about people not subverting the system by pitching in to make the world a better place and also being barred from the utopia - by, again, the system - where they can make that happen… Yeah, it’s very clear that Bird’s movies are just him venting about his own hangups via fantastical concepts, not trying to espouse some sort of Ayn Randian ideology. How the hell do you get “if you’re naturally talented, you should hoard those gifts from the rest of society” out of THAT?

I think that’s what it is, and that’s what informs the world of THE INCREDIBLES. It’s simply an Earth where superheroes exist, and the system makes them illegal instead of finding other ways to correct accidents that have happened whenever they are around. Just outright ban them from doing what they do, instead. I mean, governments in real life ban all kinds of people for various reasons, strip away their rights, dehumanize them, criminalize them, etc… Sometimes mere circumstances, such as poverty, are viewed as personal failure and inherently criminal. There’s a level of relatability with superheroes for some people because of that. The late Kevin Conroy, for example, used his role as Batman in the 1992 animated series an outlet for his struggles as a gay man. X-Men stories, and the early 2000s X-MEN movies, are either interpreted as that or ARE largely about that.

But even then, Bird’s world still posits some interesting questions that it doesn’t fully answer. It’s busier focusing on the characters. This is more an observation, as I’m not trying to dock the original or the second movie any points… I just wonder why, in the sequel, the world the movies are set in was so quick to legalize Supers after everything that has happened. All it took was saving a boat and that was it? Not the defeat of Syndrome’s final Omnidroid? Not the other good deeds before that? I feel like that portion in the final third of the movie was strangely very rushed.

The thing is, before I wrap this up (phew), we only have two canonical movies in this series, and a handful of comedic/gag-based shorts. The world of the INCREDIBLES is wide and ripe for exploring, I’d argue, but Brad Bird’s not getting any younger and he should pursue the projects he really wants to make. Again, RAY GUNN, his Western, his horror movie, his musical, etc. Pixar honored him by not having someone else throw together a second INCREDIBLES sometime in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Like, Disney could’ve forced Pixar to make one without him anyways, but no. They waited. And if there’s a third one to be made, or a prequel set during the “Golden Age”, they’ll likely wait for him to be available and willing to do it. Or if he gives it his blessing and leaves it to another director… Like Pixar did with TOY STORY 4 and INSIDE OUT 2, and almost did with FINDING DORY. I wonder if he was gonna do the same with INCREDIBLES 2, had TOMORROWLAND done great and he went straight for a sequel to that.

I’d like to see more of that universe, but it needn’t be forced out of the filmmakers at Pixar. Maybe the little we know of it is what kind of stokes our imaginations when it comes to this series? Look at something like STAR WARS now… There’s a ton of movies and shows and expanded universe stuff, which arguably dilutes the magic of its universe... THE INCREDIBLES isn’t that big wide despite the original movie almost being 20 years old. THE INCREDIBLES doesn’t need to be that huge, but I would like to see a little bit more of that world. Maybe another movie - be it INCREDIBLES 3 or a prequel called SUPERS or something - or a Disney+ series, but not the behemoth something like STAR WARS or the MCU have become.

I feel it’s worth playing around in a little bit more. I’m also biased, because I love the movies, particularly the first one.