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radioluminescentoblivion · 1 year ago

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Hazbin Hotel: The Corruption of Creativity. Part 1

1. Introduction

Hello everyone, I normally don’t make huge posts like these, but I thought it would be important to make this review and discussion about the latest animated show on Amazon Prime, Hazbin Hotel, and the people behind the scenes who worked on the show, mostly the show creator Vivziepop. Back in 2019 when I first watched the animated pilot of Hazbin Hotel, I was interested to see how this show, if picked up, would go about with its story. Like many people who were still fans of Vivziepop’s work, I wanted to see this show become a good adult animated series. In fact, as the production was going on behind closed doors, I supported viv and her work via Patreon for a time and bought some merch from Sharkrobot.com to help fund her endeavors—I even still have my Angel Dust t-shirt and Hazbin Hotel poster in a black picture frame.

2. Personal Fan Origins

Though I wasn’t an og follower of viv back in her older days on DeviantArt, I was introduced to her work around 2014-2015, that’s when I originally saw her fan-animated Kesha Die Young music video and since then I became a fan of her work and was obsessed with her means of creating very expressive and stylistic characters. Vivziepop was the artist who not only introduced me to the furry community, she was also a big inspiration for my artwork and still is to some extent now, had it not been for her, I don’t think I would’ve been in the position I’m in now to make art or it would’ve taken me much longer than where I started.

But as much as I was a casual fan of her work, I was also a skeptic of her as a person over time. Primarily due to how she would be overly defensive towards criticism, radiate a toxic personality on others and friends of hers, and how she would intentionally and unintentionally weaponize her audience against those that landed on her blacklist. These traits would only become more apparent over time, but I like many others had the mindset of “separating the art from the artist” And while there is some validity to be made on that notion, it makes it all the harder when the person intentionally makes the art inseparable from who they are or they’re still active or alive and will constantly change their position or view on things. I know there’s a much deeper discussion to be had about this notion and how relevant it actually is, but for the sake of this post, I won’t dive into it that much.

Watching Helluva Boss in 2019 onward would prove to be a conflicting experience since the first time watching the first season wasn’t as bad, some episodes had some strong character development, decent action scenes, and enjoyable songs. 2, 5, and 6 were some of my favorites in the series, but around season 2 episode 4, I was losing interest and I began to see the cracks in the show and noticed that the charm had dwindled going into the second season. Episode 6 was where I stopped which is funny because the last episode (at least currently) was episode 7 which I didn’t even bother to give any attention to because I didn’t like the show much anymore: The characters were losing whatever charm they had originally, making the characters I did like lose that vibe I enjoyed and those I didn’t like before I just didn’t care or it made it all the worse, the pacing didn’t get any better as the show was always going so quickly but rarely having time to sit down and digest even when there were scenes that had those moments, and for a show that would have differing times from 10-30 minutes, it made it all the more rushed, the stories were all over the place in a way I had no fun engaging with or could get behind, sometimes plot points like D.H.O.R.K.S’s evidence of demons would be revealed but never brought up again or have the same impact on the show, and some of the songs were forgettable (though I did enjoy Cotton Candy).

After I stopped giving HB a watch I decided to be patient and wait for when Hazbin Hotel would drop, and on January 18th, 2024, the first episode would drop to present the new show to the world.

3. Hazbin Hotel Review (Spoilers, Obviously)

Summary -

Hazbin Hotel is an adult animated series about the daughter of Lucifer named Charlie Morning Star, a demon princess seeking to rehabilitate sinners in a less violent way to combat overpopulation in hell. Along the way, she manages to get support from the enigmatic radio demon named Alastor who helps Charlie and Vaggie bring in sinners in an attempt to redeem their souls for a price while trying to be as cooperative as she can with the odds stacked against her.

When I first watched the premiere of the show, I wasn’t really blown away or impressed by it, which isn’t a bad thing since not a lot of shows have a strong start with their early episodes in the season. Where it did get interesting however was around 4-6 when it started to focus more on character development and give some time for the main cast to shine and maintain some consistency with the story, though this has its limits. There were also some decent songs, some funny dialogue, and even some sprinkling of action around the end. Unfortunately, in the later episodes, it started to fall back to where the show lost its touch. So let me get around to the pros and cons of Hazbin Hotel:

The Good -

As someone who felt burnt out from Helluva Boss, this is an improvement as far as comparing viv’s older work goes, which is a slight benefit.

Performances are great as far as voices go, especially when you have people like Keith Davids in your line up, though I would be a little more positive on the casting choices if it didn’t also come at the cost of the old cast, I genuinely believe they should’ve been given additional voice roles if not main ones for the show, so that sucks.

Songs can be hit or miss in this show, with More Than Anything (both the first and reprise) and Loser Baby being the better examples and the rest not sticking out to me as much, either because I don’t think they had as much impact or they felt out of left field. I think it would’ve been better to not have every episode with a song number unless it was a grand introduction to something (i.e. Poison, Loser Baby, More Than Anything). Though I don’t expect this to be a popular opinion so whatever

The visuals are fairly competent with few to no issues that caught my eye, my only critique would be that due to how fast everything feels it can be hard to follow what's all happening, not to mention having the background and background characters look as eye-catching as the main cast can throw people off of where they should put their focus on. It's not as terrible enough where I loathe it, but it could make some contrast of who/what you should pay more attention to.

The Bad -

The story loses track of the main premise of Charlie trying to redeem sinners and her relationship with Vaggie. The side plots don’t interest me as much aside from Angel Dust and Husk having some empathy for each other slowly through the series, and the other main cast aren’t nearly explored as much. Idk the best way to describe it, but it seems that most of the focus of the side characters isn’t where it should be (the hotel’s residents) and more so on those outside the hotel, which I think would’ve worked better in the second season rather than just the first. If season one was just focusing on the residents, Charlie and Vaggie more than the other characters, I wouldn’t mind that. I think the only exceptions to this would be the hell overlords discovery of how to fight back and Lucifer helping Charlie with the hotel. But back to the main cast, Charlie and Vaggie’s moments of romance and bonding seem few and far between, which sucks since this is supposed to be about them right? RIGHT?! The potential is just wasted.

Not every song is needed or has a place in every episode, though that could be because I wasn’t feeling them as strongly compared to the ones mentioned. Not much else to say there that hasn’t already been said.

Characters don’t appeal to me as much aside from Niffty and Sir Pentious (they’re the best) and unfortunately, the characters I should care about don’t get enough time to shine due to how this show is hastily paced—which leads me to my next negative.

Pacing is absolutely atrocious, for episodes that last 30 minutes, it feels like everything has happened yet also little has happened in such a short period of time (which is insane to me) Viv has had pacing issues in the past with her work which is concerning to me, mostly because she wasn’t always this speedy with her series, there were times she had more breathing room for her older works for instances like the Son of 666 and Timber, even the short Bad Luck Jack (which I liked) suffered from this in ways. Idk what exactly happened, but it seems like viv’s workflow has just gotten worse over time, and her artistic magic, patience, etc has just vanished.

Jokes? For what attempt of humor was there, it was very little. Once in a while, there was a joke that stuck the landing or made me chuckle, such as Charlie and Alastor swearing unexpectedly, only because it’s so out of left-field you wouldn’t expect it, so the joke works. Or when Niffty and Sir Pentious act their usual awkward selves in front of others. But everything else is just not funny to me because the majority of the humor is either sex or profanity jokes that don’t have that great of build-up or go for something more than just “haha adult words” which ironically makes it more juvenile than adult. I don’t mind stupid humor, but make it funny and not because you want to say “fuck” for the sake of it. Even if it’s just for casual talk, it's overly excessive. It doesn’t hurt to find humor in other ways even if those don’t land either, it's better than just resorting to profanity and sex.

Additional Comments -

When it comes to Vivziepop’s older works, it’s better than Helluva Boss but weaker than her shorts or animated music videos (fan-made or original), the strongest elements within the series lie within the hump of the season and fall short from the beginning and end. Though as annoying as that is, it pales in comparison to the other elements in the show.

Heaven’s methods of carrying out exterminations every year to dissuade the populace of hell from rebelling is just a very dumb thing to do when there are so many other ways to shatter the morale of a persecuted people or nation without lifting a single sword that would’ve been better implemented and create a larger divide between heaven and hell and less costly as well. Perhaps this is just to further showcase how arrogant and incompetent Heaven is, but I have my doubts on that.

Alastor as a manipulative radio host works well between Charlie and Vaggie, though I wish they wouldn’t have explained his ties to the disappearances of hell’s overlords so soon, it just takes away from his mysterious nature as this eldritch being. That part to me would’ve worked later on. (Yeah, I’m also aware they did something similar in the pilot too, which brings up another issue I have)

Continuity between the pilot and the first episode is pretty murky, it doesn’t help matters when the plot of the pilot and the series episodes get collaged in so haphazardly. If I never heard of Hazbin Hotel or Vivziepop’s work before, I’d kinda be thrown off a bit and try my best to catch up on what’s going on. I don’t expect an expose of how everything works, but an organic flow of how things come together would’ve been nice. For instance: the pilot itself feels more like an episode one than the actual episode 1 of the first season. I know the point of the pilot isn’t as strict in its rules, since it's supposed to sell an idea to a network or distributor. Hell, The Amazing Digital Circus does something similar to how Hazbin Hotel does with presenting a first-episode introduction into the world and characters, only it does it far better and it hasn’t even gotten its first episode out yet, but I don’t want to compare apples to oranges on two different shows. The point is, the first episode should’ve had a better flow to it or at least maintained something more consistent like the pilot did.

But by far the most glaring problem in the show isn’t part of the show itself believe it or not. But to keep this short, I’ll leave that for part 2.

4. End of Part 1

Originally when I watched the series I gave this a 7/10 on IMDB because I came at this from a perspective of how I would judge the work based on viv’s prior craft, this gave it a point above Helluva Boss, primarily with pacing, and direction of what it should be about and where to focus the story and characters. That being said, I was being very generous and didn’t also factor in on how it stood on its own two feet, and to be honest? It's not that good. For the first season of a new adult animated show, it’s too rushed, and not fleshed out enough in areas where it needs to be, The majority of the characters I have little interest or investment in, and despite having its moments, it's not enough to keep me hooked to know what happens within the next season.

This would bring it down to 1 point for that to a 6/10, I know some fans would put the blame on Amazon, A24, or Bento, but here’s the thing, other shows have had episodes with similar limited space and time to tell their stories yet do a far more superior job in doing so than this, from what I understand, Amazon seems pretty open for a studio big or small to do as they please with what resources they have to get out what they can regardless of the restraint of episodes to be made, thereby making studios try their best to work harder on making a show work with such little episodes, so I see this mostly as a personal thing with viv and her team than just amazon.

Now I would just leave it at that and move on, but I’m afraid this is where things get more muddy and grim.

#longahpost #review #critique #vivziepop #hazbin hotel #helluva boss #vivziepop criticism #vivziepop critical #vivziepop critique #hazbin hotel critique #hazbin spoilers

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kiss-my-freckle · 1 year ago

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This is kinda random at this point but I think Keenler Baby is still plausible. They left it open imo. What say you? And yeah, I miss hearing your theories on them 🥹

Yes. They left a lot of storylines open on The Blacklist. They never explained the tragedy that made Rederina want to burn down the Takoma Park house. They never circled back to Tom and his role with Gina and Fokin and the death of Meera Malik even though they quite literally brought her daughter into the show. Liz's second memory wipe was the biggest storyline they left open. They could pull a Keenler baby spinoff if they wanted to. A Ressler-centered spinoff like Tom's, only with Ressler continuing to be the agent he is and using everything he learned from Rederina. I still believe in Keenler baby 100%. Cooper took on the role of Sam, so everything is there should they want to parallel Agnes with Liz and Ressler with the real Raymond. The spinoff would look like father and daughter Ryker from the pilot episode.... only Agnes at the same age as Beth's current age.

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fun-with-funkos · 2 years ago

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"We're going to make a great team."

Presenting custom Funko Pop of Raymond "Red" Reddington, from the pilot episode of The Blacklist.

What a dapper guy. I have loved his distinctive sense of style. Never boring!

This custom Funko was made from the original Raymond Reddington Funko, which I hilariously bought years before I started watching The Blacklist. I had taken him apart to make another character, but never finished.

When I wanted Blacklist funkos I was underwhelmed by the originals, to me Liz was not dressed right and Reddington's hat and coloring was all wrong. He didn't have any charisma.

But here I am, repainting him and giving him a different head. Now he looks like Raymond Reddington, at least as far as the pilot episode.

I now have 35 Blacklist funkos, and at least one Reddington for every season. 2 more to finish/post, then I'll do some group photo shoots!

#the blacklist #custom funko #fun-with-funkos #raymond reddington

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world-of-ryan · 1 year ago

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Looper article on the character of Tom Keen.

Unassuming school teacher, cold-blooded killer, devoted family man — Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold) has played many parts on NBC's "The Blacklist." Tom has flipped the script on just about everyone he has come into contact with. Even though he was first contracted to infiltrate Liz's (Megan Boone) life as her husband, things do not turn out as planned. Through no fault of his own, Tom falls for Liz and soon realizes that the only loyalty he has is to his wife. Not always on the side of righteousness, Tom's complexities make him one of the most fascinating characters of the series, and it was a shame to see him go.

But being Liz's ride-or-die had not always been in the cards for the character. Executive Producer John Eisendrath has been quite open about plans to kill off Tom early in the series (via The Observer). Yet, after Eggold was brought on board that reality became quite impossible. The actor's nuanced interpretation of the character meant that the series would have to take Tom in a different direction. But before the spy became completely devoted to Liz and the child they had together, creatives had a different idea of where to take him.

You thought Tom was dark already

Characters full of innocence are a rare commodity in "The Blacklist." To catch all of the criminals on Red's (James Spader) list, ethical compromises must be made — something that Liz learns in part due to her marriage. At the end of the pilot, Liz finds a secret compartment in her house full of money and fake passports with Tom's picture. This was the beginning of the reveal of who Tom is. And although he eventually proves his loyalty to Liz, love was not always in the cards for the duplicitous character.

"[T]he original incarnation of the character was actually much darker than what we did. It was much more violent and evil, like horrendous," Ryan Eggold shared with PopSugar. "But that character has been scrapped, and there's something else happening." The final version of Tom that makes it into "The Blacklist" is not one to be trifled with. He murders without remorse and lies indiscriminately, but that is not all there is to him. He may have a particular set of skills and a chilly disposition to get done what needs doing, but he does it all for love. After Liz finds out that he was employed to be in her life, their relationship is rocky at best. But through reconciliation and having Agnes (Katherine Kell), the most sympathetic character in the series, they make amends. At the end of it all, Tom finds redemption — which is a far cry from being pure evil.

Tom is redeemed

Ryan Eggold's command of Tom's character became so undeniable, one show could no longer contain him. Instead of being killed off like the original plan, creatives realized there was something even bigger for the actor down the line.

"Played by the wrong person, Tom could have been entirely unsympathetic and somebody we would have needed to kill off after 17 episodes," creator Jon Bokenkamp told Entertainment Tonight. When Liz finds out Tom has been deceiving her, she wastes no time in shooting him. But that isn't the end of Tom, and soon the redemption that he finds on "The Blacklist" became a prime opportunity for a spin-off series. Teaming up with his biological mother Scottie Hargrave (Famke Janssen), Tom embarks on a path to make up for his past misdeeds in "The Blacklist: Redemption."

"This is a guy who's a spy and assassin and orphan, but also someone who's discovering his ability to love for the first time and developing his first genuine relationship," Ryan Eggold elaborated. Just as Liz grapples with her own identity, her husband has a similar path. He learns that his life as an operative started when he was kidnapped from Scottie when he was three years old. And although "The Blacklist: Redemption" was short-lived, it didn't stop Tom from carrying out his final wish before leaving "The Blacklist." He redeems himself by fighting with Liz until the brutal end, even though it takes his life.

#ryan eggold #tom keen #articles #press #media

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chengfagshi · 8 months ago

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also Vivzie is super controversial as well, I'm not talking about stuff that involves her drawings but stuff like

doing black face

visiting multiple destinations that knowingly mistreat animals (such as an owl cafe, the fox village in Miyagi Zao and a "micropig" cafe)

not paying her animators fairly

going on a very expensive shopping spree instead

blacklisting and harassing people (such as Erin Frost)

making incredibly transphobic and acephobic statements

voicing violent threats to other animators not affiliated with her own company

often not crediting staff for their work

slandering the pilot cast behind their back and lying to them about keeping them, but instead she had already planned to replace them with broadway actors

The pilot cast was not invited to the series premiere and Ed Bosco (Radio Demon VA) did not appear in "Thank You and Goodnight," the pilot cast's goodbye to the fanbase, as it would have "threatened his job."

liking tweets that refereed to her critics as "subhumans"

encouraging fandom hostility, sometimes subtlety, sometimes not so

this has caused a fan to take their own life. Viv never made a statement about it

Mocking another fan and former friend of hers who tried to commit and landed in hospital (she tweeted: "Karma is so awesome, aw man <3")

lying about the SA survivor status of a storyboarder who worked for a sensitive episode, they infamously made inappropriate comments towards a 15 year old

claiming, falsely, that she "Would never allow abuse to be seen as positive in my stories." This was just before episode 4 of Hazbin aired, during a three day tirade against critics of the leaked abuse scene. Two episodes later, a sexual assault scene is played entirely for laughs

threatening to sue Kedikatzen, a webcomic artist she incorrectly believed to be behind exposing her transphobia in a document

vagueing about a 15 year old publicly on twitter because the teenager criticized her

slandering a person who made a roast meme about her show (thank you for x and they excluded Hazbin). The meme creator said they didn't want any harassment be sent to anyone and had Viv blocked

Getting mad to a fan who was responding to one of her tweets and was upset about what she wrote

Yeah, I heard about most of that. And to the surprise of nobody, I heard it from other proshippers since antis only wanna focus on the fictional shit she drew like 10 years ago. All of that is the reason I haven't watched the series. I'm pretty much done with it. Or if I ever do watch it, it will be through pirating (which, let's be real, won't happen because with this, it's impossible for me to separate the art from artist).

#asks #anon #trigger warning #trigger warnings

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katarinas-redemption · 10 months ago

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Liz: And how should I look at this? Red: Like a criminal. May come easier than you think. Shall I show you? The Blacklist.

PART ONE

🕵️‍♂️

This line makes a parental connection between Liz and Red.

Episode 4.22

The second crucial line in the pilot that showrunners confirm was an Imposter clue is the “Everything about me is a lie” line.

Parental connection via the criminal parallel +

Red is not her father but an imposter of her father. =

Red is The Mother.

Wild ass speculation:

The mother died of WEAKNESS AND SHAME as per what Red told Liz in the pilot. Interestingly, that line about weakness and shame was different on the draft pilot script dated 2012 that somehow made it online and fans have decided to dissect it carefully. LOL.

In the original draft, her mother worked two jobs to keep Liz in school and out of juvenile court. Some anti-Redarina fans say this is evidence that Red was originally not supposed to be the mom as the mom would have raised Liz until she was 14. That same draft has Liz's age as 36 later changed to 29/30. Liz: There was a fire. I was fourteen. Mr. Kaplan: You tell people you got it when you were 14. Why is that? Liz: To hide the truth?

I disagree that any of this disproves Redarina. It is possible that her mother still could have disappeared and re-emerged as the imposter.

Liz's age was changed to 4 because maybe they realized that if Liz was 14, she could've remembered Red or saw something in him like his eyes. Changing her age to four years old IMHO, would've made it less likely for Liz to remember details, like Red's eyes. In the Luther Braxton Conclusion episode, it seemed Liz recognized that Red was at the fire by his EYES. She saw her mother in Red's eyes in the season 8 finale so. Add in the fact that Red had her memories erased.

And anyway, if they had kept it that the mom worked two jobs, etc, etc.. She still went somewhere and was out of the picture> Liz told Cooper she raised herself so both parents were out of the picture. Liz: Like most kids who raised themselves, I can display narcissistic behavior. I can be withdrawn, disconnected.

THINK LIKE A CRIMINAL. The showrunners talk about Liz’s darkness and how she's becoming more like Red.

SEASON 3 - THE AU REVIEW

(When Liz and Red went on the run)

John Eisendrath: In terms of where Liz is heading, I think she’s struggling with this notion that there’s a piece within her that is criminal. Red told her in the very first episode of the show ‘think like a criminal, it may come easier to you than you may expect’ and I think that sort of haunts her, and now, even though she has whispers of a criminal past that we’ve alluded to, now that she’s being confronted with actually being a criminal, she’s had to rely on these instincts that she wants to ignore and pretend like they’re not there – and now she needs them.” So, not only is Liz forced to embrace a darker side that might be within her, we’re also getting to go out and travel with Red and to see him take the reigns and see how he operates and where he goes and stays in ways that we haven’t really seen before. Liz is going to take the audience by the hand and go into Red’s world a little bit more and learn about how he moves and operates which is going to be a lot of fun.

SEASON 5 TV GUIDE - SEASON 5

Daddy issues. If you thought the discovery that Red is her father would put an end to Liz's identity crisis once and for all, think again. "Her father is essentially the devil," Bokenkamp says. "She's confronting some frightening questions about who she is and what's in her DNA and that fight between good and evil. ... Liz is going to be combating that instinct to perhaps break the rules and fighting a darker side of herself that she knows is probably right under the surface." But in some twisted way, embracing her true nature may make Liz even better at her job. "Is she like Reddington?" Bokenkamp wonders. "He told her early, 'Think like a criminal. It may come easier than you think.'"

SEASON 5 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

How is Liz dealing with the truth that Red is her father?

Jon Bokenkamp: It’s going to be interesting to watch it play out, because I think she’s secretly terrified, or maybe not so secretly terrified, that the devil is her father and that she may have some of those instincts. He told her in the pilot, “Think like a criminal. It may come easier to you than you think,” and we’ve seen aspects of that. She murdered the Attorney General and has been on the run in the past. And so, I think she’s going to plant her flag early on that she’s a cop first and that is probably going to be a season-long struggle for her.

Elizabeth Keen No. 1 on The Blacklist.

SEASON 8 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Megan Boone: I was definitely hoping it would be Liz at No. 1, but I didn't want to presume," Boone says. "I have to say… it's an honor.

SEASON 8 ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

John Eisendrath: From the second Reddington walked into her life, a dark path was always a possibility for Liz. "One of the dramatic questions from the beginning is how this master criminal's desire to connect with this innocent FBI agent would change her life," Eisendrath explains. To find Blacklisters, Reddington has encouraged Liz to understand the mindset and think like a criminal. "She's learned at the feet of a master," he adds. The FBI agent's key moments, including learning she has the Warrior gene in her DNA and covering up a murder she committed, coupled with what Reddington has been teaching her, have been leading her to this place. Now, she's been pulled far enough into the dark side to be at the top of Red's list.

Red told Cooper that what Liz did by betraying them in this episode and kidnapping Dom was her “destiny.” What does that mean?

SEASON 8 THE WRAP

Bokenkamp:

I think what Red was talking about goes to the core of who Liz is. Is she fundamentally good? Is she fundamentally bad? Has she reached a tipping point that she can’t return from, or was this meant to be because it’s in her DNA? We’ve seen Liz dip her toes in the dark waters over the years — she’s certainly not that innocent, young FBI agent that we met in the pilot — and this season is going to explore her darker side. I think the real question lies in seeing how she navigates these dark waters and, if she does survive this, how she looks when she comes out the other side.

Eisendrath:

This has been a question since the pilot. First when she thought Red was her father; later when she realized Katarina Rostova was her mother — how much of a parent’s behavior is a child destined to repeat? In Liz’s case, how much bad behavior?

The murder of Attorney General Tom Connolly (Reed Birney) was more about Liz than it was about her executing him. "It reflected to the audience about how far Liz is willing to go," Bokenkamp says. "That murder is very telling of who she was, and perhaps even who she was in the process of becoming." It got at the core of a debate the writers had for years, which was whether she's destined to embrace her darkness or it was free will that she chose to do these things. Liz's desperate action was not just a considerable character turn, but it sent her on the road with Reddington. Spending time with him meant seeing that she was more like him than she wanted to admit. - Entertainment Weekly

The Warrior Gene - Dr.Linus Creel Episode 2.04

The episode did not confirm that Liz had the warrior gene though it was implied. In later interviews, the showrunners confirm that Liz DID possess it.

Samar: I received everything Creel had on file at the hospital patient records, test results Including yours. We logged everything else into evidence, but I thought perhaps you would want that. It’s probably meaningless, right? Do you think Reddington could have known, when he gave you this case, that you’d find out?

Part two

#the blacklist #elizabeth keen #redarina #raymond reddington #nbc the blacklist #raymond reddington gifs #elizabeth keen gifs #liz keen gifs #megan boone #james spader

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always-together · 8 months ago

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Whelp. It’s no shocker after how throughly I enjoyed the pilot all those years ago, but an IRL friend finally got me to watch Hazbin Hotel and I liked it! Some aspects could’ve been done better and I don’t think 8 episodes was enough for its arc but I enjoyed it. Still iffy about Helluva Boss, but maybe I’ll put in the time to watch that too.

To make a long story short, this means I’m probably going to start RPing with those who have characters from those shows as muses; this will probably only apply to my multimuse blog but whose to say what the future will hold for Garnet? I’m making a post out of this cause I know I have a few mutuals who don’t interact with HH muses or have the show as a trigger warning due to shitty past experiences with the fandom. Although I’m sure everyone knows I’m definitely not as bad as that, trigger and content warnings are important and I will absolutely respect people’s wishes.

I will be tagging relevant content with “tw hazbin hotel” and “tw helluva boss”, in case anyone who wants to blacklist those tags on my blogs wants to do so. If you’d like me to tag them with something else as well, like a “don’t look” message of some sort, please be respectful and message me about it. Let’s stay safe and continue having fun with this hobby we all love!

#(felt like I had to make a post about this cause I know this show has…let’s say mixed feelings in the RP community)#(but I enjoyed the show and its songs and as long as the people who play these muses aren’t shitty I am happy to write with them)#(if anyone has any further issues please feel free to message me! my DMs are always open. just be respectful ❤️)#ooc: i love you! bye!

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chaifootsteps · 1 year ago

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So it's 99%given that viv Lost hazbin right, right?

With the Copyright and Permissions only mentioning Bento Box and A24. The 4chan person saying the episodes where cut to 8.

Just How awful a creator has to be to lose their freaking animation?

One that already had millions of views on YouTube with the pilot.

I see that the 4chan post listed her lacking of professionalism.

But I DO Hope her tweeter and drama added some fuel.

I Hope she gets burned and blacklisted from animation (Just like she tries to blacklist people for the "crime" of trying to work in other shows).

It would be a little satisfactory.

Satisfaction would be If the people she HURTS where able to sue, but unlikely.

Yet, even if she can't be a professional animator. She''ll like get her kicks and enjoy the praising of her cult If she sticks to webcomic.

After of course purchasing a billion dolar dodo taxidermy to "cheer her up" after being so awfully betrayed.

Anon, I just need you to know that that last line made me ugly laugh a little.

#Anonymous #vivziepop mention #actual blog post

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hickeygender · 11 months ago

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so, uh... netflix avatar certainly is a show, huh? i just finished episode 1 and i'm gonna ramble on about it below. blacklist "#len watches natla" or "natla spoilers" if you either don't wanna see this shit or you don't want spoilers.

fair warning that i was relatively neutral going into the show, but episode 1 was... hmm. i'm still struggling to formulate words on it. i didn't love it, but it wasn't shyamalan levels of bad by any means. i'm gonna hop right into episode 2 after this post bc i've heard the pilot and the finale are the weakest episodes and i genuinely wanna give it a fair chance before i cast judgment.

so, they open with the air nomad genocide. i knew this going in, but it certainly sets a Tone, a Tone that does NOT feel like avatar. like, i understand they wanted to elevate the level of maturity a bit and make things more serious, but was it rlly necessary to see a shit ton of air nomads get fireballed to death, culminating in gyatso getting burned alive trying to protect a room of children, who also presumably get incinerated?? they didn't show that part, instead doing a hard cut to katara waterbending a century later (resulting in EXTREME whiplash for me), but them violently dying is the only way that ends.

also, minor quibble: the firebending looked normal to me, but the general who killed gyatso said smthn like "you might have beaten me any other day, but today we have the power of the comet!" but their bending doesn't look very different from zuko's bending later? it's a little more flamey ig, but in s3 when ozai gets juiced up the motherfucker is out here destroying whole forests from his airship.

onto the acting. gordon cormier's portrayal felt a little too rehearsed and theatrical rather than natural, but he's a kid and acting is hard so i'm def gonna cut him some slack, and he does seem pretty happy and earnest, even if his delivery is a bit forced. kiawentiio tarbell is pretty good, but her dialogue left a bit to be desired, which isn't on her and i'll complain about later. ian ousley gave the best performance imo, tho ymmv bc ik there's some controversy around his heritage that i don't feel i have the right to get into due to tribal registration being a complex topic, blood quantum being awful, and me being white. gran gran was barely there and just exposited everywhere in a weird callback to the og intro, so i don't really feel like she's that important even tho i liked her casting. uncle iroh... i'm not sure. he wasn't too prevalent, which is understandable this early on. i liked paul sun-hyung lee's warmth, but don't have much to say otherwise yet. and then there's dallas james liu. i think his acting was pretty solid, at least on the level of dev patel's performance (which i swear is a compliment bc he was the only good part of shyamalan's dumpster fire of a film imo). i think the issue i have with the performance is down to the writing, which i guess i'll get into now bc it's my biggest issue with episode 1.

the dialogue flow was mid, and there was a bit of info dumping from gyatso in his scene with aang which i found distracting. speaking of info dumping, gran gran was just kinda there to explain the last hundred yrs to aang and then have zero interactions with her grandchildren before they flew off, which was dumb.

still on the topic of writing: i mentioned the tone set by the opener, and i think that's bad, but it also fucked up the pacing by not starting at the same point the og did. by the end of the episode they shoehorned in the trip to the southern air temple with like 11 mins left (i checked) and so that made aang's grief triggering the avatar state feel rushed. i also thought the flashback to gyatso's earlier dialogue when aang saw his corpse was unnecessary. like bitch, i watched that 30 mins ago, i remember it fine! by the end, aang seemed waaaay more driven than he did in s1 of the original, almost as self-confident as he was in s3. like, he accepted being the avatar real quick. i'm pretty sure he'll display a bit more uncertainty later in the season (at least, i hope he does), but that still felt off to me.

my biggest complaint about the writing is zuko. i KNOW he's a brat, i am well aware of that as a lifelong zuko girlie, but was him trying to kill sokka necessary??? he was literally about to throw a fireball at him when he was lying defeated in the snow before aang stepped in. he also commanded his soldiers to burn the village to the ground at one point. i understand he's a villain and that they're attempting to corner the Prestige TV market here, so they've decided to make him grittier. i don't like it, though. in the cartoon, zuko is driven in his awful quest, but he's also honorable - in the village he nods his head in agreement when aang asks if he'll leave the village alone if aang goes with him. that little moment showed his honor, his true honor, peeking through. also in the cartoon, he's really bad at finding the avatar despite being very skilled in combat. i don't know how they're gonna have him show up very much in this season if he's gonna be more of a ruthless asshole tbh.

overall, i'm left just kinda confused with the tone and character writing of the show. i'm going to watch the whole season because it's only 8 episodes and i genuinely hope it improves somewhat, but i'd give it either a 6 or a 6.5/10, i can't quite decide.

#len speaks #len watches natla #natla spoilers #sidenote: zu.ko's scar isn't NEARLY graphic enough. that lessens the horror of it to me which i'm honestly rlly disappointed with #and final sidenote: HATED the intro especially considering gran gran repeats the og intro nearly verbatim later. the new intro was just bad #anyway. i'm still left kinda 😕 after this episode. i'd really hoped it would be better tho i kept my expectations low

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birindale · 2 years ago

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She-Ra: Progressive of Power

Episode 1: “The Sword of She-Ra” - Introduction

I’m really bad at consuming podcasts, but being able to read along helps. It makes things easier to find later on when I tune back in after getting distracted, or weeks later after I inevitably forget when things were discussed but want to double check something. And this podcast has a few interviews with crew members on top of its premise generally appealing to me, so. I’m making transcripts, I’m posting them here, if this isn’t of interest to you go ahead and blacklist “progressive of power”. If this is of interest to you, please click through the above link and support the hosts directly.

... and I annotated it. sorry. at least it’s footnotes this time?

Narrator from The Secret of the Sword (1985)(Which for series purposes is referred to as The Sword of She-Ra as it’s made of the first five episodes squashed together, I promise that’s relevant): [the She-Ra: Princess of Power theme plays behind him] Where darkness rules, fights the champion of light. Where hope seems lost, there rides the Rebellion. Together they stand ready against the dark, evil warriors of the Horde and their leader, the terrible Hordak. The Rebellion, armed with hope and ancient powers against the force of an intergalactic army. This is the story of one who will become leader of the Great Rebellion. She-Ra: Princess of Power!

ERIC: Hello everybody, my name is Eric.

LAUREN: My name is Lauren. It's nice to hang out with you and talk about a cartoon from... the year I was born I guess?

ERIC: Whoa! The year after I was born, so yeah this is the pilot episode of She-Ra: Progressive of Power. This is a rewatch podcast with a political twist. We're going to watch episodes of the She-Ra animated series which is now on Netflix and kind of look at the ways that it both holds up and then fails a modern day progressive agenda. And I'll talk about why I wanted to do that in a minute. But first I thought we should maybe get into just a little bit about who we are because nerds love to gatekeep. I might edit that line out. But I feel like we should just give some context to why we are two people who are qualified to take on this project. So first off, both of us are political volunteers for a very progressive Illinois campaign.

LAUREN: A certain progressive Illinois campaign.

ERIC: Yes. Maybe gubernatorial in nature. Maybe if you watch our Facebooks it’ll become clear. But either way, you know, we're both on that side of the political spectrum and we're both very nerdy. I make podcasts for a group of people called The Nerdologues, and... I don't know, this show has always been a favorite of mine. I saw Wonder Woman and I thought, “Wow, Wonder Woman is amazing! I want to watch another thing with an amazing female lead. And then I'm like, oh, I love She-Ra. Hey, it's on Netflix!” Now, FYI, I have the DVDs, but they're buried away. I dug them out to watch the documentaries for this podcast, though. But I'm like, ooh, Netflix is easy. And I started watching it and I'm like, “This feels... maybe too relevant.”

LAUREN: Netflix is just successfully making every other form of media irrelevant. Like, well, you have the DVDs, you don't need them.

ERIC: Yeah, but so Lauren, you have never seen She-Ra before.

LAUREN: Right, and that's kind of why I agreed to this. Otherwise, I think pretty niche-y premise. So, I wrote the blog Geek Girl Chicago for a solid five years or so. I've kind of backed off of that, mostly because when I was very small and into science fiction and comics and geek culture, it was an underground kind of, uh... subculture. And now it's just culture. You know, I was just downtown and went into Uniqlo with some friends after going to Starbucks. And all of Uniqlo was like Nintendo shirts and Disney. And my friend goes, “It's like we're at a convention except it's just downtown Chicago. It's not... it’s not geeky anymore.” So I hate to be that elitist dork who's like, “I don't like it anymore because it's mainstream.” But I was really excited to maybe talk about something that everyone has heard of, and watch something that I've actually never experienced before. I also cosplay. I have worked on other podcasts such as Our Fair City and I don't know. I'm a dog person. We’re... We're here with Eric's dog, and she definitely smells my dog. And I find her very distracting, because that's a big part of my personality these days.

ERIC: Yeah, P.S. my dog’s name is AC, short for I kid you not, Adora Corona. So clearly the She-Ra fandom is big in me. But yeah, you'll get to know Lauren and I through the course of this show. Let's dive into She-Ra. So we're going to cover a different episode or a different set of episodes every week. Today we're talking about the... the first five, which is kind of the pilot of She-Ra. It's called the Sword of She-Ra. And uh, this is gonna be more of a top level discussion, I imagine, than what eventual episodes will end up being. Because I don't want to get into as much plot specifics as just kind of like the creation of this character and why she exists. And yeah, we'll talk about the five episodes and stuff. But I think the background of She-Ra is really fascinating. So if I may, I will lay the groundwork, and then, I am so excited to hear what you thought about this.

LAUREN, laughing: It's on your face. He's smiling so big right now.

ERIC: Oh my God, this is great. Because well, I asked Lauren, “What do you know about She-Ra?” And she's like, “I've seen girls cosplay as her and that's it.“ And I'm like, “You don't know her story at all.”

ERIC AND LAUREN: “No.”

ERIC: Okay, so, clearly there's a big twist in the Sword of She-Ra, and Lauren didn't know what it was until she watched these episodes. So we're going to get there. But let me talk about the background of the show because I think it's interesting, and it's going to inform our discussion about pro--like the progressive values of the show. So this is 1985, and He-Man, which I'm sure a lot of you guys are familiar with, at least in passing, that's all you need to be, has been a show for two years. And the production company that makes it has reached the point where they have so many episodes that they would actually be losing money to produce new episodes, like it was just in their advantage to sell it to syndication. And so they're looking for the next show to do. So Lou Scheimer, the guy who runs the company, wanted to do a show for girls, the reason being he had worked a long time ago on a show called The Hardy Boys and his daughter said to him, "Dad, why do the girls always trip and fall?” and so Lou said, "I wanna make a show where it's the men who trip and fall." [[1]] And initially th--Filmation was going to produce a Barbie show, and Mattel said, "No thanks,” and this is the actual quote, according to Lou, which is very creepy--the Mattel exec said, "Because Barbie already exists in the mind of a child."

LAUREN: What?

ERIC: Which is a weird reason to deny a business partnership. But so Lou and--and his crew were thinking about the success of He-Man, and a couple of the better writers from He-Man, because that show certainly had ups and downs--but a couple of the actual consistent writers had this idea to like, what if, what if he had a sister? And what if no one knew? [[2]] So that's the basic plot of the Sword of She-Ra is that He-Man is summoned to go to this strange world he's never been to before, and he takes this sword with him, and the sword is designed for this woman who works for the bad guys, the Evil Horde, who ends up being his sister. And so you find out that Hordak, the leader of the Horde, took her as a baby from her parents and then like, hid her away. And the pain of that memory was so great that the Sorceress on Eternia on He-Man's world made everybody forget except for her parents and the Sorceress herself, which is like fucking traumatic and still that plot gives me chills.

But what we have here is an action show with a female lead, which already is pretty... pretty irregular and that was something that the creative team was very aware of. Staff writer Francis Moss, I have some quotes from some documentaries on the DVD. He said, from page one, “We're empowering girls. I don't know about proto-feminism, but it certainly was female empowering.” Staff writer J. Michael Straczynski doesn't hesitate to use the F word. He said it was feminist from the go. So this is very consciously a female-centric show. A lot of the staff shied away from calling it feminist, because that was the time. But you know, it's not really any different now.

People still don't like to use that word necessarily. But... more than that, it's kind of this story... You know, in He-Man, it's the typical 80s cartoon setup where the good guys are reactive. So the bad guy does something, and then the good guys are like, “You can't do that. That's against the social order.” And then he comes and stops them. But She-Ra, it's the inverse where these guys called the Horde have been ruling this planet for--according to the series Bible--20 years. [[3]] And they--they are the status quo. And the heroes are the Rebellion fighting against the status quo to make that change. So the heroes are proactive in the show. And I mean, not to get--Well... I'm gonna have to not say ‘not to get too political’ on this podcast. Cause it's political.

LAUREN: We have the word progressive in the title.

ERIC: Right.

LAUREN: I think you're stuck.

ERIC: This is a political show. It felt... It's not a one-to-one correlation, but watching the pilot again on Netflix, I'm like, this feels... this is too real right now. This idea of like an evil empire that controls basically everything from, you know, taxation to... to free speech, and the people are subjugated and some of them don't even know. It's just really... It feels more relevant than it probably has in a while. And I want to read,before I turn it over to Lauren, what J. Michael Straczynski--who by the way, you guys will probably note is the creator of Babylon 5, so he went on to have a wonderful career after She-Ra--What J. Michael Straczynski wrote in the series bible for She-Ra, page one. He says, “The time for words is past. It is the time for action. A time for the taking of vows, the forging of alliances against tyranny. A time for leadership. For over 20 years, the evil horde has ruled Etheria with an iron fist and cruel calculation. Their rule has gone largely unchallenged, until now. A band of patriots brought together by their love of freedom have pledged their lives and their swords to bring down the dark dictators from another world, willing to tackle impossible odds in their quest for an ideal: Freedom. Leading this band of patriots is She-Ra: Princess of Power.”

And so... even though a lot of episodes of the show did devolve into standard 80s cartoon fare, I think it is baked into the very premise of the show. Like these writers are very conscious of the fact that this is at its heart a political struggle, a band of women fighting an oppressive militaristic regime led by an evil pig man. And that just feels so relevant. So, Lauren Faits.

LAUREN: Yes.

ERIC: What did you think of the first five episodes of She-Ra?

LAUREN: Oh my gosh, what a ride. So I do need to point out that before I started watching She-Ra, um, I had not watched He-Man either. And Eric gave me an episode of He-Man to watch. And, uh, you know, it was charming. I joked that just the--the background music was always just He-Man over and over and over. It was just so pumped up and masculine the whole time that I'm thinking gosh, you know is this She-Ra show just going to be this in pink and purple and light blue and I--I mention the color palette because honestly... oddly enough, that was the first thing about this show to really strike me. In addition to there being so many women on screen all the time, we live in this era, still, today where toys are us and Target have these like pink aisles where... that's the girl stuff and that's where you go to look for girl toys, and She-Ra and the Rebellion and all the villains, they don't stick to that color palette. It is a wonderfully just, colorful show and it's not screaming ‘princess, pretty, feminine’ the whole time, and yet it manages to be feminine, and that's pretty exciting to me. Um. Some of the things that surprised me from the get-go, uh-- I wasn't expecting a male narrator, in the beginning of the theme--

NARRATOR: Where darkness rules--

LAUREN: But, you know, all right, cool. And um... in one of the first scenes--so they’re clearly, they're trying to sell She-Ra through He-Man, like He-Man’s super popular I guess in 85?

ERIC: It was, uh, for its second season, I think, it was the highest rated show in syndication.

LAUREN: Yeah, wow, and so... They really make it He-Man's story for one to two episodes, but also they you know, they show him cooking, they show him having relationships with his mom, and like the women in his life, and he's, you know, not as bloated and masculine a character as I expected them to present him as? This show is very 80s, though, and I loved watching how some of this animation was so intense--You see Battlecat leap forward in this like, very violent and action-packed way, and then a monster grabs him and throws him, and the sound effect is still like ‘boing’! [laughs] They're just--the 80s were this time when cartoons were still for kids. There was no acknowledgement that cartoons can really be for grown-ups, so all the voices on this show are so goofy, all the sound effects are so goofy, and anytime it just starts to take itself seriously-- [affects a stupid cartoon voice] someone comes in with this voice! And you're like, oh, hello 1985.

Some of the things I want to talk about that you brought up--I I love. I'm so interested in that quote that calls the rebellion a band of patriots, because the one quote that I wrote down, was in episode one Bow, who is the token man who's costume I love, and I'm going to Dragon Con in September and if I don't see at least one I'll just cry--uh, the quote was:

[audio clip from SOTS]

HORDE SOLDIER: Surrender, citizen!

Bow: [chuckles] I'm not a citizen. I'm a rebel.

[end clip]

LAUREN: --and I--I’ve--I've been thinking about that for the last like 12 hours or so, because I would argue... that a patriot, who's fighting for justice and equality and freedom, is like... the ideal citizen? But this Rebellion is so disconnected from... the Horde, and the establishment, which I guess has been around for 20 years that they don't even call themselves like citizens of that regime, and I think that’s... that's striking, especially if you're talking about our current political climate? I think that's an accusation, often, that comes from both sides. If you're not--I'm going to say the T word--if you're not a Trump fan in 2017 you're not a patriot, but then the other side says, if you're supporting the tyranny of this, then you're not a patriot, and uh... these people in the Rebellion are patriots, but don't consider themselves citizens, and I want to hear what you think about that.

ERIC: Well, first of all, I like that you uh, caught that quote because I also--I just read the series Bible for the first time last night, and I had never... thought to refer to the Rebellion as patriots, and I think that that also kind of has... because you know under eight years of Obama-- that was what all the... angry people on the far right, ‘oh we're patriots’ and so I bet now... I mean I don't want to put too much on JMS's politics, but he probably was pretty lefty to to write the series Bible for this show. He might not use that word ‘patriot’ and I also think... First of all I really want to talk about Bow, and maybe this isn’t the episode for it, but just in general like that character of the token male and his crazy outfit and his-- his weird relationships. There's that moment in episode 3 where Adam's like oh I'm gonna go to the Fright Zone and find Adora, and he's like “Godspeed you on your quest, Adam!” and Adam's just kind of like “... Yeah cool man. Anyway I'm gonna go bye.”

[clip from SOTS]

BOW: You are a brave man, Adam. I salute you. Good fortune speed you on your mission.

ADAM: Yeah, uh... well thanks.

[end of clip]

LAUREN: He's just too extra, even for He-Man.

ERIC: Side note, Larry DiTillio in the series Bible mentions that Bo is kind of supposed to be the Adam figure on Etheria. Not the He-Man but the Adam, the kind of, ‘oh he he jokes around, he kind of slacks off, and he may be a little too earnest and he can't always back it up’... Anyway to the quote of “I'm not a citizen, I'm a rebel”. Yeah, nowhere in the show does it ever say ‘the Horde's been here 20 years”. It's just kind of an indeterminate amount of time. And there's episodes we'll watch later, where it seems clear that they are ‘the establishment’ and I think maybe that's the difference between the show and--well, that's clearly a difference between the show, and where we are in the world is you know the horde is -- they're straight, like -- they're not even making runs at being a democracy, like it's straight up tyranny. Uh, so I guess in that sense I think Bow’s quote is legit, but I think that's probably a way that, yeah, it is disconnected from... from the modern times, we are all still citizens even if we consider ourselves resisting the current power structure.

LAUREN: Right I feel like we all still believe in America, and our version of what America could be, at its best, and we all want to live in that place. You hear people who are like ‘well if you don't love it you should leave it’ none of us want to leave we just want this place that's our home to be better and include everyone. [[4]] And I'm--I--I guess in the end--not to skip way ahead, but that's She-Ra's choice as well. She's given the option to go to, sort of this idealized place, where the good guys, uh are already the force in power. In Eternia, He-Man's family is getting to rule--I mean they're--they’re menaced all the time by Skeletor, but they're... that's the king and the queen and... the good guys kind of make the government if you will. And She-Ra's like, no I can't stay, I'm choosing to go back to this tyrannical miserable place because my job there's not done, so I guess she is a citizen, she kind of insists she is.

ERIC: Yeah and I think that's really the crux of what drives this show, and you know we're gonna do an episode later on the-- the Price of Freedom, which if anybody listening is a She-Ra fan you'll be like ‘yeah that's the episode you have to do’ [[5]] but yeah that's the key difference in the show right is like She-Ra... she gets a taste of home in, I think, a very sweet moment and I also think a moment that if you are a He-Man fan kind of closes off--because even in the one episode you saw, you know there's this through line in the series, Prince Adam is always a disappointment to his dad because he can't let him--it be known that he's He-Man. So he's just kind of this jokey prince. And then he brings home their lost daughter and King Randor is like ‘you've made me so happy’ and I think all right, Adam's arc is done, like... he has fulfilled his job and completed his family. And Adora gets a couple days on Eternia and then Skeletor and Hordak come and try to take her away and she realizes she--if she if she stays, she's doing a disservice to the people who really need her, and I think that is it's awesome, like it's a great choice and it gives her so much more responsibility than than He-Man. And you know something that the writers keep noting is that whereas Adam and He-Man are two very different characters, Adora and She-Ra are basically the same. They're both very like duty-bound and honorable and uh, and noble.

LAUREN: I did notice that, which as a total newbie to this series brought about one of my major questions, which is: Why does her identity need to be a secret? I find Adora and She-Ra to be so similar and really the stakes--at least in this pilot--seem so low and it's... I don't know who else the Horde could think this mysterious warrior woman is, they're like ‘ah the princess escaped... and it's this lady's fault!’ and I [laughs] the--the--you really have to suspend your disbelief to like, let the alter ego thing even slide

ERIC: Oh I mean yeah, there's no way that the rebels shouldn't have figured out that Adam is He-Man okay. Prince Adam shows up he's like, ‘I have a friend who could help you fight!’ and then He-Man shows up, they rescue He-Man oh then Adam's back! And then He-Man comes back--it doesn't make any sense. I mean I guess if you really--because clearly the answer is that it’s the superhero trope, right.

LAUREN: Right.

ERIC: But if you really want to find an in-world answer, maybe it's to protect Adam's identity? I don't know. It--or maybe I mean if you want to dig psychologically, ‘cause Adora kind of doesn't have her own life, and so maybe she's trying to claim one for herself, to have her own identity and not be She-Ra, and there actually will be an episode we'll watch later that is about that duality.

LAUREN: I can buy that. I can buy that. Um. Speaking of the life that she doesn't have, one of the [laughs] most stone cold plot holes in this whole thing for me was that four people were allowed to keep the memory of Adora's existence, and everyone else didn't. So poor Teela is like, ‘no, who is this though’ and no one ever really like... stops to convince her or check in with her. There were two times during this pilot that I laughed just out loud by myself and that was one of them, because she really got a bad deal.

[clip from SOTS]

RANDOR: Well Adam we’ve done as you asked, now where is the surprise of yours? Must we wait all day?

ADAM: All right, you can open your eyes now.

TEELA: Who's that?

MAN-AT-ARMS: By the ancients!

RANDOR: It's about ti--[gasps]

MARLENA: Adora!!

ADORA: Mother! Father!

MARLENA: My daughter! Oh, my dear sweet daughter.

TEELA: Daughter?? [laughs uncertainly] I don’t understand.

MAN-AT-ARMS: Why, she’s Adora! Adam’s twin sister. And she’s back, after all this time!

MARLENA: Look at you! How lovely you are!

ADORA: Oh, Mother. I’m so glad Adam brought me here!

RANDOR: Son, I want you to know that today you’ve made me the happiest man on all Eternia. The royal family of Eternia is whole once more, and by the Ancients I swear that nothing shall ever separate us again.

SCENE TRANSITION: SHE-RA! [musical sting]

[end clip]

ERIC: What was the other time you laughed?

LAUREN: The other time I laughed... was the first time the horse... transformed into the Pegasus-unicorn. Is it Swift Wind?

ERIC: Swift Wind, yes.

LAUREN: And Swift Wind could suddenly talk. And had the--and had another goofy 80s voice. He's like, [affects a goofy 80s voice] ‘now, I'm Swift Wind’ and they go flying.

[clip from SOTS]

SWIFT WIND: I am Swift Wind, my dear friend.

LAUREN: But what made me laugh, not only was his voice, but the fact that it doesn't appear that he can talk when he's not transformed [laughs] and uh, and Battle Cat can. And so it's just another like raw deal that a character gets. [laughs] Like, ‘I lose my sentience when I'm not transformed’. Oh, my gosh. Poor Swift Wind. [[6]]

ERIC: I do want to say as far as the uh, the voice casting goes... So there's only six actors who work on the show. And one of them is the producer, and one of them is the producer's daughter. [[7]]

LAUREN: They really go for it.

ERIC: Yes.I--I appreciate the challenge. And, you know, everyone always kind of looks at these shows and say, ‘oh, these are the cheapest cartoons of the 80s’. And actually, the opposite was true. Filmation was the last studio to do all of their animation in America. And so it was very cost-prohibitive to hire a big voice cast, because they had to pay like, American wages to their animators and not just ship overseas.

LAUREN: You could see, though, where the great care was taken in the animation, and then sort of, where it wasn't? So similar to other 80s shows, like if you imagine Scooby Doo, and you see Shaggy and Scooby running, and the background is repeating itself over and over, um, in the like, Slave People. Those are the same slaves walking by over and over. And yet when He-Man disguises himself in a robot body, they take the time to draw like little tups of hair sticking out of his uniform. I was like, ‘oh, see, they had a budget. They just invested it in very specific places.’

ERIC: I love that that's a plot point, too, is that He-Man's hair gives him away at one point. I thought that that was so funny.

LAUREN: And it busts him really fast. I was expecting them to like... give him the benefit of the doubt and let him sneak around a little bit. And the second they see him, they're like, ‘that's He-Man. What an idiot.’

ERIC: Yeah. Fun f--I don't know if you or anybody listening will care, but Filmation had a--a system called Same-As. Same dash as, and it was their stock animation system. So anytime someone animated something they like, they would put it in like a file, and then they would use it in later episodes, again, because they thought, oh, this is a really great piece. We can keep using it and then we can, you know, put our efforts into something else next time. So that is why you saw like scenes of slaves just over and over again. So I want to know just at the very base level, like, did you see the twist coming about Adora's identity, and what did you think?

LAUREN: By the twist, do you mean, literally, that it's He-Man's sister?

ERIC: Yes.

LAUREN: So I thought it was pretty obvious, considering like one of the first scenes is the baby getting stolen. Like, who else would that baby be? I was actually more surprised when she was introduced as a bad guy, and I was trying to figure out, is she legitimately a bad guy who's going to need to go through sort of a massive change of heart, or is this just like a hypnosis situation? And the answer was both.

ERIC: Yeah.

LAUREN: It's both.

ERIC: Yeah. And I think, I think it says something, you know, probably for our purposes, one of the more interesting sequences is after He-Man is in prison--which by the way, there's a lot of being imprisoned, a lot of metaphors and literal imprisonment in this five part episode. When He-Man is at the--in prison and he tells Adora, ‘hey, just go see for yourself like what the world is like’, you know, she's like, ‘oh, I haven't really left the fright zone, but Hordak tells me that we're the rightful rulers and everyone likes us.’ And He-Man's like, ‘well, why don't you go see?’ I thought that was cool, even though the scenes of her investigating are sooo dramatic and like it's, you know, like an old guy who wants water and a trooper throws him in a lake. Like, yeah, that's horrible, but also it's like not really grave social injustice. You know?

LAUREN: Yeah. It was really on the nose in a way that, I mean, I loved, but was also so over-the-top because... one of those scenes is like an airplane just comes rolling up. And She-Ra’s like, ‘what's happening?’ And these two citizens in just the most exposition heavy dialogue are like, ‘well, John here was talking about how the taxes are way too high. And an evil robot overheard him and here comes an airplane to blow up his farm.’ [laughs

ERIC: Yeah, I was like, let's get this in really quick. Like 10 seconds in, Adora gets it.

[clip from SOTS]

ADORA: What's going on?

VILLAGER: Lars said the hordes taxes were too high and a trooper overheard him. Now they're going to destroy his home.

[explosion noises]

[end clip]

ERIC: Something you said at the beginning of our conversation that is really true. You know, as you pointed out, this is She-Ra's story. The whole kind of five-part pilot is about giving her control of the narrative. It's basically He-Man passing off the the torch, or the sword, as it were. And that had real-world implications as well as you deduce. It was a way to... because She-Ra clearly is marketed towards girls, but the people at Filmation really wanted boys to watch it. So they're like, all right, if we put He-Man in, maybe we'll trick the boys into thinking this is cool. And it totally worked. And I remember as a kid, I liked this show way more than He-Man. Even then, I deduced, like, this show... it's just richer. Like, it has this background--having the Horde and having the bad guys win. It's such a more interesting uh, background on which to tell different stories. So She-Ra was the second highest rated cartoon of the year it debuted, right behind G.I. Joe, which was a new show. It had a 4.3 share, which I think means 4.3 million people watched it every week, which is pretty good.

LAUREN: Yeah.

ERIC: So it totally worked. And I definitely at some point want to talk about the show's marketing of the toys, and how much of a failure that was. But as far as just on the show, like, I think it's pretty uniquely positioned to appeal to all genders.

LAUREN: Absolutely. And I'm interested in seeing where it succeeds and where it fails, as a feminist piece. Because even in this pilot, there were moments that were so strong and there were moments that totally whiffed, because there'd be quotes like, ‘that's not very ladylike’ or ‘just like a woman’. And I would say they were like 50-50 for, ‘no, you're supposed to think that's evil and dumb’. And then suddenly, like, He-Man would put his finger to She-Ra's lips and you're supposed to be like, ‘oh, that's okay’. And it's not. It's just like weird and sexist. And so they're trying so hard, and I want to see kind of what their success rate is going to be throughout the series, because it's bumping along.

ERIC: I completely agree, and I knew you were going to bring up--it--it is--And I just said it was one of my favorite scenes. And yet I still regret the unfortunate dialogue that's ‘not very ladylike, but then again, you're not much of a lady anyway’. [laughs] Although Scorpia of all the Horde villains, my least favorite. I do not like her. That voice, [affects a Scorpia voice] ‘oh, she talks like this, like she's from Brooklyn kind of’.

LAUREN: The vill--the side villains, I kept... I mean, all the side characters, so many mascots, which was very 80s, we got to make as many potential toys as possible. But so many just like... Catra: She's a cat. Angel-la: She's an angel.

ERIC: Broom is a broom.

LAUREN: [laughs] Yeah. There was also, the other like--most 80s thing about this was how violent, but nonviolent it was. There was some violent animation happening. But it was like, ‘they're just stunned’. The one guy whose powers is just eye beams? He has the eye beams that threw off He-Man's sense of balance. And I was like, either he is just like messing with He-Man's inner ear a little bit, or he's giving him brain damage. And I don't know, like [laughs]

ERIC: It's such like Warner Brothers style violence.

LAUREN: Well, right. And this, the big ‘Magna Ray’ was apparently going to affect an entire forest, but is also stopped with a rock.

ERIC: Yes.

LAUREN: And I'm like, all right.

ERIC: And then Hordak has enough power for a second shot, which was never mentioned before, because he drained just enough to get it to work one. I don't, there's a couple subplots, like I love the overall through line of He-Man finding She-Ra. The Magna Beam, the harpies. Oh my God, that harpy scene. I do not like it at all.

LAUREN: No.

ERIC: Um. Too--Earlier, you mentioned, you know, 50-50 on the dialogue being either they're calling out sexism, or it's just casually sexist.

LAUREN: Yeah.

ERIC: The other example you mentioned that wasn't He-Man, I think is really interesting because there's a lot of that in the scene when Adora is captured by Skeletor, and she's in Snake Mountain. And then as She-Ra, she fights her way out. And I--I almost feel like that scene, it's at the start of the fifth episode--To me, it's like almost consciously, and maybe I'm giving the writer too much credit--bringing femininity to Masters of the Universe, because it's so on-the-nose.

[clip from SOTS]

SKELETOR: And now, princess, I must decide what to do with you.

ADORA: [fake swooning noise as she fake passes out]

BEAST MAN: Uh. She’s fainted.

SKELETOR: Hah! Just like a woman!

[end clip]

[start new clip from SOTS]

BEAST MAN: You’re sure a pretty princess. [gross laugh] It’s too bad we have to lock you up in the dungeon.

[end clip]

ERIC: Like, it's just so creepy. And then... and--when she's busting out She-Ra goes, ‘no one around here knows how to treat a lady’. And of course, the scene is capped by a true 80s villain defeat. Everyone is just laughing at Skeletor as he says, [affects a Skeletor voice] ‘ah, a female He-Man--

ERIC AND LAUREN IN UNISON: [both doing Skeletor impressions] ‘This is the worst day of my life!’

ERIC: And like, that's the end of the scene. That's like, no, he's a criminal.

LAUREN: Yeah [laughs]

ERIC: Why aren't you doing anything?

LAUREN: He's the big bad of this universe.

ERIC: Right.

[clip from SOTS]

TEELA: Hmph. I don't believe this.

SKELETOR: Neither do I. A female He-Man. [pitiful whining] This is the worst day of my life!

TEELA AND MAN-AT-ARMS: [laugh at Skeletor]

[end clip]

LAUREN: I was trying to... also decide, and I think this is something I'm going to wrestle with through most of this show. Uh, because my personal brand of feminism really tries to live by... a woman can be whatever she wants. If she wants to show her body, if she wants to cover it up, it's all fine. If she wants to be promiscuous, if she wants to be conservative, it's all fine. Be a mother, don't, get married, don't, I don't care. Feminism is, you're supposed to be able to do just whatever you please, because you're free. And I feel like pretty often we scoff at, when a woman is stereotypically feminine, and I think that's a mistake. And there's a moment where a big skull falls on top, it's like an animal skull falls on top of Skeletor. The thing that She-Ra says is like, ‘well, I think that's an improvement to your look’ and I'm like, wait, why is she concerned with aesthetic? Like why is she making like, cute jokes? And I struggled with it for a second, and then I went, no, it's great that she's feminine. It's great that she feels empowered in being a little bit about aesthetic. Like that's fine. And I feel like I'm going to have that conversation with myself a lot while watching this.

ERIC: I do not think you are wrong about that. Maybe it will make you feel better to know--And again, you know, I'm of the critical school of thought that intent only means so much. It's a window into something, b--into interpretation but it's not the be-all end-all. That said, I did find it interesting to see how keyed-in these writers were to the things that we would be talking about. So here's a Larry DiTilio, who again wrote four fifths of this pilot said: “I think the way you make things girl-friendly is you don't worry about the fact that she's a girl. You let her do what everybody else does. Everybody was equal on the show. We wanted a show where many times women were not only the equal of men, but the superiors of men.” And that's something that Lou Scheimer also echoes, like, his whole point ‘wasn't feminism’--which I disagree with--but he just wanted to show that women could do anything that they wanted. And I think that you do see that in the show. I think there's a huge variety of women characters of all types.

LAUREN: Yes, absolutely. And I'm glad to see so many female characters, on the good side, on the bad side because it gives them the chance to have diverse aesthetics, diverse intention, diverse personality. And I mean, that's sort of... I guess my final observation is how many things She-Ra IS being successful at that we're still struggling with today. Uh, when I went and saw Star Wars Episode 7, I remember feeling so moved by how many women I just saw standing in the ranks of the Empire, and standing in the ranks of the Rebellion, just existing within the space of this world, and how especially in... sort of geek culture things that's still sometimes rare. And this is so many years later, and the second we see the Horde, there's girls. And the second we see the Rebellion, there's girls. And this is a very action packed show, you know, girls punching, kicking, flying, riding. And... the fact that I feel like marketing professionals in toys and media today are still questioning whether or not young women can enjoy that is shocking. Because this, you know... this was literally before I was on this earth, this show started.

ERIC: It was 32 years ago, which is crazy. And it... Yeah, just kind of, I don't want to say effortlessly, because that takes away from the work of people who, you know, put the effort in. But seemingly easily is perfectly integrated. It's great. Now that--there is a huge caveat, and we're going to do an episode on this, but I need to mention it now, because I know someone's going to bring it up. She-Ra is super hashtag white feminism. This is a very white show. Now the series Bible even mentions that there should be ‘people of all colors’. And I don't know whether it was the animators, or just something at loss in translation, didn't happen. So there's an episode that kind of head-on deals with taking away a black character and making her a pink character. [[9]] We'll talk about that later.

LAUREN: People of all colors, you know, like purple and green.

ERIC: And that's kind of the fantasy trope that is unfortunate about She-Ra, right? That's one of the very 80s things is like, yeah, they’re all--there are all colors, but not real life colors. You have white, and then you have fantasy colors.

LAUREN: Yeah, I mean, 80s nostalgia is really hip right now. You have your Stranger Things and your Glow. And I've watched Glow very recently too. And sort of remembered that... in the late 80s, early 90s, there was this message of equality and freedom and like, togetherness. And it was like, ‘yeah, racism is over’. And then you realize like, no, the way society presented race was far, far from perfect we’re far from done with it. And so I think there's a lot of difference between saying ‘our show is for everyone’ and actually creating a show that is for everyone.

ERIC: 100%. And you know, I would still argue that She-Ra's heart was in the right place and compared to the other--like Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man, Thundercats, it did better, you know.

LAUREN: Mhm.

ERIC: But it still had a long way to go. That said, I'm really glad that you found... that you saw what I saw in this show. That it has troubles, but... It's pretty good, right?

LAUREN: It is!

ERIC: It's pretty good.

LAUREN: I'm going to DragonCon at the end of August and I was like, ‘is anyone cosplaying She-Ra? There's an 80s cartoon photo shoot. I should go talk to those guys. I mean, I wonder if there's going to be a She-Ra’. And that was after one sitting with this show. [laughs]

ERIC: So, yeah, I guess, like I said, this episode is going to be longer than the others, because we're just getting into it. But to close out, I'd like to know like, are you looking forward to exploring the rest of the show now?

LAUREN: I am. I'm looking forward to especially meeting more characters because I believe the implication was, we freed one castle, but there's going to be more kingdoms, with more people. And I did some spoiler-free googling and there's like a mermaid and an ice lady. And for one, I was like, ‘oh man, look at all these toys they could manufacture’. But on the other, I was just excited to see, you know, we already have so many female characters and the show is going to give us even more and I'm stoked to meet them.

ERIC: Yeah, absolutely. So I will mention, kind of the plan for this show going forward is after my Wonder Woman binge, I went through and I have an embarrassing amount of books on He-Man and She-Ra. So I read through and I'm like, OK, this seems like this would be good. So we're going to talk about episodes that kind of directly address progressive issues first. And then... I think if you guys like this show, Lauren and I talked about going back and doing all the episodes. It's 65 episodes on Netflix. That's a lot. So hopefully you guys like this and then, uh... we'll have a lot of fun. And I do want to point out even in the episodes that are directly addressing issues that we care about, there's a lot of failures and we're not going to sugarcoat things. But I think that when we really get to the dregs of She-Ra, that might be when the really... like, the claws come out. So we'll see where this show goes.

LAUREN: Well, I do believe that you should be critical of the things that you love. And so I'm sure there will be moments that I sound like I hate this, but I--I really only give even the time of day to things that are worth it. And this seems like it's going to be worth it.

ERIC: 100 % agree. And you know, I told Lauren when we were planning, I don't want this to fall into the unfortunately gendered dynamic of like, ‘guy likes it, lady nags on it’. And I don't think that's what's going to happen because I think we're both being pretty real about the show.

LAUREN: It's going to be ALL nagging, all genders, all nagging.

ERIC: But like, I don't know. I mean, you--you just experienced this in 2017, right? And you are a professional woman, got a lot going on. You're an established person, and you like the show. And to me, that says even 32 years later, this has some potential.

LAUREN: Yes. And you know, when I'm watching it and my husband walks into the room and just out of context, he's a muscly He-Man like tied to a table and he's like, ‘what are you watching?’ That just that that alone was worth taking on this project.

ERIC: So much bondage. All right. So next episode next week, we're going to do Duel at Devlan. So please feel free to follow along on Netflix. We'd love to hear your thoughts. We actually don't have anything set up to do that at this point, but we'll post some way for you to get at us, uh, when, you know, with the episodes. So, yeah, talk back to us as long as you have constructive things to say, good or bad, we'd love to hear them.

LAUREN: Yeah, this was awesome. I can't wait to watch the next episode. Thank you. Thank you for this idea.

ERIC: Yeah. Thanks for doing it. Hell yeah.

[clip from SOTS]

HE-MAN: Farewell, She-Ra, Princess of Power.

SHE-RA: Farewell, He-Man, dear brother.

[end clip]

LAUREN: Do we do we have a moral today?

ERIC: Oh, yeah. So that's something that's going to be coming up is uh, moral segments, because as you know, these 80 shows like typically have morals at the end. The pilot forgoes morals. So there isn't one baked into the show, but I don't know, if you were to assign a moral to today's episode, what would you say?

LAUREN: Oh my gosh. I think, I mean, this is so cheesy, but that's the 80s. I think the moral would be... be open to everything, be willing to try new things and confront new experiences with an open mind, because when Eric presented me this idea, I literally was like, ‘that's the weirdest thing I ever heard. I have to sleep on it’. And by morning, I was--I was ready. And I'm just so glad to say yes. I'm so glad to be open to a new experience.

ERIC: At first I thought you were going to relate that to like Adam's experiences of like, you know, ‘he did it with the Sorceress and it worked out’, but I like that it was a real life moral too.

[EPISODE OUTRO]

Thanks for listening to She-Ra, Progressive of Power. If you like our show, you can write and review us on Apple Podcast. We'd super appreciate it. You can also send us any feedback you have, add it to our email address, [email protected], or as a comment on our website at progressiveofpower.wordpress.com. And make sure you listen to the show all the way through to the end. In future episodes, we're going to use this space to promote progressive organizations and causes we like a lot, related to the topics we're talking about, that can help make the world a better place. But for now, just enjoy this rad theme music.

[outro to "I Have the Power”][[10]]

ERIKA SCHEIMER AND NOAM KANIEL: [As She-Ra and He-Man] For the honor of love, we have the power so can you.

ANNOTATIONS

[[1]] This is an anecdote from Lou Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation, page 230, about his approach to creating female characters in general. Erika Scheimer, the daughter referenced, went onto work for Filmation herself, and in 2007 came out as a lesbian, calling Filmation “one of the gayest places in town”.

[[2]] This is actually where things get complicated, because multiple people have claimed responsibility for the ‘long lost twin’ element, including Lou Scheimer on the very page cited in footnote 1. We know on the Mattel side at least that she was initially slated to be Teela’s long-lost twin, not Adam’s, which further tangles the narrative on the Filmation side. Larry DiTillio also claimed credit for the twin plot point, though he described it more as ‘filching’ from Star Wars. He and J. Michael Straczynski developed the world of She-Ra, so I think we can safely afford them the bulk of the credit, but Lou Scheimer had long wanted to create a female-led action show, and to build off of He-Man’s success--while on the Mattel side of things, Janice Varney-Hamlin had been trying to get a female action figure line greenlit for some time. She claimed it was her idea to build off of He-Man but there’s little (no) evidence of that and she’s... a gifted marketer, shall we say.

[[3]] This reactive vs. proactive bit is a reference to something Larry DiTillio has said a few times, about his intentions for the story. I just like that they did research for this podcast it makes me really happy. Here’s a link to the series bible.

[[4]]

[[5]] The Price of Freedom is one of a handful of episodes that make you ask, “the censors wouldn’t let them hit people but they were allowed to do this?” Basically, the Horde attacks Dryl. She-Ra calls the Sorceress for backup (He-Man), but they can do little more than evacuate the villagers into the nearby mines. She-Ra leaves to get help, because now they’re pinned there and Dryl itself is burned to the ground, but naturally Hordak blasts the shit out of He-Man and traps everybody in the mines. They start getting testy when their air starts running out, some of them are like ‘where the hell is She-Ra’, but one of the villagers gives this big rousing speech about how they can’t always rely on She-Ra and He-Man to fix all their problems, and they dig to safety. Or, they would, except they cause a cave-in, which is less a metaphor and more a reason for She-Ra to return (without any help).

[[6]] It could be worse! In the German audio plays, he couldn’t even talk as Swift Wind. But don’t worry, Filmation dropped the restriction pretty early on & we got the goofy 80s voice talking horse we all wanted.

[[7]] The aforementioned Lou and Erika Scheimer.

[[8]] Larry DiTillio said this on the 2007 BCI DVD’s "Documentary Feature - The Stories of She-Ra Part 1″. And boy is it concerning I recognized it so quickly.

[[9]] I think he means Huntara? ‘Pink’ is kind of a stretch but she was originally supposed to be black, per both Larry DiTillio & the character design sheet. They were going for a Grace Jones vibe. I guess we’ll find out in a later episode.

[[10]] Official theme song of the Secret of the Sword movie. There’s a music video and it’s incredible. Fair warning this gets stuck in my head constantly so if you’re susceptible to that... tread carefully. I linked you to the version with Erika Scheimer explaining the background of the song to force you to learn <3 don’t skip ahead that’s cheating

#progressive of power #podcasts

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saving-word-crawls · 4 months ago

Text

Firefly Crawl

By: Lady_Indis_Dress

Was procrastinating by going through old files and I found this…

Write for 15 minutes to determine which character you’ll play. If you wrote fewer than 400 words, you can choose from the two character listed for your level.

< 200 = Jayne or Zoe 200-299 = Kaylee or Wash 300-399 = Simon or Book 400-499 = Inara 500-599 = Mal 600+ = River, cause she’s a genius you know

Serenity, Part I River - skip ahead Mal - write for 20 minutes until you learn that backup isn’t coming Inara - skip ahead Simon - write for 10 minutes while you try to hide your secret Book - write for 10 minutes to record your thoughts about this odd collection of people Kaylee - write for 7 minutes about the wonderful taste of strawberries Wash - write a 7 minute play for your dinosaurs to enact Zoe - write for 5 minutes, captain’s orders Jayne - write for 3 minutes after being sent to your bunk for being you

Serenity, Part II River - write for 5 minutes while you acclimate to not being unconscious and naked Mal - write for 15 minutes while you try to get a handle on things Inara - write for 5 minutes Simon - sit tight and write for 7 minutes Book - attempting to help is nice, write for 7 minutes. Kaylee - you got shot, so take it easy and write for 5 minutes Wash - write for 10 minutes while you pull off a Crazy Ivan, you superstar pilot, you Zoe - write for 10 minutes, captain’s orders Jayne - write for 15 minutes to celebrate your incredible sniper skills

The Train Job River - write 200 while you explore the ship Mal - write 500 words about why you did the right thing in the end Inara - write 300 words while you preview potential clients Simon - write 200 words while you tend to River Book - write 200 words because really you’ve got nothing else to do Kaylee - write 150 words about how cute Dr. Tam is Wash - write 150 words about how boring it is to sit and wait all the time Zoe - write 400 words, since you had to play a major role in the job Jayne - write 100 words

Bushwhacked River - your sharp eyes pointed out the corpses, hide with your brother and take this episode off Mal - write to the nearest 500 as you try to convince the Alliance mucky-muck to listen to you Inara - are you even in this episode? write to the nearest 500 anyway. Simon - concentrate on hiding your sister, you’ll write plenty later Book - write to the nearest 300 since you have nothing to hide Kaylee - write to the nearest 250 because you’re adorable Wash - write to the nearest 250 because you make being interrogated funny Zoe - write to the nearest 100, you are a woman of few words Jayne - write to the nearest 100 just to prove you know the alphabet

Shindig River - your stellar performance provides a brilliant diversion, sprint for 15 minutes Mal - somehow you don’t end up dead and you get the contract you wanted, attempt a Fifty Headed Hydra 9 to celebrate your daring and dashing qualities, Captain Tightpants Inara - well that was fun, wasn’t it? Do a Three Digit Challenge in honor of teaching Mal to fence (or trying to), blacklisting Atherton, and having a spot open for a new client Simon - win a few rounds of Tall Card, word war for 10 minutes Book - lose every round of Tall Card, sprint for 10 minutes Kaylee - you’re in a fancy dress and at a ball, ignore the mean girls and sprint to the nearest 500 while you charm all the gentlemen present Wash - win and lose in even amounts at Tall Card, word war for 10 minutes Zoe - ignore the game mostly in favor of watching for an opening (which you miss), word war for 5 minutes Jayne - mostly lose at Tall Card, word war for 5 minutes

Safe River - reveal your mind-reading abilities and show off your dancing, while writing to the nearest 1,000 words Mal - insist on saving River and Simon, they’re part of your crew, write to the nearest 500 Inara - write to the nearest 500 while between clients Simon - kidnapped by hill-folk, write 300 words while you try to figure out how to escape Book - you’re hurt, sit this one out Kaylee - spend so much time worrying about Simon and River that you can only write 200 words Wash - pretty nifty hovering from the best pilot in the 'verse, write 200 words as on ode to yourself Zoe - help rescue the newbies, write 150 words because that’s just what you do Jayne - write 150 words to prove you’re not a total jerk

Our Mrs. Reynolds River - you don’t do much here, so try a Fifty Headed Hydra 9 to keep you occupied Mal - duped by a bombshell, but you had that awesome “pretty floral bonnet” line, do a 15 minute word war Inara - you’re the only one to see through Saffron, do a Three Digit Challenge to celebrate that Simon - sit this one out Book - do a library crawl 7 to learn about the local customs Kaylee - help Wash fix the navigation system by writing to the nearest 200 Wash - you resisted Saffron, and you know about goose juggling, sprint for 5 minutes and then take a break Zoe - feeling you should have known Saffron was a phony, you punish yourself by writing to the nearest 500 Jayne - good thing Mal didn’t take your trade, huh? But you did some fancy shootin’ so write 100 word ode to Vera Saffron - oops, you forgot to back up your novel and now it’s lost forever #SorryNotSorry

Jaynestown River - write 400 words while fixing Book’s Bible, then take a 15 minute break to recover from seeing his hair Mal - you basically do you, so write for 15 minutes and we’ll leave it at that Inara - your influence on Fess helps a lot, write to the nearest 500 Simon - what is wrong with you? Write 350 words of poetry to Kaylee that you’ll never have the nerve (or the brains) to show her Book - you did great with River about the Bible, but that hair! Write 400 words in penance. Kaylee - It’s not your fault that Simon is so dim. Write 300 words to cheer yourself up. Wash - write 250 words about the crappy town where you’re a hero Zoe - write 200 words, captain’s orders Jayne - 500 words from the Hero of Canton please

Out of Gas River - you don’t do much here, write 300 words for fun Mal - this was rough on you, take a break while you sing your show’s theme song Inara - write for 20 minutes about how to drive a hard bargain with a smuggler Simon - were you even in this episode? Eh, do a Three Digit Challenge. Book - your favorite Bible verse is probably John 3:16, so write 316 words Kaylee - of all the crew you came on board in the most interesting way, write 250 words to celebrate getting off your planet and out into the black Wash - you’re just fun all-around, aren’t you? 250 words, sir Zoe - we all know why that pilot bothers you, write 200 words of denial Jayne - you made the right choice switching crews, write 200 words to celebrate your step up

Ariel River - you’re unconscious for most of this, but do a Three Digit Challenge in your sleep 'cause you’re a genius Mal - Somehow you get everyone back safely. Do a Poker word crawl 4. Inara - you’re busy companioning, write to the nearest 500 Simon - took quite a risk for your sister and nearly got caught, which is the equivalent of a Fifty Headed Hydra 9, take a shot at that Book - sit this one out Kaylee - write to the nearest 200 words Wash - take a nap while waiting for everyone to get back, then guiltily write a quick 100 words to cover it Zoe - you’re good undercover, write 150 words Jayne - jerk, but in the end you had the sense to feel ashamed, write 500 words to prove that you’re sorry

War Stories River - you save Kaylee’s butt in a way that freaks her out, do a Library Crawl 7 to explain all the things you know (until we can get more backstory, that is) Mal - does nothing kill you? Find someone willing to do a 20 minute word war and have at it. Inara - you surprised everyone with your high-ranking official of a client, sprint for 15 minutes just because Simon - you’ve got some patching up to do, complete a Three Digit Challenge while you reattach Mal’s ear Book - a useful man in a crisis, you continually surprise so here’s a surprise for you:Fifty Headed Hydra 9, go! Kaylee - you froze, but you did give River that awesome line, word war for 10 minutes Wash - well, you didn’t break under the torture, and you helped get Mal out, so uh…5 minute word war for you Zoe - you’re the big hero this time so give yourself a break and don’t write a thing for 10 minutes Jayne - the role of enforcer comes naturally to you, sprint for 5 minutes to make up for Zoe taking a break

Trash River - you can kill a man with your brain, write to the nearest 1,000 Mal - good planning, Captain. Write to the nearest 500 Inara - nice to get the drop on Saffron, wasn’t it? Write to the nearest 500 Simon - Write 300 words about your wonderful medical ethics. Book - you saved Jayne, kind of. Write 250 words. Kaylee - you’re just cute all the time, sprint for 10 minutes Wash - for that epic first line of yours, you get to take this episode off Zoe - write 250 words, Captain’s orders. Jayne - injured, take this episode off

The Message River - your food is problematic, and so is a Fifty Headed Hydra 9. Give that another go. Mal - you pick up your strangest cargo ever, write to the nearest 1,000 Inara - you’re barely in this one, write to the nearest 500 Simon - “You’re a boob.” Write to the nearest 500 while you try to figure out how not to mess up with Kaylee. Book - way to take down the corrupt Alliance guy! Write 350 words, preacher man. Kaylee - bad luck with men, sweetie. Write 250 words in your diary about how you really need to meet some nicer guys Wash - you um…pilot the ship as usual? Write 250 words about that. Zoe - shoot Tracey to save your husband, and write 200 words about it Jayne - celebrate your cunning hat by writing to the nearest 100

Heart of Gold River - you helped deliver a baby, write 500 words about the experience Mal - you couldn’t save Nandi, but you can write to the nearest 500 Inara - you lost a friend, and decided to leave Serenity, write to the nearest 500 to say goodbye to both Simon - nice job with the delivery, Doc. Sprint for 15 minutes. Book - good work helping with the defenses, sprint for 15 minutes Kaylee - sprint for 10 minutes Wash - sprint for 10 minutes Zoe - you’re always badass, sprint for 5 minutes Jayne - you had too much fun this episode, but sprint for 5 minutes anyway

Objects in Space River - you confound the strangest bounty hunter in the 'verse and save the day, write to the nearest 1,000 Mal - your moment comes near the end but it’s an awesome moment, write 500 words Inara - you don’t do so well in this one, but write 500 words anyway Simon - you get shot in the leg, but you manage to coach Zoe through removing the bullet, write 350 words Book - I don’t really remember what you did in this, so write the same amount as Simon because you’re in the same speed class Kaylee - you respond to River’s plan even though you’re scared, write 250 words to show your awesomeness Wash - “That’s like something out of science fiction.” Write 250 words for the irony. Zoe - “We live in a space ship, dear.” Write 200 words, because duh. Jayne - write 100 words and call it a day.

“You can’t take the sky from me.”

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