#the series seems to have done a much better job at really giving a sense of place and time

[earnshawww]

halfway through La Storia by elsa morante and i fear that this is gonna be one of the very rare occasions when I enjoy the TV adaptation better than the book

[syluscore]

Read the camera series, and I had an idea 👀 what about a story where the reader is obsessed with Leon FIRST? Like, she watches him all the time and notices he kind of has an obsessive streak, and she likes him and decides that she wants him obsessed with HER. So she kinda leaves a trail of breadcrumbs to make him start liking her. She's sweet to him, does things for him, and makes notes of his preferences so she can match them perfectly. When he starts stalking her, she's all like "🥰 yay! Bf!"

thank you for your patience with this one <3

Perfect Subject

~Leon Kennedy x gender neutral! Reader~

Word count: 1931

Content warnings: shooting guns in a gun range, obsession, reader is a government agent, stalking, leon goes through your stuff and into your place without permission

!!!!!!MINORS DNI! GHOSTKENNNEDY IS STRICTLY 18+!!!!!

Leon Kennedy could never just casually enjoy things. You would never find him just appreciating a thing for what it was and then moving on with his life. Oh no. If he thought a song was good, he would replay the melody over and over again until he didn’t like it anymore. If he liked a movie, instead of him thinking, “wow that was a good movie,” and then watching another, he would replay that movie until he knew every little detail about it. 

This included his work as well. Anything he did, it had to be done perfectly. He crossed all his T’s and dotted all his I’s. When you were first hired on as a government agent, he was assigned to overlook your training. There were specific agents assigned to training fresh recruits, so he wasn’t training you directly, but he would always cut in if he felt your trainer was going too easy on you or wasn’t teaching you properly. 

One day, you were practicing in the gun range and couldn’t seem to improve your accuracy no matter how much instruction your superior gave you. You huffed and threw your head back in frustration when you failed to hit the designated mark again. You were desperate to succeed and be good at your job. You couldn’t focus on anything else in your life. Everything you did, you had to do it well, otherwise it would eat you up inside.

That’s when you felt a strong form firmly press himself into your back, his arms wrapping around yours and guiding your hands to aim the gun properly. He used his heavy boots to kick your feet out into a better, more grounding stance. He slowly adjusts your shoulders and elbows and forces you to tighten your grip on the weapon. He stepped back from you and you felt stronger and more confident in this new position.

You fired the shot and hit the mark exactly in the center. You shook your shoulders, relieving some tension in your neck before getting back into the same position. You fired a second shot and hit the mark again. You spun around with a smile on your face ready to thank your trainer when you were met with pretty blue eyes and a blond fringe. 

You stammered over your words, “Oh, um, hey Agent Kennedy! I didn’t know you were here.” You shifted your gaze up to meet his eyes, “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.” 

“It’s my job. Thought that would work for your height and stature,” he said simply before walking out of the room. Your eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sudden emptiness of the room once his overwhelming presence was gone.

And from that point on, you had become obsessed with the man. You wanted to know everything there was to know about Leon Kennedy. Once you discovered he had an obsessive streak that matched yours so well, you knew you had to have him. His face had those soft features, but still had a prominent sense of rugged manliness to it. The messy look of his hair, which you could see the effort put into it to give it that carefree look while still being just the right amount of tidy. 

Don’t even start on the muscles protruding from his body. It’s like he had been sculpted from angels themselves. You could see the outline of every ab through his tight shirts and the way his arms bulged against the fabric of his sleeves. His aura demanded attention and he always commanded whatever room he was in, he didn’t even have to try. You noticed the way everyone else stared at him with admiration as well. You had no right to be jealous, but you were hooked and anything standing in your way would have to be eliminated.

You’d spent a lot of time trying to overhear gossip about the man’s love life, but he was so private that there wasn’t much actual information to go off of. Everything was pure speculation at this point. But what you did know was how many people had struck out with him. He wasn’t easily impressed by the flirtatious gestures, shyness or boldness. He was a case that no one had been able to crack, but you loved a good challenge.

While the other rookies threw themselves at Leon, you had to feign indifference. He genuinely cared about his job and the “greater good.” So you became the best agent you possibly could, rising through the ranks and becoming the perfect success story. You remained as elusive as possible with all of your coworkers. If Leon wanted to know anything about you, he’d have to do the research himself or ask you directly.

You were so relieved when your plan actually started to work. You could feel his stare on you when you weren’t paying attention to him. You never attempted to make small talk either. You discussed your work and would always thank him for any instruction or help he gave you, but that was it. 

A significant moment you remembered was at a mandatory reward dinner. Every single employee was expected to attend, no exceptions. Of course, you had made sure to be sat at the same table as Leon while putting on the front of not caring about the arrangements. You had both remained relatively silent during the conversations about everything and nothing at the same time going on amongst the group at your table. You’d speak and engage when called for, but avoided the small talk and gossiping as usual.

“What about you? No hot date either? What’s up with that?” one of your coworkers nudged your shoulder. You snickered as you took another sip of your wine.

“Quite a few of us at this table don’t have dates either. Maybe we should go around and share all about our personal love lives. John, Sarah, Patrick, Leon? Anybody want to share some misfortunes?” you said nonchalantly and were met with mostly silence, except for Leon who was grinning and trying not to laugh. “Oh wow, the elusive mysteries continue,” you cooed at John who was giving you a dirty look.

“Sorry, I forget you’d rather die than engage in a friendly conversation,” he spoke and huffed out a breath.

“It’d be wise of you to never forget it again, huh?” you nudged him like he had done to you earlier. He rolled his eyes before a laugh slipped from him. 

The following Monday, about an hour before it was time to head home, John pulled you to the side to talk to you.

“Hey, you’re not going to believe this,” he said excitedly.

“Oh?” you raised your eyebrow skeptically. 

He nodded his head eagerly, “Yeah! Leon fucking Kennedy was asking me about you. He wanted to know what I knew about you.” You had to hide your excitement as you continued to stare at John. “I should totally set the two of you up,” he laughed as he grabbed onto your shoulders and shook excitedly. 

You laughed at him, “Wow, agent turned matchmaker? I’m super impressed.” You pulled yourself from his grasp and went to turn and walk around the corner, escaping from the little space John had pulled you into.

You yelped when you ran into a solid object, or solid person rather. Your eyes looked up and came into contact with Leon’s. John came out after you and his eyes widened as he realized Leon was within earshot of the conversation.

John stuttered, “H-hey, buddy. What’s up?” His nervous laughter had you fighting back a smile.

“Buddy?” Leon asked as his arms crossed over his chest. John continued to fumble over his words. Somewhere in the word vomit, there had been an apology. You slipped out while they were both distracted and didn’t stick around to see how their conversation would play out. 

After that encounter, you and Leon had built a bit of a friendship. You two were always joking around and helping each other’s workload as much as you possibly could. You took advantage of every conversation you two had and utilized all the information and observations you had of him. You’d bring him coffee when he started giving his sleepy cues. You knew his favorite places to get lunch and would conveniently eat at them regularly, always ordering too much and giving him the leftovers. He never had to run his own errands around the office, because you always offered to do them for him. You never ran yours either, he always jumped up and did your little tasks as well. 

You noticed him also adjusting himself around your preferences as well. He slowly switched coffee shops to the one you preferred, attempting to keep you from noticing. But of course you noticed everything. You stopped being assigned the work you’d always complain about and tell him how you dreaded doing those meticulous little tasks. He’d drop little references from shows you’d told him you liked occasionally. Always feeding you information on top secret topics you’d shown interest in. 

You were so giddy when you noticed he had upped his game when it came to you. You started to notice things on your desk not being where you had left them. Logging onto your computer and the tab you’d left open not being up on the screen like you had left it. Your heart swooned when you noticed things in your apartment disappearing or being moved without your knowledge. You even noticed him tailing you on your errands, him in his unmarked car staying a reasonable distance as you went to the grocery store or to pay bills. 

You noticed the unmarked car in your apartment complex’s parking lot early one morning. So, of course you went outside and lounged on the balcony in your short shorts and tank top that barely covered your chest. Biting your lip, seemingly lost in thought as you drank coffee and scrolled on your phone.

He started placing himself in your path as well. One Saturday, he coincidentally ran into you at the supermarket and you walked around shopping together. He’d jog past your place, waiting for the day you’d be outside and he could recognize you. You let this go on for a few weeks, before finally deciding to get your mail from the office at the exact time he always jogged past. After talking to him for a few minutes, you invited him for some water and a snack. You spent the morning together, before he finally left to continue his run. 

So far, it’d been a few months of this back and forth. Running into each other, sharing lunches and coffee, spending more time working together, and you both suddenly were showing up to all work events. Neither of you ever rejected the offer to go out for drinks when invited by coworkers. You always stayed near one another, no matter the outing. You longed for the day something would finally happen between you two. You knew he was basically stalking you at this point and you made sure to make this job as easy as possible on him.

The longer the chase, the better the end result right? As long as you kept Leon right where you wanted him, you could keep this up forever. You imagined all of the ways he would finally make his move, finally bridge the gap between you two and mold you together where you belonged. Until then, you’d be his perfect and oblivious subject. 

~masterlist~

[reyreadersblog]

My unpopular TIG opinions.

Since y'all are expressing opinions out here..who am i to leave out? Now have in mind that these are MY opinions, some of these are unpopular some of these are NOT, some of these are even underrated facts but let's just ignore that..

(Please don't hate me)

1. I DON'T CARE ABOUT EVE, and i don't want her to be with Grayson..bcs APPERANTLY and very unfortunatly there are people out there who ship Gray and Eve..crazy..i know, i really don't care about her, i already made a whole post about why i don't like her at all, she's a manipulator, she's a liar, she's a backstabber. She traumatised poor Gray and threatened Ave. I respect your opinion if you like her and i truly understand where some of you are coming from, but i just can't manage to like her, don't hate her i just dislike her. Even if she gets a redemption arc..i can't seem to understand how i'll like her character after what she has done, but if i will..."forgotten but never forgiven"

2.underrated characters, there are so many of them in this books, for example Zara Hawthorne. I love her honestly, i could never hate, i understand she may have done some wrong things...but i love her nontherless♡♡ and same goes for Alisa Ortega.

(Honorable mention) also come on, give my man Oren some appreciation he deserves, you think following teenager around is easy? Even if it's his job and he gets paid, it's still tiring..😔

3. Uhh..i am scared to say this...i prefer Nash and Alisa to Nash and Libby...WAIT, WAIT, WAIT...DON'T KILL ME YET..LET ME EXPLAIN FIRST🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻, i saw @hawthornesbiggestfan 's post, and that encouriged me to say this, read that post bcs that explains exacly how i feel. I love Nash and Libby, they're super cute, i can't wait for their wedding and think they are going to have a very happy family...but..i'm still at the restaurant😔, EVEN THO we never got to know Nash and Alisa's story, smtg about those two had me invested in them from the beggining, like imagne Alisa growing up and Nash slowly developing a tiny crush on them..young love..passion..childhood lovers...love confession..ughh, also the fact that Gray, Xan and Jamie already saw her as their family, like an older sister. Such a shame we never got to see their story. Again, i'm not saying i dislike Nash and Libby tho if it had been love triangle between Nash, Libby and Aliso...i would choose Nash and Alisa...

3.Avery is freaking underrated, yk what's sad? SHE IS THE MAIN CHARACTER, and she doesn't get enough hype (i've made a post about this too) meanwhile people are swooning over Hawthorne brothers, and yes i am one of them but i love Avery to death, i even saw someone comparing Avery and the brothers saying "oh she's so boring..Hawthorns are way better than her..blah..blah..blah" technically they were saying fuck poor people, i know for a fact NONE of the brother would last an hour from where she came from (iykyk), she's a girlboss, and a main character for a reason.

4. As much as i love Averyjameson, i have to say their story is pretty much over, We'll probably get some cute moments from them in tgg or in games untold, but they ARE NOT a main couple anymore.

5.TGG IS A NEW SERIES, please understand that it's new book series with new characters (at least most of them) stop attacking JLB, it's her books, it's her choice.

6.Lyra Kane's haters don't make sense to me, especially those one who mock, and laugh at her lovers saying "you don't even know her, i'm gonna laugh at y'all when she turns out to be Eve 2.0" uhm...sir..miss..shut it. I respect your opinion if you're a Lyra netural bcs it's true we don't know many things about her and i totally understand if you can't love her yet, but don't hate, we know we're delusional most of the times, but that's what headcanons is for, for fun, alight, let people have fun.

7. Will all due respect i have...Averygrayson shippers are...dumb..yikes..sorry, but it's the truth, i'm tired of talking about this, it's been 4 books, Avery is happy with Jamie, they're perfect for each other, their relationship status is great and Gray is most definetly getting a new love interest..but of you still ship and have faith in them..do so..who am i to stop you? Just don't be disappointed when it won't be ture.

8.i may be judging too early but Savannah and Gigi being in the game..doesn't sit right, tbh honest it'a NEPOTISM at it's finest, i love both of them so much..but..nah. again, idk for sure..it may be some trick, it's JLB after all.

9.there are too many repetitive charcter traits..Jameson and Rohan, Grayson and Savannah, Gigi and Xander, Eve and Emily, every single dad, exept for Isaiah.

10.Speaking of Isaiah, he is extremly underrated, i mean he is the best dad in the series and somehow people talk about Sheffield Grayson more than him.

Sheesh...don't kill me in the comments please, i'm too young to die🙏🏻😔

(I'll probably do a part 2...

[betabravo]

Snippet: Homeroom Miruko x Red Flag (Deus MHA AU) Part 13

It took a while for Miruko to be done with her statement. Had to keep herself from swearing and revealing confidential info with the green kit around after all. Mostly the swearing.

At least the kit seemed to know what he was doing. But things take a turn when the questioning was over.

“Thank you for your statements. Midoriya, may I have your home phone number to get your mom to pick you up?” It was miniscule, but both Miruko and Maomasa noticed the sudden flinch in Izuku’s movements. His eyes widened and his pen stopped writing in his (still somewhat damp) notebook.

The detective and hero shared a look. There was something the kid did not want to reveal, and it had to do with them and his mom. Tsukauchi had seen this situation many times in his job. Does he have a bad home situation as well? Makes sense since he’s Quirkless after all. Tsukauchi knew from statistics that Quirkless people are discriminated more that even those with “Mutant” and “Villainous” Quirks. Rumi however… had the Table.

“Would you like us to bring you home instea-”

“NO!” The volume of it startled Rumi. She’s adapted to loud noises (a much-needed necessity for someone with enhanced hearing), but the suddenness of it from an unexpected source had her head ringing.

At least the kit seemed somewhat apologetic about it. ”S-sorry Miruko, Detective. But there’s really no need. I’ll be fine, my home, not too far anyways and-“

“Listen kit. You were just attacked by a villain. I’m sure it’ll be better if a Pro Hero or even the Detective here explain the series of events to her.”

And to give us a looksee if he’s being abused at home as well. Rumi gave a knowing look at Naomasa and he nods, understanding what she’s trying to do. “I’ll go grab my car keys and pick you up at the front entrance.”

///

First/Last/Next

Work got really busy, so I got a slower upload time.

[frigigly]

I do indeed want to eat glass anytime someone criticises the latter parts of Steven Universe without the context that it was rushed as hell by the network literally because of homophobic reasons.

Also the show is just good actually. Any arguments I've heard so far about the moral aspects of the show being weird seem just wrong to me lol.

I think the show does a very good job of separating characters' actions from the characters themselves? Like pearl tricking garnet to fuse with her was deeply fucked up and will never be ok, garnet makes a point to tell her she doesn't forgive her for it. And rightly so. But also the response to that isn't just pearl should die or something, its that she just moves on and learns to improve herself because that makes her happier and her friends happier, and this is applied to almost every other character too.

Like rose has done a lot of fucked up things, but she's not just supposed to be a villain 'worse than the diamonds' (insane that some people think that). She's the story of someone trying to remove themself from abusive familial dynamics and trying to improve themself despite that history. It makes sense that she takes on more of a negative/ sinister hue, considering the series takes place from Steven's perspective, and out of anybody, he's definitely allowed to hate her a little bit lol. But his own valid biases and feelings don't have to undo all the good that is inside her.

See also Bismuth, see also Spinel, see also Lapis, etc etc.

So when the diamonds do fucked up things, like corrupt gems, like indefinitely bubble the real roses, like maintain a fascist conquering regime, and then aren't killed as some kind of 'punishment', it doesn't bother me because I know this show, and I know it hasn't forgotten everything it's said up to this point. Just because they aren't actively being killed by Steven doesn't have to mean they're '''''redeemed'''''. They really were just not an active threat anymore.

It's ok to hate them! In fact I'm fairly sure the show expects you to. Even the fact that they were undoing the damage they had done in future doesn't just magically absolve them of how fucked up what they did was.

Like I really love the episode homeworld bound cause it's this almost mocking display to steven how everything is fine now, (throwing him right back into the princess gauntlet!) and the diamonds are sooooo perfect and cool now, and they have absolutely no problems, even though steven is in one of his lowest mental states to date. And the whole time steven is like "What the hell! You can't just magically make me feel better after everything you've done to me!" and they literally say to him "Lol yeah we can :D whats wrong lol why are you so mad, if you dont think you deserve to be happy thats your problem lol!" Like it's really giving pretentious ass self help yoga instructors, ESPECIALLY white like christ. Their egos are all still definitely there, they're just trying to make up for what they've done, because it should absolutely be on them to do so. It does not absolve them of their crimes and the show doesn't want you to think it does! And of course they can't help steven because they aren't fully respecting how much they've hurt him by that point, and all they do is send him further into his meltdown.

I really think you'd have to be blind to not see that even if Steven isn't fighting them anymore, he HATES the diamonds, and doesn't want anything to do with them now that he doesn't have to stop them from ruining his life. He literally does try to kill white but somehow people will still try to argue that he ''''''''forgave them too easily''''''''. I'm sorry but that argument really doesn't make any sense.

I know this show covers some very heavy topics, so it is going to be divisive. The horrors of how deeply your own family can hurt you is a reality many people are unfortunately very intimate with, so I do understand if people just don't like what the show tried to do, or if it just makes people uncomfortable, that's completely fair. I really do think though that the show is trying to stick up for people like that who have been hurt, and how you still deserve a chance to grow past it, it's surely not trying to dismiss or lessen anyone's trauma associated with their own past.

I'm sure in a better world we would have gotten a longer diamond days arc that didn't feel so rushed. Personally I think even future could have used another season, and the parts of season 5 exploring the fallout of the rose/ pink diamond reveal could have used some more episodes too. Unfortunately CN was very unfair to Rebecca and the crewniverse throughout the entirety of SUs airing.

Anyway I don't even know if I coherently made the point I was trying to, but tl;dr Steven universe is good actually, it should be looked at as a historic show for lgbt media and television, and it could have been even better if it wasn't being brought down every step of the way by a homophobic system, please support queer artists, love u bye

[yumedoca]

Are your opinions on UY characters that dont get the spotlight often, like nurse sakura, cherry, kotasu cat, benten or oyuki, ifntheres one i missed pls tell me i love hearing your analysis

Hai there, hope you're doing great!!

Sorry this is a bit late, I had some events to attend the past few days..! And thanks!! It makes me happy to hear that you like my rambling :)

As for my thoughts on the other characters, I love most of them actually!! I love love love Sakura!!! I especially love how well her character is structured: through design, through her backstory, through daily life and relations and even how well her name suits her lmao. I really like how she has a background where she was really sick as a child (till we meet her), and how her being a miko, nurse and counsellor (she has three fucking jobs and I love it) has her help others since she knows how it's like to have problems (physically or psychologically). Sakura counselling might be my favorite bit though, just seeing how she helps guide mostly the students is really nice and I wish it was appreciated more. And don't get me started on how she is the perfect straight man to the craziness of the others. She was part of the craziness at first (from her intro to her earliest nurse days, Ataru straight manned instead), but it seemed like RT thought Sakura straight manning was much better while Ataru was cemented as the funny man in their dynamic and it suits them so well. The sane Sakura having to deal with everyone's BS (esp Ataru's) is my favourite thing lol. I also really like her relationship with Tsubame, him being the dumb to her smarts.(The remake plays down Tsubame's idiocy btw and it disappoints me so so much) They're that one couple we all ship without knowing it lmao. The chapters which focus on them are really nice, esp that one with the ghost girl who interfered with them and Sakura got super jealous lmao, it we interesting side to see from her and it was really fun :)

Oh shit, I rambled so much about Sakura, I forgor this ask wasn't just about her, I'm so sorry lmao, she is in my top three UY gals for a reason XD

I think up next in UY blorboism to me (who aren't main characters) would be Asuka. Idk, I just love her, she is so cute and so silly. I think what put her in the blorbo category specifically were these panels: one where Asuka made her own armor from a military tank or something idk and she looked so cute while wearing it!!!! And the second is from the arc where Asuka goes to school and she wears a pair of broken glasses in the final panel of the arc which looks super funny and silly XD

Asides from that, I love her voices, both of them!! They sound so soft and sweet!! And her shtick is very entertaining and chaotic, I love all her chapters!!

I think up next in terms underrated characters I love would be Benten and Oyuki. They both have personalities which bounce off well on other characters and especially each other. They're like my #1 Yuri ship in the series, but even in a platonic sense, they're dynamic is really good!! I need to draw them more, lol.

That's it for characters who I feel are widely underrated.. this post would be even longer if I talk about everyone in detail so I'll just speedrun my thoughts on the ones you mentioned plus a few others...

Ran and Ryu are two characters who I feel are really popular which is why I didn't mention them above. Ran's bipolar nature is so good and funny while her growing understanding and reconciling with Lum slowly is really sweet. Ryu is one of those characters who I wish was treated better because I feel like she deserves everything she wanted but her stupid father comes in the way. Ryunosuke's character is one of those things I wished was done better. Give her all the sailor suits, bras, swimsuits, skirts, etc. she wants!!

Cherry is really funny, like in a way he's basically Ryunosuke's dad but done so much better. The amount of moments where I've wheezed laughing cause of him is way too many too count. I like Kotatsu neko, he's cute and it's funny how he's one of the strongest characters!! Ryoko is another one I like because of how insane she is lmao and Inaba is so so sweet!! Meanwhile, Rei is hilarious and his cow form is so silly XD

I also really like Rupa and Carla too, Idk, the way they're supposed to mirror AtaLum and their crazy dynamic captivates me.

And I guess I'll stop here! There are others, but this is already super long so I'll end it here!!

[cowpokezuko]

Guys I need to be a hater for a minute I'm so sorry.

If you have like a deep attachment to the Blue Eye Samurai episode "the tale of the ronin and the bride" look away now cause I'm about to rip into it. Also spoilers ahead for the whole series.

Okay, to preface, I am generally a hater of flashback sequences, so as much as this is a criticism of this episode, it's also a crit of most flashback sequences in film and television. I am also much more willing to let it slide when it's used for comedic purposes like the beginning flashbacks in Psych or clipshow episodes in IASIP or Community. Also, this is all my opinion, you are free to disagree with me all you want and that's totally fine. Apparently I'm the only person who thought this episode kinda sucked so I fully expect to be on my own here. I would like to present my argument nonetheless

Ok disclaimer done, now to get into why I think that the use of flashbacks and framing devices in this episode of BES was a poor choice and pisses me the hell off. Formatted into a numbered list.

It takes the tension out of the main fight. The fight scene in this episode is easily one of the best in the series, but the constant cut aways draws interest away from the fight and seems to equate cliffhangers with tension. On some occasions that would be fine. The bits where they cut to the other characters totally make sense and add to the tension of the fight overall as our minds are still on the fight and the show is not forcing our attention to something that's much less engaging than Mizu fighting like a hundred guys. It also decenters the actually interesting character dynamics we get to see in this episode by putting the focus on the relationship between Mizu and some guy we don't know. There could have been so much more development on the relationship between Mizu and Akemi or Akemi and Ringo which would have been so cool because they don't interact much before this episode, based on the finally, will end up being important relationships later on so why not spend your time showing us that? Why linger on this random guy from the past?

Flashbacks are lame and I don't like them. (This is my list so I get to be petty if I want to.) As previously mentioned, I am generally a hater of flashbacks. I think it's a boring way to relay a character's backstory and motivations to an audience. It often ends up over-explaining things that don't actually need to be explained and take away from the flow of the story. Ofc course, some flashbacks are better than others, for example, I think the flashbacks showing Mizu learning from the Swordfather are more interesting because learning how Mizu learned to fight and where her anger against her father stems from is actually interesting and very relevant to her actions. However, since we did see where Mizu's quest for revenge and fighting ability came from, why do we also need to see her get betrayed by a past lover on screen? Why did we need to see it happen beat for beat in the form of a flashback? Wouldn't it have been more interesting if we got to see her come across her ex in the actual plot of the story and not the metanarrative? Same goes for her mother? Why put the story on hold to tell us this when you could have made it part of the story?

We don't actually need to know every single thing about a character's traumatic backstory, and that's okay. This whole series of flashbacks fell flat for me because I already understand that Mizu is on a quest for revenge, y'all did a great job of conveying that by giving her a one track mind about it. I really don't care about what made her heart cold, isn't being jilted by everyone you've ever met enough to do that to a person? Why does she need a man to drive her to rage? Isn't being a member of an oppressed class enough to do that? She's a woman in an extremely patriarchal society and a member of a racial minority in a racist ass society, that's as good of a motivation as any. The idea that she needs more of a reason to hate the world is frustrating to say the least. In HBomerguy's video "Sherlock is Garbage and Here's Why", he discusses how Steven Moffatt fumbled the character of Sherlock by going back and showing his childhood, as he did with Jackman in Jekyll. In my opinion, if the only way you can think to reveal the character and motivations of a character is via flashbacks, you need to go back to the writing room and think of something else because there are always better ways to do it.

The romance plot is god fucking awful. This is probably my most biased point because I am so picky when it comes to romance plots in non romance stories. I am not against the concept of having romance subplots in non romance stories, and I am actually a romance lover, so it's not bad that there is a romance, this one just sucks dick and balls. Due to the format of it only existing in flashbacks there is absolutely no time for the audience to see the characters have legitimate chemistry or cute moments, so they try to use shorthand like the characters laughing together or whatever, but it falls flat because this is literally the first time we are seeing Mizu's husband and we know almost nothing about him. Every scene with them is super awkward and forced. There's no time for the audience to develop feelings or opinions on him, to the point that I am not using his name because I legit don't know what it is. Again, why not have Mizu come across her ex on her journey and have it be a source of conflict in the story? The way it's currently laid out is so goddamn boring that I was skipping through the parts where they weren't doing shit to get back to the good part (fighting).

Why are men? Must every woman have an on screen romance with a guy? Are we not allowed any other motivation? This isn't just me being a lesbian, this is genuinely such an annoying thing in media. There are so many guys who are on revenge missions who don't need to have their heart broken on screen too explain why they're murderous. Why did this need to happen to Mizu? We couldn't have had fmc with the same insane drive as Anton Chigurh or like the Basterds from Inglourious Basterds? There are basically no women in media who get to be just fucking nuts sans a tragic backstory with a guy and up until this episode, Mizu was one of them. But then we have to see how ooo actually she's a killer because a man broke her heart because god forbid women be angry at their material conditions. I'm not calling the writers misogynists or anything, I just think they took the boring way out in this episode.

The 'mother' reveal. WHYY NOT JUST HAVE THEM REUNITE IN THE BROTHEL OR SOMETHING?!?! This is the most frustrating thing. Her being alive during the flashback only to be killed by the end is a crock of shit if you ask me. It doesn't really affect anything because Mizu doesn't feel any different about her mother before and after the end of the episode BECAUSE IT ALL HAPPENS BEFORE THE STORY! If they had met during the timeline, we could have seen more development of the relationship between Mizu and her mother, but we already know that Mizu misses her mom because that's how she went into the episode. It was already explained in other episodes. Also by the end of the episode, she's still dead so what was the point of the reveal? If she had remained alive, Fowler's reveal that her mother is not her birth mother could actually change their relationship in an interesting way and could create intercharacter conflict which could be fun and cool idk.

The play framing device. I'm not too mad at this, it just feels kind of redundant given that it tells the same story as the flashbacks. I would have preferred they just stuck with this over the inclusion of the flashbacks because it's a lot more visually interesting and less on the nose. I do think that shifting Mizu from being the ronin to being the bride is lame, but that's just because it feels a lil heteronormative to me. Why does she havee to be the girl character in the play? Let her be the man, it's fine actually. I feel like it doesn't give us new information either because we go into it knowing that Mizu is violent and gets called a demon, then by the end Mizu is violent and gets called a demon, so again I think it was a little pointless.

I think that's all of my grievances, so here's some final thoughts. I really liked Blue Eye Samurai overall, I just think that this episode really fumbled the bag. Looking at reviews of the episode, it seems like most other people really liked it and I'm on my own here, but that's fine. I stand by what I said and will proudly hold my status as a hater up high. There are so many more interesting ways the show could have spent its time and I think it's such a shame that it fell back onto such boring storytelling. I also have my gripes with the way that the Swordfather flashbacks played out, but I think that it has a little bit more relevance than the time that Mizu was married so don't think I'm being selective in my hatership. I also have some very specific gripes with the way that this episode affects Mizu's relationship with her gender and sexuality in a really stupid way, but those are largely due to me projecting so I will not get into it here.

Once again, if you really like this episode, that's great, I am so glad. There are some parts I really like. The fight scene is awesome and I really like the parts where we get to see Akemi being the badass that she is. I wish there was more of that. As always, Ringo is the best guy ever and I love him, it's cool to see the way that he stands up for himself when Mizu does something he disagrees with. I just don't understand why we got so sidetracked by something as unimportant as an ex-husband. Usually I understand the concept of show don't tell, but if the only way you can think of to show us that is flashbacks, try again.

Anyway, I hope this makes sense and that you guys get what I'm putting down. Feel free to argue with me if you want, I'd like to understand why people like this episode so much given that I had such a negative reaction to it.

[night-heron-writes]

Episode 10 Promo Video/Predictions

So, like a lot of y'all, I'm not thrilled to see Misaki again, but I'm not surprised. We've known she has a bigger part to play in the series than just in episode 3 for a while now, with the opener and the staff interviews. I'm hoping that she's returned for a good (plot-relevant and not contrived) reason. Ideally, the reason that makes the most sense is that Kyutaro masterminded the whole thing to keep Miri out of the conflict we all know is coming.

I'd be less than thrilled if Misaki simply had a "change of heart" and wants Miri back because of that. I had a decent amount of respect for her because she was able to admit she wasn't cut out to be a mother, and a lot of my respect for her would go away if she did a 180° turn in regards to motherhood. Even if she has a "change of heart" can she really give Miri a better, more loving home than she has with Rei and Kazuki?

The title of the episode is "Lost at Sea", which usually means "adrift", and it can apply to lots of our characters. Rei and Kazuki will almost certainly feel lost after their family with Miri is ripped away from them again. Misaki will likely feel adrift having to cope with parenting again, after having not had to for the better part of a year. Miri is drifting between her two families, and probably won't understand where her papas have gone or why she's back with Misaki.

In the PV we see a clip of our main trio back in their favorite store, shopping for Miri again, likely as a going away present or something similar. But if you look closely, you'll notice Kazuki is moving around exaggeratedly, like in episode 6 when he was trying to convince Miri not to hate him. He's probably trying to act normal about having to give Miri back and failing miserably.

We also see them approaching what's likely a fairground/amusement park, perhaps as part of Miri's big send-off. That might be where they're meeting Misaki to give Miri back to her? Probably safer for everyone involved than either Rei's apartment or the shady bar Misaki was working at in episode 3. Interestingly enough, we only see Kazuki and Rei's faces while they're on the Ferris Wheel, nothing to tell us if Miri is there or not. I also found the role reversal here interesting: Kazuki is the one with a closed off expression, while Rei is showing his feelings (of shock? surprise? anger?) more openly. Kazuki might be saying that Misaki will be able to give Miri a better life (whether he believes is is another thing entirely), and Rei might be realizing that wanting to protect his family doesn't just mean from his father boss, but also from other circumstances that try to tear them apart. It would be interesting to see him take a more active role in here in the last arc of the series, since the family was largely founded without his input.

Overall, this episode is likely going to be somber from start to finish. We've entered the final arc of the series, and the stakes are getting higher. What is Kyutaro going to do? The ball is still very much in his court, and I have a hunch that Misaki's reappearance is his doing. Though how tf did he manage to stall until Decemeber if he got the request for information in August? FOUR MONTHS? HOW????

I'm a little surprised at how many people are convinced the show will go to shit now that Misaki has showed up again. We knew she had more to do than just episode 3, and from what we know this seems logical. I have faith in the writing team, since thus far the writing has been amazing. I just hope they do Misaki's character justice. I think she's an interesting character who's been well handled so far and I hope they continue that. The writers have done a good job dealing with complicated issues and showing the nuances of things, so I'm fairly confident they'll continue to do that here.

[frostbounddevotion]

My personal written Eulogy to Gojo and my VERY BRIEF take on the final chapter: and what I hope to share with Gojo fans.

Im grieving, and I'm upset. Theories about Gojo and the analogies, etc, make me almost mad. A possible reality i DO NOT want to think about. The more I read, the more im like

*Gege's writing needs work. Maybe a novel series on his own own time? Maybe he can "fix" it when his health is better and the pressure doesn't break him down?*

This is all so depressing. The disappointment is insurmountable. Gojo was used and abused in canon, some would even argue irl by Gege to promote the series. The fact that Gojo wasn't recognized or formally acknowledged is hard for the fans, really hard (and Gojo isn't my #1 bias/fav so please don't say it only affects Gojo stans), and it gives an air of vunerable feelings and unprocessed emotions. What makes me more upset is the very last panel. It seems like the entire journey was a waste.

Many will defend the ending, and many more will ciriticise it, but I can still acknowledge and respect why it ended the way it did while still being upset. Neither experience lives in a vacuum.

In my own little way, I'm going to mourn and commemorate Gojo's passing. Stories, fictional or not, still provide very real and (parasocial) experiences. So here we go:

Gojo was a flawed character. Very much like people in real life. We tend to romanticize the dead, overlooking our flaws. When I remember a loved one who's passed, I start with their flaws.

Gojo was an annoying, inconsiderate character who sometimes was cold and callous to other's experiences/feelings. He's a big fat inconvenience at times and generally makes others feel unimportant or small. Much hubris lies within him.

However, he had lead a very hard and selfless life from beggining to the end. From his first heartbeat to his last breath. And that should be considered when addressing his behavior. He was seen for what he can do, not for what he loved and enjoyed. His identity outside the 6 eyes and infinity was secondary. His worth in the jujutsu world came not from the relationships he could have formed, but the strength in his abilities. This experience isn't unique in the jujutsu world, as many other sorcerers walked away and tried to start their own life. But when this world and role becomes your identity and reason for your existence, it becomes even harder to escape.

I think many of us can relate to that. The burdens of our own thoughts and opinions of others can gravely impact our identity. Our beliefs, values, and sense of self worth affects the way we interact with the world around us.

Despite being used, propped up for others benefit, and his body being used as a means for an end WITHOUT even a thank you, recognition, or appreciation for the person behind it is foul. From fighting the school to protect his students,To making his life purpose for children to ENJOY their youth (and breaking cycles), to 14-21 hours of sleep a week being his life without complaint, just to be blamed of all that is wrong in jujutsu's way of life but still getting every job done, and his only semblance of an understanding relationshionship being ripped away by the world that gives you meaning.... geeze.... and this man still chooses to smile. To live everyday with that much goofy adhd energy without taking his resentment out of someone or something (*unlikegetocough*) takes STRENGTH and RESILIENCE. It takes GRACE. It takes SELFESS SACRIFICE.

These feelings are something I struggle with everyday. Gojo became a singlr parental figure to a 6 yr old boy as a teen. He took it in stride. My little boy is the same age now. My little one (FJO) is.... on the spectrum and has a cocktail disorders that make living in this world hard. He's angry. He is defiant. He is full of love and potential. Being a parent to FJO is isolating, immensely difficult, rarely rewarding, and time consuming especially in a world who doesn't respect or bother to understand him. And I have schools afraid of me because I held them accountable for not doing their job.

Parenting is complicated. You end up losing your identity, freedom, and sense of self when you do it alone with no resources. And that's for healthy parents with neurotyical children. Add the fact that the parent I were raised for being "amazing, smart, and worthwhile as long as you meet these standards that we set in place to satisfy us and thats all you're good for" to then you feel like you were robbed of your life. That you were emotionally abused by those who were supposed to love and care for you and your youth robbed for the benefit of your guardians. Only for your life to change and be robbed of your sense of self once again. My body (i am born female) is a vessel for others, my career is for the approval of others, my time and energy with about 4 hrs of asleep if given to other's, my money and savings is spent on others. I don't want my child or others to feel the way I felt when i was little, but it's hard when you remain unhealed. I was chronically bitter.

Im not saying gojo and I the same. But as someone with no blood family and role models, what i take away from Gojo is to that it's OK to have flaws, confidence, and sacrifice. Because to someone else, I am or may be their everything. In their little world, I am Gojo to them. The one who's doing it all. And for their sake, I should be smiling. I should never let FJO see how much I'm suffering (no worries I'm in therapy. I'm getting the help I need). I want to be better for him. I want to be the best version of myself I can be. It's ok that this part of my life is thankless. It's not about reward or recognition or what others placed on me. Sometimes it's just THIS WAY, and if I am to do this, I should do it well.

I will honor Gojo in the way I parent. In the way I carry myself. In the way I interact with others around me. I will protect like the vulnerable under my care like he did. Sacrifice like he did. Expect nothing like he did (in the best way possible). Do my best to break generational cycles like he did.

Gee. One more thing about his ending. The way everyone just moved on without acknowledging Gojo's body or person and almost forgotten... brought memories of my safety net; my Grandmother. Whom died and had a funeral, and i video chatted once before she was gone. I never properly finished grieving her. I never got a chance to attend her funeral. Never was able to visit her burial. (I live across the country). I cried for 2 days and moved on because losing her was too hard to process, and i had other things to do. I felt like I disrespected her, and the manga resurfaced these feelings. I was able to be self-aware enough that I saw my grandmother in how Gojo's ending was all handled. I was now able to process that.

I had no role models. All I had was anime, fiction, and some school teachers. I'm grateful for Gojo's character. May i use these stories to become a better person. A better *me*. The JJK experience was fun. :) let's see what happens in the anime community from here.

Thanks for reading,

Alex

[enbyleighlines]

Leigh plays Tellius prt 19

We are in the final arc of part 1 of Radiant Dawn! Which starts with this terrifying scene of Tormod almost losing his surrogate father all because Izuka is up to his racist bullshit again. I'm so glad that Rafiel was around for this.

That said, I feel like this is sort of beside the point, Tormod. I do know that he goes on to say that the feral drug destroys a laguz's sense of self, but I feel like that part should have gone first. That seems like the more important bit. Anyway, the fact that Tormod chose to stick around after this is baffling. If someone tried to turn my surrogate parent into a mindless zombie, I'd probably be committing murder.

I am kind of interested to see how the feral drug might affect one of the Branded. We know how they affect laguz, and how they affect beorc (via Renning), but how would it affect someone of mixed decent? I like to imagine that it would transform them, but instead of turning them into a full dragon, bird, or beast, it turns them into something in-between, kind of like a werewolf situation.

Here comes the biggest douche in town. I feel like his character art in this game is drastically different from his art in PoR. In PoR, he gives off the vibes of a grumpy chef. I much prefer this art, because it makes him look like the self-righteous bastard we all know him to be. I cannot wait to destroy him.

Next was the solo Micaiah map. I did have to redo this one once, only because Micaiah failed to dodge a series of hits, despite the enemy's low hit percentage. Ah, but that's Radiant Dawn in a nutshell.

Alder always bewilders me. He doesn't seem to be much of a character, but then here he does this, and even has this arguably touching bit of dialogue with Jarod. If only Jarod wasn't an absolute monster of a human being. Otherwise I might feel something other than disappointment that we don't get to kill Jarod here. I know this would make an anti-climatic ending to part 1, so he has to survive here so that we can do the big battle in the next chapter. But man. The fact that he could have died here but doesn't is such a tease.

Micaiah, I love you, I really do. I know your core character trait is your compassion. But this man is responsible for all the pain and suffering of the Daein people. Just let the Black Knight execute him. Again, I know it would make the story less interesting, but Micaiah. Jarod needs to die.

Oh Pelleas, you adorable awkward bean. But I have to give credit where credit is due. This takes a lot of courage, courage his spineless body does not usually possess. And though his speech starts out rocky, in the end he does a much better job that I could have done. So kudos to you, Prince Pelleas!

The next chapter is the finale of part 1! But before getting to the map, I'd like to go through my Radiant Dawn babies to compare their stats to their averages and see how they're progressing, so I'll do that in part 20.

Ciao!

[meggie515]

Let me start by I love The Summer I Turned Pretty and yes, I know this it’s fiction, but find myself so emotionally invested in these characters. With Season 2 out and having just finished the book series, I have found myself thinking a lot about this series and the love triangle that is Belly/Conrad/Jeremiah.

I actually think the show is done way better than the books. Jenny did a great job with the books, but the show just takes it to another level. Loved the addition of the Deb Ball in season 1 and the boardwalk games in episode 4 of season 2. Not to mention giving Steven and Taylor more of a role as well as the other supporting characters we love. With that being said, I am gearing myself up for the gut punch that the rest of season 2 is setting up. I love Jeremiah and I think he is an amazing friend to Belly. I can see what all the Jelly shippers see and want to root for them, but I will forever be Team Conrad, just like Team Edward in Twilight. The other “team” makes complete sense and could see the characters be completely happy (it is easy, effortless, just like breathing) but it just seems to be the safe option. Yes, this person makes me happy, yes, I love this person, but at the end of the day, always feeling something is missing/lacking. Anyway, that may be just me. I live for the teen angst/longing/pining and the more difficult journey.

I know there is lots of talk about leaks and believe me, I have found myself down the rabbit hole more than once. For those who have read the books, we know Jeremiah and Belly get together and have a relationship. We know that is where the show is going. For those that are Team Conrad, it’s the part of the series that you begrudgingly have to get through. I do hope what we see isn’t too far off from the books and really hope it’s not Conrad’s confession from the third book and Belly rebuffs him as many are alluding to. Not sure how you get passed that to get to where book three ends. Guess we just have to patiently watch and see. But I know my heart couldn’t handle seeing Conrad take that blow. Must protect him at all costs. And I really don’t want to end up not liking Belly.

So I’ve been thinking (maybe too much for something that is fiction) and came to this conclusion about what we are seeing and where it might be going, tv wise. Hoping and praying the strike ends soon so we get a third season.

One of the major changes from the book to the show was Belly loosing her virginity to Conrad. (What a scene btw). I think Jenny had Belly and Conrad sleep together not just because that seems like 2023 thing to do, but it really shows the connection these two have. It wasn’t lustful or just an act of passion. It showed how much they trust each other and connecting in way beyond a verbal declaration of love. And it makes a passage from the books (We’ll Always Have Summer) much more relevant:

“Conrad and I were linked, we would always be linked. That wasn't something I could do away with. I knew that now—that love wasn't something you could erase, no matter how hard you tried.”

It just makes that statement more powerful.

In the books, I didn’t like Jeremiah cheating on Belly. That just seemed cheap and a poor excuse/way to break them up. As much as I am Team Conrad, I don’t think Jeremiah would do Belly dirty like that. So I think adding in the show Belly and Conrad sleeping together could provide the catalyst for Belly and Jeremiah calling off their wedding. And this way, Jeremiah doesn’t cheat, which will make Jeremiah shippers happier. Jeremiah is going to find out that Belly and Conrad slept together, something he and Belly never did and he realizes that he will always be second to Conrad, just like he does in the book. Even though Belly and him aren’t endgame, he is not portrayed as a cheater and bad guy. His character is redeemed, and we still get the ending Jenny wrote.

IDK, just my thoughts. Just wanted to get that out there. Like I said, I have spent way too much time thinking about this.

[raveyardantics]

Cynophobia

Summary: Dogs have a long and complicated relationship with death in mythologies all around the world, and even though he doesn’t get a lot of moments in the series, Damon Gray -coincidentally- also has a complicated relationship with death and dogs..

Character(s): Damon Gray, OC(s)

Content Warning(s): Horror, gore, body horror, graphic animal death, torture, possession/exorcism

Word Count: 4,850

“There is a flame that I've been fanning, there is a fire waiting to catch

There is a Hell that has been building from the moment we first met

If there ever was a time, if there ever was a chance

To undo the things I've done and wash these bloodstains from my hands

It has passed and been forgotten, these are the paths that we must take

Cause you and I, Tom, we are men, and we can bend and we can break”

                           -The Hounds, The Protomen. Act II: The Father Of Death

The sound of a dog barking near his ear and the sensation of fur covering his whole body made Damon Gray shoot awake and instinctively reach for the gun he’d begun keeping in his desk. 

Disoriented from sleep, his scrambling hands found nothing but the lamp beside the couch where he had fallen asleep, knocking it to the ground and causing him to fully compose himself as his mind caught up with his body. He wasn’t in his bedroom, he was in their tiny apartment’s living room. There wasn’t a dog, there was a movie playing on the TV that he claimed to be watching as he ‘rested his eyes.’ And lastly, he wasn’t covered in fur, but rather a blanket that Valerie had no doubt tossed over him when she came home from work and found him sleeping. He smiled to himself at what a paranoid old man he’d turned into since becoming a father so many years ago.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Damon made his way down the hall to the bathroom to wash off his face. The dog on the tv was aggressively barking now, and even though he’d turned it down before getting up, the sound was enough to flash him back to the incident at Axion that had nearly cost him everything. He had never exactly been a fan of dogs -in fact he had always preferred cats- but he had also never been able to hate them either. In fact, when he learned about the Mastiff Protocol at Axion Labs, he’d been thoroughly impressed by how well trained the “volunteers” (the corporate word for the dogs they had been preparing to use as security) had been. He knew that the breed was highly intelligent with an excellent memory and even better guardian senses and he had to respect the work ethic of any creature that determined… but he also had to acknowledge how superior his security system was. 

.Was.

He stressed the last word in his mind as he sighed and finished cleaning his face. No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise,he couldn’t help but blame himself for the Green Hound incident.  Of course, he hadn’t known what they would do with all those dogs after agreeing to use his system, let alone that one would ignore the old adage of ‘letting sleeping dogs lie’ and instead start tearing up the lab in what seemed to be some act of revenge, but maybe it their (or rather his) security was a bit better they could have cut down on the damage and he’d still have a much better job. Maybe then his daughter wouldn’t be spending her school nights giving herself gray hairs chasing ghosts and he wouldn’t feel himself flinch every time a dog barked too loudly in his direction.

Speaking of, he thought, suddenly aware of the relative silence of the apartment, Valerie’s way too quiet tonight…

Damon loved his daughter, really he did, but that girl could snore in a way that gave a sawmill noise envy, and the fact the he didn’t currently hear her cutting logs drew his attention. They had an agreement that she’d always be back in the house by 10pm on a school night and a quick look at his watch told him it was too late in the evening for the silence of an empty room. Rounding the corner to her room, he listened at the door for a bit for the miraculous sound of a normalized sleep volume, but instead he heard nothing. Well, nothing would be an understatement; Damon Gray heard the absolute sound of emptiness on the other side of the door.

Knocking twice on the door, he whispered her name.

“Val? Sweetie?”

Silence greeted him. A door cold to the touch.

“Valerie…” he called again, this time louder and slightly concerned.

There was a response this time, the sound of tiny claws scraping against the door. Damon recognized the sound from a trip to his grandmother’s house in Florida years ago, it was the sound of a dog excitedly scratching at the other side of the door. Desperately flipping the mental switch away from fear, his mind went back to rational parent mode and the scratching became more excited at his presence. As disappointed as he was that his daughter was apparently breaking curfew again, he was entirely too tired to deal with a smuggled animal ruining the security deposit. “Not the worst thing your teenage daughter could bring home, old man,” he told himself as he grabbed the doorknob, “count your…”

The door opened inward into an ice cold abyss. In front of him there was only the top of a glowing white stone staircase and, as far as he could see in any other direction, there was simply darkness. He moved to close the door as an immediate reaction to the sight, his mind shutting down and opting to reset the scenario. However, halfway through the motion a voice cut in to his mind.

But then where’s your daughter, Damon?

It was a rough and scratchy thought, a mocking thought that rested in his mind despite the voice that had put it there not belonging to him in any sense. 

His angered grip tightened on the doorknob to the point of almost causing him pain, and as he grabbed a few deep, panicked breaths, he stepped silently into the blinding darkness, the phantom scratching at the door transforming into a wood splintering fervor the second he released his hold on the anchor to the outside world

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

The staircase into nothing was held up by nothing and was seemingly eternal. He almost wasn’t thinking straight as he made his way down; turning around was out of the equation (even if he’d wanted to, the one time he had looked behind him whatever entrance or exit to the path had existed was replaced with more stairs curling up into more darkness) and there were a few moments when he considered just rushing into the darkness just to get to the bottom so he could throttle whatever was at the end of this haunted path. He couldn’t bring himself to sprint forward though, the thought of the path ending abruptly and him falling into the nothingness forever kept him from making any careless moves.

He wasn’t sure how far down he’d traveled before he reached some sort of bottom, but given how strong the damp smell of mildew and age had gotten for him he was sure he was approaching some sort of end. As if on queue, the steps ended and he found himself deep enough in what he chose to believe was warm water that the bottom of his feet were submerged. Suddenly, a light appeared from the north of his position, pale red illuminating everything around him and giving him a definite direction to move in as he heard something splashing around behind him in the darkness

The water was foamy and churned, and as he skimmed towards the light he couldn’t help but think of the beach in the summer. It was a delusional thought for sure, Damon knew it, but he needed the familiarity to keep himself sane moving forward and not a sobbing mess scared out of his mind. There was no sunlight in this place, but there was a light to guide him.. There was no ocean breeze but there were waves lapping at his ankles.

There are no sharks in this place but there are things with teeth and hunger all the same…

The voice in his head was louder this time. Closer.

The world shook at this realization, and whatever imagined path in the darkness Damon was standing on sunk for a bit, submerging him before being bobbed back to the surface. He gasped for air as he resurfaced, scrambling in the churning fluid for stability and desperately wiping his eyes clear to avoid being robbed of any other senses in this place. When he finally got his vision back fully,  he noticed that the environment had changed once again. Whatever floated through this space with him had risen up to his knees now, his feet completely lost to him beneath roiling foam. He was walled in by what seemed like cages on both sides now, but rather than the polish of smooth steel, the bars he saw around the pool that was once an ocean were all roughly hewn from one continuous block of ancient yellowed stone. The red light from before was now directly over him, and even though he still found no source for it, he chose to believe he had made some kind of positive progress.

Curiosity got the better of him however, and as the paralyzing thought that he was actually the one in the cage started bubbling in his mind, he made his way across the flooded path towards the wall on his left. At first he saw nothing on the other side of the bars, just more of the same darkness he had wandered down stretching ad infinitum, but as he opened his mouth to call out, two burning yellow lights manifested from the blackness. 

Instinctively, he jumped back just as the sound of paws scrambling across stone filled the room. Some were farther away than others, but the one that he had just peered into wasted no time filling with the massive visage of a ragged and decaying dog. Its eyes were lanterns against a midnight sky, circles of pure gold set against the green fur lining most of its body. The creature snarled at Damon, baring its teeth against the bars before going into a barking frenzy and bashing its skull against the solid brick separating them. It was unrelenting in its attempts to get out, and as the sound of bones breaking against stone intermixed with the feverish barking, Damon could only watch in horror as the creature’s head split open from the central impact, its eye bulging out from a freshly shattered skull and teeth bending against each other before breaking loose of the jaw and dribbling down the wall. Blood, thick and black against the red lighting, pooled in the cage before overflowing into the flotsam, bone fragments and brain matter carried out towards him on a wave as the beast continued thrashing against the prison.

Now he ran. The corridor went on endlessly in either direction, and even though he no longer had a sense of direction, he no longer cared. Damon ran straight in the direction he was facing and he prayed that there would be an end to this. Every cage he ran past, the creatures seemed to get more and more intense in their desire to be free. Teeth breaking against stone, reabsorbed and healed into the shattered jaws of monsters only to fly out again in a mist of blood and tissue. Fur coming off in slick sheets from full body charges against something archaic and unbreakable, bones that wished they could say the same snapping against the impact before mending themselves back into gouged flesh.

Maybe they were telling him he was going the wrong direction. Maybe this was all some cold pizza and guilt inspired nightmare to teach him a lesson. Maybe he didn’t fucking care. Damon ran… until the sound of breaking stone behind him crumbling into the building river of viscera finally caused him to look back.

What he saw was massive, just looking at it almost caused Damon to drop to his knees as a sense of hopelessness washed over him. It was easily the size of a passenger plane, a body of pure cosmic black that rippled with muscles and purpose, the pool barely soaking the base of its massive paws as it trudged into the room and stared him down amidst the cacophony of violence that still played all around them. However, the creature almost looked bored watching him frozen in terror, or rather it would have if there was only one head to be bored of him. In addition to the eyes that watched him, Damon noticed an additional head on either side of the creature's central one, each one resembling some combination of wolf and, ironically enough, a mastiff. Something writhed in the spaces between the creatures’ ears, barely visible in the dim light if not for the reflection from the snake’s scales. The auxiliary heads growled at the walls as it moved towards him, each step sending a tidal wave of gore in every direction and quieting the prisoners as they retreated back into the nothing that they’d sprung from with whimpers of defeat. 

The dog had not barked since it arrived, and now that it had quieted the hell-raising around them, it looked content to temporarily puzzle over Damon’s existence in this space. Each head tilted to the left in confusion, and as he slowly stepped back, he watched its ears perk up, alert but not making any direct move against him as the others had. After watching each other in silence for a bit, the dog decided to take the lead, throwing his massive body across the path and blocking the direction he had just run from. It laid all three heads on its paws and proceeded to ignore Damon with a huff of further boredom, the ripples churning the waters again even across the parking lot of distance between them still.

He didn’t need to be told twice. Turning to go once again, he shuddered as the pale eyes from the cages watched him with burning hatred. Something shimmering in the ‘water’ caught his eye before moving on though, and as the creature behind him howled loud enough to shake the planet, Damon Gray picked up the Axion Lab dog collar and ran harder than he ever had in his life

He ran until the minutes became days, ignoring the rising sensation of the slurry that now reached to almost his waist as deafening fear drove him through the darkness. By the time he stopped, the eyes on either side had fully retreated back into their stone prisons, leaving him alone in the quiet again under the hazy red light. He had started calling out Valerie’s name again once he was sure he was alone, convinced that finding her was the key to finding the way out. 

Of course, he thought, heartache dragging him down as he moved forward, that’s assuming she’s actually even here.

As if responding to his thoughts again, something else splashed in the nearby darkness, something large, snapping his concern from the internal to the external again. 

“Val?” He called, taking a tentative step forward. “Val is… is that you?”

Burning hope and icy fear clashed in his heart as he called out again to the noise.

“Valerie!” He yelled, the steam of uncertainty driving him forward as another unseen splash sent waves in his direction. “Valerie, can you hear me?!”  

He was terrified of an answer. If It was her, then they’d be together and maybe they could figure this place out. Maybe. But if they couldn’t? If the sea just stretched forever and this was some cruel glitch in reality, well… the idea of dragging his daughter through a directionless void forever was worse than anything he’d been through. Honestly, his mind was racing so quickly in the direction of the noise being his daughter, he almost didn’t consider the alternative.

Almost.

“Va-”

A flash of teeth appeared in Damon’s mind, biting into the name and dragging it away into the muck. He stumbled in his motions, kicking up his own wave from the infinite pool and splashing it against the nearest wall. He couldn’t afford to fall again, couldn’t bear to see what happened when the ‘water’ got too high against him and the horrible things he imagined below the non-surface moving their way upward. 

As he prepared to creep forward, now trying to be more cautious despite all his previous thrashing, a geyser erupted directly in front of him, throwing foam and debris against the cages and completely soaking Damon again. Luckily for him, he had thrown his arm across his face this time, shielding his eyes and mouth from the ocean spray. His dripping body was the only sound now, and the water around him had gone completely still, only disturbing where the drops from him hit the surface.

He could also feel someone else there with him now.

He didn’t bother calling out to his daughter again, he knew that whatever had calmed the waves was too cold of a presence to be anything living. It reminded him of the lab incident, it reminded him of being in the Fentons’ basement, it reminded him of being the last one in the cemetery after his father’s funeral; it was the feeling of death walking. And walk it did. Damon heard each movement as it closed the distance between them, a casual stride through the flood to reach him. He didn’t run. He couldn’t run. It felt as though gravity had magnified a thousand times and glued him to the spot where he stood, a primal fear that recognized that hunters responded more aggressively to sudden movements.

Hot breath coated the back of his neck, a primal warning from a thing that didn’t breathe and didn’t care. Damon wanted to close his eyes and swing on it, if he couldn’t flee, he wanted to fight so badly, to fill the silence with something other than the judgmental huffing of something that reeked like ancient tombs. Fear and anger made him tear up, violently shaking in the stilled waters as the image of his daughter flashed in his mind again. Suddenly, the feeling moved from behind him, and as Damon looked up for the first  time he saw the creature was now directly in front of him, red eyes peering down and cutting through the darkness like wet clay.

It was massive, easily over seven feet tall, with the head of a large or white wolf sitting atop the body of a lean and athletic man whose skin was the same color as Damon’s. They wore a white and gold longskirt and on their right hip they carried a massive mace. It raised a hand to his chin, lifting Damon’s eyes to meet their own as their ears perked up and their nostrils flared, and while the hand was human in shape, its nails were rough and jagged claws.

TO ME UNHAND THE STONE ANCHORED TO YOUR SOUL. FROM ME SEEK PASSAGE.

He heard a voice in his head again, different this time, and as he was about to ask what they meant, the creature jabbed its free hand into Damon’s chest and squeezed. Shock ran through his body, and the horror of the situation demanded his attention enough that Damon’s eyes shot down the fresh wound, expecting a splatter of blood and pulp to be running down his chest. To his surprise though, what he saw was somehow even worse; hands, not his own but coming from him nonetheless, had grabbed onto the stranger's wrist where he had been punctured.

He did scream this time, and as the silence was disturbed, the wolf-headed creature slowly withdrew their hand from Damon’s chest, pulling more and more of an alternate body out as he retreated. It didn’t hurt him in a physical sense, but the more the others struggled against each other the more Damon flashed in and out of memory, his mind struggling under the weight of whatever was happening.

There had been an accident. A man was dead and the lab was giving him the day off.

The sea had started to recede from him, which is lucky considering he would have fallen to his knees screaming anyway from the pressure inside his head.

A secret folder. Layouts to a model of his security system that was supposedly not in use anymore. Termination order.

The phantom was fighting back, trying to push its way back inside of his chest despite the claws shredding whatever soulself had been stitched together in its new home.

Termination order. Stolen funds. Termination order. Poisoned bags of dog food. Termination order. A speeding car blowing through a red light. TERMINATION ORDER.

With one final pull and one final scream in the darkness, Damon watched as a pale husk was separated from his soul, the new body thrashing in the water as the wolf-headed figure offered him a hand up from the shallows. The last memory burned away as he accepted the help, standing in the ocean again with only the bottom of his feet submerged. 

A Black Dog on a highway, smiling with human teeth. A speeding car unable to stop at a red light. A sudden weight in his chest. A hazy face in the mirror that wasn’t his. A man was dead and the lab was giving everyone the day off. 

“....T-Tom?” Damon asked, looking into the eyes of a dead man once again, “Tom Callumson?”

The figure stopped trashing and laser focused on Damon, completely ignoring the clawed arbiter that stood between them. Tom Callumson had been the man in charge of Axion Labs security, he had hired Damon and when he had been fired the first time they said that Tom was the one who agreed to let him come back in any capacity. Tom Callumson had also died earlier that day, a car crash after running a red light and meeting the grill of a freight truck with the driver’s side of his Camaro. Tom Callumson had also also been reported to have been mumbling to himself over the past two weeks about how ‘they’ were out to get him, which had begun to worry the company about competition stealing their designs…before Tom began complaining about hearing…

“Scratching at the door…” Damon whispered to himself.

“Gray? GRAY?!” Tom yelled, a wild look of fury in his eyes. “It should have been you, Gray! You uppity fucking prick! Over some rank fucking dogs?! SOME FUCKING DOGS?!”

His eyes darted around the room in paranoia, but whatever Tom was seeing now Damon was completely blind to it. He wouldn’t have cared anyway, his mind was too busy connecting the threads from their jumbled up set of memories, piecing together a timeline that made sense for him. The termination orders, they’d been signed right before Damon even had his interview, but the names… Curie, Turing, Tesla, Kirby, Redi, Lovelace… he recognized them as the ‘volunteers’ that Axion had gotten rid of as security due to poor performance. That would explain why they were so eager to get rid of him after the Green Hound incident, he was just the fall guy, those poor dogs never had a chance but he was the sucker who, unfortunately, gave them an excuse.

He had also been covering up some less than spectacular security failures in his free time too, taking bribes from other companies to look the other way as some equipment had been messed with before major testing could be done. In fact Damon was remembering right, Tom may have cost a few scientists more than their pound of flesh when things had gone wrong.

All Damon could do was look at him in disgust. Death had stolen his body but it seems his rotten spirit was just as determined to break the rules, staying behind like so many others in the last few years to make things miserable. Fishing the Axion collar he’d gotten earlier out of his pocket, he rolled it between his fingers, the silver of the pendant a perfect match for fading light of the broken soul glaring at him while pinned standing to infinite nothingness.

“Somehow, Tom,” he said, flipping the tag over to see his hitchhiker's name etched into the stained metal in the dim red light, “I think the dogs are the least of your worries now.”

The wolf-headed creature had been standing beside Tom this whole time, and with a nod he reached out his hand for Damon to place the collar. Relieved to be rid of it, he tentatively dropped it into the beast’s palm, flinching a bit as Tom made another attempt to lunge at him with hatred in his eyes unbound to humanity.

The attempt was short lived however, and as the wolf-headed man wrenched Tom’s head back into his grasp and jammed the silver medallion of the collar into his mouth, Tom began to scream. The noise cut through the darkness like an explosion, bringing back a collection of barking and howling from the cages as eyes lit up observant and hungry on the other side of the darkness. Liquid silver began running out of the corner of Tom’s eyes like tears, and Damon noticed that the water had started boiling underneath him, the sea churning  into a mass of whip-like tentacles each lined with cynodonts that had seemingly leaked through their confinement for the sake of furthering punishment. He took a step back and closed his eyes as the mouths began ripping chunks out of his former coworker, each bite stripping away spectral flesh. The falling silver began to harden into chain-links still connected to his eyes, and as Tom tried to choke out defiant screams, something under the surface began pulling at either side of the chain, slowly dragging him deeper into the nothingness as the sound of ripping and tearing increased in ferocity. Damon didn't want to see what was happening to him, but as the sounds of muffled screams slowly trailed into rattling metal, he couldn't help but spare one final look. Tom was waist deep in the infinite by the time Damon managed the strength to open his eyes, silver chains being pulled from his eyes and mouth where the obol had disintegrated and started overflowing. His skin was tiger-striped with gashes, and where there was once what could be called flesh, there was now matted and disgusting fur, the scabbed lines where they met oozing a vibrant green in the darkness. 

Damon wanted to reach out to him, he wanted to make it stop even if for the selfish reason that the longer he watched the sicker he felt, but as he moved forward, the wolf-headed creature rounded on him, putting themself squarely between Damon and a steadily sinking shade of Tom.

He hesitated, waiting for the creature to make a move or even speak. “Is…is my…”

SHE IS WHERE YOU SHOULD BE DAMON GRAY. NOW BEGONE FROM HERE, THIS IS NO HOME FOR INNOCENCE.

Once again not waiting for him to respond, the creature shot his hand out with impossible speed and jammed the tip of his pointer finger into the space between Damon’s eyes. The world collapsed into true darkness as his eyes rolled back into his head, and he stumbled for a moment before he began to fall backwards Expecting to feel the warm sensation of water on his back at any moment, he braced himself for the soft impact of waves, only to instead feel the hard crush of drywall against the back of his head. His eyes shot open on impact, the blurry shapes in the darkness across from him no longer the hulking visage of a monster but instead forming into the door to his daughter’s room once again.

Senses flooded back into him; the mildew smell was released into the artificial citrus scent of the air fresheners around the house, the static quiet replaced with soft snoring bleeding through the hallway, pale light at the end coming from the tv where the dog was no longer barking for its owners attention. He was home… but he had to be sure. For the second time tonight, he grabbed the doorknob to Valerie’s room with fearful intensity, opening it slowly,  but this time rather than the yawning silence of a void, Damon was met with a wall of sound, his daughter passed out at an impossible angle that would have destroyed his back if he ever tried to recreate it. Despite everything he’d been through tonight and the near airplane level decibels, he smiled at the small victory

Well, this should be a home for innocence, he thought to himself, the burning eyes of a wolf-headed man still engraved in his mind. With a sigh somewhere between He closed her room door and made his way back to the living room where his laptop was, flopping on the couch as the credits rolled on what he was supposedly watching. He knew he wasn’t going to be sleeping for a while, he knew that there’d probably be a long while before he could comfortably close his eyes and not have to hold his breath at the slightest chance of eyes glaring back at him in the darkness, hungry and resentful, but for now at least… he could start searching for a new job.

 —-----------------

Hello everyone, thanks for reading. I haven’t done a strictly horror piece in a while but I wanted to pull something  from my drafts and I figured I’d start the year with something a little more off the wall. I’m a big fan of horror in short story format and especially with a show like Danny Phantom I feel like if you look  beyond the action angle that they typically take with the children and think about the adults who aren’t strictly dedicated to fighting the supernatural there’s a lot of potential to explore the darker elements, hope you enjoyed, and remember: No corporation is your friend and they’d all just as soon drag you into hell as they would flip a light switch.

[thedoctornumber11]

I've had a bit of time to process the Giggle and I've got a lot of thoughts. Going to put most of them under the Read More, but I will just say ahead of time that I think this third special is the worse of the three. I still liked it enough, but it was not nearly as good as the first two specials.

Neil Patrick Harris does a great job as the Toymaker. Easily the second best part of the episode.

Nccui Gatwa was the first best part of the episode. It usually takes me a season or so to really get a feel of a new Doctor and how much I enjoy them, but Nccui Gatwa's Doctor is one that I already really enjoy. I may start referring to him as the therapy Doctor, because that's how he came off as and I loved it.

What was Mel and Kate even doing here? Mel had less relevance here than she did when she was actually the Doctor's companion (and anyone who's seen her seasons know that's a bad thing) and Kate Lethbridge Stewart seems to have lost her personality at some point between Power of the Doctor and now. You could have had the entire episode without them and it would have been exactly the same except for maybe the Spice Girls scene.

The Spice Girls scene was funny, but I'm now starting to get a bit tired of the whole "villain breaks out in song and dance," thing after it's been done a few times now in recent years in Doctor Who.

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of references to other companions. I was glad to see Amy, Clara and Bill mentioned, although no mention of Yaz was a bit odd.

The Master in the gold tooth thing was brilliant and I love that they had that cliffhanger there as long as they do actually follow up on it. I'm sure they probably will. Honestly, the way they handled the Master in this episode was better than how they handled many of the characters who actually appeared in the episode and the Master didn't actually even make a real appearance.

On the other hand of cliff hangers, they've still left us on this whole "not the person really running the show" type cliff hanger and I don't like that one as much. That seems like something that should have been resolved at the end of the specials and not drag it out through the first season. If this becomes the new "bad wolf," or "impossible girl," of the season, I'm going to be a bit annoyed. I thought we got past that type of story telling.

Bi-generation is really dumb and stupid. It legitimately makes zero sense. I know it's scifi, so things don't really need to make sense, but this actually does bother me. The point of regeneration is to heal the Time Lord (in this instance, the Doctor) and keep them from dying. If instead, the Time Lord splits between their past regeneration (14) and the next regeneration (15) how does that actually heal the previous regeneration? In this case, right after splitting, 14 probably should have just died. He was hit by that laser after all and there was nothing actually changing or healing him, just splitting him in two. Can both of these versions of the Doctor regenerate? What are the implications here.

I do not want a David Tennant spin-off series and I hope that's not what this was setting up. I feel like it would take away the attention from the main show and Nccui Gatwa and as I said above, I already really enjoy Nccui Gatwa, so I don't want that.

Outside of the brief mention of previous companions and bringing back Mel (only to give her nothing to do) there was nothing about this episode that actually felt like an anniversary.

[existentialflirt]

Finished s2 of Good Omens and I am UNWELL. Because I need to yell about it, I'm very sorry. It is going under a cut if anyone who is following me hasn't finished and is allergic to spoilers. Idek. Idek. I have been a wreak. I woke up early and binged the last two and uggggh the end. Fuck. Right. Under the cut we go.

So....so uh, where to start that won't get me angry again? To say that I have ISSUES with the ending is an understatement because look fucking look, this is not about the ship. I mean it is but it isn't, it's about the fact that it does not make sense for Aziraphale. Is does not and I'm going to unpack that in a second but first i want to talk about the canonization of an apparent rare pair (I don't know. I don't tend to lurk in single fandom spaces much and I'm pretty new to Good Omens, but Mo has been and he mentioned the fandom quite fancied Beelzebub and Gabriel as an item so fine). I do not understand it as an arc if it wasn't supposed to twig something in our angel's pretty little head like oh hey, this seems familiar. I understand it's a way to free up the head angel position in heaven and that's all well and good but the writing is usually so much tighter than that so I call it sloppy. AND I DO GET THAT THIS ISN'T THE END BUT SEASON 3 IS A LONG WAY OFF AND WHO KNOWS WITH THIS STRIKE AND THE STUDIOS BEING MONSTERS LIKE FUCK. FUCK. FUCK. I mean yes Neil has promised if he cannot get it renewed as a series, he will get it done another way and I trust him. gdi, i trust him because that ending destroyed me.

Right so, I'm getting incoherent, sorry.

Now, if we want to talk rationally, it does make sense for Aziraphale to get sweet talked by Metatron (and presumably God, by that measure). I do. He gave him coffee and talked like a dear old man, really playing up the freedom he'd have to continue to associate with Crowley. Combined with that, Aziraphale having a lot of doubts about what's going on in heaven, since oh you know, the whole Job incident (loved that whole story, my god, the end murdered me and set me down in a shallow grave. In a good way), and that's partially from Crowley's influence. But why in heaven would he think that offering Crowley to be reinstated as an angel would please him at all?????

Crowley has made it extremely clear since he fell that he doesn't give two shits about any side but his (which in time extended to theirs, Aziraphale and him against the world. At one point almost literally). So why??? Why would he think it's something he'd want, even with a nice coat of paint? I mean, maybe it could be said that he was blinded by Crowley's acts of kindness and mercy and thought that maybe if he spun it as they can go up there and change things, that Crowley's distaste toward heaven has to do with the fact that he could run it together. It wasn't. He was mad about unanswered questions and the prospect of the universe, which he played a part in creating, being destroyed. (I have a lengthier head canon about that, tbh, which is will pen in time). It just doesn't serve any narrative for the characters aside from we're setting up for the third season on a cliffhanger (and yes, yes, Neil couldn't have predicted the WGA/SAG-AFRA strike. He says he had been working on it but stopped for the strike, which good on him. We stan, but also god what piss poor timing to destroy the fans with this angst)

Now look, the performances are gorgeous. Always perfect. David and Micheal are incredible together and I would have been FINE been FINE with that argument in the store, Crowley practically begging Aziraphale to run away together and that desperate fucking kiss, but I don't understand Azirapale remaining resolute. I don't. I really don't. He should have done....well, so many things instead that would have been a better close to this particularly romantic arc.

Argh. Anyway Mo and I will be mostly sticking with season 1/Book canon and cherry picking from season 2 because we are coping or diverting that ending so they can have their US TIME god fucking dammit.

As a side note: I did not appreciate Maggie and Nina lecturing Crowley about him needing to be more emotionally cognizant about his feelings toward Aziraphale. Like, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be obnoxious here, but Crowley is as clearly in love with Aziraphale as anyone can be. He makes time for him, indulges the angel, and is very protective. In season one he also begged Aziraphale to run away with him. He literally wants nothing but his car and to be with Aziraphale and he rarely appeared too conflicted about it. Yes, he has demurred about them being together but that has nothing to do with his feelings and everything to do with the fact that Aziraphale is rather oblivious when it comes to his own emotions. Crowley is the one that has emotional intelligence. Aziraphale needs to be walloped over the head about it. Hell, I would have preferred Maggie and Nina talk to Aziraphale and Metatron talk to Crowley as a bit of an inversion. Could you imagine, God knowing how Crowley is really not great with this whole being evil thing deep down and maybe even feeling a bit bad about casting him out, so sends Metatron to offer him a job (that would have been fitting of his former rank, to boot). Crowley tells him to eat shit, he and Aziraphale have a moment in the bookstore, Crowley ranting and raving about the offer and they should maybe fuck off for awhile and Aziraphale finally opening up that big box of feelings and realizing what Crowley has given up for him, risked for him, and oh my god, I should save this for a thread idea.

Anyway, whew sorry for this. I just needed to get it out in words.

[dalt20]

Tooning in 18 Greg Bailey part 6 of 10

DL:So, on Arthur did AKOM do anything off model? Because the studio had a reputation for being off model or lacking in their animation.

GB:I can't remember any series where someone wasn't complaining about a character being off-model from time to time to time. I'm not even sure what that means anymore. In the end, I preferred that something might be off-model a little instead of looking like a cutout of the same model sheet in every frame. At least that gives some character and exaggeration. Generally, I felt Akom was fairly on model though. Though in the 15 years they did the show I'm sure there are lots of off-model freeze frames out on the web. Mostly Akom was great because they moved the character and it wasn't all traceback stuff all the time. When things switched to digital 2D like Flash or Toon Boom it became on model but it looks really dead compared to hand-drawn animation. You are literally looking at the same model sheet position on every frame so it definitely creates significant deadness in the animation compared to hand-drawn where the character seems to almost breathe in comparison.

DL:Ah, ok. So AKOM brung their A game I guess.

GB:I really appreciated the work we got in those early seasons from Akom. Nelson had some respect for the show and he made sure the studio did a good job on the show. We weren't exactly the highest-paying studio that was sending work there but Nelson and also Frank Shinn would put more into the shows that had some integrity to them. If the series was just some generic series they might not have been so attentive. We did a really complete and tight pre production work to send over to Korea so I think they saw that and realized we meant to do a better show than the rest of stuff out there.

DL:So, About the CiNAR scandal, did the feds storm in like The Wolf of Wall Street? With everyone destroying documents and everyone being rounded up?

GB:It's more slo-mo than that, but I guess it wouldn't have made a very exciting movie for things to unravel as slowly as it did. It was so slow that basically, the media was doing all the prosecuting faster than the police. It was more of a legal assault like from the different agencies like Telefilm that were looking to get their funding money back or the archives getting a refund for one reason or another. But yes the RCMP did interview people like writers and regular staff to see if the names matched the documents they had about who did what. I don't remember a lot of destroying documents but I was on the wrong floor to see that, and there wasn't a round-up of the usual suspects where they marched a bunch of people out to a paddy wagon. I don't think anyone got taken out in handcuffs because I would have heard the rumours of that. It was strange to see the media assault and what the public was accusing them of because it wasn't what was happening or what the issue was. There was a very strange perception of it in the public. Even now everyone just says the Cinar scandal but they don't know what it was all about.

DL:So, Did you work on any other projects other than Arthur in the early 2000s post scandal, like Creepschool, Potatoes and Dragons, Treasure, The Baskervilles? Before Michael Hirsh came to CiNAR?

GB:did because I was the supervising director. I supervised the other directors. I didn't have much to do on Creepschool, or Baskervilles. Potatoes and Dragons was all done in France before it came in and it was more of an acquisition for us. I had a great model sheet with like 100 cute characters on it. I did at one point try to re-edit all those shows into a different show so they made more sense and weren't so slow. It looked very cute but it wasn't easy to sell the show. Even on Treasure, I was only brought in occasionally to look at how the show was going or meet with the terrific clients from the UK who created the series. Francois Perrault directed the show. I did start up Postcards From Buster at that time before handing off the series to Nick Vallinakis after a few episodes. During that time I was working on the development of all new series and so I designed the style or look of the show and animation style. We developed a lot of shows. The one that stands out the most was developing Mona the Vampire which Graham Fault did the initial design work on while we were in development. I think Graham did that just before creating the Untalkative Bunny in Ottawa. That was the period of Animal Crackers development and probably even Caillou. A lot of shows that I worked on in development actually made it into a series during that period. A lot of others were involved in it but hopefully, I made some meaningful contribution to it. I am probably mixing up my years there but usually, I was developing a show a few years before it hit the small screen and it was also a really insane time in the studio. After the scandal hit in fact there was not really any more development. We were still finishing off the shows that were developed earlier. Postcards from Buster was

the only series that got developed and greenlit after the scandal and before Michael Hirsch. Postcards was the one series that began under Stuart Snyder (or any of the other interim CEO's) thus fulfilling one of the major terms of Stuart's contract that allowed him to receive his bonus of tens of millions of dollars before he stepped aside.

DL:So, What's your thoughts on the studio who co-produced Animal Crackers, Alphaim? They replaced France Animation as the main co-producers in 1998.

GB:I didn't have much interaction with them. I was founded Christian Davin. I met Christian a few times and he seemed like a nice guy. Gaumont bought them out after that time. The thing that makes it hard for me to answer is that in these co-productions with France there were 2 types of shows. One that the majority partner was in Canada and the other series that the majority partner was in France. So Animal Crackers was a show that we had the lead and we did most of the work. And something like Potatoes and Dragons had the majority in France. So on the ones with majority in France we often only did the post production or maybe some of the production-like layouts. If it was our majority we did most of the work in Canada. It seemed to get more and more like that over time. So I think it is really more of a financing issue or question that you would ask to an executive producer rather than looking for a creative perspective. It wasn't on my radar very much once I knew what the work split was.

PS. Christian Davin was involved with the Robinson Sucro copyright infringement.

DL:Ah, so Thoughts on Wang Film Productions, They animated on season one on the Little Lulu Show.

GB:You mean Cuckoos Nest owned by James Wang. They did a nice job on the animation on season one. We started putting a lot of work into Cuckoo's nest at one point. Like City Mouse Country Mouse was also there. That was the really crazy period at Cinar when we just had so many series going through that studio and the place was growing like crazy. Lulu was a hard show for animation because of that super thick line was all done in traditional animation. But the look of the show was great, especially the first few shows. One thing that is not well known is that initially that show was going to be 5 specials on HBO. Tracy Ullman was doing the voice of Lulu. It was the only time I went to the pitch session that we did in NY at HBO. I only directed those first 5 episodes then supervised the director Louis Piche when the show went into a full series. To be more on topic, I had visited Cuckoo's Nest back in 1986 or so when I was at DIC Tokyo. The Japanese studio was going to visit the studio in Taiwan and they very nicely brought along the foreign staff as well.When they did City Mouse Country Mouse it wasn't so beautiful but I remember they were contracted by Cinar to churn out one episode per week through the animation department. It was usually one episode every 2 weeks at that time. But I don't think the show was well funded and we just needed to make a lot of shows quickly probably to impress the shareholders. So it was an ugly show but I can't blame Cuckoos Nest for that.Wang Productions also did the Richard Scarry series after episode 26. It was far less good than what we had been getting from Hanho on the first 26 shows.

DL:So, The Arthur episode, The Contest. How did you animated the episode in the Three styles of the segments parodying South Park, Beavis and Butthead, Dexter's Laboratory and Hulk Hogan?

GB:And Little Lulu and Richard Scarry but that was more of an in-joke. It's interesting how that episode came together. I think it was one of the best shows overall. The weirdest one at least.The South Park section was actually done under an old Oxberry film camera and shot on film. Peter Huggan who was the layout supervisor at the time made all the models out of felt. He was kind of doing the felt characters in his spare time while checking layouts. Then we rented the one last Oxberry in Montreal and we shot the sequence under the camera. It was just the way we made the films when I was a student at Sheridan College.Beavis and Butthead was just a different drawing style so it took a lot of new design . I really liked how the AC /DC logo on Beavis' shirt made a good change into AB/CD on the Arthurized version. Dexter’s lab again was just a lot of new design. We could not reuse anything from the regular series and that one had a thick line. Also the color design was new and we had lots of references from the real show.The Hulk Hogan was just styled on the many 1980's series I worked on at DIC. In fact I worked a few shows of Hulk Hogan when I first went to Tokyo for DIC.We also did a spoof of Richard Scarry and we had Lowly Huckle were bats hanging upside down. I even got Sonia Ball to do the voice of the bat in the voice she used to do Huckle. There was a Lulu parody there as well using that thick line. I used to worry about getting fired at Cinar for using R. Scarry and Lulu styles in that Arthur show. But I was just banking on that the producers never really watch the shows they are producing. I lost a lot of sleep over that idea but never heard anything from the producers at Cinar. But in general, when we would parody a different style, like we did on that Ulysses episode, it took a lot of new design and being extra careful with the storyboard, and most of all, it was traditional animation so there was no problem with changing style because we didn't have to do rigging in order to animate. The ideas for what to parody just came from suggestions I could make to Joe Fallon and Ken Scarborough about which styles we could do to give us a different look for each sequence. I loved doing all those special style things in various Arthur shows. It was something really nice about the series that we could do parodies. Usually Canadian animation companies do not do parodies in their shows. But because the scripts were produced by WGBH we would do it once their lawyers would sign off. We also based one segment on Dr Katz Psychiatrist but I don't think our squiggle vision animation was very recognizable. That was a cool episode. When Peter was making all the South Park figures no one knew what he was doing and his crew thought he was making dolls on company time like he was losing his marbles.

DL:That's so Funny! 😄

GB:yeah.

DL:So, at Cookie Jar did you work on Gerald McBoingBoing, Johnny Test, Kung Fu Dino Posse, Busytown Mysteries, World of Quest, Will and Dewitt, etc?

GB:No I didn't. Actually I helped out for a very short time on Busytown Mysteries but the other shows I had nothing to do with. That was after they closed down the Montreal studio and opened up in Toronto. I didn't move.

DL:So, I couldn't find anything on the move to Toronto when Michael bought CiNAR can you tell me what time period that was?

GB:It went in stages. In 2005 Michael and Toper and the bank bought Cinar. Renamed it Cookie Jar of all things after Huck Scarry suggested the name. They started closing up the Montreal studio that year by consolidating the 3 floors of office space onto one floor. I developed a few shows then like Bronco Teddy and that Santa Clause special. Then just a small animation crew and 2 producers moved to a new but small building in downtown Montreal . I think it was an old Canada Cement company building from the sign embossed over the front door. It had a lot of marble and brass on the main floor and an ancient elevator. Anyway we were there for a year before they shut down entirely in Montreal, and they opened up a Toronto office in that time. We did Arthur out of that new office in downtown Montreal. So by 2006 or early 2007 they were set up in Toronto on King Street. I remained on the Cookie payroll but no one else from Cinar remained after 2007. In fact I worked at Cinar/Cookie Jar full time from 1991 to 2011. I was the longest running employee of that company.

DL:Wow! So, you were demoted to the Arthur guy at that point?

GB:Yeah pretty much. They would try to keep me busy with stuff during the off-season. I developed a few shows but nothing really stuck and I would get busy again with Arthur so they would take it away from me and give it to another director. Like I was starting on a remake of Caillou and then that happened. Someone else took over the series. Or I helped out a director on Busytown for a few months. I even tried getting the director position on a series with Disney near the end of my time there but I purposely blew my application so I could go elsewhere to do Arthur. The Disney show was very preschool and the producers at Disney were in disarray. It looked like it would be really unpleasant. But yeah I guess all I really did of any significance was Arthur. We did Arthur out of Oasis Animation company in Montreal. They hired some of my old crew from Cinar while I remained on the Cookie Jar payroll. So at one point, I did some work setting up the studio to do the Arthur series.

DL:So, how was the downfall of Cookie Jar/ the DHX media purchase went for you in 2012?

GB:I was there for the downfall like when they laid off all the animation staff and pretty much everyone else. I wasn't there when DHX actually bought them. I was there when CJ bought DIC and that terrible purchase of Strawberry Shortcake. It seemed ironic to me when they bought DIC because I was there when they fell apart 20+ years earlier.The big layoff was very sudden and shocking for the people in Toronto. I don't know why they seemed so surprised. The shows were terrible. They blew a ton of money buying DIC which was even more in debt than after DIC broke up with Charlopin. They said they bought DIC to get the Saturday morning hours that DIC owned. But Saturday morning doesn't mean anything like it did when I was a kid or when I worked at Hanna Barbera. No one gets up to watch animation on Saturday morning anymore. The Strawberry Shortcake scandal was going on at that time but I wasn't paying attention to it. You probably know more than I do. But my view was - who would want to watch anything to do with Strawberry Shortcake. It was the most ugly and trite property when it came out in the 80's and it was even more horrible in the 2000's. But that was CJ's corporate culture. From the top down the company management spewed marketing jargon when they spoke about anything including creative things like animation. They would never make a great new show because they were not trying to make a show that people would want to watch. They were basing decisions on values like branding and marketing. They never spoke of things that drive other producers that try to make something kids enjoy or benefit from in some meaningful way. I understand the sense of trying to capitalize as much as possible on everything in the world, but in a creative field like animation, it's disappointing to see people only equate a good show with good merchandising. They could be happily selling stickers or really tacky toys like Strawberry Shortcake or Elf on the Shelf. They are not patient enough to make a good show first and then sell stuff because the show is popular like SpongeBob. They only want the show made in order to sell the toy.

DL:Well Michael tried to create that workspace mentality from Nelvana. Remember when we talked about the program slate from Nelvana from 1995-1996?

GB:Yes! Nelvana was also a 3 way partnership. Clive Smith was coming from animation production in the UK before they started Nelvana. So there was more push in the direction of the art at one time at Nelvana. This time his partner Toper Taylor was a marketing person. When he speaks it's a lot of marketing jargon.I shouldn't really say that Clive did this or that at Nelvana. I was never working at that studio and I've only met him briefly. Michael has been a great businessman there is no doubt about that.

DL:Yeah, I saw that the only thing that was making money at the studio was Arthur, the Doodlebops and Johnny Test. Everything else was a co-production at the company.At Cookie Jar , that is.

GB:They made a horrible mess out of Richard Scarry and the Caillou properties that had generated a lot of money at Cinar. But the versions they made at CJ were terrible. They were so commercially exploitative looking. It's true that you don't make money just selling the show to broadcasters. At least it's not a big part of the income in TV animation. I'm not sure Arthur was making much money for them either. Eventually, they quit doing it because they either had to make a totally horrible different-looking show or lose money making it. Like there was no toy licensing or books or anything to make money on with Arthur. The Arthur series never had a really high budget compared to other big animated series like WB or Disney or Nickelodeon shows and the amount coming in for production kept getting smaller year by year.

[getmemymicroscope]

Continuing on from the previous 2 movies, Lawrence's character talks about retiring and Smith's character continues to be the 'shoot first' man that he has been all along. Until someone with a personal vendetta comes for him and puts him in a hospital and Lawrence's character, after a conversation with god to help Smith, gives up violence (and the job) to stay at home as a family man.

Smith eventually does get better though and, in typical movie character nonsense, immediately disregards the whole "you can't investigate a case involving you" thing and jumps head-first into doing exactly that (even, and this is no surprise because of the way the character has been built up over the last 2 movies, taking a 'consulting' position and immediately going into the field on the first mission). Which, obviously, backfires. But he refuses to back down, and refuses to fully cooperate with the team that is in charge of the investigation (headed by Rita, someone he apparently once dated and who still seems to, at least to some extent, still like him). Similar to other recent movies (the latest installment of Expendables comes to mind, as does Die Hard 4), this team brings a more technology-focused mindset to the field - not fully eschewing from Smith's usual "every mission is all-out" approach, but at least trying to do things like reconnaissance and stake out and learning information through databases instead of physically attacking folks and what not. Though of course, that doesn't really gel with Smith, so they're frequently forced to go with Smith's methods here.

Also, in typical "this series has gone on for too long" style (though, honestly, it hasn't really, it just feels like an overdone trope), this personal vendetta becomes very personal. Maybe unnecessarily so, but I guess they wanted to add a bit more drama at the end.

Speaking of which, drama aside, that final fight sequence in that building was excellent all the way around. Not sure how they all survived, especially with the helicopter coming down and ensuing fire, but they did - and they made a scene of it too. I'm sure the boss would've had a good pun about someone being on his back about it, if he'd been there/this had been in Miami. But it's in a different country, much like the ending of the last movie, so maybe not as much of an issue.

That said, as things went in the beginning and Smith was told that his personal vendetta on the man who injured him was going hurt him - I understand why they went where they did and it clearly does a lot to bring Lawrence back into the fold as well, but in reality, given everything this movie has portrayed (and that they obviously weren't going to kill of Lawrence's character), it really felt like Rita's character was the one that should've died (I guess, spoiler - she's not). Just the way the setup was going and everything played out, and with Lawrence's character talking to him about family and all, they were clearly teasing at something between them - and while we haven't seen that in either of the prior movies (of course, they also pulled out a villain from neither of the prior movies too) and maybe they needed the whole movie to build it up, I think it would've maybe done more with regards to his backstory - which seems to be the focus here. (Or maybe I'm just partial to characters who have been around for the previous movies.)

I also like that they sorta focus on the fact that it's been 20+ years since this started - they're not some spring chickens anymore. They're aging and not able to keep up - so while the 'technology' focus of the younger group makes sense, so does our heroes just being a bit slower, a bit less physically active (though, mostly, it feels like Lawrence's character gets the brunt of that). Smith's character still hasn't learnt any sort of discretion or willingness to change his approach, which I guess that banter between them is part of what makes the movies what they are (the minivan scene here is great), but you wonder if he'll ever change. Because, at this rate, he's going to be absolutely miserable whenever they move him to desk duty since he doesn't know a thing beyond getting in the field and immediately attacking folks.

It may not be F&F and 'family' (though, honestly, it literally is here), but the car chase sequences throughout all 3 movies thus far have been pretty excellent.