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jeongyunhoed · 2 years ago

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The third and final story in the 100-Day trilogy, taking place four years after the events of The 100-Day Relationship and two years since the events of I Do. When the patriarch of the Choi family suffers a heart attack, the entire clan decides to visit the estate in the hopes of getting in his good graces and parts of his fortune before he passes. Seonghwa and Juhyun now find themselves clashing with nosy relatives who threaten to split them up and have her removed from any possible inheritance.

Inheritance

Member: Seonghwa Pairing: Seonghwa/OC Genre: I’m going to say angst-fluff, drama, intrigue. Things to note: Art Curator!Hwa, a lot of crazy rich stuff again (for real, this will have A LOT), and perhaps some adult-y things.

Watch out!: More drama ahead. References of childhood trauma/emotional abuse being one of them. Bitchy relatives ahead. Seriously.

A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long but be assured that I finished this. Things just seem to get worse before they get any better for our two main characters. Tag list is open as always.

Tag list: @kflixnet , @treasure-hwa

Masterlist

Chapter 3

The air was tense by dinner time, as everyone in the Choi clan gathered around what would be the large dining room, with a table so long Seonghwa thought it must have been taken from some castle or made just for the family patriarch. The two of them did some light catching up with Juhyun’s other relatives like Daeyoung’s sisters Chaeyeon and Yeri, both of whom attended the wedding as Seonghwa remembered. Seonghwa even engaged in conversation with Yeri’s banker husband, Kim Minhyuk, who congratulated him during the wedding for being another man to marry into the Choi family. Seonghwa wasn’t sure if he meant it nicely or as an insult.

The dining room was just as large and opulent. While in keeping with the French rococo style, the table napkins were apparently heirlooms coming from Juhyun’s great-grandfather Choi Hyunbin, which explained their slightly aged appearance. Each place setting had the various spoons, forks, and even chopsticks laid down, along with several glasses that were meant to hold various drinks according to whichever they wanted.

Seonghwa looked over to another, much smaller table in the room, where Yeri’s twin children, Seoeon and Seojun were with their helper who introduced herself as Lucy. Daeyoung’s teenage son, Choi Soohyuk also opted to sit with his cousins at the smaller table. Seonghwa later learned that Soohyuk wanted to avoid his father’s continued bragging about the wealth he has come under despite Japan’s inheritance taxes.

Juhyun glanced at her husband. “If it’s overwhelming for you, we can have our dinner up in the room,” She whispered in his ear.

Seonghwa chuckled and shook his head. “No need, Juhyun. We should join everyone for dinner at least once. But I’ll take you up on that in the next few days while we’re here,” He whispered back, his hand reaching to hold hers.

The rumbling conversations among the family members started to die down when the maids started to enter the room carrying various platters and dishes full of food. Seonghwa and Juhyun glanced at Hyungsuk, who was seated at the head of the table, with Juhyun’s father and uncle sitting on his immediate right and left. Hyungsuk looked pleased at the food that was being set down.

“All of you can tuck in, go ahead,” Hyungsuk gestured to them.

“What about you?” Hyunwoo’s wife, Jina suddenly asked, with Dajeong looking equally concerned. Everyone was still quite hesitant to do so.

“I’m fine, if you had to wait for me to start eating before the rest of you, it’d take us forever,” Hyungsuk joked. “But in all seriousness, all of you should start, allow me to indulge seeing everyone in the family at home.”

As if in an instant, most of them now turned to Hyunwoo, who also gestured for them to eat. Sangmin seemed to have gotten the message from the other table, tucking into his bowl of french onion soup, the sounds of the cheese toast on top crackling and making everyone’s mouth water. Daeyoung, however, looked unimpressed. Seonak was also in disbelief, huffing when she had to take the platter of filet mignons to place one on her topmost plate, setting aside her bowl of soup.

“So, Seonghwa, do you have any plans to attend the art events?” Seonak suddenly turned to him in the midst of the continued conversations. Juhyun and Jihyun exchanged knowing looks.

Seonghwa immediately remembered their conversation at the guest villa earlier. “I’d hope to if I ever get an invite,” He chuckled.

“You’d want that, wouldn’t you?” Seonak said. Juhyun fought the urge to roll her eyes yet her expression remained clear.

“Who wouldn’t? Those are prestigious events,” Seonghwa said, sensing that it wasn’t what the woman meant. Juhyun squeezed his hand, as if telling him that he’s doing fine.

Daeyoung, however, seemed to play off on Seonak’s words and he exchanged looks with his wife, who also knew what might be going on. “Didn’t your museum hold a fashion exhibit with Chanel pieces? I wonder how you pulled that off,” Hyemin suddenly said.

“Yeah, that was years ago, when Juhyun and I were dating,” Seonghwa tried to stay calm, despite knowing that they were starting to close in on him. He was beginning to see why Juhyun hated them even more. “She helped me. I told her she didn’t need to, but she insisted anyway.”

“If you two are trying to insinuate what I think you’re insinuating, you can stop it now,” Juhyun cut in, squeezing Seonghwa’s hand.

It was Jihyun and Bin’s turns to try and defuse the tension. Jihyun suddenly cleared her throat, the attention turning to her. “So, Bin and I were thinking about having a destination wedding,” She said.

“Oh? Where do you plan on having it?” Seonak said.

“We were thinking Cannes,” Jihyun replied.

“Why not Lake Como? Or the Amalfi coast?” Hyemin asked. “It’s wonderful there for a summer wedding.”

Jihyun glanced at Juhyun and Seonghwa, then turned to their aunt. “Well, unnie already had her honeymoon in Italy, so I thought we’d go somewhere else.”

Seonak smiled. Juhyun knew it was the kind of smile that meant she had an idea that had an underlying motive. She remembered that kind of smile since she was a child, when she was left to spend an entire summer in their home in Geneva, Switzerland. Seonak would always blame her for everything that likely went wrong and never allowed her own children to speak up, leading them to stay silent out of not wanting to be involved. There was a time that Seonak had even called her useless when Jihyun sprained her ankle while playing in their garden, something Juhyun remembered very well to this day.

“Tell you what, let’s talk more about your wedding plans later, hmm?” Seonak suggested.

Jihyun nodded. “Sure, after dinner,” She said, squeezing Bin’s hand.

“Italy’s big enough for both of you to have something there though, did you not want Jihyun to have her wedding there” Seonak suddenly rounded on Juhyun.

“I never said Jihyun can’t have her wedding in Italy,” Juhyun pointed out, trying to sound as polite as possible.

Seonak chuckled.. “Why so formal all of a sudden? I was just asking,” She said. “Besides, your wedding has come and gone, Jihyun’s the one getting married this time, let the spotlight shine on her, okay, Juhyunnie?”

Juhyun felt her blood boil. It was taking everything in her not to snap. She knew Seonak was purposely trying to provoke her, perhaps with some assistance from Daeyoung. Seonghwa noticed how she was feeling and instead gave her an assuring pat on the thigh as they focused on their food.

Juhyun was furiously flipping through the channels of the smart television in the third floor living room after dinner, Seonghwa noticing the change in her mood. “Hey,” He said, sitting up next to her. “There are other ways to let your frustration out than to destroy the remote control.”

Juhyun didn’t answer and instead changed the programming to Netflix only for her to furiously flip through the lineup of shows and movies. Seonghwa sighed, figuring that it was better to let Juhyun be, even though he was worried that the more Juhyun would furiously look through the selection of movies and tv shows, she might destroy the buttons on the remote out of frustration.

As Seonghwa sat back, he suddenly saw Jihyun come in, followed by Bin. Jihyun looked a little unsure, while Bin seemed like he had no idea what was going on, but followed his fiance to the room anyway. “So, did you talk?” He said, Juhyun stopping her scanning.

“Yeah, we did, Seonak actually offered to use the family summer home in Geneva for our wedding,” Jihyun said, while Bin looked surprised and pleased at the same time.

“That’s nice,” Juhyun said. She was still too evidently frustrated to genuinely be happy for them at the moment. “Summer wedding in Switzerland, that would look amazing.”

Jihyun smiled, then looked down, her expression falling slightly. “Unnie, there’s a condition though,” She said. “I knew she had an ulterior motive with her suggesting that since Geneva seems like her territory.”

Juhyun felt a lump in her throat. “And that is?” She said.

Jihyun was finding it hard to speak, while Bin seemed concerned. “What did she want in exchange?” He spoke this time.

“Unnie’s not allowed to bring Seonghwa,” Jihyun blurted out, eyes closed.

Bin, Juhyun, and Seonghwa stared at her. The room had gone quiet at her words. Bin looked especially shocked. Seonghwa now felt and understood why Juhyun was so angry at her aunt. “But-but that’s not fair,” Bin said quietly.

“But it’s also our wedding,” Jihyun said, in what could be described as a poor attempt of justifying what she revealed. She held onto her fiance’s hand. “We’ve been having trouble deciding where our wedding should be, and we even wanted a destination wedding.”

This was what Seonghwa’s family and his own colleagues at the museum had long warned him about when it came to Juhyun’s family. At the time, he was certain that things were different, but now he wasn’t sure. He wondered whether he could speak first or if Juhyun would say anything first. Seonghwa noticed how Bin understood Jihyun’s point of view once she explained.

“Is it because of what I think it is?” Juhyun suddenly spoke, still staring at her sister.

Jihyun was still finding it hard to look at her. “Unnie…”

“Is it?”

“Unnie, it is my wedding, and the summer home in Geneva has a very nice view of the mountains…” Jihyun swallowed as she seemed to pluck up the courage to look at her.

Juhyun felt like another weight was thrown at her. “Then I’m not going.”

Jihyun gaped at her. “Unnie, please-”

“I said what I said,” Juhyun cut her off. “Find another bridesmaid, find another groomsman. Your wedding gift will be in the mail,” She got up and left the room.

Seonghwa quickly followed her, not wanting to see how Jihyun and Bin were reacting. He felt humiliated, demeaned by that simple condition. It was the first time Seonghwa felt like he wasn’t good enough. Seonghwa also felt conflicted. Juhyun loved him to put him first, but it also meant that she was skipping her own sister’s wedding as a result of being married to him.

Juhyun fled into the room and started packing her things. “Juhyun,” Seonghwa closed the door behind him, grabbing her hands. “Juhyun wait,” He said.

“Please call Eunhyung, tell her to have a town car ready, we’re leaving, we’re going home,” She said quietly, pulling away from him to place her things into her suitcase.

Seonghwa sighed. “Juhyun, please.”

“No, no, I’ve had it. Coming here was a bad idea, all the more so with the bullshit Seonak’s spewing all over the house,” She said, fighting the urge to cry.

“But you didn’t come here for her, you came here for your grandfather,” Seonghwa tried to reason, even though he himself agreed with wanting to go home. He made his way to the intercom. “Eunhyung, please call a car for us, our stay has been cut short,” He said.

“Really? But why?” Eunhyung sounded concerned.

It seemed like a fuss for Seonghwa to explain everything, so he thought to give another reason. “Something came up in the museum, so we thought we’d go back home instead. I’m sorry we couldn’t stay after all.”

“Alright, I’ll have the chauffeur get ready to drive you back,” Eunhyung said, and Seonghwa hung up.

There was a knock on the door. “It’s open!” Seonghwa called out, glancing at Juhyun, who was folding up her travel case that had her toiletries.

In peeked Lee Yejin, Seonak’s eldest daughter, who Seonghwa remembered had attended their wedding. She was married to a pharmaceutical executive in Switzerland, Han Dongmin. “Juhyun,” She said calmly, looking apologetic.

“Yeah?” Juhyun said without looking at her.

“My mom’s just been up in arms around the fact that she wasn’t invited to your wedding,” Yejin explained. “You know how she is.”

“I don’t need you trying to explain on her behalf. I’ve long known the kind of person that she is. You of all people should remember that very well,” Juhyun side-eyed her.

“I know,” Yejin nodded and looked down, suddenly noticing the open suitcases as Seonghwa was also packing his things. “You’re leaving already?” She said.

“There’s nothing else here. As much as I already saw grandpa, I know she’s stuck to him like glue so there’s no point in me staying here. Besides, Seonghwa has an emergency at the museum, so all the more we need to go home even at this hour,” Juhyun pointed out. “It was nice seeing you and Dongmin earlier. I’ll make sure to give you my baby shower gift in advance.”

Yejin looked down at her growing baby bump then at Seonghwa, as if hoping that he could convince her to stay, but knew that he ultimately agreed. “Well, I guess I’ll see both of you sometime. Maybe when the baby’s born I’ll facetime the two of you.”

“That would be appreciated,” Juhyun went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Yejin stepped inside the room and closed the door behind her. “I’ve always felt sorry for not doing anything for her when we were kids,” She said quietly, Seonghwa glancing at her from time to time as he closed both their suitcases and put them down.

“That long, huh?” He said.

Yejin nodded. “I’m guessing she’s turned up the bullshit now knowing what’s at stake,” She said.

“I can tell. Well, there’s always one in every family, right?” Seonghwa tried to joke, and Yejin nodded.

Yejin stepped closer to him. “Please don’t tell Juhyun just yet. I also know you’re a good guy so I also know you won’t do anything untoward with what I’m about to reveal to you.”

“You want me to convince her to stay?” Seonghwa asked.

Yejin shook her head. “No, I can’t, and it’s a lost cause since she’s made up her mind,” She said in practically a whisper. “Juhyun actually stands to inherit a lot of what my mother wants, and what Daeyoung oppa wants.”

Seonghwa nodded. He wasn’t going to pry, but he was also curious as to what she meant. “No wonder she did what she did at dinner.”

Yejin hummed in agreement. “Yeah. If our grandmother were still alive, she’d have Juhyun taken off the family register to be honest, simply because uncle Jongmin married auntie Dajeong, and now Juhyun married you. Her side of the family’s been through the most shit from the very people they’re related to, if I’m being honest.”

Seonghwa understood what Yejin meant. Even if it seemed that Yejin was on their side, he was still careful enough not to say anything in case they were looking for something to pin on him. The door opened again, and it was Eunhyung. “The car’s outside. Don’t worry, I’ll tell the parents,” She said.

The bathroom door opened and out came Juhyun. “Thank you, Eunhyung. I’ll see you soon. You should probably get back to your husband and get some rest,” She said, without looking at her cousin.

“See you,” Seonghwa nodded at Yejin, while he and Juhyun brought their luggage out of the room.

The incidents seemed to hang over Juhyun and Seonghwa’s heads even as they returned to Seoul and slept. While the fact that they were kilometers away from Seonak and Daeyoung gave them some comfort, knowing that Jihyun accepted Seonak’s offer to have her wedding at the family home in Geneva with an ulterior motive left a bad taste in their mouths.

It seemed to spill over into the weekend, when they met up with Jea and Wooyoung at his restaurant for brunch, telling them everything that happened. “Why her husband’s still with her, I will never know,” Jea scoffed as they tucked into their food.

“Decades of being told that she needed to marry someone like us is what happened, and besides, Dongmin’s too absorbed in his work to even pay attention,” Juhyun said.

“If you ask me, your aunt’s behaving like those school bullies,” Wooyoung commented, taking a sip of his water.

“She was one, she never changed,” Juhyun shook her head.

Wooyoung glanced at Seonghwa. “See what I mean? It’s not a surprise. If it makes you feel better Hwa, her aunt would hate me too. I think she’d hate most of us guys here.”

“You’re literally a Michelin-star chef,” Juhyun pointed out.

“But I did not come from money,” Wooyoung was quick to counter.

“Still a Michelin-star chef,” Seonghwa repeated with a chuckle. He was still cautious about saying anything about Juhyun’s relatives in case anyone who might know them heard them.

“Well, in any case, you did good by just leaving. There’s no use for you to be there if they’re just bent on bullshitting you all throughout, it could’ve gone a lot worse if you still stayed after that,” Jea nodded. “Even if you’re related, it’s no excuse for them to put you through that. Geez, as if we didn’t have to put up with your ex years ago.”

Juhyun nodded. “You are right on that one. I don’t feel like being near them for now,” She said.

“You don’t have to be. Hey,” Wooyoung sat up. “Why don’t we go to Essence again?” He suggested.

Seonghwa wrinkled his nose. “There? That bar we went to for the bachelor party? Why?” He said.

“You two obviously need a change of scenery, so why not go somewhere interesting?” Wooyoung shrugged.

“Are we even allowed back there? You do remember what happened when we went there, right?” Seonghwa raised a brow.

Wooyoung nodded. “I do, and don’t worry, it was only Jihan and his guys that weren’t allowed back. You’re fine.”

Jea gave her husband a look. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve been back there more than once? Didn’t you say you didn’t like how you had to eat your drink?” She laughed.

“Well, Jiho brought us guys back there one time while these two were off,” Wooyoung gestured to Juhyun and Seonghwa as he explained. “You start getting used to having to eat your drink. At least I didn’t get a gin and tonic, it took a while for that huge ice cube to melt.”

Seonghwa remembered it well, and the thought made him laugh. He heard his phone beep and he looked over to see the notification. It was a message from his mother.

Someone named Seonak called us yesterday, talking about you and Juhyun. Do you know who she is?

His expression fell and he put his phone away, not wanting to deal with it just yet. They’ll have to deal with it when they get home. Seonghwa remembered what Yejin said, the reasons why Seonak was so bent on making Juhyun’s life a living hell while they were around. His wife stood to get what they wanted, and if Seonghwa’s suspicions were right, they were trying to make sure Juhyun would no longer inherit those things.

“Is something wrong?” Jea suddenly asked him.

Seonghwa smiled. “It’s nothing. Just a work thing,” He said.

The drive back to their apartment later on seemed quiet. Seonghwa wasn’t sure if he should bring it up then and there or wait until they were home. The weight remained on their shoulders as they returned to their apartment, Juhyun having noticed the slight change in Seonghwa’s mood earlier.

“Was it a work thing that got you down?” Juhyun asked, sitting down at the dining table.

Seonghwa shook his head as he prepared cups of tea for the two of them. “It was my mom. She said your aunt called them up, talked about us,” He replied.

Juhyun sighed and closed her eyes. It felt like a building nightmare. “I’m sorry,” She said, leaning on the table.

“It’s not your fault,” Seonghwa immediately sat down next to her at the table. “It’s not your fault. I don’t even know how she got a hold of my mom’s number to be honest…”

“She has her ways. She probably hired a private investigator or something. I wouldn’t put it past her to do something like that,” Juhyun buried her face in her hands then sat up. “I should probably call her up and apologize-”

Seonghwa shook his head, grabbing both of her hands. “This is not your fault. I know what I signed up for when I dated you, when I married you. This is just another obstacle the two of us will overcome together, okay?” He let go of her hands to cup her face. “It’s us against that, not us against each other.”

Tears were streaming down Juhyun’s face. “It just feels like everything’s imploding,” She said.

Seonghwa rested his forehead on hers. “I know it does. I know it’s frustrating, but we’ll get through this. We don’t need to go back there if you don’t want to, okay? We can just keep away from them as much as we can, until they leave and return to wherever they were coming from. At least you’ve faced them even if it’s just for a day.”

“I still want to call your parents and apologize,” She said.

“If it makes you feel better, we can do that. They’ll understand. In fact, they’ll know how you feel, I have no doubts about it,” Seonghwa assured his wife. “Your parents probably know about that by now, huh?”

Juhyun nodded. “If Jihyun hasn’t explained to them, Eunhyung might give an explanation too. She knows how much I hated aunt Seonak,” She said. “Just as much as I hate Daeyoung.”

“What about Sangmin?” He asked curiously.

“He’d know. He was probably the first one Jihyun told about having her wedding in Switzerland,” She said, more tears flowing down her face. It only made her cry more when Seonghwa tried to wipe it away.

Seonghwa pulled Juhyun in for a hug, stroking her hair to further comfort her, while also trying to give himself the same treatment. “It’s okay, it’s going to be okay, we’ll get through this,” He whispered.

Juhyun’s phone beeped, and she pulled away, seeing that it was a message from her mother.

Juhyun, your grandfather just passed away.

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desolationlesbian · 2 years ago

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AA5 is a catastrophe and AA6 is a mess with a few very strong points but they both suffer from the fact that the structure of an ace attorney game (5-6 cases) can't accommodate three simultaneous lead attorneys. It cannot. By trying to split the cases among all three of them you end up unfocused and unable to build a coherent theme or narrative arc throughout the game. Every AA game has plot-irrelevant breather cases, sure, but even the clown case serves to help characterize the leads and define their relationships! You can't just go around splitting the game's focus into thirds.

AA 1-3 worked because while there was a revolving class of witnesses and murderers, the center of every single game was Phoenix's relationship to Edgeworth and the legacy Mia left to him and Maya. AJ worked because it all revolved around a strong centerpiece of Apollo coming into his own as an attorney and developing a relationship with his weird new mentor.

What's the central arc of AA5? It's supposed to be Athena, but she only leads two cases out of five--she is reduced to a mere side character in what's meant to be her own game. Apollo's still here, but not for any...reason, as far as I can tell. Phoenix is here because capcom has ordered he be on the cover because he sells games.

If an AA games wants to give one or two cases to a different attorney than the game's intended protagonist for an important story reason or as a meaningful, intentional part of their arc, that's great--the original trilogy did exactly that to incredible effect with both Mia's flashback cases and Edgeworth's stint with Nick's badge.

The new games are not doing that, or anything with that much thoughtfulness. They appear to be assigning cases mostly with a mind towards squeezing everyone in, and AA6 pressured the narrative even further by insisting on having multiple prosecutors operating simultaneously too, so we don't even have that consistency available to build an arc around. And in a game series where a 4-6 episode length means our time with these characters is already squeezed, that doesn't work. The whole thing turns into an ungrounded, uncentered mess, and the pacing goes frantic.

#sorry im mad the new release made me mad again

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chillyweirdoinacoffin · 2 years ago

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Lots of talk on discord, twitter, reddit etc. about a potential endgame for TLT. And I have always said that I think the only way to “fix” anything is all three of the main girls working together:

The Holy Trinity: The Mother (Alecto). The Daughter (Gideon). And The 200 Holy Ghosts (Harrow).

In her Hungarian interview in 2021, Tamsyn once said the TLT books were meant to be 3 (now 4!) very distinct stories: “Some very great trilogies have essentially been one enormous novel split across three books -- Lord of the Rings being the defining example -- but the Locked Tomb is meant to be three different novels that belong together.”

I personally think the end will be the tying together of the 3 (originally intended) main characters. Otherwise: why have multiple POV’s?

#nona the ninth #harrow the ninth #gideon the ninth #tlt #the locked tomb #the locked tomb trilogy #the locked tomb series #tamsyn muir #locked tomb trilogy #gideon nav #harrowhark nonagesimus #alecto the ninth #nona spoilers #ntn spoilers #nona the ninth spoilers

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loganslowdown4 · 3 years ago

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(Long Post)

Hello Fanders! I present to you…

THE IMPORTANCE OF WARDROBE!

Season 2 of Sanders Sides has been paying a lot more attention to wardrobe and c!Thomas usually wears something to reflect what is going on in the episode. If he’s wearing dark colours, usually a dark side will appear. He’ll also sometimes wear colours to represent the sides he’s talking to the most that episode. Christmas episodes he’ll wear seasonal colours.

SO LETS GET INTO THESE OUTFITS ALREADY YEAH?

Both Christmas episodes he chose red and white shirts. Though I’m guessing it was more in the spirit of the season than to represent Roman, though Roman led the 12 days of Sanders Sides episode, so that is just a double whammy right there heh

Both back-to-back Roman/Logan episodes he wore both their colours to represent both sides equally. The black shirt (Logan) with red flower (Roman) from WDWGOOBITM has both sides in favour. And the Crofters episode has both their colours, though blue is over top red, and I think that meant Logan sort won over 😂

And also it’s definitely Logan’s blue shirt, as proved by the same shirt in this picture 👆🏻

Can Lying Be Good has the absolute perfect shirt. With the split skull he even put the skull pattern on the same side as the scales on Deceit’s face. When Deceit reveals himself, all it’s skull, and when he leaves, it’s all flowers. The brilliant part is you never see Thomas changing the design, it’s like it’s part of the mindscape, he shapes his reality with his thoughts. As his thoughts change, so does the pattern. 💀🌺

And with SvS, DWIT, and SvS Redux, c!Thomas wears the same brilliantly similar colour scheme in each episode because:

1. It ties the 3 episodes together as a sort of trilogy, and

2. Wearing prominently dark blue over white symbolizes his struggle with the darker parts of himself.

The black and white wedding tie represents his ‘black and white’ way of thinking and how he needs to change that. Nothing can be morally right or wrong, black or white, there are always nuance, or shades of grey, to every decision made.

Also note the shirt pattern in SVS carrying over to the tie in the mindscape courtroom. His dark shirt indicates a dark side influence, but the colourful flowers represent that hope is there for Thomas to do the morally right thing (even though we later learn this wasn’t a good decision).

In ATHD, Thomas obviously dressed in Roman’s colour to be bright and outgoing, and possibly look for love when going to this party. But underneath he’s wearing Virgil’s colour, indicating his fear driving him to stay home instead of facing Rico or his friends for the fight they had earlier.

Finally, the wardrobe change during WTIT is significant. Logan’s influence had him wearing a dark blue hoodie over a space shirt, which is very casual Logan, indicating Thomas would stay home and work as Logan wanted. But crazily enough, when he went to meet Nico, he didn’t wear red or light blue indicating a Roman or Patton (love or happiness) influence. He wore GREEN. Now it’s a very faded green with flowers over a grey shirt, indicating some fancifulness and a neutral stance. But the green from Remus symbolizes that Remus affected him a lot this episode. Even though c!Thomas didn’t once acknowledge Remus himself (he didn’t! go back and check for yourself, Thomas didn’t talk to or refer to Remus once, only Logan did), Logan telling him that he was experiencing intrusive thoughts was enough to affect his character.

👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔👔

I’ve noticed that Thomas in general is collecting more floral clothes (fanciful/fun), skulls (dark sides), and space shirts (logic). So if any of these clothes make the cut for the season finale, it may give you a hint what the episode will be about before they get into the story.

Like if you see him wearing this shirt in the season finale… DANGERDANGER ⚠️☣️⚠️☢️⚠️

We shall see what the future holds!

[Masterpost]

As always, thank you @thatsthat24 for all you do 💙-E

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realroykoopa · 2 years ago

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My Zelda Timeline

My Zelda timeline inspired by lorulean historian, Brian David Gilbert, and Bird Keeper Toby: Includes fan creations:

keep in mind not everyone may agree on this timeline. This isn’t to discredit anyone else’s personal timeline it is simply the way I see the games as fitting together:

Majora’s Mask prequel manga

Minish cap and split:

Timeline 1: Minish cap bad ending: Zelda is turned to stone and Vaati briefly rampages but Link seals Vaati in the four sword leading to the rest of the four swords trilogy.

Four Swords

Four Swords Bonus Manga Stories

Four Swords Adventures

Timeline 1A: link to the past and other classic Zelda games: A branch off from the four swords trilogy in which Ganon tries to steal the triforce and gets sealed in the sacred realm.

A link to the past

Nintendo Land: Zelda Battle Quest

Oracle of ages and seasons

Ancient Stone Tablets and Link’s awakening

The Time Break and BS The Legend Of Zelda: Link goes into the multiverse after being stranded in the Mario universe, whilst he is gone the events of BS The Legend Of Zelda happen in which a different set of protagonists battle Ganon since link is absent:

Super Mario RPG

Donkey Kong Country 3

Captain Rainbow

Super Mario Maker

Super Mario Maker 2

Mario Kart 8

Soulcalibur II

Sonic Lost World Legend Of Zelda Zone

Scribblenauts Unlimited

End of time break: Link returns to his own universe:

Oath of Riruto

A link between worlds

Tri force heroes

Zelda’s Adventure

End

Timeline 1B: CDI Shenanigans: Instead of going to the sacred realm Ganon goes directly for Hyrule leading to the original Zelda games and media.

Zelda Game watch

The legend of Zelda and the moblin’s magic spear book presumably takes place at some point during the original Zelda game.

The Faces of Evil

Zelda Game and Watch

The wand of Gamelon

Crystal Trap and Shadow Prince

Zelda Tv Show and Valiant Comics

Captain N

Zelda 2: Adventure of Link

Battle of Mirage Castle

End

Timeline 2: Minish Cap good ending: the regular ending of Minish Cap leading to the prospering of Hyrule and a different origin for Ganon.

Cadence Of Hyrule

The Skull Kid And The Mask manga story

Ocarina Of time

Rouru Of The Watarara Manga story

Link and the Portal of Doom

Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland

Tingle's balloon trip of love

Majora’s Mask

Link’s Crossbow Training

Twilight Princess

Wind Waker

Phantom Hourglass

Tingle’s Balloon Fight DS

Spirit Tracks

Timeline 2A: Terrako doesn’t go back in time resulting in the breaking of Demise’s curse and Hyrule prospering for eternity:

Breathe Of The Wild

Tears Of The Kingdom

Timeline 2C: Champions succeed: Terrako Travels back in time allowing the champions to succeed. However Ganon was meant to be destroyed for good to break the curse so unbeknownst to them they have doomed The Hero, Hylia, and Demise to reincarnate for eternity meaning there will never be true peace in Hyrule:

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Hyrule Warriors

Hang ‘Em Hyrule a Zelda western fan Film

Modern Zelda Fan Film

Demise’s curse is never broken leading to Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf reincarnating for the rest of time.

Timeline 2D: Cadence doesn’t come to Hyrule:

Octavo’s Ode

Ganon’s Fury

Symphony Of The Mask

Ocarina Of Time

Wind Waker Arc (Hyrule Warriors)

Leads back to Phantom Hourglass in Timeline 2 and continues as normal from there

I haven’t been able to figure out where the hell Skyward Sword fits on the timeline though. It clearly can’t be first since the first timeline cannot logically include Skyward Sword as part of its backstory due to the fact that Zelda 2 gives a different origin story for the very first Princess Zelda. Unless the Zelda from Zelda 2 is the same as the one from Skyward Sword this would not work. It could go after Minish Cap but it would be hard to explain how the humans go from living on the ground to in the sky. The easy solution would be to say that the timeline was never unified in the first place.

#nintendo #the legend of zelda #princess zelda #legend of zelda #ganondorf #zelda timeline #gaming #mario bros #zelda botw

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kingofthewilderwest · 4 years ago

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Hello there! First things first, I just wanted to say I love your posts! And I would like to ask something: if there ever was made an animated series adapting the books of "How to Train Your Dragon", what would be your thoughts? Like, how long do you think it should be? Who do you think should be a part of the voice cast?

Hello there! And thank you so much! :)

So I know I have a post, several years old, where I go through this topic. I can’t find it right now because 1). I just woke up half an hour ago and my mind is as alert as a broken-up brick, 2). I’m lazy, and 3). even with all my tricks of refinding my old posts, sometimes the internet doesn’t want to cooperate. Anyway! Never hurts to talk about again. ^.^ I don’t think my thoughts have changed much in the intervening years, but might as well “update” anyway. XD

I love the idea of the How to Train Your Dragon book series being faithfully adapted into a television show. Specifically, I believe that the HTTYD book series would make a wonderful single season 2D animated series.

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I am very emphatic that the animation style be 2D animation. The book series has a glorious childish whimsy and charm to it. It screams for an adaptation where the animation style can be as whimsical and charming as it is.

Now. The movie series and the overarching DreamWorks Dragons franchise worked, yes. But while the DreamWorks Dragons franchise tried to thread the needle of whimsical dragon designs and 3D animated realism, ultimately the animation style and the storytelling constraints of a movie trilogy meant making changes to the source material. They made the right choice. Movies are a medium well-suited for certain types of narratives and not as well suited for other types of narratives. You have to sweep in quickly, hook the audience, rapidly stab a few themes in there, and sweep out. It only makes sense that, as DreamWorks sought to make a successful movie, they altered the source material to make higher stakes, more action, greater realism, story changes for succinct thematic material they could use, etc.

But when we’re talking about a faithful adaptation to the books, 3D animation wouldn’t evoke the right mood that the books’ story needs. Not as optimally, anyway, especially with the default stylistic trends we have in 3D animation today. 2D animation would better give us the vibe we want. Cressida Cowell herself made specific choices about how to illustrate the books. She intentionally started with simple, childish artwork. It matured and gained greater detail over the course of the book series, but that artwork never lost its youthful vibe. Now, I wouldn’t want the animators to draw the this hypothetical tv series like Cowell’s art, but I would want them to take inspiration from the heart of what she did. The HTTYD book series is the story of a small boy growing up in an enchanting fantastical world. That screams 2D animation use.

I would be immediately grumpy if someone tried for a live action remake instead.

I also would push for voice actors to come from the region HTTYD is supposed to take place. We’re not going to go back a thousand years and use dialects that were in use a thousand years ago. That’s too much. But the HTTYD books take place on Scottish islands. Make Hiccup’s English-speaking voice actor, make everyone’s voice actors (aside from like, the Romans, etc.) Scottish.

The DreamWorks movies intentionally created a dialectical division between generations. I understand the affect they were going for, but that affect relies on linguistic biases that need to be removed (why are North American voices considered “more modern”? why are we still in a world where Scottish actors get repeatedly passed over?). In truth, most linguistic shortcuts in movies rely on sociolinguistic stereotypes that perpetuate bias and crap, so I will always be in favor of removing those. Talk to me more about that later if you’d like. Plus, what DreamWorks did is highly unrealistic, and as a linguist, it’s hard for me to ignore, haha. I don’t care what Watsonian explanations you try to use, that’s not how languages work. Let’s get some good Scottish dialectical representation going instead!

I do not care as much what individual humans are part of the voice cast. I have headcanons for how each character sounds, but I can’t take what I imagine in my head and project that onto any real human beings I know about. If they’re good in the role, that’s what matters. I also think that, while there are marvelous VAs out there whose reputation is well-earned, who are working in their field of expertise, we need to get away from celebrity power impacting hiring choices, too. Some countries are better than others about this.

A television show for the HTTYD book series could be done in a single season. I am someone who believes that story should never be rushed, but it also should never be unnecessarily stretched. Good creators know how long a story should be and limit it to that. The majority of HTTYD books in the first half of the series could be adapted into single 30 minute episodes. Will that delete material? Of course. But that’s the name of the game of television show adaptations anyway. A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons would make a good single episode and a single episode is all we need. How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse would make a great single episode and a single episode is all we need.

For the latter half of the book series, the books get longer, and there’s more drama to cover. Some of these could be split into two episodes. Still, we’d be looking at what? A series of about 16 episodes, maybe? No more than 20. Do not make it more than 20.

---

I think that a faithful adaptation of the book series could be INCREDIBLE! But they’d have to make the right artistic choices to successfully adapt the heart.

#httyd books #faq #so I don't lose it again hahaha #How to Train Your Dragon #httyd #analysis #my analysis #DreamWorks Dragons #ask #ask me #awesome anonymous friend #originalavenuefox

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radramblog · 4 years ago

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Halo 2 is the most Two

According to a semi-reliable source (TvTropes’s Halo/Funny subpage), Halo 2 was once described by a Bungie PR guy as, and I quote:

“like Halo 1, only it's Halo 1 on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas ... And, the ninjas are all on fire, too.”

2004 really was a special time, huh?

But I’d argue the thing that quote fails to mention is how much 2 is in Halo 2. Duality is a core theme of both the gameplay and story, and that’s something I’d like to highlight.

Not because it’s important. Because it’s fun.

Halo 2 is a game about two. Literally, in fact, as the story revolves around two protagonists, whom you switch back and forth between as the Campaign progresses. John-117, the Master Chief, hero of the first game, who spends 2’s opening moments being hailed for his achievements during the previous story. And Thel’ Vadamee, the Arbiter, background villain of the first game, who spends 2’s opening moments being publicly humiliated and tortured for his failures during the previous story.

This cutscene is very much intentional, it’s a cool parallel that sets up the twin stories of the game, but it far from ends there. Because Halo 2 is a sequel, it’s setting up a grander universe, one that began in the novels that released between the games. However, because the game is still a big-budget sequel to a smash-hit game effectively owned by one of the biggest companies on the planet, the game could never be as experimental or the story as interesting as the world suggested by said novels and lore.

So there’s a lot of twos. We see a second Halo ring in the second Halo game, which is confusingly named Delta Halo even though it’s the second one we see in the franchise. Also, it’s official Forerunner name is Installation 05, even though Delta is the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet, and the Halo from the first game was Installation 04…

Tangents aside. Twos. Ultimately the story is less two-ey than what I’ll get to in a bit, but there’s still some there. The second Halo comes with a second Monitor, and the first of the two Covenant Prophets that are encountered (and killed) over the story’s course. Two of Earth’s orbital defense platforms are obliterated in the first level, uhhh, two new major Human characters are introduced (Lord Hood and Miranda Keyes) along with two named Sangheili (Both the Arbiter and Rtas ‘Vadumee, as the Heretic Leader isn’t given a name in the game proper). There’s like, two real boss fights? I guess? Regret doesn’t fucking count.

I think I’m kinda grasping at straws so I’ll move into the gameplay, because boy howdy there’s where the twos really come in. While Halo featured both Human and Covenant weapons, Halo 2 was the game that defined them as two clear opposed factions- much like in a Strategy game, each has equivalent items to each other. The Battle Rifle and Covenant Carbine are both new weapons that add a mid-range option for each faction, as well as making up for the severe nerf to the Magnum. It’s now effectively paired as a sidearm with the Plasma Pistol, their deadliness largely confined to one half each of the Shields/Health divide the game uses for Multiplayer. The SMG replaces the Assault Rifle to better mirror the Covenant Plasma Rifle, and the Beam Rifle is introduced as the Covenant variant Sniper Rifle. The Energy Sword and Fuel Rod Gun are both now actually playable, serving as counterparts to the Shotgun and Rocket Launcher respectively. You get the idea. This somewhat carries over to the Vehicles, with the Covenant Spectre being introduced as a counterpart to the Warthog, though that’s the only new vehicle off the top of my head. Yknow, because I’m talking out my ass.

Oh, also this is the game where they put in dual wielding guns.

The campaign progression is also fond of its twos, if you ignore the first level. Two cutscenes (or, a cutscene and a tutorial+in-engine-cutscene+cutscene), the one we’re ignoring, Two Chief levels, Two Arbiter levels, Two Chief, Two Arbiter, then we actually alternate. Twice. Because why not.

Late into the game, however, there is somewhat of a shift in this dual natured game. The Great Schism occurs in the plotline, as the Covenant Civil War begins, and a second Covenant faction breaks off after having been betrayed by its leadership. There is, in fact, a third Prophet in the form of Truth, who survives the game (but not the sequel). There is also arguably a third protagonist for this extra faction, but not one we get to play as- the game’s final boss, Tartarus, leader of the Brutes, and head of the Covenant military once the Schism occurs. This third faction adds a new weapon, the Brute Shot, the sole weapon in the game not in the style of the gunmetal-black UNSC or the typically colourful and gleaming Covenant armoury- the Brute Shot’s dull muddied grays and browns and wicked bayonet a reflection of its wielder’s personality. The two story paths of Halo 2 run alongside each other before meeting and splitting off following the dramatic introduction of the Gravemind.

This is a reflection of the true nature of Halo 2, as the final product strayed farther from the initial vision than many are aware of. There’s a little known fact these days that the Halo trilogy wasn’t meant to be a trilogy, with 2’s planned story extending into what would become the majority of the third game. 2 was supposed to end at the Ark, with the death of Truth, with the revelation of the truth of the Forerunners and the end of the war.

But things change. Halo 2 spent a lot of time in development on an engine that wasn’t practical for the game they were trying to make, so much of the time was wasted. Add in a hastened Christmas release date, and you get the abrupt finale and cliffhanger that is Halo 2’s story. This isn’t to say that the game is bad, far from it, but it had potential to be so much better. Like the endgame of its plot, Halo 2 could have also been Halo 3.

I’m going to be honest, I thought I had a lot more tangible points to hang on to when I started writing this than I actually did. Much like my last Halo-related post, there’s a lot of grasping and chasing shadows in this. Maybe next time I should just talk about why I like these games or something instead, that’s a lot easier.

Anyway does anyone wanna come play Firefight with me please do it’s been so long since I’ve done that with anyone other than internet randos

#ramble #halo #halo 2 #chips dubbo is the greatest character in all of gaming btw

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em-dashes · 4 years ago

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Belated Mega Writing Update - 07.17.2021

HELLO!!!!!!! Apparently the last time I made an update was in March, AKA four entire months ago.

So here I am, hello, hi. What have I been up to? Let’s see...

Big stuff first! I was putting my focus into something really important at work. I won’t go too much into it because a) I want it to be a surprise if it gets approved b) I don’t want to jinx it. But basically I put together this massive pitch for an animated show! That involved some concept artwork and six screenplays (not mandatory, I’m just a huge keener I guess). So while I have technically been writing, I was writing things I couldn’t share. I won’t know the results of the pitch meeting for a few weeks, so it’s just a waiting game now. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Secondly! I started a new wip. It’s a novella, and I’m really excited about writing a shorter book! I also don’t want to share too much about this until I finish the first draft, but I got a good ways through it (in fact, I’d say it’s 2/3 done) before I had to put all my focus into the above-mentioned pitch. Even though I haven’t even finished the first draft, I feel like it’s taught me quite a bit about simplicity and necessity in prose, something I was definitely lacking in my main wip APHELION.

Speaking of APHELION: I hadn’t touched it since, you guessed it, March, but a few days ago I picked it back up with a fresher mind and got to beating it into form. Yesterday I found a mid-year recap I made in July 2020, almost exactly one year ago, and I thought it’d be fun to talk about what has changed since then!

> First: the word count. I’ve added almost 10k to the document, bringing it to nearly 55k, which is basically novel length in its own right (oohhh is this foreshadowing).

> Second: some plot elements were changed / removed. There used to be a jailbreak on the moon. Now it’s just on the planet. This meant that a chapter that I’d thought was done had to be rewritten. But space is definitely still involved!! There was also the plans to the jailbreak that had been plaguing me for a long time because it was so stupid and vague, and that’s what I’m working on fixing now (it’s still a little wonky, but hey, the characters are under a huge time crunch, and it’s at least not so flimsy anymore).

> Third: APHELION was originally planned to be the first in a trilogy. Now it’s going to be the first in five books.

“WAIT WHAT? Does that mean you’re adding a bunch more content to the story?”

Nope! See, a while back, I realized if APHELION was to be one book, it would be 150k words long. Which isn’t unheard of, but that was extremely, SUPREMELY daunting to me, especially since I’m only at the 50k words. The idea that I had to write 100k more words before this first book is considered finished...NO. I won’t do this.

PLUS the issue that there are supposed to be two more books after this, and I’d have to go through this entire process again...NO. I WON’T DO THIS.

A month-ish ago, I came to a revelation. What if APHELION WASN’T a 150k-word book? What if it’s split into TWO books, at ~70k each? I know, I know--I’d still be writing 150k words. But this way I wouldn’t feel so behind on my progress. I mean, if the first book is only 70k words, then I’m almost there! The finish line is in sight!! I can do this!!

So I’m going to split APHELION into two books, then the sequel into two books as well, and the third book will now be the fifth book, tying the series to an end. Five books may seem like it’s more daunting than three books, but breaking it into manageable bites will really help me actually get things done. I’m not trying to be JRR Tolkein out here, yo.

And you know what really helped me into this mindset? Reading Murderbot. Reading these novellas made me think “hey, so maybe books don’t need to be that long to be compelling” and “hey, maybe I could write a novella too” and “hey, maybe APHELION could be split into novellas!” Though of course, 70k is way too long to actually be a novella, but whatever. APHELION is gonna be a shorter book now babey!!

I haven’t figured out what each book would be titled. The original trilogy of books each had names already, and they all rhyme, and I don’t know how I’m going to find more words that rhyme AND stay on theme. If you know any words that rhyme with APHELION (ah-FEE-lee-un) throw them my way please!

PHEW that was a huge long update, excuse me yall. I’d post some excerpts too, but this post is long enough as is, and the chapters I’m working on are soooo under construction. So this is it for now!! See y’all laters :^)

-Em

#em dashes #writing update #writeblr #aphelion

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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Ducktales Final Four: The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck Review! or The Batman Trial Episode but with Ducks, Sharks, And the Fonz

Hello all you happy people and welcome to the penultimate Ducktales review... for season 3 anyway. I still have most of season 1, all of season 2 (I did cover one but I’ll probably redo it), the tie-in comics, the 87 series, and even then i’ll never really be done with ducks between all the scrooge comics and other duck related shows like Darkwing Duck and Quack Pack. But as far as covering the show as it comes out as i’ve done for the past year, that’s’ts almost done. It’s honestly just starting to hit as I type this: this is the second to last episode. After next week while there’s always fan fiction (And I certainly aim to contribute to that), a possible Darkwing Duck Reboot under frank (though that’s in doubt) where they could show up, and a movie down the road given what we saw with Phienas and Ferb and the show’s popularity it’s still not the same as getting these well animated, well crafted adventures every week with breaks or the ocasional entire week of them. The show won’t go on, and whatever happens with the property next is a mystery no amount of ducks can solve.

So with all that in mind naturally this episode is a breather episode: It’s not unimportant: like the rest of the season it ties off a lot of loose ends, adds in some stuff we didn’t know we wanted, and in general feels necessary like every episode this season. It’s something I credit the season for immensley: They knew this would probably be it so while they had more stories to tell, they made sure if these were their last, to leave no loose ends. And outside of ones they just never wanted to address in the first place like “What happened to Donald’s parents”, “Why was every trace of Della missing despite Scrooge’s search for her having just ended”, and “What did Della thing of the decades long seperation”, they’ve tied up pretty much all of them except for FOWL and what Beakly was lying about, and I feel both are about to ducktail into one another int he finale. Could be wrong but I applaud them for tying off almost every loose end and character arc by this episode that isn’t related to FOWL in some way. Not every show can do that: She Ra was a masterpiece but still had a few things like Scorpia and Catra’s broken relationship, Hordak’s reformation and Adora’s Parents just left up in the air due to time constraints, Steven Universe ONLY got to go back and answer a lot of questions because they were lucky enough to get an epilogue mini series, and Star Vs... was not as good as either show by the end and by the finale about 80% of things it’d brought up all had the following answer:

My point is it’s VERY hard, even when you know the end is coming to tie everything up in a neat bow. And I can’t know how good the finale be or how satsifying it will be but given how well this season’s wrapped everything up so far, i’m betting on immensely. But we can talk about that when it finally comes around next week. For now we have a trial episode to talk about that’s mostly good.. mostly. See why the mostly under the cut as I discuss and recap the episode with full spoilers. Count it down!

We open in the Mansion, where a bunch of tribble like Fuzzy creatures are running amok. Unsuprisingly, Scrooge bought one for Louie as a pet to teach him responsiblity.. again. And once again he instead turned into a get rich quick scheme, didn’t read the manual and now they have an infestation.

ONCE AGAIN, Louie is written like he’s barely changed at all in the past three seasons. Anyone whose been following my reviews regularly knows this has been a pet peeve of mine for the entire season. Despite having an ENTIRE arc about Louie growing as a character and learning the human cost of his scheming and to use his angle seeing talent’s wisely, the writers keep writing him as if he learned nothing. I went back to track it and while not as often as it felt I noticed a few things. The first is that it WASN’T like this for the first half of the season. No really. He even learns brand new lessons in The Trickening and Louie’s Eleven. Granted he also exploits his uncle in Louie’s Eleven but that’s mostly played for laughs.. still not a great bit but not a major part of the episode.

So he was fine for the first act of the season... but then for whatever reason from Let’s Get Dangerous onwards (Again I don’t count the Christmas episode as both of those are meant to slot in anywhere and chronologically take place before this season for the timeline to make any sense), he’s just...

He’s utterly insufferable in his small parts of the first half of Let’s Get Dangerous! as he berates Huey for daring to look a gifthorse int he mouse.. even though everytime he’s seemingly got something for nothing or minimal effort it’s backfired and it’s something that seeemd to stick with “The Richest Duck in the World!”. He’s fine in Impossibin and alright in split sword as while he clearly hadn’t learned lying isn’t the best policy we at least got a good story out of it. He then went right back to obnoxious with New Gods on the Block where he, EPISODES AFTER THE SOLEAGEO FISACO again thinks an easy way out is the right way, and has NO guilt over possibly killing a bunch of people with his gold powers and in fact is disapointed he dosen’t get to keep a living being turned to gold!. He spents all of Fight for Castle McDuck being a huge dick to Huey AGAIN iwth no lesson, and now has yet another family endagering get rich quick scheme he feels no remorse about.

I will admit when I”m wrong and I DID think it was in way more of the season than I thought. And let’s face it in real life personal issues don’t just go away and you can sometimes slide back, i’ve done it way too many times and i’m not proud of it. We’re only human. But this isn’t real life, this is cartoon ducks. And cartoon duck wise most character development has stuck or if a bad trait’s come back it’s been in a new way. Webby is still trusting, but knows how the world works now and while idolizing scrooge dosen’t think he’s perfect anymore. Huey is no longer a skpetic towards the super natural and hasn’t forced a party on anyone. Dewey hasn’t craved other people’s love or thought he needed to earn his mom’s love again. And that’s just the other kids. They aren’t the same people theyw ere going in, neither is Louie. So it’s grating when an episode acts like h’es exactly the same, let alone almost a fifth of the season.

What makes it even worse though is that he had an ENTIRE STORY ARC dedicated to learning some of these lessons already. With the others if one episode were forgotten i’d let it slide as it happens with tv, i’m used to it. It’s not a great look but it happens. Mistakes happen again we’re all human. But you can’t act like an entire arc of a series didn’t exist. While they ignore Della’s history somehow being hidden for the rest of the show they don’t ignore that Dewey spent a whole season looking for her, as he never hides something like that from his brothers again nor do they, and he’s out of them the biggets mama’s boy. While they did take a while to adress Lena, partly because the episode got pushed back, they didn’t act like season 1 never happened and she was still working for her aunt. Della still isn’t on the moon and Owlson still isn’t working for glomgold. Actions. Have. Consequences. That’s the whole point of this episode, but they act like none of it got through to louie and it makes his arc feel like a giant waste in hindsight. This episode even feels like it was SUPPOSED to be in that arc: Louie is back to his season 2 characterization, Scrooge is actively trying to mentor him again.. it just feels really out of place as our second to last episode in that way and drags it down a bit.

Thankfully after Scrooge bars the door, and possibly leaves everyone to their deaths but he presumably has enough faith in the kids, the twins and Beakley to take care of it, he gets a summons to court.. and gets kidnapped. He and Louie are whisked away to a mystic court presided over by a giant statue of justice holding scales, that judges someone based on Karma. Scrooge’s foes have brought him to court, blaming him for being evil and if he looses he looses EVERYTHING. And their proscutor?

Sadly not Droopy, maybe next continuity, but searing the same Hannibal-Esque Getup is Doofus Drake to Louie’s horror. As for why he’s like this.. he thought iht was fun. Great gag.

After the credits we find out why he’s doing this: He’s still pissed about Louie taking half his inheritance and giving it to his family, so he’s going to take LOUIE’S inheritance. It’s.. honestly a great setup: Doofus was already a villian I liked, being a nice weird evil mirror dewey instead of a walking fat joke like last series. So I was glad to both see him pop up one last time to make it a full trilogy of apperances as an angonist and to see him take a step up from his passive roll in the past: in his first two apperances while he was evil and abusive, and still is, his evil was mostly due to his own warped logic, feeling he could put shock collars on and control people and that Louie lying to him was enough to warrant making him into a pinata. He’s still a bad person mind you: kid or not he ensdlaved his parents, tried to enslave louie and goldie and in general REALLY needs some help empathizing with people. But my point is that before he didn’t come after anyone.. so it’s a nice capper to have his final turn as antaognist be him going after our hero.. and at his most dangerous. Before someone would’ve come for Louie eventually in Doofus’ first apperance and Goldie would’ve found a way out or Scrooge, despite grumbling about it, would’ve helped.. if nothing else than to lord having to save her from a 12 year old over her. Here if he wins the family is out on the street and three of their greatest enemies are now infinitely more well funded.

So while naturally unnerved by his rival Louie offers to defend Scrooge who denies it despite the fact that Louie is REALLY good with words, and Scrooge, while not bad with them, can’t stop shouting and keeps pissing off the baliff, played by my boy Henry Winkler whose done a lot of voice work and also played Fonzie on Happy Days, is currently on the HBO series barry and in general is just a fucking delight. The irony is also not lost on me that he’s not playing a lawyer here despite being one on arrested development.

We get our first witness: FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD. Hell. Yes. It’s nice to see him in his full glory one last time, as I don’t know how much he’ll be in the finale. Scrooge blows of the Duke Baloney thing, which is fair given that while Scrooge screwed up there, Glomgold still stole money from him right after and then spent his whole life trying to one up him. But Glomgold has a different tale in mind as he stole something else from him: the limelight.

It was 1980-something and Glomgold was a bonified celebrity in Duckberg for his hot dogging, grandstanding and treasure hunting loved by all and took Baba Wawa, a nice mix of Barbra Walters and the parody of her on SNL by the late Gilda Radner, to a shark shaped cave to get the gem of the shark god, a ruby tooth at the end of the cave. Naturally Scrooge popped up and easily made his way through and stole the spotlight. As it turns out he wasn’t always well loved and it makes sense: he dismises Baba asking him about how disliked he is, and dosen’t care and even in the current story, or rather season 1 of it, he dismiseed PR entirely in Jaw$. He was rich enough and enough of a job provider he just didn’t see the need for fame or glory, that just came second so it’s logical no one liked him. Fortunes naturally reverse as you’d expect though: Glomgold dashes forward and ends up putting Baba and her camerabird in danger and being Glomgold he irrationally assumes she’s working for Scrooge and leaves her to die. Scrooge however, after getting the rock, goes out of his way to save her because it’s the right thing to do. He can be selfish at times, and as we’ll see monstrously so, but at his core Scrogoe is a good man who will do right when the chips are down. So this leaves Glomgold trapped and Scrogoe getting his good press instead and realizes he likes the attention.

As the flashback ends Glomgold fills in the gaps, pointing out he was stuck with the sharks for days, but slowly bonded with them learned from them and they became family, helping him with traps, joining him for thanksgiving and even getting a heart taatoo with a shark on it. Awww. Look I didn’t really need to know where Glomgold’s love of sharks came from, nor that he had some weird tarzan origin story with them.. but my life is 100% better knowing all of this so thank you Frank and Matt. Thank you. I’m also entirely convinced the two have had this whole part of his backstory ready to go for three seasons and were waiting to use it, along with the other two bits we’re about to get to. This episode as you can tell is also a vingette episode, but one where the wraparound is way more improtant than usual.. but it works given the setting and allows the stories to be as long as they actually need to be, and it addds some nice stakes instead of just having Scrooge’s villians gripe about him.

Scrooge protests and the Bailiff puts a clamp on his beak, so he has no choice in the matter when Louie steps up for the defense. Louie also proves that irresponsible he may be.. he’d be a damn good lawyer, as he easily picks things apart, pointing out Glomgold was ALREADY bad by then, Scrooge had no intent to steal the spotlight and Glomgold is currently planting dynamite under his chair, with predictable and hilarious results. So he gets put on the “good” side of the scale. Next witness.

Next up is Ma, and I was delighted that as I’d hoped and theroized this episode wrapped up one little plot point that while not major, was something I was curious about: Ma’s claims Scrooge stole Duckburg from her family. This was also likely the backbone of the episode at one point as Frank pitched a beagle trial episode at one time, but Disney nixed it. Likely the magic stuff was added both to justify it better and to distract Disney Channel’s higher ups because they constantly underestimate what a child will like. It was for the best though as the beagles are just a bit weaker here: While Character Actress Margo Martindale is a delight and was specifically cast for the role, overall it just feels like they ran out of ways to make the beagles a big threat and releigated them to muscle when needed, to the point they only appeared in one episode besides this one this season as with FOWL about, they didn’t really need villians of the week and what ones they did use like Glomgold and Mark were far more entertaining villains who needed a coda to their stories.They aren’t bad characters, but in a series where their breaking into the bin or mansion wasn’t a story the crew was interested in they served no real purpose.

So we finally get answers about the whole Deed thing: It was sometime in Ma’s childhood, good look guessing when, and the Beagles owned Duckburg having clearly overwhelmed Fort Duckburg at some point in history between Clinton’s defense of it and now, with Grandpa “Pa” Beagle finally making an apperance. In the comics he was basically what Ma is to both series: the scheming brains behind the beagles who showed up on occasion and it was a good idea to use him as the past version of her.

Scrooge naturally comes a calling and unsurprisingly Ma was lying: Scrooge offered to buy the place first from Pa, he refused outright, and then when Scrooge showed off the money he was offering, Pa bet the deed for it in an arm wrestling contest. Not only that but as Scrooge finds out as he almost looses, Pa was cheating having a smaller beagle boy operate pull a lever in a device attached to his arm to give pa extra force. Scroooge simply dropped a few coins to distract the guy and claimed victory and the deed.

Little Ma is left dejected though and Doofus claims he ruined his life, but Louie steps up, at this poitn Scrooge has learned to reign himself ina nd accepted Louie as his defense without saying anything, a nice subtle bit. He probably realized that while irrepsonsible.. Louie has everything to loose her and no reason to slack off and dosen’t even relaly have to lie for his uncle to get him off: he’s simply using his ablitiy to see all the angles to poke holes in their story.

Case in point, he orders the “tape” to continue and finds Little Ma berating her dad for his failure and forcefully taking control of the family. LIke Glomgold, Scrooge may of cost her something.. but it was something she and her family hadn’t earned and they were still on a bad road. Scrooge just made it worse.

But suprisingly, its MAGICA, who we’ve established is an uncaring monster, who has a story Scrooge genuinely feels bad about. Like the rest she was not a good person: Long ago she and her brother Poe were extorting a villiage, and lording over it as gods, changing the population into goats, toads and other things. The only diffrence from what Magica would do to the blot and presumiibly others later, is that Poe reigned in her manical tend ices, trying to get her to think things through. The goat transformation was so they’d have milk and at least get something out of it and as to not waste all their slaves. Poe is voiced by Martin Freeman of The Hobbit and Black Panther fame. Great actor, does amazing work here. So like the others Scrooge changed things, and fought someone with bad intentions for his own self. He talked Magica into fighting him with both amulets by playing into her ego and Poe trying to talk her down, and easily deflected her bolt with the dime to turn her into a crow with her own spell. So far it’s just like the other tales in a nice mirror.. it’s what comes next that makes Scrooge into a bad guy too. Not as bad as Magica and Poe.. but sitll not good. Poe dives selflessly in front of the coin.. and shockingly while she cared nothing for Lena.. that wasn’t the case for Poe. Magica is truly devastated, desperatly trying to put the amulet back on and begging scrooge for help while he just ignores her and fills up his sack. And while they both deserved it... Scrooge and Louie both recognize he was wrong as the flashback ends with Poe escaping and Magica sitll haven’t having found him to this day. And props to Catharine Tate here a she takes a normally hammy terrible person who was wholly unsympathetic and manages to make her painfully human.

What makes the act so terrible is not who it happened to, they both desrved it, but Scrooge’s attitude, utterly callous to magica’s pain with not a drop of sympathy. While she deserved it as did Poe.. he’s not doing this to her as some justice for her crimes, or because she did something horrible to him or any valid reason.. he’s doing it because he’d rather get more of her and poes gold than lift one finger to help someone who had , for all his evil, selflessly sacrificed himself for his sister. For all Poe’s evil and tyranny.. there MIGHT of been a good man in them, in both of them.. and Scrooge could’ve cared less. He shut the door on Magica ever becoming a good person, ever getting her brother back to line his own wallet and to satisfy his own ego. See that’s the true mark of a hero: how they treat others, even the worst of them. And in his lowest moment Scrooge could’ve cared less about anyone but himself.

Scrooge feels bad and Louie does finally get the responsibility thing and this is where things start to go off the rails: he apologizes to Doofus and admits he dosen’t want an enteral rivalry and h’es sorry for any pain he caused. The off the rails part is because Doofus is genuinely not a good person, ahs done very bad things and is trying to bankrupt Louie for the crime of “taking half your fortune after you used it to torment and enslave your own parents’. It just.. dosen’t play as well as they’d like. That said I DO like both Louie deciding to bury the hatchet instead of just avoiding him and Doofus showing some nobiity in accepting it. Maybe he’ll change.

He goes off into the night, and Scrooge genuinely apologizes and accepts repsonsiblity... and here’s where the plot finishing going off the rails and into someone’s living room: the bailiff AWARDS THEM SCROOGE’S FORTUNE BECAUSE HE ADMITTED SOME CUPLABLITY AND WAS HUMBLE.

This just.. it makes no sense, it will never not baffle me and it hurts my brain> Yes he admitted some wrong doing and apologized for it.. but it was also THROUGHLY proven the other two weren’t his fault, and he was simply being a good man which should get him some good. Thankfully the conclusion is a bit better, as Louie points out while they made him, he made you so who made who, who made you... okay i’m getting into the AC/DC of things point is these incidents all shaped Scrooge into a better person. His mistake with Magica. is clearly learned from. He’s stopping a group of bullies in Ma’s story and saving a life without a second thought in the second. He learned to value others, to value family all because THEY showed him what happens when you don’t. By seeing the worst person he could be.. he became the best. So the trial’s thrown out his assets are returned, and their teleported out before magica can hit them with lighting. Lesson learned.. well kinda Louie tells scrooge to do it because he got the pet.

Final Thoughts for The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck:

Great title aside.. this one is a mess. It’s not a terrible episode: the flashbacks are genuinely engaging, each one helping flesh out the villians and in Ma’s case pulling one last dangling plot thread. Glomgold’s was just entertaining , clevelry using his 80′s origns for an 80′s style news special and giving us the origin to his love of sharks that we didn’t know we needed., Ma’s tied up a loose plot threat with a fun flashback and Magica’s was genuinely heart wrenching and did the tall task of making us feel for someone that terrible. The wraparound.. was a bit weaker. Doofus was the best part, playing an excellent manipulative bastard lawyer, and being a genuine threat and his walking away peacefully was a nice touch, and Louie having to defend scrooge was great and showed him off better than ever. And Louie did get some moments to shine.. it was just wierldy bookened with him acting terribly AGAIN, in a way he should know better than in an episode where he acts fine for most of it and even then he thinks lying to a judge is a good idea! I know he’s 12 but he’s not this stupid and while as I made very clear i’ve seen this shit before, I haven’t seen it flip flop in the same episode. Louie deserves better than this.

But it’s also in service to a responsiblility aseop that just.. dosen’t work as presented. Yes you should take responsiblity for your past, yes you should learn from your mistakes and own up to them, I have, and yes it’s all too easy to slide back> That’s all fine.. but him apologizing to Ma, whose family was terorrizing a town, and Glomgold, who he did nothing to, and having Louie apologize to Doofus, who while he tried to exploit him still enslaved his own parents and deserved to loose half his fortune AND loosing half his fortune wasn’t even the main thing Louie wanted to do as his main goal was getting BOYD a loving family.. it’s bullshit. Just pure Grade-A bullshit. Why are you booing them their right. It’s a good idea for a moral but it’s executed so overwhelmingly poorly it bogs down what was otherwise an exceptional episode, into just passable. It’s just mind numbing and saddening to know the next to last episode wasted so much good ideas on a clumsy moral. Thankfully I have hope the finale will be better, and again at least we got some good out of this one.

Next Time: Endgame Baby! Clan McDuck and their Amazing Friends Vs F.O.W.L. for the fate of adventure itself! One last ride! I can hardly wait!

This week on the blog: Ducks Ducks and more ducks.. and a top 12 list of my faviorite superheroines later today’s for international women’s day. But after that we have more of the Della arc, the last step in the Lena arc before Shadow War next week, and the 87 ducktales pilot treasure of the golden suns!

If you liked this review, share it around, follow for more, and you can comission your own for 5 dolalrs an issue or episode, or kick in some money on my patroen, link on my blog. Even a dollar a month helps and my next stretch goal is 5 dollars away and if we reach it i’ll review both the super ducktales mini series introducing gizmoduck AND a darkwing duck episode a month. Until the next rainbow it’s been a pleasure.

#ducktales #the life and crimes of scrooge mcduck #scrooge mcduck #louie duck #doofus drake #magica de spell #poe de spell #FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD #ma beagle #the beagle boys #disney channel #disney #ducks #uncle scrooge

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