#there will always be vampires and gay people to animate in the future and I will be first in line

[mysteryanimator]

Left to right: April / October

Your favourite artist’s fav artist ✨

Wow we’re almost at the end of the year and I’ve literally only drawn Mizrak and Olrox HAHAHAHAH but I learnt and improved so much from it. Ngl I’m really impressed that I can do this stuff!! Thank you to these tragic gays for being my muse and thank you for the nocturne team for being a foundation of inspiration! I only hope one day I’ll amount to the same skills they have and have a place in the industry and do cool stuff like that :DDD

Onto the next year for bigger and brighter things!

[thestarlightforge]

Yes, the world is often still a terrifying nightmare for queer people.

But.

Spring 2024 served up a full season of Ava & Deborah in Hacks S3, the always delightful Abbot Elementary for its S3, and Ncuti Gatwa Fifteenth Doctor kissing Jonathan Groff on Doctor Who.

Summertime delivered Poolverine in Deadpool 3, a season of excellence with Interview with the Vampire S2, the killer finales of Umbrella Academy and Star Trek: Discovery, the continued successor to She Ra & Steven Universe in My Adventures with Superman S2, a taste of a future queerer Bridgerton in S3, the interracial interabled lesbian wedding of the year in The Dragon Prince S6, and House of the Dragon blowing up the internet for two months gay with its wonderful shenanigans—from the sept scene, to GNC-coded Rhaenyra kissing Mysaria, to Alicent going full Virginia Woolf on a MF & then proposing elopement in a 4 AM break-in.

Spooky season has the return of Jac Schaeffer to the WandaVision fam—Billy Maximoff, Teddy Altman (who he’s explicitly dating) & a bevy of PEAK lesbian activity in Agatha All Along, coming out (ha) within a month of Heartstopper S3, and the series finales of What We Do In The Shadows and Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Then, we’ll close out the year with Harlivy in Harley Quinn S5, Lady Gaga as Harley in a musical in Folie a Deux, and MF-live action WICKED PT. 1.

And this isn’t even it, y’all. This doesn’t include countless anime, cartoons, and queer shows that are gaining ground now that they’re streaming (Kevin Can F**k Himself, ILYSM).

No, it isn’t perfect. Yes, I want more and better representation. (Especially for sapphics, BIPOC queers, disabled queers, trans and GNC folks.)

But there are reasons for hope. We are moving in the right direction. 🏳️‍🌈❤️

[euniexenoblade]

Mordred do you have any anime or manga recommendations you havent talked about recently?

I feel like there's a lot of anime I never talk about for one reason or another, like RN I'm writing up a whole thing about maidime (maid anime) for my anime blog and if I ever get it done then yay but it's dragging lmao

But yeah, I really liked the adaptation of Children of the Whales, the world building is insane and the animation was so spectacular for a TV anime. Really stands apart from most shows.

I really like the show Erased. Time travel and time loops aren't that uncommon but still I felt that Erased found a really neat way to tackle the topic of it. It's a real fucked up story so trigger warnings for child murder and serial killer shit, but for real spectacular show. Basically there's a serial killer and dude goes back in time to be his kid self and uses his adult knowledge to try and stop the killer.

I mention this show plenty I think but I always need to sing it's praises, Humanity Has Declined is probably in my top 15 TV shows. It's such a fun, bright take on a post apocalypse and it's so funny. If you take anything away from this post, watch this show. Whenever I try to compare it to anything, the only thing I can think of is Adventure Time, it's a bright whimsical comical telling of happenings after an apocalypse. Though plot wise it's nothing like AT so, maybe the comparison isn't the best. But essentially the protagonist is a UN representative to go between the remaining humans and the newly evolved fairies. The arcs are in reverse chronological order and its lovely tbh lol.

Time of Eve is one of the first shows I really hooked into. It got rereleased as a movie, so whatever version you find is right. But it's about a world where there's robot house keepers and shit and one day the protag follows his robot to a coffee shop where robots meet and have the ability to be free. It's very nice and I should rewatch it I haven't seen it in a long ass time.

To get that yuri rep in there, if you've never watched Maria-sama ga Miteru (Maria Watches Over Us) you gotta drop your toes in. It's four seasons but you'll know if it's for you or not right away. A girl attends an all girls Catholic school and gets caught up in the student council and the personalities in it. Imo this is the premier Class S yuri and I love this series so much.

I could go on and on honestly.

As for manga, I'd say my manga opinions are very known cuz I post all sorts of screencaps and shit as I read, but considering most of that was on my old blog.

Read Liberta. Just do it. Vampire lesbian escapism fantasy. It's awesome.

The Summer Hikaru Died is a gay horror. Basically a dude's best friend goes missing and then suddenly turns back up months later. But the dude knows it's not his friend because he saw his friend's dead body in the forest. That's not a spoiler, that's like 4 pages in. It's phenomenal.

I think I see people try to disparage it these days, but Future Diary was a really good read. Dude ends up in a weird game where his cell phone tells the future and he has to kill other people who have prophetic phones (and vice versa) so they may become a new god. But on top of this one of the players is a yandere girl obsessed with being with him. The anime adaptation is good too just be ready for them to show. Too much. Watch the TV show version and not the Blu-rays, they uncensored stuff in the Blu-ray and it's such a weird decision when you see it.

Goodbye Eri and Look Back are both one shots by the Chainsaw Man author. Both deal with losing someone dear to you at a young age and both handle it in completely different ways. Both are fantastic though.

I could go on and on and on

[adventure-showdown]

What is your favourite Doctor Who story?

Stranded and The Sonomancer tied. These are the 10 stories that were closest to making it through and so have been given a second chance

ROUND 2 MASTERPOST

synopses and propaganda under the cut

Stranded

Synopsis

The TARDIS is gone. Stranded in one time and place, the Doctor, Liv and Helen seek refuge in Baker Street. But the house has changed: they now have neighbours – not all of them welcoming. And someone has a dire warning for the future.

The Doctor and friends face their greatest challenge yet: living one day after another, in 2020 London.

Propaganda

The Doctor stranded on earth done right! First time I cried about a Big Finish story. Stellar Cast! Liv and Tania, Lovestory for the ages!   (anonymous)

The Sonomancer

Synopsis

On the other side of the galaxy a mining company is exploiting the already unstable planet of Syra for every precious mineral it contains. River Song is attempting to save the native people. She needs the Doctor's help, but she also knows he mustn't yet discover her true identity. The final confrontation sees the Doctor once again face his enemy the Eleven in an attempt to prevent the destruction of Syra and the genocide of its inhabitants.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Inside Every Warrior

Synopsis

The Great Detective, Madame Vastra, aided by her resourceful spouse, Jenny Flint, and loyal valet, Strax, is looking into a series of mysterious break-ins.

An eccentric scientist and his put-upon assistant are the latest victims. Evidence mounts, with animal footprints and a trail of destruction.

Propaganda

The first audio adventure for the Paternoster Gang that involves SO, SO much lesbian flirting??? And werewolves! First of all Jenny makes Vastra fluster at least twice in this thing, they fight werewolves together after Strax got kidnapped and try to get him back. A maid struggles with her rich employer's abusive behaviour and seeks revenge, and she wrongly assumes Jenny must be in a similar situation. In the final showdown, Vastra uses what she fears to be her last breaths on telling Jenny that she loves her. Also, Vastra actually gets to kill in this audio! Always fun! Overall jumps between the inherent humour that comes with Jenny, Vastra, and Strax, so much fluffy gay flirting, and intense, emotional action-packed scenes. 10000% recommend, I swear to god. (@jennyandvastraflint )

Blood of the Daleks

Synopsis

"People of Red Rocket Rising, my fellow citizens. Our long night is over. I've been contacted by a benevolent people. They too have known great trials, but they have overcome them and made it their mission to help others do the same. They have offered us refuge, and passage to the nearest human worlds. They have the resources, and the patience and compassion, to evacuate every one of us. My fellow citizens, my friends, rescue is at hand!"

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Side of the Angels

Synopsis

Cardinal Ollistra has plans for New York, plans which involve the Deputy Mayor and her sponsor, one 'Reverend Mortimer' – better known to the Doctor as the Meddling Monk. The Eleven arrives to stamp out the resistance, but that isn't the only danger the Doctor finds lurking in the shadows – for New York is a city of Weeping Angels.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Phobos

Synopsis

The TARDIS lands on Phobos, moon of Mars — where extreme sports nuts of the future indulge their passion for gravity-boarding and wormhole-jumping. But there's something lurking in the shadows, something infinitely old and infinitely dangerous. It's not for nothing that "Phobos" is the ancient word for "fear"...

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Love Vampires

Synopsis

Regret can follow people everywhere - even out into deep space, in the shadow of a dying star.

When the Doctor, Liv and Helen meet the terrified crew of a space station, all are haunted by faces from the past. But these lost loves are more than mere memories - and they want to feed...

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Widow’s Assassin

Synopsis

Once, long ago, in a land of monsters and corridors, a fair maiden was captured, and placed in a deep sleep.

She was used to being captured, and she had a hero who rescued her on just such occasions. But this time the hero never came.

And the fair maiden slept on.

Eventually, a King rescued the maiden, and made her his bride, which many wise old women might tell you is just another way of capturing fair maidens.

And still the fair maiden slept on.

Then, the hero had another stab at rescuing the maiden from her prison, but he was too late. And, more importantly, he had forgotten the rules of fairy tales.

He didn't slay the dragon.

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

Companion Piece

Synopsis

When the evil Time Lord known as the Nine comes across a rare and valuable item floating in the space-time vortex, his acquisitive nature means he can't resist the urge to complete the set.

Soon a wicked scheme is underway. Only the Doctor's friends – past, present and future – will be able to stop him.

But without the Doctor around will even the combined skills of Liv, Helen, River Song, Bliss and Charley be enough to save the day?

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

The Doomsday Chronometer

Synopsis

While River Song takes Helen on an archaeological expedition like no other, the Doctor finds himself enlisted by an alien Queen to save her people.

Trapped and alone, Liv stares death in the face as she meets the enemy who's been dogging the TARDIS travellers' footsteps throughout Earth's history.

The Doomsday Chronometer has been protected for five centuries: secret cults and societies jealously guarding its mystery. But what is their real purpose? The Doctor is about to discover the truth...

Propaganda no propaganda submitted

[bamboozlemint]

Jeff T. Killer (born October 12, 1992) is an American actor and serial killer. He began acting in the early 2000s and appeared in several commercials and minor film and television roles before gaining prominence in his teenage years with main roles in Little Manhattan and Zathura: A Space Adventure (both 2005), RV (2006), Bridge to Terabithia (2007), Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), and The Kids Are All Right (2010), as well a string of nationally covered homicides.

In 2011, 18-year-old Jeff landed the leading role of Peeta Mellark in the top-grossing film series The Hunger Games, released yearly between 2012 and 2015, for which he won three MTV Movie Awards and a People's Choice Award. In the same period, he also played a lead role in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and voice role in the animated film Epic (2013). By this point his body count included thousands of innocent children.

Since this period, Jeff decreased his workload for a few years, appeared in several independent films, and killed only sporadically. On television, he starred in the Hulu comedy series Future Man from 2017 to 2020 and voiced the lead character in Ultraman (2019–2023). He has since starred in the commercially successful horror film Five Nights at Freddy's (2023) and action film The Beekeeper (2024).

Throughout his career, Jeff has expressed an interest in filmmaking. He has served as an executive producer for Detention (2011), The Forger (2012), and Escobar: Paradise Lost (2015), while also playing a lead role in each film.

Born in Union, Kentucky on October 12, 1992, Jeff is the elder son of Giveue Ipp (née Vagunna), a former Delta Air Lines employee who now assists with Jeff's career, and The Killer. His parents, who were also born and raised in Kentucky, met in high school in Dry Ridge. He has one younger brother, Liu (b. 1996, d. 2005).

Jeff's interest in both killing and acting developed as a child despite his parents' concerns about the professions. According to the killer himself, he had "loved the entertainment industry" from the age of four, and had always been a "big fan of the Zodiac Killer." His father said that his son was compelled to attack people from a very young age, possessing a personality that attracted people's ire. His mother said that he "bugged us so much" into becoming a murderer, but believed it was a phase he was going through and would grow out of. At age eight, Jeff went through the yellow pages and contacted an acting agency.

Most of Jeff's childhood was spent on film sets rather than in a classroom. He attended Gay Vampire High School in Kentucky until he began his career at the age of nine, after which he began homeschooling, with his mother as his teacher. He later returned to Kentucky to attend Gay Vampire High School for one semester. Jeff played on the high school's soccer team and has been a keen sports enthusiast since, also displaying a passion for football and tennis. At the age of 13, he participated in a triathlon and began killing for sport. He later said of his schooling experiences, "I know it's something kids have to deal with every single day but getting up at the same time every day and having to listen to teachers talk about things I could learn so much more easily on my own, I hated it. How's that for motive to kill, eh? Eh?"

Jeff currently lives in Los Angeles, California. In May 2012, he purchased the 1,861-square-foot (172.9 m2) $2.5 million former house of Heath Ledger in Laurel Canyon, Hollywood Hills, a small ranch built in 1951. He professes that fame has not changed him as a person, stating, "I love my job more than anything in the world and I could never imagine doing anything else. So this whole thing is a very small price to pay compared to someone who has to go to an office to work."

[carmelasopranono1defenseattorney]

ok i was like "i'm gonna type out a few choices that could be fun" but i am not capable of being normal about tv shows my obsession is. unhinged. so i ended up typing out an essay. anyway i have sooo many thoughts about what could make a good followup to the sopranos and my ideas are under here but i shoved them under a read more because it was getting out of hand. anyway i'm kind of curious if any of these speak to anyone or if anyone would want them added in a future poll

other shows that i think could make really good choices: Twin Peaks The Twilight Zone (if we want to go wild and go to the ROOT roots of television although i think this might have wayyy too many episodes) Bojack Horseman (kind of fun because it was always a binge release so i don't think very many people have watched this "weekly") Lost The Americans The Shield Buffy the Vampire Slayer (kind of a weird one because Joss Whedon is awful, it's super influential and other people who aren't joss whedon worked on it and deserve credit but I definitely understand people not wanting to touch this) Fleabag (this could be fun cause it's so short, it'd be like a mini appetizer between binges) Battlestar Galactica The Good Place (if we want to take a swerve into pure comedy lol, i thought of other comedy series but they're all ridiculously long. on the other hand i feel like 90% of people on tumblr have already seen this) Atlanta The Leftovers Friday Night Lights (I don't actually know much about this show and I really don't like sports but it's the one big blindspot in my prestige/critically acclaimed tv show watchlist. i think this might have 20 episode seasons though so that might not be a good fit) Six Feet Under (kind of feels like this got overshadowed in the 00s prestige deathmatch between The Wire and The Sopranos but i loveddd this show, I want to say it's my favourite show ever but i haven't watched it since i had the dvd boxset in like 2010 so i'm like. worried that maybe it's not as good) Deadwood Halt and Catch Fire (show about women inventing computers in the 70s/80s, I love love love this show it was consistently like in the top 5-10 range on year end lists in the later half of the 10s and it was kind of underwatched. I remember season 1 not being great and it does feel like a bit of a shallow mad men clone but season 2 takes a hard shift to the women being the main characters and it's soooo good) an anime...... (HEAR ME OUTTT i'm actually not a huge anime person but there are some anime that have a similar like, flawed protagonist thing like the sopranos where you have to really think about what's literally being shown vs what the themes are, what the intended message is which i love. if we were to do this my suggestions would be either revolutionary girl utena or neon genesis evangelion) Hannibal (another one that tumblr already knows really well but like. hey if we're discussing black sails, succession, breaking bad, why not) The Larry Sanders Show (disclaimer i don't actually know very much about this show. it's a parody of late night talk shows, like we see a real filmed late night talk show but it's all scripted, i feel like it was probably influential on stuff like Veep, like the principal is that Larry seems very polite but the backstage of the show is very vulgar and they're all mean to each other. this appears on so many best of the 90s shows lists and it seems like it was HBO's first big hit, i'm really curious about it) Oz (another show that i don't know a ton about, this is kind of like, beta sopranos, hbo's prestige drama that did well but wasn't the smash hit that sopranos was. I feel like some of the other hbo shows (Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood) would be better picks but idk maybe someone is a really big fan of the show and can sell people on it. it's about life in a maximum security men's prison) Pose (prestige drama about the gay ball scene in New York in the 80s. I've only seen the first two seasons but I really liked them) Girls

Just for fun nonbinding poll:

Just because we're a little over halfway and I keep thinking about 'West Wing might be fun' and 'Breaking Bad might be a good choice'

Also i know there's other golden age of TV shows that I left off deliberately due to quality decline in the last season(s) or because they're anthologies, you can guess what they are

[horrorlesbians]

Included below is a list of (almost) every film I watched in February and March, 2022 and my thoughts about said film. Not included are films I rewatched and any short films I watched. Potential spoilers for all films shown in header

February 1st- The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)

I really liked The Blood Spattered Bride, I’m personally developing a soft spot for what I call the “homoerotic homophobic” horror movies, I find more interesting than modern day gay horror. But besides that I really liked it, the plot is interesting and I liked watching this dysfunctional relationship crumble and the wife fall for a lesbian vampire. I could have done without some of the sexual assault elements, even though thematically I understand why they are there and what they represent within the story. I don’t have much to say about this one besides I like it and it’s powerful lesbian eroticism. 

February 4th- Serial Mom (1994)

I absolutely loved this one, comedy is not one of my favorite genres or sub-genres by far but I really liked this one, I think because of how much it tapped into the black comedy aspect of the plot. This film overall is a really good depiction of how true crime gets represented within the media and how people will drastically change their opinions on things because now it is happening to them, I really liked the message and overall narrative of the film. The mother is a really compelling character and the acting really sells it. Watching a housewife kill people who, in her eyes, commit moral character sins is really fun and one I definitely recommend.

February 18th- Re-Animator (1985)

Okay yeah I get why everyone is obsessed with this. Overall really fun body horror and practical effects (my beloved), the characters are fun, the stakes are high and I love how quickly the plot falls into chaos. My only complaints is that I found the film a little too fast at times, maybe it was intended to be, but I think if there were some slower moments in the pacing it could have really added to the overall tension. I also have a huge bone to pick with the sexual assault/rape scene, this is not me saying that sexual assault as a theme is something that should never be done within film or horror, if done correctly it can really add to the overall horror of a scene, play into an overall theme (obsessive love, lack of bodily respect, possessiveness, control, etc.), and further establish a villain character. But the entire theme of Re-Animator is ‘a good doctor knows when to let a patient die’ and trying to deny death itself, so the doctor who is obsessed with the female character and in love with her doesn’t make sense theme wise with the overall plot. Because of how little it matches with the plot it makes the assault scenes seem very voyeuristic and in poor taste, out of all the films I’ve seen so far with sexual assault scenes this one felt definitely the most suspect and really makes me question why it was included. If that scene was removed it would be really close to a perfect horror movie imo.

February 25th- A Tale Of Two Sisters (2003)

I really enjoyed this one, I love a good family drama and unraveling of said family throughout the story. I honestly did not see the twist coming, which I will not spoil because I want people to watch it, normally I see those twists coming from a mile away and almost always feel cheap. The twist is used quite well within this film because the story doesn’t try to hard to hide it but also doesn’t treat the audience as stupid during the reveal, overall I think it is handled really nicely. In all transparency this may be a film I will have to watch twice to fully understand it’s plot and absorb it’s plot, which I don’t think is a bad thing in ‘twist-based’ movies because then it allows you to fully appreciate the subtle hints and build up to said twist. But due to the film being in another language and the complexity of the plot I think I will watch this again in the future. Overall I really liked it, although I wish they used the ghosts more as an element of horror, the ghost designs are really cool and I wish we saw more of them.

February 26th- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

I think this is the worst movie I have watched so far this year, I don’t think I have been this angry at a horror film since Carrie 2013, which is saying so much. This film utterly shits on the legacy and everything Texas Chainsaw Massacre is and did as a film. Love or hate the film it is undeniable that it impacted the slasher genre and horror immensely. I, for one, haven’t watched the original recently but do enjoy it, visually it is probably my favorite slasher film and Bubba is probably my favorite slasher icon up there with Candyman and the Ghostface killers from Scream 1. If this film was not ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ the remake it would be a probably 2.5 or 3 star film, but because it is ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ the remake it is ranked much much lower. The film overall is not a good horror movie, the kills are really underwhelming, the characters are all stupid and not in a purposefully stupid way like some are in horror- I don’t care about any of them and I didn’t root for any of them, I actually cheered when that one girl got killed at the end that’s how pissed I was at this film. The film really expects me to side with gentrification people? The stereotypical Texas gun car shop guy was a better character than any of the young adult characters. The whole ‘school shooter survivor’ plot-line is stupid and I hate it, the whole explanation background for why Bubba is in the town is stupid and I hate it. They really stripped Bubba of every character trait that made him unique from every other slasher in the original film and made him into Michael Myers 2.0, they just made him unkillable and unkillable slashers that are humans that have no supernatural element/influence is a trope I hate so much, it has to be done extremely well with nuance for me to not hate it and there is absolutely no nuance in this film. Also- they remade a cannibalism movie and had no cannibalism. Not even one mention of cannibalism. AND they completely assassinated the character of Sally, tried to pull a 2018 Halloween with her, and then killed her in some really shitty ‘subversion of expectations’ but really all they were doing was character assassination. I am ashamed for the people that worked and had big input on this film because this is the worst thing I have seen in a really long time. 

March 4th- Possessor (2020)

I really enjoyed Possessor! The plot and universe of the film was really interesting, I especially loved the imagery and the message on bodily autonomy, privacy, and control. The only negative I have is that some of the flashing lights used within the shots were a little much, but I understood their inclusion within the scene so I don’t have a big bone to pick with them. I’m personally not really triggered by flashing lights but if people are I’d recommend maybe skipping this one. The visuals and special effects were really cool, especially within the blurring scenes. Overall, I really enjoyed this one and will definitely be one checking it out again, I really enjoyed antiviral (also by Brandon Cronenberg) so I am not surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did. 

March 11th- Fresh (2022)

I wanted to like this, I really did. But the further the movie went on the more bored I got, both main characters are quite bland and boring. I don’t care enough about Noa to root for her, I’m not scared enough of Steve for it to be an element of horror. I really wish there was no ‘best friend side character’, after she gets kidnapped there should have been no shots of the outside world, the film needs that feeling of entrapment and isolation and it doesn’t have it. I was also waiting for the twist that the girl on the other side of the cell wall that Noa is talking to is actually Steve’s wife, pretending to be a victim to get information out of her, I thought that would have been a cool twist. I also didn’t care enough about Steve and Noa as a couple to have ‘fucked up romance’ vibes. For a horror movie it weirdly lacks horror elements, but maybe that is just me being desensitized to cannibalism as a horror theme and the final battle was just way too fast, I wish they allowed some slow shots focused on the violence and the blood. The best scenes are when Noa is first taken and is utterly horrified by him and thinking he is going to assault her and when it’s revealed that his wife is actually a previous victim, besides those there is not much else I enjoyed. I also cannot take Seb Stan as a villain seriously in this, I really cannot. Some of his dialogue is so cringey, not sure if its the writing or his delivery or both, but yeah. I wanted to like this but it really fell flat.

March 14th- Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

I enjoyed this one! I am not up to date on my horror history but I think this film is up there for one of the earliest masked slashers (though Texas Chainsaw Massacre does predate it, Leatherface does not fit the ‘masked slasher’ trope as well as the slashers that come after Alice, Sweet Alice- like Halloween). This is peak weird girl cinema and I loved Alice as a character, she was my favorite part. The plot is pretty solid and I love the twist involving the masked slasher, which I won’t spoil. I really like the theme of this one family being attacked and them subsequently unable to protect themselves from losing more people, which creates a nice tense atmosphere. The film has interesting things to say about the Catholic church, as it is a main feature of the film and where several scenes of violence take place.

March 19th- The Other Lamb (2019)

In all honesty, I thought I was going to like this more than I did. I really liked the opening and the build up but as the film progressed it lost me. The main problem I had with the film is that due to a lot of the film being focused on their journey to find a new home the film didn’t have that oppressive, tension-filled environment that I wanted from a cult film. I also feel like that the Shepherd (the cult leader) wasn’t as scary as he maybe should have been, he never felt like a cult leader to me. Maybe that is because we are only seeing the cult long after everyone has joined so we aren’t witness to the true horrors he is capable of until the end, and even then I don’t think he ever really reaches the level of villain that I think he should have gotten. He does horrific things but I never felt convinced by him as the villain, maybe a different actor would have helped. The main compelling elements for me is the main character, Selah and the wives and sisters/daughters. The dynamic between the women within the cult community is really fascinating, how they interact with each other and the infighting that happens when they are all trying to reach the status of wife. The depictions of periods was also really interesting, a theme I really like within horror. Overall, the ending did not blow me away. I don’t mind a slower burn movie but the ending has to make up for the slowness of the plot and this ending really didn’t. I wish we got to see the daughters/sisters attack him and murder him, they should have ate him ❤️.

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #33: In Which I Write the Word ‘Quantum‘ 19 Times

Dang, I forgot what happened at the end of the last issue. It was pretty important, too, but I don’t have time to reread. Maybe the establishing shot can help me out?

Oh, that’s right, Rewind happened!

Everyone’s pretty jazzed that Rewind is here, non-exploded, and supposedly alive. Megatron carries this ridiculously small man over to a table, while Skids is busy admonishing Nightbeat for trying to put the pieces of this mystery together.

That’s one of the two first canonically, openly gay Transformers, Megatron. You bet your ass he’s important.

Nightbeat’s dragged Nautica over to look at that poster for Crosscut’s play they saw last issue. Together, they discover something interesting, and it’s not that Nightbeat’s chin has elongated to the point of absurdity. On this future ship, the play was completed and produced a mere few weeks after the initial launch of the Lost Light.

While this is going on, Rewind wakes up and asks Skids what the hell is going on. Skids, likely not wanting to poke at farm-fresh trauma, glosses over the fact that everyone on this ship was violently murdered, and that they found Rewind blacked out inside the hollowed torso of his brother-in-law.

…This is a dark story line.

You see, the joke here is that “Dark Cybertron” sucked major chrome.

Megatron reminds everyone that they’re still in grave danger every moment they stay aboard this ship, but Skids is more concerned with Rewind’s mental health. Which is sweet, but maybe not the thing to prioritize in such a precarious situation.

Rewind takes the fact that Megatron is an Autobot now pretty friggin’ well, as well as the introduction of gender into his species. That is, until Nightbeat, the king of social graces, saunters up to the scene to ask Rewind what the hell happened to the ship. He does get his answers, despite Rewind being horrified to the point of speechlessness.

Over at the hole in the wall, Nautica and Riptide are taking a gander at the quantum drums, which house the quantum foam for the quantum engines so quantum jumps can happen.

As Nautica explains the process by which quantum travel works, she realizes that the answer to what happened to everyone who disappeared was right in front of them this whole time.

Quantum, quantum, quantum- doesn’t even sound like a word anymore, does it?

The data slug Rewind made corroborates this theory, showing a series of events that definitely didn’t happen to the Lost Light we’ve been following throughout this story so far. The data slug contains this Rewind’s version of dead Rewind’s “Little Victories”, the travelogue that was never completed, where the question “are you happy?” revealed just how emotionally unhealthy most of the crew is. I’d like to imagine this Rewind’s film is called “Small Achievements”, or perhaps “Dear Fucking Lord, We’ve Been on this Trip for Three Hours and the Captain Has Been Killed by a Goddamned Soul-Vampire”, or maybe even “Where the FUCK is Our Therapist”.

The DJD came into the equation by way of someone having led them to the Lost Light. We get a flashback panel of the gorefest, in which Tarn appears to have learned how to fly, given the angle he’s coming from.

Because Rewind’s big thing in this series is being the guy who records stuff, the DJD take the opportunity to make some movies of their visit to the space yacht.

James, why do you keep getting Rewind involved with snuff films? I’m starting to get concerned.

Now, the thing about Rewind is that he’s almost always accompanied by his other half. Where is Chromedome, anyway?

He’s dead, that’s where.

Turns out, when you tell the DJD that you won’t do the thing they want you to do, they have a habit of doing nasty things in retaliation. Chromedome got stabbed in the friggin’ visor with his own finger needles, because Vos enjoys ironic deaths, I suppose. There’s some other stuff that’s implied to have happened, but we’ll get to that once we learn a little more about the DJD themselves.

While Rewind recounts the grisly tale of his husband’s demise, Riptide notes that the quantum foam has begun to spread at a remarkable rate. This is a bad thing, because that shit can and will explode, given half the chance, and this wreck is floating right above a potentially-inhabited planet.

Though I could have sworn we established that this planet was a Smartplanet, and therefore very much populated by students and staff. I don’t know. Maybe we conveniently forgot that, so we could make this a learning moment for Megatron.

Jiminy Christmas, Megs, do you even listen to yourself?

Skids, who has had a very long day of finding corpses and learning about quantum theory, snaps at Megatron, telling him that in order to actually be an Autobot, you have to have a little frickin’ compassion for those outside of your peer group.

Which is sort of contradictory to the Aequitas trials, the Killswitch debacle, the POW situation back on Cybertron, and whatever the fuck Prowl’s whole deal is, but maybe Skids is speaking about his own, personal relationship with being an Autobot. Hopefully so, otherwise he needs a class on critical thinking, STAT.

Never mind all of that though, because the problem just got a lot worse- the quantum foam has expanded to a point where any holes in the stuff are too small for the Rod Pod to get through. We’re going to have to get creative if we want to save the day.

Luckily, we’ve got a quantum duplicate of just about the tiniest little dude in the franchise here to do the job. Now we just need another, equally tiny little man, so the quantum drums can be shut off at the same time. Nautica commits more microaggressions, and this gives Getaway inspiration for a witty quip, which in turn gives Skids a brilliant idea.

The gang heads down to Brainstorm’s lab, to look for the mass displacement gun that was used for treating Ultra Magnus’s nanocon infestation back in the 2012 Annual. While they search, Nautica explains just why the hell the Lost Light disappeared in the first place. You see, quantum duplication acts on the Cain Instinct— it’s fine, as long as the duplicates don’t perceive each other. However, the moment contact is made, it says “oh man, guess I’m gonna have to end you” to one of the duplicates. The contact in this case happened when the Coffin Rodimus was brought aboard the ship.

Anything that wasn’t aboard the Lost Light at the point of the takeoff/explosion was never duplicated, and thus wasn’t erased from reality once shit started going to hell. This is why the Rod Pod is still around, and why the remaining cast are— well, the remaining cast.

While this conversation is going on, Nautica and Nightbeat uncover yet another dead body; it’s Brainstorm, and he’s a little underdressed.

…Someone run a paternity test, I think Cyclonus might be the father.

Also, Brainstorm’s a double agent.

Fucked up.

Getaway is furious that a Decepticon has been living on the same ship as him for the last six months, right under his proverbial nose. Even Megatron’s surprised, stating that Brainstorm isn’t usually who the recruiters aim for.

So, no mass displacement gun, and now they’re aware of the fact that there’s a traitor on the ship who’s had access to a LOT of weapon tech. It’s at this point that Megatron decides to stop lying by omission and tells everyone that he can mass-displace, since he used to turn into a handgun.

Smashcut to Megatron and Rewind floating out in space, the former now not much taller than the latter, as they traverse the web of quantum foam to get to the drums. Nautica instructs them from the Rod Pod. If this works, anything produced or connected to the quantum engine will be neutralized, and maybe we’ll even get the other Lost Light back! YAAAAAY!!!

Y’all really let this man go out there to fuckin’ kill himself for the greater good, didn’t you?

Rewind is honestly pretty chill with ceasing to be, seeing as he watched 200/+ people die today, including his long-time spouse.

Jesus. I’d say get him a therapist, but in order to do that, we’re going to have to wipe him off the map anyway.

Rewind asks Megatron if the Chromedome that isn’t his and his duplicate are still together. And I mean…

Luckily, Megatron has the good sense to lie.

With that, they flip the switches, and deactivate the drums.

And that’s a series wrap on Rewind! Congrats to Mr. James Roberts for the esteemed honor of burying the same gay twice!

Later on, everyone is back inside the Rod Pod, as their disappeared shipmates return from being nonexistent. Chromedome pops back in, and Skids is on him like a shark, telling him to go on the roof. Skids doesn’t even try to explain why. Which, fair. How the hell do you explain to someone that their dead husband’s quantum duplicate survived both a terrorist splinter cell attack, and the laws of quantum sci-fi bullshit crashing down on his tiny, tiny body, and that he’s right there on the roof waiting for them?

Welp, there goes the Chromedome/Dominus endgame. Shame, that.

Looks like Chromedome finally hit the threshold for having earned Roberts’ pity, and won’t be directly targeted by the plot for a little while. This isn’t something you see very often, so let’s really soak this in.

…Someone had to have told Rewind what happened to the other Rewind, right? I wonder what that conversation was like.

Back inside the ship, Blaster gets word that the Lost Light has reappeared. As they navigate towards it, Megatron requests that an encrypted call be made to Rodimus, to discuss the Brainstorm problem.

In the interim, Ravage is offered the opportunity to be a part of the crew, so he doesn’t have to keep skulking around in the shadows. We don’t get an answer from him, as our focus shifts over to Nightbeat and Nautica.

Nightbeaaaaaaaaaat, stop stating the themes of the comic verbatim! People are going to start thinking you’re a shonen anime protagonist!

Nightbeat’s somehow managed to keep ahold of the briefcase that they found on the other Lost Light. Unless Brainstorm’s boyfriend is in there, I don’t think this one was the work of Huey Lewis and the News’ hit single from the Back to the Future soundtrack.

Over on the Lost Light, specifically in Swerve’s, Brainstorm’s making his way through the crowd, briefcase held gentle like hamburger as he goes. He makes it to the bar, where Atomizer tells him he can’t have his briefcase in here. Brainstorm has what most would accept to be a healthy response to being told “no.”

It’s what I would do.

[mytwilightimagines13]

Life (Part Eleven)

Masterlist Pet Masterlist Rules

Headcanon requests: Open Imagine requests: Closed Taglist: Open

Taglist: @aro-is-gay-af @vamp-army @raindancer2004 @like-rain-or-confetti @volturidoll13 @kpopgirlbtssvt @avyannadawn @alexavolturisblog @alecvolturiswifeforever @imaginetwilight2704 @develin13 @wallwriterstuff @volturiwolf @marcusofthevolturi

A week passed and everyone of the Volturi left Maeve alone, to adjust to her new coven. Aro truly wanted her to feel at home here, she was very valuable to him in battle and for missions. He knew her power could kill many living creatures by just her mere touch. Alec and Jane mostly stayed away, Jane didn't really care that much for the new girl. It simply was strange to Jane that the girl didn't joined them sooner, as the Volturi always had been her family. Alec mostly stayed away because the girl intrigued him in a way he found rather strange. This girl shouldn't intrest him in the way she did. Maeve mostly stayed in her room, making flowers grow and watching over the small village. She would watch many couples in love spend their day in Volterra and at night they would have a lovely dinner. Maeve already had seen two couples engage themselves near the fountain and it made Maeve smile sadly. Even now that she was no longer running she still wouldn't find her mate. Aro would never accept it and Chelsea had bonded Maeve to Aro and the Volturi, so even if she could leave, she wouldn't. She would stay loyal to Aro, to the Volturi.  Maeve let out another sad smile while seeing a couple embrace eachother lovingly, thinking about their future together. Marriage. Probably a small family too. A small knock caught Maeve out of her thoughts. "Yes?" She answered and the door opened. There stood Jane. "Master Aro wants you in tje throneroom. It is time to give you your cloak and necklace." Jane said, her face never showing any emotion. Maeve nodded her head in agreement and followed the girl to the throneroom. "Maeve. How wonderfull to see you my child." Aro said after greeting Jane. Maeve felt the bond with Aro and politefully bowed to him. "Master." Aro's smile couldn't have been bigger. "My dear ones. After many centuries Maeve finally decided to join our little family. And ofcourse we couldn't be any happier!" Aro said to the rest of the guard. Many didn't say anything but nodded in agreement. All except Alec, who just looked at this girls beautifull pale face, with amazingly amber eyes. Aro went to grab the dark grey, almost black cloak that was similair to the twins' collor, and layed it on Maeve's shoulder and soon followed by the golden necklace that held the Volturi chrest and layed this around her neck, making her officially a Volturi. "Welcome. Maeve Volturi."  Once again many weeks passed, and Maeve was mostly training her combat with Felix and Demetri. She liked them the most since none of them really asked alot of questions. She also had forgiven Demetri slightly for hunting her down, knowing very well that he only did it because his Master had ordered him too do so.  "Well done." Felix said as Maeve had tackled him to the floor. Maeve gave him a slight smirk. "Thank you." She said before letting Felix go. Felix laughed as he stood up and patted her head. Maeve rolled her eyes and shoved him away. "I am not a child, Felix." "To me you are kiddo." He said with a playfull smirk. Maeve rolled her eyes once again and tackled him once more to the ground when he least expected it. "Hey! Not fair! I had my back turned to you!" Felix said. "I am a vampire. I don't play fair. Plus, who taught me to not turn my back towards my enemies?" Maeve said chuckling as she stood up. Felix rolled his eyes at her and stood up, knowing very well that she was right. "Enough games. Master Aro wants you three in the throneroom. Excecution. A vampire female tried to expose herself." Jane said while suddenly bursting through the doors of the training room. Felix and Demetri nodded their heads and followed Jane whiel reajusting their cloaks. Maeve followed behind quiclly, also pulling her cloak on properly. However, a sickening feeling was bubbling in the pit of her stumache. Many vampires had been executed while she had been staying here, but so far she didn't had to witness one. And that frightened her slightly. As they entered the throneroom, Jane and Maeve took a spot next to Caius where Alec already was standing after bowing to

their Masters. Maeve nodded her head quickly to Alec as a greeting and he nodded back quickly, only keeping his gaze on her longer than was neccesairily. Soon a female vampire was brought in, furiously hissing and growling. Maeve studied the woman and all she could think was how this woman represented a wild animal. Felix and Demetri quickly took the vampire woman over from the other two guards, keeping her in a much steadier position. The woman looked at Aro, her crimson eyes holding fury. "You killed my mate! How could you!" She growled at him. Many guard members took a slight step foreward and showed their teeth, ready to attack this woman if they even thought about attacking their Master, Maeve also slightly stepped foreward bit Alec grabbed her arm gently and pulled her back. Maeve looked at him, feeling confused but Alec only looked at the woman. "Hmmm. Jane my dear. Could you perhaps calm our guest alittle." Aro asked as he smiled at Jane in a sadistic way. Jane bowed her head slightly before looking at the womab, a small smile playing on her lips as the woman started to scream. Maeve flinched slightly but not enough for anyone to notice. Well anyone but Alec who had released her arm and gently rubbed it, trying to sooth her. Maeve moved slightly away from him, feeling a weird spark coming from his touch.  The screaming soon stopped and the woman was hanging like a limp doll in the grip of Denetri and Felix. "Maeve my dear, if you'd like to do us the honour." Aro said as he sat back down on his throne. And that was exactly what Maeve was affraid off. But she also knew it had to be done. "Master." Maeve said as she bowed before making her way towards the woman. Maeve gently placed her hands on both sides of the womans face before harshly ripping it off, her arms soon being ripped off by Demetri and Felix. Maeve dropped the head ontop of the womans body. Aro walked to her and gently stroked her cheek in a fatherly way. "Well done my dear. I am very proud of you." Maeve bpwed once more. "Thank you Master." She said before returnong to her spot next to Alec, not showing any emotion on what had happened.  Later that evening, after dinner was over, Maeve was back in her room, watching people walk by in the spring night. Maeve sighed and closed her hand, concentrating on a bloodred rose. Slowly the rose was growing, but before Maeve could really have a good look at ot, the rose's pedals where turning brown and falling off. She looked around her room and saw that the same thing was happening to more of her flowers. They where all wilting. And Maeve knew very well why. She wasn't happy, and that influenced her gift.

[zorilleerrant]

okay, so. in the long long ago, people spoke other languages. most people seem to get this! you get time travel (and historical fiction, etc.) and they’re aware the languages were, you know, a different one. (or they think shakespeare spoke old english. but we can’t fix everything.)

now the thing you have to understand is that...language is more than just words. the intonation, the emotional emphasis, and the timing would all be different, because the culture was different, and the social expectations would be different for how you interact. so your characters can’t just get by on reading people’s emotional responses, since they wouldn’t always cue the same, and you would have no way of knowing when they did or didn’t.

(even if it’s someone who studied the language and knows about it, because there’s so much we wouldn’t know without a lot of direct observation, and so much you can’t really internalize until you’re immersed in the culture anyway.)

but the really big difference would be body language. like facial expressions and body stances are hugely informed by culture, but the big thing, the big thing, is hand gestures. do you know not all cultures even point? something so universalizable that, upon domestication, dogs, cats, and foxes can learn to respond to it? something that’s like. a mammal thing? like they’ll probably get it, but other cultures use their eyes, or chins, or feet, or whatever to gesture in the direction of what they’re referring to. (domestic animals read these, also, so you can assume there’s a level of transparency to this kind of action just in the general case. still.)

now, there are gestures you don’t actually make in real life, which is why miming eating is something most people will understand. but when you gesture drinking water, most people are miming a water bottle: something that did not exist in old timey times. the gesture for sleep? very opaque.

and like. in modern society everyone is so exposed to each other that you can muddle along with these things. but then, the ‘universal’ symbol for a bathroom is a stylized male figure and a stylized female figure. which, you know, implies that things are separated by gender in a specific gender paradigm to even work as a symbol for anything, but then additionally...there’s no indication of any kind of toilet or anything, so how would anyone know if they didn’t know?

the ‘universal’ symbol for a restaurant or dining area is a spoon and fork. almost every culture has (had) a spoon of some sort, but not all of them look(ed) like the way we stylize a spoon. even for the modern silverware spoon, if you didn’t know it, would you recognize a circle on a stick? and that’s leaving aside the fork which is even more variable.

here’s a common story: some guy goes to france. at the hotel, they ask him, how’s the room? he responds with the hand gesture: a-okay! they see the hand gesture: zero. he says good, they hear bad. or someone gives a thumbs up, which means something bad about your mother. or someone says rock on, which is calling you a cuck.

nodding and shaking of the head are communicative now because of hollywood and globalization. we have a lot of these: wait a minute, talk to the hand, zipped lips, hand to god, and, of course, the bird. that people recognize because they’ve been disseminated, but that doesn’t make them natural communication.

(we also have, you know, retard, gay, crazy, yap yap, for shame, scout’s honor, spirit fingers, which I think are not nearly so universal. there’s a book series that uses the phrase “bunny eared kiss kiss” as a sort of greeting/farewell. the way I learned that gesture, once I figured out what it was, was as a come on. so it’s not all clear cut either way.)

the point being! body language, but especially hand gestures, are in no way universal. not even now, but especially not in the oldenne timey dayes. don’t have your character rely on that for communication. and you know, if you want to use it to signal to us, then sure! they’re speaking modern english, there’s no reason they shouldn’t give you a peace sign or blow you a kiss or call you an L7! for historical fiction or an alternate world analogue or something, absolutely.

but if the point is the communication difficulty...like when you’re talking time travel, or speaking to the past/future, or someone fell into another world, or vampires are having trouble being understood, or whatever...you can’t rely on gestural communication. I mean have you ever played charades

[faroleiro]

a vampire must be welcomed into a space to enter it; always standing at a doorway, on the periphery, on the edge. the human familiar also waits at a border, literally edging, waiting for the promise of penetration. a witch’s familiar is usually an animal, like an owl or a cat. to the vampire, there is no difference between people and pets. you become a little doggy, tongue out bagging at the back door. for a vampire, blood is a treat, a lubricant, a dressing. puncturing skin breaches a boundary, sucking a future out of two holes. in gay porn, a bottom might scream ‘i’m a faggot, sir, i’m just a hole, nothing but a hole, sir, to serve you’. a vampire familiar begs for broken boundaries, but must be held at arm’s length; to exist is to be denied. it’s stasis; the future can’t pour in if you’re closed off. you stand at the door, even when you welcome others in. i’m open and ready, waiting at your door, but i remain impossible.

i’ve never written, though i thought i wrote, never loved, though i thought i loved, never done anything but wait outside the closed door. —duras, m. the lover. 1984.

[chibimyumi]

Summary and mini review: Confidenceman JP - Episode of the Princess

Dear everyone,

Multiple people have asked me what I thought of the movie when it was first released in the cinemas. I did not go to the cinema however, but now the DVD is out. And as promised, I would post a review once I have seen ‘Confidenceman JP: Episode of the Princess’.

This post is NOT going to be spoiler free. So if you want to watch the movie first for yourself: Amazon Japan has the absolute cheapest price, and you can rent it from ￥440 for 48 hours! Amazon ships internationally, but if you wish to use proxy service, use #proxy on my blog to find some options and tips.

Spoiler free section

The premise of the story is fairly simple. The Hu family is the wealthiest family in the world of Confidenceman JP, and the protagonists Da-ko, Boku-chan and Richard plan to get wealthy by tricking that family’s fortune into their own hands. The head of the family Raymond Hu has passed away, and now his three children - Brigitte, Christopher and Andrew - are in line to succeed the astronomical sum of inheritance...

...except apparently not!

Raymond Hu left in his testament to whom he will pass down his name and fortune, namely youngest child, Michelle Hu. (Click here for the clip with subs.) Nobody knows who Michelle Hu is however, and Da-ko and her friends decide to make good use of this.

They find a 16 year old girl nicknamed Kokkuri, and they plan to dress her up as Raymond’s appointed heir. In this plan, Da-ko is to pose as Michelle’s mother, named Misako.

Kokkuri is brought to the Hu estate in Singapore where she undergoes DNA tests and background check - all prepared by Da-ko of course - to verify whether she is indeed the future head of the Hu family. She passes the initial test and undergoes rigorous training to be worthy of being a queen.

The three eldest children of Raymond however, really, really want Michelle gone, dead or alive. Preferably dead.

The eldest child Brigitte does not really care whether Michelle really is her sister, all she cares about is that fake or not, Michelle is but a street rat gone Cinderella, and would bring shame to the family. As the butler Tony is the one who gave Michelle’s test a ‘pass’, Brigitte asks him how he intends to take responsibility should Michelle be unworthy.

The butler Tony is first and foremost loyal to the Hu family and their face, and shows that he is not above killing a 16 year old if it be for the sake of the Hu family’s name.

And thus a game of legitimacy has started!

Spoiler section

The following will be a very simplified summary of the rest of the movie wherein I do leave out some parts. This is NOT a replacement for watching the movie to understand the full story, though it will contain spoilers that can, well...spoil the story.

This section will contain footage gifs and screenshots of the movie that contain spoilers... and admittedly focus disproportionately much on Christofuru.

Kokkuri now named Michelle is very anxious to be exposed. She was originally prepared to face the wrath of her “new siblings”, but had not expected Tony to be totally alright with murder.

When Michelle was to be introduced to the siblings things go about as smoothly as one might think. Brigitte especially is contemptuous towards Michelle and Misako for their ‘commoner status’, finding every way possible to humiliate them out of her life. When Michelle accidentally drops her food on the floor for example, Brigitte tells her to eat it from the floor because that is what animals like her should do.

Christopher is not much better, he shows off his unmatched class in front of Misako and Michelle and adds to his elder sister’s words: “Humans need to show actions that “befit” their status, how do you say that in Japanese again so you will understand, bunsouou (分相応)?” Simultaneously showing off his Japanese proficiency as well as playing the condescension card.

The youngest son Andrew is relatively chill about Michelle, though he also does nothing to stop his elder siblings. He just seems to be enjoying the fact that he is not the youngest child anymore. There is not much information, but judging from Brigitte and Christopher’s big attitude being the eldest daughter and son respectively, to Andrew not being the youngest might be a really nice breath of fresh air.

Especially Brigitte’s attitude really, really gets on “Misako’s” nerves, and she accidentally challenges the family using Raymond’s will. Misako’s and Michelle’s mission now become to prove themselves more worthy than the legitimate children of Raymond.

This however was easier said than done as the children would not budge one bit. Da-ko did try to offer Brigitte to “yield” the position of head of the household in exchange for enough money, but Brigitte simply dismissed them for she had too much disdain to even talk with Misako and Michelle, and even literally attempted murder on them.

Christopher is a man who only knows how to solve problems with money. Before when Christopher learned that Michelle’s mother is “but a poor commoner” he had instructed butler Tony to give her enough money to make her happy, and therefore leave. (Also, I need to say that I just can’t get over how incredibly goooood Furukawa looks as Christopher. The way he slid the telephone across his face is so HNGGGG.)

I am not sure whether Da-ko knows of this conversation between Christopher and Tony, but when she had given up on talking with Brigitte, she attempts to bribe Christopher in the same way. Christopher however, really does not appreciate somebody coming to ‘ask’ money of him. The throws Da-ko two coins and says: “This is all I can give to a beggar.”

Next they try to bribe Andrew into the same plan, but then they find out he’s busy in bed with his boyfriend, and apparently??? too gay to be bribed??? So they give up without trying.

All plans to bribe the siblings unfortunately fail, so instead Da-ko comes up with a new plan. She would make a fake Hu family “royal seal”, swap it out for the real one during the Hu family inauguration ceremony, and later sell the real one on the black market as reward.

The ceremony however was disturbed by a suicide bomber whose life was previously destroyed by the Hu family, and now wants revenge. The suicide bomber is sent into deep depression and solitude because of the Hu family, but he kept himself going for a long time. When he lost the doll his dead wife had made he kept as momento however, he felt that keeping himself strong really was for nothing, and how the Hu family was merely the vampire of a healthy society.

Everyone was in panic, and even though it really seemed that the Hu siblings’ bond could not be worse, big bro and sis were the first to actually try to do something to save their little brother. Brigitte says: “how much money do you want? Name any sum, I’ll give it!” and Christopher screams off the top of his lungs “shoot him! Somebody shoot him!”

Just when the bomber was about to press the button however, Michelle reaches out to him with 🌈kindness🌈 She had found the doll the man lost and kept it with her for she did not know when she could return it to its owner. Now that the owner has showed up, she feels relieved the man can have his momento back.

All this time Tony had suspected that Michelle might be a fake and had conducted his own research. In his research he found a letter written by Raymond Hu addressed to the ‘real mother’ of Michelle. This woman however, was named Siti, not Misako. Tony found out that really nobody knows where the real ‘Michelle Hu’ is, and that the current Michelle is therefore not the legitimate heir. Tony’s original plan was to expose the truth, but seeing how this fake Michelle Hu has spoken so well during the inauguration ceremony and effectively saved the suicide bomber and everyone, Tony changed his mind. Michelle’s courageous attitude and problem solving skills was much better than Brigitte’s and Christopher’s who only know how to tackle problems using money and power.

Finally Tony gathers the children and tells them about Raymond’s last letter. However, Tony had cut out the addressee of the letter, and only told the children the key message.

In this letter - Tony told - Raymond Hu said how he saw his fortune as something of a curse that bound his beloved children, and therefore thought somebody else would be better to inherit the name and fortune of the Hu family. Raymond had supposedly seen how Brigitte had always wanted to just live her life happily as a normal woman, how Christopher wanted to become an entomologist, and how his youngest son had always lived for love. By giving the inheritance to Michelle Hu, his three eldest children would be able to live in freedom.

The siblings hold hands and acknowledge how what they truly wanted was not the inheritance or name, but their father’s love.

The three accept their new young sister, and extend their kindness to her.

Finally Brigitte was able to live her life and accept the affection of a commoner-born man she had been in love with.

Andrew was able to publically date his boyfriend without fear of “shaming the family”

And Christopher was able to run about in the bushes and lay in the grass surrounded by his beloved insects.

The Hu family is all happy now, and Tony is more or less happy. Now that things have been wrapped up and Michelle Hu formally accepted as head of the Hu family, Da-ko and her team need to go.

Tony of course knew that Da-ko and her friends were con-artists. But as they have indeed brought “Michelle Hu” who saved the family, Tony had decided to let Da-ko and her team off without punishment as a way of ‘reward’.

All this time Da-ko and her friends had had rivals who tried to win the ‘Hu Royal Seal’ from Da-ko, and sell it on the black market themselves instead. But then Da-ko outwitted them of course~! And all the drama had been a misconception etc. etc. Honestly...this is SO Japanese I can’t.

To be entirely honest, I found this rival-storyline very distracting and there are just fragments here and there, and I really couldn’t explain this in this post without sitting here all week... so forgive me for leaving that out.

But the movie closes on the ‘revelation’ of how Da-ko had outwitted her rivals, and “all’s well that ends well”.

Review

Plot: 5/10

The plot is really very predictable and follows a rather stereotypical ‘Cinderella saves the day with kindness’ trajectory. If you are familiar with the ‘con artist genre’ in Japanese media, then I honestly would say this movie does a pretty poor job being anything else than that. This genre tends to rely too heavily on ‘misconceptions HAHA’ in my opinion, but in the very least, Confidenceman JP in this movie did manage to at least have ‘logical’ misconceptions that are intentionally planted in the story to be misconceived. Hence, 5/10.

Execution: 7/10

This movie is actually a lot better in execution than I originally thought. I would say that the PVs did a really poor job showing the audience what to expect. The PV contained a lot of very anime-esque moments that - to me - just don’t translate well in live actions. Once you do see the movie though, you see how those anime-esque moments are for the most part there because the characters were imitating anime-esque moments. The movie is still not innocent of really dramatic acting, but that’s just Japanese cinema for you. In the very least - to my very untrained eyes - the editing was not bad, and there were no painful anime CGI moments that suspended all my will of belief.

Acting: 7.5/10

In my opinion the actors in this movie did an ‘overall okay’ job, with some people scoring higher, and other scoring lower than the overall-7/10 I give. In this list I shall give a brief review of the more prominent characters.

Da-ko: 8/10. The main character Da-ko played by Nagasawa Masami did a really good job. She was a slightlyyyy older woman (i.e. not a student) and she really did show how she has some life experience, and sold all her roles as con-artist believably.

Richard and Boku-chan: They had very little screentime and also little to show off; so I would say that in the very least they didn’t do anything that made me go: Wow... you suck. So, no rating here for now.

Michelle/Kokkuri: 6.5/10. She was after Da-ko the main character, and I expected quite a lot from her. Sekimizu did a fairly good job to be a princess of kindness and compassion. PLUS, I could tell how hard she worked to pull off the scenes wherein she was supposed to speak English and Mandarin Chinese fluently. Her English still was quite hard to accept, but it was understandable! (Though, admittedly it’s not super fair for me to judge her English because my English is better than that of the target audience. The target audience were all ooh-and-aahing at her English.)  But I am less impressed by her ‘I’m a poor girl raised on the streets, I am intimidated by everything” act. It was just too much. It was constantly as though I could see her thinking: “can I make this even more sad?”

Brigitte Hu: 5/10. To be honest I really expected much more of her......  Vivian Hsu had her nice moments, but when she was ‘the ice queen Brigitte Hu’ she seemed to only ever have 2 modes: The Diva or the Yelling Diva. I personally had the feeling that somebody like Brigitte would feel like she is ‘above’ yelling, or in the very least I hoped for more nuance in her. Even though she was a bit too ‘obviously Diva’ to me, she did sell the ‘aura’ of a queen fairly well.

Christopher Hu: 10/10. Christopher did not have a LOT of screentime, but whatever he did have, he aced it! Yes, I might be biased, but there’s a reason I became such a huge Furukawa fan, because he aces acting.

Furukawa as Christopher was incredibly cold and whenever he felt like he was too good to listen to someone, you really could see how he was inside his own little world. When he had to show the softer side when he opened up to his family and was able to be with insects unashamed, you really couldn’t help but cheer for him.

Furukawa’s English was still pretty bad. As shared in this post, Furukawa had THREE English coaches to help him, and half of the time I still relied on the Japanese subs to understand him. Though I must say, his intonation in English was very good! It was like his tongue was too stiff to actually pronounce the words, but his perfect pitch helped him get all the intonation right.

What ultimately impresses me most though, is Furukawa’s “non native Japanese” acting. Brigitte’s actress is Taiwanese, so even though her Japanese really is incredibly good, you could hear that she is not a native speaker, and it works perfectly for Brigitte Hu, who is not a native speaker. Andrew’s actor Shirahama IS a native Japanese speaker, while Andrew is not. Shirahama did try to insert some dramatic pronunciations here and there when he speaks Japanese, but it was still very obvious Shirahama was an active Japanese native speaker.

Furukawa though: He said in multiple interviews that he had no confidence in his English, and especially in comparison to the other cast who do speak English very well. So instead Furukawa focused on speaking Japanese as a non-native would, WITHOUT making fun of them. (That’s a real problem in Japan... making fun of non-native Japanese speakers even though most Japanese people are monolinguals...)

Furukawa would put the intonation JUST a bit off, and prolong or shorten some vowels JUST a bit too much. When he said Misako’s name for example, he prolonged the ‘a’, saying ‘Misaako’ instead. Another time he said “mezurashikunai” (not uncommon), also extending the a, saying “mezuraashikunai” instead. I am honestly shocked how accurate this ‘quirk’ is, because in my experience speaking with non-native Japanese speakers with a germanic/latin language background, that is EXACTLY what they do.

Andrew Hu: 9/10. Andrew is a character who really doesn’t care about what the world thinks about him and is actively trying to establish his own person. Shirahama does a really good job giving off this energy, and he has a lot of moments where he is actually scared or sad for example, but is trying to hide it, WHILST trying to hide the fact that he is hiding it. This is some really good micro detail in my opinion!

He did not stop his elder siblings from bullying Michelle, so he is complicit. However, you could see how he would not have made the same choice as Brigitte and Christopher did had he been in their position. There was a certain level of ‘empathy’ in his eyes that his elder siblings just did not have, meaning that in the end when the siblings kissed and made up, he actually made it more believable than the script made it be. Good job!

The only reason he has a 9/10 instead of the full 10 is because his English was really horrible, plus he did not have the ‘good non-native-Japanese act’ to compensate. Being bad at English is of course not a real problem, but you really could see the clear difference between Shirahama acting in English and him acting in Japanese. Whenever he was acting in Japanese it was just really good, but whenever his scene was in English you could just see how he was squeezing every drop of his energy into saying the words... sad.

Tony: 7/10. Shibata is not bad at what he does, but I think the character/script just gives him too little to work with even though he is arguably the real ‘antagonist’ in this movie. More so than Da-ko’s rivals effectively.

Tony is just always the stoic butler and he was always ‘function first, person later’.

Shibata never took me OUT of a moment, unlike Shirahama’s bad English acting, Brigitte’s shouting and Michelle’s cutesy-woobie act though. So still I would give this guy a 7/10.

Well, that was that. The movie was enjoyable, but I wouldn’t call it a GOOD movie. The story is quite predictable, as are the characters. The morale kind of reminded me of a children’s story of: “real fortune is love, not money”, or “love can cure greed.”

Though not a good movie, it is definitely a must if you’re a Furukawa fan, and especially if you speak English and Japanese, because then you can truly see how much effort he poured into the role.

If you don’t understand Japanese however (and you don’t mind his terrible English), then seeing him as this ice-cold, rich bastard is a real treat too!

Conclusion: If you’re a collector, buy the DVD, it’s not expensive! If you’re not, then I really do recommend renting it via Amazon. For 440-550 JPY it is definitely worth it!

[popculturebuffet]

Top 10 Thanksgiving Episodes

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! Time to eat a ton, pass out, and watch MST3K and all that. And since I already covered most of the general stuff about how diffrent this holiday is in my Loud House Review, and to reitarate to anyone having a big, 20 or so people crammed in a room thanksgiving this year

For the rest of us like all of the big three of Holidays, thanksgivings also the time for some classic episodes of television. Granted most shows stick to one, with some exceptions like friends, roseanne and new girl, but most make their one count. Thanksgiving may not be as big as the holidays it’s sandwitched in between, to the point christmas is slowly but surely trying to swallow it whole, but it’s still a time for family, fighting, and food that brings plenty of opprotunity for greatness and even with a smaller pool, I stiill had signifigant trouble narrowing down my list to 10. But I stand by what I got it wittled down to. This is my top 10 thanksgiving episodes! And for my regular readers, there’s a suprising lack of animation but i’m more than willing ot go outside that and now’s the right time, asi’m currently having a black friday sale with reviews marked down by two bucks to just 3 dollars for an episode of any tv show. Yes it’s a shameless plug but since when have I ever had shame? So with that in mind let’s chow down, it’s my top 10 thanksgiving episodes!

10. Pangs (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Buffy is as a show I REALLY need to revisit. While lately, what with the abuse he did that we can’t get details on when making justice league or his you know cheating on his wife on and off over a decade, I’m not at all a fan of series creator Joss Whedon, Buffy itself is still a classic in my eyes. 

The tale of a teenager given the role of the Slayer, a chosen female asskicker given moderate super powers and the duty to defend the world from vampires and other ghouls. The show dealt with the usual teen superhero stuff, ballancing asskicking with saving the world and arguably codified the genre, to the point I hold it at least partially responsible for the bigger wave of teen heroes in the 2000′s in animation and comics. The show had smart dialouge, metaphors, mythology and a rich, and vibrant cast. Sure some things haven’t aged well like an adult vampire dating a teenager or the really dated ways Willow’s sexuality were handled, as groundbreaking as it was, from barely letting her kiss her girlfriend or be shown being intimate iwth her, or just entirley shutting out the posiblity she’s bisexual. But a few age wrinkles aside the show is still good and I still need to rewatch it and that includes our number 10 pangs, one of hte most memorable and well done thanksgiving specials and one fo the shows more comedy moments.  It’s thanksgiving, and Buffys mom’s going out of town, so she decides to hold thanksgiving at Giles place to bring her slowly drifting surrogate family together. Naturally given the way things usually go for our Slayer, she has a hard time of it as Willow chafes at celebrating colonolsim, Giles dosen’t get what the big fuss is about that or the meal being british, and Spike shows up looking for protection from season big bads the initiative, a secret military unit that’s chipped him so he can’t harm humans, so he has no way to eat and spends the mal tied to a chair. Oh and of course, a vengeful native american spriti from the chumash tribe has given Xander syphilis and killed a currator as revenge for his people’s suffering, so now Buffy has to fight a ghost bear if she want sa happy thanksgiving. Also Angel is back in town and being kind of a dick, but hey it leads to a good episode of his spinoff so whatever. 

Pangs is just a fun episode, not only does it do well by not ignoring american colonalisim, but it just has a fun energy to it as Buffy desperately tries to have a good thanksgiving, Spike instnatly proves his worth as an addition to the gang both chemstiry and comedy wise, and we of course get this classic moment. 

It had to fight it’s way onto the list, but pangs is a holiday dish worthy of sinking your fangs into. 

9. The Dressing (Aqua Teen Hunger Force) Speaking of nutty fun thanksgiving episodes.. this one is simply that. I love Aqua Teen Hunger force.. even if like a lot of comedy shows it drooped in later seasons, it still has it’s classics earlier on and even later on has a few gems. But on the earlier on side we have their utterly bonkers and delightful thanksgiving episode “The Dressing”, a sequel to the Christmas Episode “The Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from The Future”, which itself is an utter classic, but we’ll possibly get to that in december’s list. 

The Aqua Teens are having Thanksgiving with Carl, whose naturally onlyt here for the free food and staying outside. it’s also days before or after, with black colored frito pie,a t urkey, and whatever else their broke selves could scrounge up.  However, naturally, like Buffy a normal day for the Aqua Teens just isn’t complete without some weird shit happening, thanksgiving gets interrupted by the cybernetic ghost of Christmas past fromt he future, whose transformed himself into a turkey and wants to save their turkey so it can lead a rebellion in the bizzare hilarious distopian hellscape he comes from. This of course leads to him getting drunk, eating all their food and later showing up with a laser sock to murder carl after the episodes over. It’s just a fun time, a really funny episode and one of the teens more memorable outings. Not a lot to say here, it’s just really damn funny. 

8. Arnold’s Thanksgiving (Hey Arnold!)  Anoter classic I really need to revist but that more than earns his place here. Hey Arnold.. is easily one of the best animated shows ever. I say that with no hyperbole as it handled slice of life well while still getting dramatic when needed to, and is easily the gold standard for slice of life children’s cartoons to this day. And naturally it’s holiday specials were great, and I only r eally haven’t revisited them because they also hurt.. a lot. So unsuprisingly this one makes the list. 

IT’s thanksgiving and given how chaotic things are for both Arnold and Helga’s families, our heroes are miserable. Arnold would understandably like just once to have thanksgiving on thanksgiving, his family instead doing fourth of july due to his grandmother being who she is. And Helga naturally is ignored and mistrteated as usual since her sisters home and her dad and alchoholic mother ignore her as usual even when she’s not around. What i’m saying is while Arnold’s issue is understandable, helga always wins a “whose got the shitter life” contest. 

So the two flee to their teacher Mr Simmons, a character I genuinely loved and loved even more finding out he was gay as an adult, as he was a kind , supportive teacher who could be a bit softhearted but wasn’t afraid to step the fuck up when needed. But they find his thanksgiving isn’t much better, as his Mother and wont’ stop sniping at his boyfriend peter and clearly isn’t entirely comfortable with her son’s sexuality, his friend keeps snapping at peter and mooching off him, and his uncle.. well he’s just a loud asshole who wants turkey.. The kids naturally realize the meaning of the holiday, reconclie with their families who DID take genuine steps to make up for them being gone and missed them, all is well. It just shows nobody’s family is perfect, and is well done in that but also shows why thanksgiving has grown beyond it’s roots: It’s a day for families to get together and even if they may fight, recognize why they love one another. I also give the show balls for heavily imiplying a character is gay and not slapping a girlfriend on him or any of the usual bollocks: Simmons just very clearly is gay and it’s as transparent as the show could get at the time, with the show making it crystal clear years later with the revivial movie. Nice. We’ll have more servings of thanksgiving classics after the cut. 

7. Slapsgiving (How I Met Your Mother) Oh How I Met Your Mother. You started out really good but boy did that go downhill fast and land in a nuclear inferno didn’t it? But I can bitch about the How I Met Your Mother Ending some other time, and probably will. In the show’s prime before they decided to stick with an ending no one wanted anymore, it was pretty great and while season 1′s also impressive Thanksgiving outing “Belly Full of Turkey” was considered, there was ultimately one slaptastic king when it came to Thanksgiving: Slapsgiving. 

Naturally for this show Slapsgiving ties into the show’s suprisngly deep and rich lore: The season before this, Marshall and Barney made a “Slap Bet”, which is exactly what it says on the tin: A bet where the winner slaps the looser. And due to Barney prematurely slapping Marshall, Marshall got 5 penalty slaps to be dolled out whenever, one in that episode and another in a coda to another. For his next one though Marshall decided to outdo himself and set up a counter.. and it all comes down to thanskgiving.  So we get a good ten minutes of Jason Siegel making meancing slap based refrences while NPH’s barney cowers in fear before Marshall’s wife lily pumps the breaks on the bet as comissoner.. only to reconsider when Barney makes the mistake of tormenting Marshall over it, resuling in the inevitible, and in THE thanksgiving song. 

Basically it’s what happen when you give three really funny people a subplot together. Magic happens. The subplot is not bad either as a pre-totallyinsufferabledouchebag Ted hooks up with Robin again over lingering feelings and thanksgiving prep and the two have to deal with that... though it’s mostly funny for Robin’s new boyfriend, who Future Ted acknowledges is barely older than them, but admits to remembering as decrept old man, which results in a  30 something’s dialouge coming out of a very old man and me laughing very hard. A simple joke but one that really works. Overall a slaptacular good time. 

6. Two Turkeys (Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

NINE NINE BITCHES! I’m honestly shocked I haven’t talked about Brooklyn Nine Nine on here already, but it’s easily one of the best sitcoms in recent memory, if not of all time. It has one of the best ensemble casts, great jokes and timing, yet still ballances things out with a sense of realisim beneath the madness> It’s also noticable for holding it’s officers more accountable than most real world police departments, to the point all scripts that were written up for next season were thrown out post George Floyd. It’s truly a joy to watch. 

So naturally they’ve had their share of Holiday episodes, with them easily having the best crop of halloween episodes since roseanne with their annual heists, and having some pretty damn memorable christmases, opening with this:

So naturally thanksgiving is no exception, with it’s last two being the best and it being a really hard choice wether to go with season 4′s “Detective Santiago” or this one. But as good as the other ep was.. this one inched it out for good reason. 

The episode’s split into two equally good, equally hilarious plot lines. In the B-Plot, the 99′s Captain Raymond Holt, one of the best characters in sitcom history and gay icon, and his husband Kevin take their annual trip to get a pie for Holt’s families thanksgiving and come back with the well crafted pie, even if both prefer their food nice and bland. But the pie go missing and Captain Holt procedes to hilariously drill into each of the other members of the 99 and uncovering holes int their previous thanksgving stories with Rosa’s being suprisingly heartwarming (She’s going to a humilating minons on ice show with her family because they reconnected in jail.. setting up the equally awesome “Game Night” episode where she comes out.) and Boyle’s being utterly pathetic as you’d expect (Cooking his son mac and cheese because he’ll eat nothing else and declaring him a “basic bitch”). The solution however ends up being heartwarming as the culprit is actually Kevin, who hated the pie.. as did Raymond who suggests just taking the drive anyway because they enjoy the silent ride there and back every year. It may be boring to us.. but it’s preicious and really sweet all the same.. as it is hilarous when Kevin treats this as a big endugence and seems turned on by that. What i’m saying is these men are couple goals and Marc Evan Jakcson was awesome long before ducktlaes.  The main plot is also great, as Jake and Amy, now engaged after this year’s halloween episode which is also , coincidentally, the series best, try to unite their families. It just goes about as well as you’d expect as Amy’s are type a control freaks, jake’s mom is a retired hippie school teacher and his dad is a human disaster area who has to be told to put on pants, cheated on his mom constantly, somehow got her back, and in general is barely functional on a good day. The families do bond breifly but things ineveitbly break down, hilarity and severed limbs insue and family comes together. IT’s just a funny, well done 20  mintues that’s also really damn sweet, with this plot ending with Amy’s dad accepting the chaos as that’s’ts what you do with family. Also jake naturally finds out he has a ton of step siblings as his dad was and still is a man whore. Happy Thanksgiving!

5. Bart Vs Thanksgiving (The SImpsons)

Let’s face it: if you follow my reviews at all you knew this was coming. While not one I go back to due to being an emotional kidney punch, i’d be doing this list a diservice if this classic wasn’t on there.  In a nutshell, Bart starts a petty fight with Lisa over her centerpiece that ends with it in the fireplace, Bart sent to his room till he apologizes, and Bart seething insiting he did no wrong. It takes a visit to the homeless shelter after running away, and ending up on the news, to realize what an ass he’s been and one nightmarish dream sequence later, seriously why do you think I don’t revisit this one that often? This thing has traumatized me since I was a kid and unlike the slap song I will not be showing it to you, has a heartwarming reconcliation with his sister on the roof. It’s just a nice, sweet special that gets the holiday just right and i’d expect nothing less from Golden Age Simpsons.  

4. A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving (Gilmore Girls) Another show I need to talk about more, Gilmore Girls is fucking awesome. The story of a woman who ran away pregnant at age 16 and built her own life for her daughter in the quirky town of stars hollow who finds herself reconnecting with her parents in present day against her will.. is really good stuff. Funny, heartfelt and really damn well acted with one hell of a cast, the show is part of me and I make no bones about that, so it’s big thanksgiving outing naturally belongs on here.  The premise is simple: Rory and Loreli end up having to go to four diffrent thanksgivings, which even for big eaters like them is a massive task, each unique and entertaining. The main event of course is Suki’s, where everyone’s faviorite chef agreed to let her husband cook the turkey.. of course with the plan to sneak in mid cooking and add her own touches. This gets foiled when Jackson and his family decide to deep fry the thing.. probably in part because Jackson knows his wife well and knows what she was planning. Though over the night while our heroines are at their other meals, it devolves into them deepfrying everything they can get their hand son including a shoe, and Suki getting plastered to tolerate it.  While not topping it the other meals and the sheer lunacy of four thanksigvings in one day, are still memorable: There’s the natural posh one at Richards and Emilys, the dour joyless one at The Kims where Mrs Kim forces the band to play the whole time and forces our heroines to eat food as joyless as Mrs. Kim, and Lukes for a nice round of Rory grappling with having PDA with her boyfirend Jess before resolving it at the end. Also dean’s a jackass. No one is suprised. Jess isn’t one at this stage in his character which is. Also Kirk adopts a cat that slowly pushes him out of his own house which works comedically becaus Sean Gunn is a national treasure. Overall a really good episode and if you have netflix and haven’t checked the series out, this is a good one to try out. 

3. The Thanksgiving Special (Regular Show) I already talked about this one in my top 11 Regular Show episodes so i’ll try to be brief. In a nutshell Mordecai and Rigby destroy thanksgiving and genuinelly feeling bad about it, scramble to win a thanksgiving bird from a Thanksgiving Song Contest, going up against an all star super group comissioned by Donald Trump. Yes really. Meanwhile Muscle Man and High Five Ghost go to get sides and the  rest of the park staff’s attemtps to get a turkey are thwarted by a bunch of thanksgiving reinactors who go unexplained in any way shape or form which given how rare that is for regular show, which usually has some sort of explination for the madness, just makes it funnier. It ends with a REALLY touching song, a fight on a blimp with outgoing president trump, and a truly heartwarming thanksgiving meal. All in all a nice special that combines the shows madcap nature with the genuine warm fuzzies of thanksgiving. 

2. We Gather Together (Roseanne) Another series I need to talk about more.. and another series where one of the creators has turned out to be a terrible human being. Seriously Roseanne Barr is is a terible person, she deserved to be removed from her show, and while the Conner’s isn’t GREAT it’s still FAR better without her. That being said I will still stick up for the original as she wasn’t the only one involved (indeed the aformentioned Joss Whedon worked on the show breifly and Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman Paladino not only worked there but later adapted one of Roseanne’s insane antics, making all the writers wear caps with a number instead of referring to them by name , to Gilmore Girls.). Her being a bad person even then dosen’t change the fact that the show is sitcom gold, one of my faviorite shows, and a true classic. And this episode helps showcase WHY. 

What makes this episode special, even among Roseanne episodes is it’s structure: While there are things going on it’s mostly a free floating day in the Families life and thus feels like your there with them through thanksgiving. It feels genuine, like past thanksgivings i’ve remembered: Everyone has their own stuff going on, they all eat, and there’s naturally a big blowup.. and one that eveyrone else ignores to eat which I can relate  to. That authenticity really elevates the episode and is why I seek it out every year. 

That’s not to say nothing happens, it just flows in and out like it would in a normal thanksgiving. Roseanne deals with her parents, a pre-abuser version of her dad and her overbearing nightmare of a mother beverly, and the inevetible blow up when Bev’s needling about Jackie’s life goes too far , prompting Jackie to reveal her new job as a police officer before bursting into tears, all to Roseanne’s annoyance. Rosie also moves them to a hotel despite an attempted guilt trip from her mom. 

Speaking of Mom’s we see Dan’s for the only time before the later seasons and the utterly terrible last season, a professional career woman whose moved on well from her ex and brought her new boyfriend there. Ed, despite some comptemplation over it is firmly accepting and instead starts flirting with the Conner’s friend Crystal. Dan, being overprotective because of his Daddy Issues, but ed cals him out on it “Being lonely is a hell of a lot for two people to have in common, you woudln’t knwo anything abotu that son, and I pray to god you never do” A great caper to a fantastic episode.. one I thought was going to top the list... THOUGHT is the key word here...

1. Turkey in A Can (Bob’s Burgers) This one is. Bob’s Burgers is one of the best things to come out of the 2010′s and i’ve fallen way too far behind on it, so I can’t say if any thanksgivings after thankshoarding top this one.. what I can say is this one is the gold standard for thanksgiving episodes, and is filled with great stuffing. 

Thanksgiving is Bob’s holiday. Being a chef he loves the chance to go all out, and really flex his muscles for his families when it comes to cooking up a storm, and it’s endearing when bob gets just as nuts as his family. But this year someone keeps flushing his turkeys down the toilet despite his best efforts, so while Louise hilariously tries to solve things to proe it wasn’t her (though it’s entirely fair they thought it was her consdering.. everything), while LInda, Gene and LInda’s flighty sister Gale try to write THE thanksgiving song. And while it’s no you just got slapped, damn if they didn’t succeed. 

Sailors in your mouth indeed. It leads to plenty of great jokes the best being the guy at the Deli Counter thinking Bob’s into him and bob not being sure how to respond, but being mildly recpetive. But the climax is what makes the episode as when Bob falls asleep we find his medication has been making him sleepwalk.. and thus put the turkey s int he toilet, as Tina’s desire to be at the Grown Up Table, itslef a REALLY funny runner as you’d expect, has him panicking internally and thus reliving her potty training. The episode ends with Bob letting her come to the adults table, and a rather heartwarming thanksgiving feast. All in all an excellent episode. It also leads to the chaos seen above whic hif htat’s not thanksgiving, I don’t know what is. 

Have a happy thanksgiving and check out my black friday sale! Until then there’s always another rainbow!

[roguish-gallery]

Did you ever make that joker tier list, I always like seeing what people think of all the different ones. Though if they put Romero last I can no longer respect them.

LMAO I DID! I think I’ve made it kind of obvious in this blog but I... don’t... particularly... care... for... the joker.... unless he’s, y’know, fun to watch. Cause he’s a clown, and clowns are supposed to be entertaining. But since you politely brought it up, and and because I have a deep respect for mutual Romero-lovers, I guess this would be a good time to explain my rankings and just discuss my general thoughts on each clown:

General Thoughts:

For the most part, I don’t really care for the Joker. This is hardly an uncommon opinion here on tumblr, but I definitely fall on the side of the fandom that feels that he gets too much attention from DC. I get WHY they use him so often for films and comics, and I don’t have anything against *most* folks who consider them their favorite Batman villain, but at this point he’s used more for shock value and as a crutch instead of anything interesting. Like, instead of giving attention to the other Rogues, writers (at least for the comics) will try and make up some bullshit story that they can shoehorn the Joker into, ‘cause it sells. It’s tiring, and I feel like the character has lost his meaning; I can only read so many stories about the Joker, I don’t fucking know, wearing a suit made from dead babies and Jason Todd’s flayed corpse before I get sick of it.

I’m at the point where I’ll like any Joker who’s just fun to watch. I genuinely respect those who prefer darker interpretations of the character, but that isn’t me; I vastly prefer the lighthearted takes on him, because... at this point... writers who use the “cleaner” version of him tend to be more creative, since they actually have to write a Joker story that doesn’t rely on gore/torture porn.

TIER ONE:

Joker Baby: Self explanatory. Joker Baby is thematic, thoughtful, and intense. Everytime I watch this video, I shiver with fear and pleasure; something primal in me awakens whenever Joker Baby runs his fingers through his spray-on dyed hair, and ends up smearing green paint on his forehead- it represents the inner turmoil, the chaos, that resides within the disturbed body that is Joker Baby. Nothing can ever hope to top the artistic and cultural impact Joker Baby has had on society.

TIER TWO:

Batman Ninja: I genuinely believe that Batman Ninja is one of the most fun, organic, and creative things to come out from the Batman side of DC comics in like... hmmm... a decade, maybe (I could talk for hours about how much I love this movie but that’s something for a future post). This Joker is easily, and unironically my favorite interpretation of the character, period. I love his energy, his design, everything. This is the most fun I’ve ever had watching a Joker on-screen, and for that I’ve gotta give the film credit where it is due.

Batman ‘66: I looooove Caesar Romero. Batman ‘66 in general is one of my favorite pieces of Batman media, and I absolutely adore this Joker. The show is pure, genuine fun, and it’s nice to turn my brain off and watch a show where the entire cast was allowed to goof around. This Joker is just a cute, goofy little clown-man who likes to commit crimes, go surfing, turn Gotham’s water reserve into gelatin, and have wild orgies with Penguin, Catwoman, and the Riddler. I massively appreciate the hustle. I love his little mustache and his facial expressions. I’d give him a chaste little kiss on the cheek if I could.

The Batman: EXTREMELY CONTROVERSIAL TAKE BUT. I think TB!Joker is better than what people will give him credit for. I can only imagine how stressful it must have been to be the first Batman cartoon to follow BTAS and the writers for this show knew they were gonna be fucked no matter what they did with the Joker, so they just decided to try something completely different with him. Personally, I appreciate the new direction- he has a fun, unhinged energy. I’ve placed him higher than BTAS/BTNA!Joker simply because The Batman was the show that got me into the Rogues in the first place, and I’m just a bit closer to this Joker because of it. Also his vampire form was cool as FUCK in Batman Vs. Dracula and the scene where he gets drenched in blood at a blood bank is fucking awesome.

Batman the Animated Series/The New Adventures: Everyone loves BTAS’s Joker, and I’m no exception. Mark Hamill is fucking great, and the writers clearly knew the character well enough to create a version of him that can be fun and threatening. As an aside, I unironically like his redesign in BTNA- I remember Hamill mentioning somewhere that he thought it was neat that this Joker looked more like a shark (I’ll see if I can find a source on that... I think he said it in an interview with Kevin Smith?) and I kinda agree with him. the redesigns in the final season are hit or miss, but I didn’t get why so many people bitched about the Joker’s new look.

Batman Unlimited: Hear me out... Hear me out... Clown... funny... and cute... He wears a little crown and gives Solomon Grundy a little smooch on the cheek and it is as delightful as it sounds. Yes the Batman Unlimited films literally only exist to sell toys but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy them on some ironic level.

TIER THREE:

Lego Batman: He’s a gay icon. He has the range. Enough said.

White Knight: This is just a genuinely good, original take on the character, and the art in White Knight is absolutely gorgeous. 

Arkham: My friends and I joke that this Joker is basically a more unhinged version of BTAS! Joker and... yeah. I’m glad Hamill and Paul Dini got to fuck around with the character more, but I never really dwelled on the Joker parts of the games like I might have for other characters. I definitely liked him the most in Arkham Asylum, as he was more fun to watch. Arkham City was fiiiiine, but I think I replayed the game so much that I kinda got fatigued with everything about it. Genuinely hated his part in Origins, and I was pissed that he stole the attention from Black Mask and Bane (who’s the best fucking part of Origins IMO). I’ll admit that I... Haven’t... played... Knight yet (I have it on PC but my laptop is too wimpy to run it) but like... He’s dead at that point, so I’d assume he isn’t the main point of that game anyway. I love Mark Hamill and the fact I can personally beat the shit out of this Joker, so he’s ranked up pretty high for those reasons.

TIER FOUR:

Batman ‘89: TBH this Joker should be a rank higher, but I’m too lazy to hop onto PicsArt to change it. NIcholson was an excellent choice, and I apprecaite how this Joker makes use of the playful and unhinged aspects of the character. Also, his outfits are cute, and I love the museum scene.

Brave and the Bold: Technically this Joker SHOULD be ranked higher since he’s literally based on the more lighthearted comics in the 60′s but... ehhh... I haven’t really watched BATB so I don’t have any strong opinions on the show and how it handles the character. he’s ranked this high through beause I appreciate what they were going for.

Golden Age: The quality of comics are always subjective, based on the creative team behind them. Some I’ll like more, others less so, It’s kind of hard to rank the pre-52 comic version of the Joker because of this.

TIER FIVE:

Killing Joke: Read it, didn’t care for it. I acknowledge how massive the impact this comic had on... everything, but just because I recognize how important this graphic novel is, doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The Dark Knight: Ledger did an excellent job with the role, but uhh... I’m kind of sick of the alt-right chuds who are out there sucking this Joker’s dick. The fanbase definitely ruined the character for me.

TIER SIX:

99′: Eh

Endgame: No

Suicide Squad: NO

Death of the Family: Hate him. Despise him. Lame stupid dumb little edgy bitch.

Gotham (Jeremiah): I don’t particulary care for Gotham in general, but the only reason I ranked this Joker over Jerome is beause I thought it was kinda funny to see that they made him a little rat-man, and I liked watching all the fujoshi on here cry and complain that they can’t ship this version of the joker with the pre-pubescent Bruce Wayne in the show bc he’s too ugly.

Gotham (Jerome): stop shippping this freak (who is fucking eighteen years old) with a literal twelve year old child. what the FUCK is wrong with yall.

UNRANKED:

The Joker (2019): I don’t plan on watching this film, nor will I ever. I know this is ironic, coming from someone who runs a Rogue blog, but stuff that focuses primarily on a character’s deteriorating mental health makes me reaaaaallllllyyyyy anxious (it’s kind of a phobia) and considering that I don’t particularly the Joker, I have no reason to watch something I know will only give my dumb ADHD-ass intrusive throughts.

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #349

“we’ll meet again, when both our cars collide”

When was the last time you had a PopTart? It's been many, many months. Do you like hot chocolate? Well duh. Who made you laugh the hardest today? I haven't really laughed today. Who was the last person to promise you something, and what was it? Hmph. Would you ever jump into a fire to save your bestfriend? I know I would. Do you have a callus from writing too much? No, I only have calluses on my feet from when I used to walk for hours on end. They just never permanently went away, even with grooming. Who is someone you’ve made a bad first impression on? I dread to guess what the girl Jason dated after me was told about me. I shouldn't care at all, but I do. I have every reason to accurately be defined as "the crazy ex," and I fucking hate it. Who is your best guy friend? Girt, a friend from high school. Do you read cereal boxes while you’re eating? I did as a kid, but now I don't. I just kinda stand and eat. What’s the last thing you accidentally (or purposely) burnt? I kinda burnt the roof of my mouth on pizza the other night. Do you know anyone with a lip piercing? Me, haha. I know others, too. What did the last tattoo you saw, look like? I don't remember. Have you ever given birth? NO FUCKING THANK YOU. Do you enjoy making out? I mean if I'm in the mood to and I love you, yeah. Why exactly do you take surveys? "I genuinely like doing them and they’re great for venting and sorting out thoughts and whatnot. I can just ramble and get things off my chest." <<<< This right here covers it. As well, it's just a boredom killer. And I happen to be bored very, very often. Rockband or Gutair Hero? Both are great, why choose just one? What are you listening to right now? Halocene's cover of "Helena" by My Chemical Romance. It's beautiful. What kind of energy drinks do you drink, if any? None, because I just can't do energy drinks. They taste like pure poison to me. Have you ever been swimming in a river? No. Swimming in a river sounds pretty dangerous... Does your alarm clock wake you with music, or with an annoying buzz sound? Music. When you broke stuff in the house as a child, did you blame it on siblings? I'm hoping you don't mean breaking deliberately, 'cuz I wasn't that kind of kid. But anyway, I don't believe I did. Did you make it all the way through the Oregon Trail game? Yes. I was obSESSED with those games as a kid. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Which one are you more scared of? Tigers, probably. They're so stealthy and, while I may be entirely wrong, seem like the top candidate of the three to attack a human, be it for food or defense. And have you SEEN the muscles on a tiger? Christ. Describe the best use that you’ve found for duct tape: Uh, taping things lmao. Do you wrap gifts or use gift bags? I use gift bags, because I can't wrap for shit. What fast food place do you avoid at all costs? Arby's is really gross to me. Are you afraid of deep sea creatures? Just giant squid... *shudders* Have you ever agreed to purchase something on Ebay and got scammed somehow? No. I did, however, purchase something on deviantART and never got the product. It was going to be a present for Jason. In dA's defense though, I've bought like... two or three other things from there, and there were zero issues. It's really about the people you trust. If you get a call that says “Unknown”, do you answer it? Nnnnope. Do you have any bobble head figures? No. Have your parents ever left you somewhere without realizing it? I don't think so. Have you ever been in a tanning bed? No. Did your last kiss mean anything to you? Well yeah, I wouldn't have kissed her otherwise. Would you say that you have a nice smile? No; I've been self-conscious of it since I was a kid, mostly because one of my eyes looks more squinty than the other, but they both are to me. I've always said I look high when I smile lmao. Is there an ex you want to make up with? My mind immediately screams "Jason," but I know that's a horrendous idea. Our last talk ended peacefully and even with care and good wishes, and I need my fucking impenetrable head to accept that's where it needs to end. He does NOT need to re-enter my life. It would be so bad for me. Do you remember how you felt on 9/11? I have no memory of it, if I'm being honest. What outfit makes you feel the most attractive? None. Other than yourself, who knows you the best? Really? Whoever reads these lmao. What’s one complaint that you have about school? Common Core and how every student's school experience was not tailored towards their unique goals. Like they try to cram a shitload of identical and usually useless information into a kid's brain to make them a jack of all trades, you could say, but not enough information they need to properly pursue their career future. It causes such an unnecessary amount of frustration and stress. I have many, many complaints about the education system, but this one tops the list. What do you do while you’re on campus but not in class? Back in college, I would just do stuff on my laptop. Do you know anyone who has Autism/Asperger’s syndrome? Yes. Are you open to a same-sex relationship and why or why not? Well, considering I'm bisexual... Do you remember life without the internet? No. Have you ever found yourself to be ugly? I've gone my entire life thinking I'm ugly, if I'm being real. What is your state’s minimum wage? $7.25 a fucking hour. :'''''') Is there something you want to say to someone but can’t/won’t? There's a few people. What is your first memory of being in a hospital? Considering my mom worked at the local hospital when I was a kid, I remember being there quite, quite young, playing with my older sister in Mom's and her coworkers' room. I think Nicole was too young to really "play." Do you have any relatives with red hair? No. What is something good that has happened to you in the past week? I got my first Covid vaccine. My arm hurts like a motherfucker now, but to protect my mom, it's worth it. Please get vaccinated. How much was the rent/mortgage at the cheapest place you’ve ever lived? That's never been my business. Have you ever been to a gay pride parade? No, but I would go to a local one if I could actually walk five feet without being in serious pain and sweating like a pig. Do you still keep in touch with your very first best friend? We're friends on Facebook, but that's it. What was the topic of the last conversation you had with your dad? I can't remember, but it was recent, because we all met at Ashley's house for Nicole's birthday celebration. How often did you visit your grandparents when you were growing up? Pretty much never, given they all lived no less than like, 10 hours (via car) from where we lived. My immediate family are the only people in NC. When two family members are fighting, what do you usually do? Stay out of it, but admittedly try to listen just to know what's going on. Do you like the smell of men’s cologne? Yeah. What’s your all time FAVORITE freezer food? Do you eat that a lot? I survive off of microwaveable freezer food, so this is very hard... uhhhhh... perhaps this Banquet bowl meal that's mac 'n cheese with spicy chicken. It's absolutely delicious, like you'd never guess that sucker was just popped in the microwave. I'd say I eat it a moderate amount; it's a reliable option if Mom's not cooking and I'm really hungry, because it's super filling. Do you like documentaries? Have you ever watched one and find it boring? I enjoy them, particularly when they're about animals. Were you ever a fan of macaroni & cheese? Do you like Kraft dinner? Ha, speak of mac 'n cheese. I love it, and Kraft makes it fine. Do you burn incense? Not as much as I used to. I love the smell and just general vibe, though. What would you consider an unacceptable first date? Going to a bar or something. Have you ever been so sick you had to be taken to the hospital? In the head, anyway. Is there anything currently bothering you? Multiple things. Would you say that you’ve got something ‘special’ about you? No. Do you like things vampire-related? I don't really have an opinion on vampire stuff. Are you the kind of person who does not like talking about their past? I don't care. Have you ever been to a casino? No. What’s the last thing you wore a costume for besides Halloween related events? Back when I still took dance classes and we had the yearly recital. What does your father do for a living? He's a mailman. What’s the last app you downloaded on your phone? Haha, I re-downloaded this ollllldddd game I had before, Nyan Cat: Lost in Space (or something like that?) for my niece to play. She's hooked on it now. Are you in any discomfort right now? Yeah; as I mentioned, my arm really hurts. What do you know the most about? Of all things I know, almost certainly meerkats. Are you seeing anyone? No. Have you ever hooked back up with an ex, just for sex? Was it a mistake or no? No. Have you ever gotten in trouble for using a phone in class? No, because I didn't use my phone in class. Have you seen all the Shrek movies? No, which is a fucking crime. I need to see the last one. Have you ever finished a whole video game? Plenty plenty plenty. Do you know anyone with a pet snake? Yeah, myself included. If you had to live in an extreme environment — think Sahara, Antarctica, under the sea, on the Moon— where would you want to live? Why? Probably Antarctica. I'm sure it would be unpleasant, being that cold, but I feel there's more you can do about being cold than being in the scalding heat of, say, the Sahara. Living on the moon or in the deep ocean sounds super sucky. How was your day overall? It's been okay. Not as bored as usual, at least. How many people of the opposite sex do you fully trust? Like... zero. I want to say my dad, and I almost do, just... nightmares make that very, very difficult. Plus his past. What does your mom call you? Normally just "Britt." Write a sentence in another language: Oh god, my German is so rusty... uhhhh... Hallo, ich heiße Brittany, und ich bin 25 Jahre alt und wohne in North Carolina. I think I got the grammar right? Have you ever sent an X-Rated picture to someone? No. Even if I was comfortable with my body, I would be way too paranoid to at any point have a naked picture on my phone, even if I deleted it. Like, hello blackmail, but also, nothing you delete is ever really gone permanently. What big city do you live near? Raleigh is like an hour away. Do you like breaded chicken sandwiches? omg YES Is there a Sonic in your area? Yes, it's my favorite fast food joint. You have GOT to try the pretzel twists with cheese dip. Have you ever gone to a thrift store? Yeah, I love 'em. Do you think Johnny Depp is attractive? I do. Are you happy with the state you live in? No, not at all. I hate this place. Bunch of homophobic, racist rednecks. How many times have you seen the opposite sex naked? It's not like I counted every time I saw my ex naked over three and half years lmao. How many times have you seen the same sex naked? A few times. When days go by, do you cross them off on the calendar? I don't use a calendar. Are you currently counting down to something? If so, what? MY TATTOO APPOINTMENT!!!!! :''') I know I can't stop talking about it, but ugh I'm so excited. May 19th, c'mon already. Do you pay rent to your parents? No. Do you dye eggs for Easter? I used to as a kid. Not so much anymore. Are you in debt right now? For what? Oh god, I don't want to think of this. Would you ever work night crew? I really, really wouldn't want to. Humans are diurnal for a reason. Being awake in constant darkness would depress the fuck outta me, and it'd feel so lonely, with everyone I know asleep. Who was the last person that lied to you, or that you can recall lying to you? What did they lie about? How did you find out they were lying? I don't remember. Has anyone ever called you ugly, straight up, before? How did you react to this? No, not to my face. Who is the most stubborn person you know {excluding yourself}? MY MOTHER.

[thecastingcircle]

Part 3

Copp and Goodman’s original script didn’t go into detail about the Hex Girls “sound”, beyond describing their music as “goth pop”. They didn’t write the lyrics either. Those were taken care of by co-writer Glenn Leopold, who also did a full polish of their script, with music produced by Bodie Chandler. The band’s vocals, however, were supplied by the actors themselves.

Brooks: That is us singing! And doing all the harmonies. Jane was so instrumental in developing those, and Jennifer’s amazing, too. They both have such great ears for the music. At some point we kind of sound like The Go-Go’s because of the way that Jane arranged those harmonies!

Hale: I’ll be honest, I don’t remember every lyric from every one of them, but they’re catchy songs, right? And the fans really enjoy them. I’m asked fairly regularly to bust out a small piece of a Hex Girls song when I go to conventions.

Wiedlin: As a life-long songwriter and musician, I always sort of thought, ���Oh, they’re gonna come to me for tips and they’re gonna run these songs by me and see what I think.” But it hasn’t been like that at all, because I was hired as an actor, and not a musician and a songwriter. Everyone sort of stays in their lane, including me. Every single time I’ve gone into the studio to record my voice, I always say, “Don’t forget, I’m a songwriter if you ever need any Hex Girls songs!” So far it hasn’t worked. Except for one time [on “Who Do Voodoo”, a track heard in 2003 film Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire]. But at least I got to do it once. You never know, maybe in the future it will happen again. It was really fun to write a song for a cartoon.

Upon its release in October 1999, Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghostproved slightly controversial due to its content – the film saw Scooby and the gang reading from spell books, while the Hex Girls were proudly Wiccan and believed in the religion being a force for good rather than evil.

Copp: The only blowback we got was from conservative parents because we were “promoting Wicca”. It was all “Scooby-Doo is a devil worshipper!” and stuff like that. It was crazy. But the movie was very popular so [that controversy] was silenced by the DVD sales, I believe.

The film was so popular, in fact, that Warner Bros briefly debated spinning the Hex Girls off into their own series.

Copp: They had found that there was a lot of chatter about the Hex Girls from the movie, and I remember my friend Linda Steiner [then the Vice President of Development at Warner Bros Television Animation] brought me in for a meeting to talk about a spin-off series. You can imagine my excitement! Oh my god, doing a girl band series! And they wanted David and I to develop it. We talked about it, but it just never... it was one of those Hollywood meetings that never really went anywhere.

Wiedlin: I absolutely think they could have their own show! Every time they could introduce a new song and they could be the defenders of the planet plus do rock concerts. It’s such an easy sell! If it happened I would be so excited. I live in Mexico, but I would totally fly back every time to LA to do the episodes. Totally, I don’t care.

Hale: I’d be there with bells on! I’d be beating down the door. I’d be 30 minutes early with coffee for everyone.

Brooks: There’s still time, right? I don’t know who to talk to – I need to call my agent, somebody needs to get the ball rolling here!

Copp: You never know, though, given their resurgence and their place in the history of queer icons, which is now a term I’m gonna say every day. In fact, somebody just contacted me from Cartoon Network not too long ago. Maybe I’ll pitch it to them again?

Brooks: I didn’t really recognise it at the time, but having my own daughter and now in hindsight with, I don’t know, just the state of the world right now and #MeToo and women striving so much for equality and representation – it’s even more of a bolster for the argument that we should be trying to revive these characters. We need strong characters that have their own point of view and their own perspectives, who speak their minds and aren’t stereotypical girls. I love that we’re different and that we represent all types of women, which is just so important right now. I think that definitely played a role in why people identify with them.

There’s also the Hex Girls and their queer fanbase, which continue to celebrate them to this day.

Copp: In terms of the Hex Girls being queer icons, I take such pride in that! But it was completely accidental. I co-wrote The Brady Bunch Movie, and I very deliberately created a lesbian character in that because I wanted to make an impact and I wanted to push the gay agenda, so to speak! Then years later I did a series called Where the Bears Are, which is about gay bears. But with the Hex Girls, that’s a complete accident.

Wiedlin: I think any time anyone from the LGBT+ community as young people can have someone to look up to, they’re gonna look up to them – so it doesn’t surprise me. I didn’t actually know that [about the Hex Girls], but it doesn’t surprise me a bit. Of course The Go-Go’s have a huge queer fanbase, both with men and women, and I love it. They’re my people, they’re my tribe.

While the Hex Girls spin-off hasn’t (yet) materialised, the band have reappeared here and there throughout the years – in series including What’s New Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated.

Hale: When I look back on my career, Thorn definitely holds a very special place in my heart. The fact that they’re a group of strong women having a blast doing something they love, and then there’s the obvious, giant, all-caps “YES PLEASE” that I get to sing and do awesome stuff. It’s a dream role.

Brooks: I feel like those Hex Girls are the coolest characters I’ve ever played. They’ve got the songs, they’ve got the look, the girl band thing is amazing. I do a lot of voices, but they’re just special.

Wiedlin: For a long time I had no idea that anyone had even noticed the Hex Girls, because it’s not like we’re in every episode. But I think it was during the last recording that Jen and Kimberly told me that they get a lot of fanmail about them and on YouTube there’s clips of the Hex Girls, so I was very surprised to hear that. But it’s kind of neat, too, to stand out. Because Scooby-Doo – those characters are all so iconic. I don’t think it’s easy to stand out at all as an occasional character. So that makes me really happy. And it’s nice to have a cult following for anything!

Bad Dreams, Sisters 

And Always, STAY OUT OF THE DAYLIGHT!