#this joke is originally from phineas and ferb too

[jellybeanium124]

joke I thought of putting into love rëveng for a second that's definitely not going in, so consider it a noncanonical outtake.

Lucius: so Jack, after all these years how did you keep your voice in such great shape? Jack: Oh, I was lip syncing. Even back then!

[pickastitch]

As the original Joe Hills Simp and the weird pet raccoon of Cleo's Partner CamronJK, I might be able to illuminate on the situation of Joe and Cleo and why they mesh so well. I think cleo and joe work well together because English, History, and Geography teachers have a natural symbiosis. To be clear Joe is not an English or History Teacher, he just acts like one a lot.

And he teaches us things about history.

Plus Cleo gets to play the straight man, grounding Joe in don't do that it's too much work just do this much easier thing, and Joe doesn't listen.

There's also their Bully + Nerd dynamic, kinda like Baljeet and Bufard from Phineas and Ferb. In fact their entire relationship is built on the basis of Joe and Cleo acting at odds with each other.

Joe Knows where he wants to go, but doesn't know exactly how to get there. Luckily he's been doing that for so long that he may as well have night vision. And like a lot of creatures with night vision, he doesn't handle daylight very well. And damn is Cleo a deadly laser.

I started writing this while high.

I think I make good points, but also honestly it's just a great dynamic between people who have been friends for a long time. They are dry, Joe is great at being a woobie. They are both nerdy enough to get eachother's references and niche enough in different directions to be able to generate thoughts and synthesize ideas and jokes upon these thigns being brought to light.

Is good.

They's good.

this is too good to keep in my inbox

[toxic-ship-tournament]

ROUND 3 / POLL 2

Matejka x Darling Nikki (@outpost-31 & @rhaaclaws) vs Esmerelda Poofenplotz x Alice Luoja (@cantdanceflynn)

who makes up your ship?:

Matejka (he/him) [by @outpost-31] and Darling Nikki (she/they) [by @rhaaclaws]

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

Darling Nikki and Matejka met in 1524, after Nikki's mother's death, and got into a duel- proposed by Matejka- at the price of Nikki's soul. She ended up winning the fight, and was turned into a vampire. They stayed together afterwards due to both being immortal, and have known each other closely since then. The reason why we think they deserve to win is their extreme codependence: Matejka is extremely attached to Nikki, because she looks like his dead wife Esmé, whom he's still in love with. Nikki takes advantage of him and roleplays as Esmé during sex. This unhealthy attachment to Nikki began consuming his life, so they got into a fight and split up for nearly 100 years. This caused the both of them to become incredibly suicidal, as they'd known each other for 4 centuries at this point, and they barely knew how to live without each other. Even missing each other so dearly, their relationship has the tendency to be very unhealthy. Once, Nikki insulted Matejka's dead wife as a joke, and he almost dragged them out to the sun in an attempt to kill them. Another time, she tried to eat Matejka (due to being a cannibal), but thought his black blood was disgusting. They know each other like no one else does, but still have layer of distrust. Nikki doesn't even know Esmé's name. Altogether, their bond is an incredibly complex one due to the nature of their immortality, but their unhealthy overreliance on each other has nearly ruined both their lives.

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

Ship name: Red Flags And Long Nights Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4GJDQdhpDITspMvp9c99m9?si=29599a8e944946a3

****

who makes up your ship?:

Esmeralda Poofenplotz(Canon Phineas and Ferb character(although I draw her differently from canon)) and Alice Luoja(Background character turned Phineas and Ferb oc)

why does your ship deserve to be considered the most toxic?:

THEY BASICALLY STARTED OUT AS TWO DUMBASS TOXIC AF TEENAGERS GOING TO EVIL SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL TOGETHER AND BEING THE TERRORS OF THE SCHOOL(POOFENPLOTZ BC SHES BIG ON BEAUTY AND WOULD BASICALLY DESTROY EVERYONE'S SELF ESTEEM AND ALICE BC. SHES WILLING TO KILL ANYONE WHO RLY FUCKS W HER), AND WHILE THEY ORIGINALLY HAD A RIVALRY IT GOT A LIL TOO HOMOEROTIC VERY QUICKLY AND THEY DON'T RLY KNOW HOW BUT THEY ENDED UP DATING. THEY ENDED UP, SURPRISE SURPRISE, RUINING EACH OTHER EVEN FURTHER THEN THE TWO OF THEM WERE ALREADY TRAUMATIZED!!!! A TYPICAL INTERACTION BETWEEN EM PRETTY MUCH WENT ALONG THE LINES OF POOFENPLOTZ POKING FUN AT SOMETHING ABOUT ALICES BODY OR PERSONALITY SHE KNEW WOULD TICK ALICE OFF("YOU KNOW, I'M NOT SAYING YOU NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT, BUT THROWING UP YOUR LUNCH LATER COULDN'T HURT"), ALICE GETTING PISSED OFF AND PULLING A KNIFE ON HER("YOU KNOW, MAYBE THIS TIME I'LL CHOP OFF YOUR TONGUE, STOP THAT HORRIBLE NOISE YOU CALL A VOICE"), AND THEN SOMETHING WOULD HAPPEN OR ONE OF THEM WOULD FUMBLE OR FLIRT AND THEY'D JUST GO BACK TO NORMAL BANTER AND TERRORIZING PEOPLE. THEY DID CARE ABOUT EACH OTHER, AND WHATEVER THEY WERE EXPERIENCING CERTAINLY FIT SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE STRANGE AND NEBULOUS RANGE OF ROMANTIC LOVE, LIKE THEY DEFINITELY LIKED EACH OTHER, THEY WERE JUST TOXIC AS SHIT AND HAVING THEIR BEHAVIORS EXPANDED UPON OR REINFORCED BY THEIR ENVIRONMENT. EVENTUALLY ALICES OBSESSION W GODHOOD AND HER IDEA OF PERFECTION (ONE THAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THERE, EVEN IF POOFENPLOTZ MADE IT MORE PHYSICAL) ENDED UP DRIVING THE TWO APART, WITH HOW HORRIBLE ALICES DECLINE WAS, AND POOFENPLOTZ ENDED UP BASICALLY LEAVING AND IGNORING HER AS A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO SNAP HER OUT OF HER DECLINE BUT ONLY PULLED HER FURTHER IN. AS IT STANDS NOW IN THE PRESENT, THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS A COMPLICATED SPIRAL OF "POOFENPLOTZ ACTUALLY HEALED AND REALIZED HOW AWFUL SHE WAS BEING AND WHILE SHE STILL HAD A DEGREE IN EVIL SCIENCE SHE HAD TO USE SO SHE MIGHT AS WELL GET A JOB DOING THAT, SHES ALSO RLY TRYING TO FIGURE OUT EVERYTHING W THE CAST AND HELP THEM, ESPECIALLY MILLIE AND PINKY, WHILE ALSO DEALING W " WHOOPS YOUR EX IS BACK IN TOWN AND SHES NOW BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR MORE DEATHS THEN MOST FULL ON TERRORISM COMBINED, BUT SHE IS ALSO STILL KINDA HOT SO *NONCOMMITTAL HAND GESTURE*, YA KNOW?", MEANWHILE ALICE IS "OH RIGHT. SHE QUALIFIES FOR LOVEMUFFIN TOO. IM ALLOWED TO DENY ON HER ON TERMS OF HER BEING MY EX, RIGHT? BUT ALSO IM STILL GONNA INVITE HER TO OUR MEETINGS AND ALSO OFFER TO LET HER " LEAD" THE CULT IVE MADE THAT CONSISTS BASICALLY JUST OF MY VERY ABUSED OWN SON AND A VERY ABUSED TEENAGER WITH ME BC IF I CAN CHANGE HER MIND I CAN CHANGE ANYONES!"

ship tags/playlists/pinterest boards?:

Esmeralice, https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnP0Xop8gS5VdFNCP4Uetvq2pM5A9NZTe <- BAD PLAYLIST BY MY STANDARDS OF USUALLY A HUNDRED SONGS AT LEAST BUT ITLL DO FOR NOW

[bigmack2go]

Continuing my parents guides

As allways: if you are a parent, DO NOT use these. Im begging you save your child the embarrassment. This is only for educational purposes and so you know what we are talking about when we use these.

That being said imma teach u the months to you now. Dont u dare interupt me i know u know the months. But u dont. So stfu. (Haha did u do ur homework? Do u know what stfu means?)

Okay lets go

So January is new starts and shit thats not something that only we do

February is honestly nothing special. Maybe we make fun of it being short like we do woth our friends but even that isnt very common

Now march, march is where the fun begins. March is when caesar was murdered. We usually have a bunch of phineas and ferb memes. Its also womens month.

In april spiritual people, religious people etc often do what imma simplify to you as „recharge“. Theres also a whole lot of complaints about the weather so theres that.

I honestly dont think may has anything special but i have adhd so i might be forgetting smt major rn lmao

June. Listen, we love june. June is the month of the ✨guh-guh-guh-gaAYS✨. (June is pridemonth)

And in july we complain that companies only use pride month for promo.

August. Im gonna be honest im not really objective on this bc its my birthday in august so thats sortof the only thing august stand for to me lmao. Its summer tho, i can say that

Ooo the embers… this is gona be great

September usually gets roasted for being bisexual(?) in september the most people get cancelled (2024 is an exception prolly)

Oktober is the month of creativity. Its not actually lmao i just said that. Because in October we usually make a bunch of art challanges (or other challanges for each day. And then we put „tober“ at the end and tadaa. Inktober! Costober! Fotober! And all that. That originally began bc well obv october is helloween month right? Right. So they did this thing called spooktober. Which can be each of those, it just has to be scary yk? And because America is weird and they do halloween wrong (/hj) they just don’t always use the spook and instead make whatever tober. (This whole explanation was a joke. Pls dont cancel me) and then theres hell week

Now hold your horses and settle your seatbelts for november cuz dis gon be a hell of a ride. It’s honestly actually not that much. Its just one thing but you’re gonne be a little disturbed after it. So november is NNN which is short for No Nut November. Boys chllange themselves to not masturbate or do anything sexual for that whole month. I have no idea where that came from so dont kick me. Its not my fault. Anyway youre gonna see a whole lot of people setting their profile pictures to eggs. Now ik i said its only one thing but see- it is one thing. The eggs are related to that. A whole egg means they still havent „lost“ nnn. A broken egg signals people in comentsections to pay respect to their fallen brother/the fallen soldier (youre gonna find some of both brother and soldier) also when i said we love the tembers its because some people make variations of this in september oktober and December too. Idek

December is basically just Christmas.

ByyEEE

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 14- Part 8

I mean, I don’t think Xera’s in much of a position to judge, given everything she's gotten up to without a police badge either.

Um…sure?? Yeah! She’s got spirit, she’s got spunk, and she’s gotten this far amidst all the wild Pokémon, she must have…something going for her. Wannabe Vigilante and Literal Child- what could possibly go wrong? I’m sensing a new buddy cop movie premise on the horizon!

Fascinating, uh- what’s over that way, exactly-??

Oh, suspicious forest entrance, that’s what she meant. This must be where the PULSE stuff originated from, so the machine is in there. Let’s get going!

Malchous…like malachite? It’d make sense, that’s like a bluish-green type mineral- at least it’s something sorta green, unlike jasper!!

Now to just, uh…well, we don’t have any specific orders this time, anywhere specific we’re supposed to go besides “wherever the PULSE machine is”, so let’s just…wander and brush against all these bushes and rocks for hidden items?

I have got no idea where I’m going, I guess I’ll just…start in this northern area, north worked out well enough back in Obsidia Park.

Looks like we’re doing the forest thing again, okay-

That’s…not where we came in from! Another entrance, huh…? Is it okay to leave like this…?

I…guess it’s fine. What’s all this, now…?

…Oh. Oh, I just got it- “Platinum”, “Crystal”, “Yellow”- the streets are named after certain Pokémon games, okay. Now, let’s check these buildings for any secrets they might be hiding…

AHOY! OFFICER SPOTTED! OUTTA THE WAY, METEOR MAN!

What!? This guy recognizes Xera too!? What is with all these Grunts being ones she’s already fought before? There were the two from the Day-Care, then Tara back there, and now this guy? Does Team Meteor only have, like, twelve Grunts working for them??

Alright, so- his one Pokémon’s an Alolan Raticate, which we can deal with easily. We’ll start with Blizzard putting it to sleep…

Allowing Prong to come in and Bug Bite it!

The Raticate might wake up prematurely, but that’s alright, there’s nothing it can do to stop Prong by this point.

Huh, that’s the second time Xera’s been called “infuriating” specifically. Something something “if I had a nickel” Phineas and Ferb joke. Let’s save this guy!

How long has he been trapped there, though…? How long has that other guy been trapped behind that vine? How long have all these guys been missing, when was the last time they ate!? Slept!?

Previous

Next

[balletwatchespokemon]

Indigo League Episode 18

Oops forgot it was Monday so this one’s posted a little bit later than normal. 😅

This episode was originally banned in English because of the bikini contest, specifically James dressing up as a rather busty woman to compete in the contest. A dub version was released after a few years that was edited to remove the suggestive parts. I'm honestly not a huge fan of this episode as a whole, but it does have some funny and some cute bits.

In the negatives are the mentioned bikini contest, and multiple comments made about Misty are uncomfortable to me, the worst offender being the old man saying he "looks forward to Misty in eight years." But it does have some cute pokemon moments and some funny jokes.

These little kids are so cute, they're so stubby.

Time for some fun in the sun!

Pikachu's little floatie is so cute. I guess he's not very confident in his swimming ability.

I LOVE this scene of the lot of them realizing that they accidentally stole a boat.

And then they crash it! Absolutely comedy gold.

Ash says "Everyone, give me a hand!" but then completely ignores Butterfree, poor guy.

Little waiter Bulbasaur is so cute!

It's giving 'the opening of Phineas and Ferb.'

Tiny Pikachu strikes again. He's so shaped.

I like this speech Ash gives, it's a nice deep moment from him that we don't get a huge amount of.

And then Ash's mom and Professor Oak show up out of no where! They technically have an excuse for being here, Delia says they're representing their neighborhood committee for the bikini contest, but it's still pretty random.

Delia asks Ash if he's causing trouble for any nice people, which he initially denies, but then he makes this face and remembers that he literally just stole and crashed someones boat! It got a great laugh out of me.

Behold A UFO and an alien! This is basically a pokemon contest then, right? (That's all I care about for this contest anyways.)

And Gary's here too! That makes a good chunk of our reoccurring characters appearing in this episode. (I didn't take any screenshots of them but Team Rocket is here too.)

He's so annoying I love it.

Ash gets so annoyed by Gary that he jumps up out of his seat and dumps poor Pikachu on the ground!

I like this random crowd lady in the red top, she's neat looking.

And we have yet another building blown up because Ash and co were in town.

On Wednesday we get a disaster episode! (As in town destroying not bad quality lol)

[new-employeeamillion]

Phineas and Ferb is coming back, here’s what I’m expecting.

When I woke up to this news, I had to drop everything I was doing to comment on it. My favourite childhood cartoon, Phineas and Ferb, heading back into production for one or more seasons is something that always seemed possible. Dan and Swampy had been hinting at it…basically as soon as the show ended, now that I think about it. And they spent a lot of their second show, Milo Murphy’s Law, planting clues that they weren’t done with the characters yet. Unfortunately, I never followed Milo that religiously, so I can’t comment on if it worked or not. And their third show, Hamster and Gretel, has been an improvement but still feels a bit niche. It’s clear their team’s style hasn’t changed much since 2012, it’s dependable but not innovative. However, that’s always been the case with PnF. It wasn’t a game changer for animation, just a really, really funny and polished show, and that’s great.

But now it’s back, and I’m a little worried. There’s a few things I really want them to do, and others I don’t, and I think they’re going to do both. Season 4 was a very special and event-oriented run, and that was great for a final season…but where do you go from there? Do you make more specials for Season 5 and 6? Less? Reel it in a bit and do more standard episodes again? There were a couple standard episodes in Season 4 that ended up feeling unremarkable, so I wouldn’t want the new run to carry that feeling over. Going back to Season 1’s mix of plenty of normal episodes, plus 5 or 6 longer adventures, would be the best way to go around it, I think.

Still on the topic of Season 4, it brought a few status quo changes that I can see them bringing up for the revival. Things like Doof having been an OWCA agent, Stacy knowing about Perry’s secret identity, confirming Phineas and Isabella won’t hook up until they go to college. Some have more potential than others, but others might be ignored or upstaged by new developments. It depends on how much they want to bend to the whim of the formulas, because those’ll probably be further tested.

In terms of which characters should be given more emphasis, I really want them to use Phineas more, explore what makes him so resourceful and optimistic. The crew are well aware that he could come off as a blank slate, so if they’re coming back, I hope they’re going to put some thought into fleshing out their title character. Another character I want to see them do more with is Jeremy, if just to see if they can give him a quirk. He was always sort of the everyman compared to Candace, who soaked up 99% of the energy in their shared scenes. Giving him more time to hang out with his band members could be cool too.

As for jokes, I expect their sense of humour to say the same- character based humour, subverting expectations, comedic song numbers and a few references here or there. Just because I’m expecting the sort of humour they’re doing doesn’t mean I’m tired of it. It would be more worrying if they did jokes uncharacteristic of the show. The one thing I bet they’re going to do that I’m concerned about is include more memes. That alien flossing in Candace Against the Universe might be a harbinger of “well, they referenced that”. It’s not like they’ve never been in touch with the internet, the 10th episode was about Phineas and Ferb making viral videos after all, but I don’t want them to bring memes and modern references into it if they’re gonna feel shallow.

That’s another thing, how will time flow this go around? Will it be set in the same summer as the original 4 seasons, or a year later? Could we possibly finally see what the rest of the year looks like, with the kids in school? That in particular is unlikely, but there has to be some debate internally over whether these new episodes will be set after The Last Day of Summer. Probably not, since Candace Against the Universe was confirmed not to be, but who knows. Will the timeline float though? The show started in the 2000s, and did its best to keep the technology timeless, only adding smartphones in Season 4. But will technology and culture change for Season 5? Is there a chance they’ll go back to flip phones and bulky TVs? The first 2 episodes are 16 this year, edging into the nostalgia cycle window, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they played into that nostalgia in some way. Maybe have a joke where Candace wonders why she still has her old flip phone laying around. “It’s older than me!”

These are just the questions and concerns at the top of my head, but I’m fairly optimistic that the show will still be good. There have been shorter breaks with rockier comebacks in animated shows. All it can take is 2 years sometimes. Now try 8! If it ends up being a tier or two lower than the original run, I won’t be shocked, but I will be happy that Disney still care about these characters at all. They’re currently the best at handling new IPs too, so I’m not even worried they could be relying on this show for the sake of nostalgia. It’s always going to be a new and popular show to kids, and long may this continue.

[just-a-queer-fanboy]

With Velma blowing up everywhere, I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents on something that always bothered me about how "adult" and "childrens" shows are differentiated.

Okay, let's start with kids show. They teach you life lessons, usually have pretty cute characters, maybe you'll learn how to multiply or some cool animal facts. They can also have moral lessons and jokes that appeal to adults, too. Think anything from Sesame Street, to Bluey, to Arthur, to Phineas and Ferb.

Kids shows main sin is that producers tend to think that kids are stupid. There's little to no nuance, the jokes are idiotic and repetitive, and they're just dumbed down to a stupid degree compared to their age demographic. Think stuff like Teen Titans Go (the original Teen Titans was good, but the new one has become the SpongeBob of cartoon network).

And so, as kids age and outgrow the oversimplified, stupid content, they move to more "adult" shows. In my case it was Helluva Boss and Heather's the Musical, but other examples could be Family Guy, Bojack Horseman, or.. euphoria, maybe. I think that's supposed to be for older teens, but I never watched it, so idfk.

Now, a Iot of the humor is the same stuff you'd hear in a middle school locker room, but that's kind of the appeal to teenagers. It's the stuff they actually like, not what people think they like. It's just better timed and they know how many dick jokes are too many.

But with shows like Velma, this is where the problem arises. Most people, when they hear about adult content, they assume it's graphic, violent, porn, or otherwise not for children. In the case of Velma, producers think that adult means "uhhhh they say bad words and if they all hate each other". Their carnal sin is the opposite of the children's show issues, but they end up seeming nearly the same. It's like a horseshoe theory type thing.

The adult shows start severely phoning it in. Instead of making actually interesting plot points, characters, or jokes, they just throw in a lot of unnecessary sex, murder, and "offensive = funny" humor.

If this were a wattpad fanfic written by someone in my age group, I'd be more forgiving. We kinda suck at writing. But these are high budget shows made by grown ass industry professionals, and they can't even come up with a good joke without either making it about dicks or just being an asshole? Really, dude?

Ok, I know that was long, but I just really hate shows that advertise themselves as "Adult" when this is just the back of a middle school bus.

[bizarrelovesquare]

How do you feel about Phineas and Ferb coming back?

I was sitting on this ask for quite some time, because I really didn't know how to feel when it was first announced, and I kept any discussion of it to DMs, but now I have more of an opinion and want it to be public! Phineas and Ferb's original run was so solid, and it's not something that can easily be done more than once. I still feel like they tried too hard with MML to make it successful by BEING pnf part 2, resulting in it not being able to exist as its own thing and (in my opinion) falling flat in not living up to everything that made PnF the iconic series it is. Because of that, I'd been hesitant ever since then to keep up with new dwampyverse media. However, I did really enjoy Candace Against The Universe! I only watched it once, as it came out during the midst of my 2019-2021 burnout after obsessing over the show nonstop since 2009, but it really captured the heart of the series. So, when the new episodes were announced, my initial reaction was neutral. I wondered whether it would fall flat and CATU was just a lucky fluke, or if it could be something really great.

My mind was finally swayed two weeks ago. My family and I were at the beach for the weekend in a hotel that had cable, and Hamster and Gretel was on Disney Channel. I hadn't had any intentions of watching it before, as I didn't have high expectations for it, but I left it on there out of curiosity, and I was instantly pulled in. The jokes? Landed perfectly. The characters? All had that quirky loveable energy. The songs? Straight up bangers. The show as a whole had all the aspects that I loved about Phineas and Ferb, AND it felt like it was its own new thing disconnected from its predecessors (other than small seconds-long cameos/references which I felt were executed in a way that are fun for the PnF fans but don't overshadow what's actually going on in the scene). I was intrigued when I looked at the credits and saw that there were actually very few people working on the show who were on the PnF crew (I think my pal noddy and I determined that there are only four or five?). This swayed me even further towards being in favor of the new PnF, because this shows that new crew members can still capture what makes the show what it is, because HaG feels very close to PnF's energy, and I think they could totally pull off writing new adventures for PnF.

So! tl;dr, Hamster and Gretel swayed me to being in favor of this! Does it need a continuation? No. But, I can't stop executive decisions, so, it's happening, and I don't mind. I think it can be something really great, same as it always was.

[thisselflovecamebacktome]

So I’m stealing this from @tayloralisonswift and you should definitely check out their version, but I’m going to listen to and rank all of Taylor’s songs album by album (and then maybe her non album songs at the end). You can also see my debut rankings and what I’ve changed here + my Fearless, Speak Now, RED, 1989, Reputation and Lover rankings here, here, here, here, here and here.

So with that in mind, it’s Folklore’s turn. As per usual, I’ll put a content warning here and say that I mention mental struggles (ptsd, anxiety and depression) and family issues. They are just mentions, but read at your own discretion.

The 1: So this song that I relate to a ex friendship coming out at a time when they were in lockdown but I was not (a reminder that my city did not go into lockdown into mid 2021 because we were very privileged/lucky to not have unknown/unidentifiable cases) was definitely... something. As was potentially seeing my estranged sister on the tram twice (years apart at that) while this song was playing (insert the Phineas and Ferb meme here). Genuinely though, I really do love this song. Like it's definitely top 5 from the album for me and highly ranked overall due to both being great and relatable. Back in 2020, I did write a longer piece about it here for anyone who is interested (don't @ me about the fact I dropped that series of posts after 3 songs lmao). 9.5/10.

Cardigan: Against my better judgement (because some of you have been complete weirdos about this over the years), I am going to remind people that I relate this song to my estranged father. Like it was the first song that I was like !! over in regards to that feeling of going from the favourite child to estranged. Outside of myself, I also feel the need to say I feel like people read the 'favourite' line differently than I do in that they see James as being the first person to make Betty feel like the cardigan under someone's bed, but I see it as an admission that she has had friends, family or other partners make her feel that way. It's a good song, but admittedly not one I listen to all that much or am super drawn to despite finding it relatable. For my longer thoughts back in 2020, click here. 7/10.

The Last Great American Dynasty: I know a lot of people whose grand/parents had immigrated to their current country spoke about relating this to intergenerational pride and trauma when the album came out, and despite my maternal side not being immigrants, I feel very similarly. Like this will always be the most 'I am my mother's daughter too' (coming from someone who is more often alikened to my father) song from me out of Taylor's discography. Outside of myself, I do think this song encapsulates Folklore best. From the "mistake" of the dog (Rebecca apparently originally dyed a cat) showing how oral traditions and tales change with each iteration to the song being both about Taylor and someone else, it just really hits all the points of what Folklore is to me. You can read my longer thoughts here for more. But yeah despite all of that, it's not a favourite of mine. 6.5/10.

Exile: Definitely a top 3 vocal collaboration Taylor has done. This song has had so many lifetimes and meant so many different things to me over the last 4 and a bit years and I just love it so much. 9.5/10.

My Tears Ricochet: Can we agree that Taylor Swift was evil for releasing this when I, someone estranged from their family who they were close to growing up, exist? (joking). Actually the same can be said about this whole album, let's be real. But yeah, it's an absolutely beautifully haunting song, and while it's one of the few songs that I love the long pond version just as much for (the other two being exile and epiphany), I hope one day she goes all out and plays it on an organ one day. 8.5/10.

Mirrorball: Listen, this is one of those songs that if it came out pre 2019, it would have been my favourite Taylor song of all time. But I was too healed for it, and as such, it's quite boring to me. 5/10.

Seven: Another song that while I relate to the second verse heavily in relation to my relationship with my estranged sister, I just don't really vibe with and find uninteresting overall. I will say that it worked really well as a poem for Eras though. 5/10.

August: I think this is the only album Taylor has released an album that my favourite song aligned with the fan favourite tbh. I just love it dearly, and again, it has been the theme of my life on multiple occasions. Weird bit of trivia is that on one occasion, due to the wackiness that was our lives, I actually went to one of my Eras nights to find out that one of my "James'" were there, sitting close to me, and looked at me when this song was playing (people with him at the time have since told me he was looking at me the whole show and I just didn't notice until then). Anyway, brilliant song. 10/10.

This Is Me Trying: So a weird fact about me, I have not cried since early August 2020, and the last time I did cry, this song was playing in the background. At the time, I was going through something very similar to what happened with my family and this was the most relatable thing I had ever heard. It's still a top notch song, even if I don't listen to it as much as I used to and don't relate to it at all anymore. 9/10.

Illicit Affairs: I don't know if I can call this an underrated song anymore due to Eras, but god was it when this album came out. I also related this to the first "James" I related August to at the time (and then the another at a later date... whoops lmao. Also should point out now that none of these "James" incidents had cheating involved on my end, just other factors that made it relatable), so I was very excited when August and it got put together for Eras, ngl. 8.5/10.

Invisible String: Listen, I understand that the point of this song is that she's forcing it to try and be cute, but I just don't feel the vibe at all. 3/10.

Mad Woman: I know this is heralded as her feminist masterpiece, but I'll be real, it's another one I just don't think is that interesting without the context of her life/what she specifically wrote it about. 5/10.

Epiphany: So I will note now that this is the only song that I like the long pond version of more than the album version. This is one that's somewhat grown on me, perhaps because, as I mentioned earlier, my city did not have unknown cases until mid 2021 so a lot of my experience with this song was from a survivor's guilt pov when hearing my friends in medical fields around the world talk about their experience with the pandemic. It is perhaps one of Taylor's most worldly songs to me, and obviously is important to the pandemic album. It is also interesting that in the early days of the rest of the world being (more) affected by covid, one of my legal professors made the comparison of war and covid by saying that those on the front lines came home traumatised while the rest of us wanted to celebrate 'the end' (something I've spoken about in my Anne Of Green Gables series first thoughts post too, particularly regarding Rilla of Ingleside) just for Taylor to release this song a few months later. So again, a very important song, but ultimately just not something I'm drawn to. 5/10.

Betty: Ah yes, the 'dumb teenage boy energy' song (imho). Listen, as a Betty who took back their James in their teen years (and don't regret it now given we are raising a child together and super close), it's definitely a song I would have loved more then and not a decision I would make now lmao. 6/10.

Peace: The grower of the album for me! It's a little too anxiety filled to be relatable to me now but I do still love it dearly. I actually like to listen to it from the other pov (someone singing it to someone who is depressed/anxious, like saying that they cannot heal them but that they will love them all the same). I also think there's a case to be made for it to be known as one of if not Taylor's best song objectively. 9/10.

Hoax: Mental illness song of all time (to me). Like even now that I'm recovered past the point of needing therapy, this will forever remind me of my relationship with myself when ill. Like there is nothing worse than when you are doing everything you can to try to get better, but even you don't believe you can (even if it's only in the moment) and your ptsd has those crappy memories on repeat. Ultimately just a very good song. 9/10.

The Lakes: So the funny thing with this song is that I like the original version Taylor put out after the album, but for the sake of the album, I think she made the right choice going with this one. I don't listen to this song as much as I should because I really do like it, maybe more so than most given the hate I see it get lmao. But yeah overall a good song, even if not a favourite. 7/10.

Final score: 122/170 - 72.1%

[the-plot-blog-thing]

(originally published on 12/31/20)

DTVA/DTS TAGTEAM TWEET-ATHON MOVIE #92: PHINEAS AND FERB THE MOVIE: CANDACE AGAINST THE UNIVERSE (2020) 

I didn’t think Phineas and Ferb coming back would be one of the few high points of 2020, but I really should’ve had more faith in the writers.

Y’know, on my first viewing, I actually preferred the first movie, probably because I hadn’t seen it in a while. But now having seen it recently, I can safely say that this is just barely the superior movie.

A lot of it comes down to pacing and character moments. I think that this one is paced just a little bit better than the first one, and I feel like this one has some stronger character moments, especially the stuff with Candace.

Not to say that the first one didn’t have good character moments, but most of them were with Phineas and Perry, and that’s harder to convey when one character can’t speak.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the first one to bits, but I just found myself enjoying this one more on this rewatch. The songs, the jokes, the animation, everything just seemed to stand out more than the first movie.

This one really felt more like an extended episode, but maybe that works better for Phineas and Ferb? I feel like maybe the first movie tried too hard to be epic, and lost out on moments for jokes. This one had jokes that almost seemed to lead into more jokes.

I also like how each subplot connects with each other by the end. That’s really the area where each episode of the show excelled, and it shows just how the writers haven’t lost their touch even after being away from the show for so long.

Honestly, if you want to watch a Phineas and Ferb movie, either choice is fine. However, I would definitely say that this one is my personal favorite. 

10/10: The joke with the Axe-inator, is probably one of the most subtly smart jokes I’ve ever seen from an animated film.

[the-fandom-crossroads]

I've definitely struggled with the feeling human thing. I've said "why are humans(not including myself in the group) like that?" towards neurotypical things a few to many times. The immigrant metaphor is definitely the older interpretation but feeling alien in society isn't exclusive to immigrants anymore with neurodivergent experiences becoming more well known. It feels sort of like the X-men? Like Superman their original metaphor was immigrants but specifically refugees and over the years it's evolved into the gay/lgbt metaphor that was in the movies.

I definitely agree that the himbo jokes definitely help with normalizing "awkward" social reactions to situations. And the character doesn't have to be canonically neurodivergent for the vibes to be there and for it to be helpful in explaining to folks how it sometimes is for us. I've found characters like Hiccup from How to Train your Dragon and Dr. Doofensmirtz from Phineas and Ferb helpful in that sense when it comes to explaining some of the struggles of ADHD. Even if neither character has it in the text. I also just finished She-Ra so Entrapta and her Space Autism also comes to mind.

Also you're good! I was worried my response was too long. but I gotta make sure everything is said or i worry it won't be understood completely. gotta love the over explaining impulse

"clark isn't a himbo because he isn't stupid-" ok but he is silly. he is sweet. he is adorable and full of whimsy. he has undiagnosed space-autism

[oceanera12]

So... this is a hot take that I really hope people don't take offense to, but--

Candace Against the Universe was a pointless movie.

I would like to make it clear that this is not a hate post. I do not hate the movie or the people who enjoyed it. If you liked it, great. Me? I give it a C+ for average. It was not a bad movie. It was funny, it made me smile and remember all the fun I have had watching Phineas and Ferb over the years and it seemed like everyone had fun working on it.

Heck, the movie did great. It did better than Mulan (which isn't a GREAT comparison but--!). People enjoyed it.

But there were a few things that just bugged me about it so here's a polite critique on a few things that needed improvements.

1. It did not feel like a movie. You want a Phineas and Ferb movie? Go watch 2nd Dimension. That felt like an actual movie. Against the Universe felt like a two-part episode that was stretched out to make the time of a movie.

2. There were all these little side plots and random events that felt disconnected from the rest of the plot. (Isabella and Doof arguing with one another comes to mind) While having minor side plots in a movie is usually a good thing, these particular ones were just... odd. They felt disjointed and disconnected from most of the plot.

3. Adding to this fact there were multiple (and I mean MULTIPLE) jokes that were stretched out much longer than they needed to. It happened enough that it felt like padding for time (see point one). Examples include: Candace and her smoothie, Phineas and Co looking at and away from a building to hear a musical cue, Breaking the 4th Dimension/4th Wall, Candace escaping, and shenanigans with the treadmill. Were these jokes bad? No. But they went on for far too long, far too often.

4. The movie's plotline was pointless. Literally. Candace's self-worth issues have been addressed multiple times and this movie just rehashed it all over again. Heck, she even goes to space again (Queen of Mars). I am made to believe this movie takes place sometime in The Summer. And the way it ends, it kind of feels like Candace is going to stop busting (which we know does not happen). So... what was the point?

5. No offense to Perry, but his entire point in the movie was basically Deus Ex Machina. Which was sad. Because Perry deserves more than being a Deus Ex Machina.

To wrap this whole thing up, Candace Against the Universe, while enjoyable and nostalgic, fell short of my personal expectations of what a Phineas and Ferb movie should be. It felt hollow compared to the original film and more like a money grab from Disney.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

(And to those wondering, yes I have an idea of what I would have wanted to see for a Phineas and Ferb movie that I will probably put in a future post)

[authenticcadence18]

If you don't mind me asking, what's mwca? 😅

I don’t mind at all, anon! MWCA stands for Musical Without A Cool Acronym. It’s a Phineas and Ferb parody musical that features songs from the show and parodies of Broadway songs. The creator of the original musical put together a virtual version, complete with costuming, music, effects, you name it!!! The virtual version JUST came out on YouTube on Friday, and it is SO MUCH FUN. Tons of references to the show, familiar quotes, fantastic singing, nostalgia, and some guest appearances! it’s great!

I WILL WARN YOU. the show has one or two jokes that are more “adult” in nature (it is a parody musical after all, not affiliated with Disney). Nothing too bad (it’s just dialogue, no characters are put in compromising situations or anything, otherwise I would not be posting about the show at all). BUT if that sort of thing makes you uncomfortable, pls be cautious!!

[geocookie21]

A Punny Death

This is my first fic! Please be kind! It’s not going to be long at all.

Warning: 2 very bad puns. And I ask for your forgiveness.

—————————————————————————————————————

The Doctor, Agent O, Graham, Ryan, Yaz and Y/N had all managed to get into Barton’s plane relatively safely. And by safely I mean running directly behind the plane and then preceding to jump onto it! Because that is something you clearly should do, according to the Doctor.

“Thanks for helping me up back there” O said as he turned to Y/N

“No problem! Im surprised I got on, I’m used to the running now but jumping into planes?” You giggled as you shared a look with O and he couldn’t help but return the action with a laugh.

“I’ve never been good at sprinting” O said continuing your conversation, despite the lack of oxygen in your lungs, he was faking it, but still.

“Forget sprinting, I don’t think I’m quite used to running at all yet”

O, yet to be revealed as the Master, had gotten quite close to Y/N in the short time of your acquaintance. While Graham may have been keeping a running commentary, Y/N was making jokes. Bad jokes. The worst jokes imaginable. A few puns that flew right over O’s head, he caught on that it was, in fact, a joke of sort when Graham groaned.

One that didn’t fly over his head, and he was ashamed that he didn’t pick up on it before he replied, was the classic

“Hey O! Wanna know how NASA plans their parties?”

“How?”

“They plan-et” you said with a grin practically splitting your face. An expression he connoted with you making a joke that you knew was awful. So he groaned.

Apparently this was the correct response as you started laughing harder than you already were. O merely rolled his eyes, trying to stay in character, yet laughed a little by instinct. They were not bad jokes, in fact he found them rather amusing, despite the awful quality.

The godawful jokes continued to be heard at random throughout their little adventure. O nearly lost it when you said “Where’s the platypus when you need him” as you were sneaking around Barton’s jet hanger.

Having gotten a little bored during his time in MI6 and having already took a liking to TV as one of his previous regenerations he decided to look into more modern day tv shows, finding Phineas and Ferb.

He was about to burst out in laughter when Graham scolded you. You pouted completely unaware of the entire groups shoulders shaking in an obvious attempt to hold in laughter, including Grahams. 

Currently, having just jumped onto a plane, the jokes have stopped, for a few minutes at least.

“What are we actually going to do?” Yaz huffed out. Seriously, ran after a plane and jumped onto it. Can you blame her for being out of breath?

“Sit tight and see where he’s going” the Doctor replied, out of breath but clearly not suffering as much as the humans were cause she’s lucky causes she’s a time lord and has done more ridiculous stuff than this.

“Amen” You exclaimed as you sat down in one of the rows of chairs...cause you know, running after a plane AND JUMPING ON IT

“What were you doing in the kitchen Y/N? The party was outside” Ryan asked you.

“Officially? Looking for anything not obvious” you replied holding your lungs

“And unofficially?” Graham asked, already dreading the answer. Everyone looked at you, waiting for, what was going to be, a horrible joke.

“Trying to steal his cutlery” you replied knowing the next line, the groans incoming.

“Y/N! Why would you do that?! What if you were caught?!” There it was, the approaching line. You knew Yaz would go all police woman on you, thus providing you the perfect opportunity...

“It was a whisk I was willing to take” you deadpanned. Slowing turning into the famous grin.

The groans from all present were worth it. You laughed for a good 5 minutes despite the pain in your lungs.

Everyone including O just smiled at you. Each thinking you were cute. Then the Doctor remembered something that O said a few minutes before...

“Never been good at sprinting?” She asked O, confused.

“I was the last one in every race at school”

“No no no, I read your file. Your a champion sprinter” She huffed out, unaware that she broke his disguise.

The air in the room (plane?) shifted. You could feel something was wrong even from where you were sitting.

You couldn’t see it but O’s innocent (attractive) face dropped. He knew his facade was no longer going to work he stood thinking for a second or two until..

“Got me” whispered words, yet louder than echos.

“Well done”

The words scaring you into sitting upright, despite the pain in your lungs. This wasn’t the O you had come to know.

“What’s going on,Doc?” Graham’s voice was barely heard as you kept you senses focused on ‘O’. More confused than afraid, afraid all the same, you started to stand when he suddenly whirled around and out his hand out towards you. His hand raised to nearly eye hight and palm facing you, as if he were a magician.

“Sit down, Love.” The spoken command sounded soft to your ears and mirrored his smile. O’s smile.

You did as you were told so he turned back to the Doctor. A small laugh, as if he’d done nothing more than a harmless prank, to her as he turned his head over his shoulders to address the others.

“Well you’d best take a look out the window”

The fam did exactly that, except for you. As you stood to look a firm hand wrapped around your waist, pulling you towards a tall warm body. Looking up towards their face and seeing the O that you had known, not the one nearly laughing maniacally a second ago, confused you. This person isn’t O. Whether there had ever been a real O, or whether you had met the real one was yet to be determined. But you felt that this man was the one you had gotten close too. But who was he?

“How is your house out there?” Graham’s voice broke your thoughts. Only to start about her round.

“What?!” You got as close to the window as you could, with ‘O’ still holding onto you. And Graham was right, his house was out there.

He let you go so you could look.

“A little bit wicked witch of the west” you almost laughed. You really did. Then you remembered the situation. Though O did see you smile unknowingly, he knew you were amused and if this was a different situation you would have laughed. He frowned for a second wishing that you had laughed, but he knew you were confused. Remembering that the Doctor would be equally as confused was what got him smiling again.

“But you get the gist! Maybe, maybe not”

He tuned around leaning lazily against the wall. (Hand on hip as if he didn’t know what that would do to the audience watching.)

“Come in Doctor, catch up”

“You can do it, come on” acting as if he was a tutor, helping a child.

The Doctors mouth dropped in realisation.

“Ooooh”

O looked happy at that response, maybe even excited.

“That’s my name, and that is why I chose it”

“Oh so satisfying” He smiled.

“It was a bad pun even for me” you whispered. You were too confused to even notice you spoke that out loud or that you were even smirking at the godawful pun that he made, and let’s be honest, you WOULD have made that pun.

He looked at you a smiled softly, a low laugh that he only kept going for you, even with his disguise dropped. He quickly switched his attention to the Doctor.

“Doctor I did say, look for the spymaster”

his voice started dropping lower. In time not volume. Almost as if he was becoming someone else.

“Or should I say, spy...”

“Master”

The Doctor looked horrified and he took a deep, staggered, breath.

“Hi” he smiled. His whole demeanour had changed. Even his eyes, they burned with a hated and target into the Doctor.

“You can’t be”

“Oh I can be and very much am”

“So what’s going on then, if he’s not really O” Ryan spoke up for us confused humans in the back. Literally, back of the plane.

“I’m her best enemy” He responded as he got closer to the Doctor, laughing at her face when he stood next to her.

“Call me Master”

He addressed the fam as he started speaking, but in his last word, his name, he kept his eyes locked to yours.

Words of confusion arose from the fam, the Doctor still yet to recover from the shock.

“Me and her, we go way way way back”

“I met O” The Doctor trying to figure the situation asked the Master.

“I know”

“Years ago”

“I know!” He replied to her, laughing all the while.

“But there was an O at MI6! C was talking about him” Ryan being calm enough to think the situation through. The Doctor wasn’t doing to great and honestly? Neither were you.

“Yes, a man very close to my heart”

“Well in my pocket, actually. Wanna see him? It’s always good to have a backup of ones work”

He held up a matchstick box. His eyes locked to yours again, the demonstration purely for your benefit. Not to frighten you, he knew you’d be curious as to what was going on.

“Tissue compression, it’s a classic”

You finally saw what was in the matchstick box.... it was the original O.

Your mouth dropped as you whimpered slightly at the sight. The Masters eyes softened for a moment, wondering if perhaps he shouldn’t have shown you. He focused on the others for a moment to get you out of his head and thoughts before continuing.

“Ambushed him! On his way to work for his first day, shrunk him, took his identity and set myself up in MI6”

He turned back to the fam and kept you in his sights to see your reaction. You were still shocked and afraid, so he did the only thing he could. The thing you bonded over. He tried to make a joke.

“Surprisingly good staff canteen”

If he wasn’t watching you, he wouldn’t have noticed the quick smile or the breath you took. Another time, that would have you giggling and he knew. But you weren’t as scared as you were a second ago, so it did it’s job. He smiled softly at you closed you mouth and took a breath to calm yourself.

He was going to through the small box to the side to spite the Doctor, but he didn’t want to scare you so he put it back in his pocket and faced the Doctor once more.

“I have had a lot of fun” he started clapping out of enjoyment as the Doctor ran for the cockpit. The Master turned back to the fam and grimaced before a tiny giggle left his mouth. You were about to speak when suddenly

“Where’s Barton?!” Now that got your attention

The Master turned back around as if he’d been caught stealing a cookie. He jumped around acting like he didn’t know where to go until he sat down in a plane seat a few rows in front of you as the others ran past him.

He turned to you, you still looked terrified before, hearing that the plane didn’t have a pilot didn’t help

“So how’s the inflight entertainment?” He smiled softly at you, not the cruel smile he’d been giving out. An encouraging one, perhaps concerned and kind.

“I don’t like the comedy show” you whispered. You were scared. Confused. Still had burning lungs. Worried about the Doctor and others. And on top of that making a joke with a, now know, murderer was not at the top of your priorities.

“Check the seat” he called out after controlling his laughter at your reaction. The fam panicked as he whispered just loud enough for you to hear.

“it’s going to be ok” he knew in his mind it wasn’t. You were going to die. You are a human, he has no need for humans no matter how much he enjoyed your company. You knew it too.

He smirked evily as he glanced at the cockpit.

“Cockpit bomb”

He glanced at you at your gasps of horror. Smoking as he continued.

“Short fuse. I can relate to that”

A knowing smile until he heard the sound of the sonic.

“No! Did you think I wouldn’t have thought of that?’ It’s sonic proof Doctor! Come on!”

“Dead lock sealed and I made sure, no parachutes on board”

You knew you were going to die. You wanted to get to your friends, your fam. But the Master blocked your way.

“There must be a way!”

You doubted it. You were frightened and wanted your friends. You made eye contact with Yaz and Ryan, both held their arms out for you, knowing you needed them. You pushed past the Master into their arms and whimpered a little. You tried to keep it quiet so the doctor couldn’t hear you. You didn’t want her to stress out more than she already was.

Yaz said something to the Master and he replied, but you couldn’t make it out. You were too busy being scared and keeping it quiet. You caught the end of their conversation as the Master said

“...even these guys” you saw the creatures you were investigating. And if you weren’t scared enough?

“I can’t do it! Get away!” The Doctor shouted. She shut and barricaded the door in a feeble attempt to keep the explosion away from you all. The bomb went off and she fell over.

All you could hear was screaming. The fams, the Masters, your own. Your grip on the seat that you had grabbed weakened and you fell. You never hit the ground. In the chaos you could just about notice you had been caught. It was the purple cost that gave their identity away.

“Tell me Y/N, are you mad at me?”

You held onto him, him being the only steady thing you could grab on to at the moment.

“I’ve been mad at you since the Wizard of Oz reference”

He laughed as he held you in his arms. He steadied you in a seat and left towards the Doctor and stood over her.

“One last thing, you should know in the seconds before you die. Everything that you think you know, is a lie”

He turned to face you again.

“Y/N! Do me a favour!”

“What?!”

“Don’t die!”

“That’s kinda the idea here! your not exactly helping!”

“Good little human! I’ll see you soon!”

“If I don’t die in a damn plane crash you twit!”

he laughed before he sobered, turning back to the Doctor

“Got you, finally”

And with that he vanished.

Now we just have to survive the plane crash...

I’m sure the Doc.. Annnnd she just got taken.

Just great.

[ot3]

wait wait wait can you explain more how to be funny and what makes humor work preferably a la essay form if you’re up to it. I’m reading a comic and the jokes aren’t sticking so I’d love to be able to properly be able to figure out what makes some joeks works but others not so I articulate what I hate about it

This response got kinda long so i’m sticking it under a readmore. TL;DR: I don’t think I can tell you how to be funny and what makes comedy work, I don’t think anyone can tell you that. However, I can give you a bunch of advice and guiding questions on how to go about figuring out these answers for yourself

Honestly I don’t think that’s something I’m capable of doing this in any sort of reasonable amount of time. It’d either have to be something really short and really general like what I wrote in the rvb0 post or it’d have to be incredibly long and incredibly specific where I pick specific good and bad examples of comedy and break down what I think works and what I think doesn’t. It’d take a lot of slow and meticulous work I don’t really have the time for, and I’m also not sure how helpful it would be, because once again, comedy is super super subjective and I don’t want to risk overemphasizing my own tastes/general observations as any sort of gospel.

the best advice i can give you would be to try and properly figure out for yourself why these jokes aren’t sticking! because processing something as Funny is much more of an innate reaction than, like, engaging Cerebrally with Narrative Developments it can be much harder to actually realize why something works or doesn’t. I’m going to start by sticking in what I said in my original RVB0 post here in case anyone is reading this without context. 

A rule of thumb I personally hold for comedy is that, when push comes to shove, more specific is always going to be more funny. The example I gave when trying to explain this was this:

saying two characters had awkward sex in a movie theater: funny

saying two characters had an awkward handjob in a cinemark: even funnier

saying two characters spent 54 minutes of 11:14's 1:26 runtime trying out some uncomfortably-angled hand stuff in the back of a dilapidated cinemark that lost funding halfway through retrofitting into a dinner theater: the funniest

The more specific a joke is, the more it relies on an in-depth understanding of the characters and world you’re dealing with and the more ‘realistic’ it feels within the context of your media. Especially with this kind of humor. When you’re joking with your friends, you don’t go for stock-humor that could be pulled out of a joke book, you go for the specific. You aim for the weak spots. If a set of jokes could be blindly transplanted into another world, onto another cast of characters, then it’s far too generic to be truly funny or memorable. I don’t think there’s a single joke in RVB0 where the humor of it hinged upon the characters or the setting.

Then there’s the issue of situational comedy and physical comedy. This is really where the humor being ‘tacked on’ shows the most. Once again, part of what makes actually solid comedy land properly is it feeling like a natural result of the world you have established. Real life is absurd and comical situations can be found even in the midst of some pretty grim context, and that’s why black comedy is successful, and why comedy shows are allowed to dip into heavier subject matter from time to time, or why dramas often search for levity in humor. It’s a natural part of being human to find humor in almost any situation. The key thing, though, once again, is finding it in the situation. Many of RVB0’s attempts at humor, once again, feel like they would be the exact same jokes when stripped from their context, and that’s almost never good. A pretty fundamental concept in both storytelling in general but particularly comedy writing is ‘setup and payoff’. No joke in RVB0 is a reward for a seemingly innocuous event in an earlier scene or for an overlooked piece of environmental design. The jokes pop in when there’s time for them in between all the exposition and fighting, and are gone as soon as they’re done. There’s no long term, underlying comedic throughline to give any sense of coherence or intent to the sense of humor the show is trying to establish. Every joke is an isolated one-off quip or one-liner, and it fails to engage the audience in a meaningful way.

When you see a joke that doesn’t land - try mentally rewriting it. Is there anything you could do to make it funny? Can you bring to mind any similar jokes from other pieces of media that you did like? How does the joke effect the pace of the story - is it an awkward and unnatural pause within the flow of events/dialogue? Is the joke well implemented - that is to say, regardless of how ‘objectively’ funny or unfunny the actual meat of the thing is, is it coming from the right source and directed at the right target? Does it add to your understanding of events/characters/setting, do nothing in this department, or does it detract from/contradict them? Is it immersion-breaking (and if so, is this intentional or meaningful?) or does it pull you deeper into the world you’re being shown?

Once you start asking these questions of both media you like and media you dislike you’ll start to recognize patterns in what lands and what doesn’t, and I don’t think they’re questions anyone else can really answer for you.

I think it also is a question of whether comedy is the intended final destination of a piece of media or just a step along the way. Media that exists solely as a vehicle for jokes is going to have comedy that looks very different than the comedy present in media that exists for heavy narrative purposes but includes moments of levity. 

Here are two examples of shows I think are really good and are also about as different in concept, execution, and intent as humanly possible: phineas and ferb and breaking bad.

Breaking bad is probably the most emotionally taxing television experience I’ve had in my life. I mean this as a compliment. breaking bad is supposed to be grueling to watch. It also has jokes in it. the scenes that are funny server to really meaningfully increase the immersion, not break it, and they do this by bringing a very realistic sense of human interaction that grounds the high-stakes melodrama into something that looks a hell of a lot more like reality. There’s one scene in particular i think does just such a great job of exemplifying this. here we’ve got jesse having dinner with walt and his wife while they are, as always, fighting with each other viciously and creating such a horrible and suffocating miasma of tension over the entire narrative, and jesse is trying to break some of this tension very poorly.

Then, in literally the complete opposite vein, you’ve got the phineas and ferb episode ‘lets take a quiz’ which i consider incredibly formative in the development of my sense of humor. The entire Bit of literally this whole episode is that they’re doing this terrible quiz with no rules that makes no sense and candace is trying to win but nobody knows how to play this game. 

Phineas and ferb is an episodic children’s cartoon that deals almost exclusively in unreality and the absurd, and so this kind of bit works here.

Saying ‘whats good comedy’ is really hard because it’s just like saying ‘whats good narrative’. There’s no one set of criteria; it boils down to what is the intention of your comedy, and how successfully were you able to act on these intentions?

This really got away from me sorry I am working on extremely little sleep i hope this helped even a little bit. My final piece of advice is: go watch hot fuzz. seriously. go watch hot fuzz (2007) dir. edgar wright and look at how the jokes in that movie are because theyre perfect and i love hot fuzz and it’s fucking funny