#this may be because i watched all three shows at roughly the same time but idk i think there might be something there

[friendlyneighbourhoodelf]

do you see my vision

[loren91]

Young Royals and the three act structure, Part one

Seems like there was some potential interest in a full three-act story structure analysis, so I’m taking this opportunity to indulge myself by going full nerd. I’m going to attempt to make the argument that limiting the show to three seasons is actually perfect for Young Royals, by highlighting the pattern the story follows.

A few things to keep in mind before we start.

This analysis is not about the characters deep inner emotional lives. We are not here to pass judgment on their actions. We are simply identifying the beats of the story in a neutral and objective manner, for the purpose of analysing the structure of the story.

As you will notice, the points I have identified are all from Wilhelm’s perspective. That’s because he’s the point-of-view character, the main conflict is shaped by him and his emotional state. He’s the protagonist. Each subplot however, will follow the same pattern and has its own purpose, but I’ll get more into that another time.

I’ll be referring a fair bit to Lindsey Ellis’s video essay on the subject, because I like how she describes the structure pattern in sequences. So I’m gonna borrow some of her language. Also, note that the examples she uses to describe the tree-act structure are all feature films. Since Young Royals is a series, it’s gonna divert slightly from her description. But that’s what is so great about this structure, it’s flexible. It’s not meant to be set rules, but rather guidelines to help keep your story relevant and engaging all the way through. If you find this stuff interesting, I’d highly recommend watching her videos!

The three act structure is absolutely not the only way to tell a story. There’s many different formats that works just as well! It’s really about finding what structure works best to tell your story. The three acts however is the most common format you’ll find in more commercially viable works, such as Disney films for example.

And finally, I’m not a writer, but an animator, and I have studied film theory/structure. I’ll do my best to motivate the plot points I’ve identified, but if you’re a proper story expert and disagree with me, I’m happy to discuss!

Okay, let’s get to it.

A three-act structure is constructed of just that, three acts, and roughly looks like this. Essentially, a beginning, a middle, and an end. Or the set up, the confrontation, and the resolution. These acts may vary in length, act two usually being the longest and act three usually being the shortest. But what truly defines them is the tension of each act, meaning what drives the conflict forward at that point. A story will have a main conflict yes, but that conflict will take on many forms depending on where we are in the story. Lindsey Ellis describes each act as consisting of multiple sequences, and defines each sequence by its individual tension as well. Though all points of tension should always stay related to the main conflict! So the main points we’re looking to identify in the story are the main act tensions and the main sequence tensions. 

Let’s go through season one of Young Royals and talk about each story beat.

Act 1

Act tension - Wille has to attend Hillerska.

Sequence 1

We start with the Set up/Hook. The purpose here is to establish the world and the protagonist along with their internal conflict, such as their flaws and/or desire that makes them feel incomplete - The way Wilhelm’s character is introduced informs us that he is royal, but struggling with his role, because royals have set rules to follow.

“Why can’t I decide how the hell I want to live? I want to live a normal life!”

The thing that sets the story in motion is the point of attack. Something happens that is outside of the protagonist's control/knowledge - That would be the royal court deciding to send Wille to Hillerska without his permission. This gives the protagonist something to react to.

Sequence tension is established - Wille does not want to go to Hillerska. The rest of episode one reinforces Wille’s discomfort at the school.

Next, we get to the inciting incident. An event that disrupts the status quo, and our protagonist has to get involved - The initiation party, particularly when Wille and Simon almost kiss at the end. This leads him to acknowledge his attraction toward Simon and become more proactive in his pursuit of the boy. 

The sequence tension is resolved. Notice how in episode two, Hillerska is no longer the main focus for Wille, but Simon is. The seeds for what will become the central conflict have now been planted. The conflict is usually driven by character motivation. This is where we can consider the protagonist's Want vs Need. The want drives the main tension - Wille wants to be with Simon. But we’ll find want he needs later on in the story.

Sequence 2

The purpose here is to build up the creation of the main tension of the story. The main antagonist can also be established here -  August keeps getting on Wille’s nerves. Especially when he’s trying to hang out with Simon.

That’s our sequence tension - Wille is working to befriend Simon, but August keeps getting in the way.

The end of the sequence sees the first major plot point, the Lock-in. Where our protagonist makes a decision that changes everything. Usually, something they can’t come back from - In Young Royals that would be the first kiss. Wille and Simon’s relationship has fundamentally changed. The main tension is now established.

Act 2

Act tension -  Can Wille be with Simon, despite him being a prince?

Sequence 3

At the start of this sequence, the protagonist has most likely achieved some kind of milestone or learned something - He’s definitely like that.

To keep the story interesting, writers will add so-called pinch points in between the bigger plot points. These usually act as reminders of the antagonist or the pressure our protagonist may feel - Wille feels he needs to break it off with Simon because a prince is not supposed to be gay. As we established in the set up, royals have rules. 

Sequence tension - Can Wille deny his feelings for Simon? Queer pining ensues.

Sequence 4

The purpose of this sequence is to build up towards the midpoint. We see the protagonist making attempts to achieve their goal - The want never changed, Wille still wants to be with Simon, despite the pressure. Wille invites him to spend the weekend with him.

Sequence tension - Wille is trying to prioritise his new relationship with Simon, but August is still being annoying.

Then the midpoint hits. A major disruption, either from a character action or a force of nature. Can be positive or negative, just something that changes the aim of the quest without resolving the main tension - This time it’s literally halfway through the season. End of episode three, Erik dies and Wille becomes the crown prince. Everything has changed.

Sequence 5

Everybody has to adjust to the new world order after the midpoint disruption. We’ve reached another pinch point - Again we are reminded that royals have rules, and Wille makes another attempt to follow those rules. By embracing his new role, he breaks up with Simon once again, then sort of pursues Felice and joins the society.

Sequence tension - Wille adjusting to his new title while mourning his brother.

It’s common for subplots to advance around this time - Like Simon giving August the drugs to sell.

Sequence 6

Another plot point, where our protagonist may stop and reflect. Maybe have a heart-to-heart with another character, and perhaps make a decision - This is where we see the football field scene and the end of episode four. Wille reaches out to Simon for help, reconnecting with him. This leads them to pursue a relationship once again. They are put in a false sense of security. They are finally together, thinking all is good. BUT, we in the audience know that August has the video of them and the writers keep reminding us of him and the threat he poses. Even if Wille and Simon don't know it yet.

Sequence tension - Can this happiness last?

Sequence 7

(Here’s where the story leaves the classic structure for a bit, and adds an extra sequence for some more drama, as filler. In theory, they could have skipped this sequence and gone straight to the video being released. This part is mainly here to give motivation for August’s character, making his actions clearer)

So we are essentially given another pinch point, a reminder of antagonist or pressure -  August tries to break them apart by telling Wille about the drugs, which leads to the music room fight. 

Sequence tension - August is becoming more hostile.

Wille saving Simon from being framed for the drugs is more related to August’s money subplot. And the Lucia hug scene is mainly there for character building purposes. I’ll talk more about that stuff in part two.

The plot has advanced to the culmination of the main tension. The crisis that serves as build-up to act three - August releases the video. At the end of act two, the protagonist faces their biggest challenge yet. They’ve hit their lowest point - The aftermath of the video's release and Wille is totally lost. 

Act 3

Act tension - Can they save their relationship after the video?

Sequence 8

Begins with the protagonist making a big decision that creates the new act tension. The tension in act three will be different, but still related to the main conflict - Wille and Simon talk in the locker room, where Wille says he won’t do the statement. 

Sequence tension -  Can Wille avoid making the statement?

We’ve reached our last major plot point, located at the end of the sequence. Sometimes known as the twist in the third act - And what a twist, Wille does the statement anyway. This narrows down the tension further, to focus on a more character-driven intimate place for the next sequence.

Sequence 9

Sequence tension - Can they be together despite the statement?

Climax, the last big fight - Simon tells Wille off for being selfish and breaks up. Wille also finds out that both August and his mother betrayed him. The protagonist’s need has emerged from this journey and is now clear to us - Wille needs to decide who he wants to be. The want and the need should be different from each other, but still connected. Wille wants Simon, but in order for that to happen, Wille needs to break out of this cycle of self-preservation and stand up for himself against the royal court.

The climax will most likely lead to some kind of character growth - Wille is now pissed because he’s lost everything and realizes how corrupt the royal court is. As Lisa so beautifully put it, “A flame is ignited in him”. Hugging Simon in public is a display of his character growth.

And finally, Resolution. The point where the story is usually wrapped up neatly, but if left ignored, you get a cliffhanger - Which is exactly what happens in this season. Nothing is properly resolved at this point. Resulting in an open ending/cliffhanger.

Oof, that was a lot. How are we all doing? So these are the main beats of the plot. Makes sense? Let me know if you need any further clarification 😅 I was gonna get into how the rest of the show fits this format as well, but that’ll have to be in a separate post. Here’s part two! 

[beanmom-blogs]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

tagged by @valdiis

tagging: I can't even remember 9 names right now, it's One Of Those Days... but I'll try. If I don't tag you and you want to do this anyway, GO FOR IT PLEASE @hares-and-hounds , @archaiclumina , @chidorisjournal , @dearestcherry , and the rest of you.......

three ships I like:

Fabienaut and Fenris. That ship is very special to me, and I tend to keep things special very close to my heart which is why I don't really talk about it (or any of my ships) all so much. Fabienaut being my character, Fenris being a lovely friend of mine's OC.

Ohwyn and Vianne. They've been together for roughly 4 to 5 real life years, married for just over two of those. I can't play him like I used to, but that doesn't make me love their love any less. Ohwyn is my OC, Vianne belongs to a different lovely friend of mine than the one above.

Wesliaux (the Butterfly man) and Hel. While they've only officially been together for not quite a year, they are the somftest, sweetest, most innocent of all. Wes has a lot of memory baggage that he'll never be able to unpack and it renders him both wise and childlike at the same time. Hel has always been there for him, never making him feel lesser for the way he is. Together they're like drinking your favourite tea when you finally get a moment to breathe. Wes belongs to me, Hel is also an OC of the one who plays Fenris.

first ship ever: Woah boy. Ok, let me clarify I am -not young-, so cannot remember for absolute certain the first ship I ever had. I believe it was on the first MuD I ever played on, The Creator's Shadow, based on the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I know in that game I played the highest rank (basically the matriarch) of the Seafolk, and I... know she was romancing someone. I love my romance RP.

last song you heard: I'm currently listening to Spotify, and 'Confident' by Demi Lovato just came on.

favourite childhood book: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. For several years in a row, I was the only person who checked that book out of the school library. Honest to goodness I wish I had that exact book now, because they had those little papers in them where you write your name and mine was in there a good ten times in a row.

currently reading: Nothing. Unless you count the Terry Pratchett book I've been reading a page from here or there over the past few years. I just don't read like I used to, I lost my love for it over the years.

currently watching: Nothing. I'm waiting for Netflix to put up some new seasons of a few shows I like, but there isn't anything that currently has me by a stranglehold.

currently consuming: Water, and today peppermint tea because I have a stomach ache.

currently craving: Nothing, I just had dinner and having a stomach ache also means I lose all cravings because food is not a thrilling prospect.

[arece]

So………lolz you already expected this BUT whats readers background? How did she meet Aurelio? Layer on that angst

Seven

♤ Summary: How reader came to be. The masterlist

♤ Warnings: Implied domestic and child abuse, but no explicit details.

♤ a/n: I may be slow but I am working through these requests. I kinda like how this one turned out, back on my angst shit. (1.3k)

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

If I ever were to lose you

I’d lose-

No. 

Try- try and sometimes…

The words were slowly escaping you.

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

You were sprinting as fast as your small legs allowed you to, giggling as you stared straight ahead you, could almost imagine you were flying. Slowly you rose your arms from your sides, shrieking in glee as you nearly felt yourself begin to float. 

“My bumbling little bee!” You were scooped up into the arms of a woman, her face forever blurred in a way you’d never be able to recall, but the safety she radiated would forever be imprinted in your mind. 

She let you go, hand caressing over your head. Kneeling down to your height she held you close by your arms, a nervous smile fluttering from her lips, “and how much did you collect today?” 

You brightened, digging into your little pockets and pulling out three wallets. You watched as she took them, carefully scanning through the contents of each. “Did I do good?” So eager for her praise.

“The best. Are you sure you’re not an actual pirate?” She playfully scanned you over. You giggled, shaking your head as if just the thought was so silly, “no, I was just playing!”

She scooped you back up, heading in the direction of a daunting house that suddenly turned your colourful little world into melancholy shades of gray. “Well, you had me fooled, busy bee.”

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

You sat in your room, fiddling around with your toy sword as the sun began to set. A rumbling could be heard in the distance, you stood from your spot on the floor and looked out the window. Outside was the car that held the monster, the one that always played hide and seek with you.

The woman came rushing into your room, she looked more frazzled than earlier, hair out of place and her eyes containing distress. “Come on now, bee. Time for hide and seek.” You grabbed her hand as she led you over to the slightly rotted closet, hidden by an oddly placed bookshelf.

She sat you inside, trying to get you comfortable with the mountain of blankets, pillows, books, and a flashlight you collected from your multiple games. “He’s not very good, I hide in the same place every time and he never finds me.”

The woman stopped her frantic movements, looking at you for a moment before brushing her thumb over your cheek, “and he never will.” Distantly you heard the door open with a heavy thud. She swiftly kisses your forehead before shutting you in the closet.

She claims that she’s giving you a head start. She’s really good at it because you stay here all night until he gives up in the morning.

You click on the flashlight, weary of the dark. Shattering echoes throughout the walls followed by a loud roar. You remember the times you’ve met the monster; he’d show up during the day before your game.

He didn’t like you, you made too many mistakes. You broke too many things, said the wrong things, were too loud. This is why you had to hide, you couldn’t bother the monster, couldn’t let him find you.

You hid your head under the pillows to drown out the screams, eventually able to fall asleep in your little haven.

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

Out in the fields your head laid on the woman's lap. She was lost in thought while your twirled bright green blades of grass between your fingers. You plucked two, tying the ends together as you looked up at her distorted face.

“I think our house is haunted.” She blinked twice, switching to lean back on a single hand as she brought the other to poke at the tip of your nose before resting against your cheek. 

You pulled the ends too roughly, snapping it apart. The two strands were slowly carried into separate directions by the wind. “Why do you think that?”

“At night there’s lots of noises. The monster’s extra angry, that’s probably why.” You casually turned back to playing with the grass, missing the bitter sadness that tainted her expression.

She pulled you up from her lap, forcing you to face her. “You can’t tell anyone about our haunted house.” Her lips pressed together a new wave of determination settling into her disposition.

“Why?” you had naively tilted your head to the side. For the first time ever the comfort and safety you felt with her was cut, the same fear you were used to facing with the monster blossomed. 

Her expression grew wild as she slightly shook you by the shoulders, “you just can’t, cross your heart that you won’t.” You tried to move back but the grip she held onto you with wouldn’t release you.

“Okay,” you cried out, “I won’t tell anyone, cross my heart!” Suddenly she let you go and you scooted back, slightly curling in on yourself. Your eyes grew glassy and your bottom lip began to quiver.

She saw the error in her panic and immediately pulled you into a hug, brushing a hand over your head to hold you closer. She whispered profuse apologies, shushing your sniffles as you wiped at your runny nose.

“I’m sorry. I love you, my bumbling bee.” She poked at your sides, receiving a high pitched screech that melted into delighted giggles.

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

For weeks you haven’t had to play your game of hide and seek. She says that the monster left and he wouldn’t be back. The house felt lighter. You enjoyed getting to sleep in your bed, her tucking you in with the melodic whispers of her lullaby. You slept that night comfortably, a doll wrapped tight in your grasp, safe in your brighter home. 

The familiar roar woke you up, immediately you buried yourself back under your blankets before remembering you weren’t in your hiding spot - he’d find you. You swiftly crawled out of bed, prepared to make a run for it before the woman bursted in, closing the door behind her and moving furniture to cover it.

“I have to go to the closet!” You yanked at her leg to get her attention. She carefully pulled you off of her before moving to a bag, placing some of your things into it. “No more hide and seek, now we only play pirates.”

She brought over a sweater, wrapping you into it tightly before securing the bag over your shoulders and handing you your doll. “What do you mean?” You asked, finally noticing her puffy eyes and angry red cuts scattered along her face.

“Today you leave the house and you never come back. You run and you be a pirate to survive - a real pirate.” Her breaths were unsteady and you could see her hands begin to shake. You grab onto the hand as she moves over to the room's window.

“What about you?” She opens the window and a gush of cold air wafts around you. “The monster’s very strong, he’ll always find us so I have to stay. You have to go, I’ve never been really good at hide and seek.”

She lifts you over the window, your feet plopping onto the ground as she helps you jump over. She kisses your forehead as she bites off a whimper, “you do what you have to and survive. Give them all hell.”

The door starts to bend underneath the weight of the monster’s banging, she looks over her shoulder before focusing back on you with a new sense of urgency. “I love you, little bee. Now go and don’t look back.”

You begin to run off, once again gliding. Behind you she mutters, “someone save my baby.” A silent prayer before accepting her fate and facing the monster behind the door.

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

It’s been a few years since you’ve been playing pirate, successfully surviving off of your skill for stealing. The one time you messed up would soon turn into a blessing in disguise.

“You're pretty crafty, street rat.”

You can’t remember her face, but you remember her comfort and how she saved you. You’d carry that love she held for you forever.

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

If I ever were to lose you,

I’d surely lose myself.

⋯♤⋯♧⋯♢⋯

Taglist: @khaleesihavilliard @ihatemyselfmorethanmydepression @tamnight  @hesvoid34 @scarletmeii @romanreignsluver1 @wi1steria @not-a-big-slay @howlerwolfmax @mizzy-pop @sarapaprikas-blog @angrykitsune01 @commanderfreethatdust @wisepizzatart

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round "5")

Hey everybody! So, I've recently gotten into Disventure Camp, just in time to catch the third season near its beginning. As it's been occupying a good chunk of my brain activity for the past couple of weeks, I've really wanted to write something about it just to let some of the brain worms out. Coincidentally, I also started watching Gordon Holmes' Survivor Power Ranking series as season 46 has been airing (although I've watched Survivor since I was a kid), and really enjoyed the format and the questions it incited. So, I figured, why not mash them up?

The Power Ranking format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. If that sounds interesting, I invite you to read on!

Alright, now that we've made it past the Read More, I'll explain the game in a bit more detail, given that this is the first time I'm posting a "theory" like this. (It's "Round 5" because this is off the heels of the 5th episode, but there are no power rankings prior to this one.) The way Gordon's Power Rankings work, you rank each player not based on how likely they are to win overall, but how likely they are to survive the next episode. For the sake of example, let's say I've ranked Kristal as #1 (least likely to go home), Derek as #2, Trevor as #3, Emily as #4, and Oliver as #5 (most likely to go home). When the next episode comes out, you go back and lock in the score of the person who was eliminated. So, back to our example, if it's Derek who winds up going home, then I get 2 points. Bigger scores are better, so, as you can see, it would have been better if I'd ranked Derek lower. Derek's score is the only one that matters for the week, so the rest of my placements don't factor into my score at all.

This format makes more sense when you can compare your score against someone else's (as what happens in Gordon's videos). But, I still think it's a fun format to use, and it'll be interesting to me to see if I perform better or worse than average at the end of the season. Also, if anyone wants to make their own version of the power ranking and fight me, I'd love to see that! (You don't have to write as much as I will, if you don't want to.) I'm actively trying to mansplain manipulate malewife my way into convincing people to watch this show, so the more the merrier in analysis land.

Although I will be making some of the same analytical remarks that Gordon and co. do for the Survivor season, I want to point out that I will be actively acknowledging that Disventure Camp is a work of fiction. Both Survivor and DC create an "edit" by budgeting their screen time towards specific characters and plot lines, so both can be analyzed in that way. However, Survivor is a story constructed in retrospect, based on the reality of who happened to win the game. DC has been a fictional story since the very beginning, and therefore an episode of the cartoon may be more... "controlled" than an episode of Reality TV. For instance, Survivor players irl might not manage to keep all of their tribes at roughly the same number of people, but Odd Nation Cartoons may have built the season in a way that doesn't eradicate one team of All Stars at the very start.

I bring this up because, for this week in particular, I think that a character originating from Season 1 will likely be packing their bags. We've had four eliminations so far, one from the Season 1 cast (Miriam) and three from the Season 2 cast (James, Lake, and Hunter). Given that both casts started out with 9 competitors, this means that 33% of the Season 2 cast is already gone. I don't think it's impossible that a Season 2 character could be eliminated this week, but I'm definitely inclined to believe that it'll be a season 1 character that bites the dust.

Also, as the contestants on Gordon's show are able to use the "Next Time on Survivor" segment in their analyses, I think that using the trailer for next episode is entirely fair game! Spoilers for the Episode 6 trailer, if you're trying to ignore that. I don't know how much I'm going to reference it, but it'll probably be at least a little bit.

With that out of the way, let's start with the character who I think is the least likely to go home!

#1: Tess

Tess is in a really good position right now as the Cyan Team's swing vote. Aiden will want to take out Ellie as a member of the villains alliance and the one behind Lake's elimination. While it's unknown how much stock Ellie will continue to place in the girls' alliance, she still sees Tess as her friend, and therefore the best option to reach out to for a third vote to take out Aiden or Tom. Therefore, neither Aiden and Tom nor Ellie and Gabby should be looking to eliminate her.

I also feel like they're going to want to have Tess reunite with Ally at the merge, which is another reason why she might stick around. Then again, I might've thought the same of Hunter, and we saw how that went for him last episode. Still, as both Tess and Ally's characterizations revolved around Hunter in Season 2, I at least have interest in seeing how the two girls would progress without their collective crush around.

And, on top of all that, Tess is a Season 2 character. I find it very hard to believe that Tess will be eliminated next episode.

#2: Aiden

Alright, this choice is definitely leaning more on the meta side than the gameplay side. Gameplay wise, if Tess decided to side with Ellie and Gabby, it could be very easy for Aiden to be the target of their votes. But, I just don't think that Odd Nation Cartoons would want to eliminate Aiden at this point in the competition. The man is a fan favorite!

Of course, that was true of James as well... but, that only furthers my point. Given that James and Lake have already been eliminated from the competition, getting rid of Aiden would wipe that entire friend group of characters out. In my opinion, it would be odd for Aiden to have that confessional about playing for James, Lake, and himself, only to be eliminated three episodes after Lake. Aiden is also still a major plot point in the Jake/Tom romance that I think they'll want to keep around for a little longer.

Also, if the theory that James will return to the competition at some point (because he hasn't had a "reading the patrons names" segment yet) turns out to be true, I suspect that they'd want Aiden to still be in the competition for his return. Aiden should be safe.

#3: Jake

You know who else is a part of the Jake/Tom plotline? Jake. I don't think our favorite(?) whiny idiot has his head on the chopping block right now, despite being a S1 character.

Although, Jake's safety is actually mostly not a meta read. I just straight up think that his elimination would be the most baffling on the Magenta Team. Ally could go home if the Jake/Ashley/Fiore alliance decides to finish what they started when they eliminated Hunter. Fiore could go home if, now that the couple has been split up, Jake and Ashley unite with Ally to take out one of the villains. Even if Ally and Fiore somehow had the power to band together and use a totem or something to send one of Jake or Ashley home... I still think it would be Ashley. That's partially based on meta logic of considering Jake a more important character than Ashley, but there are in-universe reasons why they might choose to eliminate Ashley over Jake, too. For Fiore's sake, Ashley has more of a vendetta against her specifically. Ashley is also an athletic and friendly person who could situate herself very well if she made the merge, whereas Jake (who's already demoralized at Miriam's exit) would likely only incite more conflict and use his vote in petty ways. (Sorry to Jake fans lol, I'm kinda slandering your boy.)

Anyways, any other Magenta elimination makes more sense to me than Jake, so I think he's pretty safe.

#4: Tom

Rounding out the Jake/Tom/Aiden love triangle, we have Tom at #4. It's a lot of what I've already covered with Jake and Aiden. There's so much drama yet to be had with this trio that knocking down one of its legs (specifically, the central leg) at this point feels like a loss. Also, I really don't understand why the Cyan girls would choose to eliminate Tom instead of Aiden, which means I'm basically predicting that both of the Cyan boys are safe. That includes Tom, so, good for him!

#5: Ally

And once again, we're looping back to a prior entry. For Tess to reunite with Ally at the merge, Ally has to make it there, too. So, despite her boyfriend's fate, I think Ally will be sticking around for a little while longer.

It's a bit counterintuitive, but I sort of think that Ally will stay because it would be too obvious if she went home. Jake, Ashley, and Fiore eliminating Ally in a 3-1 vote is exactly what you would predict would happen looking at the tribe on the surface. So, for the sake of intrigue, I feel like something would happen to prevent it. In the preview, we see her having one-on-one conversations with Ashley and Jake, so maybe they would feel bad for her and decide to flip on Fiore. Maybe Ally could pull an epic gamer move and find an idol to play on herself. That could be in conjunction with Fiore and her connections to the villains alliance, or it could not.

Tess, Aiden, Jake, and Tom I was pretty confident about, so Ally is the first entry where I'm a little worried putting her this high. But, I have faith in her (especially as a S2 character) to not get the boot in this upcoming episode.

#6: Fiore

This might just be the Fiore stan in me, but I don't think she'll be going home next episode. I mean, she's literally been blessed by the gods! What am I supposed to do against that?

Fiore is in a pretty decent position, being allied with Jake and Ashley while also being on pretty decent terms with Ally. She's also just, like, way smarter than the majority of the competition, so if she found herself in a tight spot, I could see her manipulating someone to weasel her way out of it. Fiore is also a potential winner pick of mine (again, I'm a Fiore stan), and her elimination at this stage could prevent her from making the deep run that would result in her return to the Final 2.

Despite all of this-- and this is a slight aside-- I actually think that Jake and Ashley may have made a mistake in eliminating Hunter over Fiore last episode? They said it was better for their strategy, but I don't think that's necessarily true. It would be a good move for their strategy if they could count on Fiore being a solid alliance member at the merge, but it's pretty obvious she has no allegiance to the S1 duo. She literally already has an alliance-- the villains alliance-- that she would most likely bail to if she makes it to the merge. If Jake, Ashley, Hunter, and Ally all voted to eliminate Fiore, they could diminish the threat of the villains alliance and put their own feud on pause. If Hunter is correct, and getting rid of Fiore prevents them from losing any more challenges, than the feud never has to be unpaused, and all four of them make the merge. The only way that Jake and Ashley could run into trouble is if Magenta does have to go back to Tribal as a foursome. Then, it could be problematic for them if they were forced to turn on each other at Hunter and Ally's whim, because the couple (who were already fighting with each other!!!) could be unwilling to turn on one another, preferring to leave things to chance.

It feels like the narrative has already saved Fiore twice-- once via Alec and once via Jake and Ashley's "strategy"-- so I believe that the narrative has greater plans for Fiore yet. It could be reuniting with Alec. Who knows? (Please be reuniting with Alec. Please be reuniting with Alec--)

#7: Ashley

Um... so I just straight up don't think that Magenta is headed back to Tribal next episode. Surprise!

Like I said, these predictions are just about the next episode. And, given that Magenta just went to Tribal and is low on numbers, I don't think that they'll be headed back there. Therefore, none of them would be next episode's boot.

It's not a given, as the Purple Tribe got pretty demolished in S1, but for an All Stars season, I don't think Odd Nation would want the eliminations to be so unfairly stacked in one direction. I could be making an incorrect call here, because, logically, I really don't know why the Magenta Team would be any good at the musical challenge that's shown in the preview...? I just believe in them, I guess. You can retroactively apply this same reasoning for bonus points on Jake, Ally, and Fiore's entries as well.

Anyways, Ashley! Out of the Magenta Team, I do feel like she's the most expendable, perhaps because she was the earliest elimination from S1, and came back without most of her allies from S1 (Will, Lill, Nick). We also already got the resolution to the fire plotline that was left dangling in S1, which means there aren't many more questions I have about her character.

On the other hand, why bring Ashley back if you didn't have bigger plans for her this time around? They've eliminated a lot of people who made it close to the end at the beginning this time, so it would stand to reason that some of the people who were eliminated closer to the beginning might make it closer to the end. The potential of Ashley bonding with some of the S2 competitors at the merge is great for bringing some new iconic relationships to life.

Even if I think Ashley may be the most expendable, I don't really think that any of the Magenta players are narratively expendable, which is why I placed them all so high. I'll be eating my words if they're headed to Tribal next time, so these guys had better rock on at the immunity challenge!

#8: Riya

And now, for Magenta's counterpart, a team composed of people that I feel like all have an argument for leaving sooner rather than later... the Yellow Team.

I don't remember if it was on YouTube or Tumblr, but I recall seeing someone theorize that Riya might be the next boot because of how much she's annoying her team. She's pushed Connor away, stirred up drama with Yul, and is shown hogging the team's shower in the episode preview. It would make sense if Riya's selfish and villainous actions led to her downfall, so, at first, I liked this logic, and planned to put Riya near the bottom.

However, when I actually started counting votes... I just didn't see it. Even if Connor and Riya's relationship is strained, I don't know if he would be willing to eliminate someone he cares about. Yul believes that Connor voted for him last time, so he'll probably be out to take revenge on Connor. Grett, at this point, would most likely vote with him. Alec too, as long as he lets his strategy of keeping the villains team in power beat out the friendship he's begun to form with Connor. Where are the Riya votes? I'm not really sure.

I think that the theorizer is on the right track with predicting that Riya's bad attitude will eventually lead to her elimination. However, I don't think she'll be off the Yellow Team just yet, so she lands at #8 for me.

#9: Connor

Counting votes made it seem like Connor would be the next boot from the Yellow Team... so why do I have him as the second least likely to go?

Well, much like Ally, I feel that Connor's elimination is so obvious that it wouldn't pan out that way if a Yellow Tribal actually happened. There are definite cracks in the seams that could lead to votes not going in an obvious direction-- with Miriam's blow to the alliance, Alec might see Connor as a better confidant than any of the villains, and/or Grett might see what a terrible boyfriend Yul is and decide to flip on the villains. We also don't know exactly how Riya feels. She certainly acts as if she doesn't care if Connor stays or goes, but the truth is that she hasn't actually been "forced" to vote for him yet by her alliance. If push came to shove, who knows what she'd choose?

Combined with the fact that he (and Riya) are S2 characters, I think Connor would manage to survive a vote if Yellow is headed to Tribal. I'm not that confident about it, though, so he lands at #9.

#10: Yul

And here's Yul, our lowest placed S2 competitor in this ranking. If a S2 character is headed home this week, I think it would probably be him. He was a terrible person in S2, and has continued to be a terrible person in All Stars, so it's easy to see why the players (and the audience) might want him out of the game. Grett, my beloved, please lead the charge in kicking this asshole off the tribe.

However... there's also evidence to suggest that Yul won't be going home so easily. Beyond just being a S2 character, the end of this episode (and part of the preview) established that Yul has some sort of connection with Emily, our mysterious new staff member. I don't know exactly what this relationship is-- my original guess was that Emily could be Yul's manager, but their interactions in Episode 1 (as well as Grett's interactions with Emily in Episode 1) make me feel like that wouldn't be the case. Regardless, there's something going on between him and Emily, which adds some intrigue to Yul's character.

I have also considered that this relationship with Emily might be a one-episode thing, an interaction that actually spells doom for Yul instead of longevity. However, as this is one of the first major things we've seen Emily do, I feel like her connection to Yul may be a major aspect of her character and even why she exists. If that's the case, Yul may be quite important to the season, and be set up to make a very deep run.

However, my uncertainty on why Emily has summoned Yul and belief that the Yellow Team has good reason to eliminate him prevents him from taking one of the top spots. ...There's still a good amount of space below him, though.

#11: Gabby

A good part of why Gabby is ranked this low is because she's a S1 character, I'm not gonna lie. But I do genuinely believe she could be in trouble next episode, and here's why.

As opposed to S1, in which she was a staunch defender of the environment, insecure and petty, and a little bit insane, Gabby's character in All Stars seems to have been simplified to "Ellie's peppy girlfriend." She did refuse to eat the chicken last episode, but I feel like S1 Gabby would have, like, threatened to take their heads off if they beheaded the chicken. The portion of the preview for next episode where Gabby has the crazy eyes makes me hopeful that that aspect of her character will be making a comeback, but we'll have to see what happens.

For now, her role has been pretty limited, which makes me think that she could be an early boot from the season. She doesn't seem to have any new plot threads introduced, new developments in her character as a result of what happened in S1, or important relationships, other than with Ellie. If she were eliminated next episode, that could be because Gabby is in little enough of the show that there wasn't enough time to give her a proper character arc.

The reasons behind why the Tribe (presumably minus Ellie) would unite to eliminate Gabby are a little fuzzy, but not completely implausible. If Gabby were to be eliminated, I think it would be as a blow to Ellie, getting rid of her closest ally. That could tie in to why so much of her characterization this season has been linked to Ellie-- if being in a relationship with Ellie is the reason why Gabby is eliminated, then that's all we need to know about her in All Stars.

#12: Alec

Oh Alec... I hope you make it out of this episode alive.

This may come as a surprise to some people, as I've seen speculations that Alec may be set up to be the season's main villain. However, I'm worried that his strong entrance may be a front intended to get him some screen time before he exits the competition shockingly early.

You see, while Alec is currently the mastermind of the Yellow Team, it's a rather precarious position to be in. The villains alliance seems to have remained stable enough to near-unanimously take out Miriam last time they went to Tribal (even though Riya didn't wind up voting for Miriam, she was conceptually fine with it). However, I doubt that Miriam's silver "Alec is untrustworthy" bullet will go unused. If Alec attempts to push his luck by trying to force people into votes they don't want to make, or if his friendship with Connor causes others on the team to suspect that he's playing both sides, the alliance could revolt against its leader.

I still think that Alec will probably survive until the merge, just so that we can see his relationship with Fiore evolve further. Who knows, maybe he really is the season's main villain, and will finally make it to the final 3 he feels he was robbed of in S1. However, I think that Alec's vote could be a reasonable blindside on the audience, which makes me worry that it's the right narrative move to take.

#13: Grett

Oh Grett... I'm even more worried about you than Alec. Clearly. Because you're directly beneath him.

Look, I really want to believe that Grett will be able to stand up for herself this season and absolutely demolish Yul, getting to play the rest of her game after his departure in whichever way she sees fit. However, sometimes the villains have to win in order to create stakes, and I could see a temporary Yul-over-Grett victory doing just that.

An unfortunate step in her journey to becoming a better person, Grett has totally tethered herself to Yul, a relationship in which she seems far more invested than he. As opposed to her bossy demeanor in S1, she's taken too many steps back, and seems to automatically yield to whatever Yul has to say. Her characterization this season is very linked to his presence, which makes me wonder what she would do if he left the show. She could go align with the villains alliance herself, but... is she really that much of a villain anymore without Yul?

And, that's part of the problem. I can very easily see a plot line where, next episode, Yul continues to put Grett down, and does so increasingly after Yellow loses the challenge. Grett finally musters some of her old courage and lashes back at Yul a little, saying that it's not her fault that they lost. Then, Yul reports to Alec and Riya that Grett tried to backstab him, and doesn't want to work with the villains anymore. Alec and Riya, who both didn't really want to vote for Connor anyways, agree to take out Grett to 1) split up a potentially problematic duo and 2) make their alliance look like it's weakened. Grett goes home with a broken heart, but has at least learned that she shouldn't stand by Yul any longer. Maybe she could get some revenge from beyond the grave later on in the season somehow, like cancelling him during the finale or something like that.

Really, the biggest flaw I can see is that... I don't know if Yellow is going to be losing the immunity challenge. Part of their performance was in the preview for next episode, and it looked pretty good! I feel like Odd Nation Cartoons wanted to show us something super cool to get us hyped for the next episode, so getting us really excited over the team that turns out to be the losers would be a little confusing. Who knows, maybe there could be some level of sabotage for the Yellow Team that causes their otherwise excellent performance to fail.

I don't know if I would have come to the conclusion of Grett being a possible boot if I didn't think a S1 character was going home... but now that I have, I'm afraid that I've seen the writing on the wall.

#14: Ellie

And yet, Grett is not in last place, because Ellie is.

Call it a gut feeling, but I kinda get the vibes that Ellie might be the season's next boot. It doesn't make sense, right? Ellie has strong relationships with so many characters, from Tess to Alec to Jake. She, too, could be in contention for the title of season villain. Why would they get rid of her so early?

Well, much like Alec, I fear she may have been too villainous too fast. Her negative connections to so many different characters leads to it making a lot of sense to vote Ellie for a lot of reasons. Does Tom want to get revenge for his and Jake's breakup last season? Vote Ellie. Does Aiden want to avenge Lake and keep himself and Tom in the game? Vote Ellie. Does Tess want to decrease the numbers of the villains alliance? Vote Ellie. That's three votes for Ellie, and Ellie is eliminated. I don't even think she would be saved by a totem, given that Ellie has already been saved by a totem once before, and it would be kind of repetitive for Gabby and Ellie to do that again.

Now, you could argue that eliminating Ellie here would cause the same problems for Gabby as it would eliminating Yul for Grett. I struggled to see what Grett would do in the game if Yul was eliminated. Wouldn't Gabby be the same, after I detailed why I thought her character had been simplified to be tied to Ellie?

Not exactly. A post-Yul Grett confuses me a little because I think that getting rid of Yul would uplift Grett. It would remove the struggles that her character is facing, and leave her characterization less complex for it. On the other hand, a post-Ellie Gabby makes sense because getting rid of Ellie would create more problems for Gabby. Once again, she would have been stabbed in the back by her tribemates (including Tom and Tess, who she considers friends), but not even have Ellie or a totem to lean back on this time. She might want to burn her tribemates to the ground, but if she acts up too much, she could be next in line. And despite her desire for revenge, she would have to wonder... who was really the bad guy in the elimination, her tribemates or her girlfriend?

I think it's possible that Gabby's character may have been simplified for now because the inciting incident of Gabby's All Stars characterization is Ellie's elimination. Prior to that episode, we establish how much Gabby cares about Ellie, so that when Ellie exits, we feel how much it hurts Gabby. We've seen how Ellie acts after Gabby was eliminated before, so I think it would be far more interesting to see the opposite in All Stars. Also, Ellie has made it to the final before-- twice, if you count the original "Adventure Camp" season-- so it would make sense if, this time, she was kicked out closer to the beginning.

Much like with Grett, the main issue I have here is that I don't know if the Cyan Team would lose this competition, either. They have a lot of artistic people on their team, which makes it seem like they would thrive. However, if Cyan isn't losing, and Yellow isn't losing, that would mean that Magenta is losing, and I've already said why I don't think Magenta is going to lose. So, maybe Cyan is overconfident in their performance, or maybe another team (Magenta?) tries to sabotage them so that the team can take out Ellie (or Aiden, if it's Jake's idea). Maybe the performance has to be a rock song, and the Cyan team is all really bad singers. (Okay I just learned that apparently Aiden's VA is a very talented singer. Maybe Aiden won't sing or something.) I don't have enough details yet.

And, that's the end! I've never done a power ranking before-- not even for Survivor, which I've been watching for years, as opposed to Disventure Camp's "less than one month"-- so I have no idea how well I'll do. Are my instincts good, or are my expectations and the writers' decisions worlds apart? I guess I'll have to see when the next episode airs, and create my round 6 predictions accordingly. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this new project of mine!

[banemmanan]

GFU Stats #2

Some fun statistics from the TV show The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.

This is a revised, updated, more accurate version of this post.

This post is based on a series of posts by @commander-kiranerys where they compiled similar data for the series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (e.g. Season 3). All but one of the data categories that I collected can be found in those original posts along with some more that I didn't count.

Explanation #1: why the recount?

As mentioned in my original post, I counted that first set of statistics in just three days. How do you fit roughly ten epispdes into a day? Well, truth be told, I watched them at double speed. I had a whole bunch of assignments due at the time, but this idea had lodged itself into my brain and I had no self-control, so I did it as quickly as I could in order that I could focus on my uni work again. This time, everything was watched at regular speed and I will admit that there was a lot that I missed the first time around. After I watched it through the first time and recorded data, I then watched it through a second time, this time with my sister as an impartial second opinion, and we both recorded separate data. The results are an average of these three data sets and thus I feel that they are much more reliable this time around.

Explanation #2: what's 'S' and 'F'?

For the categories 'Escape' and 'Rescue' the S in brackets stands for Successful and the F for Failed. Escaping entails getting free under their own power and if someone not in the 'captured' scenario got them out then it was a rescue.

Disclaimer #1: objectivity of results

If comparing these results to the muncle stats, bear in mind that they have been compiled by two different people. We might have different ideas as to what qualifies as 'being captured' or 'an escape attempt', etc.

Disclaimer #2: additional data

Due to Mark Slate not appearing in the third episode (instead appearing in the Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode of that week), data was gathered for him from that episode (the Galatea Affair) instead. Thus, all results could still be divided by 29 in order to establish the average per episode. I do not know if commander-kiranerys did the same for Napoleon with regards to season 3. I did not record any data from the MFU episode, the Moonglow Affair.

Observations:

Captured: April seems to be a bit of a damsel in distress here when you look at the numbers, but in fairness to her, she manages to escape on her own slightly more often than she needs rescuing. Considering also that Mark gets himself captured 20 times over the season; he's not exactly got a stellar track record either. Though more than once per episode for April is pretty disappointing and I think probably reflects the attitudes of the time. You may notice that the escape/rescue number for together is higher than the capture together number. This is due to instances where they have been captured individually, but then brought together in captivity and thus are together when they escape.

Arrested: I included this one only because I find it very funny when they get arrested by the regular law enforcement rather than by THRUSH and then have to sheepishly call Mr. Waverly and ask to be bailed out... I did not count these instances as them being 'captured' though, as I feel that requires malicious intent rather than a will to uphold the law.

Knocked out: bashed on the head, tranquilized, and one instance of fainting (surprisingly that wasn't April). Mark alone surpasses even the highest of Napoleon and Illya's combined totals! Suffice it to say, these two probably have near constant concussions (and that honestly explains a lot).

Restrained/chained/tied up: again, April features here significantly more than Mark does. The ratio is pretty consistent with being captured, though. 'Restrained' is just a combination of the chained/tied up categories as that is how I had initially understood commander-kiranerys to have comiled it (I'm less sure about that now though). Retrospectively I think I should have used it as an 'other' category to mean anything not done using rope or chains e.g. leather straps or being physically held (or in one instance a plant). Either way, what I find interesting in these results is that April and Mark were never tied together at any point (though there is a promotional photo that features this).

Tortured: interestingly very even here, despite the writers' clear reluctance to let April get roughed up (unless by another woman). But then again, I think deciding what is and isn't torture might be quite subjective (which is why I left it out the first time around). There were actually a number of instances that were a grey area for me and I wonder now if I should have included them; I erred on the side of caution and actually these figures might be higher if I'm fully honest. It's too late for doubting now though I guess. Feel free to debate!

Drugged: the vast majority of these are knock-out gas/chloroform/sleep darts/etc. so these results overlap a lot with the 'knocked out' category, though there are a couple of instances of drugs with other effects on the body.

Shot: April was never shot in the entire series (very lucky! but also maybe very indicative of the show writing of the time - she can be in peril, but heaven forbid that she's roughed up!) Mark on the other hand was either shot 3 or 4 times. The uncertainty comes when after seemingly being shot during a scene, he is perfectly fine mere seconds later and doesn't comment on the fact at all. So I'm not sure if he was definitely shot. I included a gif in the original post to illustrate the initial incident, so if you want to make your mind up for yourself, you can go and take a look at that. Personally I think 4.

Wet: surpassed only by season 4 in terms of average, but in raw numbers they reign supreme. It's a good thing they can both swim... I guess they are the blorbos that come in 'soggy wet' variety...

The disclaimers and stuff became way longer than I'd expected, but I wanted to be transparent about everything (can you tell I'm on another university degree) anyway, I hope you find these useful or at least interesting! I would love to have any sort of discussion regarding these!

[in-a-slanted-outhouse]

For the THIRD time (without read more because I feel like that’s what’s messing me up) because tumblr is being annoying

May I present to youuuu

Diego secretly asking Five to teach him how to braid hair so he can braid his kid’s hair after they’re born

It’s not much nor is it perfect and I literally wrote it in fifteen minutes but if people are interested I may write more

Enjoy!

—

“Pick a side, grab a bit near the front and divide it into three sections.”

Five tensed as Diego took his hair into his hands, pulling apart the strands and swallowing. Five could see his clueless face in the bathroom mirror, fumbling uselessly with the ends and sighed, pulling his head away.

“That’s the back, Diego,” he muttered, shifting on the stool as Diego’s hands dropped into his lap, “pick a side and stick to it.”

It was a Tuesday- the day which Lila would leave to go to her new mother support group and so Diego, being Diego, had decided that since he was off work early and they didn’t spend much time together, that he wanted to get in some brotherly bonding before she came back. Five would admit that he was more prepared to be having some kind of therapy with the man, whether it be him calming Diego’s fears about being a father or Diego attempting to get him to open up, he didn’t know, but he hadn’t been expecting this.

“Yeah, but Five…” Diego replied, picking up a couple strands from his head and dropping them as Five squirmed. He hated people touching is head. It was a miracle that Diego even managed to persuade him to agree to let Diego go this. “your hair’s… kinda short at the back.”

It was shoulder length.

Five rolled his eyes, reaching up to his left side and separating his hair, “well, asshole, you didn’t think that ten minutes when you asked me to do this,” he took a handful from the front, pulling his bangs out and holding up to Diego, “take this from the front- it’ll be easier to braid.”

Diego glanced between the hair clutched between Five’s fingers and his face in the mirror before reaching out and taking it from him, rubbing the strands between his fingers.

“Aight,” he muttered, looking slightly constipated, “now what?”

Five sighed, eye lashes fluttering, “separate it into three equal sections.”

Diego nodded sliding his fingers between Five’s hair and pulling it apart into three roughly separated sections and holding them loosely.

“Do you know how braid, at all?” Five asked, tilting his head back to glance at the man, immediately met by a blank expression.

“Uh, no?” Diego muttered back, “that’s… why I’m asking you.”

Five sighed, dragging a hand down his face. This was gonna take fucking forever.

“You know this would be a lot easier if Lila was here, right?” he explained, pressing his hands together, “because she actually knows how to braid.”

Diego shifted behind him, “yeah, dipshit but I want it to be a surprise,” and then a little quieter, “and I wanna be able to braid my own kid’s hair.”

Five grumbled. This kid was going to be the death of him and they weren’t even born yet.

“Y’know what? Fuck it,” he muttered, reaching up to grab the right side of his hair and pulling out a section roughly the same size as he had done so for Diego, “copy me. I’ll do this side, you do that side,” he explained, pulling the section into three, “watch closely, or you’ll fuck it up.”

Diego rolled his eyes in the mirror.

“Alright, boomer show us how it’s done.”

[xoxardnekoxo]

Movie Review: TMNT Mutant Mayhem

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Ah, Ninja Turtles. My childhood superheroes... oh who am I kidding, my eternal superheroes. :D This fabsome foursome debuted in 1987, the same year I was born, so I literally grew up watching the franchise. The series has gotten several reboots over the last three decades, and it's still going strong. The hype now is around the latest installment, Mutant Mayhem, created by Seth Rogen.

So, confession - when I first heard details about this movie and saw promo images, I was NOT on board. The art style is amateur at best, and yet another one of my beloved childhood redheaded characters has been black washed. First Ariel, now April? If we could stop doing that, that would be great... I'm totally okay with her being heavyset and more realistic in terms of body. We could all use THAT type of PC upgrade for beloved classic characters. But at least keep them the same race we've always known them to be.

But enough about that. It wasn't just the art style that made me stick my nose up in disgust at yet another remake of my ultimate childhood series. I'm literally a mega fan - my TMNT collection dates back 30+ years and is still growing, and it features some sort of item from every series thus far (with the exception of Rise... because even I can't get on board with that one). I'm talking figures, plushes, clothes, jewelry, hats, backpacks, bookmarks, magnets, buttons, piggy banks, etc. You name it, I've got it in TMNT form. So I'm very passionate about the show and can be quite critical of changes to it.

Which is why when I was starting to get past the art style, I was appalled to learn that not only would Shredder not be the main antagonist this time around, he wouldn't even be referenced at all.

Uh... yeah, we all know - we've known since 1984, when the comics came out - that Shredder is THE villain of the turtles. That's the one thing that's been consistent with every franchise (except The Next Mutation, but he at least made an appearance in that, albeit for a brief time). Instead, the bad guy is a hideous creature called Superfly. Kind of a double play on words considering he's literally a giant mutant fly with fancy/classy/fast cars and an entire mutant army and crime baddies at his disposal.

And Splinter? OMG, what did they DO to him? His face looks like someone splattered vegetables on the sidewalk. I see a squashed tomato/potato where his nose should be, and his "beard" is like the top of broccoli or a garlic clove. (shudder) And let's not get into the fact that, when the turtles were kids, he had a freaking Afro and a mustache. The turtles are meant to be 15 in this time, which would make the year roughly 2008 when they were kids, so the 70s look was way dated at that time.

Then we get more great news... not only are we now race-swapping characters; we're also gender-swapping them. Leatherhead and Wingnut, while minor characters throughout every iteration, are now girls instead of guys.

Leatherhead has always been an ally to the turtles, except in the original series, and considering the direction this movie took, I have to wonder if the writers thought it would be inappropriate to make them enemies because it would show teen guys beating up a girl. I mean, "beating up" may be a stretch, but you get what I mean. And Wingnut has always been super annoying to me, so I would have been okay had she not been in the movie at all. But I digress.

Okay, so, plot. Since Shredder isn't the main villain, the plot isn't the usual "stop Shredder from conquering Earth" thing. The movie starts with Baxter Stockman raising a giant mutant baby fly - in a crib and all - in a lab surrounded by test tubes of animals. Yeah, I didn't make that up. Animals of all different species and sizes are somehow shrunken down to conveniently fit inside a test tube.

Some heavy-duty suit guys break in and grab Stockman to take all his research at the behest of a mysterious woman named Cynthia Utrom. We know from prior series and lore that the Utroms are the alien race that created the ooze that caused the mutations of, well, all mutants. Utrom looks like a woman here, but she could be wearing a human suit like in the 2003 series. We don't know, and we don't find out.

Anyway, the baby fly escapes and takes out all the suits because, well, he's super strong and inhuman. And he has wings. He manages to grab all Stockman's test tubes and book it out of there, and then we fast forward to 15 years later where we meet our protagonists. Their current mission? To acquire necessities for the lair from a list given to them by Splinter. So they do this and they're like, "Hey, we've only been gone for a little bit. Let's go check out the outdoor movie playing in the park." So then we get to see them watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Yep, a live action movie in a CGI movie with art that's literally meant to resemble sketches like kids would draw.

So then they get back to the lair but Leo guiltily confesses that they all went to watch a movie in close proximity to humans. We're then introduced to the origin story of the turtles and Splinter, and while we're all familiar with it, it's slightly different this time. Splinter was a normal rat before, but he wasn't anyone's pet. He was a typical NYC rat, hated by humans (and raccoons... and dogs...) and one day he finds himself in the sewers and comes upon four baby turtles crawling around in green ooze. This ooze had come from a canister kicked into a sewer grate from Stockman's lab earlier. Splinter was shocked that the turtles took right to him, and they were the first and only things to not instantly hate him or want to kill him. So of course he touches the ooze and mutates, as do the turtles. He raises them as his sons, and honestly, I don't recall ever hearing him being called Splinter. All the turtles called him Dad. I don't think we ever knew his name... so if you didn't know of any other TMNT series before this, you'd have no idea what his name was.

Anyway, the turtles, as kids, wanted to go above ground one day, and Splinter thought he'd give it a try. Bad idea, because, of course, everyone freaked out and chased them away. So Splinter vowed to keep his sons safe and refused to let them leave the lair except to get supplies. We're also treated to a montage of cheesy old footage of actual martial arts movies/shows depicting how Splinter trained the turtles in ninjitsu as a means of self defense. He now loathes humans and wants nothing to do with them, and wants the same for his sons.

So after the confession of watching a movie, the turtles get grounded and are all talking in their room about what they'd do if they could be normal. Meanwhile, a crime spree has broken out with mega villain Superfly (yep, that's his name) stealing all kinds of high-tech scientific items... and if anyone sees his face, he kills them.

We're soon introduced to April, who, this time, is not an adult reporter. She's an aspiring reporter in high school, and she's collecting information on the Superfly case because, due to the crime spree, the school's prom has been cancelled and she thinks she can get it back if she solves the mystery of Superfly.

Well, the guys are throwing ninja starts at watermelons (because why not) on the rooftop one night, and one lands in April's helmet. As she's chewing out the shadows on the roof that she can't see, someone steals her scooter. And Leo decides this would be a great time to play hero and get the scooter back for the "beautiful human girl." Yeah, in the 2012 version, Donnie had a crush on April. This time around, apparently it's Leo.

The guys then partake in their first actual fight with bad guys - I'd love to say that I went YES in the theater when a car radio turns on and "Ninja Rap" from the original second movie is playing - and shortly thereafter, April sees them. But she doesn't freak out even when she realizes they're not wearing costumes. She's more interested in getting a story about them for the school newspaper. But of course, considering they aren't supposed to be seen or known about, that won't do. April then tells the guys that, had they not helped her beforehand by getting her scooter back, she probably would have had a much different and more negative reaction to seeing them. This gives the turtles an idea: Become heroes by finding Superfly and bringing him to justice, allow April to get it all on film to showcase them as heroes, and then she can write and submit her story.

April accepts the terms, and the turtles go to her high school with her and are all "ooohh, ahh, we want to go here." They find April's locker, which has been graffitied with things like "puke girl." We're then treated to the ever delightful scene of our female protagonist spewing what looks like green ooze all over a desk because of nerves while giving the morning announcements. Look, I know this is CGI and not real, but that was completely unnecessary. More on that later.

So to get to Superfly, the guys have to interrupt a transfer of goods, i.e. the final piece of some machine Superfly is building for his nefarious plot (which we don't know what it is yet). The guys are waiting in the truck and he shows up... with Bebop and Rocksteady. You remember them. The mutant warthog and rhino, respectively, from 1987 and 2012? Shredder's mutant allies? The ones Shredder created? Yeah, those two. Well, this time, since there is no Shredder, they were created in Stockman's lab. Remember all the animals in test tubes? Yeah, they're all grown now as well, raised by Superfly since he was the oldest. Stockman's plan was to create a family of mutants because he was never liked or understood by people. Superfly's plan is to pick up where his "father" left off... by turning all animals into mutants and killing all humans.

So of course, eventually the turtles manage to turn the tables and attempt to escape with the last piece of the machine Superfly needs to spread the mutagen. But of course, that falls apart and a bunch of Utrom's suits find and capture them. April races back to the lair to tell Splinter that his sons are in trouble... yeah, that's an awkward first meeting. Splinter shows up and takes out all the suits (Utrom has been taken away to safety), saves his sons, and they all start to head back home to come up with a plan to stop Superfly. It results in them basically appealing to all the other mutants, telling them that they don't have to listen to Superfly and that they have a choice. Surprise, surprise, they all turn against the big bad. Even Rocksteady and Bebop, and they're supposed to be villains... I realize their origin is different here, but come on.

Well, everyone takes out the giant mutagen machine... sort of. It lands in the river below, where there are dozens of species of sea life. Yep, you guessed it. Superfly merges with all the animals in the river. He gets a whale body, crab pinchers, some sort of tail, etc. And, for some reason, random horses on his legs. Wha... Oh, and he's now taller than the Empire State Building. Awesome.

Yeah, as if he wasn't ugly enough before LOL. Well, the suits in Utrom's lab had been working on an anti-mutagen, and April managed to swipe one of these canisters... somehow. It didn't really show how, she just did it. Times Square has a huge news report going on about mutants attacking, so April manages to get inside the Channel 6 (yep, the right station!) building to take over the report and explain that she knows the truth - that the only bad mutant is the giant fly/whale hybrid thing. And then she pukes again. Seriously, STOP THAT.

Splinter is trying to get to his sons, but Superfly manages to knock him back hard enough to break his leg. Humans approach, and he's terrified... but they're reaching for him to help him. So then we have humans and mutants working together to get the anti-mutagen to the turtles, who manage to throw it into Superfly's weak spot - the whale blow hole. Yep, that takes care of it. So then the turtles are revered as heroes, and the other mutants are all now living in the sewers with them... and the turtles wind up going to high school. They're got human clothes on, ditch their masks, etc. And all the kids welcome them and think they're super cool. April's locker has been re-graffitied with things like "cool girl" instead of "puke girl," and then the movie just... ends.

Then we get a post-credits scene, showing how the turtles are getting along in high school. Each one seems to have found his niche, and they're even all at the prom together. However, Utrom is watching them, and she says that capturing them will be difficult. So she asks her assistant to bring her... The Shredder! Then we see an outline of Shredder before the scene cuts away. So yeah, totally open for a sequel, as is the norm with movies these days. In fact, a sequel (and TV series) has actually already been confirmed! I mean, honestly, how could Seth Rogen, a self-admitted TMNT addict, create a TMNT movie without at least planning for Shredder to be in it?

So, all in all, it wasn't a bad movie. I appreciate the throwbacks to the original series, and I'm glad to see my favorite heroes getting so much recognition again.

However, there are definitely some things in this movie that weren't necessary. The top of that list is April's barfing scene. She was nervous doing the morning announcements at school and wound up throwing up as a result. Then later, during her news broadcast telling everyone that the only bad mutant is Superfly, she does it again... honestly, I get that we may need a reason for her to rather be behind the camera instead of in front of it, and she needs an obstacle to jump over to tell the people who tease her to suck it, but did it have to be that??? We're showing puke in kids' movies now? Please, just, don't... I don't care that it's a cartoon and looked like the ooze that mutated our beloved heroes. That doesn't mean I want to see it spewing out of someone's mouth. What is it with Seth Rogen and vomit movies? Is it like some unwritten rule that someone has to upchuck in everything he's in? UGH.

Also, this movie is rated PG, but... were all the nipple references necessary? Splinter is legit concerned that, if his sons are found by humans, they'll be put in a lab and milked...and they're like, "But we don't even have nipples!" Then the turtles say the same thing to April when she talks about writing a story about them, and she asks how that could be done for the same reason. Then later, in Utrom's lab, they are getting milked... but, I mean, how... way too much emphasis on that.

And did Splinter seriously need a love interest? With an unintelligible giant bug? Just... why? That's wrong on so many levels.

It was said from the start that this movie would focus mostly on the "teenager" aspect, and it absolutely did that. The guys weren't all serious about ninja training and mastering new techniques; they were more interested in what it would be like to be a normal kid, go to school, go to the prom, etc. And since it's 2023, and because it's Seth Rogen, we have to have some swearing and such, even in a cartoon. Mostly it's by Superfly (aka Ice Cube), so not surprising. But even the original 1990 live action movie had cursing LOL.

You know, I'm almost positive that the turtles never officially introduced themselves to April upon meeting her. She introduced herself, but I don't think they ever identified themselves. The closest we came was in they were in the school and Michelangelo was signing himself up for a talent show. We all know who they are, but a human meeting them for the first time more than likely wouldn't. Hmmm... I think some details got overlooked. Just like how I swear Splinter's name wasn't mentioned once in the entire hour and 49 minutes of the movie's runtime.

Anyway, as a hard-core TMNT fan, I did enjoy the movie. Definitely some things that I would have changed, and others that should have stayed true to the original, but all in all it wasn't bad. I think I can give it 8/10 and be satisfied. :)

[nexusvcrti]

TVDU TIMELINE IN MY CANON

This tends to be one of the most controversial topics out there, but since canon has confirmed that season 4 of Legacies takes place 3 years after season 5 of The Originals, I'm going to map out what that means in the timeline of what we see on the show with my personal canon. The timeline on the show (particularly Legacies) is just… super compacted, so if anyone hasn’t watched Legacies or actually cares about spoilers… beware. (note: This is revised based off the original meta I posted here.)

If you pay attention to the words and the dialogue in the show, they actually drop a fair number of hints as to the passage of time during the episodes. In the past, I always assumed that it followed the same timeline as most shows, where each season is roughly equivalent to one year, and with episode air dates matching with what’s happening canonically on the show, but it’s actually not the case in Legacies. Between the pandemic and general wonky primetime airing schedules, the timeline is a little more difficult to follow and not spelled out so neatly. 

Examples of the above include early S1 where the first few episodes are literally happening over the course of several days, maybe two weeks. There’s a few times the characters say things like “yesterday” or “a few days ago” or “last week” in their dialogue which I use to track the timeline.

Starting from the top, S5 tells us that Hope is 15 at the time that all of that plays out, and there’s an unknown time jump between the end of TO and the beginning of Legacies. In my canon, she is 15, almost 16 when the end of TO occurs and she loses her father and uncle. She takes the summer off from the school to grieve, while also learning to control her wolf side, and she is 16 when she rejoins the school, but she also spends half a year being a loner and watching Cutthroat Kitchen in her room. S1 begins while Hope is a few months shy of her 17th birthday on May 2.

Like I mentioned above, the first few episodes of S1 happen very quickly (going to find Raf and Landon, Landon stealing the knife, the dragon, the football game, the discovery of the monsters, the twins’ birthday). These all happen in a matter of days, maybe two weeks at the most. When the Honor Council stuff is happening, Lizzie asks Raf to the twins’ birthday “on Friday”, so we know it’s coming up quick. And the twins’ birthday is the first real date that we have confirmed on the show. So 1x06 is occurring on March 15. The next real “date” we have is in 1x12, where we know the school is on spring break. Now idk about y’all but in the States and when I was in school, the latest spring break ever seemed to be was like early/mid-April? So it sounds like the gap between 1x06 and 1x12 is a handful of weeks at most, which makes sense. During this time is the whole part where Hope goes and gets Landon back, the djinni episode, and the slug debacle. As far as the passage of time goes, there isn’t a lot of it during these plot points. S1 plays out over the course of like... three months, and Hope throws herself into Malivore right before her 17th birthday.

S2 picks back up at the beginning of the next school year and Hope crawls out of Malivore probably in August? Since it's after the Fourth of July but before the school year starts. Unfortunately, events like the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant and Founders Day don’t actually have set dates in canon so it’s difficult to tell what the passage of time is supposed to be like. However, we do know that 2x08 (the Santa episode) occurs in October. So the first half of S2 takes place over the course of a month or so? After that, the next hint of time that we get is the culmination of the season, where Dark Josie intends to push up the Merge timeline and do it on the twins’ birthday of that year. So we’re back to March 15 of the next year, and two seasons have passed in the span of one in-canon year. 

Now this is where the timeline gets even MORE messed up because of the pandemic and the weird airing schedules. But 3x01-3x04 were always supposed to be part of S2, so that’s where I’m putting it. Given the reactions by Alyssa and the rest of the witches in 3x01, not that much time has passed since Dark Josie was banished, there is again urgency with Raf’s problem, the musical, and then the final confrontation with the Necromancer where she loses Landon. 

There is likely another time jump after 3x04, because Kaleb references Sheriff Mac moving to Savannah with Maya, and Josie is working on her transfer over to MFHS. I’m guessing that most public schools aren’t going to handle transfer requests at the end of the school year, so it sounds like we’re back to the end of the summer again by the time 3x05 happens. This also makes sense in context of what’s happening in the A plot, where Hope is losing herself in her search for Landon, which probably would actually take months. However, once she finds the Monkey’s Paw and Cleo enters the picture, things begin to pick up again. Hope has also turned 18 during this period.

Now I’ll be perfectly frank, I only sat through S3 once and I still haven't fully watched the back half of S4 so I’m not as in tune with those episodes as much as I am with the others, but again, it does feel like time moves quickly in S3. With the monsters constantly coming and the appearance of golem Landon to push along the narrative, I can believe that this happens over the course of a few months, taking us to maybe November or December of that year, approximately a year and a half since S1 began. And of course, once Mali-Landon leaves, everything kicks up a notch. Like with S2, 4x01-4x04 were meant to be part of S3, and that’s where it makes sense narratively. 

Hope makes the realization that she needs to become the tribrid in the Star Wars episode, and everything from that point on shoehorns her into that plot. Again, we don’t have direct dates or events to mark the passage of time, but just going off what happens in canon, from the time they wake up from the vision quest to the end of 4x04, I don’t think there are any days where the Squad is just taking a break and lounging around (with the exception of 4x03, but I wouldn’t call that lounging around). 

Now we know that there is no timeskip between 4x04 and 4x05 because Lizzie directly alludes to the night before in her opener, so everything that’s happened since the beginning of the show has now occurred within something like two years (not the four I was assuming up until now). Again, with the urgency of the plot, Hope is not just sitting around and twiddling her fingers once the threat of Triad comes up, and the Squad is not waiting for Hope to come back. Hope’s actions include learning about Triad, having her misadventures with Clarke, Salvatore Idol at the school, her confrontation with actual Triad and Aurora, and her confrontations with Lizzie. Similarly, there is no time jump between 4x09 and 4x10, as the episode tells us. All of this is happening in a span of weeks, not months. 

All that said, by the time she has gone through the events of Legacies and is struggling with her humanity, about three years have passed since Hayley, Klaus and Elijah died, and about two years have passed since S1 starts. Hope was 16 at the time S1 begins (having turned 16 a little while after the S5 finale of TO, and taking the summer off to grieve, and mostly spending the first half of the year in her room watching Cutthroat Kitchen by herself or recruiting with Alaric. She is just about to turn 17 by the time she jumps into Malivore, actually turns 17 while in Malivore, and a few months shy of her 19th, when she has her first death in 4x03. 

This functionally doesn't change much of how I was playing Hope before. I've always played that she is 18 when she fully activates her tribrid side, permanently sealing her at that age. The only real difference is that she doesn't take a gap year between her parents' death / the new school year, just probably the last month of school and summer break. She returns that fall, but remains a recluse until February or March of the following year, which is when S1 of Legacies begins. It does mean she's only had her wolf for a handful of months, so her control is not nearly as stable as what we see in the pilot (aka easily shifting back and forth at will) and will likely play a role in her early characterization.

[mudbloodpotter05]

Fic Writer Asks!

I was tagged by @read-and-write- and happiness-of-the-pursuit

ao3 username: Muddbloodpotter05

Fandoms: I have only written for and published for two fandoms- EastEnders (British Soap), but I write for my Ben and Callum “Ballum”, specifically. They are my ride or die ship for that show. I also write for Red, White and Royal Blue.

(Though I did write for HP and crossed that over with Charmed way too many years ago, 😅)

Number of works: 11! (Four are for my EastEnders, Ballum ship and Seven are for RWRB, though one of those for rwrb is my catch-all for any drabbles or drabbles that exceeded the 100 word only requirement).

Work I spent the most time on: this one is a bit harder to answer…of my published stories, I would have to say it is between 3 stories. Two of them fall in my EE fandom for Ballum and those are Someone to Watch Over Me and Your Final Words. For RWRB it would have to be my Now and Then. All three of these took about the same amount of time (roughly two ish months) for each of these because I tend to agonize over my writing and wanting to make sure I frame it and get the flow how I want).

This is likely to end up changing due to the current story I am working on, which is tentatively titled “Time and Time Again” for RWRB.

Work I spent the least time on: besides any drabbles…it would be between two stories If Only for One Night, for EE and Ballum and then Lacrosse My Heart and Hope… - both of these stories just flew out of my brain and into a doc within a single day and then posted to ao3 a couple days later after my wonderful Beta went over them!

Longest fic: this would have to be Now and Then for RWRB. Again, this is likely to change as my new story is currently sitting a little over 8k and that is just chapter 1!

Shortest fic: my drabbles, definitely, though some exceed the 100 word maximum, so I will also list Is that my sweatshirt for RWRB. (It my newest story and contains smut and was inspired by some amazing art of Henry running while wearing one of Alex’s jersey’s.)

Most hits: Bump In the Night which clocks in at 5,540 hits!

Most Kudos: that would be Is that my sweatshirt and has 206 kudos! I love this for my one shot! (Again, mind the tags for Smut).

Total word count: 105,989 (published at this exact moment)

Favorite work of my own: oof, this question sort of hurts, 😅, but if I have to pick I would say any of those listed in the question about the ‘work I spent the most time on’. Those three have to be the ones I’m most proud of!

Fic you want to rewrite or expand on: it would probably have to be Now and Then, but only because I have ideas/thoughts that didn’t make it into the story.

Share a bit of a wip: this is from chapter 1 of my current multi-chapter story-

It’s old. Worn, but still seems to be in good condition. An antique. One of the drawers seems to be stuck, maybe locked. The last time he saw one that looked like this was on a trip to the Smithsonian in his Junior year. So yeah, a fucking antique it may be, but it was the only desk that Alex had found that sparked any sort of joy. (Thank you, Marie Kondo!)

That joy being: it was dirt fucking cheap and he was past being picky.

Well, not exactly. Or not only the price, exactly.

He didn’t know why, but when he looked at it…Alex felt wistful.

Maybe it was his lack of sleep. Maybe it was the air of history hanging about it. Maybe it was haunted! (Not that he believed in ghosts and crystals, voodoo and magic…that was all his sister, June) Or it could very well be the curry from the back of his fridge that he should’ve thrown away. Still, none of those were going to stop him from making this purchase.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And I am tagging….. @orchidscript @historicallysam @everwitch-magiks and @ethel0123 , but only if you want and haven’t done it yet!

[traumasurvivorshelpingsurvivors]

tw cocsa(?) | graphic description | sa

i need help. i need help defining what happened to me. it began when i was 4 or 5 and the other child was the same age. my sister and her friend were two years older than us so 6 or 7. they would make us (me and the other child) undress and touch each other's genitals while they watched from a corner. sometimes, they make us kiss. we were impressionable. we were young. we did it because big sister knew best. it went on for some years, maybe two. maybe three. it became a norm. a thing i had to do. whenever my sister had a friend who had a sibling who was roughly my age, i had to entertain them... sexually. if i wasn't made to show them my genitals, i had to put on a striptease for them, touch their genitals, kiss them. i was barely ten. i was made a sexual being before i was ready. and one time, i was climbing over a fence when this one kid (younger than me) poked me in my genitals before laughing. i was shamed for my outburst of anger. he was kid. he didn't know better... so was i. i was also a kid. i didn't know better. i became scared of the younger kid. avoided him at all costs. because if i avoided him then he wouldn't touch me again and it wouldn't hurt. all of this, the constant exposing, touching, poking, everything led me to be hypersexual with something short of a masturbation addiction. i have a horrible relationship with my body and intimacy. i have anxiety, depression, emotional dysregulation. i have extreme identity issues, a brittle sense of any belief i hold. i have deep feelings of shame and guilt. i cannot help but think i let this happen to myself. i need help. was this cocsa? or am i overdramatic?

Hi anon,

I'm sorry to hear about what happened. You're not being overdramatic at all. It's okay to be traumatized by this, and any feelings you have about this are valid.

It's understandable that you have concerns and questions about what happened to you. The experiences you described, where you were coerced into engaging in sexual activities at a young age, indicate that you may have experienced CSA, or more specifically, COCSA. Please know that you are not alone.

What happened to you was not your fault. As a child, you were unable to give informed consent or understand the implications of the situation. It's common for survivors to grapple with feelings of guilt, shame, and confusion. Please know that you deserve support and understanding.

It can be incredibly helpful to seek professional help from a therapist or counselor experienced in trauma and abuse, if you can access or afford it. They can provide a safe and nonjudgmental space for you to explore your experiences, process your emotions, and develop healthy coping strategies. Therapy can be a crucial step in your healing journey, allowing you to work through the impact of the abuse and find ways to rebuild a positive relationship with yourself and your body.

Ultimately, it's important to remember that healing takes time. You deserve support and care as you navigate this journey of recovery and reclaim your well-being. If anyone else has any comments or suggestions, feel free to add on. Otherwise, I hope I could help, and please let us know if you need anything.

-Bun

[toyahinterviews]

TOYAHZINE INTERVIEW BY LAURA MARSH 23.4.1981

This is an interview by Laura Marsh, who published five issues of the fanzine in 1980-81

LAURA: Favorite color? TOYAH: At the moment yellow, but it changes every week LAURA: Favourite food? TOYAH: Seafood. Octopus and squid. It's been my favorite for a year now, so it must be good  LAURA: Favourite drink? TOYAH: Feshly squeezed orange juice. I have gone non-alcoholic at the moment LAURA: Favourite film? TOYAH: “Suspiria”. It is about a ballet school. It's a normal horror movie. The exceptional things about it are the lighting, the camera work, the music and the special effects. Is three years old, and it flopped because it is a really weird movie LAURA: Favourite book? TOYAH: "Lord Of The Rings" – J.R.R Tolkien LAURA: Favourite TV show? TOYAH: "Mork & Mindy". But I prefer documentaries. I also like watching the schools programs (A BBC TV series called "Broadcast For Schools" covering various subjects)

LAURA: Favourite song?

TOYAH: I do have one that springs to mind, as I have so many. It's "In The Year Of 2525" by Zager and Evans. It frightened me when it first came out. I thought, oh my god, is that true? LAURA: Favourite group?

TOYAH: I like Teardrop Explodes and I like Ultravox. But there is no actual band or group I'd flip over

LAURA: Favourite male singer?

TOYAH: David Bowie and Eno

LAURA: Favourite female singer?

TOYAH: I like Kate Bush’s voice, but not the songs

LAURA: Favourite actor?

TOYAH: James Dean

LAURA: Favourite actress?

TOYAH: Billie Whitelaw. She's got a face like David Bowie, and it's just lovely to watch her speak

LAURA: Favorite makeup brand?

TOYAH: I prefer using Biba and Mary Quant. And there are specialized people I use for stage, which is a makeup A La Carte and Aqua Color, which are paints. I can paint pictures on myself without them smudging

LAURA: Favourite shop?

TOYAH: Swanky Modes for clothes and when I'm feeling very posh and pleased with myself anywhere in South Molton Street, which is a very expensive area - but I very rarely go there

LAURA: Favourite country?

TOYAH: Japan

LAURA: Favourite place?

TOYAH: In England Norwich, because it's so old and crooked and crumbly. Out of England I think the people in Berlin are wonderful

LAURA: Favourite pastime?

TOYAH: Cinema. I love going to the cinema

LAURA: Ambition? TOYAH: Astronaut LAURA: Favourite street? TOYAH: I like driving down Bishops Avenue (in North London). I just can't believe the size of the houses. I do like Kings Road. I like to watch the people, because they keep me in touch with reality. You know what's going on - where people's tastes are going. When I was at the Royal Court Theater, I used to sit looking out the window all day watching the people, all those amazing characters LAURA: Favourite type of music? TOYAH: Electronic music, purely because you don't have to listen to it. You don't have to waste time listening to it. It is just there, and it's relaxing FAVOURITE: Favourite perfume? TOYAH: Yeah! is my favorite, but I would never wear it because I always gas people with it. There is one - Carnation by Flores, which is lovely and there is another one Fleur De Lis by Hobert. But I will never go out of my way to buy perfume, because people think you may wear perfume to hide something LAURA: At what age did you choose your career and what did your parents think? TOYAH: I was roughly nine when I seriously decided. I have always wanted to do both acting and singing, basically because I was a greedy child. I also get bored doing the same things. If you're in music and you get bored ... it shows. The energy dies. My parents said no way. If I wanted to do it, I would have to do it off my own back. They did not finance me in any way, except for sending me to school LAURA: How did you actually start? TOYAH: Music was the priority, but I knew that I would have to start with acting as I was so frightened to sing. I would actually lose my voice if I ever had to sing a solo in the choir. I just couldn't do it. I had really bad nerves. I went to drama school and the reason I went to drama school was not to learn how to act, but to meet people that could help me Within a year at being a drama school, I was virtually spotted by a director, which led me to do a half hour play in which I helped write two songs which I sung in it. It was called “Glitter” with Noel Edmonds and a band called Bilbo Baggins. Phil Daniels played my boyfriend LAURA: When did you first form a band? TOYAH: At the National Theater where I met Joel Bogen. I had some songs that I had written and I wanted to play. It was in the punk era when everyone was picking up a guitar saying they could play, but they couldn't and I wanted someone who could genuinely play. But for a year we messed around and it was not a proper band. After a year, we decided to take it seriously LAURA: What was the band called? TOYAH: I think it was called Joe Bogen’s Boogie, or Joel Bogen’s Army. He had a very large ego that was totally unmentionable. He just stood there playing a solo for an hour while I just started putting lyrics in here and there. But when we decided to take it seriously. I took over and said what direction the band should go

LAURA: How long did (the play) "Tales From The Vienna Woods" last for?

TOYAH: Nine months

LAURA: Did you get on well with Sir John Gielgud?

TOYAH: No. Well, he's a very classy person, very upper class and I was completely the opposite. I was very noisy, very young and very boisterous. A lot of top actors just want peace and quiet backstage. I was known as the “Animal” because I always behaved as if I was in a zoo

LAURA: Did you prefer acting in something like (the film) “The Tempest” or something more like (the play) “Sugar And spice”?

TOYAH: I prefer “The Tempest”. Acting on stage can be monotonous. I would like to act in a film like “Sugar And Spice”. To me films are much more rewarding, whereas a play is over in nine months or so but a film is always there. A film is over so much more quickly, and the whole world gets to see it. I like the memory of celluloid. That's that is what's so great about James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. They are dead, but will never be forgotten

LAURA: Did you find memorising scripts easy?

TOYAH: Very easy. It's a program with me. I treat my brain as a book, and by memorizing lines I sort of write the lines down in my head and as you turn the pages you can read the book. It takes practice, but I'm starting to learn

LAURA: Which did you like best - (the films) “Jubilee” or “Quadrophenia”?

TOYAH: I enjoyed making “Jubilee" more, but I think that “Quadrophenia” was a better film. Even though it was disjointed, it was quite fun. It was the first movie I had ever made, and I was a bit naive. I thought it was the big time when of course, it wasn't. I was among London's elitist people, and as I was quite young I was treated badly, but I enjoyed it all the same

LAURA: Would you ever make a film or video about the band?

TOYAH: Yes, I'm making a video next week for the new single, but not one for the band yet. They are not developed yet as performers. So far the only person who looks good and knows what he's doing is Phil Spalding. He doesn't try - the others tend to try too hard but I will make a video of the band when they're ready

LAURA: Do you prefer the new band to the old?

TOYAH: Oh, god, they're wonderful. Well, with the old band - we all hated each other. We were all jealous of each other. We all bickered and we all wanted to have our own say but this band we all just keep to what we're good at, and we never stop laughing. Life is a complete laugh

We did a photo session for the cover of the new album on Tuesday. I had them all wrapped up except for Joel, he had a gold arm. They all had a gold face, and the others had gold lips and gold eyes. So they were all different. I just had them all wrapped so they look like chrysalises. I'm like a butterfly - the species (is) a Toyah species with all little Toyah’s around me

I’ve got great big dragonfly wings looking very romantic holding this alien head as though I have just had a war. The inside cover is the band as the chrysalises. They couldn't move as they were wrapped up like mummies and they all wanted to wee. It was just great fun. They were so patient. The other band wouldn't have stood for it

LAURA: Will you ever write your own film or play scripts? TOYAH: I'm working on some now but I would never put them on the video until they are perfect. I think that they may be ready after a good three or four years LAURA: Do you have lots of ideas for film work? TOYAH: Oh, totally. The video I'm doing with Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, who did the Visage video, is the idea of a gigantic alien playpen and things have got to get of it – an assault course. It’s partly my idea to have pyramids and things that come out and grab me. I want it to be vastly colorful and incredibly surreal. When I write a lyric I see the pictures first and then I write the words LAURA: Do you find it easy to write lyrics?

TOYAH:Incredibly easy. For the album very easy because the standard of the songs is so much higher, and the standard of my singing is the best yet. For the first time in my life I sound bold. I could never do that before because the music was not of a high quality

LAURA: Did you like making (the film) “The Corn Is Green?”

TOYAH: I liked it but I also found it hard that I was playing someone who was six years younger than me. It was a disciplined film. It was good fun, but yet again I was not accepted as I was young and came from Birmingham

LAURA: Did you get on well with Katharine Hepburn?

TOYAH: She was really wonderful. Her and George Cukor did give me a good time, but the rest of the actors really didn't know how to take me. Patricia Hayes and I used to go around together in a little gang terrorising this town called Betws-y-Coed in Wales. At that time she was recognised and I wasn't

So she kept telling everyone else I was Benny Hill's daughter, because people kept going up to her saying “I saw you on the Benny Hill show” and then she would say “yes, but this is Benny Hill's daughter.” We were followed all around. She was so rude to people who would come up and go “I know your face”. She would say yes 10 out of 10 and stick a cream cake in their hand. She was much worse behaved than I am and we had a really great time

LAURA: What is “The Blue Marigold” about in (the TV series) "Tales Of The Unexpcted"?  (below)

TOYAH: It is a very cliche story. It is about a model who has grown too fat and ugly to be a model and is no longer wanted and goes mad. The story is she has a boyfriend who uses her while she's famous and he walks out when she loses her job and that is why she goes mad. 10 years later she meets her biggest rival when she was a model who's now going out with that particular boyfriend. This was the hardest part for me acting wise. I had to play a 30 year old because 30 year olds are neither old nor young. They (the roles) are very hard to portray

I'm not telling you the rest, because it will ruin the story. I put a sequence in. The director was very kind and he let me try and take some of the cliches out. The sequence is in a mental home, which is purely a dream. I'm just in a white room, a baby, who is looking around gormlessly at what is going on. We put a lot of surreal touches in it, points of view from a mad person so it would be quite strange to watch

LAURA: Did you enjoy doing Tiswas? (A children's television series 1974-1982) Even the messy part? TOYAH: Oh yeah, because that's what people don't realise - it’s totally unorganised. I spent most of the hour before I went on running away from kids with custard pies who were trying to cover me. One kid actually got me before I went on. I was frantically wiping custard pie off me because I had one coming from Sally James (the host). It was great. And then suddenly they said, “read this board” and I was in “The Bucket of Water Song”. No rehearsal or nothing. It was great fun It really was my ambition to do Tiswas. I said to Sally James before could my dad come in and put a custard pie in my face? But eventually we couldn’t get him in as he too shy. So I said to Sally would she put it in my face for him. We did an interview about the next tour and eventually she said “this is from Toyah’s dad” LAURA: Why did you decide to add another date to your tour? (5.6.1981) TOYAH: Because the first one was sold out within one week, and I just thought it was necessary. If people want to see me then let them see me because I won't tour again this year so it has to be good. But at Christmas we are doing a big freebie. It might be at Wembley. It has got to be enclosed, as it will be in winter. So it has to be big as we think there will be about 10,000 people LAURA: So how long does it take you to prepare for a performance? TOYAH: I don't rehearse properly with the band. At The Rainbow I didn't rehearse at all. As you probably know I went wrong with every other song with the words so I made them up as I went along. I prefer not to rehearse. I'm so bloody frightened of forgetting them (the lyrics). It really brings the best out of me. It makes me hectic. But for this next tour we will rehearse a lot because I have got a film show and I've got things I want the band to do. The special costumes they will be wearing will make them look better We've got three weeks in rehearsal. The band will rehearse a week without me. I will go in and rehearse singing with them, and then we will be going to Shepperton (studios) to rehearse the actual show, which is vast and a great light show and stage. I will choreograph the band, because they will have to be choreographed. I don't choreograph myself LAURA: How long does it take for you to get ready? TOYAH: Two hours each night. That's more therapeutic than need. I could make myself up in 15 minutes but I have to calm down. I mustn't waste energy before the show so I try to be as still as possible. The best way to do is do it is to spend two hours on the makeup

LAURA: Are you going to change the style of your music? TOYAH: Yes! We have. It shall change for the whole album, a complete change LAURA: When's the album coming out? TOYAH: Mid-May LAURA: What is it basically about? TOYAH: It's a concept album. It does have a story, but not a very obvious story. I have poems to introduce the songs. It's a fun album. The main theme, although it is not a happy theme, is war, love and death. That's pretty usual. It’s a very sci-fi album. It is about space pilots and things like that. The stories are very strong. They are actually stories in music. It is all about spirit of adventure LAURA: And you said that the cover is you as a butterfly? TOYAH: It's me with dragonfly wings, not so much butterfly, having won a war, basically, and the whole album is the feeling of winning. Even though it is about war, it's about winning war LAURA: Do you make your own jewellery? TOYAH: Not all of it. I make the copper pieces that I put on my costumes purely because it is cheap to do that as they get ripped off so quickly LAURA: Do you make the bangles? TOYAH: No, I buy those because they're hard wearing. I lost those in Ireland. The audience took everything I had LAURA: When did you go to Ireland? TOYAH: Two weeks ago LAURA: I read about it in Hot Press (music magazine based in Dublin) TOYAH: Yeah, it did go very well. It was amazing. We were in this hotel that was surrounded by barbed wire yet they (fans) still got in, banging on the door, screaming Toyah! Toyah! LAURA: What about your famous glass eye ? TOYAH: (It's from) Carnaby Street. It is the ring out of "Lord Of The Rings" that Bilbo Baggins had LAURA: Do you contribute a lot to the basic Melissa (Caplan, Toyah's clothing designer in the 80s) designs? TOYAH: I say what direction to go in. Melissa makes a lot of the clothes in material like this (Toyah pulls on the hessian/woolly sofa she is sitting on) I don't like those so ask her to use cottons and drill and tell her to paint them. She made this (tugging on her blue and gold tunic) which is wonderful. In that way I'll contribute LAURA: Do you ever make your own clothes? TOYAH: Well, in Record Mirror - did you see that thing on “What You Wear”? I made that outfit LAURA: The one with the fringes? (below) TOYAH: Yeah, like a squaw. I made that about three years ago. It was one of the very first things I ever wore on stage, and they said that Melissa made it

LAURA: You must be good at making clothes then?

TOYAH: Oh yes, I did it in school. I've got a room at my flat where I make stuff

LAURA: Do you find it easy?

TOYAH: Yes, I never use a pattern as I know my own size. I just cut everything out and stick it together and it comes out okay

LAURA: Do you have a hobby?

TOYAH: Making clothes, making things. I love books with pictures in, not so much reading as I'm such a slow reader. So My hobbies are books, anything creative, cinema and putting my makeup on

LAURA: Do you go out a lot?

TOYAH: No – well, not since the single is a hit. I've not gone anywhere, literally. I went to this big posh restaurant the other day where the waiters are not allowed to bother anyone, as it is a big showbiz restaurant in The Strand where they all go for dinner. I walked in and got bloody mobbed. If you can't even go to the showbiz places, you can't go out. Just driving down the street I'll get kids running after the car. I never go out undisguised

I can't believe it is happening. I've got women going berserk. Some woman hung out of this minibus, screaming and banging on my window. So I said “hello, how are you?” and she went hysterical. I can't go out on my own because of it. They just don't believe you go out

LAURA: It must be hard for you?

TOYAH: No, I just worry about them. Why are they acting like that?

LAURA: I heard you went to a youth club in Redbridge as my uncle runs the place. What did you do there?

TOYAH: I went there to present some albums to people who raised money for the National Youth Club Association, which is a thing I've been supporting over the year. They said there will be about 40 people there, but this building was surrounded by kids, and it turned out to be quite frightening. So I just presented the albums, signed a hell of a lot of autographs and ran because it got really out of hand

LAURA: Will you be getting married? TOYAH: I might do one day. That's all I can say. There is no actual plan. I think my career stepped in the way, and I don't think I can let it go while it's getting on so successfully LAURA: I heard you were interested in the occult. Is this true?

TOYAH: I'm fascinated by it, but I would never practice it. I believe you need to know about things like this because they do exist

LAURA: Tell me about you and “The Necronomicon”? (A book by H.R. Giger)

TOYAH: I was given this book as a present and it fascinated me. The pictures brought back memories of nightmares I had, and they were the actual pictures I saw. I was young, I did not understand some of the dreams. I would love to get Giger to paint the cover of our next album

The interview in the fanzine ↓  Please click on the images to view larger versions 

Read the rest of the fanzines HERE

[thepurplewombat]

U mentioned that jgy is one of your favorite characters of all time, can I ask about your other fav characters of all time? I'm very curious bc u seem to be a cultured individual

Oh boy you sure may! *turns into an unskippable cutscene*. Not so sure about a cultured individual but let's see what consensus is once I'm done.

Olay so I'm going to go roughly chronological here, because everyone who has ever been a blorbo to me is, on some level, still a blorbo. So they all still count!

Okay so at the top of the list is one Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek The Next Generation) . My mom loves to tell the story of how I, at age three, decided I was going to marry Captain Picard and we would have six children. To be honest if he showed up in front of me today and asked me to run away with him on the Enterprise, I'm not sure I'd say no. He's such a wonderful character in so many ways - wise, kind, diplomatic. My first memory of watching television is the episode where he was assimilated by the Borg. The episode where Jean Grey from the X-men movies was an alien who became the perfect mate to the first person she saw when she hatched from her egg thing, and the first person she saw was Picard and so she still married the slimy guy from the enemy planet because Picard's perfect mate would never sacrifice duty on the altar of love lives rent-free in my mind decades later.

Dana Scully (X-Files). She's amazing. I love her. I love the fact that while she doesn't believe in the stuff Mulder does, she is openminded enough to acknowledge that science doesn't know everything, you know?

Neri from Ocean Girl. I watched this show when I was in primary school and I've got to tell you, Nonnie, for Literal Years all my Barbies wore wraps made out of rough hemp cloth. Her best friend was a whale named Charlie and she could swim underwater forever, she was amazing.

Xena (from Xena). Idk what to tell you, Nonnie, she was like, at least a third of my queer awakening.

Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) she tried. So hard. Like, she had a Destiny and she didn't want the destiny, but she was stuck with it and so she was going to do her damn best to live up to it. Spike, from the same show, is also on the list. He was just fun to watch, you know? (also Faith because I shipped her Buffy quite hard for a while)

Severus Snape, Harry Potter. He wasn't nice, but he was good, but tbh I adored him from the first time he appeared. Also, Hermione. Big hair and loves books? It me!

Everyone in Seaquest. Especially the captain and Lukas, who I'm pretty sure was included purely because TNG did it. But hey, I was like 15, I thought he was great.

Daniel Jackson, Stargate SG-1. He's just such a nerd? I love him tbh. I shipped him with Jack O'Neill but I appear to be alone in that (or all the archives where their fic was are dead now rip)

Teal'c, also from SG-1. It's just...how much courage does it take to turn on your literal actual god who is the source of your life? Also, the sass.

Garrus Vakarian, Mass Effect. I love him, your honor.

This one is chronologically in the wrong place since I read it when I was about 11, but Taita, from River God by Wilbur Smith. I loved that sneaky little asshole so damn much. I named my cat after him. (I was very annoyed when, years later, I read one of the sequels to River God, and on the first page Taita had a beard. Taita was a eunuch...)

Sarah Kerrigan, Starcraft. I could write a book about her. I have written a book about her. The first thing I ever wrote was a Starcraft fanfic (I had no idea fanfic even existed) about Kerrigan's clone Tedra. I'm weak for stories about evil governments, people who are treated like weapons, and assimilation narratives, so you can see why she captured my attention. (also I loved Zeratul, he was amazing)

Lestat from Interview with a Vampire. He was just cool.

There are a bunch more (I haven't even got to when I discovered danmei yet) , but unfortunately my power just went out and this post is already hella long, so take this as part 1 🤣

[microsuedemouse]

can you please explain spielberg’s master plan 👀

hello I somehow didn't see this ask until today I'm sorry!!

okay so. context. my younger brother absolutely loves terrible Syfy original movies, and others in that vein. bad creature features especially. he has watched literally like three quarters of them, iirc. you've heard of the big ones like Lavalantula and the Sharknado franchise, but there's so much more than that.

he also has some health problems that affect his metabolism and weight, and he struggles to keep his weight above a certain minimum threshold. when his weight gets too low, which also makes him feel generally pretty unwell, he’ll typically spend a few days doing basically Nothing but watching movies and eating as much as he can.

so anyway. a few years ago he was in the midst of one of those binges, and decided to catch up on some of the more recent Bad Shark Movies. for some reason, I sat down to join him, and we had one hell of a time. we also had this interaction, which I immortalized on twitter, because I tweet a lot about both my family’s nonsense and whatever I’m watching.

[transcription: a tweet from myself, @/MicrosuedeMouse, at 3:51 pm on 2020-11-16. it reads:

Corwin is having a Bad Shark Movies day, and we were browsing the suggestions after watching Five-Headed Shark Attack-

me: “do you think Spielberg knew what he was doing when he made Jaws? could he have anticipated this?”

Corwin: “this is all part of Spielberg’s Master Plan”]

we went on later to watch the fifth Sharknado movie, which is one of the most unhinged films ever made, I think. HOWEVER. I loved the phrase “Spielberg’s Master Plan” way too much, and it soon became a shorthand term amongst us and our other sibling for the broader canon of Shark Movies. every single sharksploitation film ever made is part of Spielberg’s Master Plan.

as an aside, we watched 6-Headed Shark Attack roughly five months later, and it is an absolutely galaxy-brained movie. I couldn’t explain it to you if I tried, but I HAVE had this gif saved to my phone ever since. there is rarely ever cause to use it, but I’m obsessed with it all the same. the scene it’s from permanently altered my life.

(you may notice it only has four heads. don’t worry. the fifth and sixth heads show up later.)

🦈🦈🦈

[secretsofdbz]

1 @secretsofdbz Cell did not arrive before Freeza. (Modified) Freeza along King Cool(?) reach with Earth with an Army after the Destruction of Namek(?). The Z-Warriors Assemble. They wait for Goku. Trunks arrives and finishes Freeza and the rest. Then Trunks talks with Goku. Trunks also fights with Goku. Trunks uses his Sword, but Goku uses his Finger as a Weapon to defend against Trunks' Sword. By this point, the only one who could become a Super-Saiyan is Goku.

2 @secretsofdbz But then Trunks also goes Super-Saiyan, which surprises Vegeta. Trunks tells Goku about the Future and that he is Vegeta's son. Picolo hears all of this, although he is quite far away. I think Trunks also gives Goku the Antidote. Sometime later, Androids show up. Even Trunks doesn't know that Cell existed at this Point. While fighting the Androids, people start disappearing and then Cell appears.. Then the Cell-saga begins....

3 @secretsofdbz I grew up along with this Show.... I am from India. Sadly, this show was only premiered on Cartoon Network. They never continued things as they went. They would always play till the Beginning of some Saga and then go back about 200 Episodes or so. We would then watch everything again... It is not easy to forget... After your next Reply/Reblog, I will block you. I don't need your Insults/unnecessary Remarks. Thanks for your Time

So you're basically telling me the story of the Trunks arc, that's alright, I know it.

I have been watching DB since a solid ten years prior to Cartoon Network's airing, buuuut.. Yes, Meca Frieza and King Cold arrive on Earth after the Namek Saga (roughly one year and a half, actually). And Trunks kills them both, gives the warning and the antidote. That is correct, your memories are ok on that front! The warning is "in roughly three years, on May 12th, the Androids will appear".

The point is that Cell Was Already On Earth At This Point. He was in a Larva form, buried and maturing near Gingertown, and only hatched three years after the Trunks vs Frieza fight. He had arrived "Four Years Ago" (cf the manga panel I posted, this is the same line as the anime). So Cell and his stolen Time Machine were already on Earth by this point. That's what I've been trying to explain. The divergence happened at that time when the Stolen Time Machine arrived with the Larva of Cell (one year before Frieza's arrival on Earth) which is the reason behind some of the changes in the Timeline. Trunks himself said "Frieza arrived earlier than he should have" which is why he had to intervene against Frieza, because in his timeline, Frieza and Goku arrived more or less at the same time. And we KNOW Goku did not instant-transmission/teleported to fight Frieza in the Future Timeline because otherwise Trunks wouldn't have the landing pod's coordinates (that Bulma gave him before his first trip to the past).

Let me spell it out again: Cell Arrived On Earth Before Frieza. He was there, buried for FOUR YEARS, before he hatched and went hunting people, when Frieza was there THREE years before. That means 4 - 3 = 1 Cell was there for one year before Frieza's arrival

The first intrusion of the Time Machine in the Main Timeline is dead!Trunks' Time Machine, stolen by Cell. It's that Machine's THIRD trip.

The travels for that Time Machine are:

784 to 764: Trunks warns Goku about the Androids and gives him the medicine

785 to 767 (eight months later, because it takes 8 months for the Time Machine to charge and because Trunks reads "788" as "three years in the future from where he comes from" in the panel above): Trunks comes back to the past to help the gang deal with the Androids.

788 (stated by the panel) to 763: Why 763? We don't know. We know it arrived four years before the Android Saga events and Cell admits himself he just pressed the start button and didn't choose the date.

It is not a Loop, so the third trip landed in different timeline than the first two trips, because in the second trip, there was no Cell appearing in the middle of the story otherwise Trunks would have been strong enough to kill him.

"Even Trunks doesn't know that Cell existed at this Point. " <- EXACTLY That's the WHOLE POINT. It's BECAUSE Future!Trunks meets Cell in the Main Timeline that he's able to deal with him in HIS version of 788. Dead!Trunks never got the info, that's why he couldn't, and that is why we know Dead!Trunks never encountered Cell on May 12th, 767 (Android attack day). There is no situation with "Trunks doesn't know, so Trunks died to Cell, but once Trunks knows, Trunks is strong enough to deal with him". DBZ Time Travel isn't dynamic time travel (aka "schrodinger cat box" as you put it)

Dead!Trunks and Future!Trunks are different Trunkses who experienced different trips to the past (at least the second trip was different). In the anime, dead!Trunks still had his sword when Cell kills him, when Future!Trunks ditched his when he broke it on Android 18's arm (he never uses it after that).

Block me if you want, but YOU were the one who requested clarifications, YOU asked a question about DB, so a DB blog is coming with answers to your question and clarifying your own memories.

If you find it insulting, please reassess and work on your own reading comprehension skills and properly understand how tumblr works.

You can read the manga easily online on mangadex among others, to properly clear up your memories.

PS: We can deduce more precise dates with nitpicking combing; Meca Frieza thing happens in Summer (~August) 764, while the entire Cell Saga happens between May 12th (Androids 19 and 20 show up) and May 26th (date of the Cell Games) of the year 767. We know Trunks comes from 784 for the first trip because he states he's 17 years old (and he was born in 766), and we know there's a change in year because he reads "788, three years into the future from when i left" (788-3 = 785)". It also clearly states it takes 8 months to charge the time machine (TV special and the matching manga chapter)

I don't know how many here are fans of Dragon Ball Z and other Dragon Ball Sagas...

This is a long one and probably messed up...

Very confusing, maybe...

I haven't seen Episodes of Dragon Ball Series in a long time, but some time ago, something strange occured to me....

The Device, invented by the Capsule Corporation or by Bulma, which is intended to be a Time Travel Device, is actually a Device that can jump between two different points of Time, BUT, between 2 specific Realities.... I think...

1) Trunks comes from a Future, where there is Chaos due to the Androids (17 & 18?). He comes to save Goku, from some Virus with help of some Antidote, so that the Future (where Trunks is from) will have no Androids.. Goku is saved. Androids seem to be a smaller problem till Cell appears... This Cell travelled from (some) Future, using the Time Travel Device of Capsule Corp. after absorbing Trunks in some Timeline. This has to be another Reality, because in the original Timeline and Reality, the Z Warriors find Dr.Gero's (Zero's?) Lab and destroy it, with Cell still being in development.... So... Cell, whose Origin is in this Reality, is gone....

2) Trunks goes back to his Timeline (or Reality) in a much stronger and improved Condition, then singlehandedly defeats the Androids, only to face Cell (whose Origin is in that Reality or Timeline) and kills him too, which prevented Cell from absorbing Trunks and travelling to the Past (of some other Reality), resulting in no Cell-Saga (of some Reality...).

3) In Dragon Ball Super(?) where Zamasu somehow becomes Goku Black, Trunks comes from another Future (or Reality), to kill Goku Black and prevent the Dark Future where he is from... This Trunks has to be one from another Reality, but not the one who fought alongside the Z Warriors during the Cell-Saga, as he did not seem to know the Goodness of Goku (?).... On realizing the Events of that particular Future (or Reality) where Trunks is from, Beerus destroys Zamasu of this Reality (or present timeline). Zamasu of this Timelime/Reality is now gone. Trunks and Gang return to Trunks' original Timeline/Reality to face Goku Black. Things happen and with help of Zeno Sama, the World/Universe that is poisoned by the undying Zamasu is... ended.. Then they return to the original Timeline (or Reality) of the Z Warriors...

All Time Travel Devices are linked to this Reality (or Timeline), because everything happens here... I think.. Maybe this Timeline is the basic Timeline or Reality....

Maybe others already knew this and I realized it only now...

I don't know....

Just.... I have no one to talk to regarding this... Maybe someone here could tell me if I am correct or mindnumbingly stupid....

[multiversal-bridge]

So there's been a big discussion lately about the pacing in the works of Wildbow (creator of bespoke internet fiction), particularly in his latest work, Pale, which has become longer than the others in just a couple of years of writing. I have thoughts about this and I can't get them out of my head so I'll just post.

I think the framing of this discussion leaves something out? Because I genuinely think Pale is Wildbow's best paced work.

Sounds super weird to say that when it's so long, right?

But I think there's a difference between length and quality of pacing, and I think the key to understanding what Wildbow's doing is this:

Pale is paced like a television show.

To explain a bit more what I mean by this:

Movies and television shows are forms of storytelling that are both valid in different ways, and allow you to do different things. The advantage of a television show is that you get to add layers of nuance to character's psychology as well as explore a number of different characters over the full runtime of the show. (Bear in mind I'm trying to imply a TV show that everyone agrees is good throughout its run, like the Sopranos or something.) There's advantages to doing this sort of thing, at least if you do it well.

Wildbow is a big fan of TV and talks a lot about shows he watches. So it's not surprising that his pacing is like TV. You bring on a character for an episode, and you may not see them again in the next season, but their mini-arc informed the larger arc that was going on with the protagonists at that point in the story. A chapter is basically written like an episode. 2-3 arcs roughly corresponds to a season of the show, with certain arcs ending in a major change in the status quo.

And Wildbow has a very good sense of those larger arcs. I was talking with a friend recently about what a contrast Pale is with the later A Song of Ice and Fire books. Where Martin is creating an ever-expanding list of characters going off in ever expanding directions, in Pale Wildbow keeps his characters from straying too far by tying new ideas back to the main plot. We have an arc where we meet a bunch of new magical creatures, but it's also about gaining allies and figuring out which of them are being used as pawns by the conspirators behind the main mystery. And yeah, recently, we got in theory like 18 new characters, but in practice we've only really focused on like three of them, and they're ultimately extensions of the final villain(s) in a plot that seems to be chugging toward the last station.

And I like this better than the pacing in Ward, or Pact, or Twig, or the latter half of Worm! In all of those works, there were moments where I thought oh, come on, this is stretched out way more than it needs to be. In contrast, despite its length, I've never really felt that with Pale. And I was initially skeptical about some of the plot developments!

It's true that Wildbow's chapters have gotten longer, but it feels to me like that's more about embracing an episode structure with multiple scenes in it, whereas in other works I often felt a bit cut off by one-scene chapters. Wildbow may also be playing to his strengths, as Pale focuses much more on psychological dialogues instead if action scenes. And character psychology has always been at the heart of what makes Wildbow works good.

Your milage may vary. I might just be weirdly into psychological dialogue scenes. And I freely confess that there may be a difference in experiencing the story chapter by chapter over the last two years, as I have, and maybe it might not read as well binged all at once. But I've seen writing that's badly paced before (including in other long-form web fiction), and this doesn't trip that trigger for me.

Obviously no one should feel obligated to read Pale. But may be more helpful to think of Pale as a good thing that's continued in its same good vein for a long time than something that's suffering from the sin of excess. At the very least, there are reasons why those of us who are reading it are having such a fun time.