#thomas the tank engine and friends season 3

[lomotunes2008]

[duskstargazer]

[1961]

Despite the track having been repaired, Percy was still needed at the harbour. Sir Topham Hatt had informed Thomas and Toby that another engine was on order to assist them until Percy could return from the harbour.

Thomas was at the junction when the “assistance” arrived.

“So,” he scowled, “you’re that “Devious Diesel” Percy was talking about, aren’t you?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Diesel raised an eyebrow, and to his credit, sounded sincerely confused.

“Don’t play dumb with me.” Thomas snapped. “You know what you did. As do both Duck and Henry.”

Diesel tried not to flinch at the Pannier Tank’s name. “You must have me mistaken for someone else. I know nothing of this “Duck” or “Henry”, only that I was sent to help you and another engine out.”

“Well, do what you can to stay out of the way.” The tank engine continued, firmly. “And any of your tricks, and I’ll ensure you’re on the next train home. And if you do anything to jeopardize the running of my branch line, I may just put you in a barge bound for the Mainland.”

“Why don’t we dial it back a bit?” Diesel prompted, trying not to sound frightened. “There really is no need for hostility. All I want is to help.”

Thomas scoffed, clearly unconvinced, and set off with his coaches. None of them seemed to have been even remotely swayed by Diesel either.

[chr1ssycrumble]

Silly bullet trains hcs of tangerine and Lemon?

YES!!! ofc i can bookie <3

-lemon collects plushies! every job he goes to, he buys a new plushie, e.g, for the bullet train mission he might've got a momomo

-tangerine is such a cat person, he defo has a grey little rescue with a literature name like tolstoy

-lemon has a selection of sunglasses and keeps them in a special case which he looks after with his life (especially his thomas the tank engine ones)

-tangerine is the BIGGEST clean freak, after a job he goes in the shower for like an hour and scrubs every last spec of blood off him

-lemon wears duck socks. that's it. that's the headcannon.

-tangerine says his favorite genre is horror, but it's really tragic romantic period pieces

-lemon hates horrors.

-tangerine is a cat person, has a grey rescue named Tolstoy!

-lemon is a dog person, with a bulldog named Thomas! (tangerine then lost a bet and had to get the dog tattooed on his arm- see pictures of his tattoos in the film)

-tangerine cuts his own hair

-lemon had a serious phase of dying his hair blue

-tangerine used to have a season ticket for westham but he was away too much to be able to go

-lemon runs a thomas the tank engine fan club server

-in highschool tangerine did his english presentation on his favorite classical authors and ranked them

-meanwhile lemon did his titled 'our teachers and which thomas and friends characters they are'

-tangerine is very good at making cocktails

-lemon and tangerine share a netflix account

[bruhstation]

You seem like a Train Professional so where would one begin in order to get into the funny little talking train show?

these are all my own opinions so take it like a grain of salt -- the common go-to would be the thomas and friends tv show. start off from season 1 then work all your way up to the top (not actually really. you can skip some later seasons like s17 if you want to). the model seasons are considered to be some of the greatest because 1) they set the foundation of the cast (besides the railway series books) 2) they contain some of the most iconic scenes from the show like gordon's ronan kirk crash, the flying kipper accident, james and the shoelaces, etc and 3) they're the originals so you know what their personalities and relationships to their peers were like and how their characterization was supposed to be like before the cgi era flip flopped them up

also check out the railway series books in the meantime! the funny talking train show was based on the book series created by reverend awdry for his sick son! the first book feature edward, henry, and gordon. thomas appears in the second book. fast forward decades later and britt alcroft created a tv show called thomas the tank engine. there are many eras of the show, from models, to model/cgi hybrid, to computer animations where the show gets passed around like a volleyball from studio to studio

here's a google spreadsheet that contains all the thomas and friends episodes in various languages. feel free to watch the show for yourself and decide which seasons you like the most

some more of my thoughts under the cut

I recommend you steer clear of the big world big adventures seasons and specials because it's probably the most controversial seasons in the fandom. replacing two of the core cast members, "pandering" to certain audiences, putting in lackluster representation for the sake of selling toys, SAID representation turns out to be racist depictions, all of it reflected the current state of mattel when handling thomas and friends. they also didn't contribute anything to the overall show, like by the time the bwba seasons were out, people dgaf and just focused on the older seasons. you can ignore bwba and you won't miss anything important about ttte. not that I'm stopping you! you have your own free will.

the thing about ttte that made many adults get into it (if not for train autism) is how ttte was a show grounded in reality. idk if that makes sense but basically despite being a show about mean talking trains for little kids, reverend awdry and britt alcroft handled the characters with care. they gave the engines so much charm by making them bicker with each other like the cranky old engines they are BUT they're not reduced to singular personality traits too. thomas is cheeky and kind of a meanie but he wants to prove himself useful. edward is old and acts as a mentor to thomas but he also wants to show that he still got it despite his old age. gordon went from being a pompous grand young express engine to a humble old engine being a mentor to the newer ones and so on! they also put a lot of historical references related to the engines' basis too and tie their backstories in (henry's a stolen faulty design hence his cynical, miserable personality at the early seasons of the show). there's even irl engines mentioned in both the books and show (flying scotsman and city of truro) and it's just neat!!! because awdry cares about history so much!!!! that he even made an "encyclopedia" about sodor, its railways, and its history

the books and the earlier seasons of ttte didn't shy away from themes of death and usefulness and all that (the story of godred, henry being a faulty engine and getting cask of amontillado'd for being uncooperative, all of gordon's siblings scrapped sans flying scotsman) because the thing about them being engines are important to them. it's their reison d'etre. they get scrapped if they cannot be of use anymore, because that's how things have always been. they get into accidents often because their ego got to them. dieselization is starting on the island of sodor and the diesels are asserting their dominance over the oldschool steam engines. the engines just exist there. they just happen to have faces and talk. idk. I think it's interesting how they view life a bit differently than humans. thank you for listening to my ramble

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

A real change of pace... To cool off... Here's a hyperfixation of mine that dates waaaaay back, to when I was little...

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE & FRIENDS...

I've been thinking about the show's third season (1991-92) lately, for some reason.

Season 3, as I had learned in the recent years, was filmed in two separate portions - unusual in that every season in the classic series (approximately Seasons 1-7, 1984-2003ish) was typically filmed in one go. Not Season 3, for whatever reason.

It's been speculated by some fans that a showcase of the many props in London sometime in late 1991 impacted the filming, thus newer sets were built to accommodate the last portion of episodes. Maybe something else came up. Maybe something pertaining to the Japanese special THOMAS AND THE U.K. TRIP. Who knows...

And upon knowing the season's production history, you can't unsee it...

The first portion of Season 3, first released all at once on VHS - albeit with alternate, earlier narrations from Michael Angelis - in the UK in November 1991:

vs.

The second portion, aired in the spring/summer of 1992:

I kind of look at Season 3 as the coziest one. If Season 1 had a more pastoral, simplistic look with a chuffy synthesized soundtrack, and if Season 2 had a more dirty, sooty, industrial look... Season 3 is bright, colorful, cute, just warm and cozy really. Especially the nighttime scenes, which are real standouts here. Glossy models and softer faces constructed for the engine characters, too.

The music, composed by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell, is what holds the season together - tonally, along with Angelis' narrations - or George Carlin's, if you grew up with the U.S. version like I did.

Sets in Season 3, Part 1 included the likes of Henry's Forest in addition to a lot of countryside paths, and a much more spacious beach. Knapford is the big station here, while Tidmouth is the big station in Part 2. The roundhouse interior is a real giveaway, too. Season 3, Part 2 seems a little greener, you have the the three-way set (bottom left), those big harbor buildings (top right), and the castle tunnel. Whatever the story called for, they built it: A scrapyard that Oliver escapes from, the China Clay Works, Bulgy's bridge, etc. Even without their major sets, they still made up for it with the new ones.

It's still quite cohesive and distinctively season 3, but someone like me? I notice the minute differences. You can easily tell which episode is 3A, or 3B.

Season 3 is one that I didn't have much of on VHS growing up in the late '90s/early '00s. I had seen pretty much all of them via tape volumes I rented back in the day, or through SHINING TIME STATION when it returned to air in 2000 to promote the movie. SHINING TIME, the show that essentially trojanhorsed THOMAS onto American airwaves. The VHS tapes... Particularly the volumes "Thomas Gets Bumped", "Daisy", and "Percy's Ghostly Trick". All grab-bags of episodes from the first three seasons - but they had those Season 3 episodes I often couldn't come by. They were elusive in a way because of that. Everything else I saw was via a compilation tape, like "Thomas' Christmas Party" and "10 Years of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends".

And years later, I would be surprised to learn that an episode like 'Henry's Forest' was from that period - it feels like it could be a stealth Season 2 episode, albeit a calmer and less industrial-looking one. Maybe because it was on the aforementioned Christmas tape, my brain - as a 7-year-old kid - placed it in that era. Ditto 'A Scarf for Percy'. When I got a little bit older, I was able to place - sort of aesthetically - where each episode fell. A skim through IMDb would also help. Most I could reckon were from the '80s, and the rest from the early-to-mid '90s. Even with George Carlin narrating the majority of them.

Something about those episodes hit different to me when I was little, for sure, so I have a bit of an odd soft spot for them despite how I feel about that season overall. I think SHINING TIME's aesthetics and look also helps. I watched STS whenever it was on, as a really young kid circa 1995-96ish? I would remember asking "Why do the trains have faces? But no cowcatchers?" Then it was just the Thomas stories on VHS after that. I wouldn't really check out STS again until reruns came to Nick Jr., again, to promote THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD - which Shining Time Station itself was a big part of. And yet my head links that season and STS, more so than 1 & 2. The coziness of both, the nostalgic American train station setting of STS and the comfy visuals of Season 3, just goes together quite nicely. Throw in some unrelated other things I loved back then, and that's one of my nostalgia cocktails in a way lol.

[andreajingling]

Howdy. ~ | I'm Andrea, a Trans Female, I run this ship that is this blog, so let's get some introductions out of the way: | ~ ~ | If you're looking for RP intros and such, scroll down it should be there, but it would be much appreciated and valued if you would read the entire intro. | ~ ~ | Asks are, of course, open when labeled to be. Please try not to bring anything absolutely heinous in there that isn't in character of some sort. | ~

~ | Primary Interests { ones you'll see the most of around here } Include: | ~ Five Nights at Freddy's { This includes Fangames } Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends Trains/Locomotives in General Model Railroading Cars Planes/Aviation Team Fortress 2, Valve Games in General Pokémon

The Christmas Season { hence the branding practically year round }.

~ | Secondary Interests {ones you'll see every once and a while, the odd like and such} Include: | ~ MLP Minecraft The Nightmare Before Christmas

~ | I have a Youtube Channel of the same username which also posts stuff relating to interests, linked here: | ~

~ | And if you choose to support me in any way, be it Kofi, Patreon {both linked below}, or just simply interacting with posts/videos on my channel, it is extremely appreciated and valued. | ~

~ | Roleplay Info Below the Cut! | ~

~ | Now, onto another side of this account, the 'Semi-Character' Aspect. | ~

~ | I've been performing characters in online spaces for over 10 years now, starting in 2013! | ~ ~ | Let's start with the most important piece of any RP related account, the timeline they live in: | ~ ~ | The Andreaplex | ~

~ | To try to explain the entirety of the Andreaplex is to try to explain the entire history of the world I guess. There just isn't enough time, so let's go over some bullet points of the basics:

Multiple Franchises are present in the same universe, each corelating with one of my largest interests. It's basically the crossover episode of the multiverse, except they don't interact very often.

Most of the locations and popular places regarding events in the series are placed in the region of the Pacific Northwest, mainly Oregon however as it's my own home state.

The Timeline is made up of 3 others, each with different franchises present within, Timeline A holding 'Real Life', Timeline B holding FNAF, MLP, TF2, and others, and Timeline C holding TTTE and Pokémon. This is an event that occurred in the past, though does still haunt the present in multiple ways, including the way the three merged in an event called 'The Collision'. Three Into One, A Grand New Creation.

A LOT has changed from the norms of the franchises present, such as my own headcanons, major events IN my own AU Headcanons {such as the North Western Railway closing and eventual relocation to Oregon, again it's wild}, and changes to different elements of the franchises present {such as the added element of spiritual and physical aging in ghosts and spirits who choose to remain down on Earth. Example of this can be if someone dies when they're 5, and choose to remain down on Earth for 5 years, they would be 10 by the time those 5 years passed. Physical aging can go however the spirit wishes to present themselves, unless they have a body that more tangible than their spirit.}.

There are sort of, omnipotent beings that can sometimes be at the head of things called 'Writers'. Mainly it's just me and my friends personifications of ourselves, though most have chosen to allow their characters free will. Speaking of which:

Each Character is of their own free will in this Timeline, disconnected from 'Strings' that once held them in control of the Writer. Andrea being a part of this world said it best, 'I've seen their perspective. And I'm going to fix this.'

There are characters of varying power levels within the world, each harnessing a different brand of it. Speaking of that though:

One of the most common groups of power is Magic, though it has several subvarients, such as 'Equestrian', 'The Knowledge of the Fourth', 'Gold Dust', 'Witchcraft', 'The Black Arts', and other such examples that exist. Anyone can harness some types of magic with enough training, while others are only genetic or given to a select few.

The biggest fact by far is, since Timeline A was 'Real Life', and merged into the Timeline that is The Andreaplex due to the collision, by proxy, Y O U are canon to the Andreaplex Y O U exist!

~ | Next, let's take a look at the colorful world of characters that make the world what it is, specifically the ones that have this account's login info, starting with the Brunette herself, | ~

~ | Andrea 'Goldsmith Shores' Bliss { She/Her } | ~

{ Massive credit to @kilusion2011 for the ref sheets, and Kennith Stoker on Twitter for the other assorted pieces, check them out here: https://thegamefanatic.carrd.co . Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Andrea is a sort of, self insert in a sense. A being of practically unlimited power and energy due to one of the timelines merging to form her being one of a Writer {self insert moment i know}, as well as many other sources of power being pumped into her in the other 2 timelines that collided. And yet, she just owns a massive rail company, delivering promise to all in Oregon via the Pacific North Western Railroad Company. | ~ ~ | Andrea's presence is represented by a 🎄 on the top of posts. Her brackets of choice are { }, and preferred color is Red. | ~ ~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for her include: | ~

Andrea is 30 years old, born on April 30th. Due to timeframes getting absolutely FUCKED in the Collision, the year is uncertain but they put it down as 2003 as that's the one date that Andrea remembers as her birthday.

Andrea's 6 foot 1 inches.

Andrea is canonically a trans female. During her time she had to have breast reduction surgery due to their size being too painful in combo with Pectus Excavatum.

Andrea is pansexual, and happily married to Cassidy, told about below. Though in recent times the two have gone through some issues regarding their relationship due to both of them kinda not knowing how love works sometimes. They struggle but they're important to one another.

'Shores' was originally her selected last name {as she had several due to several of herself colliding into one another}, but eventually she settled on Bliss when adopting her second child.

Andrea's childhood {at least for her} is a blur. She doesn't remember much of it thanks to The Collision messing with things regarding her long term memory.

She holds near infinite amounts of power, being able to twist a timeline to nothing but red code if she wanted to, but after several events, have led her to not use it a lot, if even at all.

Most uses of her power is out of desperation, or extreme measures that would cause harm to those around/very close to her, such as family, and innocent bystanders.

Holding all of the cards at once for her is extremely overwhelming, and has resulted in her already present feelings of depression, anxiety, and extreme emotional tendencies to rise at extreme rates at times. Time has helped her slowly cope but it, it's a very slow process.

Andrea was gutted at one point by some very hostile robot bear spaghetti, a burnt clown, a burnt rabbit, and a burnt black bear, leaving the large scar on her torso. Like I said before, it's wild.

Andrea's only wish, if she were to get one that is guaranteed to come true, is to possibly experience what Death feels like, as she could never achieve it herself in any manner.

Andrea has adopted two children, ones you'll be seeing later in this thread.

Andrea's bond with her locomotives is like family, she grew up hearing their stories, and now she gets to make new ones with them. It's an honor to her.

Andrea's favorite season is Christmas. I mean, why else would the branding exist? Regardless, she loves the warmth, happiness, and above all, Hope that it gives the world. Hope for a brighter tomorrow. Hope that there is still good on this Earth. Hope that will last for eternity.

One of Andrea's first true friends in her younger days was the fourth in command of Mr. Kris Kringle himself, Vixen. The two are still best friends to this day, and often have one or the other come to their home to celebrate the holidays, at least up until Christmas Eve, then Vixen's got work. Maybe she'll pop in every now and again year round, but most of the time she appears during the holiday season.

If you were to give Andrea a theme, it would be the Rapture Rising Remastered piece from J.T. Music.

~ | Now that's my girl. My little woman. Now onto her beloved spooky ghost woman. | ~

~ | Cassidy Dani Goldsmith { She/Her/They } | ~

{ Credit to PalaKeda on Twitter for the ref sheet, and Kennith Stoker for the large piece of Andrea and Cassidy together being the women lovers they are. Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Ah Cassidy, the vengeful spirit turned business owner turned, back to vengeful spirit for a while, turned back to business owner with the addition of being a mother of two. Girly has been through a L O T , from her own death, to the entirety of the FNAF Timeline, to the shenanigans that brought her here, to even a near divorce with the woman she wanted to spend eternity with. Let's get to it. | ~

~ | Cassidy's presence is represented by a 👻 on the top of posts. Her brackets of choice are { }, and preferred color is Yellow. . | ~

~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for her include: | ~

Cassidy, much like her wife, is 30 years old, however she was born at some point during the mid 1970s, meeting her unfortunate death at around the age of 11. This is a reminder here that souls can age in this timeline, hence her appearances on her ref sheet including a teenage and child version.

Cassidy has genetic origins in Asia, specifically Japan and Korea. And yet her family chose to live in Utah. Curious. /lh

Cassidy stands at 6 foot 3 inches, around two inches taller than her wife.

One of her greatest hobbies is ironically dancing to her own music. She often pulls Andrea in for dances when she wants to, or when a situation is perfect for one.

As hinted at in the opener piece above, yes, this is THE Cassidy from the FNAF timeline, but my own rendition of her, as well as the timeline itself. Maybe one day I'll go into that can of worms.

Yes, Cassidy is dead. Not Andrea type dead no, she's just. Dead. She's a ghost. Can phase through walls, haunt things, possess her broken up Fredbear animatronic to scare people, that stuff.

Cassidy is a full on Lesbian and is currently in a loving marriage with Andrea, lasting from December 25th of 2021 { I believe the year's right can't remember exact dates } until now. Sure there's been scares and possibilities of divorce here and there, but hey when does that not happen.

Cassidy owns and manages 'Fredbear and Friend's', a restaurant literally right next door to the house she and Andrea own that both provides good old fashioned animatronic entertainment, but preserves vintage equipment and creating replicas of said equipment from Freddy Fazbear's Past, from Fredbear's all the way to the most recent restaurant, the Mega Pizzaplex. Each era of Freddy's has it's own gallery as well as subsections for different historical sections { such as an exhibit showcasing both the Security Breach and Ruin elements in full context }, so for example in one you can see Roxanne wolf, then walk to another and see the Toy Animatronics. This is ALSO another huge can of worms. Currently, this restaurant is Post-Ruin, so The Mimic's in a glass case, and the Ruined's are around on static display.

One other element about the Restaurant she has a more close connection with is 'Cassidy's Game'. Basically, take Ultimate Custom Night, and put every single animatronic from every single game in there { with a few exceptions ofc we ain't letting the mimic hunt people, that's just, no. }.

Cassidy is the backup vocalist { though does get some main vocalist chances } and lead bassist of 'The Missing Ones', an indie band comprised of the original five spirits involved in the Missing Children Incident back in 1985. They mostly do covers, but recently did a rock/metal cover of 'The Northwest Passage' sea shanty, heavily inspired by Johnathan Young's own cover. This was for a special celebration Andrea asked them to attend, as well as providing her own vocals as a special guest.

Cassidy's favorite holiday is, of course, Halloween. Her idol is Jack Skellington, for his expertise in scares and how to get them out of people in the best of ways.

Speaking of Halloween, Cassidy also goes a bit scare crazy around that time of year, due to the Mortal Plain being closest to the Spiritual Realms of Heaven and Hell, as well as Limbo and The Land Between. At this time of year, she opens the Restaurant later, as a sort of Haunted House experience, like that one FNAF Haunted House down in Vegas. Fun Fact I went to that. Was a WILD time. She also pops out and scares anyone she can for that sweet feeling of scaring someone.

Cassidy sort of dislikes the Christmas season for it's overwhelming forcing into your home type attitude. She wants to be spooky but then as soon as November comes around, Mariah Carey is free. She isn't a full on Grinch though. Yet. That arc's coming later. In the past when the two were just dating, Cassidy went out of her way to buy Andrea a full on sleigh for Christmas. Like. Full Sleigh. Full stop no additions. She just bought her a sleigh cause she noticed Andrea loved the season so much.

~ | Well ain't that lovely. Now let's move onto someone with a LOT less info about them, then to someone else small, but first let's get, | ~

~ | Maddie 'Shores' Bliss { She/Her } | ~

{ Used a Picrew for her, will eventually figure out WHICH this was from but honestly i might never cause i'm kinda lazy, and Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Maddie, a close relative of the Brunette known as Andrea, was originally part of another side of the family before being thrown to the curb due to a demonic possession. Eventually she found herself in the state of Oregon, and finding the Residences Andrea calls home. | ~ ~ | Maddie's presence is represented by a 🔪 on the top of posts. Her brackets of choice are [ ], and preferred color is Green. | ~

~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for her include: | ~

Maddie is an Asexual Biromantic.

Maddie stands at around 6 foot.

Maddie is 23 years old at the time of this original post {September 20th 2023 PST}. Her birthday is November 16th, 2000, one of the few birthdays in the family with a direct year confirmed.

Maddie is one of the few members of the Bliss Family that isn't immortal.

The results of Maddie's Possession gave her a demonic form she can shift into and out of whenever she wishes.

It also, however, gave her a specific Iron Intake she needs to meet with each thing she eats, which cannot be met with any supplements on the market at the moment, rather with human blood and flesh {think something like something from Tokyo Ghoul, except she CAN eat other stuff, just has to have that flesh and blood/iron intake factor} .

Maddie's Possession is a family curse, her mother held it before her, and her grandmother before her, and, well you get the drift. Blame her Great-Great-Great Grandmother {who may pop into this account every so often as a cameo} .

~ | Ain't she a gem. Now, onto our {currently} last individual that can access this account, | ~

~ | Mary Bliss { She/They } | ~

{ Again made with another picrew I can't remember the link too i am sorry, and Trainer Card made with Pokecharms. }

~ | Mary, the youngest of the Bliss Family, was adopted after she was tagging along with the embodiment of Death {one that tries to get the ghostly residents to ascend}, yet chose to stay behind with the family rather than moving on, gaining an approving family they never got. | ~ ~ | Mary's presence is represented by a ❄ on the top of posts. Their brackets of choice are ( ), and preferred color is Purple. | ~

~ | A short list of key events, powers, tidbits of info, and drawbacks for them include: | ~

Mary is 14 years old as of writing this original post {September 20th, 2023 PST}. Their birthday is March 17th, 2009.

Mary stands at about 5 foot 7 inches.

Mary is NonBinary and AroAce.

Mary is a Freshman in High School.

Mary's has a gunshot scar on her skin where her heart is, which she keeps hidden under her clothing as best as she can. It brings up bad memories of her former family.

Mary's father killed her in cold blood for her own choices of who she was. I will not be going into detail, as honestly it makes even me upset to recall that bit of her. Might retcon it honestly. Who knows.

Mary is the character with the least amount of story built up for her, so she is very experimental at the moment.

~ | Well that was fun! Got to know each of the funnies on here! Now onto the last bit of the matter, their current status! This is just a way for people to know WHO is able to access the account at a given moment. This WILL be edited over time. | ~

~ | Characters that have Access: | ~ ~ | Andrea | ~ ~ | Status: Home. | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~ ~ | Cassidy | ~ ~ | Status: Home. | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~ ~ | Maddie | ~ ~ | Status: Home. | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~ ~ | Mary | ~ ~ | Status: Home | ~ ~ | Able to Access: Yes | ~

~ | And with that, at LONG ass last, this post is OVER!! Thank you to anyone who read this far down, and hopefully I can both enjoy some fun moments on here regarding roleplay, as well as spread a bit of positivity regarding other topics! Might even bring in some actual like, accounts dedicated to stuff in the future, who knows! | ~ ~ | With that, time for me to go have a rest god this took way too long. Andrea, out! | ~

[tsuki-sennin]

Hirogaru Sky! 29 and 30~!

Back on the wagon~! Or I suppose in this case, the plane. Or Elle-chan's weird crib gondola thing.

First, a story about a missing doll! Second, a Beach Episode! Just as summer winds down! Funsies!

Spoilers, I guess...

-Raaaaaaaain!

-Goddamn I am so sick of rain. Had my power knocked out this evening. Spent half of my cooking time totally in the dark.

-Who dat?

--nya? Hummy??

-Neko-san~!

-An alive neko-san!

-"Did you have fun in the rain? :)"

-"MASHIRO I WAS ALMOST DEVOURED BY A GHOST CAT SOMEBODY CALL THE JSDF-

-In shambles! Completely and totally spooked!

-"Sora, stuffed animals don't speak. Not like birds."

-Man, with all these huge European-style houses that're only occupied by ghosts or villains, a Pretty Cure Town's real estate market must be insane.

-...Hmmmm... I wonder how low the property values can get?

-For villains who live in the Cures' worlds, do you think somebody like Westar fires rent lowering gunshots? Or am I thinking a little too American?

-Ohhhhh, Tsubasa's a believer now.

-Obakeeeeee~!

-Gap moe! Sora's got phasmophobia~!

-Sealed the kitty.

-Elle-chan :)

-What a cute little fella, huh?

-The first step to overcoming one's fear is acknowledging it!

-Yoyo confirmed horsegirl.

-Speak to us, kitty.

-How sweet :)

-Sora had no time for such simple pleasures.

-...put it like that, you don't forget your first friend, huh Mashiro?

-A drone can be as cat-shaped as it wants, I'm knocking that bitch outta the sky.

-"D-don't mind me! My daughter's got a strong arm on her! She should try out for the baseball team~!"

-Ohhhhhhh, the kitty's a dream weaver.

-...man, something about a toy being abandoned and forgotten really hurts me. Doesn't matter if it's Toy Story or the Fresh PreCure movie or even that story TomSka told about that time he buried all his Thomas the Tank Engine toys on holiday in Fuerteventura. You wanna get me to cry, you give an artificial being abandonment issues.

-Neko-san... :(

-Minoton Spotted

-Enter

-"The game is afoot, Pretty Cures!"

-AN ENTIRE HOUSE

-THIS MAN TURNED AN ENTIRE FUCKING HOUSE INTO A MONSTER

-Step into the Hell House!

-This is badass, what the hell

-Oh!

-Breakin' out the colors early, huh Butterfly?

-Get clocked.

-Raaaaanborg!

-Oh shit

-Thanks, cat.

-Sky's athleticism is something to be admired.

-"Nigeteeeeeee!"

-Kick that bubble!

-Goodbye, Monster House.

-Oh man, I don't envy Tsubasa, it must hurt to pick that many splinters outta there.

-"Until we meet again, Pretty Cure."

-Marron-chan...

-Oh, that's sweet... That's too sweet...

-Hello, Summer~!

-...Hey wait a sec, you already got your cameo!

In the summertime, when the weather is hot~! You can stretch right up, and touch the sky~! When the weather's fine, you've got women on your mind. Have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find.

-Anyways yeah, it's the ass end of August, it's been raining and thundering a shit-ton where I live when it isn't absolutely infernal, and apparently God himself.

-The ocean~!

-It's really FUCKING big!

-Very cute swimsuits.

-It'll be close to 90% ocean when climate change finally kills all of humanity for the sins of the 1%~!

-That run was the gayest fucking thing I've seen all month, and I just finished Season 2 of Good Omens. /j

-I see Tsubasa goes for the Sonia Nevermind wetsuit style. And Ageha... hoo...

-Brined like a fish.

-Beachy beachy~!

-Sora's got built in Iron Boots. She can do the Water Temple no problem.

-Lotta Sora focus these two episodes!

-...Tsubasa, are the Puni Birds supposed to be penguins?

-...is that why you can dance? Are you just Happy Feet?

-Idk how you expect her to do all that, but okay!

-Swimmer friend~!

-Wingless.

-Half an hour.

-Wipe that :3 off your :3, Mashiron!

-Ah don't worry Tsubasa, summer's practically over already.

-I suppose Mashiro's teaching would be much better by default, but goddamn. Sora really saw her gf in the water and dove right in.

-"My unconditional surrender is all but guaranteed!"

-Rubber ducky...

-Kani-san...

-I love the crabs, little dudes.

-Jesus, that's a shit ton of fish. Is Gran Ocean just a few nautical miles away?

-Floatieeees~!

-I love those.

-Watermelon energy~!

-Summer vacation, baby~!

-Now this is podracing!

-HOoooooooo

-Minoton about to make me unwise.

-I have to wonder how many hot single moms (and dads, of course) see Minoton and feel seen.

-"AH-!"

-Ah, I see Minoton put his clothes back on.

-Good thinking, I think it'd have gotten a little weird if he hadn't.

-Life preserven't!

-Game on!

-SKY-

-Immediately fell into the ocean.

-His ass is NOT fightin'.

-Get deflated, idiot.

-Ironically, I think if Sora asked Minoton to help teach her to swim, he'd have gone for it.

-Goddamn, the ocean's so terrifying. Even in relatively shallow waters like these.

-Sora says "My save!"

-Who needs floaties when you've got lifeguards on duty!

-Baywatch PreCure!

-...man, Mitch Buchannon would absolutely somehow have been a Cure in the past. And yet somehow still be both an armored skeptic debunking every Scooby Doo mystery he comes across and a foremost expert on paranormal investigation who has fought mutant alligators, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and even a climate change-induced apocalypse.

-Incidentally, if you're in dire need of some quality TV cheese analysis, might I recommend Allison Pregler's Baywatching?

-It's part critical commentary, part abridged series, all peak comedy.

-...something of an influence on this program, fun fact~!

-Sunset time~!

-What a fun summer~!

-Oh ye gods, it's raining again, better wrap this up soon.

-PRECIOUS

-Okay, guess we're getting all the previous cameos again. ...I'm not spoiled on anything coming up, I am a good boy, I like surprises, I haven't the damnedest justification to offer as to why Precious wouldn't show up again, shhhhhhhh.

-You are a good bean, Yuin. Sorry the only beach food highlighted was watermelon, but tbh you wouldn't mind at all.

-Right okay, we're done here, I gotta jet! Catch you later~!

[rizumuj]

Let's talk about the scenery in seasons 3 & 4 of Thomas & Friends *chef's kiss*👌🏿

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

IOTA Reviews: Miraculous World: Shanghai – The Legend of Ladydragon (Late 2000 Follower Special)

DISCLAIMER: I am not of Chinese ancestry, so I may not understand some of the content featured in this special. If anyone reading this is familiar with Chinese culture in any way, I strongly encourage you to speak up and either give your opinion on this special or point out anything I get wrong when discussing Chinese culture.

Back in 2021, I watched a video analyzing, of all things, Thomas the Tank Engine, specifically it's failed rebrand in a desperate attempt to salvage ratings, Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!. The premise was that Thomas himself would go on adventures in other countries, meet foreign engines, and learn about other cultures as a way to appeal to international audiences. Sure, it had other problems relating to the writing and new format, but one of the more noticeable points made by the creator of the video, The Unlucky Tug, was that for a show trying to focus on representing different cultures, a lot of the international episodes felt very... stereotypical with how the culture was portrayed to the point where it bordered on being offensive. Yong Bao, the Chinese engine, was fascinated with tigers after encountering one taught him to be more courageous, to the point where his tender has an emblem of one on it. Lorenzo, the Italian engine, loved to sing opera, and would even do so while on the job with his coach. Nia, the Kenyan engine, had her paintjob styled after the African flag, has no real personality outside of mentioning she's from Kenya to remind the audience, and was a blatant marketing attempt to make the main cast more diverse.

Where exactly am I going with this? In general, the international episodes were poorly researched, and in response, The Unlucky Tug said “When you think of a middle-class, westernized, white person writing a story about India, this is basically that, absolutely surface-level”. If that isn't a good way to describe the representation of other cultures in Miraculous Ladybug, I don't know what is.

Look, I've gone about this ever since I started this blog, but the way this show chooses to portray different cultures isn't that good. I'm not familiar with a lot of them, but even I know about some of the stereotypes associated with cultures like the Japanese being unreasonably strict, African-Americans being in tough street gangs, or Chinese people being masters of Kung Fu. There's also the fact that whenever Astruc gets backlash from people of color regarding the portrayal of certain races in the show, he gets very defensive, and at one point, ended a close friendship as a result.

It's stuff like this that is why I was very hesitant to review this special. I don't really know a lot about Chinese culture, so I was worried I would either get something wrong, or misunderstand something in it. With the New York Special, it was more about American “culture”, as little as we saw of it by focusing on very obvious things associated with America, like hot dogs, the Statue of Liberty, and brushing off what we did to the Native Americans in the past, so it was easier to talk about.

The point I'm trying to make here is that I might screw up a little on this review, so if I do, please don't hesitate to correct me or explain something I missed, like a cultural touchstone of China the special gets wrong. Although, I'm probably going to make one or two bad jokes about Chinese culture either way.

With all that being said, let's finally get into Miraculous World: Shanghai – The Legend of Ladydragon

First off, let's talk about the continuity of this special. According to the Miraculous Ladybug wiki, the fact that Gabriel is only Hawkmoth in this special, and the fact that Ladybug's form doesn't change when she uses her Lucky Charm later on, this takes place between Seasons 2 and 3. Why exactly did they set it then when the previous special was set between Seasons 3 and 4? There isn't really anything done with setting it in this specific timeframe, and I'll get to how it could have been done later.

We open on the night of a magical eclipse in the past, where the guardian of a mystical cave, Wu Shifu, was growing desperate to protect something, as his Kung Fu students who speak perfect English weren't willing to stay and help him. Man, if only there was a team of superheroes he could get help from to deal with whatever he needs to defend this cave from.

???: What had become of the ancestral values? Courage? Honesty? Loyalty? A mysterious stranger was doing all he could to force the master to sell his school. Someone clearly wanted to take over the land upon which it was built.

Just imagine if that guy genuinely had no idea of what the school was hiding, and only wanted the land to build a parking lot or a McDonalds on it.

Just when it seemed like Wu had nobody to help him defend this sacred place, not even having a family to pass on this responsibility to, conveniently, a baby was left in front of his school. Seeing an obvious chance, Wu decides “Hey, I bet I can be even more immoral than the entire Order of the Guardians combined!”. Yes, the baby would be taken in and would be trained to become the next Guardian of this special's MacGuffin, but with how the scene was framed, it made it seem like Wu immediately saw this orphaned baby and wanted to raise her for the sole purpose of replacing him when he retires. Even Shifu waited a few years until he started training Tai Lung. By the way, how exactly did Tai Lung turn out when he was groomed to be a very important warrior by Shifu again?

Oh yeah...

Over the years, the girl, named Fei, would be trained by Wu in the ways of Kung Fu, and was eventually made his successor, being given a bracelet that was connected to the cave. Unfortunately, the same group of thugs that tried to buy out Wu's school killed him and left Fei an orphan once again. To make things worse, the bracelet was stolen from Fei in her sleep. I'm guessing Wu is regretting a lot of his choices watching this Heaven right now.

After Fei vows to protect the cave by herself during the next eclipse, which is tonight, we get another Miraculous World opening sequence, only instead of a more orchestral rendition of the show's theme song, generic Chinese music plays over the credits. Let's be honest, a more accurate way to open these specials would be something along the lines of this, because it's pretty much what the writers were going for.

After the credits, we learn that it's Summer Vacation in Paris, and that there were a lot of activities planned for Marinette to do with her friends, even a picnic with Adrien in attendance. But while she delivers a birthday present for her Uncle Wang to the post office for her mother on the day of said picnic, Marinette learns Adrien is somewhere else at the moment.

Marinette: Save me a seat next to you-know-who, please, I'll be there as fast as I can.

Alya: But don't you know? I thought you knew.

Marinette: What? What am I supposed to know?

Alya: Adrien's gone to Shanghai!

Marinette: Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! His five first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!

Alya: Well, he didn't know either. He told Nino that the opening of his father's shop in Shanghai had been moved up at the last minute.

Marinette: Shanghai?

Ugh... here comes the cringe...

Okay, I'm sorry if this is beating a dead horse at this point, but it's really creepy that Marinette knows this much about Adrien. I get it, it's a cartoon, and they're trying to exaggerate a schoolgirl crush for comedy, but with how often Marinette says she knows this much about Adrien, it just makes me uncomfortable. How does she even know this much about Adrien anyway?

It turns out that the reason Adrien is even going to Shanghai in the first place is because Gabriel is after the very thing Fei is charged with protecting, the Prodigious. Supposedly it was a prototype that was abandoned in favor of the Miraculous, but other than a single line from Nooroo explaining that, we don't really get a lot of details on why this was created. It's just another magical artifact that could easily be replaced by another lost Miraculous, and doesn't even flesh out the idea of what a Miraculous is, despite them both being Chinese in origin.

Another thing that's kind of confusing is that Gabriel says that his plan to get the Prodigious has been going on for fifteen years, with a later scene confirming that he was the one who ordered for Wu's murder... when Emilie has only been in her coma for just under a year at this point. Why is Gabriel being tied into the backstory for Fei when he didn't have a reason to be evil while she was still a baby? Also, why is Adrien even coming along with Gabriel? The whole reason he was sent to New York in the last special was specifically to keep him away from Paris while he executed his plan, and now, he's risking his safety for this?

Back at Marinette's place, we get one of the more controversial parts of this special, Marinette lying to her parents about caring about her uncle's birthday in order to get an excuse to go to Shanghai to see Adrien. Okay, what exactly is her plan here? Is she just going to surprise Adrien like what Rebecca did for Josh in the pilot to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? How does she even think Adrien will react to this? And what about Paris? When Marinette got ready to leave for New York in the last special, she made plans with Cat Noir about what to do while she was away. What is she going to do now? In fact, does she even know Cat Noir isn't in Paris right now?

But then things get even dumber when we learn that Marinette's parents, Tom and Sabine, had saved up money for a family trip on the off chance that Marinette wanted to go and connect with her culture more. This just raises so many questions. How long have they been saving up money for? Has Marinette never thought to ask about her culture? Why didn't Tom and Sabine bother to teach Marinette anything about Chinese culture before this moment?

This whole plotline really highlights the problem with the representation in this show. So many media outlets, and even Astruc himself make a big deal about the main character of Miraculous Ladybug being a biracial girl, but the writers rarely do anything with it. “Kung Food” already showed how clueless Marinette was about Chinese culture to the point where Adrien, someone who was learning Mandarin Chinese, had to explain things to her. Now we have this special where once again, Marinette is shown to be oblivious to her own heritage just so she can be in the wrong here. If the point of the special was to have Marinette come to terms with how little she knows about her own culture, and how it's okay to not know a lot about her Chinese heritage (sort of like Carlton in that one episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), I'd be a little more understanding. Instead, this special shames Marinette for not caring about her heritage while doing nothing to actually educate her on it, because most of the special is focusing on the actual conflict that has nothing to do with this plotline.

And I'm not saying Marinette needs to be completely fluent in Mandarin or know everything there is to know about Chinese fashion. My family on my mother's side is Irish, and while I wouldn't say I know a whole lot about the culture, I at least know the basics because of what I learned from my grandfather, who was very proud of his heritage. If there are any followers of color or biracial followers reading this post, I encourage you to give your thoughts on this aspect of the special and Marinette's lineage through reblogs, replies, or asks, as I want to see how your experiences differ from Marinette's.

But the biggest problem I have is that of all the reasons Marinette could have gone to Shanghai, this was what the writers chose to go with. They didn't have Marinette go to a family reuinion with Sabine, they didn't have Marinette go to check out a fashion show there, and they didn't have Marinette's class go to Shanghai on a field trip for a made up “Chinese-French Friendship Week”. They seriously thought the best way Marinette could go to Shanghai was chasing after Adrien for no real reason other than because they can't think of any motivation for Marinette to do anything that doesn't involve Adrien.

Also, I should probably mention that when someone asked him about this part of the special, this is where we got Astruc's infamous “Marinette has to make a mistake in every episode” explanation.

Hey, Astruc? May I offer a word of advice? If Adrienette is the ship we're supposed to support, DON'T FRAME STUFF MARINETTE DOES TO GET CLOSER TO ADRIEN AS A MISTAKE. HOW HARD IS THAT?

In fact, not even halfway through rewatching this special, I thought of a different reason for how and why Marinette could go to Shanghai that not only takes advantage of the timeline, but also expands on the lore of the show: A few weeks after the events of “Heroes' Day”, Master Fu realizes that the battle with Hawkmoth is only going to get harder now that he has a new ally, so he suggests going to Shanghai with Marinette to see if there is anyone who can help decode the Grimoire to boost their chances, or find someone who is at least familiar with the Miraculous and the Order of the Guardians. The reason Master Fu brings Marinette is because he believes his story about the Miraculous will be more credible with an actual Miraculous wielder by his side. Cat Noir will still be made aware of this, but will stay back in Paris in case Hawkmoth and Mayura try anything, with the plan to contact Ladybug if things head south while Ladybug uses the Horse Miraculous to teleport over there.

Marinette and Master Fu look for Wu, but only find the ruins of his school Fei made her home in, realizing she's pretty much their only lead now. This is also a chance to have Fei bond with Master Fu, as the two come from similar backgrounds, since they're both the last remaining Guardian from their respective order. So while Master Fu would help Fei learn about the Prodigious, Fei would give Master Fu the notes her adoptive father had on the language the Grimoire is written in. If you ever wanted to follow up on this in Season 4 or a sequel, have an episode where Marinette takes the Horse Miraculous to Shanghai to talk to Fei about how to deal with all the stress when she's pretty much the Guardian now.

There. In just two paragraphs, I came up with a plot that expands upon the overall story, portrays the characters in a respectful way, and doesn't rely on Unfunny Marinette Slapstick or her simping over Adrien.

But instead, Marinette goes to China to visit her Uncle Wang, who is conveniently much more fluent in English than he was in “Kung Food”. Wang says it's so it's easier to communicate with his niece, but it's not clear if he practiced specifically for Marinette's visit, or if he was planning to do it the next time he saw Marinette at all.

The next scene is pretty much Wang telling Marinette a little about her mother's side of the family, and how Sabine was originally named Xia Bing before she moved to Paris. From what I've looked up, this is something Chinese people do when moving to another country, but the reason is unclear. While Wang starts preparing dinner, Marinette uses the excuse to look for a secret ingredient to look for Adrien. Because yeah, a teenage girl walking all by herself in a foreign country where she can't speak the local tongue is perfectly fine.

As for Gabriel, he goes to the ruins of Wu's school and discovers the location of the Prodigious cave behind a waterfall. Of course, it'll be twenty minutes before he actually gets to do anything, because of this special's second act.

Meanwhile, Adrien himself is walking around with his bodyguard and is asked for a picture with some local kids his age, giving him a chance to remind the audience of how fluent he is in Mandarin. Okay, again, I'm not expecting Marinette to be fluent in every form of the Chinese language, and I'm not saying Adrien is wrong for learning the language at all, but I still think the writers really should have thought things through instead of making Adrien more knowledgeable about Chinese culture than the girl with Chinese ancestry. Although I will give this special credit, as Adrien isn't the one to explain Chinese culture to Marinette, avoiding one of the biggest problems I had with “Kung Food”.

While Marinette walks through the city, we get to see Fei again, as she gives a little monologue about some pseudo-philosophical stuff, because why wouldn't the Chinese girl try to be a young Confucius?

Fei: I'd like to see people as people, think of them as stories: their smallest pleasures, their greatest joys, their disappointments, their successes. That's how my adoptive father would have wanted me to see them.

While Fei is someone who wants to see the good in people, she's fallen on hard times, so she has to resort to stealing valuable objects from others in order to get the money she needs. Naturally, she decides to steal a small ring from the French tourist who has a tough bodyguard behind him. Unfortunately, Fei decides to steal Marinette's phone, Miraculous and the coin purse she uses to hide Tikki instead.

It turns out that Fei is actually stealing stuff for a local criminal named Cash in exchange for information on who killed Wu. Of course, Cash doesn't give Fei a lot of money for what she got, and goes on about how society has changed to focus more on financial needs, because I guess we're going for a “capitalism is bad” message now. Cash gives Fei the idea to bring Marinette to him so he can sell her stuff back to her, but not before shoving Tikki into the claw machine.

Okay, I like the idea of Marinette losing her Miraculous and needing to adapt, but this whole plotline just breaks a lot of the show's continuity. Earlier episodes have shown that if the Miraculous is taken off, the corresponding Kwami disappears from this physical plane (Origins, Feast), and while Marinette has lost Tikki before, it was only because she still had her Miraculous, and therefore, couldn't use it until she reunited with her (Princess Fragrance, Kwamibuster). And another thing, why can't Tikki just phase through the claw machine while nobody's looking and fly back to where Marinette was staying? This whole subplot is pretty much there to add to this special's runtime, because nothing is really added here.

While Marinette struggles to find her way back to her Uncle Wang's restaurant, she is chased by some of the guys Adrien was with earlier. One of them found Marinette's Kwagatama necklace, but in typical fashion for this show, she assumes they're thugs and runs away with Fei in tow. Meanwhile, Adrien goes out to look for Marinette as Cat Noir, as somehow, Marinette's disappearance has made the local news.

Marinette gets to know Fei a little more, not knowing she's the reason she's in this predicament in the first place, but her kindness does get Fei to feel more guilt about how far she's fallen. I actually like this, as unlike most instances of this trope, Fei isn't just a hardened criminal who was touched by Marinette. She genuinely has morals, and she hates the fact that she has to compromise them in order to survive. It's a nice take for this special.

Fei takes Marinette to the pawn shop, where Marinette finds her Miraculous, but Cash tells her to cough up ¥100,000 for it, which amounts to $15,000 for American viewers, and is just over €14,000 for European viewers. Of course, Fei does the smart thing and switches the earrings for a pair of lookalikes and bails with Marinette. Naturally, Marinette thanks Fei for helping her get her Miraculous back.

Marinette: You stole my earrings?

Fei: Weren't you the one who wanted them back?

Marinette: Yes, but not like that! Stealing is wrong. That seller paid a lot of money to buy my earrings from whoever sold them to him! If he can't sell them back, he'll have lost all his money!

Wow, ungrateful much? Okay, I get it, stealing is wrong, but it's not like Fei stole the latest copy of Bonestorm for Marinette. Marinette had lost one of the most important magical artifacts in all of existence, and all she can think about is stealing being wrong? I think when the only thing capable of de-evilizing Akumas is on the line, stealing is okay, guilty conscious be damned.

Cash realizes the ruse and sends some of his goons after Marinette and Fei, but when the three guys from earlier arrive, Marinette and Fei take advantage of the distraction and run away. Meanwhile, Cat Noir decides to call Ladybug for help finding Marinette. And before you ask, no, it's never explained if Cat Noir told Ladybug where he was going, and vice versa.

The writers finally remember Gabriel exists, as he prepares to akumatize someone to take on the guardian of the Prodigious. He also sees Marinette and Fei, but never questions why this random girl would be in the sacred temple at all. Just when Fei is about to tell Marinette the truth, Cash shows up and tells Marinette instead, meaning we get the standard “liar revealed” cliche that nobody likes. In his frustration of being scammed, Gabriel transforms into Hawkmoth (because I guess nobody heard him shouting “Dark Wings, Rise!”), and akumatizes Cash into King Cash.

King Cash has a pretty decent design. The armor is detailed, and the golden skin is animated very well thanks to the higher budget for this special. His powers are pretty much a knockoff of Style Queen's, with his fan blades having the power to turn whatever they touch into a gold statue, though we never actually see it happen.

Marinette transforms into Ladybug and calls Cat Noir to let him know about the Akuma. Speaking of, Hawkmoth meets up with King Cash at the door to the Prodigious, while Fei tries to stop the two supervillains, which goes about as well as you'd expect. Fei gets thrown into a well for her troubles, and thankfully, Ladybug does the heroic thing and puts her personal feelings aside to save her.

As the eclipse grows closer, Hawkmoth goes into the cave and gets the Prodigious, with the guardian spirit, Mei Shi, attempting to test him. Hawkmoth, doing arguably the smartest thing in the entire special, orders King Cash to turn Mei Shi into a gold statue, but before he can do so and get away with the Prodigious, Ladybug and Fei intervene. During the skirmish, Fei grabs the Prodigious, causing it to activate, transforming her into Ladydragon.

I'm... honestly not sure where I stand on this suit. I think it has a decent color scheme, but not much is really done to evoke the dragon or animal motif. I'm also pretty sure the yellow patch in the middle could be a reference to the yellow and black jumpsuit people associate with Bruce Lee, but that's just a guess on my end. I don't know, I just thought since the Prodigious glowed a lot of colors, there would be more of a rainbow color to the suit, instead of just looking like a scrapped design for Ladybug herself. It's not bad, it's just... forgettable.

But let's also talk about the little controversy this suit stirred up initially. Originally, Ladydragon had golden blonde hair when transformed, judging from the trailers. This naturally attracted allegations of whitewashing, something that the show was no stranger to thanks to Rena Rouge and Pegasus.

Thankfully, the design was changed to give her a more vibrant red head of hair, though with how quickly the change was implimented, you have to wonder if Ladydragon was meant to have red hair from the start, and what we saw from the trailers wasn't even close to the final draft.

While Ladydragon struggles to adjust to her new powers, she soon realizes she has some new friends to deal with. These are the Renlings, magical beings who embody several virtues of humanity. Yeah, remember the two or three times this movie talked about virtues, and every time, the discussion amounted to “Don't be a dick to other people”? It was actually building up to this very moment.

But I'm sure you have other questions about this scene, like...

Where did the Renlings come from?

Why is the Prodigious more dangerous than the Miraculous?

How can Ladydragon talk to the Renlings while transformed?

Why are the Renlings all bound to the single Prodigious?

Who even created the Prodigious, and why?

How are the Renlings and Prodigious connected to the Miraculous in the first place?

Has there been anyone else who has used the Prodigious before?

Why exactly was Fei chosen by Lao Shi to wield the Prodigious?

Why was the Prodigious sealed away instead of being placed under the protection of the Order of the Guardians?

How is Lao Shi connected to the Prodigious?

WHERE THE HELL DID THE PRODIGIOUS EVEN COME FROM?

This was honestly where the special lost me. With New York, I was more angry at the terrible attempts to tease the Love Square, but I had hopes for this special, as it takes place in the same country the Miraculous came from. You could have done more to establish the history of the Miraculous and Prodigious, but instead, this just came out of nowhere. We still know absolutely nothing about either, yet the show still wants us to act like the origins of these sacred magical artifacts the show is named after isn't important information.

Ladydragon has the ability to transform into various animals depending on the virtues they supposedly represent. Well, they say that, but she doesn't really struggle to transform into any of the other animals, with the exception of the dragon, which represents justice. Since she wants revenge on Cash for ruining her life, she can't access that form. So basically, this special ruined the idea of Hawkmoth getting the Prodigious, because now, we know he wouldn't be able to do a damn thing with it.

When Ladybug is cornered by Hawkmoth and King Cash, she notices Cat Noir hiding out. Using her already summoned Lucky Charm, a basketball, she deflects King Cash's fan so Cat Noir can Cataclysm it. Of course, since we have about ten minutes left, Ladybug doesn't immediately de-evilize the Akuma and takes the time to do a pose with Cat Noir for the trailer.

Hawkmoth then sends his Akuma towards Mei Shi, and even though he is supposedly an emotionless guardian, he somehow gets akumatized into Yan Luo Shi because Fei was focused on revenge... because even though she was already chosen by the Prodigious, that means it's perfectly okay to endanger innocent lives. I'm starting to see why the Guardians abandoned the Prodigious and their stupid guardian.

Yan Luo Shi has a pretty cool design. I like the way he's framed at this fearsome titan. Granted, his motivation to kill as many people as possible until Fei gives back the Prodigious kind of makes him look like a massive hypocrite.

Hawkmoth immediately realizes the problem with bringing Adrien along as he orders Yan Luo Shi to not destroy the city, only to get vaporized in the process. Maybe you should have left him in Paris, numbnuts. In fact, shouldn't this mean he would automatically be de-evilized if the Butterfly Miraculous was vaporized too?

After recharging offscreen, Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Ladydragon try to stop Yan Luo Shi, but Ladybug says that for some reason, only the dragon power of the Prodigious can reach the magic orb containing the Akuma inside him. Cat Noir tries to do what anyone else in his situation would do, use his Cataclysm to break open Yan Luo Shi, but because the plot wants to show off Ladydragon, he's vaporized too.

Ladydragon runs away and blames herself for what's happening, as if the crazy stone statue isn't the one to blame, detransforming to Fei so she can cry. Ladybug detransforms as well and talks to her as Marinette, but when the two are endangered, Fei manages to save Marinette using the power of the dragon... which is pretty much the same elemental powers the Dragon Miraculous has. Riveting.

Marinette transforms into Ladybug again and summons her Lucky Charm, a giant vase. She jumps in, and Ladydragon uses the dragon's elemental powers to shove the vase into Yan Luo Shi's mouth, so Ladybug can free the Akuma. Wait, you're telling me that evilized objects can be broken without using Cataclysm? I can't believe I forgot that.

Ladybug de-evilizes the Akuma, Mei Shi apologizes for his rampage, Ladybug uses Miraculous Ladybug to fix everything, Mei Shi says the Prodigious is in good hands with Ladydragon before disappearing, later reveals his true form resembles the Kwamis, Ladydragon takes Cash to the proper authorities, and Ladybug and Cat Noir pretend to fly back to Paris in their Cosmobug and Astro Cat forms.

Back at Uncle Wang's restaurant, Marinette, Adrien, and Fei are having dinner, while Fei reveals that she can play the accordion. Ah yes, one of the most important lessons in learning kung fu: playing the accordion. Wang offers to adopt Fei, and just when Marinette finally tries to learn more Mandarin, everyone in the room laughs at her for saying something wrong. Because isn't it funny that a girl who doesn't know how to speak Mandarin doesn't say something right in Mandarin? And so the special ends with Adrien offering to teach Marinette Mandarin back in Paris, but just like the fact that Gabriel canonically hired an assassin to kill someone, we're never going to follow up on any of that.

While I think this special improved in some areas, it's still very disappointing as a whole.

The smaller cast of Marinette, Fei, Cash, Adrien, and Hawkmoth lead to a lot more character focused scenes, mainly between Marinette and Fei. I like how more focus was given on the origin of Ladydragon, especially after how divorced Eagle's debut felt from the New York Special. The actual animation was still very stunning, and some of the best in the show's history. The city just feels so alive here, and the lighting is so creative. I also like how they didn't focus too much on the Love Square, and kept the plot centered around Fei and Marinette. Granted, it made Cat Noir seem like a bit of an afterthought, but they still gave him relevance in how they stopped King Cash.

Of course, the negatives sadly outweigh the positives. Despite the entire plot starting thanks to Marinette caring more about seeing Adrien than her own culture, there's never really any closure to that plot thread. Other than a single scene where Marinette learns a little about her mother, and the ending, Marinette never really learns more about her culture. Sure, part of the plot hinges on Marinette mistaking people for thugs thanks to not speaking their language, but not much is done to teach Marinette, and by extension, the audience about Chinese culture. Again, I'm not saying Marinette needs to be completely fluent in Mandarin, but for a special marketed as Marinette going to China, they don't really focus more on the culture of the special's setting. Of course, I'm still glad it focused on the main plot with Fei, but I just think they could have done more, like have a few more scenes talking about the virtues that would later become more important once Fei gets the Prodigious. And hey, at least the representation wasn't as offensive as earlier episodes.

The Prodigious itself just didn't get enough explanation to warrant an entire story around it. The writers could have very easily done more to explain the origins of the Miraculous and their connection to the Prodigious, but they settled on doing absolutely nothing instead. It's just a really powerful MacGuffin with no negative downsides other than the user struggling to use it for a few minutes. Seeing how anticlimactic the drawbacks are, what was even the point of it being built up as so dangerous when all that happens is that you can't use it in a certain state of mind? It takes away a lot of the stakes to Hawkmoth getting the Prodigious, because now, we know it would be completely useless in his hands thanks to all of his crimes. Why not show more consequences to Fei using the Prodigious? Maybe if she tries to transform using a certain virtue, it hurts her or knocks her out of her transformation? Maybe Mei Shi can turn into Yan Luo Shi as a result of Fei trying to use the Prodigious for revenge as a result of his connection to the Prodigious? Do something to explain just what makes this artifact so dangerous to use. Is the danger only from Mei Shi, given he freaked out after Fei gave into her emotions once?

Something that also bothered me was the way the writers kept Fei from learning Marinette's identity as Ladybug. I get why she couldn't find out at the beginning, but as they bonded as friends and as the special went on, it just got ridiculous. Ladybug can know who Fei is, but not vice versa? They seriously have Marinette detransform in the middle of a chaotic fight with Yan Luo Shi to talk to Fei, when it would make no sense for Marinette to get to that building in the first place, much less with the giant stone warrior destroying everything. Would it have really killed the writers to make an exception to the identity rule seeing how Fei is from another country, and therefore, someone who isn't at risk of being akumatized? Marinette at least has Cat Noir and Master Fu to support her at this point. Besides the Renlings, who does Fei have? Maybe having Marinette be more honest about how her first time as Ladybug went could have helped motivate Fei to try again. The point I'm trying to make is that while the drama with Cat Noir is understandable, Marinette and Fei's bond could have been handled a lot better without the identity shenanigans.

The climax just felt pretty tacked on got the most part. It was already pretty stupid of Ladybug to somehow forget to de-evilize a recently freed Akuma, but it felt like the writers wanted a giant monster attack to spice things up. Not only do we barely know anything about Mei Shi, his anger at Fei is barely hinted at given how stoic he is. Markov at least displayed enough sentience to show emotion, but Mei Shi didn't even seem that angry before being akumatized. Cat Noir also felt like a last-minute addition, given how little he really does before the climax, and even then, all he really does is help Ladybug defeat King Cash. It was bad enough that Adrien's presence drove the plot, but they didn't even have him do anything worthwhile to justify him being in China other than because Cat Noir needs to be everywhere.

Overall, this special is just disappointing in a lot of areas. While I was more frustrated with the New York Special, this special just underwhelmed me for the most part. I just don't see the point in putting so much effort into making these specials when nothing actually important happens in them. There's no character development, there's no major worldbuilding, and there's certainly no plot progression. These specials are the definition of filler, and I can't believe we have to deal with at least four more of these.

THE BIGGEST IDIOT OF THE SPECIAL IS... MARINETTE

Putting aside her motivation for going to Shanghai in the first place, she didn't even tell Cat Noir where she was going when that was a major plot point in the previous special. Yeah, she thought Cat Noir was still in Paris, but even Adrien had some semblance of a plan when he left Paris in the New York Special. Marinette also seriously thought it would be a good idea to walk on her own in a city where everyone spoke a language she couldn't understand, and later had the gall to shame someone for trying to steal her Miraculous right after she got them back, thinking the shady thrift shop owner would be bankrupt otherwise. And during the climax, she not only failed to de-evilize an Akuma for no reason and risked her life going into the crossfire of an Akuma just to give Fei a pep talk when all she had to do was talk to her as Ladybug. It's kind of sad that she did more reckless things in this special than Hawkmoth, who gets the silver medal for the sheer idea of bringing Adrien along to a place with a dangerous artifact instead of keeping him safe in Paris like he's done for his other plans.

[jammyjams1910]

I posted 344 times in 2022

That's 344 more posts than 2021!

189 posts created (55%)

155 posts reblogged (45%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@just-a-douglas-simp-existing

@8bit-engine

@cutejk123

@g0nta-g0kuhara

@theelfandthecaterpillar

I tagged 282 of my posts in 2022

Only 18% of my posts had no tags

#ttte - 181 posts

#thomas the tank engine - 168 posts

#thomas and friends - 164 posts

#ttte donald - 98 posts

#ttte humanized - 81 posts

#ttte human au - 68 posts

#my edit - 60 posts

#gacha neon - 58 posts

#ttte douglas - 56 posts

#ttte jamie💛 - 46 posts

Longest Tag: 88 characters

#i dont like that in the later seasons we only get episodes of the characters in the team

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Not mine but 😂

@themeepcreep @ttte-07 @just-a-douglas-simp-existing @stuarts-randomplace @cosmolovesfandoms

See the full post

37 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

#4

@just-a-douglas-simp-existing

Made a lil somethin somethin for ya つ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)つ 💖

39 notes - Posted June 14, 2022

#3

So I've made a bunch of icons of some engines

And they're all just chilling in my gallery-

Sooo imma just put these here-

See the full post

53 notes - Posted July 27, 2022

#2

@just-a-douglas-simp-existing

I wish I could do what you are capable of (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)

66 notes - Posted August 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The tragic story of Douglas's ass

iM SORRY I COULDN'T RESIST-

Yeaaa.. @just-a-douglas-simp-existing ur man needs some m i l k-

71 notes - Posted August 29, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[houseboatisland]

I'm rather curious for your own takes on Thom Thom~✨💙

Edit credit to @/ComradeOpThomas from Twitter, this is my ideal Thomas!

(Season 5 Thomas is the best Thomas, I don’t make the rules)

I started this hoping for it not to become a whole biography, but it just kept pouring out of me, so here's a very, very long post indeed lol

Thomas is NOT an L.B.S.C.R. E2 Class. He’s actually a unique design born to the North Western Railway in its earliest days… and in remarkably sad circumstances.

When the Railway Executive Committee first took over in August 1914, they were repulsed at the state of the Sudrian railways. Here were several argumentative companies operating in isolation from one another, with geriatric engines and stock, and one of them hadn't even run a train or maintained its permanent way since the start of the century. A key agenda item of the R.E.C.'s was a continuous, efficient railway system to quickly move men and materiel to the Island's eastern coast were Ireland to side with Kaiser Bill against John Bull. The existing standard gauge railways would have to be more or less torn up and rebuilt from scratch, and several new miles of track laid in to make for a single fluid network.

This required, among other things, many new engines. Several came over the Channel as and when could be spared by the Mainland, but as it became increasingly clear that the war would not be over "by Christmas," this wasn't an ideal long-term solution. The R.E.C. was especially upset that it had to put so many of its tender engines onto construction trains when their strength could be better used on other work. Two tank engines off the former Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, No. 1 "Short" and No. 2 "Stumpy" were by now nearing fifty years old, and exhausted mechanically.

The R.E.C., out to keep costs down and use resources to the fullest, ordered the N.W.R. to scrap these two engines and use the best parts of each to create one new engine. Measurements were taken, plans were hastily drawn up, and Short and Stumpy were quietly cut up in January 1915. Several fittings were made new for what odds and ends neither engine could contribute a usable part. The resulting new engine was "Thomas," who was put to work fresh off the shop floor.

Thomas at this point became the N.W.R.’s No. 1 quite by accident. He was the first engine to be built at Crovan’s Gate, and the REC misinterpreted this on his builder’s plates as an intention by the N.W.R. TO make him No. 1. So when Thomas gained his number, the R.E.C. and the N.W.R. both assumed this was deliberate by one another. And it was just too much of a hassle and too unimportant to change, so No. 1 he stayed.

As for his name, Thomas is named after Thomas Reginald Payne, the North Western Railway's first Chief Mechanical Engineer. Payne had made Thomas' construction a reality, from drawing up his blueprints to supervising his piecing together. Payne, who was CME from 1914 to his death in 1951, never forgot this connection to "his" engine, and often wanted to be on the shop floor whenever Thomas was in for repairs.

Thomas’ “infancy” was in a word, harsh. He was working around the clock, surrounded by engines who came and went, and did little if any socializing. Foremen were ordering him about at every turn. His first friend ever was the new N.W.R. No. 2, Edward, the former Wellsworth and Suddery Railway’s No. 5 and only tender engine, who knew his old crewmates were chopped up to make Thomas. Thankfully, Edward knew better than to let Thomas in on this, lest he give him some sort of existential crisis, and he made quick work of making himself a mentor to the little engine.

In these conditions, Thomas’ “cheeky” and anti-authoritarian streak took shape. His whole life thus far had been work and taking lumps from his superiors, most of whom were English and not Sudrian. This morphed into a disrespect for big engines, who wanted him to be their errand boy as construction work began to ebb and focus shifted to running trains. Ever the contrarian, Thomas only doubles down on his disrespect for tender engines when he finds out that that’s “the traditional order of things.” Edward is of course exempt from this attitude, but in his tensest moments Thomas can even lose patience with HIM momentarily.

The war finally ends. January 1919 sees the N.W.R. out to make an identity for itself as peacetime takes hold and Parliament quietly rumbles about Grouping or outright Nationalization. Thomas is the first engine to wear "Hatt Blue with Red Stripes," the company's planned standard livery. This isn't unique to him for long, however, and Thomas' new line of work from hereon is Station Pilot for Vicarstown. Needless to say this is upsetting to him. He's not moving up and down the Island like he was when building the railway. He's still rushed off his wheels. He's expected to be answerable to tender engines as he makes up their trains. Most importantly, he's still having as much difficulty as before to make time to make friends. This new job is in every respect everything Thomas could have wanted to avoid, and there's no telling if he'll ever even get out of it. January 1919 is thus where "Wants to See the World" Thomas begins.

Thomas still gets to see Edward regularly, and he is for a pinch joined by two other tank engines shunting at Vicarstown. They're also ex-Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, Nos. 3 and 4 "Edwin" and "Victor." Thomas befriends Victor, who is a friendly old joker, but dislikes Edwin who has become cranky in his old and as a 2-4-0T has a tendency to slip and not be of much help. They leave him too, in 1922, when The Fat Director relocates them to run other branchlines on the Island. So, 1922 onward, we meet Thomas as the sole pilot, thoroughly busy and thoroughly lonely.

This seems more or less canon, but The Fat Director probably sent Thomas to Wellsworth after his runaway with Edward's trucks in anticipation of giving him the Ffarquhar Branch once he was a matured engine. He didn't give Thomas the line just because he rescued James in fine style, that was really what made his mind up.

Thomas looks kindly enough on Henry as a big engine at this time, he and Edward as mentioned aren't necessarily the kinds of "Big Engines" he dislikes. He'll occasionally give him a tease or two, or lose patience with his health, (something he now deeply regrets years later,) but there's no real malice in it. Think of him as the little brother poking fun at his bigger brother for having one arm in a cast, but altogether still feeling sorry for him and accommodating him how he can. Henry for his part appreciates Thomas, but takes his teasing very seriously considering how sensitive and implicating it is to, you know, his whole existence.

My idea of Thomas' relationship with Gordon is heavily inspired by @/mean-scarlet-deceiver's: Thomas is initially awed by Gordon's arrival and finally confident the N.W.R. can survive, but quickly resents him when he shows his true colors as a "big engine" through and through. I wouldn't even call Gordon and Thomas "friendly" until their alliance at Toryreck Mine. From 1923 all the way up to then, depending on when you place it, they... legitimately dislike each other. There's no affection beneath all the ribbing and jibes, they ACTUALLY disliked each other that whole period of time.

I'm still hashing out my headcanon of 98462 and 87546, (just know that those aren't actually their numbers,) but it's safe to say Thomas hates their guts, and '62 and '46 hate his guts in return as a servant willing to speak up for himself.

Thomas and James were a couple from 1924 to 1933, when they broke up amid the Big Engine Strike. I'd really rather reserve this for a post of its own at a later date.

Thomas and Percy are good friends, but I wouldn't go so far as to call them "best friends" like the TVS has so often hammered in. They clearly come to blows whenever the tension's too much. I like to explain that away as a shift in Thomas' character. With him doing more passenger work as Percy and Toby handle the stone trains, and his increasing fame, Thomas begins looking down on Percy, not long after he transferred to Ffarquhar in 1955 in fact. This might also have to do with unresolved feelings between them both. (Hey, remember that little green engine you kissed once just to try it over twenty years ago? He's your roommate now, probably forever. Play nice!)

[coledonianventures]

One of the first things you’ll notice when you dive into the world of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is that there is a lot of content to find within the show. This isn’t too surprising as Thomas and Friends ran for 31 years, making it one of the longest running kids shows ever created. The biggest question you’ll probably ask is; where do I start? Do I have to watch everything from season 1 so that season 20 will make sense, or can I just pick any episode from any season and start there? The short answer is yes and no, which probably isn’t what you expected. Unlike most other kids shows, Thomas and Friends has always had continuity. The book series that the show was based on always had a very strong world that was the singular vision of the author, Rev. W. Awdry. However, unlike the book series, Thomas and Friends the TV show has had multiple different people with multiple different visions, meaning that some stories, characters, and events are more significant that others. There are several different moments in the shows history that show a solid change in vision and style, it’s these changes that allow us to draw dividing lines between the shows history and separate them in to different eras. There are five major eras in the history of Thomas and Friends, all of which we are going to go through now. 

______________________________________________________________

The Classic Era (Image 1, 1984-2003): Thomas and Friends first aired in 1984 in England, the show was created by Britt Allcroft, directed by David Mitton, and had music composed by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell. The show was an instant success and paved the way for Thomas the Tank engine to become a global icon. The series used models to simulate real railways as well as the illustrations in Awdry’s books. The first two seasons follow the stories of the Railway series, but eventually the show started telling original Thomas stories by season 3. The peak of the show was reached in the year 2000, with the release of a theatrical movie called, “Thomas and the Magic Railroad.”(Image 2) In 2003 HIT Entertainment bought Gullane Entertainment and acquired the rights to the Thomas IP shortly after season 7 aired, thus ending the classic era of Thomas and Friends. 

______________________________________________________________

The Hit Era (Image 3, 2004-2008): After HIT Entertainment gained the rights to Thomas and Friends the show underwent a format change. All of the crew who had worked on Thomas up to that point was laid off and replaced with new people, the runtime on episodes was extended from 5 minutes to 8 minutes, and there were new CGI learning segments added for children. Even though the show continued the continuity of the previous seasons it was clearly meant to be a soft reboot of the continuity established at that point. The HIT era lasted from season 8 to season 12 with two direct to video movies being made in between called; “Calling all Engines” (2005) and “The Great Discovery.” (2008)

______________________________________________________________

The Nitrogen Era (Image 4, 2008-2012): When season 13 began production the decision was made to render the entire show in CGI, a decision which continued to the shows end. The show was dubbed the Nitrogen era as the animation company making the show was called “Nitrogen Studios.” The era began with the release of the first CGI Thomas film “Hero of the Rails” which aired in late 2008. The era consisted of three other direct to video films as well as seasons 13-16. One other thing to note about the Nitrogen era is that another name it sometimes holds is “The Sharon Miller Era” as the head writer at the time was named Sharon Miller. 

______________________________________________________________

The Brenner Era (Image 5, 2013-2017): In 2012 toy company Mattel, most famous for their toys Barbie and Hotwheels, purchased HIT entertainment and gained the rights to Thomas and Friends. Mattel quickly wanted to rebrand Thomas and brought on a team of Thomas alumni to write for the show, the most significant of them all being Andrew Brenner. Previously working as a writer for Thomas annual stories and being a script editor for the Thomas film “Blue Mountain Mystery.” Brenner was a long time fan and brought about what was considered to be a great return to form for the franchise, celebrating everything that made Thomas special. Brenner was head writer from season 17-21 as well as writing five direct to video Thomas Movies. 

______________________________________________________________

The BWBA Era (Image 6, 2018-2021): The BWBA era (Pronounced BWUH-BUH) was the last era of Thomas and friends and is considered to be the worst, the era’s name is derived from the TV movie “Big World Big Adventures.” which aired before season 22 and was the piece of media that started the era. Despite the Brenner era being well received by both fans and general audiences, Mattel was unable to market and distribute the show properly leading to a decline in toy sales and viewership. This prompted a new direction to be taken with Thomas and Friends in which Thomas would travel around the world to the different countries Mattel wanted to appeal to, with only half of a season's episodes taking place on Sodor. Andrew Brenner quit shortly after this decision was made. Other significant changes include; Making the engines bounce up and down, replacing Edward and Henry with new female characters, fantasy sequences strewn about each episode, and faster pacing. Despite all of these changes Mattel did nothing to change its marketing strategies, resulting in them alienating their audience. This caused the show to be cancelled after season 24, ending the show after 31 years. 

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

QLIR Outline: Seasons 1-3

New installment is coming along nicely! Posting this as a reader reference and as self-discipline.

When a story is posted, I’ll turn the title into a link. The stories may be written/posted quite out of order, so this outline should keep them straight.

Questions/ideas/requests for tidbits always welcome in the inbox. :) I: Quiet Little Island Railway (1922)

The Workshop. Henry is built. And built again. And again... (1919-1922)  The Express Engine. Henry is finally shipped to a railway, and a suspicious Fat Controller pretty much immediately has measuring tape and pocket watch out. Henry’s worried driver takes drastic action to secure Henry’s future. High-Speed Police Chase. The North Western buzzes with gossip when Scotland Yard inspectors start trawling the railway. Their target could certainly use a speedy green escape vehicle about now!... wait... Timetables. Sodor's new express engine keeps his time… mostly… with a little help from a series of drivers. But the latest one, the celebrated Mr. Lammaleye, doesn’t react to Henry’s usual request as expected. From the Sham to the Ham. Thomas fucks with Henry’s first goods train, because of course he does. Look Further, Do Worse. Henry asks Linda, the hardscrabble floater engine who has worked “everywhere,” whether Sodor is really all that great. Apparently, it is. Linda wants to impress the Fat Controller in the final weeks of her trial period, so she really-usefully teaches Thomas the concept of “speed trials,” senior maintenance workers their business, a new first-class coach some respect, and only Then There Was Trouble. Good Engines Don't. Henry and Edward have a snit that leaves the former devastated... and grimly determined to make a success of a special annual train to the mainland, no matter the cost. Mr. Lammaleye would be impressed—if he wasn't so disquieted by evidence of Henry’s all-too-human thinking. Bits. Henry has to wonder what exactly they did to him while they repaired his boiler, because upon his return Thomas is, like… more than halfway tolerable, and Henry celebrates his first Christmas by bringing back a present from Kildane for his station pilot. 

II: Saving the Railway (1923-4)

Clearing a Line #1. Thomas and Edward meet the new, genuine Gresley... and quickly notice that this is the weirdest arrival to Sodor they’ve ever had (which is saying a lot, with Henry, Linda, and both “hams” all making a strong showing in recent memory).  Clearing a Line #2. Edward was happy to try and keep express passenger services running between Henry’s repairs and Gordon’s arrival… but the Fat Controller added a catch, and Edward needed help from Mr. Lammaleye to manage his assignment. Alternately.: All the red flags that Edward ignored before Part I.  The Autumn After. Gordon saves the railway. Sodor booms. Three Four new engines are leased. The Fat Controller, busier than ever, becomes something of an absentee parent. The new crews are an unlikely lot and one of them... carries around a blowtorch? Are we seeing that right? Fun! Fuck Edward gets taken down several pegs a lot, leaving the new engines free to run amok. Gordon teaches them not to mess with him personally, but retreats deeply from railway social life. Henry, left alone, is running scared. Three Loaner Engines. Thomas re-introduces the Brass-Buffered Truck of Discord and very nearly manages to Brer Rabbit the remaining three new engines to turn on each other instead of the “owned” engines. (Almost.) One Eye Open. That winter, Gordon observes… everything. Pity there’s no one sensible around to tell it to. Careless. The loaners choose a new target and cook up their most violent trick yet. The Fat Controller is forced to take notice, Henry tries to take a stand, but ultimately it's Gordon who steps in and establishes new rules of engagement: tank engines are off-limits, you bloody sociopaths, or you’ll answer to ME.  Firelighters. Henry’s new friends can’t help him when he starts to develop a whole new set of steaming problems. Problem Passengers. Gordon is given a special excursion train to a mainland prizefight, and is not very happy about it. Then an altercation within his coaches is blamed on Gordon, because why not.  The Spare Engine/One Perfect Day.(still working out the title and whether this is even one chapter or two) When a new driver is hired, Edward makes his bid. Everyone takes this well. MacNeil, the new driver, seems passive, but quickly gets up a feud with Lammaleye.  Railman’s Holiday. Spoiler alert: The Fat Controller barely even gets a foot on the mainland. Alternately: Topham is But a Simple Mechanical Engineer You Guys. How Can He Even. /sarc  The Conspirators. Gordon makes a remarkably convincing case that he and Edward are best friends, didn’t “little Edward” realize? And, now that Edward's back in steam again and once his head is done exploding, Gordon reckons that it's past time to talk strategy.  The Tunnel. Everyone’s noticing that things are… getting better. Except Henry. Y’all. It’s been almost three years since he arrived, and well over a year with the new loaner engines bringing the Lord of the Flies hellscape. It all started to 'get better' way too late for Henry.

III: Saving Each Other (1924-5)

Closing a Line. The Fat Controller figures out What The Hell to Do About Henry. With the “benefit” of all sorts of “helpful” input from basically every “person” on “Sodor.”  Names and Numbers. After Henry is bricked in the tunnel, none of the loaners are now in any danger of being returned to their homes. This emboldens Samuel, who for the first time ever has a mysterious need for a banking engine. Still, despite their newfound security, Lloyd and Ipswich come clean...ish... and confess their brass-truck-related sins to the Fat Controller out of the genuine remorse and penance of their hearts because MacNeil proves to also be handy with a blowtorch and In No Mood You Guys.  The Wild Nor’wester. Thomas has gone… more than slightly feral over the course of the past eighteen months. Gordon, fed up, teaches Thomas not to be cheeky with him. Thomas proves to Gordon that it might be worth hearing from tank engines. You know. Occasionally.  Neither Here Nor There. Lloyd and Ipswich take stock of their options and decide to ingratiate themselves with A.W. Dry industries so as to become indispensable. It would help, of course, if they weren’t so incurably disposed to drama that soon they can’t help sabotaging each other. On the neighboring railway, Edward’s two eldest brothers, facing the scrapyard and with nothing to lose, use the element of surprise “wtf are you two even doing on this island” to pay out “the red berk” Samuel for scaring the hell out of them with lies the past year.  Reversing Reverse. Gordon is beginning to visualize a rather magnificent plan to knock down a brick wall or two. However, before he can implement the full grandeur of his genius, there is a bothersome annoyance that must first be dealt with: his co-conspirator, while hiding it diligently from the railwaymen, is sinking into depression. Luckily, the Fat Controller is making some decisions about Lloyd and Ipswich.  The Sidings. Human-only shenanigans at the railwaymen’s favorite pub: Gallagher tries to two-time the barmaid sisters, Annabel and Clara; Willis, Atkins, and Sand get competitive; MacNeil grudgingly starts treatment for his war-related shellshock, and thereby has some realizations about Henry that he confides to the most understanding person he can think of Lammaleye over a pint… or four…  The Tunnel Again/Brothers. THIS IS IT YOU GUYS. Do I even need to tell you what happens? Alternately: There is not a single hatchet left unburied on the Island of Sodor! (The three loaners aside...)  One More Winter. The Fat Controller realizes that he might have a slight blue Gresley-sized problem on his hands. Actually, if he paints Henry blue, he might have two of them! Edward gets a new assignment. Thomas finally gets to take his first passenger train. FC hasn’t quite booted Samuel off the island yet, and, while Henry has a lot on his plate as he returns to service… he makes room for a healthy serving of Ooooohhh Let Me Handle This One!

[songbirdsengines]

20 thoughts about the reboot trailer (aside from the obvious) (in no particular order)

I’m putting these under the cut to spare you all. 

TDLR: It’s all a mess. Some areas may be less of a mess than others, but it’s all a mess.

1. Why is there a turntable? Can’t the engines just jump around in circles? If you’re going with that, there’s no reason to have a turntable

2. If those solar panels on Tidmouth Sheds are only there so that Kana engine can charge at night, I swear...

3. Did they really think they could turn Gordon into a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ENGINE without anyone noticing?! Gordon’s an A1, which has a wheel configuration of 4-6-0. This mess shows him as a 2-6-2! 

4. Why the heck is Diesel being grouped in with everyone like they’re friends? The whole point of Diesel’s character and role is that he hates steam engines!

5. The wheels extending from the engines like that is making me even more queasy than what they were doing the last couple of seasons

6. Gordon’s face when Thomas is covered in mud is literally the only good part about these characters from what I’ve seen

7. I will admit, some of the backgrounds aren’t half bad

8. WHERE THE HECK ARE ALL THE SIDE RODS ON THE WHEELS?!

9. Did anyone else think for a second that the tank engines got tenders with the colored trucks? Or was that just me?

10. Thomas shaking mud off his face will probably haunt me for days

11. Why is there a fridge and a lawnmower in those trucks?

12. Kana admittedly looks like she could have some potential, though she probably won’t get a chance

13. Nia looks even more obvious as a token diversity character in this style

14. I find it both relieving and concerning that we haven’t seen hide nor hair or James, who’s a pretty popular character in his own right and has recently been put into a trio with Thomas and Percy.

15. A loop-de-loop track.

A LOOP-DE-LOOP TRACK?!

Have those people up at Mattel LOST THEIR EVER-LOVING MINDS?!

16. Apparently things like gravity and metal rigidity don’t apply to these characters in any way, shape or form

17. Why is Gordon so much bigger than the others?! They’re all the same gauge!

18. Annie and Clarabel are missing. While I’m glad that it looks like they escaped, it’s far too odd to have Thomas without his coaches.

19. I find myself slightly less upset at Edward and Henry leaving. If Henry had to get adapted into this, I may have given up on the whole fandom.

20. October 2021. I can’t believe this monstrosity will be put out in my own lifetime. I’d best prepare for the funeral...

[erintheamericanlondoner]

Nostalgia

Hello readers! 

It’s been a while I know, like I said it’s been a busy semester, but I only have 2 more weeks left til I’m done. I probably won’t be posting for the next 2 weeks since I have finals to focus on. Lately I have been feeling nostalgic, because Big Time Rush is on Netflix (I have already watched the whole series twice since it’s been on netiflx and I’m planning on watching it a third time). Because of this nostagic feeling, I have decided to talk about things that make me feel nostalgic. The fact that the first 2 seasons of ICarly are on Netflix as well as the complete series of Victorious is on Netflix has also made me feel nostalgic. other things that make me feel nostalgic is Pokémon (I know the early ones), Yug-gi-oh (I watched it with my brother, agin only the early one), game cube, PS1, Barbie, American Girl Dolls, CD players (for a long time I had to share one with my brother), VCRs (I still have and use mine), Legos, Scooby doo, Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Magic School Bus, Between the Lions, Seasame Street, The Muppets, The Powerpuff Girls (not looking forward to the CW live action remake, I’m afraid it’s just going to be too dark), My Life as a Teenage Robot, Code Name Kids Next Door, Teen Titans! (I don’t like Teen Titans Go it just feels too little kiddy for my taste), Amelia Bedelia, The Biscuit books, Raggedy Ann, Dragon Tales, Game Boy (My brother and I had the Game Boy Color), Sponebob, Foster’s home for Imaginary Friends, Total Drama, School House Rock, Dr. Seuss books, Junie B. Jones books, Kim Possible, Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood, The Wiggles, Play Dough, Moon Sand, Polly Pocket, Bear in the Big Blue House, Winnie the Pooh, Thomas the Tank Engine, Beanie Babies, Hello Kitty (I lived in Japan for 3 years, so of course I was into Hello Kitty), and many more. I didn’t mention a lot of music becuase there is just too much music that make me feel nostagic. That is some of the stuff I liked when I was a child. 

Were you into any of this stuff? What makes you feel nostalgic? 

Girl on the Internet signing off

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The Royal Fascinator Friday, May 01, 2020 Hello, royal watchers and all those intrigued by what’s going on inside the House of Windsor. This is your biweekly dose of royal news and analysis. Reading this online? Sign up here to get this delivered to your inbox. Janet Davison Janet Davison Royal Expert

Sophie: The royal who ‘just gets on with it

She has been packing groceries in recent days, volunteering at a kitchen and talking to paramedics. There hasn’t been much fanfare around her actions in support of those working in the battle against COVID-19 — but then again, when Sophie, Countess of Wessex, does her royal business, that’s the way it tends to be. “Sophie does everything very quietly, partly because the media don’t follow her obsessively as they do with William and Catherine and partly because the things she does aren’t necessarily very glamorous,” said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, via email. That’s exactly what the Royal Family needs, Seward suggests: “someone who just gets on with things regardless of the attention they receive.” Seward likens Sophie, who joined the Royal Family when she married the Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, in 1999, to her sister-in-law, Princess Anne. Seward said given that Anne is nearly 70, she thinks Sophie “will take over from her as being the hardest-working royal. [Sophie] approaches her role in an unfussy way and just gets on with it.” That low-key approach has not gone unnoticed by her mother-in-law. Sophie “goes about her duty diligently, quietly and without a great deal of fuss, and for that the Queen adores her,” said Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent, Katie Nicholl, via email. “They are very close and spend a lot of time together when they are in Windsor, and the Queen loves riding with her grandchildren James and Louise.” It’s a closeness observers say goes back years. Sophie’s arrival in the family came in the wake — and in some ways the shadow — of Diana, wife of Edward’s older brother Prince Charles. Some saw Sophie as a new Diana, Seward said, “which of course she wasn’t.” “She hated the comparison as she knew she never would or should try to live up to it.” Louise's birth in November 2003 was difficult, as Sophie almost died as a result of blood loss. “People saw how much the Queen cared about her, visiting her in hospital, which is unheard of,” Seward said. “Gradually and without being pushy, she became the Queen’s closest companion — they share a love of military history and a wicked sense of humour.” That’s not to say it’s all been smooth sailing for Sophie. After her marriage, she continued in her career, but quit as head of a public relations company in 2001 after embarrassing comments she made were secretly recorded by a tabloid reporter posing as an Arab sheik and published in the News of the World. Seward suggests the Queen remained supportive of her daughter-in-law, and ultimately decided it would be better if Sophie and Edward worked as full-time royals. “Ever since then, Sophie has appeared looking glamorous when needed and workmanlike when needed.” She has visited Canada several times, sometimes with Prince Edward, sometimes on her own. The last visit came last fall, with two low-profile days in Toronto. Much of the time was spent at Toronto Western and Toronto General hospitals. She talked with critically ill patients and showed a "great warmth" and a "real, genuine skill in listening," Kevin Smith, president and chief executive officer of the University Health Network, said at the time. With turmoil and uncertainty in the upper echeolons of the Royal Family these days —  Prince Harry and Meghan stepping back to seek their independence, Prince Andrew stepping back amid controversy over his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — questions have arisen over just how the House of Windsor will approach the future. Some suggest Sophie will find herself in a more prominent role. “We are already seeing Edward and Sophie doing more to support the royals and I think that’s going to be the case moving forward,” said Nicholl.

Royal birthdays — pandemic-style

T(The Duchess of Cambridge/Kensington Palace via AP)In any family, birthdays can come in bunches. For the Royal Family, there’s a real run of them in late April and early May. And this year, the pandemic has been reflected as some members of the family marked their annual milestones in recent days. Queen Elizabeth's 94th birthday was acknowledged more quietly than usual. The gun salutes that normally sound on April 21 were called off, with the Queen feeling they would not be appropriate at this time. Photos released to mark Prince Louis’s second birthday on April 23, taken by his mother, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, showed the happy, colourful and messy aftermath of fingerpainting rainbows in support of the National Health Service. Other birthdays right around now include Louis’s sister Charlotte, who turns five on May 2, and their cousin, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, who will be one on May 6.

Harry and Meghan and the media —  again

Prince Harry and Meghan may be looking for a new life in Los Angeles, but some old issues appear to remain top of mind for them.The couple, who stepped back from the upper echelons of the Royal Family a month ago, caught observers somewhat off-guard the other day when they sent out a message saying they would no longer be co-operating with four British tabloid newspapers.It prompted some to wonder about the timing of the announcement, coming as it did during the pandemic, when such an issue might take a back seat to concerns over how to battle the coronavirus.Harry in particular has had a raucous relationship with the media, and the couple has also taken their battle into the courts.A few days ago, the first court hearing in a privacy case brought by Meghan against a tabloid for printing part of a letter to her father began at the High Court in London.Papers submitted in court included details of text messages Harry sent to Meghan’s father.The whole media swirl prompted Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s royal correspondent, to ask, “So will the real Duke and Duchess of Sussex please stand up?“There is the couple who provoke such sympathy in the court papers published today,” Dymond wrote recently. “And there's the couple who think now is the right time to exercise their quarrels with the bestselling papers of the nation that they have departed from.”

“Royally quotable“

As we approach World Immunization Week, I wanted to recognize the vital and urgent work being done by so many to tackle the pandemic; by those in the medical and scientific professions, at universities and research institutions, all united in working to protect us from COVID-19.”— 

The pandemic prompted Prince Philip to make a rare public statement on April 20. The 98-year-old Duke of Edinburgh, who has had a keen interest in science, has rarely been seen in public since he retired from public duties in the summer of 2017.

Royals in Canada

(Bill Croke/The Canadian Press)Princess Anne has been having something of a moment lately — or maybe several moments. One came late last fall, prompted by the feisty portrayal of her in Season 3 of the Netflix drama The Crown. And right now, the all-business, no-nonsense only daughter of the Queen and Prince Philip is the cover story for Vanity Fair.

But rewind 49 years, and Anne had her share of moments, too, some of them coming in Canada.

Much media attention was focused on the 20-year-old when she arrived with her parents to mark the 100th anniversary of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation.

As much as Anne was the focus of anticipation and attention during that trip in early May 1971, her royal duties were rather routine, even a bit mundane.

“Princess Anne made no official statement at the unveiling,” the Globe and Mail reported on May 5, after she officially opened Canada’s newest national park, Pacific Rim on Vancouver Island. “Her only function was to pull the cord that removed the flag from the rock face to unveil the plaque.”

Later, the Globe reported, Anne told the park superintendent “she was much impressed by the beauty and the picturesqueness of the park region.”

Our friends at CBC Archives have taken an in-depth look at the tour that took the royal visitors to Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Vernon, Penticton, Williams Lake and Comox.

Royal reads 1.Prince Harry has told friends he misses his life in the Armed Forces. [Daily Telegraph]

2. Harry has also looked back on his time as a child, recording a special messageto celebrate the 75th anniversary of a book he and others loved in their younger years: Thomas the Tank Engine. [CBC

]3. King Henry VIII might not be the first person you think of as inspiration for how to live in self-isolation, but maybe he could offer some lessons on how to find comfort in quarantine. [The Guardian]Cheers!I’m always happy to hear from you. Send your ideas, comments, feedback and notes to royalfascinator@cbc.ca. Problems with the newsletter? Please let me know about any typos, errors or glitches.