#to fill up the 'Bumby Shows Up' clock

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer In The Dark: "A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded" Outline!

Hello everyone -- I recently started work on the second Valicer In The Dark story, "A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded" (aka the one where they kill Bumby), and I thought it might be neat to share with you guys the outline I prepared for the story! Especially since I don't have any Sims 4 stuff to share on Wednesdays at the moment, thanks to the Chill Valicer Save file no longer functioning. :( I have plans for a successor, but it's going to take a little bit to get off the ground, so...

*shakes head* Anyway -- outline! My planning process for this story involved approaching it like it was an actual Blades In The Dark score -- complete with deciding on the type of plan the gang was going to use (and the detail they needed to provide), the loads they were going to have (and thus how much stuff they could actually carry), and doing actual rolls to figure out how the story would progress as they encountered various obstacles! (I, uh, may have purchased actual BITD-themed dice and a dice tray explicitly for this purpose. ^^;) However, I also took a moment to note down any "must-happen" moments in the fic first -- basically, any particularly important or cool bits that were going to occur no matter WHAT the dice said. Reason being, I've done some "rolling for something on the spot" fic-writing in the past with a friend, and I know how fucking frustrated I get whenever a dice roll ruins the cool thing that was supposed to happen in my head. Noting down the things I was DETERMINED to have happen and doing all the rolls BEFORE I actually started writing meant that I couldn't get angry at a good moment being ruined. Though actually, as you'll see, the dice were pretty kind to the trio in this score! I guess they wanted to make sure they succeeded in their task as much as I did. :) So, without further ado, here's the outline/score summary for "A Murder Shared Is A Murder Thirded!" Naturally, there will be spoilers for what happens in the fic, but I'll put most of it behind a cut, and you guys already know I have no care for spoiling my own stuff on here. XD

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Score: Infiltrate the Houndsditch Home For Wayward Youth in Charhollow, find proof of Bumby’s activities, and preferably kill the bastard

Plan Type: Stealth (I mean, there’s going to be an element of Assault, but first they have to get in)

Detail: Point of Infiltration – the back door into the basement kitchen of the house

Loads: Alice – Light; Victor – Light; Smiler – Light (each have three load slots)

Have To Happen Moments:

The gang successfully make it to Alice’s room so she can get her stuff; possible heartfelt moment when they see the picture of her family on her wall

The gang successfully finds Bumby’s ledger in his office (inside a safe stowed away in a hidden drawer of his desk; it’s generally opened via Lizzie’s key but can be picked)

Bumby shows up, and Alice reclaims Lizzie’s room key and blows him up

Gang successfully escapes with the ledger, and run into Smiler’s parents Matt and Carol as they head out of town; they’re taken back to the Ministry Of Joy for the Names (aka night)

Engagement Roll:

+1 d for sheer luck

+1 d for being bold or daring (they’re trying to expose a known philanthropist as a child pimp)

+1 d for exposing a vulnerability of the target (Dr. Bumby has written off Alice as lost in the city and hired a new dogsbody, AND he doesn’t think she’d ever get anyone to help her if she did tell anyone about his activities)

3d total

Result: 1, 2, 4 – Mixed result, risky position – they get in the back door without incident, but Alice’s replacement June comes into the kitchen as they’re preparing to head up the stairs

Score Rolls:

As per the above, trio encounters June coming into the kitchen shortly after their successful infiltration and have to get past her – Smiler immediately introduces themselves and explains that they were hoping to meet with Dr. Bumby to see if they could form a partnership, as they believe their alchemical prowess would help the man in his work (they are indeed cringing on the inside as they say this) – Sway, 2d – 6! June believes them and sends them up to see Dr. Bumby with the other two

Safely inside the house, Victor gets the idea for Alice to get her stuff from her room before they proceed further (having already suggested they grab it before they went); Alice agrees with this and they grab her things (1 load for Victor, who I picture as carrying the bag)

Head up the stairs to Bumby’s office, encounter one of the children (Abigail? Charlie?) in the upstairs hallway, who naturally recognizes Alice and wants to tell Dr. Bumby she’s back – Alice tries to tell them no, with Smiler backing her up by claiming they want to surprise him – Command, 3d (+1 for Smiler’s help, 1 stress for Smiler; +1 for pushing herself, 2 stress for Alice) – 5. The kid agrees not to go tell Dr. Bumby right now, but it’s clear that they will tell him the next time they see him… Start a “Bumby Shows Up” clock as a result, four pieces, none ticked so far

Into the office before Dr. Bumby shows up! Time to find that ledger… The trio split up – Alice examines the bookshelf, Victor checks Dr. Bumby’s desk, Smiler looks around for anything that might give them a clue as to where the ledger might be

Alice – Study, 2d (+1 for pushing herself, stress up to 4) – 6! She doesn’t find the ledger in the bookshelf, but she does find a book safe with some money in it – +1 Coin for the gang to take with them!

Victor: Study, 2d (+1 for pushing himself, 2 stress for Victor) – 5. Victor finds a secret drawer with a safe in it – but, well, unsurprisingly, it’s locked, and opening it will take a bit (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock, 3 segments left)

Smiler: Survey, 2d (+1 for pushing themselves, stress up to 3) – 6! While Victor finds the safe, Smiler notes the windows on the side of the office and determines that it would be safe for the group to exit via one of them if they had the appropriate means to do so – cue them going “good thing I brought some rope!” and setting it up for them to climb down (one load ticked for Smiler)

That safe looks like it’s important – shame it’s locked! Smiler offers to try and pick it (flashback to them finding some lockpicks in Elder Gutknecht’s library – as they have, or will have, the “Pack Rats” special ability as Shadows, I will let them squeak by with no stress for this – probably does count as load for them, so that’s a second slot ticked) as Alice and Victor keep watch for Bumby or other suspicious children – Tinker, 2d – 5. Smiler gets the safe open, but Alice hears what sounds like someone coming up the steps… (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock, 2 segments left)

However – safe is open, and there is indeed a ledger inside! A ledger that is very clearly about selling off children to pedos, and in fact contains some notes from Bumby about the work that he does...and how much Alice reminds him of Lizzie. Everyone is notably disgusted, and Alice angrily wishes that she could get that room key off him, but agrees that it’s better to try and escape. The ledger is thus shoved in the bag, and Victor closes up the safe and stores it back in the secret drawer, before the trio try to stealthily head down the rope leading outside –

Alice – Prowl, 1d – 6! Alice is shockingly stealthy and gets down like a fucking ghost

Victor – Prowl, 1d – 4. Victor is not so stealthy and hits the wall once – he doesn’t make THAT much noise, but it’s definitely noticeable… (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock, 1 segment left)

Smiler – Prowl, 1d (+1 for pushing themselves, stress up to 5) – 4. And Smiler is also not particularly stealthy, losing their balance as they get off the rope and falling over – just loud enough for someone to notice! (+1 to the “Bumby Shows Up” clock – full!)

And that someone is Bumby, who entered his office at just that moment, saw the rope hanging out of his window, and stuck his head outside to see Alice and two other people, one of whom is carrying a bag. He naturally assumes that she’s stolen SOMETHING from him (even if he doesn’t yet suspect it is his ledger) and starts yelling at her – Alice blasts him as an abomination and reveals that she knows exactly what he’s been doing. Bumby is first like “oh come on, who would believe–” And THEN it registers “wait, she’s here with two other people, SHIT SOMEONE BELIEVES HER” and scrambles out of the office himself on the rope. Fortune roll for how gracefully he gets down, 2d because I imagine he has decent Prowl to get kids to customers – 4. He gets down, but like Smiler he lands badly and is off-balance for a bit –

And Alice, seeing an opportunity, darts in and grabs his watch-chain, ripping Lizzie’s room key off it, while shoving the electroplasm bomb (tick one load for Alice) into his hands. As this is a must-win scene for the fanfic, this Skirmish, 2d roll is only to determine the consequences to her – 4. She gets the bomb in his hands before he can retaliate, and he goes up a treat...but unfortunately, poor June has come out of the kitchen, attracted by the noise, and promptly starts screaming as Bumby goes up, forcing the trio to flee VERY FAST (Smiler yelling “sorry!” behind them) – they are not a crew yet, but they will start being one with 1 Heat on their tracker as a result!

However, score is officially a SUCCESS! :D The trio run until they’re sure they’re not being pursued, then take a moment to celebrate their victory, with Alice being very happy that she was indeed able to kill the bastard (even if she accidentally traumatized her replacement – she’ll want to make up for that later if she can). Talk then turns to getting the ledger to someone who will be able to publicize Bumby’s misdeeds – And then someone says “Smiler?�� nearby, and Smiler recognizes their parents! They run over for hugs and introduce Matt and Carol Alton to their new friends. Matt and Carol are very nice and warmly greet Victor and Alice – Alice, feeling a little guilty, apologizes for getting Smiler into some trouble and preventing them from coming home sooner. Matt and Carol are confused, so the trio explain the Barkis situation and the whole “turns out he was a Spirit Warden and the Bluecoats think we murdered him” thing – And Matt and Carol go, “Oh! No, the actual Spirit Wardens confirmed he was an imposter who killed one of their own and stole their kit, and that his corpse showed signs of being very recently possessed before it burned, so you’re in the clear!” Victor, Alice, and Smiler are a bit “…” over this, as you might imagine. Carol jokes that, “oh come on, it’s not like you killed anyone else, right?” [significant silence] “...right?” Fortunately, this is when Victor hands over the ledger, with Alice and Smiler explaining a bit more about what just happened – after a look inside, Matt and Carol are like, “Oh, yeah, that murder was TOTALLY justified, good job.” They tell them that they can send it onto a reporter of their acquaintance, the lady who runs Publick Occurrences, and that Victor and Alice can stay the night in the Ministry of Joy if they want. As the trio have spent two days since the end of “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” living in a house with no running water or heat, in one set of clothes, they are more than amendable to this suggestion, and the story probably ends with them on the way to the MOJ.

Post-Score Summary And XP:

Alice:

Stress level before downtime actions – 4

+1 Coin

XP:

2 for addressing a challenge with violence or coercion (commanding the kid, killing Bumby)

2 for expressing her beliefs (protecting the children) and background (she was the former dogsbody at Houndsditch!)

1 for – less struggling with and more indulging her vice (Obligation to the children of Houndsditch!)

Total: 5 – put 3 in the Insight XP tracker, 2 in the Prowess XP tracker (Alice wants Hunt and Finesse)

Victor:

Stress level before downtime actions – 2

XP:

1 for expressing his background (trade, he was the one to know to look for a ledger in the first place)

Total: 1 – put it in the Playbook XP tracker

Smiler:

Stress level before downtime actions – 5

XP:

2 for addressing challenges both with deception (talking their way past June) and technical skill (picking the lock on the safe)

1 for expressing their beliefs (taking Bumby down makes the world a little bit happier)

Total: 3 – put 2 in the Insight XP tracker, 1 in the Prowess XP tracker (Smiler wants Study and Finesse)

Downtime Activities:

Alice:

House Rule – if a score serves as indulging a vice for a character, that character automatically gets 1 stress knocked off the tracker at the end – stress down to 3

Train Insight, +1 XP in that tracker (Alice is working toward Hunt – maybe she gets pulled into a game of tag with some of the younger members of the cult XD)

Train Prowess, +1 XP in that tracker (Alice is also working toward Finesse – does some drawing)

Victor:

Train Playbook, +1 XP (Victor talks to some of the Whispers in the cult, starts getting excited about being one despite himself)

Train Resolve, +1 XP (Victor might as well work toward another Attune dot)

Smiler:

Indulge Pleasure Vice – 4, stress down to 1 (entertains themselves and their new friends with some songs on their guitar)

Train Prowess, +1 XP in that tracker (Smiler is working toward Finesse, and playing the guitar works with THAT too)

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

My last impressions of the original Animaniacs, as someone who was introduced to it via the reboot

Part 1

Part 2

-So episode 84 is the last episode animated by TMS, and minus a small clip in episode 99 they don't make new animation for the show after this point, which is a shame because they're the best animation studio for the original series by far and it's not even close. Thank goodness they got to animate Wakko's Wish. The show just looks a lot blander when they're not animating it.

-"One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" not only was a great episode, but it made me realise Slappy segments are at their best when there's a situation anyone could end up dealing with in real life, and the writers go "so how would a cartoon character deal with this?". It helps differentiate her from the Warners. I've stated before that some Slappy segments feel so similar to what the Warners would do that you could swap her out for the Warners and the plot would barely change. Now I realise why that is, not only was she tormenting jerks with cartoonish antics, those settings were way too fantastical (for example "Guardin' the Garden" was in the Garden of Eden, and in "Frontier Slappy" she went up against a pioneer).

Ideally Slappy should be put into more relatable situations (for example, "Bumbie's Mom" = parent comforts child who got upset at a movie; "No Face Like Home" = Slappy attempts to get plastic surgery; "One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock" = visiting a loved one at a nursing home) that are too mundane for the Warners to end up in because they're child stars of an unknown species who are orphans, don't age, and live in the Warners Brothers water tower; Slappy is an elder actress who lives somewhere in Burbank...who happens to be a cartoon squirrel. Even when the Warners aren't going up against dragons or are in space, they tend to end up in situations that not many people do in real life ("Taming of the Screwy" = Warners go to a Hollywood party filled with celebrities, "The Warner's 65th Anniversary Special" = The Warners watch a documentary about themselves; "Back in Style" = The Warners get sold off to star in other cartoons so Warner Brothers can make more money."). Usually the only mundane situations they end up in seem like they happen only to remind the audience that they are children, like going to a candy store or going to school.

TL;DR: A Warners segment should be an adventure comedy whilst a Slappy segment should be a slice of life comedy.

-A lot of the Warner segments as of season 3 seem to focus more on doing parodies than the special friend formula. I know satire is literally in this show's DNA, and I know a lot of the Warner segments often have the "special friend" be a caricature of someone, but recently a lot of Warner segments have just been "let's put the Warners in Sherlock Holmes/Star Trek/Betty Boop/Pocahontas/James Bond/etc" with no real "special friend" in the segment, which used to be their main gimmick (apart from singing). I don't dislike these segments, and it's not like they ditched the special friend formula entirely, but it's an interesting change.

-There was a missed opportunity to make Scratchy, Ralph and Hello Nurse a trio (looking back, they never interact as a group of three that much at all). I'll expand on this in a later post, after I've watched Wakko's Wish.

-I like that the show isn't afraid to point out lame jokes, like the countdown to a lame joke in "Papers for Papa" or when Wakko makes a Uranus joke in a different episode and Dot replies "I thought we agreed to cut that line?". It's little things like that that keeps this show and it's reboot in my top 3.

-OK as of "Bully for Skippy" (probably my new favourite Slappy segment now by the way) Skippy's voice seems back to normal, thank goodness. Apparently it was being electronically pitched higher before. Don't know why, he was already voiced by a kid and he still sounds like a kid without it.

-I mentioned last time that I wanted Dot and Yakko to get more story segments starring mostly them without their other two siblings being present for that long (not including short gags or songs). And whilst since then there was yet another one for Wakko ("Ten Short Films About Wakko Warner"), it seems like Dot finally got one in "Cute First (Ask Questions Later)". It took 93 episodes for it to happen, but hey, it happened.

-"Hooray for North Hollywood Part 1"...oh boy. So, the Warners wanna pitch a movie to Mr Plotz. That's sounds like a fun premise, but most of the songs in the episode only exist to stall for time (and yet the plot STILL felt like it dragged at a few points). They literally sing "Variety Speak" again for basically no reason. They explain the meaning of variety speak to two strangers who don't contribute to the plot at all, and once the song is over they go away. Yeah there are new lyrics and it's cute that Wakko is the one to start the song this time and sings more of it, that's a nice bit of continuity showing that he actually learned after last time, but that's still slightly lazy.

Not to mention "There's Only One of You" literally should not have been in this episode. Not only is it clearly only in the episode to stall for time, it ruins the context of the original song too. Originally it was written for the album "Yakko's World", and it was a song where the Warners sing to the listener about how unique they are and that they like them just the way they are. But in this episode it's either a) a completely unrelated song that stops the story completely or b) the Warners are lying and are only singing this to suck up to Plotz so they can be rich and famous. I don't have a problem with the Warners' motive in this episode, but this was a bad way to introduce what's probably the sweetest Animaniacs song ever into the show. The "transition" was bad too; Plotz says it would be bad if the Warners sing, they cut to black, start the song, the song ends, they cut to black again, and the previous scene continues as if the song never happened.

There's also the fact that the characters singing about how great Plotz is in the beginning is...weird. They've established for seasons he's not well-liked and that he's incompetent as a CEO. Heck, an episode just this season ("Back in Style") re-established this. Like, they can't be schmoozing Plotz, since he's not in that scene. Not to mention the Warners spend a good chunk of the episode literally just waiting in line-I mean come on...episode 3 of this show literally had a joke where Slappy points out that "6 minutes in a check out line" would be boring! Also the Goodfeathers were only in this episode to do their overdone gag and for a poop joke, so yeah.

-Well I can't stay mad at this show for long. "Hooray for North Hollywood Part 2" was MUCH better than part 1. First, they actually call themselves out for stalling for time in part 1. During Skippy's recap of part 1, they play a clip of the Warners going "We wanna make a movie!" and Plotz responding with "You can't make a movie!" three times, before Skippy says, and I quote, "That was pretty much it. For a FULL HALF HOUR." After I heard that, I knew this episode would be better. And it was! They actually let the story play out without interrupting it every few minutes with an overly long gag or a song. There are two new songs in this episode, but one (L.A. Dot) was part of the Warners' movie (and another Dot solo song is always welcome), and the other (It's New Year's Eve) was a celebratory song for the party at the end, so the episode was pretty much over anyway. The only other song was a reprise of "We're On Our Way to Go See Mister Plotz", but again it played at the end of the episode.

I find it interesting this is the show's first and only hour long special. But given how parts 1 and 2 turned out...I'm really glad they only made one. Half-hour specials will do, thanks.

-By the way, have you ever looked up season 5's original airing schedule? Go look up season 5's original airing schedule. It's abysmal.

-You guys ever notice every time Dot gets a solo song she's either interrupted by her brothers or her brothers eventually join in? But the other two have multiple solo songs where they get to sing all by themselves, with no interruptions? Even in album songs-apparently originally in "Several Drops of Rain" they weren't gonna interrupt Dot but the producers insisted that commentary by Yakko and Wakko be added to the song. The only times this doesn't happen is in "A Christmas Plotz" (both the episode and the audiobook), but that was really short; and I guess "Dot's Quiet Time", but that song had a lot of pauses in it (that and she was technically interrupted by other things during the song). That's kinda weird.

-Welp, never mind what I said about Skippy's voice, they pitched it again for episode 97. I'm not hating on "The Sunshine Squirrels" though, it's a good Slappy segment. I like it more than "The Carpool", which was another one of those episodes where the Warners annoy and harm people for not much reason. They started doing that a lot in seasons 4 and 5, and I don't like it. It's also the last Yakko Wakko and Dot segment that focuses specifically on them without the ensemble cast present, which really sucks. It's not even that exciting of a premise; what a bad way for their segments to go out. I know I have issues with episode 95, but it makes me wish "Hooray for North Hollywood" aired last. But switching back to "The Sunshine Squirrels", is it bad that after only one episode I kinda wish Suzie Squirrel was Slappy's main antagonist instead of Walter Wolf? 😅 I mean, Walter Wolf works fine as a character, but Suzie was so unapologetically awful to Slappy, and not in a generic cartoon bad guy type of way. I wish she at least showed up earlier, and more often. Oh well (RIP Phyllis Diller).

-Oh and by the way, I called "Hooray for North Hollywood" part 1 episode 95 and consider "The Carpool" the last Warner segment (that isn't a crossover with other segments) because the episode with "Magic Time" and "The Brain's Apprentice" was supposed to be episode 94, so I consider THAT episode 94. It only due to "Magic Time" airing months after "The Brain's Apprentice" and much of season 5 that Hulu considers the episode with those two segments in it episode 98 (although I will admit "Magic Time" makes for a better last segment for Yakko Wakko and Dot than "The Carpool").

-I think they ran out of ideas for what to do with the Goodfeathers at one point. They only get one segment in season 4 (of which they felt the need to put Plotz and Ralph in), a VERY short one in season 5 (it may as well have been a cold open), and literally no segments in season 3.

-Season 4 probably has the worst finale. Season 1 gave us an expanded version of the Warners' backstory, season 2's final episode had "I'm Mad" in it (the show's first and only cinematic short), season 3's finale had every segment be a song (which was fun), and season 5's last episode had a crossover segment and-even if the last segment was essentially an AMV-it did have some sense of finality. Season 4's finale was...just another episode. A good one, but nothing special. It didn't even have a Warner segment in it.

O-KAY! That's it. I've seen all 99 episodes of the original Animaniacs (freedom at last!). What a journey. I didn't want to shy away from being critical, one of my main goals with this was to try and not mention points I've heard people say over the years over and over again. Honestly though I was little emotional by the last episode-and this is post reboot, so I know new Animaniacs content is now coming (and I'll DEFINITELY be watching). It's nice to know what the original series was like. If you're interested in how I'd rank the seasons:

Season 3 (It was mostly Yakko Wakko and Dot and Slappy segments, and the songs this season really took it up a notch. I do think a bit too many Warner segments this season could basically be summed up as "now let's parody (insert franchise here)", but the good in this season really outweighs the bad.)

Season 1 (You could tell there were throwing stuff at the wall to see what stuck, so season 1, whilst it has the most episodes and gave us a lot of TMS animation, was overall kinda hit or miss. Although I will admit, it at least has more variety than season 3 and is less reliant on movie parodies.)

Season 4 (Not as good as season 3, has the worst finale, and "Anchors A-Warners" was the start of the Warner segments not being quite as good, but still good overall-especially the first two episodes-and the non-Warner segments were significantly improved this season. Might've been second place if this season was longer.)

Season 5 (A bit more focus on the Warners then last season, which should be good, but unfortunately a lot of them are not as good as they used to be; I like Slappy, but if I'm enjoying her segments more than the Warners' at this point-you know, the MAIN TRIO?-you've got a problem. Episode 92 was amazing though, one of my favourite episodes of the show.)

Season 2 (Only four episodes, half of them don't even have Warner segments-outside of Wheel of Morality- a lot of focus on the Goodfeathers, Buttons and Mindy, and Katie Kaboom for some reason. No Slappy, no Pinky and the Brain, no thanks.)

I guess now all I have to do is watch Wakko's Wish and the Pinky and the Brain spin-off series. Will I be writing down my impressions of those? Well my dear readers, to quote Yakko Warner:

"Uhhhhhhhh..."

(EDIT : OK I watched Wakko's Wish a few weeks before making this edit but you know what? I'm gonna say it-I liked Wakko's Wish but that should've been the one hour special and "Hooray for North Hollywood" should've been the movie. Sorry not sorry.)