#to show marty's growth would be to use a different address so i decided on instead

[doctorbrown]

DOCTOBER '23 ⸺ 「 13 / 31 * PHOTO ALBUM 」

June 12, 2005, 1131 Park Lane, Hilldale

❝Now I know you said you didn't want any gifts, Marty, but showing up to your birthday without even a single gift was simply unthinkable. It doesn't matter how old you are; you're never too old to receive something from the people you care about.❞

Marty hurls a very pointed, accusatory stare Emmett's way and the way the soft blue of his eyes turns to ice digs it in a little deeper. ❝This coming from the man who didn't even tell me when his birthday was! I had to find out from Clara when you got back from the past!❞

Emmett waves a hand, hastily trying to change the topic. He remembers all too well their first year in the future as a family, when Clara had looked up Marty McFly to invite him to be part of what he would later learn were secret birthday celebrations, and the way the boy had actually managed to keep it from him until the day of, where he had vowed to never let him forget it.

In hindsight, this was a much lesser evil to occasionally be reminded of.

❝Yes, well, my point still stands. Here, Marty.❞ He presses a rather haphazardly wrapped gift into Marty's hands that immediately softens the stare that was just trained on him. Marty arches a brow and lifts the gift to inspect it, turning it over in his palms. Emmett can practically see his thoughts written on his forehead, but to his surprise, Marty doesn't shake the gift to try and find out what's inside.

❝It's from Clara and I, but as you may have guessed, I was the one who wrapped it.❞

Marty smiles. ❝Couldn't even tell, Doc. You're getting better. I remember the very first gift you ever tried to wrap for me; now that was a mess. You put so much tape on it I couldn't even open it!❞

How could I forget? They were only a year into their friendship at that point, but Emmett had wanted to get something special for the boy after everything he'd done for him to show him that he was appreciated.

❝I can promise this one has significantly less tape on it.❞

Marty tears open the red wrapping paper with the same enthusiasm he'd displayed on all his birthdays to-date. Inside is a photo album that looks like an antique book, adorned with the words, bonds through time, that reminded Marty of the photo he'd been presented with when the Brown family made their first leap back to 1985.

❝Clara actually inscribed that herself; she's got beautiful penmanship. Anyway, it's a photo album!❞ Emmett smiles as Marty continues to stare at the book in his hands. ❝Since we had the boys, we've been documenting all the milestones and adventures in their lives. And since you and your family have been such a huge part of that, we thought we'd compile some of our favourite photos for you to keep. We have copies, of course, so don't worry about that.❞

❝Doc—❞ Marty chokes on the word and instead of fumbling for something else to say, he flips open the book and starts looking at the pages.

An eight-year-old Verne has his arms spread wide, grinning as Marty gives him his first lesson about balancing on the skateboard.

Marty, Jennifer, and Jules are carrying boxes into the McFlys' new home while Verne and Curie watch from the lawn.

Clara and Jennifer smile from inside Clara's new car.

Emmett, dressed to the nines in a black suit, stands with his arm around Marty's shoulders on the morning of the McFly wedding.

Marty and Jennifer kiss at the altar, looking positively radiant.

The Brown and McFly kids run rampant in Emmett's backyard, being chased by a holographic dinosaur.

Marty and Einstein lay cuddled up on the couch together.

The clock strikes midnight on the year two thousand and the McFly twins are staring at the cake behind the camera while everyone else, decked out in ridiculous holiday gear, beams at the camera.

The photos are placed in seemingly random order and Marty flips through several other pages of photographs before finally coming to the first blank page. He blinks several times before looking up, and there must be a question written on his face, because Emmett says, ❝We didn't want to fill the whole album. There's plenty of space for you to add your own photos. We figured we'd start it, but it's up to you and Jennifer to finish it.❞

Marty sniffs and throws his arms around Emmett. ❝I love it, Doc. Really. Thanks.❞

❝Of course. Happy birthday, Marty.❞

[chocolatechocolatekip]

I’m on mobile and don’t know how to do a Read More thing so I apologize in advance! Here’s the post that y’all asked for!

•••

As more and more of us in the Friendom continue to reach out to Hulu, our chances of getting a renewal for our beloved show grow as well. There seems to be plenty of factors that will affect the outcome of our current efforts, and it’ll be a long wait until we hear anything regarding a final decision. But for now, let’s try to fast forward a bit:

After almost a year of waiting, corporate at both Hulu and Disney Channel have finally heard our voices. They have decided to renew Andi Mack for a fourth season to stream on Hulu. Both companies announce the news on their respective Twitter accounts, and news articles begin appearing across the Internet about this miraculous resurrection. Cast members take to Instagram with reunion photos captioned “Surprise!” and #themackisback starts trending on Twitter internationally. Those who have made their peace with the original series finale rejoice as the moment feels so surreal, and the entire Friendom overflows with joy. For a second, it all feels fuzzy and too good to be true. But that raises the question:

What Would Season 4 Even Be About?

•••

In this TED talk, I will be exploring a few of the things I feel would be interesting plot points and ideas for the show to cover. These are just ideas from all the emotions I’ve been feeling since the finale, but I hope that I’m able to communicate them properly and that you understand what I’m trying to say, lol. Here I go!

From a logical perspective, there are things we know that the fourth season will focus on:

- Andi’s time at SAVA

- Cyrus, Buffy (and possibly Jonah) starting at Grant without Andi

- Cyrus and Thelonious’ new relationship

- Buffy and Marty’s new relationship

•••

There are other things I want to see from the fourth season, and there’s just so much unexplored territory with these characters that it really is bittersweet knowing that these stories will never unfold on the small screen for us. One can hope, and we will still have fanfics written by those in the Friendom. However if we do get a fourth season, these are some things I personally would love to see.

- Andi developing a true sense of independence. Her whole life she’s had an tight-knit immediate support system through her friends and family, but now she’s going to a school where she doesn’t know anybody doing things none of her other friends and family have had experience in. She’s been surrounded by things familiar to her since second grade (or possibly before that) so seeing her grow into somebody separate from those things would be so amazing. She knows SAVA is where she belongs, and now she’s gotta prove it to herself.

- Andi-Cyrus development. We’ve gotten a lot of Andi-Buffy and Cyrus-Buffy moments, but the two definitely outweigh any development we’ve gotten from Andi and Cyrus. I mean, sure, they’re best friends! I know they love each other and are important to one another, but it still seems like some unexplored territory. I’m hoping they’re just as close as they are with the other seeing as they’ve known each other since the second grade. Though now that Andi is going to a different school, I don’t know how they would work that in.

- Buffy’s home life being explored. We’ve only ever met her mother a couple times, but her dad didn’t seem to be significant enough to her story for them to actually cast and write him into the series. There’s no doubt in my mind that her parents are insanely proud of her for her growth and accomplishments since the first season. However, it would be nice to see what kind of relationship she has with her dad.

- Cyrus finally coming out this parents. We were robbed of such a plot point because so many people, regardless of age or gender or race, have to deal with coming out to their families. As much love and acceptance as Cyrus deserves, I personally don’t want it to be one of those “we’ve always known, we still love you” kinds of coming out because those aren’t always the case. I think that when he does come out, I can imagine at least one of his family members not fully accepting of it. I’m not saying that Cyrus needs to be have a hard time coming out to his family, but in the long-run it would make sense. Also if Thelonious is already out to his parents, I’m hoping he helps Cyrus come out to his as well.

- We need more sibling relationships to be shown. As I’m writing this I’m noticing that a large chunk of the characters are only children? They’ve had a lot of different family structures represented but haven’t really focused on any sibling relationships. I think Cece and Mei, and Iris and her brother are the only siblings we’ve been given.

- Jonah getting the proper help he needs for his anxiety. I really don’t want them to forget about Jonah’s mental health, but it almost seems like they let it take a backseat to his family’s financial problems. Real anxiety doesn’t just go away, and seeing as Jonah’s only been dealing with it for roughly a couple of months, they wouldn’t just subside this quickly. Obviously I don’t want him to suffer attacks every day for the sake of him having them, but it does need to be fleshed out and handled a little better.

- Bex and Bowie making some new friends their age. Maybe other parents with kids at SAVA? Maybe Cyrus and Buffy’s parents? I understand it’s important to be involved in your child’s life, especially after secretly being her sister/non-existent dad for 13 years, but I can’t remember a time when either Bowie or Bex have mentioned any other friends their age. Other than M*randa and that lady that wanted to sue Bex (lmao) there haven’t been many other memorable young-adult interactions. They’ve been so focused on making up for lost time with Andi, making up for lost time with each other, and assuming their roles as parents that they haven’t really grown beyond their familial bonds. It would be nice to see how the act when they’re not in Responsible Parent Mode™.

- More character development for Amber. Now that the GHC (sans Andi) are going to Grant with her, she can be like their Big Sister Figure™ and help them adjust. We’d hopefully see her more often and get a look into what she’s like on a more day-to-day basis. See how she copes with her familial problems on the days they really upset her. Maybe even coming a bit more out of her shell and joining their school’s chess team.

- Thelonious fully coming to terms with his sexuality. I’m hoping, if he’s not already publicly out, that they develop his story of self-acceptance. Do his parents know? His grandparents? The other GHC? The way his sexuality storyline should be handled differently than they did Cyrus’ because everyone’s experience with their own sexuality is unique. I can’t think of how to word this properly, but TJ seems a lot more open and bold about it. He wants the world to know that he’s proud of who he is, because it’s true. Cyrus sought validation and security from others, only to find it in himself. TJ sought validation and security in himself, and found it in others. These two have such an amazing dynamic, and it would be amazing to explore TJ’s inner workings to the level that Cyrus’ have been.

- TJ and Cyrus being more than each other. I want them to branch out and grow into successful young people who value their own personal lives as individuals as much as they value the relationship they have together. Obviously Cyrus tries out for Grant’s drama club and TJ tries out for the school’s basketball team, but imagine their new interests! Cyrus on the debate team, TJ in the school’s orchestra, Cyrus on student council, TJ in a peer mediation group! The possibilities are endless.

•••

Those were some of the heavier things I thought would be likely/addressable in the show, but here’s some smaller, less thought-out ideas would still like to see:

- Walker also attends SAVA. I feel as though he’s at least a year older than the GHC (same age as Amber) and has been there a year before Andi.

- Marty possibly also being jealous of Buffy. Possibly as a result of Rachel being so jealous of Buffy. Not to the extent that it’s toxic, but just enough to create room for growth. A good way to address the cycle of jealousy. Plus Marty has no character flaws yet, soo.

- A social hierarchy at their new high school. Sure, Jefferson might have had one too with Christina or the boys’ basketball team, but high school hierarchies are very real. They’re both subtle and unspoken but also noticeable and in-place.

- All the Muffy and Tyrus hugs. Sadly leaving poor Jonah as the fifth wheel, lmao.

- Buffy, Jonah, TJ, and Cyrus are either suddenly too busy for one another or one realize they’re all growing apart. (Think of the dynamic between Shane and Mitchie in Camp Rock 2 lmao) High school does tend to separate people from one another, and peer groups shift all the time.

- Andi not cutting her hair short again. I’ve noticed that she cut her hair again somewhere around the beginning of Season 2 and again at the beginning of Season 3 maybe. Either it’s a personal choice for her, or the crew on the show wanted her to keep a consistent look (I’m going with the latter). I think that her hair growth could be a metaphor for her character growth, seeing as she’s branched out and not worried about keeping things the same anymore.

- Other groups of people being represented. Maybe we might get a Muslim character, a dark-skinned character, a non-binary or gender nonconforming character. While the show does have a way with tossing aside its background characters, it would still be great for them to be shown in the AM universe.

- The return of other background characters like Iris, Libby, Reed, pink backpack kid, Leo, etc.!

- Buffy continuing the trend of carrying Cyrus.

- Any other character questioning their sexuality, now that Cyrus (and by then, TJ) are out. We’ve all kinda headcanoned Amber to be lesbian, despite all the Jamber; Andi to be pansexual despite all the Jandi; Jonah to be bisexual, less and less as the show progressed; and Bex to be bisexual, though now that she’s married I don’t want anything to happen to Bexie.

- An episode or two focusing on racism. A little bit more real-life, internalized racism than the racial prejudice towards Buffy’s hair and the racial stereotypes Andi faced.

•••

There are so many possibilities that a fourth season could bring us! And with Hulu, they might have less restrictions than Disney Channel laid down. I know that we shouldn’t get our hopes up too much, but I felt as thought we should start discussing what a fourth season would even be like before asking for one without speculation. That’s all I have at the moment, but maybe as time progresses I’ll think of some other things that I’d like to see or remember some plot points they left open.

I hope that if we do get renewed that it will still feel like Andi Mack, and that the future content still possesses the same kind of energy it gave off so well. As of right now, for me, it’s still all a bit fuzzy. I can’t believe the show ended. We got what we wanted, and yet are still yearning for more. That’s when you know something is good material, when it keeps you hooked despite any and all of the curveballs it may throw.

Somewhere out there, Andi, and Buffy, and Cyrus, and Thelonious, and Marty, and Amber, and Bex, and Bowie, and Cece are all living their best lives. It was amazing to experience their stories alongside them.

♡ Andi Mack will live on in our hearts, Hulu or not ♡

•••

(I know, I use a lot of commas I’M SORRY)

[smileykeijser]

if they don't make bi!elia happen, it would be more than dumb, haha. there are plenty of nice things in skam italia and I liked season 2 but I think they can be lucky that Marti's season was the first remake of Isak's season, which was probably the whole point of changing s2 and s3. the thing is, even though I love it, Skam Italia is critised for multiple things and rightly so (what doesn't justify all the hate!!) and addressing bisexuality adequately could be their chance to make up for stuff

I took a little while to decide just how I was going to answer this ask, because you, nonny, have approached the decided need for there to be an elia season in a far different way than I have.

firstly, I cannot, and will not attempt to say certainly why the showrunners decided to put martino’s season before eleonora’s, and while I would say that it was partially done to help them stand out and make a name for themselves, I do remember around the beginning of the season statements from the official show platforms being shared around that said italy, more than they needed ele’s season in 2018, they needed a wonderful, lgbtq lovestory that showed homophobic people how great love is, and to show lgbtq people representation of themselves on screen. and yes, they were lucky, but I don’t think that that should be used to dismiss how wonderful of a season it was, regardless of the fact it was the first (this could not have been how you meant the statement to come across).

for me, having bi!elia would not be used to make up for previous wrongdoings, and in fact I think that loses the whole point of having a bisexual character. if it is done to show critics wrong, or based in negativity to make their shadow a positive one, I don’t like the negative aura that would surround it.

when I think of why bi!elia is a must, it is solely rooted in the fact that a character so forgotten in the original has become so beloved in the fandom, and when that fandom that is so wonderful and (mostly) positive speaks up and says that we would like representation in this amazing character please and thank you, with a show like skam, the writers should listen. and yes, in italy and anywhere skam italia is watched, it would create a clear place for lgbtq representation beyond one gay relationship.

this is not me decreasing the negative elements that skam italia possesses, because they are there, and they got their fair share of discourse when they came out, but for me, the entire point of season two was to create a warm, positive environment, and that is what I would like to see foster in the community, and have that be the thing that pushes for growth, not the need to make up for past fuckups.