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lock-my-feelings-in-a-jar · 1 month ago

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Russ Ballard producing Daltrey's album

1975 Interview

Russ Ballard has something special. Call it professionalism, the sure touch, luck, talent, a mixture of the lot if you like, but everything he's involved in seems to turn out pretty good, even when it's something completely new to him, like record producing.

When he was fourteen, he wrote his first song and sold it to The Shadows after having had the sense to demo it after their style. Having mastered the guitar and scored quite a bit of acclaim for his playing, he turned to keyboards and now nobody hearing him play would think he hadn't been brought up on them. Argent reached the height of their success when he was with them, he gave Colin Blunstone a monster hit with I Don't Believe In Miracles and now Ride A Rock Horse is enjoying considerable favour. Its producer? Russ Ballard! The man, wearing his customary shades, exudes an air of quiet confidence. He can afford to. He's well respected as a musician and as a writer and he's now in a position many people could envy. After all, a singer of Daltrey's calibre doesn't call up just anybody and say "How about producing my album?"! What is really surprising is that Roger should ignore all the established record producers in favour of Russ, who has only ever produced one album before in his life and that was the solo one he made after leaving Argent.

How did his new role come about? "Well, I worked with Daltrey on his first album, played a little drums and piano on it, but I didn't produce that one, just put in some ideas. He must have liked them because when he was planning his second, he just asked me if I wanted to do it." Russ explained. In an issue of Beat dated April 1966, Daltrey himself described his voice in pretty disparaging terms. "I don't have a good voice, no-one needs to tell me that. I'm a screamer with a group and I'm happy. I'm not worried about my voice, though, it is developing and I can notice the change." He also added "I'd get a real kick if I could have a proper girl vocal group backing." It's taken nine years, but now he's achieved what he hoped for, a voice which no-one can deny is pretty exceptional, and backing singers led by Marsha Hunt, care of Russ Ballard! "I was involved with everything." said Russ. "Going through songs with him, deciding what musicians should be used, who would be good for this and who for that." For a reluctant producer, who admits that "I'm not really into production, even though it's a creative thing, I'd rather be an artist." Russ had some pretty definite ideas as to his treatment of the album. "I deliberately kept his voice well up because in so many recordings I've heard of Roger, he's been immersed in sound. He's got such a powerful and such a good voice which contains many aspects that people haven't heard before. What I set out to do on the album was to expose all those voices for the first time. I don't think it is a good thing for a producer to put his own standpoint on an album, the most important thing is to project the artist." Russ thinks that Daltrey's film work has given a lot more confidence and he also found getting to know him has radically changed the concept he had of The Who. "Many people would imagine Daltrey as an ego tripper, but he's not in the slightest. Before I got to know him well, I was under the impression that The Who were Pete Townshend's baby. But speaking to Roger, listening to his ideas, I think that a hell of a lot of his ideas must have always gone into The Who, a lot more than people think."

It was originally Roger's idea to record an album of his early influences. Then he changed rock horses in mid-stream. "By then we'd already recorded Walking The Dog and that Beachboys sounding song, so we were lumbered with them." The second idea was to project the different sides of Daltrey's voice in a collection of mixed rockers and ballads, including three songs of Russ's, Come And Get Your Love, Proud and Near To Surrender. "We didn't actually discuss the point but I felt he wanted to make a heavier album than the one we'd originally planned. Yet not totally heavy, but a record which would compliment the heavier stuff with lighter stuff. Right from the very first session when he sang the first song I could see his voice was so much better, I feel it's improved tremendously since the early Who days even though I think he had a good voice in 1964."

The next thing to decide on was the overall sound and the arrangements. Ex-Shadows drummer Tony Meehan was the man who worked on these. "I decided to make the sound quite sparse,-" explained Russ, "- rather than over-producing it. Some people just don't know where to stop. I decided that if a song called for piano and nothing else, that's what I was going to do." (Hence Phillip Goodhand Tait's beautiful slow rocker Oceans Away with the composer on piano.) "The most important thing in an arrangement is the song. If it's a good one you should be able to sing it with no backing at all and it should still sound great. If it's not, no matter how many extras you add it won't work." Russ reckons that having been in bands himself definitely helped him as a producer, enabling him to put himself in the artist's shoes. Yet he doesn't think he'd like to produce his own next album entirely alone. "When I was in Argent I found being produced by somebody else was very frustrating because I could tell people were veering away from the original ideas I'd had for my songs. That's why I decided to produce my first solo album, which turned out a bit of a mixture because I had a backlog of work to get out of my system. My next album will be slightly deeper, not so light-hearted. I hope to be co-producing it with Muff Winwood, whom I really admire because he's got such a good ear and can really make a musical point."

At the moment, Russ is doing very well with songs of his which are being covered by other artists. One called Heartbreak, has recently been recorded by Olivia Newton-John and yet another is currently being recorded in L.A. by Stevie Wonder's band. Russ has got a new band together consisting of the ex-drummer from Curly, Alan Wickett, bass player Tony Lester and guitarist Alan Skates- "He really does!" joked Russ. He's got three weeks booked in E.M.I. Studios to get the album done. As for his producing career, it looks like Ride A Rock Horse may be his swansong. What if Roger asks him to produce his third album? "Well… if I want to do what I want to do, that is, sing, play, write and record, I just won't have time to produce anybody." said Russ. There's nothing like getting out when you're on top!

#russ ballard #interview #roger daltrey #ride a rock horse #1975 #i'm assuming this was an article from around the time the album was out but before russ's winning album so i put 1975 #i typed it all out as it showed it in the article except there wasn't a date so like. it's probably 75 #it said 'how ballard learned to ride a rock horse' an d i keep laughing about it #anyway. crying at russ's humor #why is his humor always so adorable and like #'alan skates.' -'HE REALLY DOES'#does he russ #does he skate #does alan skate #(also you have two alans??)#it's like when he thought it was so funny to put 'love cliff richard but please don't tease' in god gave rock and roll to you #'i thought it was quite funny-' you sure did russ you beautiful man #or when he was talking about naming his 84 album 'russ ballard' and then was like 'russ balLARD' and then laughed #just saying his own name twice in different ways #sdgsjdhgsj god he's cute #also 'nothing like getting out when you're on top!' and then cut to the future where he produced more songs and albums for people #ALSOOOO stevie wonder's band??#what song was that and did it actually happen? i haven't found anything on that one yet #but anyway the very first words 'russ ballard has something special' you're absolutely right about that one #i need to point out how much i love how supportive he is of people and trying to find the good in things like #trying to point out roger's voice in different ways #although other times russ has also said he felt he was left alone with this album too much #with roger being gone on holiday and filming while russ was trying to work on it #and i can imagine the pressure of still being new to producing and then producing for a big name i mean like. wow i could never

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heloflor · 4 months ago

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Some info on how I view Cosmo and Wanda’s family lives, more specifically how they grew up and how the two of them meeting went, because again I’m obsessed with Cosmo being so powerful which brought some ideas for his upbringing and meeting with Wanda, which also brought some ideas for Wanda, and I didn’t want to clutter my baby fairies ban and magic abilities posts with it. So here is it now (6.5k words below):

TRIGGER WARNING: Talks of a character basically having depression for the Cosmo section with one sentence implying suicide idealization.

I’m going to start with Wanda since it’s much shorter.

First off, about her mom’s whereabouts, considering her dad is a mafia boss I’m going to go with her having been killed by one of Big Daddy’s enemies, likely when the girls were teenagers since Wanda complains about how their mom always liked Blonda more in “Blondas Have More Fun!” meaning they grew up with her, but at the same time I like the idea of her dying when her daughters are still pretty young (yeah very happy way to start a post, it gets worse in the Cosmo section).

Speaking of the mom liking Blonda more, I could see a situation of Big Daddy being closer to Wanda while his wife is closer to Blonda, though I don’t know if it’s just a question of the girls being more similar to the respective parent thus causing this closeness or if it’s one parent favoring a twin and the other parent deciding to favor the other one to “compensate”. And if it’s the second case, not sure which parent started it.

On that note I could see Wanda working for her father’s company before deciding to become a godparent, like for a while she didn’t know what to do with her life so she helped her dad. She didn’t do any mafia-related stuff tho, she was more of an employee/manager for his cleaning service. Big Daddy was supportive of her pursuing something she feels fits her more (fairies are immortal so it’s not like he needs to have a successor, granted there’s always the chance of him being assassinated).

Meanwhile Blonda doesn’t feel the same closeness to her father so she’d rather pursue her own goals, which I could see as related to their mom in some way. Like the mom probably wasn’t a star but might have been working within the show-business industry, and Blonda got an interest in acting from her and her career was launched through her mother’s connections. Oh and even if they’re not that close, Big Daddy is also supportive of Blonda’s dreams. Mafia or not, he loves his daughters.

More things that could be said about them, maybe after his wife’s passing Big Daddy became more protective of his daughters, thus leading to have some of his higher employees keep an eye on them during their late teens, which could explain Wanda being familiar with some of them in “Big Wanda”. At the same time though he might not want to involve his girls too much into his business so he might instead ask the guys to keep their distance in order to keep his daughters safe.

And speaking of men protecting women, I could see Big Daddy have a bit of a toxic view of what a man is supposed to be like, view that he gave to his daughters growing up hence why Wanda dated a macho guy like Juandissimo before realizing she just wasn’t as into him as she thought she would be.

Note that I don’t think Juandissimo was a toxic boyfriend or anything like that. Looking back at his episodes, he’s definitely very self-centered and dramatic which is probably why Wanda got tired of him, but he has a genuinely caring side (the whole thing with him going back to Remy in particular). He does need to get the goddamn hint post-breakup though. Just move on and go date Cupid my dude. He can match your dramatics.

Last thing about Juandissimo while I’m at it, in his debut episode he seems low-key scared of Cosmo during their first interaction (at least I don’t think he was acting), so I like to think that sometime after Cosmo and Wanda started dating, Juandissimo heard about it, challenged Cosmo to a duel or something, Cosmo at first didn’t want to bc he didn’t want to go to jail but Juandissimo was able to provoke him into it, Cosmo starts the duel holding back but eventually gets angry enough to let loose. Juandissimo has been afraid of him ever since, now fully aware of the raw power these noodle arms hold.

Giving one last headcanon for Wanda, since both her and Cosmo seem to know how to fight but I don’t particularly like the idea of fairy godparents undergoing military training during their studies; I’m more into Wanda mentioning “four years at the fairy academy” in “Abra-catastrophe”, meaning those are more “regular” studies. It’s especially funny when considering if you start at 18 you become a fully-fledged godparents at 22, which checks out with Peri if he aged at the same speed as humans.

(For those asking “Operation Birthday Takeback” has Cosmo mention Vicky hurting kids “since 2001” while one of the creators confirmed New Wish took place in 2024. Plus in “Abra-catastrophe” it’s been one year since Timmy had his fairies, and “Fairly Oddbaby” takes place three seasons later. So if Timmy got his fairies in 2001, Poof/Peri was born in 2002 meaning he’d be 22 in 2024, which would check out with him going to fairy academy for four years starting at 18, at least if that’s how the academy works. Though there’s also the possibility that 2001 is when Vicky first got hired by the Turners, meaning Timmy got his fairies in 2002 and Peri is actually 21, born in 2003.)

At the same time, we know Cosmo went to military school at some point which justifies his ability to fight. So for Wanda, I’m simply going with the idea of her father giving her some self-defense training, especially given his profession. Wouldn’t want to lose his daughters the same way he did his wife.

Not sure which would be the better fighter between Cosmo and Wanda though, since I could see Big Daddy take it pretty seriously (thinking of “Most Wanted Wish” and how good Wanda is at the competition; also funny to think about how her, Cosmo and Jorgen are the last three standing when again taking the idea of godparents not having mandatory military training, meaning those three were possibly the ones with the best self-defense training). Big Daddy could even teach her some backhanded/dirty tricks that would make her more unpredictable.

Meanwhile Cosmo is Cosmo and we know he struggles to focus sometimes, but at the same time he’d have gone through a lot more training in an environment made for it. Plus he’s op as hell. So I guess which one is stronger depends on the type of fight, more specifically on whether it relies on magic or wits.

Now moving onto the Cosmo stuff, and long story short since his birth things were a mess. From his destructive nature from birth, his terrible two, Anti-Cosmo’s birth and quick rise to power, all of which led to the baby ban. On top of that, as mentioned in my baby ban post I see Cosmo as the first op fairy in a very long time, meaning his strength was a complete surprise to everyone. And with how destructive his magic is, it wasn’t a good one.

All of this would be the main reason why Mama Cosma is so protective and overbearing. Between the destruction and the baby ban, she would constantly be criticized for giving birth to Cosmo (huge fan of T4T Coswan, which means the whole “male fairies carry the baby” isn’t actually true). Hell maybe the Fairy Council tried to take him away like Jorgen does to Poof in “Fairly Oddbaby”, which would make her even more protective.

The loss of her husband wouldn’t help either. Like I could definitely see their relationship as not being exactly healthy given the kind of person Mama Cosma is (imagine Papa Cosma as one of those parents who know their spouse is a piece of shit but they try to excuse this behavior, thus enabling it), but losing him would still be a shock, especially with two kids to raise, one of which is a walking apocalypse.

On that note the way I see it, when Papa Cosma was turned into a fly, his wife ended up more focused on getting the wand back than she was in making sure her husband was still in her sights. So by the time she got Cosmo under control, she had no idea where he was. And while there would definitely be a search party, and I’m not even sure if he’ll ever be considered dead or “just” missing, ultimately the man was never seen again.

But yeah all of this led Mama Cosma to become overprotective of Cosmo, which in turn led her to neglect Schnozmo who started acting out for attention, quickly becoming a thief. And since he still wasn’t getting anything from his mom, he kept doing it until it eventually led him onto the path to become a con artist.

Now I was wondering a bit about the age difference between the two brothers as I want them to grow under the same roof for the above-mentioned headcanon of Schnozmo being neglected, but also looking at the show Schnozmo doesn’t really have anything against Cosmo, so I could see him be mature enough to realize his mom’s the problem (granted the show takes place thousands of years later so they had more than enough time to talk things out). Also with fairies being immortal, who knows what the “usual” age difference between siblings is.

So ultimately I’m going with them being about 12-13 years apart, on top of adult fairies usually staying quite a while at their parents’ home since again they’re immortal. Like at minimum a fairy would spend the first 50 years of their life living with their parents, probably longer. Peri in New Wish is an exception due to growing up as the only child in a society of adults and feeling babied by everyone (Jorgen, who is literally his boss, calls him “Peri-Weri” in “Lost in Fairy World”, like his fucking boss is babying him). So he encouraged his parents to take their vacation soon after he became an adult and quickly got his own place as well, both in an attempt to prove himself as a responsible adult.

Going back on topic, the way I see it Cosmo and Schnozmo started off very shaky. First off due to their father’s death which I’m sure Schnozmo did not take well, and it probably took a long time for him to forgive his brother for it, that is if he ever forgave him (I could see him still hold that resentment, he just doesn’t voice it).

Then you have the usual “siblings mess with each other” shenanigans which he can’t really do since his brother doesn’t even need a wand to use his magic due to how powerful he is, so good luck messing with him. I could actually see some scenarios of older teen Schnozmo allowing Cosmo to come with him meet his friends (or Mama Cosma is like “take your brother with you I need a break!”) but only if he does cool stuff with his magic for them. It would probably usually not end well, tho not in an “almost destroyed Fairy World” kind of way thankfully.

Oh and it goes without saying that whenever the two of them argue or mess with each other, Mama Cosma sides with Cosmo, which would only make Schnozmo angry and resentful. In general Schnozmo and Mama Cosma would have a very bad relationship. Given how Mama Cosma is, Schnozmo was likely already closer to his dad, but once Cosmo got in the picture and Papa Cosma was gone, it became a mess. Like I could definitely see instances of Mama Cosma being tired and stressed from watching over a baby Cosmo and taking it out on her older son, constantly ignoring his problems and needs because “can’t you see how exhausted I am having to deal with your dysfunctional brother?!”

And who knows maybe she would have considered kicking him out at some point but decided against it to hide the fact her family’s been breaking apart (keeping up appearances in front of other fairies). On that note I do think Schnozmo would go no-contact with his mom once he moves out, only popping back up in her life if he needs something. Not sure how often she’d accept though.

Going back to the brothers, I think what would change Schnozmo's view would be Cosmo’s teenage years in which his struggles with his magic would become much more obvious, making Schnozmo realize how much of a mess his brother actually is and how much he cares for Cosmo deep down, not wanting to lose him. Now ultimately a lot of their adult relationship have to do with Schnozmo using Cosmo’s kindness and naivete against him, but even then I think he’ll come through if Cosmo needs him.

And speaking of Cosmo’s teen years, Cosmo did not have a good time at school, in any grade. The adults in his life (both in and out of school) either hate him for the destruction he causes + the baby ban or fear him for his powers. His classmates wouldn’t be better, mainly being cautious about him even if he didn’t do anything (their parents would warn them to be careful around him) or some fairies would bully him until he strikes back and then play the victim, getting Cosmo in trouble since “you’re the strongest here you need to be careful!”

His intelligence would also be something he’d get picked on for, with some adults really not helping by calling him a waste of potential, talking about how powerful he is and “how much of a shame it is that so much power was given to someone so stupid who can’t use it properly”.

On that note, I honestly think Cosmo has some sort of learning disability. I mean, in his own words in “Apartnership!” the first Mama Cosma episode, “I’m not smart. Big words confuse me. I have the attention span of a rodent.” and we do see him struggle on several occasions with not understanding words in the og show. Also in “Lost and Founder’s Day” from New Wish he struggles with the spelling of a word, and in “Operation Birthday Takeback” isn’t explicitly told what Dale is doing and figures it out like 30 seconds after Wanda and Peri, with Wanda even making a comment about it (while swooning which is very cute!).

So yeah, while I see him as a prodigy when it comes to using magic (in “This is Your Wish” we see him be able to do incredible things as a kid and he’s clearly doing them on purpose without breaking a sweat), he definitely has a learning disability when it comes to academic stuff, especially when it comes to words from the looks of it.

Tbh you could make a very strong case for Cosmo being neurodivergent, especially adding in the several instances of characters telling him to focus in the og show or just the fact his main issue with magic is the way he understand wishes or the things that come through his brain. Again, in “This is Your Wish” he knows exactly what he’s doing, his train of thought is just different than what’s expected on top of him not realizing the danger of the things he creates.

Also I can’t remember the episode but I saw a scene with him and Wanda talking followed by Wanda and Timmy, and while these two talk Cosmo is just staring off into the distance, completely immobile except for the usual “fairy hovering”, seemingly zoned out. And unlike other instances of him doing that I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a joke in that scene.

So yeah, this man’s probably neurodivergent hence him using his magic in an “unconventional” way, on top of having a learning disability that causes him to struggle with words and be slow to process some information if it’s not explicitly said to him. And when you have those struggles paired with the ability to bend reality to your will by accident, it’s hard.

Another thing about school which would be eerie for him is the fact that he’d start first grade in a school full of fairies, and by the end of middle-school there’s only a single grade left since he’s the last fairy born. So the last year of school he would walk through empty halls and classrooms, meeting teachers who constantly worry about finding new jobs what with the school clearly about to close. This would probably be something that he wouldn’t be picked up for but is still a constant reminder that he’s the reason fairies can’t have kids anymore.

By the way small word about ages but the way I see it the second youngest fairy before Cosmo would be between a week and a few months older (depend if the Fairy World population is in the thousands or the millions), so there are fairies around Cosmo’s age.

And since I’m at it I’ve seen screenshots from an episode showing him and Cupid being in high school together, and I also headcanon him and Wanda as having a bit of an age gap, for example Cosmo being 93 and Wanda 132 years old when they met, something along those lines. So in my headcanon Cosmo and Wanda didn’t go to school together but Cosmo and Cupid did. Also Wanda and Juandissimo were high-school sweethearts, meaning they’re around the same age (tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if the episode showing Cosmo and Cupid also had Wanda at their school but even if that’s the case I’m choosing to ignore it here).

Getting into Cosmo’s teen years, it was though. The bullying and feelings of inadequacy were starting to pile up, along with him fully realizing what “you accidentally killed your father, destroyed Fairy World and probably killed a few fairies doing so, and even though you were a baby at that time who had no idea what he was doing we still think it’s your fault we can’t have babies anymore” truly means. Like the sheer weight of such information must be devastating. Add to it the mess that are teenage hormones and you get someone in a very bad mental space.

Now to give some explanation about my headcanons for magical backup since I’m about to mention it a few times, in “Fairy For a Day” from New Wish, the music fairy makes a comment saying “keep granting each other wishes”, something like that.

So my idea is that magical backup is something every single fairy can suffer from if they don’t use magic to help others for an extended period of time. I would say “if they don’t use magic period other than stuff like teleportation, floating and shape-shifting (aka anything they can do without wands)” but in that case I feel like magical backup wouldn’t be an issue in the slightest. So yeah instead we’re going with them having to help others, especially since in “OddPirates” Wanda wishes to Poof at some point to help him learn, showing fairies can wish to other fairies.

All this to say fairies help each other out in small ways, and if they don’t they fucking die. And considering Cosmo and Wanda seem almost unable to refuse granting their godchildren wishes (at least in the og show, in New Wish you almost never have the “wand deflating” thing because they know beforehand they can’t grant those wishes), on top of scenes like the one in “Apartnership!” when Timmy says “I wish” and dozens of fairies show up, I could see it as fairies being able to refuse wishing for another fairy but being completely unable to do so when a miserable human child does, for reasons I’m too lazy to figure out (probably something about their society needing humans to function to some extent thus having fairies evolve in a way that they need to help humans).

Also I have no idea if magical backup would spread quicker if a fairy has more magic. I guess it’s worth pointing out that for both instances of Cosmo and Wanda getting it, Cosmo was first and it evolved quicker, but then again Wanda wasn’t too far behind. So idk, maybe it does?

Going back to Cosmo, during his teenage years and early adulthood, he would very often suffer the early symptoms of magical backup (confetti + vomiting the way I see it), sometimes worse, due to him refusing to use his magic in fear of hurting other people. In some instances he might even make comments about how Fairy World would be better off without him. Btw this is basically when I see Schnozmo realize just how terrible his brother feels and start being nicer to him. But yeah, Cosmo was in a very bad place as a teen, which continued in early adulthood.

(Side note but him having magical backup so many times could explain him not taking it too seriously at first in the og show, with him pretending to have it for a few seconds to mess with Wanda.)

And throughout all of this Mama Cosma was supportive, telling him there was nothing wrong with him and the others were messing with him and that he should use his magic in small ways if only to keep himself safe...until she didn’t and sent him to boot camp as soon as he was of age.

I like to think that this is when Cosmo started detaching himself from his mom. Just seeing her go overnight from “I love you just the way you are” to “everybody else was right and I’ve been thinking of you as a problem since your birth, I just didn’t want to deal with making you sad” would be a massive betrayal in his eyes.

Note that I believe Mama Cosma sending him to military training is actually a good thing, and pretty much the one good thing that woman did in the show. Given how much destruction we see Cosmo cause, and since as far as we know there aren’t exactly places that could provide the help he needs, a place with strict rules and monitored by potentially very powerful fairies could be the second-best thing to teach him what not to use his magic for.

Btw if you’re wondering I think the best thing for Cosmo would be to have a place where he can use his magic in whatever way he wants without putting anyone or anything at risk. More on that later actually. Second best would be to give him a wand restricting his magic but also I don’t think it would feel good to have something blocking what is supposed to feel natural for you, so it might not be a good solution actually…

In any case, having Mama Cosma reveal she’s been unhappy with her son’s powers this whole time, meaning she’s been lying to him this whole time, would hurt a lot, causing Cosmo to start drawing away from her. On top of that he was now almost an adult so it was also natural for him to seek some independence, even while still living under her roof.

Now onto Cosmo and Wanda’s early relationship (no idea how to make a transition here).

First off, I’m going with the backstory in which the two of them met at a diner, except neither of them were teenagers in my version. As mentioned before Cosmo would be in his late 90s and Wanda around early 130s.

And since I don’t think I mention it anywhere else in this post, I’m going with the headcanon of Cosmo being 10 000 years old during the og show, with him and Wanda being married for 9 895 years as of “Apartnership!” (that’s the number, right?). Which is also why Cosmo is in his late 90s when meeting Wanda, since it means he’d be 105 when they get married (or around that age if you consider that Cosmo is probably not exactly 10 000 years old in the show, rather something like 10 014 for example).

Cosmo would land himself a job as a waiter since he doesn’t need to use magic for it. He’d even let his wand home to further reassure his boss that he’s not doing any magic. He and Wanda meet when Wanda and Blonda come to the place to hang out. Wanda realizes he’s cute and finds herself surprised by it since as mentioned before she was raised with a toxic view of what a man is supposed to be like.

(More specifically I could see Blonda as being the one pointing him out and he accidentally spills a drink on her or something, causing Wanda to be like “oh you’re right sis I like him”.)

Wanda would convince him to go out with her, intrigued by that shy boyfailure trying his best, and during that hangout Cosmo would be pretty closed off, not using any magic partly because he didn’t bring his wand, offhandedly mentioning he got magical backup dozens of times, and by the end of it he’d be like “you’re very smart and pretty and spending time with you was very fun but it’s probably best if we don’t see each other again”.

After the “date” Wanda would talk about it to Blonda who’d probably mock her sister for scaring the guy away. Big Daddy would overhear some of the conversation and recognize Cosmo’s name as the infamous last fairy born whose terrible two almost caused the apocalypse. Wanda and Blonda would be flabbergasted because “dad that guy’s a complete wimp, what do you mean he’s one of the strongest fairies?!” and Wanda would quickly catch onto the fact that this sweet guy is considered a menace, goes around without a wand and has magical backup on the regular, all of which are not good signs.

She’d manage to convince Cosmo to meet her to talk and would just ask him if he’s okay, if he needs someone to talk to. And I could see Cosmo being very taken aback by it, like when he shows up Wanda says she knows about him being the last baby born so he’d immediately assume she’s here to tell him to stay away from her. But no she’s just worried for him and wants to offer some comfort. And with Cosmo at that point having lost trust in his mom, the only person he thought was in his corner, he’d open up to Wanda.

So the two of them would start spending time together, as friends since Cosmo clearly isn’t in the proper state to think about dating right now, though I like to think Wanda was pursuing him a little, if only making him know she’d be interested. But anyways Wanda would quickly catch onto the fact Cosmo never has his wand when they’re together and whenever she suggests he uses hers because it worries her to see him never do magic, he’d refuse, saying it’s safer that way.

Then one day while hanging out Cosmo gets the early signs of magical backup and Wanda doesn’t know what worries her most, seeing him have it or how calm he is about it, which shows how used to it he is. Doesn’t help that he’d insist she brings him home rather than have him use her wand to get rid of it immediately before it gets worse.

That would be the last straw for Wanda who would go to the people her dad works with (her “uncles”) to ask if they know any place where one could use their magic in possibly destructive ways without consequences. And one of them would tell her about the Hocus Poconos, a place where goes all the un-granted wishes from human children. As a result the place is pretty chaotic to begin with and nobody cares what happens to those wishes so it’s fully unsupervised.

So Wanda would waste no time telling Cosmo about that place, convincing him to bring his wand this time around, and after a lot of hesitation and some small wishes he’d start getting more comfortable and unleash his powers, growing visibly more confident. And dumb small note but seeing Cosmo in his element and visibly confident in himself is when Wanda sees him go from cute to hot.

In any case Cosmo would be incredibly grateful and start coming to the Hocus Poconos regularly on his own, feeling a sense of freedom in being able to unleash as much magic as he can while also finding himself loving kids’ imagination, which eventually leads him onto the path to become a godparent.

For Wanda, it’s after seeing Cosmo get better that she realizes how much she enjoys helping others and offer companionship and could see it become her profession. Also maybe the fact the Fairy Council wouldn’t be too keen on letting Cosmo on earth without supervision could influence it as well (meanwhile everyone would think they’re allowed to work together due to being a couple), but then again I don’t want it to be a “she chose this work solely for Cosmo” type of situation.

Same with her helping him with his confidence btw, hence me saying he’d go back to Hocus Poconos on his own. While Cosmo would definitely gush about Wanda saving his life, she didn’t “fix” him or anything like that. She was someone he could talk about his problems to and offered suggestions for things she thought could help him, but he still was the one who had to follow through on his own. And whenever Wanda had issues of her own, he’d return the favor, being there to comfort and help her.

And about him saying Wanda saved his life, after a while of using his magic more and more often, he’d think about how, if he hadn’t met someone like her to encourage him to use his magic without being afraid, he’d probably have either died of magical backup or from its side effects from having it too often. At the same time I’m not going to say “him thinking this is why he fell in love with Wanda” because again I don’t want to fall into the trap of a character “fixing” another or putting them on a pedestal.

Back on topic, having a place to spend his magic would do wonders for Cosmo’s self-esteem, giving him space to try new things, make mistakes or even just create a black hole or two if he feels like it. That doesn’t mean he’d suddenly be completely fine, he’d still feel self-conscious about people hating him for his magic (and tbh just looking at the og show Cosmo comes off as deeply insecure at times, so yeah he’s not suddenly all happy), but it would definitely put him into a better mental state.

Also, feeling more confident he’d start to reciprocate Wanda’s flirting, pursuing her back. And yeah as a result it would be one of those relationships where you significant other is also your best friend.

As for the “speed” of their relationship, I could see the transition from friends to lovers as being a bit slow due to them wanting to make sure this is truly what they both want and not just Cosmo lashing onto the first person he trusts, plus Wanda’s family life is dangerous so she wants Cosmo to make sure he knows what he’s getting himself into. But once their relationship gets serious there’s no stopping it.

And speaking of stopping it, Mama Cosma would notice that her son isn’t having magical backup anymore, causing him to tell her it’s thanks to a girl he’s into, even invite Wanda to dinner so she can meet his mom. Mama Cosma would not be happy about it and would be incredibly passive-aggressive during their meeting, with Wanda keeping the visit short as a result and Cosmo being pretty unhappy seeing how insistent his mom is that he shouldn’t date anyone.

On that note Mama Cosma could be another reason why they took it slow at first, Wanda made it clear she wasn’t having any “mamma’s boy” bullshit. It’s a bit more complicated during the events of the og show since it’s been a long time since Cosmo saw his mom and he believes (and promises to Wanda it’s the case) that his mom’s just being a bit protective due to how long it’s been. Then one day it turns out she was being verbally abusive when babysitting Peri and Cosmo cut contact again and profusely apologized to Wanda for letting his mom talk so much shit about her.

But yeah Cosmo would probably have many fights with his mom about it, Mama Cosma claiming it’s only a matter of time before Cosmo does something to scare Wanda away with his magic and how she’s the only one who can watch over him, while Cosmo is throwing in her face the fact she sent him to military school while Wanda loves him the way he is and is trying to help him in a much more constructive way.

I could actually see those arguments as a bit of a surprise to Mama Cosma because not only does Cosmo find his mom intimidating meaning he usually doesn’t speak out against her, but in general Mama Cosma would be used to getting her way, especially with him. The fact Cosmo is much more powerful than her would also bother her because she can’t just force him to go to his room or anything else. And if he does something to leave the conversation, she can’t stop him. So yeah those arguments wouldn’t be pretty.

And eventually, when Cosmo has to make the choice, he decides to chose Wanda, eloping in secret and never having any contact with his mom, at least until the events of the og show. There would likely be times when he deeply misses her but he remembers why he left home and that’s enough to keep him away.

For Wanda, she never straight up told her father that her and Cosmo were dating, she made it sound like they were nothing more than friends and if anything she works with Cosmo to “supervise” him (in Big Daddy’s first appearance we learn Wanda writes him letters so the two are still in touch). Big Daddy still wouldn’t be too happy about it tho, especially later on during the og show when he learns that they are a couple.

His issues with it are that 1. Cosmo isn’t exactly the height of masculinity so Big Daddy can’t help but look down on him for not being manly enough (I actually like to think this is why he believed Wanda’s lie that they weren’t a couple; he couldn’t conceive the possibility of Wanda dating such a guy) and 2. He remembers Cosmo’s Terrible Two very well and is worried about him hurting Wanda with his magic. Especially since him being a mafia boss means his daughter already got a target on her back, he doesn’t want her to be in even more risk.

(Note that Wanda was already a late teen/adult when Cosmo’s terrible two happened, so she at least heard of it and saw some of the consequences, but she likely didn’t see the worst of it; like maybe Big Daddy lives pretty far from the city center of Fairy World and had his daughters stay home during Cosmo’s terrible two while he was forced to continue working, hence seeing more than his girls)

(And if it needs to be said Big Daddy’s issues with Cosmo not being masculine enough have nothing to do with transphobia. Big Daddy would be fully accepting of Wanda and possibly Blonda (if they’re identical twins) being trans women and couldn’t care less about what Cosmo has in his pants. His problem is that Cosmo isn’t muscular, cries easily, is a bit of a cowards, and likes to wear stereotypically feminine clothing sometimes, none of which is related to Cosmo being trans.)

Ultimately he’s not as openly hostile as Mama Cosma but he definitely acts like Cosmo isn’t here when seeing him. And whenever Wanda comes to visit her dad, he doesn’t mention Wanda’s love life in any way and brushes it off quickly if Wanda does, or he shifts the conversation towards his grandson instead once Peri’s born. Note that I see Wanda as visiting her father without Cosmo, mainly for Cosmo’s safety because mafia.

Oh and Cosmo never met the guy before the og show but he did know who he was from hearing about him from Wanda + possibly knowing his company’s name. Wanda would have also warned him about the mafia part hence why Cosmo is so nervous and visibly scared of the guy in the show. He might not be the brightest bulb but he understands the danger this man brings with him.

Finishing this post with a few words about Poof/Peri, when Cosmo was pregnant he would have had some worries over how powerful the kid would end up being, wishing to protect his baby from the emotional mess he went through. And while the kid is more powerful than average, Cosmo was infinitely relieved to see Peri remains much weaker than him.

That’s not to say it’s all sunshine and rainbows, again I go further into it in the baby ban post but the short version is that the Fairy Council is keeping an eye on Peri on account of being Cosmo’s son, including giving him a wand that reduces his magic despite him technically not needing it.

Cosmo isn’t the biggest fan of that wand but he’d rather have this than Peri going through hell for being too powerful. Meanwhile Wanda’s getting tired of Fairy World punching down on her boys. On that note once fairies realized the baby ban wasn’t going away anytime soon and started to hate on the Fairywinkle-Cosmas, Coswan quickly decided they’d move out of Fairy World once Peri’s old enough to take care of himself, hence the 10 000 years vacation followed by them “moving” to the human world.

(Note that they would invite Peri to their vacation + send him postcards + look for him after coming back, it’s just that Peri refused to go so he could have some time for himself + turned off the wand location thing, probably also left a message at home saying he found a job and is doing fine, hence why they weren’t too worried for him)

That being said (the wand restriction thing) I could definitely see Peri at some point hurting someone at spellementary school (which would be before he got his wand change) and deciding not to use his magic anymore, leading to him and Cosmo having a heart-to-heart about their magics.

Tbh this could also be a reason why Peri seems closer to Cosmo, maybe they bonded over being deemed too powerful. That being said Cosmo wouldn’t tell his son the extent of his situation, not wanting to worry him. Especially since he’d be doing much better now and is genuinely happy so there’s no point dwelling on the bad parts of his past.

#Fairly Oddparents #fop #Cosmo Fairywinkle-Cosma #Wanda Fairywinkle-Cosma #Peri Fairywinkle-Cosma #Mama Cosma #Big Daddy Fairywinkle #Flor talks #long post #*slapping Cosmo's head* this bad boy can hold so much trauma in him #very amused by how this wasn't supposed to be its own post but instead a bunch of thoughts sprinkled through the other ones #but then it got ridiculously long so here we are #also it was supposed to be all about Cosmo hence why his part is much longer #but since I got a few ideas for Wanda I put them in; girl deserves some love too #the 'Cosmo and Wanda relationship' part is an example of something I COULD turn into a fic #but don't have enough ideas for what to put in-between the 'important' scenes I have in mind to make the story work #also I'm very bad at fluff

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