#what movie do you think they’ve muppetized?

[superbat-lmao]

Brucie Wayne is not an actor, but when the request passes across his desk he receives the only collective directive that has the sign off of all of his children.

Bruce Wayne will be the only non-muppet actor to star in the next muppet movie.

[rowlfthedog]

I’m kind of surprised no one’s ever been in my inbox like “you are SEVERELY misinterpreting Rowlf the Dog. For this you will PAY.” Because I’ve felt that way (in private) about people’s wildly inaccurate headcanons for various fandoms before. To be entirely fair Rowlf is rather simple, but I love to make shit up based on how I think his various media appearances would connect to each other if this was ever acknowledged in canon. Random headcanon post I’m writing up instead of eating breakfast.

Guy who says “penny for your thoughts?” To his patrons at the bar and is kind to all, except he not-so-secretly thinks that One Guy he was in commercials with (Baskerville) is super irritating and wishes he could get away from him. Guy who is kind to all and very passionate about positive healthy children’s media (Jim used Rowlf to pitch Sesame Street)! Even if he does NOT want his own kids. Maybe you’ve seen how he interacts with his Nephew on Jimmy Dean. Appreciates the youth even if they get him irritated. Guy who swears about washed up celebrities on late night tv while he treats himself to a beer or a cigar before bed going to bed at 9 pm. Guy who used to be a lot more eager to be a film star when he was younger and tv was in black and white. Guy who was pretty ready to settle down and quit auditioning at the beginning of the muppet movie, but figured oh what the hell, these guys seem like they need the help of someone seasoned in this area. Everyone thinks he’s one of the most talented people they’ve met. He doesn’t talk about his past in the entertainment business much.

Even though I could not care less about shipping, I think piano duet is really cute. I’ve also seen Rowlf/Kermit since those two have appeared together in media forever since they’re some of Jim’s earliest characters. I appreciate the intent behind these, but I honestly do not see anyone being close enough to Rowlf to even know his exact age or family life. They’re all friends, sure, but I think that once it’s time to clock out he kinda just slinks away to go take a walk and head to sleep. His house smells like beer, smoke, dog, and Old Man. It is somehow kind of pleasant. It gets stuck in your clothes if you visit him. He does not get a lot of visitors. Rowlf is a lot more “dog” than everyone assumes just by interacting with him casually in a work setting. He still takes his long walks. If you ask first he really does love being scratched behind the ears.

[girl4music]

“Like so many of the stories that we’ve done, many many different elements came together to create a script. Mehndi was one of them and it’s something that I was a little aware of. I’ve done a little bit of reading on it. Not a lot. I believe Rob was the one who came to me, however, and said ‘Wow, this is fascinating’, ‘this is, you know, really great, what can you do with this?’

I had already wanted to grab a hold of the reincarnation idea and there are a few elements that fuelled this. One I’m going to have to reference is a song by Paul Williams, which was in The Muppet Movie. And there was a line in this one song that I felt, and I’d always felt this way, described the two characters perfectly. The line was ‘there’s not a word yet for old friends who have just met’. And I thought you know something? They are old friends. They just met. But they’re old friends. So in my mind throughout history and throughout destiny, these two characters’ souls have existed and have met, parted ways, met, intertwined, parted ways. And that fit in perfectly with the reincarnation theory but what was important for these two characters is that those two souls have throughout history intertwined, they’ve come together, they’ve parted ways, they’ve come together again, they’ve intertwined, they’ve parted ways. This has happened continuously and every time it happens in their lifetimes, they recognize each other. Not like ‘oh, you’re Xena, oh, I’m Gabrielle’. No no, they say ‘I know you. I know you and I have to be with you. I don’t know why but I do’.

Now bringing the Mehndi into it. Mehndi was perfect symbolism to this because when you think about it, Mehndi, um, if you’ve done it and if you’ve read up on what Mehndi means, it’s not just drawing. Mehndi has an entire meaning behind it. There’s a whole philosophy and spirituality based on Mehndi. The simplest part of it was the fact that Mehndi has a lot of lines that run parallel to each other and they will intersect, they will form beautiful designs, then they will part again and run parallel. Well, that’s lives. Xena and Gabrielle - those are the lives. Those are the threads of their lives. They run parallel to each other, they intersect, form beautiful designs. Then they might part but they still run parallel to each other. And what really counts is what’s between those lines. There’s the title; ‘Between The Lines’.”

Half the reason why they ended up taking the soulmates motif so seriously and literally was due to Steven L. Sears and his reincarnation idea and understanding of Xena and Gabrielle’s soulmate connection. So, in my view, half the reason why the love story is so damn profound is because of him.

Now he would be the first to scoff at that and say that I’m giving him far too much credit. But that is exactly why he is amazing and deserves that much credit.

‘Between The Lines’ took the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle to a whole other level because we do learn that they actually are true to life soulmates and all of what that informed and involved for them as individual characters as well as together as a couple. And so everything leading up to this episode now felt so much more intense and deep and poignant.

Substantial. And I wouldn’t have been able to write my character study thesis without it. Even though I don’t directly mention it - it’s sort of just embedded within the insightful interpretation that I’ve made about it because this episode doesn’t just tell a one-time storyline about the characters. It essentially informs EVERYTHING about them. Who they are and why - and especially how they are such a great team that navigate their soulmate connection to be just that.

It’s like these two people who seemed to be total strangers until this episode was seen were actually destined to meet and travel together and fall in love because their very soul that they shared fated it so.

And by the gods - I have yet to see or know a relationship that is that damn EPIC on-screen.

Xena and Gabrielle are the WLW representation you expect to be provided - considered canon or not - because this level of storytelling between female characters that can be interpreted as romantic just doesn’t happen anymore. There’s no time or room for it to in the TV art/entertainment industry apparently.

[churchandstateofbeing]

anyone who ever loved unsleeping city ever NEEDS to listen to rainbow connection from the fucking. muppet movie (trust me) and new york i love you but you’re bringing me down by LCD Soundsystem (this one works best if you’ve seen chapter 2 but it works well w just season 1)

sometimes i turn on one of these two songs to just Think about unsleeping city because as someone who was also born and raised in a massive city that i love with my whole heart and soul it just makes me so full of emotion and i recommend this experience wholeheartedly. my thoughts and feelings about my city are so complicated and the unsleeping city is genuinely the only piece of media ive ever seen that really Got it. cities can feel so heartless and massive but also so magical and fantastic and full of life and hope. possibilities. big cities are about dreams and people and communities, but that means that they can’t stop themselves from changing, for better or for worse. ricky and iga and alejandro and the immigrant experience, the joy and beauty and family and community that a city can be for those who dare to dream. when puck tells misty to remember who her people are, he doesn’t understand that fairy was never hers, that the city is where she feels safe and free and alive. kingston’s elderly mother making him breakfast each morning and sneaking tupperwares into his pockets. it is a beautiful thing.

and sometimes you have to watch that beautiful this killing itself so slow as things and people change, watching the places you love close and the people in power steal them away from under you, when the city feels hostile and too big and lonely. kingston and iga walking around as the new york that they love feels like it’s getting stolen out from underneath them, as stores close or family becomes distant, being confused and hurt and sad as what they remember becomes fainter and the people around them forget what it once was. kingston being willing to kill pete if it means the city will be safe, leaving liz behind, choosing new york over the individual people around him ten times out of ten because it isn’t even a question; the betrayal he feels when epona attacks him in the subway. cody throwing ninja stars at billboards and yelling at construction workers because his mall is going to be destroyed and that’s his world. pete scrolling through his phone with a slice of pizza. sofia doing anything she can to invite people over or avoid going home, because her home is empty. sofia failing to fight the angels to get her husband back because he needs to watch the deer, cutting off her family because they’ve betrayed her so deeply. kugrash reading the letter in david’s office. cities really are easy to hate sometimes, because not every person and community is kind or good or noble, but there’s an illogical and impossible loyalty you feel even when it feels like the buildings will fall down and crush you, covered in this sick oppressive system on a hallowed holy ground, artificial and dirty and so big it’ll swallow you whole. and sometimes you have to accept that things are how they are, but you know that somewhere in here is the ability to fight and change and grow and be together and support one another- pete and nod at the diner and the museum, kingston opening his apartment so pete can get back on his feet, pete saving priya from the burning building and forgiving kingston on the train, ricky refusing to be anything but a good person even when things suck; kugrash traveling around nod on wally’s shoulders and saying it’s okay that you don’t forgive me and driving with esther to see her mother in the park and eating the bagel because even though he was horrible before he wants to be better and he believes he can be; everyone giving their spells to help alejandro catch the train and save nod; saving santa and willy and em and the art show guests and the bodega customers and la gran gata not because they have to but because they can. and while there are never easy solutions, justice can be served and your dreams can become reality- pete taking control of his reality, making his body and his magic his own; rowan talking to the american dream, you are my love and my only true love; sofia at the empire state building- there really is something up there if you go up to look for it, there are people who will fight with you, it is what it is and it is what it could be- the city is almost impossible to love if you aren’t aware that it loves you back, and it does, it does, it does.

[nahoney22]

I got two good ones. Would you watch a SW remake featuring the Muppets, kind of like how they’ve done classic novels? If you could pick any franchise/book/movie/animation to cross SW with, what would be the funniest one? I think it’d be funny if they met Gremlins.

A part of me would but the other part reminds me of how much I HATE the muppets lmaoooo.

And ooo interesting. Honestly, I can’t think of from the top of my head. Gremlins would be great. But Maybe a show to do with horses/ranch life bc I want to see Rex and Anakin try and round up cattle lmao

But imagine Fives also coming across a teletubbie?

If anyone has any others ideas feel free to reblog and share hahaha

[made-ofmemories]

Stargazing

Also posted to ao3

Written for day 21 of platonic stobin month

Characters: Steve Harrington & Robin Buckley Word count: 1062

Robin calls sometime around midnight. She often does when she can’t sleep, plagued by flashbacks of secret Russian bunkers under small-town malls and the squeeze of vines around her neck. Steve’s already awake when she calls, he always is.

Usually, they talk, sometimes about what’s bothering them, sometimes about anything except for what’s bothering them. Other times they just exist there together in silence comforted by the fact that there’s someone else on the other side of the line, someone who understands in a way that not many people can. Tonight is different. Steve’s been feeling antsy all day and Robin doesn’t argue when he suggests they go for a drive.

“Do you believe in aliens?” Robin asks.

They’re perched on the hood of Steve’s BMW out in the middle of nowhere near Loch Nora. Robin has her head tipped back looking up at the clear night sky but she turns to look at Steve when she speaks. It’s the first real conversation they’ve had in the hour they’ve spent driving around the back roads of Hawkins.

“What, like little green men from Mars?”

“No- well, maybe I don’t know.” She shrugs then gestures up at the stars above them with one hand, “Do you think there’s anything out there?”

“No,” He says without much thought, “Do you?”

“How can you not? There’s billions of planets out there. I mean statistically, it’s unlikely that we’re the only ones right? It’s got to be. There must be someone else out there somewhere.”

“I don’t know, it just all feels a little too… sci-fi.”

“You’ve fought inter-dimensional monsters, but you draw the line at aliens?” Robin asks, her voice clouded by disbelief and just a little bit of humor, “Really, Steve?”

“Well yeah, but that’s different.” He splutters in a rush to defend himself, “We’ve seen those things, it’s not like it was ET crawling out of the Upside down!”

“ET?” It’s followed by a snort and a poor attempt from Robin to hold back her laughter.

It was one of the first movies they’d watched together after getting the job at Family Video, part of Robin’s ongoing mission to educate him on all things pop culture. It had been a particularly slow day, they had already gotten through 3 movies when Robin plucked it from the shelf.

“Yeah! You know, ET phone home, that guy.” He says with an impression that only makes Robin laugh harder.

“Oh my god,” She takes in a gulp of air, trying to catch her breath as the laughter fades, “That was truly, truly terrible, Steve.”

“Still better than your muppet impression,” He teases.

“You’re such a dork. How did anyone ever think you were cool?”

“Shut up, you love me.”

She hums as if she’s considering it, “Nope, I’m revoking your best friend card.”

“Oh really?” He asks, deciding to humor her, “Who’s going to be your best friend now?”

She doesn’t miss a beat, “Nancy.”

“You traitor!” He yells, but there’s a bright smile on his face and a lilt in his voice.

“Shut up,” She hisses, clamping a hand over his mouth as if that’s going to stop him, “It’s the middle of the night.”

He tries to speak and it comes out garbled, muffled by the palm clamped against his face. He considers being childish and licking her hand, but ultimately decides on just brushing her hand away.

“So what? We’re in the middle of nowhere there’s no one around. No one can hear us!” He yells the last part at the top of his lungs.

It feels good in a cathartic kind of way to just let it all out with no consequence. He does it again and lets out a loud shout, this time he’s not trying to say anything he’s just screaming out into the darkness. Robin joins in without prompting and then it’s the two of them sitting there on Steve’s car letting out years worth of frustration into the silence until the yells dissolve into laughter.

“Come on.” He nudges her in the side with his elbow, “I think we’ve been out here long enough, it’s starting to get cold.”

“Can I stay over with you tonight?”

“Of course,” He says it seriously, wanting her to know he genuinely means it, she’s always welcome. Then the teasing tone starts to seep back into his voice, “Besides, it’s better than watching you try to climb up that tree to get back into your room.”

He swears she would make less noise just using the front door and it would certainly save his nerves every time he has to watch her clambering in or out of her window. He doesn’t know how she hasn’t broken a bone yet with the number of times she’s slipped and almost fallen.

“You know I have no coordination, it took me-”

“6 months longer than all the other babies to learn how to walk.” He says in perfect sync with her and she starts to laugh again, just a few breathy exhales of amusement.

“You know me too well. It’s kind of weird,” She tells him once they’ve both slid into their respective seats in the car.

“Yeah, well we’re just a pair of weirdos, Robs, tell me something I don’t know.” He smiles, turning the key in the ignition and listening to the sound of the engine roaring to life.

She doesn’t even ask before she goes rifling through his closet looking for a comfy t-shirt and the same pair of sweatpants she always steals from him before she flops down onto his bed without invitation. He lets out a heavy sigh at the sight as if he wouldn’t be following her down the hallway like a lost puppy if she even so much as thought about staying in one of the spare rooms. It’s a routine that had developed not long after Starcourt, the nightmares never fully went away but they’d been more frequent back then.

Steve crawls into bed under the blankets, what little of them Robin has left for him. He reminds her frequently what a bed hog she is but usually, all it earns him is a few grumbled sleepy curses and occasionally a middle finger pointed in his direction.

“Goodnight, Robs.” He’s already got his face half smushed into his pillow and the words come out muffled.

“‘Night, Stevie.”

[gummybear1031]

So I watched "Annabelle Comes Home" on Oct. 2 but didn't livetweet it 'cause my dad called. He got y'all's livetweet in real time.

Yesterday, I watched "Mr. Boogedy" and didnt livetweet it because it sucked.

Today! The randomizer picked the new "Haunted Mansion" movie.

It was meh. The Muppets did it better

Spoilers and recap of the livetweet below the cut.

Angriest not-a-ghost tour I’ve ever seen.

Okay, I would actually enjoy this angry ghost tour probably. We do a bunch of ghost and historical walking tours. Also, this hummingbird story is legit the kind of thing people tell me when they say they saw a ghost once. 

I like Rosario Dawson’s car and U-haul showing up during Ben’s angry not-a-ghost tour. Nice connection, Mouse. 

Thank you, Rosario, for being sensible! Yes, you leave the obviously haunted house before everybody dies. 

Fun fact: I was the “You’ll be back!” ghost (well, zombie) at a haunted hayride for several years. 

Priest Owen Wilson’s cat is amazing. I want to pet them. They’re so fluffy!

Fr. Owen didn’t read the book. Victor never finished med school! 

Action Guy absolutely reminded me of Abuelita with a chancla. So samesies!

Of course, the ghosts refuse to do anything when there’s a person around. 

Why does everybody keep missing the ghost in the rearview mirror? 

My dad also loves that show, dead sea captain! Like our father-daughter dance was to “Wanted Dead or Alive” because of it. 

I know Ben’s pain. Don’t want to be in the house because it’s full of ghosts; don’t want to be outside because it’s too peopley. 

He just wants to chill in your house and watch Deadliest Catch. Let him! *Ben opens door* Nevermind. Not cool, ghost. 

Danny Devito! YES!

Harriet the Psychic matches every psychic I’ve ever met. This is exactly how my sister does her stuff. 

They’ve already screwed up this seance. Don’t break the circle! That’s how y’all get possessed. 

“Here’s a pen and pad I purchased at CVS.” This is almost as bad as the Hocus Pocus 2 scene in the Walgreens. 

Ben, that is obviously some sort of ghost trick. That is not your wife. 

Constance’s husbands’ heads disappearing from the photos is great. But I still prefer Taraji P. Henson’s version of her. 

Fun fact: never leave your crystal ball uncovered when not in use. The sun may strike it and set your house on fire. 

Sorry, Jamie Lee Curtis, but Miss Piggy did it better. 

Is this ghost in middle school? Unscrewing the top of the Zataran’s like that? Also, I have the same seasoning in my house; it’s good, and that ghost should feel bad for messing with Rosario’s cooking like that. 

The candle that’s blowing itself out looks really … phallic. 

The product placement in this movie is wild. It’s so hard to take them seriously when Ben is sobbing the phrase “Baskin Robbins.” 

Hasan Minaj! Why were you listed so early in the credits if this is your only scene? 

Crump’s backstory is just wild. Of course he turned into Jared Leto with a backstory like that. 

I like what they’ve done with the stretching room. 

Winona Ryder? Are you doing a Linda Cardellini impression? Also, this is the worst tour I’ve ever seen. And I was once on a tour where the guy claimed the Civil War was still happening in the 1840s. Twenty years before it started. 

Did that spider just scream?

More product placement. I actually like Burger King; their veggie burgers are really good.

Fr. Owen Wilson is going to federal prison. Like, that’s a felony. A pretty serious one if you perform a sacrament. 

Prof. Danny Devito is obviously possessed. Ghost, you are really bad at your job. (Is scare people a job?)

OMG. It was almost the professor in the drawing room with the candlestick. Fortunately, Rosario saved the day. 

More movies need evil Danny Devitos. 

I know Travis is 9, but he’s the dumbest mofo ever. 

Okay. I actually feel really bad now. I got depression too, buddy. That said, you don’t think it’s weird your dad sounds just like the Hatbox Ghost?

How did Crump kill a mummy? Did he kill a bunch of people at a costume party? 

Is Fr. Owen riding Constance into battle? With her army of beheaded husbands? 

Dead sea captain got his boat! Yay!

[snowangeldotmp3]

im having literally so much holiday brainrot so. do you have any headcanons your brainrot has provided when it comes to stranger things?

(can you tell i just went through the holiday tags on ao3)

omg same. happy holidays anon!!

ok, so i’m actually a HUGE fan of the jewish eddie munson headcanon. genuinely one of my favorite things i’ve seen recently of him and wayne celebrating chanukah together <3 AGH i love it

i also love the idea of like, everyone gathers at the byers-hopper household for the holidays. like joyce’s house is always warm and inviting they can’t help but all gather at her house for the holidays. (they do all of the traditional stuff with El too, since she’s never really had a normal life, so.) i’m super fond of the jewish byers headcanons too, but they released that christmas comic a few years ago so </3 but the jewish byers are real to ME.

murray i feel would either make the trip down to hawkins and bring the alcohol or he would call joyce and joyce would have him on speaker so the kids can all wish him a happy holiday. alternatively, he comes down to help joyce with the christmas dinner because dammit, that man can cook. he’s amazing in the kitchen. he and jonathan and joyce are the cooks (hopper and robin and steve offer to help, but hopper can’t cook much of anything that doesn’t have to be microwaved. robins an excellent cook, but is shooed out of the kitchen—she’ll come back later though to wash dishes. and joyce is still upset with steve for the demo-dog in her fridge and is immediately banished from the kitchen. eddie’s allowed to help though, when he’s not talking to will.)

the wheelers are a very Traditional Christmas, as we’ve seen, but again, i think both mike and nancy would sneak away to the byers later in the day. i think lucas would have a special gift or two that he saved up all year to give to max, and he’d want it to be special so he’d go over as soon as he was able to to give it to her.

dustin gets erica the newest dnd book (not totally sure how dnd works but y’all know those books they have? idk) and they immediately get to work on a campaign, a small one shot that they’re gonna force everyone to play. eddie helps, but only if he gets to DM.

robin brings them the traditions of hippie christmas, which is mostly storytelling and eggnog, but her mother insisted on bringing the byers a traditional “hippie” gift, so she brings whatever her mother made for them.

steve and robin wear matching outfits at the byers house (to which eddie and nancy do NOT go crazy over. nancy will get drunk later and be all over robin. eddie will be completely sober and be all over steve.) and have a little gift for everyone, thanks to extra hours at family video. they also supply the christmas movies, which everyone will be gathered around the tv watching like, It’s a Wonderful Life (steve and robin re-enact) and Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown Christmas and (it’s my headcanons i get to pick the movies) The Muppets Christmas Carol, which does NOT have everyone in tears by the very end. (including hopper, who swears up and down that he’s not crying, his eyes are just watery.)

i think they’d do a similar thing for new years too, tbh. all gather around the tv to watch the ball drop in times square, just because it’s nice and cozy and they can all be together, bc that’s what it’s all about. they’ve been through hell for the last couple of years, and all they really care about is being together and safe and able to see another year come and go, and that they’re all here.

[writerben01]

I love all of this. And while I really enjoy the idea of a fictional world where Kermit and Piggy are in a relationship with Bruce Wayne (it's hilarious), I can't help but think how that would look like when grounded into bat reality too.

The puppeteers approaching Bruce Wayne after the interview, both flustered from all the teasing and thankful for how he played along. Both surprised to learn that Bruce keeps flirting even when they’re not in costume and genuinely enjoys their company for the small moments after the show. Kermit’s puppeteer isn’t Kermit because it’s just a part they play, but they have to be capable of the compassion that Kermit shows in order to act it out. Piggy’s puppeteer isn’t Piggy, but they have to capable of her wit in order to act it out.

Bruce is supposed to go on patrol, but everyone’s been hounding him to take it easier. And while he regularly has to find a random man or woman to hang by his side to keep up his playboy persona, it’s rare he can be the playboy with people he actually enjoys the company of.

So as everything wraps up, he offers to take them to dinner. It can’t be in public, unfortunately, since the puppeteers aren’t supposed to be seen in the press. And that’s unavoidable if they go to dinner with Bruce. So Bruce calls Alfred and asks to have dinner for three ready.

They’re discreet. But they also have a great time. The puppeteers truly appreciate all that Bruce has done for the city, and Bruce really is amazed by their acting skills. Bruce is an actor just like them even if nobody knows it, and he’s learning so much just by talking to them.

Bruce end up bedding them.

And in post-coital bliss they start joking about how Bruce did end up sleeping with Kermit and Piggy just like he had promised. The puppeteers do the voices as they all stare at the ceiling (so much easier to imagine the puppets when you can’t see the puppeteers). And so much easier to be vulnerable and speak their minds. Bruce can talk all about how nice the swamps are and how he’ll have the best mud imported for Piggy’s baths. The puppeteers talk about how they’ve saved the theatre and have all the time in the world now. Why not stay there for longer?

But as the game ends, reality sets back in. They’re travelling all across the country to promote the movie and have to be on a plane within a few hours. Bruce doesn’t do long term relationships and as a playboy he can get sex anywhere. It was all fun, but is was also all pretend.

Almost all. Bruce tells them in all seriousness that he’d love to host them again if they’re back in the city. They try to make light of it, using the voices to tease about how Kermit and Piggy have a standing invitation to Bruce Manor. And Bruce just puts on his millionaire smile. You’re welcome whether you bring the puppets or not.

They part amicably. And Bruce feels a lot better.

When anyone asks what he was doing that night, he just gives them a look. Hadn’t they seen the interview? He was very clearly making good on his promises to the two famous muppets.

Time passes. Memes are made. The media loves to speculate.

The puppeteers call when the movie is pitched. The producers want to capitalize on the media success and make a sequel in Gotham with piggy ending up at Wayne Manor and Robert Dowey Jr playing Bruce. The puppeteers couldn’t explain why that would be inappropriate and wouldn’t disclose anything to the producers without Bruce’s consent. They’re professionals, of course.

And they’re surprised to learn how much Bruce loves the idea. They’re even more surprised when Bruce volunteers to appear as himself in the movie.

He negotiates a generous salary, which will all be donated to arts charities in Gotham. He holds on announcing it because it’ll be funnier if nobody realises it’s going to be Bruce himself appearing in the film. Robert Dowey Jr still gets taken on the promotional tours and they make a big deal about his mystery part and nobody guesses who he’ll play.

Obviously everyone instantly assumes he’ll play Bruce Wayne.

Imagine their surprise when the doors to Wayne Manor open and they see Roberty Dowey Jr playing Alfred instead.

The added benefit is that Bruce isn’t expected to promote the movie. He’s kept out of trailers for now, and he can focus on fighting crime and pretending to be a playboy.

Most nights he’s on a conference call with the puppeteers, who tell him about their day and the funniest highlights on set and during promotion.

Obviously there is a lot of movie to be made, and Bruce only plays a tiny part in it. He is only needed for a few days on set. He is his regularly charming self, talks up everyone like it’s the first time he’s ever seen a movie being made, taken completely by surprise at every little thing that is different compared to the set-up for interviews that he’s used to.

Bruce genuinely fumbles over his lines a few times. It’s hard to find a balance between pretending to be incompetent and caring about the script. As much as he’s used to acting, he’s never done it with a script before. He’s never been told to repeat the line twenty times with different emotions and projections. He’s never been told to slowly change his emotion over a scene and then jump back to how his emotions were thirty seconds ago because they want another take.

There are a lot of bloopers and everyone’s a sport about it. Especially because Kermit, Piggy and Bruce have amazing chemistry even as something goes wrong.

Bruce accidentally looks to Kermit when he says he just can’t resist that face (Piggy’s). Kermit makes a joke about it, and Bruce says it’s hard to find Piggy’s pretty face right away with Kermit’s pretty face so close by.

Bruce stands on Piggy’s puppet hand and falls to his knees in apology, giving a gentle kiss on her arm and asking what in the world he can give her to make it up to her.

Half the blooper real is Bruce ‘accidentally’ forgetting that the producers didn’t want any flirting happening between Kermit and Bruce. One memorable scene is him staring depressed at the script and asking sadly why Kermit and him can’t just share Piggy together.

Every night he gets to lay in bed with the puppeteers and talk about acting and the movie and everything else. Bruce helps to brainstorm some of the meanest lines about himself. At first the movie wanted to have Piggy live her life in luxury at Wayne manor while she learned to be a businessman like Bruce. But Bruce turned that around into Peggy having control of everything, humbling Bruce with her intelligence and business acumen. A place where she was appreciated more than with the Muppets.

He also keeps pitching adult jokes, which they have to reject. But if he has actual interest in being pegged by Piggy, they can handle that in private with no problems.

Bruce becomes less of a playboy around them, and more like his real self. He doesn’t even really know who that is anymore. He exaggerates when he’s Bruce and he exaggerates when he’s Batman. Around them he can let go of all the pretending and just have fun as an actor. Being an actor is more his real self than any of his roles are.

The movie comes out and everyone loses their shit.

Bruce keeps being asked about it in interviews. And with the straightest face acts like he only just realised what those cameras were for. He was just living his best life with Miss Piggy. He just can’t say no to that pig.

Part of him wanted to make it more. To really bring the puppeteers into his life. But he can’t do that to them. It would bring too much risk to people that just wanted to bring joy into the world. And he can’t do it to the people of Gotham, who need Batman to be without distractions.

But that doesn’t mean that Bruce can’t have any breaks. Or that he can’t have fun.

There are many more Muppet movies, and Bruce gets to make a cameo in every one. It’s just canon that Bruce is Kermit’s rival in Piggy’s affections. Kermit is the lovable underdog, while Bruce is the rich idiot.

In a movie about superheroes, Bruce makes a cameo as Batman. He wears a suit that is two sizes too big, can’t stop smiling (all the muppets keep telling him on the movie that he’s playing Batman so he should frown, and when Bruce tries to frown he just smiles wider), and is constantly tripping over himself. In the movie he became Batman because he wanted to be cool like Kermit/Superman and win Miss Piggy back.

Every movie Bruce gets to Cameo in, he gets to spend time with the puppeteers.

And maybe some day they’ll retire and decide to settle in Gotham. Perhaps some day Bruce can stop being Batman and he’ll be able to start an acting career.

Perhaps.

Bruce knows he can’t take any future for granted.

And in the mean time, he gets to freak out everyone in the Justice League when he casually mentions he had another threesome with the Muppets in his last vacation.

I feel like Bruce Wayne projects the kind of amiable playboy 'fun' vibe that he'd be the type of celebrity that certain interviewers feel comfortable surprising with puppies.

You know the kind of shows I mean.

The late-night talk show situations where they're making benign small talk with their smiling guest, and there's a segment where animals get brought out, usually to talk about some sort of ecological relief effort.

So you're watching your trash TV talk show late at night, and you get to watch billionaire pretty boy Bruce Wayne be begrudgingly talked into holding a (relatively) harmless creature which inevitably gets a lot of delighted shrieks from the audience as it starts being a lot more active than the handler promised. And to his credit, Bruce doesn't flinch, he doesn't freak out. But his eyes are a little wide, and his voice a little tight as the smile on his face takes on a slight rictus quality before he's inevitably rescued by an apologetic handler who is also laughing because they all know there was no real danger, it was just funny to put Bruce, who is an undeniable good sport and already laughing along, out of his comfort zone for the sake of charity.

Meanwhile, up in the Justice League headquarters, several founding members of the League are wondering how fast they can get a fake Oscar award shipped to the space station because fuck off. Absolutely fuck off, Bruce. Where the fuck did he study? Juilliard? (Probably.)

(Clark ends up going to a novelty store during the commercial break. It's faster than trying to get anything shipped, even with the infrastructure Bats built for them. He finds it several days later taped to his console in a conspicuously empty briefing room. It's gaudy and awful, the words "Best Actor" engraved on the plaque. No one's around to see him smile. No one comments when it vanishes. Everyone thinks it's been yeeted out an airlock. Dick absolutely comments when it shows up in the manor, stashed in one of the trophy cases that sprung up for all the bat kids' school awards. Bruce has no idea how it got there. Must have been Alfred. (It was not.))

Anyway, consider, for your amusement, Bruce Wayne getting highjacked on The Gotham Toight Show with a handful of wriggling puppies and, for a split second, not having to pretend he's delighted to be there.

[veryfancydoilies]

hello there, it’s santa again!

ahh you’re a history major, very cool! i went to school for nursing and two years ago i decided to go back to get my masters in advanced practice nursing. such a rewarding career, i have loved every minute of it. it’s funny really, i thought i’d end up being an in journalism, art or film but i’ve realised that i can still do all those things on the side on top of being a nurse. so, every now and then i do make short films or write fiction stories about whatever comes to mind.

i have always loved Olivia Hussey in “Romeo and Juliet” (1968) ever since we were show it in my high school English class! her and Leonard Whiting fit their roles so well, and two very attractive individuals. that version of the Shakespeare classic is by far my favourite. hm..favourite holiday classic. well, i don’t know if you’d consider this a classic film but i do like rewatching “The Sound Of Music” with Julie Andrews. for me it’s the perfect feel-good holiday classic. i know some people find musicals a bit too cheesy but i don’t, i think they’re wonderful. do you like musicals? i think my favourite musical besides Sound of Music is Oliver! (1968)

oh yes, Ray is so charming and veryy handsome just like his brother Dave whom i’ve been a bit smitten by lately lol speaking of musicals, i also love that Ray go into musicals himself at the peak of his career. i think The Kinks’ “Soap Opera” album does well in showcasing Ray’s talent for acting/singing in musicals. he’s always been such a well rounded artist, i adore that very much about him.

well i hope your holiday decorating is going well. i’m taking my time with mine, though there isn’t much time now is there, since christmas is creeping up fast.

great talk! hope to hear from you soon. take care :)

Hi there! It’s wonderful to study something you genuinely like, isn’t it? I’ve loved history for as long I can remember and I’m really good at it. Learning history is like being told stories. It’s not all happiness and rainbows though. We talk about really sad and disturbing topics too. I just finished a class about the Holocaust. Does nursing ever make you sad, I wonder? I actually used to be a film major in community college but I was far more interested in the history of films and their analysis. So I decided to major in history instead and specialize in film history. You make short films?! That’s really cool. So are they homemade or professional with hired actors? I knew a girl in community college who was like a casting director. She was looking for actors to act in a film. And you write fiction? What do you write about if you don’t mind me asking? I used to write stories when I was little and even drew pictures to accompany the stories. I wanted to be a writer. Maybe I still can be.

Yes Olivia Hussey is very beautiful and the perfect Juliet. Apparently her daughter acts too and is the splitting image of her mother. I love musicals! I even have a playlist on Spotify dedicated to them. I’ve never The Sound of Music actually but I love the two songs Do-Re-Mi and My Favorite Things. Is My Favorite Things meant to be a Christmas song? Anyways I love listening to it during Christmastime. Have you watched musicals performed live? I have seen a few myself like A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder and Something Rotten. Are there any musicals you grew up watching? The Prince of Egypt was one for me. That film is criminally underrated. It’s absolutely stunning and the songs are amazing. And of course I saw many Disney movies too? My favorite is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. That opening sounds so cool and epic, I love it. I miss how dark Disney movies used to be. I feel like they’ve been playing really safe in recent years. Easier money and less disgruntled parents, I guess. As for my favorite holiday classic, I love the Muppets Christmas Carol. I watched it with my brother recently.

Did you know that Ray and Dave didn’t always get along? I’ve even heard that Ray straight up hated Dave. I don’t know all of the details and some may be exaggerated but it seems they patched things up. I saw recent picture of them together. I’ve even heard that one of them or both are working on something new. Have you listened to their song Father Christmas? It’s so good. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a Christmas song made by the Kinks.

Can you tell what other bands from the 60s you like? Another band I really like are the Turtles. I listened to an album of theirs one night and was instantly hooked. I don’t think I realized they were the band who made the hit song Happy Together before listening. My favorite albums of theirs are Wooden Head (great for summer) and Happy Together. Also, do you know of Herman’s Hermits? Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter is such a sweet song.

Anyways, have a nice day! Until next time.

[sarcasticsra]

I cannot stress enough how much everyone should watch Starkid’s A VHS Christmas Carol if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s pretty short, only about 45 minutes, and it’s truly one of the best adaptations of A Christmas Carol that I’ve ever seen.

No, seriously. I think it has even surpassed The Muppets Christmas Carol for me. That has been my favorite Christmas movie since I was a child. My mom and sister and I used to watch it every Christmas Eve. I still love it dearly and it is an amazing adaptation that I’ll defend to my death, but you guys. You guys. A VHS Christmas Carol is just THAT GOOD.

It’s done in the style of 80s music/videos, which is delightful. It’s an opera, so it’s all sung through, which I love. And it’s so good!

Let me enumerate the ways. Spoilers to follow. (Can you spoil A Christmas Carol? Once a story becomes public domain does that exempt it from spoiling? Idk, lol. Spoilers for the show, anyway. Also for Avatar: The Last Airbender. …I promise there’s a path.)

1) Bah Humbug! - Song number one and it goes hard right from the start. It is everything an opening number should be. Dynamic, sets the tone, and an incredible fucking bop. The interactions between Scrooge and Fred and Scrooge and Bob are done so well, too. You so quickly get a sense of their characters. Obviously we know their characters because this is a story that has been told many a time before, but it does it so well that you would immediately get them even if you were an alien who had never in your existence been exposed to A Christmas Carol in any capacity. That’s impressive to me. It’s not relying on the familiarity of the story to do its character work.

2) 3 Spirits - I love the tone of this song. This is a Marley with true regret and pain who is absolutely pleading with Scrooge to take the chance he’s being given. It’s less “scared straight” and more, “I need you to understand this like you’ve never understood anything before.” Marley becomes a character in his own right as opposed to merely a backdrop for Scrooge to react to. That’s a theme with this adaptation. Characters who are pretty flat in a lot of adaptations seem so much more like real people in this one. Also, whoever decided to cast Meredith as Marley here is a fucking genius. She’s so goddamn talented and she really shines here. The emotion, the weight. Gah. Beautiful. The interplay between Marley and Scrooge is incredible as well; these are two insanely talented performers breathing a new life into tried and true characters, and you really feel the relationship between them.

3) I’m The Ghost - Christmas Past is so pointed and snarky and incredible, making Scrooge come to certain realizations. “Huh, little boy left all alone. Oh, your sister died so young. Didn’t she have a son though? Why are the employees so happy, this party didn’t cost much? Thinking of something? Okay, last stop, buckle up, it’s all your own doing.” I love it so much.

4) That Scrooge - You guys. You guys. They’ve done what I assumed was impossible. They’ve done what even the Muppets couldn’t. It’s a Scrooge-Belle breakup song that isn’t the most unbelievably boring and bland thing you’ve ever heard in your life. Belle is a fucking person! She has a personality! She’s very clearly stating her case, that he’s changed and she doesn’t like it and does he have anything to say? No? Okay, bye! THE EMOTION IN THIS SONG. Scrooge starts singing not just with her but to her! All the things he didn’t say before! And then he starts singing angrily about/at his past!self for being an idiot! You actually FEEL THINGS about this relationship. It was a deep love and losing it super fucked him up! I have never before seen Belle/Scrooge done as well as this one (1) song handles it.

5) Christmas Electricity - Get ready to have this song stuck in your head for ten thousand years. This song is, I believe, the standard classical definition of “a fuckin’ bop.” It’s so high energy and exciting, you really can understand how Scrooge gets so caught up in it himself. You also see more of Fred in this song and, again, he’s a person! He has specific motivations for why he keeps reaching out to Scrooge. Corey’s Fred is hands down one of the best performances of this character full stop. He took what is usually a bit, side character and made him a full human with understandable thoughts and feelings. They gave the Fred-Scrooge relationship such incredible emotional weight because of it. I think that’s one of my favorite aspects of this adaptation.

6) Priceless - Here we see the Cratchits enjoying their Christmas with an incredibly sweet song about having little but feeling like they have a lot. I really like the way this song feels a bit cheesy (goes with the whole 80s vibe) but they also feel like a real family with some silliness and some sweetness and Bob’s wife having very strong opinions about Scrooge that he’s too polite for. Also “listen to this key change out of the bridge” goddamn just show off constantly how freaking talented this entire cast is, why don’t you.

7) The Final Ghost - I probably have too much to say about this song. It’s my favorite, which considering this entire show is pitch fucking perfect, is really saying a lot. Dylan Saunders is truly one of the most talented performers I’ve ever seen, and his Scrooge is so, so good. It really shines through here. His interactions with Christmas Future show him mirroring Bob from earlier (he has a line that’s almost an exact quote of a line from Bob in Bah Humbug!), correcting himself, and trying to be respectful/humble. Subtle displays of emotional growth even before he gets to the truly scary parts. The song is of course a darker tone, as is correct for this part of the narrative, perfectly setting up the finale song. We get Scrooge overhearing about a funeral no one cares about, the same man being robbed after death, and this death bringing actual happiness to people. Throughout it all so far Christmas Future only speaks in a wordless melody, as is apt. Scrooge asks for tenderness connected to death and is shown the Cratchits mourning Tiny Tim, which breaks him, and he asks who the dead man was from earlier. Still wordless, Christmas Future leads him to a cemetery, and that wordless melody perfectly transforms into an eerie, ethereal, “Ebenezer Scrooge.” The fucking amount of sheer EMOTION Dylan packs into Scrooge pleading for his soul, that he is changed, and the final bit of narration… fuck, you guys, it’s so good. I love all of the “scene” parts of this song so much. It all builds so perfectly.

7a) The narrator. - This isn’t a specific song, I just want to call out how excellent the narrator is through the whole show and how perfectly the narration ties the whole show together. It’s one of those things where it goes unnoticed because it’s so perfect, but if it were bad you would definitely notice. You need it to be there and understated or a lot a falls apart, but it can be such hard balance to strike. This show nails it.

8) Christmas Day - The finale! And what a finale it is! The energy is a perfect contrast to the song before it as Scrooge delights in being alive and having time to make things right. His joy is palpable as he goes about his day, buying Bob a huge turkey, making an incredible donation to the charity he blew off the day before, and showing up at Fred’s. Guys. This scene. Especially when I watch the live, but even sometimes just via the soundtrack, this scene just fucking perfectly, beautifully guts me. You know how in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Zuko has to go on his whole narrative arc to eventually join the right side, and along the way sort of betrays his Uncle Iroh, aka the only good father figure he’s ever had, because he’s a traumatized teenager, and eventually he meets back up with him and starts stumbling out an apology and Iroh just sweeps him up in a hug without a word, and you sob because it’s perfect? That is the energy present in this, what, 15-second scene, just this incredible emotional buildup and payoff accomplished in a scant 45-minute runtime. It’s truly wondrous. The finale, as all true finales should, calls back musically to previous character beats, and ends on the perfect bookend to the opening number. It’s just so, so immensely satisfying.

Tl;dr - this musical has made me feel more Christmas-y than I have in a long, long time, and I have listened to little else in terms of music since I watched it two weeks ago. (It was literally the only music I had listened to since then until right now, and that’s only because I’m in a van on a road trip to my sister-in-law’s for Christmas. While I would have been perfectly content to listen to this soundtrack on repeat for the entire 8-hour drive, I also recognize that the four other people in this van do not have my particular flavor of hyperfixated ADHD brain and probably would not appreciate that, heh. Thus I played it once and then other music. Compromise!)

But yes. Seriously. It’s so good. Gah. Go watch it!

[arcaneviolence]

getting my friend who has never seen the witcher to rate various ships based on vibes alone

F- friend M - me

Up first - Geralt and Jaskier

F- its giving sun and moon- like big sunshine boy here (points at Jaskier) and big grumpy moon stinky man here (points at Geralt)

M - you think hes stinky??

F - yes.

M - why???

F - I sniffed him he is stinky

M- (laughing)

F - he needs a bath smelly boy

M - sunshine boy does bathe him 

F - thats why they are married sunshine boy keeps smelly man clean 

M - sick

F - I bet they’ve explored eachothers bodies

M- skudgsurlghsugkeu

F - I know a little bit based on your posts and I think they are really good friends for a long time so they probably boned at least a few times before romanticaly boning

M - romantic bonning is great but you ever have a pie (quoting a markiplier makes video)

F - (laughing)

Geralt and Yennefer

F - Why are her eyes purple?

M - she part elf

F - why would that make her eyes purple?

M - because genetics 

F - Its cool she seems fruity

M - mmm understandable

F - its serving stars (points to Geralt) and night sky (points to Yen)

M - WAIT SHUT THE FUCK UP THATS SO CUTE

F - and like the sun is a star and his eyes are yellow and the silver hair is silvery stars, and then her hair is black like the nightitme and purple eyes could be like a pretty galaxy

M - YOU SHUT UP NOW THIS IS JUICY

F - he could also be the moon aswell as the stars. She is the night sky that craddles him, the stars and moon, and makes him feel safe. She also provides a good backdrop for him to be seen and heard and admired like he should be.

M - I’m going to shit myself. 

F - I’m a fan of them

F - Bi wife energy

Yennefer and Jaskier

F - SUNSHINE BOY IS BACK AND HES BROUGHT HIS WIFEY

M - do you like sunshine boy?

F - love sunshine boy

M - understandable

F - its like emo gf himbo bf

M - hes actually very smart, he studied poetry and- (F cuts me off)

F - dont care himbo

M - okay

F - he wears hawaiian shirts and always has ice cream and she binge eats chocolate and wear like black silk slip dresses around the house all the time like a sexy rich woman

M - yeah I can see tha- (F cuts me off again)

F - they are like Gonzo and camilla

M - THE MUPPET AND THE CHICKEN??

Yennefer and Triss

F - what is it with this show and sun and moon gay people

M - I think sun and moon ships tend to jsut be inherently gay even if they arnt

F - true

(long puase)

F - they are like buttercups and the wither rose

M - FROM MINECRAFT??

F - yeah

M - how??

F - yellow and black

M - fair enough

Triss and Geralt

F - This feels wrong

M - why?

F - dont like

M - dont like what?

F - I feel like its very unrequited, or its like a ‘parents thought they were cute as kids cause they were friends of the opposite gender and tried to push it, and maybe it worked at one point but it got really uncomfortable’ kinda thing.

M - thats very specific

F - I feel very specific about them.

Eskel and Geralt

F -I like this guy (points to Eskel)

M - yeah?

F - mm hmm. Hes someones scrimblo for shizzle. 

M - fow shizzle. 

F - I feel like they were rivals at one point.

M - really?

F - mmm... actually no they were like reallly close when they were young but drifted apart and now after meeting again old sparks and sparkling again

M - ooooh that sounds like a fanfic waiting to happen

F - i wanna read it gimmi

Lambert and Coen

F - I wanna slap it

M - slap what?

F - (points to coens head)

M - you wanna slap his bald head?

F - I bet the ginger guy spit shines that shit every morning

M - (laughing) 

F - gotta make sure the birds have something to gaze longingly at themselves in

M - (more lauging )

F - The ginger one reminds me of animal

M - what animal?

F - no like the muppet

M - why are you on a muppet spree today

F - love those guys

M - what muppet is the bald one like?

F - jack black

M - HES NOT A MUPPET??

F - BUT HE WAS IN A MUPPET MOVIE!!

M- SO??

if you think I should force them to review more things do tell

[hime-memes]

                        • Not-Your-Mother’s™ Character Building Questions •

                            - Hime’s character building questions with a twist ! -

                                    ** If this goes well - I may make a part 2 ! **

As always: Feel free to change anything within these that you see fit to make it work for your muse & the receiver’s muse !

Recommended For: Adult muses / plots / timelines. ** ( Could also work really well for those that employ video responses for their ask answers ! There are multiple parts to some questions and it has potential to open the way for more in-depth RPs and character development ! ) ** 

Trigger Warnings For: alcohol / drug references, NSFW-ish innuendo, swearing, death mentions, violence. 

1 | Does your character have a favorite swear word ? If so, what is it & why is it their favorite ? 2 | If your character could fight any muppet, which would it be ? ( Bonus: At what location ? ) 3 | Is someone else going to have to clear their browser history if they meet an untimely end ? What message would they give that person ? 4 | What cartoon / fictional character was their sexual awakening ? Looking back on it, how do they feel about that choice now ?  5 | What fills them with unbridled rage & how often do they encounter this thing ? 6 | If they could switch bodies with ( 1 ) animal for the day, what would it be and why ?  7 | What’s their favorite youtube viral video & how did they find it ? 8 | Which social media site do they use and what do they think is the worst part(s) of it ? 9 | Picture it: your character wakes up in a booth, at a crappy diner, across from a ( clearly ) dead body with ‘ What’s new pussy cat ? ‘ playing on a loop. What’s their first guess as to what happened and what is their next move ?  10 | What clickbait title would your character use to describe themselves ?  11 | What’s their favorite saying ... and why ? Does this have an impact on how they live their life or is it a silly thing they just like to say ? 12 | What targeted ad shirt would they un-ironically own ?  13 | If they could cause whatever chaos they wanted -- Where would they start and would they escalate their antics quickly ?  14 | Which anime would consume their lives as a teen and why ?  15 | What’s their favorite insult to use and when / where did they learn it ?  16 | What family tradition(s) have they modified, or simply grown to ignore ? Is there a reason they’ve done so ?  17 | If their personality was an alcoholic beverage ... what would it be and how do they think others will interpret this information ?  18 | What would their social media handle(s) be and what significance do they have for your character ?  19 | How many demonic chihuahua - toddler hybrids could your character reasonably fight before they were overwhelmed and overpowered ? Did they walk into this scenario with a plan in place, or are they winging it as they go ?  20 | What’s the worst bootleg movie they would become invested in by accident ?  21 | How do they insult the average reddit / tumblr user ? ( We all know they deserve it. )  22 | What does cilantro taste like to your muse ? Delicious herb -- or -- corner store bathroom hand soap ? Do they eat it anyway ?  23 | What’s the craziest thing your character has done for love ? Did it pan out ... or did it start their villain origin story ? 24 | What’s the hot button issue that they use to rile the people around them up so they can just watch the chaos and stupidity unfold ?  25 | What’s your character’s snide comeback to the family member that constantly asks them if they’re dating now, thinking about having kids, getting married, etc. ?  26 | What’s your character’s reaction to brand™ twitter ?  27 | What big chain store would they single handedly and with no remorse put out of business if possible & why ? Would their plan to do so be successful - or just make stocks in the company rise from the attention ?  28 | How does your character feel about adult Minecraft & Roblox youtubers ? Is their criticism valid ?  29 | What 3 AM infomercial can they recite verbatim ? Can they do it right now ?  30 | What modern slang word do they detest above all others ? Can they tell us why or when the first realized they hated it ? 31 | What fanfiction would your character write & for what fandom ? What’s the most interesting tag they’ve given / would give a fic ? 32 | What is your character’s favorite meme and in what contexts do they use it ? Has it ever caused a misunderstanding or fight ?  33 | Oh no ! Your character just sent a late drunk text ... who was it to, what was it about & what did they say ? ( Bonus: Tell us the response they got ! )  34 | What is your character’s favorite vine™ or tiktok™ ? Can you quote it for us ? ( If applicable ! )  35 | What’s your character’s least favorite color & who’s wardrobe would they change to nothing but that color just to add an extra reason to hate them ?  36 | Your character is told to make one dish / meal for someone they like -- What do they choose that will make their crush fall in love with them instantly ?  37 | Can your character describe what kind of phone they have, their favorite apps, the person they contact the most, and what their favorite phone case / accessory is ?  38 | If your muse could be isekaied into the another dimension/time, where would they choose to go & would they survive the trip ? Would they bring anyone with them ? How do they think their companion would react ? 39 | Tell us, is your character creative ? If so, in what way do they stand a cut above the rest ? Are they aware of this ?  40 | Give us the style run down for your character ! What sorts of items do they go for when creating their signature style ? Do other people try to replicate this / even if they did, would the look have the same impact ? What are their influences when dressing themselves ?  41 | Forget love interests; when your character saw their nemesis did they know immediately that they were the one, or did they have to antagonize one another first ? What kind of relationship do your character and their nemesis have ? Do they foresee it changing in the future ? If so, how ?  42 | What’s the most expensive gift your character has received & how do they feel about it ?  43 | What lyrics speak to your character’s soul and why ? Do they have any musical selections that would surprise the people that know them ? If so, what might they be ? 44 | What does it take for your character to stand up for someone else ? Are they a reluctant protector -- or bold badass ? Who’s behalf do they step in for most often ? Does teh other person seem okay with this or are they usually annoyed ? How does your character feel about that reaction ? 45 | Can your character name a movie and a book that has fundamentally changed them in one way or anther ? Can they elaborate on why ? When did they first encounter this media and why has it stuck with them for so long ? Do they often watch/read these ? 46 | After some snooping, someone’s found your character’s dating profile: what’s the most shocking thing they find out about your character ? How accurate is your character’s dating profile ? Can you tell us what their bio says ? Which dating site do they frequent ? Have they successfully met someone using it ?  47 | What smells / flavors do your character associate with themselves ? Would this be accurate if they asked other people ? Why do they feel those scents and flavors are representative of them ?  48 | Would your character rather fight a baboon once a month, or fight a chicken every time they needed to get in a vehicle to go somewhere ? 49 | What’s the most pained your character has ever been ? Was it physical, emotional, or mentally ? Is it something they’d be willing to discuss ? If so - how have they come to terms with it ? 50 | Your character has to write a haiku that describes their dominant emotion: tell us what it says and see if we can guess the emotion it’s describing !  

[knowlesian]

THIS ONE IS A G E N U I N E REQUEST i mean sure so was the unhinged izzy one but this one i mean for gentle and good reasons, not weird scuzzy little sad idiot man ones. 

anyway has anyone seen the gifset contrasting “i could be family”/the goodbye/jim’s return?

i only ask because i need to see the quietest love song play out in full without swapping between tabs.

How’d you find me?

I just followed a trail of twigs... and footprints.

I’ve seen you get lost on the ship sometimes.

oh yeah, buckle up. i’m going full gnaw this like old bubblegum mode from MOMENT ONE today, and i’m not even starting with a scene i mentioned in the half-genuine request, half stubborn refusal to ever let the framing device bit die; these two deserve it. until they get an official ship name (...and maybe even honestly after? when i fall, i fall hard, and as i said: i do so love to commit to the bit) i will continue to call them my muppet babies.

look. i’m not gonna say the writers were subtle here; what i will say is, sometimes you don’t need to be subtle to punch me in the fucking heart.

...also to be a good writer and make your point very well without writing a secret code to discern why izzy is Like That in his word choice about ed’s breakup self-help book era, but the heart-punching is sort of my main focus here. izzy makes me want to write unhinged meta so i can poke at his dumb sad brain to see if maybe i can discern the source of his inability to take a fuckin’ chill pill (or a dick, as that is His Whole Weird Hangup, see: dickclouds) and maybe fix it? if not that, then mock him a lot.

jim and olu make me want to write unhinged meta because they are so, so unbearably gentle and revolutionary for it that when i think about them, i feel like maybe i’m dreaming.

they make me so unhinged the izzy shit looks like nothing. it is known that i am Deeply Normal and Fine about izzy; i am absolutely feral about these two. though neither of them need me to and jim in particular might find the challenge refreshing, i would fight a bear for them, your honor. a bear from space. with lasers. 

fuck you, hypothetical space bear with your fucking space lasers, i will say. what did you say about my babies? i will SEE YOU OUTSIDE and not in the loving way i will see the entire team of monster/lighthouses who created and then brought this show to life outside. in the “i’m gonna die, i can’t fucking fight a normal bear and then there’s the LASERS?” way.

...right! textual analysis, i said.

there’s an obvious joke at play. jim is having an Emo Moment, and vico plays this first bit of the scene to convey that, in way in a fun, subtle way i really love; when olu first approaches, they don’t look at him and deliver their question to the vague middle distance, Woe and Burden starting to settle back onto their shoulders.

they are back in their original non-muppet movie context, and in this world when your half-orange rolls up to try and take your emotional temperature you don’t turn to look at people when you say something vaguely badass and dramatic. 

and since in those sorts of canons, you don’t get a practical answer to those kinds of questions, olu’s deeply muppet explanation about the granular details of how he found jim is even funnier than it would be if he said it to anybody other than maybe izzy. subverting expectation is one of the general staples of comedy, so there’s that box checked; jim turning to face olu as they give the affectionate/exasperated response that they’ve seen olu get lost on the goddamned ship is also funny.

but then here’s the not subtle but so good heart punching part. olu, who gets lost in the ship, never has any trouble finding jim. he follows the twigs and their footprints, until he finds the heart that beats out the same rhythm as his own, and reminds jim they don’t have to exist in this world alone if they don’t want to.

this is why i love jim just appearing out of nowhere when they return to finally kiss the living daylights out of olu’s beautiful face so i can scream and kick my feet with glee every single time i watch it: i know, the linear time muppets among us are still blowing their stacks over this, but i’m a galaxy brain muppet. olu can always find jim; it stands to reason jim can always find olu. that’s just the way it works, when you’re two halves of an orange meant to make a whole, even if you have to either bend time or teleport to get there. so you teleport! rules on how you bridge the distance are more like guidelines when you decide to take the risk and allow your heart to beat in a chest that isn’t your own; wherever one of you goes, there the other one will eventually be. to speak in the love language of two other big ol’ dopes who make an orange together and also own my heart: that’s the dot in the i. it’s jeremy freaking bearimy, baby.

which brings me to:

She’s a lot. But she’s my only family.

Well, look. If you wanted... I could be family.

“if you wanted.” oh, olu. a man who probably holds community dearest, but keeps respect and autonomy nestled close enough they’re an indistinguishable part of the desire to bring people into the light where he’s so, so comfortable. i want to be your family jim, of course i want to—but do you want me to be? this is why someone like jim allowed olu to speak for them, before they put together the words to do so for themselves. because he loves jim with all his wonderful heart, and still he asks: what do you want? what would make you happy? those things have just as much value to me as getting to hold you close and call you mine.

there is an ache deep in my heart when i ask myself this question: how does a man who was named by people who knew the words to their own songs and had the space to learn how to let them ring out loud find himself in a place where piracy was his only recourse, and jim his only family in sight?

(please oh please, in the s2 i refuse to accept could ever not be inevitable, with my whole goddamned muppet heart, i would like to meet some of olu’s first family. many of the answers i come up with when i ask myself that terrible question are ones that say this would be impossible, but yet: again and again, like olu, i choose to believe the world can be kinder if i throw my heart against the bars of the cage, and grab at every piece of joy i can until they can’t fucking stop me from finding out what’s outside.)

what i want aside, and whatever happened between then and now, here olu is: planted amidst the citrus trees, food in his belly from his welcome into the heart of jim’s childhood. offering, not demanding: i could be family, too, if you wanted me to. we could be family. we sing the same song. our stories are different, the paths we walked to get to this moment are different, but i hear you. and as olu leans in, heart in his beautiful, kind eyes: he reflects the world back as jim sees it, joyously singing from the same hymnal. 

his warmth says, even here, where they used to call you another name and are still having trouble holding as fast as you might like to not doing so anymore, i know you are jim: jim, who has never been anything but. who trusted me to hold their truth in my steady hands and speak for them; oh, how i see you. 

i see you, in all your complications, all your flaws and your faults, your glories and your triumphs: i see you. i don’t lie to myself, because love based upon keeping the truth locked away can never last, but i love you because of, not in spite of. i love it all: all of it is you. unconditional and true.

this sort of love, olu’s easy, accepting love, is the best definition of holy i will ever be able to give.

(also, they nearly kiss and the way they frame olu’s 10000000% teal earring is CHURLISH. AND. INSUBORDINATE. i get it, jim: teal’s my favorite color now, too. how could it not be? listen to the way this man says cake!!!!)

is it now painfully obvious olu is the character i actually love best? not just like, but love. because he is. i love everyone in this silly/genius intersectional pirate bar (even you, dizzy izzy) if only because i choose to extend that even the worst of us, when it comes down to it: i hold people accountable, but if i stop believing everyone yet drawing breath has the ability to be better than they were yesterday and even become someone i might want to call my home, i think i’ll probably have to relocate to a cave in the proverbial hinterlands, never to return. 

i think olu understands this; when their moment is interrupted and jim decides the next part of their journey needs to take place alone, olu doesn’t even try to dissuade them. his love is the fire at the heart of the lighthouse, burning bright and steady. wherever jim goes, there they are. and there olu’s love shall be. jim carries it with them, now, a twin flame burning alongside their own. a beacon, guiding them home.

i want to admit something before i talk about the hat slap, because that and jim slapping at the dumb little cup and practically yelling SCATTER! SERPENTINE, SERPENTINE! as they dash off to do something stupid are my handkerchief/Boot Touch for these two.

it’s about the boot touch. if you had asked me before they casually confirmed taika improv’d it, i would have sworn up and down it had to be scripted. it’s so good! it’s the boot version of darcy’s hand clenching and it’s a visual joke i think about all the time. they knocked boots! they knocked BOOTS. that’s so stupid and funny and good. so yeah, i would have said to you: no way that wasn’t scripted. it’s too all-around perfect.

BUT: FUCKIN. TAIKA. nope! i would have been a big old dummy and deeply wrong.

with that in mind: i’m gonna guess the hat slap (and honestly, the cup too) were probably just vico and samson being ridiculous and unfairly good at this. if i start talking about how this entire group of actors is collectively a blessing and a joy i will never fucking shut up but let me just say: finding people who just get their characters and are funny as fuck themselves is the magic ingredient for a cast like this.

(still can’t believe nobody planned that damn boot thing out in advance. i mean: they KNOCKED BOOTS. why is everyone involved in this working at their absolute peak!!! it is very cool!!!! thanks everyone!!!! love you!!!! see you in the denny’s parking lot!!!!)

so: the hat slap.

do me a favor: imagine jim’s response to anyone else on the crew getting up in their space, let alone batting at the brim of their hat. got it? good. keep that hilarious shitshow pinned while i contrast it with what happens with olu.

jim’s eyes flick down (the sense that they both want to go in for the kiss again but share the understanding it’s once again, just not the right time: ooof. so good. i’m SO MAD AT THESE TWO) and then as olu walks away, they smile.

like, a wholeass no holds barred actual smile. full-on little kid who just got a gold star on the sticker chart impossible to repress pleased grin. it’s so sweet. we found out this episode the vibe that jim never learned the value of a good afternoon nap is because their ability to be a kid who just chills out, safe to screw around and do silly shit died an abrupt death with their family, and here’s olu: bringing big dumb muppet fun into their life, right up until the last second.

the regret and resolve come right after but now jim has olu’s promise of safe harbor stashed away with a kiss owed and it’s off to be badass with jackie (how fucking great is leslie in this, by the way?) until olu’s beacon guides them home.

Why’d you give it away?

I, um... I missed you.

the way olu’s eyes light up when he first sees jim, like he’s just been handed everything he ever wanted and never thought he’d get. i just can’t with samson, i can’t. 

before ed rolled up to save izzy’s dumb ass from being thrown overboard, olu was told by the ragtag group of dummies who have also become his home they wanted him to be their captain. he had seen his true value laid out in no uncertain terms, before the chance to lead was taken away from him just as fast as it was offered. 

he might say he doesn't want the job, but he could do it. he could do it well and olu knows that, but now he’s not going to be captain after all and worse: he still doesn’t have jim. he’s been pining for the runtime of nearly two whole episodes for them and he can't bear to be in the space where jim’s absence looms largest at the same time all he wants is to go back to sleeping there. that’s where olu can touch the echoes of home and remind himself: he had to wait for jim once already to find it before, he can do it again. 

the thing olu knows that makes him so wonderful and able to see people clearly and love them just as hard as ever is that as long as he’s open and looks for it, once he finds the people he’d like to fill it with home is never doing more than waiting for your return, arms open and cake ready.

and now he has jim who was in the room they share literally waiting for his return. i think there was a piece of olu that fell just a little bit more in love there, in a way he didn’t even know was possible. olu is steady; a hearthfire, the kind of warmth you can depend on. he is so often waiting for people to come home to him; and he wants them to. it’s who he is, but the difference between “i was waiting for you, and now you’re back” to “you waited for me; this is a moment when i needed you to comfort me so much it made me ache, and you were just magically here” is just... so very deeply unfair. i mean, jesus fuck, leave me here to weep, etc etc etc. SO unfair.

also unfair, jim kissing his fucking face off and launching both of them back onto the bed together.

there’s this deeply cool and genuinely beautiful part in the bible where they take a little break to do some slam poetry about sex, called the songs of songs. (it’s also about the beauty of having dark skin; i would lay down my life these are both things the writers know about, particularly because there are places it gets Arguably Gay, too.) it’s referred to as the song of solomon as well, alongside a handful of other things, but i’ve always been partial to the emotional resonance of how the first one hits me. 

sing not just a song; sing a song of songs. sing not just your song, but the song of every other person alive, all raised together in joyful, unified noise.  

the part people tend to know because it’s the part most writers like best is “let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.” and no shade to a very good line, but i just want to throw down a later verse that gets less play and deserves so much more.

His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven / His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set / His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh / His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires / His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars / His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

first, this is obviously olu as fuck, because he is not just a snack he is the whole damn meal and dessert besides (respectful).

but: this is my beloved, and this is my friend. usually when people say “oh, the sex isn’t the point” it’s to hide their discomfort and sweep sex had by people they don’t understand in ways they don’t understand off as a sort of niche interest, a conversation piece and not someone’s source of joy.

the sex may not be the point, but it is now Part of It and olu is the little spoon because this isn’t izzy’s sad weird need for tenderness found only through completing all the intricate rituals needed to even begin to fumble uselessly towards grace, and then heading out back to beat metaphors about dicks and daddy issues and god with sticks until they cry. 

that’s the old world. this is the new: when it comes to these two, saying the sex isn’t the point here means that before jim and olu ever had a truly excellent first kiss and adorably spooned, jim trusted olu to know the words they wanted to say and how to say them. this is my beloved; this is my friend. wherever they go, there i am. 

as with everything on this show, it’s all the point. nana blessed their union in the heart of her church, but olu offered to be family on even holier ground still: the ground jim grew in. all those rough edges, the disappointments and pain that shaped them, refashioned into the place where olu looked at jim and said the words in their hearts out loud: we could be family, but only if you want to.

the old life came back to swallow the new, then, the old fears and vendettas and patterns. but they’re home now, and so jim’s song becomes: i want to. i want you, and together they consecrate yet another space.

in the place they made a home, together they sing a song of songs. they sing it out, and they sing it strong.

...so yeah anyway. anybody seen it?

[midasinc]

modern era enjoltaire hcs:

-it takes them a really long time to actually start going out because grantaire has the LOWEST self-esteem you've ever seen in a person and enjolras is too prideful to admit that he has it bad. it takes six years of knowing each other to start dating, but the fact that they get together when they're in their mid to late twenties honestly is a lot healthier for their relationship because they've grown a lot more as people

-grantaire is an animator and enjolras is an attorney and together they both work absurd hours and it doesnt occur that it might not be healthy until joly talks about how he balances hospital work with his domestic life and they kind of look at each other like ("is that a problem?" "i have no idea, do you think it's a problem?") and it takes a while to balance their priorities and schedules and now they're both a lot happier both in their relationship and their lives in general (and they both went to a massage place because oh my GOD the tension in their shoulders-)

-grantaire is usually their date coordinator because he knows every possible activity to do in paris. they have a bucket list of ideas he came up with that they tore out onto little slips of paper that now sit in a jar in their kitchen. enjolras adds a slip every now and again too when he comes up with an idea but is too shy to tell grantaire to write it. whenever they're bored, one of them will close their eyes and fish for a slip in the jar. whatever is written on the paper has to be done unless it's closed, not the right season, etc. they've done a lot of stuff together- bouldering at the gym, ice skating at a christmas market, going on a wine-tasting trip, and even people watching at a hookah bar. they have fun together no matter what the slip says

-enjolras is really big on reading. he's been a reader ever since he was a kid and it's a portion of the reason why he needs glasses so bad. it takes them a year or two to start doing this, but enjolras always reads in bed and grantaire gets kind of curious of what he's reading and after a while he asks enjolras to read out loud. enjolras has a really good reading voice and he's always been good at reading out loud, so he'll play with grantaire's hair and read until he notices that grantaire's fallen asleep. then he marks the page and turns out the lights- they can finish the chapter tomorrow night

-they're a judgy couple. the funny thing with them is that they're both judgemental in different ways, but it's perfect to have the other around because if somebody does or says something stupid, they are absolutely turning to give each other The Look and cross their arms over their chests at the same time

-enjolras finds himself being anatomy practice for grantaire a lot. if he's working on animating a certain action and it just looks wrong, he'll ask enj to do the action in real life. most of the time, he'll take a video so he can replay it a ton see frame-by-frame what this should look like, but other times enjolras will willingly do it over and over again to give him different examples, or just because he's bored

-they both have very similar very curly hair types and mooch off of each other's hair products. grantaire has a really good hair diffuser that enjolras absolutely uses every morning before work because it feels so good on his scalp and enjolras has a really good hair mask that grantaire likes to use because it smells like coconut and His Man and it makes his hair shiny and soft

-they're both also just fuckin grumpy old men before they even hit middle age. grantaire gets the worst heart burn ever and he has carpal tunnel and enjolras has old man eyes and a bad back from his posture and sitting at a desk all day and everyone compares them to the old guys from the muppets that sit in the booth and heckle everyone (but never to their faces. bossuet is so tempted to say it but everyone tells him not to)

-they mellow out a lot with each other. grantaire learns to be more open minded and less pessimistic and enjolras loses his saviour complex and they both kind of help each other realize the good and the bad things about each other. grantaire helps enjolras with his service projects now and goes to meetings and when he disagrees he doesnt sit there and call them losers under his breath and drink, he speaks up and brings a new perspective to the table. at the same time, grantaire helps enjolras calm things down when he's working too much for one person. he can help him take the time to sleep and eat and relax because yes enjolras wants to fix the world, but he's a person and not a robot. they help each other

-grantaire watches lotr with enjolras and lets him talk about how cool middle earth is without calling him a lame nerd

-enjolras watches animated movies with grantaire and lets him talk about different animation styles and techniques without getting bored

-being on opposite ends of the spectrum works more than everyone expected. at first they're intense and fight and don't know what they're doing, but they also balance each other out. both of them go to therapy separately and it's helped them both as people and as a pair

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Dark Greetings this Spooky Season Ms. V. Can we get a list of your favorite Halloween movies and specials? I know you have seen *everything* and I am trying to go beyond my usual rewatches this holiday month.

V. AIMMYARROWSHIGH’S CRITERIA FOR HALLOWEEN EPISODES

Does the Halloween element combine convincingly with the usual universe of the show (ex: Lizzie McGuire 2x09 “Those Freaky McGuires” is not good as a Halloween episode because it changes the rules of the Lizzie McGuire universe, whereas Community 2x06 “Epidemiology” is a GREAT Halloween episode because it manages to logically introduce zombies to the regular Community universe)?

Does the Halloween element advance the plot of the episode/series (ex: the reason Boy Meets World 5x17 “And Then There Was Shawn” is literally the best Halloween episode ever made is that it uses the horror movie tropes it satirizes to provide a CRUCIAL turning-point to the plot of the show)?

Is the Halloween episode in the forefront enough that it’s clearly a holiday episode (ex: HAVING ONE JACK-O’LANTERN ON A DESK DOES NOT A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL MAKE, LAW & ORDER 16x03 “GHOSTS”! You gotta go ALL-IN, like Bob’s Burgers 3x02 “Full Bars”!)?

Does the Halloween theme balance well between spooky and warm-n-fuzzy (ex: Criminal Minds 11x21 “Mr. Scratch” is too fucking bleak, but Criminal Minds 12x06 “Elliott’s Pond” has a joyous/celebratory tone to the ending despite being a genuinely scary episode)?

Is it generally a well-written, acted, and designed episode of television (ex: Saved by the Bell! 3x26 “Mystery Weekend” is seriously, not exaggerating, the worst thing I’ve ever watched in my life; Psych 1x15 “Scary Sherry, Or Bianca’s Toast” is a triumph of the medium)?

THE BEST, bar none, Halloween special ever made is Boy Meets World 5x17, “And Then There Was Shawn.” Period. There can be no argument, except MAYBE Community 3x06, “Epidemiology,” but I like “And Then There Was Shawn” better because the parody and homage as less… biting? And because I think it continues and addresses the emotional core of the regular BMW season better than “Epidemiology” does for Community s3. “Epi” DOES plant the seed (…heh) for the Season 3B major plot arc of Shirley’s pregnancy and Chang Deciding To Murder, but it gets some major minus points for mocking Yvette Nicole Brown’s weight with other characters’ responses to her costume, tbh. And “And Then There Was Shawn” is just fucking iconic. It is THE Halloween episode manual, IMO, if there were to be a textbook on how to write a perfect Halloween episode for your sitcom.

HOWEVER, I also have to give major props to Bob’s Burgers and Psych, as complete series, for their CONSISTENTLY excellent Halloween episodes. A lot of series that have multiple Halloween eps really phone it in after one or two, because they don’t have any more ideas for how to incorporate Halloween pastiches while maintaining the overall feeling of the series (tbh B99, while the Halloween Heists are excellent in general, is/has been coming very close to this line, and I think that if they HADN’T had to switch out the Heist to Cinco de Mayo in s6, they would have jumped their Heist Shark [and I think they know it, too, because it was lampshaded in the episode itself]) or they just straight-up don’t have any more ideas for what or how to have the characters they’re bound to parody or pay homage to a Halloween thing after they’ve already done one or two. And let’s be real: those one or two have probably been either The Shining or Rear Window, because those are pretty much the two that every show starts with.

Bob’s manages to make every Halloween episode feel very fresh and organic to the series, which I think they do have some leeway to do because of the nature of cartoons keeping the Belchers living a kind of loop of never aging, yk, but amazingly they’ve only done the “Tina feels too old to trick or treat, maybe? Nope, she’s not 14 yet, so there’s still time!” thing in a way that felt tropey once (in 3x02 Full Bars). They’ve been able to address Tina being 13/in 8th grade, and worrying about it being almost too late for her to keep trick or treating, in ways that were in-character and added to the overall episode in 4x02 Fort Night, 5x02 Tina and the Real Ghost, and 9x04 Nightmare on Ocean Avenue Street, without me rolling my eyes at the screen and going “TINA, EVERY SINGLE SHOW WITH A TWEEN IN IT HAS ALREADY DECIDED THAT THE AGE AT WHICH YOU MUST STOP TRICK OR TREATING IS FRESHMAN YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL, COME ON NOW” which… at this point, is a Feat. Because like, I’ve POSTED over a thousand Halloween episodes, right? But I’ve watched and screencapped ::checks folder:: 3,905 Halloween episodes since 2014. Which is, um, a. lot. The ACTUAL BEST Bob’s Burgers Halloween episode is 6x03, “The Hauntening,” which is just… achingly perfect television. I know I’ve posted about it before (probably a couple times tbh) but the way that it aired originally back-to-back with The Simpsons 27x04, “Halloween of Horror,” so that the evening of Sunday cartoons juxtaposed eight-year-old Louise whose family worked so hard to scare her like she wanted with nine-year-old Lisa’s family working so hard to keep her from being too scared and make sure that she felt safe… reader, I FUCKIN CRIED. Little girls being deeply loved while also Spoopy Things!!!!!! IS WHAT HALLOWEEN SPECIALS ARE!!! FUCKIN!!!!!! ABOUT!!!!!!!

Psych, though, has the benefit of not really having any, like… central tone to the series? Beyond “friendship” and “having fun with joking,” tbh? So it’s able to do what a lot of series get docked “points” for in my Foolproof Halloween Special Ratings System That Is Completely Subjective To My Tastes And Mood, which is really just run full-tilt into parody and homage without really worrying about overall tonal connection to the rest of the season or series. 1x15, “Scary Sherry, or, Bianca’s Toast,” while it DOES fall victim to the way-too-common Halloween episode trap of making mental hospitals into a Scary Thing (they are a medical normality and a necessary thing for health for many people and should not be feared), is delightful Spooky Fun AND has the benefit of having Shannon Woodward in it.* We all know by now that if an episode of any show has Shannon Woodward as the guest star, it will by default end up being one of the best, if not THE best, episodes of that series. It’s just how having Shannon Woodward as your guest star rolls. I also really like, with Psych’s Halloween episodes, that quite a few of them understand the underlying thematic scope of Horror, which is “The Monstrous Feminine Is A Thing And All Horror Tropes Are Actually About Women’s Interior Lives Because Men Can’t Write Women And Fear Women Always,” yk, in a way that is neither TOO Actual Horror, which I am too afraid of to Do, or too trite and demeaning, which is the other basic trap that Halloween stuff falls into A Lot. Like, Scary Sherry is very much about women villainizing other women, avenging other women, and being in very specifically-female pain, even though Shawn & Gus are still the lens through which we solve the mystery, and so are 4x04 The Devil Is In The Details And The Upstairs Bedroom and 6x03 This Episode Sucks. But they give their Monstrous Females dignity and breadth, which is impressive, ESPECIALLY since they’re one-off guest characters. Also, 3x15 Tuesday the 17th is just plain funny and well-done, like, just give it props for the title alone.

*(Speaking of Shannon Woodward, another amazingly good Halloween episode is Raising Hope 4x07, “Murder, She Hoped,” which is among my very favorite Rear Window homage episodes and has probably the funniest gag in ANY Rear Window ep, in Martha Plimpton floating across the screen in the Grace Kelly silk nightgown and peignoir and announcing that it was on sale at Walmart, can you believe?! and honestly, yes. Perfection.)

Also excellent:

• The Addams Family (1991) + Addams Family Values (1993) • Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU WERE GAY FOR SIBELLA AS A CHILD!) • Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU'RE GAY BECAUSE THE HEX GIRLS!) • Halloweentown + Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge • Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire! • Z•O•M•B•I•E•S (to a lesser extent, Z•O•M•B•I•E•S 2) • Clue (1985) • Coraline • Corpse Bride • 6teen 2x00 Dude of the Dead • Arthur 21x00 Arthur and the Haunted Treehouse • Lamb-Chop in the Haunted Studio • Arthur 8x04A Fern-kenstein's Monster • Arthur 10x02 The Squirrels • WandaVision 1x06 The All-New Halloween Spooktacular (I KNOW YOU, SPECIFICALLY, DEAR @plavoptice, HATE MCU!WANDA AND I DON'T BLAME YOU, YOUR REASONS ARE VERY VALID! But this is a good Halloween special so I'm putting it on my list In General.) • Boy Meets World 2x06 Who's Afraid of Cory Wolf? • Ghostbusters (2016) • Gravity Falls 1x12 Summerween • Leverage 4x02 Ten L'il Grifters Job • The Loud House 2x40 Tricked! • Mockingbird Lane 1x00 Unaired Pilot • It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! (Classic, etc.)

I'm SURE I'm forgetting some that I'll rewatch this year myself. I'm a big Halloween Baking Championship fan, tbh, which is on Discovery+ now so I recommend that if you like mostly-relaxing nice people baking cakes that look like bats and such.

I'm also IMMENSELY INTENSELY EXCITED for The Muppets' Haunted Mansion on Disney+ next week!!!