#wheres the finale mr sanders.

[fossilizedhysterics]

killing biting maiming scratching

[where-are-the-spooky-gays-2]

"Where are the spooky gays" this and "where are the spooky gays" that

WHERE ARE THEY ALL AT???? WHERE DID THEY GO?? WILL THEY EVER RETURN???

APPARENTLY ITS BEEN 4 YEARS SINCE THE WEDDING EPISODE??? AKA THE LAST SIGNIFICANT PLOT POINT??

I miss them

I feel like im in my Steven Universe era where the show was in a everlasting hiatus. Where are they, Mr sanders??? What have you done with them/lighthearted

-🐀

They're all trapped in the secret Beach episode /joking No but controversial take that will absolutely get an angry mob at me but I don't give a shit at this point and this is not directed to you at all 🐀 Anon I've just been in this fandom for 7 years and I'm tired of biting my tongue /genuine But y'all need to understand that if we didn't have the Asides/Short vids, The Incorrect Quotes, The Photoshoots, Bloops, etc. then we would have not seen the Sides at all in the span of 4 years (That's 1,475 days) and even through said 4 years there was a pandemic, a hurricane that quite literally flooded the shit out of Thomas' old office, and a stress related condition that quite literally made this man not even wanna look at himself (If you think this is 'babying' him actually touch a dictionary) I know this might come as a surprise especially with the old memes I used to make on this blog and with how most countdown blogs are now but I'm probably the only one in this fandom who honestly doesn't care for the wait due to watching literally everything he makes. He's juggling different projects, he's preforming in more theater stuff, he's making a lot of music for a 4 part season finale along with a possible prologue, he's trying to get back into the swing of things and getting over his intimidation of doing main series characterization of the Sides and all we can do is wait and continue making more beautiful content for the fandom to enjoy and gush about the characters and ships we love. I'd rather watch something that was written with time and patience than rushed and hear more bitching from the fandom for something they wanted.

[biblio-smia]

Hey can we get one where Clapton has a crush on you and does anything and everything to be close to you????

oh how i love loser men

clapton cuts through the cafeteria, throwing himself into the seat opposite sander sanderson. "dude, switch with me."

"what?" sander is caught off-guard and still mid-chew.

"physics, dude! come on, you have to switch with me!"

sander stares, eyes rolling practically to the back of his head as he catches up to what clapton is talking about. "as if you have the balls to make a move."

it's clapton's turn to roll his eyes. "you'll get to sit with riley for the rest of the semester!"

sander takes a long time to consider this; agonizingly long, at least for clapton. finally, after sander has finished another bite of his disgusting tuna salad sandwich, he sighs.

"fine. but don't think you don't owe me, davis."

the next day, clapton slides smoothly into his new, fought-for seat next to you.

you do a small double-take, sure the boy sitting next to you today isn't the same one from last time - though you two didn't talk much (save for a brief introduction and an awkward handshake). it was easier to believe your mind was playing tricks on you.

"sander has a thing for riley. so i let him switch with me." the boy, definitely new, tells you with a nonchalant shrug. there's vague recognition on your face as you look at him, eyebrows pulled slightly together - you remember he had a funny name.

"clapton davis," he fills in for you. "your new physics partner."

he doesn't hold out a stiff hand like sander did, but he manages to pull a smile and a little introduction out of you. the bell rings and mr. kendall is prompt, jumping into today's lesson so quickly you rush to pull out your notebook.

clapton smiles to himself, table in front of him empty, not a pencil in sight for him. he's too busy stealing glances at you to do any note-taking.

it only takes a few days before clapton decides it's time to make a game plan. the charm he usually prides himself disappears around you, his mind always going blank. he has to think about his words carefully before he says them, three times each.

that won't do. he reminds himself of what he's always done. keep calm and have a casual conversation.

"no way, i have that exact same pen!" clapton exclaims one day before class.

you look down in front of you, recalling what pen you had brought to class that day - it's a bic pen, the most generic one out there. this pulls a laugh out of you, as stupid as it is.

"you know, clapton, in the two weeks we've been sitting next to each other, i've never once seen you take out a pen."

"you've been keeping track?" clapton says with an easy smile, his heart stammering wildly in his chest. he's closed the distance, arm on the table supporting his head as he stares, attention dedicated solely to you.

you roll your eyes but there's a smile on your face. "you can always look over them, if you want," you offer, directing clapton's attention to the open notebook in front of you. "not to brag, but i'm a pretty good note-taker."

"i'd like that," clapton admits, surprising himself with how much he means it.

"okay," you nod, trying not to grin.

"would you wanna have lunch in the library with me?" clapton asks, eager to set a time and date to... look over your notes?

"sure," you manage to say just before the bell rings.

clapton doesn't get another opportunity to talk to you for the entire class period; it's quiz day.

he finishes his quiz in seven minutes flat, bubbling in C for all the questions before putting his head down. the quiet cocoon clapton has built with his arms at least gives him at least another 45 minutes or so to sit and reflect.

a part of clapton is pissed with himself for asking you to study with him out of all things. usually, the courage to ask someone on a date would never suddenly flee him like it does with you and it's beginning to throw clapton in for a loop. though, on the other hand, at least he made it work with the opportunity that had presented itself... right?

and now, of all things, clapton is beginning to feel insecure about the grades he hasn't kept up with since about middle school. he wonders if you'd paid attention to how quickly he turned in that quiz. did you only offer to help him because you thought he was stupid?

clapton's beginning to lose his head (and run out of air), so he picks his head up and places it on top of his arms instead. he glances at you, just now going to turn in your quiz, and he sighs.

in an hour and a half, the two of you will meet for lunch and clapton would look over your notes. he can already see himself faltering; there's no way he'll be able to impress you in this situation.

as you turn to head back to your seat, clapton averts his eyes. he's set himself up for complete failure.

and, as a part of him wonders why exactly he cares, clapton drops his head again as he realizes.

he totally has a big fat crush on you.

masterlist

[beauty-and-passion]

No pressure as always, but I’m curious if you saw Thomas’ Year in Review. He talks a lot about his struggles with Sanders Sides and why the creative process has taken so long (at least, he gives his own take on the situation.)

If you saw it, I’m very curious about your thoughts! Because I honestly don’t believe that this video discredits any criticism, especially your criticism, but I’m curious if any of your opinions changed after watching it regardless. And no judgement either way, I just love hearing your thoughts ^.^

My dear, it's always a pleasure to reply to your asks! It might take me some time, but in the end, the answer will always come.

Thank you very much for telling me about the video because, if it wasn't for you, I would've probably never watched it and missed out a lot. Extra kudos for that.

So I watched it. And I read your post about it too (HERE because more people need to read it): it was very well made and I agree with you wholeheartedly.

However, I also took a lot of notes while watching Mr Sanders' video and there are a lot of other things I want to say in addition to the ones you already said. So I will gladly expand my thoughts and feelings here.

(It might be longer than expected, so I'll put it under a "read more")

Accepting criticism

Thomas admitted he easily internalizes negative criticism

He said that people are allowed to write everything/to criticize and that he doesn't want others to get mad over SaSi criticism

First of all, I am proud of him for showing this self-awareness. From what I saw of him, Thomas looks like a very prideful person, so it probably took him a lot of time and courage to admit his faulty behaviour.

But in the end, he did it. He showed some of the maturity I've always wanted to see coming from him and he deserves recognition for that: good job, Thomas. I know it wasn't easy because it sucks to admit we're not good at something, but it was a great proof of adulthood coming from you.

However, I would like to point out that he doesn't internalize just negative criticism. What the ts critics noticed (and you can find several proofs in the #ts_criticism tag), is that Thomas tends to reply with a lot of passive-aggressiveness not just to people offending him, but also to simple and harmless questions like "Hey, where is the SaSi finale?". Which are not negative, not criticism and even less negative criticism.

So it's not that he just internalizes bad criticism: he internalizes every single question regarding the SaSi finale which is not a compliment towards him or a "take your time, bro". And he internalizes it as something bad, which is not great, nor fair.

With this video, he took a step in the right direction and showed some self-awareness, which is very good. But now he needs to learn how to distinguish between different kinds of criticism - as well as recognizing that asking him questions isn’t criticism. It’s just asking questions.

(I also hope that some people won’t follow his mentality of “saying anything that isn’t a compliment = criticism”, because this can lead to a dangerous, distorted vision of the world.)

And since we’re talking about criticism, I wish that by saying "please do not get angry over criticism" Thomas finally put an end to the stupid idea that “people are not allowed to criticize”.

I know some people don't like to hear this, but criticism is inherent to the nature of every single work. Everything that exists in this world is allowed to be criticized. Heck, it's exactly because these creations are criticized, that they exist. Do you know what work isn't criticized? The one people don't talk about.

And no, despite what the opposers of criticism think, when people criticize something it's not because they hate the product: it's because they care a lot about said product. It's because they saw something good in it and they're disappointed the product wasn't as good as it promised. It's because they are so invested, that every mistake frustrates them.

In the end, it's not criticism that kills a product: it's indifference. It's not talking about it anymore. When you don't care, the product is dead.

So the opponents of criticism should be happy people are talking about SaSi with such passion, throwing ideas, suggestions and calling Thomas out. It's because, despite the empty promises, they still give a fuck about this project and want to see it succeed.

Maybe, thanks to Thomas' works, more people will not ban every criticism as "bad" Because Yes. Heck, they might even read a couple of posts and find out that the criticism tag isn't made of hateful people: just of people who care like them.

And maybe this will also discourage pathetic losers like the anon @softestvirgil mentioned in their last post. An anon who is so strong and brave, to say they would hire a hitman to kill another person just because they criticize something the anon likes. Very mature, very clever and very bold, coming from a coward who doesn't even have the balls to show their face, while saying this.

_______________________

The difficulty of writing

Thomas said he got overwhelmed by the public's reaction to SaSi "in the most wonderful and intimidating way"

When Joan left, Thomas felt the overwhelming weight of the series all on himself. He couldn't see himself doing SaSi without Joan

Roleslaying was a breath of fresh air, since it was a series with no stakes

Thomas realized he was doing his best with videos that didn't require him to write

Thomas said there have been moments when he despised everything he was writing. He spent whole days on a single interaction between two characters, only to hate everything and wonder how Joan would write them/what the viewers would think.

As always, I am a prophet. What did I say in these last years?

Thomas doesn't know how to handle this series? He admitted he couldn't see himself doing it without Joan.

Thomas prefers Roleslaying and shorter, more carefree videos because they're easier and they don't require him to write? He admitted he did his best with videos that didn't require him to write.

Thomas isn't able to write the series? He had struggles and hated what he was writing.

So, what was the result, if not Thomas postponing and focusing on other projects - thus ending up with characterization errors, mistakes and things he completely forgot? Just like I said?

But even if I'm right, I am glad Thomas FINALLY talked about it. One thing is deduce what's going on, one thing is the author himself admitting it.

So yes, I really, really appreciate him doing it. Again, it was probably very hard for him to say it out loud, but he did and deserves recognition for that.

I particularly felt for him, when he said he spent days on a single interaction, only to hate everything he was writing. I empathize with him a lot because that's exactly what I felt while writing the prologue of my story, multiple times. I spent days writing the same two paragraphs, over and over, trying to find the right way to do it, the right rhythm, the right words. And I ended up deleting everything, only to start again and try again and delete everything again, over and over in a neverending loop.

I know it must've been hard for Thomas, because it is hard. Because you feel like shit. Because you ask yourself how can you not write this right, what are you doing wrong? Maybe you did everything wrong from the start, maybe the entire thing is wrong, maybe you're just too stupid to do it - and you see other stories and other writings and they're all so good and you suck so much and you feel like an even bigger loser.

And now you may ask: how can you break this loop? How can you move forward?

We will talk about Thomas' solution in a bit.

_______________________

The lack of an outline

Thomas admitted he lost connection with his characters

He said he was feeling bad for letting people down

He said he's writing the outline of the season finale by referring to notes left by Joan

He finished 3 drafts out of 4 parts. And they're still reviewed

Wow, it looks like the lack of a proper, full outline leads to characterization errors, forgetting things and taking a lot of time. Jeez, I wonder who said all of this since like, idk, forever?

As I imagined, there is still no outline at all and Thomas isn't even working on a full outline for season 3: he's working on an outline for the season 2 finale. Which means season 3 is still stuck in a limbo.

And yes, I know they're not great news, but at least they're real news. Real fucking news about the finale, not just "finished draft 3" or "worked for 8 hours" or "it will come out this year maybe yes maybe not". We finally have real news and we know how much Thomas did and what he's currently working on and how much is still left to do. So, again, he deserves recognition for finally talking about it.

Does that mean the writing is good now? Heck no, this isn't a proper way to write and my previous post still stands: the writing is still taking too long, the lack of an outline is still a problem, part 4 and the review will probably take another two years minimum and a competent writer would've helped A LOT to make the writing smoother and faster.

However, I better understand now why Thomas didn't hire one: he probably wanted to do everything by himself to not disappoint everyone and was too prideful to ask for help - considering he didn't tell anyone about his struggles either.

But what did it lead to? The outline is still missing (with all the expected consequences) and Thomas suffered for the huge weight of expectation he put on himself.

_______________________

The importance of not escaping criticism

Thomas' resolutions for this year are:

to be more open and honest about his struggles

to stay away from criticism (he doesn't even want to be tagged in it)

Those are great resolutions, especially the first one. Considering he kept everything by himself and didn't tell anyone about his struggles, being more open and honest about them is a very good decision.

And staying away from negative criticism is good too, considering that 1) it's good for mental health in general and 2) he just admitted he internalizes criticism, so staying away from it can only be helpful.

However, as said before, Thomas sees as “negative criticism" everything, including people asking him about the finale. So if he escapes from all kinds of criticism, he will also escape from harmless fans who just want an update from him.

Besides, it’s never good to escape from all kinds of criticism. Criticism is essential for writing, especially constructive criticism. Sure, you might find the 12-year-old who says "You stink and your work sucks because my headcanon is not here!", but you may also find the expert who will explain some technicalities of writing. Or just someone who can offer a deeper insight into a character. Or just an interesting idea to develop into a plot point.

Also, considering how Thomas tends to label every little critic as "negative", people who want to show their love might end up feeling "forced" to use just compliments, in hopes that Thomas will notice them/know they love SaSi. Which isn’t good either, because... well, people would be forced to censor themselves and suffocate their rightful questions just to make him happy.

_______________________

How to escape the neverending loop of hate-writing

Thomas said he wants to rediscover his joy in writing by working on more Asides/other projects to "stretch his brain"

He also expressed his love for short-form creation

Thomas' solution is a good one. Doing other things, focusing on other stuff, letting SaSi in the back to write different stories: this is all good and valid, I’m sure it will help Thomas’ mental health a lot.

However, writing small stuff with no stakes is also what Thomas wrote for most of his life. So by doing that, he basically reverts to something he’s already used to. And of course he loves it, it’s his comfort zone: it’s very understandable he feels at ease inside it.

Still, this is not a bad thing: it’s good to do it once in a while and it's even necessary for your wellbeing. But you can understand by yourself that this doesn’t help solve the problem. This just postpones the problem. Maybe it won’t come back now, maybe not today or tomorrow or during the season 2 finale. But the problem will eventually come back.

Why? Because SaSi still lacks an outline. Because the story should still move in a more mature, complex direction. Because there are still a lot of threads to develop and close. Because the characters still need mature development.

How do I think Thomas can solve the problem? Sure, detaching himself from it is good for a while, but he cannot do just that and escape into his comfort zone. He needs to face the problem and he can do it only by learning how to write.

And if it’s hard to do (because it is), then the best solution would be to hire a competent writer. Not because the writer will replace him, not at all. The writer will help Thomas to learn and understand the technicalities of writing especially for a project as big as SaSi: like how to develop an outline, how to connect all threads, how to move from a simple to a more complex plot, how to keep a continuative plot throughout several episodes without destroying the stakes. The writer will be an assistant for the writing of SaSi and a teacher from whom Thomas can learn everything he needs.

So, if Thomas really wants to give himself some grace this year as he said, I suggest he shares his writing responsibilities with someone competent and bias-free. A real writer from whom he can learn not just for SaSi, but for his future projects too. Not only this will benefit him in the long run, but it will also give him a more humble and mature approach to writing in general, by recognizing and accepting his limits and doing actual work to improve himself.

But this is just my suggestion. If he wants, Thomas can keep doing what he’s doing now, i.e. working on smaller stuff into his comfort zone and stepping out a little bit when he feels more confident.

Again, this isn’t a bad solution, but the problem is that it takes a lot of time. But, like, A LOT. You need to regain confidence from inside your comfort zone, then step out again to face a bigger problem - a problem you still don’t know how to face, because you don’t know how to write and you don’t even have an outline or a plan to tackle it. And what if you lose confidence again? Will you come back into your comfort zone and wait again to gain enough confidence to step out once more?

I know you will never read this post, Thomas, but let me tell you this: I also lost the spark with my characters several times in the past. The first time, it was because I still didn’t know how to write, so I was frustrated by the writing itself and how everything was dull. Then I lost my spark because the plot kept getting stuck and I had no idea how to improve it.

Both times, I left the project in the back and focused on other smaller stories, smaller projects and books to read.

After the first time, it took me a couple of years to get back on this project. But do you know how long it took me the second time? This year, it will be 8 years. The last time I wrote that project was 2016. And only now, after 8 years, I think I found the solution I was searching for.I could do that, because I never showed this story to anyone. It has always been my personal, secret project. But can you do the same? Can you really afford to spend 8+ years, doing everything by yourself? As I said in my previous post, unfortunately Sanders Sides has your face. And you cannot revert the biological clock forever.

_______________________

In conclusion

Do I appreciate Thomas a little more after this video? Definitely. He still didn't apologize for his lack of organization and his take on criticism is a bit questionable, but he's improving. He showed more maturity than he did in the past three years and I appreciate that. He has my respect for doing it, for admitting his mistakes and for opening up.

Does that mean he can take forever for the finale? Heck no. I still want to see the finale before the end of time and I still want to get more frequent, honest updates coming from him. And, no that doesn’t mean he has to do 20-minute-long videos every time: even just a simple, clear tweet is enough. Just to let us know how the work is going.

I also hope he will develop better communication with his team, improve the organization and, most importantly, hire a competent writer from whom he can learn more about writing in general (and regarding SaSi).

While for the fandom, I wish we would be nicer too. It doesn't make sense for us to fight over a simple series, when there are bigger problems out there. Let's enjoy our time together instead, let's criticize if we want to, let's do fanart and write fanfictions and let's fight over silly stuff only, like which ship is the best and which Orange is the best Orange. Even if the second doesn’t even need a debate, because we all know pirate!Orange is the best ;P

[do-not-consume]

Sanders Sides predictions!! (On my burner account just in case anyone takes this too seriously) this is just for fun, don't sue me. (Includes all characters... Uhh in some form, there is no violence except threatened and I do realize at least some of it could never happen due to being too complicated to film in an apartment.) It starts very vague and then gets to dialogue for the really good part. DLDR

The video starts with Thomas. He's really struggling to put together a video. Logan immediately jumps to the opportunity to talk about the healthy schedule he proposed. Patton is summoned pretty early (pops up for a pun) but after he stays uncharacteristically quiet. When he's pushed, he admits he'd rather be quiet than wrong.

Logan assumes it's an anxiety problem then and summons Virgil. Who, for some reason, is avoiding Thomas like the plague. He tells them he has nothing to do with it, which immediately calls up Janus. Virgil leaves asap. Janus explains that, actually, he's not here because of Virgil, he's here to watch what Remus is about to do. Turns out Remus has been walking around all excited about this new change in process that's supposed to happen today and since he wasn't in his room, Janus figured he would find him up here. But there's no Remus.

Janus also looks confused as to why nobody went to get Roman. Logan admits he still doesn't like him very much and would have preferred if he stayed out of the picture for what is clearly a Patton related problem, because Patton is very soft spoken right now and Roman would just talk over him like he always does (and he had plenty screentime in the last video anyway). Both Thomas and Patton feel too bad about last time to talk to him first. But alright, if it will help the case, we'll summon him... Exept he doesn't show up. Thomas isn't scared, he's got complete creative block.

Roman must've ducked out.

They decide pretty quickly that they should go to his room (at least once Janus reminds everyone that they don't know where Remus is and what he could do if he's alone with Roman)

So they get into his room.. but it's dark. There are torches on the walls, beautiful paintings of Prince Roman, slaying the Dragon Witch, slaying on the stage, royal portraits of him and Mrs Snuffles. A single painting of two young boys, playing together in the garden, one dressed in black and one dressed in white.. And there's a throne.

"Well well, look who decided to finally show up." A man gets up from the throne. His voice sounds ice cold. And as he steps down into the light of the torches, they turn green. And they see a man with a big crown, worthy of a king, with a white streak in his hair and a sword by his side.

Janus looks like he'd just seen a ghost. "We have to leave. Right now. This isn't safe for any of us"

"Awwwh, Janus," the man before them slips into a Remus-like voice, walking closer and closer"don't spoil the fun." His voice turns cold once again. "You know.. I've been thinking about what you said to me last time we met. That I'm just the same as my brother. That we're both evil and cruel.. and it hurt me. It hurt me very very deeply," he grabs Janus by the cape. Others try to help him but he dismisses them. "I never wanted to leave my room again, how much it hurt. I couldn't believe you would say something like that... Something so.. true. I was too blind to see it before, but you were right. I am just as bad, as my brother is. And if I'm just as bad.. there's no reason to stay split apart."

Logan finally gets between him and Janus. He lets him go willingly. "Falsehood. You all have your own specific purposes in this system. So please, Roman-" a deep chuckle interrupts him

"Roman? Oh, haha, no. Roman's dead now. Me and my brother are one once again, no prince, no duke, but King. No Roman. No Remus. I am King Romulus, and you will address me as such. Now, get out of my room. Before I feed you to Mrs. Sniffles."

Behind the throne, a large plume of smoke emerges.

"Well, that ain't a cat" Patton is still quiet, staring down a giant silhouette of a dragon witch rising up.

[saltygilmores]

THOUGHTS WHILE WATCHING GILMORE GIRLS: S3/EP5/8 O CLOCK AT THE OASIS (PART 3) Aka SweaterPaws, Fake Fish, The Best Okuh Ever, And Jess Mariano Is A Waterlogged Infant Kitten

Parts 1 & 2 and all other episodes can be found in my pinned post.

This scene of Rory overhearing an answering maching message from Dwight's irate wife combines two of AmyShermanPalladino favorite things: answering machines and (the voice of) Alex Borstein (Celine & Drella on GG, Suzie on Mrs Maisel. Also Lois on Family Guy). Gilmore Girls Producer: Attention, Gilmore Girls crew! It has come to my attention that our budget will not cover both Outdoor Landscaping Scenes and Fishtanks. Sacrifices will have to be made.

Finally she admits to herself that Dean is a serial killer. And casual swearing from Rory? Wow, what a delight to hear.

!!!SWEATER PAWS ALERT!!!!

What do the kids say? Unbothered. Moisturized. Flourishing? In my lane? Something like that. It's clearly a school day (since Rory is in her uniform) while it appears to be a rare day where Jess hasn't been scheduled to work in the Coffee Mines before school. Speaking of school, he's walking away from school instead of towards it and is not carrying any school supplies or a backpack. He looks happy. Just vibing in his ugly oversized clothing. Hopefully he looks up every so often so he doesn't walk face first into a lamp post.

Or that.

Blue Crush was a 2002 movie about a girl who surfs starring Kate Bosworth. Get it? Cause Rory is covered in water?

Hey. Eyes up top, Pal.

The floofy hair. The prominent draggy lip. The five o'clock shadow. Salty enjoys naming things she can see.

How many of Jess' books have been ruined with water? 2 so far. The answer is 2.

And now...ladies and Gentlemen...I present the greatest Milo Okuh Ever Okuh'D:

Get you a man who will risk soaking himself and pretend he didn't assist you with turning off a sprinkler so your boyfriend Dean won't fly into a jealous rage over it. It brings a tear to ol Salty’s eye. The episode wraps up with Lorelai attempting to end the Peyton Sanders nonsense by apologizing to Emily and taking the blame for the entire incident. Silly Lorelai, she didn't consider "What would Emily Gilmore think?" first and foremost before agreeing to go on one date with a random guy. I mean, Lorelai declining a second date with Peyton could have caused Emily to lose rank in her Tea Party Circle with Peyton's mother or some nonsense like that, according to a ridiculous story Richard just told Lorelai earlier in the episode. Let me be clear here, in case the message got a little lost- I am 100% siding with Lorelai here. She should not have to grovel like this over something so meaningless.

HOGWASH. Stop this right now Lorelai. Emily is standing just a few feet away and you're in a kitchen filled with many sharp knives and cooking implements. I'll look the other way. She even agrees to go on a second date with Peyton just to pacify Emily even though she just made it painfully clear how miserable it would make her to see this dude again. Emily is quite pleased seeing Lorelai's state of misery. Well, like I said earlier, you do only have a very small window of time before David Bowie stops performing forever, so go for it I guess. Take the tickets, then drop Hamm. Drop him like Rory dropped out of Yale. I have a final comment: Although by the end of this episode we don't see Rory at school, one would have to presume that after the sprinkler incident she either had to get on the bus and go to school sopping wet or go home and change and blowdry her hair and risk being very late to class. Either she gets reprimanded for showing up to school late or she gets reprimanded for the wet uniform and hair so she's screwed no matter what. If he didn't take an ounce of pity on Rory for her Hit By A Deer story, do you think Headmaster Charleston would buy some fantastical tale from Rory about her tardiness being due to a sprinkler, sweater paws, a neighbor with a board game fetish, and Dean the unabomber?

[lookupthewordjokeinthedictionary]

A mini essay on Janus and his whole "society" speech (And the ties with third wave feminism and Audre Lorde).

Audre Lorde was the first person who coined the term 'self care'. She said, in her cancer journals, a book she wrote while battling cancer herself, that self care is an act of political warfare. As a self proclaimed poet, philosophist, lesbian, warrior, socialist and feminist, she was the first who made the point that taking care of one's self, immediately contradicts what society is nurturing us to do.

A direct quote from her is:

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

Now isn't that exactly Janus' speech in SvS? I'm not sure where Joan and Thomas got the inspiration for his character, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was from her.

Janus is self care, denial and deceit. He hates society because he understands that it immediately puts you in a disadvantage. Because society prides it's "boogey-man" more. What is the boogeyman? Laws.

"I don't want Thomas to be disadvantaged all for not following the rules made in the name of a lie"

This is what Janus said. He fears society because he understand, better than any other side, that society is based on selflessness. Society is based on putting others first. And by extension, keeps you repressed by telling you that the time will come, when your needs will be met.

However, that is a lie. That's why self care is an act of political warfare. And that's why it's so dangerous to completely misunderstand the word self care to mean indulgence instead of preservation. That's why, when we practice self care, we should uphold our personal needs as a community higher than the "boogey-man" that is Laws. That's why Ms. Lorde moved the black feminism movement forward to the third wave.

A little tss crit, if I may:

The current characterisation of Janus isn't only very OOC (something which I hope only goes for non-canon content), but very disrespectful to the nuance that is his character.

He is a "morality fighting snake", he is a "lying fibber", but he loves Thomas. A lot of people have made the analysis of his playlist and his actions to mean just how much he wants Thomas to be safe, to be happy, so I will not go into it right now.

And even though it's safe to say that all Sides do care for Thomas, because that's their job, you can see how differently they care for him, and how Janus just does the most.

Patton, on the other hand, cares for him probably as much as Janus without actually listening to Thomas. He does what he thinks is best, based on his beliefs and not Thomas' needs. And as we've seen before (POF) this was detrimental.

So, even though I've been waiting for the season finale for 4 years, and I really hope that Mr. Sanders knows how to write his own aspects of his own personality, I want to remind the fan base who will listen, abourg the duality of Janus' character and how his "society" talk isn't just a 'funny haha' moment, but a very helpful insight into his true character and intentions.

[edupunkn00b]

Guardian ad Liber, Chapter 6: Something Personal

Photo by Matt Tulos, CC 4.0. Edited by author. n.b. Liber can mean book or child.

Prev - Something Personal - Masterpost - [ AO3 ]

WC: 1552 - Rated: G - CW: Courtroom Final chapter in my @loceitweek story. -

The seconds ticked slowly on the clock outside Patton’s hearing room. Waiting in an empty hearing room, Logan hadn’t needed the text from Janus’ paralegal that Patton had arrived with the social worker. The little boy’s cries, hoarse and broken, tore through Logan’s heart as he passed. Not daring to risk a glance, he stood behind the cracked-open door, listening as Patton’s his voice warbled then was muffled as he was brought into his own hearing room.

The moment Tasha’s notification popped up on his phone, Logan slipped out with a grateful wave to the observing clerk and closed the door behind him. Copies of his expedited emergency placement application held like a shield, Logan tried to pretend he couldn’t still hear Patton’s voice as the parties attempted to be heard over Patton’s protests.

If anything, his shouts grew more frantic, likely when Grace joined Janus at the GAL table. After the escalation, he suddenly quieted and Logan breathed for what felt like the first time since Patton had left their offices that morning. Forcing his eyes closed, he flexed his fingers, the small owl and Janus’ scarf damp and wrinkled from his grasp. Counting slowly, he took another deep breath.

All of their preparation would be for nothing if he lost control like he had earlier today.

“Lo… Love, drink this and then go home,” Janus had murmured to him, pressing a cup of tea into his hands. “The hearing’s not until two o’clock. Take a nap and a shower, change into your favorite suit and come back to the courthouse.”

“No, I should help you prepare, I can—”

Janus cut him off with a gentle look. “Tasha’s already reviewing the file and Linda’s pushing your application through. The best thing you can do to help us prepare is to rest and ready yourself.” In the privacy of their office, he stroked Logan’s cheek, wiping away a fresh tear. “Demonstrate to the Court you have your own oxygen mask firmly in place before you commit to helping Patton with his.”

It was an old argument but an effective one.

Smoothing down the bundle in his hands, Logan looked up when the hearing room door swung open. “Mr. Sanders?” the clerk asked out of formality. “We’re ready for you.”

Taking one more deep breath, Logan squared his shoulders and entered the hearing room.

Ms. Croft’s court-appointed attorney sat alone at the defendant’s table, the chair beside him conspicuously empty. Grace and a junior litigant from the prosecuting attorney’s office sat at the opposing counsel’s table. Three redwell’s worth of files were stacked between them, a wall of evidence Croft’s overworked 18-B lawyer looked hard-pressed to counter.

Logan’s brow furrowed. Though surrounded by mounds of evidence in support of the State’s termination of parental rights, Patton himself was conspicuously missing from Grace’s arms. Shoulders falling, Logan realized Patton’s sudden quiet wasn’t due to being soothed but had instead been his expulsion from the hearing room.

He turned to the GAL table where Tasha and Janus sat, quietly conferring. The angle of their table left their backs to the door. Neither looked up as he entered and moved to the examination chair next to the judge’s bench. As Logan approached, though, a flash of blond curls peeked up over Janus’ shoulder, followed by puffy, bloodshot blue eyes.

Wordless, Patton shouted and wiggled his way out of Janus’ arms. He dashed across the room and flung himself at Logan’s legs.

“Apologies, Your Honor,” Janus purred, bowing his head as he rose. “I did not have the grip I thought I had on the child,” he explained, casting a quick glance at Logan as he knelt and wrapped both arms around Patton as he quietly cried.

“Everything will be okay, Patton,” he whispered, half-listening as Ms. Croft’s attorney objected to the demonstration. “Look who I brought,” he said, holding up the owl. 

Grinning through tears, Patton grabbed the stuffie and Janus’ scarf and hugged them, his tiny, “Thank you,” impossible to miss in the tiny hearing room.

“Surely you are not objecting to the return of the child’s attachment object, are you Mr. Mackie?” Janus countered, the raised eyebrow directed at Ms. Croft's attorney made it clear the dual meaning of his words were fully intentional. “Requesting the Court’s permission for my client to remain with Mr. Sanders while he testifies.” He turned again to Ms. Croft’s attorney. “Unless, of course, the esteemed Mr. Mackie requires a live reenactment of the child’s trauma from this morning?”

“No objection, Your Honor,” he said, shaking his head.

“Very well. Mr. Sanders, you may take your seat.”

“Thank you, Judge,” Logan said before smiling down at Patton. “May I carry you?” Nodding, Patton wrapped both arms around Logan’s neck as he rose to his feet and sat behind the prosecuting attorney’s table.

“Yes, thank you, Judge,” Janus said, turning to watch them settle into their seat. He caught Patton’s eye and smiled.

Patton grinned back and repeated, “Thank you, Judge.” 

Logan suppressed his own grin and brushed a lock of hair away from Patton’s eyes. “Let’s listen quietly now, okay?”

He bit his lip and looked away, but still held on to him. If anything, he clung to both Logan’s jacket and the little owl that much tighter. Logan tilted his head, waiting to see if he’d meet his gaze. After a moment, Patton peeked up at him and Logan broadened his smile, nodding before looking up when the judge began to speak.

“Ms. Henkes,” she addressed Patton’s social worker. “Has Children’s Services received Mr. Sander’s completed application as an emergency foster placement for the child?”

After a quick nod from the prosecuting attorney, Grace rose. “Yes, Your Honor.”

“And has his application been approved?”

Grace’s pause felt entirely too long and Logan fought to keep his expression neutral. Finally she nodded. “Yes, Your Honor.”

“Your Honor.” Mackie stood, stiffly waiting for Judge Bloom’s nod of acknowledgement. “Is the Court declining to address the clear defensive wounds littering Mr. Sander’s hands and face?”

Janus stood. “Your honor, the Court is well aware of Ms. Henkes’ account of this morning's—”

Judge Bloom raised a single hand, frowning. “Mr. Williams?”

The prosecutor stood, a quaver in his voice. It was the first Logan had heard him speak. “Yes, Your Honor?” 

“Do you have any corroborating evidence of said account?”

“Ah…” he looked hopefully at Grace.

She gave him a half shrug. “Their office was full of people—”

“Yes, full of people employed by Mr. Sanders!”

Janus waited, watching the judge swallow back annoyance at the outburst. “Mr. Mackie, allow Ms. Henkes to answer. Ms. Henkes,” Judge Bloom nodded. "Were all the other witnesses to the child's outburst QLaw staff?"

“Well, yes, Your Honor,” Grace said. “We were in the QLaw office.”

Fingers steepled together, Judge Bloom frowned, eyes down on the file before her. Nudging Janus, Tasha slid her notepad across the table to him and he scanned it, rising to his feet. “Your Honor, if I may?” At her terse nod, Janus smiled warmly. “Thank you, Judge. Yes, most of the other witnesses are QLaw staff.” The smile he cast at Ms. Croft’s attorney was considerably frostier. “However we were also hosting a deposition this morning and two of our esteemed opposing counsel were visiting our office and witnessed everything.”

“And these attorneys are?” Judge Bloom asked. Logan couldn’t tell if she was relieved or amused.

“Berner and Pollock,” he said, then turned to face Ms. Croft’s attorney. “Colleagues of the esteemed Mr. Mackie.”

Judge Bloom sighed and glared at Mackie. “Have you discussed this case with Messers Berner and Pollock?”

Mackie pressed the cap down on his pen and took a deep breath. “Yes, Your Honor.”

Janus took his seat, giving a small nod to his paralegal. “Well done, Tasha,” he whispered.

“And yet you declined to share this information with the Court?”

He swallowed visibly and nodded, not quite meeting the judge’s gaze. Logan hid the smile he couldn’t quite suppress behind Patton’s curls. “Merely doing my best to enact an aggressive defense for my client.”

“Your client who could not be bothered to attend her own motion?”

The empty chair beside him shouted out its presence and Logan held Patton a little closer, grateful both the judge and counsel were avoiding referring to Ms. Croft by name. Patton turned his head, snuggling into his hold and dancing the owl up his arm.

Ms. Croft’s attorney nodded. “Yes, Your Honor.”

“Take your seat.” He’d barely touched his seat when Judge Bloom shook her head. “Defendant's motion is denied. The termination stands and the minor child’s placement is left to the determination of Children’s Services.” She stood, smoothing down her robes and everyone stood with her. 

“Hey, um, Sanders,” Mackie gathered his folders and turned to face Logan. 

Patton flinched in his arms, one hand gripping the owl, the other twisting his lapel. Logan tightened his hold, rubbing little circles into his back. “No need to worry,” he murmured. “You’re safe.”

“Nothing personal, you know,” Mackie said with a shrug. “We all do what we need for our clients.”

“Indeed,” Janus said, moving to stand between Mackie and Logan. “Nothing personal.”

Logan smiled when Patton laid his head on his shoulder, relaxing in his arms. “Nothing personal at all.”

[pinkchangelingdemon]

Thinking about the future

When teenagers are asked about their future, many don't know what to say, but I did. At the age of 16, it was clear to me that I wanted to possess the bodies of my friends' fathers. The problem is that I couldn't say that and I could have been caught.

So I waited, and at the age of 18 my friends left for college. They think I'm studying abroad and that I'm an asshole not answering to the group calls or messages. Well, that's what my son Mike told to his old man in a call, while my other hand massaged Mr Sanders growing bulge.

I couldn't go on for much longer ignoring Mr Sanders dick rubbing against those tight jeans, and hearing his manly voice under my control to fool my friend wasn´t helping either.

So after fooling Mike for five minutes, I hung up and walked to the master bedroom, that I already knew where it was after other short possessions during some "studying sleepovers" the last two years.

Smirking at Mr Sanders reflection in the mirror, I unzipped the tight jeans I bought him to show off his assets, and massaged the dick that brought my friend to existence.

I finally had the opportunity to take my time exploring that body, not just jerking off fast and in silence trying not to wake up my friends.

I massaged slowly my new dick and balls, but what I wanted to try was Mr Sanders ass with a dildo I bought with his credit card.

I adjusted the dildo surprisingly easy, maybe it wasn't his first rodeo, and started pumping his dick enjoying every trust, every manly moan of Mr Sanders, every drop of sweat... Until I felt Mr Sanders big body tense and I released cum all over his bed while I couldn't stop moaning.

After that, I laughed heartly just like Mr Sanders. This was only the beginning, now I could be Mr Sanders, Mr García, Mr Miller... for hours, days, even years!

[legofanguy]

Rose Cooper in A Night at Billy's Pizza

A Five Nights at Freddy's crossover with my ocs along with @legofanguy1999 and @kayla-na-sfw ocs for @ghostsfanficevents event Spooktober day 31 Halloween.

Rose Cooper take a sigh as she arrived at the pizza place she will be working at for the weekend as her mother wanted instead of getting herself in trouble of training for her father family thieves ways and Rose got out of the car. A brown bear in a business shirt and top hat meet Rose up front and said to her, "Greetings, my name is Freddy Fazbear, owner of Billy's Pizza. You must be here for the night guard job." and Rose said to Freddy, "Yes sir, Mr. Fazbbear." which Freddy said, "Good, I was hoping that was not thinking that because of a stereotype of raccoons being night people." and Rose think of her ancestors and her father whose pull their heist on another criminals in the dead of the night may help with that stereotype as she followed Freddy inside Billy's Pizza.

Freddy Fazbear show Rose around the inside of the restaurant and she see a brown raccoon wearing a blue overalls working on a animatronic of a yellow skin humanoid creature wearing a azure shirt and gray pants and Freddy said to the raccoon, "Hey there, Alfred. I'm surprised that you are still working at this place and those animatronics." and Alfred look up and said to his boss, "Hi, Mr. Fazbear. I'm giving Billy here a final tune up before his final show on next week." Freddy said to Rose, "Yes, my once successful pizza chain has not been doing so well, so I'm planning on closing it. Your job as night is to make sure no one break inside and steal anything such as Billy and his friends as well old bad Captain Paul Badbeard."

Freddy and Rose meet a red fur wolf and dog hybrid wearing a blue uniform and Freddy said to Rose, "Ms. Rose, this is Julie Sanders, one of the last employees here in this restaurant along with Alfred whose we just meet." and Julie said to Rose, "It's nice to meet you, Rose. I'm glad that someone is willing to help carry on the will of Billy's Pizza, despite its dark and troubled past." Freddy said to the girls, "I will leave you girls to get to work right away."

Entering the backroom of Billy's Pizza, Julie show Rose the remaining three animatronics and said to Rose, "This is Jessie." pointing to a animatronic of a girl with brown hair in a ponytail and wearing a green shirt and white skirt and then Julie point to a blond hair animatronic that look like Billy's twin brother with a red shirt and black jacket and brown pants, "This is Ricky." Julie then point to a pirate animatronic and she said to Rose, "This is me and my sister Roxxy's favorite Captain Paul Badbeard, despite him being the villain goes against Billy and his friends in the show." and Julie suddenly got sad and she said to Rose, "My sister Roxxy went missing along with three other kids years ago at a birthday party at this Billy's Pizza, and the missing kids case is one of the reasons why this place is going to be closing down along with other locations." and Rose said to Julie, "I understand if you mess your sister such I have a younger brother."

Arriving at the office, the day guard said to Rose, "I'm glad that you want to take the job. Do be careful as the animatronics move around at night and they don't seems to like us night guards for some reason. For that reason, I managed to ask Julie to build these steel doors to keep the animatronics out, but it does drain the power of this place and, if the power goes out before your night shift, you are a easy prey for the animatronics."

As the clock reach midnight, Rose is in the security office and she said to herself, "Okay. I can handle this. It can be training for my future." and she start looking at the cameras, where she got a surprise as the Ricky and Jessie animatronics are off the stage and the two of them are matching toward the office. Rose remember the warning about the animatronics and she quickly close the steel doors, which the raccoon and fox hybrid see from the windows that Jessie and Ricky are looking inside the office, looking a bit mad they cannot get to her. Once Ricky left, Rose open the right steel door once Ricky reach the hallway, and she saw that the animatronics were plotting a trick as Captain Paul Badbeard run toward the office and Rose quickly hide from view as the pirate animatronic come in and let out a scream, only to be confused over where Rose went to. Thanks to her training, Rose managed to sneak out of the office by the vent and she think to herself, 'I was never good at following orders.'

While sneaking around, Rose got attacked by a person wearing a Billy suit with a knife and Rose quickly protected herself and knock them on their feet. Rose take off the mask and reveal the attacker as Alfred which Rose said, "So those animatronics were not going nuts. You were making them attacking people at night."

After Rose call the police, the cops take Alfred away as he shout, "I build those animatronics, but that bear gets all of the credits. I wanted to shut him down for my revenge." while Freddy ask, "I would never imagine Alfred was behind all of my troubles this whole time. I wish I knew where he hide the bodies of those missing children." and Julie help the police open the Jessie animatronic to check what Alfred did to it, where they find the remains of a wolf child and Julie gasp in shock, "Oh my..... This.... This was Roxy...." Freddy overhear that and he quickly said once he saw Roxy's remains, "Open the rest of the animantronics!" and the police soon find the dead bodies of the missing kids inside the animatronics and one officer ask, "Could those kids' ghost control those animatronics at night?"

[thefinalbracket]

INTRODUCING THE ONLY BRACKET YOU NEED

Hey there! Tired of seeing no one you care about win long winding brackets? Sick to death of polls not catered to you? Do you just like answering questions and being right?

WELCOME TO THE THUNDERFUCK DOME

I have a list of the sixty-four (64) most powerful bitches on the planet, and I’m going to have YOU ALL vote on who the hell would win it all! This isn’t about popularity, it isn’t about glory! It’s just the unapologetic motherfuckers killing each other!

The bracket will be up shortly! If you want a full list of every single participant, I’ll be putting it under the readmore! LET’S KILL SOME HOES!

Introducing our cast:

ICHIGO KUROSAKI, from BLEACH

THANOS from MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

SAKURA HARUNO from NARUTO

REIGEN ARATAKA from MOB PSYCHO 100

NAGITO KOMAEDA from SUPER DANGAN RONPA 2

SANS from UNDERTALE

MONICA.chr from DOKIDOKI LITERATURE CLUB

BROLY from DRAGONBALL Z

FROPPY from MY HERO ACADEMIA

MISSINGNO. from POKEMON

SEPHIROTH from FINAL FANTASY

NORVILLE “SHAGGY” ROGERS from SCOOBY-DOO

KIRBY from KIRBY

MARIYA TAKEUCHI from CITY POP

MRS. GREEN M&M from MARS CANDY

BERNIE SANDERS from AMERICAN POLITICS

REIMU HAKUREI from TOUHOU PROJECT

SANDY CHEEKS from TEXAS

TONY HAWK from PRO SKATER

SHINJI IKARI from NEON GENESIS EVANGELION

BASTION from OVERWATCH 2

HATSUNE MIKU from PIAPRO

NEZUKO KAMADO from DEVIL SLAYER

SAYAKA KANAMORI from EIZOUKEN

POPUKO from POP TEAM EPIC

JESSICA RABBIT from WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?

CREEPER from MINECRAFT

HELLO KITTY from BANDAIDS

KOOL-AID MAN from BEVERAGES

A POWERFUL RAT from CHARLES ENTERTAINMENT CHEESE

PINK STEVEN UNIVERSE from SHE’S GONE

EASY BAKE OVEN from HASBRO

CARMEN SANDIEGO from CRIME

BUGS BUNNY from CARTOONS

MARIO MARIO from HOTEL MARIO

CARLTON BANKS from FRESH PRINCE of BEL-AIR

COUNT CHOCULA from MONSTER CEREAL

BARBIE from MATTEL

YELLOW KORBAT from NEOPETS

RiFF RAFF from RAP

SANTANA from EATING NAZIS

PEPSIMAN from THE PS1

RONALD MCDONALD from NICONICODOUGA

ROBBIE ROTTEN from LAZYTOWN

LIVE-ACTION SIMBA from BAD

“I LIKE TRAINS” KID from ASDFMOVIE

DOROTHY-ANN from MAGIC SCHOOL BUS

MICHAEL JACKSON from SMOOTH CRIMINAL

OSCAR PINE from RWBY

LA GIACONDA from THE LOUVRE

BETTY BOOP from CARTOONS

WINNIE THE POOH from AMERICAN POLITICS

RMS TITANIC from MOVIES

CREAM THE RABBIT from SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

SCP-068 from THE SCP FOUNDATION

NIMUE, THE LADY OF THE LAKE from ARTHURIAN LEGEND

DOROTHY GALE from THE LGBT+ COMMUNITY

BLUE THE PUPPY from BLUE’S CLUES

ORCINUS ORCA from THE OCEAN

KARAMATSU MATSUNO from OSOMATSU-SAN

THE XENOMORPH QUEEN from ALIEN

JULIET CAPULET from FAIR VERONA, WHERE WE LAY OUR SCENE

GRIGORI RASPUTIN from RUSSIA LONG AGO

ADORABAT from MAO MAO: HEROES OF PURE HEART

[thomas-and-the-chocolate-factory]

Thomas and the Chocolate Factory - Chapter 15

A Sanders Sides / Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Fanfiction

Summary: Remus Duke is the greatest chocolatier of all time, and after living the past few years a recluse, he decides to finally open his factory once again. And it's young orphan Thomas Sanders' dream to win a ticket and get to go! Will he win a ticket? And if he does, will he make it out alive?

Masterpost

----------

Remus wandered down the corridor, the rest of the tour group following behind. “Two disobedient children gone, three good ones left. You’re dropping like flies! Let's hope the tour doesn’t continue on this trajectory.”

They passed various rooms as they went, Remus giving each a glance, as if trying to decide where to take the tour next. Thomas did his best to peek through the windows in the doors and see what hid behind each one, but he didn’t get a clear look in most of them, not wanting to fall behind.

At one point, he paused walking for a second to look through one of the windows, not realising that Virgil had been right behind him. The other boy bumped into Thomas, almost knocking him over. “O-oh, sorry! I didn’t realise you were right there…”

“It’s fine…” Virgil muttered, but he almost seemed distracted, barely even phased by the fact he’d bumped into Thomas. His hands were fidgeting with the hem of his hoodie.

“Are you okay?” Thomas asked, concerned. “Still shaken up after what happened to Logan…?”

Virgil seemed to hesitate, hands moving up to fiddle with the drawstrings of his hoodie as his eyes stayed trained on the floor. “I-I just… I don’t get why the tour hasn’t been cancelled… I mean, it was one thing when Patton got sucked away in the pipe, since he just has to be pulled out of a chocolate vat. But Logan… transformed into that, blue forever, and he could explode? And we’re just… moving on?”

Roman, apparently overhearing the conversation, rolled his eyes. “He’s not going to explode, Mr Duke told us he’s going to be squeezed back to normal way before that’s even a possibility. And why do you even care if he’s left blue? It’s his own fault. He got what was coming to him, anyway, he was being rude to me all day.”

Thomas frowned. “Just because he was a little mean doesn’t mean he deserved to be turned into a blueberry…”

Virgil blinked, eyes widening a little. “Wait… Why didn’t Mr Duke tell him?”

“Huh?”

“When Logan took the gum, why wasn’t Mr Duke honest about the problems with it?” Virgil whispered, clearly not wanting the chocolatier to overhear their conversation. “He just said these vague warnings… If he really didn’t want Logan to have it, wouldn’t he have just told him straight up, ‘Don’t, it’s gonna turn you into a blueberry’?”

“You really think any of us would have actually believed him if he said that?” Roman raised an eyebrow. “Logan would probably think he was making stuff up to stop him trying it.”

“We believed the hair toffee and everlasting gobstoppers! Gum that can turn you into a blueberry isn’t a huge stretch,” Virgil shrugged. “And it’s just weird he’d show us a potentially very dangerous gum knowing that right there is someone who literally has a world record for being obsessed with gum. Add that to the fully practised and choreographed songs by the Oompa Loompas, and there not being enough seats on the boat for Patton and his mom, and it’s just… really suspicious… What if this is all planned? What if we’re next?”

“You’re being paranoid. Mr Duke isn’t some evil mastermind, he’s just some guy who makes sweets and chocolate! Patton and Logan were just being careless and stupid, they did it to themselves; no one forced them to drink from the river or take the gum. Maybe you two will be the same, but I know I will make it to the end and win the special prize.” That was the last thing Roman said, before turning away, walking a little faster to catch up with the adults a few steps ahead.

Thomas frowned a little, turning to Virgil to ask him more about his theory - but the other boy had already pulled up his hood, quickly moving to step away from Thomas and walk next to his mother.

Thomas sighed, before walking into step beside Larry, taking his guardian’s hand. Larry glanced down at him, seeing his pensive expression. “You okay, Tommy?”

“Yeah, just… worried for Logan is all.”

“He’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

“Aha!” Remus got everyone’s attention, grinning as he stepped up to a door. “We can get along to the next stop quicker if we cut through here. We won’t be able to hang about, we’re already far behind schedule, but it’ll give you all a quick sneak peek at a new product of mine that will be releasing very soon.”

He pushed open the door, leading the way inside - Roman, unsurprisingly, pushing ahead to go in right after. Thomas and Larry held back to be polite, the last two to step inside.

The walls of the circular room were lined with shelves, on which rows of glass bottles rested. All the bottles were filled with bubbling liquid, the colour varying between each shelf. The deep brown of cola was on the first, what seemed like pink lemonade on the second, while each of the shelves after followed the colours of the rainbow. There was a large bubble machine in the centre of the room, the bubbles flying high up to the very very tall ceiling, where a massive fan was spinning.

As Remus said, he didn’t linger, walking across the room to the door on the other side. The group followed, moving through the doors, until Thomas and Larry were the only ones left.

Thomas lingered a little longer, looking curiously over the various bottles. “I wonder what these are…”

Larry came to stand beside him, taking a bottle of the pink lemonade looking drink and reading the label. “It says they’re ‘Fizzy Lifting Drinks’. Doesn’t say anything else.”

“Wish Mr Duke could have told us… Especially since we probably won’t be able to afford it when it releases…”

Larry took notice of Thomas’ disappointed tone, looking between the boy and the bottle. “Well, we have a chance right now?”

Thomas frowned a little, turning to look up at his guardian. “I’m not sure… After what happened to Logan, I don’t think it’s a good idea to try anything without Mr Duke’s permission.”

“He said it’s going to be released soon, I doubt it’s at all dangerous. What harm can a little sip do anyway?”

Thomas bit his lip. If a single stick of gum could cause what happened to Logan, probably a lot. But Larry did make a good point, Remus did say these drinks would be released soon. If that was the case, they had to be stable, right? “I… I guess if no one’s around to see, there’s no harm in trying. But just a small sip, so he won’t notice any of it is gone, and then we’ll head straight to catch up with them!”

Larry nodded, popping open the bottle and raising it to his lips. He took a small sip, before passing the bottle down to Thomas. “It’s pretty nice. Doesn’t seem like it really does anything thou- Whoa!”

Thomas’ eyes widened, putting the bottle down as he watched Larry abruptly float into the air. Before he could react, Thomas found himself rising too, feet lifting from the floor.

Larry quickly grabbed onto the top of one of the shelves to stop himself rising any further. Thomas grabbed onto his leg, gasping as he realised, “I get it now! Fizzy Lifting Drinks! They must be so bubbly they lift you off of the ground!”

“S-so this is supposed to happen?” Larry asked nervously.

“I think so!”

“How do we get down? We can’t stay up here all day! Besides, I don't think Mr Duke will be happy if he comes back and sees this…”

“I don’t know… Maybe it’ll just wear off on its own? He wouldn’t have made something like this permanent and then sell it.” Thomas hesitated, before letting go of Larry’s leg. He moved his arms in a swimming motion and kicked his legs, successfully moving more to the middle of the room. “Hey, this is actually pretty fun!” he giggled. “Come on, Larry, the air’s fine!”

“Oh, I don’t know-”

“It’s okay, it’s just like swimming! Come on, when’s the next chance you’re gonna have to try to fly? We gotta make the most of it! Take my hand,” Thomas took Larry’s hand, slowly pulling him away from the wall.

“Okay, alright… “ Larry took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he let go of the shelf. He hesitantly cracked one open, making sure he was still safely suspended in the air, before letting out a sigh of relief. “Huh… You’re right, it’s not so bad. Kinda relaxing, just weightlessly floating like this.”

Thomas smiled, letting go of Larry’s hand. “Lemme try…” He raised his arms up, before waving them down, propelling himself quickly upwards. “Woohoo! I’m a shooting star! Come on, Larry!”

“Easy, Tommy, I’m coming!”

The two kept flying higher, Thomas giggling excitedly and Larry smiling at his excitement.

“Hey, Larry, watch this!” Thomas called, leaning back, before propelling himself forward into a frontflip. “Cool, right?”

“Very cool,” Larry chuckled.

“You try!”

“I don’t think I have it in me-”

“Go on! You’re flying, you can do anything!”

“Alright…” Larry hesitated, before leaning forward, doing a slightly slower frontflip, groaning a little as he righted himself.

“You did it!”

Larry smiled, glancing down. “Wow, we’re really getting high up. We’re gonna hit the ceiling at this point.”

At that, Thomas’ face fell. The ceiling. The fan.

He looked up, face going pale. They were mere feet away from the rapidly spinning metal blades. “Larry! We’re going too high, look! We need to get down!”

Larry went pale as well as he followed Thomas’ gaze. Thomas furiously tried to wave his arms and propel himself back down to the floor, but to no avail. Both of them just kept rising. “Help!” he screamed, praying that the tour group hadn’t gone far, that Remus would come through the doorway and rescue them. “We’re getting pulled in, we can’t stop! Help!”

“Thomas, grab ahold of something!” Larry cried, moving closer to the walls.

“There’s nothing to grab onto! HELP! We’re gonna be killed!”

“Help!” Larry joined in the screaming, still aimlessly trying to find something on the wall to grab onto. “Help! Mr Duke, turn off the fan!”

He and Thomas were getting dangerously close, the hairs on the top of their heads mere inches away from the spinning fan. Larry felt the panic rising in stomach, in his chest, higher, up into his throat-

Burp!

As soon as the noise left Larry’s mouth, he stopped rising. In fact, he instead began to slowly sink, away from the danger. “I’m going down… Quick, Thomas, burp!”

Thomas closed his eyes, bowing his head and hugging his stomach, squeezing tightly to force the air that was keeping him afloat out through his body-

Burp!

He let out a loud sigh of relief as, millimetres away from the spinning fan, he began to slowly lower in the air.

“That’s it, Thomas! Keep going!” Larry called encouragingly, he and Thomas letting out more burps and they sank further and further. “We’re gonna be okay, Thomas, we’re almost there.”

In only a few seconds, the two found their feet once again landing on solid ground. Thomas let of another sigh, “I’m really sorry, I-”

“Don’t apologise, Tommy,” Larry interrupted. “It was my idea. Though they should really put a warning label on those bottles and tell you how to get down… From now on, you and I keep our feet on solid ground.”

“Absolutely,�� Thomas nodded. “Should we catch up with the others?”

“Yeah, and if they ask, this never happened. We were with them the whole time, they just didn’t notice.”

The two hurriedly left the Fizzy Lifting Drinks room, heading out to the corridor everyone else had gone into earlier. They could hear Remus’ voice nearby, following in that direction until the tour group came into view. Luckily, Remus currently had his back turned, allowing Thomas and Larry to hurriedly join the back of the group, following along as if they’d been there the whole time.

The only one to apparently notice anything on was Virgil, who glanced back at Thomas and did a double take, sliding off his headphones. “Where’ve you been?”

“I’ve been here the whole time,” Thomas shrugged, trying his best not to look guilty.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, but turned back around, sliding his headphones back on. Thomas let out a small sigh of relief.

“Ah, here we are!” Remus’ voice boomed just ahead. “This is the next room I wanted to show you all. Everyone, gather around the door!”

[hufflepuff3000]

Prologue of my BoB fanfic

╔════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ════╗

May 1942

The nervous ticking of a wooden clock above the door to the head office marked the passing seconds.

Judith Sanders felt awful. Her hands were sweaty from the heat and nerves. She was fiddling with the seam of her skirt, trying to distract herself from what might happen when she finally entered the door down the hall.

The door opened, and a busy-looking secretary stepped out onto the floor.

"Miss Sanders?"

Judith stood up, smoothed her skirt, and nodded.

"That's me," she said, beginning to walk toward the office.

Her nerves flared as she passed the other women waiting for their turn. For the last two hours, the door at the end of the hall had opened, the secretary had called a name, and both women had disappeared into the office. Five minutes later, the door would open again. Judith assumed the women who were finished left through a back door, preventing them from revealing what was happening inside.

Well, she was about to find out.

Walking into the dimly lit office, she was greeted by the man behind the large wooden desk.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss...?"

"Sanders," Judith answered. "Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Thompson."

Mr. Thompson was a tall man in his fifties. His remaining hair was gray, and he had wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, making him look older than he was. Judith respected the man. She had heard of his heroic actions in the Great War, where he had saved many of his comrades during combat.

"We don't have much time. Shall we begin? You saw the other women waiting outside, I believe?"

He didn't wait for an answer.

"Miss Sanders, I have seen your portfolio, and I must say, I'm rather impressed," Mr. Thompson said, looking through Judith's folder of photographs.

Judith didn't know what to say, so she simply nodded with a smile that she hoped looked thankful.

"I take it you know where you will be sent?" he asked, raising his left eyebrow.

"I do."

"Well, in that case, I'd like to invite you to join our team."

"What— I mean, I didn't expect this to be so quick," she stammered. She had thought she would have to take some kind of test.

"Well, there was a reason for the portfolio. I just wanted to see the photographer behind it before offering a job," Mr. Thompson said with a faint smile.

"Of course. In that case, I would like to accept your offer."

"Good," Mr. Thompson stood up, and Judith followed suit. "Go with Kelly here; she will give you further instructions," he said, gesturing to the secretary—Kelly—who stood by another door.

Judith shook hands with Mr. Thompson, and he handed her back her portfolio folder. Then she followed Kelly.

Kelly led Judith to a room that looked much more inviting than any other room Judith had seen in the building. Various framed photographs were hung on the walls, and a comfortable seating area occupied the center of the room. The faint smell of old paper and ink filled the air. When they entered, two women looked up from their conversation.

They seemed friendly. The taller one had red hair, braided down her back, with soft features and warm brown eyes that reminded Judith of her mother. The shorter one had dirty-blonde hair, hazel eyes, and the prettiest freckles Judith had ever seen.

After Kelly had disappeared without a word, the red-haired woman began talking.

"Don't worry, she'll come back and explain everything once we're all here."

"At least that's what that lady said to me when she dropped me off here an hour ago," the blonde murmured.

"Don't listen to her," the redhead laughed. "Mary doesn't mean it like that."

Judith chuckled at the blonde's expression.

"Anyways, I'm Cecilia, but everyone just calls me Celia."

"I'm Mary," Mary said. "But Celia already spoiled that."

"I'm Judith."

Judith smiled at them. When she didn't say anything else, Mary started talking again.

"Talking doesn't come easy to you, huh?" Mary asked with a grin.

Judith felt heat rising in her cheeks. Talking—especially small talk—had always been difficult for her.

"No worries," Mary quickly added. "We won't see each other very often anyway after we get sent away."

"We could send letters, though."

At that, Judith smiled. She had always preferred writing over talking anyway. Excitedly, the girls exchanged their current addresses, promising to write each other as soon as they knew where they would be sent.

Judith put away the piece of paper into her photography folder so that the paper wouldn't get lost or damaged on her way home.

"Sooo, Judy, show us your photos," Celia looked at her curiously after she saw Judith's folder.

"Um, sure, here," Judith handed the yellowish object in her hands over to Celia.

Celia opened it, glancing at the photographs inside.

"Wow! These are incredible, Judith," she said, her voice filled with genuine admiration.

"Holy sh—" Mary had looked into the folder as well.

"These are so good! How the hell did I end up here when they've seen your photos too?" Mary asked jokingly, scrunching her freckled nose.

"Oh Mary, shut it, you make poor Judy turn all red," Celia scolded.

Mary flashed a sheepish grin in Judith's direction.

"Thank you, Mary," Judith replied with a smile. Since she had discovered her talent for photography when she was twelve years old, she hadn't gone a week without taking at least one photo. And although Judith would never openly admit it, she knew that her pictures were really good.

"You have to show me how to take these kinds of pictures sometime!" Celia exclaimed as she handed the folder back to Judith.

"I will," Judith said, tucking a loose strand of her chestnut hair behind her ear.

At that moment, Kelly came into the room again, followed by another woman.

"This is Nora. She will be your contact back here. You will send her the photos, and if anything occurs, you will talk to her," Kelly explained as soon as she walked into the room.

Nora smiled at them and greeted them: "Hi everyone! I would shake hands but, you know..." Nora's hands were full of packages and folders filled with paperwork.

She was greeted in return by the laughing Celia and Mary. Judith just smiled at her and hoped Nora wouldn't think she was mean or impolite.

Nora had dark curls reaching her shoulders. Her golden earrings shimmered in the light. Judith noticed that Nora had painted her nails red, matching the color to her lipstick and shoes. All in all, Nora was a very stylish person, Judith thought.

"Now on to the explaining part," Kelly said. She and Nora had just finished showing the girls around the building.

When the girls looked at her expectantly, Kelly continued.

"As we all know, you are here because you are good at photography. And that's just what we need in our paper.

To be more specific, we need photos of combat.

There have been combat photographers before, but we want to send women too. You know, it should definitely give our paper some more attention, and we really need that. All these other papers are sending out people too."

"So basically we want you to go to the front, take pictures, and send them back so we can publish them saying it was women that we sent to the front to take these pictures?" Nora spoke after a moment of silence had passed.

"Alright by me," Mary said.

"Yeah, sure," Celia agreed.

Judith, sensing that the attention was now all on her, said quickly, "Okay."

"Good." Kelly looked down at some paperwork in her arms. "I'll finish the formal stuff, and in a few days, you will get the further information in the mail."

The girls looked at each other, each of the three smiling nervously at the others, with whom they would work together for the next time.

 ╚════ ❀•°❀°•❀ ════╝

[blu193]

Mrs. Monitor Lives (SMG4 AU): A Concept

[aka: Hal Monitor wins squid game and sells the lifetime supplies of PS5s for money to pay for his wife's surgery]

(WARNING: I LOVE THINKING FAR TOO HARD ON SILLY SHOWS AND GAMES I ENJOY, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK)

What if Hal Monitor won in "SMG4: If Mario Was In.... SQUID GAME"? What if Hal got the prize and sold the PS5s for the money he needed? Well I'm gonna rewind and try to show you my take on if he did win, and how he did it.

PART 1: HOW.

The first question would be HOW does he win SQUID GAME? Well, we can deduce where he originally lost by checking the roster between games, as even if they are removed offscreen, they show who survived at the start of the next game.

To which we find he was eliminated during the marbles minigame, which leaves us with a couple of questions:

Who did he versus out of the winning group? We can immediately eliminate Mario and Wario, as we see them win against their opponents: Old Man and Waluigi respectfully. We can Also eliminate Squidward, Dipsy (Teletubbie), Colonel Sanders (KFC mascot), Donkey (SHREK ICON), Buff Carl, and Joker (Persona 5) as they weren't apart of the group shown for the marbles minigame and are included in the glass bridge minigame as a gag. Which leaves Meggy, Steve, or Luigi as our final suspects. Personally I'm more likely to believe it was Steve, as his capablities of throwing random stuff as a gag would fry Hal's system and thus, lose the match. So instead, Hal would possibly load all his marbles into a makeshift gun and shoot Steve, eliminating him on the spot.

How would he succeed the glass bridge minigame? As the glass bridge is one of the two minigames he must win at before being crowned the winner, he needs to pass this to contiune onto the next and final round. If he were replace Steve, and (for a super spy gag) had a way to differentiate the wrong or right way for glass pathing, we could still use the "Wario trips up Luigi and immediately faces the consequences of his actions" bit by Hal just chokeholding Wario and yeeting him into the pit saying that "Wasn't very legal" as he threw him.

Onto the Squid Game minigame and we run into the final obstacle: Would it still work to have Meggy and Mario both get past the glass bridge minigame to battle with Hal Monitor in the final frontier? Considering Meggy's skill with a splattershot, and both Mario and Meggy's training for the Splatfest, I doubt it. Mario did win with a gag so odds are he might've not stood a chance against someone like Hal, who is taking this FAR more seriously than himself if Meggy wasn't there. Say she is still there though, which can still play out well in a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" format: Mario defeats Meggy, and Hal quickly defeats Mario while he's distracted by beating Meggy.

PART 2: SO WHAT IF HE WON?

Finally the ending of the episode after getting the money:

Hal and Jr are waiting in the hospital hallway, sitting on a bench outside the room. Hal's leg is going a mile a minute as Jr just sits, resting his head (toaster face?) on his father's lap. Hal got the money just in time, but the wait during the surgery was unbearable. The father-son duo glanced at each other, practically seeing the same amount of fear, paranoia, and dread on the what ifs for their dear microwave. The hospital door creaks open by a smiling E. Gadd. "The procedure was a success. Aside from needing to ease back into walking again, she should be clear. You both can see her if you'd like." But E. Gadd was quickly interrupted as the duo shot towards the door only to halt in the room and slowly step towards the medical chair where their dear Mrs. Monitor sits, assessing her newly added arms, merely astonished by the movements and gestures she could now make with just her hands alone. But what E. Gadd was far more than just arms, no he gave her a whole cybernetic body; legs, body, neck, and even making the microwave door of her face into a whole face plate! As she looked up from her hands, she saw her loving husband and their sweet boy gaze at her with a relived and loving gaze. Their fears were finally over. Hal and Jr go in to give her a big hug, that she just as quickly accepts with her new arms, tears welling up in her new eyes. Their family was finally back together again, and all is finally well for them in the world.

END OF EPISODE.

As always would love your thoughts on this and hope you enjoyed!

[doctorstrangereview]

Doctor Strange #182

Cover Date: September 1969 On-Sale Date: June 10, 1969

We're at the end of the Nightmare arc and the penultimate issue of this initial run of Doc's solo book. Roy gives Gene a lot to work with. He gets to go crazy with the weirdness and gives us two great two-page spreads. We get a special guest villain in the Juggernaut who's taking a break from the X-Men and doing a multi-verse tour, stopping by the Dream Dimension.

We pick up with Doc being subdued by his own Eye of Agamotto which has been seconded by Nightmare. Wong and Clea are watching through Agamotto's Orb while keeping an eye on his psychic shell which is growing dimmer. Nightmare then does the typical villain thing, telling Doc his plans. Somewhere Syndrome is shaking a finger at our favorite Dream Demon. Gene gives us his first two page spread of the issue.

That's just lovely! So Nightmare plans to smush all of history together and create a world where everyone is in constant fear giving him lots of fuel to create even more nightmares. He then prepares to wipe Doc from existence. Someone yells his name.

Our second guest villain has entered scene.

Cain is so awesome he needs a full page to announce himself. Mr Marko derives his power from a ruby from extradimensional demon Cyttorak. The red/purple color scheme is very appropriate. Nightmare wants to know why Juggy's in his house. Even Roy knows not to give Juggy the usual flowery dialogue that permeates this mag.

Juggy's presence in the Dream Dimension is no accident. Doc has brought him here to help him out with Nightmare. Doc wasn't as helpless as we thought when captive of his own amulet.

A little flashback and we see Doc enticing Juggy to do his bidding.

Back in Greenwich Village, Wong and Clea are watching the events when the doorbell rings and it turns out Doc has received a telegram. How many kids reading this wouldn't know what a telegram is? Hint: It's not a smartphone app. The telegram will be a plot point later on so Roy and Gene give it a page of it's own.

As an aside, this issue was released just a couple of days before the one-year anniversary of Rosemary's Baby's release. It did well enough to still be in the public consciousness. While it seems innocent, the name on the telegram is important.

Juggy and Nightmare continue to battle while Doc looks on. Juggy seems to hold his own, but tables keep turning. Gene gives us the next two page spread. It's a clever use of embedded panels as a timeline of the battle.

The next phase of Doc's clever plan goes into action. Doc recaptures his Eye of Agamotto and escapes his confinement. Juggy and Nightmare realize that Doc isn't where they left him. They find Doc, they think and team up to clobber him. Devastating twin blasts fire at Doc. But it's not actually Doc, but an image.

Clever Doc! Look what he did!

Clever Doc! But it wasn't really necessary. Eternity was faking! He could have escaped at any time. At this point Eternity has had enough and sends Nightmare and Juggy away. Doc has a good laugh.

Without any more words, Eternity sends Doc home. Clea macks on Doc for a while and Wong tells him about the telegram that arrived and looks concerned. They all have a look and the name on the telegram has changed. It's now addressed to Dr. Stephen Sanders. Eternity has done Doc a little favor. When he blurted his name out to a bunch of drunk New Year's revelers Eternity realized he compromised himself. Now Doc has a real secret identity! Doc and Clea toss the telegram aside and look out the window. Don't worry, we'll find out what's in the telegram when it kicks off next issues excitement!

As far as I can remember, this is the final use of the psychic shell device. It seems to be a Roy Thomas creation and he abandons it after this issue. Roy will continue to write Doc in the Defenders for the next few years and return to a future Doc series in a couple of decades. More importantly Roy has continued his attempt to transform Doc into a more traditional superhero. He's got a tight costume and a secret identity now. Unfortunately the next issue is the last. Doc will guest star in a couple of other titles and be temporarily retired.

As for the issue itself, it's exciting and well written. Roy and Gene make a great team. It's a shame they won't have more time together. I'm not sure why they included Juggernaut. He wasn't a favorite and the X-Men title wasn't selling particularly well. Perhaps someone thought the two titles could try and pick each other up. The story is written well enough that Mr. Marko's presence doesn't feel shoehorned in. The resolution was pretty original. Doc completed his mission to rescue Eternity even if he didn't really need to. Eternity waves the enemies away like flies and solves a potential issue for Doc. The hero didn't have to beat his foes into submission. It's atypical at least. Lastly, Doc's address is confirmed. It turns out that was Roy Thomas's address.

[its-to-the-death]

Bracket C Matchups

Round 1

Waikyou Shensoujin (Senki Zesshou Symphogear G) vs Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog)

You Got Nothing to Lose (Julie and the Phantoms) vs Prince Ali Reprise (Aladdin)

We Are Number One (Lazytown) vs Get Jinxed (League of Legends)

Blood in the Water (Legally Blonde musical) vs You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

Hello, Little Girl (Into the Woods) vs Battle! Ghetsis (Pokemon Black and White)

Divide (RWBY) vs Forbidden Fruit (Sanders Sides)

No Good Deed (Wicked) vs Between Two Worlds (Limbus Company)

Snow Miser and Heat Miser (The Year Without a Santa Claus) vs Old King Cole (Once Upon a Time in Space by The Mechanisms)

Keep Chasing Your Schemes (A Series of Unfortunate Events) vs I Expect You to Die (I Expect You to Die)

Queen of Mean (Descendants 3) vs The World Revolving (Deltarune)

Hey Little Songbird (Hadestown) vs Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)

Oogie Boogie's Song (The Nightmare Before Christmas) vs Blumenkranz (Kill la Kill)

The Nowhere King (Centaurworld) vs The World's Greatest Criminal Mind (The Great Mouse Detective)

To Dance Again (A Very Potter Musical) vs Epiphany (Sweeney Todd)

Where is the Justice? (Death Note: The Musical) vs Confrontation (Jekyll and Hyde the musical)

Mistelteinn, Tree Crown Without a Ruler (Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe) vs Better Than You (Camp Camp)

Round 2

Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog) vs Prince Ali Reprise (Aladdin)

We Are Number One (Lazytown) vs You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch (How the Grinch Stole Christmas)

Hello, Little Girl (Into the Woods) vs Divide (RWBY)

No Good Deed (Wicked) vs Snow Miser and Heat Miser (The Year Without a Santa Claus)

I Expect You to Die (I Expect You to Die) vs The World Revolving (Deltarune)

Gaston (Beauty and the Beast) vs Oogie Boogie's Song (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

The Nowhere King (Centaurworld) vs Epiphany (Sweeney Todd)

Confrontation (Jekyll and Hyde the musical) vs Mistelteinn, Tree Crown Without a Ruler (Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe)

Round 3

Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog) vs We Are Number One (Lazytown)

Hello, Little Girl (Into the Woods) vs No Good Deed (Wicked)

I Expect You to Die (I Expect You to Die) vs Gaston (Beauty and the Beast) vs Oogie Boogie's Song (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Epiphany (Sweeney Todd) vs Confrontation (Jekyll and Hyde the musical)

Round 4 (Bracket Semifinals)

Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog) vs No Good Deed (Wicked)

Oogie Boogie's Song (The Nightmare Before Christmas) vs Confrontation (Jekyll and Hyde the musical)

Round 5 (Bracket Finals)

Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog) vs Confrontation (Jekyll and Hyde the musical)

Winner: Friends on the Other Side (The Princess and the Frog)!