#working on other fnaf stuff as we speak anywho

[nebuladreamz]

Today you get painting of a genshin oc of mine

Tomorrow? Fuck if I know

[blushblushbear]

ACT TWO

it's apt that the first song is titled suffering....

Also can I just-----

HERE IS THE EPIC TALE OF THE ODYSSEY; THE MYTHIC STORY OF A MAN FIGHTING MONSTERS, SEA AND GODS TO GET HOME *presses play and the music sounds like this*

Epic.

anywho

SUFFERING

this instrumental is really bad... it sounds less like it's from a musical about greek myth and more like it's from a fnaf fan song

I'm not against him tricking the answer out of the siren

DIFFERENT BEAST

I like the melody but the way they break up the speak singing is still really stilted

just these big pauses

this songs not that bad but it's mostly just meh

they want it to be Big Dark but like--- OTHER MUSICALS WOULD HAVE HAD THE SIRENS SCREAMING THROUGH THE WHOLE THING just sayin'

you wanna get Big Dark BE BIG DARK

SCYLLA

OMG TENTACLE ANNIE, I LOVE YOUR WORK (Annie from League of Legends, Scylla from Smite)

Okay no but seriously, just like the lotus eaters, I have a big ol' soft spot for Scylla and her best bud Charybdis

I'm actually just a general fan of the big epic journey that happens throughout the story and I think that's why I'm so disappointed with Epic???

like so much of it is just about Odysseus and like--- yeah he's the main character but that's not really what a lot of people remember from hearing the Odyssey

so many aspects from the Odyssey are the big grand and strange obstacles that get in their way on the journey and all the crazy turns it takes

The Lotus Eaters, The Cyclops, The Sorceress Circe, The Prophet Tiresias, The Sirens, Scylla and Charydbis, intervention from the gods, magic fruit and plants and bags of wind, journeying through the underworld

there's A LOT you can do with all these and it feels like we're just breezing through all of this like. go to the place, do the thing, go to the place, do the thing--- don't shimmer in the atmosphere of these strange locations with fantastic creatures, it's all about Odysseus, we don't need to look away from him, just quick peaks so we can see what he's gonna fight next

and add some confusing turmoil that makes no sense and also make sure anything bad Odysseus does is from someone else pressuring him to do it, we don't want our greek mythological characters to be hella flawed or anything (don't--- just don't look at all of the pages and pages of greek myth where things happen cause people were just being assholes, we can't have our hero be an ass, that's too complex, we need to give him a moral standing that he flip flops on constantly in a way that makes no sense)

frankly I would've liked this more if they just let Odysseus be an asshole. Cause he was an asshole. No one in greek mythology was above just being an asshole. Make him a likable asshole type and stop trying to make him the moral center of things. HE'S ALREADY FIGHTING MONSTERS, INTERESTING THINGS ARE ALREADY HAPPENING, YOU DON'T NEED TO GIVE HIM A NONSENSICAL MORAL CONFLICT ABOUT IT.

on the upside this is all making me remember how much I love this shit. Like-- the odyssey is buck wild man.

But seriously, there are no good guys or bad guys in greek mythology, it's mostly just stuff happening. (okay, well, YES there are good guys and bad guys, but the good guys aren't good guys the way superman is a good guy. All good guys in greek myth still have massive amounts of blood on their hands basically all the time and will FULL ON just commit acts of violence. but like--- Heroically!)

anywho Scylla (who btw is supposed to basically be roommates with Charybdis, in that the ship literally had to pass through both of them like--- at the same time, they were on either side. Rock and a hard place but it's a big monster lady and a whirlpool with teeth. and I see we DO have a song for Charybdis but I also see it's not along side Scylla and there goes any hopes of a monster duet cause this is amateur hour)

Also this is a big side note but one of the only songs I've heard from Epic is that GET IN THE WATER song and I dead ass thought that was the sirens song but again I guess this is amateur hour and also the sirens basically aren't a threat at all CAUSE IT'S SOOOOO IMPORTANT THAT WE SHOW THAT ODYSSEUS IS GOING GRIMDARK ON US GUYS, NO ONE CARES ABOUT SIRENS, DON'T GIVE THEM A WHOLE SONG OR ANYTHING, WHAT ARE THEY LIKE MONSTERS THAT SING OR SOMETHING

nah just like a few lines in a song that's mostly about Odysseus again

THIS IS ALL ABOUT ODYSSEUS, EVERYONE IS CLEARLY HEAR FOR HIM, NO ONE WANTED BE EPIC SET PIECES WITH MONSTERS OR TO HEAR THE SINGING MONSTERS SING OR ANYTHING

and def don't change the tone or style of music to match where or what we're up against, it can just be random pop all the way through, it's fine.

ANYWAYS

SCYLLA

ah okay at least the sirens get to be backup

or is that not the siren's idk whose singing I can only assume it's the sirens

NO SIR, YOU APPROACH SOMETHING

yey big scary monster lady

I really am lost which female singing voice is meant to be whom

I assume it's a duet between the sirens on the ship and Scylla???

and are they all the same cause they're monsters???

it's very tell don't show.

MUTINY

wonder what's gonna happen in this song

oh yeah no bud, he's been pulling you through danger this whole time

in the beginning-----

'PAINFULLY BAD' fucking dead ass END ME. PLEASE.

but yeah in the beginning he cared some, but he's been losing men left and right for a while now dude

see this is what happens when you try and make there be morals in a greek myth

like I'm not saying have a fight here, but don't flip flop like they'd been doing, let this tension grow, let Odysseus grow more and more careless and more and more desperate, and let this conflict bubble

instead Odysseus was the good guy until this last betrayal

LIKE---

trying to make an over all moral good guy here is just not the play

also homeboy it doesn't matter how fast you run, it's fucking Helios THE FUCK YOU GONNA HIDE?????

THUNDER BRINGER

okay this opening is really good actually

the electric guitar giving violin vibes I dig it

Also I'm not against this turn or anything but I do think it would feel more earned if we stopped trying to make Odysseus the good guy

cause this feels like the true All Is Lost Moment, but like--- it feels less dramatic cause his second in command was being such an asshole before-- BEING AN ASSHOLE WHO GETS WORSE AND WORSE IS SUPPOSED TO BE ODYSSEUS' JOB!!

I will say, narrative and drama flaws aside, I think this has been one of the better songs thus far.

Or at least the most like--- successful. Like-- it properly uses established melodies to build the tension and call back to the events and ideas already laid in place like---- look who learned how to musical properly!

Also that brings us to the end of this section so I'm gonna take a bit of a break

I'll see y'all for the 'wisdom saga' in a bit

BEAR'S EPIC BLOGGING

so I already feel bad for the anon who asked my opinionated musical theater ass to look into Epic.

Gonna attempt to keep my thoughts succinct and all on the same thread/under read more--

but with that said if you wanna avoid this all together, which is very fair, I'm gonna be tagging this as bear's epic blogging

with that all said DOWN INTO THE CUT WE GO

So right off the bat I will say the musical IMMEDIATELY looses points cause the majority of the songs are 3-4 minutes long

I'm very much of the mind set that all big feelings and plot points SHOULD have a song, but the issue with a lot of modern musicals is that they think all songs need to be 'song' length (so about 3 to 4 minutes long)

they're wrong and I think my favorite example of how to do 'give a feeling a song but don't let it over stay it's welcome' is I guess this is Goodbye from Into The Woods (side note if you saw disney's movie of this musical, I'm so sorry, that was insulting, go watch that PBS recording with Bernadette Peters, she's amazing)-- it's about fairy tale characters, this is Jack of Jack and the Bean stock fame and this is the moment he's saying goodbye to his beloved cow in exchange for magic beans. This is a big moment for Jack and is the driving force for his actions for the first half of his story so it's important, and since it's an important beat in a musical, we sing! -- for about 30 odd seconds and then we continue with the plot cause we have A LOT of story to get through.

And on the note of A Lot of story to get through---

SO-- I'm a broke bitch, so how I experience musicals is I read through the plot summary on wiki, and as songs come up, I listen to the song.

This approach is especially apt here since there is no stage production and low key THANK GOD cause this opening number is actually pretty bad as opening numbers go.

But put a pin in that cause we'll come back to it, NOW--!

I actually gave the wiki a dry read before putting music into anything cause--- well, admittedly it's partly curious but also low key uh--- so I'm not as Hot on The Odyssey as everyone else seems to be? It's a story about a captain who gets mad lost, and losses most of his men, and cheats on his wife, and yeah I GUESS it's an epic tale of his journey home or whatever but like----

I feel like it puts a damper on things when you take some details into account--- like how it's mostly just HIS journey, fuck all the dudes he brought with him I guess. This ain't about them meme. Also 'Her white arms round him pressed as though forever' does loose some cache for me when I know cha boy like---- full on cheated on his wife on the way there. He never gave up coming home! Buuut he did take a break to get laid and loose a lot of his men on the way.

I know it's like-- cunning and he out smarts the odds and blah blah blah but like-- he's still an asshole ya know??

So I was curious how they were gonna spin this, so I read the wiki. I still have not finished the wiki cause HOLY SHIT this thing is long. I know it's supposed to be An Epic but like--- I feel like things could've been stream lined SOME. ESPECIALLY when the songs are 4 minutes a piece BRUH.

I'm going to try and have an open mind here but the odds are already against this thing from word go.

BUT OKAY, the opening number.

I know it's not a stage production but like---------

If you're gonna call something A Musical, on some level you have to treat it like one.

A lot of musicals lately seem to want to REMOVE the theater aspect of musical theater (god forbid we have some incidental music or like------ A THEME or anything)

At the start of this I'm already missing the sort of Establishing Song that's in a lot of my favorite musicals.

Or I guess I should say like--- the establishing melody or stanza or something. Not all of them are full numbers but they help set the stage (sometimes literally, fucking the way the Beetlejuice musical has all it's pieces like light up or roll in and just like the scene fades in MWAH glorious I DROOL)

But yeah, Prologue: Invisible from Beetlejuice, Overture from The Producers (which I only just realized has a bit of Prisoners of Love in the full version WHICH IS THE SECOND TO LAST SONG they really said MEDLEY! with their whole chest lol), Little Shop of Horrors from Seussical the Musi--- JUST KIDDING IT'S FROM LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, No One Mourns the Wicked from Wicked, The Ballad of Sweeney Todd from Sweeney Todd (2012 London cast my beloved), Seasons of Love from RENT, Alexander Hamilton from Hamilton (which say what you want about Miranda but DAMN this musical is so efficient and well crafted ARGUE WITH THE FUCKING WALL) HELL, EVEN HOLD ME, BATBOY FROM BAT BOY THE MUSICAL

Ever single one of these starts with a song or a bit of music that sort of Vibe Checks the audience into the world we're gonna be living in for the next 2 to 3 hours and if they don't also act as a whole on establishing number (aka a Welcome To This World song or Here's The Start of The Plot song) then it's the very next number in the show and usually follows IMMEDIATELY after

(Opening Night from the Producers, Rent from RENT, The Whole Being Dead Thing from Beetlejuice, Aaron Burr, Sir from Hamilton, No Place like London from Sweeney Todd, AND Downtown/Skid Row from The Little Shop of Horrors MY BELOVED, HAZBIN HOTEL FUCKING WISHES SHE COULD BE YOU SO BAD, MY BEAUTIFUL FLAWLESS, DARLING!!! {okay but seriously Happy Day in Hell wanted to be Skid Row so fucking bad but she tripped over the starting line and broke her neck, deadass. Though to be fair Hazbin sweetie, you never stood a chance, Skid Row does SUCH an AMAZING job introducing it's world, establishing it's characters and their wants and feelings, No One can beat it. THAT FUCKING PART WHERE THE BUMS ARE CLIMBING THE DAMN FENCE LIKE FUCKING ZOMBIES you live in my head rent free! You and the lady who starts the song-- DAMN! Sing it child INDEED.})

But yeah, back to Epic.

I'm not going to hold the fact that it doesn't sound like Full Musical Theater deal against it since it's basically a handful of people headed mostly by One Guy (there is no pit, there is no orchestra, it's not a whole ensemble of singers), but I WILL hold the fact that it basically doesn't have an establishing number at all at it's start against it.

No Vibe check, no settling in, just BAM! In medias res! Hey dude, I know you're in a war right now, but you gotta kill this baby dude, trust.

It really did just smack me in the face with it's plot. (full palm)

AND THE FACT THAT THIS IS GREEK MYTH LIKE-------

HELLO??????? GREEK CHORUS??????? WHERE ARE YOU GREEK CHORUS??????? GODS AND OR MUSES???? OUTSIDE OBSERVER TO TELL THE STORY THAT COULD'VE GIVEN US A PROPER ESTABLISHING NUMBER???????? THAT CONCEPT IS /LITERALLY/ FROM GREEK MYTH?!?! ESPECIALLY SINCE THE GODS ARE APPARENTLY ALREADY HUDDLED AROUND WATCHING ANYWAY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

like.......................................

Like I said at the top of things I literally feel so bad for that anon. They probably did not know I am Mad Opinionated About Musical Theater but I am. And they did not know the land mine they stepped on by low key suggesting me to give it a listen.

Unfortunately I am Anton Ego here. I don't LIKE musical theater-- I LOVE IT.

THIS ALL BEING SAID---

I will say I think a saving grace for me during this is that Jorge Rivera-Herrans has a pretty solid singing voice.

It's very modern musical pretty boy which I'm not the hugest fan of by I can def see why people want to draw a face to match it and/or apply it to their blorbos and ocs.

This ride is already starting out bumpy for me, but my butt's probably just sensitive, so take my bitching with a grain of salt.

Also know that just cause I'm complaining doesn't mean I hate it. I complain about Blush Blush all the time in the discord and I basically spend most of my free time doing shit on here so--

Alright, I'm gonna get through a few more songs before I tune back into yap some more

I'd say stay posted, but like--- maybe don't I'm always a complainer when it comes to modern musical theater <XD;

[coconut-cluster]

Hihi!!! Uhh, so, do you have any headcanons or, like, anything you wanna rant about rn? I'm kinda lookin for something distracting! If you don't have anything, please don't dig for anything, just, if you have anything you had ideas fr but cant connect to anything, id love to hear them? um, have a good day!! thank you

oh yeah no problem!! under the cut because i’m adhd and when i write down one idea thirteen different ones pop up in my mind

i’m still stuck on Roman and Janus’ back and forth insulting from POF, mostly the fact that no one just said “hey roman that was mean but also you’re not evil” like. it could have been that easy man. just Patton or Thomas cutting them off and being like “okay we don’t laugh at each other, say sorry, and we don’t use someone’s biggest insecurity as a jab, come on man,” and then they could have kept the convo going. but no Thomas is a mess and his selflessness and creativity had to swing at each other huh

honestly i’m also still stuck on Roman at the very least feeling manipulated during SvsS and then no one taking a moment to realize that’s where his grudge is coming from in the Redux. like Thomas and Patton were so disappointed that Ro wasn’t gung ho to trust Janus but if they spent like two more seconds thinking about why maybe that would have cleared up like half the episode’s conflicts 

but conflict is good for plot so i get it lol

but speaking of Roman having a grudge against Janus, i would love to explore that in like a human au, especially with Virgil’s grudge. like Roman watching his friends (and his brother) be close and cozy with someone who he feels slighted by (or worse depending on your interpretation), and Virgil just being scowl-y in general @ Janus, so they just bond over their mutual grudge and air their grievances to each other

unrelated to that entirely, i’m genuinely a tad annoyed with the wave of “roman being a jock in human au’s is ridiculous, he’s a theatre geek through and through” in the fandom because:

one, if we’re talking tropes, Roman being social and popular is completely believable, even if he’s a little awkward or geeky

two, Thomas has called Roman a little jock (in response to really cute art of him in running/workout gear by Brei Grace iirc) before so it’s not like it’s totally out of left field

three, people are multifaceted and can be a theatre geek and play sports guys High School Musical covered this in depth

four, theatre kids?? dance?? and it’s not unbelievable that they’d like exercising to work with that?

five, you can make your own headcanons about a character without demeaning or degrading someone else’s. the attitude of “that’s so stupid” i’ve seen with this hc in particular is very frustrating 

anyway rant over about that 

related, Roman totally plays baseball bc of I Don’t Dance thank you for coming to my TED talk 

also i just think Ro in a baseball uniform is a sweet lil idea

you all probably know i like baseball player!Roman tho bc i’ve had him play baseball in like three separate AUs

anywho

I hc that Logan and Roman and Virgil got those Sensory Issues bc I said so 

honestly i just want one of them to be a texture eater like me

one of them likes those Cronchy foods and that’s that 

Patton is a plant mom but Logan is a plant emt because Patton always forgets to water one plant or the other and Lo has to bring it back to life before Patton plans an entire funeral for it 

i always and forever want to remind people that Roman is scared of the dark. why? just because 

Virgil totally plays FNAF and loves it 

on that note I think it’s cool that Virgil is the one who digs dark and creepy and scary stuff, even though as Anxiety you’d assume he avoids it at all costs 

I guess if Thomas is scared it makes V more powerful so from a role-centered pov it makes a lot of sense

I am very intrigued by the possibility that Roman views or even idolizes pushing oneself past their limits, almost as a sort of self-punishment, as the ultimate form of selflessness and repentance; this especially in relation to Thomas’ Catholic upbringing, Roman’s mention of karma, the concept of burnout with Roman’s role as creativity and pride, etc. 

I honestly love the little moments we get where we see the quieter/softer side of Roman. He’s a lot of loud things - pride, ego, dreams, creativity - and he’s rambunctious and enthusiastic by nature, but dreams and creativity and romance are also about daydreams, wistfulness, admiration, stuff like rose petals and stargazing and gardens and singing under your breath and sighs, if that makes sense? and it’s nice to see that he’s as much sweet and dreamy as he is flamboyant and energetic. 

i’m gonna end it here bc if i keep going it’s just gonna be me raving about Roman Sanders and yall see enough of that as it is aslksdkgjl, i hope this helped distract you anon!!! 💕💕💕