#writing Greg and the turtles was so fun

[uboacore]

Read Old Black Train on AO3 and FF.net to see Greg adopt and name way too many turtles

[boilbluedenim]

Over the liminal mindscape

I love and hate how this show's ending is completely left up to interpretation, mainly because of Wirt and Greg's potential deaths and how that makes me feel about the show as a whole. It attaches a sort of bittersweet feeling to it which I'm not too sure about. more on that soon though.

Anyway, when paying even just an inkling of attention to this show, you can almost immediately connect the dots and come to the conclusion that none of the adventures (for the most part) actually happened. This conclusion is heavily drawn from the frames we see at the very beginning, of Wirt, Greg, and Jason Funderburker (the frog) drowning. (ep 1)

and from the frames where Wirt wakes up in the water after having said goodbye to Beatrice, saving his brother and the frog by carrying them both out of the water. (ep 10)

Taking into account that Wirt, Greg, and Funderburker all fell into the water moments before almost getting hit by a train, which we discover in episode 9; Into The Unknown, I think it's pretty safe to assume that this is, in fact, the case and that OTGW takes place in either a mental space or a physical limbo, occurring while they are all in the process of drowning.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that OTGW is heavily based off of Dante's Inferno, which, in the simplest of summaries, is a poem about a journey that begins in a forest, leads through hell, and eventually into heaven, hence the theorized death I mentioned earlier. It's actually pretty easy to spot where these references and homages lie, for example, the formula of the story is somewhat similar, and the characters take on similar roles. (for example, Virgil: Beatrice/Woodsman(?)or even Greg in some cases, Beatrice: Sara, Dante: Wirt.) (please read Inferno or a summary of it to fully understand this if you haven't already because it's actually really interesting).

Rewatching OTGW with this in mind led me to realize a lot of things that I originally passed off as unique writing choices with no actual meaning behind them. Then again that could be the case but what's the fun in assuming that?

Upon entering the unknown, we're launched into a universe with a seemingly ever-changing time period. Characters talk funny and fancy, dress and act as if they're from the 1600s-1700s, and none of our protagonists seem particularly fazed by this (except for Beatrice, occasionally) with Greg using a phrase such as "brother o'mine" and Wirt's dramatic poetic rambles. Everything feels very inspired while also being all over the place, almost as if it's been composed from memories, lying in the pits of somebody's mind...

Wirt is a Huge Nerd.

If I am to believe that this show takes place in one of our protagonists' minds, which I do in fact believe, then I would say that that protagonist has to be Wirt. Wirt has a tendency to go on poetic spiels, even dropping two of them in the very first episode. Accompanied by his teenage boy dread (being a nerd at 14 is tough) and his overextending knowledge about curious things, which he showcases in his exclaim at Beatrice's ability to talk and his comment about one of the rooms in Endicott's mansion (below), It becomes a glaring possibility that OTGW is primarily from Wirt's point of view, with the Unknown existing solely in his head.

I've actually seen this point argued before, with some people mentioning the black turtles on the poster in Wirt's room or just his entire room in general. However, if true, that doesn't really answer the question of whether the unknown exists as a physical space or a mental one, having no supernatural effects on the real world.

2. The Implications of the Bell

Okay, so, listen.

I hate to be the kind of person who goes "Well it's probably just a fun and silly bit that doesn't actually mean anything." but I'm gonna be that person anyway, or at least I'm not going to assume character death because I don't want to and free will is a thing blablablabla. I will however be serious for a second and try to provide a tangible reason for why I think this scene doesn't have any real-world implications.

For one, this scene immediately jumpcuts to a voiceover, followed by scenes that serve as conclusions for the stories of the characters we've met along the way, all of them being positive. I think this serves the purpose of letting us know the story did in fact have a good ending, with Wirt learning how to treat his brother with respect. I also think that ties into the theory above.

Not only does the unknown serve as a mental limbo but it also serves as a lesson for Wirt in particular. This journey is riddled with self-critique, characterized as Beatrice, all the while Wirt is drowning and realizing he's not only failed himself but his brother as well.

3. The Beast

Surprisingly I haven't mentioned the beast yet even though he's very important to the story. The beast represents a couple of things, one being death and two being the overarching, real-world problem. Those may sound like the same thing, and honestly, they are depending on what you think the problem is. To me, it's Wirt's relationship with, and treatment of Greg in the real world that bleeds into the universe of the unknown.

The exchange that Wirt has with the beast at the end of episode 10 fully encapsulates his character growth. The characters his mind has created have actually taught him something, that being; wallowing in sorrow and accepting your fate is just going to lead you further down this winding path, or in this case, to the bottom of this lake. You will never get home.

Unlike I've seen others suggest, this is not a story of a boy failing and dying while so wrapped up in his own fantasy, eventually residing in a false heaven. Instead, everything is put back where it needs to be.

From the forest, through the unknown, and finally, back home.

[yellowhollyhock]

For 03 Donnie 4 5 and 21

you’re the best ❤️

4 If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

Hmm… I went back and forth a lot with this. Star Trek is right there… but I choose Over the Garden Wall. His skillset would be distinct there, and it could be interesting to watch how his mechanical mind does, or sometimes doesn’t, come in handy in the various metaphysical situations they find themselves in. Also, it’s a story about family, and trauma is a big recurring theme. I think there could be interesting opportunities both for him to grow and to help. He’d be older than Wirt and Greg and would definitely try to help—but would they trust him? He’s a big talking turtle and he’s carrying a weapon. He and Beatrice would get along I think, but Wirt also doesn’t trust her. Greg would remind him so much of Mikey it hurts.

I don’t know, I feel like this one is a nice compromise between others I was thinking of. He’d get to use his skills but wouldn’t be too useful, lots of new different things for him to explore and learn about, some friends for him to make, some horrors to be had.

5 what song comes to mind

Quitting Time by The Roches. Partially just because The Roches are on his wiki as one of his faves, which is the original reason I looked them up, which is how I discovered this song. Also because though

It’s got this sort of daydreamy quality. To me being a dreamer is essential to Don’s character. It also has a theme of being overworked or caring too much about your work, maybe even missing out on what’s really important because you were working instead. Also this verse

Old industrial skyline

Drawing away from you

You are the one that’s moving

You are the fool that flew

You are the fool that flew

^SAINW

21 if you write fanfiction, what do you enjoy doing with this character? what do you dislike?

I like making Donny heal. Whether it looks like telling someone about what’s been weighing on him, a slow adjustment to a new situation, pursuing a healthy relationship and making himself an identity outside of his trauma… the common thread is, it’s comforting and fun to write about his life getting better after all the horrors he’s seen. I project on this guy like crazy, legit sometimes my stories start out as personal pieces exploring how I might take action to heal from past events, but make him do it instead because his hurts are more concrete and healing is easier to imagine. Then if I think it’s in character or a fun concept, I polish it up for sharing

What I don’t like? writing technobabble. I want him to come up with clever solutions and show off his tech skills, but that would require me to think of clever solutions and understand science well enough to pretend to talk about it. Especially difficult when it’s not just real science, I gotta try to figure out which ideas I’m taking from canon and whether I have to/even can expand on them in a way that makes any sense. So it’s figuring out how to make real science mesh with canon science, usually ending up with something that is… neither 😑

[speaking-at-the-theater]

otgw

watching over the garden wal!!! obviously spoilers so like, watch out for that. this is gonna be a long one as i plan to do the whole series at once so we go on until the picture limit breaks and then we start another post

—

the intro has such vibes. the best part about it being a miniseries is that it doesnt worry about like. spoilers. it can just tell you “this is the short of it, now lemme tell you the long of it.”

–

the chorus that starts playing when wirt is like “where are we”??? haunting. where can i find it?

–

whoever wrote this knows exactly how to write kids i love it

—

“welcome to the unknown boys, you’re mor elost than you realize” indeed

—

greg- greg no- bad idea. dont go towards the forest.

-

what is up with that turtle???

—

“it is your burden to bear” thank you mr woodsman

-

ep 2

—

the drawings in the wood in the intro. what’s up with that

–

“the good woman of the woods”....i dont believe that. that’s sus.

—

that festival seems so interesting??? –

what do you mean the fucking pumpkin *talks*

–

love that “patient is the night” song

-

oo that was…a plot twist

…..

that “you’ll join us someday” is…….something

—

the fuck. is up. with the leaf.

—----

ep 3-

“see, no willpower whatsoever” ms beatrice. what. 

i mean its true though

–

aww, that school concert was such a clever idea! and that small twist. when you hear greg say “let’s steal the instruments” you think he’s still thinking about giving them back to the school for fun. but then the concert is revealed and you see “oh, greg isnt as stupid as he seems”, it’s cute.

–

ep 4

songs of the dark lantern??? sounds interesting

–

that highwayman animation is so???? idk. it’s weird. thy were bordering the uncanny valley for this one and i think it was on purpose

–

the fuck. is up. with those trees. i want answers.

–

haha. the beast is fucking terryfying i’ll be seeing it in my nightmares now.

–

ep 5

this illustration is so good tho??

—

this guys just having an entire existential crisis mood

–

beatrice used to be human? that’s interesting

–

what is up with these fainting ladies and mr-s? –

two pennies for the ferry…like two coins for the charon?

......

also love how the twist here wasnt that there were supernatural shenanigans but that there werent supernatural shenanigans

–

the fish?????? what have the coins got to do with anything??? hmm????

–

ep 5

that frog song is really nice

–

beatrice is sus.

-

also, i love how wirt is slowly warming up to greg??

–

aaand yep. adelaide is bad. fairytale back. has anyone written a fairytale re-telling of otgw? it has the themes…

—

oh….poor bea

andd just like that the character development is gone.

–

chapter 7

also just noticed the eps are labeled chapters! like books! –

oh dear….the woodsman is….wow.

“ we should talk”

we’re never seeing the woodsman again i think.

–

auntie whispers is so fucking creepy??? is there a single adult with a house that is also not entiwned with any dark magic?? not a single one??

–

huh. so it was lorna alla long huh…..yk what they say about appearances

—

did whispers never think to say “begone evil spirit” or????

also. if whispers isnt lorna’s real aunt, but they still consider eachothr family…..how did they meet?

it must have been a sad story, though.

–

“there is only the forest and there is only surrender”

….

i want a story for the beast. even if it’s just “it sprouted from the ground one day”. i need mor eof it.

oh well, fics must exist. if not, i’ll make one.

–

ep 8

—

aand wirt lost hope. 

bye.

–

this episode is…sooo weird

–

it’s snowing?? already?? wasnt it autumns just a few episodes ago???

—

….at least now i know where the edelwood trees come from.

—

what did gregory wish for tho???

—

.....

—

9 ep….were going at the speed of light huh?

—”into the unknown”....they do say be careful what you wish for, no?

-

oh….oh wirt’s…teenagery. which means Really Fucking Mean.

—

10

:((((

oh…sio the beast is setting tasks for wirt, fairytale style, so he’ll give up, huh?

…..

-

the beast’s eyes are the same as the dog’s after it ate the turtle…..maybe it’s some sign of corruption? or evil??

–

“take on the task of lantern bearer” how bout no.

–

WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THE BEAST WHATS IT MADE OF WHAT THE FUCK

it looks like wood but???? holy shit??? trypophobiaed wood. 

if the beast is made of wood and it eats the sap (oil) from trees is it a tree vampire????

–

HOLY SHIT HE DID IT

–

….

lovely ending is lovely

this show met all my expectations, and surpassed them, too!

[chattervoxworld]

CVAP WEEK 1 BLOG ENTRY!

Where do I begin!!

I’ve always wanted to learn how to be a voice actor. As a kid, I always loved playing pretend, and I loved to do impressions of my favorite characters, hoping that someday, I would have a chance to live that dream.

I’ve grown, now, but I never grew out of that sentiment!

Except, now that I’m 26 going on 27 as of the writing of this blog post, it is no longer just about performing fun voices or entertaining others.

I want to inspire, the way that others before have done for me.

Going into the first week of CVAP’s lessons, my heart was immediately warmed when I was greeted with a safe space and immense support from the veteran voice-mates. Their voices, smooth as silk or powerful as a lion’s roar, were clearly refined and trained from the ground-up. I thought to myself, how amazing it is that the voice can transform into something so amazing!

We learned about the myths that surround the voice acting community; it was here that I could appreciate being told that just because someone’s voice is “nice” or “pleasant,” it doesn’t mean that they could automatically become a voiceover artist. Voicework takes a LOT of skill and enhancement, and of course, so much dedication and commitment to the craft. I also like how we weren’t sugarcoated about the industry—it’s really a tough world out there… but I’m sure that I and my fellow voice-mates will be tougher!

We’ll need character internalization, proper diction, and vocal hygiene maintenance among other things if we want to make this work. Not just that, though! If we REALLY want to make it in this industry, we’ll have to learn how to carry our brand and be brave to make it through the door.

I want to end this blog post with a fun memory I had on meeting one of my favorite voice actors.

Greg Cipes, voice actor of Beast Boy from Teen Titans and Michelangelo from Ninja Turtles, visited the Philippines for a convention once. I went to see him, and when I finally did manage to encounter him… I completely lost my voice!

Yup, I was so stunned and starstruck that I barely said a word! (He was VERY kind though, and he’s an awesome guy!)

But I suppose that I could learn something from this memory that I can relate to my findings at CVAP: I NEED TO FIND MY VOICE AND MY CONFIDENCE, SO I CAN INSPIRE OTHERS THE WAY THAT ALL THE VOICE ACTORS I ADMIRE HAVE INSPIRED ME!

Thank you and write up again soon!

[casxmorgan]

Books Books Books

100 Years of Solitude

11.22.63

120 Days of Sodom

1491

1984

A Brief History of Time

A Canticle for Leibowitz

A Child Called It

A Clockwork Orange

A Confederacy of Dunces

A History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters

A Land Fit for Heroes Trilogy

A Little Life

A Naked Singularity

A People's History of the United States

A Scanner Darkly

A Series of Unfortunate Events

A Short History of Nearly Everything

A Song of Ice and Fire

A Storm of Swords

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Walk in the Woods

A World Lit Only by Fire

Accursed Kings

Alice in Wonderland

All Quiet on the Western Front

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Pretty Horses

America, the Book

American Gods

American Psycho

And then There Were None

Angela’s Ashes

Animal Farm

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Anna Karenina

Anything Terry Pratchett, But, Mort is My Favorite

Anything Written by Robin Hobb

Apt Pupil

Artemis Fowl

Asimov's Guide to the Bible

Asoiaf

Atlas Shrugged

Bartimeaus

Batman: the Long Halloween

Battle Royale

Beat the Turtle Drum

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Belgariad Series

Beloved

Berserk

Bestiario

Black Company

Blankets/habibi

Blind Faith

Blindness

Blood Meridian

Blood and Guts: a History of Surgery

Bluest Eye

Brandon Sanderson

Brave New World

Breakfast of Champions

Bridge to Terabithia

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: an Indian History of the American West

Calvin and Hobbs

Candide

Carrie

Cat's Cradle

Catch 22

Cats Cradle

Chaos

Child of God

Choke

Chuck Palahniuk

City of Ember

City of Thieves

Cloud

Collapse

Come Closer

Complaint

Confessions of a Mask

Contact

Conversation in the Cathedral

Cosmos

Crime and Punishment

Dan Brown

David

Dead Birds Singing

Dead Mountain: the Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

Delta Venus

Die Räuber (the Robbers)

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Don Quixote

Dragonlance

Dune

Dying of the Light

East of Eden

Educated

Empire of Sin: a Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans

Enders Game

Enders Shadow

Escape from Camp 14

Ever Since Darwin

Every Man Dies Alone

Everybody Poops

Everything is Illuminated

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Fahrenheit 451

Far from the Madding Crowd

Faust

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson

Feet of Clay

Fight Club

First Law

Flowers for Algernon

Flowers in the Attic

Foundation

Foundation Series

Foundation Trilogy

Frankenstein

Freakonomics

Fun Home

Galapagos

Geek Love

Gerald’s Game

Ghost Story

Go Ask Alice

Go Dog Go

Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid

Goldfinch

Gone Girl

Gone with the Wind

Good Omens

Grapes of Wrath

Great Expectations

Greg Egan

Guards! Guards!

Guns Germs and Steel

Guts (short Story)

Half a World

Ham on Rye

Hannibal Rising

Hard Boiled Wonderland

Hatchet

Haunted

Hawaii

Heart Shaped Box

Heart of Darkness

Hellbound Heart

Hellraiser

Hell’s Angels

Helter Skelter

His Dark Materials

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Hogg

Holocaust by Bullets

House of Leaves

How to Cook for Fourty Humans

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Huckleberry Finn

Hyperion

I Am America, and So Can You

I Am the Messenger

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream

I Was Dr. Mengele’s Assistant

In Cold Blood

In Search of Our Mother's Gardens

Independent People

Infinite Jest

Into Thin Air

Into the Wild

Introduction to Linear Algebra

Invisible Monsters

Ishmael

It

Jacques Le Fataliste

Jane Eyre

Jaunt

Job: a Comedy of Justice

John Dies at the End

John Grisham

Johnathan Livingston Seagull

Johnny Got His Gun

Jon Ronson

Journal of a Novel

Jurassic Park

Justine

L'histoire D'o

Lamb

Last Exit to Brooklyn

Les Miserables

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Life of Pi

Limits and Renewals

Little House in the Big Woods

Lockwood & Co.

Lolita

Looking for Trouble

Lord Foul’s Bane

Lord of the Flies

Lyddie

Malazan Book of the Fallen

Maldoror

Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media

Man’s Search for Meaning

Mark Twain’s Autobiography

Maus

Meditations

Megamorphs (series)

Mein Kampf

Memnooch the Devil

Metro 2033

Michael Crichton

Middlesex

Mindhunter

Misery

Mistborn

Moby Dick

Mrs. Dalloway

My Side of the Mountain

My Sweet Audrina

Nacht über Der Prärie (night over the Prairie)

Naked Lunch

Name of the Wind

Neuromancer

Never Let Me Go

Neverwhere

New York

Next

Night

Night Shift

Norwegian Wood

Notes from Underground

Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea

Of Mice and Men

Of Nightingales That Weep

Ohio

Old Mans War

Old Mother West Wind

On Heroes and Tombs

On Laughter and Forgetting

On the Road

One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest

One Hundred Years of Solitude

One of Us

Painted Bird

Patrick Rothfuss

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer

Persepolis

Pet Sematary

Peter Pan

Pillars of the Earth

Poisonwood Bible

Pride and Predjudice

Ready Player One

Rebecca

Red Mars

Red Night (series)

Red Shirts

Red Storm Rising

Redwall

Replay

Requiem for a Dream

Revenge

Riftwar Saga

Ringworld

Roald Dahl

Rolls of Thunder, Hear My Cry

Round Ireland with a Fridge

Running with Scissors

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes

Sapiens, a Brief History of Humankind

Scary Stories to Read in the Dark

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Schindler’s List

Sein Und Zeit

Shades of Grey

Sharp Objects

Shattered Dreams

Sherlock Holmes

Sho-gun

Siddhartha

Sisypho

Skin and Other Stories

Slaughterhouse Five

Smoke & Mirrors

Snow Crash

Soldier Son

Sometimes a Great Notion

Sphere

Starship Troopers

Stiff, the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Storied Life of A.j. Fikry

Stormlight Archives

Story of the Eye

Stranger in a Strange Land

Surely, You're Joking

Survivor Type (short Story)

Suttree

Swan Song

Tale of Two Cities

Tales of the South Pacific

The Alchemist

The Altered Carbon Trilogy

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

The Art of Deception

The Art of Fielding

The Art of War

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation

The Autobiography of Henry Viii

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

The Beach

The Bell Jar

The Bible

The Bloody Chamber

The Book Thief

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The Brothers Karamazov

The Call of Cthulu and Other Weird Stories

The Cask of Amontillado (short Story)

The Catcher in the Rye

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Clown

The Color out of Space

The Communist Manifesto

The Complete Fiction of H.p. Lovecraft

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

The Dagger and the Coin

The Damage Done

The Dark Tower

The Declaration of Independence, the Us Constitution, and the Bill of Rights

The Devil in the White City

The Dharma Bums

The Diamond Age

The Dice Man

The Discworld Series

The Dresden Files

The Elegant Universe

The First Law Trilogy

The Forever War

The Foundation Trilogy

The Gentleman Bastard Sequence

The Geography of Nowhere

The Girl Next Door

The Girl on the Milk Carton

The Giver

The Giving Tree

The God of Small Things

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gilly Hopkins

The Hagakure

The Half a World Trilogy

The Handmaid’s Tale

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

The Hiding Place

The History of Love

The Hobbit

The Hot Zone

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hyperion Cantos

The Jaunt

The Jungle

The Key to Midnight

The Killing Star

The Kingkiller Chronicles

The Kite Runner

The Last Question (short Story)

The Lies of Lock Lamora

The Little Prince

The Long Walk

The Lord of the Rings

The Lottery (short Story)

The Lovely Bones

The Magicians

The Magus

The Martian

The Master and Margarita

The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

The Monster at the End of This Book

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

The Music of Eric Zahn (short Story)

The Name of the Wind & the Wise Man's Fear

The Necronomicon

The New Age of Adventure: Ten Years of Great Writing

The Night Circus

The Nightmare Box

The Odyssey

The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Orphan Master’s Son

The Outsiders

The Painted Bird

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Phantom Tollbooth

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Pit and the Pendulum

The Plague

The Prince

The Prince of Tides

The Princess Bride

The Prophet

The Queen’s Gambit

The Rape of Nanking

The Red Dwarf

The Republic

The Rifter Saga

The Road

The Satanic Verses

The Screwtape Letters

The Secret History

The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Selfish Gene

The Shining

The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer

The Silmarillion

The Sirens of Titan

The Six Wives of Henry the 8th

The Solitude of Prime Numbers

The Speaker of the Dead

The Stars My Destination

The Stormlight Archive

The Story of My Tits

The Stranger

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

The Suspicions of Mr. Witcher

The Tao of Pooh

The Things They Carried

The Time Machine

The Time Traveller’s Wife

The Tin Drum

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green

The Wasp Factory

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

The World According to Garp

The Yellow Wallpaper

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Things Fall Apart

Thirsty

This Blinding Absence of Light

Tiger!

Time Enough for Love

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Say Nothing of the Dog

Toni Morrison

Too Many Magicians

Traumnovelle

Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuf Voyaging

Undeniable

Under Plum Lake

Universe in a Nutshell

Unwind

Uzumaki

Various

Village Life in Late Tsarist Russia

Walden

War & Peace

War and Peace

Warriors: Bluestar’s Prophecy

Watchers

Water for Elephants

Watership Down

We Have Always Lived in the Castle

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Wheel of Time

When Rabbit Howls

Where the Red Fern Grows

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Why I Am Not a Christian

Why People Believe Weird Things

Wizards First Rule

Wool

World War Z

Worm

Wuthering Heights

You Can Choose to Be Happy

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[rpgsandbox]

Part homage, all farce, the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is an irreverent, affectionate parody of pop-culture tropes and a love-letter to 80s roleplaying games in a new, modern comic-book sized format! It’s a wacky roleplaying game of action comedy!

       Hardcover collector's omnibus, softcover rules and adventures, blank ID cards, monster cards, hero role cards, VTT tokens

Are you a fan of the Ghostbusters RPG from the 1980s? Danger Mouse or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Bill & Ted or Rick & Morty? Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, Dracula, or sci-fi adventures on the final frontier? Do you enjoy chortling at TV tropes or chuckling at pop-culture parodies? Then the Awfully Cheerful Engine! is here for you!

ACE! is brought to you by Russ 'Morrus' Morrissey (EN World, WOIN, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD), Dave Chapman (Doctor Who, Star Trek Adventures), and Marc Langworthy (Hellboy, Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD). With a foreword by Sandy Petersen, co-author of the Ghostbusters RPG!

ACE! is designed for everybody! From talking animals to pulp heroes to eldritch horrors, kids and adults alike will find adventures to love with the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

This tabletop roleplaying game, which we’re calling ACE! with an exclamation point, is one of fast, cinematic, action comedy. To play you need a handful of six-sided dice, a pen, and some paper. Each player plays one Hero, except for one player who takes the role of the Director.

Think of ACE! as an irreverent, fun-packed movie. You might play as ghost hunters in New York City, a band of plucky galactic guardians, vampire slayers, or soldiers of fortune in the Los Angeles underground. Heck, you might even be cartoon animals. Good grief!

This is a multi-dimensional, time-hopping, genre-mashing, pan-galactic portal into any type of adventure you can imagine! Want to play in a fantasy world full of elves and orcs? Crew a starship as it explores the galaxy? Hunt vampires in Victorian London? Play as animal detectives, robot cowboys, wizards, ninjas, or time traveling bounty hunters?

The only limit is your imagination, and the requirement that you have fun.

This Kickstarter is for the full five-book set.

What? Five books, you say? Fear not -- they're pretty small books! They include the core rules, and four hilarious genre-hopping adventures. Each book is about 30 pages long. Except for one which is longer, but we wrote 'BUMPER SIZE ISSUE' on the front of that, so it's OK. If you’ve ever held a comic-book in your hand, the Awfully Cheerful Engine! will feel very familiar!

The core rulebook is just 30 pages in a bright, colorful comic-book sized format. We even gave it an issue number, like a comic-book! After that, each 'issue' is a standalone adventure, designed for one-shots or short campaigns with new characters each time. One week you might be fighting ghosts on the streets of Manhattan, and the next you might be exploring the frontiers of space in your trusty starship!

You don't have to play them all, or in order. The standalone format means you can fit them in whenever and however you feel like it. GM can't make your regular game? Go bust some ghosts instead! Pickup game at a convention? Investigate the strange goings-on in a small American town in the 1980s. Running a livestream? Board a starship and fight the Kulkan Empire! Play one of them, some of them, or all of them! It's up to you!

                Are they comics? Or are they RPGs? (They're RPGs)

ACE #1: Introducing the Awfully Cheerful Engine! With a foreword by Ghostbusters RPG author Sandy Petersen, this book tells you the rules, how to create your Heroes, and gives you a bunch of Extras (NPCs & monsters) to use. By Russ Morrissey.

ACE #2: Spirits of Manhattan. Strap on your Anti-Plasm Particle Thrower, grab your Electromagnetic Field Detector, and jump into your Ghostmobile. New York City needs your help! By Dave Chapman and Russ Morrissey.

ACE #3: Montana Drones & The Raiders of the Cutty Sark. At the request of Army Intelligence, Montana Drones and her team travel the globe in search of lost or hidden artefacts, often exploring dangerous sites and racing against hostile enemy agents to keep the objects of their quests from falling into the wrong hands. Striking locations, exciting chases, dangerous enemies and monotonous classroom lectures await! By Marc Langworthy.

ACE #4: Strange Science. Welcome to Wilden Falls, your average American town in the heart of the country. Surrounded by trees, nature, and there’s a wonderful waterfall that brings the tourists. It’s a quaint little town. Until weird things start happening at the local research facility, people go missing, and there’s a sudden influx of fitness nuts in the town. That’s before we get to the time travel, bodysnatching, and portals to other dimensions. Maybe ‘strange’ isn’t strong enough a word for it! By Dave Chapman.

ACE #5: Beam Me Up! These are the voyages of the starship FSS Brazen. Its continuing mission: to recklessly go where plenty of people have probably been before… and hope a major interstellar incident isn’t sparked in the process. In this highly illogical adventure for the ACE! roleplaying game, you’ll explore frontiers you never thought you had. By Marc Langworthy.

We give you four adventures to start with, and we have plans for more, but there's also a free compatibility license so anybody can write and publish material powered by the Awfully Cheerful Engine!

Hardy Hobbit. Teenage Samurai. Cheerful Stuntman. Clumsy Vampire. Squeamish Ghost. Who knew you could say so much in just two words? The possibilities are endless.

It’s not just Awfully Cheerful! It’s fast and fun, too!

You won’t get bogged down in endless rules and character sheets that look like tax forms. Your ACE! ID Card contains everything you need to know, and it’s only about the size of a credit card! But don’t try to spend it. It’s not a real credit card. Honestly, we tried, and it didn't end well.

You can download blank ID cards from our website. Don’t worry, there’s a printer-friendly black-and-white version too!

Making your Hero takes about five minutes. And that includes a coffee break.

You can choose from an array of talking animals, alien and fantasy species, and occupations from a bunch of genres. Play a cat, a crow, or a turtle. An alien, an elf, a robot, or a vampire. A knight, a pirate, or a wizard. An astronaut, a burglar, a reporter, or a spy. The core book has dozens of Roles to get you started with, and each adventure book introduces more!

Even better, you can already use our online character builder and make a character in about 30 seconds! It's so quick! Give it a try! And if you felt like sharing your Hero on Twitter with the hashtag #awfullycheerful and a link to this page, well, we'd be most awfully grateful!

                                       Build your Hero online!

Alternatively, each adventure comes with its own selection of pre-generated characters. If you don't want to make your own characters, you can simply use those - perfect for one-shots or new players!

Download the pre-gens for all four adventures from the official website!

In A.C.E! each Hero (that's you!) has a Role. Your Role gives you a special ability only you can use. Here's a quick look at some of the Roles you can play!

Talking animals like Ape, Cat, Crow, Dog, Kangaroo, and Turtle.

Species like Alien, Dwarf, Elf, Ghost, Goblin, Golem, Hobbit, Monster, Ogre, Robot, Vampire, and Werewolf.

Fantasy roles like Alchemist, Assassin, Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Knight, Ninja, Outlaw, Pirate, Ranger, Samurai, Slayer, and Wizard.

Occupations like Actor, Archeologist, Astronaut, Athlete, Bounty Hunter, Boxer, Burglar, Chef, Con Artist, Cowboy, Detective, Doctor, Engineer, Gambler, Gangster, Hacker, Hermit, Inventor, Musician, Pilot, Priest, Professor, Reporter, Scientist, Smuggler, Soldier, Spy, Student, and Stuntman.

Even a couple of superheroes like Speedster and Vigilante!

Yep, you can play a Ghost. You don’t take damage unless its from a holy source or some special sci-fi ecto-gadget. But you also can’t pick things up. So there’s that.

Each of the adventures adds some more Roles (or recommends some old ones)!

Spirits of Manhattan adds Ghost, Demonologist, Doctor, Engineer, Exorcist, Inventor, Priest, Professor, Scientist, and Student.

Raiders of the Cutty Sark adds Botanist, Double-Agent, Socialite, and Witch.

Strange Science adds Brain, Cheerleader, Outsider, Protector, Radio Presenter, and Tycoon.

Beam Me Up adds Captain, Chief Engineer, Comms, Hologram, Gunner, Counsellor, and Pilot.

ACE! is a pretty fast, light game. If you played 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, you'll see the influence immediately.

Stats! The AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE! is a d6 dice pool system*. You have four Stats -- Smarts, Moves, Style, and Brawn. If you have a Moves score of 3, you roll three six-sided dice when you try to jump a motorcycle over a ravine. If you roll high enough, you succeed. It's pretty simple!

Focuses! For each Stat you also have a Focus. For Smarts it might be a science, or chess, or history. For Style it might be bluffing, singing, or fashion, and for Brawn it might be brawling or swimming. You can choose from plenty of focuses. Foci. Focuses. Whatever.  Anyway, if the thing you're trying to do relates to a Focus, you get to roll an extra two dice.

Trait! You choose a trait, like Angry or Cheerful or Rebellious or Despondent. This, combined with your Role, makes you a Gullible Vampire, a Brave Turtle, or a Squeamish Scientist.

Karma! Finally, you have a bunch of Karma points. These can be spent for extra dice or to absorb damage from attacks, and they're recovered by using your trait.

*Fun fact -- did you know that 1986's Ghostbusters RPG, by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford, was the first ever dice pool RPG? Also Sandy Petersen has written an awesome foreword for the AWFULLY CHEERFUL ENGINE!

What, I hear you ask, is a CALAMITY DIE?

The Calamity Die is how you find out that your friends really aren't your friends. You see, when you make a roll, one of those dice is a different color, and is called the Calamity Die. And if your roll fails, and also the Calamity Die rolls a 1, your so-called 'friends' decide what happens to you. It won't kill you or anything, but...

Well, we'll leave that thought with you.

                             Nooooo! And it was all going so well!

Kickstarter campaign ends: Fri, June 18 2021 10:00 PM BST

Website: [Awfully Cheerful Engine] [EN Publishing] [facebook] [twitter]

[jackiekashian]

Dork Forest 2011-2020 Cheat Sheet

The votes are in for 2020! 

This is a list of Episode Numbers - Guest Name - Dorkdom.  I take votes for faves of the year and then add a couple for variety of topics that I really thought were fun. ALL THE EPS have something for someone and are great but here is a starter list if you’re thinking to start listening to TDF and are not a numerologist completest.

Note: show’s been going since 2006 but I’ve only been surveying since 2011.  The show is on all the platforms. Pandora, Spotify, YouTube. Start here if you like: www.dorkforest.com . Standup info and other podcast is at www.jackiekashian.com

2020 TDF EP 562 - Guy Branum - Mitford Sisters TDF EP 568 - Maria Bamford - Canadian Reality Shows TDF EP 599 - Jen Kirkman - Hallmark Christmas Movies TDF EP 565 - Darla Kashian – COOKING TDF EP 598 - Russ Kashian - Hallmark Christmas Movies TDF EP 549 - Tig Notaro – Veganism TDF EP 581 - Jenny Yang - Comfort Food TDF EP 591 - Amber Preston - Church Cookbooks TDF EP 574 - Ron Funches - Call of Duty and Animal Crossing TDF EP 577 - Barbara Holiday - Escape Rooms TDF EP 558 - Sarah Mowrey - Fleetwood Mac TDF EP566 - Matt Kirshen/Myq Kaplan - Advice Columns  TDF EP 595 - Kristin Key - Mad Libs TDF EP 576 - Robert Jenkins - Guns and Safety TDF EP 588 - Sofiya Alexandra - Wheel of Time books TDF EP 570- Jim Woster – Columbo TDF EP 573 - Robert Hurt - Babylon 5  TDF EP 550 - Danielle Perez - Mariah Carey TDF EP 583 - Dar Vendegna  - PIckleball  TDF SPOILER 3 - Andy & Jackie - Rise of Skywalker 

 2019 TDF EP 523 Lydia Popovich Dolly Parton TDF EP 511 Auggie Smith Dead Comedians TDF EP 535 Christopher Titus Prince TDF EP 530 Phil Kashian Hitchhiking TDF EP 532 Brian Posehn Heavy Metal TDF EP 549 Tig Notaro Veganism SP1 Endgame Spoiler Dork Out TDF EP 503 Wynter Spears Public Restrooms TDF EP 524 Sara Benincasa Frederick Law Olmstead TDF EP 529 Caitlin Gill Murder She Wrote TDF EP 545 Mary Becquet Chinese Ghosts Vampires TDF EP 525 Matt Oswalt Taking Pictures TDF EP 510 Gary Anthony Williams Birds TDF EP 531 Robert Hurt DS9 TDF EP 547 Thom Tran The Flash TDF EP 540 Brian Jacobovitz Cthulu RPGs TDF EP 515 Judith Stephen CosPlay TDF EP 528 Justin Hermann Heroscape TDF EP 538 Dave Ross Zelda and LINK TDF EP 544 Sharon Houston Netflix British Reality Shows TDF EP 505 Kat Burdick Next Generation TDF EP 509 Michelle Biloon NYT Crossowords

2018  TDF EP 487 Amy Miller - Dolly Parton TDF EP 471 Emma Arnold - BEES TDF EP 499 - Erin Foley - Hallmark Christmas Movies TDF EP 481 - Cheryl Jones - Maritime History TDF EP 471 - Andy Ashcraft - GenCon TDF EP 482 - Nato Green - Union Organizing TDF EP 473 - Tamra Brown - Tiki Bars TDF EP 493 - Nina Manni - Air and Hotel Points TDF EP 446 - Carlos Delgado - Great British Bakeoff TDF EP 495 - Alice Wetterlund - Sharks TDF EP 487 - Mark Waid - Superman TDF EP 454 - Open Mike Eagle - Wrestling  TDF EP 457 - Jean Grea - Ikea  TDF EP 447 - Gariana Abeyta - All Genres have Great Movies

2017 TDF EP 390 - Phil Kashian - LOTR and MY BROTHER TDF EP 422 - Steve Agee  - John Hughes Movies. Weird Science TDF EP 426 - Sara Schaefer - Cross Stitch  TDF EP 431 - Jenny Jaffe - Planners. Calendars. Stickers. All the things. TDF EP 405 - Rebecca Sugar - Musicals  TDF EP 438 - Jen Briney - freaking CONGRESS TDF EP 423 - Karen Rontowski - Moth Man TDF EP 401 - Jason Hatrick - Scuba diving  TDF EP 429 - Kyle Clark - Halloween Theme Parks TDF EP 417 - Nat Towsen - Speed Racer TDF EP 402 - Tyler Hinman - Escape Rooms TDF EP 428 - Solomon Georgio - Black Sitcoms TDF EP 403 - Hal Lublin - Saturday Night Live TDF EP 408 - Al Madrigal - Jack Reacher NOVELS TDF EP 435 - Wyatt Gray - HP Lovecraft TDF EP 442 - Doug Stanhope - getting naked and Leisure Suits TDF EP 404 - Julie Dixson Jackson - Geneology  TDF EP 427 - Lisa Allard – Quilting

2016 TDF EP 336 Jim Stewart Allen - Oregon Trail  TDF EP 383 Jenny Chalikian – Xena TDF EP 387 Caitlin Gill - Roald Dahl  TDF EP 358 Wil Anderson - Cricket TDF EP 359 Heather Simmons - Alice in Wonderland. TDF EP 340 Barbara Holm - Buffy the Vampire Slayer TDF EP 380 Beverly D’Angelo - things that Change your Life - Music, Places TDF EP 366 Karen Rontowski - Tarot Cards TDF EP 373 Stu Goldsmith - Boardgames with a STORY  TDF EP 364 Maria Bamford LIVE at JFL Montreal (Bandcamp)  2016 I really liked: TDF EP 385 Jenny Zigrino - Authentic Historical Costuming  TDF EP 347 Riley Silverman - The Potato. Mostly Frozen.  TDF EP 355 Ivan Van Norman/Andy Ashcraft - Zombies & pen/paper games TDF EP 341 Cathy Ladman - Knitting  TDF EP 349 Moon Zappa - The BIG questions TDF EP 368 Martha Kelly - Law and Order SVU TDF EP 367 Phil Johnson - Pirates TDF EP 362 Rory Scovel - Golf (quietly clap) TDF EP 339 Sovereign Syre - Spanish Invasion of Florida.  TDF EP 348 Dash Kwiatkowski - Superman TDF EP 338 TJ Chambers - Chess TDF EP 379 Michelle Thaller – SPACE! LIVE DC Drafthouse (Bandcamp)

2015 TDF EP 303 Matt Saxe – all Vice Presidents. TDF EP 298 Jason Klamm – Vice Presidents and Lego! TDF EP 312 Greg Proops at LA Podfest – 70s Movies TDF EP 320 Wil Wheaton – BEER and Boardgames TDF EP 287 Michelle McNamara – Robert Durst and more True Crime TDF EP 294 Retta – Purses. Handbags TDF EP 323 Chez Amanda – Xfiles. Finally. TDF EP 310 David Koechner – History dork! TDF EP 268 Tammy Pescatelli – Thrift stores and Vampires TDF EP 279 Brian Kiley – Presidential Biographic Minutia TDF EP 285 Ian Abramson – McDonald’s Land TDF EP 316 Breanna Conley – Old time Photo Booth collecting 2015 another 12 that I picked: TDF EP 329 Robert Hurt – Space Ships TDF EP 321 Ryan Stout – Injustice. AS USUAL. TDF EP 324 Suzy Soro – Ghosts. TDF EP 313 Danielle Radford – great “bad” movies TDF EP 305 Murray Valeriano & Monty Franklin – Surfin. TDF EP 269 Christian Brown, Roselle Hurley and Andy Ashcraft - LARPing TDF EP 271 Bridget Everett - Barry Manilow, Richard Simmons & Rudy TDF EP 273 Sean Crespo – DUNE TDF EP 284 Brian Upton - history and aesthetics of gaming TDF EP 293 Live at Bridgetown Branum, Kilgariff and Preston (Bandcamp) TDF EP 300 Amy Shira Teitel – SPACE TDF EP 325 Gail Carriger Live in SF – Anglophile. (Bandcamp)

2014 TDF EP 259 – Laraine Newman - Dubstep TDF EP 245 – Brittnee Braun - Cosplay TDF EP 249 – Brian Regan – Line Mentality TDF EP 215 – Robert Hack – Doctor Who TDF EP 264 – Joseph Scrimshaw – Star War Prequels TDF EP 227 – Emily Gordon – Breakfast around the world TDF EP 239 – Rhea Butcher – Back to the Future Movies TDF EP 260 – Jimmy Pardo – Chicago (the band) TDF EP210 – Corey Olsen – Tolkien TDF EP 258 – Emily Heller – ESM & HS Debate

2013 TDF EP 177 - Greg Proops - Ancient History TDF EP 172 – Janeane/Bamford - Beading/SuzeOrman TDF EP198 – Live Podfest w Kilgariff/Bamford/Anthony/Valeriano - Salad TDF EP 189 – Moshe Kasher - Religion TDF EP 199 – Michelle McNamara - True Crime TDF EP 203 – Ryan Stout - Traffic Court

TDF EP 150 – Gina Yashere - Ghosts/Elevators TDF EP 151 – Craig Shoemaker - Wizard of Oz TDF EP 207 –  Matt Mira - James Bond TDF EP 167 – David Huntsberger - Horses TDF EP 200 –  Andy Peters/Mike Schmidt - Wrestling TDF EP 190 –  Cameron Esposito - Lesbians TDF EP 202 –  Matt Weinhold/Dana Gould/ Shawn Sheridan - Halloween

2012 TDF EP 129 – Live with Michelle McNamara (True Crime) TDF EP 111 – Jim Gaffigan (obscure news personality) TDF EP 117 – Corey Olsen (TolkienProf) TDF EP 142 – Live with Retta, Rajskub, Kilmartin and Scovel TDF EP 94 – Mary Jo Pehl (reading and writing and more reading) TDF EP 133 – Kira Soltonovich (Korean Spas) TDF EP 113 – Jesse Schell and Andy Ashcraft (oh. Video Games) TDF EP 98 – Henry Phillips and Mike Phirman (Guitar Comedy and Music) TDF EP 139 – Joel Hodgson (ventriloquism) TDF EP 93 – Live with Ernie Cline (the 80s and Ready Player One) TDF EP 102 – Dan Telfer (Dinosaurs and science in general) TDF EP 108 – Al Madrigal (Sales and Cartoons) TDF EP 148 – Guy Branum - Canada TDF EP 95 – Live with Kevin Eastman (ninja turtles) TDF EP 97 – Rose Abdoo and John Matta (tiny tiny ART! And The Thing) TDF EP 99 – Asterios Kokkinos (Pokemon) TDF EP 100 – PF Wilson – (history of the various football leagues)  TDF EP 103 – Live with Andy Kindler (“indie” comic books) TDF EP 104 – Merrill Markoe (I feel like we talked dogs mostly)  TDF EP 110 – Patrick Brady (animation)   TDF EP 120 – Erin Foley (NY Giants) TDF EP 121 – Tom Franck (Art) TDF EP 130 – Lois McMaster Bujold (I dork out AT her. She talks writing) TDF EP 138 – Michael Everson (coding fonts for obscure languages)

2011 # 55 Greg Proops – Making Baseball interesting            # 67 Hardwick/Palascak – Harry Potter                       # 37 Karen Kilgariff  - Sandra Bullock                          # 16 Dana Gould – Planet of the Apes                         # 48 Aisha Tyler – girl on girl fandom                          # 24 Jen Kirkman/ Karen Rontowksi – ghosts/UFO                 # 49 Dana/James - HOLLYWOOD                                # 40 April/Vargus – TRIP TO MIDDLE EAST                                                   # 3 Madigan/Kilmartin – the KENNEDY’S  #42 Maile Flanagan/Yuri Lowenthal - Animation #50 Michelle McNamara – True Crime #30 Ed Brubaker / Kermet Apio – Comics #14 Thrilling Adventure Hour – so many things Origin Story – #69 Andy Origin Story - #71 Maria #73 Rich Sommer – Mad Men and Boardgames #77 Matt Weinhold/Ken Daly – Horror Movies #82 Chad Daniels/David Huntsberger – just hilarious #80 Bengt Washburn – Fine art #51 Andrew Solmssen - IT #28 Eric Drysdale - VIEWMASTER #58 Bees – uh, BEES #63 Perfume – and, PERFUME #44 Jim Coughlin – A4 Paper #91 Trains!    

NOTE Premium eps w/o iTunes:  Here’s how to download albums from Bandcamp:

1.    Download the .zip file from Bandcamp. 2.    Unzip the file to your Music folder. 3.    Rescan your Music folder. 4.    Open the music app and listen to your tunes.

[ancientstone]

Fic Rec List (A Tag Game!)

I was tagged by @iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid - Thank you!!

Rules: Post links (Ao3, ff.net, etc.); specify fandom/pairing/etc; don’t answer the same fic twice - spread the appreciation; tag other people; you don’t have to answer all the questions, but leave them in the list so the next person can answer if they want.

Fandoms mentioned are: Transformers, The Umbrella Academy, M*A*S*H, Over The Garden Wall, TMNT, Good Omens, Sherlock, Ducktales (2017)

(I’m going to cheat a little and ignore the *this month* parts because we’re only 2 days into 2020!)

1. Favourite complete fic you’ve read this month (multiple chapters/parts):

Transformers: Auf Nimmerwiedersehen by @morethanmeetstheass I love everything about this story (and series) and you know a fic is good when all you want to do is shake some brain cells into the characters *side eyes Blitzwing and Ratchet*. I often come back and reread this!

2. Favourite complete fic you’ve read this month (one-shot):

The Umbrella Academy: little white lies by @in-tua-deep because I adore everything they write and this one made my entire week when it was published! Just...A* Five analysis! Brilliant writing!! Great pacing!!! I love all of it! Also Klaus deserves extra kudos for being The Best sibling to his complex gremlin of a brother

3. Favourite WIP you’ve read this month:

The Umbrella Academy: If That’s Love by cylikkious Just...oof. So much oof. Major oof. Amazing character and relationship analysis between Five and Dolores and a take on them which you don’t see all that often. It’s simply *chefs kiss* Also drunk Five is always fun to read (and by fun I mean gut-wrenching!)

4. One fic/series you’ve read which you keep coming back to again and again:

Sherlock: The Elephant In The Room by flawedamythyst This is the fist fic I ever bookmarked back in 2013 and it feels like it only gets better each time I revisit it. Super writing, great at capturing the characters, and a good mix of sweet, tender moments and pure, painful angst!

5. Most underrated fic you’ve read this year:

M*A*S*H: The Very Model by the_aleator Yep, I cried when reading this. The pain. The angst. The tears. It just hits you right where it hurts and OW be prepared to be thinking about it for the rest of the day! Great writing and pacing as well!

6. Most underrated fic you’ve read EVER:

Over The Garden Wall: Secret Santa by skimmingthesurface Basically all of their otgw fics are awesome, but this one? Amazing, spectacular, incredibly winter-y and Christmas-y and festive! I love how they write Greg, and his relationship with his brother as well as Sara and all of Wirt’s other friends.

7. Favourite whump/angst fic of the year:

The Umbrella Academy: And Then There Was Five by maremote Five and Klaus running a plant shop? It’s more painful then you’d think! I love the way they write the brothers, and the brothers’ relationship with the plants, and all the pent up emotions Five has throughout. Another fic I’ve constantly come back to!

8. Favourite hurt/comfort fic of the year:

The Umbrella Academy: The Moons Laughs by @ladyorigami Me?? Crying constantly over this fic?? Nope, it’s just people cutting onions I don’t know what you’re talking about. I certainly don’t think about this fic every night, and how much Five needs a hug. Nope. Not me. Must be someone else.

9. Favourite fluff fic of the year:

Ducktales (2017): Peace and Quiet by DrummerGirl231 It wouldn’t be a fluff fic without some feels, but Scrooge is the best in this and I love him with his tiny niece and nephew. I recommend all of DrummerGirl’s Ducktales fics, because they’re excellently written and deserve to be swamped with kudos!

10. Favourite gen fic of the year:

TMNT: Hanging By A Turtle by @camsthisky Soft turtle bros? Check. Brotherly moments? Check. Hurt/comfort? Check. This fic has everything I’d ever want! I love Donnie’s p.o.v. and the way the feels. just. keep. hitting. It’s perfect, and I’ve read it so many times now that I’ve lost count!

11. Favourite smut fic of the year:

Nope, not my thing!

12. Favourite fix-it fic of the year/ever:

The Umbrella Academy: Contagious Hope by @tripleforte This will never not make me sad and the ending’s so bittersweet but that’s exactly how I like my fics so I’m actually happy through the tears! I love the alternative lives of the siblings, and how Five just?? Plonks down in the middle of all of it?? Like come on guys let’s become a family?? Perfect!

13. Favourite crack-fic fic of the year:

I searched around with the ‘tags to include’ bar on my bookmarks and according to that no fics I bookmarked this year had that tag, so I’ll leave this one be

14. Favourite sick-fic this year:

The Umbrella Academy: Get Me Out Of My Head by UnrememberedSkies Poor Five suffers in this fic and I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to hug a non-existent person more? Also give them some medicine. And a blanket. And a pillow. This fic deserves more love and I think it’s been pretty overlooked, so please check this one out because it 100% deserves it!

15. Favourite kid-fic this year:

The Umbrella Academy: Something Domestic by @gentlemenpaws Teeny, tiny, adorable Five being cared for by a Who-Let-Me-Care-For-An-Infant Klaus? I’m in. Klaus’ panic is so sweet and he just?? Wants to do his best?? And also has several heart attacks because of Five’s powers?? Poor guy. I’ve read this enough to know parts from memory!

16. Fic this year which you didn’t expect to love as much as you do: 

The Umbrella Academy: It Comes and Goes (In Waves) by hujwernoo Not to say I thought I wouldn’t like it, but going into this I didn’t realise how much I would adore this series. It’s so amazing and I have to pace myself reading it otherwise I start skipping lines in an effort to read it all at once. if you haven’t already checked it out, do!

17. Fic which convinced you to ship a pairing:

Guardians of the Galaxy: Blue on White by @bluesocksandfluff I honestly can’t remember when about I boarded the Yondu/Kraglin train, but I’m pretty sure it started with this fic! The hurt/comfort is A* and small Peter is everything, and Yondu is a grumpy grump to can’t admit he has a heart and I love him for it! This is another fic I’ve read to the point of remembering lines!

18. Favourite AU you’ve read this year:

The Umbrella Academy: the ballad of but first, coffee by deerie I was loving this fic anyway as I was reading it but what completely sold me was how they did Grace, and Five’s interactions with her. Just...Don’t mind me, crying in the corner because FEELS HAPPENED. Also Klaus being part of a knitting group? 10/10 if it doesn’t happen in season 2 I’ll riot

19. Longest fic/series you’ve read this year:

Good Omens: Inverse Omens by @amuseoffyre This series is so sweet and sad and lovely and painful and heartwarming and goddamn it Aziraphale sort out your panicking boyfriend!! I look forward to every update, and I love all the little historical moments and tidbits of information! Also the author updates super fast and I need to know what writing deity they made a sacrifice to and if that deity will accept a can of Dr Pepper and Walker’s crisps because that’s all I’ve got

20. The last fic you’ve read:

The Umbrella Academy: a life still permanent by @iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid By complete coincidence I am halfway through rereading this fic and I’m kicking myself for forgetting how goddamn good it is. I adore Claire and anyone who lays a finger on her head will face my wrath, and Allison’s siblings being awesome aunts and uncles? Yeeeeeeessss!!

21. Wildcard fic you haven’t mentioned but deserves a shout-out + why:

The Umbrella Academy: Beyond the Fire by DenDragon14 Soft Luther? Five dealing with his trauma? A setting we haven’t seen before with these characters? Klaus taking a picture he totally won’t use for blackmail later? Yep, this is my kind of fic! It’s just SO. SOFT.

Tagging: As long as you want to, all the authors I mentioned!!

[a-light-for-the-lost]

Fun fact : at some point before any of the Anna comics came out and revealed her name & personality, I had started writing something for an AU that I never touched again 

The idea was “everything’s the same except Anna & her father’s roles are reversed”

And it would actually change a lot of things ‘cause the brothers (and Beatrice) would have been more willing to trust her than the Woodsman, ‘cause she doesn’t look as intimidating. So the entire first episode would be over pretty quickly ‘cause Wirt wouldn’t have hesitated as long to ask Anna for help, which means maybe Beatrice wouldn’t have had time to talk to the boys, which means Greg wouldn’t have had time to stick candy on the turtle, which means no dog beast and no destruction of the mill or oil reserves. So Anna wouldn’t have been as desperate to find more oil since she would still have plenty of it.

Though, I dunno if the Woodsman would have stayed put like Anna did in canon. Maybe he would have left to go looking for her and then died some time later. Who knows.

[ladybender]

wafl new tracks

Shut In mentioned a few songs in her last reply, and i thought i'd write about them and procrastinate thinking about the chapter for a little longer lol

@spaceacepearl @barelyanyswag

Youth - Daughter 

(Shut In confirmed that this is indeed in her WAFL playlist! how amazing, and how incredibly tragic, to have this confirmation)

And if you're in love, then you are the lucky one 'Cause most of us are bitter over someone Setting fire to our insides for fun To distract our hearts from ever missing them But I'm forever missing him

Still - Daughter

("for the disintegration of Leela and Lars and the awkward place Fry and Leela find themselves in at the start of the fic." welp, i'm gonna go lay down now)

Still with feet touching Still with eyes meeting Still our hands match Still with hearts beating

Touch - Daughter

(Shut in just said "for Leela", but i keep thinking about Leela pregnant for some reason.)

steal me away with your eyes and with your mouth and just take me back to a room in your house and stare at me with the lights out

All This Time - OneRepublic

(apparently this one will be very important! she said "in a few chapters you'll understand why I was keeping that one up my sleeve. Haha." 👀👀👀!! Also after this, i'm all the more sure something is happening on xmas/new years eve. this song just has that christmassy feel to it, just like River)

All this time We were waiting for each other All this time I was waiting for you

This Year's Love - David Gray

("Leela and Lars, when they first met. We've never actually seen this, but I have a lot of their early relationship in my head. Maybe it'll show up as a side fic someday." 👀👀👀 I'd literally pay to read that!!!)

This year's love had better last Heaven knows it's high time I've been waiting on my own too long And when ya hold me like you do It feels so right oh now

Lie To Me - Greg Laswell 

("early Fry and Leela". another great track for who, like me, loves the affair part of the story)

Go ahead and lie to me, write I love you" while I sleep And hide it for another day to find

I Found - Amber Run 

("Fry and Leela. Leela, especially." this one had me on the floor, not gonna lie)

I found love where it wasn't supposed to be right in front of me Oh, talk some sense to me

The One I Love - David Gray

("Lars. That bookends their relationship." ouch) 

We can twist and shout Do the turtle dove And you're the one I love You're the one I love The one I love

The One I Love, Greg Laswell 

("Fry." how cool is it that Lars and Fry have two songs with the same name for each of them, but the songs have two very separeted mood and meaning, and idk but i'm sad)

And it'll take a flight to figure out where I'm gonna finally land and in the time it takes for me get there I may want to start again

Somebody - Rhodes

(she didn't say anything about this one, but i suspect it is about Lars 😔)

But I don't know who you are I don't know who you are I am not the same anymore Maybe I've gone too far

Taken - Young Summer

(i don't know but i feel like this is about Fry and Leela)

Some things are made yeah they're made To never separate Oh then you're face to face with it You don't hesitate Which one of us will look away

Time, Mikky Ekko 

(i think this is about Fry and Leela, from Fry's side, right where we have him right now, almost home and high as a kite lol, poor dude tho)

Oh, time doesn't love you anymore but I'm still knocking at your door

[queenallura]

Form Podcast Transcript - Ep. 2

Hosted by Kyle Anderson from Nerdist

Guests: Mitch Iverson (writer), Christine Bian (design supervisor), and Tim Hedrick (story editor)

Episode 1x02 “Some Assembly Required”

Kyle Anderson (KA): Hello everyone. Welcome back to the second episode of Form Podcast.. This is the official Voltron commentary podcast. My name is Kyle Anderson and today we’re going to be doing a commentary of season 1, episode 2 “Some Assembly Required.” And I’m here with three people who helped to make the show, and they can introduce themselves right now.

Mitch Iverson (MI): Hi, I’m Mitch Iverson. I’m a writer on the show.

Christine Bian (CB): Hi, I’m Christine Bian, and I am the prop and background design supervisor.

Tim Hedrick (TH): I’m Tim Hedrick, I’m the head writer.

CB: Woo woo!

KA: Welcome! And everyone at home, make sure that your Netflix episode is all queued up to all zeroes because we’re gonna hit play when I say “play” again, the third time. Three, two, one, play. We did it.

TH: Netflix. Right guys?

CB: *hums the theme song*

KA: It’s an original series.

TH: What a great company.

[someone makes an explosion sound]

MI: Can we just do sound effects?

KA: Yeah, sure! It’s your show.

TH: Here’s some of the fantastic lions that Christine designed.

CB: Oh shucks Tim, thanks.

TH: When you look at them, do you think, “These are my kids.” They’re on the screen, and they’re kinda looking at me, like, “Mommy’s here.”

CB: Uh, yeah. I get a little bit of that.

MI: Do you worry about how much college is going to cost one day.

CB: Yeah totally. And you know, have they eaten today, you know? I think especially the first time we saw them on screen, you know, for these first couple episodes, I remember I was like “oh my gosh, it’s real now.”

MI: Well you did a fantastic job.

CB: Oh you guys. Thank you.

TH: Hunk, still in his pajamas.

CB: Shiro would be working out before everybody else is up.

TH: I love that my name comes up next to Lance, who’s sleeping, like yes, perfect. That’s where I want to be.

KA: Some of the paladins didn’t even bother putting on pajamas. They’re just like, “I’m going to sleep in my clothes.”

CB: Yeah, I think it speaks a lot to Hunk’s character that even though it was the first night or second night, he’s like, “I gotta be comfy.”

MI: As a guy who has fluctuated from bigger weights to smaller weights every now and then, we you get a little bigger you gotta get some breathing material.

CB: Even when you’re not bigger, I feel like big pajamas, that’s the way to go. For flights over a couple of hours, I actually bring pajamas onto the plane and I change into them, because I’m like, I’m not going to sit here all uncomfortably for, you know.

MI: You know, this is something I think the fans would like-

KA: How do people fly.

TH: The travel habits of Christine Bian.

MI: -is how often Hunk moments come from within the creative staff. Somebody one time said, “Who would talk about food that much?” And it was like, “Me and Christine.”

CB: When I saw you come in here, I was like, with the three of us, is this just going to devolve into a discussion about snacks and ham?

MI: Hopefully. He did have a meat thermometer.

KA: That’s true.

CB: Ooh right here! I want to talk about the blue lion slippers, the infamous blue lion slippers. So I know some people were wondering where the slippers came from, because yes technically this is only their second night in the castle ship. But I think all three of us agree that they were made when the lions were originally made. So they were passed down from paladin to paladin and they never get stinky or anything because they’re magical Altean slippers.

TH: They have some sort of a magical fungus guard on them that Alfor created.

CB: Yep. And every time you put your foot in, it’s like the first time. You know? So all the fuzz is still all-

TH: I thought you were going to say every time you put your foot in it makes little growls like “rrr.”

CB: It does that too.

MI: Do they purr and massage your feet?

TH: Oh man.

CB: Uh yes, absolutely.

TH: Alfor, you genius.

CB: And they’re gel cooled or heated, to the perfect temperature.

TH: And the thing about Altean alchemy is even Alfor didn’t know everything that the slippers did. And they also conform to the feet of the paladins themselves.

CB: Absolutely. Like if you’ve got wide feet or whatever. In some ways the slippers are even more of a technological achievement than the lions.

MI: Little know fact, Lance had flat feet but they helped rebuild his arch.

KA: Oh wow!

CB: Oh Mitch, I didn’t know that!

CB: For this sequence [when the paladins are going to their lions from the bridge], Joaquim and Lauren had some specific [ideas]. They wanted to put in stuff from the original sequence like the zipline, and when they drop into their shuttles and stuff.

[silence]

KA: That’s really the problem, we just get sucked into these episodes and just start watching them.

[silence]

KA: We probably ought to say something so that people aren’t just listening to dead air.

TH: I think that when were were talking about the ziplines early on, Hunk falling of the zipline was inspired by me saying, “So you gotta hang off of that zipline all the way down?” I’m sure that I would fall off almost immediately. How long do they slide down that thing? It seems like a really long way.

MI: I get sweaty hands, which is embarrassing but truth.

TH: To be hanging onto that, for sure I’d fall off that slide.

CB: I couldn’t even do the monkey bars. I wouldn’t even try.

KA: It’s such a good sequence it’s setting up, like they made it work once but that doesn’t mean they’re great enough to do it again.

TH: It all comes together at the end of that first three episode run [1x01] where they magically form Voltron right when they have to, because that’s the wonder of Voltron, but now it’s like without that extra adrenaline rush they just don’t do it. And then we were just trying to think of like, how would you do that? If you were trying to form Voltron. Would you just stack up?

CB: That adrenaline thing is totally true.

MI: I know I’m not able to form Voltron in real life unless the heart’s pumping.

CB: As a kid once, I was running away scared from my neighbor’s dog one time and I jumped over my fence to get away from him. Once he went away I couldn’t get back over. It was the fear that driving me over the first time and then I couldn’t get back.

TH: And you were arrested for trespassing.

MI: “No, there was a dog, I swear!”

CB: To circle back around, to the Let’s Voltron podcast. Greg Tyler did do a really good blog post about the inner workings, he did like a whole breakdown of how the paladins get from the castleship bridge to the lions in the hangar.

MI: Nice.

KA: It’s like they have those big Star Trek maps of like here’s where are the lifts are or whatever-

CB: I’m just impressed that somebody that’s not on our team would take the time and effort to actually figure it out, and I’m glad it makes some sort of sense.

KA: Get one of those big cross section maps of the ship. That would be cool.

CB: Oh yeah, totally! Put it on t-shirts and whatnot.

MI: I used to always buy those cross section Star Wars or Star Trek books.

KA: Absolutely.

MI: Oh, here’s the MIllenium Falcon!

CB: I loved- like the blueprint books! Oh, I still love those. In fact I think I have that book you’re talking about.

KA: I’m sure you do. But that’s kinda like, your job.

TH: That’s work.

CB: I can write it off!

KA: So this is the second episode of this podcast. I need to task all of you, since this is your first episode on the podcast; what is your favorite lion and why?

CB: I’ll go first, give you guys some time to think about it. Mine is the Blue Lion. And the only reason for that is because he’s the first lion that we designed and built in 3D. And so that was like our learning lion; we were able to troubleshoot a lot of stuff while we were developing him. I think out of all the lions, we spent the most time with him, kinda making him out of scratch, so I’ll never forget that.

TH: How much different is the Blue Lion from the other lions, and what are the subtle differences that perhaps people are not going to pick up on?

CB: Oh well, Tim, I’m glad you asked. The leg lions are stockier, more solid in build. And then the arm lions are kinda more sleek and agile. And the black lion is kinda the most robust one since he’s the centerpiece. But I do also really like the Yellow Lion because I like his teeth. He’s got little construction digger teeth.

TH: Underbite.

CB: Underbite, yeah. But what about you guys?

TH: Well I was going to say the Yellow Lion because I think I would like to run into things with my lion. That would be a lot of fun. And he’s got the big paws that come out later and that’s pretty cool.

CB: And he’s got a big turtle shell booster shield thing, so yeah you can take a lot of damage in that lion. Go off roading with him.

MI: I’m going to go with Green because of invisibility.

KA: That’s a good one.

MI: It’s a pretty powerful tool, as a person who likes to avoid confrontation as much as possible. And then also to shoot vines at things. That’s kind of a very appropriate lion for me.

TH: I just want to point out that the yelmors are mentioned in here.

CB: Oh my gosh, the yelmors.

TH: And I’m going to go ahead and just say, keep an eye out for yelmors, fans. That’s just something-

KA: Oh?

CB: What is it that yelmors... do?

TH: You’ll find out. I guess I would just say, Christine, keep watching the show.

CB: Oh, right? What are those Yelmors famous for?

TH: Well they’re linked at the ears. They work together. They feed each other.

CB: Oh that’s right. [giggles]

MI: It’s too bad that you guys can’t see on this podcast, but we’re also linked at the ears right now.

CB: It’s true.

TH: And we do feed each other.

TH: I like the Coran-Allura dynamic in the show. Allura becomes this super cheerful drill sergeant and has the ship actively trying to kill them. And then Coran says, “Oh, yeah you probably can’t form Voltron because you haven’t been practicing for hundreds of years like the original paladins, and I just forgot to mention that.” And then brings them into this training- the whole training ground thing I think is really cool. The invisible maze. This is a cool part of the ship. One of the fun things about the castle ship is that it’s so huge, and I just imagine there are just hundreds of places we have never gone to yet.

CB: Oh yeah totally.

TH: There are multiple decks that we never get to see.

CB: One think I like about Altean technology/Altean magic, it’s a very convenient technology. So kinda whatever-

TH: Except the ziplines. They never got around to fixing that.

CB: It’s to build the paladins’ upper arm strength, Tim. You see, it’s all cleverly built into their exercise regime.

TH: Makes sense.

MI: Little known fact, those paladins, I mean the lions are hard to maneuver. Gotta get their upper arm strength strong.

KA: In later season they don’t use the ziplines any more, so they’re graduated. They’re strong enough now.

CB: Precisely.

[silence]

CB: This [the maze scene] is a really cute sequence.

KA: I like the idea of them just flying around like, this is fun I guess.

CB: One thing we really wanted our 3D models to be able to do was, because sometimes when you are compositing a 3D element into an otherwise 2D scene, the line width and line quality can really suffer from close up shots to far away shots. So that’s something that the hub team here at Dreamworks was able to develop just for our show, which is the ability to scale the lines when the lions come up close to the camera. Well, the lions and the other 3D assets. And when they recede into the camera, there’s a slider so that we can kinda manually control the line weight. Because sometimes in a 2D show with some 3D elements in it, the 3D elements will stick out because the line and the shading doesn’t match up no matter how compositing you do. So I think we see that really well here in the first episode. We see nice line width here, and then when we see the butts of the lions sticking out of the sand dunes, the lines kinda disappear out.

TH: So the lions are in 3D, the castle’s in 3D.

CB: Correct.

TH: What are the other 3D things we see in the show? We’ve got the robeasts?

CB: Yep, definitely the robeasts.

TH: All the Galra ships.

CB: Some of the Galra ships. The fight with the Galra fighter is in 3D as well as the cruisers that Sendak and his armies use.

TH: Right, those are awesome.

MI: The speeders are 3D too right?

CB: Correct, the speeders are 3D. We tried to design as many ships as we can within our budget in 3D. It’s a lot easier to have a pre-built 3D ship rather than trying to draw and turn it, all these different angles in 2D. We tried to get those big vehicles and stuff done when we can.

TH: Keith thinking about a farmhouse. Maybe he wants to be a farmer?

CB: Spam musubi and coconut shrimp.

MI: Me and Hunk are thinking about the same thing right now.

TH: What Christine was thinking of.

KA: You get just a little glimpse of what Pidge is thinking of, and it looks like a family photo but it was too fast, we couldn’t-

TH: Right.

KA: Because at this point we don’t know the secret of Pidge yet.

CB. Right, yes.

KA: We do know the secret of NIMH, but not Pidge.

TH: “Everyone has to be able to look in everyone’s head holes.” That’s one of my favorites. Yeah but this is a fun little Pidge character beat in this episode. She’s kinda holding back their ability to form Voltron because she’s got a secret that she won’t let the others know about. And everyone thinks that she’s her brother in that picture, and that’s her girlfriend.

KA: So she’s the youngest one, you know.

TH: I know. I feel like this is a really clever ruse by Pidge that she kinda plays into that. And everyone’s like, “Oh, now I feel very sorry for Pidge.” “I’m just tired.” She’s not tired. She’s not tired at all. You saw what happened at the beginning of the show, she was up working! She wasn’t sleeping.

CB: She wasn’t even in her bedroom.

TH: I think PIdge might not sleep. Just throwing that out there. I’ve never seen her sleep.

CB: Maybe she sleeps with her eyes open.

MI: What if she’s like, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.

TH: Yes, that’s what it is.

MI: I’ll sleep when I find my family.

KA: These training robots are super cool looking.

TH: Yeah!

MI: The episode where they go through the Rift - that’s happened, right? It’s so hard to remember.

CB: Yes! I keep having to edit myself, like wait a minute, have we already-?

MI: Well there’s the evil Alteans, and their version of sentries are these robots, which I thought was a really cool touch.

TH: Shiro’s struggling with his PTSD after escaping the Galra.

CB: We already passed this scene - sorry Mitch, I just cut off you off - we already passed this scene but I like that the Alteans also had Capri Sun foil technology.

MI: Some design elements, they just transcend cultures.

TH: Exactly. It just makes sense.

CB: The universal-

TH: You just put your juice in a bag.

MI: Something fun I always think is the “gladiator set for a level fit for an Altean child.” It kinda seems like a burn at first but then later on you find out that Alteans are like super strong, so maybe that was really set for an Altean child!

TH: This [feeding each other] is a team exercise that I have done.

KA: Are you kidding?

TH: Where you’re all linked together and have to feed each other. Like a pack of Yelmors.

CB: Linked at the ears.

MI: That sounds so frustrating.

TH: It’s terrible. It’s the worst thing ever. And you know, they’ll have it so that like, let’s say you have a hamburger to eat. The bun’s over here, the ketchup’s over here. Nothing’s constructed. It’s not easy and you have to build everything and work together.

CB: You’ve got to assemble it? That reminds me of a Nintendo Switch game I’m playing called Overcooked.

KA: I’ve played that game.

MI: Is that the one where you have to team up to run a kitchen? I’ve seen some people playing that. That looks like actual work.

KA: It’s nerve-wracking.

CB: It gets intense. It gets really intense.

KA: We’ve done that at work before.

CB: That’s a good team bonding exercise.

MI: By the way, how awesome did that robeast look in those shots. Those shots are super cool and creepy.

CB: Yes! Super cool. That’s actually one of my favorite background designs from the first season as well done by our in-house designer William Yu. It’s actually hard to see the full genius of this design I guess you can say because it’s so dark once to went to paint. But yeah, I like how gothic and huge that space feels.

TH: Look at Coran just stepping right up. He’s willing to take that food goo right in the chest.

CB: Totally.

TH: Little “Animal House” call out here.

KA: Yep. Although I’d much rather hang out with Hunk than…what’s John Blutarsky’s character’s name?

TH: Bluto.

KA: Bluto! That’s right.

MI: I’d rather hang out with Hunk than almost anyone.

CB: I agree.

[silence]

TH: It was all part of her plan! She’s good. She is good.

KA: And they don’t clean themselves off, they just go directly to Voltron.

TH: No because they go down the zipline, it just flies off.

KA: Oh that’s right.

MI: Air cleaned.

MI: Do you think they just have a little car wash equivalent that they just kinda walk through in their suits. I guess they do, actually!

TH: Yeah they do, after they come in the decontamination room when they’re having the snowball fight on the ship.

TH: So this is a big show moment here. The first time they voluntarily form Voltron.

CB: Yes, absolutely.

TH: You see that sweet Voltron forming sequence.

CB: Oh that’s right! When I was watching this episode, I didn’t even realize that this is the first time we see the transformation sequence. We worked together with Studio Mir, and we did this sequence kinda 3D and 2D. This for example, the paw going into the leg, that was all done in 2D. Here- oh wait we don’t see it here- in other versions of the transformation, he has this secondary mask that opens up and that was done in 2D as well.

TH: And this is one of the few times they form Voltron and then just get to pose. Just relax.

CB: Nice neutral background for him to stand against. Nothing to detract attention away.

CB: It’s funny to look at the artwork and design work in these first episodes because at this point we were still-. Oh wait, I just gotta stop and say, one of the first versions of this design - the castleship lounge - there was a vending machine and a coffee maker. I don’t know what happened to it, I think we just decided that with all the-

TH: It just has a little hatch and the coffee comes out

CB: It’s more Altean that way.

MI: What were you saying? You were saying something else.

CB: Oh right! What was I saying?

KA: You were talking about original designs.

CB: Right. It’s funny to look at the environments in the first couple episodes because we were kinda still, at that point we were still finding our own visual language and the style and everything. It just makes me think back to a lot of the stuff we used for reference. Like at the time there was a video game trailer that came out for a game called Rhyme. And when we saw it we were like, oh, that’s such a cool style, that vibe. We could kind of use it for inspiration for planet Arus.

KA: Man.

CB: Wow, that episode went by so fast!

KA: I’m saying, they do. But we can keep talking. That’s the beauty of this podcast, we can just keep going if we wanted to.

CB: I was going to say, I have so much to say about the slippers!

MI: She’s not joking.

TH: I hope that the merchandising people are listening to this and thinking about their slippers and accessories. It just doesn’t seem like the things are coming out fast enough.

CB: I agree.

MI: That could be Christmas’s hot item.

TH: It could be.

KA: The Blue lion slippers? Or just lion slippers in general.

CB: I mean each paladin actually has their own slippers. The black lion slipper, green, yellow.

KA: Shiro doesn’t seem like a slipper guy.

CB: He doesn’t seem like it, but I think out of all of them, he’s the most secret kind of comfort - you know, I bet he has, like, cashmere pajamas. Work hard, relax hard, goes to the spa, gets manicures.

TH: What I’ve wanted is a Voltron lion potholder, you know, like oven mitts.

CB: Oven mitts! Genius. I love it.

T: I don’t know why we don’t have those. That can go with the slippers and then maybe black lion can be some kind of apron with a little hat that goes on the top.

CB: I love it. To keep your shirt clean and your hair clean.

TH: Yes exactly, like a hairnet.

CB: No I like it.

MI: Hygienic.

KA: If the marketing people aren’t listening, at least the cosplayers should be listening because these are all great, super awesome ideas.

CB: Please signal boost these ideas out onto the internet.

KA: Well thank you guys so much for watching this episode you helped make and I did nothing but enjoy. We’ll go around to everybody and see what your Twitter handle or whatever social media platform you’d like to plug.

CB: Oh, okay! Go ahead Tim.

TH: You can reach me on Twitter @TheTimHedrick

CB: I am @, um, I think I’m @Christinebean33

MI: And I am @mitch_iverson. I had to look it up real quick.

CB: Mitch, actually, can you look up mine up too just to make sure.

CB: Okay yeah, I am @Christinebean33

KA: So if you want to share your travel stories with what you wear when you go traveling.

TH: Oh man you know where to send them.

MI: Or if you want to talk about food.

KA: Or if you want to talk about food!

CB: Oh man. We’re going to save that for another episode. Just talking about the food.

KA: We hope you guys come back for another episode because there’s a lot left to go. But thank you guys for listening. I’ve been Kyle Anderson, you can follow me on Twitter at @FunctionalNerd. And we’ll see you next time here on Form Podcast.

[briangroth27]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) Season 5 Review

This was a great show! I discovered the series on Hulu just before Season 5 aired and was immediately drawn to its fun, exciting, off-kilter personality. Though I grew up on the 1980s animated series and movies of the 90s, it’s an extremely close toss-up between this version and the current IDW comic for my favorite version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; I think the brilliant mix of science and the supernatural in the Turtles’ comic made for their best origin story, but this show’s characters and overall storylines probably put it slightly ahead. I loved that it fully explored the scope of the Turtles mythology and had several ongoing, engaging plots while taking the time to do some really fun and/or bizarre one-off adventures. The action was always riveting and the cast was perfect. However, I think the final season was a bit uneven.

I was really impressed that they took the risk of killing off both Splinter (Hoon Lee) and Shredder (Kevin Michael Richardson) at the end of Season 4 and I was excited to see what the Turtles would be like on their own, particularly how Leonardo (Seth Green) would handle leading since this show has been so good about putting him through his paces in that area. Season 5’s first arc didn’t disappoint, even though I was wary about immediately trying to bring back Shredder (and Splinter) so soon; this arc would've been at home in midseason or as a series finale too, after we’d had some time to breathe without each side’s leaders. Tiger Claw’s (Eric Bauza) use of a demodragon named Kavaxas (Mark Hamill) to resurrect the Foot’s late leader worked as a compelling plot despite my misgivings and I was thrilled when it didn’t go the way Tiger Claw wanted. Zombie Shredder naming Kavaxas his new second in command instead of Tiger Claw was a perfect, fun twist. Kavaxas later turning on everyone to rule both the living realm and the Netherworld himself was foreshadowed pretty clearly, but his ghost/zombie apocalypse was a lot of fun and became a great excuse to get our heroic terrapins into a Ghostbusters riff (they even included Ray’s Occult Shop and Vigo’s lines from Ghostbusters 2!). This arc was a cool way to showcase the supernatural side of the series, with a great (if brief) demonic villain in Kavaxas, brought to life with an awesome performance from Mark Hamill. Kavaxas was so powerful and ruthless—like when he pulled the soul out of Tatsu (Michael Hagiwara) without thinking twice—that he could’ve worked as a season-long enemy. 

Regardless, this arc was a great, exciting, and touching kick off to the season. I do think it would’ve been a bit stronger to have Tiger Claw summon Kavaxas for his own purposes instead of to resurrect Shredder though; what ideas for leadership does Tiger Claw have? That would've been something entirely different for the Turtles to face. He was always a major threat to the guys and could’ve at least tried to lead the Foot rebels himself before resorting to summoning demons and bringing back Shredder. Given the release of souls in the arc, Shredder and Splinter could've come back as a side effect of summoning Kavaxas anyway, still allowing the Turtles to briefly reunite with Splinter and Karai (Kelly Hu) with Shredder. However, it still worked as it played out. That the guys got to say a real goodbye to Splinter was touching and a great use of his ghost, while zombie Shredder ultimately dragging Kavaxas back to the Netherworld was a nice touch. I’m very glad the writers resisted the impulse to permanently bring back either Shredder or Splinter: we’d seen enough of both of them and their return would've hampered the progress of the Turtles. I also don’t know how any plot with Shredder could’ve topped the epic final battle at the end of Season 4.

The character development and side stories that came out of the Kavaxas arc were good too. I liked Leo looking to Splinter’s shrine in a moment of doubt about his leadership skills. Donnie’s (Rob Paulson) grudge against Don Vizioso (Brian Bloom) was a great bit of character development, especially as it briefly made him the “Raph” of the team, running off on a vendetta that screwed up things for his brothers. Karai vs. her old, blind teacher Hattori Tatsu was a great look at a different part of her past. I really wish we’d learned more about what she wanted to do with the reformed Foot and this battle for the rightful ownership of Shredder’s Kuro Kabato would’ve been the perfect time to explore that. Does she want them to be a force for good in the city; a network of ninja vigilantes fighting crime? Or does she have other plans? Either way, Tiger Claw calling a ceasefire between the Hamato and Foot clans because of their team-up against Kavaxas was a nice touch and an unexpected way to end the threat of the rebel Foot for good. With no more Foot to lead, I suppose he returned home after that. Likewise, Fishface (Christian Lanz) bailing on the Foot to return to his old life of low-stakes crime after giving the Turtles a heads up about Shredder was perfect. Rahzar (Clancy Brown) was always a lot of fun, so even though his brief resurrection didn't make much of an impact on the show or characters, it was good to see him again one last time. Falling into the Netherworld was a solid way to undo that resurrection. It was also nice to get a brief return of Ho Chan (James Hong) and closure for even minor villains like Don Vizioso and Hammer (Eric Bauza). They must’ve pushed the censors to their limit by giving Vizioso Shredder’s actual heart! Yikes. Tiger Claw’s mutate underlings having been mutated by Super Shredder’s mutagen leftovers, thereby giving them all a sliver of his mind/personality, was a cool (if brief) new wrinkle to the Foot. I also liked the introduction of the latest 2D animated parody show, Space Heroes: The Next Generation. That was a nice full-circle choice.

I liked that Mona Lisa (Zelda Williams) and Sal Commander (Keith David) got to return—along with the Newtralizer (Danny Trejo) and Lord Dregg (Jeffrey Combs)—to wrap up the outer space segment of the series. I love how dense the universe this show built for the Turtles is and the fact that this season revisited every part of it was a smart decision. Raphael’s (Sean Astin) reunion with Mona Lisa was great and I really liked that they subverted expectations of their courtship with him being completely dumbfounded by her and bashful in her presence. Given his role in the space segment of the series, it felt like Casey (Josh Peck) should’ve played a big role in this mini-arc. Still, this arc maintained the epic scope of the space segment of the series. Dregg’s invasion and plan to use humans as larval pods for the Vreen was exactly as long as it needed to be, with the exception of one plot point. That stumbling block was Mikey’s (Greg Cipes) “death,” which was a total shocker (pun absolutely intended). I had no idea how they were going to write themselves out of that, so to have him just…be OK, just briefly electrical-powered all of a sudden was a letdown. Even so, I liked that this was a fast-paced wrap-up of the space stuff and it was cool that they found a way to even close off Lord Dregg and Newtralizer this season.

The Turtles’ journey to Miyamoto Usagi’s (Yuki Matsuaki) anthropomorphic alternate world was a solid adventure, but I would’ve liked to see more development within the Turtles along the way. Specifically, I would’ve liked something about the guys looking at this world and thinking they could make a real life out in the open here. They wouldn’t have to hide ever again and this doesn’t really cross their minds as something they might like? Their inability to live without pizza or TV would be a totally acceptable argument for them going home, but it could’ve at least been a discussion. I was expecting Kintaro’s (Evan Kishiyama) supremely annoying nature (they did a great job at making him a brat) to bounce off Mikey’s shenanigans more than they did too; how does Mikey handle suddenly being the more mature one? Kintaro’s brattiness could’ve been a wake-up call that he might need to grow up a little bit. Also, did any of the Turtles look at Usagi and see Splinter or a future version of themselves? Leo bolstering Kintaro’s confidence was a good moment for his development as a leader, though. I also really liked the world-building that went into these episodes: they did a great job of establishing Usagi’s world and making it feel lived-in and old. The opening scene of Usagi’s first battle with Jei (Keone Young) and his story about the death of his master General Mifune went a long way to give it a sense of history. I liked the use of the mischievous Japanese spirits and the spiders were super creepy; even though it took place on an alternate world, this mini-arc gave the Turtles a brief exposure to the culture Splinter instilled in them (though I wish at least one of them had come away wanting to actively practice and live it more). Starting the episode from Usagi’s point of view, introducing the Turtles as pawns of Jei, and making the focus Kintaro’s growth rather than the Turtles’ (even if it would’ve been stronger to have them also changed by their adventure), was a cool way to make this mini-arc distinctive and to change up the episode formula.

The flashback to the earliest days of Splinter raising his turtle sons was a nice one-off adventure, but didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the arcs that wrapped up plots or just went big this year. Maybe it’s because I know the Turtles’ origin so well, but I didn’t need to see this show’s variation on how they came to live in the sewers or get their weapons/names. This flashback to the early days didn’t shed much if any new light on the Kraang (Nolan North), but did serve its function as a nice way to touch base with where the show started in the midst of arcs about everywhere it went. Splinter’s realization that the Turtles have given him a second chance at fatherhood (he still believed Karai was dead at this point) was the biggest and best moment of the episode. While a solid episode that would’ve been fine in an earlier season, I felt like this slot could’ve been put to better use as part of a bigger story.

“Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse” was my least favorite arc this season. It was a fun and definitely original idea—I never would’ve thought of putting the Turtles into Mad Max’s world—but it overstayed its welcome and if it’s meant to be the canon future of this world, why? Why kill April (Mae Whitman), Casey, and nearly everyone else we know for this depressing apocalypse? My head-canon is that this is just one of the ten dimensions (and every synopsis I’ve read states that it’s an alternate future, but it would’ve been nice to confirm that onscreen). Mira the Meerkat (Jessica DiCicco) was a fine character, but it felt like she was there more to introduce the map plot than anything else. Still, it was nice to see Chompy (Dee Bradley Baker) continue to grow and that Ice Cream Kitty (Kevin Eastman) had survived. The Honey Badgers were threatening enough to be legitimate obstacles, but not really distinctive from the villains the Turtles faced on a daily basis. 

I felt like “Mutant Apocalypse” went on for an episode too long and despite the fresh setting, didn’t really do much interesting with the characters. Raph becoming a hardened, grizzled scavenger, Donnie Metalhead, and Mikey a new age desert sage certainly made sense as outcomes for those characters, but they also felt like the most obvious directions for each of them to go. What if instead, Donnie rebuilt Raph as Metalhead to keep his brother going, replacing him piece by piece as his brother was continually worn down in fights? Losing parts of his body to mechanics and being unable to depend on himself to fight would affect Raph far more than tech-obsessed Donnie. What if Donnie was losing his mind in the desert and the only thing keeping him focused and lucid was tinkering; keeping himself going by keeping Raph and their van going? Losing his memory like Ralph was also would’ve been a greater tragedy for Donnie, since his best weapon is his mind. What if Mikey were the one that became the serious, hardened road warrior in the absence of Leo? The death of his brother (and the world) could’ve been a wake-up call that this wasn’t a game and the loss of his innocence would’ve been a tragedy in itself. If you’re going to flip the whole world upside down, why not take the characters to unexpected extremes as well? Leo turning out to be Maximus Kong was the only real surprise (I bought that he was dead at first)—and a nice connection to the parallel universe Space Heroes: TNG episode that revealed the hero characters we’d been watching were the bad guys—but “hero driven mad” doesn’t really resonate when Leo never gets a chance to truly reflect on what he’s done. Will Leo ever have to answer for the horrors he and his army inflicted on the world? It doesn’t seem so. Instead, as daring a development as it was, the lack of consequences made it feel like nothing more than a way to make the mysterious enemy important. If there had been any indication in the normal timeline that Leo could go bad, Maximus Kong would make more sense, because it’d be something inside him brought to the surface by the mutagen bomb. However, making him just angry/confused and accidentally evil pulled the rug out from everything he’d done. I did like the reversal of Leo and Raph’s relationship, though, where Leo was the one overcome by anger and instinct and Raph had the more level head. There’s also a good moment of the surviving brothers mourning Leo before they find out he’s still alive.

It was cool that they also took the time to wrap up Renet (Ashley Johnson) and Savanti Romero (Graham McTavish), and taking a mini-arc to revisit the time travel aspect of the Turtle universe was another inspired way to make this season a true exploration of everything this series was. I love the classic Universal monsters, so to see so many of them translated here (right down to the episode title cards!) was awesome! I liked the Halloween invasion by the legion of monsters, and while I wish Casey and April had been given more to do, making them vampires was definitely creepy. I was impressed they made Dracula (Chris Sarandon) so evil and loved every second of it. They also did a great job giving the Mummy (Grant Moninger) some real power. Frankenstein and his Monster (both played by Grant Moninger as well) fit into the story perfectly, and the fight throughout Frankenstein’s lab was a particular standout. The Turtles’ disguises and excuses for what they were (trolls, goblins, etc.) throughout Europe in the various time periods were a lot of fun, and Leo’s Van Helsing dig was especially funny. Vampire Raph was another really fun use of the monster storyline and I was surprised by how long they let him remain a bloodsucker. Mikey’s bond with Frankenstein’s Monster was great and Mary Shelley’s classic creation was a cool connection to our similarly misunderstood heroes.

I enjoyed the final arc, but it also left me a little disappointed since it was the series finale. The 80s Shredder and Krang (Pat Fraley) showing up was an OK idea—I especially loved Krang sitting in a booster seat at a diner: that was brilliant!—but it felt wrong to give this show’s finale to a retread of a team-up we already saw earlier in the series. It felt like they went for nostalgia instead of making a final statement about this show, and that was a shame: the characters and world of this show are exceptionally strong and should’ve been honored with their own finale. As big and classic as Shredder and Krang are as Turtle villains, going back to that well at this point was underwhelming (particularly when you’re dealing with intentionally less-dangerous versions). I was also disappointed Mona Lisa wasn’t with the Mutanimals in the finale. They set her up to join them in her return this year, but then didn’t even mention her absence here. That said, there were some great moments in these episodes. It was cool to see our Turtles train and toughen up the 80s guys; I was surprised at how far they took the original show’s Turtles not using their weapons for actual combat (“Someone could get hurt!”). Our April’s “Do reporters in your world wear jumpsuits?” was another fun line. Shredder and Krang being so surprised at how efficient our Bebop (J.B. Smoove) & Rocksteady (Fred Tatasciore) were was also fun. Karai meeting an alternate version of her “father” was cool, but I feel like they could’ve done more with it. Our Bebop and Rocksteady reforming is such a fun idea that I wish they’d given it more time to breathe. Would the Turtles help mentor them? Get tired of their antics and accidentally drive them back to crime? What if Bebop & Rocksteady accidentally became wildly successful as public heroes, maybe even getting paid for their services? How jealous would the Turtles be that these fools found a way to come out of hiding and be celebrated for their heroics? I wish this arc had been the opening storyline of the season, allowing Bebop & Rocksteady’s evolution to continue over the course of the year.

The Turtles being bored after defeating all their enemies was a solid idea—and I love that the show had actual endings for their villains, not never-ending back-and-forth struggles—but I would’ve preferred more forward momentum in harnessing their own destinies. Some effort at getting out of the sewers and making a real change to their status quo would’ve been great and totally new. In a season full of mini-arcs about where the guys had been over the course of the series, I would’ve loved an exploration of where they’re going. Will people ever accept them? Will their personalities always bring them to this configuration of the team (Leo leads, Mikey’s a party dude, etc)? Raph made great strides to overcome his rage on this show, but will he ever find real inner peace? What will Leo do when/if the guys don't want to fight anymore? Are their new students for him to train somewhere? Would he lead the Foot with Karai? Might Donnie become a reclusive tech mogul and/or video game designer? What does the future have in store for Mikey? Could he become a X-Games contestant? Party-animal DJ? Chef? All of the above? What about the guys’ love lives? I definitely thought it was past time for Donnie to be over April and I would’ve liked to see her and Casey get together while Donnie moves on to a new love interest. It felt like that triangle had been settled already and to hint that he still had those feelings for her felt like a step backward. In addition to exploring those questions, I really wish we’d seen much more of April, Casey, Karai, and Shinigami (Gwendoline Yeo) this year. All four of them seemed to largely vanish this season and that’s a shame. What do April and Casey want out of their lives beyond helping the guys fight crime? The two of them are major characters and their lack of focus here felt wrong. What are Karai and Shinigami going to do with the reformed Foot? I’m glad that so many villains got wrapped up, but are there new threats on the horizon? Will there be a resolution to the existence of mutants in New York; will they become an accepted part of daily life, get cured somehow, or will something entirely different happen?

I know it seems like I’m being hard on this season, but I still had a lot of fun with it and this show in general. It rekindled my love of the Turtles and I’m really sorry to see it end so soon after discovering it. I’m eager to check out the tie-in comics from this show, but there are TV elements comics can’t replicate. All the actors were perfect for their roles; these are the voices I’m going to hear when I read TMNT comics for a very long time. I loved the character designs, the personalities of the characters (these are also going to be the definitive versions for me for a long time coming), and that the action was always kinetic and exciting. The arcs each character got were great (even if this season stumbled a bit in that department), and this show definitely made the best use of April yet. I loved that the show was willing to go dark when the story called for it (without ever forgetting to be funny or downright silly) and loved even more that it was willing to go WEIRD. “Pizza Face,” man. The homages to sci-fi of the 80s and 90s were right up my alley, so they were very much appreciated. The new theme song incorporating just enough of the 80s theme to feel like the Turtles while still being something new made it instantly catchy and a perfect summation of this series as a whole. It’s probably even better than the classic 80s version and I wish they hadn’t changed it this season (though this lyric-less version wasn’t bad).

I’ll miss this show a lot, but I know I’ll revisit it often down the road. Despite a few missed opportunities for character development and plot progression this year, these Turtles still have it and are definitely worth checking out!

  Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

[vivalatoons]

My Talk: TMNT 2003

I’m so excited about this, I don’t have an intro. Let’s get into this reflection of TMNT 2003. Turtles count it off: 1, 2, 3, 4!

Turtle Nation influenced me to get into the Turtles. I finished TMNT 1987, and I headed to the 2003 Turtles. October 20th, 2015 I saw the pilot, Things Change. This series took a drastic change from silliness to a dark tone. I absolutely enjoyed it. 

Plot. Four ninja turtles live in the sewers with their rat father. They fight bad guys, save anyone that is in harm’s way, make human and mutant allies, and protect the city of New York. However, they are arcs that have interesting character interactions. From the Shredder Strikes to Ninja Tribunal, it’s great to watch the Turtles go on the epic adventures and kick ass.

Characters. Leo, Donnie, Raph, and Mikey are the Ninjas in Green. Splinter is their rat father, who train and love his sons. April and Casey are the Turtles’ human friends. Shredder is the main villain. Characters like LeatherHead and Stockman would reappear with some changes. Other characters that were in comics also made their TV debut like Karai, The Purple Dragons, Bishop, and Professor Honeycutt. 

Animation. It’s incredible how the series nails its animation. I enjoy the dark and sharp look of NYC, characters, and action sequences. I love the colors and dark tone. It gives the Turtles an awesome look, like I’m watching a superhero movie. I’m amazed how the animation holds perfectly.

Voice acting. A part of the show that is talented. The voice cast is beloved by many, like me. Michael Sinterniklaas, Sam Riegel, Greg Abbey, and Wayne Grayson voiced Leo, Don, Raph, and Mikey. Darren Dunstan and Scottie Ray voiced Splinter and Shredder. Veronica Taylor, Marc Thompson, and Karen Neill voiced April, Casey, and Karai. They all do terrific jobs voicing their roles. 

How it’s different from the other Turtle series. The origin story has some new parts. Splinter is the pet rat of Hamato Yoshi. Yoshi would die in the hands of Shredder. Splinter is devastated, and escapes to New York. How did the Turtles came to Splinter? Well, a boy had fish bowl of four turtles. There was a truck coming, and a blind man was crossing the street. The boy saved a blind man from a truck. He dropped the turtles, who later falls into a sewer. A canister of mutagen falls out of the truck, heads into the sewers, and mutates the Turtles and Splinter himself. They would grow and have human characteristic. Splinter would teach them ninjutsu. Shredder is completely different from his 1987 counterpart. April was an assistant to Stockman, then an owner of an antique shop. Casey Jones has a great backstory on why he bust on bad guys, mainly his deal with the Purple Dragons. This series is darker from the 1987 series. I mean it’s dark. Three Two episodes were well known for its content, SAINW and Insane in the Membrane. I’m not going into details with SAINW because of trauma it’s just intense and dark to watch. Insane in the Membrane was banned from the US til 2015 because of what happens to a character. An episode that was pulled would have showed a surgeon separating conjured twins, leaving one of them in the trash. Yeah, there’s no fun and games when you watch this version of TMNT. There’s a little fun, but a majority of the time it’s serious and the Turtles mean business when it comes to bad guys.

Why this is my favorite version of TMNT? It’s because it stays closer to the Mirage Comics. I haven’t read the comics, but this series gives me a sum of what the comics were like. I’m happy with some of the characters, especially Casey Jones. I don’t like 1987 Casey, he was more of a crazy man who took fighting crime too serious. 2003 Casey is great, and I love this version of Casey. This series also made me love Donatello. Not a fan of 1987 Donatello, because he was either fixing stuff and making technologic stuff. 2003 Don shows more of him and how he contributes. I enjoy his character and Sam voicing him. Episodes are entertaining and tell an great story. Voice actors do a good job with voicing their roles. It’s just…it’s just such a great show. If we’re excluding the last 2 seasons, but yeah awesome reboot of TMNT.

Recognition. I feel that this version of TMNT is under appreciated. I get when a favorite show we love getting remade is terrible, but this is a good example of a remake done right. It stays with the Mirage Comics, animation is great, so is the writing and voice actors. It kicks the 1987 series’ butt with its amazing aspects. This is the closest of Mirage TMNT I have seen. It had a fanbase. It was a part of 4Kids. It was a fantastic series. I don’t want this version of TMNT to be hidden from the shadows of other TMNT series and movies. 

TMNT 2003 is a prime example of recreating a franchise in an awesome way. I’ll continue to praise this series. It broke boundaries, retold the TMNT story in a cool way, and mostly it’s just plain awesome. These turtles are badass. I love it, I’ll always think of 2003 TMNT as the best version of Turtles ever. Again, it’s my favorite version of TMNT. Nothing can compare how excellent this series is. I love my badass Turtles and this series shows what they’re capable of.

[renaramblesaboutcomics]

Wednesday Roundup 29.11.18

Another week another grab bag of comics in what might be one of the highest rated weeks of the Roundup since I started over a year ago! But how does everyone hold up? How do they all compare? I’m asking for dramatizing’s sake but genuinely there’s nothing in this week that isn’t immensely enjoyable if they even remotely pique your interests. GREAT week for comics, everyone. GG.

Tesladyne’s Atomic Robo, Image’s Black Magick, DC’s Super Sons, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II, IDW’s Transformers: Lost Light

Tesladyne’s Atomic Robo and the Spectre of Tomorrow #2 Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener, Anthony Clark, Jeff Powell

There is a certain amount of dry wit and scientific community knowledge that is instrumental to getting the full experience out of the clever writing and deceptively simplistic design of Atomic Robo, and for the past few months I’ve been making a solid attempt to evaluate these comics and Robo himself based on the entertainment received without much of that. And, in all honesty, the more I’ve looked into this the more I wonder if that’s the wrong approach for “unbiased” evaluation to begin with. 

For example, I’ve been very firm on my description of Usagi Yojimbo as being one of those great comics that only gets more and more enriching as you grow a personal interest in history, Japanese culture, and mythologizing -- it’s far enough removed from our actual realities and accessible enough that I recommend it to people who don’t have those interests, but I find that those interests add so much more to the experience. The simple designs, the consistency, the way the narrative is built in episodic spurts more than long form narrative -- those are all reasons I can in good faith recommend these comics to people outside of niche interests, but those niche interests add so much to any reading that it’s difficult to really express why anyone would want to read without so much as acknowledging it. 

That all said, this particular issue continues that same level of quality and intrigue, but also rewards the emotional investment you may have in the characters involved. PersonallyI relate a lot more to Robo’s sense of self-exile and reclusive depression which only causes more and more problems to pile up far more than I’d have ever thought I would, and I don’t think I’d be alone in that. There’s also the long time readers’ reward in seeing consequences to that stollen crystal from Doctor Dinosaur’s island ages ago. All great stuff which is only more greatly emphasized by the creative use of familiar real world scientific organizations and entities wrapped up in this bizarre and surreal reality of Atomic Robo.

Image’s Black Magick (2015-present) #9 Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott

Sometimes the real value of storytelling lies less in identifying the complete package and more in being able to identify the way it weaves multiple elements and even genres at once to provide a new kind of satisfying narrative. And it’s in that way that I think Black Magick has so quickly become not only one of my favorite Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott comics, but one of my favorite recent publications in general. 

Black Magick follows a noir-style crime drama in structure, but its embrace of the supernatural and, especially, in witching stories provide the sort of edge that makes the tiredness of the former genre feel fresh even in the heavily saturated market for procedurals we have currently, while the latter feels completely reborn from that small but influential boom we felt in the 90s. I have never been closer to re-marathoning The Craft, Practical Magic and Charmed outside of the Halloween season. But each new issue of Black Magick brings me that step closer.

This issue also happens to follow the very specific to this week trend of leaning heavily on emotional stakes to really pull itself and its characters above even the thickest of genre settings however, and Black Magick specifically manages that while maintaining an incredibly tight hold on Rowan’s perspective. Which is fascinating because on reread you really realize how much the POV shifts away from Rowan and onto the other characters and their subplots but in reflection it all feels like it’s only in service to Rowan’s main story more than anything else. 

Nicola Scott continues to prove she is perhaps the most gifted and, really, the most prolific of comic book artists in the modern era and I maintain that seeing the true extent of her talents is best assessed by reading this comic and just allowing yourself to be blown away by it all.

This issue also gets major props for introducing a familiar. Good, comic. Perhaps not as action filled or breathtaking as the last issue which was a nail biter from start to finish, but most certainly deserving of those 4/5 stars. 

DC’s Super Sons (2017-present) Annual #1 Peter J. Tomasi, Paul Pelletier, Cam Smith, HI-FI

If you’re one of those people -- and let me absolutely clear that it is more than understandable to be one of these people -- who find super pets and the absolute general ridiculousness of a storyline that involves super animals in any capacity with a timeline that makes no sense and the only real dialogue that matters being literal growls barks and yips, this is not an issue worth your $4.99, you’ll hate it and be annoyed with people like me screaming from the rooftops that you should buy it and read it and love it. And that is completely and utterly fine and reasonable.

I am not fine or reasonable, however, and this is literally the most rewarding $4.99 I’ve spent on a comic in ages. Because no joke there were several times while I was liveblogging this issue both on my main blog and to my friends in PMs that I was literally in tears crying with laughter because

because

Holy shit guys.

In recent years a continued criticism I have carried for superhero comics is that there is a huge tone problem, in that there is a genre’s worth of tones and atmospheres that could be played off of to give at least each individual book if not each individual issue its own feeling and its own intrigue that would set it apart from the rest of the line that given week. DC, especially, has contributed greatly to this tone problem because as I’ve said many times, there was about five years there where even the color palettes for their comics had no variation between them. And it was maddening. 

So to have something goofy, to have something different, and to have it be fun, enjoyable, full of twists and turns, and not so damn determined to take itself beyond seriously, it makes this comic throwback feel like a breath of fresh air in the most necessary of ways. 

And I should be clear, I don’t mean that this comic is for everyone, or that Super Sons as a comic in general doesn’t manage to strike that cord a lot since it really is one of the most enjoyable comics DC has put out in years, but this really felt like a treat, an additional, ridiculous, hilarious story set so far apart from what’s come before. It’s greatly enjoyable. Genuinely deserve of my coveted 5/5 stars. 

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II (2017) #5 (of 5) Erik Burnham, Tom Waltz, Dan Shoening, Charles Paul Wilson III, Luis Antonio Delgado

We finally come to an end of this second giant mashup of Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, truly the sort of framework and pairing that is as old as time, and I get to reward everyone’s patience with me reviewing these for a month an a half straight with some final thoughts of sorts. 

I compliment both of these writers quite a bit for their respective contributions and the absolute mastery they both have shown for the voices of their respective franchises, but as this week is pretty well summed up with Rena Waxes Philosophically And Is Old, I think both of our times are better spent here by pointing out something a bit different that really came together with this issue. And that’s that for how pitch perfect these writers are for capturing the long expected voices of these beloved characters, the real remarkable compliment I can give them is how they have uniquely captured and redefined these voices to really make them their own.

Despite how much my childhood might have desired these team ups (and believe me, it so did) the fact is that these interactions and these relationships are utterly a modern invention, and what could easily fail outside of the concept states instead flourishes with us here specifically because they are sticking to their guns and not always angling for the obvious route with these interactions. That’s what makes all of this so fascinating and so rewarding as a fan.

In comparison to the predecessor, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters II does not have as tight of a storyline with a steady but consistent pacing and understanding of where it’s going. But I think because that set up was taking care of in the original these five issues allowed for more experimentation and more concentration on character development and fun scenarios. So if you’re far more invested in character interactions and in comics taking full advantage of the outrageous and unique tone of its medium, there’s probably all the more for you to enjoy with this compared to the first. But at the same time, it would be lying to say that the main driving plot and stakes, with Darius Dun’s ghost and the Fast Forward Evil Turtles-lite trying to harvest souls in a complicated and underused concept didn’t come off as overall a bit weaker than the original.

All that said, ultimately this comic is a joy for fans and it seems to be aimed quite specifically at that audience either way. And in that case I have to give it my highest regards.

IDW’s Transformers: Lost Light (2016-present) #11 James Roberts, Jack Lawrence, Joana Lafuente

Ever since the last arc of James Robert’s parent series, More Than Meets the eye, there’s been a few gaps in the concept of what happened on the Lost Light during and after the mutiny, whether or not the crew saw the Rod Squad’s las message, and especially curious to people like me who can’t help themselves but love our affable and entirely flawed co-Captain Rodimus, what was his final request for his burial and what not since we saw the rest of the crew’s.

And in the second part of this “Mutineer Trilogy” that we have for Lost Light, we are at long last getting our answers to many of those questions. And for a reveal that was a year coming, the Lost Light manages to pack all the twists, turns, and punches that we could hope to expect! 

It’s fascinating to see Getaway’s sense of grandeur when it comes to himself, his plans, and really the whole driving force with the mutiny, but I really find that where Roberts’ writing and where we as readers get the most out of is the interesting and very layered sense that Roberts has for the lore of the Transformers. It feels like every subtle piece of dialogue, whether it concerns lore and mythology of the universe or not, is really weaved throughout with a submersion in this fictional culture. And that, especially, is really revealing here. It’s a very rewarding way to handle lore and I greatly appreciate it. 

One that does make me apprehensive with the turns Lost Light has taken most recently, however, is that moral grayness sometimes feels really blurred with a light take or even somewhat forgiving light given to what are undeniably and outright stated as fascist and genocidal elements of the Transformers’ past, especially Megatron. Having this issue completely dedicated to Getaway’s perspective while tackling these themes doesn’t really help because he is most egregiously one of the most villainous and traitorous characters the series has tackled, but while it feels like he’s only using the aghast feelings of the crew toward Megatron, ultimately he’s the only one who gives a speech against Megatron’s past of genocide and fascism while also taking over in the most truly reprehensible and fascist ways possible himself. This is further blurred by having some very topical buzz words like “fake news” uttered by Getaway in a... lbr pretty nonsensical way in-universe, but then have him going around imprisoning or hideously killing all of the crew which doesn’t agree with him.

I’m basically waiting for Roberts to fully address all of this in the story but right now it feels very much like “both sides are extreme and bad” mentality that, given Roberts’ politics and statements irl, I don’t think is what he ultimately wants this story to be coming away as, but I’m nervous and would like for things to tread lightly considering the current environment. 

ALL of my apprehensions and concerns out of the way, this is still a fascinating and ultimately fantastic comic that I really truly enjoy and would love to see more of because if Roberts’ Transformers is guilty of anything it’s definitely guilty of raising my expectations and setting that bar so high because of how good and how complicated and interesting all of it ca be in the right hands.

Hey there! We finish up another pretty fun, if not quick, week in comics with lots of stories and characters, and another pretty great time from yours truly. And if you enjoy these write-ups or anything else I do whether it be the Roundups, my Rambles, my personal creative projects, or you’re interested in my upcoming podcast, you can help contribute through donations to my Ko-Fi, Patreon, or PayPal. For as little as $1 per project, you make all of this possible.

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

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[sports-and-fandoms]

My best friend {James T Kirk x reader}

Hey guys! Due to all the positive responses, i have decided to write a part 2. I am so glad you guys liked it, I can’t believe that people like what I write. The joy I feel is absolutely surreal! Thank You for all the nice comments! Hope you guys like this one. 

PART ONE  PART THREE

Words: 1369 words

Warning: Jim Kirk is a warning as always. Broken hearts and friendship. Angst. Doubt. 

I do NOT own Jim Kirk, as much as I would like to. I do NOT own Star Trek. All these gifs and images are not mine. Credit to those who they belong to. 

By the way, this part is a bit different than the other one. This will be told from Jim’s perspective. Happy reading.

3:00 pm

He hurriedly paced back and forth the room. 

He would be married in an hour. 

To Carol Marcus.

Him. James Tiberius Kirk, the playboy. The man that had thought that he would never settle down, that would never find someone to spend the rest of his life with. Yet, here he was. 

With Carol Marcus.

3:45 pm

Just 15 more minutes and he’d be a married man. And Carol will be his wife.

15 minutes.

He was standing at the altar waiting for her to walk down the aisle. 

A commotion caught his attention. He snatched his gaze away from the aisle towards the first row in front of the altar. There she was talking and laughing at something Bones was telling her. Her smile was really beautiful but somehow, it seemed fake. Usually, when she smiled, truly smiled, her eyes would crinkle at the corners and her whole face would light up. 

This time, it wasn’t the case, and he knew that it was all because of him. 

Three years of running away from her, of avoiding his best friend. The one that truly knew him. He still remembered the day he first met her. 

22 years ago

Jim Kirk was playing in the front yard of his house in Riverside Iowa. His mother was on a mission in space and he was left behind with his abusive step-father, Frank. 

He didn’t like Frank. He acted all nice and fun when his mom, Winona, was on Earth. Jim was young but extremely smart for his age. He understood everything that happened around him. He knew that when Frank brought new women home, women that weren’t his mommy, and that they disappeared in the bedroom, that it was wrong. 

He hadn’t seen his mommy since his third birthday, now he was approaching his fourth. One year without his mommy, it was all the same to him. 

Jim was smart and a absolute “cutie”[A.N: I imagine Jim being a total lady killer since the second he was born], as would say one of the numerous women Frank had brought home. Unfortunately, his competitive personality and his smart-ass replies [A.N Yes Jim was always a smart ass.] led to him not having any friends. He fought with everyone. For the toy spaceships to the last colour crayon. He was his father’s son, after all.

Like everyday, he saw the nice ladies of the neighbourhood having their daily meeting at Mrs. Bradbury’s house. Everyday, the ladies would meet up at Mrs. Bradbury’s house and have tea and cookies while talking about the latest piece of neighbourhood gossip. Mr and Mrs. Bradbury lived next door to the Kirk household. Mrs. Bradbury was really nice, she gave him chocolate chip cookies whenever she saw him playing in the yard alone, she saw him as a son for lack of any of her own children. 

Although, today was different. Today, the ladies were talking about the new family moving in the house next to the Kirk household. The house where the late Mrs. Hudson lived in. She died and left everything to her son Greg and he had decided to sell the house. As it would seem, the new couple was moving in today. 

After that, the ladies started talking about Mr. and Mrs. Greenberry’s latest fight and Jim stopped paying attention, too lost in beating Klingons and Romulans. 

When noon rolled around, Jim saw a big moving truck parking in front of Mrs. Hudson’s house. Following the truck was a nice antique car that Jim couldn’t name, even if he tried. Out came a tall dark haired man and an average height brunette. 

“MOMMY!!! MOMMY?!?!“

The young couple sighed. The woman turned towards the car and began to walk towards it.

“MOMMY! I CAN”T GET OUT OF THIS SEAT BELT. I HAVE TO GO PEE PEE! MOMMY!!! “

“Y/N, I’m here. Stop squirming darling. Just- PETER. Get her out of this.“

The man sighed and followed his wife. 

The rest of the conversation was unheard to Jim. The couple had started mumbling to each other. Jim couldn’t stop watching. He was intrigued by the strangers that would become his new neighbours. 

The woman marched towards the main door to unlock it while the man worked on getting the little girl out of the car.

He watched in rapt fascination as the man took the girl in his arm and sprinted in the house, presumably to the bathroom. The woman sighed, shook her head but smiled fondly towards the man and the little girl. 

The smile was similar to the one his mother gave to his father in the countless pictures Jim had found hidden in the depths of his mom’s closet. 

[A.N: I find this picture very cute. This is one of the pictures Jim saw hidden in the closet.]

A couple of days had passed since the new family moved in. Jim was, once again, playing in the front yard. Alone. 

He was sitting on the grass with his action figures when he felt a shadow over him. He looked up and saw a very pretty girl standing over him, of course, at that time he thought girls were gross and so he rudely asked her what she wanted.

The girl, frightened, just looked at Jim with a deer caught in headlights look. 

“I’m- I’m sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you but my mommy wants me to talk to new people and make friends.“

Jim just looked at her, in suspicion. 

“Hi. My name is Y/N. We just moved here.“

Jim stayed silent.

The girl looked awkward. She was about to turn around and leave until she saw the figurines that Jim was playing with.

“OH! Are those Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures? That’s so cool, I have some at home too, well I did until my mom lost them in the move…”

She had a small frown on her face and she was pouting. When Jim didn’t say anything, she turned around to leave.

“I’m Jim” he said suddenly.

She smiled.

That day, truly was different. For the first time in as long as Jim could remember, he had a friend. They spent the entire afternoon playing with Jim’s figurines. As days followed, Jim found himself with the greatest friend he could ever ask for. His best friend.

Present

And now, here he stood, watching the one woman that knew him better than he knew himself. The one woman that loved him, or at least loved him 3 years ago, laughing with another man. His other best friend, Leonard McCoy. As much as he hated to admit it, Bones had always had a crush on Y/N. He comforted her when Jim broke her heart. He became her new best friend. 

He watched in envy as his best friend made his other best friend laugh. The laugh she gave when he made stupid jokes. He watched as she stood in a beautiful blue dress that hugged her every curve and stole the attention of every man present at his wedding. He watched as her gaze would occasionally flickered over him but he pretended not to notice. 

He pretended to look away.

And then it was time. “Here comes the bride” started playing and Carol walked holding onto her father’s arm. She was wearing a beautiful wedding gown.

She looked beautiful. Yet, somehow, Jim’s gaze kept flickering to the woman in the blue dress. 

As his bride approached the altar, he heard a communicator beep. His gaze snapped to the woman in a blue dress. He saw her read something on the comm and rushing out in a panicked manner. 

He watched as she walked away without another glance in his direction. 

His heart thumped painfully in his chest. 

Carol finally reached the altar, they both smiled at each other. 

“Do you, Carol Marcus, take James Tiberius Kirk to be your lawfully wedded husband till death do you part?“

“I do.“

“Do you James Tiberius Kirk, take Carol Marcus to be your lawfully wedded wife, till death do you part?“

His heartbeat accelerated. His palms became moist with perspiration. He swallowed hard and forced a smile on his face. 

“I…”

TAGS:

@wonders-of-the-enterprise @samaxraph99 @saveatruckrideoptimusprime @curiosity-killed-the-speedster @yourtropegirl @engineeringtrashcan@a-mermaid-in-space 

Cliffhanger!

Btw, that’s Alice Eve’s actual wedding picture. If the response is as good as last time I’ll make more parts. Please tell me if I should continue this. Until then, folks!