#(albiet a fair bit dated)

[its-kinda-snowy]

Young hearts beat fast Driving down the road Rubber, plastic, metal, glass Why did you have to go?

[ifbrd]

Cipher Zodiac - Holding Hands with Enemies

If I’ve got my dates right, today is the 9 year anniversary of Gravity Falls ending. Consider this analysis and discussion my celebration post! (Not that I care to celebrate that my favorite show ended nearly a decade ago but anyway…)

I recently ran into this really cute little mini Gravity Falls fan comic by @the-meme-monarch. I actually first saw it Reddit (credit properly given) a few weeks ago (and hunted it down today to reblog lol) and people on Reddit were talking about how having Mabel hold Gideon’s hand in the finale was a weird choice.

I want to talk about that, but first I want to clarify a few things:

- This is not supposed to be any kind of like callout or attack or anything like that on you @the-meme-monarch. I love this art you did, it's sweet and adorable and it would have been nice to see in canon. I'm really worried you'll take this post the wrong way and think it's meant to be personal so I just want to assure you that that is not the case.

- I am making this a separate post, not a reblog to your post, because I don't want to hijack it haha. I want your post to just be about your lovely art, not the long winded analysis I'm about to give. So everyone please go check out that post!

- I definetly think this is a fair critism about the finale. Mabel, by no means, should have been forced to hold Gideon's hand when he couldn't just learn from his wrongdoings. With what I'm about to say, I'm not trying to say this was necessarily a good choice.

With those things said, I do want to play devil's advocate a bit for this decision.

Having Mabel and Gideon be next to each and hold hands, does serve a narrative purpose here, albiet said narrative purpose could have been executed a lot better, in my opinion (or, alternatively, wasn’t even entirely necessary)

Let me explain. Let's revisit this scene: Ford takes Robbie's paint can and goes around painting the Cipher Zodiac on the ground. People start figuring out where they are on the Zodiac and getting in position. Gideon makes a big deal about being next to Mabel, despite her asking him not to. Ford instructions everyone to hold hands. Pacifica remarks that she will not hold hands with McGucket's dirty hand, and her father tells her she should do the one thing no one in their family has ever done "touch the hill-billy" (a sentence that sounds terrible out of context). They start glowing and after the extras evacuate, Ford tells Stan to join. Stan refuses, taking this opportunity to have a conversation with Ford that absolutely does not need to be addressed in this moment. Ford passive aggressively thanks him, and then corrects his grammar which is also something that absolutely does not need to addressed in this moment. They start fighting and it all falls apart.

The narrative purpose that's being served by Mabel holding Gideon's hand, is to contrast Stan and Ford, and further emphasize how riduculous they are being in this moment. Mabel is choosing to temporarily let go of her ill feelings towards Gideon, for the sake of saving the world, and she's not the only one to do this. Pacifica didn't want to hold McGucket's hand, but did so anyway to save the world. While Stan is refusing to hold hands, Robbie announces that he has "never held hands this long before" and is "very uncomfortable" but he is also continuing to cooperate in spite of this clear discomfort. These are examples of members of the Cipher Zodiac, members who are children or teenagers with underdeveloped brains and are therefore more likely to act selfishly or immaturely, setting aside their discomforts for the sake of the greater good. Then there's Stan and Ford, two grown ass men, who both know what's at stake, know their family, their neice and nephew, could die if they don't defeat Bill, yet can't manage to put aside their hurt feelings long enough to do whatever the Cipher Zodiac was going to do. The kids can pull themselves together, why can’t the full grown adults?

In what way could this have been executed better? In my opinion, the best way to execute this would be to have has many members of the zodiac as possible be holding hands with people they have or had conflicts with. This would, in theory, make Stan and Ford the only ones who couldn't set aside their grudges, which would have made it more impactful.

Most of us know that the Cipher Zodiac wasn't originally supposed to mean anything, it was just supposed to look cool and mysterious at the end of the title sequence. It was thrown in to the finale because fans had spent so much time theorizing about it. If this hadn't been the case, if the Cipher Zodiac was actually something intentional that was planned from the beginning, they really could have preplanned this and made it impactful. They could have designed the Zodiac to have the symbols have to be in a specific order, and could have written the series with that in mind, to make it so everyone was holding hands with someone they had issues with.

Of course, that wasn't the case, but I still think this could have been done more effectively with the position the writers were actually in. Looking back on the series, I decided to photoshop the finale's Cipher Zodiac to be odered in, what I think, would have made this contrast in actions more impactful. I tried to order it in a way that as many people as possible had a problem with someone they were holding hands with.

The original:

My Photoshopped version:

My explanations, starting with Ford and going counter clockwise:

Ford and McGucket - they had a falling out, although they did make up mere minutes prior to this.

McGucket and Pacifica - what canon did, and the reasoning has already been brought up and was openly expressed in canon. Though McGucket doesn't seem to have any ill feelings towards Pacifica or her family.

Pacifica and Mabel - what canon did, these two did have a rivary for a good portion of the series, although they had more or less resolved that

Mabel and Gideon - what canon did, and I don't need to explain this, it's what sparked this entire post

Gideon and Dipper - these two hated each other. Dipper didn't like how Gideon harassed Mabel, Gideon was convinced that Dipper was coming between him and Mabel

Dipper and Robbie - these two fought over Wendy for half of season 1. And I don't think they every actually made any kind of amends with each other specifically.

Robbie and Wendy - they dated and had a messy breakup, although they did appear to make amends

Wendy and Soos - also what canon did. Look, Soos is the world's most perfect man, he has beef with literally no one, but he's on the Cipher Zodiac nonetheless, so he has to hold hands with someone, this is the only spot left.

Stan and Soos - Again, what canon did, and we can refer to the same logic as above, but I also think this can work to our advantage here. One the one hand, keeping in mind their father-son dynamic, Soos adores Stan and wants his affection, so I could see it being awkward for him to hold hands with Stan, whether nervous because "don't mess this up, Soos" or an overly excited issue. While Stan seems to care about Soos the same, he would never in a million years admit it, which would make holding Soos's hand potentially awkward for him, especially if Soos is being a crazy fanboy over it. On the flip side, like making the complete opposite argument, Stan not being cooperative when he has no problems with one of the people he's holding hands with, while nearly everyone else has an issue with both people they're holding hands with and aren't making a scene, could further emphasize the ridiculousness and immaturity in his actions.

So yeah! That's what I think should have been done for this to be most effective! Or just not putting Mabel by Gideon at all would have also been great!

I'm curious though: Does anyone else have a different way they'd set up the Cipher Zodiac than what I did?

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves]

Brave police j decker character review!! (1/5)

Alright you guys! Lets get to reviewing the BEST part of this show. The characters!(note, i will not include all villians, despite them meeting my criteria. Too many goddamn people, that honestly? We won't remember. Humans first, bots second, and any other creature last. Bots will have their alt modes.)

Humans!!;

Yuta Tomonaga!!;

Yuuta!! The boss of the brave police! While young,(about 9-10) Yuuta has more passion in his pinky finger than any of the adults on the show. Loving, caring, and determined, Yuuta has proven time and time again that hes a worthy leader, and an incredible friend. He's faced more than most kids his age should've honestly, and the nightmares and trauma needs to stop for him. He just needs ONE goddamn day with him hanging out with his friends and family, with plenty of good food.

Verdict:10/10. Hes adorable, and i wanna hug him and give him a golden sticker. Take him home, feed him and Deckerd.

Juuzo Saejima!!;

He. Is the most EXTRA bitch ever. Seriously, he's essentially a 12 year old in a 44 year old body. Constant upgrades for the team, constant new names and abilities. Hes an oddball, but despite this immaturity, he's a GOOD person. He listens to Yuuta and his opinions, and treats him as an adult, and treats the bots as humans. He deserves all he has, and honestly? Underrated character.

Verdict:9/10. Wish we had more background on him, but overall a character that i enjoyed seeing on the show. Take him home, be prepared for him to be SUPER extra.

Shunsuke Toudou!!;

SUCH. A surprising character. He made his one and only grand appearance in one episode, and i surprisingly??? Fell for the guy. He cares about the bots, and cars. He puts in effort, probably more than his entire team would. Even as a mechanic, this guy does more than his fair share of work fixing up the bots, physically mostly, but we've seen him do so emotionally as well.

Verdict:10/10. Hes the father we all need??? He GETS people. He knows what you're gonna say before you're even gonna say it, and buys you feel good snacks, and drives you around a few times while you talk to him. You've heard of mama bear, well this is papa bear. 10/10, take him home, talk to him about cars.

Seina Onoue!!;

(First of all. Yes I've been getting her name wrong this entire time. Im still putting her as 'Seina' and not 'Seia' for tag reasons)

My girl Seina! Gorgeous, headstrong, and and underestimated, sweet gal. Military lady, she's quite firm handed, but thanks to her boyfriend, McCrane, she's learned more about being human and embracing life. For someone who specializes in Japan's offensive branch, she's surprisingly shy and self conscious. Its sweet, in a way.

Verdict:9/10. She's a sweetie! She cares, an fights for whats right. Plus, she's a total historical figure, being one of the first few women who smooched a bot! She demands respect, and damn does she have it.

Ayako Kimizuka!!;

Our fellow reporter lady! (And Seina's best friend)She's the person who sinks her head deep into the news sand, fully commiting herself to her reporting. She dives in headfirst so strongly and quickly, the rest of the world melts away. A bit abrasive, but i grew to like her, and I've approved her to date my boy, Dumpson.

Verdict:9/10. Shes cute, flighty, and honestly cares about Dumpson! She teases him often, and i appreciate it. Plus...she's kinda gorgeous, honestly.

Regina Argine!!;

Me and her got off on the wrong foot. She treated bots, her own Duke included, as mere tools, to be molded perfectly into whatever was requested of them. However, upon almost losing Duke and meeting Yuuta, she learned. She had basically mentally abused Duke, and she can't un do. She can however, grow and try to make amends. She is now highly favored amongst the team, and no longer has this strong sense of entitlement. Most importantly, her past is no longer hurting her. And she's had such an impressive change, honestly. Duke cares about her immensely, and now? I do too.

Verdict:9/10. She's adorable, and now i absolutely adore her whenever i see her. She's just a delight to have around, honestly.

Azuki Tomonaga!!;

Yuuta's older sister!(who i just learned is 16) despite being the eldest, she doesn't behave as though she has the authority. Timid, a bit flighty, and incredibly sweet, Azuki is honestly just a cinnamon roll. I adores her the second i saw her, and i want whats best for her. She's essentially considered Shadowmaru's best friend (though my boy wanted to go to the pound, we all know what i mean), and although doesn't get many opportunities, shes a surprising emotional support, and a wonderful caretaker.

Verdict:9/10. An absolute bun! She'd absolutely make a nice, cinnamon cake for her neighbors, just because. Take her home, she'd just absolutely love to cook for you and your folks.

Kurumi Tomonaga!!;

The second eldest of the Tomonaga family! Shes adorable, albiet a bit abrasive and gossipy. Towards the end, she was considered friends of Shadowmaru, along with her sister, but honestly? She...kinda doesn't do much in this series. We wouldn't lose much having her leave, but i liked her personality, and shes pretty relatable.

Verdict:7/10. She...didn't really do anything in the series, plot wise. She was more of an extra. She worked, but really, she wasn't that important of a character.

Eva Farhzeug!!;

I know i said i wasn't going to include every villian. But i AM including her, mainly because i like the whole 'some other force was in control of shit getting messed up, and is now controlling everyone in a giant ass ship, and is a mixture of hot and creepy ' trope. I found her interesting, and honestly? Led to an ending that i didn't expect. She had a good villian motivation, was visually appealing, and had quite the surprising tie to the plot. I mean, the mother of all robotics??? No way you could've seen that coming in the first watch.

Verdict:8/10. She was good plot wise, but not an overwhelming character. I just wanted to point out that i liked the role she played. Don't take her home. Bitch is NUTS.

Emily, Kikjmaro, and Masaki!!(right to left;

These three are essentially labeled as Yuuta'd and Power joe's best friends. Id give them their own spots, but honestly? They're almost always together anyway. Emily is essentially kinda spoiled and whiney, and honestly? An itty bitty bitch. But shes cute, and she cares. Sometimes. Kikjamaro is the smart guy, basically, acting as the more level headed and reasonable of the group. Masaki is the dumbass. He's got anger issues, and is prone to being pretty fucking annoying. This group by themselves are honestly useless. But i fucking LOVE them when they're with Power joe. They think hes the shit, and hes DAMN right.

Verdict:7/10. This is PURELY because we have one thing in common. They love Power joe. Unless Power joe is with them, id kick them out tbh.

[moonprincess92]

Congrats on your follower milestone my dear! You certainly deserve it 😘 For the rebelcaptain prompts, how about fake dating in a modern au?

IT WOULD BE MY PLEASURE :D 

Thank you so much Jen!!! (and I hope you like havin a laff bc I apparently went straight up comedy/fluff for this hahahahhahahaha) 

Fuck.

Fuckity fuck.

That bitch washeading her way and unless she did something stat, Jyn Erso may as well kissher miserable excuse for a life goodbye. She probably (100%) should not have had that second wine earlier, but her day hadrather called for it and naturally, it was hard to resist when you had good-for-nothing best friends in the background yelling over the pounding ofthe bass, “So you got fired! Fucking drink, bitch, and you’ll forget all aboutit!”

“Until I wake uptomorrow with no job,” Jyn had pointed out earlier that evening.

“Tomorrow’stomorrow, this is now!” Bodhi had called out to her, before naturally gettingdistracted by his newest piece of ‘mancake’ (who was admittedly kind of hot atleast this time, in a Californian surfer dude kind of way).

Hence the reasonshe was now well on her way to Trolleyed Town, when JUST HER GODDAMN LUCK,Queen McFuck Your Boyfriend showed up.

Somewhere up there(or down there? She was casting a bit of judgement now) The Big G himself wassplitting a rib laughing at her.

“Quick!” sheslammed her glass down and turned to the first person she could see – a kind ofscruffy, yet not-un-handsome dark-haired bloke sat on the barstool next to her.“We have to do something!”

The bloke ignoredher completely.

“WHY AM I DOOMEDTO DIE OF PURE HUMILIATION?”

“I’m sorry–? Areyou talking to me?” the bloke finally turned.

“Finally! I amgraced with His Majesty’s presence!” Jyn would have curtseyed, if she weren’talready sat down on her own bar stool and too worried about her balance shouldshe get off. “I literally have less than 30 seconds before McBitch shows herface and I’m not at the point of literally running away yet, so you have tohelp me!”

“McBitch?”

“KEEP THE FUCK UP,she slept with my boyfriend!” Jyn yelled.

High and Mighty ScruffyBoi crinkled his nose as he glanced around in confusion. Maia (otherwise known as ‘McBitch’) had almost certainly spotted her at this point,if the little wave was anything to go by. Damn her and her perfectlystraightened hair, deep tan and baby blues that she swore could rope in demonsif she truly put her talents to work. Not that Maia had ever lifted a manicuredfinger for herself in her entire life. Scruffy Boi was eyeing herappreciatively, so Jyn groaned and tugged on his shoulder.

“Do not be takenin by the hotness,” she insisted. “She will roast your insides and eat youalive.”

“How could youstill be alive if she’s already roasted your insides?”

“SCRUFFY BOI, KEEPUP,” she cried. “I cannot let her win!”

“Well, what thehell do you want me to do about it?” Scruffy Boi asked, eyes slightly unfocusedas if this constant back and forth conversion was whooshing straight over hishead, along with her dignity and self-respect, particularly in the wake of whatshe was about to say next. Did she have much choice?

She was alreadyregretting it.

“I want you tokiss me.”

No, she trulydidn’t wake up this morning thinking that she was going to end up here. Believeit or not, but Jyn Erso usually lived a very quiet life! She lived alone, sheloved tea and snuggly blankets and occasionally entertained the odd guest(which basically just meant Bodhi coming over and eating out her entirefridge).  She had done the crazy shitalready. She wasn’t 16 and on the streets anymore, drinking until 5am andsleeping with Scott Melshi (now THERE was a mistake). Nopity nope, she was aself-confessed grandma now, and she was totally ok with that! She only wantedwhat everyone else in their late 20s wanted: a stable job and living withoutthe debilitating fear that she was going to die alone and in debt.

Of course McBitchhad to move in.

She honestlywasn’t quite sure what had come over her in asking this very random, verybewildered (albiet very cute) guy to kiss her, but what could she say, she wason a roll here. She knew it sounded ridiculous, even as the words were comingout of her mouth, but she hadn’t stopped them. She knew that she didn’t live ina romance novel like that line seemed to have apparently walked straight outof. In fact, Jyn was 100% certain that he was about two seconds away fromtelling her to fuck off, which would be fair. Honestly, since it was years agoJyn wasn’t really pissed about the whole ‘being cheated on’ thing anymore, itwas more the fact that McBitch seemed to think they were still BFFs for someunholy reason (did ‘you slept with myboyfriend and I hate you’ mean nothing?) so she would honestly just takewhat she could get.

Scruffy boistarted laughing. He was shaking his head and as he drained the last of hisdrink and Jyn sighed in exasperation.

“Fine, go on then.Laugh it up, mate,” she said. “My life is now a sham, thanks to you! I hope yourealise–”

Somewhere inbetween his laughing and her complaining, she had apparently failed to realisethat he had slipped off his bar stool and now stood in front of her. In fact,she didn’t realise anything at all until he was cutting off her words, kissingher with the kind of passion that can only come from third drinks and latehours.

Well, holy shit.

The bar stool shesat on gave her the added height she needed to comfortably reach his lips, and JesusChrist, what a pair of lips they were. She always liked to think that she’dbeen not just kissed, but Kissed™ at least a fair few times throughout herlife, but apparently she was wrong. Scott Melshi had been an opening act. ScruffyBoi was where it was at and she didn’t think, she only felt with a kind ofblind ohmygodohmygodohmygod panic.Where was fucking Bodhi when she was the one finally being the wild one for achange? Scruffy Boi gripped her hips in a way that made her stomach flip andshe separated her knees, drawing him in, dragging him closer –

“Oh my god, Jyn!Haven’t seen you in forever – have I caught you at a bad time?”

Bitch, you can very well see that this is afucking bad time!

Jyn pulled away invery un-fake irritation. She kept an arm slung around Scruffy Boi’s shouldersand she turned to face McBitch. “Oh, Maia. You could not have turned up at aworse time. How’s it going, girl?”

“Oh, so great,thanks for asking,” Maia simpered

“Was there anything you actually wanted? ‘cause I’m kind of busy…”

She felt Scruffy Boi’s lips pressed firmly to her neck, travelling theskin there and quite honestly, it was making it very difficult to think. He wasapparently taking her request to heart and Jyn noticed Maia’s eyes narrowingslightly as she watched. Time to milkthis. “Hey, babe,” she nudged Scruffy’s Boi’s head with her own, making himglance up. “This is Maia, we knew each other back in the day.”

“Oh hey, Cassian,”he introduced himself. He pressed closer to Jyn, occupying her space with hishands at her hips. “I’m the boyfriend.”

Yeah, you are.

“I didn’t evenknow you were dating again!” Maia said in false happiness.

“Yes, this isCASSIAN, my BOYFRIEND,” Jyn practically yelled. Quite frankly, her quota tohold inane conversations had been used up and she made a point to turning backto Scruffy Boi (wait, Cassian, of coursethe guy’s name is Cassian, you never could choose a Peter or a John could you?).She didn’t give him any warning when she kissed him this time, but she hoped togod that he’d just roll with it and he did. They were probably way toooverly-enthusiastic, but there was just enough tongue to make her stomach churnand she found her hands snaking up around his neck, into his hair.

It took severalminutes for Maia to finally get the hint and trill, “Um, byeeeee then!” beforeflouncing off through the club.

Jyn hastily pulledback from him, praying that her face wasn’t as red as it felt.

“Oh good god, thank you,” she breathed with relief.

“I – shit – Imean,” he laughed nervously, stepping back out of her arms. “No problem.”

“I didn’t even say– my name’s Jyn.”

“Cassian,” hereiterated for her. Bizarrely, he held out a hand for her to shake and she tookit. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

“I feel like I’mkind of owed an explanation for… well, whatever all that was,” Cassian pulledback to wave his hand in the general direction that Maia had gone off to. “Idon’t know… did you want a drink or something?”

It only took herabout five seconds to make the decision.

“Sounds great.”