#as for the other posts i might commit poof

[fountainpenguin]

Dimmsdale Rich Families Analysis

Misc. musings that haunt me daily...

I love Dimmsdale's rich families... You've got the Dimmadomes who are all about real estate, fancy buildings, hosting city events, and (Thanks to Dale) they got into tech and shipping.

Contrast that with the "old-fashioned pencil and paper" vibes of the Leadlys, plus the Buxaplentys running the trains... It's a triangle of supporting each other's businesses (and thus, the rich get richer).

This post written under the assumption we're treating these episodes as canon, though I cherrypick "Country Clubbed" in my worldbuilding and I use Dimmsdale's founding year from Season 3 over the one given in Season 9.

General Background

Several flashback episodes imply the FOP world exists in a timeline where the English settled at least part of the west coast in 1665 (as opposed to the Spanish).

- Presumably, this is one of the unique things a universe-hopper like Jimmy Neutron would identify this world by. - On that note, people are heavily implied to "stand differently" in the FOP world, which is why visitors from other dimensions react with surprise when they see their bodies (and fall over before they get their footing):

Just some fun "alt reality" vibes. Enjoy your visit; sea legs required.

Notably, this is also a universe where trains existed on the west long before they existed in ours, but we'll get to that.

Today I'm discussing the Dimmadomes, Leadlys, and Buxaplentys, but for anyone who's interested in learning more about rich families, Season 9's "Country Clubbed" namedrops a bunch.

Dimmadome Family

We know the Dimmadomes for their impact in the modern world- they're always innovating, hopping from one thing to the next. Dale does seem to have consistency in the businesses he owns (though I am DYING to question what his plans are for that indoor amusement park).

Doug doesn't seem able to commit to anything for long, though we know he's very proud of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome. He hosts many events throughout the series, from music shows to wrestling to demolition derbies.

Dimmsdale was founded in 1665, named after Dale Dimm (following him throwing Alden Bitterroot the witch down a well). It's possible Dale Dimm is an ancestor of the Dimmadomes, given what we know about:

- Dimmadomes having their hand in things (including the founding of Dimmadelphia). - One Dimmadome ancestor using the surname Dimm ("Lost and Founder's Day"). - Dale Dimm's very tall, barefoot figure is a hilarious ancestor choice for Doug "tall hat" and Dale "boot obsessed" descendants when you think about it.

While it's heavily implied Dale was born into generational wealth, we can't confirm whether that was (or wasn't) true for Doug. It's possible his family helped him get his start, but he seems to have kicked off his own success story by mining for gold (Presumably at a young age given that was back in 1953 and the main FOP series kicks off in 2001).

I like to think Doug (prior Dale's birth) changed his family's surname to Dimmadome to move away from the negative connotation of Dimm and commit himself fully to his big and shiny brand image.

Doug's a pretty interesting character! He's not afraid to get involved in his projects and work hard personally, as opposed to outsourcing- a trait he and his son Dale seem to share.

Doug also seems pained to surrender a check to Timmy in "Odd Ball" (even asking for a minute to say good-bye to his money), which isn't far off from Dale's attitude towards stocks.

He was even down to move to Alaska to follow the Ballhogs basketball team. He loves throwing all his chips on the table and doesn't back out easily. He also goes all-in with promotional outfits, like the parka above or his chicken costume in "Chicken Poofs."

That said, he might have some "sunk cost fallacy" views towards some of the stuff he buys. While the basketball team cheered they'd won the game by a close shave, Doug's first remark was that now he'd have to figure out what to do with all the stuff he bought in prep for their move to Alaska. He immediately started eating the Blubber Nuggets he would no longer be able to sell.

In "Chicken Poofs," when Doug sees the town inside his restaurant's chicken-dunking cages, his first thought isn't "Oh my gosh, I have to save these people." It's "These people stole my chickens- I'm ruined!" However (at Timmy's advice), he comes back from the loss of his chickens by selling the eggs they left behind. He wasn't about to go home empty-handed.

I'm obsessed with Doug's chicken-dipping machinery having labels so the thing one step up from Deep Fry is The Sun, and the step up from Sun is Lava. When would he ever need a dial that goes that high?

A "waste not, want not" attitude is fascinating in contrast to Dale being so incredibly wasteful, he brought two single-use helicopters on his trip to the park in "Stanky Danky." Is Dale rebelling against Doug's "We have to make the most of everything" parenting style? I think that plays really well into my vision of Dale being the first born into excessive wealth, while Doug possibly worked his way up after striking gold in 1953. Dale is wasteful, Doug more practical.

Doug is also over-the-top ridiculous and would sooner work around his love for tall hats than stop wearing them.

He owns a boot-shaped phone and a laptop with an armadillo logo, apparently. I'm not sure what they were going for with the armadillo - it's probably just random or meant to represent high security - but I looked it up and in Mayan folklore, armadillos are perceived as cunning critters that outwit people and dodge consequences thanks to their shells, which... Yeah, I think that sums the Dimmadomes up pretty well. Fun fact, but armadillos are one of the only things Fairy magic can't affect ("Teacher's Pet") because magic bounces off their shells. My Anti-Fairy biology incorporates pink fairy armadillo biology because we know Anti-Fairies are also immune to most Fairy magic. Just kind of a "Hm" implication, especially since "Crock Talk"' here and "Teacher's Pet" are both Season 7 episodes. I guess the other horrifying option is that Doug eats armadillos the way you eat apples, but...

I'm also of the opinion that Doug torched things in the Learnatorium, given what we know about the Learnatorium's interior ("Totally Spaced Out") and this scene of Doug "destroying childhood memories" in "Odd, Odd West"

In fact, it's not even a reach to say Doug takes pride in destroying people's cherished childhood memories. He seems to "look down on wasteful, childish things" and seems to value anything that is more useful in performing a task or turning a profit. Again, that's big "Everything must be useful and we can't waste space" energy (and presumably reflects on his offscreen parenting).

Where my fanworks are concerned, I love the idea that Doug paid for personal tutors to help Dale adjust to society and/or some basic schooling. Say... maybe an elementary teacher to start with? I don't think it would be unreasonable to theorize Crocker was involved with that, at least at first, as it helps justify the money he would've needed to expand the Crocker cave in the early days. -> We know from S4's "Genie Meanie Miney Mo" that Mr. Birkenbake states he can't afford a garage because he "doesn't make Crocker money," implying resentment... which is pretty interesting when you consider that Crocker also doesn't have his own place because he moved back in with his mom after university, and not even to his old room (Instead to a room above the garage). -> We know from S6's "Wishology Pt. 2" that Crocker stole the money intended for "the school's new science wing" and used that to pay for some of his tech, like his rocket. Both these episodes come well after S2's "Nectar of the Odds," so it's interesting to consider Crocker getting money earlier to support his tech pursuits in Seasons 2 and 3.

Dale seems to feel strongly about his dad- If it's not love, it's obsession and Grade-A Daddy Issues. His tent is shaped like his dad's head - despite Doug not being present at the event as far as we know - and even his house features statues of his dad.

Considering the nervous, over-the-top, aggressively money-chasing person Dale turned out to be, it's no surprise we can see a lot of Dale in Doug. While Vicky did a number on Dale's psyche, there's definitely some Doug influence in his behavior too.

Fun Fact: The Dimmadome gives off Roman Colosseum vibes, so it's fitting that one of the ancestors we saw in "Lost and Founder's Day" is an ancient Roman!

I would also be remiss not to look at the Dimmadome fortune, glance at the sheer number of businesses Doug is constantly opening... and question if there's some money laundering going on there. Seems kinda sus, ngl...

I'm just saying, Doug with a ton of "disposable income" (gold) because he ended up with a lot of it very quickly seems like a "great" way to get into gambling. Shout-out to the Dimmadomes and their obsessions that hint at addictive personalities. Actually, that makes Dev's game addiction so much darker and now I'm horrified. He could get into trouble so easily...

Also, in "Engine Blocked," Doug literally tries to pay Vicky with a bunch of [I assume fake] money with his face on it, so that's questionable...

One last interesting note is that the Dimmadrones (called such in "Stanky Danky" when chasing Cosmo, Wanda, and Hazel) are clearly based on the early model of Amazon delivery drones.

I think the obvious assumption is that Dale* built them for Dimmazon, but repurposed a few of them for Dev's caretaking (as opposed to them being built for Dev in the first place).

* It's possible the robots were built by a team, but knowing Dale programmed the statues in "Lost and Founder's Day" & Dale's seeming preference to do things himself rather than outsourcing, I'm going with the "Dale built them" theory.

This repurposing might be backed up by Dev referring to the ones that hang out with him as au pairs - a phrase meaning "caretaker" - and even claiming his au pairs are Au Pair #1 and Au Pair #2. While that might just be convenient shorthand since those are the two he interacts with, maybe those are a different type of Dimmadrone that was designed (or tweaked) specifically for Dev's care.

In a previous post, I discussed my headcanon of Dev having hypoglycemia and referenced the au pairs having the ability to "alert on him," or at least use both visuals and noise to signal him, as in this screenshot from "28 Puddings Later" showcasing a glowing exclamation point:

We also know Dev has specific food needs (Lactose intolerance), that he's very picky with his food (Even a treat like cupcakes that you would expect a 9-year-old to enjoy regardless), and that the au pairs are capable of food preparation (since Dev tells Hazel in "A New Dev-elopment" they can make sushi).

The au pairs are probably the most advanced, expensive, time-consuming models (compared to the ones that simply need to be mass produced for package pick-up and put-down).

I do like the thought that - for all his faults I didn't touch on here - Dale does care enough about Dev that he took the time to design two robots that could look after Dev in his absence... and specifically, took the time to think of what a child actually needs.

Dale probably thinks "I spent 7 years struggling... I would've loved the comfort of knowing my base needs like food were taken care of."

In my hypoglycemia post, I said the au pairs seem to know what hugs are and can recognize when Dev wants comfort. That implies Dale put a lot of thought into the design of the au pair and its ability to assess Dev's needs. Dale's not oblivious to what a child needs, like safety, appropriate food, and physical affection... He just lets the au pairs handle Dev.

Dale definitely gives the impression of someone who's making a genuine effort to parent, considering he missed out on healthy role models for at least 7 years of his life (Not to mention Doug is a wild character and probably fell short of being an excellent parent himself).

Along with designing the au pairs to look after him, Dale involves Dev in his projects, greets Dev, and answers his questions, and that's so interesting when you compare him with people like:

- Remy's parents (after the shipwreck in "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary"'s closing scene) opting to count their surviving money and open a luxury hotel while still dressed in rags, forcing Remy to forage for his and their survival - Vicky and Tootie's parents opting to stay with perceived cannibals rather than disobey Vicky ("Timmy's 2D House of Horror"); they consistently let Vicky run the show and beg her forgiveness when they upset her. You could 100% make an argument that Vicky is Tootie's actual caregiver. - The "Fairy Idol" alt version of Bucky (Chester's dad) who lost his house and went off to party instead of securing food or shelter for his son. Also, Regular Bucky canonically feeds Chester animals he stole from the zoo or aquarium ("Who's Your Daddy?") and I think we should talk about that. - A.J.'s parents are fantastic in many ways, but there's something incredibly dark about the way they don't like A.J. going outside where there are germs ("Who's Your Daddy?"), they have a laser set up in front of their house to vaporize visitors ("The Big Scoop"), and A.J. seems to believe they dislike Chester (given his long silence after Chester asks why A.J.'s parents' security system got more aggressive after finding out he was Chester). - Later-season neglectful Timmy's parents (though I acknowledge I don't love that flanderized aspect of their character unless viewed from the 'got burned out after 50 extra years of parenting' lens, personally). - Clark and Connie who walked out on their daughter having an anxiety attack (and sent Chloe into a dissociative episode 3 times in the first episode they appeared). - A distracted adult Timmy ("Channel Chasers") leaving his kids with a robot Vicky babysitter despite the sight of weapons and his children begging.

Dale IS an antagonist and a neglectful parent. This post is not meant to take away from that or excuse it, but I think it's interesting that within the bounds of FOP characterization... He is pretty consistently in line with how parents in this show behave, and he does have many positives alongside his flaws. I totally understand why child protective services have not taken Dev from him.

Disclaimer: All characters are morally gray and this list is for amusing discussion purposes. I'm not calling these characters "bad parents" so much as highlighting interesting behaviors for consideration.

FOP's characterization leans into adults being foolish and neglectful - Dimmsdale is named after the idea that the adults are dim, after all - and I think it's worth evaluating all the FOP parents within that framework.

Related Dimmadome Posts:

- This post where I had the thought that Doug might have ADHD/OCD comorbidity (Hilariously, something I'd already decided to do with Dale and Dev...)

- This post comparing Doug and Dale body language

Leadly Family

S9's "Dog Gone" is a bonkers episode, and I love it so much. Notably, it's the episode that confirms Leadly is personally rich- Not just Pencil Nexus as a company, which has multiple branches in other states and can afford a jet.

In fact, Leadly is so rich, he offers to buy Sparky from the Turners for 17 million dollars, just because Sparky gave him the Heimlich maneuver and Leadly thought it was neat.

My personal headcanon for Leadly is that he's somewhat aware of magical beings and is actively seeking them.

The Leadly mansion is pencil-themed, of course.

The Dimmadomes and Buxaplentys are both confirmed to have generational wealth. We have no proof one way or the other for Leadly. It's likely his is too, but it's not impossible he founded Pencil Nexus and committed to its branding because he's proud of what he does.

Leadly doesn't have many appearances, but we know some very important things about him:

- He's convinced he's being haunted by a hot tub ghost, reason being that Cosmo likes to use his hot tub at night (whether Leadly's in it or not). Sparky also claims that he had an accident on Leadly's lawn (Crashing his car), but that Leadly blamed the hot tub ghost.

- He's super buff.

- His company is literally the only thing keeping a [presumably magical] forest from overtaking Dimmsdale, considering that when Pencil Nexus reduces their tree chopping in "The Boss of Me," the forest overtakes the city within a couple hours.

Did some godkid out there just wish for renewable trees and now Dimmsdale is cursed and suffering??

Leadly just flexes like this and has massive muscles, but his aren't as big as the people affected by the Everleadys.

The episode makes it explicitly clear that people's massive muscles are magic and aren't going away (Hence the lawsuits and decision to remove Everleady pencils from the world), but Leadly's muscles do fade when he stops flexing. His are natural.

Despite the jokes that he flies the company jet around to goof off, it's not unreasonable to think he's out there personally chopping trees and I respect him for it.

Y'know, I did wonder how on earth selling pencils made him rich enough that he can afford to spontaneously buy things for 17 million dollars (and keep a pet snow leopard that he apparently rides, considering it was tame enough for Timmy's Dad to ride it home from work and he parked it outside his house and it just stayed there).

Did he fight the snow leopard? Did he raise it? I'm afraid of him.

Conclusion: Ed Leadly has a monopoly on an infinitely replenishing wood source. His company can never take a break or the city will be overtaken by magic plants. Big "curse of Midas" vibes.

I can't stop thinking about how in "T.U.F.F. Puppy," it's implied that Petropolis exists in the same general location as Dimmsdale... Los Angeles county:

- Los Angeles' population in the 2010 census was 3,792,621. Dimmsdale's hillside letters parallel the Hollywood sign. - 91502 is the Burbank area code, where the Nickelodeon studio is - Jorgen claims in "Meet the OddParents" that the power he has to do that was vested in him by both Fairy World and Whittier, California. This seems to match the city borders seen in "Fairy Idol" while he's zooming in on Chester to assign Norm as his godparent.

This implies parallel universe vibes, though in my lore, I have all four Hartman shows blended into one continuity.

See my 2019 post, "A T.U.F.F. Timeline" or the shorter "How Hartman Shows Co-Exist" post if you want details on that

Here's the thing... In "T.U.F.F.," it's implied the forest near the city has been allowed to spread and evolve. Its bizarre flora and fauna certainly give a "non-natural evolution" vibe, so it's not implausible magic could be at play.

It's made very clear in "T.U.F.F. Puppy" that this show is still set on Earth, yet "Flower Power" refers to the Petropolis Rainforest. That implies this forest exists around the city. In fact, we know it's separate from the Amazon, which is referenced in "To Bee or Not to Bee").

Interestingly, the episode "Til Doom Do Us Part" depicts Petropolis being overrun by brightly colored flowers once weddings are mass canceled-

- which implies the florists are keeping the creep of nature back from Petropolis.

I feel like this is especially cursed in my lore where "T.U.F.F." exists in a post-FOP future... Leadly, your woods!! Oh no, he can't hear us... He's been gone for 2,000 years...

Shout-out to Pencil Nexus keeping Dimmsdale safe, one pencil at a time. And shout-out to Leadly's unique body language of gripping the sides of his coat, because he does it a lot and it makes me smile every time. He is just some background guy with a pencil-themed gimmick, but he has a special body language quirk and I love it.

Related Leadly Things:

- If you haven't watched S9's "Dog Gone," I recommend it. It's silly. There are some late-series episodes that give secondhand embarrassment vibes, but for some reason "Dog Gone"'s bizarre energy is so charming to me.

- Leadly appeared in these one-shots of mine, if you're interested in my portrayal of him hunting down magical creatures (and just generally being entitled and getting in the way): "Opportunity" & "Trying Too Hard"

Buxaplenty Family

The Buxaplentys have been running the railroads ever since Dimmsdale's early days, with Orville Buxaplenty the first to do so. Timmy's distant grandfather (Ebeneezer) mocks trains by claiming they're "just a fad" and there's no future in them- Thus, he chooses not to involve himself with trains and leaves Orville to do so alone.

This establishes the Buxaplenty wealth as being generational through these trains. Presumably, Dimmsdale has a large train station, as this seems to be where the Buxaplentys have set up shop.

If the Dimmadomes have businesses spanning Los Angeles to Dimmadelphia, it's very likely the trains play a key role. Assuming we take the 1665 founding date of Dimmsdale as canon ("Which Witch is Which?"), the trains may have been essential at moving resources from Dimmsdale to later found Dimmadelphia. -> See also, respawning magic woods (?) Rich people crossover of the centuries??

Notably, their family takes some heavy hits in "Country Clubbed" when Mr. Buxaplenty is forced to watch the destruction of the club, his mansion, yacht, and limo in quick succession.

The surname Buxaplenty is clearly a play on the phrase "bucks aplenty" (and I want to shout-out a 'fic I read many years ago - but unfortunately do not remember - that had a whole thing about Remy's surname actually being Buxley and everyone just calling them Buxaplentys in a derogatory way, because that's hilarious).

A neat detail about Remy is that in the Spanish version of Fairly OddParents, his surname is Cajallena, which (to my understanding) translates as "full cash register."

In my lore, I made Cajallena the maiden name of Remy's mom.

I did some poking around. Apparently, Remy is based on comic/cartoon character Richie Rich, popular from the 60s to the 90s or so (and who still shows up in modern reboots of things today).

I'm not familiar with this series, but both are blond, the only child in their family, and wear big red bows. After brief research, I get the impression Richie was at least a little associated with trains... even owning a toy trainset that costs 1 million dollars (and paying 8 million to buy the factory that makes a part of his set that broke).

I want to highlight this comparison:

From the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, I believe, and it looks like Richie owned other gold vehicles like a boat as well.

As for Remy himself, I believe I read a few years ago that he's designed around the concept of "green-eyed envy," so he has literal green eyes. I think envious is a very good way to describe his character, considering that his immediate reaction to learning Timmy has fairies was "If he has fairies, he could wish himself richer than me; I wish his fairies were gone."

This is a minor detail, but I rewatched some Remy scenes (especially the lunch scene in "Remy Rides Again" and the breakfast scene in "Stupid Cupid") because I could've sworn Remy said at some point that he likes caviar. That might be true - I didn't find it in my hasty rewatch - but I definitely laughed when I checked and saw that instead of eating caviar for lunch like I'd remembered, he ate steak. Kid knows what he wants.

We also know Remy enjoys Crimson Chin and Crash Nebula. Specifically, we know that he's a fan of Cleft the Boy Chin Wonder, but that when Remy ventures inside the comic world, he made the character more relatable to him by making Cleft rich... in addition to minor costume changes, such as slapping the Buxaplenty logo on him in place of Cleft's usual C.

Remy sees something in Cleft that connects with him, but that extra "I want Cleft to feel like me" bit is interesting. Admiring Cleft isn't enough. He needs to be "I am Cleft's secret identity. I, Remy Buxaplenty, have this alt life." The Crimson Chin can't seem to tell the difference between Timmy and Remy as Cleft - unsurprising since he's a comic character playing his role - but Remy saving the Chin from falling is one of the only acts of kindness we see him engage in. That implies Remy does value the Chin and/or feeling like a hero in some way... or if nothing else, he values the praise the Chin gives him.

As parents, the Buxaplentys are pretty interesting. Even by "dim FOP parents" standards, they're exceptionally bad at being loving - or even effective - parents.

- Remy's dad is so awkward, he's not even sure how to address Remy when we see them in "Fairy Fairy Quite Contrary." It's his wife that suggests he try "Son." Also, Remy's parents time themselves so they spend no more than 2 minutes per day with him, which they tell him openly.

- Remy's dad calls him "Liam" later, which isn't close to his name... but Remy's grateful to be acknowledged anyway, which has interesting implications. Remy takes anything he can get; putting up with what little scraps they offer to avoid the risk of turning them off the idea of reaching out to him.

- At the end of the episode, Timmy wishes Remy could spend more time with his parents. We can assume Cosmo and Wanda didn't want to hurt the Buxaplentys on purpose - especially given what we know (from episodes like "Boys In a Band" & "Go Young, West Man") about Da Rules preventing godkids from harming others directly.

So that begs the question... Was shipwrecking the Buxaplentys the only option to get them to pay attention to their son? That's kinda dark... Angela will turn down a book pitch to care for sick Hazel, but "Remy gets sick and a parent tends to him" was seemingly not on the table. Which does make sense in-universe- After all, there are plenty of butlers and staff who wait on Remy.

Remy even tells us that his parents stopped paying attention to him after about 3 seconds despite being stranded with him on a desert island, which is pretty bad... but it gets worse when you realize Remy was stranded between Seasons 2 and 5.

When he returns in "Remy Rides Again," he asks Timmy to "guess where he's been," and informs him he "just got back from an uncharted island."

Combining that with Remy's claim that his parents only paid attention to him for 3 seconds - and looking at the scenes of Remy foraging for food while he wears rags and his parents get involved with business despite being stranded - That's..... just awful.

That's a long time for Remy to be without the comforts of home or the comforts of Juandissimo while struggling to survive (and keep his parents alive along with him). Depending on where you personally place Timmy's time freeze, it can get way worse.

And Remy was just happy he had time with his parents... Happy to forage for food... Happy to get a headpat... and for what? They don't deserve you, kid.

For all his greediness and schemes, he is pretty grateful for what little he has. In addition to looking forward to spending time with his parents, when Remy is venting to Timmy at the end of "Remy Rides Again," not once does he mention "And I didn't have my nice things." He says "I didn't have my fairy, Juandissimo, to comfort me."

Remy's parents don't even take care of themselves, let alone pay attention to his needs. They chose not to leave the deserted island - and apparently took their sweet time calling for clothes to be delivered - and Remy seems to be the one in charge of food.

Also, the implication here is that Juandissimo gave some part of his physical form up so Remy could eat, which is horrifying?? Did that happen multiple times, considering these scenes take place immediately after the shipwreck and later after Remy's mom opens her luxury resort, so definitely different days? Did... did Remy reach the point where he was struggling to find food - or the more awful option, struggling to find food for himself because he was giving it to his parents first - and Juandissimo said "F that" ??? ... help.

On top of all this, the official canon is that Juandissimo couldn't hold a job after being separated from Remy because he was so hung up on Remy's situation (and his own shame that he failed), he couldn't stop crying, so he bounced from job to job.

It's the thing I love most about Juandissimo, because when he's introduced in FFQC, he's a huge lapdog for Da Rules, even going off about how not following them would lead to madness. But we learn one very, very important thing about Juandissimo in "Remy Rides Again"... which is that Juandissimo openly broke Da Rules to return Remy's memories.

He's very clear about this: "I decided to help you no matter what Da Rules say, so I gave you back your memories." Because he loved him... and he knew Remy's situation wouldn't get any better if he sat and did nothing. The godparenting program and Jorgen weren't going to help, so Juandissimo - who LOVES Da Rules - broke them.

We know Juandissimo returned those memories while Remy was on the island. That suggests Remy's parents had no intention to return to Dimmsdale... and presumably, they also didn't care Remy was missing school.

We know Remy got real clothes again at some point on the island, and we can assume he had food and a bed because his mom opened a luxury resort, but there's more a child needs... Schooling, medical care, social interaction with peers... everything about that situation just screams neglect. Serious neglect. "We literally do not care" levels of neglect.

Even when Remy's parents do return to Dimmsdale and care about his schooling again, they send him to a military school full of older kids and adults. And that seems at least a little reasonable on the surface - After all, Remy's been a brat, so of course they'd send him to a school for ne'er-do-wells - but that begs the question...

... What has he ever done to upset his parents?

Remy's envy leads him to be rude, sure. And he's presumably committing some kind of fraud or deception crimes in the background due to the implication in "The Big Bash" that he bribes people with checks, but puts stops on them later so they don't go through. These are things that happened when he was doing magical stuff away from home.

But all signs point to him being extremely respectful towards his parents even when they're very dismissive of him... even when he's been placed in terrible, scary situations like being shipwrecked on an uncharted island, not knowing if they'll survive. Remy is polite, does what he's told, never talks back, and volunteers to find food.

It's almost worse that his dad acknowledged Remy finding food was a good idea and still didn't lend a hand in that. The Buxaplentys are such concerning people, and that's just my recap of things that happened in Season 2 and Season 5.

According to Season 9's "Country Clubbed," Remy's dad hits "classless saps" with his limo on purpose every month - which sounds horrible even without the next part - and he does that so he has an excuse to invite them to the Fancy Schmancy Country Club and he and his friends can mock them (under the guise of allowing them access to the club in exchange for them not suing). He heavily implies he'd like to hit Timmy later since he didn't get him while hitting his parents.

That's really messed up... WHAT is going on in the Buxaplenty parents' heads?

The only slightly relieving thing from that statement is that presumably, they don't run over Remy because we can assume Remy isn't a "classless sap," but I don't think "choosing not to run your son over because he shares your wealth" is a real point in their favor.

I make no claims that Dale is a fantastic parent, but the weird thing is... I don't think Dale is outside the range of how other subpar parents in the FOP universe act. Except the Buxaplentys- They're pretty much the lowest of the low.

There are so many concerning things going on in the Dimmadome house, like terrible safety rails, and Dale does cut his son off, dehumanize him, and make him feel unwanted. This is all true.

But at least Dale knows Dev's name and calls him that. It's very possible he's aware of Dev's lactose intolerance (seeing as Dev had to get his allergy card from somewhere). At least Dale provided the au pairs to look after Dev and gave them the ability to cook and recognize when he wants a hug. Even if Dale doesn't go out of his way to hug Dev, he seems to like him enough that he's happy to clap a hand to his shoulder and talk to him. At least he seems interested in talking to him and hearing about his day.

Dale even tries to get Dev outside, but didn't snap at Dev when Dev lay down to play his game instead in "Stanky Danky." That was their father-son thing, though it would've been easy to leave Dev at home.

Dale arguably took charge of Dev's care during that event, seeing as the au pairs don't hover around Dev. idk if Dale made his 9-year-old walk home himself across a very busy road while he chased after Danky, but that's not the point.

The implication is that Dev tags along on Dale's walks to Signal Hill - and has done so many times - because Dev knows Dale's calls drop up there. It's implied Dev plays on that hill when his dad is on a call because Dev knows the grass makes you itchy if you roll down it. He'd probably played there recently since that was the first place to come to mind during the treasure hunt with Hazel, and he remembered the itchiness of the grass.

Dale even makes donations to Dev's school, which is more than the Buxaplentys ever did (See also, Remy likely missing school while shipwrecked).

Remy could die and his parents probably wouldn't spend a cent on his funeral... or get his name right in a eulogy without a lot of note-checking and effort. In fact, it wouldn't shock me if they hid his death so no one found out, because a dead son would be bad press.

Actually... It's very sad to imagine them putting more effort into hiding Remy's death than into caring for his life.

Shout-out to Chapter 10 of the 'fic "Buy Me Love" by DeliverUsFromEvie where Remy addresses two mansion employees by name, but they're confused to find out their boss has a kid and that said kid has been in the house this whole time. I think about it constantly. hey. what on earth.

This 'fic has one of the most brutal interpretations of Remy I've ever seen, and Evie has this and several other awesome works, so consider checking them out!

All of this said, there's something else that's interesting here, so let's talk "Turner Back Time."

I can't stop thinking about how when Timmy wished his ancestor (Ebeneezer) had decided to work with trains rather than dismissing them, that led to a timeline where the following things happened:

- Timmy's Dad still married his beloved Timmy's Mom (lol). Yeah, you're not prying him away from the love of his life for anything.

- Dimmsdale fell to ruin because Timmy's Dad wouldn't play the Rich People game right (Supporting the city's growth) and instead opted to drive trains off the tracks and crash them through buildings.

- The Turners lived in a mansion, but Timmy's bedroom is exactly the same, presumably because in the timeline where his family's rich, he needed a safe space untouched by his parents' branding.

- Despite Timmy's effort to become miserable, Dad kept showering him with affection and toys, so Timmy didn't qualify for fairies until he was tied to railroad tracks with a train hurtling towards him.

- The first thing Timmy did in his attempt to become miserable enough to qualify for fairies was decide not to eat... Same energy as when he felt guilty and refused to sleep in Season 1 ("Dream Goat").

There is something here about Timmy's Dad ignoring the train system, but being attentive to his son, while the Buxaplentys ignore their son, but Dimmsdale isn't in ruins.

I'll say 1 and only 1 positive thing about the Buxaplentys: At least their trains are on the tracks instead of careening through hospital walls. Honestly, the bar is so low, it is below the floor.

Timmy's Dad became a greedy person in that timeline, but he still chose to marry someone of lower social status, have a son, and be kind to his son- He's happy to greet him, encourages him to enjoy their wealth, and gifts Timmy lots of nice things. In that timeline, it's the Turners who have generational wealth. Dad was raised by generations of Turners and he still makes time for Timmy. Come on, Buxaplentys... Is it THAT hard to speak to your son like you're happy he exists?

Closing Thoughts

The Buxaplentys are definitely an old money family while the Dimmadomes and Ed Leadly give off new money energy (to me).

Neither Doug nor Ed was seen at the Fancy Schmancy Country Club in S9's "Country Clubbed." All the people who were there have names that play on wealth. They also dress in a much more "upper class" way than Leadly with his flashy yellow suit or Doug with his Southern/Western theme.

The Dimmadomes represent business-related wealth and big company vibes, and I'd call them eccentric. Compare Doug's precariously perched cliffside estate (S3's "Engine Blocked") to Remy's telescope-

I really hope he decorates that hat for the holidays

The energy I get from this is "Doug doing whatever he wants just because he can"... which is also the impression I get from the "Crock Talk" scene that shows his hat stretching through the limo roof. Doug does business things and hosts events, but keeps to himself unless he's doing business things.

Comparatively, Leadly is all-in on his pencil branding, and the Buxaplentys flaunt their wealth in everyday life. As in, they buy the most expensive version of anything they want and like to showcase their wealth.

But while Doug and Dale have "Do what I want" energy, the Buxaplentys seem more restricted by social expectation.

That is, the Buxaplentys dress very nice and dine with fancy people- even their 11-year-old wears a tux, bowtie, and cummerbund. Buxaplentys are very "Flaunt wealth & do what people expect of us." They don't go out of their way to do "silly, eccentric" things like putting a hat on their mansion, but they sure will buy golden, diamond-studded things.

Well, that wraps up my analysis on Dimmsdale's wealthy families, who each intrigue and frighten me in their own unique ways... whether that be money laundering, holding back a magical forest, or being absolutely awful parents.

Thanks for reading!

[lazybonybones]

i might delete my old posts or something lmao, i don't like them sitting in here anymore uhh-

i'm also wondering if i should make a new blog for art only too but i already got my twitter sooo,, idkkk

[ooops-i-arted]

Rant incoming bc I’m mad about this, again (specific BoBF details under a cut):

I KNEW FILONI WOULD FUCK UP THE JEDI + ATTACHMENTS AGAIN.  Filoni needs to be banned from writing Jedi and anything about attachments until he figures out what it actually means for the Jedi.  Jedi are allowed to have love and compassion and attachments and connections to their homeworld and families.  Jedi just aren’t allowed to let those things rule them, BECAUSE THEY HAVE SUPER POWERFUL MIND POWERS and need to maintain control of them so they don’t hurt people!!  Just because Anakin was a selfish twat who committed genocide doesn’t mean other Jedi can’t handle managing their attachments.

LOOK.  LOOK AT WHAT GEORGE LUCAS HIMSELF SAID, SINCE FILONI DOESN’T WANT TO:

“If attachment and love were the same thing, then he would be saying, “They should love their enemies, they should love the Sith.  But they can’t love.”  The way George makes the distinction shows that, no, attachment and love aren’t the same thing at all, attachment is not caring. Further, there’s another instance of him showing there’s an important distinction between relationships and attachment and the association of attachments with possession:  "Jedi Knights aren’t celibate - the thing that is forbidden is attachments - and possessive relationships.” –George Lucas, BBC News interview (via this post which is a whole great analysis of the Jedi)

We’ve already seen this in The Mandalorian.  Grogu acts out of love for Din multiple times in moments of great danger:  the mudhorn, the flametrooper.  But he always tries to attack Cara just over an arm wrestling match.  That’s why it’s so important for Jedi not to let attachments rule them - they have great power and with it comes great responsibility.

If you don’t agree with my interpretation of how the arm wrestling match went down, then look at Anakin.  In AOTC he’s willing to risk losing Dooku (which could’ve stopped the war at that time) just because Padme fell off the ship.  Obi-Wan brings him to his senses that time (pointing out that Padme would want him to leave her if she was there, to stop Dooku instead), but in the next movie he's committing genocide to save her (without any consideration for how Padme might feel about this, only considering his own feelings of "I can’t lose her”).  Hell, set aside all that and pretend Anakin is supposed to be a normal peacekeeper Jedi for a moment.  Do you think for a second he wouldn’t favor Naboo in a diplomatic situation just because he likes Padme?  It would interfere with his job as a peacekeeper and diplomat!  We follow characters like Anakin and Revan because they make good stories, and part of a good story is conflict (such as these characters conflicting with Jedi ways).  But overall the Jedi’s policy of “don’t get dangerously obsessed with people and use your mind powers to fuck up the galaxy as part of that” is there for a good reason and works.  It literally just boils down to “control your emotions, don’t let them control you.”

Also, Jedi are allowed connections to their homeworld/home culture.  Yarael Poof, Adi Gallia, Shaak Ti, Depa Billaba - all these characters wear items from their home cultures.  Barriss Offee and Luminara Unduli have traditional Mirialan tattoos.  Hell, Filoni, did you forgot YOUR OWN DAMN OC is wearing an akul-tooth headdress and Togruta sash?  (The headdress is also worn by Togruta who had slain an akul themselves, implying Ahsoka went back to Shili to complete a traditional custom from her homeworld.)  Hell, Ki-Adi-Mundi has a whole-ass family (in Legends, I think it’s been retconned) because of Cerean population issues, and he was a Council member able to balance his duties to being a Jedi and being a father (and never committed genocide for his family either, Anakin).  You can also get married as a Jedi in SWTOR if you play a Jedi Consular and romance Felix Iresso.  There’s noise about the Council monitoring what’s going on, but the Consular is a Jedi Council member and can still marry and no one throws a fit about it.

And now to get specific:

IT MAKES NO DAMN SENSE LUKE IS FORCING GROGU TO CHOOSE BETWEEN BEING A JEDI AND DIN AND IT’S DUMB FOR MULTIPLE REASONS

Grogu has been there what, a few months?  It’s too soon to make a real choice when he hasn’t truly experienced a Jedi lifestyle.

He is shown to be intelligent and aware of his decisions, but again, he’s still too young to truly be making a permanent choice like this.

“ThE jEdI kIdNaP bAbIeS” shut up they take children from parents who are willing to give them up.  This is clearly shown in TCW and was the same in Legends.  In The Jedi Apprentice series, Obi-Wan even mentions a memory of his visit to his family and seeing his brother Owen!  (Although this was apparently later retconned into being a vision of Owen Lars.  It still remains that Obi-Wan didn’t see anything odd about a visit home, implying it wasn’t something that didn’t happen.)  In the season 2 finale it was crystal clear Grogu was okay with going, he’s the one who urges Din to open the doors and let Luke in and Luke and Din both value and respect his choice.  No one hands Grogu off; he freely walks over to Luke and holds out his arms for him.

Why the fuck are you offering a little kid a lightsaber.  And that’s only the most major offense of “things that were developmentally inappropriate.”

See above about multiple Jedi, INCLUDING’S FILONI’S OWN DARLING, wearing items from their home culture.  There is absolutely no reason Grogu can’t wear Mandalorian armor while he trains as a Jedi.  (Doesn’t he still have the necklace anyway as far as we know?)

Side note but “Are you doing this for Grogu or are you doing this for you?” is a great thing to examine from Din’s side of things.  Shame we just got Ahsoka manipulating him since Filoni’s darling is always right and always the center of things when she appears, and no actual reflection on it from Din.  (Seriously though, FUCK HER for just having R2 drag Din aside to his own personal hell a glade full of droids instead of allowing Din or Grogu any agency in the situation.)

Another side note, does it occur to anyone it would hurt Grogu MORE to know Din came and CHOSE to not see him?

WHY IS LUKE OF ALL PEOPLE BUYING INTO THIS???  LUKE, WHO KNOWS MORE THAN ANYONE ABOUT LOVING YOUR FATHER.  LUKE, WHOSE LOVE FOR HIS SISTER AND HIS FRIENDS IS A KEY COMPONENT OF HIS CHARACTER AND HIS EMOTIONAL STRENGTH???  LUKE, WHO SHOULD TOTALLY EMPATHIZE WITH GROGU IN THIS SITUATION.  LUKE, INCREDIBLY KIND LUKE, WHO SHOULD HAVE AT BARE MINIMUM FACED DIN, EXPLAINED THE CONCERNS, AND THEN LET DIN AND GROGU MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICE FREE OF PRESSURE INSTEAD OF THE SMUG ORANGE BITCH TELLING DIN WHAT HE SHOULD DO, JUST LIKE LUKE LET DIN AND GROGU MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICE IN THE SEASON 2 FINALE.

Also this is just stupid from a writing position, Grogu already joined the Jedi as a kid (which we don’t know the full circumstances of) and chose the Jedi again by going with Luke, why are we rehashing this?  And if Grogu does go back, then what was even the point of the dramatic separation/season 2 finale?

Yoda’s lightsaber isn’t even the right size for Grogu right now and the chainmail is, how is this even a choice.  Luke don’t you want your first student protected anyway?

Jedi have always been able to leave the Order and it’s not a problem.  The Jedi Order even had busts of them in the library because they respected and honored their choice!!

It’s just another aspect of Luke trying to directly copy the old Jedi Order, which is incredibly boring when compared to Legends, where Luke made a New Jedi Order with its own strengths and flaws.  But because of his own experience, he chose to allow marriage and families and it was a new and interesting take - and it still boiled down to “we have super powers, so use them responsibly and control your emotions, don’t let you emotions control you.”

In conclusion, Filoni, when it comes to the Jedi:  just stop.

(Also, again, wasn’t this BOBA FETT’S show?)

[hedwig96]

Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania (not) Hot Take

Coming months late, and not really a hot take, but here it is - 

I think the reception to this movie would be significantly different if Scott was trapped in the Quantum Realm at the end. I mean, let’s be honest, that was very likely (if not confirmed) the original ending for this movie. 

I think they tried to use Avengers Disassembled (a story where, if I’m remembering correctly, Wanda Maximoff, in a fit of rage/psychosis(?) that eventually leads into House of M (?), ends up “killing” Clint Barton, Vision, and Scott Lang) and Young Avengers as inspiration for this movie. Which, cool. But if that’s the plan, Marvel, then you need to commit. If not for Scott’s character development, then for Cassie’s. Scott “dying” is part of her motivation to become Stature. And, since this is the start of Phase 5, there needed to be some real stakes. 

Again - don’t kill him, have him trapped (with or without Hope, as this movie barely acknowledges her anyway) with a dysfunctional Ant-Man suit. And, if you still want Kang poofed like he was, that can still work. It’s a pyrrhic victory - they win, but Scott is essentially taken off the board until he’s either rescued or Kang comes for his revenge (you can’t convince me that he’s dead). Which would be in line with that one line he had about the whole point of that final fight being about Kang losing, not him winning. 

With this too, Cassie, Janet, and Hank have no idea if Kang is actually gone - they can only assume that Kang is either trapped or dead. So, they can either be retconned into that one Shang-chi post credit scene or even, come as a follow-up and are like, “Hey that might be our boy Scott.” 

And I know I’m not the only one who’s saying this shit. But if this were the ending, or something akin to it, I think people would have walked out and felt like the movie had actual stakes and consequences. That’s what important - because other than introducing Kang the Conqueror, I don’t think this movie served any purpose. I don’t know if any character went through meaningful development, which the movie needed. It makes Cassie that much more important if she comes out of this movie with a focused drive to get her dad out. 

Discuss? And please let me know if I’ve gotten some of the comic details wrong. 

[makeste]

A theory I have seen is that Fuyumi wants the family back so desperately, because she and Toya experienced the better Endeavor, where everything was alright. My guess is that after his decent into abuse its stopped being like a normal family and Natsuo and Shoto never experienced a normal family. But that is just a therory

okay so speaking as someone who grew up with an abusive and neglectful parent (though in my case it was my mom rather than my dad)... it’s complicated. there are a lot of emotions there. I think one of the things Horikoshi has really excelled at with the whole Todoroki plot is the way that he’s used the four siblings to show the different ways that children respond to parental abuse. and I can say from personal experience that all of them are valid. not just the bitterness, anger, and resentment that Touya, Natsuo, and Shouto have all shown at times, but also that intense (but tentative, almost wishful-thinking) longing to just have a normal family that we see from Fuyumi. speaking again from experience, that last one isn’t an outlier at all. in fact, in my case, I’d say that was honestly the strongest feeling out of all of them, and it even fueled a lot of the other three emotions. btw just a heads up I’m gonna delve into some personal stuff here briefly, so yeah. I won’t put details, but if anyone wants an abuse trigger warning added to the post or anything like that, just let me know.

so the thing is, even during my angriest times, if some magic wish-granting genie had poofed in and told the child me, “’sup, I’m here to solve all of your family problems, just tell me what you want me to do,” I wouldn’t have wanted them to take my mom away and lock her up somewhere and make her suffer or anything like that. honestly, even during the worst of it, the thing I wanted more than anything else was just to have a normal family. my mom had a lot of untreated mental health issues, and it was basically a situation where you never knew which version of her you were going to get on any given day. so there were times when she was a kind and loving mother who took care of me and my siblings. and there were a great many more times when she was temperamental and erratic, and we all (my dad included) basically just walked on eggshells around her and did our best to lay low and try not to bother her because even little things might set her off, and we never knew how she was going to react. and my dad worked a lot, and my sibs and I were homeschooled for reasons which I’m not gonna get into because this post is already veering off on too many tangents, but anyway so the short of it is that my sibs and I grew up in this unstable environment and ended up more or less raising ourselves. and I resented my mom a lot for that, growing up, and I still do honestly.

now a lot’s happened since then, and she’s gotten some help, and my siblings and I are all adults now and we’re more or less good, even though we all took a certain amount of Psychic Damage along the way and we’re each still dealing with that. and we each have different relationships with our mom now, and a couple of my sibs are even fairly close to her. but for my part, I pretty much have no relationship with her at all outside of seeing her a few times a year at family get-togethers and the like. the thing is, even though my mom did eventually (after a LOT of false starts and struggles and heartache) get some help, she’s never really shown remorse for what my siblings and I went through because of her. she’s never taken responsibility for any of it. she blames a lot of other people, and will go on long rants about all of the terrible things that have happened to her and all of the horrible ways people have treated her (some of which is true, and some of which very much is not). but there’s never even the slightest acknowledgement of any of the things she herself has done to hurt others. she either passes the blame or just pretends it never happened. 

and honestly, it sucks. even now, there’s little to no real desire to change on her part. she’s gotten therapy and meds now, and so emotionally she’s much more stable than when we were kids, but one of the unfortunate results is that it’s all the more clear now that a lot of her behavior never had anything to do with her mental illness at all. she just didn’t care at all about how she was hurting others; or at the very least, didn’t care to face it. and that’s just how it is.

anyway, so I’m sorry to keep breaking away and telling you guys my own life story lol. but the point I’m trying to get at here is that I actually relate to Fuyumi so much, though. what I wanted more than anything was for my mom to care, and to say she was sorry, and for me to be able to believe that and to trust her, and for her to actually change. that was it.

and so for me, here’s the biggest difference between the Endeavor situation, and my own and so many others. the difference is that unlike people in real life, we know Endeavor is actually remorseful for what he’s done. we know it for certain because we’ve seen it for ourselves, from his own point of view. the manga actually lets us get inside his head and shows us that he really is sincere, that he really is sorry, and that he really is trying to change. and that’s something that’s impossible to get in real life. that certainty that the person really means it, that they’re genuinely remorseful and committed to making amends.

and for me, that’s fucking wish fulfillment right there. for the abusive parent to finally realize the error of their ways and be sorry and try to do right by their kids. I fucking wanted that. hell, I still want it, even though I’ve made my peace with things the way that they are. that chance to somehow heal the broken relationship, and have your parent genuinely try their best to be a real parent to you, even if it’s years after the fact? shit. I’d take that in a heartbeat.

and so when it comes to Fuyumi and her attempts to get her family to reconcile and experience a few normal things, I f feel that. I really do. because when you’re growing up in that type of situation, normal is all that you want. and I don’t think it’s anything that requires an explanation on her part, because it’s not actually an unusual reaction at all. it’s natural. it’s the most natural thing in the world. honestly it’s annoying that fandom sometimes tries to shame her for having those feelings. like honestly, fuck that. because the thing is, I’d wager that almost every kid who grew up with an abusive parent has at some time or other felt the exact same way.

and that includes Touya, Natsuo, and Shouto as well. literally the only difference between them and Fuyumi is that they feel that Endeavor’s change of heart is simply coming too late. it’s not that they don’t want their family back, just like she does; it’s that from their point of view, it’s something they can’t get back. for Fuyumi, that dream of having a normal family is something she’s still seeking. for Natsuo and Touya, that dream of having a normal family is something that was destroyed. something that Endeavor killed. something they’re in mourning of. and so Touya wants revenge for it, and Natsuo is trying to pick himself up and move past it. and meanwhile Shouto is caught somewhere in the middle of all of those reactions, because he’s still trying to decide whether or not he can ever bring himself to trust his father again. he’s somewhere in between his brothers’ mourning and his sister’s hopefulness. sort of a Schrodinger type of deal lol.

but anyway, the point I’m trying to make here is that all four siblings are really experiencing the same thing, just in different ways. Fuyu may be the one arranging family dinners and the like, but that same longing to be part of a normal family is at the core of Natsuo, Shouto, and even Touya’s behavior as well. Natsuo’s hurt and resentment, and Touya’s spite and bitterness, come from being denied the thing they want. and Fuyu’s shaky attempts at reconciliation come from her desire to still obtain it somehow. but at the end of the day they’re the exact same feelings. and they all come from the same place.

anyways, hopefully that makes some kind of sense. basically, everyone is valid. Fuyu is valid, Natsu and Shouto are valid, and Touya is murdery which isn’t cool, but his feelings are still valid too nonetheless. hugs and therapy for the Todoroki children in 2021, Horikoshi. please and thank you.

[inosukeslefttoe]

SO i just finished wonder egg priority and i think that with confidence i can say it has been one of my favorite animes like... ever ?? and not even from hyperfixation or obsession over it just... its so fucking real yet so simple in a way that i havent rlly seen shown in any other shows you feel ??

but first i wanna talk about how sexy the art and animation is real quick... HOMIE ITS SO GOOD LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT JUST... serotonin... the characters are all so unique and iconic and fun but not over the top in their designs yknow ??? they seem like regular every day girls but they stand out and theyre all sO CUTE !!!! also i love how the style is like this soft bubbly slice of life lookin stuff with bright happy colors and the most beautiful scenes you could find but they also have the SICKEST fight scenes complete with whimsical animal helpers and terrifying villains and crazy weapons unique to each character. and the animation. god DAMN shawty i am obsessed with everything in this show. i might make a post solely about the art later lol bc i wanna get into the other stuff.

so the themes in the show right ?? it starts just as this cute lil magical girl kinda deal but within the first episode we see that like.. oh damn... thats kinda heavy... tbh i was a little shocked and thought about stopping bc yknow bad mental health BUT i was so intrigued that i had to keep going and i am SO GLAD that i did. because this show just so beautifully discusses all these heavy topics in such an eloquent and artistically expressive way. and also like, , the juxtaposition of the charming childlike vibe with bright colors and 14 yr old girl protagonists against the dark themes of suicide and so much else,, i think is just perfect. bc a lot of heavy animes are more of the seinen genre and have some middle aged dude as a protag or make the entire color palette dim or offer little relief to the pain of these heavy themes right ?? but NO not wonder egg bitches B) because these problems arent just things that ppl face later in life or just problems that need to be talked about among adults or the edgy seinen watching squad,, these are REAL problems that face people of every age, gender etc and i think its awesome that wonder egg addresses that. some may cringe at the thought of their high schooler watching animes that discuss sexual harassment, suicide, abuse, self harm, eating disorders etc,, but in reality it is the most comforting thing i have ever come across and is basically jsut free anime therapy. because not only does wonder egg present these themes to the viewers as something real that happens to all kinds of people (making said people feel heard in a way that maybe they hadnt before), but it also makes sure to vanquish all of these forms of trauma. and the way the trauma is vanquished isnt always beautiful and it isnt always just magically gone with a poof. the struggles of overcoming or living with that sort of thing are shown in such a real and relatable way that addresses every hardship trauma survivors have to go through. and i just. god i cry bro. 

oh m y GOD and the lgbtq+ rep in this show ?? like shawty... as soon as i saw episode one i was picking up on some gay/lesbian themes but then again im sapphic and project that a lot so i tend to see that sort of stuff like... everywhere... but NE WAYS... episode ten made me FUKCING CRY BRO LIke i cant believe there was a whole trans character with a whole trans pride hoodie like LKGHKDGH my heart is just so.. so fucking full thinking about him. bc like yeah i know there are trans characters in anime but i feel like theyre always very ambiguous about actually being trans or not or erased or portrayed as a harmful stereotype or theyre constantly misgendered and still refered to as their assigned gender at birth and i hate it. HOWEVEr... Kaoru.. *chefs kiss* it was so amazing to see a character straight up say “yeah im trans” in such a casual yet powerful way bc i personally have never seen that before. and i love love loved how he went into his backstory and talked to momoe about gender bc i think thats what she rlly needed and that it helped her find herself and it makes me so happy oh my god,, and the way they talked about it never seemed forced or like it was the focal point of his existence yknow ?? like yeah he existed to help momoe overcome some of her trauma but he also just existed to be HIM yknow ?? also... personally, i headcanon momoe as a trans girl even though i dont remember it being explicitly stated plus the school scenes of her and stuff would seem like they suggest otherwise ??but,,, SHAWTY THE AMOUNT OF SUBTEXT and her complicated relationship w gender is... something i feel like a cis girl would not go through so harshly yknow ?? with all of the questioning and feeling detached from femininity or feeling like ppl dont see her as an actual girl and only like her as a guy or for her masculine traits,,, but dont take my word on this bc i myself am a cis girl but that was just my take on it as someone in the lgbtq+ community trying to educate myself on the transgender community :) either way,, wonder eggs portrayal of momoe and kaoru and the way that momoe becomes so passionate about expressing herself the way she wants to as a girl is just... good lord im gonna cry its so perfect,,,.so ... i just love this show way too much. i also am honestly super lost about the relationship btwn acca and ura-acca ?? bc i was gonna mention ura-acca as a canonically gay guy bc when i was watching i interpreted ep 11 as him being in love with acca and being jealous of Azusa (bc i mean,, they lived together (i swear to god there was only one bed in that apartment) and had a daughter together and def loved each other and also when Frill said they were husbands and then when ura-acca said he wasnt attracted to azusa but he was def jealous of their relationship ??) but then i saw somewhere that theyre brothers ?? which would make sense ig since they look kinda similar and accas daughter called ura-acca “uncle”.. but at the same time its ANIME SO THEY ALL LOOK SIMILAR and referring to gay couples as siblings is an EXTREMELY common euphemism soooo... IM JUST LOST HERE... but yeah i tried doing research and found different things so i cant say anything for sure >:( however,,, if they are canonically a lil fruity for each other... when frill refered to acca as ura-accas husband i imploded dude you never hear that sort of wording in anime.. but if theyre related i am so sorry. 

god this is so much longer than i planned it to be oops but i also love the theme about like.. relying on friends to help carry your weight but at the same time not becoming completely dependent on those friends and using their support to learn how to love yourself and rely on yourself yknow ?? bc that is exactly what healthy friendships look like. bc i think ai sort of had a codependency thing goin on with koito maybe ?? but now she has a whole squad of funky friends that are so so different but all struggle with different kinds of trauma and although they fight over it, they always get through it with each other together. and they push each other no matter what to be the best versions of themselves and they teach other that getting hurt is okay because theyre always gonna be there to pick up the pieces no matter what happens. they can give each other space when they need and adapt to meet each others needs but theyre always able to balance it out with their own needs and thats such a beautiful thing in friendships especially at their age like damn i wish i had that maturity when i was 14 but no all i had was depression. another thing is that through these friendships you get to see all the different sides of each girl; you get to see them being strong or a shining light to their friends when theyre hurting but you also get to see them being hurt and weak and allowing themselves to be on the receiving end of the comfort. their friendships allows them to have weaknesses but it also allows them to highlight their strengths and thrive off of each others. I LOVE FRIENDSHIP DUDE

next i wanna briefly mention some of the themes connected to suicide that ive noticed. a big one is the survivors guilt that ai feels once koito is dead. several times she screams that she wishes she couldve gone with koito and she dreams of a “perfect world” where they committed a double suicide. one of the main reasons for her troubles is that she blames herself for koitos death and feels like it should be her thats dead... but at the same time she feels like too much of a coward to do anything now that koito is gone. she just has all these complex and contradicting feelings that wear away at her in ways that ppl that havent gone through the suicide of a loved one could never imagine. a lot of the times when things like this are portrayed in media i feel like its more in a way thats meant to guilt trip those that have taken their own lives and paint suicide as this selfish sin thats unforgivable but... not only does wonder egg reject that idea and instead portray it as a heartbreaking tragedy with,,, so so many terrible reasons, but it focuses on the feelings of ai separate from koito without blaming her in any way. not once did i feel like the show antagonized koito or that ai blamed koito for doing any of this, but they simply mourned her loss and touched on ais reaction towards the event but separate from koito herself if that makes sense. and i think that discussing survivors guilt without painting koito as the bad guy is something so beautifully done in wonder egg that can really resonate with those that have lost a loved one to suicide and have struggled with these same things.

okay i think this is the last thing ill mention,,, but HOMIE THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE BIT AT THE END. I AM. OBSESSED. i am such a whore for anything about the multiverse okay n e ways...,, not only did this make a super epic trippy ending of season one and add a little bit more magical girl whimsy to the show,, but it had such a powerful message. from the perspective of og ai,, finding out that you killed yourself in another world is... i mean its definitely not a surprise but at the same time it rlly makes you think how close og ai herself couldve been to that point and what decisions led her out of that dark place in her life. if i were in her shoes i would be terrified and id cry bc the thought of going back to such a dark place and actually going through with something like that is my worst fear and probably something that ai fears too. but at the same time,,, think from the perspective of ai two !!! like yeah its true that theres this awful terrible version of ai that dies but theres also a whole version of ai that is a superhero magical girl fighting off monsters to save countless ppls lives !! and she has a badass lizard and a gang of awesome friends !!! at first i was worried that ai two would be jealous of og ai and compare herself to her and feel inferior but like.. THEYRE LITERALLY THE SAME PERSON AND CAPABLE OF THE SAME THINGS !!! and ai two realized that !! just within the span of one episode, she went from the version of ai who took her life,, to the version of ai jumping in front of a friend to take a bullet for them and save their life. and that just inspired THE SHIT OUT OF ME. i think that ai was sent another version of herself to sort of beat her own worst enemy yknow ?? those doubts and fears that shes no good or that shes that same bystander from episode one and that she hasnt changed at all. but getting to interact with her parallel self and see her grow was just what she needed to realize that while yeah sometimes the worst thing can happen and things can be terrible but on the other hand sometimes the most wonderful thing imaginable can happen because she has the power to do either. 

so im gonna go ahead and stop rambling bc i got all my thoughts out that i wanted to for this post :D but yeah lol i might make another if i feel like it sometime. long story short: this show is perfect and it is going on my favorite of all times.

[rjzimmerman]

If you read my posts, you’ve concluded long ago that I’m a firm believer in all things renewable, all things necessary to preserve and enhance biodiversity, all things necessary to restore our wild places. But where I’ve split is process, and time. I’m as fiery pissed off and frightened of republican political leadership today as I was during trump’s four years and years preceding that. For that reason, I prefer that President Biden go bolder than baby steps but not as timid as medium steps, but take as many giant steps as he can to sidewind republicans. That might mean playing a carbon capture game, or pretending an oil field in Alaska is “ok” to drill (but it isn’t and never will be drilled....pragmatic capitalism), to get us where we need to go. That also means we maintain nuclear energy where we have it, and maybe expand it, safely with new technology. It also recognizes that internal combustion engines are not going to poof away and disappear in 2030 or 2035.....people hang on to their vehicles, and the internal combustion ones will need gas to run and oil to keep moving. That’s reality.

I respect and admire the progressive wing, particularly the younger ones. I was eager and impatient and exhausting once too, so I get it. But now I get the value of deliberate plodding, if that’s what we have to do to get there.

Excerpt from this story from Inside Climate News:

As President Joe Biden works to enact his plan for cutting greenhouse gases, a long dormant rift among climate action activists is surfacing.

On one side are those who believe that renewable energy—especially solar, wind, and hydroelectricity—will be sufficient to fuel the economy and get the world to zero emissions. On the other side are those who, like the Biden administration, think fossil fuels are likely to have a role in the nation’s energy future, making it important to invest in technology to capture carbon emissions.

This dispute was largely buried in recent years, as progressives and moderates bonded together to oppose President Donald Trump’s wholesale unraveling of environmental protections. But now it threatens to complicate the already difficult job that Biden faces in getting his $2 trillion American Jobs Plan through Congress.

“These are divisions that reflect, I think, on one side an ideological crusade of the far left versus a pragmatic approach by the Biden administration that is focused on what’s politically possible,” said Paul Bledsoe, a strategic consultant for the Progressive Policy Institute who worked on climate change in President Bill Clinton’s White House.

But a series of recent Biden administration decisions have disappointed environmentalists, including  the defense of a huge Trump-approved oil drilling project on Alaska’s North Slope;, the issuing of Western oil and gas leases sold during Trump’s final days; and the refusal to shut down controversial oil pipelines. And as Biden searched for Republican support in Congress for his climate plan, tensions among environmentalists were running high.

The climate action movement united behind Biden last year after he became the Democratic presumptive nominee. And Biden’s ambitious goals—especially his commitment to put the United States on a path toward 100 percent clean electricity by 2035—came out of a joint task force he established with his chief rival and avatar of the progressive movement, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

But there is fierce disagreement about what “clean electricity” means.

[easilydistractedbyfanfic]

22 & 36 for the writer questions!

Hi! Yay, another ask! This is a fun way to spend my night, LOL! Alright - for #22 - Do you listen to music during your writing process? What music do you listen to while you’re writing? Yes, I do listen to music while I write.. but also, no I do not listen to music while I write! I do a mix of both, and a lot of it has to do with how my day went. It can get pretty noisy at my house at times - homeschooling 2 kids during covid, DH working from home - it can be a lot. So some nights I just like quiet. Other nights I’m a big fan of some ambiance music. I like a greenhouse one and a writing one in particular, although I listen to seasonal ones as well! As far as the music goes - it often really varies! Sometimes I’ll just put on a youtube playlist that’s a big mix of songs that speak to me of my fave characters, other times I listen to full albums or CDs. To no one’s surprise, Folklore was (and still is) an album I listen to a lot while writing this year, and I’ve just started listening to Evermore as well. I’m a fan of music I know most of the words to since it can fade a bit into the background at times, and female voices tend to win out over men at this point. 36. Did you ever delete a work of yours? No. I have never done this and I can pretty much promise that I won’t ever do it. As a reader, I honestly am very bothered when this happens, especially when you’re in a small ship or a small fandom. I may know that some authors have a reason for it, but I’ve had chapters of comments that I took time & effort to write out just POOF into the ether, and it doesn’t feel good. I may take longer than I - and readers - would like, but I am committed to not only finishing any WIPs I have, and I will not delete fics I publish. There’s just so many options via AO3 anyway! You can anon it or post it under another name... Now, with that being said, I will say that I easily have more than 20 stories that I have not posted any part of to AO3 yet. They’re in various stages of progress, or ideas I got bored of or I moved on to something else... I might not always publish everything I write, but once it’s on AO3, it’s up forever!

Thanks, Elle - I’m enjoying these! Ask list here!

[voyager-into-the-unknown]

This is another chapter of my ongoing Plance fic. This chapter has more hints of Kallura and Hunay, and be please be advised, there’s a very hot Plance makeout session in this chapter. 🔥💦🌱 The boys have a serious discussion about their future plans, including marriage and family. Also, Loverboy Lance is super sexy in this installment. 😉 You’ve been warned. Please leave a comment if you like this fic.

Here’s the previous chapter if you missed it. https://truegryffindorforever2.tumblr.com/post/188917892600/truegryffindorforever2

Chapter 10: After the Training Mission

After the success of the morning’s simulation on the training deck, the Paladins headed toward the locker rooms, where they could strip off their armor, shower, and change into their Garrison uniforms. As Keith, Allura, and Hunk walked ahead of them, Lance and Pidge lagged behind, holding hands. Lance felt a little tug as Pidge led him toward a vacant supply room. “I need to talk to you about something in private,” she said as she led him inside and shut the door.

“Sure. What is it?” Lance asked as they set their helmets down on a nearby crate. She put her hands on his chest plate and looked up at him adoringly. Even without makeup and with sweat matting the loose strands of the hair that framed her face she looked beautiful. He felt his heart beating a little faster.

“You were incredible in the training simulation just now. Shiro was right, you know. We have never seen you fight like that before. It was amazing.”

Lance felt his face heat up. “Well, it’s like I said. I had the right motivation. My mission was to keep you safe.” He reached down to cup her face in his gloved hands. His voice deepened. “I had to protect the woman I love.” Lance gave her his most smoldering look, and Pidge’s blush was visible, even in the dim lighting.

He leaned down to kiss her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to draw him closer as their lips came together in a passionate kiss. The room was small and Pidge was already near the wall. She backed into it, and Lance picked her up, bracing her against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist, holding onto him as she had when they were tumbling through the simulation of deep space. He kissed her as if she were the breath of life itself, with an urgency neither of them had ever experienced before, and she kissed him back with just as much passion. When their lips parted, they were both panting. She then kissed him everywhere she could reach—cheeks, temples, forehead, and chin. He closed his eyes and allowed her to cover his face with sweet little kisses. “I love you,” she whispered as she kissed the corner of his mouth. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” whispered to her. He covered her face with the same soft little kisses she had given him. She closed her eyes, smiling and savoring the sensation. “You were brilliant today, as always,” he whispered in her ear, then kissed her there, then nibbled at her earlobe. She giggled at this new sensation. This was all so new to her, to both of them. He set her down, then kissed the top of her head. “We shouldn’t get too carried away,” he said.

“Right. Matt doesn’t want us to have to name any little garbage poofs after him just yet, remember?”

Lance laughed. “Well, I was going to take a hot shower to relax my aching muscles, but right now I think I need a cold shower first.” Pidge looked down, suddenly comprehending the meaning of his words. She blushed scarlet.

“I—I didn’t know I could cause that to happen,” she looked away from the place below his belt line where she had been staring. “Sorry.”

Lance picked up his helmet, and turned to leave. “I’m not.” He gazed at her from the now open doorway, silhouetted by the light from hallway beyond. He flashed her his sexiest lopsided grin, unashamed of himself, but secretly hoping that no one would pass by and see how uncomfortably tight his under suit was at the moment. Pidge looked adorably embarrassed, and averted her gaze. She grabbed her helmet and followed him out of the room.

They held hands again on the way to the locker rooms, and upon arrival, they finally parted from each other. “See you at lunch,” he told her, and he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before they went their separate ways.

Hunk was putting on his uniform when Lance arrived in the locker room, and Keith, who had just come from the shower, had wet hair and was wrapped in only a towel. “What took you so long?”

“Uh, Pidge wanted to discuss the mission,” Lance said, as he turned away to begin removing his armor.

Hunk laughed. “Don’t let him fool you. He was probably making out with his girlfriend again.”

“Girlfriend? Lance finally has a girlfriend?!” Keith said in disbelief.

“Yes, I do have a girlfriend, Keith. Don’t be so shocked by that fact.” Lance sounded a bit offended.

“So, is she someone I know?” Keith was curious.

Hunk laughed. “Still Clueless Keith.”

“Typical,” Lance agreed. “I told you I was discussing the mission with her.”

“You mean Pidge?! She’s just a kid!”

“She’s eighteen now, and way more mature than any of us were at that age.”

“Listen, Loverboy. Pidge is a very important member of our team, and she’s also like a little sister to me, so if you are just messing around and trying to take advantage of her feelings—“

“I have already had this discussion with Matt, so back off, Keith. Mind your own business!” Lance yelled. Keith growled at him.

“Whoa! Calm down, both of you,” said Hunk. “For your information, Keith, I have had this talk with Lance, too, and he is handling things very maturely. Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Lance sat on the nearest bench, clad only in the bottom half of his under armor. He exhaled. “Thanks, Hunk.” He looked at Keith, then looked away. “I love her, okay? And she loves me. We are in a committed relationship, and that’s a bit scary for both of us. We have just survived the most brutal war that the universe has ever seen, and all of us have nearly died at one time or another. We aren’t doing anything stupid or irresponsible. We have actually discussed our future together.” Lance looked up at both of his friends. “Pidge and I want it all—marriage, a home, kids...a normal life. We both love being Paladins and serving the universe in the cause of freedom and all that, but we both want something for ourselves too. I think we deserve that. All of us deserve that.”

Keith sat down on the bench beside him. “I’m sorry. You’re right. And you and Pidge aren’t the only ones who have thought about the future in those terms,” he admitted. His expression has softened a great deal.

“Things are getting pretty serious between me and Shay,” Hunk confessed.

“Things between me and Allura are just getting started,” Keith added. “She’s lost nearly everything, and I know she thinks of all of us as her family, but I also know it would make her happy if she had a family of her own.” Keith looked away, embarrassed. “We have both submitted DNA samples to the exobiology lab for testing. There’s a very good chance that an Altean female can produce hybrid offspring with a male who is half human and half Galra.” Keith was blushing so deeply that he couldn’t meet their eyes.

“Shay and I haven’t even thought that far ahead,” Hunk said quietly. “But I still want to be with her even if we can’t have children. I love her.”

“Then you guys do understand. None of us are kids anymore.” Lance said. “And of the original Paladins, we know that Zarkon and Alfor had families of their own. If they can marry the women that they loved, why can’t we?”

“It’s not that easy, Lance,” Keith responded. “As far as we know, Trigel didn’t have any children of her own. Maybe she had to give that up to be a female Paladin. If Voltron is needed again someday, how would we go into battle if Pidge or Allura gets pregnant? Supposed one of them is going into labor when the universe needs us the most.”

There was a long silence. “I hadn’t thought about that before,” Lance admitted. He looked away, lost in thought.

“We have switched lions before,” Hunk mused aloud. “Shiro and Keith have both flown Black, Keith and Lance have both flown Red, and Lance and Allura have both flown Blue. Green has even accepted Matt as her co-pilot. Maybe Blue and Green would accept another pilot if Allura or Pidge were unable to fly for a period of time.”

“That’s a good point, Hunk. I think you could be right.” Keith looked hopeful.

Lance smiled. “I think we should discuss this with the girls, and with the lions,” he said. “And I’m gonna hit the shower before I miss lunch.”

Hunk was finished dressing. “See you guys there.”

Lance grabbed his towel and grooming kit and headed toward the stalls. He had a lot to think about.

Keith smiled to himself, lost in thought as he grabbed a smaller towel to dry his wet hair. He really hoped that Hunk was right. He daydreamed for a bit, wondering how his mother would react to having a grandchild that was half Altean. Then he found himself wishing his father could have lived long enough to meet Allura and the little family that they might someday have. He sighed and began combing his hair.

Lance stood under the hot water, no longer needing the cold shower. He washed his hair and lathered his body while considering talk he had just had with Hunk and Keith. Pidge, pregnant? Colleen and his mother would make such as fuss over her and the baby. Lance secretly hoped that the child would inherit the Holt family’s intelligence. What would it be like to be father to a genius? He imagined Sam would give the baby his or her first scientific educational toys. His own dad would probably pass out the finest Cuban cigars to all of their friends and family, even though none of them smoked. He smiled at the thought of all of the aunts and uncles the baby would have, spoiling the child with love and affection: Matt, Veronica, Rachel, Marco, Luis and Lisa...and the team...he imagined his baby being doted upon by Shiro, Coran, Keith, Allura, and especially Hunk. The thought of it made him so happy he began to cry a little. His mind wandered back to the training mission and how tightly he and Pidge clung to each other when they hurled through space, and that led to thoughts of how she had her arms and legs wrapped so tightly around him when they kissed in the supply room afterwards. What would her body feel like so close to his if they hadn’t been wearing armor? Soft, he thought. Smooth. He had held her in his arms when they danced and kissed before. Even though she had grown considerably taller since they had gone into space, compared to him, she was still so tiny. He would have to be very gentle with her the first time that they... No, he mustn’t indulge in those thoughts right now. He turned the temperature of the water down several degrees, and shut his eyes as it poured over him like cool spring rain.

[justmickeyfornow]

How do you sit down and write? Like do you write at tea/coffee shop to increase that anesthetics writer creativity? Or hole up under your blanket? I’ve been trying to write something for 2 months now without much progress. Any words of wisdom?

Boy, do I got a few tips for you!! 

These tips are mostly if you’re writing a story (but some work both ways), so if you’re writing a paper or a dissertation or something with no progress, I’ll gladly do another post for that!

Step right up and welcome to Mickey’s....

Sit Yo Ass Down And Write Crash Course

1. Tip number uno:

Never sit your ass down and write. 

Hear me out, hear me out. If you’re anything like me, then you’re probably a serial procrastinator who’s always in desperate need to just not do what needs to be done. It’s quite simple. All you gotta do is trick that damn beautiful but procrastinating brain of yours. 

How? Well, I’m glad you asked!

I actually do my best writing standing in lines! Yup! Standing in lines has written some of the most intense scenes in PI. Hospital and airport waiting areas? Yup. Lotsa writing done there! Basically, if you find yourself waiting for something, pull up your phone and start writing. Half of PI was written on the subway, on buses, or in cars. I don’t know what it is, but my brain becomes hyperactive at that point. Like I have to finish writing this scene before reaching the front of the line or else I’ll make a fool of myself in front of the pretty barista lady.

For us procrastinators, we like to find any and every excuse not to work. But when you’re not actually working and your doing something else instead, our procrastinating brain doesn’t really identify the action as writing.

Believe it or not I never actually ‘sit down and write’. I only do so when I’m editing. During the editing process, I force myself to sit down on an actual chair, in front of an actual laptop/computer screen, use an actual keyboard, and edit! It’s brutal! Makes my procrastinating brain go antsy!

2. Tip number two:

If you get an idea, stop, drop, and type!

Don’t think about it. Don’t overthink the idea. Just jot it down on your phone. I don’t care if you were talking to someone and it would be rude to do so. Because as soon as you let go of that idea and say, “I’ll write it down later” then poof! it’s gone! 

Repeat after me: STOP. DROP. AND TYPE.

3. Tip number trzy (Polish):

never write perfectly from the start. 

Write in bullet form if you have to. Or just type the idea you have in your head. The more you pressure yourself to writing something perfectly, the more you’ll forget your idea. And this works with both story writing and academic writing as well.

Writing is a lot like drawing. You start with pencil, draw the basics - dialogue, single action,  main thing that happens - then using your pencil, draw some of the details - the he said she said parts, turn the actions into full sentences with adjectives and description - then lastly add in the color - the punctuation, the indentations, and the splitting of paragraphs - and finally you have a picture.

Let me give you an example. This is a simple scene that I’m gonna write on the spot from the random phrase “There’s no space for my ice cream”. (I initially screen recorded a video for you, but then when I came to upload it, I unfortunately realized that Tumblr doesn’t allow videos on asks....)

So here you see just random dialogue. No actions even.

Then I added dialogue above it. So what you write first doesn’t necessarily mean what’s gonna come first.

More dialogue and some action.

Here I started fixing it up. Added indentations. Set a scene with Lena being in the other room and all.

And then Tada!

So, As you can see, I start with basic dialogue, just what I think they might say (it changes a lot btw). Then I add some actions. Then I go back up and write more dialogue before the dialogue I started with. Then I go ahead and indent a few lines here and there. I write the saids (Kara called. Lena answered. She said. Kara exclaimed. Kara whined). And then add in some scenery as well.

And like I said, this works for story writing as well as academic. I used to do the same thing when I needed to write a paper. I would start simple. No big words. Just somewhat of an idea of what I want to write and build up from there.

4. Tip number quatre (French):

Watch to learn. 

This means that when you’re watching something, whether it’s a movie or a tv show, learn how the characters react. Their quirks, their nervous habits, everything and anything that makes them them. I can’t count how many times I had to rewind a movie because I was too busy noticing how the main character’s eyes would linger on the coffee table in front of her before she would say something painful. Or how if a character is shoved to the ground, which body part hits the ground first. Go through scenes of movies and tv shows and learn how people behave.

Movies and Tv-shows could also help you with how a character can cope a certain way or react in a certain way. For example, I was watching this show on Netflix called “Dead To Me” and the main character, her husband was killed in a hit-and-run by a speeding car. And part of her grief was that she would jot down the licence plate number of every car that was speeding and every car that had a bump at its front. That’s a detail of a specific form of grief. You could have your own character be obsessed with finding a cure to heart attacks if their SO died that way.

5. Tip number cinque (Italian):

Use real people as reference. 

Sit in a coffee shop and creepily watch a woman sitting in the corner table. You gotta act all stalkerish here for it to work! Now pretend that it’s your character that’s sitting there. Write down the little things that the woman might do that you’ll probably never even think of if you would have written the scene at home. Like how the woman’s head jerks up when a car passes by and she watches it through the glass window. How her foot taps on the floor to the rhythm of her music. How she frowns when she spills some coffee on her sketch book. Everything. The silly faces she does to the toddler sitting in the other table.

Use real people. If you’re writing a girl who’s somewhat tomboyish, maybe go to a skateboard park or something. Go to a fancy restaurant if you’re writing a rich old lady. A library if you’re writing a college student. 

6. Tip number lix (Somali):

Don’t write in order.

I cannot stress this enough. Write bottom to top. Middle to top. Middle to bottom. Write middle to bottom to middle again to top. Just don’t do it in order. Most of the time I write a paragraph thinking this is how I’m going to start my scene and it ends up being somewhere in the middle of all the chaos! Writing in order doesn’t make sense not even in essay writing. You never write an introduction first because you need a thesis. In order to have a thesis you need to know what the hell your body paragraphs are talking about. So, you start with your body. Not necessarily the first body paragraph either.

Write whatever comes to mind and figure out the order later. Chances are, it’ll change a billion times over before you commit to one. Writing in order gives your brain stress and in turn you’ll probably get a mental block. You’re too pressured to write the opening scene of the chapter that you forget what the hell happens in the end. And you lose that excitement, that flare you have to write the scenes that you had figured out in your head. Which sucks. Because it’s nearly impossible to get that back!

Also don’t worry about how you’ll combine everything in the end. That’s for the editing process, you’re not there yet. And from my experience, things tend to come together in the end on their own so you shouldn't worry too much.

7. Tip number seitsemän (Finnish):

Details, dude! They are everything!

(This one has nothing to do with being unable to write.... I realized this only AFTER I wrote it.....)

sometimes the details have nothing to do with the main characters, but writing them helps the reader feel like there’s a world there being lived beyond the characters he or she is reading about.

It paints a picture. And in writing, it’s very hard painting a picture with a white paper and some black ink. And that’s when details come in hand.

What I like to do is I like to zoom in on the scene I’m writing. Picture the scene in your head. Let’s take for example both characters are sitting on a bench in the park. Now pretend you have a pair of binoculars and zoom in on the scene. You’ll probably see a small ladybug that is sitting on the bench between them that one of the characters noticed but didn’t say anything because they know the other person is afraid of bugs. So they carefully pick it up without letting the other person know and they place it on the other side beside them. Or maybe you’ll realize there’s some carvings on the edge of the bench. A heart with an arrow and two letters on each end. Your character will probably wonder who the letters belong to, what were their names, and whether or not she and the other person would ever carve their own letters on a bench somewhere.

Details make a simple scene of two people sitting beside one another, into a whole picture of everything around them. 

8. Tip number osm (Czech):

Do research!

Top weird things I had to do a ton of research about for my stories:

How to build a gas bomb that you could release through the ventilation system of a buildingWhat kind of metal are the batarangs made of?How to bring someone back from the dead?How much space do you need to build a rocket and is a football field enough?How high should a person’s IQ be for them to be considered ‘genius’ level of smartQuantum Mechanics and matter reconfiguration devicesintracortical microstimulation (whatever that is) and how to use it to create the sense of touch in amputee limbs

The list goes on, trust me!

But research gives you an idea of where to begin. Sometimes, you don’t even know what it is you’re writing and you get ideas from your research. Research gives your readers a realistic sense to your world. Even if it’s not real. Even if all you’ve written is fake. They don’t know that! But what they do know is that your character is hella smart and can create a device using intracortical microstimulation to help create the sense of touch in amputee limbs!

Fun fact: Watch "True Memoirs of an International Assasin”. It’s on Netflix. And it’s every writer’s nightmare. It explains just how much we writers would go for that small detail. It shows you the depths we will take to ensure we know every detail of what it is we’re writing about! Highly recommended for every writer out there!

9. Tip number dokuz (Turkish):

If you’re stuck, act it out!

Yup, you heard me! Get yo ass off that chair and start practicing for your next Oscar because you’r gonna act out the scene you wanna write. Say your character just entered her house and called out to their spouse without a response. Go inside your own house and start jotting down the details of what you see. Your character will probably notice the lack of shoes. How the kitchen light isn’t turned on. Or the hum of the dishwasher not present. No keys in the bowl. All small things that they slowly realize before actually realizing that no one was home.

Acting also gives you ideas on how someone would react. Walk into your own house and imagine finding out you’ve been robbed. All your stuff is everywhere. Now, realistically - and I mean really really realistically - you wouldn’t freak out. At least not physically on the outside. You wouldn’t start jumping and shouting and go looking in your room if your cash is gone.

Because your brain needs time to process. You would have questions. Lots of them. Is the thief still here? Should I call the police? No, what if this is a prank. Is this a prank? Who would prank me like this? Your eyes would go around the room, noting down all the details there. The broken glass, the opened drawers, the thrown pillows. Use your own surroundings to imagine what a robbed place would look like.

10. Tip number umi (Hawaiian):

Always remember, each character is different.

(Realized this one also has nothing to do with being stuck and not being able to write and more to do with character writing... I think I went off topic....)

I always find stories where all the characters are practically written the same way. The dialogue is really generic. Because the writer isn’t really imagining as each character being a separate entity. They’re all characters of a story to them. The way one character talks is often if not always never the same way another character talks. AND a certain character will talk differently depending on who they’re talking with.

Give each of your characters certain attributes or quirks that they add to their dialogue. Like how the more sophisticated one chooses to say ‘darling’ instead of ‘babe’ or how one of them speaks in short and concise sentences having served time in the army and taught that each word counts. I know this tip isn’t that important, but I’ve seen a lot of writers do this mistake where all the dialogue is the same. And that’s because they’re trying so hard to move the story along that they forget that they need time for the characters to react and process differently.

Similarly, make sure that you know that each character reacts differently. I’ve fallen into this mistake several times actually to be honest. This one time I wrote a whole scene where I had Lena be super happy about something (can’t remember what it was) with someone she wasn’t too close with and then I remembered that she’s more reserved than Kara. She less trusting so she rarely shows her genuine side to others unless she knows them to be worthy or good. She’s not too open so she wouldn’t show her happiness by jumping around and screaming with joy. Whereas Kara! Oh, Kara! She would hug the mailman when she would be happy! And she’s probably best friends with her pizza delivery guy! Had to do multiple rewrites whenever I would do that mistake.

11. Tip number vienuolika (Lithuanian):

Drink Green Tea.

Repeat after me: Drink. Green. Tea.

No explanation necessary. Tea is life.

[jq37]

May we have a recap, please? :)

**spoilers for panic at the art show and home for the holidays**

OK people. I actually don’t have a ton of commentary on these two so I’m gonna try and keep it (relatively) short and sweet [Edit from Future Me: Failed Step 1].

Also, iirc, this is the week Dropout starts streaming new Fantasy High eps on Wednesdays which is very dope and I am very excited for. I probably won’t do full on recaps like I do for normal eps because, lbr, I don’t strictly have the time to be recapping these eps at all and it’s pure stubbornness that keeps me from making wiser time management decisions. But, rest assured, if I have an Opinion, you will hear it whether you want to or not. 

Anyway, on with the show. 

Last recap, I mentioned that this ep was giving me Aelwen house party vibes and now it reminds me of that ep in another way: Everyone rolled like TRASH almost the entire ep. It was so frustrating! They barely got any hits in until like halfway through the ep.

(Aw man, I just realized I’m gonna have to remember which spelling of Aelwen is correct again now that FH is coming back.)

I love how Murph is immediately like, “I need to make sure my wife doesn’t die during this fight avenging her fictional husband.”

Isabella also has Aelwen’s trick of poofing around the battlefield which is annoying as hell (ha) for the group.

Siobhan hilariously casts fear on Priya just to be spiteful. I thought she was doing it to help the evac process but no. It was a purely spiteful action. Bless. 

When Kug turns into an ape he, of course, turns into *the* NY ape, King Kong. 

“I roll a nat 20 on an epic shit.”

When Brennan was describing Kingston’s spectral New Yorker Guardians I was already thinking about that one part of Spiderman 2 (the OG Toby Mac version) and then he straight up said, “You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us,” and I lost it.

“Deny the stairs the pleasure of my feet.” Emily is a poet.

I want to know what makes a pigeon spicy more than anything. 

The fact that Brennan killed Ox AGAIN and then immediately looked into the camera and let the audience know the dog was fine because he clearly Oracle stared into the future between eps and saw the entire internet sharpening their pitchforks  was so funny. 

About midway through the ep, Pete tries and fails to send Isabella back to hell and Isabella starts monologing about her plans and connection with Robert Moses (she stole the list from Santa and is/was gonna marry Moses apparently). I wonder if Brennan was like, “These players are for sure gonna murder her without getting any useful info out of her unless she goes full Bond Villain right now.”

And, proving my point, Emily immediately does 56 points of damage, royally f-ing Isabella up. 

This is a really civilian heavy fight which feels weird in a way the FH fights never did. Like, these aren’t even civilians who live in an adventuring town in a fantasy world. These are just normal ass civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Pete fails a wild magic roll after failing to teleport into the building and then gets a choice of getting really strong (which prob would have let him bust down the door) or to teleport in (which is what he does and exactly what he wanted). Very clutch when the dice rolls play into the story like that.

Kingston lightning bolts Isabella’s hair off which is just malicious but also totally called for.

On her next turn, Sophie gets hurt on purpose to get low enough to activate her ring, lets her hair burn for long enough to shorten it to a cute bob, insults Isabella, then knocks her tf out. 

I love that Emily took one of her teeth (a seemingly crazy move) and when called out by Lou was like, “It’s a link to Robert Moses” (a completely reasonable answer). That’s the Axford one-two punch.  

I didn’t mention it before but, Willie the golem is here, first immobile but then brought back by Misty. Post fight, he says he was somehow brought here by one of the evil factions of the city and says they’ll talk about it later. Also, Misty makes out with him (DON’T KINKSHAME HER).

With a high insight roll, Kingston is able to deduce that the group was ambushed (though not by Priya) and that their victory was a really important one for the fate of the city. 

(Sidenote: The amount that Pete is Over Priya in this ep is so funny.)

Back at Wally’s (which is where Kug is now staying) Wally has gotten Kug a dog bed to sleep in and fancy charcuterie cheese because he and Ricky are the only pure-hearted people in NYC. 

At the same time, Pete and Kingston have a very sweet heart to heart and then settle down at Kingston’s place to chill and listen to jazz. Idk how else we expected this to resolve, considering this is a Brennan Lee Mulligan DM’d show where the sacred pillars are Teamwork, Friendship, Communication, and Making up an NPC on the Fly Because One of Your PC’s Decided to do an Insane Thing. 

Next up is the Christmas ep and Brennan, Emily, and Zac are in sweaters for the occasion. 

Well,actually it’s the 21st and Emily immediately clocks that that’s the solstice. 

Are cookies the good carb?/Absolutely not. But have fun with your life. (I love Ricky’s soft jock energy.)

“I run deliveries,” Pete says to Kingston’s parents, not technically lying but also not being completely truthful. Misty would be proud. 

Going over to Misty, it seems pretty clear at this point (and it’s confirmed in the promo for next ep) that Misty’s fairy business is some kind of de-aging/reincarnation for herself. I wonder how many of these she’s done so far. She said she’s been around for, what? 200, 300 years? Assuming she’s been doing then reincarnations at about 65-70 years old and she reincarnates to around 25? Maybe 6 times? Idk. Just spitballing. 

Saucer of milk to keep the faeries from stealing her (non-existing) children. Faerie lore is wild y'all. 

Did you take another level of warlock?/Yeah bitch.

The fact that since Sophie has joined a monastery, she’s only taken Warlock levels and no Monk levels is very funny from a story perspective. It’s like, she finally comes to this sacred place to be trained to her full potential and she’s just spending what should be her sparring time playing with her cat in exchange for spells. Wild. 

Emily’s cat-like, self-satisfied grin when Brennan is like, “So you just jerry-rigged yourself clairvoyance powers, huh?” is so good. 

And she did it on the fly because Emily Axford is winning D&D. There are no points but she’s winning.

So, uh, Emily does, two things, very in character right after the other:

Thing number one: She send her unseen servant to spy on her family. Her dad seems hardline, “F, Dale. Whatever. Family first. She needs to get over it.” On the other side of the spectrum is her mom who is very upset about the whole affair with her siblings falling in the middle. 

The second thing she does, very casually I might add, is have her unseen servant BURN DOWN HER HOUSE SO SHE CAN COMMIT INSURANCE FRAUD.

EMILY

Everyone loses their minds and rightfully so. What a wild-ass swing that no one could have seen coming. I love it. 

“I look in my backpack which is now my home[…]" 

I almost forgot that Ricky was a fire fighter who would not abide that nonsense until Brennan decided to cut to him. 

Ricky just dolphin swims across the Hudson in 2.5 mins to go put out the fire that Sophie set. Amazing. 

Ally mocking Emily/Sophie: Truthfully, I don’t know what happened.

"I love John McClane, because he loves his wife.” WALLY

Wally: Oh we’re gonna tell a lie on Christmas.

“This is what winning looks like.”

I would really like to know what trace stuff what on the drugs Pete got from 7 but Ally rolled too low to figure it out.

“I disassociate fully." 

Well it took him a long ass time but glad to have Pete on the selling drugs to kids is bad train. Choo-choo, dude. 

7 saying you can hack in real life in reference to his AK-47 has the same energy as Hardison using the word hack in literally any semi-weird episode of Leverage. 

SOCIAL MEDIA IS VOLUNTARY PANOPTICON

So Kug goes with Wally to David’s house disguised as a dog and, despite that, blurts out that he’s his dad immediately. Well, he tries to. The Umbral Arcana stops him, unfortunately. 

"I lick my son’s face.” KUUUUG. 

Sophie showing up with a raw goose and hellish rebuking it is so metal and it’s a shame no one got to appreciate it. 

Me when Sophie’s Mom changes into black top in solidarity for Sophie’s mourning: F EVERY OTHER NON-SOPHIE BICICLETA. I RESPECT YOU. 

Kingston is hustling very hard to get his man Pete a job which is a very Kingston move. That’s how guys like that show affection. 

Didn’t mention it before but Kingston’s parents and Mom specifically adopting Pete is very cute. 

Sidenote: Idk what 7 was talking about Pete trying to stay low profile. He wears a cowboy hat (now a ZEBRA STRIPED one, courtesy of Kingston). I think the subtlety train has sailed my guy. 

Esther shows up at the firehouse, carrying presents for her mom and grandma and looking for Ricky. The says that she’s kinda dealing with something and it feels good to be around him (beat) magically speaking. Sure. I’m gonna keep my Hercules soundtrack on hand just in case anyway. 

I think Ricky is the only person who, with no pretense, could give his crush a sexy calendar featuring him.

Anyway, turns out Esther’s mom and grandma are the furies of Tompkins Square and she’s fated to join them or something. 

Esther causally: I defy you, I defy the prophecy.

The fury thing would explain why Esther’s mom would have cursed Kug. They are famously magical punishers.  

Ricky is a magically certified Good Boy but we been knew.

Zac’s restraint to respect Esther’s personal boundaries in lieu of getting a lore drop to stay true to Ricky’s character is amazing. Mad props.

So we slide over to Misty’s Christmas party which Stephen Sondhein is attending and him having a character card kinda killed me. 

There’s a post on tumblr somewhere about playing faerie  incapability for impoliteness against a vampires need to be invited in and that’s what I thought about when Moses and his vamp friends showed up at Misty’s house.

Robert tries to talk Misty into striking a deal with him for protection from Titania. She’s very much not having it.  

“You know Robert, I love a comedy and I love a farce. I’d like to remind you of who it is that started this and it’s not me and it’s not my friends but I can assure you Robert Moses that we will be the ones to end it if you do not. Do you understand me?” Damn. That’s a mic drop from Misty. 

[As I’m editing this, I’m realizing I somehow lost a BIG chunk of text. I’m not gonna write it all up again but the Cliffnotes are as follows:

Between the Solstice and Christmas, the gang goes Grand Central Station to see the clockwork gnomes that live there because trouble is apparently afoot. Some size changing nonsense happens and Pete shoots a dog (with mini bullets, the dog is fine). Lou is enchanted even though Kingston is not (a common theme with him). Ally and Emily are on the same nonsense wavelength (as usual). 

There are dope magical dragon trains under Grand Central Station that go to the shadow realm which is a place I’d like to know about. Kingston has never seen these trains before even though you’d really think he would have.  

Murph says Gnome Rights which is wild if you know what Naddpod is like. 

Anyway, the high priestess of the gnomes passed out the other day and they figure out it was due to pixie magic which is suspicious. They also know they pixies have access to a “time stone” which leads me to believe that it’s Brennan and not Aguefort who thinks that Chronomancy is the most powerful magic of all. 

Sophie and Jackson go to Dale’s grave on Christmas. Jackson explains that the Order of the Concrete Fist is basically a literal school of hard knocks. A counterbalance to all the reach for the stars dreaminess that comes with NYC.

Dale was their chosen one who was supposed to stop the monastery from falling when some unspecified badness crossed over to this side, but when he went to the place where he was supposed to get guidance, there was no one there (clearly tying in to what Dale said to Sophie last time they talked. I wonder what she needs to get to the top of? Empire State maybe?).

Watching Murph watching Emily, his real life spouse, play at grief for her fictional husband and do some truly insane things is so funny because you can clearly see him thinking, “I am married to this woman,” which, in fairness, is probably the main thing he’s thinking when he’s playing D&D with Emily.

I’m probably missing something but that’s all I remember. Back to post-Christmas!]

So it’s opening night at Misty’s show and, somehow, Ricky’s first show ever. 

I love that Don Confetti is there because of Siobhan’s offhanded comment for a handful of eps ago about him being a supporter of the arts.

Anyway, everything is going great until the second act when Titania busts in through the mirror which is *not* is storage as Misty requested but on stage. It’s a theater fight, y'all! And not the West Side Story kind although if that doesn’t come up I will be very surprised. 

“Let’s kill Titania!” –Misty in the promo

Just going straight to 11, huh Misty?

See y'all then!

[novantinuum]

what do you think will happen to the villain of the movie at the end

I am 95% confident that the villain will do a heel face turn in some way. Of course, IMO this doesn’t mean the character will have been redeemed, since of course she’s still almost committed mass genocide of Steven’s home planet, of one of his own species, but it means that she’ll at least come to see the light and work to undo the damage she’s caused as best she can.

I have some specific theories as to how that might happen… (currently, I’m big on the ‘the mystery Gem is an attempt at a replacement for Pink Diamond who went dreadfully wrong’ theory, but that’s a whole ‘nother  post.)

But specifically when it comes to the song True Kinda Love, the lyrics highly suggest a heel turn. And a shot of Garnet singing the song in the trailer seems to pinpoint the song taking place towards the very end of the movie. (The dark green and pink colors match those of the other climactic looking scenes.)

Stuck in the middle of fear and shameEverybody’s looking for someone to blameLike it’s a gameLike it’s a game

The first line is one of them that I feel supports the PD replacement theory… this whole section of the song sounds like Garnet is singing about the villain to me. Why would some aristocratic Gem who wants things to go back to normal feel shame? I think that makes more sense if it’s instead about a Gem who is fully aware that they’re “wrong,” they’re off-color, and is desperate to prove themself to the rest of the universe.And now I am better than “win-or-lose”There’s a new direction that I like to chooseIt’s called the truthIt’s called the truth

During this section, there are two separate harmony lines. The lower one is clearly Steven, but the higher one… I can’t recognize the voice. It doesn’t sound like Estelle. Part of me wonders if it’s the villain Gem. This whole bit is legit about… changing your mind. Turning in a new direction. It would make the most sense thematically for this song’s inclusion in the movie if the villain does just that.Hey, you, show me that solvable problemWe can get through thisI’ll do the hardest part with you

Meanwhile, Steven’s verse paints a picture in my mind of him working together with the once-villain to reverse the damage she’s caused. (If she’s another diamond, w h a t if… what if they BOTH have life bringing/plant powers, and this Gem just never knew they had this ability before because they’ve been so full of hatred and hurt and using their powers to harm others, but then Steven’s showing her how to use them, and- and suddenly she’s good for something more than harm, she can bring new life, she is capable of spreading love, she is capable of living for herself and turning the tides after all this time, stepping out of the shadows, and the two of them use their abilities to slowly begin to breathe life back into this world.)

Also, I have a theory that she’ll be poofed at some point and when she reforms, she reforms with her gem facing in a right side up heart to symbolically mirror her change of heart. 

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #240

end of the year one!

What did you do in 2019 that you’d never done before? Uhhhh. Wow. I honestly don't really know; not a lot. Uhhhh... oh, I was sexually involved with a girl, I worked at a deli for A WHOLE TWO HOURS!!!!, I'm still a shameful shit that being on that damn pill actually drove me to masturbating for the first time (yes, I know it's not "bad," but), OH! I very recently found myself to relate to Neo-Paganism so kinda identify as that now, I finished a full semester of college, and uhhh. It's funny, '18 and '19 kinda blur together for me, so I can't say with certainty when some certain things took place, so it doesn't even feel right putting them here? Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make one; I pretty much never do. This year, however, I just might. Like I've always thought "dude it's just another day there is literally no actual difference," but I want to focus on the actual symbolism. No, there is no physical difference, but it's the idea I want to appreciate. I want to make something about self-improvement this year, probably mostly about AvPD and its "I'm embarrassed by myself omg people think I'm weird" factor irl, because that FUUUUCKS WIIIITH MEEEEE. I want to be comfortable as me, y'know? Oh, and I should definitely work on independence. Did anyone close to you give birth? No, but my sister is pregnant. Did anyone close to you die? My dog Teddy. What countries did you visit? I didn't leave and have never left America, yaaaaay. Fun. Adventure. What would you like to have in 2020 that you lacked in 2019? An income. Let photography go somewhere or some shit, please. What date from 2019 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? November 28th, when Teddy was put down. That's something I can never forget. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Said lasting a college semester!!!! I failed my math course as I expected to, but I mean, I lasted. What was your biggest failure? To ME anyway (people have assured me otherwise from their perspectives), it would be the first "professional" wedding I shot. I put so much into that day and the DAYS of post processing, and they never bought any of the pictures. Said they were going to discuss which ones they wanted and get back to me and then poof, vanished. I was very suspicious by another person, I think family, being there taking pictures pretty much just as much as I did, even posing people, and by now I'm pretty sure they used me (or her, idk) as backup. My only guess is my pictures weren't what they wanted so they chose the route of not paying, which, TECHNICALLY, isn't against my terms of service; you just have to pay the sitting fee, you see previews w/ watermarks, and THEN you pay for each photo you actually WANT. That's a loophole I probably need to fix, because I can honestly say $20 did NOT cover my time, hyperhidrosis e x p l o s i o n, anxiety, and my previously-mentioned DAYS-long editing period. Not to mention I was and still genuinely am proud of how the pictures turned out. OKAY WOW I'm seriously ranting but yeah I'm obviously still tilted. Did you suffer illness or injury? Did I? I don't think so. At least nothing serious. I did have a fall, but the resulting bruises and twists were negligible. What was the best thing you bought? A fuckin honeybun from the school snack machine lmao. I don't have my own income, so I just get little cash from Mom if needed for when I go out or anything. Where did most of your money go? See above. So, food lol. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Sara coming on my birthday, Ozzy re-announcing his tour for next year (WITH MANSON Y'ALL!!!!!!!!!!) and Mom and I being like "um fuck yes we're going," and that's all I can think about right now. It's not common I get like, THAT excited. What song will always remind you of 2019? *shrug* None off the top of my head stand out. Compared to this time last year, are you: Happier or sadder? Older or wiser? Thinner or fatter? (I've been at a weight loss stalemate for two fucking years now, so neither.) Richer or poorer? (No personal income, and I don't know the exact financial position Mom's in compared to last year.) What do you wish you’d done more of? See Sara and Dad much more, reach out to more friends, exercise, cleaning alksdjfawei, studying. What do you wish you’d done less of? Sitting on this computer gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh- I honestly would prefer to just not dwell on this "I wish I had..." subject. How did you spend Christmas? Breakfast and gift opening with Mom and my younger sis, then we went to my older sister's house that afternoon to celebrate with her and the kids. What was your favorite TV program? I didn't watch TV. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No. What was the best book you read? The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. What was your greatest musical discovery? Hm... I don't believe I discovered any new bands, but I got waaay more into Motionless In White. What did you want and get? Making it through my first semester in college, Teddy reaching his 13th birthday, seeing my grandmother for probably the last time, seeing Sara for my birthday, uhhh other things that aren't coming to mind. What did you want and not get? Lose more fucking weight for a change, more photography growth, new glasses, the courage to drive more and get my license, SEE SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK AS WELL AS THE LAST HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, other little things I don't wanna dwell on. What was your favorite film of this year? I do NOT get the hate of the live action The Lion King. I fucking adored it. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I don't remember other than hang out with Sara and the fam and probably eat at Olive Garden for dinner. I turned 23. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Photography reaching the level of being able to call it my *real* job. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2019? Pajamas. Just... pajamas whenever possible lmao. What kept you sane? My mom and Sara, MUSIC, gaming, Mark and the other YTers I love way too much, school getting me out of the damn house. Oh, and medication lmfao. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? The day I don't answer this with "Mark Fischbach," I IMPLORE you to commit me. What issue stirred you the most? I'm guessing you mean political? If so, the Amazon wildfires and how the fucking SA government handled it. NOTHING in the political world has ever had me that livid, heartbroken, and ashamed of the greed of the human race. Who did you miss? A good number of people, plus Teddy of course. Who was the best new person you met? Good question. Probably a teacher or adviser at school. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2019: I think more than anything, there's been a lot of focus on the fact that you can't always run at the first sign of trouble/stress. That's one of my biggest weaknesses: I flee the moment I'm under stress, but now with school, I've had to learn to fight this. It's an ongoing process, but I'm getting there. Some battles need to be fought to reach a better place.

[networkofthecorrupted]

Meet the Ex-Hero(in)es:

And coming to Cyber Attack as well.

💰Scrooge McDuck

-Struts towards the Headquarters stoically and upon seeing Darkwing, both will be like, “Hey! We’ve met each other before!”. He will be in charge of handling the business side of the Heroes Headquarters, which includes dealing with bills, maintaining the economy of the City, and count money(as always).

🔮Magica de Spell

-Unless if Scrooge already arrived, she will receive a whack on the head. If not, she will appear in a poof of purple smoke and cackle wickedly(or both). Maleficent would have a curious demeanor to this new sorceress and be interested at Magica’s mastery of magic. They would also enjoy “tea time” with each other.

🤖Gizmoduck

-Unleashing his signature catchphrase and holler, “Never fear! I am GIZMODUCK!”(What he would also say when one of his comrades is being beaten down by Creeps). Unfortunaley, Darkwing Duck would be heavily pissed at his arrival, and will do anything to get rid of him, only to get in trouble by the Hero Command.

💣Negaduck

-Will arrive during a Halloween event, and bursting the door open, he begins to rev his chainsaw(to scare the Heroes), only to get kicked in the beak by his arch-nemesis, Darkwing Duck. He is soon to be an intimidating leader of the Villain Hub, demoting Hades to second-in-Command.

Unless if Jafar comes in, both the mallard and demigod will be demoted to co-dragons.

Speaking of Hades, the two will get into a fiery and stressful relationship with each other. Negaduck is also carefully watched by Darkwing, due to the Hero Command fearing Negs’ destructive personality.

⭐️Duck Avenger/Donald Duck

-Will praise himself to FINALLY shine in another media. Spotting Stitch, DA will dash over and inspect the “cute and weird alien”. He will also hang out with Mickey and Goofy(mostly in his civilian identity).

✨Bill Cipher

-As a top prankster of the Heroes Headquarters, despite being a member of the Villain Hub, he sometimes makes a deal with Vanellope and Dash to commit a prank spree. The duo shouldn’t trust him, because his pranks make Vanellope and Dash end up in deep trouble then the duo’s regular pranks. Randall sometimes partners up with him.

And don’t call him a ‘Floating Dorito’: the consequences can be fatally weird.

🔎Agent P

-Accompanies Darkwing Duck, the ZPD, Finn and Holley on their cases. They are the only Heroes that can understand the platypus. The others have difficulty translating Agent P’s chatter.

🎼Wander and Sylvia(tag team)

-You can find Wander making musical numbers with Miguel, and Sylvia attempting to fight the Villain Hub, only to peacefully be stopped by Wander.

Or you can spot them together exploring the Heroquarters.

⚡️Lord Hater

-A hot-headed member of the Villain Hub, he has a furious rivalry over Hades(but can’t win against Negaduck or Jafar). Commander Peepers tries to calm his fury down, but sometimes end up in minor burns.

⚡️Commander Peepers

-Accompanies Lord Hater by his side as a bodyguard(Hater doesn’t care about this though). Along with Lord Hater, Peepers is also a member of the Villain Hub.

🔥Lord Dominator

-One of Lord Hater’s notorious arch-rivals, she serves as one of the tacticians of the Villain Hub. She (possibly breaks the Hub rules) sometimes hang out with Shank.

🔥Mulan

-You can find her training in the Heroquarters, especially the downtown Battle Gym that the Heroquarters also own. She enjoys Fred’s fiery talent.

💫Rapunzel

-Spunky, energetic and battle-ready, she also serves as a medic of the Heroquarters(but still fights in the front lines). She enjoys doing festive song mashups with the Battle Mode roster, and she will do anything it takes to make it the best for her comrades.

⚡️Go-Go

-Can be found alongside Hiro in the Heroquarters’ workshop/garage. She usually hangs out with Shank and (sometimes, due to feeling annoyed by his arrogance) Dash.

🔧Wasabi

-Can be found alongside Hiro in the Heroquarters’ workshop/garage. He would make good friends with Ralph and Goofy, and will discuss on how he doesn’t want to be a giant coward on the battlefield(he’s trying).

Good advice on preventing that awkward feeling from two of his new friends will help.

🔥Fred

-Can be found alongside Hiro in the Heroquarters’ workshop/garage. Also a good and fiery Hero for entertainment or on the battlefield.

🧪Honey Lemon

-Can be found alongside Hiro in the Heroquarters’ workshop/garage. Darkwing is interested and intrigued in her chemistry skills.

✨Jafar

-Entering silently to the Heroquarters, he is the soon-to-be-leader of the Villain Hub.

An intimidating leader to say the least.

If no one agrees with him, he’ll hypnotize them with his staff. Negaduck and Hades are his co-dragons in the Villain Hub.

🗡Captain Hook

-A member of the Villain Hub, both Hook and Barbossa have envy for Sparrow’s popularity in the Heroquarters(also formed a friendly relationship, maybe a friendly-rival one).

🤖Yokai

-You may be thinking, “But Hiro already controls microbots in Battle Mode!”. Yes, I know, but I think we might need a villain counterpart for this. Obviously will join the Villain Hub, and attempts to outnumber Hiro’s inventions behind the mask.

In his civilian identity, he tries to act calm and collected around Hiro.

⚙️Oswald the Rabbit

-It was difficult for Mickey to get along with his brother. Like Duck Avenger, Oswald will praise himself to be in another media. He can also be found working alongside Hiro on creating inventions, thinking on creative ideas with Mickey, and probably hovering around the Heroquarters.

One of his biggest fears is being forgotten, since a bunch of Heroes interacting with each other a lot in the Heroquarters would lead to Oswald being left out.

💎Don Karnage

-Brusts through the door in a dancing/singing matter, with sword dramatically pointing upwards. He is a member of the Villain Hub, and (probably breaking the Hub rules) he sometimes make singing rounds with Jessie.

🔎Finn McMissile

-You can find him along with Holley/Mater, talking business with Agent P.

🔎Holley Shiftwell

-She obviously tags along with Finn/Mater and can be found talking business with Agent P.

⚡️Lightning McQueen

-Encourages others on the battlefield to keep on fighting, he sometimes hangs out with Darkwing, but since this version of McQueen is post-Cars 3, it could just be the both of them talking about their future successors(Cruz and Gosalyn).

🔧Mater

-Usually hangs out in the Heroquarters garage/workshop, he offers helpful tools to Hiro. Mater’s talent of successfully driving backwards has intrigued many Heroes, while others(esepecially the Villain Hub) think it’s stupid or crazy.

Mater will describe his backwards talent as crazy.

💡Luxo Jr.

-It’s a strange pick, but when we have Mickey as the star of Disney, how about this ball balancing-Lamp as the star of Pixar and arrive to Battle Mode?

It’s Pixar month right now, and this would make sense.

I can see the two get together and come up with bright-lliant ideas for entertaining the roster. Oswald will join in too.

Imagine Team Disney and Team Pixar of the Battle Mode roster competing against each other...

🦎Randall

-A sneaky member of the Villain Hub, he sometimes makes pranks with Bill, though the majority of it is untrustful.

🐻Winnie the Pooh

-You can find him trying to make friends with every Hero, though making good and healthy relationships with the Villain Hub can be tough for Winnie.

🐯Tigger

-A jolly friend of Winnie the Pooh, you can find him doing a jig with Goofy and Jessie.

Or hanging out with Winnie the Pooh.

[shinneth]

Gem Ascension Tropes (Lapis-specific: A - C)

Primary General Post ♆ Full Article ♆  Primary Peri Post 

Accidental Hero: Could be considered one for Peridot when they first met, seeing as this was also when both were introduced to Jasper… and the very first thing Lapis witnesses when meeting her two new teammates is Jasper coming very close to raping Peridot, which only stops when Jasper catches sight of Lapis and becomes entranced, losing all interest in the technician and dropping her on the spot. While disturbed by the scene, Lapis had no reservations about letting Jasper have her way with Peridot if it meant she wouldn’t have to worry about the brutish quartz. She encouraged Jasper to just ignore her and carry on, but Jasper had already make up her mind to exclusively pursue Lapis from there on out. So, despite having no intention of sparing Peridot from a grim fate that would have permanently damaged her mind had it gone any further, Lapis did exactly that just by existing and coming in just in time to disrupt the assault with her mere presence. Though Peridot is aware Lapis never meant to save her, the fact remains that she not only saved Peridot from becoming little more than Jasper’s sex toy, but ended up taking all of the punishment from Jasper that was originally meant for her. In hindsight, it’s much easier to see why Peridot was so subservient to Lapis when they were roommates, even when Lapis herself treated Peridot very poorly while the latter just took it without complaint.

Affectionate Nickname: Laps by Amethyst, Lapi and Lap by Bismuth.

There are times Peridot will call her Lazuli, but this is more of a Term of Endangerment type of nickname (Peridot exclusively called Lapis this prior to her canon Heel-Face Turn), and a clear indicator that Peridot is seriously upset with Lapis if she refers to her as this.

Armor-Piercing Slap: On the receiving end of this from Peridot after trying to calm her down and stop her constant badgering of Steven to save Pumpkin, who was well beyond saving.

The Atoner: Downplayed compared to other sharers of this trope; Lapis’ past behavior in canon regularly haunts her in GA and is frequently Lampshaded. Especially after she ends up being the only gem to get poofed in the final battle of Act I and learns that Peridot was Left for Dead, Lapis is resolved from Act II onwards to permanently detach herself from her commitment issues and truly be part of the Crystal Gems both as a teammate and a member of the family.

Beauty, Brains and Brawn: The Beauty to Peridot’s Brains and Bismuth’s Brawn.

Be Yourself: When Steven asks Lapis how to act around Peridot now that he’s fully aware of how enamored she is with him in Chapter 7 of Act II, this is the advice Lapis gives him.

Big, Thin, Short Trio: The Thin to Bismuth’s Big and Peridot’s Short.

Blinded by Rage: Just seeing White Diamond parade about in Blue Diamond’s body causes this, as Lapis had just hours ago made her peace with Blue Diamond and her sacrifice. This leads to her getting poofed during Act I’s climax.

Broken Bird: Per canon. Lapis does make some forward movement in GA, largely due in part to the efforts of Bismuth and Peridot. Most notably, losing Peridot after Act I and knowing she’s being tortured while Lapis recuperates on Earth actually makes her want to become stronger and a more reliable Crystal Gem. Despite her PSTD stemming from Malachite (and Jasper in general), Lapis is open to fusing with Bismuth in order to do what needs to be done when they return to Homeworld. Becoming Moonstone goes a long way in helping Lapis heal from her past trauma. Bismuth in general is a very good influence on Lapis. Being able to branch out and make other friends helps greatly in Lapis truly bonding with the group. So much to the point where she actually decides to live with the Crystal Gems under one roof at the end of GA, to everyone’s surprise.

Character Development: Lapis was this close to relapsing back to her old ways just before the start of GA and run away once more, as she initially had no desire to take part in the rescue mission. Not because she didn’t care about her imperiled friends, but because Lapis feared the prospect of returning to Homeworld (knowing how that worked out for her last time); her instinctive self-preservation still overrode any desire to save her fellow Crystal Gems. Getting poofed during her big comeback definitely took a lot of the wind out of Lapis’ sails. However, by humoring Bismuth’s suggestion to wait and see how Peridot would handle this situation when she reformed, Lapis was inspired to truly hold back on her selfish instinctive urges and take a chance to trust her friends… even though she barely knew Greg (who wouldn’t be of much use in the mission anyway), Bismuth was a total stranger (and the one who inadvertently started the chain of misfortune that plagued her life thousands of years ago), and her friendship with Peridot was severely strained due her heinous past actions earlier in the season. Still, with some help, Lapis was not only able to eventually branch out and put her trust in others, but actively work with her friends to save everyone despite the mission being extremely dangerous with a low chance of succeeding. She made her peace with Bismuth and managed to form a bond with her with Greg and Peridot’s help. She even managed to make peace with Blue Diamond shortly before the latter’s death. After Act I, when Lapis got poofed again and Peridot was forcibly abandoned on Homeworld at the end of their mission, that served as the most significant wake-up call to reality of Lapis’ life. After further bonding with Bismuth and Greg and finally seeing the full extent of the damage she left on Peridot through her actions via her designated Video Will, now knowing her friend still went through with her mission despite knowing early on she’d likely not survive it, Lapis was finally compelled to act like a True Companion to her fellow Crystal Gems. She was resolved to no longer run away from her problems, and by keeping Peridot’s sacrifice in mind, Lapis was even able to overcome her fusion PTSD by choosing Bismuth as her fusion partner – which in turn deepened that friendship. While a few personal issues with Peridot are not yet fully resolved, the two have officially made peace with each other by Act III’s end. Additionally, Lapis learned to legitimately open up to others; she managed to branch out beyond Steven and Peridot and made other friends, which in turn strengthened Lapis’ loyalty to the Crystal Gems overall. Lapis ultimately surprised everyone when she announced she was going to be a full-time tenant in the temple, as well as a full-time Crystal Gem. In just a little under two weeks, Lapis made giant leaps in the progression of her character. She still has her issues, she can still be moody and awkward, and she might even come off as unpleasant even now – but she finally understands not only what it means to be a Crystal Gem, but what it means to be a true friend.

Commitment Issues: Beyond learning to trust others and to move on from her traumatic past, this is Lapis’ most persistent issue that is relentlessly lampshaded across the series. Peridot especially grills her former roommate over this, most notably via her Video Wills in Act II. Lapis’ actions earlier in the season has made virtually all the Crystal Gems see her in this light, but come Act III, Lapis seems to be very resolved to overcome this trope once and for all. She’s made enough progress to even indulge in some self-deprecating humor over this very subject, and Lapis ultimately surprised everyone at the end of GA when she decided she wanted to live with all of the Crystal Gems under the same roof. As of the end of the main series, Lapis is now solidly a full-time Crystal Gem and is never far away when she’s needed. 

The Confidant: Lapis is the first one Peridot confesses her uncertain feelings for Steven to, though she isn’t telling the whole story at the time and was pretty much roped into confessing this to her due to the circumstances. She also coincidentally ends up being the first one to see Steven and Peridot getting intimate with each other in GA. What’s very telling of this trope, however, is Peridot’s Video Will to Lapis in Act II. Peridot spills her heart out hard in her message to Lapis and confesses details of her life that only Amethyst and Steven would know about.

Crippling Overspecialization: When it comes to combat, Lapis is one of the most powerful members of the Crystal Gems… so long as she has access to water. Without water, Lapis really has nothing going for her.

[fountainpenguin]

Would you say you write a lot of the unrequited love trope? If so do you have any examples?

All I’ve written this week is unrequited Anti-Cosmo / H.P. cuddle urges because pheromones are hilarious does that count

Unrequited love is probably my favorite romantic trope to write (not to read, though, because I’ve found very few ‘fics that cross my path actually commit to the “unrequited” bit and I’ve gotten rather bitter). I read an article earlier this week about how “the reason you can’t stay friends with someone you’re in love with is because if you truly love them you can never be happy seeing them with someone else” and it broke my heart. Perhaps I’m in the minority, but that’s not the way I see love at all.

I’m of the opinion that true love means helping someone recognize what’s best for them and supporting their efforts to achieve that goal- even if that means they remove you from the equation. If my best friend is moving away to find better work opportunities, I still love them and want them to be happy. I don’t throw a fit that they’re not staying in a situation they don’t want to be in just to make me happy. I’d whip out websites and dive into research and we’d make a huge list of pros and cons and be 100% sure this is the choice they want to make, and I’d babysit kids if they want to travel out there to get a feel of the place and I’d cook them meals and help them pack… I’d support them every way I can because I want them to be happy, even if I’m helping them get away from me. My door would be open for them to swing by whenever they’re in town, even if we hadn’t spoken much since parting ways.

That’s love.

To me, that’s a happy, satisfying ending. To some, it might feel upsetting and sad. Perhaps Character A getting the chance to move closer to Character B would be the satisfying ending for some while that ending would annoy me. That’s okay; it’s their taste, not mine.

I for one love the unrequited love trope because I can play with it in so many ways and question “What is real love?” and “How far are you willing to go for someone when kisses and sex are removed from the reward pool?” I crave healthy break-ups and stories about reuniting with your ex years down the road to touch base, conversing with them without your partner getting jealous because they recognize it’s possible for you to have meaningful relationships with other humans and you don’t despise every unrelated person you interacted with before Current Partner came into your life.

In my own writing, the Foop/Goldie relationship is probably my best example of unrequited love. Foop’s had a crush on that girl since preschool, and not only did he lose her, he lost her to the person who is literally his opposite in every way. Can you imagine what that feels like? Talk about unobtainable. And worse… they grew up together. For thousands and thousands of years. There was no escaping her.

His crush never went away, and every now and again he asks if he has a chance (especially with Poof and Goldie on the verge of breaking up every few decades). Goldie still respects him as a person as long as he’s being polite and not trying to force her. They’re still study buddies and good friends and support each other in many ways even if they aren’t dating.

Their relationship is definitely one of my favorites. It has its own problems, but boy howdy is it fun for me. Below the cut, I’ve included a few Foop-Goldie interactions from upcoming drafts. Kind of sort of spoilers, but nothing that ruins your read. I’ve arranged them in chronological order.

“Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Pixies” (Poof POV)

I got let out of art history class early the next day, so I grabbed a milkshake and went home. When I poofed above my bed, I heard her across the hall in Foop’s room. I froze. I still had my backpack on and hovered there, trying to figure out if I was supposed to leave. He was talking. She was sobbing.

“I don’t belong here. I belong with my people, but my people need me here… I need my education.”

“Goldie,” I heard him say, over and over again as her panic rose in waves. I could sense their location on the edge of my awareness, the magic running through their veins. They perched on his bed with legs folded, and he grabbed her by the shoulders. “Goldie, listen to me. We both belong to sociosexual societies. Extraordinarily few people at this school truly understand what that’s like and how it defines our culture. But if you ever need to cry, I’m here for you. I’m always just… here. Any time.”

“I’m more like an Anti-Fairy than a Fairy,” she choked out. “I wish I was an Anti-Fairy!”

From Prompt 55, “Denial”

Goldie shook her head. “Foop, it’s not real. Fantasizing about your crush’s counterpart is a completely normal part of Fairykind attraction.”

He swallowed, but never took his eyes from her face. “Trust me. I’ve noticed.”

She stared at him, her wings trembling. The longer she stared, the pinker her face became. “Oh. You meant… So then Anti-Marigold… You know, I should go.”

“Goldie!” Foop grabbed her wrist, yanking her attention back to his face. His other arm couldn’t hold all ten boxes, and several spilled across the floor. Giving up, Foop let the rest tumble after them and latched onto Goldie’s hand with both of his. “Goldie, I- I don’t actually struggle in Maths. The only reason I even go to study night is because I get to see you. Goldie…” As the tears began to swim across his eyes, he squeezed her arm and choked out, “I paired with Anti-Marigold because I love you. I mean, she’s absolutely wonderful, but she isn’t you. I like Anti-Marigold for Anti-Marigold-related reasons, but I like you for Goldie-related reasons. You’re talented and smart and gorgeous and brave, and I could listen to you prattle on about bunnies and dewdrops and beautiful things that hold significance to you hour after hour. I sort-of love Anti-Marigold, but I know I love you. Goldie! Goldie, don’t go!” She pulled away and he released her, but grabbed his hair with his hands. “I know I’m an Anti-Fairy, but if I weren’t, would you give me a chance?”

“… The problem isn’t that you’re an Anti-Fairy.”

From a one-shot currently titled “Foop’s Paper”

“Expelled?” Goldie repeated. “They actually expelled you? Are you pulling wool with me?”

“Are you even surprised? I’m guilty of WWU.”

“‘WWU’?”

Foop twisted his mouth into a grim smile. “Writing while Unseelie. There is no greater crime in all of academia.”

Goldie’s wings sagged. “Oh, Foop… What did you do to upset them so much?”

“Valid research.” He waved the stack of pages above his head, and let it fall to the table just in front of her tray. “Here.”

[…]

“Are you serious? Good glory, are you serious?” Goldie slapped the research paper against his chest. “Two months before we graduate from the Fairy Academy, and you decide to pull a stunt like this? For what? A cute li’l joke? You think it’s funny?”

He shrugged his wings, straightening the papers into a tidy stack again. “It’s what I believe.”

“Watch and Learn” and “Shadow” (already posted on my FFN and AO3) also have some good depictions of these two. Goldie supporting Foop even if she doesn’t want to be in a relationship with him and Foop supporting Goldie even when she turns him down is very important to me. They are friends.