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luxshine · 4 years

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“Yo a ti, Cas” Or how mexican dubbing gripped us tight and raised us from Despair.

Ok. So I promised a big meta about the dubbing thing and so while I don’t have all the answers YET, here’s a bit of perspective on the differences between Despair and The Truth.

First, a little background. I am a former professional dubbing translator. While I worked on anime series from Japanese to Spanish, rather than in live action ones from English to Spanish, the process is not that different. Also, I worked in Mexico, where Supernatural is dubbed, so that’s why I can make the assumptions I make. Finally, my specialization in college was translation from English to Spanish, so I guess I know what the hell I’m talking about.

So let’s start on HOW you translate something for a dub. Back in the day, you got a ton of VHS tapes with the episodes on them with time codes, and, if you were lucky, a shooting script. This is to say, it was not a transcript of the actual words said in the episode, but the script BEFORE the actors, directors, and everyone else had a hand on what was said and changed. And thus, anything adlibbed? Is not going to be in that script which, at least for the anime side of things? Was a nightmare as the script was usually “And here X actor can say whatever they want” and I had to go and listen to the scene ten thousand times. Now a days, you get either a video file or a streaming link, and sometimes, the shooting script. If you get a script, btw, you can also not get a script in the original language. I know that the person who had to translate Sprited Away to Spanish was working off a German script, not the Japanese one. So yeah, some things can be lost in translation there.

THEN you get to translate. BUT you can’t just translate word by word. You have to adapt it so that it will sound like something a person will say, and sometimes, literally is not the way to do it. And in particular, Mexican dubbing has a reputation to uphold as the “Neutral” dub that is send to most Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, so we can’t use certain words (I don’t have the list at hand, but I remember that I couldn’t use “Llanta” for Tire, and so I had to use “Neumatico”. And no “sweaters” or “hotcakes” or stuff like that), AND we have to match the lips of the original video. Which is like, the worst nightmare ever because of what we call “labiales”, that is to say, the letters where lips close.

I can’t tell you how much we all loved when a character gave a long winded speech with their back to the camera due to those damned closed lip letters.

All this is to say that sometimes, the line could be “We are all in this together for good or bad”, and the translation become something more like “Estamos en esto, por las buenas o las malas” (We’re on this, the good way or the bad way) or “Estamos juntos en las buenas y en las malas” (We’re together in the good and the bad), depending on the translator, dub director, and voice actor.

Depending on the client, that is, the original owner of the series, sometimes they will review the translation once it’s all dubbed and edited. I know that in the Avengers movie, a Disney rep was present on the cabin and forbade any changes from the script, which resulted on a couple of awkward lines in the end result. I don’t know if that’s the case for Supernatural, but I honestly doubt it. Still, translators can’t make huge changes for the dialogue. One couldn’t just ADD a relationship that wasn’t there, no matter what.

(As an aside, due to the very conservative mindset of some tv stations, it’s more common that gay relationships become more ambiguous, by changing “I love you” to “Te quiero” which can be more of a filial love than a romantic one. And well, that one case in Sailor Moon where a gay character was changed into a woman because the dub director honestly thought the character was a woman. But that was in the nineties)

Now, let’s go to how Castiel’s speech was translated.

The original, according to Superwiki, went like this:

Castiel: You're the most caring man on Earth. You are the most selfless, loving human being I will ever know. You know, ever since we met, ever since I pulled you out of Hell, knowing you has changed me. Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you. You changed me, Dean.

Dean: Why does this sound like a goodbye? Castiel: Because it is. I love you. Dean: Don't do this, Cas. Cas.

And the translation, as it was aired, went like this (And people, you have no idea the war flashbacks transcribing this gave me, so I hope you appreciate it):

Castiel: Eres el hombre mas amoroso sobre la Tierra. Un hombre sin egoismo; el hombre mas generoso que haya visto, y que jamas vere. Sabes que desde que nos conocimos y desde que te saque del infierno, el conocerte me ha cambiado. Porque a ti te importa. Y a mi me importa. Me importas tu. Y me importa Sam, me importa Jack, me importa todo el mundo. Y fue por ti. Tu me cambiaste, Dean.

Dean: Porque suena esto a despedida?

Castiel: Porque asi fue. Te amo.

Dean: Yo a ti, Cas. (The empty appears and Billie opens the door) Cas…

Castiel: Adios Dean

Dean: No!

Ok. So… At first glance, they’re pretty much the same until we get to the I love you. BUT let’s dissect it a little bit.

Cas begins with a “Eres el hombre mas amoroso sobre la Tierra” which is not how I would’ve translated “The most caring man on Earth” since “caring” is more like “Cariñoso” rather than “amoroso” which would be “loving”, and yes, there’s a difference. Plus, “el hombre mas amoroso” sounds a bit clunky, so Personally, I’d have gone with “Eres el hombre mas cariñoso en la Tierra”, that would’ve given us more time for the rest of the speech, but I wonder if the translator choice for Amoroso instead was more due to the fact that “amor” (love) is more clearly romantic than “care” (cariño, in a sense, more on this later) and so it foreshadows the end.

Again, with the literal clunkyness we have “Un hombre sin egoismo” (A man without egoism) which sounds weird no matter what language you speak, and it should’ve been “Un hombre dadivoso” (A giving man) or “un hombre desinteresado” (a selfless man) although the second could be mis-construed as “a man without interests” so “dadivoso” would’ve better. But the more puzzling is that the Spanish separates the selfless man from the next, which is REALLY confusing as the English is “the most loving man”, which would be “el hombre mas amoroso” making it quite redundant, so the Spanish changes it to “the most generous man”, “el hombre mas generoso”. To add to this, Cas continues with “that I have seen and I will ever see” instead of “That I know”, because it’s far more poetic. And loving.

So yeah, Mexican Cas is basically saying that Dean Winchester is made of love and puppies.

Ahem.

The next part “You know, ever since I pulled you out of hell, you’ve changed me” is more or less word for word, and the only thing that changes is that the English sounds more like a question and the Spanish one is an affirmation. YOU KNOW that ever since I pulled you out of hell, you changed me.” Little verb tense play, that doesn't change much except Cas’s resolution to say what he has to say.

And then we get to the part that made me squeal out loud. Because we go from

“Because you cared, I cared. I cared about you. I cared about Sam. I cared about Jack. I cared about the whole world because of you”

“Porque a ti te importa. Y a mi me importa. Me importas tu. Y me importa Sam, me importa Jack, me importa todo el mundo.” Which at first glance is the same, but NOPE.

First change: The original is in past tense “I cared”. Spanish version is in present tense: “I care”.

Which is a little non important thing except when you remember that simple present means “immutable absolute truth that won’t change with time”

Second, the choice of word for care.

I mentioned before that Care can be Cariño, as in filial, non romantic love (Or romantic love pet name, as it can also be Darling. It’s one of THOSE words). Other translations for care include “cuidado” (as in attention, concern, keeping, and worry), and of course “interesarse” (Which also can be care), “preocuparse” (care, bother, trouble, mind, fuss), and yes, “importar” but “importar” ONLY translates to English as a verb as “import”, “matter” “amount to” and notice how none of those words include “love”.

Mexican Cas is not saying “you love the world, and so I do”. Mexican Cas is saying “The world matters to you, and thus it matters to me, but my feelings for the World (and Sam, and Jack) are not in the same league as my feelings for you.”

And then Dean asks “Why does this sound like a Goodbye”, just like in English, in present tense…

And Mexican Cas replies in PAST tense. “Porque asi fue”. And THIS is important because it means that everything he said before WAS the goodbye, and not what comes next. All the rest? Is in the past. “Because it was”. Not “Because it IS”. And the next part? Is their future.

I love you.

Te amo.

Simple present. No ambiguity like “te quiero”. Spanish Te amo is for romantic love. Not brotherly, not family, not bro-mantic. ROMANTIC.

It’s like “I’m IN love with you” (Although that’d be “Estoy enamorado de ti” and I doubt that would’ve fit in the time Misha spoke)

And of course, the answer. “Yo a ti, Cas”. Not “And I, you” as I’ve seen it before (And I also thought it was, until transcribing the scene) but a simple “I, you, Cas.” Which ok, pretty cave-speak, but the meaning is pretty clear. Dean Winchester loves his gay angel.

It is also telling that the empty doesn’t appear until AFTER Dean confessed, so no, Mexican Cas is not “happy with the saying”, he had to get to the “happy with the having”.

And when Billy appears, it does seem as if he wants to say something more, but Cas is a love-sick selfsacrificing dumbass and so we all get our hearts broken.

I did get in contact with Dean Winchester’s mexican voice actor, and am waiting for answers to a small interview I did with him which includes the question “did that And I you, Cas” was in the script, and am trying to contact Castiel’s mexican voice actor. So I will be updating you on that. But I hope this clears up some of the questions about how Mexican dubbing made Destiel Canon :D

#dean deserved better #castiel deserved better #they silenced you #bi dean #supernatural mexican dubbing #y yo a ti #te amo #destiel #destielforever

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gunterfan1992 · 3 years

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Interview with Fan Artist loycos!

(Art by loycos)

So a few months ago, I was absent-mindedly scrolling on Tumblr (or was it Twitter?) when I came across something: an Adventure Time fan comic by an artist named loycos. As a person embedded in fan spaces, I find fanart like this all the time, but this time, there was something special about the art I was seeing. It was so... show-accurate!

I don’t mean that necessarily in regard to the art style (although it does feel right at home in the Land of Ooo, while still being its own thing with its own flourishes), but rather in relation to the characterization; the way loycos wrote the characters was spot on. She nailed PB and Marceline’s dynamic as former lovers who deep-down miss one another. She nailed Finn’s naive heroism and his one-sided crush on PB. She nailed Jake’s goofball energy. It was perfect.

In the past, I’ve only interviewed people affiliated with the show’s production, but I thought I’d mix things up a bit and reach out to some fan artists that I think are fantastic. As such, I’m delighted to share with you an interview I had with loycos, who answered my questions about her art, her history with Adventure Time, and where her work is headed!

What is your 'artistic origin' story?

[It’s] kind of a corny answer, but I've been drawing since I remember myself. My earliest drawing memories are drawing Clifford (the big red dog) fanart when I was around 5 y/o. I was always more of a "fangirl" artist, [and] I would draw characters from my favorite franchises to illustrate my headcanons and daydream scenarios I'd put them in. That hadn't changed one bit since. I had since gone on to study animation and illustration in official institutions which forced me to design characters and worlds of my own, but when I draw for myself it's always back to fanart (or studies). I don't have any OCs.

Are there particular artists or styles that you were inspired by and/or like to emulate or allude to?

I'd joke that my artstyle is just a mesh of all the franchises I've drawn fanart for over the years, but honestly, is it even a joke? I think you can easily recognize I had a Disney Phase like every other teenager (I didn't have an anime phase though! I know, I'm an anomaly) and [Steven Universe] definitely left it's fat mark on my style too. Out of [Steven Universe]'s storyboarding crew (which I followed very closely over the years) I especially love Raven Molisee and Jeff Liu for their wacky expressions and proportions, and of course Rebecca Sugar for their fluid and carefree lines. When it comes to art in general, I tend to prefer stylized, colorful and brushy styles over realistic or gothic ones, So people like Hue Teo and Patri Balanovsky pop to my mind (and my artstation feed, seriously look them up).

How do you approach your projects; what is your general art process?

It really depends on the type of project I'm doing, though, my [Adventure Time] comics were all pretty similar in their conception: I write down all of my ideas in my notes so I won't forget them. Then I either roughly sketch out the entire comic as fast as I can, or I write a script (if the concept is specifically very dialog heavy) and then sketch it roughly. Then I do the lineart and color, nothing too complicated. The one thing I think is worth noting in my long comic process is that I draw all of my panels on the same document- that way it's easier for me to make sure the characters stay on model and that my panel layout remains fresh. So basically, the way you read the comics on tumblr, as a long scroll, is the format I work on.

How did you come to find Adventure Time? What made you join the fandom?

Adventure Time is one of those shows you just know about, so I don't remember how I first found out about the show. However, I do remember when I started shipping Bubbline—after the episode “Broke His Crown” aired. I somehow ended up in their Tumblr tag and was blown away by the (by 2016's standards) blatant representation. Despite my obsession with them at the time, I never actually watched any episode that didn't feature the girls' relationship. I only started fully watching the show recently. But I did consume a lot of fan content, which I think helped me shape my own headcanons and such. After my initial interest in 2016 I put Bubbline back on the back burner and kept on my [Steven Universe] ramage, until last year's “Obsidian,” which brought me back fully on board the Bubbline decks around 2 weeks before it aired, so I was in maximum hype mode when I watched the special. It did not disappoint [and it] really reminded me of why I loved these characters and their relationship to begin with. I started drawing my own art for the ship shortly after, when I felt like the hype around the special died down and there wasn't much to keep me sustained anymore. I make what I want to see ;)

As for joining the fandom, I don't know if I can be considered a member, seeing how inactive I am most of the time and my very limited list of [Adventure Time] mutuals. I am extremely flattered that my stuff caught ATimers attention in a positive way.

You've done some amazing Bubblegum and Marceline stuff. What draws you to their dynamic?

I'm gay.

OK, seriously now. I have a soft spot for extremely feminine, dainty characters that are very reserved, so PB immediately marked herself as an obvious fav, and the road to shipping her with Marceline (who is such an obvious candidate and a multilayered, fascinating character herself) was a short one. I know calling PB dainty is far from a true statement, but that's what she appeared like on the surface and that's what caught my attention. Another thing is that I love relationships between immortal beings, I think it always adds another layer of complexity to any relationship, especially a romantic one. The whole "getting older without appearing like you've aged" and "watching everyone you love die around you while you stay the same" can surely make 2 beings bond, right? It always felt like PB and Marcy get each other in a way no one else can, they are very different on the surface but share fundamental internal similarities. Oh, and the fact that they're EXES? The romantic tension and the longing? The familiarity and banter they had in every scene they shared?This hit the jackpot on literally every relationship trope that I love. I'd much rather watch a "getting back together" than a "falling in love for the first time" story.

All of this and the fact that they [are] gay. It's really that simple sometimes.

In broad strokes, what is next for you as an artist and/or as a fan?

I have a few [Adventure Time] comics ideas\scripts on the back burner and one that is in the making. I think I'll dabble into some Nintendo fanart cause I've been playing a lot of Smash Bros and [Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild] lately.

I’m so excited to see what comes next! Either way, a huge thanks to loycos for chattin’ with me! If you’d like to check out more of her art, visit her Tumblr and her Twitter page!

#adventure time #atimers #adventuretime #bubbline #princess bubblegum #marceline #marceline the vampire queen #pb #marcy #loycos #fanart #fan art #interview #fandom

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multimetaverse · 3 years

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HSMTMTS 2x10 Review

The Transformation was a slow but sweet ep. Let’s dig in!

Seblos was lovely tonight. In A Heartbeat was a great song and really suited Frankie’s voice. Very refreshing to see two gay guys discuss their relationship issues openly with their friends. It was a pleasant surprise to see Seb admit that he worries that Carlos is only with him because he’s the only other out gay guy at East High; it’s a deeper moment than this show is usually capable of depicting. And of course, we got another historic first with the first time a boy has sung a love song to another boy on Disney (Big Shot claimed the first same-sex love song when it had Mouse sing to Harper).

It was also important that they had Ricky tell Carlos that he and Seb had something worth fighting for and that he helped Carlos write the song and provided guitar and back-up vocals. Having Ricky, the male lead of the series, get so involved both helps raise the importance of the story line within the episode itself and send a clear message to the audience that the story line is important and worthy of attention. For all it’s flaws the openness with which HSMTMTS has depicted the Seblos story line has been a real victory for lgbtq rep on Disney.

There was some really lame Disney censorship tonight. The word gay clearly wasn’t allowed to be said tonight which is ridiculous since the word has already been used in the show. Not to mention the absurdity of allowing two boys to discuss their romantic relationship and then have one of them sing a love song to the other while drawing the line at someone using the word gay. It’s just completely bizarre reasoning on Disney’s part, homophobic audience members would have stopped watching HSMTMTS a hell of a long time ago; and it’s not like any homophobes would sit through a boy singing a love song to another boy but then quit watching if they hear the word gay said aloud. We also didn’t get a kiss at the end which almost certainly would have happened if this had been a straight couple love song. Though it wouldn’t surprise me if a same-sex kiss is a once a season only kind of thing given Disney restrictions.

Portwell also had a great ep. The risotto call back was an excellent way for EJ to ask Gina out for real this time. Loved seeing EJ mirroring Gina’s, ‘’not that I know of’’, line from last ep as it shows how similar their personalities are. Nice to see the gang gossiping about them, noticing their moments, and encouraging them to get together just like real friends would do in that situation. I also appreciate that the gang’s reactions quickly shut down the commonly heard objections to romantic Portwell: that EJ and Gina are somehow blood relatives by proxy because Ashlyn considers Gina a sister, that Gina lives with Ashlyn, that EJ is graduating. All of them swiftly knocked down and Ashlyn who knows Gina and EJ best gives them her blessing. The real reason Gina and EJ were hesitant to put themselves out there again is because they are still traumatized from being rebounds for the Rini love story. But now both have gathered the courage to take their second chance at a relationship.

Ricky was great tonight. He handled that weird Lily call pretty well. And EJ saying that letting Nini go was the best thing he did for really hit Ricky so he correctly decided not to song Let You Go to Nini. He really came through with Carlos, loved their little friendship and the bro moments which again are so important to see because Ricky is the male lead of the series. That Carlos/Ricky hug was touching, you could tell Ricky really needed that hug. We won’t get bi Ricky obviously but little moments like him calling EJ pretty boy are fun.

Lmao at Kourtney’s love language being gifts, music, flattery, and begging. Also lol at Howie being so willing to sell out North High. We know from the 2x12 photos that Kowie will be fine in the long run.

Ricky and Ashlyn don’t seem to have any chemistry. At least we now know how Ricky sprained his wrist but what happens to Ashlyn?

Nini is clearly not entirely over Ricky. It would be funny if Gina speaking her truth ends up being clearing the air with Nini

Natalie is back! She really dipped after the New Year’s party

Jenzzara therapy session was too funny. They’re so different but really do have a lot in common deep down.

Clearly money was starting to get tight and this ep was designed as a money-saver.

Looking Ahead:

EJ’s Gaston make up looks terrible! He looks more like Gaston without it

So is next week gonna basically count as the Menkies? Wonder who the judge is. Realistically East High shouldn’t win but we’ll see if they pull a win out because they’re the protagonists.

There’s a good chance that the song Second Chances in the finale is sung by the core four. Second Chances fits perfectly with Portwell but less so for Rini. Especially since it’s very hard to see Rini getting back together so soon, maybe they just have a nice conversation that clears the air between them.

Gina and Ricky certainly need to talk sometime in the remaining two eps but it’s very difficult to see any realistic way for them to get together this season especially with a Portwell kiss having been teased. Also it’s clear that Lily is the party crasher in the finale so they’re planning something between her and Ricky (maybe we see Lily try to earn a second chance at East High?)

Wonder if Something There will end up being used for Jenzzara.

Until next week Wildcats

#HSMTMTS #Seblos #Portwell #Carlos Rodriguez #seb matthew-smith #Gina Porter #EJ Caswell #Ricky Bowen #Nini Salazar-Roberts #HSMTMTS Reviews

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imaginarypeteel · 4 years

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Back In The Firehouse

Mateo Chavez x reader

Fandom: 911: Lone Star

Summary: You're a former member of the old 126. You survived the explosion but weren't as lucky as Judd. You're half deaf now and can't go on the field again but still want to see what the new station looks like.

Word count: 5k

You pushed your hair back as you stood in front of the new 126. You and Judd had kept some contact but you both had been too depressed and had grown distant.

You had grown used to your new life as someone with a hearing disability. Getting a new job was hard since you didn't like deskjob much and were more hands on type of person. So you became a social worker. Helping people with hearing disabilities.

You felt a tug on your left hand and looked down. Your aid dog, Prince - a massive mongrel who people often mistook as a Kangal shepherd - was looking at you. "Alright, let's go," you said as you started to walk towards the firehouse.

As you stepped in you realized how different this place was now. It was shiny and posh and everything that old 126 wasn't.

You thought you heard a call and got confirmed when Prince set his forepaw onto your knee. The woman looked around before doing a 180°.

There was a black guy in a firefighter uniform, "Hi! I'm Y/n L/n. I worked here before?" you smiled and introduced yourself.

"Oh! Hi, I'm Paul Strickland and I work here currently," he laughed lightly. "Care to introduce me to the new squad?" you asked with a grin. "Yeah sure, they're in the kitchen."

You followed Paul to the very modern looking kitchen.

The moment you stepped in, you saw a familiar face and before Paul could say anything, the person had seen you too. "Why look what the dog brought in," he grinned and walked up to you. The two of you did a bro hug. The fact that you're a girl didn't matter, you had always been more of a tomboy.

"Judson you corn-fed man are still in the line?" you laughed. "Well someone's gotta look over them."

"You gonna introduce your friend to us, Judd?" a beautiful woman with a hijab asked.

"Right, 126 Y/n L/n, Y/n 126," Judd said. "Well that's accurate," a man with nice blue eyes said with sarcasm and pushed forward, he stretched a hand out to you to shake it, "Captain Owen Strand."

The others in the room had all introduced themselves, you were ready to ask some questions but then their eyes switched to your left. The side you were deaf at. After the accident, you had greatly relied on reading people, so there was probably someone else beside you. You turned to your left and were met with a handsome young guy. His hand was stretched out and he looked shy and was a bit flushed. Probably because you hadn't acknowledged him before. "Sorry sorry, I didn't hear you," you apologized and shook his hand. "Uhm, it's okay, I'm Mateo...Chavez..." You give him a smile and turned back to the others.

Prince had met Buttercup and you could tell that he wanted to play with the fire dog, so you let him go but made sure to keep him in sight. You really needed him, were a little helpless without him.

"So how do you know Judd?" Marjan asked.

"I was a firefighter here before the accident," you explained with a sad smile. "Oh..." You took a deep breath. "Yeah, unlike this guy, I got away with yes life but I also lost ability to hear from my left ear - which is why I couldn't hear you," you looked at Mateo with apologetic eyes and he smiled shyly in return, "and my sight isn't as good in my left eye aswell, I mean I can still see from it but it's a bit blurry, that's all."

"That's why you have Prince?" TK asked with interest, you nodded as a reply.

~~~***~~~

You were teaching Buttercup some tricks with the help of Prince when the crew retreated from a call. By what the dispatcher said, it was a housefire and the smell of burning and sweat that drifted off them proved it.

"How'd it go?" you asked. "Phew," Marjan plopped into a seat near you, "Pretty good, saved a mother and two girls from a housefire," she said as she tried to call Buttercup over but the bernese mountain dog just jogged over to TK. "Oh come on! Does TK ever give you as many treats I do?"

Buttercup didn't react to it but Prince strolled over and sniffed her at the mention of treats. He was a smart dog.

"So guys, I'm going to a bar with Carlos tonight, wanna come with?" TK asked as he rubbed the big dog's chest. "Hmm... Sure, by the way, who's Carlos?" you asked as you yawned slightly. "My boyfriend," TK said proudly, making you nod with a smile. You for some reason had always become so happy at the mention of gay couples. You couldn't explain it. "I'll come too!" Mateo chirped. The others agreed to come too, Judd saying he'll take Grace along.

~~~***~~~

You looked at yourself in the mirror. Black leather pants tightly around your legs, white v-neck and a black leather jacket to cover it all. Fashion hadn't ever been really your thing. You were more of a 'throw on whatever's the cleanest' type but right now, you weren't against the idea of putting in at least some effort. Your hair was loose, that you were not going to change.

You couldn't drive because of your disabilities and couldn't take Prince to the bar, so all of this was making you anxious.

You noticed your phone vibrating on the counter and picked it up. Your Uber driver had arrived. You gave a confused Prince a concerned look. The dog had become a big part of your life and you relied on him a lot. Yes, you had a cat from your early twenties who was a big emotional support but outside, Prince was your rock.

You bent down and the big dog trotted over to you. "Take care of Disney, okay?" you said and kissed his forehead. Of course he didn't understand your words but he knew that you were leaving and not taking him with you, so he too was anxious.

You grabbed your keys and phone and went out the door, locking it.

~~~***~~~

"So Y/n," Mateo said as he sat on the stool beside you, nervously tapping on the bottle of beer. "Hm?" you hummed while taking a sip of whiskey.

"What do you do? Now that... you know," he trailed off awkwardly. "Yeah, I do," you smiled, "I help people with hearing disabilities. Whether kids who are born with it or people who have lost it during life. Help them get back on track and learn to live with it, maybe even give them the list of jobs they could still apply to. Sometimes I even recommend then and get them an interview," you explained.

"Oh wow, that's nice of you," he said while bobbing his head. "Says the guy who gets in all sorts of dangerous situations to save people," you laughed. Mateo smiled but not wide, "Well, actually the others do most of the work, I just lag behind mostly." You rose your brows at that, "Really? Pretty sure I saw you on TV once." The dark-haired man smiled wider at that. "I was just passing out water bottles. Our Captain was getting the real action though."

"Mhm, okay. My best friend was squealing when she saw you to be honest," you laughed at the memory.

~~~***~~~

"Y/n you're telling me you worked with guys like him back in the day?" Evely gasped as she was watching the news. You were just looking over some papers of one of your current patients'. "Hm?" you raised your head at the big screen before looking down again. "Not all of them are like that. Pretty sure he is just a probie," you murmured as a frown stretched on your face. "Oh wow, if a probie looks like that, I imagine what a fireman looks like," Evely moaned which had you cringing. "Caaalm down you little hoe."

The brunette shot you a look before returning to the man on the screen who was handing out water bottles. "Just look at those arms," she squealed.

~~~***~~~

"Really? What did you think of it?" he asked with excitement. "I wasn't really paying attention but while I was in the taxi and driving here, I remembered seeing you there," you grinned. Mateo's smile faltered at that before returning to the wide one. "So you were thinking about me while driving here?" he grinned slyly and moved his upper body closer to yours on the wooden bar. A small blush covered your cheeks and a grin stretched onto your face. Calm down, the kid is still young. Not like you were really old. No, you were just about to hit 30 but still.

"I think about lots of things while I have nothing to do so don't think you're so special," you chuckled and flicked his forehead. He flinched and rubbed his forehead while fake pouting at you.

Mateo's gaze flicked behind you and just as you decided to turn around, you felt a tap on your shoulder. You spun on the stool and came face to face with a familiar woman. "Grace!" you chirped and hugged the dispatcher. "Haven't seen you in a while, how you doing?" the dark-skinned woman asked as she set herself down on the stool beside you. "Well, I have a nice paying job that pays well. No one sick at the moment so medical bills are fine. Have been practicing some new tricks with Prince and well, I'm currently here."

The bartender asked Grace for her order before she could reply, "Porn Star, thank you. Judd?" the man didn't even waste a second before ordering a big glass of beer. You laughed at that and kept sipping your whiskey without any ice or water in it.

"So probie," Judd said as he waited for his beer, dragging Mateo's attention away from you, "Why you trying to swoon Miss Former Probie?" Grace and you giggled at that while Mateo's face changed color. "I-I um, I," the dark haired man stuttered. "I uh..."

"Oh leave him alone, Judd," Grace told her husband playfully.

"Here ya go," the bartender said as he pushed the couple's drinks in front of them. "Thank you," Grace smiled as she dragged the glass so it sat in front of her chest. Judd didn't waste a second to gulp some of his black beer down.

"Rough day? Then that might not be the best drink for that," you laughed while watching the man. He grinned and nodded, "I'm only starting right now, okay? By the end of the night, I'll be having a Bloody Mary with extra vodka and you know it."

~~~***~~~

The others soon started to arrive too. You talked with them yes but mostly spoke with Judd and Grace, Mateo came after them. You didn't realize how much you missed spending time with a fire squad until now and how much you missed your old crew. Luckily you easily rekindled with Judd. He had mostly been the person who taught you everything on the field which was also the reason why you were with him and not near the fire when the accident happened.

A few tears trailed downwards as you thought of your old crew. But then you felt someone touching your left shoulder. Spooked, you snapped your attention to the person, hair whipping at their face in the process. It was Mateo. "Sorry that I startled you!" he immediately apologized with sad puppy eyes. You smiled but rose your left brow when he frowned. "Oh God! Did I startle you that much that you had to cry? I am so so so sorry Y/n!" he apologized over and over again. You laughed lightly as you heard him.

While wiping away the tears with your left hand, you placed your right hand on his cheek, "No no, it isn't your fault. Just remembered....them." After wiping away the tears, your tipsy self looked at him with your head slightly tilted. You rubbed gentle circles on his cheek with your thumb while smiling fondly. He was staring at you with dark eyes full of surprise but hesitantly snuggled his cheek into your hand. "Hey Mateo," you said as you leaned closer to him. He mirrored your movements and started to lean closer, probably thinking he is going to get a kiss. "Wanna go dance?" you grinned at the slight disappointment in his face. He still nodded and got up on his two feet.

The rookie firefighter was surprised by how he swayed a bit and had to grab onto his stool to keep himself from falling over. "Overthought your alcohol tolerance?" you laughed while taking a small sip of the paloma you had ordered before leaping to stand by the younger man. You too had been too confident in yourself and stumbled lightly before regaining balance. "Whoopsies," you giggled and dragged your hair back behind your head with your hand. Mateo gave you a flirty grin while extending his hand, "M'lady? May I have this dance?" he asked while playfully bowing. You squealed at his act and grabbed his hand, "Why yes, kind sir," you replied, playing along. Mateo gripped your hand a bit tighter before going over to the place where Judd and Grace were dancing with only two other couples.

Judd shot a look at the rookie that went unnoticed by you. He on the other hand decided that dancing with you was much more important so he just grabbed a gentle hold of your hips and the two of you simply swayed to the jazz.

You leaned more into him and felt yourself wanting to fall asleep like this.

~~~***~~~

By the end of it, Mateo had escorted you home. Judd had indeed gotten that Bloody Mary he was talking about and had somehow made you get one too. 1. Your bank account didn't agree with this much. 2. Your mouth was on fucking fire. 3. You wanted milk and you wanted it now. 4. You felt sorta horny but sorta sleepy.

All that had resulted in you moaning at Mateo that you wanted to drink his milk while the two of you drove the taxi. Poor boy was very turned on but resisted it and decided to play innocent.

"I don't have any milk, Y/n. Yes, drop us here... I think. Is this your home?" the man asked you. You lazily turned your gaze outside of the window. Your left eye's sight was currently a complete foggy mess but the other one's was a semi blur. You just hummed even though you didn't really think it through and didn't even try to see the building.

Mateo helped you out of the uber and the two of you stood in front of a white building. You snuggled into the younger man who's arm was wrapped around your shoulder.

When you reached the front door, you resistantly left his cozy side and stepped closer to the door, pulling your keys out of the pocket.

"Okay, so, which apartment is yours?" the rookie asked as you let the front door of the apartment building close, fumbling with the keys, trying to understand which is which. When you didn't answer, he looked at you and was confused. Why weren't you answering?

He then realized that you were leaning on a wall, good ear facing it. He quickly walked over to you, "Y/n, you okay?" he asked with concern. "Yeah, yeah, the wall is just nicely cold." You let out a yawn, finally pushing yourself off the pure white wall. "Second floor," you said, starting to walk up the stairs. Mateo rushed after you and secured his left arm around your waist. He had slowed down on drinks and had even ordered a glass of water, so he was in much better condition than you.

When the two of you reached the second floor, you quickly dragged him to your apartment door. The moment you started jingling with the keys, Mateo heard a clatter of nails against stone floor.

When you opened it, a familiar golden colored giant barged into you and gave you floppy kisses while you laughed. "Ok boy, down," you ordered and the dog immediately followed. His innocent gaze trailed over to Mateo and he stalked to the man, sniffing him like a police K-9 searching for drugs.

"Come in, Matty," you giggled while watching him stand like he had just met gazes with Medusa. The man hesitantly stepped into your apartment and was about to proceed into the living room when you noticed that he was still wearing shoes. "Aaaah! No way! No way are you going anywhere past where I'm standing with your shoes on!" you yelled, startling the younger adult who flinched.

He froze before coming back to stand beside you while you glared at him with your e/c eyes, making him a bit nervous. Prince felt the change in the air and tensed. The big golden dog stepped in front of his owner and he too glowered at the rookie firefighter.

You cracked a small smile as you watched how the dark eyed man took his boots off.

The moment they were placed beside your other shoes, you loosened up, making your dog calmer too. In a matter of three seconds, you were in the kitchen with your pale grey socks letting you slide across the wooden floors.

Mateo placed himself on the couch where a calico cat came to inspect him. "Her name is Disney, while I was working as a firefighter, we found her in housefire. None of the people in the house claimed her as theirs. Probably because she was full of burns and in critical condition. Animal care ain't that cheap ya know. But my heart was hurting for her, so I decided to get her. I was like twenty or twenty-one I think. Don't regret it, she has always been a big emotional support for me," you told him while landing beside him with two glasses of water.

"Sounds lovely," Mateo nodded and took one of the glasses. "Indeed."

Disney climbed over to you and curled up on your chest. As she got comfortable, she started to purr loudly.

You smiled and kissed her forehead. She might be deaf and a little blind because of her injuries from the fire but she knew you loved her with your whole body. She was just like you.

~~~***~~~

When Mateo came to work next time, he was attacked with questions.

"So Probie, you left with Y/n, what happened after?" Marjan grinned. "Yeah, I wanna know too," Judd said suspiciously.

"N-Nothing happened, she told me about her cat, gave me water and I was going home," the young man stuttered nervously. The crew looked at him, suspicious if he was really telling the truth. "Fine, we'll believe you for now," Marjan said upsetly.

~~~***~~~

Mateo looked up with wonder as he was walking home. The northern lights were really beautiful. Since he had departed with Paul and Marjan, he felt lonely. He wanted to be with someone right now and-

"Mateo!" he looked in front of himself again and saw your familiar form. A smile stretched onto his face, "Y/n!" You had Prince on the leash who was wagging his tail happily at the sight of the man. Over the matter of few months, he had come to completely love the guy.

You surpringly also had Disney on a leash.

The man walked over to you and gave you a tight hug out of nowhere. Yes, you were surprised but still hugged him back.

"It's okay Matty. Anyway, I brought them out to calm them down a bit. Things in my apartment went crazy because of the solar storm. TV put on some crazy metal channel which freaked out Prince and lights started flicking and all sorts of other things that made them both stressed. The floor is probably full of their pee," you sighed and rubbed the part between your eyes tiredly. "Yeah, today was crazy but at least it has had a beautiful ending," the man said as he pointed towards the sky with his nose, still petting your animals.

"Why hello to you too," you said as you pulled back. Mateo smiled shyly, "Yeah yeah, hi." He bent down to greet the animals, Prince giving him kisses and Disney rubbing herself against him. Mateo felt his nose get a little sniffy and let out a sneeze.

"Sorry, I'm actually a bit allergic to cats," he apologized.

When you had made sure the boy got to his parents safely, you tried to call 911 but no luck, your phone decided that despite being 86% few seconds ago, it was at 0% now. So tightly gripping Prince's leash, you had approached the door to your apartment slowly. The door wasn't unlocked, nor had any signs that anyone had touched it in general.

You looked up and nodded slowly, still not smiling. You had been at work with your newest patient - a lovely 9 year old boy named Samuel who lost some of his hearing because he flew with an airplane - when the lights in your office started flicking crazily, scaring both you and your patient. The water machine in the corridor started going off too. Your patient had started crying and you had to calm him down while also trying to make sense of the situation. Then you had gotten a call from one of your neighbors, telling you that there were several crashes in your apartment and that maybe someone had broken in. Prince was with you as your aid dog, he had also calmed down Samuel a bit while being anxious himself but worry for Disney and your valuables peaked in you.

When you finally opened the door, you first saw many shards of glass and other pieces of your dishes on the floor. The lights were flicking here too. Prince started whining. You jumped when you heard a loud crash in the living room. Quickly, you ran in and saw your TV on the floor and a scared Disney running away, pee trailing after her. She was absolutely freaking out. You tried to switch off the lights but they kept on flicking. Prince yelped which made you turn your attention to him, he was holding one of his paws up. Probably had stepped on one of the shards. You bit your lip and tried to pick him up to put him on the couch. You noticed that it too had wet spots. The microwave started dinging, your golden mongrel tried to hide his head under a pillow.

With a rush, you followed the path you had seen Disney go - the bedroom.

The room was torn apart. Completely. Disney almost crashed into you but when she did see you, she immediately jumped on your legs and started climbing up while letting out pathetic kitten cries. You felt tears brimming at your eyes at the feeling of her claws. The little calico tried to hide into your shoulder while her fur was bristling with fear. You held your cat and started heading towards the living room and sat on the couch slowly. Prince placed his head in your lap while whining.

Then that fucking TV, despite being on the floor, basically destroyed, had turned on and started playing metal music max sound on. So with a heavy heart, you had beat it with your foot until it became silent again.

When it had finally calmed down, you decided to head out. The traffic was calm and normal again, maybe a bit scarce but traffic lights were working normally. Your apartment was pretty much destroyed and you were going to be in debt trying to make it all up. You weren't mad at Disney, no. She was scared and you understood that.

You were so tired of this day and even those northern lights weren't going to make your mood much better.

Mateo saw your sour look and came back to a standing position. "You okay?" he asked with worry. He liked you a lot and seeing you like this wasn't nice.

"No, not at all. I don't want to go back to my apartment. It's completely destroyed. Completely," you sighed. The man tongued his cheek as he tried to come up with an idea that would lighten your mood. "You can stay at my place if you want?" he suggested. You glanced at him and shook your head, "You're sweet Mateo but I can't. There's no food for them in your place and I don't want to risk ruining your living quarters." The rookie firefighter draped one of his arms around your shoulders. "Then we will go and buy food for them right now and will stay up with them for the night until we are sure that this is all over, okay?" You looked at him and gave a flat smile. "Okay fine."

~~~***~~~

"It's not the biggest but it'll do...I hope," Mateo said as he walked in, carrying the bags of dog-and cat food. You looked around with a small smile, "It's perfect."

You hesitantly bent down and unlatched the leash from Disney's straps. The queen immediately went to inspect the place, Prince following right after once he was let loose.

Mateo walked past you and you got triggered inside as you saw him wearing shoes in the process. No way were you going to make your feet into squashed lemons or anything. So you leaned against the wall and took your shoes off. Mateo looked back at you, "Oh you don't have to take your shoes-" he rushed but halted when you faced your palm with him. "I want to, I am not going to let my feet be squeezed lemons, thank you very much."

He nodded quietly.

"Soooo..." the man awkwardly scratched the back of his neck, "Want anything to eat?" He frowned when you didn't reply.

"Sorry, did you say something?" you asked as you put your jacket away. "Wanna eat anything?" he repeated. "Eat? Oh yes! But nothing too much- Wait hold up. You just came from work. Oh man, I remember when I was a firefighter, I was starving when work finally ended. Would it be okay with you if I made you something?" Mateo smiled at you and nodded, "Y-yeah, sure. But I don't have much to make something of..." You grinned, the memories of being a rookie and having to make meals for the crew clouding your mind. "Shh... Let Chef (l/n) handle it!"

Mateo followed you after sometime and placed the pet foods on the counter. Immediately a clatter of nails dashing towards the kitchen was heard. You giggled as you saw Prince storm in by the sound of the food bags. "What the..." the younger adult mumbled. You just shook your head with a smile and returned to your search for food in his kitchen. Like he said, there wasn't much of it. Some takeout boxes were in the bin, so he probably lived off of that most of the time.

"Alright, one day, we're going grocery shopping, Teo," you told him. Finally you found a package of spaghetti in a drawer. You remembered seeing cheese in the fridge.

It was decided. You were gonna make mac and cheese.

~~~***~~~

You called for Mateo who was in the living room cuddling with Disney, an EpiPen in one hand and the other on the cat's back. "Sorry, can't come. I'm the chosen one- ACHOO!" he rejected your call. You - not knowing what's going on - frowned and went to see what the heck he was talking about. As you saw the cat curled up on the male, you grinned. "Okay, guess you have to starve then. By the way, any bowls or something I could place their food on?" Mateo was slowly letting his palm run over the calico's soft fur while sniffling, he didn't even look at you. "Mhmgh, if you're okay with paper plates then those are...uh... I think in the drawer under forks and knives. Oh and for water err.... Just take a random bowl that doesn't look too fancy."

"Okiedokie"

Mateo was carefully touching your kitty when all of a sudden, she woke up and stormed into the kitchen. "Huh?" Confused, he got up and followed the deaf cat.

When he entered the kitchen, both animals were chewing on the food. It wasn't nearly as high quality as what you usually bought them but they were hungry. You were putting cheese on your spaghetti. "Well look who came," you said amused as you pulled out a fork from the drawer.

He smiled and grabbed the other plate you had set aside for him. "Thanks for this, I normally don't have the energy to cook after work." His demeanor was a bit shy and you loved that. Some guys had approached you after the incident but had ran for the hills after finding out about your disabilty.

"Ya know Mateo, you are very cute," you complimented him out of nowhere. Startled, said man almost dropped his plate at your words, "W-What? I mean, thanks, uh, you're very too. I mean you're very cute too," he stuttered, tongue tied and blushing a little. He was avoiding your gaze, knowing he will say something stupid if he'll look at you.

You giggled at that and kept watching him, making him nervous.

~~~***~~~

It took months of cutting out your own desires, working overhours, missing out on nights of fun and doing DIY to get your apartment back to what looked like a normal home from a place that looked like a hurricane hit it. Mateo helped you out a lot through that. Helping you choose things from IKEA, assemble the things you brought from IKEA, helping you clean out the place and treating Prince's injured paw while you couldn't. Getting a new TV was a big pain in the arse. Since it was so freaking expensive when you wanted a good one.

It would've taken you months until you could get one. But one day, you came home one day to find a brand new flatscreen attached to a wall in your living room. Bigger than your previous one for sure. Mateo had been at your place, having a day off and wanting to help you with the new coffee table since the previous one had been destroyed with claw marks and pet urine.

Immediately you bombed him with questions when you saw the thing on the wall, also feeling very mad that he got you something so expensive.

Mateo denied buying the TV and said it was.... Judd. You calmed down after a while

You put your information in and logged into your Netflix account. Mateo was about to leave when you offered that he could stay. He agreed immediately and happily plopped down on the sofa. You told him to find a good horror movie while you made something to eat.

You cut some fruits and also managed to find some chips. Not as traditional as popcorn but it'll do the job.

"What did you choose?" you asked happily while making yourself comfortable beside him and placing the snacks on the coffee table he had put together throughout the day. He had talent in it, for real.

"I mean, I don't really watch horror movies, so are you okay with Escape Room?" he asked hesitantly. You tongued your cheek and smiled, "Yeah sure."

Unlike most people, you liked the scary stuff. Enjoying the adrenaline that came when something terrifying happened. Doesn't mean you didn't hold onto Mateo sometimes but he was the more scared one. "Oh my God Teo, you're like a baby when watching this stuff," you giggled. "I'm sorry I made you watch this," you apologized while leaning your head against his shoulder. "What? No, I err... Really liked it. Yeah, it was... Awesome," he lied pathetically. You snorted and rubbed circles on Prince's stomach while the big dog lay on his back beside you.

After some silence, the firefighter opened his mouth. "So Y/n," he started. You shifted your head to look at him curiously. "What would be the perfect... date in your opinion?" he asked nervously. You rose your brow with surprise, the question unexpected. "Perfect date huh?" you thought for a bit and came up with an answer. "Well I'm not a huge fan of romantic dinners and stuff like that. Maybe camping? I really enjoy hiking and hiking with someone I care about would be lit. Those two love hikes too," you gestured at your furry friends, "Plus it isn't an expensive fun thing to do. Well unless you going all out. Which I don't normally."

"In that case, wanna go camping on the weekend?" he asked happily yet nervousness was as clear as a crystal in his voice. You smiled at him, "Of course," and laid your head on his chest.

#x reader #disabled reader #Mateo chavez #mateo chavez x reader #x older reader #911 lone star #911 #911 x reader #911 lone star x reader #dog #fluff #cat #firefighter #firefighters #social worker #social workers

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musette22 · 4 years

Note

no attack to you because I know you're still bitter about endgame which is valid but stop using the word straighwashed. I ship stucky but Bucky has only ever dated women in comics and the mcu and that's real. the situation with the "straightwashed" word is that some people are really turning it into a "wanda situation" in which they're saying that they changed basic things about Bucky when that's not true. they're attacking the character and sebastian for things that arent real, which never were. again, bucky has only ever dated women in both comics and the mcu. our headcanons really have nothing to do with real canon

Hello! Thank you for sharing your concerns, I appreciate it. I’ll admit that ‘straightwashing’ wasn’t the best choice of words here, though mostly because we have to be careful with terms like that because using them callously might diminish their value and impact in instances when they’re really applicable. So my statement was a little too bold, and it’s good that you pointed that out. But let me try to explain what I meant in a slightly more nuanced way, because I do feel strongly about this. I’ll put it under the keep reading tab though, because of course it’s long lmao

So, first of all, let me say that I’ve never read the comics and I don’t know original comic Bucky well at all, so everything I’m saying here is with regard to MCU Bucky, or at least the character as it was re-invented/re-introduced by Ed Brubaker in the Winter Soldier comics, which was then adapted for the big screen by the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I understand what you mean when you say that MCU Bucky was posited as straight, but I some reservations about your use of the word ‘real’ here. I get that you mean ‘canon’, and on a surface level, canon Bucky is indeed straight. But if you even so much as scratch that surface, you’ll find plenty of reason to wonder if maybe he isn’t actually completely straight after all, right? It’s what drew a lot of people to ship these two characters together, you and I included. That’s subtext, and a lot of it was put there or endorsed by the creators themselves (Ed Brubaker himself even supports the reading of Bucky and Steve as romantic, so that says quite a bit, I think). Subtext is ‘real’ too, and so is homophobia, sadly, so they deserve to be treated as such, in my opinion. A romantic reading of the relationship between Steve and Bucky was frequently hinted at, initially even encouraged, and then violently shut down by Marvel/Disney when it became too mainstream of an opinion and it didn’t suit them anymore, and even started to present a real issue for them in terms of distribution to certain parts of the world. In a nutshell, that’s what led to Steve’s ending in Endgame, because Captain America (at least the MCU one, that brings in the money) cannot outwardly be anything other than straight, or he would be rejected by a significant part of their audience. That’s more or less what I meant by the word ‘straightwashing’, although ‘straightened out’ might be more accurate here.

Whether the same thing is happening to Bucky’s character remains to be seen (more than it already did, I mean – remember “Dot”?) and I’ll wait until the whole show has aired and we know exactly how they develop Bucky’s character in it before I make any more bold statements about it. I read an interesting take today that suggested they may have actually dropped a hint at Bucky being bi in this first ep (also, note how they’re like “there are even entire blogs dedicated to this pairing!” And then actually link to @steveandbvcky’s amazing tumblr blog lol). I’m pretty skeptical about this take, because even if they’re right and that really was a hint at Bucky being bi, I doubt they’re going to be exploring that any further, and only people “in the know” will have even picked up on that. It’s easy enough to ignore, and it’s very clear the date was with a woman, so in that sense Bucky is still Straight, to all intents and purposes. So while it could be an act of what you might call fanservice and we’ll probably gratefully lap it up anyway because we’re starved for crumbs and representation, if this is all it is, then it’s even more meaningless than Gay Joe Russo. But again, I’ll reserve judgement on all this until the whole show has aired and we know exactly what we’re working with, because maybe they’ll redeem themselves! (one can only hope)

Let me also just make it clear that I in no way support or endorse attacking the actors for their portrayal of these characters in a way that we’re not entirely happy with. They’re just doing their job, they’re on Marvel’s payroll – and even if they just don’t personally view the characters in the same way we do, that’s valid and fine as long as they’re not actively homophobic or anything like that. I also realise that fandom has a tendency to ‘demand’ certain things they want to see and throw a tantrum if we don’t get it.

But I really don’t think that’s what this is. It’s more than that. Marvel has a notoriously bad track record when it comes to LGBT representation (although they’re working on that in the next phase, apparently) and in this day and age, that really won’t fly anymore (it never did of course, but you know what I mean). Moreover, read any given article about Bucky, or the relationship between Steve and Bucky, and 8 out of 10 times you’ll find some sort of acknowledgment of a romantic reading of it. It’s that apparent and pervasive. So I don’t think that being disappointed and frustrated with Marvel/Disney reinforcing a ‘just bros being bros’ reading of Steve and Bucky’s relationship time and time again since the end of Civil War (the movie, not the historical event) is outrageous or unjustified. That’s basically what I’m sick and tired of, and what led me to make a disparaging comment about not being surprised if Bucky were being ‘straightened out’ again.

P.s. A few people have mentioned Arnie Roth too, which could be a good point too although I don’t know enough about it to comment on it, but I’ll leave it to you.

#stucky #anti endgame #fws opinions #minnie answers #Anonymous

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baka-monarch · 4 years

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C-can i request Anarociet but with Tiny Roman plz?

I Can Do This

Roman placed his room nervously, talking to himself as he waited for it to be time to go. "It's just a sleepover, nothing special. Yes it's with the two most popular giants at school that just so happen to be my crushes, but that's fine- everything is fine it's all going to be fine-" he kept mumbling that it would be fine to himself. "I can do this."

Earlier that day Roman remembered the conversation that had sparked this idea in the first place.

"Roman, I was wondering if you would like to spend the night at my house tonight" Janus had asked during lunch. Catching Roman completely off guard and flustering him. "It would be just the tw-"

"The three of us!" Virgil had cut in suddenly. "Because I'm going to be there too." As the emo said this he had sent a small glare over at Janus. Roman barely noticed the glaring contest the giants were having, as he looked back and forth between the two of them in a blushing mess.

"Y- yes!" Roman exclaimed out of nowhere, drawing both of his crushes' attention. "I- I mean, y- yeah." He mentally cursed himself for his gay pinning.

And now Roman was here. Panicking in his room as he waited until it was time to spend the night with two hot giants. Two attractive giants that were very popular and in no way felt anything romantic for him.

"I can't do this." Roman admitted before dramatically collapsing face first into his bed. "Why did I agree to this?" He asked himself.

"Because you're a gay simp who doesn't know how to ask someone out." The familiar voice caused Roman to jump and spin. around, having not expected a response.

"Remus-" Roman panicked, seeing his brother standing in his open door way. "How long have you been standing there-"

"Long enough." Remus cackled softly. "Look, it's not like it's a date." Remus shrugged before hopping onto Roman's bed next to him.

"But what if is one," Roman started spiralling. "You've seen how they act- it's like they are a couple with how much they argue - what if they know! What if they're just trying to mess with me- what if-" Roman was suddenly cut off by Remus covering his mouth with a hand.

"Blah blah blah- okay, one, Janus and Virgil aren't dating, and number two, neither of them would ever play with someone's emotions. Ever. And thirdly," Remus paused, he'd been friends with those giants for awhile now, and was well aware of their pinning for Roman, especially of their rivalry and how they kept sabotaging each other so that Ro wouldn't end up dating the other. But he couldn't tell his Ro-bro that, not yet. "And thirdly you're my brother, so you know the ways of getting dick, as I have taught you well!"

Roman just looked at him for a moment before laughing. "You're disgusting!" He pushed Remus off the bed.

"You know it!" Remus smiled. "But seriously, you better?"

"Better." Roman responded.

"Ready?"

"Not in a million years."

"Well, it's just a sleepover." Remus shrugged, and before he could say anything else, Roman's alarm went off, significantly it was time to go.

☆☆☆

Roman got off the bus on the giant side of town nervously. "It's just a sleepover." He repeated his brother's words to himself quietly as looked upon the giant house he would be spending the night at.

Walking up to the house and it's door was easy, it was just not chickening out that was the hard part. I can do this I can do this I can do this- Roman kept repeated over and over again in his head. It's just a sleepover, he reasoned, nothing more. Then, when he finally reached the doorbell- the regulated human doorbell that is- he took a deep breath, and rang the doorbell.

There was some loud shuffling that followed, with several loud bangs, and whispered "I've got it-" "no, this is my house I'll-" "he's my cru-" "mine too-" "shut up!" that could be heard. Then suddenly the door swung open making Roman jump in surprise. Inside first Roman saw Virgil holding the doorknob with one hand while his other arm was preoccupied with holding back Janus.

"Hey, Princey." Virgil breathed out with an almost goofy looking smile as Janus pouted. Even when they were giants towering over him, Roman couldn't help but to fund them adorable like this, and found himself giggling at their antics.

"Heya Emo Nightmare and Dr. Jeckle." Roman smirked, using the nicknames he called them most the time. "Mind letting me in?"

Virgil and Janus both blushed, not that Roman noticed as was usual. They both had to take a moment to collect themselves after seeing that smirk that never failed to melt either of them.

"O- of course!" Janus was the first to snap out of it, and was happy to push Virgil out of the way. To which Virgil cussed quietly and flipped him off from behind the door, not wanting to upset Roman. "Here." Janus knelt down and offered a hand to the adorable human.

"Thanks Jan!" Roman smiled as he climbed onto their hand happily. Virgil glared at Janus, and would have growled if it weren't for Roman being there.

Janus ignored Virgil as he carried Roman inside, the emo shutting the door behind them. "My parents won't be home for the weekend, so we can do whatever you would like, Roman."

"Yep, they laundered money, and now they're on the run." Virgil smirked teasingly at Janus as he made the BMC reference that got Roman to bounce with joy.

"Either way" Janus gritted out as he glared at Virgil. "We have the house to ourselves." It was by then that they had gotten to Janus' room, where he gently set Roman down on the bed before sitting down himself on the floor, with Virgil following suit.

With that, they commenced with the sleepover. They did the usual teenage things, like playing games, talking, and finally binging Disney for the rest of the night (and Janus and Virgil both claiming that it was their idea and that they were the one who rented the movies, not the other).

"Huh, it looks like we're running out of popcorn..." Roman had finally mumbled at some point around midnight.

"I'll get it!" Both Janus and Virgil said at the exact same time, causing then to glare at each other.

"Virgil, I need to talk to you for a second." Janus started, and before Virgil could say anything he added. "Alone. While we're getting popcorn, okay?" Then before Roman could say anything both the giants left the room.

"What are you doing?" Janus whispered to Virgil once they were in the kitchen. "I had this whole night planned out! I was finally going to-"

"You think I didn't know?" Virgil looked at Janus with emotion. "I- I just need more time- you can't just- just take him-"

"Virgil." Janus placed a hand onto Virgil's shoulder. "Neither of us are getting anywhere like this." Virgil looked at him for a while silently, before sighing.

"I know..."

Back in Janus' room, Roman was getting worried. Had he messed up? Did he do something wrong? Why else would they need to talk alone unless Roman was the problem? His mind kept supplying him with these worrying thoughts... until he thought about Remus. It was a gross thought about his brother and a little invasive but... it reminded him that he was small, he could find out what was going on. So, he would do just that. "I can do this." He told himself.

"We keep trying and trying to one up each other and it's getting no where!" Janus exclaimed.

"I know!" Virgil growled out in frustration. "It was easier when it was just us and Remus- why did he have to have a brother-" he groaned.

"Exactly- this rivalry has gone too far, we should just tell him-" Janus started.

"-No!" Virgil cutt him off. "It could make him upset or worse, mad." Janus paused.

"At least we would be telling the truth..."

"Janus?" Virgil looked at his old friend worried, "You never want to tell the truth."

"This is... different." Janus paused. "Roman is so wonderful, and amazing, and god he is too talented for his own good" Virgil chuckled at that.

"Yeah, he just lights up a room. And his little smile..." Virgil blushed.

"God we both just melt don't we?" Janus added making Virgil chuckle sadly.

"We're a mess..."

"Yeah... but a mess that loves Roman" Janus said, causing Virgil to blush even more.

"Yep." The emo added, popping the p.

"You what?" Both of the giants jumped as Roman was suddenly in the kitchen with them, having heard the entire thing.

"W- w- well- well- uh-" Virgil sputtered.

"R- Roman-" Janus said surprised and flustered, not able to get words out any better then Virgil.

Roman just looked back and forth between them, before it dawned on him, and he started laughing at how dumb he was- well, how dumb they all were. Bith giants stopped when Roman started to laugh and looked down at the human nervously.

"Uh, R- Roman?" Virgil started, worried, as Janus just looked at Roman nervously.

"Bith you, c'mere." Roman said, to which both giants looked terrified (which was hilarious to Roman) before kneeling down to be at level with him. "Closer." Roman commented, making them lean down more. "A little more, I need to be able to reach your lips." Roman smirked as he made two giants blush, but they obliged.

In turn Roman walked up to each giant, first Virgil then Janus, and kissed their top lip.

"I love you too!" Roman exclaimed with a bright smile, that promptly killed both of the giants.

I did it.

#sander sides #roman sanders #virgil sanders #Janus sanders #ask #Anaroceit #g/t #giant/tiny

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darthkvznblogs · 3 years

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What would the major Kryptonverse characters wear as Halloween costumes?

Oh, man, I don’t know nearly enough pop culture for this one but since I got this ask from both you and an anon, I’ll answer as best I can! Gonna be very off the top of my head, though, haha, not putting a ton of thought into this one @the-literary-lord

(Also, this just assumes a random year after 2012, but don’t think too hard about the timeline)

-I think Luz absolutely dresses up as Naruto. You can’t tell me she doesn’t already have the headband and probably even a pair of those weird chanclas the ninjas in the show wear hahaha. Obviously, other notable costumes would’ve included characters from the Good Witch Azura series.

-Kara dresses up as Disney’s Hercules! Everyone faints when they see her flex her muscles :P (Lena does the matching Megara costume of course)

-Ben just swaps between his various monster-like forms. If you’ll allow me the indulgence, maybe he unlocks a Xenomorph or Yautja form and absolutely terrifies everyone

-Chloé dresses up as a Sailor Guardian - either Sailor Moon because main character and also a relatable disaster or Sailor Uranus because gay.

-Nico dons the Necromancer robes from Skyrim because he’s a huge walking stereotype and he can actually have a couple skeletons walking around with him!

-Ellie just goes as Dani Phantom. Somehow, everyone thinks that it’s just a costume and completely misses the connection.

-Pidge builds herself an R2-D2 shell and pilots it around being mischievous. Maybe the whole Voltron cast does a group cosplay?

-The Pines twins dress up as Popo and Nana from Ice Climbers/Smash Bros!

#ask box #kryptonverse

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qqueenofhades · 4 years

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(1/2) Honestly, Hilary, you are a blessing. I want to scream about your amazing Fic, how I love Immortal Husbands and the whole Immortal Family and how I had more fun learning history from your writing than in my whole damn school. But I also want to appreciate your TOG answers and meta. All the more because my friends outside the internet saw TOG as some boring movie with shitty plot and I'm just here in the corner, wanting to scream at someone who will understand about FINALLY seeing...

"(2/2) ...some GOOD queer representation, without throwing stereotypes in our faces, and I can't even begin with the found family trope because THE FEELS. Anyway, what I was trying to say with this rambling: thank you. <3"

....I’m sorry what. Who. Who is saying this. Straight people? I feel like the answer is definitely straight people. Because they have had EIGHTY FUCKING THOUSAND shitty action movies with the Boring White Man Hero, the disposable Muslim-coded (or actually Muslim) villains, the equally disposable eye-candy female love interest who either gets fridged or is secretly evil, Grimdark Everyone Is Secretly Bad And Nothing Matters crap philosophy, Moral Hand Wringing Over Superhero Violence, on and on. So of course they can moan and whine about “iT’s nOt OrIGinAL” and apparently not sufficiently Grimdark and Amoral, and how the dynamics of the team are completely reshuffled in a way that actually doesn’t prioritize THEM, and like.... this is why I never trust media only beloved by straight people, and only ever watch anything after it’s been recommended to me by a trusted queer friend. Because sometimes I remember the difference, and WHOOF.

Because: the gays and people of color DESERVE formulaic action/superhero movies as much as the Generic White Bro (in fact, we can all agree, far more than the Generic White Bro). This is the trap where every piece of media that’s not made by a Mediocre White Man has to be the best all-time of its genre, apparently, rather than using some of the same well-loved storytelling tropes but recoding them and re-deploying them for a more diverse audience. Instead of the Hard Bitten White Man Action Hero, we have Andy and Nile (two women, and Nile as a young Black woman who literally cannot be shot to death, in the year 2020, is fucking revolutionary on its own don’t @ me). As I said in my first meta, even Booker, who comes closest to fulfilling that trope, is made the closest thing to a “villain” there is on the team and even then for entirely sympathetic motives that rest on him having teary-eyed conversations with Nile about how he misses his family and feels like he failed them. His emotions help drive the story in an actually GOOD and useful way, rather than sacrificing everyone else to coddle him through his feeble heterosexual manchildness (why yes, I AM staring directly at the Abomination without blinking). Nobody in the story is EVER penalized or made a fool of for loving their found family (itself an intensely queer trope, even before the queerness of the individual characters) or trying to do the right thing even in the middle of the horrors, and frankly, I just want to consume more media with that as the main message. I’M SO FREAKING TIRED OF GRIMDARK. GOD. IF I WANTED THAT I COULD JUST TURN ON THE NEWS.

And of course, my BELOVED Joe and Nicky: an interracial, interreligious gay couple that has been wildly in love for literal CENTURIES and gives me the opportunity to do things like write the most self-indulgent historical romance backstory fic ever with DVLA. They met in the embodiment of religious conflict and have transcended that, there are never any cruel jokes or expectation for you to congratulate the narrative for being so beneficent as to give you “an exclusively gay moment” (fuck you Disney!). Joe and Nicky’s love story is central both to who they are as characters, doesn’t revolve around them being suffering or being Tormented over being gay (when the cops pull them apart for kissing, they beat the cops the fuck up, WE STAN), gets to unfold naturally in the background of the story with these beautiful little beats of casual intimacy (the SPOONING /clutches heart) and since THEY LITERALLY CANNOT DIE, no chance of the “burying your gays” bullshit. Even when they’re captured first by the bad guys, and I briefly, upon first viewing, worried that they were going the Gay Pain route just for cheap emotional points, they remain constantly united and fighting together and able to do stupid things like flirt when they’re strapped to gurneys by a mad scientist. Then the rest of the team ends up right there with them, so it’s not something that happens to them alone, and Nile comes in to save everyone’s asses, and Joe and Nicky get ANOTHER beautiful moment of fighting the bad guys and being worried about each other and tender even in the middle of this chaos and GOD! MY HEART! MY WHOLE ASS HEART! I LOVE THEM!

And just the fact that it’s not the Evul Mooslim Turrorists or Boilerplate Scary Eastern Europeans or whoever else who are the bad guys, but Big Pharma, nasty white men with too much money and not enough ethics, the CIA (at least tangentially; they could have pushed a lot harder on that but I’ll give Copley individually a pass), and the very forces that want to stop the Old Guard and discount what they do (helping the little people) as worthless... GOD. That is fucking POWERFUL. They literally take the time to explain with Copley’s Conspiracy Wall that even the little things the team does, when they can’t see it themselves, spiral out through centuries and have positive effects down the line. And it’s NOT just in the Western world (no scene in the movie takes place in America, none of the main four characters/heroes are American, and they only go to England when the English villains capture them). They’re in Africa, in Asia, in South America, in all these places where the Western/imperial world order has harmed people the most and in a way that Euro/American audience often gets to forget. On the surface this might be an action movie with Charlize Theron beating up men (which I mean, that alone is fine if you ask me) but there are SO MANY WAYS in which it achieves these deeper moments of meaning and subversion of the narrative that we are so often fed and the ways it could have done this (i.e. the same old Mediocre White Man ways).

I love the fact that the team unabashedly LOVES each other as their family members (I will never get over them all liking to sleep in one room even in their safe house in France), even when they struggle, and that they continue trying to make it right and never consider leaving Booker behind, because he screwed up but they still love him (and he them). I LOVE LOVE LOVE that this movie gave me not just Joe and Nicky but Andy and Quynh: two completely badass queer couples who kick tons of ass and have romance and Drama and rich and well-realized lives outside being used as emotional manipulation or suffering porn for straight people. (I realise it’s only been two weeks since the first one released, but where is my sequel, I have Needs. Especially Andy/Quynh and Quynh/Joe/Nicky needs). I was disappointed that they’d gotten rid of Quynh in a Bad Medieval Way to cause pain for Andy and then shocked and DELIGHTED when she turned up alive in Booker’s apartment at the end of the film. I LOVE that this movie gave me Nile Freeman and everything that she represents in the middle of this hellish year. I even love Booker! BOOKER! When he’s usually the character type I can’t stand and have the least patience with!

So yes. I have watched it three times already. I am sure I am going to watch it several times more. It just makes me so happy.

#the old guard #the old guard meta #joe x nicky #weaverofthenight #ask

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

Text

Ducktales Reviews: The Phantom and the Sorceress

Ducktales returns! The Phantom Blot returns to animation after too damn long with a neat backstory, an infnity guantlet and a hate boner for anything magic related. And since Lena is magic related she’s forced to go to her worst enemy and local close up magician Magica De Spell for help. Also Gladstone is here because we missed him and for no other reason. But we missed him so it’s okay. Friendship Is Magic, under the cut.

Woo-ooo! We’re back! Months later and in a new room, with new things to be depressed about because this year is groundhog day and everyone is bill murray, which isn’t as fun as it should be, Ducktales is finally back on screens and in my heart. And my galbladder.. he really likes ducktales. But yeah with the recent cancelation of the venture bros, it’s nice to get it’s spirtual littlte brother back just a few weeks later to help fill the void, and while a comparison to it now I know frank’s a fan and noticed the simlarties between rusty and gyro thanks to a tumblr post, the same post for both things inf act, I might just do that one day. But tha’ts not what your here, for , iv’e had to rewrite this intro enough times, Pitter Patter, let’s get at er.

This episodes opens with Scrooge sitting down for his morning tea when the kids pop out of the tv and hte bored way he figures it out is really hilarious. David Tennat is really good at selling just how Scrooge has both seen it all and has the deductive skills of Barbra Gordon. What eveyrone syaing “Of batman” gets old after a while and she’s just as smart as he is, especially as oracle. Point is it’s a good bit. As he correclty guesses the kids were playing Legends of Nerverquest or whatever that game Huey and Della played last season is called, one of them wished it was real, presumibly Dewey, and Lena’s magic accidently made it happen. And since it’s her first spotlight episode of the season, and possibly only one since this season is kind of packed, it’s time to talk about Lena! Admitely I PLANNED to do at least her first episode and her two season 2 episodes before this, but life got in the way so here we are. Lena.. is easily one of my faviortes, the number of weblena chats have made that clear. She’sd got a compelling arc, the show tackles abuse well in her narrative, and she and webby have really sweet chemstiry. Plus she brought us Violet and i’ll always be greatful for that and she’s voiced by Kimiko Glenn in her first major voice acting role so that helps too. SHe’s a great addition to the cast and the canon. Same, as the previous comment made obvious, goes for Violet, and the three togther have a great dynamic and i’ts nice to finally see an episode with JUST the three of them post “Friendship Hates Magic.”.

But yeah Lena’s magic’s been going haywire and I do feel the setups abit rushed.. hilarious but rushed. While Night on Kilmotor hill did establish her magic can run wild, it was also vauge if it was because of her, or it was because magica was messing with her head. IT’s still a plausable setup since we haven’t really SEEN her use her magic or have any intrest and doing so and she’s only done so either while working for magica, to undo something magica did, or to give her sister a mace so she could literally go midevil on some alien ass, it just feels a bit abrubt. And while Night on Kilmotor hill also set up a problem we hadn’t seen on screen, it felt like it gave us more time to ease into it and Lena’s issues, and made it clear SOMETHING was up instead of just telling us that. The rest of hte episode is still good i’ve just seen the show be way better at setup than this.

But yeah Lena’s magic keeps runing their fun and she feels bad about it, while Scrooge ends up putting his foot and spats in his mouth by voicing his hatred of magic, with all his nephews giving him a “Grandpa no look” and Webby glaring at him.. and whiel I didn’t realize it while watching it.. whiel sh’es given him a disaporving look, the equilvent of shooting bambi in the face emtoinally, she’s only been THIS angry with him one other time.. and it was the time he said “Your not family”. Thankfully this time he’s not in defnstive arrogant bastard mode, so he meekly walks it back to exclude her and she shrugs it off: She hates magic too. And really.. it’s not hard to see WHY given that most times it’s enterted her life, it’s nearly got everyone she loves killed, and that the only spellcaster she knows personally is the absuive aunt whose gaslighted her on multiple occasions, most recently to try and renslave her. Thankfully before Webby can make an old man bleed for his insesntivity, Della reveals some magical creature is there and Scrooge, while annoyed it’s more magic, is happy for another adventure and invites everyone along. And I jsut love that he dosen’t even show the slightest hesitation bringing Violet and Lena along. As far as he’s concerned probably their family too, maybe not as much as Webby but their still welcome. I mean granted i’m sure della and donald had an awkard conversation with Ty and Indy over all this to make sure it was cool, but still, it’s a nice gesture on his part and show’s his personality: He really dosen’t care who comes along as long as they can pull their weight and share his love for adventure, their welcome. It’s also nice ot see him and Lena interact since the two really haven’t since the shadow war: Sure he’s been in the same room with her twice, btu they haven’t really spoken. Though my honest guess is they could’ve genuinely meant for Scrooge to adopt her into the family.. but when coming up with Violet found her family adopting her and them becoming sisters to be a better idea and went with that. And to be fair it is, and not just for shipping purposes, I just wish we got some closure on that line, but i’m also aware the show has a LOT of ground to cover each season, so I understand it probably got squeezed out by all the other stuff going on and don’t really sweat it since we got something better anyway, her getting two gay dads and a sister, it just felt worth talking about. And in universe.. I feel he didn’t simply because he didn’t either know she was back or have a chance to, though i’m also damn certain, at least in my own headcanon, he helped those men formally adopt her. I mean he owns most of the city, and they probably also had to make Lena legally exist in the first place since I doubt Magica bothered to put her on any offical records that weren’t signed in blood and written on paper made of avian flesh, which given SCrooge’s experince is probably not the first time he had to get a person into official records who came into being by way of magic or some other weirdness.

Anyways, Lena opts out of the adventure because she’s worried about it going haywire and Webby opts out out of sympathy and while Violet is clearly keen to go, she gladly does so for her sister.. though this just makes Lena feel worse since now her girlfriend and her sister are missing out on stuff because of her, and suggests just going to sleep before she whoopsie daisy magics them to death. The girls end up woken from their sleep however by a bang at the door. It’s Gladstone!

Yup it’s time to talk about another character I haven’t talked about yet. Gladstone is easily one of the show’s best overhauls. See in the comics while Gladstone is just as lucky and lazy.. he’s also just..

Okay i’m amazed it’s taken this long for me to refrence jean ralphio in one of these reviews but i’m glad it was for this. Back on topic, while I know Gladstone in the comics has his fans, and is softend a bit in european comics, but in most stories i’ve read with him he’s an insufferably arrogant dick. Even BEFORE getting his luck, his first apperance, which I own in trade and read earlier this year, has him trying to take Donald’s house and kick him and the nephews out on the street over a drunken wager to take a polar dive, which Donald fials because life hates him and he’s a coward. Thankfully Daisy rushed in and saved the day because she’s great sometimes ,and turned things on him wiht his own drunken crap, but still, it says something when your first apperance is trying to force three ten year olds and your own cousin out into the cold.

He .. did not get any better once his super luck came into play. Instead he just flautned it all the time and tried to constnatly win Daisy over from donald.. which had varying sucess based on how much of a shallow dick she was being that story, and in general was just unplesant. He really only works for me in comic in those aformetioned softer times: when a writer makes his luck ruin his love life or add actual depth instead of him just being the raincloud on donal’ds parade. The original ducktales and the going quackers game are the only places I can think of he showed up otherwise, prototype in the old disney shorts nonwithstanding, and Ducktales Classic made him a nice guy from what i’ve heard. Thankfully frank and crew knew exactly what to do to adapt him perfectly: He still retains some aspects from the comics: Donald and Scrooge still hate him, Donald for Gladstone always winning and always having it easy while Donald.. is donald and thus utterly miserable half the time and on fire the other half, and Scrooge because he’s a lazy asshole who gets whatever he wants with the least effort, which didn’t change. What did change was his attitude. While he still is proud of getting whatever he wants in life with no effort and being “the best at getting something for nothing” he dosen’t lord it over everyone else. Sure he’s proud of it but he dosen’t rub Donald’s nose in how much better off he is on purpose, and genuinely loves his family, something I really coudln’t say about most versions of comic Gladstone. While he’s self serving he’s perfectly happy to share his luck with whoever else: He can always get more money whenever he needs it because of course he will. The other factor helping is , as with this entire reboot, the voice acting, in this case the marvelous Paul F Thompkins of Bojack and so much other stuff fame, who really sells the “Sleazy vegas layabout” vibe this series gives him, updating his old aristocratic asshole vibe to something more fun to watch and really being a treat anytime gladstone comes up. Gladstone singing in season 2 was entirely something Paul Improvised during his first apperance they made sure to use eventually. He’s a delight any time he shows up and a total 180 from his utterly agrviating original version.

As for why he’s here.. said luck. is gone. After being hit by some weird energy, Gladstone suddenly, since he didn’t see it hit him, finds himself living normally: going to a restraunt offers no free meal for being 100th custmoer or anything, his wallet dosen’t magically have 20 dollars in it, and the atm gives him 20 dollars.. which would seem normal except it’s actually usually a sack of rubys. Naturally Gladstone having coasted his entire life on his magical luck, has no idea how to function as a normal human being and is utterly hilarious as he breaks down. Admitely he’s not the biggest part of the plot, he’s mostly here for comic relief and COULD have been eaisly cut.. but he’s so hilarious and seeing him utterly fail at being a normal person and whine about things as simple as walking or going up stairs is just groovy. As for what weird magical bolt took it, Violet being violet figures it out quick: The Phantom Blot! For those unfamiliar, he’s a charcter from the mickey mouse comics, though I know him from one episode of house and mouse that adapted those comics that I need to read more of, a master schemer and old school villian par excellence and Mickey’s greatest foe. I was ecastic to see him come here and in the capable hands of Giancarlo Espisto. While I haven’t watched brekaing bad i’ve heard nothing but good thigns and he does his best with what little he’s given. But here instead of a master schemer he’s an infamous magic theif and is obviously the one who drained gladstone.. and unforutntely for scrooge the boys and presumibly everyone else... we see him in action using his fancy infnity guantlet esque magic draining gauntlet to drain the portal they took. Ruh Roh. It gets worse when he mistakes Lena for magica, and charges after her, though Webby is able to hold him off with the axe she grabbed on the way to the door earlier, and damages his gauntlet. he retreats.. but it’s obvious he’ll be back and both Webby and Violet come to the conclusion Lena needs to grasp her magic in order to survive.. and both have the same unfortunate relization: They only know one person who can do it and Lena, once she realizes what hteir thinking, wnats nothing to do with her, and neither do they. But they have no options: they have to go to magica. So they journey to her house on Dagobah, with Gladstone tagging along because they need a wacky comedic sidekick to help lighten the mood what with the serious, grim hunter wanting to murder a teenage girl inf nront of her tweenage girlfriend and kid sister, and their only resort being going back to her abuser for help. Magica however isn’t all that helpful at first. Being Magica her first move is to make a grab for the Amulet to get her power back, which her running crew thwart quickly but naturally Lena still wants nothing to do with her and Magica just insults her for not using magic and because she’s a terrible person. SHe does however end up changing her tune when she hears the blot’s involved. She whisks them inside while we get a cutaway to FOWL headquarters where blot is working on his guantlet more on him in a minute. We soon get the Blot’s backstory which is actually really inttresting and invovled even if it’s not a lot like who he is in the comcis or house of mouse: A long ass time ago before meddling kids got in her way, Magica took over a small vililage with the threat of destroying it and eveyrone in it outright unless they gave her tributes.. and when those got boring she just did it anyway. Problem was, as happens a lot when evil sorecerers calously destroy hometowns, one of them survivied. It’s even lampshaded by Magica as she points out Blot wasn’t the first. The problem was.. he was persitant. The blot never gave up, coming up with better tech to fight her magic each time and coming back stronger and likely more determined. I like this verson: While he’s not the bwahahah mastermindk, he’s still an utter threat, a force with an unyielding hatred and a burning mission to take out the target of his hate and anything like her. He reminds me a lot of toffee from star vs but if htey actually gave his backstory on screen. A meancing, somehwat quite, or mostly silent in the blot’s case, immortal menace who’s deterimiend to wipe out those who wronged him and anything related to them and has warped from what was once probably a decen tperson into a human engine of destruction with one goal and one goal only. He’s a good enoguh villian for the episode, I just hope if he comes back they give him better lines. his dialouge is really what dosen’t work for me as whiel his backstory and aura of meance work, Giancarlo is given nothing to work with line wise. He dosen’t need to be a chatty cathy or anything, just give him one or too really cool lines. Sometimes tha’ts all you need. Watch how the pros do it.

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I do like this verison, I jsut think they could do more, but given the show has a good track record for only getting better with their villians with every use, I have no worries about that and he’s still a cool enough threat. I also wish we got more of fowl or why he’s working with them. just a small scene with one of them was all I asked, because we’ve barely gotten fowl this season. It’s really one of the season’s only real problems so far: 8 episodes in and while FOWL agents have shown up twice, adn one of the episodes did advance that plot by showing off heron and steelbeak, we really haven’t seen any progress on their plans to both take the missing mysteries or kill the Clan McDuck. HOpefully this changes as we go and again, it dosen’t ditract from the episode itself, jsut the season as a whole. Anyways, Lena is still relucntant because Magica is terrible and keeps slipping in how much she wants to take the amulet every five minutes. I love the show and catherine tate’s take on magica: just as hammy and nuts as before but when she does have magic, she’s the utter threat she was before too times ten. But yeah while Lena’s relunctant.. neither of htem really has a choice> Magica needs her amulet secure to get her magic back, and Lena needs to not die. So they relucntantly agree to work together among more hilarous sniping. Cue a training montage set to a hell of an 80′s tune. The show really has a good habit of making good incdental music to use in bits like this. Lena trains, uses gladstone as the training dummy, and it’s funny as it is creative and we even get some karate kids bit and the obvious star wars refrences. Meanwhile the blot approaches ever closer.. We also find out something important from Magica as she chastises Lena for having fun with her friends while training after Lena uses blue magic instead of purple: Turns out much like spellcasters in say owl house or my little pony each caster has a specific color to their magic, a Colur of magic if you will. Magica’s, and lena using hers is purple while the blue magic we’ve seen from her is her own powered by friendship and love. It’s a nice advancement of what we’ve seen so far: We’ve seen her magic powered by webby is stronger than her other stuff, and we’ve seen it come out during times their bond, or in the case of kilmotor hill her bond with everyone, is strongest. We knew something was diffrent with the magics and it’s now given a though and clearly well thought out explination why: Magica’s magic is hers and Lena was just borrowing it.. the blue stuff is hers and hers alone. Magica does try to get her to master it by having one of her friends shoot her.. Webby of course strongly objects so Violet takes it up since it is for study after all and her sister can take a hit. Lena also wonders how she can even do magic without the amulet, but as Magica makes clear, and as I outlined above, the amulet is just help. The blue magic is her. Lena fails to use it though to deflect in time.. and to make matters worse the blot shows up after plopping gladstone down and wants to kill them both. We then get easily the best laugh of the episode.. as Magica tries stage magic and the blot wonders what the hell he’s looknig at. I mean this is his mortal enemy, the monster who killed everyone he’d ever known or loved... pulling out a bunch of colored rags and asking him to pick a card. It’s amazing. Lena attacks from the side and Webby and Violet quickly asist, with Magica joining in to use the rope to bind him and Lena’s magic kicking in, turning the rope into chain and summoning a snake.. but in a show of badassery the blot easily shrugs it off: he absorbs the magic, escapes and knocks them around while Webby asks the snake for help.. can she speak snake? She hopes so.

Then things get dire as The Blot starts absorbing the magic.. and killing lena as she starts to fade away. Magica of course can’t even feign dispaointment in anything but loosing her magic. And that’s also something I really love here: The show makes no attempt to make magica better or turn around because it just isn’t who she is and even if she did after all the abuse she did, Lena would have zero reason to forgive her. It’s nice that they DON’T try redemeing her or shoing a brighter side: she’s a bad person, a worse caregiver and they only came to her because they had no choice.

But as the magic’s absorbed magica does tell her to find the source of the power and we get a great scene: She first thinks of all the abuse magica’s done to her and it’s a harrowing montage to watch. But webby, breaks through that, since that obviouslyf ails and reminds her of where HER magic comes from: Her and webby. and we get an adorable,a nd shiptastic montage as we see more clips from past episodes.. but this time we see their adorable fistbump from “Beagle BOy Birthday Massacre”, their hug from “Jaw$!” and Lena’s return to the world and hug with her lady and future sister from “Friendship hates magic”. IT’s her friends, her sister and the love of her life who are her real source of power, and her magic connects to htem as lena ccccchanges. And I mean entirely, her outfit changes and she gets these.. weird bright blue eyes. Like I like the rest of her outfits, a white and blue attire to show her change with a badass cape, looks like a superhero so naturally I love it.. her eyes just look really off. Like when Milo Muprhy’s law tried to give characters colored irses. Because no one else in ducktales has them it just loosk.. weird.. Otherwise though I like it. We then get a beam struggle, but with adde dhelp from her friends and her new power, Lena eventually beats the blot, as her sheer power overloads the guantlet and sends him running. However in the confusion the amulet was lost.. and Magica gets it back. Lena whollops her easily, pointing out her magic’s purpose is to protect the world from people like her. It’s a nice development too: Lena realizes MAGIC isn’t inherently evil... it’s how it’s used. Star Vs could’ve maybe taken this lesson, but regardless, it’s a nice bit of character development realizing that magic is a part of her IS Her, and she shoudln’t have to give up something in her nature because of her abuser. Magica, while repowered, is force dto lookf or her staff while Lena gladly floats team magic home. Also with the guantlet broken gladstone is back, as a rain of 20 dolalr bills he uses as tissues confims, and the portal returns, and with Lena you know, havin ga whole superhero outfit, glowing blue eyes and her hair streak now blue, they know something clearly happend and the episode just kind of ends. Still a good one. Final Thoughts: This was a good one as I just said. While I had my nitpicks here and there as I also said, Lena’s strong character, and the game performances of Espisito, Thompkins, and Tate really add to our usual trlo, and as I mentioned before it’s nice ot see team magic get their own episode now their a full team. IT’s just a good romp and a good way back. I”ve made my complaints clear but their drowned out by good jokes, good character stuff, and good worldbuilding that makes this an utter thrill and a great one to come back to and i’tll also be intresting to see where Lena goes from here. But wherever she goes she’ll have webby. They can be whot hey are, independent together, if theyt ry. And yes that’s my shiping song for htem and yes I have one.

Quick bit before I go I dind’t get to, Gladstone flirts with magica when she lands in his arms, a little something for the shippers and a nice gesture on frakn’s part. Whle she rejects him and he dumps her in the sludge with a shrug. I mean.. their probably going to bang at some point. Gladstone’s powers mean he’ll likely find her when sh’es super horny and more than willing, and he’ll be like “eh why not boobs”. I mean I thought about this: I figure his powers allow him to find a willing partner, any gender or none at all I see him as pansexual, who happens to probablyb e loaded and diseased free, whenever he happens to be into it who naturallyw orks out perfectly because if he gets money whenever he wants it, why not sex? It’s not even a concious thing as we’ve seen things just work out for him so of course he probably gets laid, and as we see here it’s only if the other person consets. Good for him. Hope to see him again sooner. I want to see more of him and della interacting and see what she thinks of him. Freshe eys andall that.

But yeah this was great to come back to. If you liked this i’ve reviewed the rest of the season up to this point and will be reviewing each episdoe every monday till they stop again, so keep an eye out for that. You can check the tabs on my blogs for more reviews, come back this weekend for regular loud house coverag,e follow for more reviews or shoot me a pm if you’d like to comission me to do an episode. For just 5 bucks i’ll review any episode of any animated show of your choosing, and as i’ve only covered one season 2 episode of ducktales, there’s over 40 left ot choose from if you have any you want to hear my thoughts on. Until then stay safe, quack hard, and Go Team Venture! Play us out Steg .. and Co.

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#ducktales #the phantom and the sorceress #weblena #lena saberwing #webby vanderquack #violet sabrewing #scrooge mcduck #gladstone gander #magica despell #the phantom blot #giancarlo esposito #reviews #animation #disney #disney channel

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