#ESPECIALLY Andria

[melit0n]

"So, dear, no matter how we part, I hold you sweetly in my head—and, if I do not miss a part of you, a part of me is dead. If I can't love you as a lover, I will love you as a friend, and I will lay a bed before you; keep you safe until the end."

[banyanas]

hey wait listen to me. Consider Grime not knowing Sasha was an Actual Child until after she'd already earned her steel (and done so noticeably younger than your average toadlet did) and thus by toadish traditions was considered ready for adult combat and responsibilities

[rutadales]

It hurts to become.

[surv1vra]

aron nash noah nash adan nash rafael "rafi" nash santiago "santi" nash

[hayatoseyepatch]

This is literally me forcing @eevees-hobbies and @rindous-starlight to listen to me yap about literally everything. Also I love Winnie the Pooh I needed to see this.

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988)

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Just how much power did Marcy have over her friends pre-Amphibia? When they throw the kpop puppy party at school, the principal assumes "those two" pushed Anne into it, and Anne kind of admits it. When Anne is about to sacrifice herself, she says "all my life I've followed you two". During her one and only S1 appearance, she's seen maliciously nodding alongside Sasha when Anne steals the box, and with Marcy asking to meet up on Anne's birthday, while Sasha is the one to carry out the order, the implication is that they're almost like... working together. I know she was supposed to be "meaner" when they were working on S1, and I think they changed her personality because Haley Tju made her too adorable(? and maybe also because Matt thought the whole show would fall apart if people didn't like Marcy (considering what a huge impact she has on everything that happens, I'd say he was right). But Anne's line in THT and the flashback in All In implies she wasn't nearly as much as a doormat as it may seem sometimes, at least not as much as Anne.

Or maybe she was? Because you also see her in this place of submission when it comes to Sasha (and also Anne?), especially in BOTB, when she's happy to switch from Anne's song to Sasha's without even hearing the first, only stopping to consider Anne's approval. That scene struck me as her always happy to go along with her friends' wishes and never having much of an opinion of her own. That's why she was so desperate for them to get along during The Dinner, and why she never took a side when Anne told her she and Sasha had a fight. She closest thing to defying Sasha that we ever see her do is when she's working alongside like 10 other people to protect Newtopia from the Toad Army, and she says they had to "defeat Sasha and Grime" specifically, which I think makes sense considering they're attacking the city she's supposed to protect (she's IS a high-ranking member of its military forces AND a close advisor to its king), and not wanting to "defeat Sasha" would rock the boat with everyone else involved, Anne included. Yet we never really see her angry at Sasha for what she's doing, she just wants her and Anne to "work things out". I think it's clear that Marcy struggles with empathy, because if she put herself in Anne's shoes, she wouldn't expect her to "just work things out" with Sasha. In fact, she would have taken Anne's side agessssss ago, but she's way too focused on herself (her goal is for everyone to be happy forever and get along, while Anne and Sasha may want something else). Marcy being self-centered isn't a hot take, and I don't think she's any more self-centered than Anne was during most of S1. In fact, I'd argue Anne was even worse lol. The difference is that Anne made a million relatively small mistakes while Marcy made like two or three very big, very bad mistakes (bringing them to Amphibia, striking a deal with Andrias behind their backs, and not taking a side in Anne and Sasha's fight, which is something I never see people bring up as one of Marcy's most flawed moments).

So... going back to the question I made in the beginning... did Marcy just go along with Sasha's plans so enthusiastically when compared to Anne, who had more doubts and had to be pressured into them, that it made it look like she and Sasha were more in cahoots than they actually were? I think this is very likely. I also think it's likely that she and Sasha genuinely shared a liking for rule breaking back in LA, and her own self-centered-ness prevented her from realizing Anne wasn't comfortable with it. Maybe she never even considered if she liked to go along with Sasha's plans, like, Marcy strikes me as someone who doesn't look inwards much. I think we can rule out both Sasha and Marcy being equally controlling and possesive of Anne, because her relationship with Sasha was very much not one of equals, with Anne as a third wheel. Was she more of a third wheel? We know Anne and Sasha don't share most of her interests and will often ignore her and her needs, and we know she feels like losing them is becoming dangerously easy. We also know Sasha has no qualms taking Anne on some kind of birthday date without Marcy which I'm 75% convinced it's because she had a huge crush on Anne but I digress which, from a doylian perspective, is explained by the fact that they seemingly didn't want to show Marcy too early, but from a watsonian perspective, it just comes across as Sasha not priorizing Anne spending her birthday with both her best friends. Like, you can do with or without Marcy. She doesn't seem to remember Marcy until she texted her, actually.

But then you have lines from Anne about how "if you friend wants to you steal something, you do it, because if you don't, they may not want to be your friend anymore", which, oh boy, if she at least perceived Marcy as pressuring her into stealing the box (rather than it being 100% Sasha's idea) that would shed a whole new light on her relationship with Marcy, because it would seem like she, too, feels like their friendship could fall apart if she didn't go along with the other two's plans. And I do think Marcy at least somewhat participated in pushing Anne into it. It wouldn't be the first time she made Anne do something bad - she told her to lie to Valeriana about stealing the box, something Anne later appeared to be ashamed of, and she insisted of going along with the puppy party when Anne was having doubts. I imagine Sasha (who also pressured Anne into doing very much not so "lawful good" things, in more extreme ways than Marcy) might have come up with the idea of stealing it, and Marcy just supported it. Marcy taking Sasha's side. Possibly over and over again. We know Sasha didn't exactly manipulate her because she didn't have to: Marcy just always did everything she said. Anne was the one who needed a bit more convincing.

Marcy's relationship with Anne and Sasha is fascinating. She's definitely the most morally gray of the trio, and possibly the most complex one too, in the sense that she's full of realistic contradictions - an adorkable manipulator, an amoral softie, a self-centered sweetheart who loves her friends more than life itself, a possesive kidnapper with a heart of gold, a very selfish and self-sacrificial person... and it's never just a mask or anything, she's not just pretending to be nice, she really is that way, she really is all of that together. I think that's why people struggle to read her a lot of the times, because so much about her characterization seems conflicting with itself... but I think that's the key to making characters deep and realistic. In real life, we're all walking contradictions and we don't really make sense. Marcy's character doesn't seem clumsily put together to me, like they frankeinsteined all the different character traits she needed to make the plot work without any cohesion between them. I think she's a complex tapestry that sometimes requires a closer inspection to decypher it, and I think the glue holding everything together is her lack of intrapersonal intelligence, her inability to look inwards and notice her own contradictions.

We know she felt unloved by her friends yet desperately clung to them with everything she had, going to extreme measures to ensure they all stayed together, even when it hurt them. We know she's capable of manipulation, scheming and lying to the people that love her most in order to guarantee that goal. We know she's possesive with them, but she also loves them enough to let them go in the rare cases when she realizes she's hurting them (as seen in A Day in the Aquarium). From her journal, we also know she feels very ashamed of these possesive impulses. We know she'll neglect to form her own opinions and ideas to agree always with her friends' wishes, which means she feels completely lost when they want different things. But this also shows that she would never think of an idea of hers as being explicitly opposed to what her friends want. She wouldn't consciously do something that they wouldn't like. Which is insane, because, who would want to be separated from their family and thrown into a different world without any sort of notice? Which leads us to understand that Marcy has zero emotional intelligence and has never looked inwards in her LIFE, AND that her empathy skills are in negative digits because it would have taken her a nanosecond of thought to realize Anne and Sasha probably wouldn't like to be kidnapped. And since we know she never wants to do something they dislike, she must have just... not thought about it at all. No thoughts head empty. It really was just BLANK up there when she made that decision. I think Marcy is a very "true neutral" character who struggles with empathy and humility, who loves her friends but doesn't have the emotional intelligence to really understand them, and who is happy and enthusiastic to be Sasha 2 Electric Boogaloo because... that's what she knows. That's how her friend group works and her goal was never to have a deeper and more genuine connection to them, but to keep it close to her.

So... my conclussion is that, pre-amphibia, Marcy was Sasha's very enthusiastic (but emotionally neglected) right hand man, with Anne as their oblivious victim. It really IS complex because you have to then add Anne always looking out for her, losing sleep over her, yet also ignoring her needs, and Sasha not even bothering to hide how much she doesn't care about Marcy's feelings (which reflects on Marcy not consciously caring about her own feelings). There's also Marcy always assuming the best from them too, despite repeated evidence of their disinterest, and her fear of displeasing them looming over her constantly. Ik I said Anne was Sasha and Marcy's victim, but I meant that like... symbolically, because Anne is not innocent here either. She wasn't a great friend to Marcy before Amphibia. Here's why I always say Anne couldn't develop a deeper, more genuine and open connection with Marcy because of Sasha's oppressive presence and her own lack of emotional maturity. And Marcy couldn't develop a deeper, more genuine and open connection with Anne because of her own lack of empathy and reluctance to face any kind of conflict. So Marcy is Sasha's enthusiastic but emotionall neglected right hand man, who also feels subordinate to Anne despite Anne feeling subordinate to her. That's why they both feel like third wheels at different times. There's an illusion of Marcy with more agency and power than she actually has. In reality, only Sasha is on top, and the other two are two very flawed individuals, one slowly cracking under the weight and the other, less sensitive to the same pressure, trying to uphold the status quo.

[portabella201]

I would die for these three goobers. Especially Andria. He’s a single mom that works two jobs, who loves his brothers and never stops

[bethanythebogwitch]

Wet Beast Wednesday: giant salamanders

Everyone knows salamanders, right? The little lizard frogs that show up around ponds. Well what if I told you that not all salamanders are little. In fact, some species can get quite large, but none get bigger than the aptly-named giant salamanders. I'm not just talking about any big newt, I'm talking about the unique members of the family Cryptobranchidae.

(Image: a Chinese giant salamander. It is a large, lizard-shaped animal with brown skin and black blotches. Its limbs are short and its tail is flattened to look like a long fin. It has wrinkly folds of skin along the side. End ID)

There are three(ish) species of giant salamander in two genera: the Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders of the genus Andrias and the hellbender of genus Cryptobranchus. The name Cryptobranchidae means "hidden gills", which is appropriate as giant salamanders are unique in that they are the only salamanders who reaming fully aquatic as adults without retaining external gills into adulthood. All salamanders are aquatic as juveniles and have external gills and many groups have independently evolved to remain fully aquatic as adults. However, other species, from axolotls to olms, adapted by retaining their external gills as adults, a trait called neoteny. Giant salamanders have had to find another way, especially since a body as large as their needs quite a bit of oxygen. Their solution was to take a common amphibian trait and turn it up to 11. It is common among amphibians to be able to absorb dissolved oxygen in water through their skin. This is usually a supplement to either gills or lungs, but giant salamanders use it as their main means of respiration. The skin is thin and filled with small veins that can perform gas exchange with the water. Giant salamanders evolved very wrinkly skin flaps along ther sides to increase the amount of surface area available for gas exchange, allowing them to sustain themselves. They do require access to running water with a high oxygen content, as still or low-oxygen water doesn't provide enough oxygen to survive. They do have lungs, but use them more for buoyancy control than breathing.

(Image: a man holding/bear higging a giant salamander. The salamander is longer than his torso, not including the tail. end ID)

The Japanese and Chinese giant salamanders are very closely related to each other and rather similar in physiology and behavior. There's also not just one Chinese salamander. Genetic testing has reveals that what was once called Andrias davidianus is actually a species complex. This is when what was thought to be one species turns out to actually be a group of related species. There is some debate over whether the five identified populations of Chinese giant salamander should be classified as subspecies or their own species, though the latter interpretation seems to be the most popular. All the populations are very similar and can interbreed with each other, so I'll discuss them as a group. The largest of the group (and world's largest amphibian) is the South China giant salamander (Andrias sligoi) which can reach 1.8 m (5.9 ft) and 50 kg (110 lbs), but adults average 1.15 m (3.8 ft) and 25-30 kg (55-66 lbs). The Japanese giant salamander (Andrias japonicus) reaches a slightly smaller maximum size of 1.5 m (5 ft) and 25 kg (55 lbs), with most being smaller. The Chinese and Japanese giant salamanders are closely related enough that they can hybridize.

(Image: a Japanese giant salamander resting on mossy rocks underwater. Its body is light brown with darker blotches and the head is covered in nodules. End ID)

Because of how closely related the Japanese and Chinese salamanders are, their biology and behavior are quite similar. They are mostly a dark brown color, but can also be other tones of brown, reddish, or black. The eyes are lidless, small, and poorly-developed, giving the salamanders poor eyesight. Their primary sense comes from the lateral line, a line of hair cells that extends down the body and sense movement of the water. Using the lateral line, the salamanders can sense the movement of prey and threats in the water around them. They utilize suction feeding, slowly approaching prey, then rapidly opening the mouth to generate a vacuum and suck food into the mouth. The prey is then killed or incapacitated with a powerful bite. The esophagus is lined with powerful muscles and uses mucus as lubricant to allow the salamander to swallow large prey. The head and throat have nodules on them, the arrangement and number of which can be used to differentiate Chinese and Japanese salamanders. Both groups of salamander can secrete a strong-smelling, milky white substance to ward off predators. A low metabolism and generally low activity level allows the salamanders to last of up to a few years between meals. The Chinese salamanders can make vocalizations including barks, hisses, and sounds very similar to the crying of a human baby. The hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is smaller than it's Asian relatives, reaching a length of 30-74 cm (12-29 in) and up to 2.2 kg (5 lbs). They are usually brown or reddish-brown, but can also have a gray, yellowish, or black coloration. Hellbender biology and ecology is fairly similar to that of their relatives.

(Image: a hellbender underwater. It looks like the other two species, but is smaller, lighter brown, and has no nodules on the head. End ID)

Chinese and Japanese giant salamanders live in cool, clear streams and rivers in the Yangtze river basin (Chinese) and the islands of Honshou, Kyushu, and Shikoku (Japan). Hellbenders live in similar treams in the eastern United states, with one population (which may be a subspecies) living in the Ozarks region. As predators, their diets include worms, fish, crayfish, freshwater crabs, other amphibians, and small mammals. They are also cannibals and will opportunistically feed on smaller members of their own species. All species are territorial animals that will attempt to drive others out of their territory, though hellbenders are less territorial than the other species. Hellbenders prefer to live in cavities dug out under rocks, which helps them shelter from predators. Due to their low metabolisms, giant salamanders live much longer than most amphibians. Captive individuals have been recorded living for 60 years (Chinese), 52 years (Japanese), and 25 years (hellbender). All species are nocturnal.

(Image: a hellbender emerging from beneath a rock with a crayfish in its mouth. End ID)

Mating occurs seasonally, triggered by warmer water in the summer. During this period, males will search for ideal nesting sites, leaving their territories if necessary. An idea nesting site is sheltered beneath a rock. There are often fewer nesting sites than males, meaning only the largest and strongest males will be able to claim nests. Males then use courtship displays to woo females. Alternatively, male hellbenders will chase passing females into the nests and refuse to let them leave until they mate. Unlike most salamanders, giant salamanders practice external reproduction, where the female lays eggs and then the male fertilizes them. The male then guards the nest until the eggs hatch. During this period, he will keep the nest and eggs clean and use his tail to keep water moving over them. Males will eat eggs that are unfertilized, unhealthy, or show signs of infection. This helps keep the other eggs as healthy as possible. The offspring are born with external gills, which they will lose as they mature. It can take several years for the larvae to reach maturity.

(Image: a group of giant salamander larvae in captivity. They look like smaller versions of the adults, but with feathery gills emerging from each side of the neck. End ID)

Both hellbenders and Japanese giant salamanders are classified as vulnerable by the IUCN, while Chinese giant salamanders are critically endangered. Their primary threats are habitat loss as streams are dammed, dry up, or become polluted. Warming water temperatures also threaten them. Chinese giant salamanders have experienced a major drop in population since the 1950s. In addition to habitat loss, Chinese giant salamanders are also eaten by humans. While hunting wild specimens is now illegal in China, they are heavily impacted by poaching. The fine for poaching giant salamanders is pathetically small compared to the sale price for one of them, further encouraging poachers. Captive breeding and release programs have shown some success, but may have contributed to the spread of disease. In response to the rarity of the salamanders, a new farming industry has sprung up in, raising giant salamanders for food. The captive population of Chinese giant salamanders in farms vastly exceeds the estimated wild population. Chinese giant salamanders have also been introduced to Japan, where they have been hybridizing with the Japanese salamanders, a major hindrance to conservation efforts. Japanese giant salamanders have been legally protected since 1951. The origin of the name hellbender is unknown. Other names for hellbenders include the water dog, Allegheny alligator, grampus, snot otter, and (my personal favorite) lasagna lizard.

(Image: a holding pen in a Chinese giant salamander farm. Over a dozen salamanders are sitting in a shallow water enclosure stocked with bricks and small fish. End ID)

I will leave this post off with a weird fact. In 1726, a Swiss physician named Johann Jakob Schuechzer declared a fossil giant salamander to be the remains of an ancient human who died in the mythical flood of Noah's ark and named it Homo diluvi, meaning "man who witnessed the deluge". In 1812, paleontologist Georges Cuvier examined the fossil and realized (probably very quickly) that it definitely wasn't a human. Once the fossil was identified as a salamander it was given the name Andrias scheuchzeri. As Andrias means "image of man", both the genus and species names acknowledge Schuechzer's weird idea.

Behold: a man (Image: the original Andrias scheuchzeri fossil that Schuechzer thought as a human. It is a front half of the skeleton of what is clearly a lizard-shaped animal and not a human. End ID)

[tharrb]

@liminal-lesbian

Valentines commission #9- Protecting their Marbles

Commissioned by @tharrb who wanted mermaid Sashanne protecting Marcy while she was in the rejuvenation tank. Which they totally would've as humans or mermaids.

[mdhwrites]

I’ve been watching Amphibia while studying. I should definitely do a rewatch during the summer, but it’s occurred to me that Amphibia’s strengths are criminally underrated.

Amphibia feels like a more focused show than TOH. It has its flaws ofc especially in Season 3, but Amphibia’s cast comes across as a lot more developed than TOH’s cast. I mean, Andrias got a dedicated flashback episode and Belos didn’t???

Amphibia’s execution of the found family trope is one of the best things I’ve seen in animation. In contrast, I always felt that King, Lilith, Eda, and the Hexside crew are plot devices to get Luz where she needs to go. Eda has some depth but generally speaking TOH never “got into their heads,” unlike with the Plantars, Sasha, Marcy, Grime, and Andrias.

And I gotta praise Amphibia’s ending!!! I wish more kids cartoons embraced the idea of permanent, bittersweet change. The idea of letting things go but not forgetting them.

So while I agree Amphibia is more focused, I actually don't think that's what the bigger difference is between TOH and Amphibia that I think needs to be highlighted. No, instead, I'm interrogate something you said: Does Belos not get a dedicated backstory episode? For that matter... Does he potentially get MORE time spent on backstory than Andrias?

Andrias literally only gets The Core and the King. He actually gets VERY little screentime, mostly because the effects of his cruelty are more important than what he does himself. So for backstory, he gets 11 minutes. MAYBE you could stretch to like 12 or 13 if you want to include hints to Lief but that's all post her time with him. So 11 minutes because Andrias only gets one segment, not two.

What does Belos get?

Well... I think everyone just forgets about Elsewhere Elsewhen. That IS backstory. That is previous characterization. It's not a flashback but it is still interacting with a Belos earlier in the timeline, like a backstory exposition dump or a flashback does. And interacting with Philip is the main purpose of the A plot of the episode, even if it takes a bit to get to him and then he dips out before the end.

As the author of the journal though, he also counts for backstory whenever passages of the journal are told to us. It's unreliable but it is still previous characterization. So stuff like Eclipse Lake and the end of Looking Glass Ruins adds a little here and there.

Then of course... What the fuck do you call Hollow Mind if not a dedicated backstory episode to Belos? The majority of the run time is literally go through his brain, and his memories, to show his rise to power. His backstory. And while there is technically a B plot, it doesn't take up much time so probably at least a third of the episode is spent on this and these are 22 minute episodes. If just two thirds get spent on backstory, that's more than Andrias gets.

So why doesn't it feel like that? Why does it feel like we get a VERY complete version of Andrias' backstory, despite seeing cumulatively three days in a row of his life, while it feels like we were never told Belos'?

Efficiency. Amphibia is a VERY efficient work. It crams a LOT into its run times. It's part of why the episodes are so satisfying because they actually manage to tell complete stories with morals, sometimes their own A and B plots in an 11 minute segment and actually move the characters forward a full step within the span of that time. It does this while also being hilarious and action packed, much more than TOH or, honestly, a lot of cartoons. Not every episode segment counts for this but ESPECIALLY the important ones do and The Core and the King should be taught in classes for how to get across a character's motivations and backstory in a nuanced, breezy way while also being DENSE. AS. FUCK.

In eleven minutes, we get a clear idea of the utopia that Andrias used to live in, the cost of that utopia, the pressures upon him as a prince, how deep his relationships are with two other characters, Lief gets some genuinely good characterization that helps explain her choice, a logical progression of events that matches with the sillier side of Andrias we know of, an escalation and then a climax. We can VERY clearly see what Andrias lost, what he is trying to get back, and why he would want it back on multiple levels, both societal, familial and even personal, that will motivate into being a MONSTER for a thousand years. All while still being a lot of fun and having some really great jokes. It introduces so many elements but it never feels bogged down by any of this. Instead, it chose the PERFECT moment to get across everything it needed to and left very few questions that you as an audience couldn't figure out yourselves. This also all while being explicit about much of the motivation and what not instead of relying on background details.

Which TOH can't claim for Belos. In Elsewhere Elsewhen, we see that Philip hates witches, that his journal is unreliable and that he has ALWAYS been an asshole and a manipulator. That's befitting who he will be but doesn't actually tell us jack shit. It also includes I guess how he met the Collector but that's moving plot, not expanding on your villain. Because the journal is unreliable, it tells us very little to nothing about him except for some reason he donated his journal to the people he fucking despised. Then Hollow Mind shows how he came to power... But not who he is. Not his motivation, what he actually wants to accomplish besides murder, etc. like that. The paintings in the background tell you far more just by being far more suggestive of what he's been through.

TOH is fucking awful when it comes to density. Most episodes, not even just Belos, have the problem of only taking half steps. Each of Belos' parts are those half steps. Revealing only one or two elements when it easily could have shown more to be more satisfying. As an example: Amphibia has a GREAT episode between Ivy and her mom about rebellion, the consequences of fighting what your parent wants for you, why they might do the things they do, etc. like that. In 11 minutes, we get a genuinely complex relationship between Ivy and her mom who haven't had much talk about each other or their relationship up until now. Meanwhile, TOH decides to focus on Luz being expelled for the episode about Amity and Odalia, meaning Amity is in like... Three, maybe five minutes of that episode? A full minute of that being the intro to the episode where she's just showing off the abomaton?

Because it isn't actually focused on Amity, the relationship between Amity and Odalia isn't actually explored. Because they can't explore that, they also need to now make Odalia cartoonishly villainous so as to fit the fact that Luz also spends very little time with her due to making the conflict be about Hexside so we have to waste some time with a stock standard montage of Luz, Willow and Gus trying to get back in. And by the end, what is the resolution between Amity and Odalia? "Get in my way again and I will kick your fucking ass."

Much deep. Very brave.

There's TONS of stuff like this where Amphibia is genuinely the work trying to do more interesting, more meaningful and deeper things than TOH and managing to do it in literally half the time. If not even less. That breakneck pace is part of what makes Amphibia feel like a kids show but it's also what makes it just more enjoyable to watch.

Which actually makes TOH fit in better with our current era of streaming television. TOH is constantly baiting you for the payoffs it promises. It keeps swearing that its elements are deeper than they appear so make sure to tune in next week because this SURELY can't be all there is to, right?

Unfortunately, that is all there is to it. And once you realize that and look at the show with that sort of lens, it starts falling apart. It's part of why TOH should be thankful it was shortened. It lets people more easily claim that it just needed another season. Another fourteen episodes. That TOTALLY would have solved all the problems with episodes that happened even before the shortening.

That is extremely rarely how this works everyone. Sorry.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[thelambliesdown1974]

I posted this is comedy yaoi but actually I need everyone to see it because I’m an educator. In lieu of the mass grief following the recent US election here’s my complete unabridged opinion piece on both the RPF and character-based SCTV yaoi-verse✊

Okay so here’s my introduction paragraph for those now in the know — second city television was a sketch comedy show that ran from ‘76-84 originally in syndication, later on CBC and NBC. It was basically the Canadian ‘underground’ version of SNL except the framing for all the skits was a fictitious dysfunctional television station (SCTV) run by a handful of recurring characters and starring Dave Thomas, John Candy, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andria Martin, Rick Moranis, and Martin Short though in various combinations over the years. Oh and also Harold Ramis but only for the first two seasons so no comment.

I’d say Flaherty was kind of the big brother for everyone else in the operation— he was in the original theatre troupe and part of the show since day one. That’s not to say he was at all authoritarian though, Joe was definitely a soft spoken democratic leader. Maybe like Woodrow Wilson. Or Dumbledore, if that’s more relevant to you personally. I wouldn’t say he has any particularly strong yaoi ties to anyone else in the cast except I guess Eugene Levy since they were kind of each other’s creative muses. HOWEVER…. in terms of SCTV characters their respective newscaster personas Floyd and Earl are undoubtedly boning in a toxic nasty way on station property and probably are also the #1 SCTV couple in a Stefon and Seth sort of way (see below)

I almost forgot they also play classic 70s talk show hosts and there’s a lot of fan-fiction about them getting each other pregnant okay that’s all.

NEXT. John Candy was also one of the original members and while he wasn’t necessarily involved in either type of yaoi, his characters were integral in giving especially season 1 a very homoerotic flair. It was mostly his washed up actor-sona Johnny LaRue constantly and publicly struggling against the gay allegations since his segment in the very first episode. While trying to find that clip I actually instead found this SCTV Reddit image with a poorly overlaid huge Ariel caption that I like better. (See below)

I don’t have a whole lot to say about Catherine O’Hara, I think she was too self respecting both on screen and irl to get involved but I love her. She wrote a lot with Joe and Eugene so they were kind of like a platonic power throuple in my awesome mind. Andria Martin…. I am less sure about. She played the butch lesbian A LOT and I think has confirmed actually had sex with another woman (YURI) but I won’t say anything……. See below. Also interesting photo to use for that particular article.

NEXT….. Okay Dave Thomas, I really am not even sure where to begin with him but he was also one of the chief writers and original troupe members who ended up meeting Rick Moranis and bringing him on in season 3. The whole thing was partly his brainchild and he did author a book on the group’s history however I don’t see Dave as being as serious as Levy or Flaherty writing and production-wise. He’s kind of very theatre guy goofy silly on screen but also has an aura of sociopolitical jadedness that starts coming through in his Bill Needle sketches (a fictional miserable entertainment critic slash commentator I’ll discuss later) but especially once Dave started doing Doug McKenzie after Moranis joined.

They met at some comedy-based party in Canada (the gayest place you can meet) and really hit it off and immediately preformed as a musical duo that night (the gayest activity you can partake in. It’s like Simon and Garfunkel). Rick was kind of the new kid of the group after he was brought on but since Dave was a senior member they ended up working together a lot. The Great White North AKA the McKenzie brother skits are for sure no question what made SCTV anywhere near as well known as it is today and that was Thomas and Moranis’ comedy child. Okay and you might be thinking ‘how are they the most real life yaoiful couple on the cast but also are famous for playing brothers’ — that’s a good question and the answer is just don’t think about it too hard. I think Bob and Doug are more a testament to Dave and Rick’s day 1 original pure beautiful friendship that then laid the path for more later on. Like in this except from Dave’s book ⬇️

Anyway yes they’re 70 year old best friends now and still talk on the phone all the time and it’s awesome. But they were probably the closest out of anyone and both had to simultaneously deal with their sudden and overwhelming joint fame after Great White North blew up, which was unpleasant for both of them and involved a lot of travel and hotel rooms. (See below: an interview photo, their radio appearance promoting their comedy album, and whatever’s happening in the last one. Also notice how Dave’s face is a perfect circle he’s so cute)

Okay circling back to Bill Needle — he was a character Dave started doing in early on that went on until he left the show and he’s kind of irrelevant except for a few yaoiful details. He’s constantly having marital problems and has a weird friendship with the sleazy semi-creepy SCTV station president Guy Caballero whom Flaherty plays, and would I say they’re OFFICIALLY a yaoi couple not really but it’s there.

But yeah anyway in conclusion Rick and Dave show up in a bunch of each others sketches throughout the series and they write together and talk together and have play dates together and kiss and everyone else on SCTV absorbs their faggotry either by free will or by association and I think that’s what’s really important to remember and also I love them and I love you too. Oh and also Martin Short’s there near the end but he’s irrelevant except for inventing Ed Grimly and being Steve Martin’s de facto wife later in life. THE END

[blackcr0wkingart]

how close am i to losing you?

lil artist trading card illustration gifty for @orcatv - featuring our angels Andria and Howie, sort of (or Levin and Warlic, depends what form you catch 'em in).

soulmates, for better or for worse. bound together and doomed. they're such a mess and i love them for it.

this was... a beast, despite its size. lmao. a lot of fun, but a beast that broke my brain a little bit. i wish i'd taken some process photos... the 'sewing' especially. i had two threads going at once at one point.... there were a lot of "breaks" where i'd just sit and stare at it for five minutes, figuring out which thread goes where, where they'll intersect and tangle together. maybe there was an easier way to go about it... but that's not how my brain works. :'3 it ended up being a neat little challenge.

[detentiontrack]

Why do you think it's easier to recognise that Sasharcy were being negative influences on Anne than to recognise that those two also had negative influences in their lives? I like Grime as a character but I don't really see a lot of people pointing out how he exacerbated Sasha's bad traits in the beginning, for example

I think people very much tunnel vision on the main characters. Before the christmas episode and the Marcy journal, people very rarely, if ever, talked about Sasha and Marcy's parents. People, especially on tumblr, (please don't cancel me this is my opinion) also tend to think very black and white when discussing characters. They're either all good or all bad. Good influences or bad influences. I remember (back in my daaaay) when the core & the king was released, people were attacking anyone who sympathized even a little bit with King Andrias. It's so easy to see things in black in white, but tbh most things in life fall into a grey area.

So using Sasha as an example, people in the fandom are so quick to be like "Sasha's actions were bad, therefore she had bad intentions, and all her actions were her own." when she is THIRTEEN and everything she did was influenced by her parent's separation and abandonment, her insecurities, and later on, Grime's influence.

I actually didn't like Grime at ALL when I watched it for the first time, because I felt that he was taking advantage of Sasha's trauma response for his own personal gain. Which he was at first. People forget that in the beginning, Grime and Sasha did NOT have the father-daughter relationship they had later in the show. Their alliance started out puerly based on convivence and personal gain. Grime wanted an ally to help extinguish the rebellion, and Sasha wanted to find her friends and get home.

So yeah, I think a lot of it has to do with tumblr's allergy to nuance and tendency to forget the grey areas. People forget that Anne wasn't perfect in the earlier episodes either.

[heart-wit-strength]

I need to hear more about your vampirate marcy au 👀

Oh that! So basically I already have an already existent amphibia pirate au fic, and this was a concept originated from a conversation about it on my server.

There's not a ton of established lore on this, just ideas here and there, but basically it was a fun exploration of the dynamic.

Sasha and Marcy met at a younger age before Marcy became captain, it was shortly after she turned into a vampire (how that happened isn't clear), learned of Sasha's nature as a werewolf (because werewolf pirates is a fun concept, idk why we don't have that), they mutually kept one another's secrets.

It was until one day Marcy had her urges get better of her and ended up hurting a crewmate as she tried to drink from them. And it's then the crew ran a fit in fear, likely fueled by Andrias in some way, Marcy found herself tied to the mast to be exposed to the sun, and was saved by Sasha. Things were sorted out, Marcy had to work on building the trust of her crew and already got very insecure about her own tendency. With Sasha's help she eventually got the crew accepting her as an outcast as them, and rose through ranks as well.

Marcy played a safe vampire for her crew's sake by not feeding on them, she gets her share of loot in form of hostages they captured to feed and suck from (fr people sometimes suspect they're cannibals from how many hostage aren't returned) This is aided by werewolf mate, defending the ship and protecting the pack. Really Sasha just goes werewolf mode in battle and tears a ship apart. Especially during the full moon when Sasha can lose senses and control only to be tamed by her captain, Marcy commands the ship at night, while of course Sasha takes helm during day when the sun is up and can burn Marcy.

[calapotle]

The beginning that I had for a superhero Amphibia au (I won't be doing it for a while, I'm still finishing my first fic). Lemme know if you're interested in this concept. I've been thinking of it for a while.

Her back half engulfed in black, Marcy’s face lit up from the giant screen as she watched the cinematic retelling of how her best friend defeated king Andrias, saving earth in the process.

None of the girls were played by child actors, instead being played by young adults who could vaguely pass as such. The parts where Anne and Sasha fought were watered down and Anne’s death was completely void of the film. After all, it wasn’t public knowledge. Neither was her getting controlled and corrupted by the core. The core that Sasha fought here was a CGI monstrosity that Marcy couldn’t help but cringe at. Not because of the trauma, but because it was so painfully generic. That CGI monster could have been anyone. Zero out of ten, she wanted to jump out of her seat and yell that the real thing was way scarier. Although, maybe that was the point. Anne and Sasha must have kept it vague on purpose.

Of course the core had to complain and nitpick in the back of her mind furiously throughout the film, especially when its CGI representation was on screen. That was the only saving grace of the core’s terrible representation, the real thing could only watch in agony thanks to it being trapped in her body with no control.

She had to push their voices as far back as possible in order to not disturb her viewing pleasure. After all, this was Anne’s grand cinematic debut, only five years after she had become a public superhero and a celebrity. She couldn’t let this one time experience be ruined by a collective of ancient newts who want to take over the multiverse.

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Do you think one of the reasons Marcy was so clingy with Anne in Newtopia was because she hadn't received any form of physical affection since arriving in Amphibia? Especially if physical contact is HER love language. Like, Anne got hugs from the Plantars, especially Sprig. She wasn't touch starved at all. But like... do you think Olivia ever hugged Marcy? Do you think Andrias did? Physical contact with Andrias probably wouldn't have gone beyond a hi-five or a fist bump, at most he might have let her sit on his shoulder. In any case, getting hugs from your bestie who is close to you in age, like with Anne and Sprig, is a lot different from getting hugs from like... an old adult man, as a 13yo girl. Yikes not to mention he was planning to kill her friends and use her body to give it to other people, including his father, once she trusted him enough.

Like do you think Marcy was touch starved do you think she was desperate to hold hands and hug and cuddle with Anne. Do you think she wanted to cling to her for one more moment when she hugged her goodbye and that, when Anne let her go (followed her heart away from her), she though "oh. It's gone", when her warmth dissappeared and left her feeling cold and alone again.