#EVEN SO. SADLY IN CHARCTER THING TO HAPPEN. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

One Year Anniversary: Top 12 Ducktales Episodes!

Happy anniversary all you happy people! Yes it was one year ago today I started reviewing animation and it’s been a ride to be sure. I’d always WANTED to be a reviewer: I love going on and on about stuff I love, really digging into it and picking it apart... but I could never get started. I tried youtube but I didn’t have the money for the equipment nor a proper shooting space to record, so my efforts.. were not great. And while I TRIED text reviews, my own looming pile of self hatred meant every attempt I made was shot down when it got hard as me not being good enough.

But one year ago I finally got past that. I’d already been reviewing a bit, doing invididual issues of comics... but got way in over my head trying to do the current line of X-Men comics as it came out, and wisely bowed out of that. But that left a gap: I had nothing to cover week to week and with a demanding new job, I drifted into just doing in charcter chats, little fan fictions script styles. Not bad work, I should do some more at some point and I even got a comissoin once in a while, but nothing I could really live on and not what I wanted to do with my life.

Enter Ducktales. I’d always WANTED to review the show.. and when the double premire happened, I decided fuck it, and put up my thoughts. And then decided.. hey maybe I can do this every week.. and slowly.. my work evolved, getting better and better, getting more and more likes. I picked up Amphibia when that came by week to week.

And eventually.. this went from a hobby, if one I was passionate about to a career. Not a largely paying one, as only one person was really intrested in paying me for it, friend of the blog and our fincial backer @weirdkev27, but .. it’s money and i’m now making about 30 dollars a month due to a comination of comissions and patreon. Other contributers are always welcome mind you, my patreon is here if your curious and comissions are 5 dollars an episode, but i’ts just nice to have money coming in. To have gone from simply WANTING to review things and make a living off it.. to simply doing it.

And it’s been one hell of a year.. and not just because 2020 felt like hell or 2021 began with a full on insurrection. I feel like i’ve acomplished a lot in the year i’ve been doing this: I finished what I started with Ducktales season 3, getting better and better as I went. And I didn’t stop there with ducks: I started covering what brought me to Ducks in the first place, the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and while that retrospective has slid a bit on the schedule, I intend to get it back on track this month. I reviewed a bunch of Darkwing Duck episodes leading up to the Just Us Justice Ducks.. chronologically anyway. The actual airing order reads like someone took 50 issues of a comic, made it rain with them, then just started reading whatever ones they picked up randomly. I also covered some of Duck Master Carl Barks work with the classics Night on Bear Mountain, A Christmas for Shacktown and Back to the Klondike, with more to come.

And the Duck didn’t stop at just reviews I did on my own: Kev comissioned two MASSIVE retrospectives from me: My first for him was Ride of the Three Caballleros where in just a few short months I covered the boys entire televisied careers together from the movie, to house of mouse, to mickey and the roadster racers, to ducktales (again) and finishing with the wonderful Legend of the Three Caballeros. It has probably the worst Daisy imaginable, but otherwise is really excellent and i’m glad I finally watched it. I also covered Don Rosa’s two stories with the boys as part of it. It was a fun ride and I enjoyed every minute of it... okay most of them again Three Cabs Daisy is the worst. And once that finished Kev started up another idea: Shadow Into Light: a look at Lena’s character arc from start to finish that has gone on to be my most popular series on this blog, and that finishes next week. And there’s more to come as after that there’s a short breather with a look at Lilo and Stitch’s crossover episodes.. folllowed by me looking at all three of season 2′s ducktales arcs. And I fully intend to have covered every episode of the series by this time next year, so stay tuned.

Outside of ducks though I didn’t slow down. I restarted my Tom Lucitor retrospective, covering what i feel to be one of Star Vs’ two best characters, tied with eclipsa, and my personal faviorite as he redeemeed himself, found love and I bitched a lot about the horrible directions the series took and probabably will more as that’s still not done yet. I did what I always wanted to do and started looks at some of my faviorite comics ever, starting with Life and Times and adding in New X-Men and Scott PIlgrim. I also threw in the awesome comic Blacksad. I did pride month for the first time and not only came out publicly, but also did two whole arcs i’m proud of with The Saluna episodes of Loud house and the rednid episodes of OK KO, and generally just had myself a good old fashioned time as an out bi man reviewing childrens cartoons.

I started Season 2 of amphibia with it’s lows of an endlesss road trip and highs of adding Marcy to the cast and giving us more of the silky voiced keith david. And finally Patreon wise Kev’s taken me on a hell o fa journey: In addition to the restrospectives i’ve covered some additional darkwing duck, and a simpsons homage to the duck comics... but also got a bit weird and obscure with detours like the lost animnaics sucessor Histeria, the apocalyptic comedy where Santa dosen’t know how doors work Whoops! and the adventures of Santa’s bratty teen daughter jingle belle. In short.. it’s been a long year but damn has it been fun and there’s more to come. I’d like to thank all of you for reading, thank my Patreons Kev and Emma for supporting me, and thank my family for doing the same. So with that out of the way, I figured the best way to celebrate was to do something i’ve been wanting to do for a long time, something honoring the show that gave me this calling in the first place. And with Season 3 sadly being the last, and enough weeks having passed for me to digest it between the finale and today, I could think of nothing better than my top 12 episodes of Ducktales.

Ducktales is one of the best cartoons of the 2010′s. Brilliantly taking EVERYTHING that had come before, the comics, the original cartoon and every bit of duck media period to craft a masterful, unique and wonderful reboot. It was funny, it was insane, and it had damn good character arcs. By the end every member of the main cast along with major supporting cast members like Fenton, Drake and especially Lena, had changed and signifigantly at that. The show was everything I could’ve dreamed of and more and I miss it terribly, hoping DIsney will do a revivial movie at some point. For now though, Frank and Matt’s run on ducktales, as they called it and I do too since i’m a massive comic book nerd, it’s time to look back on my favorite tales of ducks. So grab your sharks, your number one dimes and your friendship cakes with clear gay undertones and join me under the cut as I celebrate one of my faviorite shows and my anniversary in the best way possible.

12. House of the Lucky Gander!

So as i’ve gone on about before and no doubt will again, Donald kinda got the short end of the stick in season 1. While Frank and Matt had good story intentions, keeping Donald away from adventure since he had no interest in it, in practice it meant a beloved Disney Icon who they and disney HEAVILY promoted as part of the series and whose being here this go round was a big draw for fans of the comics.... was only in a quarter of the season and only got TWO plots centered around him in 23 episodes, with only one being the main plot of the episode. The PIlot and Finale both centered around the family more as a whole if your curious how I counted those so while he got plenty of focus in both, it’s still not a day in the limelight sort of thing.

But unusually for Donald, he lucked out as his one big starring role for Season 1 was both one of my faviorites and one of Season 1′s most inventive outings. A lot of the episodes enegy comes from a one two punch of a great guest star and one of the series best settings. The guest star is of course everyone’s faviorite overly lucky himbo Gladstone Gander. The show adapted the prick perfectly: The original Gladstone from the comics.. was the worst asshole imaginable, utterly insufferable. And for a villian, and Donald’s rival, that’s all well and good.. but his super luck meant he RARELY , if ever, suffered any consequences for being just...

The 87 series simply made him nicer, while Going Quackers simply removed his luck. No adaptation really got how to make this fucker work.. until this one. Here Frank split the diffrence: Gladstone is still smug.. but he’s no longer actively malicious. While he is an insensitive prick to Donald in this one, unlike the comics he’s not constantly bragging about his luck or how great he is or actively BAITING Donald to fight with him or trying to ruin his relationship or a million other reasons he sucks and I hate him.

This version by contrast... is generous. He’s not the most empathetic, because he doesn’t get how life works, but he does share the riches of the casnio with everyone and in a cameo appearance in “Treasure of the Found Lamp” gladly offers his nephews some diamonds. He’s got a nice surface level charm to him that makes you understand why people like him.. but it’s also clear ther’es nothing UNDER that of value, making you equally understand why Scrooge and Donald hate him. Gladstone in this reboot is a perfect example of why we need reboots or new adaptations in the first place: Because sometimes the original got something wrong or something can be done much better by the new writers.

He’s perfectly paired with the setting: The House of Lucky Fortune, a mystical casino with an East Asian astatic based in the country of Macaw and provides two great plots. Donald’s really highlights his character: His understandable jealousy at gladstone earning the boys love through nothing while he struggles to make a living for them, and how he feels like a looser and like Gladstone is simply showing that off instead of just not knowing what empathy is. Having Louie be the one to bond with Gladstone was also just pitch pefefct, as is showing some depth for the boy by having himr ealize his hero is an asshole and be the one to help donald in the end.

The other plot is just pure joy though and is where the setting REALLY shines: Scrooge and the rest of the kids try to leave.. but can’t find the exit. This is where the creative part comes in: The Casino simply morphs to keep people trapped, and caters to them, giving them whatever they want to keep them trapped. In the cases of the kids it’s all hilarious and adorably in character: Huey becomes entranced by a fancy water show, in one of his best bits of the season, Dewey gets a pet tiger who sadly did not come home with him and Webby gets to live the dream we’ve all had of stuffing her face directly in a choclate fountain. Scrooge’s escape is likewise clever: He simply prepares to get a room.. then books it as the check in desk is ALWAYS near the front.

We then find out Gladston’es trapped get the whole mystical contest with absolutely gorgeous animation, i’ll talk about it in full some time but this episode is just a treat to watch, has a great arc for donald and had some memorable gags. I can’t help but smile when I watch it.

11. The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! As I mentioned before i’m a superhero nerd so naturally Fenton was one of my faviorite parts of the show. Frank and Matt were just damn good at crafting superhero stories, and like gladstone improved fenton turning him from an awkward donald stand in to an awkward peter parker-esque science nerd who just wants to be a good person and the best hero he can be. He got into science not just because he thinks it’s neat, but because he honestly wants to help people and you can’t help but foot for him whenever he pops up. Lin Manuel Miranda is a large reason for that, bringing his incomparable a-game to the character. While we sadly didn’t get a ton of gizmoduck focused episodes, the fatct we got AS MANY as we did and that Lin didn’t drop out for a minute even with his busy schedule was a miracle and I’m acknowledging that.

As for why this one, I feel it builds brilliantly on the previous Fentoncentric episode Who Is Gizmoduck?! which just BARELY didn’t make this list and uses the fact we haven’t seen fenton in a while as both a plot point and to move some things forward without having to spend screentime they clearly didn’t have. By having Fenton be just burnt out on superheroics it finds a way to both explain where he’s been, he’s been busy with his new job, and give us an interesting angle to the old “superhero is tired of the life” thing. He never once complains about saving people or stuff... it’s just like any job it gets tiring after a while. As someone who has his dream job but has struggled with it from time to time, I vastly relate.

Though while I love my boy and Lin is game as always, the episodes real MVP is my other boy Huey. The episode has moved Huey up from being simply Fenton’s fanboy to being his best friend, and adorable as hell relationship. The two clearly respect and appricate each other and Huey is looking out for his buddy the whole episode. His love of love is also just really cute. Added in the mix is Webby, who in one of my faviorite gags of the series, finds out Fenton is Gizmoduck because Huey is incredibly and insanely blatant with his unecessary coverup. But she of course is game to help while Fenton is trying to play it casual. We also just get a waterfall of great gags as everyone overdoes it wingmanning for fenton: Huey sets up an itallian bistro and tries to purposfully create a lady and the tramp situation, and sings opera (With Manny on acordian), the wonderfully 80′s suit from Fenton’s dad his mom gives him to wear, and Launchpad, who gives us a tremendous list of his exes, and plays my favorite song of the series: It’s a Date, a micheal mcdonnel riff.

This episode also wisely ups Mark’s Beaks game as Fenton’s arch enemy, still keeping him hilaroius, with the guy acting like a bored teenager and guzzling so much nanite jucie he turns into a hulk, as well as said hulk mode leading to a ton of great gags from kidnapping the children (”I got your kids.. are they your kids? I don’t know how this family works), to “take that coach dad” to eating a pie with tins and all and wondering about said tins. But he’s an actual threat now, taking on fenton in one hell of a fight, and having an utterly transcendent scene where he hacks his way past gyro’s security while dancing.. and dabbing because of course he does. It’s a fun, well done character piece that’s mostly here for i’ts laugh but Fenton’s struggle with Gizmo overtaking his life, and finding out someone he truly hit it off iwth only wanted him for that.. it’s really good stuff and Lin’s delivery after Fenton finds out, the pure pain and betryal in his voice, is just excellent. Also that opera scene is poetry.

10. Quack Pack!

One of the episodes that started my career naturally landed here. Not for that reason though: Quack Pack is a fun riff on sitcoms, specifically the tgif ones of the 90′s that Disney Afternoon Kids no doubt also watched, the kinds Disney Channel still makes today, and most importanly the kind the Disney Afternoon itself made like Goof Troop and well... Quack Pack.

Riffs on sitcoms are nothing new and the last year has been FULL of them. 2020 gave us this episode, Beef House and the wonderful “The Perfect House” episode of Close Enough, and this year gave us WandaVision, my second favorite MCU project so far, right behind Black Panther, which used the sitcom deconstruction to create one hell of a character study.

So you’d think with a year having passed and this concept happening as an entire mini series would dull this one.. but no. it’s still damn funny, having fun at the cliches while, again like WandaVision, having one of the main cast be responsible by accident but go along with it. The episode pivots from glorious affectionate parody of cheesy sitcoms, to that plus horrifying “Humans”, and a character piece for Donald. This brings Donald’s hatred and fed up ness with adventure to a head revealing his fondest wish is just to have a normal life and not loose anyone again.

It takes one of his best friends to snap him out of it. Look Goofy is my second faviorite of the sensational seven, an episode with him was already an easy sell for me.. but the episode uses him really well. First for laughs as he’s gentically dispositioned to be a perfect sitcom neighbor.. but also for heart. With his family preoccupied and a bit hurt, i’ts Goofy who cuts to the heart of the issue, pointing out NO ONE is normal and even his normal domestic life raising Max, who we see go to prom with roxanne eeeeee, has all sorts of chaos. Normal is what you make of it and pining for some ideal that will never happen was just tearing donald apart piece by piece and by letting go of that.. he finally begins to grow as a person throughout the season. It’s also a great thematic tie in to the season’s overall plot with Bradford and what Makes donald, despite also disliking the chaos his family gets into, different. Donald accepted it and grew as a person.. Bradford clung to his hate and it ate him alive. Or turned him into a non-sapient kind of vulture. Before I close this part out Jaleel White is also excellent and I wish eh’d get back into voice acting. He’s so freaking good at it. Seriously man i’d love to see him and ben in a sonic property together as a mythology gag. Same with Jims cummings and carey. Just think about it whoever owns the sonic movies.. think about it.

9. The Last Adventure!

Look I knew this was coming, you knew this was coming. But it had to be on here. The Last Adventure is not perfect: The lack of a build up episode like the previous two finales had really hurt this one: even at about 70 minutes, it still feels rushed in places and Huey, one of hte main characters of the season, dosen’t feel like he has a full payoff to his character like Dewey and Louie got.

But despite those flaws.. this episode is just a damn good ending. Almost everyone gets a big moment paying off their character arc, everyone in the party that comes to rescue webby and huey, along with the two themselves, gets a moment to show off, and everything comes together to give us one last epic sendoff. There’s just moment stacked on moment stacked on moment from Launchpads heroic second wind and donning of the gizmoduck armor, to Webby’s tearful confrontation with Beakley, to Huey using the greatest adventure of all line to foil bradford in one of the most deligfhully nuts moments of the series, I could go on for days with just how triumphant this finale felt. While it left a lot of doors open.. that feels like part of the design. It’s the end of the fight with FOWL.. but our heroes will never stop adventuring, never stop going and never stop being in our hearts and the curtain call at the end is now my faviorite bit of end credits ever, perfectly giving the main cast and friends one last chance to take a bow in their own unique ways. I will always miss this show but I will never be disapointed by the note it went out on.

8. The 87 Cent Solution!

Look some episodes are show stoppers, some are heartfelt tearjerkers, some are all this and more.. and some episodes are just clever and hilarious. The 87 Solution is the second funniest episode of Ducktales with me and my go to episode when watching the show. It’s just pure fun and with a clever premise: Scrooge notices 87 cents have gone missing, and already coming down with a cold, goes mad with paranoia as the kids slowly don face masks, something that has become even eeerier given everything, one by one realizing he needs to stop.

While David Tennant is an EXCELLENT dramatic actor, his comedy timing is really something that shoudln’t be ignored and i’ts on full display here as his performance gets more and more deranged, to thep oint he thinks an 8th dimensional imp is repsonsible. He nicely balances the disturbing side of Scrooge’s paranoia, his distancing from his family, with plenty of great gags about it too, the standout being when he offers 2 million dollars to whoever took the money like he’s publicly appeasing kidnappers. It’s fucking brilliant.

But while David is awesome as ever what really, truly makes the episode is my boy, one of my faviorite characters on the show if not my single faviriote FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD. Keith Ferguson is ALWAYS a dream as the character but this is his best performance by far. Part of this is the addition of Zan Owlson, Kev who I mentioned earlier’s faviorite Ducktales character. She’s not only throughly likeable in her own right, but provides the one thing Flinty was missing; a straight man.. or woman in this case. Scrooge wasn’t TERRIBLE in the roll, but can easily step away from his shit or foil it. Owlson has to put up with Glomgold’s nonsense while desperatly trying to stop him from undoing all her hard work with sheer force of jackass. The two jut play off each other brilliantly, Glomgold not getting sh’es not his employee but his equal and Owlson constnatly snarking at him.

And of course both things hit their peak in the climax with the family staging a fake funeral (Though no one told donald it was fake), and we get the funniest scene in the entire fucking show as Glomgold burts in in a white suit, money shades and full dance number to “All I Do Is Win’, which when first watching this I was convinced the song was somehow accidnetly on in the background but nope. They got it after using it in the test phase and the scene is better for it. Glomgold twerking on Scrooge’s casket, trying to get on it to dance, and having to be placated like ac hild is the icing on this very rich cake

And the reveal scene is also gold as Glomgold gets into a YEARLONG staring contest with a baby, fails to steal more than the 87 cents and, in my faviorite touch, put on an imp costume just to make scrooge seem crazier... then keeps the damn thing on the rest of the time for no explicable reason. The episode is the show at it’s comedic peak while giving Glomgold a chance to be a genuine threat and that’s Glomgood.

7. Let’s Get Dangerous!

Frank’s Rebooted Version of Darkwing Duck is probably his greatest achivment with the show. While this show is a team effort, something I slowly realized as I reviewed the show, it’s very clear from the way he talks, how well he knows the show and how much effort was put into porting Darkwing into the reboot that this was his baby. While redefining ducktales for the 2010′s was clearly a huge dream of his... doing the same for the master of suprise was an even bigger goal. And as a huge fan of superheroes i’ve seen my fair share of half assed takes on laired and complex characters. The XCU alone is one giant grab bag of missed opportunities for me.

So i’ts no exageration when I tell you Frank.. nailed it. In one of the most brilliant moves i’ve seen for a superhero work Frank worked his love of the show into the reboot.. by having Darkwing have been a show, one Launchpad loved.. and so did Drake, who was inspried by the show to become an inspriation himself and while his attempt to do that through a zack snydery reboot failed, Launchpad encouraged him to do it for real. Drake was still himself, but the meta aspect and the toning down of some of darkwing’s more obnoxious traits that didn’t work in a universe that, while patently rediciulous still took it’s characters seriously, he made a BETTER version of the character.

This is where all that comes to it’s peak, and hoppefully convinced Disney to let Frank , and possibly matt, run the reboot. And no, even if Point Grey is producing that dosen’t stop that: Thanks to Invincible i’ve now realized that Seth and his friend Evan producing the show dosen’t mean it’ll be RAN by them, nor unrelated to this. It just means their helping make it and if anything given how lush and gorgeous invincible’s animation is, it’s a VERY good sign their helping out with it if it’s true.

But wether this versoin continues or not, Frank gave it his best shot. Part of his diffrent angle is having Drake as a rookie here and as such here we see him truly struggle: he’s had his origin, he ahs the cape, he has the gadgets (in a brilliant turn thanks to fenton, who he actually likes... but is so far the ONLY person to not get he’s Gizmoduck), and the city.. but no crime to fight and no real idea how to go about his lifelong dream. The events of the episode slowly shape him: WHile he already had the spirit for darkwing, never giving up, looking good in a cape etc, this episode gives him the heart the same way it gave his original it: With Gosalyn. Dimantopolis and Beatriz just play off each other perfectly, as the two go from neimies to slowly bonding as Drake realizes this kid needs him and that he needs to fight for more than just filing the ohle inside, and goes to hell and back to help her get her grandpa back, with one of the best moments of the episode to me being when Launchpad helps her realize how hard he’s been working at it, an exausted drake refusing to acccept that he can’t get her grandpa back because he promised. He grows from simply trying to live the dream.. to surpassing the original. We also see more from Launchpad, who grows into his new family and helps push his boyfriend and newa dopted daughter in the right directions. The episode really evolves these characters from the simple disney afternoon versions, who while awesome were made into fully fleshed out characters. Gosalyn still has her edge but now has a hard lesson to learn about doing the right thing, forced to give up someone she loves for the greater good but finding a new family in the process.

Part of what makes the episode work though as while it is funcitonally one big darkwing duck reboot pilot that’s awesome, heartrending and a joy to watch... it’s still a ducktales episode in parts without either part hurting each other. Huey plays a vital role, figuring the ramrod is too good to be true.. and discovering just how it is, then when captured, slowly unravling why Bradford’s there and being at least in part responsible for outing him as a FOWL agent. While this is largely Drakes story the rest of the cast is still vital to it: Scrooge trusting in huey, Louie serving as his logical counter and Dewey meanwhile bonding with team darkwing and helping Gosalyn, knowing exactly where she’s been and providing a nice foil. The episode is just one long and impressive love letter to the original show while creating it’s own thing and that’s really this reboot in a nutshell. It also has some of the best fights of the series, with the first fight between darkwing and bulba, where our hero, unlike his original counterpart, easily troucnes bulba using his speed and skill, is the standout.

6. Woo-Ooo!

I covered this one recently so I won’t go on for too long.. but I will say I hold this one up as the gold standard for first episodes. In one hour, hell even in jus the first half we get a sense of the whole cast, the tone of the show, and the world we’ve been thrust into. It gets all the table setting out of the way by weaving it into a compelling story of Scrooge getting back in the game, finding a reason to get back to what he does best in those he loves most and setting up the season long arc effortlessly in the process. The worst I can say about the episode is it sets the bar a bit high for Season 1 and a lot of the first half really struggled to reach these heights. This episode is a masterwork and the perfect showcase for what the series would be at it’s height.

5. Moonvasion!

Speaking of Golden Standards, Moonvasion is one of the best season finale’s i’ve seen. it’s not THE best.. but that’s a really high bar to clear and that spots currently taken in my heart by “The Crossroads of Destiny” from Avatar the Last Airbender. But while not the best of it’s kind, it’s sitll the best the series put out and is an utterly satisfying epic that ties up season 2.

While I love the Last Adventure, it had a LOT to tie up and was really hampered by having to do all of that with no direct lead in. Moonvasion by contrast hits the ground running with the Moonlanders arriving on earth and all hell breaking loose, and the episode itself breaking into two stellar plots. Scrooge leading an army of every ally he has against the invaders, and Della seemingly going for reinforcements.. but really just trying to keep the kids safe from it, to their anger once they find out.

Both sides end up going badly: Scrooge looses most of his army as Lunaris was one step ahead of him and is left iwth Beakly and Launchpad, while Della ends up marooned.. and finds Donald. The reunion between the two is the highlight of the special, as the two argue as you’d expect (And Dewey cutting in seemingly to stop it.. only to rant at Donald for costing him “ten years of turbo” is the best gag of the episode), before embracing.

Our heroes naturally find ways to bounce back though. Louie, capping off his growth for the season, convinces his mom they can’t just hide.. and in the second best scene of the episode sings the lullabye she wrote.. one Donald sung them every night

And no sooner than Della gets her step back and realizes that dangerous or not she and her newly reunited family have to get back in there, do the cousins show up on Fethry’s giant shrimp/girlfriend Mitzi, and our heroes head back.

Scrooge’s plot hits i’ts peak though as he’s forced to accept the help of an unlikely and unwelcome ally: Glomgold, who turns out to be exactly what they need: While his plan is as stupid, short sighted and insane as you’d expect, complete with forcing Scrooge to dress up as santa just to piss him off and dressing his sharks in parkas (”I call them sharkas”), the sheer lonacy throws Lunaris off as he dosen’t know how to deal with this and Glomgold not only gets the better of him but gets his company back as part of his scheme. “You were prepared for our best but not our dumbest!” “And i’m the dumbest theirs ever been! Muahahahaha! Wait...”

And of course our other heroes arrive just in time to save things.. and the episode still manages to pull off what many works struggle to, something tha’ts very hard to: a SECOND climax. Lunaris decides to just say fuck it and blow up the earth and i’ts up to our core family to kick his ass in space. Epic space battles, Della’s girlfriend meeting the family and more insues and an emotoinal, action packed and fully satisfying finale is had by all... and it’s all topped with one of the best sequel hooks i’ve ever seen as FOWL makes themselves known to us.. and prepares to strike.

4. How Santa Stole Christmas! This one will also be short as i’ve talked about this one.. a lottttt. The initial review, my best christmas specials list and my best of 2020 list. I stand by all of that: this is a unique and wonderful christmas special, i’ll be watching it every year, and i’ts full of charm, humor and gay subtext. In short it’s this series but on christmas footing.

3. Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

Another one I covered very recently, this episode is a master piece of suspense, slowly building tension as our heroes get closer and closer to the truth about Della.. and to death, the simple but deadly stakes making this an absolute nailbiter from start to finish. This is some of the series best pacing bar none... but what seals it is the ending: the masterful flashback finally explaning whatever happened to Della duck, our heroes lashing out at each other.. all cumilating in the best Scene of the show. I said it might be in the review but no I can confirm: Scrooge bitterly ruminating over things while we find out just how much he’s lost... ending with him tearfully and angrily sitting once again alone in one hell of a powerful shot echoing Scrooge’s first apperance. Damn fine stuff.

2. Escape from The Impossbin Only one episode not only matches Last Crash in mounting tension and atmosphere but suprasses it. With FOWL and Bradford’s true nature now out in the wind, this episode uses that to create tension and rattles it’s two most unshakable characters: SCrooge’s normal boundless confidence is shot, not sure he can win this time against an opponent who knows him as well as he knows himself while Beakly slowly unravels, pitting Webby against the boys.. and pitting herself against Webby when Webby sees her terroizing them is only dividing them. Both plots start out funny enough but slowly escalate in tension and stakes until by the end your on the edge of your seat. The Beakly plot is the standout of the two, giving Bentina the starring role she badly needed, having gotten even better in light of the finale. Everyone is at the top of their game and everything builds up to one hell of a twist ending and one hell of a badass boast from our heroes: Their down.. but their far from out and this is far from over.

1. Nightmare On Kimotor Hill!

I”ll be reviewing this episode in full later this week as part of my Lena retrospective, but I stand by putting it up top. This episode is ducktales in it’s purest form and focuses on it’s best original character as Lena grapples with her self hatred and her past. That core helps anchor an amazing concept: going into the Kid’s dreams and finding out their greatest desires. The results.. are all gloriously rediclous and are easily the best gags of hte series as a whole: Dewey’s high school musical santa claus is going ot high school nonsense from getting a’s in Dewology to running away from the abstract concept of a love intrest, to not getting the sybolism of himself crying a moon made of his own tears. Louie quite literally becoming garfield, and my faviorite scene of the show: Huey, wanting to be the tall older brother..g iving himself horrifcly long leg. While everyone else is just understandably baffled, what makes the scene is the banter between Dewey and Huey, with Schwartz and Pudi at their best as Dewey first freaks out and then asks what the hell man, while Huey defends his weird decision (”I”m not good at imagination stuff okay!”), and then tries to get a jar of pickles. Each dream is just so oddly and wonderfully specific to each kid and each one of the triplests dreams, as well as violets being color coded down tot he backgrounds is a very nice touch. The visuals here are just peak ducktales, using the setting for all it’s worth and the climax is utterly emotoinal and heartbreaking... and Lena’s break from her abuser, finally realizing she has the power now is not only a wonderful metaphor... but also just so damn cathartic. And that’s why this one’s the best to me personally: it just packs so much into 20 minutes: some of the series best and most creative jokes, a gripping emtoinal arc, and so much more. It’s just that damn good and tha’ts why it’s the best... that and starting Huelet for me. Seriously that LIbrary scene is so fucking cute.

Thank you all for reading. If you liked this artcle, join my patreon and help me get to my stretch goal for monthly darkwing duck reviews, a review of super ducktales and more after! Until the next rainbow... it’s been a pleasure.

64 notes · View notes

charmspoint · 3 years

Note

THANK YOU FOR SAYING THAT ABT THE BSD MANGA ILY THANK YOU I FEEL LIKE MY OPINION IS FINALLY VALIDATED WHICH IS: BSD has turned meh. I have become indifferent towards the plot due to the fact there are no real stakes - I feel like the OP characters like Dazai will always have a solution with a deus ex machina feel to it, making it impossible for me to care. With the recent chaos happening in the manga (I too gave up on the manga a year or so ago!), I was baffled to find out I could no longer enjoy it. My memory is poor, and I can't really pinpoint it at the moment, but BSD just... doesn't engage me as it used to. Keep in mind I was an obsessive fan of it and analyzed it to the tiniest details, but all of my great love for the series has long died, sadly. But! I am glad to hear you feel similarly about it because, yes, the potential was there, but it got terribly wasted.

Bruh don't I feel it, me and @autumn-foxfire have like monthly bitch sessions about the state of bsd at this point. I was also super invested in it in initial arcs (Up until the guild arc ended) and then slowly started petering off only to drop it the first time around the hunting dogs introduction. Then after some time i was like okay ill go give it a second shot, came to the vampire arc went 'wow this is really fuckin stupid' and dropped it again. Idk will I pick it up again, maybe I'll just stick to being an anime only, even tho I also have problems with some adaptation things but that's BESIDES THE POINT.

Please click under for The Point

The thing about Kafka is: He's really good at coming up with interesting concepts and ideas and REALLY BAD at executing them in any sort of satisfying way. Like, when I say I only like bsd until the end of the guild arc, I don't mean it was perfect. It could have handled it's female cast better, it would have been fun to see more mafia and agency team ups besides soukoku and shin soukoku, I still don't get why shin soukoku is supposed to be a replacement in training since Dazai and Chuuya still work together perfectly and even if they hate each other they hate each other less than Akutagawa and Atsushi AND have way more experience fighting together but that once again is besides the point. The point being those arcs of bsd were SATISFYING. We got introduced to two organizations, seen them butt heads and then have them forced to work together against a common enemy. It's very simple but it's effective and it's satisfying.

And then the rats struck.

While up until then bsd wasn't perfect it was fun and had lovable characters and an interesting plot and engaging dynamics. Rats arc wasn't horrible per say, the idea of the cannibalization was really fun (Though I think Kafka should have used it to get rid of Mori, nobody fuckin likes Mori) but this is where we slowly get introduced to what I think are two main failings of Kafka's writing: That he's unable to handle characters properly and that he likes writing smart things but doesn't know how to write smart things.

Kafka has a very, very bad habit of INTRODUCING TOO MANY FUCKING CHARCTERS. Every arc is a new massive group with like a bunch of members, one of who may actually end up being fleshed out before they are inventiblely replaced by another large group or maybe two why the fuck not. The mafia and the guild left lasting impressions on me and I can still name all the main members but fuck me if i know a single rat aside from Fyodor (AND ILL GET TO FYODOR). Kafka feels like someone who's idea of rising conflict is 'introduce a bigger enemy each time' and it's just so annoying. Chapters and arcs end up centering around these groups of new characters while old characters, who we loved the manga for, just fall into obscurity. He almost had me in the hunting dogs arc by giving Yosano a backstory. I was so excited! I was like!!! finally development for the agency!!! But that barely went anywhere did it. I've talked about this with Foxy but it really feels like Kafka is just BORED of the og characters and is trying to silently sideline them for his new shiny characters. When's the last time we saw Chuuya again, you know, the ex partner of one of the series protagonists? The next predicted mafia head? Is he important? Foxy tells me Dazai's been sidelined too, fUCKIN DAZAI, for a good while I was sure Kafka liked Dazai a lot better than Atsuhi for protagonist and now he's getting sidelined. I know bsd is still really popular in japan but at this point i think it would have been more merciful for Kafka to just end bsd and start a new manga with new characters instead of doing whatever weird metamorphosis this is turning out to be.

Introducing new characters isn't a bad thing of course, but bsd has become mcdonalds of new characters. They are cheap and disposable. I can't feel anything for them because I know nine times out of ten they'll barely make any impact and they'll disappear as soon as the new group slides in. When adding new characters you should do so while knowing what role those characters will play in your plot, what will they bring. If a character is just there to waffle around until they get shoved away they should probably be cut because they are wasting time and space. AND YOU SHOULDN'T SIDE LINE YOUR CORE CAST FOR UR SHINY NEW CHARACTERS YOU'LL GET BORED OF IN COUPLE OF ARCS ANYWAY, ARE YOU A TODDLER???

I still think that bsd could have been SO much better if instead of focusing on the next big evil group they just focused on shifting tension between the agency and the mafia. I mean they've had to team up for the guild and then they immediately got thrown into the cannibalization. It would have been interesting to see them pull against and pull towards those ties made during the guild arc when they are forcefully pitted against each other again (and decide that killing mori would be in everyone's best interest). Instead we got, idk I already forgot what the rats arc ended up being about, atsushi and aku team up again yadda yadda yadda, Chuuya gets done dirty and never recovers, Fyodor ruins Dazai

SO ABOUT FYODOR. As I said, Kafka strikes me as someone who REALLY likes to write geniuses and who wants people to think he's super smart but also has no idea how to show his work. At first this was okay. We had Dazai and Ranpo who were very good at pushing the plot along and sometimes you'd get explained how they got to that conclusion and sometimes you didn't but it usually wasn't a big deal. But then the writing became more and more and more of 'well he's smart so he figured it out so just trust me' without actually explaining anything and as you said, it ended up feeling boring, unengaging and very deus ex machina. You know what Kafka's writing reminds me off? That video about how Sherlock is so happy to stroke itself to how smart they look while never showing their work, you know the one. Kafka likes writing smart characters but doesn't actually know how to write smart characters so instead of giving us reasons and clues and explanations to how they come to some conclusion, how they predicted or planned or whatever, he just goes 'oh well they are super smart so they figured it out'. I don't think I need to explained why this is bad, annoying and unengaging writing. This is why i say Fyodor ruined Dazai for me, Dazai was fine as a genius but then they had to pit him against Fyodor who's another genius and things just got ridiculous. You know how in that sherlock video the guy points out the one scene that encapsulates every irritating thing about sherlocks writing. This had been it for me and BSD (thank you Foxy for helping me find the panels)

THATS NOT HOW CODES WORK, THATS NOT HOW ANYTHING WORKS, THEY WOULD JUST BE COMING UP WITH TWO DIFFERENT SETS OF CODES HERE. Even if they were both smart enough to remember every conversation in detail, how on earth are they supposed to 'guess out' what the other means. How are they supposed to confirm or deny that's what a certain word means in a way that can be understood, how can they even guess what the word the other guessed is IF THEY ARE BOTH TALKING IN CODE. KAFKA'S ANSWER: THEY'RE MONSTERS, THEY ARE JUST THAT SMART, NO NEED TO EXPLAIN IT BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST THAT SMART AND THAT'S YOUR SOLUTION AND THAT'S BULLSHIT. This scene broke bsd in half for me and honestly made me dislike Dazai for a long time (I got better), but it honestly shows so well how Kafka wanted to make his characters so smart he actually made his manga really fuckin stupid, ruining very good and interesting concept he had started with.

In the end, Kafka writes how I wrote when I was 15. With no idea where the plot is headed, adding new characters and situations whenever it strikes his fancy whether they work for the story or not, ending up just flopping around plot holes and fizzled out character arcs and boring ass writing. And that's fine for a 15yr old writing fanfiction. It's not fine for a presumably grown ass published author of a relatively popular manga.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

#anon #bsd #if you like bsd dont read this i tear it apart #BUT KAFKA MAKES ME SO ANGRY AAAAA #IVE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH POTENTIAL WASTED SO EFFECTIVLY

7 notes · View notes

coffeechin · 3 years

Text

A Doctor’s Word

Warning: Slight gore? Mentions of blood

We all wish for that wonderful and stable life.

One where we may relax and lay back from a hard day’s work and just look back to all the accomplishments done on that very morning you woke up.

Yes, that would be an ideal life wouldn’t it?

Sadly, because of that selfish wish, I ended up losing my life in this so called manor game leading myself and some others trapped in a world that would now become our now home.

All because of the guilt and crimes I’ve done when I was still alive. If ever I can, I’d stop myself from going to the path of greed. But alas my goal to find a permanent home was far too strong than it should have. Since I were younger, we have been moving from one place to another, the thought of settling on one place was never an option to us. As long as there is something of worth in that place we will stay until it was time to leave again. Before, it was always for the sake of surviving, as what they would told me. But over time it became tiring, boring even. Despite being born in a middle-class family, I’ve never felt stable, the distaste of needing to move and not living securely caught up to me, it was hard to ask if one day we could live in a peaceful place where we can relax and be in peace for I know what the answer would be.

Can I blame them? Of course not. As time gradually pass. I’ve grown to resent life and what it has recently gave me. For the sake of surviving and reaching my goals, I’ve become bitter and cold towards the things around me. In order to achieve our goals, we must do something out of the ordinary, and that was something I was willing to take. I took it upon myself to learn medicine and entered the medical field. I wish to provide a safe and secure place for those who cannot and provide myself that sense of security as well. At first it would only be those simple treatment to the wounds, or how to heal a broken bone, and then gradually I started to learn the different drugs and methods in medical work for long hours and days of studying, I’ve slowly saw the life coming back to me and soon I saw a more bigger picture. Once I know I’m ready I opened my own clinic. “The Lydia Jones Clinic” It sounded wonderful. From opening the clinic, I also did voluntary work at the White sand street asylum, I’ve met so many patients, and each were unique and interesting in their own way. As a doctor, I’ve set my own morals or method to myself. This word became my guide and reassurance: “Always practice on yourself so that you never harm a patient, the wellbeing of the patient is always a doctor's sole purpose, never give or provide guidance to harmful drugs even with request from the patient” Things all went smoothly at first, but then not all happy days will last after all. Soon my clinic was losing funds due to it not being able to turn in profit. All of my hard work were being thrown down the drain. At this point I was desperate to return my clinic to its former glory. Because of these desperate attempts. I didn’t think too clearly, I ended up betraying the very morals I’ve set up on myself. I opened illegal surgeries mostly for the women who wishes for an abortion. It was a risky move, but I was willing to do all I can.

The first time was when after opening the illegal surgery for the young women. A woman, with brown medium length hair and big curious eyes came in she heavily resembled a young girl back in the asylum, she was my first patient in relation with the surgery. She asked if I can actually remove the unborn child inside of her and though I confidently said yes and assured her that it would be done smoothly, deep in myself I knew that I wasn’t ready. I knew nothing about the procedures done in abortion. But at this point, it’s already here, I can’t turn her away.

But the very next thing that happened was something I hoped not to happen, blood, the rich deep red colour was everywhere in the surgery room. The woman who came to me earlier this morning seeking for help, now lie lifeless on the table. Her eyes still staring up to me. My hands were shaking, my whole body was trembling, No! No! This wasn’t supposed to happen! It should have been a simple and clean procedure. Calm down Lydia, no one shall know. Yes, no one CAN know. Without realizing I did another unthinkable thing, I took the knife out of her stomach and began dismembering her, I made sure she would be unnoticeable stabbing her face a couple of times for good measure. After so I stuffed the damaged body in a trash bag and left her somewhere where no one would find it. It was a rather risky move, but I will not let anyone know of this incident. After so, I’ve remind continue doing both of this work and serving in the asylum. Searching for more answers regarding the children’s mental state, I came to realize how much the therapies being done to these children were more damaging than actually helping them. I’ve learned how the mentally ill children, were cause because of either trauma or experiencing unwanted events. And then, the young Lisa beck. Diving deep into her history, I’ve come to realize that the woman that came to my clinic that resembled her so much, was actually her mother. Martha Remington.

What I did was unthinkable, it wasn’t how a doctor should act. And yet because of my eagerness and greediness to get more money. I had broken the very morals I had set on myself and proceed to do things that were not in my comfort. And now, I robbed a child from her mother! What have I done? All I wanted was for that stable and secure life, and I ended up paying the price for my wrong doings. The news of Miss Remington’s corpse was found after a bunch of hungry hounds were scavenging for food and tore one of the trash bag that contained her dismembered body. I knew that the police was soon to follow me, so despite not wanting to leave my now striving clinic, I had too. I wrote a letter to one of the sisters addressing the problems the asylum has and claiming that I won’t be able to work there for a long time. I was now on the run, I am now a wanted person for accidently killing a client in a failed abortion. I re-named myself as Emily Dyer And I had a new goal, and it was to ensure the safety and to cure Lisa beck. I remembered back then when I broke my morals again and did the electro shock therapy on young Lisa. I felt horrible, I said that I will protect her and yet I did the therapy on her. Today, I followed her to the famous Otleteus Manor as per invitation from the duke. Where she tends the garden all by herself. She changed her name to Emma Woods and as far as I see it. She seemed to be doing fine. I needed to make sure she is fine, Mr Pierson seems to have an odd interest to her. But he doesn’t seem to look rather trustful. As though I thought Miss Lisa or now as she is known by Emma would be fine, I was wrong. She came up to me one day and said how the scare crow talked to her. Scare crows don’t talk the last time I checked, I told her to be careful around Mr Pierson since he cannot be trusted. My attempts of protecting Miss Woods fell short, when I got captured by the hunter. Such a big mistake for me to trust the man who I thought was an ally. And yet even He didn’t survive from getting his soul stuck in this manor along with us. Miss Woods doesn’t seem to mind. In the end, all those unspoken words and promises I told myself were fulfilled in a way. I wonder…..where fate will lead us now we are stuck in an eternal loop.

((AN: so this is a short fic regarding how i saw Emily's deduction and story. I know that there are some parts of the story that's a lil mixed up and if it is pls do correct me, Like i said this is how i saw Emily's deduction story. I hope you like it! please tell me how it is! and maybe i might write more for the other charcters or charcter of your choice? thank you!))

#identity V #idv #idv doctor #emily dyer #Emma woods #idv gardener

10 notes · View notes

mangolover · 3 years

Text

Rules

- Ah, rules~! - We are taught to obey them on one side, and break them on the other. - But please, for the sake of peace here, obey them. - I do not intend to be a kidergarden teacher and bend to your every will - I am human, just like you all are, but if you aren’t, then welcome as well, please feel free to stay! - So as a human I know damn well, we all make mistakes, That is totally okay and normal and is sometimes welcome. Only from our own mistakes do we learn the best. - So I will not be cold-hearted and immediately block and report you all. Instead, just like in sports, there will be penalties. Get 2 (two) of them and you’re out for good.

So, without further ado, here are the basic rules that you must follow if we want this to work:

1. Be respectful and kind towards everyone.

This may be an escape for a lot of us and we do not need someone to be unkind and disrespectful. Please get away and dni if you will be a human scum.

2. Do not repost my writing anywhere else.

As much as it flatters me that you like my writings and wish to share it with others, I only intend to post my writing by myself. If I ever post it somewhere else, I’ll make sure to let you all know.

3. My asks and dm/pm/inbox are always open if you need someone to talk.

I am here for you, but please beware that I am not by any means a professional that can offer you long-term help. I can offer you my love, empathy and graditue, maybe even few laughs, but I, sadly, can not help you with your meantal or any other issues. I am truly sorry for that.

Now we got to rules about requests.

First of all, request are open right now.

But please read the following before requesting something to be written:

1. No NSFW/lemon/smut requests!

I am uncomfortable writing those things as I do not have the experience needed. Other than that I am a minor and I am not allowed to write full on explicit content. I will sprinkle a bit of “suggestive” content, like some kissing and flirting, but there will be no erotica.

2. Please do not ask me to write anything suggestive for characters that seem like kids.

A.k.a. Luke from Obey me!, Diona, Klee and Qiqi from Genshin Impact. I can write about minors, but I will definitely decline anything that includes romancing kids! I know that both Qiqi and Luke are probably older then a lot of us, but they are still shown as kids. Diona may be older, but she still looks like a kid and has feline a.k.a. cat, blood in her, so not only will it be weird to write for a kid, she’s also kinda a cat. And I love animals as pets that I pet and give cuddles and hugs, platonic love in other words. And Klee is a child, that’s confirmed.

3. Be as detailed as you can in your requests.

I can not read your mind nor do I plan to. I understand that you want to see some hcs for Diluc, but please, for the love of everything that’s holy, give me something to guide me.

4. Be patient.

I have a life outside my phone or computer screen. I have school and family that I have to give some of my time too. Besides that, I have my own personal needs that should be statisfied so I will not write 24/7. This is purely my hobby and I like writing myself stories that I can not find anywhere else, I just happen to share them with you if you also wish to read something like that.

5. Please read if request are open or not.

I do not want to reject any of you, but if I get some amount of requests, then I can not accept anymore becuase I would feel gulty if other request had to wait while I work on a newer one because that one gave me some inspiration and motivation.

6. I am free to turn down any ask/request that I may find uncomfortable or I feel like I can not do.

I will try to contact you, give my reasoning and see if we can come up with something else, but if we can not, I’m sorry I’ll have to delete it.

7. Dark themes will be written because I enjoy them a.k.a. a lot of angst.

But please be considerate of others when requesting something that may be a bit too triggering. Trigeger warnings will be placed!

8. Some yandere content may be written.

I do not, in any shape of form, find it cute. That is a serious mental health issue. But since I am open to writing outside of my comfort zone, that does not mean I will write to the extremes. I will not kill off a dozen of charcters that may just look at the reader, because their yandere s/o decided that they are trying to steal them or something. If you want that kind of content, please check some other amazing blogs out.

That’s pretty much it.

Follow the rules and let us enjoy our time together!

If you would like to return to the navigation post, press here.

#rules #rule post #my rules

4 notes · View notes

thesetrashimagines · 5 years

Text

Is That A Tail? Pt.2

GIF is not mine!

Thorins’Company x mermaid!reader

I own none of the charcters

Warnings: none

I hope you enjoy part 2!

https://thesetrashimagines.tumblr.com/post/187244363350/is-that-a-tail

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I’ve got it!”

Oh no...

You held your breath and squeezed your eyes tight. Maybe if I play dead they’ll leave me be. The barrel was tilted upwards and you could hear people gasp and then whispering started.

“Is that what I think it is?” there was a pause, “what do you think it is Mr.Bilbo?” At that there was a laugh. “Are you serious? Have you never heard of mermaids?”

Mermaids? I thought they dropped that name years ago.

“Mermaids? Those sound like the sea dwelling creatures my mother used to tell me about” You recognised that voice, it sounded like the green tunic figure from earlier. “Yes when we were elflings I remember now” And there was the other voice.

“Well are you gonna stare at it or are yougonna get it out.” That was the person who was yelling earlier, their voice had an authoritive tone behind it. A leader perhaps. Soon the barrel was tipped up right making you fall further into it, letting out a little puff of air as your back hit the bottom of the barrel. Now panic started to set in. You’ve heard enough stories about your people making contact with land dwellers, none of them had a happy ending. You held yourself a little tighter in fear.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you!” These words were pushed out rather quickly and in a paniced voice. That sounds like that ‘Mr.Bilbo’, but why is HE freaking out?! I’m stuck in a barrel with land dwellers! Oh the love of all creation! I’m gonna die!

“Whats got your hairy toes in a scuffle hobbit?” ‘Mr.Bilbo’ let out another laugh. “If that is a mermaid then you’re going to lose your hand sticking it in there!” There was another pause. “Are they known to bite?” ‘Mr.Bilbo’ laughed airly once more. “They’re known to eat people!”

You became quite offended by this. “Excuse me! Eating people?! Are you insane! Not only are you land dwellers terrifying, you also smell! Terribly I might add!” Rocking back and forth, you sent the barrel onto it’s side again and then you started to wiggle. “You land dwellers with your assumptions! Never in my life have I been so disrespected!” You sat up and tossed the barrel off of your head. Shaking your head around to fix your hair and then you glanced around. “Oh my...” There was a lot of people starring at you now, from the looks of it you could tell there was only 1 female amongst the 15 men. “You, your a mermaid” You looked over towards the voice. “And from my knowledge you seem to be a hobbit” You narrow your eyes at the man “A very rude hobbit claiming I eat land dwellers” He shifted his weight to the other leg and started gapping like a fish.

“I am terribly sorry miss, it’s only from stories” After tripping over his words for a bit, he finally managed to apologise. “Who are you?” The authoritive voice boomed towards you. Turning yourself slightly, you made eye contact with the man wearing a navy shirt and dark hair. “My name is Y/N and who are you?” The short man straightened up. “I am Thorin Oakenshield, king of Erebor” This took you by surprise “Erebor? I heard a dragon currently resides there” This made the other short men stiffen and someone even glared at you. “Yes that would be Smaug, but we are on our way to claim our home back” His words made you sympathise with them. “Dragons are...a very interesting bunch but they are not invincible despite what they think” You words caused everyone to look at you in shock now.

“You speak as if you’ve encountered a dragon before” You let out a small laugh. “Considering my people have bred, raised, owned, killed,and having been sharing our waters with dragons for thousands of years then yes, I’ve encountered a few” Thorins stare somehow hardened even more. “You are friends with those vile things?” You glanced at the water behind him. “Yes if I had to put a lable on our relationship with dragons I guess we would be ‘friends’ “ You put your hands up and air quoted when saying ‘friends’. “Land dragons are very, very different to aquatic dragons but I do know a few land dragons” You shifted feeling your tail get very dry and start to ache. “I was there when Smaug hatched” You turned yourself onto your stomach and lifted onto your hands and ‘walked’ yourself over to the water. “I must say he was cute back then” Swinging yourself in to the water you let out a content sigh.”He was the runt of the hatchlings though that didn’t matter when he decided to kill all but one of his siblings”.

“Cute? You dare call dat monster cute?! Do you ‘ave any bloody idea what that vile creature ‘as done to our people?!” A bald man with tattoos covering his head came stomping towards you. A few man ran quickly after him to hold him back from you.

“Now is not the time Dwalin” A man with white hair said beside him. Dwalin huffed and shook the hands grabbing him off. “I apologise for I don’t know of everything that happens on land but I will not lie to you when I say I know of Smaugs ways. He killed his own brother when he tried to tell Smaug that his ways will get him killed one day, he killed my...friend and had no remorse” You clenched your hands in the pebbles.” I was happy when I heard Smaug had taken over a mountain, I thought that finally I would no longer have to hear his taunts. Though if I knew it was your home I wouldn’t have felt that way. I hope you can forgive my forgetfullness” If you didn’t have a small lingering fear of these men you wouldn’t have apologised.

“It’s alright lass, but I gotta ask ya what did ya mean by ‘is taunts?” A man with dark curly braids and mustache asked. You looked at your hands, “he would stand over his brothers grave and tell us how pathtic he was for living in the water. He would say a real dragon breathes fire and creates distruction.” You looked at the man. “Even when he,himself,came from a water dwelling dragon” You let out a chuckle. “I’ll never forget the conversation my mother had with his. She was so happy her little runt took after his father but I suppose little Smaug was never happy” You looked over to the taller people behind the group of short men. “Excuse me but may I ask what you all are because I only know of hobbits from stories and sadly I do not recognise the rest of you” The men started to sit down on the sand. “We’re dwarves miss Y/N and those bean stalks back there are elves” Said a young blonde man who was smiling at you.”I’m Fili by the way”

You smiled back, making sure not to show your razor sharp teeth. “Well Mr.Fili I’ve never heard of dwarves,” Looking to the taller company. “Or elves.” A man with dark hair stepped forward. “Sorry to interrupt this conversation but if you need to use the barge now is a good time” You recognised him as a human, now he definitely shot some fear through you. Quickly pulling yourself away from the bank. “Where ya goin’ lass?” The man with curly braids asked. You let out a shakey breath and pointed your head down stream. “Away from him.” You heard your voice come out quietly. The human man turn towards you.

“Are you afraid of me?” Slowly you nodded your head. “I haven’t heard of the best stories about humans” Fili stepped towards you. “Miss Y/N he’s helping us, besides I wouldn’t let him hurt you” Fili was now crouched down in front of you. You looked at him in eyes “thank you Fili”

Before he could say anything, everyone around started going back into the barrels. “Come on FIli!” You both looked over to see the white haired dwarf call out.”You’ll follow us right?” You turned towards FIli, who was once again smiling at you.”I don’t know where you are going aside back to Erebor and I will not be able to follow you there. No water is up there.”

“Miss Y/N we are going to Laketown, theres plenty of water there” Now Mr.Bilbo spoke up and was grinning slightly. You let out a giggle “Yes I’ve been to Laketown once before.” Fili’s smile widen “Great! That means you’ll follow then?” Giggling again “If I am welcome to come then I don’t see why not, the waters been bland lately” Fili laughed at that then looked over his shoulder “Can she follow us uncle?” Thorin looked around to the others for any objections and to your surprise no one said anything until. “She’s only comin’ to tell us SMaugs weak spots, if she’s known that creature since he was a hatchling then she’s gotta know something” Your eyes widened when Dwalin spoke, he was agreeing to you coming?

“I guess you have a point there” Bilbo tagged in

A sharp pain when through your body making you gasp loudly. Everyone looked over to you now. “What’s the matter lassie?” The curly braided dwarf came over next to Fili. “I.....I’m not s-sure” Your head was getting dizzy. “Miss Y/N you’re bleeding!” Bilbo came running over. Looking down you noticed he was right, the scrapes you recieved from falling between the rocks were bleeding turning the water a dark purple colour. You remember feeling your scales being torn off and the cuts stinging. “Yes it seems I uh I am” Your tail started to sieze, trying to tred water hurt too much. “I guess all the excitement is wearing off” You let out a airy laugh, pulling yourself forward and back onto the river bank. Getting onto your back and sitting up you could see where your scales were missing and bleeding. “oh goodness...I’m-I’m a me-mess”

Then your vision went black.

#mermaid #mermaid!reader #mermaid!au #companyxreader #the hobbit #the hobbit imagine #lotr imagine #lotr #lotr fanfic #the hobbit fanfiction

67 notes · View notes

simonjadis · 5 years

Note

What's the difference between a "natural narrative payoff" and a popular fan theory that seems plausible but isn't something the writer actually had in mind? Because my experience in fandom has taught me how slippery of a slope this mentality can be. Like... really based on presumptions and a whole lot of guesswork.

It’s absolutely a slippery slope! and there are way too many examples of both good and bad writing to fit into one answer, but

fan service: despite the disparaging way that people use this term, it is not always bad. it’s usually something harmless that fans have wanted to see, like an attractive hero covered in puppies for Plot Reasons, or someone repeat a beloved line, or two characters meeting because they’ll love/hate each other and fans have wanted to see it.

fan theory: an abundance of these usually means that your readers (or viewers, or players) are really engaging well with a piece of media. it can also mean that the piece of media is withholding too much. if something is common knowledge among most or all characters (specifically protagonists), you probably want your audience to know it, too. there are rare and very specific exceptions like when a story plays games with the audience’s perceptions (like “Eye of the Beholder,” a classic Twilight Zone episode)

continued beneath the cut

actually writing a story works differently for different people. I like to think of building a world and characters as being like designing one of those elaborate marble slides where a marble goes through a rube goldberg machine-type apparatus. you control it all by choosing the size and weight and material of the marble, which then can fit in certain places or can knock over or be impeded by certain things. you also control the worldbuilding, which in this case means slopes and grooves and blocks and pulleys etc.

once it’s all perfectly set up, the marble needs to naturally get from the starting point to the desired endpoint. if you have to pick up your marble and force it between any two points of the obstacle course, then you’ve made some mistakes along the way. readers will notice if a character suddenly does something unexpected. this can be okay – if there’s something about that charcter’s backstory that they don’t yet know. but characters doing or saying things inconsistently, or suddenly having a reversal of personality without explanation, is going to get noticed

if you’re telling a story and don’t want to change your character or setting but want things to go a certain way, you can do that – just add a new character, one who makes sense in the setting, and they’ll get the ball rolling. like adding an NPC to help herd your D&D players towards an intended path

a satisfying conclusion usually includes elements of justice. this can be for the world, for characters, or even for the audience. this doesn’t just mean justice for bad people – in fact, if every bad person gets what’s coming to them, some audiences will consider it unrealistic, depending upon your story and setting. some people will find the end more satisfying if it’s a half-victory – a princess becomes queen but loses the one she loves, a prince who fought to reclaim his kingdom hands it over to someone more qualified so he can run off with the knight he now loves. in those cases, there should be foreshadowing and characterization that this could be the outcome

you also want your ending to be narratively satisfying. if a number of what seemed like important plotlines or revelations turned out to be totally irrelevant or seemingly forgotten, there needs to be a very good reason or it may seem like bad writing.

if you’re suddenly ignoring worldbuilding or characterization because it’s inconvenient for your story, it will probably look like bad writing

at the same time, if you look like you’re just letting fan theories or “cool moments” play out for the sake of making people happy, too much of that is also … bad writing. people want to be pleased, but they want for it to make sense. if thinking about how something happened makes it all unravel, well, it’s bad writing

and of course surprising fans with a twist or subverting expectations can be an amazing storytelling tool – but not every time. dare I say it, not most of the time.

this is very specifically my take on all of this

no one choice is going to please everyone, but I think that making a good person very abruptly make different choices is usually a mistake, particularly at the end of their story (it may sound like I’m talking about one character or series in particular, but there are sadly multiple examples)

some people have wildly different storytelling styles! we all have different preferences for how stories are built and told

two big recommendations for media that knew exactly where they were going when they started? Babylon 5 and Steven Universe.

#writing #storytelling #anon #ask #anon ask

27 notes · View notes

angelreys-blog · 5 years

Text

Change...it's inevitable.

Life is a guarantee of only one thing....change. It seems we are always experiencing some form of it whether in relationships, employment, finances, living conditions, etc. In some of these cases we want and crave change and it seems to come slow. Other change comes unexpected and is sadly often tragic or traumatic. But change comes none the less. In fact, some life changes we have actually named. Menopause is known as "the change" for women and "mid-life crisis" for men. Yes, I believe men go through menopause. Lol! When all of our children leave the house, which is a huge adjustment in the world of change, we call that "empty nest". Of course the hardest changes are those that involve relationships and finances.

Friends come and go, only few are lifelong, if we have the privilege of experiencing a life long friend. Sometimes family or those we deem family separate themselves in some way or another, sometimes through divorce, and ironically sometimes through marriage. Other times it is just due to life taking people in different directions or those people trying to figure out the direction of their life; whatever the case...change will come and how we deal with those changes has a great deal to do with the core of our charcter as a human being, the growth or deterioration of that character.

The last couple years in my own life have been the most challenging I have ever faced in my adulthood. My life was introduced to financial disaster, loss of loved ones, friends, businesses, credit, our credibility, and sadly whatever good reputation we had because people judge based only on what they see right in front of them or worse what they hear from others. What we had worked to build over years was lost in what seemed like a moment. A loss so great for us as it involved every aspect of our lives. It hasn't just been financial in losing our businesses, income, and properties, including our home. We lost friends that were family to us. We saw separation within our immediate family. We walked through an immediate family member recieve a diagnosis of cancer and within a few months was gone. It was all incredibly devastating.

I had never felt more alone in life and many times asked God to let me die because I couldn't figure out how to overcome this life-altering place I was in. At that time we lived in a town that printed everything in the paper and to put it mildly we were a weekly occurance due to the lawsuits from the downfall of my husbands company. We tried to sell whatever we could, pay what we could, but ultimatley the debt was so large we couldn't seem to make a dent. The downfall of my husband's business and the people it hurt nearly destroyed him. He went into a dark place that I didn't know he would ever escape from. He wanted to drown out the voices, the death threats, the bill collectors, and the loss he couldn't fix. Our marriage nearly ended and frankly I don't really know how we were able to survive except for the love and grace of God.

I found myself hiding away rarely ever leaving the house unless it was absolutely necessary. I would pray I didn't see anyone because I couldn't take hearing another person tell me they saw our names in the paper again with their judgement and disdain. Not that they intended to be hurtful, or most anyway, they didn't understand how awful it had been and any reminder of it only threw me backwards. Only a few people actually took the time to find out the whole story, most just believed whatever they read or whatever someone else told them. The hardest part was that most of those who were Believers with us never reached out with any form of real help or advice even when we sought it. I saw a side of Christiandome that I hope I can be part of changing.

It seemed when we were doing well we were accepted, supported, help was more then available. When our world fell apart it was as if we had leprosy and everyone scattered. I am not talking about one church in particular. We knew people that attended several different churches. I'm talking about the church as a whole. I am not angry or bitter. I even somewhat understand because I used to behave the same way before this to some degree. Not that I realized it then but certainly do now.

We had only God and some small shred of hope that we had some kind of fight left in us.

Now, a couple years later, still walking through the aftermath of it all as we face the only choice we had left to attempt to rebuild our lives; we see so many things we could not see until healing began.

We don't blame "the church" or those Christians who chose to judge rather than to help. They were just following the examples set before them that sadly teaches when your doing we'll God is blessing you and when your not it must be because your disobedient. Though I realize my situation is not fully comparable to Job's, and though I cannot claim that we didn't make some mistakes and bad choices along the way, I certainly have an understanding about how he must have felt that I didn't have before. I have also found that I am certainly less likely to assume whats happening in someones life than I once was, which I am truly grateful for. God allowed this for a purpose and my part in all of it is to take responsibility of my own behaviors, actions, and decisions. For me to learn and grow and use it to help others. Especially those in similiar situations reminding them they are not alone.

I cannot know what is yet to come or how all of this will work out but my God does. This has not turned me from Him but has pressed me into a deeper place with Him. I could be angry because He could have stopped all this but He never promised me a wonderful life on earth. Yes, he did say we would have life abundantly but that is very different than comfort and ease though sometimes He does allow us those pleasures. However, the definition of abundant is actually this...existing or available in large quantities; plentiful. I don't believe Jesus was talking about money and comfort here but instead he was talking about Himself. That He is available to those who believe in Him and call on His name and accept with thier whole heart that He is the life, the truth, and the only way to God, the Father. He was saying that with Him at our side, no matter what we face, we will have life abundantly because of the inner joy only He can provide. That peace passes all understanding. In fact, He told us that in this world we will have trouble but not to worry because He conquered the world. He is the abundance, not what the world has to offer.

He has shown me there is so much good in all of this hardship and loss. These irreplaceable understandings and lessons that are priceless. Without this dark place my character could not have further developed positively, my faith would not have been rooted deeper, and my eyes could not have been given a greater depth of vision to see hardship differently.

Here's my conclusion...

Don't assume...if you want to know ask but only if you want to know because you truly care about the well being of the person your asking. Otherwise it is just for the sake of gossip.

If you are afraid to ask but genuinely want to help, don't speak what you don't know but instead pray fervently for God's will in the life of whomever you are praying for or whatever situation you are praying over.

If you are the one going through a great hardship, let yourself feel but don't give yourself that permission without also being in the Word to help guide you through it. The enemy will always use our dark places to attempt to turn us against God. We must guard ourselves.

If you are facing a situation you cannot fix, especially one that has caused hardship for others, you have to decide to trust that God is fixing it in His time. We do not often understand God's ways and He reminds us of that when He says in the Word...My ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts. God never allows something that won't end up benefitting many. Whatever He is teaching you through your situation, He is using to teach whomever has been effected what He wants them to learn as well. Trust in His timing even when others talk about you, say you have no right to do God's work or even proclaim to be a Believer. Don't ever forget they said those same things about our Savior and He reminds us in His Word that we are not greater than our Master. So stand firm and walk out the path God has you on however long it may take to make things right.

Lend a hand. When you see someone hurting, no matter what you may feel, take them for coffee or dinner. Make them laugh or simply listen and then pray with them right there. We all need to hear and feel those prayers so don't be afraid to be bold in that. It is truly the most encouraging and uplifting thing we can do for one another.

Even if you disagree with someones opinion, don't argue. If what they seem to believe doesn't line up with the Word and they claim to be a Christian ask them how often they read the Word. Most of the time they aren't reading and studying it. Being in church and listening to a preacher or listening to other preachers, speakers, or teachers is not listening to God. God is our teacher first. Everyone else should simply be confirmation of what God is teaching us and if they aren't, stop listening! Encourage others in love to read what the actual writer Himself wrote. Even if its only two verses a day to start. Then pray over them every time you think of them.

Lastly, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We live in a world that screams...ITS ALL ABOUT ME! ME! ME! Thats not what Jesus taught us. Attempt to put yourself in someone elses place. Get to know them and learn a bit about where they come from and what they have walked through and you might find yourself surprised at how understanding someone can change your perception.

There it is again...change. It may be inevitable but how we respond to it often holds more power and influence than we can understand.

Learn from every situation and change well.

1 note · View note

hazbinextgeneration · 3 years

Text

Down The Rabbithole Ch1

(A story based on the concept art of Vivziepop's old project Allison. I do not own any of the charcters, I just wanted to make a story of it based off my own headcannons. If you don't know what it is please go look it up. It was made by the same person who made Hazbin Hotel.)

Allison Gale is newly turned twenty two fresh out of college and just learnt her grandmother had sadly passed away and had left everything to Allison. Well, she doesn't have any place else to go so why not move out of state? But unluckily for her, she's about to get dragged down the rabbit hole by a crazy but familiar old face.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

It was a beautiful day.

The sun rays shone down upon the world as the calm quiet woods sounded with the life of birds and insects happy the sun warmed them from up above. The light shone through the tree leaves as their branches leaned over the road and blocked most of the sunlight, casting long shadows to dance on the old dirt road that only lead deeper and deeper into the forbidden woods- Well almost forbidden. The yellow blur of the taxi as it kicked up dirt was the only thing interrupting the silence of the silent woods as it sped down the dust path. Shining light went inside the cab and caught on the dark reddish-brown eyes attached to the sweet strawberry blonde haired lady as she stared out of the window watching the green world go by. It's was almost like a dream to come back all these years to the place she used to play and live as a small little girl. Running through the woods, climbing trees, swimming in the giant pond, playing with her blue furred imaginary and her granny coming out to find her and dragging her back in again. She almost smiled remembering the thoughts, or she would have if another thought didn't hit her. What would her granny say if she saw her no? Washed up without a job and dropped out of college at twenty two. A great way to start off life, am I right? A small bump sent her jostling and reaching a hand over to grab the large suitcase in the set next to her and the smaller gym bag on top of that, scrambling to not them fall on the bed of the car as another bump threatened to send them over again...When no more bumps can after a few moments she slowly let go and sighed when they didn't fall over and leaned back into her seat.

"You ok back there?," the cab driver bluntly asked not even taking his eyes off the road. His tone was just bored instead of that chipper happy tone from when she got rides back in her own town.

She pushed some of that strawberry blonde hair out of her face and taking a breath. "Y-Yeah. I-I'm ok. Thanks." He didn't answer her back and she sighed, looking back out the windows at all the pine trees and other nature scenes. "This forest sure is big."

"It's the Oceanic Forest. Our world is one half water and these woods make up a big chunk of it what land we have left." She jumped slightly and blinked back at him. He muttered something else under his breath she didn't quite catch, his black eyes seemed almost nervous gazing out at the woods like he was expecting some kind of monster to pop out in front of him and glance back up at her with a almost stern look. "....Some folks say this place is cursed. Cursed for thousands of years."

"I-I know, but it all sounds rather silly." She shook her head and looked back out the window with a small smile. "Fairies and strange powers that doom anyone who harms the forests. Heard it over and over before. Curse thee those who's hearts are easily closed minded." She gave a chuckle to it all trying to lighten the mood but stopped once her eyes looked over and caught him giving her a stern look through the rear view mirror.

"These aren't things that should be joked about young lady. If I had it my way, I'd turn around right here and now and drive back as fast as I could to the safety of the sidewalks and man made houses." His eyes darted back to the brightly lit dirt road and even though it was daytime he acted like it was night time and something would jump out at them at any given second. "B-But lucky for you my boss would have my hide if I turned down any job. I've seen things. Strange things. That no one could explain in these very woods."

Her eyes scrunched up in curiousity and perhaps mild fear at why he was acting so weird. "Like what exactly?"

"Shadows! If you look out right now and look around you may or may not see one!" He stated matter of factly and looked around quickly again at the peaceful woods. "It doesn't matter if it's day or night for them. They'll always move around waiting for their victims, but as long as you stay out they'll leave you alone. Oh, nono. They'll creep to the very EDGE of the last tree that begins the forest line and reach out for you I heard. Snatch you if you get too close. But they'll never fully leave the safety of their vast woods. Just never go into the woods and stay away, and you will always b-be safe." His voice trembled as his grip on the steering wheel increased. "May god have mercy on the poor souls who don't heed the warnings and travel to places they don't belong."

Another moment of silence passed and she temporarily gazed out the window. She didn't know why but she squinted her eyes out the window at the forest surrounding them and especially the shadows. There wasn't anyway she was superspicious but looking never- She jumped seeing something move behind a tree, but quickly relaxed when her brain registered it as a deer. The poor thing ran off probably from the car speeding through it's home and she smiled. Fairies and shadow ghost and curses. And she supposed Santa Clause and the Sand Man were right around the corner too. Her small smile returned as she looked over to the driver again.

"And I don't suppose there's a legend behind these woods too is there?" She couldn't help but sound a little amused which still made him irritated.

"This isn't funny! People say these woods were cursed by demons and witches thousands of years ago. Making this place a literal hell on earth!"

"Well. I grew up in these woods. And nothing ever bad happened to me or my granny when she was alive," she said smiling back out into the beautiful woods, "I played in the woods all the time as a kid, and I never saw any scary shadows or anything."

...."Then you're really lucky young lady." He seemed to almost shudder with his next warning. "If I were you I'd handle up whatever business I had with this dead grandma's place and get out of here."

...This time she scowled. "I can't! She left it to me, a-and I don't have anywhere else to go." Her face glanced off to the floor of the cab as her faced turned sour. Remembering the faces of the landlord who happily evicted her for bills she couldn't pay anymore, the cousin who conveniently didn't have any room for her to stay, or the teacher who wouldn't let her go back to school when she couldn't afford the college anymore. Working the dead end job at the local pizza place wasn't enough money and she only had a highschool degree. God she really did mess up huh?

"Mark my words. Nothing good could ever come from this place. Just don't say I didn't warn you, Kid."

The rest of the trip there was rather peaceful except for the man staring at the woods around them with a scared matter, until she saw it. Pale white paint chipping off the old looking brown wood giving the small house an old abandoned look. It was-...Not lot she remembered. And it only made it more apparent when they got closer. The old metal fence was barely hanging into it's place in the ground and wild vines were all plastered over it, making the tall grass and weeds look even more eerily. It...It looked like the place had been abandoned for years as it rolled closer and eventually loomed over them with a shadow once they came to a stop right in front of it. She just...stared at it. This wasn't the same white house and neat yard she remembered from when she was little-

"That's no house, that's termites holding hands...No offense."

"...I-It's ok. Nothing a lawnmower and paint can't fix."

He hummed. "Well my job's done. Grab your stuff and get out so I can leave."

She looked to him and blinked. "You're not going to help me?"

He looked around to her with a stern face and gripped the steering wheel tighter, "Lady! I ain't getting out of this cab and getting snatched up!"

She scowled but didn't argue when she pushed her door open and got out, turning around and grabbing her bags, pulling the heavy suitcase and bag out and hitting the ground with a thud, she scowled and mumbled to herself before slamming the door shut and dragging them a few feet away from the- SCREEE!! A cloud of blinding dust and screeching tires suddenly hit her and filled her lungs. Those hands went up to cover her mouth and wave at the air in a futile attempt to swat away the dirt stinging her eyes and making her eyes sting. Reddish-brown eyes blinked and through the settling dust and saw the faint sight of a blurry yellow taxi speeding away with a dust trail kicking up behind it. A growl escaped her throat and she scowled at the fading menace.

"HEY!! YOU JERK!!", She yelled back. Not that it would do her any good now or ever.

She groaned loudly and with a grunt, she leaned back down to grab the two giant and heavy bags filled with personal belongings and began to pull and tug them towards the house. That took a while with her small form heaving the objects through the tall weeds and grass towards the front door of the old home the shadow of the old place looking over her swallowing her whole and blocking out the sunlight, once she got to the porch she stopped though. Looking over the steps with a scowl before sighing, and continuing, the luggage thumping and jarring being pulled past each step. It always seemed like it was harder bringing things up stairs than down don't you think? One back breaking pull later, they were redropped onto the hard old porch and she sighed. Hands going to her back as she stretched it out with a pop and brown-red eyes looked around the front door and everything around it. ...Where did the lawyer say the key was again? OH!! RIGHT!! She quickly looked to her feet and smiled at the old welcome mat under her, stepping off and leaning down to grab and lift it, underneath was a small golden key that looked to match the doorknob. With a smile she stoof back up and went to insert it into the keyhole, with a twist and click, it opened. She just stood there as the door very loudly opened revealing the inside of the house and it-......It looked exactly as she remembered. The large living room opened up to her was littered in old worn furniture, a small shelf lined with her grandmother's old glass figurine collection still stood there as small shiny glass statues ranging from a small cat to a couple kissing each other stood proudly. She remembered sitting by the fireplace right next to it staring at the figurines and making up stories about those figurines. How the couple was a secret runaway princess and her lover. How the ballerina next to them was the greatest dancer in the world with many admires, how the cat was a glass version of her imaginary friend. She giggled remembering the funny things they would get into when she was younger. Everything looked the exact same. It was almost like-...she never left. As if she turned her head- Her eyes turned to glance at the old rocking chair by the fireplace- her granny would still be right there. Rocking back and forth, knitting her whatever new sweater or clothes she needed. Like she said when she was a little girl:

"You don't need distractions like television and all that nonsense. The woods and imagination take you places other's can't even dream about-"

"Go play. Create fantasies a bundle." She slowly muttered to herself. She still stared at the rocking chair, a light breeze blowing in through the open door, blowing her hair around and the rocking chair moved just slightly in the wind. ....She sadly smiled and turned back around. Discarding the key into her pocket and turning back to the luggage still sitting behind her on the porch with a sigh. She still had a lot of work to do. So that's why five minutes later she was pulling both bags across the floor one giant tug at a time, she would go one bag at a time but she just wanted to get this over with. It was when she encountered the stairs leading up to the second floor of the building when she wished she had superpowers of flight or teleportation or strength. It'd make things very easier, but alas magic didn't exist. While going up the stairs she passed by different picture frames hung on the walls, some really old black and white photos, others looking a bit more modern but still older. An old black n white photo of her young grandparents on their wedding day, a new one of her granny as a young lady, another of her holding a younger version of her- She stopped and stared at the picture of herself...A younger her. She remembered the day this was taken. Mother's day when she was just six years old, she made her and her granny matching flower crowns and she took the photo...She smiled a bit at the fond memories of giggling and sweet scented flowers. Before she grunted and started pulling again. The heavy bags hitting each step making a giant thump sound that vibrated through the empty house. She passed the mirror hanging against the wall as well and if she would've taken a look at it she might've seen the pink and yellow strange mitchmatched eyes blinking at her from the fan on the ceiling as she continued to grunt and pull the heavy thing up the stairs away from the mirror, but those eyes remained glued on her as the small blue person just blinked and turned as she reached the top of the stairs. She gave a sigh...before grunting and starting to pull the thing towards the old bedroom she used to stay in. The pink door to the far right. The small blue figure on the ceiling fan tilted his head at the obvious struggling before she just dropped them with a growl to the floor. Looking at them for a long moment before giving them a kick of frustration and turning to the pink door. She hesitated....before pushing it wide open and walking in. The small blue figure tilted his head to the right before blinking, arching his body and shaking lightly before hopping down off the fan and landing to the floor with the softest thud. He crept over to the doorway and poked their head in to watch her. She looked all around the small room. Faded beige walls with flower wall paper stared back at her, a regular sized bed, dresser, and desk lined the left wall and a small shelf with old toys and books leaned against the other side. A smile came to her face seeing the old pictures still tacked onto the wall. One of a crudely drawn grandma and child holding hands and another next to them a small blue crudely drawn kitty wearing some kind of white shirt and red bowtie. Unconciously she raised a hand and touched the picture with a smile at the memories. Oh the adventures she had as a child. She missed the small blue head (that looked oddly like a better version of the blue cat in the drawing) when she turned back to the door and went over to regrab at the heavy things, grunting as she pulled them in and laid them in the middle of the floor and sighed. Before unzipping the first bag on top and reaching inside to pull out a pair of clothes. These things wouldn't put themselves away, and she had a lot of work to do later fixing up the place and cleaning all the dust up.

The small figure that hid from before peeked out from the top of the doorway upside down and kept quickly ducking whenever she turned her head in that direction. Always missing the figure as she worked to unpack and definitely didn't see the wide fanged grin. Or hear the mischevious giggles. Or even hear the playful voice.

"Welcome back, Allison."

1 note · View note

ynsimagines · 6 years

Text

Supergirl: Tessa Danvers: Chapter 1

I don’t own supergirl, the only charcter that’s mine is Tessa. Without further ado meet Tessa Danvers, everyone.

I sighed as I looked up at the clock for what felt like the hundredth time. I was in my last class of the day, and couldn’t wait for it to end. I was in my sophomore year of college, and sometimes I wondered if I was wasting my time maybe I should just pursue make-up and you-tube full time. Though I knew my mother and sisters would kill me if I did that. Hell, they didn’t even know about the whole you-tube thing. After what felt like another year class finally let out. I looked at my phone I realized I had a text message from Kara. “Your going to help me get ready tonight, right?”

I rolled my eyes slightly over the fact that she even asked that question, and resisted the urge to say “duh”.

I choose to say “Of course” instead.

I arrived at the apartment Kara and I shared, “thank Rao, your here, I have no Idea what I’m gonna wear.”

“The dilemma of every women that’s ever gone on a date.” I sighed, “but come on lets see what you’ve got.”

We had narrowed it down to a couple of different options when there was a knock. Kara opened the door to reveal our older sister Alex with a very serious look on her face.

“I have a conference in Geneva and I need to be on a plane in 2 hours.”

“And I have a blind date in a half an hour and I need you both to help me pick out what to wear.” Kara exclaims.

“Why do you have to do this to me, and Tess?” Alex grins walking into the apartment.”

“Because your my sisters, and you both love me.”

“Your right,” I nodded. “We narrowed it down to two choices.”

Somehow the process of Kara picking out an outfit for her date turned into discussing her early mid-life crisis. So Kara ranted while me and Alex tried to decide between the blue or the coral shirt.

“You always wanted to be normal.” said Alex.

“Yeah, having a crappy boss, and nothing to wear this is what normal looks like,” I added. Although if I was being honest it was always pretty sad to me how Kara decided not to use her powers.

"Kara, you’ve got a good job, you’re cute,-”

“Yeah, and thanks to your alien DNA you can’t get pimples.” I said, causing Kara to giggle.

“I want food, is pizza ok?” I asked heading into the kitchen.

“Yeah, you know the number.”

By The time I got back I noticed that Alex helped Kara make her final decision, and was getting ready to leave.

“Stay out of trouble, do your schoolwork, and I’ll call you when I’m back.” She said hugging me “Love you kiddo.”

“Love you too sis.”

“Tess, I need help,” I walked over to kara, and took the hair tie from her leave it down. I finger combed my fingers through her hair before moving it all to one side.

“Perfect,” asked Kara.

“Yeah.”

“Perfect,” asked Kara.

“Yeah.”

“Yes, do you have any idea how amazing you currently look?” I exclaimed.

At that she smiled, “thanks, I have no idea what id do without you.”

“Keel over, and die, so you’re gonna have a good time on your date, and when you get back I wanna hear all about it.”

“Yeah, okay.” She said giving me a hug and a kiss, “Don’t touch the pizza till I get back.”

“No promises.”

A couple hours later I was sitting on the couch eating a piece of pizza, and editing my latest video when Kara came back into the apartment covered head to toe in water. I stud up from the spot, my eyes widened at the sight of kara.

“What the hell happened to you?”

“I promise I’ll tell you in a second, I just really need to change out of these clothes.”

I turned on the tv while I waited for Kara when the news caught my attention. Too my shock they were talking about a plane crash, with no one other then my sister standing on top of the plane.

“Well I guess I don’t need to explain anymore.” Before I knew what I was doing I latched on to Kara hugging her tightly.

“I’m so proud of you,” I said trying not to get overly emotional.

“Really?” she asks almost in tears like I am.

I nodded, “Ever since you got here you’ve wanted so badly to help people, and tonight you finally did that.” I told her.

Kara smiled at me, “thanks Tess,” she said pulling me in for another hug, and kissing the top of my head.

“Now come on I’m starving,” sh said guiding me back over to the couch.

“Yeah, saving an airplane tends to work up an appetite,” I joked causing Kara to give me a playful nudge.

“Guardian angel or human wrecking ball?”

“What?” Kara gasped out, I gently patted her on the back to try and calm her down, of course not everyone’s gonna have something nice to say, but Kara proceeded to stand up and yell at the t.v. causing me to roll my eyes.

“Oh my god.” We both turned around in surprise to see Alex standing there. She clearly wasn’t happy, but Kara was oblivious as she excitedly ran up to Alex and went on one of her rambles.

“Are you okay?” asked Alex.

“Me?, Am I okay, are you okay?”

“Wait why wouldn’t Alex be okay?” I asked confused. My oldest sister looked at me for a minute knowing I would figure it out when it hit me.

“Oh my god, you were on that plane,” I said in shock. My legs started to feel like jelly, like they wouldn’t be able to hold me up anymore.

"Tess, I’m okay” said Alex putting her hands on my shoulders in reassuring big sister mode. I nodded feeling only little better, but putting on a brave face.

“Kara, what were you thinking?” There it is I thought to myself.

“You exposed yourself, everyone will know about you, and you cant take that back.”

“I don’t want to this is what I was talking about, Alex” said Kara. “I didn’t travel 2,000 light years just to be an assistant.”

‘That’s for damn sure,’ I thought to myself.

“I’m gonna go to bed, I just carried a plane on my back.” said Kara sadly walking off to her room.

"What the hell, Alex?” I asked. “You and I both know how lost that girl has felt since she arrived here.”

“Its not safe for her to be out there,” argued my oldest sister.

“She’s basically indestructible,” I said, getting angrier and angrier by the second.

“Yeah, basically being the key word there.”

“I’m gonna go before I say something I regret,” said Alex walking out of the apartment before I could do anything to stop her.

So what do you guys think, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

#supergirl #kara #kara danvers #supergirl imagine #kara danvers imagines #alex danvers #cw #DC comics

20 notes · View notes

popculturebuffet · 3 years

Text

Static Shock: Shock to the System and Aftershock Review

“You know what? 13 years ago, me and some friends sat in a restaurant all night and daydreamed about the kinds of stories we would tell if we had the chance. We wanted to expand the concept of superhero to include characters that kind of looked like us, who had some of the same background, experiences and dreams as we did. We wanted to create something fun that a new generation would respond to the same way we responded to our childhood heroes -and damn if we didn't succeed beyond my wildest dreams. Today, Static Shock is a household name with millions of fans of all ages (Is there stuff I'd do differently? Yeah, almost all of season four but why nitpick?) Static is the most successful thing I've ever helped create and I'm both proud and gratified that people have taken it into their hearts. “

Dwayne McDuffie, Co-Creator of Static and Writer for Static Shock

This review is dedicated to Dwayne McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III. Rest In Power Static Shock is awesome. I grew up with the show watching it both first run on the WB and second run on Cartoon Network and loved it as much as I did other large parts of my childhood courtsey of DC like Batman the Animated Series, Teen Titans and both Justice League Shows. What makes this unique among the DC Properties is that Static wasn’t really a big name when he got a show. He wasn’t even part of the DC Universe.

See as I had no idea for probably a good decade, Static actually came from Milestone Comics, a company ran by and focused on african americans. The goal was understandable: While black heroes existed at the time, and there were some fantastic ones like Storm, Jim Rhodes and Steel... these guys weren’t the center of their universes. The big faces of the big companies, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash.. were white. So milestone was a shakeup of that with the main teams and heroes all being black, from Icon, an alien who’d lived among man but rather than end up in kansas like say superman ended up imprinting on a slave woman centuries ago and has been with us since, who was encouraged by an energetic teenager named Rocket to put on a costume and do something with his powers and his community, Hardware, a tech genius who had his work stolen by a white asshole and wanted to fight back and BLood Syndicate, a group of gang members all caught in the “The Big Bang”, a huge fight between all of Dakota, the midwest city where the comics take place, that ended when the police released a bunch of experimental gas that gave them all super powers.

As most of you who have watched the show already know, this is where Static comes from. Static was the company making their own Spider-Man, i.e. a nerdy teenager who suddenly gets super powers, in this case Virgil Hawkins who at the prodding of a friend took a gun to The Big Bang to get revenge on a bully. .but ultimately couldn’t go through with it, decided it wasn’t him and got rid of the gun and ran.. and still ended up in it, becoming Static, a young hero dedicated to using his powers to fight other “Bang Babies”.. a term that dosen’t really sound that great and they really should’ve thought through. But Phrasing aside the character was great and I look forward to reading more and only haven’t because I have to buy the issues gradually, but DC is currently re-releasing the individual issues of Static, Icon, and Hardware weekly in anticipation of a reboot of Milestone Coming in May digitally on Comixology at only 2 bucks a pop, and rereleased the original print collections that were long out of print for 10 bucks each, though i’m getting static on it’s own since i’ts really not that much less expensive as it only collects four issues while Icon and Hardware both collect 8, so I can wait a bit there on Hardware and already own Icon: A Hero’s Welcome.. and really need to review it at some point.

While Milestone’s output was good, at least from the two books i’ve read, with Robert Washinton III, who sadly not only ahs also passed but was fucking homeless for a while in the 2000′s.. what the actual hell, writing Static alongside Dwayne McDuffie, whose later moved onto animation writing tons of Static episodes all of them classics including the school shooting episode, the first three rubberbandman episodes and both Anasazi episodes. Point is it had good writers and artists and even had a distrbution deal with DC, so they had a leg up on the glut of other comic book companies.. but happened to start at the start of the comic book crash, a huge downturn in sales in the 90′s as the speculator boom, i.e. a bunch of people assuming every number one would be worth golden and silver age money, forgetting a character has to BUILD INTREST and this stuff takes time, and whose attempts to sell fast flooded the market with comics no one wanted,, caused the roof to cave in and with a bunch of assholes pegging milestone as a “Company for black people” rather than you know, a company trying to add fucking diversity and represntation to the comics industry, and that simply wanted a unvierse that was centered around people of color instead of white guys. The company eventually had to shut down, and was left to lisencing. This is where the show comes in. Producers HAD been trying to make shows based on Milestone for a while, as far back as the mid-90s and the company was was all for it but the closest it got was an x-men style team series using various characters whose first draft was terrible and whose second draft by Alan Burnett, a producer on various DC Animated shows who’d go on to produce Static Shock, that McDuffie and others really liked but sadly did not get picked up. eventually though with presistance Static ended up getting a series and as I said McDuffie went on to write for it though he did not develop it. Some changes went into place naturally to make it work for an early 2000′s kids show and while i’ll probably miss so since again, only read one issue as we go. But due to Milestone coming back my intrest was peaking, hence finally reading the copy of Icon I had to buy from the library years ago due to keeping it overdue but am now EXTREMLEY glad I own as i’ts incredibly rare and really damn good, and wanting to read static, doing so lately since it’s finally on digtiial and again not too expensive. So join me as I give you a shock to the system and revisit this hell of a series to see if it holds up.. which just to cut that short it does and i’m only holding off binging MORE because I want the first two eps to be fresh enough in my head to review properly.. and also go over the various voice actors because that’s a thing with me now and charcter co-creator dwayne mcduffie because he’s awesome.

As I like to do when covering a series first episodes, let’s run down the voice cast.

First up is an UTTER LEGEND, and I use the term voice acting legend a lot, and mean it every time and have good reason to use it when I say it, and Phil LaMarr is a GOD in the buisness, having done a metric ton of voice acting roles, and being easily the most proflific black voice actor in animation. He’s also done some acting work, mostly in pulp fiction which I have not seen, but his true staying power and talent is in animation so here’s just the roles I feel are most notable or may not be very notable but i’m bringing up anyway because it’s my list.

His roles besides Virgil include Lester Payton the Texas Ranger who showed up for one very good episode of king of the hill to be badass and show up the hickish, stupid and very punchable local Sheriff, Gearld’s obnoxious older brother Jamie O on Hey Arnold, Hermes Conrad from futurama, Carver from the Weekenders (PUT IT ON PLUS DISNEY), Axel Foley for exactly one bit in Clerks the Animated Series, but anyone whose seen it will know exactly which one, Micheal on the Proud Family, Black Vulcan on Harvey Birdman (In His Pants), Hector Con Carne and Dracula on Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne, Jack on Samurai Jack something I didn’t know for decades (and I didn’t know about the carver thing till today though i’ts obvious in hindsight), John Motherfucking Stewart on Justice League and later Steel and Adult Static in the Unlimited seasons, Osmosis Jones on Ozzy and Drix, Bolbi Strogofski on Jimmy Neutron (And yes i’m just as shocked as you are.), Wilt on Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Marcus on Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Bull Sharkowski on My Gym Partner is A Monkey and Also a Sociopath Please Help God My Life is a waking nightmare..... okay the rest of that title is implied but we all watched the same show, we all know in our hearts that was the title

Moving on, he was also, and yes there’s MORE: Maxie Zeus on The Batman, Philly Phil on Class of 3000, Both Robertsons AND Fancy Dan on the Spectacular Spider-Man, Jazz on Transformers Animated, Kit Fisto and Bail Organa on Star Wars the Clone Wars, Gambit and Bolivar Trask on Wolverine and the X-Men, Aquaman I, L-Ron and Green Beetle on Young Justice, J.A.R.V.I.S. and Wonder Man (Simon Williams) In Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Gabe and Carny on Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters (Really miss that game and have been snapping up what cards I can get lately), Baxter Stockman in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (And there’s also an awesome photo of him with 2003 Baxter... the two best together in one place. I got chills), Dormammu (I’ve come to bargin) in various Marvel Shows, Noville in Mighty Magiswords, Zach’s dad Marcus in Milo Muprhy’s Law, Craig’s Douchey Brother Benard on Craig of the Creek, showing he’s clearly come full circle, And Mr. Scully on the Casagrndes. And given It took about two paragraphs to cover all of this, yeah, I MEANT legend.

Next we have Kevin Micheal Richardson as Virgil’s Dad Robert, and it’s the first time since I started introducing Voice Actors on a show that i’ve overlapped. I already covered him during the second episode of legend of the three caballeros, but for the short version he’s also very acomplished, very damn good and I somehow missed he played the old blind guy in hey arnold> Needless to say the dude is awesome.

Virgil’s Sister Sharon is played by Michele Morgan who was in the rap group BWP and did some smaller roles outside of this the one exception being Juicy on the PJ’s, which I have not watched much of but REALLY do not like, though i’ll at least give it credit for being a decently long lasted black claymation sitcom at at time when there were, and hoenstly still aren’t, many black animated shows.

Back to long casting sheets, next up is Jason Marsden, who is one of my faviorites as i’ve realized recently as Ritchie. As I also found out only recently he started on the Sitcom Step By Step and while that show is .. ehhhhhhhhh, he is great in it because he’s great in everything. He also apparently has his own internet variety show which I have to watch now. His roles include Max Goof, ironically given I was just talking about that role a few days ago, Haku in the english dub of Spirted Away, Micheal, the kid being yelled at by a bunch of 80′s cartoons characters not to take drugs in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue!, Nermal in the DTV Garfield movies and The Garfield Show, Tino on the Weekenders (SERIOUSLY DISNEY), Snapper Carr on Justice League, Rikochet on Mucha Lucha! for the last season (Why I do not knkow and while I love the guy he was not the right choice), Felix on Kim Possible, Chase Young on Xiaolin Showdown (WHich I did not realize was him and now I do easily his best role and I REALLY should’ve), Red Star and Billy Numerous on Teen Titans, Speedy on Batman Brave and the Bold, Impulse/Kid Flash II on Young Justice, and Fingers on Kaijudo. He hasn’t done as much lately which is a shame but hopefully i’tll pick up again.

Next up is Hotstreak, Virgil’s brutal bully turned unhinted pyromancer played by DANIEL COOKSY, another actor i’m happy to talk about and another faviorite I haven’t seen much of lately. Daniel was an actor from childhood, playing Budnick on Salute Your Shorts, but he quickly gained a long and storied catalogue of VA Work: His first big roll was as Montana Max on Tiny Toon Adventures and if there is a god he’ll be back for the reboot, Stoop Kid on Hey Arnold, the incomprable Jack Spicer on Xiaolin Showdown, far and away his best role and part of why Chronicles sucked so bad was he was he didn’t get to reprise the role, The titular Dave the Barbarian, Django of the Dead on El Tigre (Had no idea), Kicks utterly insufferable big Brother Brad on Kick Buttowski and apparently he’s back at it again after laying low for a bit as he’s voicing Snag in Long Gone Gultch.. which I already really needed to watch but hot damn, I missed him. Sign me up.

Frieda, Virgil’s crush and close friend who in the comics was his main confidante and love intrest but here is eventually pushed aside, is voiced by Danica Mckeller whose work didn’t seem all that familiar.. until I found out she was Ms. Martian on Young Justice. Hello, Megan. Very talented and she did get a major role in a dc show eventually so good for her. Can’t wait for season 4.

So with our major players out of the way, let’s talk about Dwayne. McDuffie is an AWESOME man and my respect has grown for him more and more with time. A writer and editor at Marvel, McDuffie has a decent resume doing smaller but awesome books, which I got most of for free last year when Marvel was giving out free digital collections due to the lock down, like Damage Control, a sitcom set in the marvel universe about the company that picks up after superhero battles and the logistics and antics that insue and Dethlok, about a pacfist trapped inside a cyborg zombie. He was as mentioned one of Milestone’s founders, and wrote Icon, Hardware and co-wrote the first few issues of Static. He’d go on to a pretty stacked career in animation, writing on this show and Justice League before becoming story editor and show runner for Unlimited , even making a return to comics as a result writing the Marvel miniseries beyond and an arc of Fantastic Four in which Black Panther and Storm filled in for Reed and Sue while the two of them worked on their marriage after Reed did.. pretty much everything he did in Civil War. He also became head writer and show runner for Ben 10: Alien Force and Ultimate Alien, revamping the franchise a bit, and Alien Force, at least the first two seasons are awesome and I feel people overreacted on the changes. Ultimate Alien is okay, but has it’s problems but the finale was awesome and left the man’s legacy on a high note.. as he sadly passed in 2011 due to heart complications. He is truly missed and produced some utterly amazing stuff whlie he was alive. So on that melacholy note let’s see what happens when his creation hits the tv screen shall we?

Shock to the System:

This episode is written by Christopher Simmons, who is apparently a huge art designer guy.. but i’m not sure that’s the same chirsptoher simmons. Much more notable is the writer of the episode after this Stan Berkowitz, who was showrunner for season 1 and has done a LOT of DCAU work and is suprising talent, having written a lot of awesome Justice League episodes including Secret Society and The Royal Flush One. Point is we’re in first class hands. Before the episode itself I want to talk about the intro and how it’s unique among DCAU shows. Like most Western Animation the intros for DCAU shows didn’t change much over the seasons with the most I can see is JLU changing up the footage to preview the current episode and later adding Hawkgirl to the intro after her return to the team. I THINK superman the animated series changed some of it’s footage too, but I can’t confrim it and may of just been imagining it. As i’ve talked about on my blog it’s normally a pet peeve of mine, mostly because shows you know, change after season 1, characters get added some one shot characters used for the intro never return, and after a while it can feel dated especially in more recent shows where the status quo is not at all set in stone and things change quite a bit. But sometimes it can be good enough that either the dated elements don’t matter or general enough that you don’t need to change it and i’ts just that good.. and given Batman the Animated Series has both in spades, you can see why i’ts probably my golden standard for intros and after superman the animated series DC mostly followed suit. But being part of the teen superhero boom of the 2000′s Static is unique in that it splits the diffrence: It’s intro gets the character across perfectly like a good intro should starting with Virgil getting out of bed and running a comb across his head before showing off to his sister to bug her and literally running into his dad who hand shim his bag and smiles, silently showing off his family. He then runs to school and runs into some trouble.. and said trouble changes for each intro, with Rubberband Man for season 1, Kanga (Whose name I only know because I happened to run across it) for season 2 and your guess is as good as mine for seasons 3 and 4, though Hotstreak is a constant. They still save some money for seasons 1 and 2 by recycling some animation.. but that’s alright with mea s it was good animation, and the improtant thing is cycling out old villians for new ones, while Season 3 is the only out and out redo to show off Richie taking on the Gear identity, adding about 10 seconds of intro to let him show off. Seriously it’s an utterly great intro and like the other DCAU intros outside of superman, stuck in my brain.

The other change that’s ENTIRELY diffrent from the rest of htem is that the music changes each time. The first two have the same formula just with a difrent vocalist and backing track: a superhero theme but with some hip hop beat boxing over it. The first intro is fine enough, not specattcular but stilll god. The second song.. is eh. Not really great and feels like a marked downgrade from season 1 and just dosen’t blend an ocrehstiral superhero theme with the beatbox elements NEARLY as well. The third song though is my faviorite.. even if I HATED Little Romeo as a kid because I really did not like his nick show, it’s more a straight up rap song, but it has a faster beat that fits the intro better, and Romeo’s bragging fits Virgil’s character and penchant for Spidey quips perfectly. I also find it ironic that the theme that blends in with the dcau the most, the first season’s, is the one from BEFORE they decided to put it in the same universe. Still this season’s intro slaps, I just like the LIttle Romeo one a bit more. The opening scene is picture perfect. Some masked crooks looting a warehouse are loading some stolen TV’s into a van when suddenly the lights come on one by one above one of the crooks before his tv switches to various channels before going haywire. Cue our heroes’ entrance. Let’s tak ea good look at him

Static’s Costume is awesome. While I prefer the season 3 redesign, and clearly DC agrees as the redeisgn was used for both pre and post new-52 when they used him, and while he’s getting a fresh design for the reboot, said design takes a lot of cures from said outfit. As for how the outfit differs from the comics itself this is the design he had in the comics

It didn’t change much from the first issue, with the exception of his now iconic big puffy jacket which was added pretty early into the character’s history but I was unaware of that and just assumed he had the bodysuit the whole time. The more you know. But as you can see outside of the cool puffy jacket over a costume the two couldn’t be more diffrent. While the Dakotaverse outfit is more a standard superhero outfit, with some regular clothes touches on top the first cartoon outfit comes off more realistic, looking fantastic, but still coming off as something two teenagers could realistically have thrown together with what clothes they could buy, while still looking awesomely superheroy. IN short it’s perfect and only topped by the season 3 onward look...

But the slicker look, with an even cooler jakcet and the new colors all fitting the lighting ascetic better, but fits: not only has Virgil come along farther since he started, but with Richie now having a genius brain as Gear, he can provide a far slicker, far more professional superhero outfit on the budget the two have. This show is just great at costume design.

So getting back to the episode at hand, Static puts up a huge sign in elecrticy saying “Bad guys here”, PFFFT, and then hides away and narrates that a few days ago he’d be the last person anyone would’ve expected to be a hero. Cue Flashback.

We meet Virgil Hawkins on an average day: rapping into his razor, getting into a petty argument with his older sister Sharon, as a younger brother myself I relate to this, and talking to his dad who tries to get them to cut that out. We find out his mom has passed via his sister making really terrible eggs and saying that’s how mom made them. Exposition! Though we do get a great bit through this as when his sister gets distracted by her boyfriend calling, he uses the opportunity of her leaving the room to dump the eggs.. after having earlier jokingly prayed to his mom for a way out of breakfast. “Thanks for looking out for me mom” That’s both very sweet and very hilarious.

This is a change from the comics it turns out as I was utterly flored to find Virgil’s mom alive and well when reading the first issue of Static. Turns out this was a change made during development and one Dwane McDuffie admitted in the interview I got the tribute quote from to not liking as he had a good reason for having Virgil have a nuclear family, as most black families in media at the time were just one single parent and a kid or two with the other having either left or died. He wasn’t too bothered by it as while he preferred what he came up with in the first place, the show DID get some really good stories out of her being gone and didn’t just have her be absent because shut up. Virgil is still working over her death and the way HOW she died ends up playing an important role in this episode and gives Virgil a dislike of guns, as she died to gang violence. So the change wasn’t for stupid or racist reasons, but likely both to keep the character count down while giving them something to work with for storylines. Or it could’ve been for stupid reasons and the writers simpily made lemonade out of that very dumb lemon, either way it ended up working. Virgil also plans to ask his friend Frieda out. Frieda was a bigger deal in the comics, being Virgil’s friend and confidante as well as his ocasional love intrest, but here while she was inteded to at least be his love intrest here, that sorta fizzled out. As for the best friend role we meet her replacement in Richie, which McDuffie conceded was the kind of change a studio would make swapping out a female character for a male one. That being said the crew made the best of it and Richie is awesome, a bit of an overcompensating dipstick at times, but a good sounding board and pal for virgil and funny as hell too. He was also gay, something only revealed post series by McDuffie.. but unlike say Dumbledore, it’s a bit easier to swallow here: The early 2000′s were an even worse time for gay characters in tv let alone cartoons, and if they couldn’t kiss or have sex scenes on regular tv, there was no way we were getting any representation in a children’s show. So it was largely just hinted at by Richie overcompensating in how “into girls” he was and i’m once again fine with this being word of god as it was literally the best they could do and his counterpart in the comics was also gay, if not as relevant. Ritch encourages Virgil to work on his opening to ask her out as it’s awkward as heck, hits a bit close to home.. but I do appricate the show just .. having him try and ask her out from the first episode. They likely would’ve drug thigns out a bit granted had they used Frieda more, i’m not blind to the convetions of the time. .but as someone who got the very wrong idea from tv that just waiting around meant a girl would like you eventually, when no you need to actually try even if rejection happens, I honestly wish we had more of this in media than the other garbage morals at the time.

So he prepares to , not helped by her mentioning guy after guy is asking her out.... but before he can F-Stop, the future hotstreak, shows up. F-STOP

That being said...... it’s not as bad as the original gangster name for the comic’s version, Biz Money B. Yes BIZ MONEY B

So yeah while F-Stop is no more intimidating, it at least means I can stop laughing. Francis, because I can’t type F-Stop without laughing and this review is already behind, shoves Virgil out of the way and agressively hits on Frieda, even saying “you smell good”, the international sign your a douchebag and also to call the police. Virgil steps up to the guy and gets PAINFULLY slammed into the lockers, something I give the animation team a lot of credit for, as you can FEEL how fucking painful that was. Virgil is saved by Wade, another local gangbanger who in the comics was a close friend of Virgils but here saves him seemingly just because.. seemingly.

On the way home though Virg’s problems don’t end as naturally, the giant sized asshole with nothing better to do has his goons corner virgil before VIOLENTLY beating him.. off screen but the noises, and the clear brusies including a black eye, on virgil afterwords.. just holy damn i’m suprsied they got away with this but it shows just how horrifing it was and that this is a step above regular bullying, which make no mistake is absoluttley terrible and the series would later do an episode on it and school shootings, into straight up gang violence. Wade shows up again and gets the bastards to flee.. but also makes it clear he can’t keep doing this.. and forces Virgil to meet him at his base under the bridge. And it’s a tense sequence, with Virgil KNOWING this is a bad idea but having no real choice and Wade making it abundantly clear that he wants Virgil to join his crew, and makes a chilling point: while Virgils dad RIGHTFULLY dosen’t want his son to join a gang as Virgil points out.. he can’t be there for him all the time and eventually one of those times, Francis will be around. And he may not surivive that. Virgil nods noncomittaly. At home it gets even more grim as he dosen’t open up to his family, understandably as his dad would jsut say to call the police and well.. we’ve seen how the police treat black people. At best they’d just try and use Virgil as an informant and that likely wouldn’t end fucking well for Virgil. Ritchie points out he can’t join a gang, virgil’s mom died that way.. see told you it’d be important to the plot.. but I like how the story dosen’t offer an easy answer.. well okay he gets electric powers soon enough but without the fantastic element this is just an innocent kid caught between either joining the very thing his mom hated or hoping a system not built to protect him will keep him alive. It’s utterly saddening and chilling and holy shit is it amazing a cartoon in the early 2000′s was able to get away with.. ANY OF THIS, and they handle it great, paired down a bit from the comics but even then it’s still incredibly balsy they got THIS much in.

Naturally Wade calls in his favor and our hero is forced to come running.. and soon finds out Wade’s brought him in for a massive gang war. Welcome to the big bang, baby. He hands Virgil a gun as things get started and Virgil.. drops the thing and tries to escape, in a harrowing sequence.. and runs into Francis because god apparently REALLY hates this kid today. As if to prove that the police show up and while that prevents a beating, they demand they disassemble. then release untested gas on them because of course they do.

As a result the big bang truly begins, with the various gang members getting mutated.. and naturally so does virgil. Though he wakes up the next day seemingly fine. How’d he get home? Does his dad know where he was?

I don’t know and we’re not getting any answers, but Virgil soon finds weird stuff happening like his clock shorting out, change being attracted to him and his razor going wild. It’s only once he get sback to his room he gets an inkling of what’s going on and calls Ritchie to meet him at the Junk yard.. though it is a bit of a dick move as he dosen’t you know, tell him anything about Wade or Francis right away. He does at the yard though.. and that he has powers, having finally figured out how to use them to a point. And the series does provide a decent justification later as to why he’d get this so quickly: Virgil is a smart kid, gets great grades at school and apparnetly there’s even an episode later where he gets a scholarship to a fancy genius school. So him getting how elctromagntisim works or being a quick study on it makes perfect sense.

Richie suggest the obvious.. to become a superhero. And the thought.. hadn’t occured to Virgil. It’s honestly a nice twist on the old trope. That he hadn’t thought of it, not because he’s selfish or any of that or needs to learn a hard lesson, those have been done.. simply because the rush of getting his powers, and implicitly of having a way out of his current predciament, a way to keep Francis off his back and keep Wade from pulling him in further. His own path. But once i’ts brought up.. he jumps on it. Part of it is being a nerd like you or I, of course he wants to.. and being a good intetioned one, he knows this is the right thing to do. It’s waht makes a superhero a hero: Anyone can get powers in a universe like this, esepcailly the dcau, but it takes true courage and heart to use them selflessly and knowing you’ll be in danger. It’s why I love surperheroes: they often didn’t ask for this but they do it anyway because somebody’s gotta. We also get an intresting wrinkle is superman is, at least I think in this episode I could’ve missed it or misremembered things, mentioned as a fictional character. That’s because originally like the comics this wasn’t part of the DCAU.. but eventually the crew decided it shared staff from it, shared a network, both first run and on reruns, why not just make it part of the DCAU proper. I fully support this decisionf: While i’m midly annoyed unlimited never really used anything from static shock outside of Static himself in the time travel episode, despite you know Static and Gear having BEEN to the tower and not being much younger than Kara and defintely older than Courtney, I chalk it up to weird rights issues or something like that. But having Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman, Green Lantern and the Justice League itself all guest star was a good idea, and expanded both static’s universe and gave the DCAU something differnt as most heroes in it were older and more experinced in contrast to the up and coming virgil. Again really would’ve been nice if he and gear could’ve been a part of the expanded league but production might of just been too far ahead or, given he had his own series, they might just have wanted to stick to toher characters. Also begs the question why Icon or Hardware wasn’t adapted for the expanded League but hey, questions for later and the tricky logisitics of the milestone rights might’ve been the issue. I don’t know I wasn’t in the room.

So we get a costume montage, including Black Vulcan from Superfriends, who again ironically would be voiced by Lamarr not too long after this, though weirdly they DON’T use his outfit from the comics for this montage. I mean why not? It fits the gag and would’ve been a good second to last choice.But what could’ve been aside we get our winner and cut back to present day...

Thanks boys. Static finds out one of the things in the warehouse is a shipment of computers for the school and can’t help but show off, showing up to the school, where Frieda and Richie are setting up for the dance, and dropping off the computers, and even saying his catchphrase for the first time “I’ll put a shock to your system” (Which Richie chimes in with awesome line and I agree, great catcphrase), before helping set up and flirting with frieda.

Though as Richtie says he’s a natural. He’s not wrong as he can work a crowd. .but back it up too as his first run out had him easily taking out the crooks, and as many teen superheros and fans of heroes of hte type, myself included will tell you, getting it right in one is not easy. Not even Miles MOrales was immune. All Static needs now is a villian.

And the end of the episode provides one as we see, in horrifc and once again damn suprising detail most of hte new metas aren’t doing so good and are melting and other stuff and we catch up with Francis whose burning up.. and naturally given that hair, though given he named himself F-Stop it’s the least of his problems, he’s got fire powers and escapes to “Have me some fun”

So with that we end episode 1. And it’s excellent, a great way to introduce the hero and while the warehouse opening is a bit superflous, it is a decent addition, showing our heroes first outing in costume and giving us a bit of an action scene to get us through the very heavy rest of the episode. But the rest of the episode is no less grippping, telling the tale of a teen caught in an unwinnable scenario who suddenly finds a way out. And speaking of which waht of Wade? Will we see him again? Is he perhaps Ebon, the series big bad as I thought when I was a kid? What comes of the man who directly caused static’s origin?

Yeahhh that’s the one mistep I think the pilot makes. Frieda is understandable as that was likely a simple change in creative direction. This though? Why build this guy up if your not going to bring him back. I mean where he went was probably the grave, as he probably did due to his mutation, but it’s still VERY weird to spend a whole episode focusing on this guy, building him up as a big personal threat to our hero.. and NOT have him become the series big bad. And maybe he WAS supposed to be ebon and they just changed their mind. I don’t know but it bothers me it bothers me a lot. Otherwise though flawless. ONe more to go.

Aftershock: We open outside an electronics store, as our heroes watch the news reacap what happened in the first episode, with the media dubbing it the Big Bang and revealing their could be hundreds of “Metahumans”, as Virgil dubs after deciding the media’s term “Mutant” dosen’t fit, a nice wink to the fact that that’s the term used in dc comics and I believe milestone but could be wrong there. Me I like the term, has a nice ring to it.

At the store while Richie mulls over waht this means Static finds out he’s a human CD player.... this was before mp3 players and streaming on your phone made them horribly obsolete mind you and if you don’t know what one is congradualtions you live in some sort of bubble and you made me feel really old junior.

Frieda happens to be there and Virgil quips “What’s the matter they run out of britney cds”. Dude she’s not bad. Also be careful what you wish for man. Nickeback returned the year after this. You have not truly suffered through bad music yet my young friend. They spot a kid looking feverish, and he soon turns into a purple werewolf, as you do. It’s a bang baby.. those are richie’s exact word and you may not want to start a panic there bud. Just saying your best friend is one. THeir not all like this. Our heroes book it only to run into Francis who naturally refuses to let them leave and only doesn’t try to beat up Virgil because Virgil points otu the werewolf and nonplussed, he goes to fight it, scarring it off by revealing his own powers. He’s now dubbed himself Hotstreak which points for getting an actually good name kid. No points for what happens next as unsuprisingly getting powers did NOT mak ehim a better person and he attacks Virgil who blocks with a garbage can lid and thankfully is blasted into an ally. Richie tries to guard frieda for damn obvious reasons but gets hsi shirt burnt up because shut up Thankfully Static shows up, and we get our firsdt full on superhuman fight as both fight each other with aplomb, and it’s a damn good fight.. and one that goes pear shaped for Virg as he’s caught off guard when he finds out Hotstreak can use his powers to fly, and tackles him and his previous trauma causes him to freeze up. Thankfully , as Frieda put in a call earlier, the fire department arrive and HOt streak has to retreat, though Virgil is bummed that he “Choked”. And I love this as it not only shows Virgil’s inepxerince, as this is his first time fighting a bad guy but that just because he HAS power now dosen’t mean trauma and his previous fear of Hotstreak goes away or you won’t freeze up from time to time. It dosen’t make him weak or anything like some assholes would call it .. it makes him human. Humans make mistakes, and it makes him all the more relatable that he’s not pefect and that he did freeze up as I know I certainly would at last once in the circumstances.

Things don’t get better at dinner as Sharon and Pops argue over the bang babies with Pops calling them a meance and Sharon pointing out Static exists so they can’t all be bad. See assuming a group of superhumans are bad because a handful of them ar edick sis why the x-men had to get their own island nation. You can only save an ungreatful populous so many times before you say “fuck it i’m getting my own island, pay me for life saving drugs, save your damn selves and stop doing genocides on us. Kay thanks”. But he does bring up a valid point that rattles his son: We don’t know anything about the Bang Babies or their biological structures and it’s likely they might further mutate into monsters, Static included.

Virgil, understandably, wants to check this and thus he and richie compare blood samples in science, to no real conclusion. She he checks out with his doctor who assumes he’s sexually active in a great getting crap past the radar bit and a bit of realisim, but he agrees to the test though if something came up he would have to tell Virgil’s dsad and is up front about this. Nice dose of realisim.

That night City Council has a meeting and the Mayor TRIES to deflect Papa Hawkins questions about the bang babies which again, while being a judgmental ass as not every person hit was a gang member (Virgil, and as we discover later some others), and not every gang member is there by choice, some by circumstnace some, like virgil almost was, because they HAD no other option. Again years of reading x-men may of just made me a bit touchy on assholes admitely assuming superpower people bad. But it’s clear the public is upset and while she says an investigation is underway... Virgil and Richie are not only not convinced, but figure she’s actively covering it up. And unlike everyone else there who probably suspects the same, they can do something about it and tail her. It’s during this, and cleverly as I didn’t realie till writing this using similar skills to his human cd player act, Virgil listens in and discovers whose behind it: Edwin Alva, whose apparently richer than bill gates and a beloved phinarophist Alva, as it turns out, was actually the arch enemy of Hardware in the comics, taking advantage of the guy in his civiliian idtentiy and thus casuing him to launch a war on the asshole. He does transition into this series well though, being the one behind the gas that caused it and with the mayor agreeing to back off, planning to simply dump the info about the big bang on a disc then destroy everything for now till the heat dies down. Yup sounds like a corprate douchebag.

Static tails him, finds the lab and infiltrates it, stealing the disc.. but getting caught by Alva’s goon, and trapped in a glass prison, forced to use ALL his power to escape and barely getting out alive, but not before bouncing off alva’s car. Still he now has the proof.. and meanwhile Hotstreak, who I was wrong did get captured, is forced to take pill sbut spits them out once the orderly is gone. Dude.. WHY DIDN’T YOU WATCH HIM. Make sure he swallows that shit especially since, as he has no powers right now and can’t harm you.

Hotstreak escapes off screen and our heroes discuss the disc before he shows up, and we get a REALLY fucking amazing scene: Virgil ducks into an Alleway and ritchie is worried.. and Virgil disarms him with just one word responses Ritchie: Virg you can’t take him. Virgil: Gotta. Ritchie: Well at least wait for the fire department Virgil: Can’t. It’s simpile but it gets the point across: This is his fight, he can’t wait for help, and people need him. And this is what makes a true hero: It’s easy to be a hero when everythings going well.. but it’s the true ones who stick it out against the odds and fight anyway. And he’s going to. So we get one hell of a fight, though naturally Hotstreak burns up the disc. And I do like this as it dosen’t feel contrived.. yes Static could’ve left it with ritchie.. but he wasn’t thinking in the moment and dind’t really have time to think abotu the disc, only that people were being hurt and he was all they had between them and Hotstreak. It was no choice at all. Still that pisses Virgil off that the last night’s work is now worthless, and he fully charges up and curbstomps francis who retreats into a clearing. Hostreak brags when static follows, as even he’s figured out Static needs to be around metal, as he’s usually on his disc or the street, and in the park there suppodsidly isn’t any. But he’s not THAT smart as Virgil points out two things: one, he hoped to do this on PURPOSE so they wouldn’t be around people and no on e would get hurt and 2).. this is a city, there’s metal everywhere.. and he awesomely and cleverly proves it by unlodging a sewage pipe with his powers and dousing his foe, winning and proving his stuff. I love this solution, it’s a clever spider-man type way to disarm him, using smarts and the einvroment instead of just brute forcing it. Though the sewage part wasn’t intetional our hero still won and gets praise from the people dumb enough to follow the fight.

However at home Virgil points out it was Pyrrhic Victory and shows off his smarts by telling the tale behind it, which I didn’t know,because tv tropes didn’t exist yet: king pyrhus fought the romans and WON.. but had so little armies left that he still lost overall. That’s what this feels like to Virgil: he beat hotstreak but any chance at a cure for Bang Babies and Alva going to jail for causing them is gone. His mood does get a boost though as the doctor calls and reveals he’s fine, he just has a bit too much elctrolytes and just needs to lay off teh salt. He celebrates, we get a quick gag and the episode ends

Aftershock is another stellar episoe, giving us Virgil’s first super foe and a personal one at that, while showing some growth. As richie tells him he’s not virgil anymore he’s static and he can’t let his past get to him.. and he does’nt going from cowering in fear to easily beating his foe with simple logic. It’s a good followup that answers questions you may have from the first ep, like what does this do to virgil’s body, who supplied the gas, and why has no one done anything about this, and sets up another villian for Static in Alva. Great stuff. I highly recommend these episodes and the show as a whole: it’s fast paced, grounded and enjoyable, having just enough levity to not be too dour but just enough tension and stakes to be intresting. A throughly fantastic superhero show and one that i’d certainly love to revisit on this blog If you have an episode of static or the dcau in general you’d want me to cover, my comissions are open and details are on a tab on my blog or can be gotten simply by asking me via ask or dm. Tommorow we’re going deeper underground, there’s too much damage in this town as the Lena Retrospective continues. So expect gay ducks, straight ducks and some terrfirmains. See you next rainbow.

#static shock #static #virgil hawkins #richie foley #robert hawkins #sharon hawkins #hotstreak #milestone comics #dc comics #dc animated universe #dcau #dwayne mcduffie #robert l washington IIII #kids wb #hbo max #2000s #animation #black lives matter #black history month

94 notes · View notes