#I know 6 foot isn't like super impressive

[dirtytransmasc]

Ya know what’s funny? Spider is taller than his dad when he was human. Can you imagine the realisation hitting Quaritch and the team? Like they’re all looking at him as this small little thing when they realize that well as a human the kid ain’t that small lol

the mind trip this would send them through.

like they'll watch him walk through doors, sit in machinery, or just stand next to other humans and be like, 'damn, he's like, a full grown adult'

then one day they decide to fuck around with a tape measurer and find he's close to most of their human heights.

[escvision]

My Melodifestivalen 2024 final top 12, much love from Finland ✌🏻

12. Jay Smith — Back to My Roots (it’s not… bad, country music just isn’t my taste and i was kind of shocked it made it to the final at all. here’s what my sibling said after this song qualified: ”what? why? even gunilla was better than this country song!”

11. Lisa Ajax — Awful Liar (her voice is good. i don’t really have anything to say about this one, that’s how boring i think it is.)

10. Cazzi Opeia — Give My Heart a Break (i don’t know what it is about this one that straight up annoys me lol is it the song? the singer? the outfits and the colours? her mouth?? everything??? the chorus does get stuck in your head easily)

9. Annika Wickihalder — Light (i like her voice and i quite like the song too, but i don't think it's winner material. but! i do enjoy it)

8. Jacqline — Effortless (jacqline is what sells this song and performance, she does make it look effortless. there’s nothing wrong with the song per se, but if jacqline wasn't the one singing it, i don't think it would deserve to be in the final.)

7. Dotter — It’s Not Easy to Write a Love Song (i really enjoy her voice and she’s gorgeous. the melody isn't super memorable and i don’t think the performance and the staging help. she keeps spinning bare foot on the piano and it looks kinda awkward. but all in all it’s really good. if sweden were to send this one i think they’d do well!)

6. Danny Saucedo — Happy That You Found Me (i actually first thought that this was quite forgettable but i take that back now. this is the type of music sweden does well and it shows, this would be a great winner! he’s got a great voice and the melody is very pleasant. the staging could be improved, though, and the outfit is quite ugly lol)

5. Marcus & Martinus — Unforgettable (i’m 90% sure the twins are going to win this year and they honestly wouldn’t be a bad choice even though there are acts that i prefer more. it’s clear that the boys are professionals. the song is somewhere between good and ok for me. i am in the minority here but i actually do not like the staging, it’s messy, there’s too much going on, too many lights and the dancers make the stage look crowded in a bad way. their outfits look a bit cheep too. otherwise, they did a great job. it’s clear the budjet is big)

4. Maria Sur — When I’m Gone (i didn’t care for her song at all last year, not to mention her vocals were totally off, so i was really pleasantly surprised when i heard her new song! it got stuck in my head instantly and the staging looks impressive. wow!)

3. Smash Into Pieces — Heroes are Calling (it’s too bad they competed with six feet under last year because it would most likely be my winner this year. anyway, this one is very similar to six feet under, just not as good or catchy. that being said, it’s still really good and i would love for sweden to send this one!!)

2. Liamoo — Dragon (i love it when there’s a lot of fire. i think this is the whole package, the song is memorable and the staging is great. i know he won’t win or anything but personally i love it! it's been on repeat.)

1. Medina — Que Sera (this song makes me sooo happy when i listen to it!! really hypes the crowd up like yes, i am here for a good time! anyway, sweden would never actually send anything like this which is a shame, but i really hope they place in the top 3, good luck medina!)

oh and one last thing: Fröken Snusk (and Gunilla) should have qualified

[dyrewrites]

WiP Questionnaire

Brought to you by @theprissythumbelina (whose answers are far more interesting than mine)

I am tagging @starbuds-and-rosedust and @aziz-reads (because I don't think I've seen you guys do this one >.>)

--I have done this one for Before Deluca--

So I am answering with one of the others, that I need to get back to and revise for the tenth time, which is Weald and Wen

1. What is the first part of your WIP that you created?

The characters have been around since I was about eleven or twelve, so let's say they're the first part.

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

Instead of my usual, "the sad pretty tree man" answer, I am giving you all of them. Because I do love all of them.

Delgrij, because he is a big, complex and tightly wound ball of sad.

Mitra, because she is a hard little ball of cheery insanity.

Faerai, because she is a tough ball of sad and angry with a gooey center of loneliness.

Parnamyr, because he is absolutely horrific and means every bit of awful he does but he loves as hard as he hurts.

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

I have no idea, I never know with this question. What are fans? If I get a single one I will love them forever.

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

Finishing it to a publishable level. One might think the awful what happens in it (there is a lot) and that did hurt, and taught me things about myself, but no. The biggest struggle is considering it finished and ready to share with more than a handful of people.

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

There are! Aside from the Fyrni, and the Auru, who are animal people of a type (and the Fyrni shadows which are very cat-like). There are critters about that get a little love, namely the olhm; which are essentially snails but more, more snail. Some are about cat-sized, and some are so big their shells are hollowed out so they can be used as transportation (do not fret, this is not painful for the olhm, they are quite happy being taxis).

There are also gnu, which are roughly dog-sized lizard-like things with two heads and no eyes and coated in poison. they are not nice, but maybe they could be if someone took the time to tame them. Skitters are another critter, but not so much an animal as a spider-like menace, they're roughly the size of an average human head, near-translucent in color and eyeless with big mandibles and too many super skinny legs. They are a bad thing to see large numbers, for where they gather mama isn't far behind and we don't want to meet mama.

But the best animal is Infae, who is a nuru. He is kind of like a bat, moth, cat...thing? He's albino, which is usual for the type of nuru he is (there are others but he's the only one with any attention paid to him). He is mostly blind, which is not usual for his species, but it is how he was born. He navigates using an impressive form of echolocation and his incredible sense of hearing and smell (he can smell emotions and intent and other things not important right now). Behavior-wise, he is a big sleepy boy who loves snuggles and maybe scares a bit too easy.

7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

Mostly on foot, but towards they end they ride on a Mover, which is a giant olhm that slimes down the face of the massive rock the forests the story takes place in grow from.

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

Waiting for beta feedback and trying to read it again on my own, to edit typos and whatnot.

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

Maybe the found/forged family aspect? A lot of time is paid to the main characters and getting them together, so I would hope that.

10. What are your hopes for your WIP

That I can actually get it published and out there and at least one person buys it and enjoys it. As a side hope, that it breaks someone would be real fun...but I am a bit of a bastard so.

->blank below<-

1. What is the first part of your WIP that you created?

2. If your story was a TV show, what would the theme song/intro be?

3. What are your favorite characters that you made? Why?

4. What other pieces of media do you think your fan base would share?

5. What has been your biggest struggle with your WIP?

6. Are there any animals in your story? Talk about them!

7. How do your characters get around? (Ex. Trains, horses, cars, dragons, etc.)

8. What part of your WIP are you working on right now?

9. What aspects (tropes, maybe) of your WIP do you think will draw people in?

10. What are your hopes for your WIP?

[incesthemes]

final thoughts: supernatural season 8

oh my god i'm finally done. i don't even know why this season was so difficult to get through because honestly i liked it infinitely better than seasons 6-7, so what's up with that?

the beginning of the season was REALLY rough, but i think it found some footing toward the end. it had some pretty good plots, and i was genuinely so pleased to see them tying in original supernatural worldbuilding and plots to build this season. it felt like a return to its roots after deviating so hard in s6-7, so i greatly appreciate that. it almost made up for how often they disregarded established canon and retconned developments lmao (no it doesn't. i am salty about this).

as always too many episodes felt contrived and without consequence which annoys me to no end, but i think the god trials are a pretty good plot, and the emotional throughline of it was well done too. it had some good brother bonding and even some character development for them both: i love that sam and dean started the season so far apart and reaffirmed their undying love for each other in the end. it felt cohesive and well thought out.

imo the god trials should have started sooner. like, way sooner. getting to mid-season was a drag, and there was nothing acting like glue holding the storyline together for far too long. i really like what they did with benny and i will always love him and miss him (rip king) but i think conjoining the amelia/benny drama and the god trials would have been a better option. add some more trials in there or something idk, just give the show a leg to stand on.

but really i am actually genuinely impressed with how they handled benny. i think paralleling him with amelia was a smart choice, and it gave the entire season and undercurrent of tension between sam and dean that provided just enough oomph to make the finale hit hard.

and yeah the finale was good! actually i think the last three episodes were all pretty dang good. i had prepared myself to critique the angel trials in this write-up, particularly for being crammed in at the end, but i ended up really enjoying how that came to fruition, and the speed of it gave a particular tension and urgency to it that helped carry the resolution in the finale really well. i'd forgotten about the little twist ending, so i was pleasantly surprised!

thinking about it now, i think probably what made this season so difficult to watch was because too many episodes interrupted the momentum of the story. you have some cool trial episodes which are done pretty well and have a lot of tension, and then you follow that with... a random, unrelated filler episode. and that really does kill the mood, more so in this season than in 6-7 because 6-7 didn't really have very tense or coherent plots to begin with. there was nothing grasping my attention fully, so the plotty episodes and the filler episodes were more or less equals—not the case here. going from 100 to 0 every other episode was like breaking all the bones in my body with a wrench. seriously.

but i'm not gonna lie, the finale was so exciting and so well done that i'm almost tempted to start season 9 just to see the fallout of all that. SUPER excited about human castiel, i've been waiting for this moment since i started my rewatch. and finally sam and dean are un-divorced again. and isn't the mark of cain plot in season 9??? i remember enjoying that. i think. finally dean gets his time in the spotlight (suffering unimaginable horrors), thank god.

but i know objectively i need to take a break, so i'm gonna watch at least one season of hannibal next i believe. i keep getting torn between hannibal and black sails and then cursing myself for not watching hannibal when it was first airing, like an idiot. either way season 9 will have to wait for a little bit while i detox. holy shit.

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Do you have good info on keeping super dwarf reticulated pythons? I got one at a reptile show since the breeders gave me a good impression and i have some snake experience but probably should have done more research on the exact species before buying. Also the internet reccomendstions for tank size just look small to me, eyeballing him in there. The breeders did not warn me that there is restrictions crossing state lines with them which makes me trust their info less. Willing to give snake up if thats better for him but i would like to take care of him if possible, i love him very much.

Super dwarf retics can be very tricky. In terms of care, they're as easy as mainland retics (temp gradient of 90-78 and humidity at 60-70% is perfect) - the biggest things to be aware of are:

You'll need to start hook-training early. Retics have amazing food responses, but their size (even SDs) and strength means you do not want a mistaken feeding bite from them.

For pythons, reticulated pythons grow pretty fast. Expect you'll need to start thinking about the adult enclosure within 2 years.

Now - there are a few things specific to super dwarf retics that make them extremely tricky. They're still very new to the pet trade, and these things are the reason I don't have one yet. Here are the most important things I think you should think about:

Do you know the locality specifics? The locality a SD retic is from has a major impact on how big it will get, and most SDs sold aren't pure locality. Kalatoa, Madu, and Karompa localities average 6-8 feet long, Kayuadi average 7-10, Selayer islands average 10-13, and Jampea average 13-16. Most snakes sold as SD retics are going to get bigger because they've been crossed with mainland retics - you can expect pretty much any snake that isn't over 80% locality to hit at least 15 feet long at the absolute minimum.

Because of this, it's almost impossible for me to give you a good enclosure size because I don't know how big your snake is going to get. My minimum for enclosures is always big enough for the snake to stretch along one wall - a 6x4x4 would be my minimum recommendation for a pure SD Kalatoa, Madu, or Karompa, and for a snake that's been crossed with mainland retics, I'd recommend at least a 15-foot enclosure (I know it's difficult for private keepers to provide that, let alone longer).

It's probably smart to start preparing for the possibility that he might get bigger than you'd prepared for. If you live alone, I would start scouting out friends to help you in the case he exceeds about 12 feet long - at that point, it's dangerous to handle a giant snake alone. I'd also start thinking about what you'll do if he outgrows rats - are there any rabbit farms near you?

SD retics are still legally classified the same as mainland retics, so you'll have to be very careful when doing things such as crossing state lines and even seeking out veterinary care. Most exotics vets will be okay with seeing him, especially if he has enough locality in him to stay smaller, but be prepared for a bit of hassle, and smaller vets who don't have people trained in handling giant snakes might not be able to see him.

Wishing you and him all the best! Like all retics, SDs are a huge responsibility, and especially as you mention you don't entirely trust his breeder anymore, there's an extra layer of uncertainty in your situation since you can't be sure exactly how big he's going to end up.

[sunfoxfic]

Please talk about cobra kai

thank u

Okay. Let me preface this by saying that I don't know karate. I did, however, do a variation of tae kwon do for 6 years, and made it more than halfway to black belt, so this isn't like. Bullshit.

Let's just generally start with the tournaments. Because I have no idea what the organization of those things are. When I did tournaments, it was different people walking to different places on time to spar where and when they needed to be. Your friends and family members would watch you spar, but generally speaking, random people didn't just watch you spar for the fun of it. Also, they were sorted into age and belt level?? Not sex, though that may vary depending on the organization (though generally speaking it's such a male dominated sport in the US that I suspect that it's very difficult to segregate men and women just because you're not gonna have enough women; especially not if you're sorting by age and skill level).

Again, that's going to vary. I recognize that my organization was very lucky to be widespread and coordinated enough that we could say with pretty certainly that a blue belt from one school would be equal to any other blue belt. But the tournaments in the show had absolutely no organization whatsoever. They were putting students who'd been learning for weeks against students who'd been learning for most of their lives. There didn't seem to be any requirements to make sure that yeah, this school is teaching a legitimate and comparable level of martial art to other students. They didn't segregate by age, but also the only people in the tournament were teenagers. (That part is baffling to me; the tournaments I went to had categories for 8 year olds, maybe younger, though once you reach a certain age I'm not sure if they kept doing age divisions; I'd have to ask my dad.)

And no one was wearing gear? Not even like, helmets and a mouth guard. Full-contact sparring, no gear. That would not pass, legally, especially if you're working with minors. When I did martial arts, we had chestplates, helmets, arm and foot....thingys, I'm not positive what they were called (honestly those were the least important ones, mostly to prevent bruising while blocking), and again, a mouth guard, because it is not that hard to shatter teeth.

Also generally speaking none of the teens had any business being so good at martial arts, except Sam. They could have done something with Robby and Johnny but they didn't. The types of things they were doing were hugely sophisticated moves that would take years to gain proficiency in.

That leads well into my next point: The show is either all flash or all fundamental with little in between. It likes impressive fights that make for fun choreography, but at the end of the day, jump kicks are hard. They leave you incredibly vulnerable while they have a hugely likely chance of missing entirely. A good front snap kick is better than a crappy tornado kick any day of the week.

(Also the martial arts I did didn't have tornado kicks, but people seem obsessed with them, and I'm honestly unsure of where the term comes from; that is, which martial art, and what translation of said martial art. Personally, I'd be more in awe of a triple jump roundhouse than a tornado kick any day, but it doesn't have a flashy name so people don't care.)

But then occasionally, the fighting becomes super basic. This is especially true whenever Daniel is fighting -- seriously, they cut all the time whenever he's shown doing martial arts, because if you look at what he's doing, it becomes insanely clear that he has no idea what he's doing. Johnny's martial arts hold up reasonably well, honestly. I'm convinced that they focused so much on Johnny and so little on Daniel because Billy Zabka's acting holds up, while Ralph Macchio is a terrible actor and a worse martial artist.

Also, in the S4 finale, it is. Very clear. That the boards the people are kicking are either 1/2 inch or 1/4 inch -- and like, I have some qualms with this show already obviously, but if you're gonna do the best of the best, at least do a 1 inch board. I'm sure there's a way to make it break really easily while still maintaining the appearance of a 1 inch board. Or at least, like, don't film it at an angle that you can tell the width of the board?

And the other thing is that the writing seems to hold different variations of karate as like... chess strategies. If they do this, this is how you undo it. Here's the perfect configuration to trap your opponent. It's all in memorization, and you can predict how someone will fight based solely on what martial art they learned.

In reality, it's just.... messier. Than that. There's so many factors that you'll never consider in the heat of the moment. Your physiology, their physiology, how level the ground is, what injuries they may have, what injuries either of you may sustain while fighting, emotional state, instinct, adrenaline -- to name a few. And classroom teaching is really bad at simulating the real world. Once I was sparring with my sister (not just for fun, we were both in the same class) and I punched her in the nose on instinct. I didn't mean to. I'd been learning for years at that point. But the years I spent doing forms and drills didn't prepare me for the feeling of danger of seeing my sister lunge at me. (I realize how bad that sounds now, and.... I can unpack that later.)

Yes, the style of martial art you were trained in matters. But at some point, it boils down to the angle of your punch, the speed of your block, and the balance of your kick. Especially, it's weird to me because the only thing they really emphasize about Cobra Kai is that it's a very aggressive type of martial art, and.... yeah? I don't know what they mean by "aggressive." I don't think any martial art is passive, at the end of the day. Take tai chi, for example -- like I said, I did a variation of tae kwon do, which is Korean, but the guy who developed my specific style of martial art was a master in a bunch of types -- karate, kung fu, and tai chi among them. Tai chi was commonly referred to as "the art of staying behind your opponent" by masters in my organization, which to my understanding, is accurate within reason. The idea is that you use the flow of your opponent against them -- so they throw themself away from you rather than toward you, or knock themself off balance instead of landing on their feet, etc. It's the basis for waterbending in ATLA. But even it's not a passive sort of martial art, not really -- it follows, but follows actively.

So the way they talk about different martial arts as though they're... a time-sensitive puzzle, I guess, really just doesn't jive with me. And I get it, they're using the philosophy behind the martial art as a metaphor for the state of mind of the various contenders, yada yada yada. It's inaccurate, and if they focused less on the politics of the fighting styles themselves it would call less attention to all the other inaccuracies.

I have other issues with the show -- every single character's fatal flaw is pride, and it's really getting boring. (Okay, maybe not every character -- Dimitri is exempt.) I also don't think there was any point to making the girlfight at the end so..... Big and Important, it felt off to me. And there's really no reason for there not to be other background female characters in the classes -- maybe I understand why there aren't any in Eagle Fang because that was acknowledged within the show, but Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai have no excuse.

But the inaccuracies with the martial arts are killing me because that's not how it works and a lot of these issues would be easy to fix. But nooooo.

The one thing I will say in favor of the show's portrayal of martial arts: Every time they do a sparring match, they're told something to the tune of "face me, bow, face each other, bow." (I can't remember what the exact words are, but that's what they do.) And that is 100% accurate. I lose my shit every time because I remember that. Face your instructor, bow. Face each other, bow. Whoever added that in knew what they were doing because that is real.

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “The Bubbles-Sitters Club”

Written by: Haley Mancini, Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: Jaydeep Hasrajani, Leticia Abreu Silva

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Cartoon Network's Not-So-Great Idea.

The episode starts with Bubbles reading a comic strip named Smarmaduke. Get it, like Marmaduke! I'll give them this: a talking, smarmy dog does have a lot more potential than a half of century of "Great Danes are big" jokes.

This leads to Bubbles wanting a dog. Her reasoning? Because her life is so boring without one! Blossom, eating her cereal, reminds her about the whole "saving Townsville" thing they apparently do offscreen in this reboot, but Bubbles finds that boring. Yeah, forget superhero stories, this puppy plot is where it's at!

The Professor explains further that it takes a lot of responsibility to take care of a pet, and Bubbles is not ready for it. Bubbles is shocked at this accusation, and asks the Professor three reasons why she isn't responsible. Cue a montage, complete with some wacky Sesame Street-inspired numbers. Because Bubbles is the childish one!

She left the water on, causing the house to flood! A very quick scene, unlike the other two.

Blossom tells Bubbles to keep an eye on a tied up Gangreen Gang while she goes and gets the cops, because the Puffs can't possibly deal with them themselves, but she ends up getting distracted by a butterfly! This leads to the Gangreen Gang escaping from rope, proving that they are stronger than the Reboot Puffs.

While a pirate goes to the "little captain's room", Bubbles wrecks his ship on an iceberg she was specifically told to avoid! Random!

Blossom finds a classified ad asking for a dog-sitter, no experience necessary. Seeing this as a test, they all agree that if she can pass it, she can have a dog. Bubbles promises the Professor that he can say goodbye to the irresponsible Bubbles he once knew. I got to used to saying goodbye to the Bubbles I once knew.

Bubbles gets her puppy from a strange old lady. This is the second hint that something can't be right, as the old lady just closes the door slowly. The first being, of course, "no experience necessary". Something's rotten in the city of Townsville, but Bubbles doesn't mind at all.

The episode uses Pauly's face as a transition throughout the episode. Very often, they use this transition between two scenes that take place in the same location. This is where you should have a "later" title card.

Blossom and Buttercup come home, Buttercup talking about how she licks ice cream off of bathroom floors, to a completely thrashed house. It turns out, Pauly isn't exactly well trained, and Bubbles isn't that good at training him. He eats up one of Blossom's favorite slippers, starts eating Buttercup's very stretchy hair, and he "makes a mess" behind the couch. That's pretty much a required joke with inexperienced pet owners.

The problem is that Bubbles just refuses to tell him "no", and Blossom tries to teach her.

Blossom: You have to tell him no if you want him to be good!

Bubbles: But he really likes being bad!

I wonder what the twist of the episode is. Suddenly, the dog keeps hitting his head on the couch. Seeing this as the dog having too much energy, Blossom tells Bubbles to take her dog for a walk. When she does, the dog keeps stopping at different stores. He stops at a pie store, but Bubbles tells him dogs don't eat pie. Pauly gives Bubbles those puppy dog eyes, and she allows him to go in. She eventually tells him that she won't buy anything else for him.

One dog transition later, and Bubbles buys absolutely everything for him. Even a treadmill to have him walk while they're walking, which she stops to lampshade. She even outright monologues about not being able to put her foot down. While she's talking to herself, Pauly starts robbing the diamond store she stopped by with a bat. What a twist, Pauly really likes being bad!

I know what some people might be thinking, and I'll answer that this is completely different from the original Cat Man Do. Get this, while that episode was about the Powerpuff Girls adopting an evil cat, this episode is about one of the Powerpuff Girls adopting an evil dog! It's totally different.

Also, this dog isn't an evil genius bent on turning man's best friend into the head of the house. He's just an ordinary robber, who happens to be a dog. Specifically, he reveals himself to be Pug-Faced Pauly, the greatest robber and criminal mastermind in Townsville. How does he reveal this?

By talking, of course. No, this isn't a "The Wild Thornberrys"-like way to show an animal talking to something with the gift of gab, Bubbles, and Buttercup later in the episode, outright says that he can talk. What use is the ability to talk to animals if every important animal seems to have human vocal cords? I wonder how Talking Dog feels about that.

In response, Bubbles does the thing she does best: tell the dog that he's a bad dog while shrinking her face. I didn't feel the need to screenshot it, because you can just look at the other 50 times I had to. She also threatens to take him to jail, without the help of those all important cops. The dog tells her that they put "bracelets" on her too for technically being his accomplice.

Oh, and he also says that Bubbles will never own a dog. Guess which one Bubbles is more worried about.

Not willing to lose her dog, Bubbles agrees to a new life of crime. We learn this from a bunch of alliterative headlines from the Town Enquirer. I guess Townsville doesn't think too highly of itself to put its name on the newspaper. Another difference from Cat Man Do: Hypnosis is not involved; Bubbles is just easy to force into these kinds of plots.

Blossom and Buttercup see Bubbles' head, covered with a mask, in the paper. Of course, Buttercup has to think about who it is for a while, because this show has to avert our expectations by making Buttercup the silly one in this episode. Blossom figures it out immediately, and they just somehow know where she is.

Before they get there, the dog is robbing another store. Bubbles is ordered to get the getaway car, which she brings by literally carrying it on her back. This plays both to the fact that she can’t drive and how she’s a superhero that can lift heavy things. Finally, another measure of her strength. A far less impressive one than the building full of people, but a little closer to her apparent strength in the rest of the reboot.

The rest of the Powerpuff Girls show up to stop Bubbles from obeying her dog. Buttercup tells him she's ready to knock off a few of his nine lives. Blossom tells Buttercup that's cats, not dogs. It's funny because Buttercup is the pinhead of the episode! Also, wanna guess how she says it?

Buttercup: KNOCK OFF A FEW OF YOUR NINE LIVES!

It's also "funny" because it's off-model and badly animated! That's still a gag they're going to return to. I was hoping it wasn't, but here you go. Pauly blows a dog whistle, and a bunch of dogs show up. Even that strange old lady shows up, and she reveals herself to be...a dog with a duck's body! There's good twists, and there's twists that are completely random. It never really goes anywhere, and it's not even worth a screenshot.

I was expecting some sort of copout on this. The Powerpuff Girls, with their car-lifting strength, should have no problem with these dogs. Even with the Reboot Puffs, while they get beaten up by giant monsters or powerful robots, these are just ordinary dogs with human vocal cords and sense of style. But, they can’t possibly show a bunch of dogs getting beaten up, right?

Surprisingly, that’s what happens. Blossom and Buttercup fight a bunch of dogs in the same way they punched bank robbers. They tie into the dog theme by covering up most of the impact with hit flashes with dog puns in them. Fitting!

Bubbles is still conflicted, though, because she can't possibly disobey Pauly. While Blossom and Buttercup is fighting the dogs, they tell her to join in, while Pauly tells her to keep on doing crime. Eventually, the bickering causes Bubbles to snap, and she throws the getaway car at the dog. Wow, that's kind of harsh. He was an evil pug, but still.

Nah, I'm kidding. Bubbles turns him in, Pauly only slightly bruised. She even gets all the credit, and doesn't have to go to jail despite being his accomplice, despite what Pauly threatened earlier. I would say Townsville realized having one of the reasons why their city isn’t a crater in the ground in "sing-sing" isn’t a good idea, but anyone other than Buttercup is kind of expendable in this reboot.

With the help of the Professor, who only appears in the beginning and end of the episode to tell the kids the moral, Bubbles learns that you have to be responsible for your pets, especially if they turn out to be criminals. She even reveals she got a new pet, who happens to be Reboot Jojo dressed like a cat! Is it Reboot Jojo in disguise doing a villainous plot, or is this another “Make Reboot Jojo the weakest villain” joke? It's the latter. Trust me.

Does the title fit?

Bubbles is a dog-sitter. While it's another "replace a word with a character's name" title, It's a little better because Bubbles and Baby both start with a B and have two syllables. That's how low the standards have to be with PPG 2016 titles.

How does it stack up?

I was worried this was going to be another “oh, Bubbles is so silly” episode, but it turned out to be just a boring evil animal episode. Sure, I do like that the Powerpuff Girls actually fight, but that’s like praising a dog for not peeing on the sofa. Sure, it’s pleasant, especially if said dog tends to pee on the sofa, but I should expect better.

The keyword, of course, being "should". After watching so much of this reboot, I fear that my mind is getting numbed. Not among the worst, not among the best. Closer to the worst, but not that close. I really need to higher my standards.

Next, Buttercup fights an evil adversary. Oh no, not Reboot Jojo, not Silico...it's math. Honestly, I think spelling should be PPG 2016′s mortal enemy. They've been a little better with that in Season 2, but not by much.

← Take Your Kids To Dooms Day ☆ Buttercup vs. Math →