#STRUDEL RUN SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT SHE'S DOING

[ndostairlyrium]

-Are you sure it’ll wash off before the meeting? -Trust me, vhenas, I know what I’m doing.

Forgive me for the siren screaming you’re hearing in the distance, it’s not an ambulance, it’s me fangirling like mad over THIS 💛😭

I think everybody and their grandma would recognize such gorgeous lines, and yes, I can confirm they’re indeed @demandthedoodles’ who was extremely lovely for accepting to collab with me ;; thank you again stea 💛 We drew each other bab-- blorbos and their beloved fereldans (what’s with fereldans tho, what do they eat to be like *gestures eloquently*?? if I knew cabbage would do *that* to a person I would have eaten kilos of it per meal o-o) 💛 and seriously, you have to take a look at his part because the coloring is breathtaking ;; 

but first let’s take a moment to enjoy Bonbon in all his glory (them pawssss aaaaaa) 

[bloodyshadow1]

so this was a big episode even though some of the bad kids didn't have much to do. I'll talk about it through the characters because that's easier for me. More under the cut

Gorgug didn't do much, but he tried, it's just that the thing he wanted to do was talk to Ragh who was in post-grad at a highschool party mode and it was hard. He was a good friend by throwing the contest and he got them a conversation with Lydia about the similarity between the crystals. He still played a good support role as a good friend with his friends backing them up when needed.

Adiane like Gorgug played mostly a background/support role since she gets shitfaced really early on in the episode. Her biggest thing was meeting two of the remaining Ratgrinders. Other than that she helped with the groups popularity and did her best to support her friends, but due to her drunkenness was kind of out of it and in the background for a lot of the ep. Her getting drunk because of her situation was sad, oweing more money due to what happened with Oodles of Strudel and having money problems thrown in her face again since Oisin of the Ratgrinders didn't have that issue due to his family and Ivy poking fun at the fact that Adaine should have old Fallinel money that she doesn't have access to. Still, drunk Adaine herself was funny and adorable, even if the reason she was is sad.

Fig also played a support role, almost literally being the other Kristen for a while to sell her to the student body to seem more appealing as a candidate. but she also attempted to sus out some info on the Ratgrinders to varying levels of success. But I think the big thing she did the ep was being their for Mazey who needed a friend after Fabian hurt her feelings. It was a sweet and genuine moment that I really liked with Fig and also it helped Fig verbalize that she wasn't sure if she still wanted to be a bard which is something she'll have to struggle with

Overall it was a big Riz, Fabian, and especially Kristen episodes

Riz did his Riz thing, trying to juggle multiple things to achieve his goals while still trying to sus out the big mystery. He was all over the place in the best way this ep, He was introduced to at least 3 club presidents of the various clubs he joined which will run him ragged. He did his best to campaign for Kristen while also trying to limit her amount of self-sabotage. And he did his best to work with Gorgug to find out why Kalina said Rahg's name before she got re-corrupted. And of course there is a new mystery with the arcano-tech in Fabian's basement that was messed with. Brennen is clearly setting up something, but I'll also admit I was starting to fade by that point in the ep.

Fabian... was a dick this episode, it was building but now that he is at the party where he can bask in the attention of his peers that he wanted since freshman year and he got the attention of the bad girl Ivy, something he's also always wanted. In doing so he was put in a Betty/Veronica situation where he hurt Mazey's feelings which none of his friends were happy about. Overall he also showed off her classist/elitist side that was there in Freshman year but kind of got worn down over the year and sophomore year. Now that he's the big man on campus and on the inside is terribly lonely, that part of him is back in fullswing so he can pretend everything is fine. The guy's regressing and who knows where it's gonna go. Additionally, he introduced us to the remain Ratgrinders with Adaine, Buddy and Ivy and we got more with Ivy than Oisin or Buddy since Fabian is trying to court her. He also got a new nemesis with Gertie because he was a dick so there's that.

Kristen had a big episode, trying to put her face out there since she's running for class president, but her heart clearly isn't in it. The whole divine situation she is in is crazy so that's understandable. She also was introduced to her foil on the Ratgrinders, Buddy, even though they didn't actually speak since she was invisible. The biggest thing is dealing with her second lost goddess and the phonecall with Tracker. I'm not even gonna touch on that here, that is gonna be it's own post if I can. Still it highlighted a lot of Kristen's weaknesses and harsh as it may have been, Tracker for the most part was right.

As for the NPC's

We got 3 club presidents but the only one who had much screen time was Gertie, who I feel really bad for. She is the club president of a club that has 1 official member, Riz signed up and that's just to pad his college resume. The other bad kids probably made her really happy that they seemed sincere about joining, but then it turned sour when Fabian on his high horse insulted her. So that's kind of up in the air.

We were introduced to the last 3 members of the Ratgrinders and it's kind of hard to gauge what they're like. They seem less antagonistic than the other 3, or at least Ruben and Kipperlily, mary-ann just seemed like done with everything and apathetic than antagonistic.

Buddy, the cleric and Kristen's foil, is a weird case because he's clearly the judgemental church kid. He's the type of kid who will grow up into an asshole, but honestly he seems sincere now at least and I don't think I'm gonna write off a 16 year old who has the same personality as Kristen in her freshman year. Also 2 more interesting things about him is that he is not the chosen one of Helio since that is Kristen and probably always will be which hopefully will lead to some interesting interactions. But also he has not been with the Ratgrinders since Freshman year, he just moved to Solace/Elmville over the summer and was quickly recruited by them so who knows how deep his loyalties lie.

Oisin, the wizard and Adaine's foil, is a weird case because from what we've seen from his short conversation with Adaine he seems pretty chill. There might be a connection between him and Adaine, which I'm not super interested in, but it did happen. Dragonborn Conjuration wizard is an interesting choice He seems nice since when he saw through Adaine's deception he was offering some of the 'extra's' his ancestor gave him. That being said, it's possible he was there to get dirt on the bad kids, it's possible he was the one controlling the ice mephits in the basement so it's hard to say if he was being sincere or not the whole time or if he's like Preston from the Seven.

Ivy is the last Ratgrinder we met, I can only assume she is a fighter since that's the last position open in the Ratgrinders as the Bad kid's foil and is Fabian's foil. She's an elf who uses a bow according to her character art, so I can assume that's her main weapon. We didn't get a lot from her other than she's kind of a bitch and isn't afraid to antagonize people for no real reason other than she can, which of course makes Fabian incredibly attracted to her. The way she acted towards Fig disguised as Lucy Frostblade, the Ratgrinder's former cleric who at least was dead sometime in Sophomore year was interesting. She didn't seem surprised by her being at a party or alive so there's that, but also it sounded like they have something to talk about which the bad kids don't know about.

Overall a fun interesting episode, I'll admit I'm not a huge fan when the party parties. I'm in my 30's now, but the party scene was never my thing growing up in real life so I'm not a huge fan now. But it was fine overall.

[magicalhideoutengineer]

Taken from Inside the Magic: The Making of Fantastic Beasts

Porpentina Goldstein

At first glance, Porpentina Goldstein or 'Tina' Goldstein is a no-nonsense, career-driven New York witch. Indeed. She is the first of a magical persuasion to spot that Newt might be more than a passing tourist.

Dressed in her usual smart but inconspicuous mix of above-the-ankle trousers, grey overcoat and balck cloche hat, she trails him into the bank; there, she is appalled to witness the wizard use hhis wand in broad daylight and promptly arrest him. Newt is clearly an exposure risk to the secretive MACUSA. He may also be a chance for Tina to redeem herself.

Tina has run into her own problems at MACUSA. 'She's recently been demoted,' explains Katherine Waterston, the NewYork-based actress who is bringing this complicated witch to the screen. 'She's gone from being a detective to the lowly work in the Wand Permit Office. Basically stamping passports.’

Up until her downrturn in fortune Tina wasa Auror, a wizard detective tasked with investigating crimes. But as director David Yates explains, 'She had done something really bad.' What her crime might be is revealed over the course of the movie. 'Like Newt,' he says, 'she is a wee bit of an outsider.’

Waterston finds her character fascinating. Nothing is quite what it seems. Tina is really proud to be a part of MACUSA. She still hopes to make something of herself there. Yet she also slinks about New York doing her own investigation like a private eye from an old-schoolcrime movie.

'Tina has good instincts,' hits Waterston. 'She is good at her job. But when push comes to shove, she will abandon the rulebook.' She is a woman of great potential, but she just hasn't found a way to realize it yet, with pretty bobbed hair and a stern gaze.

Yates was taken with Waterston from the moment she walked into the first audition. She displayed similar qualities to Eddie Redmayne. 'Very much like Eddie, she can be quite deeply intense in a good way, and she can be very, very funny. She's got a great physical ability at comedy, which is quite rare. She's also a really powerful actor. I loved that combination.’

Waterston doesn't count herself as any kind of expert on the history of Harry Potter. She had seen some of the films, read some of the books, but admits she hadn't got a completely lost in the world. She also thinks that may not be a bad thing.

'I felt in a fortunate place,' she says, 'because I wasn't so obsessed that I had a lot of preconceived notions, but I was familiar enough to have a sense of the tone of the world.’

She also had a plenty of opportunity to pick the brains of J.K Rowling, who provided a wealth of knowledge on Tina.

'You just want to curl up by the fire withher and hear her stories,' sighs Waterston happily. 'She sees a whole, incredibly detailed universe.’

Two key relationship will emerge in Tina's busy corner of that universe. Firstly, with her sister Queenie, played by Alison Sudol, with whom she shares a small Brownstone apartment.

Tina and Queenie lost their parents to a Dragon Pox when they were young, and at different times have been a parent to one another. 'in their loneliness they've fallen into that dynamic,' says Waterston. Tina, she admits, may be a bit more the father, and Queenie the mother, cooking these wonderful meals. Queenie is as vivacious as Tina is restrained, yet they couldn't be closer.

'It feels true to me, the way Tina and Queenie relate to one another,' insists Waterston. Having only just met, she and Sudol developed an instant chemistry as they shot the scene of the Goldsteins preparing dinner for Newt and Jacob. It was their first day working together and they had to glide about the kitchen casting spells with their wands as if it was second nature.

'We kind of scrambled to figure it out –whose chore is whose?' recalls Waterston. 'I'm sort of setting the table with my wand and she's preparing the meal. We developed a little, superstitious salt-over-the-shoulder thing, just to give the audience a sense of their life together.’

Then, of course, there is Newt. Someone Tina can't quite figure out. Not at first. 'Part of what I love about Tina is that she's flawed,' says Waterston. 'Things don't work out for her. She meets Newt and she suspects there is something to him, but she doesn't know exactly what.’

Throughout the first film, as she watches him interact with his fantastic beasts and sees the way he is, Tina will come to view Newt in a different light.

'With Katherine's character, it is sort of a slow-build connection,' says Redmayne, 'these two people, who are outsiders yet passionate people, begins to glimpse things in one another.’

Waterston describes it as a love story albeit in an unconventional way. They have a lot of to deal with in the meantime – escaped beasts, death sentences, going on the run, tackling the outbreak of dark magic – and yet Newt sees all the potential in her that she has trouble seeing in herself. 'At first, she thinks he's dangerous and untrustworthy, and potentially kind of cute too,' she says. 'Then as the relationship evolves you start to notice parallels between them. I mean, both are very passionate but not very good at expressing themselves.’

She pauses, trying to capture one of the themes of the film: 'It can be lonely being an oddball until you find another oddball.’

Tina's Costume

'Tina Goldstein is a little bit gawky. A little bit not quite there in her body and just a little bit off in her costume. She was sort of a modern girl, and I made an acting decision to put her in trousers from the start, which was not so common in the period. She had an element of what the Aurors wore but not really. Hence the trousers. She was hiding a lot and doing her own private-eye things. So I gave her a trenchcoat with a really big collar she could tuck her head behind doing this kind of stealthy spying work.’

Tina's Wand

When it came to her wand, Katherine Waterston requested some 'heft'. She wanted to make Tina's spell-casting forceful, as if magic was something she takes very seriously. 'Tina's was nice,' says Pierre Bohanna. 'Quite simple and quite classic.’

The Goldstein Department

Named for the dark sandstone bricks used tobuild Manhattan's famous townhouses, most Brownstones were converted into apartments in the 1920s. Not wealthy, the Goldsteins occupy a couple of rooms within one such conversion.

Furthermore, Tina and Queenie will prepared inner for their guests with the help of familiar spells. Jacob, recovering from a nasty bite from a Murtlap, wonders whether he is having a hallucinogenic episode. ‘He's chucked onto this sofa and the girls suddenly swish their wands around and plates fly from everywhere and food is being chopped,' says visual effects supervisor Christian Manz, 'and we go into incredible detail about baking an apple strudel magically. But it feels workaday, it feels normal to them.’ 

'We've got little napkins flying like birds, we've got a book jacket that move around,' he recalls. Irons work on their own accord, a clothes-horse revolves to ensure both sides face the fire, and there is a lovely dress on a mannequin that Queenie is mending remotely. 

The idea, says actress Katherine Waterston, is 'to give the audience a sense of the Goldsteins' life together that is very insulated and private.' Having two men visit, she insists, is a 'freak exception'.