#aaron is my spirit animal

[maireadmalesco]

James Baxter has a new friend.

[macncheese29]

some aaron tveits ive been hoarding

[kradogsrats]

If Soren seems to have gotten sick when he was a toddler, do you think Lissa left shortly after Claudia was born…? Maybe that doesn’t quite line up, actually…

Okay so I saw someone ask Aaron Ehasz a similar question about the timeline of Soren's illness re: Viren's dream vs. the events presented in Puzzle House, and I cannot remember where it was but his response was something like "hm... well you should probably believe the show."

Which immediately made me go "oh my god was Soren actually dead for like three to five years and Kpp'Ar was looking for a unicorn horn to resurrect him in a manner similar to the Star magic spell that 'restores bodies to separated spirits' and then instead Viren stole Ziard's staff from him and used that??????" which is a) insane, and b) has several reasons it probably isn't the case. But it's a thought I had.

Anyway, let's look at our contrasting sources:

Puzzle House

Puzzle House establishes the following sequence of events:

Soren is ill to the point of dying

Kpp'Ar disappears

Soren gets better

Lissa leaves

It's also implied that this was all pretty recent, between King Atticus's concern for Viren and Soren's for Claudia:

So, how old are all these extremely precocious young children in Puzzle House?

Well, Sarai is... quite pregnant. She's got a pretty small frame, but I'd still put her at like 30 weeks, minimum. Ezran is pinned at 10 in the official character lineup. (In s4 he says he was "nine years old" when Harrow was killed. Given his March birthday, he is probably fudging that a bit since s1 starts mid-May so he was pretty recently 10 at the time.) Viren also puts Harrow's coronation and Sarai's death at nine years earlier, at which point I would estimate Ezran at roughly 6-8 months, given how he is portrayed.

Also given the mid-May start to s1, we also have Claudia at almost 17, and Soren at about 18 and a half. Soren is about 18 months older than Claudia. So between all of that, we can probably ballpark Puzzle House at about one year before Harrow's coronation. This puts Soren at about 8 and a half, and Claudia at almost 7. (And Callum at about to turn 5, if anyone's keeping track.)

Given the way it's spoken about, I would not put Soren's recovery at earlier than 6 months prior, and probably more like 3 or so. This roughly lines up with the estimates I had for everything before, so idk go me or whatever.

Strangers

We do also have a third source for details on Soren's illness, which is the Strangers short from Reflections. This establishes that Soren was old enough to remember details about that time:

If Soren was the age he appears in Viren's dream, then a) he probably wouldn't remember any of it, and b) Claudia would have been an infant. Now, an infant can definitely cry in their room until morning, but I do think the implication here is supposed to be that she was old enough to understand what was happening and have emotions about it.

Additionally, Soren thinks of the slow breaths practice as something he did therapeutically for a long time:

Basically, I think it's pretty clear between this and the info in Puzzle House that the Puzzle House timeline is accurate, but Soren initially developed what was actually a chronic illness much earlier.

Viren's Dream

Now, what about Viren's dream?

It's incredibly difficult to pinpoint ages of children in animation purely visually, so I'm mostly basing an estimate of 2-3 years old for Soren during Viren's dream off of his demonstrated stage of linguistic development and the fact that he's able to run. He could be delayed in one or both areas, though.

Viren dreams of Soren turning to stone, similar to how Thunder did (and how Viren does in the opening). This is interesting in that the implication is certainly death, but it also has heavy ties to dark magic and the other themes of Viren's dreaming, which I would say put it as more related to something along the lines of a "sealed fate" rather than literal death. Dreaming Viren knows what he didn't know when Soren was that age, and probably developed his first recognizable symptoms—that this illness would come close to killing him, and Viren would give up everything to save him.

There's also a possible implication there that dark magic was actually what caused Soren's illness in the first place, which could be something interesting to explore. (And I've definitely seen people explore it, before.)

Anyway, like most of Viren's dream, it's accurate but not literal.

TL;DR: Dreams are fucking weird, and Claudia was still probably between six and seven years old when Lissa left the family.

[gunterfan1992]

My new edited book: “Analyzing ‘Adventure Time‘”!

Hey, did you know that I edited a scholarly book about Adventure Time? Yup, that’s right, it’s called Analyzing Adventure Time, and it features over a dozen scholarly essays about the one cartoon about that kid and the dog. The book will be coming out this summer from McFarland & Co! Here’s the cover:

I’m pretty psyched about the project in general, but it’s doubly-cool that this book will be a part of McFarland’s “Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy” series! Either way, if you’re interested, you can pre-order a copy here.

And here’s the table of contents + contributors for those who are interested:

Introduction (Paul A. Thomas)

Prelude: "The Three Levels of Adventure Time" (Paul A. Thomas)

"Be More Than the Binary: Experiencing Queer Subjectivity with BMO" (Olivia M. Vogt)

"From Censorship to 'Obsidian': A Critical and Historical Look at 'Bubbline'" (Mage Hadley)

"Rainbows and Unicorns: The Influence of Bubbline on Apocalyptic Film and Animation" (Steven Holmes)

"'Get your hero on, dude!' Charting Jake’s Growth as a Positive Masculine Role Model" (Bridget M. Blodgett and Anastasia Salter)

"Yellow Voices and Rainbow Bodies: Accent, Multilingualism, and the Politics of Representation in Adventure Time" (Camille Chane)

"Mikhail Bakhtin in the Land of Ooo: The Carnivalesque, Heteroglossia, and the Fun That Never Ends" (Aaron Kerner and Birdy Wei-Ting Hung)

"'And we will happen again and again': Adventure Time and the Sisyphean Struggle" (Sequoia Stone)

"What Time Is It? Postmodernity! Postmodern Praxis in Adventure Time" (Jenine Oosthuizen)

"Making a New Meaning for Man in The Land of OOO: Object-Oriented Ontology, the NonHuman, and Difference in Distant Lands" (Al Valentín)

"Too Close for Comfort: On Finn the Human and Princess Bubblegum’s Relationship" (Zhi Hwee Goh)

"Of Lacan and Lemons: A Psychoanalytic Reading of Season Six’s 'The Mountain'" (Paul A. Thomas)

"Trauma and the Body in Adventure Time" (Steven Kielich)

"The Japanese Spirit and Aesthetic in Western Animation: The Influence of Anime on Adventure Time" (Kendra N. Sheehan

"'Bad Jubies': Giving Value to the Intangible in Artistic Professions" (Catalina Millán Scheiding)

Note that this is different work from Exploring the Land of Ooo... that work is going to be reissued this year by the University Press of Mississippi, though, so stay tuned for news about that as well!

[ddejavvu]

hotch being smitten over reader when they have a case back in their hometown :( looking at them with starry eyes as they tell the team about how they used to sneak out with their friends to hang out in the park until sunrise. maybe he’ll notice she’s gone from the hotel the night before they leave, and he finds her there so they sit on the swings together <//3

fuck i want hotch to push me on the swings when i'm telling him about my adventures in my hometown

--

He knows where to find you, he just wishes he didn't look so silly joining you.

You look right perched on a ride-on horse toy, the thick spring beneath the animal's body swaying gently as you do. As he steps up beside you, footsteps crunching in the woodchips below him, your head jerks to face him.

You relax when you realize it's not the killer you're looking for, and though he came out with the intention of chiding you for being so careless, he can't bring himself to. He lowers himself onto the tiny seat of the duck that's vacant next to you, the spring creaking beneath him.

"I should take a picture," You giggle wistfully into the starry night above you, "No one's ever gonna believe I got the great, grumpy Aaron Hotchner to sit on a springy duck toy."

"Well believe it or not I've done it for Jack a time or two," You can hear the smile in his voice, and it's as good as a laugh in your book, "He used to be afraid of them so he'd make me do it first."

"Oh my god, please tell me you were in a suit then, too." You gush, glancing over at him and finding he hadn't changed for the night. He does chuckle this time, and it warms you through the chilly night air.

"No, probably jeans and a t-shirt," He watches the overdramatic slump of your shoulders, but his eyes fall to the hand you have on the horse's plastic tail.

"You said that one was your favorite." He remembers the conversation you had with Morgan and Prentiss earlier, regaling them with stories of your youth in this very town.

Your hand tightens around the pony's tail, "Yeah. I named him Rolo."

"Rolo.. any reason?"

"I liked the candy." You dismiss with a reminiscent giggle, "I was four, Hotch, cut me some slack."

He lets out an amused, 'Ah,' and runs a finger over dried mud that's caked onto the duck's face. It crumbles off beneath his massive hand and he brushes it off with his clean one, "Do the other ones have names?"

"No," You giggle, "I was the only one who ever named mine. That one, the one you're sitting on was my friend Lacy's. And that one," You point to a dog across the park, "That was Charlie's, and the cow over there was Lea's."

Aaron tunes the world out for a moment, letting your voice and nothing but it fill his senses. He doesn't hear cars driving by, he doesn't think about the case you're working, all he knows is you and your rambling. Your eyes shine like the stars above you and he admires your ability to become what you've always known, how you'd become the stars you'd spent so many nights staring at. He has a sudden urge to become one himself, if only to twinkle bright enough to shine a similar light on you as you do for him.

--

Any case that ends with a hostage recovered is a good one. Well, they're never good, but your spirits aren't as crushed this time as they would have been had you not gotten the victim out. You're doodling away on a scrap of paper when Aaron sits down across from you, but you look up as a familiar gold-and-brown tube slides into your vision.

"Rolos," You breathe, eyes twinkling with the light of the universe once more, "Thanks, Hotch!"

He pulls a snickers bar out of his jacket pocket and sends you a soft smile, "Mine is named Snickers, by the way. I didn't want to leave him without a name."

"Snickers the duck," You conclude, popping a Rolo into your mouth and letting the caramel ooze onto your tongue, 'I like it."

[specialagentlokitty]

Negan x reader - people can change

Part 4:

A/N: italics will be sign language

Trade quickly began between all the communities, having nothing else to do, and in the spirit of teaching everybody you had a surplus of weapons at the ready which were distributed.

In return the four communities sent you plenty of warm clothes and blankets as winter began to grow closer, you delivered them food and ingredients they needed, along with firewood.

Trade had been going on for a few months now, and you had decided you trusted them to see your community, and Alexandria was the first.

“I knew I was right about water.” Aaron chuckled.

You held your hand out, helping them all across the stepping logs, on to the pier.

“Yes, it was an activity camp, walkers can’t get across the water.” Luke said.

“It’s so cool! Can you swim in it?” Judith asked.

“Oh yes, all the children here learn to swim.” Cole smiled.

They weren’t wearing their masks, however you kept yours on.

It was the people’s choice if they wanted to give their names or show their faces, you had done neither so far.

“As the years went on we started to expand, learning how to build on the water.” You explained.

You gave them a tour of the place, finally reaching the food court, sitting them all down.

“We can teach you what we know about being silent, about being the silence.”

“Does it always work?” Michonne asked.

“Humans and walkers are attracted to noise, animals are scared by it.”

She nodded her head, and you tapped your hand on the table.

“Have whatever you’d like, we are not short of food.”

They nodded and you got up, making your way across the bridges and stepping longs to head to the pier on the other side, over looking the lake.

You looked down in the water, looking at your reflection, your hand reached up for the mask but you stopped when you heard a small step, and you turned your head.

“Hello Judith.”

“How did you know?”

You sat down, crossing your legs and she sat with you.

“Your steps sound different to an adults, and you’re slightly heavier on your right foot, the weight of your sword shifts it.”

“What did you do before this?”

You glanced at her.

“I was cop.”

“My dad was too…”

You looked at her, sighing softly as she stared sadly into the water.

“Judith, do you remember what I told you when we first met?”

She nodded her head, turning to look at you.

Reaching up, you undid the strap on your mask, pulling it down and you pulled your hood down as well, connecting your eyes with hers.

“I said you could be the first to see me without my mask.”

You saw her scanning your features, but her gaze was fixated on the right side of your face, up but your eye.

“It’s not important, people have scars.”

“Thank you for showing me.”

You smiled, giving a nod of your head and you heard a few children giggling nearby as they crept over slowly.

“Hello you three.”

The triplets laughed, and ran over to sit with you.

“Hi!” They beamed.

You smiled softly at them all.

“This is Judith, she’s from another community, will you three show her the town? And introduce yourselves, remember manners.”

“We’re Harry, Rose, and Ethan!”

You rolled your eyes.

“Harry had black hair, Ethan has brown hair. They suck at introductions but they can show you what they do for fun here, go on.”

The four ran off, and you turned back to the water, looking at your reflection.

Bringing a hand up, you trailed your finger along one of the small scars along the corner of your eye as it trailed towards your ear.

They looked like they resembled the veins under the skin, but you knew it wasn’t that, because when you moved your scarf it carried on down your neck.

Sighing, you pulled your scarf back up and listened to somebody else coming over.

“Is this how you kept so isolated?” Michonne asked.

“Yes, nobody would think a boring old lake would be interesting. Plus with all the scouts around nobody could even get close.”

“The swords?”

“Ah, right. That was actually our blacksmiths idea, he’s a young man, loves trying out new things.”

You grabbed your mask, putting it on your belt and you turned to face her, giving her a smile.

“I had a promise to your daughter to show her first.”

“She seems to make everybody her friend.” Michonne laughed.

You hummed in agreement, taking her to the blacksmith at the end of side of the town.

“Hey.”

The man spun around, and you pointed at him.

“What have we discussed?”

“Sorry! Sorry! Put the swords down first.”

He set everything down and pulled up his glasses, flashing a grin.

“Im Eric, handy blacksmith here. I heard y’all need more weapons right?”

“If you have any spare that is.” Michonne said.

“Oh yeah, back room is full of them, we have more too.”

He led Michonne through and you stood there waiting, looking up as a shadow fell over you.

Walkers. By the road. Possibly the skins.

You nodded your head.

“Kill them. Skins or not.”

She nodded and left, and you walked into the back room.

“You, Aaron and Judith need to stay here for the night. We’ve spotted something on the roads, we don’t know whether it’s walked or whisperer.”

“This close?”

“Could be Walker but we take no risks. Not until is safe for you all to go home. Do you have enough weapons to fight them?”

“No nearly enough weapons or people, after what happened…”

You glanced to Eric who nodded his head, and you walked outside, grabbing the nearest person.

“We hold a meeting tonight, outside my home. Have everybody there.”

“Yes ma’am.”

You jogged away to your home, awaiting the results of what was lurking nearby.

Sitting on your table, you looked at the new mark on the map, it was around the same as the others, and you furrowed your brows.

Luke and Cole came through, setting their masks aside.

“What’re you thinking? Do we fight with them?” Cole asked.

“Right now? No. The whisperers have done us no harm, I see no reason to start. However if they’re drawing closer on us then we leave them a warning, see what happens them.”

Like sat down, turning the map so he was able to look at it.

“So what is this meeting about?” He asked you.

You pursed your lips as you thought.

“I propose that we teach them a few things we know, our basic signals, a few techniques on fighting, Eric can craft them a few a few swords, extra arrows and some traps.”

“This is a lot of work for the basic things we’re getting.”

“We don’t need much Luke, we can’t be greedy in what we take from already struggling communities.”

He sighed, running a hand down his face.

“I know that. It’s just what if they attack us?”

“Then we fight them, it’s as simple as that. The only ones that’ll be able to get across are the skins. Now, go meet the scouts, see what you can find out, both of you.”

Your whole day was full of planning, creating plans and backup plans just in case, covering everything you could think off.

As the sun began to set, the torches along the bridges were lit, and people began to gather outside your home while you sat on the roof.

Aaron, Michonne and Judith stood at the front, everybody looking up at you.

Luke made his way through the crowd, using the rope to haul himself up with you and he crouched down on one side while Cole did the same on the other.

“Just one skin, rounding up some walkers, they’re all gone.” Luke whispered.

You nodded your head.

“Then it’s settled.”

You turned to the people.

“As yours aware over the past month or so walkers have been spotted along the roads, we all know this isn’t normal.”

People nodded.

“The communities we trade with are currently at war with the Whisperers, while we however remain a neutral party!”

You sighed a little.

“I now ask for your votes on what to do. A whisperer was found today on the roads, luring a few walkers we assume back to whatever horde they’rere building up.”

A few people began to whisper and you held up your hand to silence them.

“We are at peace with all communities, we will not fight the whisperers, however, I propose we send more weapons, traps, teach them a few of our signals to aid them, along with teaching them some of our fighting techniques. However, this is not my choice, this is up to you. The people. I ask you hear these three out, and then we vote after.”

You gestured for them to come up, and they did, so you stepped aside.

“We won’t ask you to fight for us, I know we haven’t earned that yet. But we do ask for any help we can get, we want to protect our homes.” Aaron said.

Michonne nodded.

“We’ve fought time and time again to protect our communities, we’ve have been through hell and back just to do it. What we have no isn’t nearly enough to take on a horde, or whatever the whisperers through at us. And if we don’t stop them, they might come here next.”

A few people seemed to agree with her on that, and you crouched down, carefully watching their reactions.

“We ask for any help you can offer, even if it is weapons and training, we’ll do whatever we can to stop them from breaking us down and destroying Lakeshore as well.”

Michonne glanced to you.

“You’ve already done enough for us, especially for what little we’ve returned. I know.”

You looked to your people.

“Your call, those who want to help the four communities, raised your hands now.”

You scanned over everybody who raised their hands including your two commanders, then turned back to the people.

“Those who don’t?”

All hands immediately shot down and you nodded your head, placing your hands on your knees to push yourself up.

“Then it’s settled, tomorrow group three will split up, take weapons to the communities, and train them. Cole with go to Oceanside, Luke to Hilltop, I will come and go between Alexandria and here.”

You turned to Michonne and Aaron.

“Should anything go wrong, should you need to get your people out, bring anybody who cannot fight to Lakeshore, elderly, sick, hurt, children.”

“We will, thank you.”

You had no internation to fight the whisperers, but you did intend to help the others in battling for their homes.

And that’s what you did, you sent your people out, and as the brutal winter headed towards you, you began your planning.

Your scouts gave you updates, and every so often you would rotate them out.

Things were getting more and more tense, a brutal winter storm had you trapped at Lakeshore, looking after your people.

But you kept going, endless night after night planning, placing everything carefully into plan, setting the wheels in motion.

Alpha was dead, but you knew it wouldn’t be the end, not when Carol came to your doorstep with Negan.

“We need more people. Please..” she whispered.

You stepped aside to let her in, looking to the scouts behind him.

Hold him by the. Be ready to restrain him.

Why not kill now?

We need to find out why he’s free. We don’t kill unless needed.

You watched them take him away closed your door.

Walking over to Carol, you sat down at the table and she did the same thing, watching as you took your mask off.

“We saw you coming. Why did you bring him here?”

“I blindfolded him, but we need your help. He needs somewhere to stay for now, I owe him that much for what he did.”

You pursed your lips as you thought about what she had said.

Then you slowly nodded.

“Tell me your plan, I’ll listen and decide then.”

So she did, how they planned on taking out the horde, taking out Beta and what she had to do, and you slid your papers across the table.

She flicked through them while you sat there quietly for a moment.

“Is it true he did it?”

“I asked him too, he’s helping us.”

You hummed a little, slowly nodding your head.

“Do you think these plans will work?”

“Combined with what you already have in motion I think so, my people can work in the shadows, but that’s it. I won’t put them in direct line of fire for you.”

“Thank you so much ghost, really. But what about Negan? I know he doesn’t exactly deserve the help, but he can help you from here.”

You tilted your head back and you sighed heavily.

“He can stay, but he doesn’t have our trust.”

[sneezypeasy]

ATLA Original Scripts: Extra Goodies

As I’m sure you may have guessed, the very first script I chose to open at the WGF was The Southern Raiders (I mean, can you blame me? 🤣). But shippy lore and zutara fandom history aside, I did unearth quite a few unrelated tidbits, author’s notes and script changes that I found interesting or funny enough to note down. As promised, here is a compilation of some of these tidbits, with little connecting theme or pattern other than “I thought the fandom might find these snippets interesting” 😁

1. Elizabeth and Aaron Ehasz are genuinely hilarious.

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Credit for finding #1 and #3 goes to my husband, who was with me on Day 2 of Original Script Investigations :3

I don’t mean to say that the other ATLA writers are necessarily boring or unfunny – as I said I didn’t get a chance to read every script and there may have been other genuinely amusing snippets from other writers that I honestly just missed. All I know is, the most entertaining action/non-dialogue lines that I did find were written by these two chuckleheads. I fuckin’ love them, lmao 🤣

2. In Day of Black Sun, Zuko was originally meant to redirect lightning using his dual swords.

I can see why this detail was changed during the storyboarding/animating process (as he just uses his bare hands in the show, the way Iroh taught him), but at the same time the sword-lightning-redirection thing really intrigues me. Dual swords are strongly associated with Zuko’s Blue Spirit vigilante persona, and there’s several episodes where Zuko uses them as part of obscuring his Fire Nation identity, whether that’s to help him keep his cover or even to help him get away with what the Fire Nation could reasonably consider as acts of treason.

So the idea that Zuko would use his swords to redirect Ozai’s lightning comes across as powerfully symbolic to me: Zuko standing in defiance to his abusive father, channeling some Blue Spirit energy to defend but not to kill; Zuko facing down a terrifying display of Fire Nation aggression and wrath, absorbing it into himself and then directing it back to its source, using a non-bending instrument, one he’d previously used in service of vigilantist or even sabotage/treasonous acts… yeah, I think that’s pretty damn cool, ngl.

From a Doylist standpoint, I like it. Very nice.

From a Watsonian standpoint, I can (grudgingly) understand why they likely chose not to portray this scene the way it was scripted.

Ah well.

3. In Lake Laogai, Katara’s healing water was meant to “turn black” as a visual indication that Jet’s injuries were too severe for her to heal.

This scene kind of plays out in the show, but not in the way that the script implies it should:

You can see that in the show version, the water turns black right as Katara appears to pause her work and look up to say “This isn’t good”. Maybe it’s just me, but the show doesn’t seem to imply that the water “turned black” despite Katara’s best healing efforts; I instead get the impression that the water stopped glowing because Katara (momentarily?) suspended her healing efforts upon registering how bad Jet’s injuries were.

The script seems to suggest that the scene should have played out like – Katara tries to heal Jet, the water turns black while she’s still moving her hands and working, Katara might then visibly react with shock or alarm, before finally looking up to remark, “this isn’t good”.

And honestly, I’m actually really bummed that they didn’t animate this sequence out! It would only have taken maybe a couple more seconds, but can you imagine if the writers had been able to employ the dramatic effect of “[Character] is so heavily injured, the healing water turns black” to its maximum potential?

Imagine Katara trying to heal Aang’s lightning wound in The Awakening, but it turns black and then he has that chi-shock attack. Imagine her explaining beforehand that she’d tried healing his wound multiple times over the two weeks he’d been unconscious, and it had always turned black, but she hoped that with him being awake maybe it wouldn’t fail this time - except that it does 😭

Imagine Katara trying to heal Zuko after the lightning scene in Sozin’s Comet, and the water turns black, and Katara grits her teeth “Oh no don’t you dare” and visibly puts all her effort into making that water glow again and finally he wakes -

Argh, it’s one tiny visual clue and yet there’s so much potential for drama and angst (yum!) - I’m so frustrated it wasn’t kept! Huge missed opportunity imo. Ah well, for all you fan-artists and fanfic writers, consider it free real estate. Make it canon, let’s gooo 🤣

4. In The Runaway, after being accused of being “too motherly”, Katara actually slaps Aang when he doesn’t respond fast enough 🤣

I don’t really have much to say about this one other than that I just found the mental image pretty funny. I do find it interesting that as much as the writing did a better job of developing Kataang in the original script, there also isn’t any serious effort to tone down Katara’s motherly tendencies towards Aang either (in fact, I think one could easily argue that slapping Aang’s hand away makes the whole mom thing come off stronger, but idk). Either way, this was pretty entertaining to read. 😂

5. In Tales of Ba Sing Se, Zuko and Jin are both a lot more expressive in the script, and it’s way more fun:

In the script, Zuko looks “totally overwhelmed” when Jin asks him out. In the show, he just looks… blank? Expressionless? Idk. I did get the sense that this was unfamiliar territory for him, but to me the show doesn’t animate him to be nearly as flustered as the script suggests he ought to be. He doesn’t scowl at Iroh immediately either, and even when he does he looks more irritated than “furious”, imo. 🤷‍♀️

I did figure that Zuko telling Jin she has a large appetite was his attempt at making polite conversation, but the script makes him come off more sympathetic with that too:

In the show, the waiter doesn’t roll his eyes at anyone, he just walks away, the shot does pan out to the other diners staring but they move on very quickly, and notably Jin appears completely unperturbed by the whole thing. She doesn’t look sad or “hurt” as the script suggests, and Zuko’s attempt at a compliment isn’t framed as him regretting his outburst and awkwardly trying to make up for upsetting her (as she doesn’t seem to be upset at all).

I’m honestly a little sad that so much of this was cut; it really softens Zuko’s character a fair bit. I mean we already know that underneath his hot temper Zuko always had a deep sense of compassion and empathy for others, but these little details really help bring that side of him to the surface and I’m just sort of bummed that they shaved them off here :/ not sure why they felt the need to do that.

Anyway, we all love awkward turtleduck Zuko, so here, have some more:

I like that Zuko is explicitly written as being more at ease once he and Jin have found a quiet area to be alone in. Neurodivergent Zuko confirmed? :P

Also, love the little addition that Jin “peeks” through her fingers right before Zuko starts firebending (they didn’t include that part in the show either). Makes you wonder, did she see? Did she see, and accept Zuko anyway? :P

(Too cute.)

6. In Zuko Alone, Zuko stops Lee from hurting himself with the dual swords:

On the one hand, I don’t mind that the show portrays Lee just having fun with the swords and looking to Zuko for approval (and getting it!). It’s sweet. On the other hand, I think there’s a layer of foreshadowing here that the show missed - without Zuko there to help, Lee’s recklessness and impulsivity will get the better of him (as it ultimately did). I’m sort of torn on this one.

Edit: I’ve been thinking about this a little more and I think I definitely prefer the script version, if only for the fact that Zuko’s “imperceptible smile” is at the end of his and Lee’s encounter. In the show, Zuko smiles at Lee encouragingly after he gives him a swordfighting “lesson” and then lets the kid swing the swords around a bit, which is definitely a heartwarming moment but it has a very different connotation to Zuko smiling with Lee after Lee opens up about Sen Su to him. In the show Zuko is smiling for Lee, to give him encouragement and support. In the script, Zuko smiles during a bonding moment for both of them, in a way that seems to suggest he is grateful/touched that Lee is sharing something so personal with him. It’s a really soft moment for Zuko and upon thinking about it more I’m definitely bummed they cut that little smile. :(

7. In The Chase, after Azula attacks Iroh, Zuko is apparently doing his best to comfort and stabilise him – he is not simply overcome with despair over his fallen uncle:

And in Crossroads of Destiny, Katara isn’t just angrily pacing the “prison cell” back and forth before Zuko is thrown in with her; she’s actively searching for a way out:

I kinda wish both of these were kept in too. Zuko and Katara may be hot-headed at times (they are definitely two of the most passionate characters in the show, if not the most passionate) – but not to such an extent that it overwhelms their ability to work through a crisis; I find it more consistent to their characters that they would still try to do something even when they appear to be in a pretty hopeless situation. That seems to be a trait they both share, in the show.

I also like that Zuko’s efforts to help Iroh humanises him a bit more and puts the emphasis on Zuko caring about Iroh’s recovery, rather than Zuko just being upset that things have turned out so horribly. I was sympathetic to him before, but I’m even more sympathetic now, if that makes sense. 😭

8. In The Painted Lady, Katara’s disguise is blown due to a hair-loopie malfunction, rather than Aang literally blowing her disguise (off).

This is more of a subjective thing but I wish they kept this one in too! I think it’s cute :P

9. The Puppetmaster was originally meant to be titled The Dark Side of the Moon, and includes some differences on how Katara regains control of herself in the battle with Hama:

I understand why the script made Katara “pirouette” and dance under Hama’s bloodbending – it’s a reference to the whole “puppetmaster” thing (which, by the way, I have to say “The Dark Side of the Moon” is a much cooler title, but I can see why they changed that too – it’s way too spoiler-y, sadly). Ultimately though I prefer the show’s version where Katara is forced to her knees and then breaks free – it’s more dramatic, I think, and it reminds me of the earlier scene in The Waterbending Master where Pakku has knocked Katara down, and she takes a breath and steels herself and then gets back up to fight again. I’m not sure if the animators meant to mirror that scene or not, but either way I think Katara standing up after being pushed to the ground is a lot more powerful and compelling, both visually and symbolically, than Katara breaking free of a dance that she’s forced to move to under Hama’s hand. Maybe that’s just me.

I will say though, the ending shot is different to how it is in the script, and I wish they’d kept the script version:

10. Finally, the ending of The Fortuneteller has Katara actually hearing and reacting to Meng’s insult.

Which I thought was mildly amusing. Slightly bummed this was cut, but only a little 🤣

I hope you guys enjoyed reading these as much as I did 😊 I actually have about 6 or 7 more tidbits left that I want to share, but I’ll pause this compilation here as 10 is a good number and I think this post has gotten long enough already 😅

Thanks to @korranguyen​ for her effort in spotting and transcribing the Zuko/Jin snippets 😊

[coffeeoverlord]

my version of kc becuz i said so !!!!!!

more info ☟︎︎︎ under the cut, sorta rambly (info is mostly during pdh)

- hung around lucinda a lot to learn magic from her so she could become a better witch ! still retains the ability animate dolls into little maids, though it doesn't stick for very long so often times she has to reapply magic onto a doll when the spirit magic runs out, this is mostly because i think that, even though i think she has practiced magic users in her family that are quite powerful, it diluted over time.

- runs a multishipping blog that's semi-famous, makes a lot of content for her favourite ships and goes by "kc" on it

- magical girl anime is a special interest of hers!! she also really likes doing the work of gods and archiving generally not well known magical girl manga and anime online, sometimes subbing an ova or two and or doing the typesetting for certain mangas if she feels up to it, because being able to speak japanese also helps greatly in archiving otherwise "lost" media, she thinks of herself as a magical girl conoisseur

adding onto that, she also knows how to rip footage from vhs tapes and dvds to aid in her archiving and for her own personal use!

and also, magical girl anime sort of helped her realise that she was trans

- still protective of aphmau, but also, among aphmau's other friends, begs her to not cause any trouble ! nana doesn't ship aarmau in this rewrite, mostly because she recognizes the fuckin age gap and how creepy that would be! aphmau and aaron are just friends in this, where aphmau is a feral little freshman that thinks she's hot shit and aaron is a tired senior telling her that no, she isn't, and helps her study for werewolf class! nana has claws for a reason though she Will use it on people who threaten Any of her friends.

- works at a maid cafe part time, dreams of opening up one of her own and plans on using her animated doll maids to start it up !!

- still loves baking !!! it's her love language, she loves giving her friends her baked goods and she makes all of them with so much love and care

- naturally black hair !!

i could probably add more BUT i will leave it at that BDHSJD. the drawing isn't As accurate as i wanted it to be, since i wanna make meif'wa more catlike in appearance like hind legs, cat eyes, sharp teeth, sticking mostly to natural cat coats and colours as well as behaviour and/or culture, i'm still bouncing around ideas in my head about it but that is all for now !!! if u came this far Thank You

[moondal514]

Just Leave a Comment Fest 2023 Holiday Edition

Final overall comment total for @justleaveacommentfest: 76

Here’s a very multi-fandom fic rec list of a few of the fics I read (reread in some cases), loved, and commented on that were on theme for each day of the fest:

Day 1: first fandom

(BBC Merlin is not technically the 1st fandom I was ever a part of, or even the 1st fandom I ever read fic for, but I do consider it my 1st real fandom because it’s the 1st fandom I interacted with as intensely as I interact with my fandoms now and it’s also the 1st fandom I ever wrote and posted fic for)

Fandom: BBC Merlin

Prick Love for Pricking by horsecrazy/ @cbk1000

In which Arthur and Merlin hook up at a sex party.

I haven’t felt the urge to read Merlin fic in years, but then I stumbled across this fic, which is honestly one of the funniest things I’ve read in a hot minute, and now my love for Merthur has reawakened within me with vengeance

And Down the River's Dim Expanse by horsecrazy

In which Arthur is a water spirit who tries to drown Merlin. Merlin is not impressed.

Literally obsessed with this fic from the second I read the 1st paragraph

Day 2: bookmark day

Fandom: All For the Game

never said that i didn't need you by incogneat_oh/ @incogneat-oh

"Aaron, are you ready to go? The emergency room queue isn’t getting any shorter.”

Aaron feels a thrill of nervousness pull unpleasantly in his belly. He doesn’t want to spend the night in a brightly-lit, overcrowded emergency room and have strangers prodding at him. He glances back at Andrew, who looks as disinterested as ever. He’s slouched over, hands in his lap and unmoving, face expressionless. He’s facing forward, but his eyes are on Aaron.

And Aaron’s halfway out the door when he swivels. Blurts, “You’ll come with me?"

--

Aaron and Andrew spend an evening hanging out in the emergency department.

One of my personal fave twinyard-centric fics

Fandom: The Historian

among some talk of you and me by Hokuto

Reader, I pray that you will have the strength to walk with me a little longer.

I remember when I 1st found this fic I was so shocked cuz I had no idea anyone had even written fic for this book, but this is literally a perfect little epilogue because it has everything I loved from the book (scholarly nerdiness, libraries, and Dracula)

Day 3: old favorites

Fandom: BBC Sherlock

The World on His Wrist by bendingsignpost/ @bendingsignpost

First, he is shot in Afghanistan. Second, he wakes to a phone call in Chelmsford, Essex. Third is pain, fourth is normalcy, fifth is agony and sixth is confusion. By the eighth, he's lost track. (John-centric AU)

An exceedingly old favorite of mine, like literally one of the 1st fics I ever read on ao3, but I just learned today that I had apparently never commented on it previously, which made it perfectly on theme for this day of the fest

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears by umisabaku/ @umisabaku

"It’s hard to understand the hierarchy when a school like Nekoma exists, putting them all together like they belong, but by the time Kenma enters high school he understands the difference. Kuroo is a black panther, rare and precious; a large predator stronger than most any other foe.

Kenma is a calico housecat. His coloring is uncommon, but he is not special."

Shapeshifter!AU. Kenma struggles with a culture and the rules of courtship.

When I was in high school and at the peak of my sports anime phase, this was one of my fave fics, and so I loved revisiting it all these years later

Day 4: fandom curiosities

Fandom: Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Three Autumns by rageprufrock/ @rageprufrock

If Li Lianhua had known this mess would be waiting for him, he wouldn't have bothered to crawl out of his own grave.

The most I know of this show is what I’ve seen through a few gifs on my tumblr dashboard, but this fic made me fall so hard for the characters it’s not even funny

Fandom: Interview With the Vampire

hell and you by quensty/ @keithal

With respect to Daniel’s life, pain in the ass is spelled A-R-M-A-N-D.

I have read one (1) book and watched one (1) episode of the show, so I barely have any idea who these characters are, but holy shit this dynamic compels me

Day 5: rec a fic

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi

a made thing by animediac/ @jaywalkers

Because at the end of it all, Wei Wuxian walks away with his happy ending and the rest of them are left with nothing.

(or, what comes after everything has gone)

Fantastic post-canon fic by one of the few writers that can make Chengsang convincing to me

Fandom: Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Life is (not) a Hallmark Movie by mellicindi/ @mellicindi

Shen Yuan isn't lonely. He's just overseas in a new city, trying to muddle his way through a business degree, and dealing with the side effects of his stupid intestines trying to kill him. So, maybe he sometimes watches ASMR to cope with his too-quiet apartment. Maybe he has a little bit of a parasocial-relationship-thing going on with one particular cooking ASMR channel. It's 2016, who doesn't? The point is, he's content with his quiet life.

And then Shang Qinghua strong-arms him into watching one Hallmark Christmas movie, and it all goes to hell.

Or: Shen Yuan is a Hallmark movie protagonist, Luo Binghe is a Lifetime movie protagonist, and somehow they make it work.

I sadly missed the read-along this year, but this fic has been on my tbr since pretty much as soon as I started reading fic for this fandom, so I got to finally read it and it’s really fantastic

-

As always, I’ll continue to comment on fics and show all you writers appreciation for your craft <3

[xerith-42]

vylad headcanonssss?

You guys are really pushing me to make more of these (this is not a problem)

If it wasn't obvious I've been letting some ideas for my new rewrite to leak out into some of my posts here, but this is where I switch things up and make this distinctly mcd Vylad headcanons for one simple reason:

Vylad Ro'maeve of Ru'aun is Aromantic Asexual. You cannot change my mind on this.

Also Vylad uses he/they pronouns (I feel like we as a fandom can agree on this)

Vylad's favorite animal is a hawk or a mouse

While he doesn't know for sure, Vylad is fairly confident he knows who killed them. He learns to come to terms with the fact that vengeance simply isn't possible and therefore not worth going after. And by the time it is possible, he's spent so long not thinking of it that it really just isn't an interest anymore.

Canonically Vylad can play the ocarina and I will never not be upset that we weren't given more of this. Aaron forces everyone to take a day off from building the settlement, and yet we don't see Vylad sitting in a tree playing his ocarina.

He got it and theoretically learned to play it from his mother, so why don't we ever see the two of them playing it together, or just Vylad playing a song for their mother? (this is a whole thing I could go into abt mcd characters and instruments)

Needless to say Vylad isn't particularly fond of verbal forms of expression, but I can totally see him playing different songs or melodies based on different moods or feelings. Aph asks him what song he's playing and Vylad will very honestly answer her or anyone who asks. "It was a lullaby my mother taught me. I worry about her sometimes, but this song always reminds me of when she looked happiest."

Vylad is a mama's boy.

Vylad doesn't really like talking much, he tends to prefer lingering in the background and not really saying much when he's in the foreground. The only exception to this is Garroth after he comes back from the Irene Dimension. Vylad has missed his brother so much, they have spent so much time worrying about him and trying to find a way to bring him back, that once he actually has Garroth around, it's honestly like he's been brought back to life a bit.

It's slow and steady, but Garroth manages to get his brother out of their shell. Vylad doesn't talk to many people, but he talks to Garroth a LOT, like constantly. People don't believe it until they hear/see it because Vylad can literally go back and forth with Garroth about literally whatever until the end of time. Like if you asked Vylad what his ideal life would be, it would just be to grab like five people and get to spend the rest of his life having long conversations with them.

Vylad really likes talking to the right people. He's just gotten so good at closing people off it's hard to show the kind of vulnerability he's capable of in said talks. I said five people but it would probably just be Garroth, Aph, and Laurance. Probably his mother, maybe Hyria, but that's it. Vylad keeps most people at arms length or further, but he's willing to open up to them because they understand him on some level most people can't.

Irene help me I just want to write scenes of Vylad talking to people now. Vylad has been around for so long, seen so much, and has some very fascinating perspective on life and the fratility of the human spirit. I know he's not one of Vylad's people, but I would love to just listen to him and Vincent talk. Throw Laurance in there and you have a podcast I will literally not stop listening to.

[xanqa]

(saiki k x aftg crossover fanfic idea, I need you guys opinions!!)

-okay so Neil's 16, the same age as Andrew and Saiki now

-his mum died so he decided to flee far away as like a fresh start, so ta-da, Japan!!

-he and his mum were planning to go to Japan next, so they had been already learning the language just so that the new country will be easier for our poor Neil :( also so that the story writing and process is easier with no language barrier :D

-in Saiki's class there's Saiki's main crew, plus Andrew, Aaron, Kevin and now Neil cuz it'll make things more fun :)

-Dan, Matt, Nicky, Allison and Renee are all upperclassmen so they are third years!! I haven't decided yet if I want that asshole homophobic piece of shit Seth in the story, maybe he just lives alone in America

-hmmm I don't think that anyone from aftg is gonna have any psychic powers, boo boring normal people

-the school has an exy team, The Foxes :) things are pretty much same with the team as they are in the canon in America

-Saiki's friends are all big fans of exy so that's why they drag Saiki with them and befriend their school's exy team

-oh no I'm just thinking now how horribly the Foxes uniform will clash with the school uniform😨

-uhhh I think I'll keep it light and easy, no need for angst in a comedy anime, plus the foxes already have been thru too much in canon, let's all give them a nice big break from the canon shit

-yknow, I wonder how Aren will first react to the Foxes when he transfers, I wonder if he'll have beef with any of them

-oh my god and Toritsuka, I need to think of all the Foxes guardian spirits!!! come on guys I may need help on those!!

-Neil's dad or the Moriyamas are never gonna find Neil, if I can't think any good reason other than wanting to keep things not too bloody, let's say that Saiki's secretly steering them away or something :)

-ohhh do u guys think would it be a good idea for the Foxes to somehow accidentally find out about Saiki's powers? hmmm it'd make things a bit complicated, I need to sit on that thought🤔 but like Kevin would be losing his shit cuz like maybe in his mind Saiki could be the absolutely best in exy but he?? just?? doesn't?? care???

-oh u already know that Hairo's on the cheerleader squad and besties with Katelyn😌 like come on the guy's like made to be a cheerleader!! also all his cheer friends probably come to his tennis games n stuff

-I'm thinking about like who are actually friends together, like how is the saiki's friendgroup gonna mix with the foxes?

-Aiura is one of my favs so she's likely gonna be there from the beginning💕💞💞💖!!!

-oh and the school is actually very international and really welcoming to students from everywhere

[confessmau]

this is less of a hot take more like a complaint but something I think isn’t nearly as talked abt is the magic system and how it works in MS/MCD. In McD it’s slightly more explored.

Jess just kinda threw a lot of… stuff at us and expected us to just digest it without further explaining what’s in the dish.

it’s the equivalent of a stranger walking up to you, handing you a plate of somewhat appealing food, and telling you to eat it. Like most people want to know what’s in the food.

there’s two different forms of it, kinda not really, magic and magik’s. With no real meaningful difference between the two.

we know there’s a high magic council, that’s off busy doing god knows what during MS’s climax.

We know that aside from magik’s and magic there’s multiple different classifications of magic. By extension we know most of magic is drawn from emotion (it’s still stated extremely vaguely tho), and healing magic is done through equivalent exchange.

we know there’s demons and other mythical humanoid/animal like creatures.

we know there’s a spirit world.

we know there’s like familiars, and some of those spells that come with it.

And we know there’s other gods besides the divine. (They’re technically not gods, but they’re still treated like it in dialogue so)

and we know that there’s magic laws, colleges, maybe even governments and places that are purely inhabited by magic users alla Harry Potter.

my point being, with all these jumping points you would thing at least would be expanded on, but nope, magic in this world is just, accepted as a factor and treated like a relatively unimpressive spectacle.

which is weird because despite there being lots ways to show off how society, both physically and psychologically would change. There’s so many cool world building you could do, but Jess just- opts to shove goofy ass spells in our face.

at least until season 4 where the really bad forbidden spell is made which, isn’t even investigated by this magic council that put the rule that you can’t make it in place. But if Jess did that then she’d have to do several things we know she wouldn’t want to do like; explain why forever potions are band and love potions aren’t, actually focus on characters and the world bigger than our cast of characters mainly aph and Aaron, come up with actual world building and discuss the conflicts that may arise out of having magic being used so freely in schools and just public areas in general.

like there’s so many deeper topics that you could present with it but no; cat potionsssss, love potion misunderstandings/conflicts that we’ve seen a million other times and done so much better in a handful of them, teleportation which does have a bit of a limit granted, more destructive chaotic potions that multiple characters have not accidentally/purposefully caused 100’s of 1,000 dollars with, but also put people in actual physical danger in both schools and public settings, potions that allow you to swap fantasy races for comedy.

The main problem is that Jess kinda just, pulled out random generic spells as she went along and only put debuffs on it later to nerf it. Again like the teleportation, or forever potion victims just needing to feel a “strong emotion”. It’s not thought out at all, which I’m not surprised by but god, it could’ve been so interesting.

oh i can explain the magic differences sorta ~~

magicks/magics plural is exclusive to mcd. people who use magicks have to be born with an innate connection to the magicks that flows through the world. and your abilities tend to fall into a specific category of spell (ex. kc specializes in animation magicks, zoey has barrier magicks etc.) some magicks users can perform witchcraft in spells related to their field, but witchcraft is for the most part a seperate skill. it is the best explained out of the three.

magic is a mystreet concept and allegedly anyone can use it with a "strong emotion". there are only a couple categories of spell, and specific emotions are required for each one (happy is creation, anger for destruction, sorrow for elemental, and love for healing). only the healing magic is ever used, and its mostly unrelated to witchcraft even through lucinda exposits about it. [imo adding a magic with such a loose requirement and never using it only serves to dampen any emotional scenes after its introduction since (ex. zane couldn't have been THAT sad about aph's death if he didn't become the avatar) but that's a little unrelated lol)

witchcraft is the jack of all trades of magic in both worlds and is characterized by using specific incantations and ingrediants for spells to work. anyone can do it with training or only some people can do it depending on the timeline. it is the most lawless of the three, mostly due to the fact that lucinda is the only important witch and her primary role is plot device. the majority of magic use is witchcraft, including the forever potions.

[popculturegenealogy]

A different type of family tree: Applying family history concepts to animation

"Modern Cartoon Family Tree 2.0" by AlexB9598w

This family tree is unlike any other tree I've seen before. I thought I'd do a fun one this week. It's not focused on a specific character or on the draw of family, the latter which I wrote about before. Instead, this shows the connection between people and their different shows. It all starts out with Donovan Cook and moves down from there. I think this tree is interesting in that it shows the connection between these shows. However it is also, you could say, limiting. I say that because it doesn't exactly focus on the interconnection between people. I know that, for instance, that Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey are married, but this chart only shows them as writers. Similarly, I know about the controversy which enveloped Twelve Forever, leading to the end of the show, and Shadi Petosky, a trans woman, becoming the executive producer of the show and having her own project on the way. Since I don't know most of these shows, I'm narrowing it down to the shows I do know and working back from there. Let's start with one of my favorite shows, Cleopatra in Space, and focusing on the executive producer of that show, Doug Langdale.

Reprinted from my Genealogy in Popular Culture WordPress blog. Originally published on August 28, 2020.

I then expanded this by looking at the companies behind each one of these productions, and it starts to look more like a bit of a tree, showing the parent companies and production companies. Keep in mind that Sony Pictures Television, as of 2002, owns both Columbia divisions, so the chart would look a little different now. Additionally, DreamWorks is now owned by Universal Pictures, a division of NBC Universal, which is, itself, owned by Comcast. So, the chart would look different today.

Now, I wanted to expand this a little more, so I originally wanted to look at all those who have been listed as being on the Cleopatra in Space crew (herein called Cleo Crew), apart from Doug Langdale. Since that was 40 people, I narrowed it down to storyboarders, which consisted of 18 people in total: Aaron Brewer,  Abigail Davies, Adam Temple, Andrew Marshel, Bob Suarez, Chris Ybarra, Derek Thompson, Eugene Huang, Gary Ye, Ingrid Kan, Kevin Slawinski, Laurianne Uy, Samantha Suyi Lee, Scooter Tidwell, Thalia Tomlinson, Topher Parnell, and Wei Li. From there, I broke it down by the overlapping shows that they had worked on. [1] I ended up narrowing it down mainly to DreamWorks shows, as you'll see in the chart below:

We learn a lot from this. For one, Chris Ybarra and Bob Suarez had worked together and/or on two of the same shows: Big Mouth and Turbo Fast. Additionally, Adam Temple and Wei Li had both worked on Carmen Sandiego, while Abigail "Abby" Davies and Laur Uy had worked on Spirit Riding Free. We also find that Bob Suarez and Laur Uy worked on the same show too. Even more fascinating is the fact that ALL of these productions were on Netflix and most, apart from Carmen Sandiego, were tied to DreamWorks. We can conclude that many of the storyboarders probably knew each other and/or had worked with one another in the past. If we combine this with the information about Doug Langdale I showed earlier, it would mean that Langdale worked on the same team as Bob Suarez and Laur Uy on The Adventures of Puss and Boots. These connections were likely part of the reason they were hired in the first place.

In sum, this is a unique family tree of sorts, which shows connections between those in the animation industry. You can see who the "parents" (like DreamWorks and Houghton Mifflin) are and who the "children" (like Bob Suarez and Laur Uy) are as well. This sort of analysis is much better than the "modern cartoon family tree" shown at the beginning of that post. That post almost treats the connections between individuals as static. I may do another one about LGBTQ animations or something else. We'll see what happens! As always, comments are welcome, as I'm deeply unsure about what I'll write about next.

© 2020-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

Notes

[1] I also found that Aaron Brewer and Eugene Huang storyboarded Little Big Awesome, which was produced by Amazon Studios and Titmouse, Inc., and that Aaron Brewer and Bob Suarez storyboarded Niko and the Sword of Light, produced by the same groups. Additionally, Frank Squillace directed Jackie Chan Adventures, while Scooter Tidwell was a storyboarder. At the same time, Bob Suarez, Frank Squillace, and Scooter Tidwell storyboarded The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Furthermore, Abigail Davies worked on Cartoon Network's Ben 10, with Scooter Tidwell as a sequence director. Finally, Frank Squillace directed Transformers: Rescue Bots while Thalia Tomlinson worked as an animator for the same show.

[what-gs-watching]

“I’m not great at advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment?”

Well. It's been a little bit of a weird mood swing week, I’m all over the board which is always super fun - sometimes I know what I’m doing and sometimes I don’t, but I guess that’s just life. Infuriatingly fleeting life.

And I’ve been thinking about Matthew Perry, obviously. I know I said that the Community gang is the friends you wished you had, but Friends was obviously a big part growing up for me - I was almost 18 when it finally ended. And it was such a cultural phenomenon. 

I watched it as it aired. And then I watched it as reruns on cable. Then I rewatched it on streaming a few years ago, and I can confidently say that out of all of them, Chandler was my spirit animal. Uncomfortable with himself and using humor and sarcasm as armor, that’s me. Awkward with a job nobody understands, just doing whatever it seems adults are supposed to do. Funny, and sometimes authentic when he needed to be. 

Also, I don’t care what anyone says - the true love story of Friends was absolutely Chandler and Monica. Ross and Rachel were pure trash, but Chandler and Monica just had that thing. That thing that most people want. The realistic friends-to-lovers story, messy and difficult but insanely sweet.

And in a way, Friends helped me learn that I’m the weirdo that’s drawn to funny, tragic people (we’re going to have to talk about Bo Burnham eventually). Chandler was always funny and tragic, even with Monica, and that was a part of Matthew Perry, as we’d come to learn.

When I heard the news though, the first thing I thought about was Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip. After Friends, for some reason, I got into almost every single random show Matthew did. And Studio 60 was my absolute favorite. It only aired for one season, but it was by Aaron Sorkin and it was meant to be a dramedy about a late night comedy show (and I have and will forever love SNL) and there was Bradley Whitford. It was entirely up my alley.

I remember being obsessed with it. 30 Rock came out around the same time and they were weird parallels of each other but Studio 60 dug into my heart. Because I loved Chandler and because I loved West Wing and I wanted Matthew Perry to keep going, tragic and funny and successful. But then the writer’s strike happened and people were hoping for another West Wing (y’all, it was never gonna be another West Wing) and it got canceled. 

I haven’t seen it since, I have no idea honestly if it was actually as good as my brain wants to remember it, it’s not streaming anywhere which is infuriating, but maybe that’s for the best. It’s one of those fuzzy shows in my heart and maybe it should stay that way now.

Later, I got into Mr. Sunshine (I watched all 11 episodes of course, as they aired on TV) and then Go On. I had high hopes for Go On. Silly ensemble cast, about a sportscaster who lost his wife and joins a support group. I remember thinking it had Community vibes. It was never going to be as good as Community, but it was cute and Matthew was charming and I enjoyed it. 

There was a storyline about how he kept waking up at a specific time of night, because his wife always did. He’d wake up with her and he couldn’t stop it after she’d gone, and after admitting it to the group, they all wake up at the same time for him, too. It had been sweet. Again, I watched all 22 episodes. And then it  got canceled, too.

The point is: I was watching. Because funny tragic people are tenuous, they need to be appreciated. It’s a tightrope. And I’m really sad that Matthew Perry was on that tightrope. He became a pop culture icon and I honestly don’t think it was intentional, he was just caught up in it like the rest of them, but it’s hard for funny tragic people. I can’t imagine the pressure. But he kept going, and I hate that he had a string of shows that never went anywhere (but were all worth something)

 and then the fucking tightrope just fell away. 

It’s horrific that people can be chewed up and spit out by an industry that’s supposed to produce things that make people feel happy, feel sad, feel excitement, just feel. I can sit in my house and channel my ridiculous emotions through content and that’s all well and good but it comes at a price. Everything in this world comes at a price.

Friends has been out of my rotation for a while now, and I think it’ll probably stay that way for a bit. Right now it’s not funny tragic, it’s just tragic. And I’m guessing he wouldn’t want that, but what can you do? Content’s meant to make you feel things, but you can never keep the world outside out for long. 

So. Chanandler Bong, just know I appreciated you. In all forms. Thank you for making us laugh.

[dogmomwrites]

Writeblr Intro!

Hi there, hello! I'm Yav!

I'm updating my intro because I somehow forgot that I never gave any actual descriptions for my WIPs the first time around—they've just been vague acknowledgements of the WIPs existing more than anything.

Some about me

—I will read just about anything —I prefer to write fantasy, although I've written in a variety of genres —All of my writing is in third person omniscient (I really cannot have just one main character to write for) —I love animals, particularly canines and felines —I love music, particularly progressive metal —I am tag game friendly, ask game friendly, and open to DMs —I don't have WIP taglists; I can make them if anyone wants though

WIPs under the cut

Some of my WIPs

Castle in the Ice— The first of a fantasy series; this one opens up with Aero finding himself in a freezing field of snow and ice after a run-in with a sorceress. While trying to escape from a massive wolf, he stumbles into a castle buried under the ice and, as one does, immediately begins snooping around exploring this strange new place. To his surprise, he discovers the inhabitants of the castle are very much alive, although they might not be for much longer—more of the oversized wolves begin attacking the castle, and a team is sent out to figure out why.

current word count: 122,032 (completed, edited twice years ago, and about to be edited again)

Unnamed WIP— The first of a series; returning home from being deployed for almost a year, Second Lieutenant Riley Jacques is looking forward to the relaxation of civilian life, even if it’s only temporary. Unfortunately for him, his brother Jimmy has a knack for making things interesting. During the time Riley’s getting dragged into shenanigans, Sergeant Aaron Johnson is sent on a mission that threatens to shatter his mind, his spirit, and his reality.

current word count: 77,055 (completed but not edited yet)

Golden D— After professional wrestler James Golden turns on his tag team partner, “Double D” Drew Dunne, both men seem content to ignore each other and focus on their solo careers, but that may change when they each receive an invitation to the house of the mysterious Ragnar.

current word count: 32,196 (completed and will not be edited)

Alara at War— A man stumbles out of the woods, wearing leather armor and bleeding from an arrow wound in his stomach. When Aelin goes to help him, she unknowingly sets in motion a series of events that will determine the fate of an entire world.

current word count: 34,497 (not completed)

What Lies in the Shadows— Patrick’s wife believes he has a normal job. But he doesn’t work in an office, he works in the shadows, protecting humans from the things that go bump in the night.

current word count: 26,964 (not completed)

[mysteryideasgroup]

MSA X Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island Chapter 19: They are fleeing and exit/Two ferrymen attacked them to try to free/Werecats and Werekitsunes are draining them/Rest of the gang with rag dolls are same Werecats and Werekitsunes/Werecats and Werekitsunes have died from Midnight Harvest pass end/Werecats and Werekitsunes have died and dust, Zombies are freed spirits, souls in rest in peace and one of ghost civil soldier says “Thank you”

Once again, Shaggy, Scooby, Josh, Jaxson, and John almost reached the exit when Jacques and Vincent blocked the exit. They got them until one pepper flew from Shaggy's pocket. Scooby grabs the pepper and squirts the hot and spicy juice into Jacques' eyes. Jaxson grabbed the pepper and squirted the hot and spicy juice into Vincent's eyes. Simone, Lena, Icy and Mima caught Shaggy, Scooby, Josh, Jaxson, and John and started draining their lifeforce, but suddenly the girls flew in the air by Velma, Daphne, Ava, and Starla holding their voodoo dolls.

Ava: You're not the only ones who likes playing with dolls.

When the girls got up, Velma, Daphne, Ava, and Starla started playing around Simone and Lena's dolls and they levitated them from wall to wall.

Landon: Guys, they are right? Guys are okay?

Fred shakes Shaggy, Beau gets up Scooby, Landon shakes Josh, Aaron gets up Jaxson, and Vera gets John. They are recovering from draining their life force.

Shaggy: Like, I was beginning to feel like a raisin!

They lasted until Jacques and Vincent, annoyed by the spicy spray, made them drop the dolls and end the voodoo curse.

The were-cats and were-kitsunes, recovered and reunited, started cornering the gang. Ralph swings a fire torch at them.

Lewinn: Leave them alone! If you want to get to them, you'll have to get through us.

The were-cats and were-kitsunes growled and started coming after the Gangs. Then, suddenly, they started dying. Vera looks over the moon dial.

Vera: Looks like your nine lives are up!

Simone, Lena, Jacques, Icy, Mima and Vincent look up the harvest moon, making them discovered that they have passed the midnight deadline and did not get a chance to preserve their immortality. They turning into skeletons and disintegrated.

The zombies too are dying, returning to their deaths.

Shaggy: Zoinks! Like, what's happening to them?

Josh: Oh my God! What happened to them?

Vicki: Their spirits are avenged, Shaggy. They can finally rest in peace.

The green aura left the zombie's bodies and disappeared in the air. Everyone looks up the skyway to watch the aura fade away. A small ghostly spirit of a Civil War soldier briefly appeared.

Scooby sees the ghostly spirit of a Civil War soldier.

Ghost Civil War Soldier: Thank you...

The ghostly spirit of a Civil War soldier has disappeared.

----

For @laurasanchez36

All belongs to my Msa ocs sonas and new Msa ocs sonas Teams/Groups/Gangs/Squads/Crews and Team/Group/Gang/Squad/Crew

All belongs to her Msa ocs sonas and new Msa ocs sonas Teams/Groups/Gangs/Squads/Crews and Team/Group/Gang/Squad/Crew

Scooby-Doo belongs to WB (Warner Bros) Animated Movies