#but i feel like they stopped taking ian’s character as seriously

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

does anybody else think that they dumbed ian and kev down a LOT as the seasons went on for comedic effect

[yanderelovlies]

Please look only at me

Note: Jack is written as if the both of you actually live in Cloudy town.

Fandom(s): SWWSDJ

Character(s): Sunny Day Jack, and Shaun

Tw: Yandere tendencies on Jack's part.

Sunny Day Jack

Jack hummed as he unlocked the door to your shared home. He was excited to see you again despite only living together for the convince he has come to really enjoy your presence. He would even go as far as to say he has grown to have feelings beyond friendship for you. You are everything he has ever wanted yet couldn't find anywhere else.

"Sunshine! I'm home!" He watched as you excitedly poked your head from the kitchen a smile on your face.

"Welcome home, Jack! How was work?? How are the kids?"

He chuckled, setting his stuff down on the table. "Everything is good! The kids have grown so much."

Your backed was facing him as you cooked comething over the stove, but he could tell you were smiling. This all felt so normal, so...domestic. Now, if only he could wrap his arms around you as he lays his head on your shoulder and continues to tell you about his day, then it would all be perfect.

"You wanna hear something interesting?" Jack hummed in response, still lost in his own little fantasy."Rory asked me out today."

The world stopped as Jack's face fell, and eyes widened. "...what?"

"Yeah! he asked me right after my shift at the bakery. Even got me those flowers on the table."

Jack's head swung to the table just now, noticing the beautiful arrangement of all your favorite colors and flowers. It was really well done if he was being honest, and he hated that. "W......what did you say?"

You shrugged. "I told him I would think about it."

Jack would feel his world stop. Think about it? You were seriously considering it? Not there was anything wrong with Rory, but... He doesn't know you like he does. He doesn't think anyone does. He was perfect for you. He could take care of you.

Jack's arms wrapped around you as he laid his forehead on your shoulder. "Don't do it...please sunshine.."

He could feel your turn your head to get a better look at him. "Jack...?"

He lifted his head, meeting your side gaze. "I like you y/n. A lot. I don't want to lose you."

He could feel you tense up all your movements coming to a halt. You stared at him with wide eyes and red face before finally speaking "D-do you mean it....?"

Jack's hold you on tightened slightly. "More than anything sunshine." Before Jack could say more, you turned in his hold, crashing your lips into his.

This kiss was messy and frantic, but to Jack, it was magical. You tasted better than he could ever imagine, and you felt so right in his arms. At first, he was afraid it was a dream till your teeth clashed, making the two of you pull apart in breathless giggles.

Once the two of you gathered yourselves, your eyes met. "I like you too, Jack Like a lot."

The smile on Jack's face brightened as he pulled you in for a more calm kiss. Finally, he could call you his

"Hey, what's that Bruning smell?"

"OH SHIT THE FOOD!"

Shaun

Being roommates with you was one of the best decisions Shaun had made since he came to college. You were responsible, kind, and respectful. You guys agreed on most things, and on the very rate occasion, the two of you get into disagreement it's solved within an hour. You had quickly become his best friend, and somewhere down the line, something more to Shaun.

Though he would never express it to. Your friendship meant too much to him for him to throw it away for some feeling that would go away months later.

Or at least that's what he told himself to feel better as he watches Ian fail to flirt with you from a distance. He never had anything against the guy. He was the typical shy nerd that had this charm about him. However watching him now Shaun could feel a sense of rivalry with him.

Letting out sigh he made his way back to your shared home more or less preparing himself to hear you tell him everything that happened in that conversation.

.

"So I finally had to tell Ian I wasn't intrested."

Shaun's head turned to face you with an almost shocked expression "Why?"

You looked at him puzzled. "Because he won't stop trying to ask me out?"

"You don't like him?"

You shook your head. Shaun could feel a sense of relief course through him followed by shame for the relief he felt at someone's expense.

You turned back to the TV before continuing "Besides I like someone else. Someone I've know for awhile. Someone im....close to."

"Who.....who is it?" Shaun knew he was as tense as he felt, but he truly was hanging on to your every word.

You were silent for bit before taking a deep breath "You..."

Your voice was barely above a whisper, but Shaun still heard it, but that wasn't enough. He needed to hear you say it out loud to be sure. "I'm sorry I didn't catch that....what did you say." Slowly Shaun inched closer to you.

He watched you fidget trying to keep your eyes on the screen before finally giving up and turning back to him. Your face was bright red as your eyes darted to anywhere but him "u-um....You...?"

Unable to contain it any longer, Shaun gives you a big smile as his hand caresses your face. "Do you mean it?"

"Yes."

Not needing any more confirmation, Shaun pulls you into a slow yet passionate kiss. This was everything he had been waiting for, and if he was being honest, he could wait to experience your sweet kisses every day.

"I like you too y/n more than words can describe."

[littlefroginapond]

i just had a very visceral reaction to the timothee chalamet rumor.

like i already have anxiety, i don’t need the frail victorian sick boy making me even more anxious

but to the whole point of this: i’m applying to filmmaking schools currently and have been a DC fan for most of my life, so let me tell you that i have OPINIONS on DC casting

btw, these are of course my opinions, but as everyone always says, DC stands for Disregard Canon…

Dick Grayson - Nightwing/Robin I

My Casting: Anthony Keyvan

ideally i would want a Romani actor because Dick is canonically Romani (even if the the origin on why he is… well it’s pretty creepy), but i couldn’t find any.

i also tried finding Indian actors, because the Romani people are originally from a specific part of India and are officially recognized as Indian.

…but there was no luck there either. lmk if you have ideas

but this led me to Anthony Keyvan, who i’m pretty sure is Iranian and Filipino. Filipino actually works for Dick because eskrima (the weapon that Nightwing uses) is a Filipino style weapon, so becoming Nightwing could be a way to tie him back to his roots.

Jason Todd - Red Hood/Robin II

My Casting: Froy Gutierrez

do i headcanon Jason as latino? yes!

is it because Jason grew up poor and abused by his dad? no! (if you headcanon him bring latino because of this… that’s racist my dude)

i actually headcanon Jason being latino because of this actor, who’s half Mexican and half white. a combination of his past acting roles and just his general vibes feel very Jason to me.

Tim Drake - Red Robin/Robin III

My Casting: Aidan Gallagher OR Ian Chen

Tim is the one that i wouldn’t be incredibly mad if they cast Timothee Chalamet as. i mean, i have feelings about only casting A-list actors, but it wouldn’t be the absolute worst.

Tim is typically drawn very angular, which gives a lot of people the headcanon that he’s Asian. i don’t feel super strongly about this, which is why i found 2 actors.

i chose Aidan Gallagher for a couple reasons. one: he’s like 5’5” (at least according to google, i couldn’t find it on imdb). two: his role as Five in Umbrella Academy. UA has always gave me batfam vibes, and i do see Five as the Damian of the group, but for some reason, he also really reminds me of Tim

now if you do headcanon Tim as Asian (which i’m fine with, i’m just not super opinionated on it), then i think Ian Chen would be a good choice. he’s a pretty young actor (i think mid- to late teens), so he hasn’t been in much, but he’s a good comedy actor, which i think works pretty well for Tim.

and finally, the most contested casting of them all…

Damian Wayne - Robin V

DC’s Alleged Casting: Timothee Chalamet

My Casting: Ian Ho

NO. NO. NO.

STOP.

i refuse to let this little white ghost boy play a character that is canonically white, Chinese, and Middle Eastern.

i will say that i had a hard time finding a young actor that is white, Chinese, and Middle Eastern, but Ian Ho is Chinese (allegedly, idk where i actually heard this), so it was the closest i could get.

BUT IT’S STILL CLOSER THAN DC.

these are all my opinions ofc, so don’t take it too seriously. also i definitely have fancasts of the rest of the fam so lmk if you want those too ❤️

[sgtmickeyslaughter]

Thank you so much @callivich for taking the time and effort for coming up with these questions, and thank you @such-a-barbarian for tagging me also!

This got long lol

What’s a fic you’ve read more than once? 

one of my favorite generas of fic is shameless Mickey worship and for that I aways come back to from head to toe and the many things Mickey Milkovich has been called, Unforgiving Touches and the Feeling of Their Bruises. 

also, in no particular order You’re Tough To Love When You Don’t Love Yourself, the broad shouldered beasts series, sincerity is scary.

for something a little smutty go back to sleep has always been a favorite of mine

and as always, my favorite fic of all time Boy In The Box

What’s a gifset you always have to reblog? 

i love that gif set of Ian sniffin’ on his husband, also I think there’s one thats a compilation of Mickey’s best smiles through the series, gorgeous.

this beautifully edited (?) gifset I stg this is better quality than the actual show idk how they did that

this gorgeous art/gifset is awesome also!

this one is very important to me but man it hurts

another heartbreaker

everyone say thank you gif makers!!!!

What’s a fanart you love looking at?

I literally just saw this one for the first time, it immediately went to the top of my list!!

Its so beautifully done and captures the tone of the original piece so well while also transforming it into a unique moment and commentary on intimacy in their own relationship, ugh, gorgeous 

What’s a headcanon you can’t stop thinking about?

creative mickey! the best thing season 10 gave us was mickey and his notebook. i just know when Ian sees that thing come out post canon a part of him locks up in genuine fear

i don’t really think he gets into art persay, but just being a creative thinker, figuring out how to run their business, decorating their apartment, building ian a garden on their balcony when he gets put on the waitlist for the community garden

What’s an idea you’d love to create if you had the time/inspiration?

so I had this idea very vaguely floating around in my head for a while, but it wasn’t even remotely formed, let alone developed and then suddenly last weekend the plot just came to me in that beautiful and cruel way inspiration comes and goes, but it will take forever to write because I want the pace to feel very slow and syrupy and a little dream (or nightmare) like.

i dont want to give away the plot but its very southern gothic, slight true crime elements, cults, slight age difference (younger Mickey)… anyways if anyone from the rural south wants to be on call to explain geography and culture to me, hit me up 

i also have an idea for a dirty filthy, nasty smut fic but i would have to post it anonymously i wouldnt be able to look anyone in the (virtual) eyes

What’s something you’ve discovered since entering this fandom? A new trope you love? A different analysis of the show? Something else?

in all seriousness, analyzing Shameless as a show overall is so interesting, understanding each of the characters as case studies in different particular expressions of being raised in poverty, which is what makes it twice as upsetting when someone is like, ‘why would this character do this, thats so stupid’ and the answer is that statically speaking that character was actually very likely to do that because of the circumstances they were born into and the way they’ve been affected by that throughout their life, but okay. I also noticed that a lot of people on here are not from America and I always wonder what their take on the social/political reading of the show, if it feels familiar at all etc.. 

i also remember the first time someone commented under my fic to be like, ‘why are you giving Mickey a pass Ian did this’, and someone else commented underneath that ‘oh well Mickey did that so he’s a bad person etc.’ and it was just so upsetting to me, I dont see a lot of that on my dash but I just personally believe that if you are judging teenagers/young adults who are in the middle of their first major mental health crisis or who have suffered unimaginable abuse and neglect their entire life, you need to recalibrate your empathy levels 

What’s your favourite season? And has this changed after multiple rewatches of the show?

I love love early seasons (1-3) there is just something so nostalgic about it and as a show that’s when the writing was at its most creative and interestingly paced

also who doesn’t love baby gallavich?

What line/dialogue/description from something else (a poem, a book, a tv show, a movie, or something else) do you feel describes Ian and Mickey’s relationship? 

Ugh Im so sorry I am going to have to add all the lyrics to In Your Love by Tyler Childers, the inspiration for my first fic title because it is the most perfect song to encapsulate the passion between them and the work and sacrifices they put up for each other

What’s a plot hole you wish had been answered or resolved?

where is mandy? where the fuck is my girl?

also the fact that kevin had a son with v’s mom and just, has no interest in a relationship with him? like that made the story easier for sure but it doesn’t make sense with his character

What scene or moment do you feel isn’t discussed enough?

guys, there is not a scene in this show that we have not done to death already (affectionate)

and you know what? we’ll do it again!

but just for the sake of it, the “would you take care of me if i was paralyzed” scene, you can see that Mickey is almost idk, hesitant? but that’s because he’s really picturing it and that his yes is genuine and thought out, and ian’s face of wonder when he realizes that he has someone who loves him unconditionally and forever? earth shattering

What do you think is next for Ian and Mickey post-finale?

listen, i think the laws of television writers being assholes would dictate that they would give a break up (and maybe reconciliation) arc which is my least favorite television trope

but irl? (u know what i mean) i think they do have some hard, stressful times both out of their relationships and in it and realize pretty quickly that they have to work as a team and lean on each other and it only makes them closer

i also think that they simply refuse to sleep without each other, like one night when Ian gets stuck at the gallagher house taking care of sick franny mickey will drive over and sleep in the twin bed with him or if mickey gets wasted on a night out with sandy and debbie and his battery runs out he’ll stumble his ass home instead of going with one of them when they offer even if it takes forever

and ian grows his hair and stubble out to look like it does in the most recent photos (fluffy mullet) and mickey adores it he can’t keep his hands off his husbands head it’s a sensory dream

Thanks again for tagging me!

i’ll tag @stocious @mybrainismelted @sirrudo @solitarycreaturesthey @juliakayyy @jrooc @jezzibelle89 @i-think-you-mean-reduction @iansw0rld

[clown-cult]

Did you hear that when Sesshomaru’s Japanese VA Ken Narita heard that Sesshomaru was to have a wife and daughters in Trashahime he literally went “Why…?” Then when asked in an interview what he thinks Sesshomaru feels about Rin he outright said he thinks Sesshomaru just had sex with Rin “as an experiment” and that “he’s far from romantic love.” lmao, even his own damn VA could tell Sesshomaru was being made widely OOC! 😂 I mean putting aside the fact that the goddamned child he raised was the choice for the twins mother of all people, whose bright idea was it to even give Sesshomaru a wife and hanyou children in the first place? Who took one look at this aroace icon and thought “ah yes, he’s certainly the type to settle down, a heteronormative life, that’s what he needs!”

Who the fuck even asked for this? No one in the fandom wanted this besides Sessrinnes because we all knew it would be outright character aassassination.

I can’t think of any other character in the history of anime fandom more canonically unsuited for romance than fucking Sesshomaru.

Narita Ken 🤝 Ian Richard Cox

“We neither understand nor like the directions this project is going in and we’re just here for our paycheques.”

Seriously though, it doesn’t matter if no one asks for shit like this. The higher ups are motivated by money and trying to normalise their own gross behaviour, so they’ll just keep pushing it. That’s why we see so much media both eastern and western that features problematic age gaps, exploiting children, glorification of bad relationships and so on.

No one asks for it, no one ever does. It’ll take more than that to stop this early-dystopian era we’re living in.

[crusherthedoctor]

No listen because I am just SO tired of seeing this.

It's happened with 2012 TMNT and it's happening with Sonic, like in every single form of media Sonic has.

People watch/read something they don't like and spread unnecessary hate/rumors about the media as if it won't affect anyone else. I've been a victim of this for so long and I genuinely don't understand why people just can't decide to stop watching something if they don't like it. The only reason I think this happens is because they WANT to spread hate for the media and that upsets me so much.

I understand criticism. It is necessary when it is necessary. But you can't sit there and say "this isn't my Sonic" and then continue to read the comics and find "your Sonic". There is no one Sonic, and I am sick and tired of people treating him like some. Thing they can just take for themselves.

Sonic is allowed to express emotion. The problem that I have with him is that he doesn't do it often, but this isn't me complaining about it because this was an intentional choice by SEGA/IDW, they have proven and said it many times now. He is not some robot, it wouldn't make any sense for him to get back up from being electrocuted and almost drowned (which is one of his biggest fears, by the way) and be expected to be okay. That exact thing happened in Forces and you all complain about it, but you expect that to happen here??? Istg make up your minds.

What Surge said was a lot. What he went through was a lot. He's going to be tired and angry. It's normal and it's allowed.

I have said this before and I will say it again: If you don't like reading the comics, then stop reading them just to hate on them. And if you can't do that for some reason, then stop posting your hate in the idw Sonic tags, make a anti-idw tag if it appeases you. But stop making it seem like they're ruining Sonic's character when other people are trying to enjoy this new direction.

I already use an anti tag for my more bitter-tasting posts about the comic.

I already stopped buying the comic a long time ago, because I'm not going to waste money on somthing that continues to disappoint me. As for why I continue to acknowledge it, that's because pretending it's not there won't make it go away, especially since it's still ongoing and still influencing the rest of the franchise to an extent. Not to mention the sheer amount of influence that Ian Flynn in particular has been given lately. It's kind of impossible to ignore.

I already limit my thoughts to my own blog and the reblogs of those who share similar opinions. If I'm reblogging a comment of someone who likes the comic, it's usually for the sake of bringing up a valid point rather than going "fuck IDW" and leaving it at that. And I tend to use the aforementioned anti tag on top of that.

I already go out of my way to NOT hunt down IDW fans' blogs just to shit on them and their enjoyment, nor do I wish ill upon them for having a different opinion. You know. Like what they do with me and my friends.

Sonic is allowed to show emotion, yes. Neither me or anyone else who has criticised the comic has ever said that he shouldn't. But different characters express their emotions in different ways, and not every character is going to react with 100% emotion. Sonic is a subtle character despite his simplicity and outward demeanour, and the games - the core and meat of the franchise, whether you like it or not - have consistently shown that when he's feeling particular strong emotions, he does it in his own way. Are you seriously going to tell me with a straight face that he wasn't cold to Erazor and then sympathetic with Shahra in Secret Rings, or sad when he seemingly lost his friends in Lost World, or when Emerl died in Battle? Fans demand for nuance, and yet they refuse to see it when it's there, in favor of shallow drama where everyone calls out their feelings like a Pokemon attack.

Also, Sonic gets back up in the face of adversary all the time. It's one of the most consistent displays of his resolve, with Black Knight being a famous example.

Also-also, while Sonic does have trouble with water, him having an outright fear of water is something that's only true in adaptations and mistranslations.

As for Forces... complaining about what in Forces? I genuinely don't know what you're referring to here. Do you mean the line about torture? Because I don't actually mind that line as much as most fans do, even if was a bit hamfisted in execution.

And spreading hate and rumors? How about you take that complaint to the people who are actually guilty of that? As in, the stans who stalk and send threats to people like myself who don't like the comic, and try to gaslight us? I've never done that once, no matter how passionately I've ranted about my issues with the comic.

But it's always us, isn't it? The people who actually engage in legitimately twisted and dangerous behaviour are allowed to do what they do, but the moment you explain on your own blog why a comic's character decisions don't work, oh no, THAT'S inexcusable.

If you're going to request that I silence my problematic Sonic thoughts like a good little subservient, the least you could do is pay attention to what I actually do and don't do. Your inability to tolerate the mere thought that someone isn't in love with what this comic has been doing with the characters ("stop making it seem like they're ruining Sonic's character") is not my problem.

[stokan]

Every 2022 Film Nominated for an Oscar Ranked

40. Tell It Like a Woman - It’s true, this “movie” actual exists. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and they haven’t stopped bleeding since. That this collection of sub-student-film level shorts is an absolute embarrassment for everyone involved is besides the point. What I really want you to know about this “movie” is that the Diane Warren song that is the entire reason for this project to exist plays in one of the shorts, then it plays again over the closing credits, then it plays a SECOND time over the closing credits, but then it ends and the credits are still going. And no new songs starts! So you’re just sitting there in the most uncomfortable interminable silence ever because I guess they couldn’t afford a second song (?) and at Academy screenings it’s considered incredibly rude to leave before the credits are done. But thank god you didn’t because then after the credits there is a MUSIC VIDEO FOR THE SONG! And that music video is longer and looks like it cost more than basically all of the shorts you just watched. And part of the music video is Diane Warren directing the music video you're currently watching?? And as a legitimate smile formed on my face while all of this was unfolding, it’s only then that I truly understood Stockholm Syndrome.

39. Blonde - Feels truly wild that this wasn’t the worst movie I saw this year. It’s hard to say if I hated this more than Andrew Dominick hates Marilyn Monroe, but regardless, I can’t imagine ever having a more unpleasant time at the movies than I did watching this three-hour-long Ana de Armas hostage video. Please don’t watch Blonde.

38. Bardo - More like BardNO. If you’re going to make a movie about you feel like you suck as an artist and are unworthy as a person, what you don't want is the end result to make the audience definitely agree with you. But other than the truly gorgeous cinematography, making Inarritu’s self-loathing an ACTUAL loathing is the only other thing this film successfully achieves. Well, that and single-handedly killing the idea of Netflix giving unlimited money to directors to make their passion projects unimpeded. Never thought I would say this, but after watching Bardo - please studios, give directors more notes.

37. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - “Yeah, but your scientists were so occupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should” - Dr. Ian Malcom, a character who would later appear in Jurassic Park: Dominion.

While watching this movie I kept trying to figure out what on earth the character of RiRi had to do with anything, only to get home and learn that her sole purpose in the movie was to set up a future TV series. At this point buying a ticket for an MCU movie is exactly like Ralphie in A Christmas Story sending off for Annie’s Secret Circle Decoder Ring, only you already know in advance the answer will always just ultimately be “don’t forget to drink your Ovaltine”.

36. EO - I’m sure when they were making this movie they thought “well, if nothing else, at least we’re definitely making the best artsy existential European donkey movie this year.” Nope! 

No human in this movie behaves like an actual human being, every major choice is contrived simply to keep the plot moving forward, and the donkey is the best actor in the cast. Nice try though.

35. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish - When adults don't take animation seriously as an art form and write it off as essentially kids entertainment, this is the exact movie they’re thinking of - brightly colored, turbo-charged drivel, with broad characters, broader jokes, and nothing interesting to say. Not to yuck anyone’s yum, as I’m sure if I was 8 years old I would want all things Puss and Boots mainlined directly into my veins, but as a non-8-year-old, this was very much Not For Me. 

(Also, as a 40 year old man, if you’d like to almost certainly get put on some kind of list then I would really recommend going by yourself, in a heavy coat and sweatpants, to a 9:30pm Friday night screening of a Puss in Boots film.)

34. Navalny - Important story, one truly great scene, and a film that I know a lot of people seem to like, but as a piece of movie making, for me, well...are the kids still saying “mid”? If so, I’m gonna say the thing that I’m sure ALL the kids are saying - a sentence that you can hear as you walk down the halls of any school in America - "Navalny is mid”.

33. The Sea Beast - Less than a month after having seen it, here’s the grand total of what I remember about this movie: there was a sea beast.

32. The Whale - If you want to know why there are many different art forms used to tell stories a great example is that this script works beautifully as a play, and terribly as a movie. Theater and film are different mediums, and what works on stage often seems overwrought and overwritten on film. And as we learn more and more with each passing year, most movies don’t make good plays either. So just let plays be plays and movies be movies. And let whatever exactly Sadie Sink and Samatha Morton are doing in The Whale never be either ever again.

31. Mrs Harris Goes to Paris - A beautiful looking trifle that tastes lovely and sweet but has absolutely no nutritional value because it’s mostly just air. A movie that feels like it should have premiered on British Airways’ in-flight entertainment network, if that can somehow be read as a semi-compliment.

30. Empire of Light - There’s a truly moving and interesting movie in here about the power of film and communal experience. The problem is that there are three other movies in here as well. Still, if you got Colman and you got Deakins, you got something. Just not any more than that though.

28. A House Made of Splinters - This year’s Oscar Doc Mad Libs entry. There’s always at least one nominee where the log line is: verite footage of a woman/group of women operating (an uplifting and important social service) in (country that’s currently in the news for being at war). in this case it’s (orphanage) and (Ukraine). Important story, truly heroic work, and further proof that if you point a camera at kids for long enough you’re always gonna wind up with some profound truths. But I watch a version of this exact movie every single year.

27. Argentina 1985 - Would seem difficult to take something as emotionally compelling as the true-life story of people being disappeared by a South American military dictatorship and make a movie about it that feels as conventional as an extra long Law and Oder episode, but here we are. That’s not to say it isn’t well made, important, and watchable - people love Law and Order! - just that it’s so by the numbers it feels more like a math equation than a film. If you’ve ever seen a movie before, you know where this one is going.

26. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery - Everything listed before this movie I would not really recommend, and everything after it, at least on some level, I would. And this is the exact mid-point. A perfectly decent movie that I feel absolutely nothing about. See it, or don’t - I can’t imagine a world where I would possibly care one way or the other. it’s simply the blindfolded lady who holds up the scale.

25. The Quiet Girl - It’s hard to totally put my finger on why this movie feels like one that in a few years I’ll almost certainly forget ever having seen, when at the same time there are very stylistically and tonally similar movies much higher on my list, but if I had to try and sum it up, I’d say it’s this: the girl is too quiet.

24. To Leslie - Honestly, is Andrea Riseborough getting nominated for this movie that much different than Laura Dern getting nominated for Rambling Rose or Jessica Lange WINNING for Blue Sky? I have no idea, I’ve never seen those movies. But an actress getting nominated for a micro-budget film no one saw from a tiny distributor isn’t some sort of new scandal, it used to be an annual tradition. Hell, To Leslie is exactly the sort of pleasant feel-good elevated-middle-brow indie that the Oscars were practically built on in the 90s. Although Mark Maron is the least believable Texan in movie history, and the budget definitely shows, and the style is non-existent, as half of Hollywood has at this point tweeted - it’s a small movie with a big heart. And I didn’t even get paid to say that!

23. Living - Why did we need essentially a shot-for-shot remake of Ikiru only set in England instead of Japan? Seriously, who is this for? It feels almost radically, defiantly, inessential. But the performances, especially Bill Nighy, are pretty great. And hey, Ikiru is a classic for a reason. So, whatever. Ultimately it was worth seeing, but this is last time I will ever write about Living again for the rest of my life.

22. Causeway - “Brian Tyree Henry, Oscar Nominee” has nice ring to it. And Jennifer Lawrence - also good at acting. Out of the little run I’m on here of nice but slight character study dramas, this feels like the best of the bunch. That may not be saying a ton, but it’s something, which also feels like a solid summary of this film.

21. All The Beauty And The Bloodshed - Scalding hot take: Nan Golden seems like a bit of a tough hang. Take that’s not hot at all: the Sackler family are evil pieces of shit. And sure, getting you emotionally riled up about their awfulness is sort of a layup, but by combining it with Nan Golden’s incredible life story, tough hang though she may be, this movie 360 windmill dunks it.

20. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio - Not a del Toro person, never going to be a del Toro person, just not my vibe, and truly baffled as to why he spent his time making the millionth adaptation of a story no one was asking to see remade, but damn if the result isn’t impressive. It may not be my thing, and it’s honestly  unclear who it’s audience exactly is supposed to be, but the level of care and craft on display is undeniably worthy of praise. Indifferent towards the player, but respect the hell out of the game.

19. Fire of Love - It’s almost impossible to watch this movie and not think the whole time about how you’re watching two Wes Anderson characters. Which is fitting because the style of this movie is more notable than the substance. But what stye it is. And although I said it’s somewhat lacking in substance, it does get at one very important and universal truth: don’t go chasing volcanoes.

18. Turning Red - As a massive Pixar fanboy it’s been a while since they’ve had a script that rose to the standards of their glory days, but I think this finally does the trick. The movie is visually a little too frantic and busy for my taste, but I’m also not its target audience, so that’s fine. It has something real and original to say to a demographic that I have aged out of and that’s more than valid. Teen and tween audiences need real art too, and not just pandering dreck. So while maybe this movie wasn’t one of my personal favorites of the year, it feels good to be able to roll up my sleeves and show my #TeamPixar tattoo with pride once again.

17. RRR - There’s a warning before this film that no actual animals were harmed because all the animals are CGI, which is hilarious because there’s no way anyone could possibly think anything in this movie was real, including the human beings. It’s definitely the first massive budget blockbuster action spectacular that also feels like they used non-union actors. Which is fitting because it’s as much video game as it is a movie. I absolutely admire the hell out of the craft, the ambition, originality, and fight choreography on display, but bottom line is that a movie where a guy punches a tiger in the face with a fist that’s on fire is just fundamentally never going to be My Thing. The musical numbers, especially Naatu Naatu, are truly electric though, and if you’re a 16-year-old boy bump this ranking up infinity places.

16. The Batman - This is why we can’t have nice things. You make a superhero movie that feels like it was done by an actual human rather than a committee, with great interesting acting choices, a real visual style, and a distinct dark aesthetic that feels like it enhances the specific story being told rather than the demands of some larger universe, and it makes money, but it leaves no cultural footprint. This coming and going without seeming to leave a mark shows that it’s not the Batman movie we deserved, but it was for sure the one I needed, and it deserved better.

15. Elvis - It’s important to preface this by saying that as a theater kid I’m a Baz Lurhman fan. R&J? Seminal movie of my adolescence and a huge reason I still love Shakespeare today. Moulin Rouge? Own it on a worn-out special edition DVD. The Great Gatsby? Underrated! Australia? Sure! So your milage may understandably vary, and I get that. I totally see all the flaws. But damn if Baz making a movie ABOUT music doesn’t just bypass all my critical facilities and go straight to my pleasure center. Is this movie what cocaine is like? Anyway, it’s not GOOD, but also, for me, it’s great. And if Austin Butler winds up winning the Oscar I’m gonna feel pretty proud of walking out of the theater after seeing Elvis back in the summer and calling my shot

14. All Quiet on the Western Front - I do firmly believe the famous Truffaut quote that there’s no such thing as an anti-war movie. But this is the exception to that rule. Like West Side Story last year, it pulls off the miraculous task of remaking a movie that didn’t need remaking while yet also justifying its own existence. And while it now feels like we’ve officially reached the end point of war movie verisimilitude, what an exclamation point to cap off the journey. It’s truly insane WWI ever happened, and if only we could go back in time and show them this film, it never would have. It’s that powerful.

13. Avatar: The Way of Water - There’s nothing I’m more out on in movies than when one CGI thing is fighting another CGI thing. Yet when the whole movie is CGI things fighting CGI things? Apparently I’m all the way in.

Look the story is dumb, and the dialogue is stilted, and the mythology this world is trying to build feels pretty cringe, but by god is this movie gorgeous to look at and an absolute technical marvel. And the final third of this movie is some of the best action filmmaking I’ve seen in a very long time. James Cameron, incredible stager of action sequences, who knew? Strap on some 3D glasses, see this on an IMAX screen on a Friday night in a crowded theater, and try not to be entertained, I dare you.

12. All That Breathes - I do this insane project of watching every single Oscar nominee every year because without fail it exposes me to one or two or three movies I fall in love with that I wouldn’t have ever seen otherwise. Well that, and also because there’s something wrong with my brain. But most often these wonderful finds are documentaries, for example: Attica, Time, Minding the Gap, and my beloved Honeyland. Much like Honeyland, my find this year, All That Breathes, is about something simple - in this case its two brothers running a Mumbai bird hospital instead of Honeyland’s Macedonian beekeeper - but like with that film, as it slowly reveals itself, it turns out to really be about Everything All At Once. Family, geopolitics, the climate crisis, religion, interconnectedness - truly all that breathes. Great film, and can’t wait to see what subtly beautiful Senegalese goat herder documentary I fall in love with in 2023.

11. Top Gun: Maverick - The platonic ideal of a summer blockbuster. This is not my kind of movie at all, and yet I even I was won over. Resistance is impossible. Picking nits is pointless. Because sure it’s as by the numbers as they come yet, wow is that counting fun. It almost single handedly justifies the concept of just turning your brain off and having a good escapist time at the movies. But most importantly for me, it just makes me feel good about never wavering in one of my deepest held beliefs: Jennifer Connelly is the most attractive human being who has ever lived. 

10. Women Talking - Here’s to truth in advertising. No one who can read titles can say they didn’t know EXACTLY what they walking into with this film. But what great talking it is. And what great women! Although ::poking his head the slightest bit humanly possible out from behind the world’s largest bush:: the one truly transcendent performance in the film for me was Ben Wishaw. But everyone was great really. And fitting that the only great play adaptation of the year wasn’t a play adaptation at all. It was just a true ensemble working together to tell an important story in urgent and poetic language in a purposely claustrophobic setting. It’s a real shame then that this film seems to be evaporating from the collective consciousness before it ever even made its way in, because it’s actually the one thing we should all be doing more of: watching women talking.

9. TAR - As a card carrying elitist film snob it pains me as much to rank TAR this low as it does for you to see it here. And there was a point, maybe about two hours into the movie, where it seemed like it was ending, and I thought to myself “what a masterpiece!”. But the problem is it didn’t end there. It kept going. And the last part of this film, the part that some people online think is supposed to be a dream or whatever, just absolutely does not work for me. And wow oh wow does it feel like the absolute last scene isn’t just beamed in from a totally different movie but from a totally different planet. It’s the exact opposite of sticking the landing. That being said, Todd Field is an actual genius, the dialogue is in a league of its own, and it’s fitting Cate Blanchett is probably not going to win the Oscar because an Oscar feel almost beneath her performance. But still…that last 20 minutes. So please don’t tar me, but #9 it is.

8. Triangle of Sadness - I think all the time about Connor Oberst performing his anti-Bush song “When the President Talks to God” years ago on The Tonight Show. This dense, well-written song with no chorus and no hooks that got what can best be described as polite applause. And I remember thinking, good song, but what is the point of it? It will reach absolutely no one who doesn’t already hate Bush. You know what will? Green Day writing a song literally called “American Idiot” about how the president is, well, an American idiot, but it has a sing-along chorus that kicks ass. And I think about that when people criticize Triangle of Sadness for being too obvious, because you know what - it absolutely kicks ass. 

On paper, sure, people quoting Lenin and Reagan back at each other while rich people throw up on each other on a luxury cruise is embarrassingly on the nose, but in practice, watching it play out on screen in a movie theater full of people, I was laughing so hard I could barely feel my face, let alone my nose. And all the chatter about how this movie makes obvious points about how rich people are bad feels like it comes from people who wrote the movie off half-way thru, because it totally misses the third act, which is the complicated, thorny, and dark heart of the film. (Justice for Dolly de Leon!)

Look, maybe this wasn’t your cup of tea, but anecdotally, talking to people from all areas of my life, especially people younger than me, this is BY FAR the movie from this year that people bring up to me the most. And they always say how its themes were thought-provoking and important and worth watching. And to me that’s proof of my belief that what may on paper come off as obvious, is in fact the year’s catchiest chorus.

7. Babylon - Is it the best movie of the year? No. Would I personally give it my hypothetical Oscar vote? Definitely not. Should it win best picture? Don’t be absurd. But would I give up all my worldly possessions to a join a new religion where we move out to the woods and chant the name Babylon up to the heavens 12 hours a day? Absolutely! 

Babylon is like if one of Stephon’s clubs was a movie - this film has everything: an alligator attack, a guy eating a live mouse, a Jean Smart monologue about existentialism, Margot Robbie projectile vomiting on someone’s face, footage from the 1982 film Tron. It’s as though someone told Damien Chazelle this was going to be the final movie ever made and he somehow, miraculously, aced the assignment. It’s definitely one of the most movie movies ever to movie. It feels weird to not be typing about this movie strictly in all caps. And if you think this movie is majorly flawed, well, sure, probably, but you’re missing the point. MOVIES!!!!

My head knows I cant rank this any higher than #7, but in my heart? Well, what’s a ranking higher than #1? #-100? In my heart this was the -100th best movie of the year.

6. Close - A stunningly beautiful and heartbreaking movie from what feels like a major new voice in Lukas Dhont. A movie that pulls off the magic trick of somehow making you feel deeply sympathetic towards those trapped in the prison of masculinity, rather than angry about the toxicity of it. And speaking of magical - in the year of great child actor performances the two in this movie are the best of them all. Just an absolute gem of a movie. Go see Close.

5. Aftersun - If TAR botched its ending, then Aftersun is the gymnastics judges crossing out their 10s and writing in 11s of sticking your landing. Because, spoiler alert, but the final scene of this movie is maybe the best use of a pre-existing popular song in film history. That sounds like hyperbole, but I was literally shaking with emotion during “Under Pressure”. It’s my new go-to need-a-good-cry YouTube clip. And a quiet film about a childhood experience where nothing much happens and it’s all subtext until finally one incredible scene of intense emotion is so totally my shit that it feels like I excreted it from my own colon. Was it maybe a little TOO quiet in parts? Perhaps. And the framing device didn’t TOTALLY work. But still, Charlotte Wells being able to compete with this film in the best the First Feature category at awards shows feels unfair. It’s so confident and expertly crafted that I feel like she’s a future My Favorite Director just waiting to happen.

4. Everything Everywhere All At Once - Sure you can make the argument it’s a hat on an infinite number of hats, but HOLY SHIT LOOK AT ALL THOSE FUCKING HATS!!!! The inventiveness, originality, and utter chaos on display in a movie that’s about to win Best Picture is truly mind-blowing. It’s like a Jackson Pollock of ideas. When they say they don’t make em like that anymore, this is the exact opposite of what they’re talking about.

3. The Banshees of Inisherin - Barry Keoghan might be my favorite actor working today, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are the new dysfunctional Hepburn and Tracy, and Kerry Condon should win all the Oscars. But for me this movie is all about the script. That fecking script. Laugh out loud funny, endlessly quotable, and utterly heartbreaking. I mean, Martin McDonagh - good at writing things, who knew? Plays shouldn’t be movies, but maybe more movies should be by writers of plays.

2. Marcel the Shell With Shoes On - I want to have a genetic mutation causing me to have more thumbs just so I can give this more than two thumbs up. This movie is a miracle. How did a super twee one-joke YouTube short become the most moving and heartfelt mediation on family and connection and existentialism I’ve seen in a long time? It still doesn’t seem possible and yet I’ve seen it with my own tear-stained eyes. I can’t compare it to any movie I’ve ever seen before and I can’t imagine anything quite like it will ever come along again. And most miraculous of all, if it moves even a slight inch in any other direction it becomes cloying, or sappy, or obvious, or any multitude of other sins, yet it’s in such total control of its tone it’s like watching Lydia Tar conduct a tone orchestra. And finally, if the scene where Marcel finally finds his family didn’t totally turn you into a sobbing mess than you yourself might be a shell, or at least have one for a heart. I cried, I laughed uproariously, and I fell in love with an animated shell with shoes on - what more could you possibly want out of a film?

1. The Fabelmans - Is this the movie that I feel most passionate about from 2022? No. Read what I had to say about most of the past 10 entries for proof. I’m honestly surprised to see this here, and I’m the one making the list. But here’s the thing: my favorite film of 2017 was Lady Bird. Of 2018 was Eighth Grade. Of 2019 was Little Women. I’m nothing if not consistent in my total love of and weakness for a coming of age story. We all have our things. And one this well shot, and scored, and written, and acted, and DIRECTED - I dunno what to tell you. This was the movie that best combined quality of filmmaking with emotional connection for me personally. It had the most scenes I loved, the most performances I enjoyed, the most shots I marveled at. It seems like it wasn’t for everyone, and as the years pass I have a feeling this ranking might change, but for right now, thinking back on the year in film, I have a hot take to end things on: Steven Spielberg knows how to fucking make a great movie.

SHORTS

My Year of Dicks (animated)

Ice Merchants (animated)

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse (animated)

Haulout (doc)

An Ostrich Told Me The World Is Fake And I Think I Believe It (animated)

The Elephant Whisperers (doc)

How Do You Measure A Year? (doc)

The Red Suitcase (live action)

The Flying Sailor (animated)

Le Pupille (live action)

An Irish Goodbye (live action)

The Martha Mitchell Effect (doc)

Ivalu (live action)

Stranger at the Gate (doc)

Night Ride (live action)

[corvatrix]

Theories Are Just Fantasies | The Lost World (Jurassic Park #2)

RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

💡 REVIEW

Admittedly it's been around a year since I last found myself adventuring through Crichton's fictional world, so I wasn't super fresh on the details of what happens in Jurassic Park. That's okay, though; the second installment is written well enough to stand alone. It's enhanced by your knowledge of the events in Jurassic Park but you can absolutely read it by itself and still enjoy the hell out of it.

Spoilers below. Please keep spoilers out of the comments!

😍 WHAT I LIKED

This was an incredibly quick read (a couple of hours on a flight + an hour or two, cumulatively, in the car back and forth while visiting family) and was gripping from start to finish. I didn't find myself glossing over paragraphs like I sometimes do with science fiction; indeed, I almost hesitate to label this sci-fi because it's so character driven and spends very little time on the intricacies of InGen's meddling, or Dodgson's ultimate plan, or Malcolm's chaos theory. I would've liked to read more into that, honestly.

The book's pacing is breakneck; once you start, you won't want to stop. Even the setup of the dilemma (Levine returning to Costa Rica and Malcom & Co. following to save him) seems fun and fast-paced as we unravel the mystery of what's happening despite already knowing what's going down (seriously, how does Crichton pull that off?) on Isla Sorna. We're invested in the characters from the jump and understand what's at stake--and feel the tension almost immediately.

Also, Ian Malcolm on morphine is an absolute treasure.

💩 WHAT I DISLIKED

Having the perspective of younger children again (a boy, Arby, and a girl, Kelly) helped make the science feel a little more accessible as a layman; however, having similar players to the first novel (two male scientists, a male bodyguard-type, a female scientist, and two kiddos) made this iteration feel very similar to the first book in a not-great way. I also cringed a bit at Sarah's girl power quips throughout the book (for example: "Absence of proof is not proof of absence. All your life, other people will try to take your accomplishments away from you. Don't you take it away from yourself.") as they felt a little forced and a little weird coming from a male author. Having Dodgson return as the smarmy, no-good villain was...okay, but it was the same motivation as the first book, and I'm glad that he was bait for the Rex babies.

On that note, the dinosaurs involved are...one note. We've got the typical flashy Velociraptors, the annoying (and dino-rabies-ridden) Compys, several herbivore species, a couple of nesting T-Rexes, and a couple of chameleon Carnotauruses. The interactions between our heroes and these animals are always high octane, which is fun for a screenplay but not so much for a book, and I found myself wanting to know more about the animals and how they got there, even though a LOT of the book is centered around learning about their behaviors and way of life. At one point there is even a moment when a blood sample is taken--and nothing really came of it. I WANT MORE DINO SCIENCE DAMMIT.

In conclusion, this was a fine, fun read that got me through a very boring pair of flights and was familiar enough that one could zoom through it without paying too close attention and still come out on the other side feeling like they hadn't missed anything. It is my understanding that this is the only sequel Crichton had ever written for any of his works, and I can definitely see why he would be hesitant to give it another shot. It's a good popcorn book: it wouldn't be satisfying enough to serve as a full meal, but it's great as a snack or a quick bite in-between more full plates.

 🗝️ THEMES

The arrogance of educated people

Survival of the fittest

"You were so preoccupied with if you COULD that you didn't bother to stop and think about whether or not you SHOULD."

📖 TROPES

Returning to a dangerous place

"Ah shit here we go again"

Life-or-death stakes

Will-they-won't-they romance

Smart but callous guy gets schooled

Bad guy gets his come-uppance

[vitos-ordination-song]

Ian just became too much the focus of the story I feel. I wanted it to be Jeremy’s story—I would have been happier had it gone the FWWM route and Jeremy had suffered and died alone. Seriously. Bc then at least it would have been on his own terms. Maybe this sounds bad but I think it would have been better if he’d been left alone in Boston. When Ian first went after him it felt like a relief. I really believed that Ian was trying to care and reach out. But no.

It’s not just that Ian is selfish I think—it’s also that he had no idea what the fuck he was doing and he was not qualified to help someone like Jeremy. He made things worse over and over.

If I was in Jeremy’s position, I would have self-destructed out of spite, and honestly he did do that at times. Like, not only can you say that Ian doesn’t get it, but the man also hits Jeremy and sleeps with him and pays him like he’s a prostitute. I don’t care if Jeremy was seductive or if he asked for it or anything else—Ian was capable of not engaging or walking away or hell, giving up on Jeremy. You can’t force these things. I feel like Dr. Olsen was the only character in the entire work who got that.

And like, I don’t really see the Ian/Jeremy dynamic as equal, where both parties are just as manipulative and toxic and abusive. Jeremy never wanted to be hit; he often wasn’t in the right state of mind to be kissing; he was clearly using the relationship as a way to punish himself. On the other hand Ian entered a cycle of abusive/controlling behavior, self-justification, possessiveness, etc., and then he’d feel bad and try to help Jeremy, but he never STOPPED til the very end. I can’t feel glad this character has decided to take off his father’s mask when he’s just gonna put it on again.

I don’t like the mixing of care and abuse. It frightens me even more than the pure sadism of Greg. And my question is, am I supposed to see Ian as a better option? Are Jeremy and Ian less of a dirty secret? Why is Jeremy looked at as if he’s always doing something Just As Bad by being a prostitute and drug user. I mean, Gilbert was a very complicated character who actively did harm others—but because Jeremy’s life was founded on love and sacrifice, he imploded inward, choosing to harm himself and not others as much as possible.

The end of the work didn’t give me the impression that the story was about how a boy ended up in a bad relationship with the son of the man who sadistically abused him. It gave me the impression I was supposed to be glad these ~two broken people~ still hang out and do romantic stuff even if they probably won’t fuck anymore. I might have been okay with that. I think a story about two boys who end up in an unhealthy quasi-incestuous relationship but chose to stop their sexual contact as they mature could be interesting. But I never felt like Ian crossed the threshold of actual love for Jeremy—unselfish concern for his well-being. It was always about what Ian wanted.

I strongly disliked The Kite Runner, which I read in high school, for similar reasons. In that book, a privileged boy turns a blind eye to his childhood friend’s rape and even takes part in the other boy’s torment. I found the writing gripping and read it all in one day, only to be left disappointed. I related to the main character, but the work ultimately rendered him unlikable. He learns that that other boy was his half brother who his father shafted bc he was illegitimate; he’s told that his friend and brother had forgiven him before dying; and he’s told that he’s been given a perfect chance to redeem himself—save his nephew from abuse. As a teenager with regrets, I was immediately like, of course you would want to take that chance! But the main character had to be bitched into it, did it reluctantly, complained, but because he sorta tried I’m supposed to find him a good guy at the end??? (Also the plot is very stupid.)

With Ian, it’s personal for me lol. For one thing I was a favorite child of my father and had many an opportunity to turn a blind eye to that. I was the little princess as a small child, loved while others were abused. I have adopted siblings. I’ve seen some really fucked up stuff happen to other people. I’ve had to decide between abusive parents and siblings. I’ve had to decide whose narrative I accept. I’ve had to try to help someone when it is not easy at all. I’ve been tempted to do the wrong thing, including sexual harm to others. And I decided from age 13 that I would kill myself before I touched a child or anyone against their will. It was something I was so terrified of doing because it was a reality I was hyper aware of before I even developed a sex drive. And I’ve done things to people that I can’t take back, but I have to the best of my abilities apologized for things and tried to change my ways and reduced contact with people who will harm me or people I may harm, while still trying to mend gaps when I can. I can’t forgive people like Ian. I can’t forgive the weakness and the selfishness. I don’t care if he did anything good.

Another comparison point is Koe no Katachi. That story is a romance between a bullying victim and their former bully. The bully character suffers and bears the full responsibility for his past actions, even if he wasn’t the only one at fault at the time. The way he makes up to the girl he used to bully is by actually being there for her! Him no longer abusing her is treated as the bear minimum and he actually has to prove himself and love her as an equal! I know that Jeremy is a really messed up person and is not easy to help, but if Ian couldn’t handle it, he has money. If you want to say that Jeremy would have died on his own, and so Ian was justified in forcing things, okay, but why not just pay for Jeremy to have a decent life? If he actually cared why would he let himself be provoked? Why does he never deescalate?

It’s making me think of this one documentary called Healing Homes which looked at a therapy program where troubled individuals were placed w a farm family and had a therapist in tandem. A family interviewed had a girl who would get violent and flipped a table. You can’t just ignore someone in a state like that. It’s possible for someone going thru distress to be a threat to themselves or others. What the mother of the family did was grab the girl and forcibly hold her down til she stopped struggling, told her to stop in a commanding but not hurtful way, and then tried to get through to her emotionally, with care. You know what Ian did half the time? Start treating Jeremy the exact way his father did!! That’s fine as a storytelling choice but don’t tell me it’s love! And it’s so crazy in a story which is otherwise v astute on these issues! What happened there?

[19thcenturylover]

Jurassic Park/Marvel Au

As a first instance I must say this is a "Beta" and that it's the first idea for an Au that I decide to explain publicly. Any comments or suggestions will be warmly welcomed <3. (Pd: English is not my first language and I regret bad English in advance) (Pd:This blog will be edited over time so that the basic information is more accurate or complete)

Well, as the title says, this is an Au where the main plot of the First Book of Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (and part of the Steven Spielberg movie) and some MCU characters are mixed. This is thanks to the fact that I am a staunch fan of both franchises and I couldn't not stop myself.

Idea principal/SinopsisPendeja:

"In the year of 1989, in Costa Rica a series of strange accidents began to arise. Among them not only children attacked by small animals on the beaches but also a comment about a worker who ended up seriously injured in the construction of a mystery project in Isla Nublar. A short time later, paleontologist James "Bucky" Barnes and his fellow Paleobotanist Steve Rogers are contacted by the main funder of their excavations, Tony Stark, to give a thumbs up to a project they have been working on. After some small adjustments, they accept and the next day they are already in flight to one of the small islands of Costa Rica together with some personalities with whom they will end up confirming if that project is safe or not. Unfortunately for all of them, what started as a revolutionary idea that brought the dinosaurs back to life and an interesting park quickly turns into a nightmare, so they will have to find all the means to get out of there alive."

I take into account that it does not say much but I am based on the synopses that are made for medium length books or writings. This since my intention is to see if it captures interest or not ":].

Characters (con solo 5 dibujitos)

James Buchanan Barnes/Alan Grant:

(Let's ignore that I drew it with Alan's outfit in JP3, it was a mistake that I noticed when it was too late)

Steve Rogers/Ellie Sattler:

Helmut Zemo/Ian Malcolm

Samuel T. Wilson/Robert Muldoon:

Tony Stark & Peter and Morgan/John Hammond & Tim and Lex:

Other characters are:

John Walker/Donald Gennaro

Quentin Beck/Dennis Nedry

Bruce Banner/Henry Woo

X/Ed Regis

X/Ray Arnold

Obviously I have some characters that I haven't finished organizing but I feel like they're not that important (Well, Gennaro is a conflict—)

Anyway. I want to say that this Au will be very attached to the history of the book, including some personality changes, the corresponding deaths, important scenes (such as the river or the aviary) and data that, although outdated, gave part of the characterization of the story.

Still it's obvious that I have plot-holes to fill and I will try to do so. Anyway as I said before, this post is intended to see a first impression and if it would be a good idea to complete it thoroughly ":]

Thanks for reading, I want to know what you think🦖💖

[cevans16]

Eyes On Fire

Summary: You’re watching an episode of The Vampire Diaries with Sebastian. 

You were sitting on the far end of a couch next to Lizzie and Scarlett, Chris Evans was on the floor between you and Lizzie’s feet while Mackie and Sebastian were on the other couch on your left(no pun intended). You were all taking a break after a long day of filming. At the moment The Vampire Diaries was the most popular show airing, the fourth new season had been released, so you were all watching it collectively. You and Sebastian weren’t dating but there was definitely some tension between you two, you however never would take it further since you knew you couldn’t hook up without catching feelings. Sebastian had been wanting to ask you out but was too shy to do so since he thought he wouldn’t be your type, his shy side however seemed to disappear when you two would playfully banter. 

The main character from the show Elena had recently become a vampire and had hooked up with Damon Salvatore. You had a huge crush on Ian Somerhalder, the actor who played Damon, you weren’t afraid to share that. 

“I would seriously die if I met him” you said unbashful, “I don’t blame you” Lizzie said, followed by Scarlett nodding her head. You heard Chris below you smirk, “Ohh come on he’s not that good looking-”, “Are you serious, you need glasses, LOOK at him Evans, he’s fucking hot, I can’t” you defensively replied, “Chris is right, he’s not that good looking” Sebastian added, turning over to look at you, “Oh here we go again” Mackie huffed, signaling that you and Sebastian were about to debate again. “No no, I’m enjoying this episode so I’ll be quiet...for now” you said. 

Ian’s character Damon’s fangs came out while he was hooking up again with Elena, “Hey Sebastian....you’re from Romania right?” you asked him, “Mhmmm”, “You know how vampires supposedly descended from there and well YOU’RE from there soooo do you have any friends who could be my Damon?” you asked him while raising your eyebrow at him. You heard Mackie and Evans burst out in laughter, “What’s so funny?” Sebastian asked them, “I thought she was going to ask YOU to turn her into a vampire” Mackie said, “Me too” Evans shared. 

At this point the episode was getting steamy while the song Eyes On Fire by Blue Foundation played, “I will not ever hear this song and not think about this instead of Twilight, holy shit” you said, you hadn’t realized it but your mouth was slightly open at the two actors hooking up. Mackie caught you and elbowed Sebastian, causing Sebastian to look at you and roll his eyes. “Can you be anymore obvious about your crush for him?” he stated to you. “Is someone jealous? Damn I don’t know if I should be a little frightened about the fangs during sex or turned on by it” you shared. 

“You know....Seabass over here can turn you into a vampire” Mackie said to you, “Ehhhh I’m not HIS type so he wouldn’t” you replied, this time you heard everyone but Sebastian giggle like little kids. 

“Not MY type, what do you mean?” Sebastian asked, you honestly didn’t want to get into that conversation so you came up with an excuse, “We are not having this conversation at the moment because I’m very much enjoying this hot vampire sex so be quiet” you said to him, “Make me then” Sebastian retorted, “Make you what?”, “Make me shut up (Y/N)” he said winking at you, that caused butterflies in your stomach. To be honest the steamy scene playing in front of you had you growing wet down there but hearing Sebastian ask you to make him shut up didn’t help the situation at all. 

“Of course, you’re too scared of me, I knew it” Sebastian continued to try to aggravate you, “Shut up, we are trying to watch this Sebastian” you said sternly. The others didn’t care about the episode, they were more caught up on what would happen next between you and Sebastian, “I said make me doll but you didn’t do anything” he smirked at you. You rolled your eyes at him doing your best to ignore him. 

“That’s what I thought” he said a few moments later. Now or never you said to yourself. “Okay...” you said as a matter-of-factly getting up from your end of the couch, skipping over Chris’ legs. “Sorry for this Mackie” you said quickly. You got on top of Sebastian legs, straddling him, not even giving him even a second to register what was happening. You tugged his hair gently with one hand while using the other hand to squeeze his chin in order to pull his lips onto yours. You instantly used your tongue to touch his, you heard Sebastian groan, he moved his hands onto your back before using one of his hands to touch your soft hair. You heard everyone around you cheer for you two, Mackie was losing it since he was right next to you both. You grinded your hips onto his for a bit but stopped once you felt him get hard. Then suddenly you stopped, pulling his face back by his hair. “That shut you up didn’t it?” you said to him, smirking at him this time. 

Sure enough, Sebastian was at loss for words, he didn’t know if what happened was real or one of his dreams about you. He kept looking at your face, seeing the smirk slapped across your face, you had won this time. You got up from his lap to walk away to get a breath of fresh air. 

“Welll.... are you going after her or what because you are definitely her type” Mackie teasingly said him. 

[seeker-of-stories19]

Found this article about things Ian did wrong in Shameless and I’m not saying he’s perfect but this didn’t even make sense so I’m fixing it. (Part 1)

20/20

Okay so you’re saying it’s messed up that a fifteen year old was sleeping with his married boss? No it’s messed up that a married adult man is having sex with his fifteen year old employee, consensual or not he’s the adult in the situation. Also Ian did think it was wrong and opted out of their weekend together when he was presented with the presence of Kash’s family life. And I’d like to just add that while this was a bad decision He didn’t exactly have many options as far as expressing his sexuality, throughout the show it is clear that the southside isn’t exactly excepting.

19/20

Seriously? You’re not obligated to come out to someone just because you care about each other, sexual and romantic preferences are personal to some people and it’s not something you’re required to share. Not to mention there are plenty of reasons Ian may not have come out to his family, maybe he was scared or maybe he wasn’t ready but that’s his decision it has nothing to do with Lip.

18/20

Mandy reacted well because she’s a good person and she wanted her best friend and her brother, two people she cares about, to be happy. That doesn’t seem weird to me? I mean really it’s not her job to dictate who either of them can date and she doesn’t which is a sign that they have a genuine friendship. Not to mention Ian didn’t tell her because Mickey wanted it to be private which again is his decision.

17/20

First of all I don’t think Ian was indecisive I think it was awkward to tell your gay boss you’ve been sleeping with that you’re not interested in a relationship while he’s trying to impregnate his wife. Also one again Ian is being blamed for something that could be better pinned on either other character, Mickey shouldn’t have antagonized Kash and Kash obviously shouldn’t have shot Mickey because he was jealous (it’s not like he could’ve thought they’d be together forever.) Finally Ian really wouldn’t have helped either of them by going to the cops. Kash was engaging in an illegal affair with a teenager and Mickey probably would have been killed by his father who is a known homophobe if the truth got out.

16/20

Yeah an insane homophobic ex con thinks you got his daughter pregnant when you’re actually sleeping with his son and he was the one who impregnated his own daughter, why would you try to protect the people you care about and save your own life? Also Mandy and Mickey would be pretty relieved that their dad was locked up a while longer.

15/20

Why would Ian tell Jimmy? It’s not like they’re incredibly close and as far as the fact that Ned is married he shouldn’t be dating a teenager. Now I’m not saying this was rational or ethical behavior but I do think that Ian behaves in some questionable ways romantically throughout the beginning of the series but he never had a good role model in this department and he’s really just a kid who makes some stupid decisions and figures it out later on. Finally I’d like to point out that Ian had never had the opportunity to be in a relationship where the other person isn’t ashamed or afraid of being with him and he even confirms that this is why he’s with Ned when Mickey asks, which in my opinion is more sad than anything else.

14/20

He didn’t get tired of waiting to enlist he watched his boyfriend get raped by a Russian prostitute while they were both held at gunpoint and then watched him as he was forced to marry her since she was pregnant with his child. As for the rest of it, being bipolar is hardly something you could blame on Ian.

13/20

Seriously? For starters they didn’t know he was bipolar because he wasn’t there and they weren’t looking for him, even later in the season no one other than Mickey expressed more than basic concern over his behavior. I’d also like to point out that he’s spent his entire childhood watching Monica struggle with this disease. He knows what it does to people so of course he wouldn’t except it instantly. Even under normal circumstances denial in these type of life changing circumstances is normal. As for the rest of it he did care about his family enough to take his meds even though they made him feel so horrible he eventually stopped. And his relationship with Mickey was so sex based for so long that not being able to perform sexually only made him feel more insecure about a disease that he’s already watched ruin his family’s life. As a bonus I’d just like to throw in that all these criticisms are based on the effects of a mental illness he has no control over.

12/20

One again this behavior was caused by a mental illness he didn’t have any control over, and as hard as it was to watch Mickey be so heartbroken they persevered like they always do. Also, you can understand why Ian would feel babied or crazy by Mickey’s sudden careful and loving behavior, he’s not in the right mindset to accept the genuine change in his long time partner as anything other than a response to his bipolar disorder.

11/20

Honestly I’m getting sick of making the same point over and over again. He’s mentally ill, he isn’t thinking clearly, he’s afraid and in denial, and he doesn’t have control over any of it. Seriously the judgement against him for having a mental disease in this article is infuriating. Not to mention the fact that both Ian and Yevgeny are alright which I count as a win considering the circumstances.

Hopefully you enjoyed this or at least found it interesting even if you didn’t agree on the whole thing. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts as I put a lot of time into thinking about these points. Part 2 will be posted soon and will be a continuation of this because I hit the 10 image max. I obviously don’t own the article and it is posted at the bottom to give full credit to the writer. I only own my opinions.

Part 1/2

[hellomynameisbisexual]

Internalized biphobia, homophobia or transphobia is where you internally harbor hatred, fear or disbelief against how you identify. But this phobia can cause you a lot of struggle and pain because you may become so unsure of yourself. I don’t deal with internal biphobia well, but I’ve created some methods to help. I am sure some can adapted to help you with whatever you’re internally phobia-ing.

1) Engulf yourself in positivity

I know how patronizing positivity can be when you’re feeling down, but actually I have found some things that are really useful; even just on a daily basis to have these validate you and show how to cope with it better. So, first and foremost, read some of my articles. Although I write about my own experiences, I think that a lot of bi people could relate to my articles. So, reading a couple may help. Also, follow Bi-positivity on your social media. My Tumblr is just basically LGBTQ+ positivity or advice which a bit of scrolling through every day just helps to believe in myself. Some blogs I recommend on Tumblr are ‘Ask a Bisexual’, ‘Bi-Positive’, ‘Letters to lgbt kids’, ‘LGBT+ Positivity’, and my personal favorite ‘LGBT+ Moodboards’. These are always very good, take messages and reply as much as possible. Just make sure that you quickly scroll through any pages before following, there are some which advertise positivity but never prove it.

I also recommend a couple of YouTube channels. Melanie Murphy makes some lovely videos on sexuality and though they are rare, they are worth watching (link to latest one :https://www.youtube.com/watchv=POTYJD3quD8&index=1&list=PLEOdtoJghxaIes0rPtAfFQjspHop4QurJ5). Also, I love Rosie’s Bi-sexy series, where she talks about her bisexuality, often with her wife – Rose – who are always entertaining and relatable (link here: https://www.youtub2

e.com/watch?v=MKMUiAJqyJM).

2) Normalize Saying ‘Bisexual’ Out Loud

You need to get comfortable with saying it out loud. That’s something that you need to do so you can used to saying the word out loud when you talk to people. So, the way I like, and I have most certainly done, is come out to you, constantly, in the mirror. So, look at your reflection in the mirror, and come out. You’ll feel ridiculous and you’ll smile but look at the beautiful person reflected back, and concentrate on the fact that you are coming out to them. It makes it a bit easier to cope with if you do it. I did it so many times before I came out. And when I was in the bathroom in a café the day I came out, I looked at me in the mirror, and told her I was bi and out. It was a wonderful liberating moment to have – though it was in a slightly grubby café bathroom.

3) Positive Role Models

Have LGBTQ+ role models

Frankly, I don’t actually know many, I wish I knew of more but I’m not someone who knows lots about modern celebrities and such, so chances are you’re probably more aware of the ones that exist than I am. One I know of that is bi is Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day as my best friend is a huge fan of his. Though I don’t really have LGBTQ+ role models, I do pick idols that are supportive of the community and when my favorite singers perform at Pride events it is always great to watch the videos. Also, my favorite singer of all time is very supportive of the community, which shows through her fan base (seriously the amount of lesbians I know from twitter, as they are fans of hers, is just INSANE).

4) Find A Fellow Bi

Try and meet someone who is Bi and make friends. This can happen through joining LGBTQ+ groups, or through the internet on blogs and forums and such. But being able to talk to someone who understands completely how you feel is amazing. My best friend is the most fantastic supportive person ever, but she is very very straight, so she doesn’t understand this level of gay. However, I have been very lucky to find make a lovely friend who is also very bi, which gives us both a space in which to be open and talk about what we think and feel. She makes great recommendations for LGBTQ+ films and series on Netflix as she has such an incredible huge knowledge in LGBTQ+ entertainment and keeps urging me to watch all sorts of stuff. But honestly, if you give yourself a space in which to very unapologetically bi, it is just easier to have someone to re-affirm how valid your sexuality is.

5) Talking to Someone Else Entirely

If you’re feeling like you don’t want to talk to anyone in your life, it’s worth reaching out to organizations who are equipped to deal with people like you. One I definitely recommend is Samaritans. This is a charity that has trained volunteers to help people in all sorts of situations for a variety of reasons – mental health, sexuality, stress, anything that might be troubling. What they do is that they give you someone to talk to and to just talk about what’s going on. You must keep in mind that they are unable to give you advice – it is not fair for them to help you, as all they know is what you say, and you don’t even have to tell them your name. I have actually rung up before, at a time where I was dealing with the return of some dark thoughts from when I was struggling with my sexuality, and I spoke to very kind old man (who sounded like Ian McKellan) who really helped me see things in perspective simply by giving me someone to speak to. He actually ever so slightly broke the rules by telling me that he is gay himself but he wanted me to know that he understood what I was feeling. Honestly, it’s worth it to just to talk things out – I have found that this is the best way for me and if you don’t believe anyone can help you, maybe you just need a different outlook.

Contact Samaritans: Phone – 116 123 (UK) [116 123 (ROI)] OR Email- jo@samaritans.org

OR Freepost RSRB-KKBY-CYJK, PO Box 9090, STIRLING, FK8 2SA

6) Listen to this song on repeat. And don’t stop.

Yes, this comes from the fact that I have been binge watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend religiously for the past week. It is realistic and funny and well worth watching. Also, if you bear with for about half of series one, you get great Bi representation. On a lot of programs you get someone who obviously swings both ways, but the writers will claim they “don’t like labels”. Well, this show has an entire story line for one of the main characters, divorcing their opposite sex partner, discovering their bisexuality, dating the same gender, AND singing a song which debunks myths about Bisexuality. It also gives you a pun to use when someone asks how things are. Tell them you’re Getting’ BI!

[popculturebuffet]

Sonic 30th (Late) Birthday Spectacular!: Top 12 Archie Sonic Stories

Happy Birthday Sonic and Hello All you Happy Mobians! I”m Jake, i review stuff. Yes 30 years ago today Sonic the Hedgehog graced the Sega Genisis, changing Sega’s lives and the lives of so many to come forever... I myself wasn’t even born yet, wouldn’t be till december but it feels like fate me and the blue blur were born in the same year as he’s been a part of my life ever since I was a kid. From reading about the comics (Keep in mind my local shop didn’t have them and scans were near impossible to come by back then), to watching the cartoons to playing oodles of the games from the good, to the fantastic to the “Please sega let someone else make your mainline games” to the “Please seega at least finish your games”, it’s been a hell of a race i’m probably never going to stop running. 

That being said it has taken me a year of reviews to get here and talk about Sonic. I’ve always PLANNED to i’ve just had other ongoing retrospectives and stuff and with the archie comics I wasn’t sure HOW to approach it as someone is already putting in the very hard work of covering every issue of it: @thankskenpenders​ a blog I highly recommend that frequently has good takes on sonic stuff in between reviews. 

I’ve since matured a bit, I can at 29 i’m allowed, and realized the world is wide enough for both of us: we’re diffrent people with diffrent opinons and blog formats. Plus really doing a retrospective wise.. I only have intrest in Ian Flynn’s run. It’s the run I like the best, that has the most character to dig into, and has the most quality overall of all the runs of the comic. It has two distinct intresting periods and tons of great use of the lore as we’ll see as unsuprisingly this list is almost entirely his stuff. Does that mean I won’t cover stuff before him?

There’s a lot of good stuff before he came on and a lot of bad stuff too. A lot of bad stuff.. seriously the period from issue 51 to ian coming on at 160. Some good stuff too but a LOT of bad. So I wouldn’t mind going into some of it for fun.. or for profit. I do reviews on comission for 5 bucks an issue, 3 for just backups, so if there’s anything from the ken penders or bollers era or even the goofy early stuff you want me to cover, hop into my ask box or join my pateron right here  and get a review enough if you pledge 5 dollars. I might even throw up some exclusive sonic reviews on there if there’s enough interest.  So yeah I will be dipping my toes into archie and felt this was a good place to start. I also will DEFIENTLY, likely before the ian one to give TKP some space, be diving into the UK sonic comics at some point. If you thought American Sonic Comics were weird.. you were right. But the UK is even weirder. 

But self promotion aside any sonic fans not as familiar with the comics might be wondering what a lot of those words I just spat out of my mouth mean so far those of you just joining us a spindash fast recap: In the early 90′s archie comics, home of the Jughead, got the rights for Sonic tie-in comics and after a trial run with a mini, they made an ongoign.. that lasted until 2016. Yes really.  The ongoing was based on the SATAM cartoon and had sonic , tails and the freedom fighters, princess sally acorn, the leader, Antoine Decolette, Coward turned badass french swordsman and Bunnie Rabbot, southren belle and cyborg, who fought to free the world from Doctor Robotnik.

The comic started as SATAM as written by Archie writers and while I have a great love for archie.. it was a weird combination. A distopian world ruled by robotnik.. that was full of gag based jokes and fourth wall breakery. It wasn’t all bad stuff, but it was very WEIRD. Eventually the comics took on a more seroius tone thanks to one Ken Penders

Yeah he sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms and we’ll get to why in a moment but at the time with the help of various co writers he ironed out what the mythology of archie’s world was, as well as created a rich mythology for knuckles that started out well before disappearing up it’s own ass.

So things were fine for 50 issues and vaarious cool spinoffs, and then we got to endgame. 

You knew that was coming. Like Avengers Endgame it was complicated. Unlike Avengers Endgame it was also very stupid instead of just stupid in one or two parts like the end to Steve’s story. It involved someone wearing a sonic mask that made them see snively so they shot sally thinking they were snively. I shan’t elaborate further, I think that says enough. But the final issue of it 50 is an utter classic and were it not attached to such a messy rest of the arc I woudl’ve put it on here. In it Sonic and Robotnik clashed and thanks to Snively’s betryal Robonik DIED. The war was over. 

This ended up backfiring:While the end was epic without a clear big bad and with no games on the horizon to give the series a clear direction till 2000 and Sega just telling them to do whatever. As a result both Karl Bollres, who became main writer and Ken Penders, who wrote backups and melded his knuckles ongoing into said backups once that ongoing ended, proceded to flounder: Bollers got lost in tons of obnoxious kingdomly intrigue and proppped up Kodos, a vilian so bad even Ian Flynn, who we’ll get to in a second, didn’t bother reinventing him like he did the other vilians as it wasn’t worth it in the slightest.  Ken meanwhile left to his own devices went crazy, having a full saga where Knuckles went green and also mad with power and became a super god marty stu, before loosing it all, then spent a years worth of backups on his pet project Mobius 25 Years Later, which as TKP put it just last night “Wasted a year on parties and shit”. That’s really it, the future of mobius, tons of story potetial.. and it’s basically prom. I mean I don’t mind prom with sonic and knuckles kids I just want more than that dammit. Oh and there’s actually a slumber party with girl talk I fucking shit you not. 

So yeah for several years and with only two games the comics barekly cared about using, the comics decayed like this until Bollers rage quit, but not before breaking sonic and sally up with an infamous slap and a stupid ultimatium, and Penders eventually left because Sega you know.. actually wanted to have the comics resemble the games instead of his grand vision of having the whole series star Knuckles days of future past daughter. 

So the comics were a mess and needed a savior and someone who could write the way superhero comics writers at the time, and now really, write: taking godo concepts, buffing them up for modern times, and weeding out the crap.  Enter IAN FLYNN, the best sonic writer, and the writer of this version till it ended, who proceeded to take this muddy continuity, and stitched it into something awesome, taking several concpets and making them as good as they were in our heads  as kids, taking a year itself just to untangle the mess before before blooming into his best self. For a decade he crafted remarkable stories filled with character and really built up the archie sonic world despite weird mandates from sega, including that time they wanted him to turn THIS into a character:

Yes really. This nearly happened. Things however took a turn and Ian’s plans went unfished as Ken Penders SUED archie for the rights to his characters and won somehow. And while don’t get me wrong, creators deserve residuals for their characters, there’s a lot of bullshit there. I’m not saying it’s wrong for a creator to want to own their character. But Penders.. did this not because he was geninely wronged but because Sega wouldn’t let him do whatever forever and actually wanted him to write sonic stories and not knuckles fanfiction no one wanted or asked for. He also continues to publcliy be a dick, dispraging ian at one ponit before admiting he’d never seen it,  saying he’s going to sell the archie sonic comics despite not having remotely the rights for that, and trying to CHARGE people for using his characters in fan fiction. Which I intend to do.. oh not charging I meant use them for free because he has no legal right to stop that and he also sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms. 

So yeah the continuity had to reboot, it was pretty good... but Sega’s increased draconian measures and Archie’s dwindling fortunes and desire to push more into a YA market meant they canceld their game titles, including mega man which I plan to cover next year for the 35th anniversary, and did so ABURBTLY instead of working it out with Sega to keep it long enough to at least get to 300. So oncea gain the continuity ended aburbtly and while several plots clearly set up because this continuity was suppoosed to last years never got resovled and the final flashback arc never got finished, the overaching story of the reboot did at least wrap up. Ian of course would go onto IDW’s new rebooted based on the games continuity where he remains to this day, having recently traded off the main title to artist evan stanley for a bit. 

But it was nice while it lasted and since i’m always in favor of showing everyone just how great this series was at it’s best, I figured a best of was the best way to celebrate my faviorite hedgehog, sorry Shard, so join me under the cut as I take you through the triumphs, the tragedys, and the arson of Sonic and the Freedom Fighters. This is Sonic the Hedgehog, Archie Style. And it was awesome. 

12. Hidden Costs (STH #277-279 backups, Aleyah Baker and Evan Stanley) 

The Reboot is underated to me. While I undrestand being miserable over what we lost I can still utterly appriciate what Ian built.. and how he sadly had to build from scratch after Archie were dicks about this and Sega likely was too, including not letting TV characters into the next universe.

But for a while Ian took a near impossible loss and an equally impossible task and met it: he simply used the games as framework, used unleashed as the base for the main storyline, a mixed bag but like I said i’ll be covering Ian someday, and added in whatever extra material he could: i.e. the characters from SATAM he was still allowed to use (The original version of the wolf pack, king acorn (now renamed nigel and now not inufferable), Naghus, Snively), and made a fresh new world more in line with the modern games. 

But that wasn’t going to fill a world so he went to work creating tons of great new characters to help fill up the roster. But one pair was not his.. but his often co writer, Aleyah Baker. Baker would write the incredibly engaging new origin for Nicole in Spark of LIfe alongside Ian (it barely didn’t make this list), and most of the backups but her biggest and best addition were does deer, those female deer Cassia and Clove. And this was their story. 

Since roboticzation wasn’t a thing after some aliens magically fixed it...

Yeah that.. that’s really how they fixed one of the longest standing issues in sonic history. So Ian thought of a clever new concept: legionzation, which made people into cyborgs thus giving Eggman a measure of control and explosives in them, sucide squad style while giving him minons to rule territories for him.  Ian carried it over just switching from Egg Legion Grandmasters to Egg Bosses but keeping that gimmick and Leah, being one of the few writers getting to playin Ian’s sandbox likely because Archie didn’t trust more and coudln’t afford many more, did something brilliant with it. 

The story itself is simple: Sally and Bunnie are searching for a plot coupon a piece: a gaia temple and a chaos emerald. This leads to both encountering the local eggbosses, said deer, with Sally meeting Clove and Bunnie dealing with Cassia. 

The story itself is basic but it lives on the two sisters.. and their tragic stories. Like many members of the Eggman army, Clove signed up ENTIRELY because she had no real choice and wanted to treat her sisters mysterious disease that blinded her. Eggman said he could so she did and they planned to stay as long as the treatments held out. While Clove helps Sally with as much intel as she can.. she can’t break it while Cassia tearfully asks Bunnie if they had disease cures too as Bunnie’s limbs in this continuity are a result of loosing two in eggman’s takeover. Her response is crushing especially since Cassia is ususlaly bouncy and somewhat insane. 

The story is intresting in that it shows the bad guys here.. aren’t bad.. their just two people trying to survivie and one of the best things Ian did across both continuities was blur the lines a bit: robotnik was still evil but some people on the other side were just trying to surivive or were desperate and made a deal with the devil. Aleahh simply built on that to craft an utterly heartbreaking tale of ttwo people stuck in war.. with said devil revealing he couldn’t ACTUALLY cure it (he’s not THAT kind of doctor), and his treatments are only slowing it down leaving Clove utterly broken lying to her sister knowing both their trapped doing terrible things.. and that her sister only has so much time left. She chose the wrong side in a moment of desperatoin, to save her sister to beg for her life.. and it had some hiddne costs she wasn’t ready for. Great stuff and I wish Baker would come to IDW at some point. No telling what she could acomplish. 

11. Treasure Team Tango (Sonic Universe 21-24, Ian Flynn and Evan Stanley)

As you can probably wager most of this list is Ian Flynn. he wrote the book longer than anyone else, had the deepest character takes, longer storylines to work with, and some really great ideas he used brilliantly. But most of you even fans of his are probably a bit suprised that out of all stories, the big mega man and sonic crossover (which didn’t make the cut but will be covered when I get to that series), the anti-universe invasion of earth, the one where Bunnie and Antoine clearly fuck off panel...

That I choose the mostly goofy comedy scramble plot. Well simple.. this one is incredibly hilarous, engaging and fun. 

Amy is palling around with Cream, who Ian had just got to introduce and watching her for her mom when the two end up meeting Blaze. Blaze has a hard time trusting them but ends up having no choice as her Sol Emeralds have ended up in this dimension. What follows is some fun actoin and some utterly hilarous an unexpected interactoins as Team Rose (Minus Big sadly) clashes with three other teams: 

First up to bat is Team Dark, who want the Emeralds for Gun and couldn’t be arrsed about another world’s survivial, just the fact that there’s another set of chaos emeralds they could now have. Ian’s omega also truly comes into his own here with his love of fire, falling for blaze as a result, trying to make cream not to try and general stealing the damn show. He has competition in team Holigan, bean, bark and Knack with Bean likewise getting to shine both in his insanity and in his control of explosives, conducting them like an orchestra. Also those three birds from sonic riders, the babylon rogues are there because Sega wanted them there or ian liked them or something. I dunno, even with the added lore they get they still didn’t intrest me a ton. Though we do get a great moment with bean and jet where he caws him Jettingson q Hawkington. It’s not the deepest story.. but it’s damn fun and brings a lot of game stuff into the archie canon in an organic way and has a hell of a time doing it. It’s also one of the few stories still FULLY in canon post-reboot so there’s that. 

10. The World Can Wait (STH 222, Flynn and Steven Butler) 

Speaking of breather episodes, this one is simple, but great. With Amy not really existing at first and then being a child in body and mind and then just mind for mosmt of the run, the comics naturally pegged Sonic and Sally as the main couple, and they had a great opposities attract dynamic that worked well for a while. 

Problem was like many great couples like that, the writers felt the need to jerk them around A LOT: her dad didn’t approve and wanted her with Antoine despite neither Antoine or Sally wanting that, then it was a love triangle with Mina except not really because Sonic only had eyes for Sally, then Sally saw Mina kiss sonic and took far too long to talk to either of them about it and just pouted while Geoffery kept SOnic out of the palace because he took control of the king as a puppet and forced Sonic to go to school, yes really, then they were fine, then Sonci went into space and because he wanted ot keep fighting a war, a war that was not yet over and they were on the loosing end of again, she slapped him and broke up with him. Then he datd fiona and THENNNNN even though Ian largely cleaned things up he still had her Date Monkey Kahn for a bit because shut up!

As you can tell I don’t likes Will they or won’t they and that a good chunk of the Sally based plots after 50 are considered torture by the geneva convention. The character was a mess and while I joke Ian took time getting the comic’s main couple back together because he had a lot to untangle and out of 290 some issues of writers he was the best when it came to Sally. 

So just before he was going to yank her away from the cast for a while, Ian decided to give these two crazy kids a momen tof peace. The result. is really beautiful and touching. The two talk to trusted conidants (Sonic to tails, Sally to Kahn because that’s not awkard and Bunnie), have great chemistry as always, and untangle their messy history while also dealing with recent events such as Mina sparking a backlash against Nicole. there’s even a nice moment for Amy where she threatens any assholes who want to spoil said date with her hammer and says she’s fine with the two of them together as long as he’s happy. It’s damn good stuff and shows why this couple works so well: they ballance each other: Sonic is rash and impulsvie, Sally is very thought out but sometimes too much so. Sonic is freedom and Sally needs a bit of that with the chains of command and royalty constnatly weighing her down. I just like them together.. and I like Sonic and Amy together too for the record, just not in this continuity. And with Sega hating romance for some reason we’ll probably never see it offically so ship sonic with whoever. Ship him with a buststop. but I like these two together, and this story is sweet, slow and a nice break in the actoin before all hell breaks loose. It speaks to Ian’s real strengths: turning these weird cartoon furries into characters we love and invest in. And that.. .can never wait. 

9. Eggman Empire (173-177, Flynn and Tracy Yardley) 

This is where Ian hit his stride. While he did do some good stories in his first year the first year of ian’s run was focused on Cleanup. Penders didn’t exactly leave the book on a natural breaking point so Ian had to take time to untangle the previous status quo and some weird shit in it like fixing up shadow, turning Fiona from a wedge into the otp into an itnresting villian and turning Anti Sonic from a laughing stock into what he was always meant to be with Scourge.  But as you can tell with that he also used that to set up further stories: each story builds on itself to create more stories later like a good long term storyteller who knows he’s going to have a while to work should. 

So after a year of mostly playing cleanup whiel still getting some great stories in, again i’ll point you to Scourge and Fiona, he truly came into his own and hit his stride, and got into his two year golden age, with this one.  It starts with something fans never expected but greatfully welcomed: The wedding of Bunnie and Antoine. After they broke up in the last one and Penders later retconned that as Anti-Antoine, who Ian weirdly underused despite doing a lot of stuff with the mirror universe that was good, and Bunnie was with sonic for a bit before Fiona and also with Scourge without knowing it because the writers clearly didn’t know what rape by deciption was, the two were back together and Ian made sure to crystalize that. So after rounding up some loose villians Antoine proposed and we got a truly touching wedding, with Ian even mentioning Bunnie’s stated goal of becoming a hairdresser WAY back in her first appreance because like a lot of great comic book writers he gets goofy early stuff can be used for great effect. 

But while the wedding is underway Espio discovers something horrible: the Egg Grapes, living batteries eggman has tested on some minor characters that were dispoable loose ends and a full fleet. He’s naturally captured and what follows is one of the most THROUGH defeat’s sonic’s ever suffered: Eggman succeeds in capturing almost EVERYONE, only missing Knuckles, Amy and Tails, intent on sucking their lives dry before unveling a mech designed entirely to counter him and giving him an utterly WITHERING reason you suck speech, citing he let the rebellion go on for so long because he was bored and that he enjoys the game.. but it’s time to put sonci in his place. That no one else has come for help.l.. because they know who REALLY runs the world. It’s a damn amazing speech and one that really solidified ian’s version of the character and took him from a weird shallow copy of the original stripped of what made him intresting, i.e. being a robot man, to his own unique , horrifying character.

Sonic of course bounces back with a little help from his friends and they save the day, and evacuate everyone to knothole.. which ahs been made into a new mobotropolis and is run by nicole who can now manifest herself, building off a story we’ll get to soon. And sonic’s win back on eggman is brilliant: having his friends beat up the mech because while yeah, his ego took a hit, it dosen’t matter.. and that’s also why he’s better than his opponent: Eggman has no friends just lackies and people he forced into servetiude. Sonic has allies. And that really feels like the message of Ian’s run: sonic’s great sure.. but he’s not alone, and in his darkest hour he can count on his friends to back him up, raise him up and cover his weak spots. That together we’re stronger than we are alone. The stories only this low.. because of the whole Charmy thing. yeah to make him more like the games, Ian gave him brain damage via the grapes to the point eh acted like a child, as Charmy had been retconned into one in the games. 

Yeah, Ian HAS apologzied for that but you can probably gimmer the implications for yourself. Point is that plus going a bit TOO hard on cutting otu side characters instead of using them puts it down a few notches. Still a great story... but the best was yet to come..

8. Champions (STH 268-271, Ian Flynn and Diana Skelly)

As I mentioned Ian didn’t have much to use when it came to the reboot that he didn’t end up bulildling himself or with others. SATAM gave him a decent amount, though for some reason he didn’t use any of the characters of the week but he might of had later plans for them that didn’t happen because Archie and Sega were assbutts. But he did bring in what he could. He still had the other two shows from the 90′s though.. but both were challenging: Adventures was a broad comedy show with few recurring characters he could actualyl meld into a game accurate unvierse, and Underground while again having plenty of one off or side characters he could’ve, the main ones were unseuable due to Sega’s weird no relatives mandate. 

But he still got some gems out of it and the shiniest of all was Breezie. Obviously given Sega also has a weird aversion to love intrests despite forgetting “Oh yeah this is a diffrent continuity it has no effect on our games that have terrible stories anyway” and even if they didn’t.. he has Sally and Amy. He has better options and frankly having a character just be there to be a love intrest is excursatingly dumb in this day in age. 

So instead he came up with an intresting flip on the character: In adventures Breezie was a creation of robotniks made to seduce him and then lure him into a trap, but had a change of heart. So he simply changed one detail: Breezie stayed evil and went through with the trap. Okay he changed two as Breezie’s actions now took place during Sonic 2 for Game Gear, because Ian is just as much a sonic dork as I am. He also went to the trouble of making Tails Sky Patrol canon. 

But rather than haver her stay in the empire he positioned her to take Mammoth Mogul’s positoin as a wild card who had Scratch, Grounder and Coconuts as minons and owns a ritzy casino. Instead of an immortal waiting sonic out though.. she simply wanted money. She set herself up as a buisness woman and as seen above, used Metal Sonic’s takeover of the empire during heroes to buy a full zone for herself and expand her media empire, making her the biggest media mogul on Mobius. 

As such when she gets a Chaos Emerald, rather than keep something so valuable, dangerous and sought after she finds a way to use it to create good teleivison and draw in massive live crowds: a tournament. Yes folks it’s a tournament arc.. and not just ANY tournament arc but an adaptation of sonic the fighters. Because again, Ian is as big a dork as I am when it comes to sonic.  It’s not even a stretch either: the freedom fighters and eggman both can’t just take it from her: she’s too well guarded and for the Freedom Fighters it’d be a PR Nightmare. So both sides have to send independent reps: Sonic, Tails and Amy are chosen while the rest of the freedom fighters arne’t going because they need someone to guard their flying base, though we do see them watching the fight live and it is glorious> There’s tons of fun cuts back to the freedom fighters, the fish people from two arcs back and Team Dark and it adds to the breezy, no pun intended, tone of this one. 

As for the rest: Team Holigan were naturally hired by robotnik, coming off the heels of Knuckles first story in Sonic universe. Knuckles himself is coming off his second having smashed the master emerald to prevent Eclipse getting it and entering by concidence, but fully agreeing to give our heroes the emerald’s and gems if he wins. Espio is rarin and ready to go. .because Sally hired the chaotix and they could only afford one entrant. Finally honey , the cut character is reintmagined as a fashion designer and is in the mix. 

It’s a nice mix of fun gags, such as the afformentoined audience cuts or the fact Sega mascot Segeta Sanshiro shows up as one of Sonic’s Opponents, and one of my faviorite genre’s: The tournament arc. I grew up on Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho, which had some of the best, so I always love me one and this one delivers with gorgeously drawn fights, some of if not the best in the whole series. It’s damn  good stuff and worth checking out even if you don’t intend on reading the rest of the reboot. On it’s own or part of the larger story it’s a knockout. 

7. Stargazing (STH 151, Tania Del Rio)

This is a weird one, both because it comes just before Ian’s run and because of why it presumibly happened. At the time Archie was doing a manga style Sabrina the Teenage Witch written and drawn by Tania Del Rio, and since they promoted her in the solicit for this one, i’m assuming they simply asked her to come up with a story to help promote what was a hit comic for the mat the time in a comic that most likely very much wasn’t because Ken Penders had lost his goddamn mind and has yet to find it. 

The result was a story that’s short, sweet and had one of the biggest impacts on Ian’s run of any sonic story. In it Sally wakes up at night.. and finds a mysterious Lynx in a purple dress.. and soon finds out it’s Nicole, in her now iconic outfit who simply wanted to experince thigns for real and sadly can’t for long, with sally being profoundly touched by the experince as seen above. It’s very short.. but it took a character who before was just a box sally carried around.. and did more with her. It made you realize Nicole was a sentient being too not just a computer and maybe she wanted more than that.. and it made Sally realize just hwo much she was taking for granted. 

The impact cannot be overstated either: I largely credit this story for giving Ian the idea to expand Nicole’s role, have her work as the ai for the entreity of knothole as well as it’s main security and thus take her from a box.. to one of the most loved characters in the fandom, one with a truly complex and tragic journey ahead of her. All thanks.. to a little stargazing. 

6. Unsung Heroes (Sonic Universe 41-44, Flynn and Yardley) 

Okay this one’s a little biased as I’m a huge fan of the Secret Freedom Fighters, and I won’t make  bones abotu that. Their a nice encapusaltion of what Ian die best in the original continuity: take a bunch of old scattered bits of continuity, characters no one cared about and make them into something great. 

So at the time of this story, Ixis Naguhus, who for those just joining us looks like this:

Had succesfully used a combination of magic, manpiulation and the people being really, REALLY fucking stupid that day and forgetting that time he tried to have the king do a genocide on robains which HAVE to make up a good chunk of New Mobotropolis. Due to being popular with the public, Elias, the rightful king who abdicated the crown to him, coudln’t do anything publicly. 

So he decided to get into some black ops instead. He foudn Harvey Who, the former Spymaster of acorn and the guy who retired soley because Max Acorn refused to listen to him.. which given Harvey was right about EVERYTHING he brought up to Max, I can’t blame the guy. Five minutes with that dick would drive me to quit too, i’m just suprised he stayed as long as he did. Just to show how deep Ian dives, Harvey was a one panel character used soley for a tootsie pop joke back in one issue of the jokier days. 

So yeah Ian turned a one off gag.. into a sophisticated spy master who quickly put together a team of whoever he could find that was less known, people who could move in the shadows and about town without anyone supsecting them or caring. 

So for this crack team he brought in my boy, Larry Lynx, who I used to roleplay really badly and only bring up because i’d rather own I used to be thirsty as shit with an aged up lynx than hide from it. It was bad, I was bad, let’s move on. But I still love the character: picture milo murphy but a bit more skittish and you got it. Larry was leader of the substitute freedom fighters, who wound up not doing much of anything and disbanding befor egoing into politics. Naturally Larry’s Ballot Box exploded. But his powers while a slight issue can be derected outward, making him an asset and him being largely forgotten made him a prime candiate for the team

Next up is a fan faviorite: Shard. Shard is the ORIGIGINAL metal sonic. During one of the better stories of the gas leak decade, done in a guest spot by Danny Fingeroth, Metal Sonic kidnapped tails before having a change of heart and dying in lava, being replaced by other models during Ian’s run. Chuck found the remains and was taksed by Harvey, despite hating the idea, with rebuliding him. Ian rebuilt him into a snarky, trigger happy robot who just wants to be loved and gave him a neat new paint job. Sadly he also killed the guy just before worlds collide but presumibly would’ve brought him back. If we had more issues. THANKS KENNETH. 

We then have Silver who started out even more annoying than the games... yes really. He came back in time to prevent the apocalypse which left only him and an aged mammoth mogul and ogt stuck, trying to find a freedom fighter traitor.. only to eventually find out it was sally and h’ed been harassing people for no reason. He was also broken after his guess of antione was wrong.. and he was proven wrong by Sonic fed up with this bullshit, dragged him in to see a recently comaed antoine. Harvey recruited him for his raw power. 

Finally we have the twins, Leeta and Lyco, two also ran members of the wolf pack. Together their not anyone’s first choicce but their what we got and the characters themselves ar emore the centerpiece, as our heroes have to stop Ixis from brainwashing the council , the town had a council in additoin to a king so he only had one vote. It’s an action packed, damn fine story that also dives into Geoffry st john, who betrayed the kingdom for Ixis, who he was retconned into having always served, one of ian’s iffier ideas but at least it made the guy less punchable, but now realized his master was a fucking lunatic. It’s supsensful, beautifully drawn, and the only shame of it is there wasn’t more. Hopefully the online fan continuiation will give these guys their day in the sun again. 

5. Father and Son (STH 192, Flynn and Jonathan Gray)

This is our last backup but it’s a damn memorable one and part of a good arc, I just felt others were better and this story itself was better. I mentioned him earlier but Scourge was one of the best parts of Ian’s run, giving us a PROPER evil mirror universe sonic, giving him a unique green apperance with a scar, jacket and sunglasses and a proper mirrror of sonic: both are cocky.. but Scourge used his powers to instaed conquer, has no real friends instead bullying everyone around him with Fiona being the first person he ever cared about and even she’s not spared from his bullshit al lthe time, and takes sonic’s love of action and battle to dangerous and sadistic levels. He’s an arrogant, psychopathic bully and a joy to watch.

But we hadn’t really got why he rebelled or what Mobieus was like before he took over and wrecked up the place. We find out in this one as naturally, Scourge, running amuck at the time in the main world, paid a house call. Instead of finding someone cowering though.. he finds Sonic’s father jules who had just sorta been there and whose only notable character thing was he was one of the few robians not turned back as he was turned into a robian to prevent his death and the aliens who magicked it away didn’t take it from anyone it’d kill, hence why Bunnie also kept her arm and legs. 

Here we get the messure of the man.. and Jules is just.. awesome. He utterly tears Scourge down, pointing out how, as seen above, he knows Scourge is simply a coward, a destructive punk who “rules” over a destroyed planet he broke like a toy and who has no real ambition and while he knows he can’t beat the asshole, he’s going to go down fighting and lets Scrouge knows it. Scourge tries his best to fire back, pointing out how he took over because his people had stagnated.. but ends up in tears, Jules being right about him and having won a fight with one of the most dangerous characters in the entire comic without raising a fist and when his wife asks who he was talking to he simply responds “nobody”. Damn fine work.

4. Mecha Madness (StH 39, Mecha Madness #1, STH 40) (Patrick Spaziantae)

Sadly this is the only story from the first 50 on here. And it’s an era I LIKE, even if a lot of the best stuff was written by Ken. The goofy stuff was delightfully so in a very silver agey way and it’s really like the comic kinda sped through all the comic book eras: the first 25 are so are silver agey, the next 25 lean more into the bronze, the 

portion is of course the dark age and Ian wrote more like a modern comic book at the time and since. It was fun to see this unverse slowly evolve from silly archie gags to more complex satam-esque stories but with thier own flavor and there were plenty of greats.. but one stands above them all, one is so iconic, so loved, and so freaking awesome that there was no way I could leave it off. You knew this was coming you saw the header let’s talk about Mecha Madness.

Mecha Madness is taking one of the most simple ideas any fan of the time would have and letting it horifcially play out: After arguging to test out a device that would allow him to keep his free will while roboticized and being denied, Sonic gets kidnapped by Knack and delivered to Robotnik.. who roboticizes him, even adding some upgrades since he wants to revel in this and then sending sonic to Knothole, since while he dosen’t know where it is Sonic does, to go burn it to the ground. Sonic is gone and Mecha Sonic has risen.

The result is a nail biter as our heroes desperatley throw everything they can at him and try to keep Sonic from both killing them all and from relaying Knothole’s location to robotnik. But the teams defenses and strategies crumble under Mecha’s fists and thier only heavy hitter left, Bunnie has a damn cool fight with the guy, Spaz is at his peak here, but ultimately collapses.

The team tries a ringer, Knuckles, who agrees to this due to his history with Sally but just to show off HOW screwed our heroes are he fails: he puts up a decent enough fight but even he can’t fight sonic. So Sally tries a desperate, horrifying hail mary: she uses the chip they were scared to try on sonic on knuckles and roboticizes him, resulting in...

Yeah there’s good reason this story is loved beseides a great concept as Knuckles thankfully does retain sentence and we get the two strongest characters at the time, souped up into robotcized mode and duking it out. Knuckles wins and they use a portable derobotcizer, which CONVIENTLY breaks after to restore both. 

So you may be readying a brick to hurl thorugh my window asking “WHY ISN”T THIS HIGHER” and it would be.. if it wasn’t for the last act/epilogue. Sonic is arrested at the end of the special because they belive he went to do the plan anyway.

On further reflectoin.. this makes no damn sense. I love this story but my god: sonic didn’t have the chip on him! He didn’t  make an attempt to steal it! And he’s friggin sonic: if he wanted to recklessly endanger everyone by stealing the chip he would’ve done it the second the meeting was over. You HAD IT ON YOU TO TRY ON KNUCKLES. Gah. It dosen’t hlep the trial itself plays out like an old school archie issue despite the stakes complete with jokes. The second half of the issue isn’t bad with Sonci tracking down Knack, but what COULD’VE been a decent setup to some more drama is instead ruined by goofy shenanigans and everyone forgetting common sense. The story would’ve worked better without Sonic’s arrest at the end and would’ve been mcuh higher, probably even number one, without it. The only reason I can’t unchain it is that it directly resovles both Knack’s envolvment and the cliffhanger from the special. You really CAN’T read this story without that issue to resolve that last part. So yeah a bit low but still an all time great for a reason. 

2. Enerjak Reborn (STH 180-184, Flynn and Yardley) 

So back to Ken Penders... oh he didn’t write this. 

But as I said it did take a few years to clean up Pender’s messes. And the Echidnas were easily his biggest. 

See the editors at Archie apparently didn’t allow ken to do whatever with sonic.. but Knuckles was fine just fine so he crafted a huge, sprawling mythology for the guy... which started out okay with his people having sworn of technology due to some wars, a lineage of guardians knuckles was the last of, archimedes Knuckles cool mentor whose also a fire ant, a ncie bit of irony, and Enerjak, a brother of one of the guardians turned mad chaos emerald powered god who could warp reality. 

But once we got to the Solo series.. it started to get really unwieldy. The Dark Legion, a group of tech obessed Echidnas who broke off were a good idea.. but then it turned out a whole city was alive.. and all the previous guardians.. inclduing Knuckles dad who looked like Knuckles with a beard and just.. straight up abandoned his son... then we got things like the dingos and that guardian who swapped places with a legionare and then that time knuckles turned green and.. you see my point. Wanting to expand things with Knuckles is fine but instead of just you know, fleshing out angel island and it’s various civilziations, as in where the various chatoix members came from that sort of actualy intresting thing we want to see, he just kept stuffing more echidnas in there like a clown car. Then he went to the FUTURE so he could add more. And wanting to add characters is fine he just went so friggin overboard that few got developed> There were actually some intresting ones like the sheirff or knuckles mom who actually left her asshole dad and remaired. They even had a kid, kneecaps. And for those of you who hadn’t known about that yeah, didn’t make that up.  Kneecapion Mace.. yes again really. 

So yeah Ian had a bunch of echidnas, including Albion another homeland for them I didn’t even get to, and not a lot to do with them, not to mention the dingoes, the echidna’s enemies who had taken over the island and two seperate warring dark legions. But Ian was good at using the tools he was given and was slowly setting up a solution over his first year: the Guardians wanted Knuckles back, which he refused because fuck em, and at the end of Scoruge’s first arc he and Fiona were rescued via warp rings, an invention he made that allowed a person to travel from place to place and zone to zone by throwing it. Their savior was Dr. Fintevious, an albino echidna Ken had introduced and done nothing with. 

So after Knuckles left post empire to go take care of buisness at home he disappeared for a bit... and soon Eggman came calling fearing the return of Enerjak, who naturally took out his fleet like nothing and had taken up a ludite kick: stripping the two legions of their tech, exciling the dingoes and outright murdering their leader, freeing the island. But when the Freedom Fighters got nosey because mad god he came to them.. and revealed...

While the reveal is in hindsight pretty damn obvious, and I didn’t even bother hiding it, it’s still damn effective: Knuckles was throughly transformed and brainwashed by fintevieus as a test bed and as a result it’s up to sonic and co to stop him. He even tries to rip out Julie’s head things. And while yes Ken also TRIED to do a story like this SHOCKINGLY Ian did it better. Wheras Chaos Knuckles came off as “OH NO KNUCKELS IS TOO SPECAIL” and “OH NO HE’S SIDING WITH THE BAD GUYS BUT IT’S FRAMED AS THE RIGHT THING FOR SOME REASON”. Here he does do some understandable acts, taking out the legion, killing the dingoe leader.. but he does so in a way that’s underving. He’s also very clearly not himself in a much more obvious way: it’s clear just from this panel alone he’s been brainwashed and thus leaves our heroes scrambling to find some way to beat him that dosen’t involve kiling him. 

It also features sonc being clever, something I honestly almost forgot about: Locke, knucles dad goes straight to: I’MA KILL MY SON THAT WILL SOLVE THINGS. because of course he does. He also abandoned said kid because tradition. So Sonic seemingly goes along with it despite Julie-su’s protests... only to break the thing. And he does have a plan: beat him up. But in the end it takes a sacrifice... which Locke makes finally realizing thanks to both Archimedes and Julie calling otu what a shit person and father he’d been. It leaves Knuckles as the final guardian.. and he’s deterimend to stay that way. It also set up the legion to john eggman, solidfiying both factions swimingly. It’s a damn riviting epic and my only regret is we never found out what fintevus endgame was because of the man who ironically made all this possible. 

2. Mogul Rising (185-188, Flynn and Yardley)

Mammoth Mogul wasn’t a bad concept for a villian at the start: he was sonic’s vandal savage, a caveman who found a glowing rock and became immortal.. it was just, naturally, a chaos emerald given the setting, one Mogul held on a cane. He had a great look, a mammoth in a buisness suit.. but this being Ken Penders he had a great idea.. and did nothing but convuluted bullcrap with it, with Mogul having some vauge plan and vauge powers of mind control and shit. He was a good IDEA, he just wasn’t used well.

That’s where Ian came in. After finishing up the previous crap from the various runs, he decided to reinvent the guy cleverly. But first he had to get him out of jail. Luckily Mogul planned for this and had left a subliminal trigger to activate with what little Telepathy he could do without an emerald, as they’d all been merged into the more iconic set of 7, just in case.

And I do mean just in case as Ian uses this to explain two of Sonic’s friends powers: long ago when Mighty was left alone, his theiving parents imprisonied, Mogul gave him the power to get his revenge. When Mina was running from Robotnik’s takeover, he gave her her speed. And tails.. well he didn’t cause that one he just left a trigger during some convoluted bullshit. Look ian needed for as Mogul first sicks the three of them on Sonic.. as he invites him into his new Fearsome Four. 

The real plan however becomes apparent: Mogul wants an emerald but can’t go to the special zone to get one because prison.. and since Sonic obviously says no he instead sends each of his friends into a suicidal situation and will only withdraw them if Sonic agrees. Sonci does, get sthe eemrald.. and we get the speech above that redefines him and makes Mogul from a sadly forgetablle villian into an awesome one: he wins this one. And knowing his big convulted schemes have failed simply opts to wait till sonic and anyone who can resisit him are dead and make sonic’s life suck till then, stealing sonic’s shoes in the next two parter, and buying up the bad guy bar the bottom of the barrel bar and grill so he can have an HQ to lounge in, in the process, and as it’s his own terrirotry they can’t touch him. Apparently. I dunno that part’s fuzzy but the point is Mogul wins, and this story is all the better for it. 

1. Thicker Than Water (STH 217-218, Flynn and Ben Bates) 

So we end with a choice i’m not sure is for everybody but i stand by. Bunnie is a character I always liked and was usually one of the better ones in the cast even in the sucky years, so naturally she was the one Ian really had to do the least to to make her intresting: She was bsically Rogue of the X-Men but as a cyborg. All he did was tone down the creepy fanservice and give her this story, her Finest Hour and his finest hour as a writer. 

So Sonic and Bunnie get called to the sandblast zone where one of the better stories of the gas leak decade took place: Sonic ran into a bunch of fanboys called the Sandblasters who were so obessed wit hhim they kept him locked up and barely kept their robians at bay. Sonic was forced to unleash them to escape so he could continue his quest to get the 7 dragonball or whatever. It was genuinely considered for this list and only barley didn’t make the cut. 

But it’s sequel is even better as Sonic and Bunnie end up stranded on oppositie sides: Sonic ends up with the sandblasters who claim the robians are maniacs who despite being “welcomed” back in willingly joined eggman and are protecting a new oil platform. 

Bunnie finds out the truth is more complicated.... for one thing the Grandmaster is her uncle Beauraguard, who lest you think Ian had stopped recycling offhand shit, was mentioned early on offhandidly. God damn this man is amazing. Beau isn’t happy abotu her marrying antoine as he and Bunnies parents were part of the southern baronies, a sescenist movement against the kingdom her parents died for and is even less happy she’s hear to smash things.

Naturally the trigger happy assholes who wanted to do a kidnap on sonic... weren’t telling the whole truth. The now former robains DID go to Eggman.. but they had no choice. The Sandblasters and co treated used them as slaves rather than welcome them back, treating them no better and then exiled them. This left them with nothing and only the devil to turn too and as we saw earlier that rarely works out. And while Bunnie and Sonic do manage to fix thigns, fighting at first but then talking and faking a fight ot destroy the platform in a way that dose’nt escalate things. But it’s clear, as seen above.. things aren’t the same. Bunnie and her uncle have taken seperate paths and while Beau isn’t a bad man.. he’s her enemy now. And things aren’t the same. 

This story is just heartbreakingly good, putting our heroes in a corner where while they WIN, they barely do and at that it’s still not much of one: their placed between a bunch of desperate people doing bad things because they have to, and a bunch of trigger happy asshole raacists. There’s no real feeling of victory here no matter how sonic spins it and it’s part of what I mentioned loving earier: ian taking what was simply the bad guys veruss the good guys.. and mkaing it so much richer and more intresting. And he continues to do so today. While sadly archie’s gone... the IDW comics are stilll decent, fan continuations for both contiuities are running and... me.. I alway shave my own idesas. This comic might be dead.. but it w on’t die forever as long as we hold it in our hearts and our fanfictoin. Ken, Archie, Sega they can take a lot away from us.. btu that.. that will never die. 

[metalheadmickey]

To be honest I think a lot of the dislike for how Ian and Mickey were treated in s11 was that the low-stakes conflict had little to no substance, and it was left to the audience to decide why these things were happening. They never explain why Mickey spent the money or what happened to the job he had in s10. They deleted him trying to get a job for Ian and showing he wanted to put the effort it. When he goes to the job interview in 11x02, the scene is deliberately written to laugh at him and they don’t explore the seriousness of the very real difficulties he would have getting a proper job given his background. Of course one of the most disappointing things is that they deleted the kitchen scene that would give a little depth to their conflict in the beginning of the season and felt consistent with past characterization.

For me personally, it seemed every writer had a different interpretation of Ian and Mickey, and the way they act and respond to situations isn’t consistent throughout the season. 11x06 sticks out to a lot of people because they actually felt like multi-dimensional characters, and there was angst balanced with funny, sweet moments. I personally found it nice that they were dealing with a conflict together rather than against each other. Same with 11x08. I really like 11x10 as well because it felt very in character for the both of them, and Corina takes Mickey seriously which I appreciate. She doesn’t have anybody laugh at his feelings and understands why he would be reluctant to leave the Southside. The early scenes of 11x11 were really good but then he throws a tantrum and the piss in the pool comment was just weird…It just felt like the writers were laughing at him in those moments. I feel like they could have continued to lean into him not feeling comfortable in new environments after a lifetime of trauma instead of making fun of him for being “too poor” or “too stupid” to function in the West Side. That apartment manager was classist and patronizing, and yet the episode framed Mickey as being unreasonable and immature for being upset over it and had him throw a fit. As we’ve seen in past seasons, and the episodes of s11 that felt in character, he’s emotionally observant and knows how to handle conflict in a pragmatic way.

Overall, I don’t hate s11. There are things I don’t care about as much as a lot of people do. For instance, I don’t have a grudge against 11x07. I don’t mind that there aren’t big dramatic moments every episode and I liked some of the light hearted fun. I just wish when it came to the problems that they created, it was taken seriously. I don’t want to see Ian and Mickey in pain, but they’ve experienced so much of it in their lives, together and separately. That translates into how they would act in their marital issues but the show for the most part disregards it because they stopped caring about depth. It gave me the things I wanted to see for these characters, particularly Mickey, but the execution was disappointing at times. I’m so happy he’s free from Terry, not in prison, and he’s so successful, happy, and secure. It is just a shame some of the writers didn’t take him seriously.

Hey there, anon!

Wow, I really appreciate how much care and thought you put into this ask. And I'm going to try to put as much care and thought into my answer as I think this ask deserves, so I hope I do it justice.

Basically my answer to this is that I think this is incredibly valid, and in fact I actually agree with...pretty much everything you say here. I just came from a place of having low or no expectations, so I sort of just let myself enjoy season 11 for what it was, and I ended up loving it. That doesn't mean I wasn't disappointed in some things. The deleted scene from 11x04 is probably my most notable frustration with the season. It haunts me. It would have added so much depth and provided some context. The deleted scene from 11x01 of Mickey trying to get a job at the laundromat is something that I'm actually grateful they deleted, it just made me uncomfortable and I hated the no mask detail. The scene of him interviewing in 11x02 makes me cringe. Probably the most unwatchable Mickey moment for me all season besides his confrontation with the apartment complex manager in 11x11 before his poolside meltdown. So yes, there were things that I disliked or was uncomfortable with.

There are moments or details I often find myself meta-ing my way through before I start blaming writers for things, I think because I tend to want to stay immersed in the story even when I'm picking things apart. For instance, you bring up Mickey not having his job at Old Army anymore. I just figured because malls were shut down during quarantine, he was probably laid off. But some things that bug me seem to have no explanation that I can meta my way towards, such as Mickey spending the wedding present money. What did he spend it on? They live together, their bedroom is tiny, they spend a ton of time together. So how could he manage to buy all this "stuff" without Ian knowing anything about it? It just seems implausible. I chalked that one up to the writers. They left it up to the viewers to decide what happened, as you said, but they didn't really give us much to work with.

I agree with what you say about 11x06, 11x08, and 11x10. Those were great episodes. 11x07 is an interesting one, I don't hold a grudge against it either (do I open that can of worms? I loved that episode). 11x11 is tricky because it is a really interesting Mickey episode, and then...he's throwing a tantrum and tossing furniture into a pool. When I watched it I kind of didn't think anything of it, like some people just have shitty days and have a hard time working through them. He had a lot of built-up frustration by then, and while Mickey is emotionally observant and knows how to deal with conflict, sometimes growing frustration can make people snap. Even the most emotionally intelligent people can melt down. People aren't always going to deal with problems the same way all the time. And he'd been having uncomfortable moment after uncomfortable moment all day, so I think by the time Melanie was being a patronizing asshole, he'd had it. So he snapped. So it's not a great scene, but I found myself justifying it when I watched it. And interestingly, opposite from you, I saw it as framing Melanie as a jerk, therefore justifying Mickey's reaction. To me it looked like the scene was meant to have us sympathize with him while thinking she was an asshole. His reaction was still a lot though. As for the "piss in the pool" comment, I didn't take it to mean that he was going to like, be pissing in the pool regularly or anything. I took it as an indication that he was going to continue finding little ways to continue being who he is while living there. And maybe sometimes that means being like "fuck this place" and then literally pissing in the pool, who knows. I thought that was fine. But yeah, I didn't take it as the writers trying to convey that he's "too stupid" to navigate the west side. I think his conversation with Ian at the end of the episode about being uncomfortable and experiencing a lot of pressure while being there shone a little bit of a light on how his upbringing and his past has made it hard for him to know how to handle nice things. "Maybe I don't like nice." Maybe he doesn't know how to deal with nice yet. This isn't me trying to dismiss your concerns, by the way, this is just how I interpreted these parts of the episode.

"It gave me the things I wanted to see for these characters, particularly Mickey, but the execution was disappointing at times." That is the vibe, my dude. And I understand what you mean about the show not caring about depth anymore. I think they may have phoned it in a little for the last season, even though there were opportunities for some deeper explorations of some of the themes they introduced. But I'll always fly a flag for season 11 because it made me really happy and I think it gets an undeserved amount of hate, although it's true that it wasn't perfect. I think I've just chosen to approach it with an overwhelming amount of positivity because I loved watching it, I love them, I love being here, and I'm here because I want to have fun. Season 11 is goofy as hell. But I love it. I'm glad you were able to get some goodness out of it too, anon.

Thanks for coming to me with this. Feel free to hit me up any time.

[appleb18]

Why Modern Cartoons is Not Great as it Used to be in this Decade

As 2010′s draw near to the end and begin a next-generation, cartoons have changed from being a fun episodic adventure with a meaningful message and can get dark sometimes to a story-driven show with deep messages. While cartoons have a great start in early 2010s such as Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gravity Falls, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, however as time passes cartoons are becoming less interesting and not many aren’t talking about it. So what the hell happened with modern cartoons? Let’s get to the bottom of what happened to this decade of cartoons and why isn’t anyone talking about it anymore 

The Animation Quality 

The quality of the animation of cartoons back in 2000′s were amazing, so many variations of animation styles that look very appealing such as 

Samurai Jack 

Avatar: The Last Airbender 

Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends 

Recess 

Proud Family and so many more

But now in modern cartoons, most cartoon shows are using a similar style of animation which many people called it “Calarts style”. Most cartoon shows are using because it’s cheap however it takes away creativity, more detail nor being organic. Look at Infinity Train, compare from the pilot to the release 

It looks very boring having most cartoons look the same. Then there’s artistic freedom where creators let them draw whatever they want such as Steven Universe and OK KO. That sounds good but really though it just looks lazy and unprofessional. This is very distracting that most characters go off-model every scene like why Rebecca and Ian-Jones Quarry think it was a good idea! 

Great to Below Average

So now let’s talk about the three shows that were once popular Steven Universe, Voltron, and Star vs The Forces of Evil. The trope I’ve been seeing as of late about these shows that it was pretty hype and they deliver on that. All they need to do is conclude it and call it a good cartoon but then crash and burned in later seasons. 

Steven Universe didn’t get popular until “Jailbreak” and that was when everyone was watching it. It had character development, an interesting world of gems, a gorgeous background and has one of the best soundtracks. This isn’t surprising because the creator is the same person who wrote Marceline episodes in Adventure Time which was Rebecca Sugar that created the series. Then season 4 and season 5 happened which the show drop in quality like mostly the show prefer showing filler which makes the plot go too fast and made arcs underwhelming, crystals gems and Lapis Lazuli and Peridot aren’t being used that much in the show and having each villain being beaten by simply talking to them. While there is Steven Universe Future but that hasn’t gotten interesting in my opinion. 

Star vs The Forces of Evil is a show used to be interesting for the two seasons and “Battle for Mewni” arc but then shipping drama got out of hand and that resulted to fell from grace 

Then there’s Voltron and we all how that turned out for the last two seasons

What these three have in common that they set up this interesting premise and world in the first few seasons but they all went downhill. Awful character writing, insane plot twist, and terrible pacing. I did wish that those shows would get better like how Adventure Time and Regular Show had one bad season but after that, they both got better but they didn’t and it went from being great to disappointingly average. 

Comedy Over Messages

Now that’s got the most hype shows, let’s talk about shows that not many people talk about because the premise and world aren’t engaging enough to watch and which they are We Bare Bears, Craig in the Creek, Clarence, OK KO, and The Loud House. While I’m not saying they aren’t bad but it is just not interesting to watch, it's just that it’s too tame and too comedic. The main issue I have it doesn’t really teach viewers like they used to anymore 

OK KO was about to talk about gun violence but they turn it into a comedy. In “Let’s Not Be Skeletons” people overuse the gun and resulting everyone to turn skeletons and KO tries to stop it but fails. By the end of the episode, it was a dream and calls Congress to stop it from happening. I really hate how writers of this episode of making a serious issue turn into comedy and that’s a pretty awful way of doing it. 

Look at Static Shock and Fat Albert, instead of making Gun Violence a joke, they talk about how serious it is by having someone shot and that devastated the characters a lot 

Then there's Hey Arnold, it really dives into serious issues such as 

“Pigeon Man” showcases that some people are meant to be with other people while others like Pigeon Man are just different and can’t be with other people. 

“Helga on the Couch” showcases Helga's anger issues and those issues manifest because her family ignores her because of her sister. Never truly cares for like no makes her lunch for school and no one brought her to school when she was a young girl. The only person that cares for was Arnold.

Then there’s my personal favorite, “Arnold Christmas”. Mr. Hyunh is always sad at Christmas and this episode revealed that he had a daughter and all he wanted was to see her grow up but there was a war coming near his village. In order to do so, he had to give her up so she can have a better life. It took 20 years to get out of the country and he almost gave up hope to find her until Helga helped Arnold to search for her and be reunited with her father. 

Modern cartoons don’t show those kinds of messages anymore and there’s something worse than that and I hate how cartoon shows keep doing this. 

Today’s Villains

I” ve been seeing a lot lately that the main antagonist isn't handled well in cartoons as of lately. Most villains have been getting redeemed lately and not paying their crimes. While show creatures try to make them sympathetic and the victim however it doesn’t excuse them for their crimes. 

White Diamond who caused multiple mass genocide on worlds, brainwash any gem that stands in her way and shatter gems gets easily defeated by simply getting talk to and just not gonna do it anymore because Steven said so. 

Mina Loveberry and her Mewni soldiers wanted to destroy monsters. When her and her army magic depleted, she just goes in the wilderness and no one stopped her. 

Moon Butterfly helped Mina create her soldiers so she can retake the throne from Ecipsa. Instead of having the monsters and her surrendering the throne that she was attending to do, however, her plan backfired when Mewni Soldiers and Mina wanted to kill all the monsters. Why didn’t Moon saw that coming, they were clearly racist against them. Then by the end of the show, she never once apologized for what she has done. 

Starlight Glimmer created a cult that no one has cutie marks until the mane six defeated her in “Cutie Map” She returns and her revenge on Twilight by going back in time and making sure Rainbow Dash doesn’t perform the Sonic Rainboom. After multiple going to multiple timelines, she finally catches up to her and then her tragic backstory been revealed and it was very disappointing. The reason she caused all of this because her friend moved away and that’s it. That’s not all, instead of her facing her crimes like most villains such as Tirek or Queen Chrysalis, she gets off the hook and she became friends with Twilight in a matter of minutes 

A good example of a good antagonist is Aku from Samurai Jack. When he first appeared in the show, he’s pure evil, destroying anything that stood in his way and ruling over the weak but as the show progresses, the serious villain became more comedic villain but that doesn’t mean he’s a silly character, he’s far from that. He’s still all-powerful and should be taken seriously. This is what I want from a villain.  He’s powerful, he’s truly evil and has a personality. 

Villains can be sympathetic and relatable however shouldn’t be forgiven so easily. When a character crosses the line by taking multiple innocent lives should never be redeemed, even if they have a sad backstory 

Cartoons lately have become less popular in this past decade, the glaring problems about cartoons are its animation, comedy over messages, messy plots, and terrible villain. People will only talk about cartoons from the late ’80s to 2012. I’m afraid that this day of age that it isn’t appealing anymore than in previous years. The only animation that people will talk about is anime shows which I can’t lie, is far superior to cartoons as of now. I feel that the only way it can make it back on top is it needs something like Adventure Time or Gravity Falls moment that reinvent it more relevant and view to modern audiences. I really do like to watch cartoon shows for animation, message, and characters but I keep seeing issues in modern cartoons and I hope that it will change in the future.