#but i was there literally from Day One of the pilot being put on youtube. that was a fun one....until it wasnt. man

[beatcroc]

oh the dungeon meshi fandom is going to become Insufferable in a few months and i mean this in the best way possiblr

[deliciouspirateangel]

just finished binging the entirety of high school musical: the musical: the series in six days and now i'm going to ramble about it for longer than anyone would care to read. it's gonna be generally positive but definitely nini and olivia unfriendly so if you dont wanna read that... dont ♥️♥️

so i suggested to my sister a while ago that i wanted to watch the show bc the videos that youtube commentary channel "pretty much it" did for it were hysterical. and she had watched the first couple of eps by herself and was like "i dont think you'll like it. its not as funny as they make it seem". but we finally decided to start it anyway

(also i dont know the entire casts' real names so i'll mostly refer to them as their character names)

season 1:

that first season was kind of rough. especially the pilot. it got better over time but its definitely my least favorite season over all. im not even a fan of high school musical so it lacked the nostalgia enjoyment for me

and i definitely did not like nini and her main character syndrome. and sorry to say but i think olivia is the least talented cast member over all. pretty privilege is so real like she didnt deserve to be the break out star she was just the most marketable. kourtney and ashlyn's voices were so strong and stellar, and they might not've been Dancers but they could definitely move. and gina was the best dancer in the fucking world and while i do think her voice wasnt as good, she could obviously still sing. nini's best talent moments were when olivia was shining thru imo (that one taking it for gra-a-a-anted song comes to mind first) but i was not here for the acoustic numbers and honestly i dont think she was a great actress

so i definitely wasnt a fan of the whole nini ricky gina ej love square. i know its a tried and true teen show staple but goddamn it got tiring. i just never liked rini and i didnt like how nini treated him right from the start asklfjlds. she was also rude as hell to everyone else, especially gina, being all passive aggressive towards her. literally saying she wanted to kick gina in the face bc gina is a good dancer and she's intimidated?? but also all the talk in general about gina being intimidating or aggressive or a bad seed like ??? the microaggressions were off the charts

not to mention the fucking macroaggression of kourtney's entire s1 "character". i think hattie mcdaniel had a more nuanced role in gone with the wind. it was so fucking painful to watch. she didnt exist to be anything other than nini's personal soundboard, cheerleader, stylist, life coach, and whatever else she needed in the moment. thank god they gave her a real character by s2 bc kourtney was way too talented, too gorgeous, too charismatic to be forced into the role of nini's handmaid the whole time

i dont really have much to say about s1 cause i wasnt into it at the time lol. it was okay. all the actors did a good job, it was kind of funny, the only song that really stood out was miss jenn's fantasy sequence song with lucas. the actually high school musical show they put on was painful to watch but thats high school theater for you babyyy

season 2:

this was such an improvement from s1 and my favorite season over all. there were a handful of eps in the middle where i was constantly like "this is my fave ep" "ok this is my fave ep" "ok now THIS is my fave ep" it was a delight. i love beauty and the beast and was so happy for ashlyn getting belle, and everyone else was very well cast. although idk why seb was chip and not cogsworth?? my sister said it was bc disney didnt want to confirm that they were gay 💔💔

the music was obviously better bc we've got fucking alan menken on the track. all the numbers from the show were perfect. i wish ej had gotten to sing the gaston reprise bc he didnt get to reach his full gaston potential and i think we deserved that 💔

the debacle with the whole rose song was sooo annoying. nini deserved to be that fork. she dragged the whole show down like it was always so much better when she wasnt there aklfjlksd

the rivalry with the other school was lots of fun. i liked all the new characters. my favorite original song was miss jenn's number with derek hough

season 3:

this season was likeee a pleasant mid for me??? idk it was fine and fun but it didnt have anything in it that blew me away. i think this season was screaming for extra episodes more than any other, since we were missing a chunk of the cast. we deserved to cut back to salt lake every now and again and see what the non-camp-goers were up to

kourtney and gina as elsa and anna was a dream. not the biggest fan of frozen but they did a good job. everyone looked so cute in their costumes and kourtney's solo was amazinggg. the new characters were fun but i dont have strong feelings towards them lol. but i loved getting to explore kourtney's character and her struggles with anxiety, that was very real

them filming a documentary was funny bc have they not been filming one this whole time? my headcanon was that the to-the-camera interviews were all in their heads and everyone was practicing for when they became famous lol but then ricky ruined that in s4 by acknowledging them directly rip 💔

i liked after their show ended and they all got sharpies and wrote their names on the walls back stage. that was definitely a potent theater kid memory and got me a lil teary eyed

i liked ej taking on the role of director and copying miss jenn's hand holding and high pitched singing at the first read thru. i liked ej and gina together i thought they were cute. it was disappointing that the show wouldnt commit to them for even a minute and they always had to be teetering on the edge between being a couple and not. that was frustrating

and girl just get nini out of there already. olivia wanted nini to be there as much as i did. she was sooo over it by s3

umm favorite original song was corbin bluh's basketball song

season 4:

very very fun season again. loved the chaos of filming the movie at the school while school is happening. as if every movie set in a real school doesnt shoot in the summer. oh well. gotta have a season!

there was too much mack for me personally. i dont think he gave wanted they wanted to be given. i needed more dani tho. her actress was so good at bad acting. she couldve been a much bigger comedic presence also she looked like a cross between sofia carson and emma roberts but sometimes just looked like a latina emma roberts ??? is that just me??

and still the lack of seb and big red at the beginning like ?? did they specifically piss off the writers so they had to banish them for nearly half the show?

loved that the little girl from camp was there. she stole the show. and maddox and jet are fine alskfjsldk i just didnt form strong opinions on them but i do like them

ashlyn's "i need to give her mouth to mouth! AS A FRIEND!" was the funniest line of the entire show hands down

so happy they finally had a halloween episode! it was lots of fun and everyone looked so cute in their costumes uwu. but that guy from camp that was stalking carlos??? that was so bizarre and it never paid off likeee what was the reason

and gina's mom was pissing us off so bad. she was acting wild this season. like gina has to focus on her studies so no boys but she can work from sun up to sun down on a movie lmao. and her mom had the nerve to be like "well i never came to your shows bc that was just high school theater but THIS is a movie" like wooow. and i swear it felt like she was about to sell gina off to mack bc he was famous. and when she started with that "porters dont wait around" mess and ricky cleared her with a quickness with that whole "well i seem to remember gina waiting around for you on opening night" like damn

and omg when mack was over for dinner and ricky came over with chocolates but saw him thru the window. i was like ugh fuck its gonna be the stupid thing where he sees this and gets the wrong idea and its gonna be a stupid wedge between him and gina that doesnt need to be there bc no one can communicate BUT THEN gina sees him outside and runs to him and i think i screamed bc i was so relieved aslkjskl but their kiss was very cinematic and cute ♥️♥️

and omg on sunday night im sitting there trudging thru s1 like "yeah starting this might've been a mistake" and by friday im bawling my eyes out bc the story is ending 💔💔 sofia deserved the whole fucking egot and a golden globe too for that scene at the end. and i was SO invested in her acting career and like pleading with the show for her not to pass on it and stay at school but fucking genius that she is found a way to do both!!!

and i honestly didnt know what i wanted miss jenn to do like i was rooting for her both ways but of course she staaayed. and the show ended and it had the "skip credits" button and my sister was like "oh there's something after the credits?" and then i saw "for good" listed at the end of the songs and i screamed again. and was bawling again when everyone was singing that. who knew this silly little show would have such a death grip on me by the end???

so over all it was really very good and not a waste of time. i liked pretty much every character and it was just a lot of fun! would definitely watch it again

my over all season ranking would be two, four, three, and one is dead ass last

my favorite characters from the start were gina, miss jenn, carlos, ashlyn, and big red lowkey alskfjdskl. kourtney got up there in s2 and beyond. and i do really like ricky, ej, seb, they're my secondary faves. (kinda wish ricky had more to do bc aside from his parents, i feel like every single one of his issues had to do with a love triangle and i just wish the character was granted a little more texture) and the camp kids were good, they were fine, they're like third-iary faves. and the only ones i dislike are gina's mom and nini lol

and i wasnt like screaming over any ships but generally i liked them all except rini. ej and gina was cute, i liked ashlyn and maddox, i liked ashlyn and big red, carlos and seb probably were my faves if i had to pick, i liked kourtney with howie (wish we saw him again) and jet, and yes by the end i was rooting for rina they just won me over this season and were super cute and im glad they ended where they did ♥️

[applebandito]

100% Kingdom Hearts 1 (Day 3)

Current Targets:  Speedster Unchanging Armor Undefeated

Neverland took literally no time outside of the fight with Hook who bludgeoned me to death until I realized he has a counter. Upon this revelation, the fight was fairly easy but boss fights are also taking literal years to complete due to the fact I’m slapping them around with what amounts to a damp sponge. Even the shadow fight wasn’t bad when I slowed down and stopped trying to swing wildly, though it was awful since both Goofy and Donald were utterly worthelss. It was a small mercy that Neverland was short since the next areas were some of the worst points of this run thus far.

Hollow Bastion began with Beast being a, well, beast. This was welcome as attacking things was becoming far too laborious. Hollow Bastion itself was a winding maze of corridors and my own inability to navigate the area. Eventually I got my party back and was slowly winding my way through intractables that required me to kill the room. The continued addition of time when it came to clearing rooms was beginning to concern me, but I’d come too far to turn back.

When I got to Maleficent, the low amount of damage I was doing was well and truly felt. The entire fight was just a slog from start to finish. The only real saving grace were the times I was able to get on the platform Through some slight tomfoolery I was able to beat the hell out of her a number of times and be on the platform with her when I shouldn’t have been. I felt like I’d been there for hours when in truth the fight only took fifteen minutes.

The dragon fight was much the same. A slow melting of the health bar as I felt my brains coming out of my ears. Not even the podcast I’d had on during the time I was playing could numb the pain of this fight. Every hit was one step closer to a finish line that was still on the other side of the world. I don’t remember finishing that fight. In fact, some say this is an illusion and I’m still there to this very day.

The Riku fight wasn’t awful, in fact it was a little fun and felt like a proper duel, instead of a stomping with kitted out weapons and such. I became a heartless cutie and squiggled my way towards my party. Because I was skipping these cutscenes like YouTube ads, I can’t comment on the story quite yet. I vaguely remember some of this but this’ll have to wait until I do Proud Mode.

I came to in Traverse Town and made a beeline to Cid to get the nav Gummi installed so I could go for Hollow Bastion 2: Electric Boogaloo. I managed to plow through the Behemoth fight by jumping on his back and just wailing at his horn. Soon I found myself barreling straight into the End of the World.

This is where things were going to really get utterly dog shit and I knew it. So I decided to put a pin in this and go do something more productive like dropping cinder blocks on my toes just to feel something. Putting the PS5 in sleep mode, I stepped away without really any understanding of what lay in store for me.

Completed 13 of 56: Pixie Dust Heartless Hunter End of the World Oathkeeper Veteran Pilot

[yors-truly]

Huester's Pacing Thoughts (HBOMax/WB Discovery and Animation)

Decided to post this on Tumblr of all places because 1) I don't really feel like making a twitter thread that may not even fit all of my thoughts, and 2) I haven't been getting much satisfaction typing on a word document recently because school started back up and I can't seem to use it without thinking about that, apparently.

I just wanted to utilize this energy I've built up while pacing around the room with my thoughts to ramble about my current gripes with the whole thing between HBOMax/Waner Bros Discovery and animation. I'll probably regret this later, as I get totally overwhelmed speaking my mind, but animation literally means the world to me and I'm feeling mighty courageous right now, so I'll give it a shot.

IDK how long this is gonna be, so I'll put a small wall here to bless your scrolling experience. You're so super welcome :)

Yo, you actually care about what I have to say? Thank the blue moon!

My thoughts may not be communicated well, due to me feeling so strongly about this, so I apologize if my writing comes off as a little clumsy.

I don't know a single person who thinks the opposite so far (other than the people behind this, apparently), but I'm extremely frustrated with the decision made to erase several animated shows from the platform. Shows like Close Enough, Infinity Train, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart (my beloved), and Mighty Magiswords (my beloved and my childhood) are all being tossed into a drenched wasteland, totally inaccessible to the public (maybe unless you pirate or something). Not only that, but the history of these shows are being replaced by space, too! From what I hear, the Infinity Train pilot and all other content has been deleted off of Cartoon Network's YouTube Channel and the show's soundtrack has recently been removed from streaming services, such as Spotify.

In addition to the above, all future content for these shows has also gone down the drain. For example, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart was supposed to get a second season - one that my brother and I hyped over for 2 YEARS - fully complete and ready to go, only for this to happen and the season to never see the light of day.

This is where the knuckles get cracking. And I mean AUDIBLE cracking.

I am beat by the constant disservice of animation. We - the people who care - are beat by the constant disservice of animation. Not only is it massively disrespectful to the series, but it's disrespectful to the team(s) behind them, the fans of the content, and to the people who pay for this streaming service just for these shows (I know you all are out there... maybe...).

It's not just HBOMax, either, though. It's some major houses in general, contributing to the fall of what made them rise to begin with. They're just about being their own grim reapers, in a weird sense. I very much understand that new heads and whatnot run these houses, but the fact that they have that position to begin with should mean that they care at least a bit about these properties and their history. I tend to forget, though, that that's not always the case.

There are so many other examples of animation and the people behind them getting similar levels of disrespect, other than the complete erasure of them from the face of the Eather. A major part of that having to do with how animation is perceived, from the looks of it. You've got the teams of these shows being mildly overworked and underpaid (and still fighting for fair treatment) and animation being boosted less than whatever else we've got going around. While the thought of at least some stuff getting pushed is great, it's also super degrading and exhausting at the same time.

These points further enforce the false idea of animation being a medium "just for kids," and therefore not worth the same amount of time and recognition - and being viewed as less valuable - than whatever else is being produced in other storytelling mediums.

Coming from someone who is a minor, animation is not "just for kids." Never has been, and never will be.

Coming from someone who has had past experience with animation, has been wanting to get back into it and take it seriously, and has a brother whose been working on a webseries of his own for the past 2 years now with a totally neat crew of voice actors, other animators, and background artists, it is a lot of work, and deserves all of the attention in the world.

Coming from someone who is passionate about storytelling, animation is the best form of it we have ever had, and probably ever will have... unless something better comes into the mix and outshines it, which I doubt.

You wanna know why I doubt that?

Because animation is art, and art is forever.

Art is created by the hands of the soul. Sometimes, many souls. Art often reveals the journey of the person who created it, usually about a truth or lesson that they have grown to learn and wishes to share with others creatively, as a way to provide a sense of comfort to the viewer during their points of struggles, or just to entertain someone for even a second with something that catches their eye. Art comes with authenticity, intention, and a vision that the creator was willing to share with the world. To have their work consumed alive by some greedy time eater - acting like it never existed - is not only insulting, but it's also a major slap in the face; a shot to the heart. You're looking at the creator - who chose to be vulnerable - dead in the eyes, and saying, "You do not matter."

I don't know about you, but if that were me and my months-to-years of hard work, I would've combusted on the spot, have it be internally or externally. Maybe both, if I'm really feeling it.

So uh... yeah. That happened. We're all upset and somewhat hogwild. Now what?

Well, from what I've seen, people have been using this opportunity to boost and support indie animation until the big boys respawn into their senses. To that I say: GOD BLESS!

I am very much in love with indie animation, major reason why I usually have nothing to talk about with my friends, and although all of this is very crappy, and we will NEVER forget it (best wishes to the teams and their hard work lost into time), the fact that this idea was the result of it is literally heart-throbbing to me! Like I love to see it! Even though I love indie animation, I actually don't have a lot of stuff on my radar, so I'm willing to see what pops out of this.

To end this on a groovy note, go check out and support indie productions! As much as you can! Recommend some by commenting, if you made it this far and wish to share! WE ALL GOTTA EAT!!

Go look at Monkey Wrench and Defenders of Alodia! Go binge Eddsworld, Madness Combat, and Battle for Dream Island again! I'm this close to watching Helluva Boss, despite me not yet being of age, because I want to support the series as much as me and my dry wallet self can! (Had some second thoughts. Changed my mind. Still, go support it!)

There's another show known as Wayfarers of the Multiverse that I heard about on Instagram, supposedly releasing a pilot soon, if not already, so there's another one to go look at!

Also, shameless plug of my brother's own work, inspired by Battle for Dream Island, called Battle for Wonderland. It's still in the works and only has a few clips and a short posted right now, but a plan to release still holds to this year. I also voice act a character in that show, so all the more reason to check it out LMAO!

I'll provide links to all of these in time :)

Maybe, at some point, we can have a streaming service made SPECIFICALLY for animation, hopefully by people of the community, so we can have a home for stories of all sizes and prevent stuff like this from happening in the future, because these stories matter.

(or we could just get DVDs back in business. That'll work, too.)

[alleunwalk]

tokyo revengers idol au hcs part 3 that no one asked for AGAIN here’s part 1 and part 2 to get a better understanding.  this is what the members would be doing alongside their idol promotions+ what they would post on social media  toman tbh these guys are all just so damn funny on their own that they would constantly be invited to comedy variety shows. maybe perhaps doing something similar to seventeen or wanna one where they even have their own variety show on youtube (ie. seventeen’s-going seventeen series or wanna one’s show on mnet)  mikey-he would post basic food pics like of his parfaits or taiyaki but also it’s rare because he’d constantly forget his password. however on important days he’ll post long emotional and sentimental posts that hit you in your feels thanking his members and fans always. he also has a youtube channel posting random funny vlogs. draken- he has his own personal soundcloud to upload solo mixtapes/songs feat diff members. posts photos of his bikes and different tattoos he would be getting. responds with 1-2 words to fans during fansigns or ig comments but like mikey, once in a while, will also write heartfelt posts thanking everyone.  baji- his ig feed is filled with animals + dance practice vids. also has his own soundcloud too. trolls his members by commenting on their stuff. “delete this u ugly mf no one wants to see this”.  takemichi- very chatty, (sometimes too chatty where he’ll end up accidentally spoiling their next album info) and interactive on social media to his fans. tries his best to respond to most comments or ama ig stories questions. posts a lot of selfies and photos of his members. king of fan service.  chifuyu- beautiful photos of the sky a lot on his ig (in canon he wanted to be a pilot :,) ) along with cute soft selfies. (which baji and kazutora troll and comment being like “damn....u ugly AF!” “lmao stop pretending to act cute u loser”  kazutora- his ig is filled with pure chaos. just pics of him catching his members slipping (sleeping photos where they’re drooling or have their eyes slightly open or making ugly faces behind the scenes). also has photos of cursed memes and memes made by fans. he’s a literal enigma.  mitsuya- very wholesome ig photos- lots of photos of his family, group photos, sometimes cool artsy edited selfies. occasional photoshoot photos.  hakkai- ig is filled lots of #ootd photos and occasional photos from his modeling or acting gigs (he’s the visual, duh!) gets a lot of sponsorships from big brands.  pah-chin: has a joint youtube channel with peyan. they do silly challenges but will sometimes post dance videos (feat. baji) since they’re the main/lead dancers. fans love him because of his “matter-of-fact” responses that are funny without even trying. (example- fan comment: omg i love u guys soooo much u guys are the best in the whole world!!!<333 toman OUTSOLD!.  pah-chin: idk about best in the world but we’ll just take “the best in our neighborhood” for now i guess. thanks.”)  peyan: joint youtube channel with pah-chin. at fan signs mikey has to warn him to chill out cuz peyan will accidentally yell and scare fans without meaning to, but he’s just really excited to meet his fans is all ^_^   angry: posts a lot of wholesome photos like mitsuya (selfies with smiley) and writes a lot of motivational sweet captions cheering fans up and reminding them to always be happy :,)  smiley: joint youtube account with angry. smiley does a lot of prank videos and angrys just usually in the back like  🧍‍♂️... he also does tiktok- he would be doing all the dances, memes, and trends.  inui: ok hear me out, i mentioned before inui has similar vibes as cha eunwoo so i’d figure his ig would give the same vibe as his (iykyk). since he’s the other visual he would be getting a TON of acting and modeling gigs. idk why but i feel like inui would be a great actor (his facial expressions during tenjiku arc, the range!). actor of the year. gets a lot of skincare commercial deals too. 

black dragons shinichiro- photos of bikes, cars, and photos where hes pretending to do a cool pose but his members (+mikey) would troll and comment “LAME!!!!!” “why tf do u look like that?” “hey leader, it’s not too late to delete this now bestie :)” does fun ig lives. on variety shows as a joke his members tease him there as well. really great at fan-service and pulls the whole “pretend boyfriend” scenario with fans (the delusional fans are gonna act up if he keeps this up...).  taiju- (if shinichiro did not exist in this au OR if you wanted both in the group) photos of him at the gym, photoshoot photos.  inui- similar to if he was in toman, his ig would just be a lot of cool and cute photos of him from behind the scenes of dramas or photoshoots. a soft visual king. occasional selfies with koko and bike photos.  kokonoi- has a personal youtube channel but he would be Drowning in sponsorship videos all from high-end designer brands. he’s just casually flexing that PPL in his vlogs. ig feed is a lot of #ootd photos or pics taken with inui. him and inui would be makeup brand ambassadors or faces of brands (ex: like jennie from blackpink represents chanel). in this case kokonoi would be the face of fendi (he wears fendi slides in the manga cover) and inui would be the face of jimmy choo (his heels in the manga cover looked like jimmy choo but i could be wrong.. but u know what i mean) 

tenjiku  izana- pretty leader has a very artsy ig feed. extremely photogenic like inui. has photoshoot photos and candid pose photos. acts in dramas time to time (gg second male lead syndrome).  kakucho- posts gym or dance practice videos on his feed but he posts rarely because he’s just too busy or forgets he actually has an ig. loves commenting on takemichi’s posts “haha no wonder ur called baka-michi!” as a joke.  kanji- posts gym photos but it’s rare because he always forgets his password.  ran- the other visual. he would be modeling for high-fashion brands and go on runway shows. also definitely gives off actor vibes (he would be constantly casted in dark action movies hahaha). loves giving fan service.  rindou- in contrast to his brother, rindou when it comes to fan service, he loves trolling fans. also he���s really good at drawing a line between fans (y’know, keeping the delusional ones in check...which means he ‘friend-zones’ them but it’s for their own good tbh idols need to remind people their boundaries). has a youtube channel where he just posts random dance practice vids and occasional vlogs. also comments under his brothers ig posts “you look stupid af in this wtf”. on variety shows people find their brotherly banter hilarious.  mutou- posts gym photos, also really awkward selfies (he doesn’t know what his angle is lmao). another member who also reminds fans of their boundaries and keeps it real. (sanzu always likes his photos though and hypes him up in the comments).  sanzu- shy baby. constantly following mutou around. posts a lot of cute selfies and random pics of shogi stuff (he tags mutou in it of course). during fan signing/autograph sessions they love putting cute headband props on him like this or this. 

bonten because this group’s concept and aesthetic is mysterious, mature, artsy, gloomy, and dark they will take this concept to the grave. (minus a few exceptions) they are invited to variety/talk-shows but never make an appearance because they want to keep the air of mystery around them. (it’s a good marketing technique).  mikey- does not have any social media. he does have a private account to lurk around but no one knows what it is.  kokonoi- has a youtube channel but it’s locked and you have to pay to get into it. posts super short vlogs and teasers. thats it. (the ultimate scam! but their fans love them too much to notice). lots of sponsored #ootd posts on ig.  kakucho- he would be modeling ONLY high fashion brands and high end editorial places. his instagram is just his exquisite and expensive modeling photos whether it be candid backstage photos from shows, candid runway walk pics/vids, pics of diff photoshoots you name it. doesn’t really comment much.  ran- visual. similar to kakucho- modeling ONLY high fashion brands and editorial places. instagram is filled with modeling photos but also some artsy scenery pics he took.  rindou- posts short artsy dancing clips (like modern dances in black&white filter) on ig.  sanzu- since he’s the other visual, he also posts a lot of his modeling/acting photos on instagram. also pretty chatty (he’s the exception) on social media and loves teasing and trolling fans. posts with a lot of random cute emojis on everything. “just ate lunch and now im off to practice hehe 🍜🍇🤟💃🤠🧚‍♂️💞🦋” no one really knows why he uses random emojis but it’s just endearing lmao.  kanji- no social media at all.  akashi- manager....or if you made him the rapper in this au then he too would also not have any social media. 

[liam-93-productions]

Liam’s full interview with Tings Magazine - Part 1

Note: the interview was recorded in may 2020.

Justin Campbell: What is the weirdest YouTube/Instagram trend hole that you’ve fallen into? Liam: One that always gets me is putting Mentos in Pepsi or Coke. We all know what happens, but we have to watch the ending. I’ve seen it about fifty times, and it doesn’t change. But it’s weird finding out what things are interesting when you’re stuck inside. It’s a crazy ride watching the world react to this. It’s almost like everybody’s become a street performer. You see these people on the street who have a special skill like magic and the internet is now the place for that and everybody does it. 

Do you feel pressured to participate? Is there currency in that? Does that keep you relevant? I think artists have had to change a lot to fit in. There used to be mystery where you didn’t know too much about their lives, whereas we are in my living room now for all the world to see. I think that’s the biggest change of these newer platforms. I think you have to join in if you want to stay relevant. If you look at someone like Jason Derulo, he has 19 million followers on TikTok and he just started. His old songs are re-charting because of the TikTok chart. So, you can’t just make music and expect it to go well anymore. There has to be a personality and a story. It’s not quite the same anymore. 

There’s so many differente avenues to keep up with. There’s Instagram, YouTube, TikTok. It used to be you did radio, tours and late-night television. Now there seem to be a dozen things to do.  It’s crazy, this last promo schedule for me, having to do it indoors. I had to learn how to do a bunch of different jobs for the people that couldn’t be here. We put up a green screen in my lounge. We moved all the sofas, me and the camera guy that is staying with me set up the green screen and then you have to film it as well. It’s just crazy the amount of different things that you have to get involved in right now to stay relevant. And that’s all it is. The majority of the stuff isn’t really doing anything, but it’s doing loads at the same time if that makes sense. It’s a difficult thing to get used. And also, things have gotten jovial. So, you have to learn to make fun of ourselves. You can’t be Mr. Serious pop-star anymore. People aren’t really attracted to that anymore. People like the fun side of you, your personality and your humor come through on these things. It’s crazy. I thought about when I joined TikTok the other week, there’s a pressure to film something fun. But then if you are not having fun filming it, you’re not going to film a fun video. And I didn’t want to live my life every day thinking I got to film a video or nobody is going to care. I spent an hour trying to think of stuff and I don’t want to live my life like this. I enjoy then. I like going on TikTok and getting lost in a little TikTok rabbit hole, we all do, but I don’t know if I’m that way inclined mentally. 

With the need to share more, to share a comedic side or a vulnerable side, where do you draw the line? When do you stop sharing? How much of it is constructed sharing and how much of it is authentic sharing? It’s difficult. I’m very prone to enjoy a moment rather than take my camera out and film it. I’m always one of those people who take a picture of a sunset and then never look at it and say why did I bother taking the picture. I’d rather enjoy the moment. We live in a day and age where the camera phone is people’s first thought for things. And I’m just not one of those people. Humorous stuff will happen and it will be off the cuff, but we didn’t film it. And it will be like “aw, should we recreate it?” But we don’t want to recreate it. It just feels stupid. It always feels forced in that sense. So for me, I definitely struggle with sharing moments.  And you have those people out there, who are literally willing to do anything. There’s a trend for people who are shaving their eyebrows off at the moment. I’m not going to shave my eyebrows off so people will care a little more. That just doesn’t register with me. You have Jake and Logan Paul, who do a lot of crazy, crazy things to get noticed. And it’s like where do you draw the line. 

These platforms make it challenging to carve out a private life. People expect more and more of celebrities’ lives to be shared. They feel they have ownership of every aspect of people’s lives. What are your thoughts on that? From the start of this lockdown, the first James Corden TV performance was filmed in the lounge and we went through my whole house. I can remember back in the day when a newspaper sent out the photos of my house. I don’t like people knowing where I sleep because it’s a security problem for me. I had a big complaint about that. Now fast forward 5-6 years and the world has changed to where nothing is really a private or intimate moment. It’s strange. As One Direction, we were in an era on the rise of Twitter. I think Twitter helped us a lot. It was the way we trended on Twitter that actually made us famous. But being on the cusp of that internet stardom, we didn’t really care about how many followers [we had].  Now, it’s become a currency. I just struggle to take those things seriously, that it is part of the job because it feels so foreign. When we had apps as kids, there was no way to becoming MSN famous. Now kids want to be an Instagrammer or a TikTokker. It’s crazy. We never had that. 

You said something about people chasing the currency of liked and follows. Kids are thinking about that validation when they are creating content. How much of that are you thinking about it when you create music or social media/video content? I think, for me, I don’t often pay attention to how many likes thing gets. As a pop star, you have to have an average amount per post. We have to have meetings now where people will go through posts, and tell you why this works. Which for me, it seems insane, but you have this persona that you have to keep up online. And definitely, when posting certain things, you are gauging whether it’s going to get a reaction or there’s no point in posting it. And that’s always been the problem for me. I’m hoping for a big reaction for stuff which limits the amount you post because you think there’s no point posting this.  Often the people who do the best in these scenarios are the people that didn’t mean for it to happen. Someone makes a little challenge like The Ice Bucket Challenge. Someone thought I’ll do this. It will be fun for us to film and because they are having fun, everyone is like we will get involved. If you think about it too much, it will overtake you. For the longest time, I didn’t post a lot. I got off of Twitter because of the backlash and the fact that you are always going to annoy someone with a post. I was like, I can’t deal with it. I might as well keep it to myself. There’s no disappointment. 

I think that’s part of the condition of being an artist. You crave a certain amount of validation.  When it’s work, you can take that some people won’t get it. But because everything has become so personal now like it’s about you. You sell your personality to people. It’s like if someone asks you “what five things do you want people to know about you”. And everyone goes, well, I’d like to be... You suddenly think, what we are doing every day online is trying to sell ourselves.  It’s a difficult balance. You have to have the right amount of humor and humility and the right amount of this. It’s so difficult to find that person. And you see people who become caricatures of themselves online. They overdo it. You don’t know what works any why it works. The internet is such an untested experiment. The public decides. It’s so crazy.

You just said that it can feel so personal, which I think is such an honest statement because when you are putting yourself out there, it is hard to celebrate the work and you. When people don’t like something, it can feel like they are personally attacking you.  It genuinely scares me sometimes. Even to post a selfie, because you just don’t know what the recipe is. I’m not trying to impress anyone. I’m just trying to stay around if that makes sense. I don’t know, it’s difficult. The fact that you just let it go and it’s gone and people either take it or leave it. It’s like jumping on stage every time you post, which scares me anyway. 

You’ve spoken pretty openly about dealing with depression and anxiety. How does this level of exposure impact your ability to manage your anxiety? Before all of this started, the first day of school would probably be when you are your most anxious. Or it’s your own clothes day and you don’t know what to wear. That feels like what everyone is going through every single day online. It’s like the teen generation has so many more questions to answer that we had. I know as a kid I was quite stressed. I can’t imagine how these kids feel these days.  The only way I can relate is by how I feel in this scenario. Obviously, being a little bit older, you are a little wiser with it. I thinks it’s a different kind of pressure these days. It’s a worldwide pressure. The fact that anyone can become a superstar overnight or also the most embarrassing thing in the world and the line is that thin. I can’t imagine what is like for kids growing up in that scenario. For me, it’s raised a lot of questions about my mental health and having to deal with these things. I’ve been running a pilot with someone for people in my position, people who struggle with fame, with the position that they get themselves. You don’t really realize the playbook you’re pressing. Once you’re in it, you’re in it.  I started from 14-16, were my two start years. And the only answer that people had for you was that you’ve got have thick skin. But I don’t think that’s really the point because once you are here, you have to find out if your skin is thick enough. You have to learn. For the longest time, if somebody wrote something about me in the press, I’d rise back up and bring back up. I didn’t realize they were trying to bait me out because they knew I’d do that. Then they’d write three more articles about the scenario that I didn’t want them to write about. You can only know that with years of experience. If something comes out now, I just leave it to die and go away and that’s it. I just think it’s difficult when people say the only answer is that you have to have thick skin to do this. 

That’s not really a solution. That’s just saying you asked for this. This is just part of it, which I don’t think is fair. Is fame something that you struggle with a lot? For me, there’s different periods, severe highs with different things and a lot of questions about stuff. I’ve been going at this now for ten years, which seems insane. I’m only 26 as well, which is quite a long time to be doing anything. And to be in this pressure cooker for that long is quite difficult, but I say I’ve learned to deal with it better now. Age and time are wonderful things. And we were buffered as teens. We had each other in the band. When I look at someone like Justin Bieber, I think no wonder he went completely mental at some point because there is no one in the world that knows what is like to be Justin Bieber, but Justin Bieber. He had no one to share it with. We had each other to share it with, to remember it with and be reminded how to behave, how to act. You shouldn’t do that. It was tough at some points, but for the most part it was helpful growing up in that team exercise rather than be let off on your own and you’re the most famous person in the world. It must have been pretty crazy for him. 

[cannibalcaterpillar]

This means Carole had 9 years to get to know her sibling. Instead of bonding with him she had imaginary cat friends. Not HUMAN friends CAT friends. That isn’t bad on its own, but it matters when it’s on a list like this.

Had no friends.

Has gone through 4 husbands and this one clearly KNOWS he’ll die if he doesn’t worship her.

She only mentions having a kid like twice in passing .

She was the aggressor in her past relationships seeking financial control with homicidal tendencies.

Says she left cause her parents are trash but in the end her dad was “def on her side”??

She lies CONSTANTLY

THE MAILBOX SNAKES‼️‼️ joe threatened to do this on his show, but it was YEARS before he mentioned “finally finding where that bitch lives” she doesn’t say that the snakes were venomous just that “the mailbox exploded with snakes” I think she lied about that all together to make joe seem crazier. Like how joe poisoned 23 cubs and burned 7 gators alive and blamed it on Carole or animal rights people. They do crazy shit and lie and say their enemies did it.

She mentions how she envies cats range because they can go from to content to murderous in a second. Most people are like that. But carol has to emulate her emotions so she’s jealous it’s not that natural to her.

I don’t believe her story about how she met don at all. Carole doc and joe all lie CONSTANTLY. Even just in skewed wording like how joe and doc always say “this liger was born right here” instead of “I bred this cat cause I’m still breeding and selling cats” doc says he’s single and his wives all have their own houses cause he’d get arrested for bigamy if he pulled a Kody from sister wives. Constant lies! Carole is no different.

THE FUCKING SARDINE OIL????

The scene where her and her husband are discussing sleeping with guns he says “I woke up and saw Carole with a gun and it ended up being 2” and she cuts him off quick to say “DAMN NEAR SHOT THE NEIGHBORS DOGS” *nervous laugh* I don’t think they were dogs.

Her next line is “I don’t worry about the DOGS that bark a lot, I worry about the quiet ones, those are the PEOPLE you have to watch out for” this could be a metaphor for joe, or she could have shot two people that night. I dunno the wording there just is not right and Irks me.

She needs her volunteers to be there for like 5 years before she even notices they’re there. People that are there working with her animals every day. She doesn’t interact with people. Even her staff.

She said no one can get near Mario right before the documentary does. Maybe SHE can’t get near him and knows because she’s tired to use him for hits before? He made it clear he thinks she did it and she’s trash. Probably because Mario is the only one who at least appears to love and respect his animals. Carole is letting hers rot. Literally.

I totally believe there could be shit behind the scenes of her and joe exotic trading or selling each other cubs. Everyone in this has shown to be two faced self absorbed and willing to work with their enemies one week and destroy them the next. I bet doc wasn’t the only receipt they had in that storage shed. Do you think the lions mentioned in that clip are the ones he got raided for in 2019? Him and joe talk lots about how they have the only ligers and the whole issue was that the ligers were thought to be related and the tests proved they were, but more distantly than previously thought so doc got away.

Something about joe pointing out how much money they made off of each other and labeling them like cartoon characters really made me feel like it’s been YouTube drama this whole time.

I’m sure she worked with Jeff more than she lets on. I don’t understand how the cops didn’t see that after 10 years of threatening and hating carol, nothing serious happened to plan a murder UNTIL Jeff got involved. He deserves to be jailed for a lot but not the attempted murder of an actual murder.

Carole is soft spoken to appear harmless and her constant laughing is because she’s nervous. There’s a big difference between her doing her own videos and being interviewed. It’s because she isn’t in control of how that footage is filmed and edited or what she looks like at the end.

I just really feel like she’s antisocial. She gives me HEAVY Kathrine Knight vibes. If ya dunno her look her up, one of the WORST bitches ever. But she’s got a real familiar thing goin on. Kathrine also killed her husband and he also tried to warn everyone and seek protection before she did it. No one took him seriously until he didn’t show up for work one day.

Carole got away with murder.

Edit: I just wanted to add that I’ve been looking up so much shit abojt this case and Carole. Shes described her first interaction with don and the gun as enticing because “well this isn’t boring!” And she wanted to be a vet but feared the boredom that came with being an adult with a house and career. Constantly looking for a thrill so you aren’t bored to the degree of putting yourself in dangerous situations (handling big cats or holding a gun on a stranger or killing your fucking husband) is also very indicative of an antisocial personality.

Edit 2: I just found out Carole learned to fly to keep them safe since don was “losing it” so that makes pushing him out of a plane seem a lot more likely. If I can find a screen shot of her saying that I’ll add it too. But I think it’s interesting no one close to him says that he’s EVER crashed or that anyone was worried about his ability to fly. More lies!

ANOTHER ADDITION!! Caroles father was also a pilot and a flight instructor. That throwing him out of a plane theory is starting to seem real logical.

Caroles mother notorizes all of her insane paperwork, her brother was in the police force that let her get away with it, the sheriff has a really nice house almost like he was paid off and her dad can fly planes and is on her side.

[yumeka36]

Thoughts on Rebuild of Evangelion (all movies plus ending interpretation)

*Artwork credited to リオ on pixiv*

Now that Evangelion 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time, the last movie of the Rebuild of Evangelion saga, has been released, I'm finally ready to discuss all the movies as a whole, including my interpretation of the ending...

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

I've been a fan of Evangelion for nearly 20 years, starting back in 2002. After hearing the series praised by some classmates, I asked for the DVD set of the original TV anime for Christmas that year. I was 15 years old and a fairly new anime fan at the time, so naturally I was blown away by the show. The Internet was young then, and since there were no fandom wikis or YouTube explanation videos available in those days, I had to rely on a few scattered fan sites and my own resources (mostly bonus features on the old DVDs) to try and figure out the lore and symbolism. Even though many aspects of the series, as well as the eventual "true ending" movie, End of Evangelion, left me scratching my head, I still loved it and it left a long-lasting impression on me. And now, here I am almost two decades later, sharing my thoughts about the new movies...

-Before Thrice Upon a Time was released, I hadn't touched Evangelion since 3.33 came out in 2012. I had forgotten many details, and since Evangelion is a franchise that is fraught with nuances and subtleties that can be key to understanding what the heck is going on, I wanted to watch all the Rebuild movies again before watching Thrice Upon a Time. So I plowed through all four movies this week, and I gotta say, after being away from the franchise for so many years, I'm happy to report that I still thoroughly enjoyed it. But I can also recognize that it is definitely not a series for everyone. The drawn-out technobabble, constant introduction of lore jargon with little to no explanation, and the ambiguity between what's real and what's symbolic, can certainly turn off casual viewers (it gives Kingdom Hearts lore a run for its money!) Funnily enough, as I was watching the Rebuild movies, I was thinking, "I understood the lore better 20 years ago than I do now, lol" (maybe it's because I was younger and didn't have as strong of a theorizing mind as I do now!) But after reading through a bunch of pages on the EvaGeeks Wiki, I learned enough to get a gist of the story's vaguer elements. But unfortunately, the fact that information necessary for understanding the plot can only be found by Internet research, could certainly be a turn-off for viewers. But at the same time, for those willing to make the commitment, or at least appreciate the series' other qualities even if you can't follow many aspects of the lore, it's definitely an anime unlike any other. There's a reason it's been such a well-known franchise in Japan for so long.

-Asuka has been one of my favorite anime characters ever since I saw the original Eva TV series, and thankfully, I'm happy with what they did with her character in the Rebuild movies. My only complaint is that I preferred her original backstory that emphasized her relationship with her mother, rather than having a "clone-complex" similar to Rei. However, her character development in this new storyline made up for it. The Rebuild movies really nailed her abrasive, no-nonsense personality that hides depth within. There were also more scenes that showed her "softer" side, something I always felt was lacking in the original series, such as when she confides in Misato towards the end of 2.22 and when she confesses her feelings to Shinji in Thrice Upon a Time. I also felt her initial dislike for Shinji and Rei was a bit more warranted this time; despising the fact that they were able to become Eva pilots purely by connection to Gendo while she had to work hard for it. But again, we get more hints at her kinder side when she makes the sacrifice to help Rei get Shinji and Gendo together. This is pretty contrasting to the original series, where she was always oozing hate for Rei. Even their infamous elevator scene ended differently in 2.22 compared to the TV series, where instead of hitting and yelling at Rei, she agrees to help her (in her subtle, Asuka-way). Asuka and Rei also had a brief scene together when they were at Village 3 in Thrice Upon a Time, and the way Asuka talked to her made me feel like she actually cared about her, or at least didn't hate her. But even with the Rebuild movies giving Asuka more scenes to show her goodness, they still stayed true to her tough-love personality - it's not like she suddenly started smiling a lot, or gave Shinji a passionate hug, or broke out in tears...they developed her character without making her do a 180 change, which I appreciated. Even in her final scene with Shinji on the beach before he saves her (loved that scene, and the shoutout to End of Eva there) she still reacted in her "tsundere" way (though not as harshly of course). I'd also like to mention that they made the fourteen year time-skip in 3.33 very believable in terms of Asuka's growth. I really liked the hardened, lone-wolf, protector role she had in Thrice Upon a Time because it makes sense - fourteen years had passed and she not only matured during that time, but she had spent all those years being the sole Eva pilot along with Mari fighting to protect humanity, so settling into that kind of identity makes sense for her. But yeah, Asuka's always been a great character, and the Rebuild movies made her even more awesome in my opinion.

-When I first watched 2.22 years ago when it came out, I was puzzled that they decided to put Asuka in the Eva that Unit-01 ends up destroying rather than Toji. But looking back on it it now, it worked better since they had a plan for Toji's character that had nothing to do with the Evas. I did kind of miss Asuka's friendship with Hikari though (they could have tied that into her staying with Toji and Hikari at Village 3 instead of with Kensuke). I actually wrote a WYDS fanfic for End of Evangelion way back in 2003 that emphasizes Asuka and Hikari's friendship (that's somehow still on Fanfiction.net!) But she got a friendship with Mari instead, so it's fine, lol (I also liked that they removed her crush on Kaji, which I never thought fit well in the original series). But I do wish we got to see what was going through her mind while she was stuck in the Eva and getting attacked by Unit-01. We know she was aware of what was going on because she knew what Shinji did (that he didn't try to save her or attack) so it would have been nice to see a scene or two of her reactions.

-Misato was always my second favorite character after Asuka, but I wasn't thrilled with the coldness she exhibited towards Shinji after the time-skip in 3.33. I know she probably got hardened after all those years and maybe still felt resentment towards him for initiating Near Third Impact (which killed Kaji among others). But even so, I felt like her coldness was more to keep the suspense rather than stay true to her character (plus she was the one encouraging him to do what we wanted at the time of Near Third Impact). It makes sense for Asuka to be cold to Shinji, since she was always standoffish like that, but Misato was always shown to be a source of warmth and the most "human" of the characters. But at least she made up with Shinji in the end and got to finish her story arc with a bang (literally).

-I'm not sure if it's still a thing now, but back in the day, Shinji got a lot of hate from anime fans for being too whiny and indecisive when confronted with his task of piloting the Eva. But even all those years ago, I always thought those reactions made him believable. Maybe it's because he's compared to anime shonen heroes like Naruto and Luffy, who are always cheerful and brimming with motivation, while Shinji is pretty much the opposite of those kinds of characters. But it makes sense for him to be like that...if I were a fourteen-year old kid who never knew my mother, had a father who abandoned me, and had to live on my own in a crumbling world while witnessing death and destruction all around, I'd be pretty hesitant and scared too. He's definitely not a "wish-fulfilling" protagonist like many shonen and super heroes are, but a protagonist grounded more in reality, representing a disillusioned youth. So it was nice to see him finally get over his insecurities and be proactive with saving everyone at the end of Thrice Upon a Time (compared to everyone giving him the pep talk at the end of the original series). Though I did think his personality shift was a bit abrupt...he was at his lowest point at the beginning of Thrice Upon a Time, but the one kind gesture from Rei seemed to immediately snap him out of it. A little more gradual build-up to his change would have been better, but it's a nitpick.

-Mari was an enigma in 2.22 and 3.33, so I was hoping Thrice Upon a Time would give us her origin story. Unfortunately, it didn't offer much and maybe brought up more questions than not. My main question is, we see that she knew Gendo and Yui when they were younger, yet if she was their age then, that doesn't match up to the age she appears to be when Shinji first meets her. So she must have been afflicted with the "Eva curse" all those years back, which means she must have become an Eva pilot around that time, but it seems too soon. I thought the first Evangelion pilots didn't exist until after Yui died, so Mari should have been older...I don't know, I'm still having trouble figuring out her place in the timeline. But besides that, I did like her relationship with Asuka that we see in Thrice Upon a Time. Again, it makes sense in terms of the time-skip that they'd develop a good friendship after spending all those years being Eva pilots together.

-I don't have a lot to say about Rei, since I feel her story arc is one of the simpler ones (which isn't saying much for this series, lol). The scenes of her in Village 3 in Thrice Upon a Time were endearing, though I knew they would end in tragedy. Actually, that whole part of the movie with the characters spending time in the village was great. The world-building in those scenes was fantastic too - it really felt like what a post-apocolyptic survival camp in that situation would be like. It was nice to see the characters partaking in and reacting to situations that don't have to do with Angels and Evas (spin-off series for this when?)

-And lastly, how did I interpret the end of the Rebuild saga? Was I satisfied with how it ended? Right after I watched Thrice Upon a Time, I wasn't totally sure. But after reading some more wiki pages and watching some explanation videos, especially this one here (it's a great explanation if you can forgive the bad pronunciation of the names), I've realized just how brilliant of a conclusion it is. There's been speculation that the story involves a time loop, with the events of the original TV series, as well as the Death & Rebirth and End of Evangelion movies, being different versions of the time loop, while the Rebuild movies is where the loop ends because Shinji finally overcomes the pain of his past and can restore the world this time (while he had failed to in the previous loops). I don't think it's a time loop so much as a cycle that keeps resetting and repeating. Further support for this theory is that Kaoru acts like he's met Shinji before, since he's reborn in each cycle to meet Shinji only to be killed by him later (all the coffins seen on the moon are for his past/future selves). I think the final movie title is symbolic of this too, with "Thrice Upon a Time" meaning "three times upon a time," the three times being the three cycles of the Evangelion story: the original TV series, the movies Death & Rebirth and The End of Evangelion, and finally the Rebirth movies. But mostly, the scene towards the end where Shinji meets Rei in the anti-verse, and they're standing in what appears to be a filming room while projected images from the Eva TV series are shown behind them. This to me symbolizes that the original Eva series exists in the Rebuild movies as one version of the cycle, and Shinji has now finally broken out of the loop. Once Shinji has saved everyone, the filming room (which symbolizes the old versions of the story, as I believe it's supposed to be the room where live-action footage used in previous Eva works was filmed) fades away and the literal animation around Shinji begins to break down into its purest forms, as key animation, then layouts, etc., - a near 4th wall-breaking depiction of the world resetting. However, Gendo and Yui had sacrificed themselves so that Shinji wouldn't have to, so Mari is able to pull him back into the world, just like she had promised. In the end, Shinji is able to join his friends in the new world that's free of Evas. Without the Eva curse, all the pilots are now their proper ages as well. The movie closes with Mari and Shinji heading off somewhere in their new lives while the environment merges into live-action footage, representing the fact that the story has now transcended animation and is now "real" because the cycle has finally ended and a true Neon Genesis took place. Like many aspects of the franchise, there are many ways to interpret this ending, but this is the interpretation I've settled on.

-While I am satisfied with the ending overall, I do wish the epilogue showed us more of what the other characters were doing, especially the survivors from Wille and Village 3. I know we can assume they're living out their lives as well, but it would have been nice to get confirmation of that with a few quick cameos. But there are some main characters whose fates are uncertain, particularly Misato, Kaji, and Fuyutsuki. I'm assuming the only people Shinji was able to save were the ones whose souls were still bound to Evas, namely Asuka, Rei, and Kaoru. I don't know about Kaji since I'm still not clear on exactly how he died. Maybe Shinji couldn't save Misato because she died "for real" and wasn't just trapped inside an Eva/Angel. But it is implied that many souls, not just Eva pilots, were saved when the world was restored...so maybe she was too? And like Kaji, I'm not sure what happened with Fuyutsuki. Did he turn into LCL because he gave up his humanity in some way, like Gendo? I'm also a little salty that we didn't get a decent shot of adult Asuka at the train station, lol. I'm not sure if the ending was hinting at Mari and Shinji being an item...possibly Rei and Kaoru too, maybe even Asuka and Kensuke. Like many things in the franchise, the eventual pairings, or lack thereof, could be interpreted in many ways.

In conclusion, while there were some aspects of the old Eva TV series and movies that I liked better, the Rebuild movies overall did an excellent job of retelling the story with the same rich lore and thought-provoking symbolism that we're used to for the franchise, but with enough new twists to make it stand out. And as I mentioned in my interpretation of the ending, these movies weren't just a retelling but a redefinition of the franchise as whole, bringing together the previous versions of the story and giving them true closure. Though we could see some spin-off material at some point, Thrice Upon a Time does seem like it was intended to be the final installment of the Evangelion series. While I was satisfied enough with the endings for the TV series and End of Eva movie, having watched the Rebuild movies, I do believe they're the "retelling we didn't know we needed." It's a tad bittersweet to know that such an influential franchise, and one of my favorite anime for years, has come to its true end. So, to translate the text in the below fan art...

"Thank you , Evangelion."

*Artwork credited to リオ on pixiv*

[toraashi]

Haikyuu Boys as Songs From My “Songs I’ve Cried To At 3am” Playlist

A/N: Hello all! No, I did not need to make this, but I hope you enjoy it because I did spend a lot of time on it 😂. This playlist is literally all over the place, so hopefully this is entertaining lmao

[ All of the songs have YouTube links on them if you want to hear them! They’re all amazing songs! ]

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6jdHk3a83shoAGgG7mPw21?si=x77gHbPwQ1eja-ehrljOLw

Karasuno:

Hinata: Sofia by Clairo. It’s actually kind of a happy song and Hinata is a ray of sunshine. I cried to it purely because of the line “I think we could do it if we tried.” LIKE I WAS SOBBING

Kageyama: Bravado by Lorde. I cried to this when I was a kid and I’ve assigned it to him because of it’s like about her rising above her shortcomings to embrace her career/fame and Kageyama basically did that when he chilled out from the king of the court thing

Suga: Epiphany by BTS because he learned to let go of his envy of Kageyama and be happy for his team and himself even though he wasn’t on the starting line-up

Daichi: Not About Angels by Birdy and Next To You from Parasyte cuz that’s the part where the girl dies. Rest in Peace Daichi 😔💔🪦 some angels leave us too soon

Tsukki: Car Radio by Twenty One Pilots. Idk he just screams TOP to me

Yamaguchi: Literally this OST from Mulan where she cuts all her hair off. Also Bravado by Lorde and Epiphany by BTS because he radiates all of those “overcoming my weaknesses and mental barriers to become my best self” vibes

Nishinoya: Training Wheels by Melanie Martinez because of the scene of him biking as a kid he used to be scared of everything and now he’s not and I just love my baby boi

Tanaka: If You’re Not The One by Daniel Bedingfield because he would sing that to Kiyoko TELL ME HE WOULDN’T YOU CANNOT BECAUSE HE WOULD BECAUSE THEY LOVE EACH OTHER ugly cries

Seijoh:

Oikawa: Girl From Mars by Cosmic Child because space AND BECAUSE IT’S LITERALLY ABOUT SOMEONE WHO HIDES THEIR SADNESS AND THAT’S OIKAWA HE’S DEPRESSED. That’s self-explanatory. And the Most Beautiful Moment In Life by BTS because it’s literally about Suga putting his all into basketball and neglecting his life to the point that he’s scared of it and I just feel like that’s Oikawa

Iwaizumi: Heart by Heart by Demi Lovato because I feel like he’d just be the best sweetest boyfriend and like the romance would just be so passionate and I- that’s all I love Iwa

Nekoma:

Kuroo: Mind over Matter by Young the Giant and Hometown Glory by Adele. Kuroo gives me intense “cute neighbor boy you’ve had a crush on forever” vibes. Mind Over Matter never fails to make me sob

Kenma: SUBWOOFER LULLABY LMAOOO and This Side of Paradise by Coyote Theory because I want to be lonely with Kenma

Lev: Class of 2013 by Mitski because Lev is def the bby of the family and 100% needed to be kicked out of the house

Yaku: Like or Like Like by Minature Tigers cuz it’s happy and I just can’t imagine Yaku as anything but happy or maybe frustrated tbh. I’m not sure why I cried to this song but I definitely did.

Fukurodani:

Bokuto: Always Forever by Cults. I want to be with Bokuto always forever and it’s just so sweet and pure and that’s Kou for you and I just love him and this song makes me feel so much. And One of One by Duendita because that’s how he’d make his s/o feel. I’m not wrong.

Akaashi: GOLD RUSH BY TAYLOR SWIFT. WHY? Because Akaashi is absolutely stunning and that’s what the song talks about. ALSO THIS OST FROM HXH BECAUSE IT’S THE PART WHERE KILLUA IS LIKE “GON YOU ARE LIGHT” AND THAT’S LITERALLY HOW AKAASHI FEELS ABOUT BOKUTO TELL ME I’M WRONG YOU CAN’T. Also Everything I Wanted by Billie Eilish because he would. HE WOULD. No.1 Reliable boi Kaashi

Shiratorizawa:

Ushijima: Ghostin by Ariana Grande because I want to ghost him. Not really but like the only pity I ever had for him was when his parents bullied him for being left-handed like wtf was that

Tendo: …yeah I cried to Unravel from Tokyo Ghoul at 3am, but listen I’m giving it to Tendo because he did not deserve to be called a monster like he is literally an angel and I’m glad he embraced it but like TF HE WAS A CHILD.

Semi: 505 by Arctic Monkeys. Semi the actual celebrity. He writes music like this. Semi deadass would write this song. Semi is a sex icon as an adult for sure. He deserves this song

Inarizaki:

Kita: New Year’s Day by Taylor Swift. Kita is the one to enjoy the domestic moments in life after the party with. He’d stay and help you pick up the party, HE’S LITERALLY PERFECT OKAY?? And Wait by M83. It just gives me Kita vibes.

Aran: The Night by Lovewave. It’s so calm like my boy Aran is and like just imagine walking home late at night with him and then like parting ways forever. It just screams Aran.

Osamu: SATISFIED FROM HAMILTON. Yeah, I cried to this because I have a little sister. And Osamu gives me intense “I sacrifice a lot for my impulsive sibling and they don’t see it” vibes 

Atsumu: NUMBER 1 PARTY ANTHEM by Artic Monkeys. This song literally just screams Atsumu. I can’t explain it. Sexy, heartbroken Atsumu trying to hit up a girl at the bar as a distraction just to find out she’s taken just immediately reminds me of Atsumu. Also Boyish by Japanese Breakfast cuz I wrote a fic about it. 

Suna: Quit by Cashmere Cat and Ariana Grande. Idk. It just makes me think of him. Maybe it’s because it talks about the person she’s leaving like a drug and Suna gives me intense stoner vibes.

Other:

Sakusa: Clean by Taylor Swift 🤷🏻‍♀️

MASTERLISTS

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[rachelbethhines]

Vintage Shows to Watch While You Wait for the Next Episode of WandaVision - The 50s

So the first three episodes of Wandavision have dropped onto Disney Plus and like me you’re probably already obsessing over it. Also like me you’re probably jonesing for another fix while waiting for more as the episodes only come out once a week. 

But never fear, we literally have decades of cheesy comedy sitcoms to sift through to keep us entertained during quarantine. Along with the occasional action and/or horror stuff  if you’re so inclined. So if you’re trying to decide where to start I’ll be making short lists for each decade that coincides with each episode. 

1. I Love Lucy (1951- 1957)

The granddaddy of all American television sitcoms staring the first lady of comedy herself, Lucille Ball. While not the first sitcom to air, tv had been kicking around since the late 40s, this show did pave the way for many technical innovations for the new medium both on and behind the scenes. As such Elisabeth Olsen cited Miss Ball’s work as one of her inspirations for her role as Wanda in the series, as do many a woman entering into the comedic field. 

Also the show is just flat out funny. One of those rare 50s sitcoms that manages to overcome some of it’s more dated aspects through shear force of personality and peak comedic screwball antics. The only downside is you have to have Hulu to watch it as the copywrite is tightly controlled even to this day.  

2. Amos ‘n Andy (1951-1953)

The 1950s television landscape was overwhelemingly white. It’s no secret that POC had a hard time finding work in the field of entertainment let alone be the stars of the show. Amos ‘n Andy, a spin off of the earlier same titled radio show, was one of, if not the first black led shows on television and so deserves a mention just for that alone. 

Now I will not act as if this show is perfect or ahead of it’s time. The series was controversial even during its day for is depictions of racial stereotypes. Eventually the series was canceled because of protests from the NAACP despite being very popular in the ratings. However I’m a full believer that history should be observed and talked about in order to progress further so check out an episode or two on youtube and decide for yourself if it’s worth remembering or not. 

3. The Adventures of Superman (1952 - 1958)

Ok, not a sitcom, but as we all know, Wandavision isn’t just a sitcom it’s also a superhero show and this is one of the first tv series in this genre. It and the Fleischer Superman cartoons from the previous decade helped to make the juggernaut industry that we know today. 

Plus Superman did an official crossover with I Love Lucy, seriously. 

4. The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952 - 1966)

Hardly anyone talks about it today, but Ozzie and Harriet is the longest running sitcom to date. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia being the only other show threating to up seat it come next year. However the two sitcoms couldn’t be any more different. 

The series stared the real life Nelson family who had got their start in radio as comedians and singers who then crossed over into tv. While the show was completely scripted it tried to hew as close to real life as possible, kicking off American’s obsession with platonic voyeurism. Much in the way Wandavision has the meta storyline of being watch in their own home. 

5. Father Knows Best (1954 - 1960)

Another radio to television entry here, however the series drastically changed the main character during the transition. During the 40s radio sitcoms were very biting and sarcastic, often either going the complete surreal screwball route or were satires of the day. This fell out of favor as tv became more dominated by commercials and advertisers feared offending their potential costumers. So things were greatly toned down as the decade progressed. 

Therefore when Father Knows Best hit the small screen gone was the rude and domineering dad and in his place we got the very model tv father; affable, gentle, loving, devoted, and very congenial. All traits we love to see in Vision some six decades later.      

6. The Honeymooners (1955 - 1956)

I physically can not make a recommendation list of 50s sitcoms and not mention The Hoonymooners. I just can’t. It’s one of the greatest sitcoms ever made and hugely influential. So much so that The Flintstones ripped off the series whole sale to the point that Jackie Gleason threatened to sue Hanna-Barbera. However there’s little such influence in Wandvision. 

See what made The Honeymooners stand out at the time and what gave it such longevity is the fact that the main characters were poor. They lived in a cramped and over crowded sparsely furnitured one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. They owed bills, they dressed plainly, they worked long hours at low paying jobs, and they were often dirty from said work. 

Much like how Wandavision will pull back the curtain a little to see the reality hiding underneath their suburban utopia, so too did The Honeymooners defy the the ‘perfect American dream’ that was soled on tv during the 50s to show us the trauma of poverty and the only thing that you can do when you find yourself trapped within that reality, laugh. 

7. Leave it to Beaver (1957 - 1963)

You can not get any more quintessentially 50s than Leave it to Beaver. The series has become synonymous with the decade and it’s take on the ideal American family life to the point where it’s become a punchline of numerus jokes criticizing the values and attitudes of the era. 

Does it really deserve such mockery? Who knows. I think one needs to watch it for themselves to decide. However it slots right into the aesthetic that the first episode of Wandavision is trying to recreate and it must have been popular for a reason, right? 

8. The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959 - 1963)

We featured wholesome family sitcoms and screwball comedies with married folks but we haven’t covered any surrealist humor yet, and Wandavision is seeped into that sort of stuff. That’s because there really isn’t a lot of fantasy in most 50s sitcoms. So while the trappings for episode one of Wandavision is very 50s the effects and premise is more 1960s. 

That’s where Dobie Gillis comes into play. Like Wandavision, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is based off a comic book, or comic strip rather. However that comic was very down to earth and tame compared to the tv show. More fondly remembered as the inspiration for Scooby Doo a decade later, Dobie Gillis quickly transformed from a typical coming of age show about teenagers to a surreal, sarcastic, tongue in cheek comedy, complete with get rich quick schemes, spys, bongos, and a giant chicken. 

9. Bonanza (1959 - 1973) 

Yeah, I know all of y’all are judging me right now. “A western in a sitcom/sic-fi list? What are you thinking?” Well one really can’t talk about 50s television and not mention westerns of some sort. They permeated all mediums and dominated the cultural air waves. And Bonanza is far more than just a western.

Bonanza is literally every thing. It’s every genre at once; western, historical drama, sitcom, action adventure, satire, crime drama, soap opera ,and yes even the occasional foray into science fiction, albeit with a more Jules Vern take than a typical spaceman theming. 

If Wandavision is a melding pot of seemingly disconnected genres then it’s because Bonanza paved the way with it’s similar breakage of formula. 

10 The Twilight Zone (1959 to 1964)

Yeah, you probably knew this was coming. When not being a homage to sitcoms Wandavision is a downright horror movie, but not one with gore and mindless monsters. Rather the show evokes old school surrealist horror, like that employed in the famous (or infamous) Twilight Zone. 

What you probably didn’t know is that we have the I Love Lucy show to thank for it. See Lucille Ball and her then husband Desi Arnaz had created their own production company in order to make I Love Lucy. This production company,  Desilu Productions, is responsible for picking up Rod Sterling’s pilot and producing The Twilight Zone. 

Runner Ups

Good shows that have little to do with Wandavision but are good anyways.

What’s My Line (1950 - 1967)

Just a really fun game show. Stars of the day would sometimes appear on it including many of the sitcom comedians listed above

Have Gun - Will Travel (1957 - 1963) 

One of the very few pure westerns that I can tolerate. The lead actually cares about people and justice and will stand up to bigots.  

Dennis the Menace (1959 - 1963)

While I have fond memories of the 90s film, I thought it was a tad redundant to put on the list when there’s already Leave it to Beaver. 

So there’s the 50s list. On Wednesday I’ll post a list for the 60s and cover some of the more obvious stuff Wandavision was paying homage to. 

[necronymie]

Meet the Writers of gen:LOCK Season 2 Panel Summary

Summary under the cut because this shit is LONG

There's a fun ad before the panel about how attractive MBJ is

“We may be lesbians, but we’re not blind!”

Moderated by Dorian Parks, editor in chief of Geeks of Color

Panel starts with a thank-you to HBO Max for facilitating the production of Season 2, as well as other RT shows.

Panel members include:

Daniel Dominguez: Head writer of s2

Maasai Singleton: Writer’s assistant, wrote a few episodes

Evan Narcisse: Staff writer, wrote on s1 as well

Kristle Peluso: Staff writer

Gavin Hignight: Staff writer

How did the writer’s room come together?

Dan and Evan are old friends

Kristle and Dan were introduced by a common friend/coworker

Dan and Gavin also knew each other before working together

Maasai was the only person who Dan did not know previously

To Evan: How has your journey as a writer informed your writing choices

He began as a critic, and that has made a big impact

He now pays much attention to the impact of a show’s message

To Dan: what made you want to write for GL?

He's been writing his whole life, as cheesy as that is

His first novella was written at 6 years old and it was a rip off of Nightmare on Elm Street

It was 7 pages of a woman turning into a cockroach

Kristle jokes that it's his best work to date

They joke that s2 is 8 episodes of a woman turning into a cockroach in the shower.

(Honestly I’d still watch it)

What drew him to GL: its this wonderful diverse cast telling a meaningful story about giant robot battles.

To Maasai: How was this as a start into the industry?

“We just vibed.”

“We would always say, there's mindshare in GL, and there's mindshare between the writers!”

Everyone cries at that

His first script was amazing, according to the rest of the writers

Daniel talks about how incredible Maasai is

Maasai and Kristle talk about how creative a leader Daniel is

The writers talk about how insane some of the pitches for s2 were, and how the environment in the writers room was very accepting of the more outlandish ideas

“At the end of the day, our job is about being vulnerable, because that's what storytelling is”

What inspired you and made you want to write?

Gavin has always been writing

Evan is an old school comichead; he's always been a reader, and for the bulk of his career, he was a journalist and critic. 

Helping create the worlds he used to analyze is fascinating

Daniel jokes how Evan is going to get a kick out of the terrible reddit thread that will come from s2

Kristle remembers in second grade when she wrote a comedy for class and a kid laughed so hard that he fell out of his chair, and that made her realize that words have power. 

She was a journalist and worked in marketing for a while (she hated it)

Especially as a woman, its very exciting working in a male-dominated industry

How do you guys feel about how inclusive the writers room is, and how did that affect the writing?

It was very intentional. No one can better tell the stories of these people than the writers who understand their struggles

Hollywood has been dominated by a monoculture of writers

Dan jokes that he is “the whitest Mexican-American that you've ever met”

Our writers room needs to look like the people whose stories we’re telling

There was a good amount of religious diversity in the room, and that shaded the story in various ways

Its implied that the above comment has a lot to do with the storyline of s2

Dan kept running around the table and yelling “Where is your god now?”

Evan recalls how Dan made the team pull apart the DNA of s1 to construct s2

What do you think the turning point of inclusivity came?

Never. It still hasn't happened

Shame is an incredibly powerful weapon, and that is what forces the people in charge to change

Evan talks about how media like the Black Panther movie definitely inspire writers and creators to create more inclusive media.

gL is a part of the movement, but the wave hasn't crashed yet

Dan talks about how lucrative inclusive media is

“Do it for the money, if not the people!”

We don't just want to see ourselves in protagonists, we want to see other people, we want to see other viewpoints, experience other experiences

“I personally don't know what it's like to pilot a giant mech, but-” “you don't?”

Looking for a common ground like this important for the storyline of s2. This struggle and this attempt of unity through looking into each other's minds is a key theme.

Maasai brings up that diversity is good because you need conflict in a story. Our character's diversity drives their character arcs, and forces them to change. They make each other think differently, literally and metaphorically

The conflicts that we see in s2, both micro and macro, the seeds are all there in s1, the camera is just pulled out to see the larger picture. 

Evan jokingly “spoils” that there is war in season 2

What media inspired s2? Did you draw from any specific influences?

Gavin says that he focused on the horror of the technology. How does this technology affect those who use it?

Dan talks about how Gavin made him think more about how terrifying gL is, made him question his own humanity.

They drew from so many influences from youtube video essays to Shakespeare

They ripped off even more of Tempest in s2

Kristle talks about keeping the hope in the disaster that is s2

She says that s2 has many parallels with 2020 and the pandemic, some explicit, some not

Evan always worked remotely; that prepared the room to work from home when the pandemic struck

Evan says that he was inspired by writers who focused on how prejudices perpetuate over centuries, and how humanity changes the world

Evan has always tried to emphasize the mutual responsibility humanity has to care for each other, and the past year has made him put more energy behind that message.

Dan talks about how s2 tries to make people ask themselves if humanity is even capable of fixing our mistakes

“We got big robots, man!” “its dope!”

Can you spoil anything about s2 before the panel ends?

In GL, in the future, the only restaurant left is Taco Bell

Chase has some heavy stuff ahead of him.

[woulddieforperrytheplatypus]

Dan Povenmire, co-creator of Phineas and Ferb and the voice of Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, just did a zoom call for fans, and this is a link to it on Google Drive and a link to it on YouTube.

Here’s a brief overlay brought to you by my incessant live blogging, and because I was speed typing on my phone, I can guarantee not everything made the cut. If you’re interested in hearing Dan talk about growing up an artist and becoming an animator and trying to pitch Phineas and Ferb and working on the show and movies, I would definitely suggest checking out the full 75 minute video. The highlights from the call are below the cut.

They added Doof and Perry because they liked chase scenes. They realized fairly quickly that more than not, the pair led to good comedy, and found it much more interesting to see how their relationship developed. He also says that they are "the most important person to each other” and “they’re really good friends.”

They wrote the Perry theme song in an hour between meetings with Disney

They decided during the pilot that they weren't going to try to get comedy from the characters saying mean things to each other. Even Doofenshmirtz wasn't motivated by evil, he just wanted to get the attention he didn't get at home.

Doof’s backstories were not Dan and Swampy's idea. They were from Jon Barry and Chris Hendrick, who [itched the lawn gnome backstory. It was long and compliated and Dan and Swampy couldn’t stop laughing. They also provided the "it all started on the day of my birth” one the next day.

making the 2D movie while making the movie was the busiest Dan says he has ever been, and that's not even counting the PnF Take Two and Doof's web show and all the interviews. Basically, 2010ish was a very busy time in the Dwampyverse.

They decided to give each pair of writers their own section of an outline to work on, and each pair got to make up the dialogue and jokes based on it. it works well for the show, but writers kept going on their own tangents and the movie ended up like 6 hours long. Dan and Kyle Menke had to redraw 80% of the show because they had to cut gags out and rewrite it so it was still funny. Note: in the new movie, they did the opposite — they wrote a script and told the board artists that they could put brief gags in but nothing too long

He thinks the show became one of the most beloved shows bc it was innocent and the adult humor wasn't dirty so the whole family could watch it together. He also said the songs at the closest thing you get to immortality in a show. Those combined made the show as big of a hit as it was, and hopefully those things will get older people to watch the movie.

His advice if you want to follow in his footsteps are to draw (and suggest you check out Cartoon Animation by Preston Blaire and How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee) and to know that these jobs are out there

One of his favorite gags in PnF are the silent moments where something big happens and no one reacts (like something big fell in an early episode and crashed next to Phineas and co and at first they were all shocked but Dan changed it to them just kinda looking at it for a moment with no emotion)

Q: Did you ever want to quit what you were going?

A: "I don't really... do... anything else..."

He finished his new pilot today (July 2nd, 2020) and the movie is due tomorrow.

He would love to do more PnF and there's been talks of another PnF movie

He would love to do more Milo Murphy's Law, but it never got huge ratings and Disney's not too big on it but if people start watching it on Disney+ they might get to keep doing it. They did that with Family Guy, and it could happen to MML too.

The movie feels like old Phineas and Ferb and there are a lot of great songs! 

And now, the Q&A (in which he draws random characters are he talks)

How was the process of kicking the voices?

It was sometime easy but sometimes very difficult. For Phineas, they listened to maybe a thousand people. they actually recorded someone but they put it to animation and it didn't really work. He knew as soon as he heard Vincent that he loved him. They literally recasted the lead (Vincent) the day before they had to deliver the pilot.

He knew immediately that he liked Alison Stoner. She was the second Isabella he heard, and he listened to maybe 50 others afterwards, but he knew he wanted Alison Stoner

They decided on a different Candace and they sent it to the head of the channel and the guy asked if he heard Ashley Tisdale. He told Dan to have her come in and give her direction and Dan was hesitant bc he had one that he liked but he was lowkey forced to bring her in. It was his only audition that day, and after his big block of text Dan gave her like 20 notes and she wrote the notes on the big block of text and she did it again and it was perfect and obviously Candace (but he feels bad for the actress that was almost Candace bc she'll never know how close she was)

What was the most impactful episode you worked on?

Either the last (hard to watch w/o crying) or three moments that made himcey while doing them: the end of Summer Belongs To You when Phineas gives up trying to get off the island and decides to watch the sunset with Isabella which was what she always wanted and she exploded and talked him back up onto being the person he is even tho it's a sacrifice on her behalf. He later says he started crying while pitching to his wife the AYA scene of Phinabella getting together.

Do you regret any episodes?

There are some he likes more and some he likes less but he doesn't regret any of them. He was a little disappointed in an early episode without a sing but he watched it alter and decided it was actually pretty decent. None of them make him cringe or wonder why they did that.

How has social media impacted PnF?

He recently got on TikTok and found out that's where all the PnF fans are. He was thrilled to see the response everything was getting and it made him feel good about everything he accomplished. The fact that this generation knows what an aglet is is his biggest accomplishment in pop culture.

Favorite part of working on the show/movie

He likes editing, but writing the songs is the most fun bc it feels the least like work

Who is Ferb's mom?

Never established or really thought about Ferb's mom or Phineas's dad AND IT'S NOT DOOFENSHMIRTZ THEY MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR THAT TO BE TRUE STOP ASKING and Phineas and Candace are full brother and sister. The bio parents aren't interesting to them bc the family already has a mom and dad and the other ones are just out of the picture and not important.

Will there be a new character in the movie?

Super Super Big Doctor (and Disney keeps telling him what he can and can't talk about)

Are there any secrets or theories that he can tell them?

The freaking creepy pasta about schitzophrenic Candace IS NOT TRUE Phineas and Ferb do exist and are alive. There's also a theory that Candace is not based on the diary of a teen girl in Russia who killed herself, and that's not true either. He genuinely thinks they are really freaking stupid theories and they make no sense at all.

Who is your favorite guest star?

Writing a song with Slash from Guns n Roses was really cool. He also liked working with Ben Stiller, Christian Slater the delivery guy (he called and said he'd do any part in MML so they wrote him a role), Jack McBrayer (Irving/Fix It Felix), Wayne Brady (co-wrote In The Empire)

What is the motivation of Candace to bust the boys?

He's not trying to hurt them. She doesn't dislike them. She gets irritated but she's really just looking for fairness. If she built a rollercoaster in the backyard, she'd get in trouble, so they should get in trouble, too.

How did you think about hot to end the show?

Disney was starting to cool off on PnF. The merch wave had plateaued. Dan and Swampy had the next two years in the show already made, but Disney wouldn't pick up another season until they finished airing that season. They'd have to restaff for a new season and they didn't like that idea, so they turned one of their hour long specials into the finale. He wanted to be able to say goodbye and thank the fans.

[discotreque]

Disco 3.05: Die Trying

Over the years, I have delivered so many condescending lectures about how it's everyone's responsibility to curate their own fandom experience, and if you're not having fun participating in this totally voluntary free hobby, that's nobody's problem to solve but yours. But I can be sloppy, or careless, or fail to unfollow someone who reblogs excellent gif sets but also a lot of toxic discourse—or whatever—and then I wake up one day like, "When did this stop being fun?"

Well... when I stopped putting in the effort to keep it fun, that's when.

Anyway. I'm staying out of shitpits like Reddit and YouTube, I only follow podcast feeds and Jola stan accounts on Twitter, and I'm back to blocking bad Tumblr takes on sight. I've loved Star Trek for 30 years and it's in the middle of a glorious renaissance—I'm not going to let some weird assholes on the internet take that away from me.

Onward!

Pictured: Owosekun’s impression of me watching this episode.

The little "Captain ;)" "Number One :) :) :)" between Michael and Saru in the first scene was so bittersweet and tender I could hardly breathe. The ghost of Prime Georgiou haunts their relationship in such a devastating way.

The bridge crew getting all :D over the future Starfleet ship designs was such a delightful reminder that this is a ship almost entirely crewed by young nerds <3 <3 <3

The Voyager-J, ahahaha, YES. And the USS Nog, NCC-325070 😭😭😭 (Can't believe it took them hundreds of years to name a ship after the first Ferengi in Starfleet though, come on)

I can't remember what we've seen for Starfleet C-in-C rank emblems before, but Vance seems to have double insignia of FIVE pips + TWO bars—that's a lot of hardware.

Eli's little bow tie fuckin SENT me. (I can't decide if a bow tie would have made the EMH on Voyager more or less insufferable.)

Hmmm. Might come back and revise/delete this point later because maybe they're building to something, but Saru seems almost dangerously naïve right now? (Also, I get that Michael might have become a little more chaotic good during her year with Book, but—she used to be able to manipulate Saru better than this, too. Hmmmmm.)

"Clinically dead?" "Well, I was emotionally dead, too—and I was murdered."

DAVID CRONENBERG????? (Oh shit, is this a backdoor pilot for S31?) You know he’s up to no good because he’s wearing glasses—and a tie. On Star Trek. What the fuck is up with this freak.

I should hate Mirror!Georgiou. I should hate that she's even on the show. I should REALLY hate that she's getting her own series—I don't have a problem with evil protagonists, it's just not a good fit for my idea of Star Trek, and literally every Section 31 story after the first one on DS9 sucked—but Michelle Yeoh is having SO MUCH FUN, and I'm delighted she's ending up with more to do than get shot down for suggesting "genocide" at every senior staff meeting she's inexplicably invited to.

...and then the episode got so interesting I stopped taking notes! "Spooky mystery with a tragic twist" is my favourite subgenre of Star Trek episode, and this was a banger. I loved the "haunted" seed vault as a setting, and I loved the very emotional heart to a very science-fiction problem—and the way the sci-fi and the feelings dovetailed into an awkwardly on-the-nose metaphor about "letting go" at the end was icing on the cake for me. That's my Star Trek.

And as much as I'm going to miss desperately wanting to smooch Nhan every time she's on screen, I loved the way she leaves the ship here: it's a drastic decision, but it's obviously rooted in her homesickness for the 23rd century, and it gives us a good example of the turmoil that must be happening off-camera for the rest of the crew. (And I suspect she’ll be back: I know Rachael Ancheril has filmed more for Discovery than this.)

I cried again! So much! This is a show full of charismatic, talented (and gorgeous) actors, and they're finally getting a chance to flex their skills and chemistry in these long, practically luxurious scenes that serve no other purpose but to deepen our emotional attachment to these characters. Can you even imagine saying that about Season 1?

It's still not perfect, but Season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery feels like it's at least trying to become the show I've always wanted it to be. After the underwhelm of Picard and the stunning success of Lower Decks, I'm keeping my expectations for Disco carefully neutral—but they keep dropping episodes like this, and those expectations are creeping up week by week.

Next week post: I don't know, because I didn't watch the trailer, because I'm going to watch the episode as soon as I post this—but I think I saw a gif of Book and Michael kissing, so if you hear someone screaming "FINALLY!" from a vaguely Canada-ish direction, that's probably me.

[tomatoluvr69]

I grew up on the Archie Comics and Jughead was literally one of the first forms of asexual representation for me. I had high hopes for Riverdale. Watching the pilot was so off putting for me and I refused to watch it. I however get casual updates from the youtube channel alex meyers and am so right for not watching the show.

I also saw an interview with Cole Sprouse right when the show was beginning to do press for the show and he had said that the show had decided to not pursue the Reader's Digest route of having Jughead be asexual. Which I personally think is so dumb! Asexuals already don't get enough representation in media and sidenote: people who try to say Sheldon Cooper is asexual but I hate that they have the friends think they "fixed him" by getting him together with Amy.

But all that aside Riverdale could have been written so much better and should of let Jughead be asexual!

Let me preface by saying that the only things I know about riverdale are “I’m weird. I’m a weirdo. I don’t ‘fit’ in. I don’t want to fit in. Something about my hat [sic]” and that there’s a lot of like gang and supernatural stuff idk. That being said I can totally imagine being let down by it, it’s ridiculously different from its source material which I guess is fine for people who aren’t familiar with the source material and alienating to anyone who is. I think the other problem with it is that it’s just bad tbh. I’m sorry you had your representation snatched from you— that must have been very frustrating!!!

My hope for riverdale honestly is that it goes on for 10 more seasons, becomes even more unwatchable, and tarnishes the legacy of everyone who worked on it. This isn’t even my wish in a vitriolic way, just a sort of blasé way where I enjoy that bad media exists and would like to one day read a tumblr post telling me that Betty Cooper has died of diphtheria because she got cursed by the Fae Queen played by Bhad Bhabie (spelling?? Idk) in their epic duel over drilling rights in the Arctic

[dontbesoweirdkira]

Hey, it's me again, I hope you are still open for requests! You said I could ask for Mic content and, if I still can, what about some DadMic headcanons, with his own child and/or an adopted one?! Which one you prefer is fine! I hope you are doing well and thank you for the opportunity you gave me! Take care 💗

A/N: Hey you!! Thank you for requesting, it means a lot that you like my present mic work. And yes, you most definitely can have some DadMic headcanons. If you have any more requests just let me know. I did hours worth of homework and it deleted so i’m kind of like forget school and imma become a professional headcanon writer so honestly hit me up with as much stuff you want :)))))))

-

(i kind of wrote this like you are in the ages of like 6-10 so just keep that in mind)

-I feel he would have his child out of wedlock, maybe when he was younger out partying things got a little crazy then bam, next thing he knows he has a child with no mom and no idea what to do.

-cAlLs AizAwa 

-No but He’s a great Dad honestly, although he's clueless sometimes, he tends to figures things out fairly quickly

- At first it was really hard for him since he had this baby, a new hero career, and the whole world trashing on him, he totally broke down a few times and wanted to give up. BUt aizawa and his other friends helped him through and encouraged him

-You’re his little sunshine and HE LOVeS yoU tO death

-calls you literally any pet name that is very soft and cute and innocent

-He buys evErything for you, i swear! If you just look at something for more than two seconds, it’s in his cart and he’s buying it for you

-”dad you don-”

-”shh pumpkin, let daddy buy it for you.”

-your room is filled with what every girl wants to have

-He learns to do your hair, no matter the texture or thickness or length, he’ll watch youtube videos and figure it out

-he lets you do his hair as well, braiding it, curling it whatever, he’s totally fine with it. JuSt DoNt CUt iT

-New school year and you need new clothes?? Yeah over 1,000 dollars worth of stuff brought.

-speaking of school, sometimes you get comments and stuff from teachers or students because you might not look like him or because you don’t know who your mom is, ect.

-At first when you were younger, it didn’t hurt you, you couldn’t understand that anyways, but as you started to get older it affected you more and more until one day you came home crying to present, and it literally breaks his heart

-”Daddy, why isn’t my skin as light as yours, and my hair isn’t as thin? The other kids make fun of me for it...it really hurts me. And WHere is mom? Does she not love us? You’re really sweet i don’t know why she doesn’t want to be with you…”

-”why are you asking this?”

-”The kids and teachers at school…”

-RAGE MODE ACTIVATED

-He literally storms down to your school and demands that the questions and comments stop or he’s going to press charges

-Never ever was asked about any of those things again...well, more or less, sometimes you hear teachers or students whispering or makings sly comments but you chose to ignore those things 

-”DONT YOU EVER TALK TO ME OR MY LITTLE CUTIE PIE EVER AGAIN.”

-HUGs!! He hugs you like all the time everyday when he sees you. Like it’s his way it’s saying i love you although he screams that to you all the time

-”Y/N MY LITTLE GIRL,” *jump hugs* “I LOOOOOOOVveevVVEVVEvevV Ee YOuuUUUUUUOoUUUU”

- PROTECCS YOU AT ALL COSTS

-Like when the world found out that he had a kid, and he was still kind of a kid himself with a just starting a career, he kind of got shitted on a whole lot...by everyone and the press is always writing stories and stuff so when you were old enough to read or understand some stuff he’d often keep TV off or keep you away from the press and media although that became harder when you had to go outside and go to school but as much as he can limit that crazy stuff you see, he’ll do it.

-He makes sure you can defend yourself and as soon as you get your quirk, he’s training you. He will never push mega hard however he makes sure that the training is vigorous enough that when danger comes...you’re ready 

-Being a pro hero’s child can mean you’re in a lot of danger, people want to kill or kidnap you to hurt the hero so he’s constantly worries and on you about safety

-If your quirk is similar to his, skskkdnjsk he literally will SCREEEEEEEE, he thinks it’s so awesome you have a quirk like his and he will make sure that the both of you will annoy Aizawa 

-As much as Hizashi spoils you, you had to grow up a whole lot quickly. Even though he’s an underground hero and kinda works on his on time, his job is still quite demanding and he has to be gone a lot so that means you need to learn how to cook, clean, do your homework, etc. on your own so if anything happens (god forbid) you know how to take care of yourself. when you were younger tho he’d have a babysitter/nanny to look and take care of you while he’s at work

-Although when he is home he cooks and does all of that stuff. HE'S A REALLY GOOD COOK??????? Like seriously and don’t let me get started on the pastries he makes...mmmm yummm…

-only burnt down the kitchen once...Don’t tell Aizawa plez ;-;

-He actually feels very very bad about leaving you at home a lot with responsibility, he’s all about fun and really just being a kid so he always apologizes to you and plans something super fun when he’s off of work. Like laser tag, going out for ice cream, or just building forts at home. He makes sure you have a balance

-He might’ve brought you a puppy so you would have a friend, you let him name the puppy and now you have a “Mr.Ruffkins” running around your house

-He let’s you have girls night which is basically just you and him and sometimes a friend, and you guys just paint each other nails, put bows in each others hair, all the girly stuff,  and just talk about anything. 

-It’s his way i guess to make up for the mother-daughter time you don’t have in your life

-Cute picnics at the park with a bunch of snacks and you guys will just feed the little duckies and animals 

-Brings you around his agency or to his radio show all the time, like everyone that works there knows and loves you a whole lot. You even have a mini cute pink desk with a name tag on it.

-You have a little segment on his show called “LittleMic and PresentMic” and you guys just talk about crazy weird stuff and reach out to single Dads who are also raising up kids. It’s super cute i swear.

-Aizawa is your tired uncle that says he hates coming over but he comes over like everyday and eats all your food while watching TV on the couch 

-He’s the best uncle though but he’s super blunt. So sometimes you go to him for advice or just to talk. He adores you though and checks on you while DadMic is at work or something. 

-Aizawa call you “Kiddo” or “littleMic” or just “y/n”

-Present lets you pick out his new tattoos, and one time he let you draw one….now he has a crooked purple butterfly on his arm...it’s all good tho

-Father daughter danceeeeee ya ya ya! You guys bring the moves and the music to the dance floor like get out the mf way swines.

-He picked out your dress and you picked out his suit, he even let you do a little man bun

-sometimes when you guys are just chilling at home, you will play some of your favorite classics, and you will step on his feet and he’ll dance, you guess may have fell like twice.

-speaking of music and dancing, he will turn up all of the pop jams that you love (slipping some of his rock n’ roll faves) THROW candy all through out the house and both of you are dancing in weird costumes while singing

-”I LOOOOOOOOvvEEEE ROcKKK N ROLLLLL SO PUT ANOTHER DIME IN THE JUKE BOX bAE bEEEEEEBHEDB”

-You are very much involved in music and he showed you how to make your own mixtapes, playlists, and how to DJ on your own

-piggy back rideeeesss yuuuuhhhhh. When you’re feeling sad he randomly picks you up, twirls you onto his back and runs around the house yells

-”WOOOOOSSSHHHHHH MEGA JET FLYING A SAD PASSENGER, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY WOOOOOSSHHHSHSH”

-Usually does this until you’re laughing and playing along with him

-”KrrSHH THIS IS FLIGHTER PILOT Y/N WITH MY  TRUSTY JET YAMADA ON MY WAY TO DESTROY THE ENEMY PLANE, ANyoNE copPY?”

-one time you like dressed up like him for halloween and it was lit. hair somehow slicked up, black leather jacket and some headphones...wooo child you looked cool

-”PRESENT MIC MAY I GET YOUR AUTOGRAPH???”

-”nO PapArazzi PleAse”

-I feel as though you’d be bilingual, Japanese and English. I feel at home it’ll lean more towards English although there’s a hint of Japanese in there

-He rarely gets mad at you but if he did, it’s probably because you put yourself in danger or something of that sorts

-If you cannot sleep, he’ll let you sleep with him and he’ll have blue clues playing in the bakground to help “sooth you” (he enjoys that show very much”

-”THE CLUE IS RIGHT THERE BLUEEEE”

-”dad? I-”

-Tells you stories about his high school/early life and gives you advice

-”in conclusion do not throw a pumpkin at a security guard or you might get hurt...okay love bug?”

-The sweetest thing ever, like he randomly makes weird faces or says random things to make you laugh

-Forehead kisses or little cheek kisses

-Twirls you around and says “Ah my little princess looks lovely today”

-OMG TICKLE FIGHTS I SWEAR YOU’RE GASPING FOR AIR SOMEONE HELP YOU BUT LIKE ITS FUN

-You help him choose outfits when he’s indecisive

-”take away the scarf and go with the graphic tee and maybe the black boots instead of the red ones”

-”Look at my child, a fashion Icon.”

-He let you decorate the house so now there’s glitter, pink stuff, rainbows and sparkles all around the house but it’s super cute. 

-Many cute photos of you guys in macaroni picture frames.

-HE TAKES PICTURES OF EVERYTHING LIKE STACKS OF PHOTOS SMHHH TAKE THE CAMERA AWAAAAYYYYY

-Being Present’s Child would be super cute and mega fun. He’s one of the most interactive loving dads out there, you would never feel lost or lonely for a second. Seriously he is the dad that we all wanted/ needed as a kid lmao. 

[szintalikedthat]

Hello! I saw your post about playlists and I have a request for a vibe!

🎵 + When you're feeling really disconnected from yourself but also sort of angry at everything and then your cat comes and loves up to you and you're still angry and sad but you're also filled with so much love for this teeny tiny animal

Hell yes!!!!

What makes this ask so awesome, is that not only it is a really interesting vibe that I just felt in my heart on 6 different cosmic levels, but it comes with a full blown 5 act structure, which I will be more than happy to indulge... especially because telling a narrative arc with strategically ordered songs is my favourite thing about building a playlist.

When I was thinking about where to begin, I felt like the only genre that can truly encompass the range of emotions contained herein AND even the cuteness of a cat, was none other than emo. Am I right or am I right? But I have to confess, I'm not super familiar with the emo scene, cause when it happened, I went through a phase of listening to very little to no music. And like I said, I cannot accurately pinpoint musical genres because I just sort them in my head completely differently, so... this playlist has maybe like one or two songs that are actually emo, I think(?) and is not so much emo overall as much as "Songs that made me feel like what I thought emo should feel like". However I do know that some emo bands like to have one foot in metal and the other in electronic music, so this is what created the backbone of this playlist that holds it all together - an electronic and/or industrial metal streak. Fingers crossed that this will be up your alley.

I made a spotify compilation of it all but I also linked the individual songs thru youtube in case someone doesn’t use it.

Enjoy! 🎵

1. Dissociation Every Day is Exactly The Same - Elektrik People

I consider this kind of a blatant choice in my neck of the musical woods but if there has ever been a better song written about that very emotion that you were talking about, I haven't heard it. I offer it to you now like a special gift directly from the playlist of a very personal OC who himself has some issues and dissociative tendencies. Yes, I'm talking about my OCs I'm projecting onto of whom nobody fucking asked, because I don't want to make this too personal, what about it. Don't we all? And yes, this IS the Nine Inch Nails song, but I chose this version - and tbh I like this one better than the original, with all due respect to Mr. Reznor - because the soft, slightly slurring vocals and reverberating instruments really make it sound as if I myself were hearing it through a disconcerted haze.

2. Realization X - Hatari

I put this song in as a kind of segway between the previous song and the next; it's like a moment of coming-to, a realization of one's true pain that was blocked before, and includes all the disillusionment, hatred, and grief that it entails, but is also still kind of... catchy, in a way? If you will. Song translation

3. Fragmentation Buried Alive - Otep

And there we are, the true, unfiltered cacophony of negative emotions, spoken in their full and direct brutality. What really gets me about Otep every time, is that besides some of her lyrics just being genuinely great poetry, she can speak the most simple, emo, generic words with such incredible cadence that you quake as you feel the emotion in your veins right there where she's at.

4. Spiral Victimized- KoRn

Look, I might be a little bit biased, but when you're asking me for trauma induced, frothing dissociative rage, I'm definitely thinking of Jonathan Davis, because let's be honest, no one brings it to the table like he does. That's just objectively true. There is no shortage of such musical numbers in KoRn's repertoire but as opposed to some of their maddening, blunt and grunge-like earlier sounds, I decided to bring something from their newer catalog, which encases the madness in a cleanly yet jagged, cutting-edge electronic shell, and thus will fit in with this playlist very nicely.

5. Contact Teardrop - Massive Attack

So I asked myself, "Is there a song that makes me feel the emotion of touching extremely soft fur and would fit into this playlist" and I immediately knew that this song would be THE perfect answer. I wanted the shift to be as sudden as possible, but at the same time still a little bit organic, which is a high expectation but this song has an almost KoRn-like chord progression just in major instead of minor. I couldn't have invented a better one if I tried.

6. Decision Neon Gravestones - Twenty One Pilots

Okay, I'm not even going to make any jokes about this or anything. I think this song is a really brutal confrontation about a very heavy topic, and the biggest takeaway that I want you to have from it is that, I think, there is a point at the bottom of your hopelessness where you HAVE to make a conscious decision to move upward even if you don't feel like you can do it or whether it's even possible, before the healing can start. And sometimes it really be like that.

7. Clarity Bring Me The Horizon - Can You Feel My Heart

Note that after the Soft Cat neither of the songs are really as unhinged as we started, and that is for a reason. I think that this song must have been insanely popular at a time, sorry about that. I swear, I'm trying to make choices that are not too obvious but it felt like it would just hit the right emotional beat. I think you can read a lot into these rhetorical questions, in the song I mean, but the cord progressions always make me feel a certain opening up to hope through teary eyes.

8. Power Suffering You - 16 Volt

At the end of it all, by any means I wanted to end this playlist on a positive note, so here we are. There's just something about this song that gets me every time. It leans into its own early 2000s proto-emo roots with such a sweeping, unapologetic confidence. This song be like "You're goddamn right I'm a fucking whiney little bitch with my depression and unprocessed negative emotions, you wanna fight about it? You wanna take it outside?" What else could I have for it than respect? The rhythm is mercilessly pumping, the riffs are almost bizarrely catchy. I wouldn't necessarily call this song positive on a surface level, but it always makes me feel weirdly upbeat. Once you read into it a bit metatextually, this song is the pinnacle of depressed but reclaimed power, an almost fashionably earworm-like rallying cry of healthily channeled righteous anger. I actually almost put it at the beginning because I think playlists should begin strong - I like to make playlists that either sweep you or slap you on the face with the very first chord lol - and I think this song, almost literally slaps. However I immediately realized that no, this cannot happen, not this time. This song cannot be at the start because this is exactly the goal where I want you to mentally arrive at.

Okay, enough of the playlist infused therapy session. I hope you had some kind of positive takeaway and maybe even some songs you didn't know before. Now go and stick it to the man!