#c-3po's cereal

[atomic-chronoscaph]

C-3PO's cereal TV commercial - Kellogg's (1984)

[gameraboy2]

1984 Kellogg’s C-3PO’s cereal

[duranduratulsa]

80's Fest Food of the day: C-3POs Cereal #durandurantulsas4thannual80sfest #80s #80sfest #food #foodporn #cereal #c3pos #c3poscereal #starwars

[duhragonball]

It's my birthday today, and the local grocery store was thoughtful enough to stock the Dragon Ball Z Reese's Puffs, so I'm gonna try it out. Join me, won't you?

I still can't believe this is real. I mean, Reese's Puffa is kind of surreal enough as it is. It sounds like some satirical brand meant to poke fun at sugary kids' cereals. The box says "Made with REAL REESE'S Peanut Butter", the same way a fruit-flavored beverage will claim to contain genuine fruit.

The bowl on the box art is a Reese's cup, so it basically depicts candy being served in more candy. I'm old enough to remember when they would photograph cereal as "part of a complete breakfast", and there'd be grapefruits and toast and maybe a hard boiled egg. Basically they were admitting that the cereal was so unhealthy that you needed to eat three or four other breakfasts to make up for it. I just liked the photos because they were so picturesque. Ah, to have unlimited free time to prepare a leisurely 4-course breakfast while reading the paper. I just assumed everyone else was having toast with their cereal except my family, but yeah, it never really made any sense.

I haven't even gotten to Goku yet, but first I want to talk about his spoon. I don't think we see him holding a spoon very often. He's usually a chopsticks kind of guy, or he'll just use his bare hands or even dunk his head into the bowl. It kind of looks like a ladle when he holds it like that, which implies he cooked this bowl of candy soup all by himself, and he's showing it off like a proud chef. This spoon kicks ass, is what I'm trying to say.

But the real reason I bought this is because of that orange hillbilly who needs no introduction. I wasn't even looking for Reese's Puffs. It was the furthest thing from my mind. No, I was stocking up on the old-man cereal I require to survive, when I just saw him staring at me, with his friendly-yet-confident smile. Goku's not pressuring you to buy the cereal. He's sure you'll enjoy it, but it's okay if you want to take a pass. He'll just enjoy all this peanut butter chocolate goodness all by himself. Goku is truly the ideal spokesman. How can you say no to this lovable hunk?

I'm kind of out of touch when it comes to cereal marketing, but I'm pretty sure this sort of cross-promotion is a rarity. Like, they once put WWE wrestlers on Wheaties or something, but usually if the cereal companies want a cartoon on the box they'll just make their own character. Or if the cartoon people want to put their guy in the cereal aisle, they'll just commission a whole new cereal just for that brand. C-3PO had his own cereal for a while. It was pretty good!

What I'm saying is that it's kind of unusual to see a popular character like this on a cereal box. The only exception I can come up with is Fred Flintstone on Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles, but I always assumed that those were specifically "Flintstones Cereal".

Other than that, yeah, I can't think of any other examples of cartoon characters appearing on unaffiliated cereal boxes like this. Well, I drew my DBZ OC on a box of All-Bran today, but I don't think that counts.

"MY FIBER IS MAXIMUM, KAKAROT!"

I wondered what was up with the picture of Piccolo on the back of the box, and it turns out that he's one of seven different characters you can find on the back of the box. Collect them all! Aw man, that Cell one looks fucking sick! I don't know how they distributed these. Maybe they roll them out in waves and Piccolo's came first. Or maybe it's random and I might have found a Cell if I'd checked more boxes at the store. Well, Piccolo's pretty good. I guess.

All right, I just poured myself a bowl and Goku's cereal is gonna have to set course for Planet Oat. The dairy industry may not applaud my shopping choices, but I like oat milk because it doesn't spoil as quickly as cow milk, and it's got a nice oat-y flavor that compliments the cardboard taste of All-Bran.

I did not put Dawn liquid soap in my cereal. This time.

So what's the verdict here? Well, the first few bites were pretty tasty, and then I realized I was getting kind of sick of this as I made my way to the bottom of the bowl. The peanut butter flavor overwhelms everything. It has a very strong odor, so if you like Reese's peanut butter cups you can just sit this out in your room and savor the aroma. I barely registered any chocolate flavor at all. I mean, I believe they put it there, but the peanut butter is the whole story to this.

It's basically Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs from Calvin and Hobbes, only this is a special Peanut Butter variant they made. I never really appreciated the jokes about sugary cereals before. I grew up on Frosted Flakes and the like, but there were a certain class of cereals that my mom would just refuse to buy. My grandparents would have them, but I never really understood the difference between Frosted Flakes and Honey Smacks. As I got older, I ate less cereal in general, but that was mostly because I fell out of the habit of eating breakfast altogether.

But now I'm 47, and the only cereal I eat these days is bran topped with diced peaches and a couple of packets of artificial sweetener, so Reese's Puffs is way, way too sugary for my palate. It's not bad, but a little goes a long way for me.

When I was a kid, old people were always griping about all the stuff they couldn't eat anymore. I remember Isaac Asimov writing mournfully about how he couldn't have an Oreo cookie, which bummed me out because that was my favorite cookie back then, and it seemed that the fate of all humanity was to be denied the simple pleasure of enjoying them.

Now, I realize that a lot of the stuff that you liked as a kid just doesn't age up with you. Your tastes change, and you gain appreciations for new things that you wouldn't have appreciated before. That's not a bad thing. It's life. Things change, and you change along with them.

Well, you and I do, anyway. Not Goku, whose Saiyan biology keeps him looking exactly the same for sixty years so he can eat all the sweetened corn puffs he wants. But I don't envy him, is what I'm trying to say. I'm watching a wrestling show on PPV tonight, my mom took me to Cracker Barrel for lunch today, and I drew on a cereal box. I can't complain.

[ghostpeanut]

bring back the C-3PO’s cereal!!!!

[thepadawancollector]

Lucasfilm revealed the official Blue Milk as part of its “ Imperial March” of new product announcements. The new Star Wars brand of vanilla-flavored milk will be hitting the shelves on April 17. It comes from the Dairy Farmers of America TruMoo. So on this upcoming May the Fourth, you’ll be able to celebrate Star Wars Day in style and just the way Aunt Beru intended, with a cool glass of something blue. Just make sure you find yourself a Wookiee cookie to go with it. Even better would be a bowl of C-3PO’s Cereal, but sadly no one makes that anymore.

This is actually not the first Star Wars milk branding from the Dairy Farmers of America TruMoo. They’ve had little Grogu from The Mandalorian on their milk cartons in the past, as well as Darth Vader. Now the brand have both Vader and Luke Skywalker on their milk containers. The art shows the pair fighting it out in a scene from The Empire Strikes Back. We’re not sure if the Star Wars Blue Milk is a limited-time offering, but we hope this is one that sticks around. We have Star Wars fruit roll-ups and other goodies all year round , right? So we deserve some Blue Milk all year round too.

[incorrectpizza]

So...Nerd Club watched the Star Wars Holiday Special*

"Wookiee domestic drama."

"So. Wookiees have regular 70s kitchens."

"Was this the first appearance of Kashyykkk?" "Yeah." "You see. Even the worst Star Wars stuff has cool lore."

"Star Wars. Stop traumatizing me."

"Is this like. A pawn shop or something?"

"That's kind of cool, actually."

"Is this the Imperial toy shop?"

"Next to 'I hate sand,' I think people should be memeing this. I know maybe people are trying to respect George Lucas, but I don't care."

"Back to Wookiee sitcom."

"This is me getting home for Christmas."

"Man, his wife needs better things to do."

"Honestly, I feel like this could be good...like, show the domestic impacts of fascism."

"Gotta love George Lucas's obsession with scantily-clad alien women."

"Okay. Were they high when they did this?" "Yes."

"I want to know what they were on because that was the good stuff."

"I will say this is an actual depiction of a very lame Christmas. Like, watching some random stuff on the TV when you're just bored. Like, I can understand. This is very low-fantasy for Star Wars. This is some gritty stuff."

"This is like an Empire, high-ranking member, just breaking into someone's house, sitting down and watching YouTube."

"The environmental animation, at least, is good."

"Clone Wars should have been animated in this style."

"That's like a cereal box dinosaur!"

"It's a Mythosaur!" "That's kind of awesome."

Pointing at C-3PO "The fact they made him blink AND GAVE HIM EYEBROWS."

"All right. I think I will officially be dead after this."

"I think it's kind of funny how it's just wookiees watching TV. While Imperials are in their house."

"They were so high during this."

"Star Wars was high. I feel so bad for Star Wars."

"Isn't she from the Golden Girls? Oh yes, she is!"

"Is that Kool-Aid, or is that Mountain Dew."

"This is kinda cute. This is kinda cute. He's kinda cursed, you know. But he's also cute."

"I just wanna know when Leia shows up."

"This is very Orwellian. Like, 1984."

"Where are they going off to now?"

"The wookiees are going to heaven?"

"WAIT, DID THE DROIDS GO TO HEAVEN TOO?"

"If you look at Luke, the makeup stylist just had an off day." "Everyone had an off day." "Everyone had an off year."

"It's so bad it's so good."

"I feel like if you didn't have enough of a budget you shouldn't have made this. I don't know if it was budget, but it was something."

"The only worthwhile scene from that was Han hugging Chewie's family. And Boba Fett riding a dinosaur is pretty cool."

*Not the entire holiday special, just a few scenes here and there, it was pure torture for some, hilarious for others.

[imajust]

Lego star wars the force awakens halloween

From breakfast creations to treats and tricks, we cannot wait to see what kind of creativity this product will inspire. "Our new Shocking Orange cereal offers the classic flavor and crispy crunch of Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal, plus, the festive color of the fall. "We love seeing the scary-delicious treats families dream up with Kellogg's Rice Krispies Cereal for the Halloween season and beyond," said Sadie Garcia, Director of Brand Marketing at Kellogg Company. Just substitute Shocking Orange for Original in any Rice Krispies homemade treat recipe – it's that easy! Cereal lovers looking to get into the Halloween spirit can find Kellogg's Rice Krispies Shocking Orange Colored Cereal at retailers nationwide starting in August for a suggested retail price of $4.49 for a 7.50-ounce box and $5.49 for a 12-ounce box. The best part? Shocking Orange features the same original taste and crisped rice cereal crunch that families know and love, with the added fun of festive fall color, so it's easy to swap into any breakfast bowls or treat-making traditions. That's why Rice Krispies Shocking Orange Colored Cereal is colorful and creepy right out of the box. Credit: Kellogg'sįrom jack-o-lantern sweets to candy corn treats, Halloween is one of the most popular treat-making moments each year 1 so Snap, Crackle and Pop wanted to make it even easier for fans to scare up some spooktacular creations. The goal of which is for you to make treats that match up with the season, as you can see below where they made pumpkin-shaped sweets as an example. The company decided to go slightly nerdy with their cereal as we approach the haunting season, as you can now get a special Halloween-themed version of it for a limited time. This fun new animated special will hit the beach on August 5.Īre you looking forward to hitting the beach with the brick army on August 5 th? Sound off below.Kellogg's has revealed a new look to Rice Krispies for Halloween this time around, as you can now purchase orange-colored cereal. (L-R): Rose, Rey, Finn, Chewbacca, C-3PO and Poe in LEGO® STAR WARS SUMMER VACATION exclusively on Disney+. The Ultimate Star Destroyer, this is the first thing we saw in the original trilogy of Star Wars. Here are some popular Lego Star Wars sets to get you started. Produced in collaboration with Atomic Cartoons. Whether it’s the fight between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker or the moment when Luke Skywalker meets Darth Vader, recreate the iconic scenes from Star Wars. James Waugh, Josh Rimes, Jacqui Lopez, Jill Wilfert, Jason Cosler, Keith Malone, and Jennifer Twiner Mccarron are executive producers. TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!ĭavid Shayne is writer and executive producer, and the director is Ken Cunningham. Tompkins as Rad Dee Bradley Baker as Boba Fett Ashly Burch as the Tour Droid Kyliegh Curran as Sidero Anthony Daniels as C-3PO Trevor Devall as Emperor Palpatine Allie Feder as Sy Snootles Jake Green as Poe Dameron Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker Ross Marquand as Han Solo Omar Miller as Finn Kevin Michael Richardson as Jabba the Hutt Matt Sloan as Darth Vader James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Helen Sadler as Rey Skywalker Billy Dee Williams as Lando (Holovid) Matthew Wood as Ben Solo and Shelby Young as Leia Organa. “LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation” features the voices of: “Weird Al” Yankovic as Vic Vanko Yvette Nicole Brown as Colvett Valeria Thomas Lennon as Wick Cooper Paul F. Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader enjoy the sands of Scarif in LEGO® STAR WARS SUMMER VACATION exclusively on Disney+. LEGO Star Wars The Force Awakens C-3PO Set 5002948. While searching for his friends, he encounters three Force ghosts: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Leia Organa, who each share their own unexpected stories of vacations gone wrong, helping him to understand that holidays are about more than just having fun. Christmas Decor Fall Crafts Halloween Crafts Halloween DIY Costumes Holiday Crafts Crafting Ideas Craft Savings. But Finn’s plan to have one last hurrah together quickly goes awry when he’s separated from the group. Looking for a much-needed break from stormtroopers and TIE fighters, Finn arranges a surprise vacation for his friends Rey, Poe, Rose, Chewie, BB-8, R2-D2, and C-3PO, aboard the ultra-luxurious Galactic Starcruiser, the Halcyon. “LEGO Star Wars Summer Vacation,” which is set shortly after the events of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” features the voices of “Weird Al” Yankovic, Yvette Nicole Brown, Kelly Marie Tran, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, and returning cast members from previous “LEGO Star Wars” specials, and includes the new original song Scarif Beach Party performed by “Weird Al” Yankovic.

[retrodrome]

[retrostarwars]

When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the coupon-master

[filhadoboto]

Chapters: 19/19 (Explicit)

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo

Characters: Rey (Star Wars), Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rose Tico, Armitage Hux, Bazine Netal, Tallissan Lintra, Dopheld Mitaka, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca (Star Wars), C-3PO (Star Wars), Poe Dameron, Jannah (Star Wars), Zorii Bliss, Phasma (Star Wars), Finn (Star Wars), Kaydel Ko Connix, Good Morning Gloria, DJ (Star Wars), Dexter Jettster, Luke Skywalker

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Sex Toys, Sex Toys Under Clothing, Semi-Public Sex, Orgasm Denial, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Vaginal Fingering, Cunnilingus, Masturbation, BDSM Undertones, Dom/sub Undertones, Angst, Fluff, Smut, Emotions, Porn with Feelings, Voyeurism, Enthusiastic Consent, Happily Ever After, Vaginal Sex, limo sex, Insecurity, these two really need to talk, Bathroom Sex, remote vibrator, Vibrator, Emotional Sex, Unsafe Sex, Unprotected Sex, Rey is on birth control, No Pregnancy, Safe to read if you are triggered by pregnancy, phone sex kinda, rey eats cereal, Food, unintentional exhibitionism, Voice Kink, Praise Kink, Orgasm Control, Communication, Edging, Bratting, Exhibitionism, Texting, Spanking, BDSM, Bondage, Restraints, Negotiated kink, blindfold, Dirty Talk, Degradation, Rey's car breaks down at night, intimidation by group of intoxicated men, Cat-calling, thirst traps, Abandonment Issues, sad childhoods, Come Marking, Blow Jobs, Complete, audio, Video, Multimedia

Summary: When Rey Niima writes a withering review of his best sex toy, Ben Solo, founder & designer of First Order Atelier, will stop at nothing to prove he can get her off.

[melyaliz]

Chapter 2 Enter the SandMan

Masterlist 

Fandom: Marvel / X-men 

Pairing: Peter Maximoff x OC 

Summary: No matter when she goes to bed Gemma always feels exhausted when she wakes up. 

Notes: special thank you to all the support I have gotten so far on this fic. Gemma has been an OC I have had for some time now but always seem to struggle to tell her story (for some reason)

Also, I feel like not a lot of happening but I promise it will pick up.  

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive​

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

--------

They had been dealing with these mutants for over a year now. Not consistently but every once in a while they would pop back up. Only stealing weird stuff from power cells. Once they had stolen a whole truck full of household batteries (like AA and stuff). Another time they had broken into a string of car dealerships but only took the engines  

Regardless they would strike and then disappear just as quickly. 

Xavier had said that it was possible they had been causing crimes for longer but the X-men had only come upon them recently. 

Because of their mutant powers he had been worried they would ruin all the hard work he was doing to build a better world where Mutants and Humans could co-exist. They weren’t shy about using their powers both in a fight and when they were busy taking whatever they wanted. 

Peter had never really thought much about it. 

They were just more baddies they needed to fight. 

Until he met one of them on the bus.

Gemma

-----------

Gemma yawned again rubbing her eyes as she turned on her boombox letting the music pulse through the room. James Hetfield’s gravelly voice filled her small bedroom as she changed from her work clothes into something more comfortable for bed. 

It was soothing, the energy pulsing from her speakers. Not that many people would call the tunes of Metallic soothing but she wasn't many people. Sitting down in front of the boombox she hummed along letting the manic sounds flow through her like sparks from a current. As weird as it was to say the fast-paced rhythm was calming she couldn’t explain it any other way. 

Getting up she threw herself down onto her bed letting out a low moan as she buried her head in her pillow. Closing her eyes letting sleep overcome her. Praying it would be a peaceful night. That her body would just rest. Just let her have one good night’s sleep. 

Was that too much to ask for? 

Apparently

Her dreams were filled with weird lights flashing behind her eyelids. Yelling and screaming. Flickers of energy flashing like lighting across her face as monsters with human faces she didn’t recognize danced around her. Their deformed bodies flickering back and forth as if the lighting itself was summoning them. 

And a silver-haired boy. 

Running around her faster and faster. Her headphones on his head.

“Wake up, wake up, wake up.” 

Gemma found herself laying flat on her back on the hard floor of her bedroom, her body unable to move as she looked up at her ceiling blinking a few times. Reality slowly seeped into her consciousness images from her dreams fading. 

All but one, a silver-haired boy.  

Well man really, but you know. 

“Maybe I need to stop playing music before I go to bed” she muttered sitting up rubbing temples trying to bring some feeling back into her body. It felt so numb and exhausting. As if she had just run for miles. Getting up she turned off the buzzing alarm on her clock before dragging herself into the bathroom to try and get herself ready for the day. 

“Morning!” Drew said as his older sister stumbled down into the kitchen looking like death itself. He would never say it to his sister but later she really didn’t seem… herself. “I made coffee,” the 12-year-old said, holding out a mug.

Gemma smiled gratefully taking it in her hands letting the warmth fill her body before taking a sip. “Ok but why are you the coolest brother ever?” 

Drew shrugged “It’s my gift.” 

“Oh, if only I could be as cool.”

“Maybe someday my young padawan”

“Teach me your ways yoda” Gamma chuckled already feeling the effects of the caffeine bringing her back to life. 

“Speaking of the best movie that has ever been made, are we still on for marathoning tomorrow?” 

“Don’t you have like, cool friends you want to hang out with?” 

“Yeah but my sister said she would make her sugar popcorn and I got a bunch of star wars themed snacks with that money you gave me.” As he said this he pulled out a box of C-3PO's cereal out of the cabinet. “I mean look at this,” 

“I mean, I know I want to hang out with you and quote Star Wars ad nauseam until our sweet dear parents make us turn it off or at least speak with inside voices but I assumed you had like… you know kids your own age you wanted to hang with.”

“It’s the summer we hung out all week. Weekends are our time.”

“Sounds perfect to me. I literally can’t wait.”

After a hearty breakfast of sugary themed cereal and coffee Gemma grabbed her bag and rushed off to the bus stop while Led Zeppelin cheered her on through her new headphones.  

Normally Gemma wasn’t one to really pay attention to the other patients on the bus. Keeping her head down and enjoying whatever mixed tape she had made that week. But as she walked onto the bus that morning she couldn’t help but notice a silver-haired boy sitting at the back. 

Was he stalking her? 

Naw probably just had the same route. 

---

Peter was stalking her. All night he had rushed around unnoticed by the small family that resided in the house Gemma had entered.They were your classic American family. Two kids, a boy and a girl (if not a bit of an age gap) with loving parents. They said grace and talked about their days over a roast. 

Picture perfect. 

Besides the constant yawning, Gemma seemed happy. Smiling and engaging with them. Very polite and even seemed to care about the work story her father had to say or what drama Karen was causing in her mom’s sewing circle. 

Shit that Peter would have bashed his head in if he had to listen too. 

Shit, a villain like the woman he had fought wouldn’t sit through. Or at least with a genuine smile like the one Gemma wore. It was like she actually enjoyed family time. 

After dinner, they all watched some TV but Gemma had chosen to rest early. Going to her room where she blasted some music from her stereo turning around letting her hands hover just a few inches from the speaker. This was the first time he noticed any non-normal action from her. Just her standing there, eyes closed, head tilted back, mouth open slightly letting the music wash over her with her hands so close to the sound it was as if they craved it. 

After a few moments she removed her hands then walked toward her bed face-planting on the bed and promptly fell asleep. 

Which was his cue to leave. Yes, he was stalking her but he wasn’t a creeper. Time to find out who this weird girl was. 

A quick break-in and a couple photo books later and he learned she was a VERY average girl. Normal grades, all comments in her yearbook generic like “good luck” “rock on” with a few quotes from songs, all heavy rock and metal. (At least she had a good taste in music) 

There was one thing though, it looked like in her early years she had dark brown hair and eyes which slowly through her teens faded into the white hair and bright blue that she had now. Probably had something to do with her mutation. 

This also confirmed she was one of the four mutants.

Which was almost impossible to believe considering how generic and bland this girl’s life seemed.

It was a puzzle. 

---------

Their eyes met in that awkward “so should we act like we know each other or not’ look. In the light of day and (in the loosest term possible) rest, the silver-haired boy wasn’t bad looking. Large brown eyes and that laid back “whatever” attitude that Gemma had always fallen for in high school. 

But she wasn’t in high school anymore and he was just some weird guy on the bus.

Deciding to not engage she flashed him a half-smile before taking a seat in the middle of the bus. Ok, maybe she shouldn’t have smiled. But it was that christen upbringing engaged in her. 

Be kind to others.

Or some bullshit like that. 

“You forgot your headphones yesterday.” 

Gemma basically jumped out of her skin when the boy appeared out of nowhere now sitting next to her in the empty seat. Holding out small headphones in one hand for her to take. 

“I…” she checked behind her to confirm that the seat he had been in was empty, it was. “I didn’t forget them,” she said, turning her attention back to him. He smelled good, was that bad for her to think? But he did so maybe it was just more of a fact. Kind of like fun. He smelled like fun. Which shouldn’t have a smell… but if it did it would be how this boy smelled. 

He was still sitting there holding out the headphones for her, a look of confusion on his face. 

“I gave them to you.” she clarified, “So you could listen to some better music than Pink Floyd.” 

“Outch, what do you have against Floyd?”

She chuckled, shrugging, “Honestly I don’t, I just felt like razzing you.” 

The boy shrugged fighting back a smile, (was it ok to like this girl if she was a bad guy?) “Fair.”

Both of them sat in an awkward silence for a while. 

“Well this is my stop” the boy said as the bus slowed.

“Cool, bye” 

And like that he was gone. 

Weirdo.

Cute, but still a weirdo.

Not that she was really one to talk. She was VERY far from being normal. 

Turing up her music she leaned back in her chair letting it play as she held the cassette player in her lap trying to make sure she didn’t touch it with her hands. Sometimes her powers would drain electronics when she wasn’t paying attention, especially when she was tired. 

Tired. 

Why was she always so tired? 

Music playing through her head and thoughts of a silver-haired boy played around in her mind as the world rushed past her.

And that was the last thing she remembered. 

-GET TAGGED!- 

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[babbletop]

Here's a list of 10 Discontinued Cereals We Miss (Part 2). So many delicious cereal gets discontinued and here are the top 10 discontinued cereals we miss and want to be brought back! ➡️ Subscribe to BabbleTop: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX--mGSg0UwDjl7MDL8H5Jg?sub_confirmation=1 Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or midnight snack, cereal has always been there for us. With hundreds of different kinds of cereals lining grocery store aisles, it’s easy to forget about flavors that might have once been your favorites. In hopes of triggering some nostalgia, we’ve come up with 10 discontinued cereals we miss - part 2. If you enjoyed this list of 10 discontinued cereals we miss, then comment: #Cereal #Breakfast #Discontinued TIMESTAMPS: 0:23 Cinnamon Mini Buns Cereal 1:15 Smorz 2:30 Baron Von Redberry 3:46 Dunk-A-Balls 4:55 Nintendo Cereal System 6:25 Dunkin Donuts Cereal 7:31 Dino Pebbles Cereal 8:53 E.T. Cereal 9:55 C-3PO’s Cereal 11:00 KISS Krunch SUMMARIES: - From 1991 to 1993, if you were in search of that great cinnamon bun flavor without the feeling of having just chowed down on a decadent dessert early in the AM, Cinnamon Mini Buns Cereal made for the perfect compromise. - Nothing beats nights spent sitting around the campfire, toasting marshmallows and eating s’mores. Luckily, even though it lacks the authentic smokiness of marshmallows toasted over an open fire, Smorz cereal can satisfy your s’mores cravings during the cooler months. - This is an oldie but a goodie. Baron Von Redberry cereal made its debut in 1972 and was advertised as being “Berry Flavored Oat Cereal Plus Sweet Berry Starbits – Vitamin Charged!” The berry flavor in question was a sweet one. - Dunk-A-Balls cereal was a basketball-themed version of Wheaties, with the round pieces embellished with the characteristic markings of a basketball. The back of the box could be cut out, and there were instructions detailing how to use it to turn your cereal bowl into a basketball net. - This Ralston Cereal product seems like it should have been a hit, yet it was discontinued after only a year. From 1988 to 1989, Nintendo Cereal System could be found on grocery store shelves everywhere. - Released in 1988, Dunkin Donuts Cereal came in both Chocolate and Glazed Style, just like the best donuts do. Some of the more ingenious children out there would actually mix the two flavors in a bowl and enjoy and Chocolate and Glazed Style combo cereal for breakfast. - Pebbles Cereal is a brand of Flintstones-inspired cereals encompassing several existing and discontinued flavors. The first, and longest-running, flavors are Cocoa Pebbles and Fruity Pebbles, which have been available since 1971. - This chocolate and peanut butter cereal is the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of the cereal world. Since it's comparable to one of the greatest candies out there, it’s a no-brainer why this is one of the best cereals to have been wrongfully discontinued. - A New Hope was released in 1977, and Star Wars movies continue to be made to this day. Over the past forty years the franchise has been involved in every marketing gimmick imaginable, making it unsurprising that, at one point or another, they would come out with a Star Wars cereal. - Ok, so we are cheating a bit with this one, as this cereal isn't really discontinued, it's more like, not actually real... Yes boxes of this cereal do exist, and they do look real, but they were never actually mass-produced for your grocery store shelves. ➡️ SUBSCRIBE to BabbleTop! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX--mGSg0UwDjl7MDL8H5Jg?sub_confirmation=1 🥳 JOIN and become a BabbleTop member! https://www.youtube.com/babbletop/join 👕 Check out our MERCH! https://ift.tt/2xcFumO 🔥 Our Most Popular VIDEOS! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOvb3ZRIwh0&list=UUX--mGSg0UwDjl7MDL8H5Jg Top 10 Saddest McDonald's Happy Meal Toys Ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXjSIxWR9Jo&list=UUX--mGSg0UwDjl7MDL8H5Jg&index=63 Top 10 Most Popular Secret Menu Fast Food Items https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEDoWmFKBWI&list=PL2AXIR2uRsIlSkW5W0YF4gcw66jKxXUCy&index=13 Top 10 Candy Bars America Wished They Had https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiVIx10iBgc&list=UUX--mGSg0UwDjl7MDL8H5Jg&index=40 10 Coca-Cola Drinks That Embarrassed The Company https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEqcMBAbur4&list=UUX--mGSg0UwDjl7MDL8H5Jg&index=15 10 McDonald’s Items That Would Make America Great Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UksU5Ki0SW4&list=UUX--mGSg0UwDjl7MDL8H5Jg&index=9 All clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

[elcorhamletlive]

fandom: MCU (Non-Powered AU) ship: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark tags: Fluff/Light Angst/Meeting as Kids/Homophobia/Mentioned Ableism/Howard Stark’s A+ Parenting

Tony Stark first meets Steve Rogers in kinder garden.

Tony is six-years-old, fluffy hair falling slightly on his eyes, hands busy with a rubik cube. Tony solves rubik cubes super fast, and sometimes Jarvis takes the time to set up a new one for him, to make it harder, but Tony always finds a way to make it easier again.

During recess, he usually plays with his toys. He can’t go into the sandbox, because it’ll mess up his clothes and Mom says he shouldn’t mess up his clothes.

(Mom also says he should avoid talking much to some of the other kids, to the kids that aren’t like him. Tony doesn’t know exactly what that means, but he tries to follow her advice. He mostly only talks to Ty, then, because Ty is like him, smart and clever and wearing clothes he can’t mess up.)

He raises his head from the cube when Ty pokes him, pointing to a brown-haired kid. At first, Tony doesn’t get why, but Ty insists and points out the kid’s arm, and that’s when Tony realizes it’s not a regular arm, the artificial material shining evidently against the sunlight.

Ty tells him that’s Bucky Barnes, and he was born without an arm, so he got a new one, like a robot. Tony thinks it’s awesome, but he doesn’t say anything. It turns out he’s the only one who might think that, because soon he hears some of the kids noticing, laughing, their voices growing as they approach the boy. Tony isn’t used to being laughed at, but he spends a lot of time at gala parties and important events of Dad’s job, so he knows what it’s like to be alone and small and surrounded by bigger people. He looks around, his stomach clenching. He wishes Jarvis were here.

There are kids all around them now, watching it, and among them Steve Rogers is like every other kid Tony has ever seen, small and scrawny with hands and knees dirty with sand.

Bucky seems nervous, trying to get away. Ty is babbling about what’s happening, hand still on his elbow. Tony fights the urge to cover his eyes with his hands.

And then Steve Rogers isn’t like any other kid Tony has ever seen, because he pushes his way to get in between Bucky and the others, and his hands are raised into fists, and suddenly there are people over him and even Ty stops talking, and Bucky is yelling something, and Tony thinks his eyes are burning and he’s going to cry because he’s scared.

Then Ms. Karen arrives, and she stops the fight, and Tony is a bit glad that he isn’t the only one crying, Bucky is crying too, and Steve Rogers has a scraped knee and his chin is shaking but he doesn’t cry, because he isn’t like anyone Tony will ever meet.

Tony does not play with Steve Rogers. Steve is always at the sandbox, and Tony isn’t allowed to go into the sandbox, so they can’t play together.

Still, Tony watches him a lot. Steve makes a lot of stuff with the sand. Some are strange things Tony doesn’t understand, but others are really cool castles, and Tony wonders if Steve would like his knights. He’s got King Arthur and Lancelot and Merlin, but he’s also got Galahad and Percival, which he likes best because Mom told him they were very hard to find. Dad says they’re silly, that Tony’s too old to be playing with dolls, but they’re not dolls, they’re knights and if Steve builds castles, then he should like knights. Maybe.

At night, when Tony uses the lantern he built to stay awake under his covers and play, he wonders if Steve would find them silly. Steve doesn’t seem to care about what people find silly – Steve draws and reads a lot while other kids play ball, and Steve plays with Bucky and Arnie Roth (no one plays with Arnie Roth, because he is weird in ways even adults frown at) - so Tony decides Steve would like his knights. Steve would listen with big wide blue eyes while Tony tells him the stories Jarvis told about the legends, but he’d like Tony’s ideas even better, the stories he himself made up. Dummy usually holds the other figures for Tony to play with – Tony likes Dummy a lot, but he thinks Steve would be more fun to play with, because Steve would draw Tony’s stories and smile at him and his hair would shine in the sun.

Steve spends a lot of time in the sun – his skin is pale, lighter than Tony’s, and it gets red easily and he frowns when Ms. Karen insists he needs to put more sunscreen on. Tony likes the way his nose scrunches; the way the red tinge touches cheeks; the way a few freckles show up on his face, like little dots of golden sand.

Steve likes recess time like everyone else, but he pays attention to all the classes. Tony sometimes finds it hard to pay attention to the classes, because he already knows everything and the teachers don’t like when he tells them so, so he prefers to pay attention to Steve. Steve asks a lot of questions and writes everything down on his notebook, and Tony likes the way he has all his pencils in an organized order.

Sometimes the other kids bump into Steve’s table to make his pencils fall off, but Steve doesn’t care. He just crouches to pick them up, and one time Tony helps him and he gives him a big, gap-toothed smile, and when Tony asks if the Tooth Fairy visited him recently, his smile grows and he doesn’t say Tony is silly for believing in fairies.

Tony likes Steve a lot (even more than he likes Dummy, though he doesn’t say that, because he wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings).

The only thing Tony doesn’t like about Steve is when he fights, and Steve fights a lot. He fights with everyone who messes with Bucky and Arnie. He fights with boys who pull girl’s braids. Sometimes he even fights with the teachers, when they do something he doesn’t think is fair. His fights make Tony’s stomach clench, because Steve is the smallest kid in class and Tony worries he’s gonna get himself hurt.

Steve never cries, which Tony thinks is awesome. Tony cries at least once per day, because he spilled his cereal, or because he doesn’t want to go to school and leave Dummy and U and Jarvis alone, or because everyone keeps being mean to C-3PO and he just wants to help. Dad hates when he cries, because Stark men don’t cry. Tony tries his best to swallow the tears, but Jarvis says it’s okay when Dad is not listening, so he cries a lot on Jarvis’s shirt.

Steve, though – Steve doesn’t cry even when the other kids fight with him or when the teacher tells him to go to the corner. Steve is so cool, so brave. Sometimes, Tony thinks Steve would be a better Stark man than he is, but he doesn’t like to think that, because it makes him kind of angry at Steve. So instead he thinks Steve is like King Arthur, strong and courageous, but also good and kind, and he’d be able to wield Excalibur and let Tony be his friend like Lancelot was, even if Tony cried sometimes.

Once, Ty misses class, and so does Rhodey, and Tony has no one to play with at recess, so he wants to cry really hard. He tries to swallow it, blinks a lot to stop the tears from coming, and then the coolest thing in the world happens: Steve sits by his side and offers him a piece of his sandwich.

Steve’s sandwich tastes kind of weird. Steve explains that there’s a lot of stuff he can’t eat or he’ll get sick, and Tony lies a little and tells him it tastes great (Jarvis said a white lie is okay sometimes) and Steve gives him a huge smile and they spend the whole half hour of recess together. Tony has a new three-dimensional puzzle to play with, and it’s pretty cool, but it’s even cooler because Steve helps him with it, and he smiles a lot and it’s the best recess ever, of all the history of recesses.

When the bell rings they’ve finished, and Steve is so fascinated by the puzzle, and Tony is so happy, that when Steve stands up to go to class his stomach clenches. He wants to be Steve’s friend so bad, and Steve is so cool, and he is so not, that he doesn’t really think before asking if Steve wants to keep the puzzle.

Steve frowns, but his eyes widen and his cheeks flush. He holds it in his hands and tells Tony it’s not his birthday, but Tony says it’s ok, he has a lot of other ones and he thinks Steve should have this one because they did it together.

Steve looks at him for a long moment, his face flushes deeper and he asks Tony if he’s sure a hundred times before he finally accepts and takes it. He holds it carefully and his bright blue eyes find Tony’s when he says it’s the best gift he’s ever gotten and he’s gonna take very good care of it. And then.

He kisses Tony’s cheek.

Tony’s face is so warm he thinks it might explode, and he feels like he floats on the way back to the classroom, where he spends all the time trying to not look at Steve and looking at Steve a lot when Steve can’t notice. He goes home and he tells everything to Jarvis and Dummy and U. Dummy and U beep a lot in excitement, but Jarvis makes a weird face, the same face he does when Tony told him he can’t cry because Dad told him not to, and it seems like he’s going to say something when Mom walks inside the room and holds Tony’s arm more strongly than she usually does.

She asks: He did what?

Tony tells her, and Jarvis seems even more worried, and he starts saying Miss, perhaps it’s not… But Mom is already on her way downstairs, and that makes Tony’s stomach really clench, a lot, because Dad is downstairs and they’re not supposed to ever, ever bother Dad while he’s working.

Jarvis does his best to distract Tony, caresses his hair, sits with Tony to watch TV, but Tony can hear screams coming from downstairs, stuff he doesn’t get about fault and perversion and calling the school and Tony wants to cry, because he doesn’t get it, are they going to call the school? Did Tony do something wrong?

Jarvis makes an expression that makes Tony panic a little, because for a second it seems very sad in a way he’s never seen, but he ruffles Tony’s hair and says No, Sir, you did nothing wrong and it calms Tony down a little.

The next day, though, Dad tells Tony in the morning that they need to talk later, and Tony must make a face, because Mom touches his arm and smiles gently and tells him it’s ok, Dad just wants to ask a few things.

Tony spends the entire day so nervous he might throw up, because Dad never asks him anything. He makes a list of things Dad might ask about, doing his best to think of good answers.

(At recess, Steve smiles at him and waves him over from the sandbox, but Tony just waves back and turns around and keeps playing with Ty.)

When he gets home, he gets even more nervous, because Jarvis is standing in the living room in front of Dad and he has red spots all over his face, and the only time Tony has ever seen him like that was when Tony ran away from him and got lost in the museum that one time.

Dad looks over at Tony and smiles, and Jarvis starts saying Sir, I really don’t think there’s a need- but Dad immediately says That’s enough and Jarvis opens and closes his mouth a lot of times but eventually gets out.

(He hugs Tony tight before leaving.)

Dad sits on the couch and pats the spot next to him, so Tony goes and sits by his side.

Sit up straight, Dad says, and Tony immediately straightens his posture, and Dad gives an approving nod and asks Tony who is Steve Rogers.

Tony tells Dad Steve is a kid from his class, and he’s super cool and smart and makes beautiful sandcastles. He tells Dad Steve draws a lot and doesn’t play ball with the other kids (Dad snorts at that, though Tony doesn’t really understand why). He finishes by saying Steve is his friend, like Ty and Rhodey (that’s another white lie, but Tony really wishes he were, so he thinks it’s okay).

Dad seems thoughtful for a moment. Then he lands his hand on Tony’s shoulder – Tony immediately flinches because he never does that, and his heart hammers nervously on his chest and he worries if maybe his posture is not good enough.

Then he starts talking.

He tells Tony Steve is not really Tony’s friend. That hurts, but Tony guesses it’s right, because Steve has no reason to want to be Tony’s friend when he could be friends with all the other cooler kids who play with him at the sandbox. Then he tells Tony Steve doesn’t have a dad at home, and that’s very sad, but that also means Steve doesn’t know how a real man should act. Steve, Dad says, is clearly a messed up kid, with bad inclinations, and he’s not a good influence to Tony and Tony shouldn’t be around him.

Tony wants to cry, but Dad hates when he cries, so instead he bites his lip and tries to tell Dad Steve is really brave, that he fights with lot of people, even bigger kids and the teachers. But Dad just scoffs.

That just means he’s not very smart. Then he pokes Tony’s head, a little roughly, but affectionately, which makes Tony’s head spin, because he doesn’t think that has ever happened before. Only stupid people pick fights they can’t win.

Tony had never thought it like that before. He’s not sure he gets it, but he nods, and Dad gives him a big approving grin, and that’s wonderful enough to make him feel a little better.

Tony never plays with Steve Rogers again. He ignores Steve every time he talks to him, and eventually he just stops trying entirely.

Tony doesn’t mind. When he feels like he should, he closes his eyes and remembers Dad’s words: Steve is weird. Steve is not really his friend. Steve is stupid. He closes his eyes and remembers and focuses on following Dad’s rules, being the man Dad wants him to be.

As time passes, Tony grows. As he grows, the world seems to grow around him, and the sandbox of kinder garden is slowly replaced by the full hallways of middle and high school. Tony’s voice changes; he starts getting annoying little bits of facial hair at random spots on his chin and cheeks; and his hair doesn’t fall over his eyes anymore, because he carefully styles it every morning with the most expensive hair gel money can buy.

He’s not the only one who changes: Bucky Barnes gets one hell of a growth spurt around fifth grade, starts going by James and casts a challenging furious gaze at anyone who so much glances wrong at his arm. Arnie Roth makes himself invisible and spends every moment inside the locker room staring very firmly at the floor, so as to not even risk someone thinking he’s sneaking a peek at their junk. Ty starts throwing many parties where Tony finds out girls like his new voice, and they don’t mind the taste of alcohol and cigarettes on his lips. It’s a new world now, and there’s a new set of rules. Everyone understands that.

The only person who doesn’t understand that is Steve Rogers, still scrawny and defiant, apparently missing the fact that now he’s not just the smallest kid on their grade, but the weakest guy of the entire school, who can barely handle a physical exam without an asthma attack. Steve still raises his voice to answer teachers when he disagrees with what they say, still uselessly tells people to leave Arnie alone, still prefers drawing to trying out for the football team.

As Tony masters the rules like nobody else, rising to a comfortable position on the unforgiving high school chain, he can’t help but watch how Steve falls into the sidelines, how girls don’t glance at his way, how people whisper the only reason James Barnes still hangs out with him must be because Steve probably sucks his dick. Tony watches how Steve sometimes shows up with a black eye, how he gets shoved into lockers, and a part of him desperately wants to grab him by the shoulders and asks why can’t he just stop, why can’t he just accept the ways things are, why can’t he make a single attempt to make things easier for himself.

By now, Tony is sixteen, and he knows very well the reason Dad wanted Steve Rogers away from him had nothing to do with his attitude towards fights, but with the fact that he thought Steve was a faggot who’d turn his son towards his perverted ways. In a hilarious twist, Dad’s fears were completely correct, but it doesn’t matter because Tony, playing by the rules, only gets hand jobs from Ty and other guys behind closed doors, at parties where everyone is too high or drunk to care.

Steve, of course, can’t bring himself to do that. Steve needs to wear a rainbow button on his handbag; he needs to draw political cartoons for the school’s newspaper that get him sent to the principal; he needs to ask for the creation of a LGBT student union, on that damn school where Tony is pretty sure half the faculty doesn’t even know the meaning of each letter. And if it gets the shit kicked out of him by the end of P.E. class, he doesn’t seem to care, at least not enough to tone it down, to blend in, to do what every single other person does.

It’s been almost ten years, and Steve Rogers is still unlike anyone Tony has ever met.

It’s by coincidence, that Tony runs into Steve at Peggy Carter’s party.

At first Tony just stares, a little in shock. Steve is never invited to anything, but there he is, looking a bit awkward but excited. He’s wearing a black button-down, and Tony watches the way the dark lights hit his hair, how he looks down at his phone through long, golden eyelashes.

They bump into each other in front of the bathroom, Tony accidentally-on-purpose getting in the middle of Steve’s way, and he’s not even sure why he does that, because he and Steve don’t really speak anymore, but he can’t help but want to talk to him. There’s booze and weed going around, but nothing is as inebriating as Steve Rogers’ presence, and Tony bumps into him and starts babbling about something he doesn’t even know, maybe the music or the lights. Steve seems shocked, but he nods, and after a few moments of Tony’s awkward rambling he smiles, and it feels as blinding as it did under the sun during recess, so long ago. It burns, sending a scorching feeling down Tony’s throat, his heart hammering heavily on his chest.

They talk during most of the night, about innocuous things like Math class and the party and the terrible music playing. Steve is smart like he used to be; he’s surprisingly funny in a dry, deadpan way; and by two A.M. Tony’s mouth is just tingling, itching to kiss him, to taste that shy grin, to roll that perfect lower lip of his between his teeth and suck it. He wants to bury his face on the curve of Steve’s neck and feel his smell, hold his body against his, make him gasp and shudder, and it would because okay because everyone is too high or drunk to care.

But the reason Tony knows for a fact Steve does not suck James Barnes’ dick is because if he did, Tony knows it wouldn’t be just that. If Steve was sucking a guy’s dick, he’d want to hold his hand in the hallways, to kiss him in the cafeteria, to be with him in front of God and everyone. Steve would want these things, because Steve doesn’t care about the world’s rules. Steve would want everything, and he’d deserve it. He’d deserve it all. He’d deserve every single thing Tony would have to give, and what he can give him right now is just too little. It’s too small, the way his heart weights on his chest because of Steve’s smile. It’s not enough.

When the clock hits 2:30, Steve needs to leave, and after he goes Tony makes out with Ty, heavily and roughly against the wall, with way too much teeth and tongue to be anything other than frenetic.

Of course, that turns out to be the first party where not everyone is too high or drunk to care.  

By the time Tony gets to school on Monday, his life is over.

Well, not completely over, he guesses – the picture wasn’t clear enough to end up on gossip websites by the time Tony caught wind of it, and Instagram is too easy to hack, so every trace of it was gone off the internet an hour after Tony woke up on Sunday.

But not even Tony could hack every group text in school, which means that, from the first moment he steps inside the building, he can feel the looks and whispers behind his back. It was never a secret, but now it’s out in the open, and Tony’s stomach clenches in a way it rarely does when he’s not around his father anymore.

He tries to not freak out. It’s in the rules he knows so well: to pretend not to care is the way to be strong in this world. That’s why people who care all the time (people like Steve Rogers) get beaten down so much.

Ty, however, didn’t get the memo, so he absolutely freaks out, and, in an attempt to distance himself from the whispers, decides to start a fight with Tony in front of everyone else. He yells, calls Tony names, nearly implies that Tony took advantage of him or something. It stings, but Tony is a master of performance art by now, so he rolls his eyes and tries to keep walking, but Ty refuses to move and pushes him strongly against the lockers.

Then, in a second, there he is, fucking real-life King Arthur himself in all of his ninety-pounds glory: Steve gets all up on Ty’s face, telling him to back off, and of course Ty is not gonna back off from a kid who’s about a third of his size. His fist hits Steve right on the nose, and Steve is bleeding, and this is where all hell breaks loose, because Tony sees red and the next thing he knows, he and Ty are rolling on the floor trading punches, and Mr. Coulson steps in to break them apart.

They all get sent to the infirmary, then to the principal’s office, and, while pretending to listen to a lecture about the dangers of violence, the only thing Tony can think of is Steve: Steve stepping between him and Ty; Steve with blood all over his shirt; Steve being so, so stupid.

Afterwards, Tony sits on the bench waiting for Happy to arrive to pick him up, and Steve sits next to him and asks if he’s all right.

Tony asks if he’s an idiot.

Steve frowns, while holding an ice bag to his face, and Tony feels trapped in blue, drowning on it, unable to breathe. He brushes it aside, swims to the surface with nervous strides and puts his ferine tongue to good use, asking Steve what made him think that was any of his business, why does he always has to do this, why does he likes fighting so much.

Steve stares at him for a moment, and then he says: I don’t like fighting.

There’s a beat in which Tony scoffs, and Steve just stares at him wide-eyed, as if he can’t believe Tony would ever think something like that.

Then he says: I never throw the first punch. It’s not right. He pauses, lips pressing together, and adds: I don’t like fighting, but sometimes you have to. Especially when it’s something you care about.

Tony just freezes and stares at nothing for a moment.

Something you care about.

Tony’s blood buzzes on his ears. Steve flushes, clasping his hands together and looking away. Tony can hardly breathe, and there’s no hope for him to reach the surface, now: He stares at Steve’s face and dives deep into blue, to never come back, his lungs feeling suffocated on his chest, dragged up and down by the relentless beat of his heart.

He tells himself that it’s not. It can’t be. It’s not that. It’s nothing.

(It’s everything.)

The world seems to shift a little after that, to change its center. It stretches at the sound of Steve’s voice, spinning in ellipses around his laugh, reflexing light in infinite blue sparks.

Tony musters the courage to ask Steve out a week after the world’s most ill timed confession, and Steve’s grin is worth every agonizing second he spent thinking about it for the past ten years.

They go to the museum, and Steve listens him talk endlessly about the science exhibit, as if he’s never heard anything more interesting. At the end, they stop by the bookstore, and Steve asks Tony if he likes Tolkien. Tony has never read him, and Steve gets incredibly excited talking about it, and in the middle of his babble Tony somehow manages to confess his obsession with the Arthurian mythos.

They end up exchanging books. They go out a few times just to read, at Steve’s place or at the park, and it’s great. They don’t kiss, but Steve leans into Tony’s side, a little, as if he’s looking for warmth. Tony lays an arm on his shoulders and pulls him close, and they end up pretty much cuddling on the bench. Steve’s body is warm and small and fits wonderfully in Tony’s arms, and a part of him doesn’t want to ever let him go.

Sometimes they go eat at Steve’s favorite pizza place, and it’s open 24 hours, so they stay there until very late, talking and laughing until they’re the only people in the restaurant. They don’t drink, but Tony feels drunk on Steve’s laugh and his smile, and, in an insane move, he tells him about how much he wanted that, how’s he been wanting this for so long.

Steve’s eyes are strangely bright when he asks: How long?

Tony smiles: You have no idea.

A few weeks later, they’re on Steve’s bedroom, Steve sitting on his desk chair while Tony is sprawled up on his bed. Eventually Tony pulls Steve’s by his wrist and they maneuver themselves together, cuddling. They talk lazily, happiness spread in the air around them like golden dust, when Steve pulls away to say he needs to show Tony something.

He goes to his closet and returns with the tridimensional puzzle, face all flushed, mouth halfway through starting what Tony is pretty sure would be a beautiful romantic speech, but he doesn’t really hear it because the next thing he knows he’s pulling Steve by his shirt and kissing him harder than he’s ever kissed anyone on his life.

It gets easier every time, to hold Steve’s hand in the hallways, to kiss him before going to class. Steve says he doesn’t has to, it’s ok if he doesn’t want to, but Tony wants to. Tony finds that, between him and Steve, they can write a new set of rules, different from all the ones he’s learned before, and he prefers that a lot.

They’re lying on the beach one day when Steve lays his head on Tony’s chest and whispers: You know, if I knew all it took to get you into me was getting punched, I’d have done it sooner.

Tony laughs and leans over to kiss his freckles, stretching languidly on the beach towel and kicking off his shoes. The sand is prickly and perfect around his toes.

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball 113

Now that Emperor Pilaf’s crew is out of the way, King Piccolo can finally get down to business, which is conquering the world.  

Piano tries to brief Piccolo on the current geopolitical situation, but Piccolo just zaps his whole Powerpoint presentation.     I really like Piano as a character, and I’m not entirely sure why, other than that he sort of reminds me of some of Jabba the Hutt’s entourage in Return of the Jedi.    Functionally, he’s probably like Bib Fortuna, but he talks like C-3PO, and he sort of feels like a team mascot, like Salacious Crumb. 

Also, the dynamic between Piano and Piccolo is kind of interesting.    Piano speaks much more candidly to Piccolo than anyone else, indicating that he’s a close and trusted advisor.   Presumably, Piccolo created him just like Tambourine and Cymbal, which means that Piano is exactly what Piccolo wanted him to be.    And yet Piano doesn’t seem to quite fit Piccolo’s plans.   He tries to act like he’s counseling a real king, but Piccolo’s military and domestic policies essentially boil down to “Break Stuff”.   

I think this points to King Piccolo’s defining character trait.  He’s a horrible, merciless villain, sure, but I think what sets him apart from the others is that he’s a bitter outsider who wants to punish everyone on the inside.   That’s why he wants to topple the legitimate king and usurp his throne.   The Red Ribbon Army was content to establish their own power base someplace else, but Piccolo wants the recognition.   He wants people to know that he’s part of their society--the top part-- whether they like it or not.   

So with that ambition comes this attitude that he has to make himself look and feel like a real king.    That’s why he surrounds himself with advisors like Piano, that’s why he sits on a throne, and that’s why he wants to move into King Castle.   I don’t think any of these things actually helps him accomplish his goals, but when your goal is basically “Break Stuff”, I guess it doesn’t matter.   King Piccolo doesn’t isn’t really interested in the final outcome of his reign, just so long as he gets to have authority that he can abuse.

As the pair cruise into the city surrounding King Castle.... You know, I’m just gonna go back to calling it “King’s Castle”.   Funimation added the possessive, and I’m starting to see why.   It just sounds better that way.

Anyway, it’s the 20th anniversary of King Furry’s reign, so there’s a big celebration with fireworks and a parade and so on. 

A lot of this episode is designed to set up King Furry as a counterpoint to Piccolo.    He’s everything Piccolo isn’t: modest, peace-loving, a dedicated public servant.

The catch is that King Furry’s record sort of contradicts a lot of the lawlessness we’ve seen in Dragon Ball leading up to his introduction.   Characters like the Ox King, the Red Ribbon Army, and Mercenary Tao seem to be able to do whatever they please.  I’ve always interpreted this to man that KIng Furry may officially rule the entire world, but he has a hard time enforcing his policies in the periphery of his kingdom.  

To be sure, I don’t expect King Furry to be perfect.   It’s likely that the world was a lot worse off before he assumed power, and the peace and prosperity his subjects are celebrating is a relative thing.    I just find it odd that the Red Ribbon Army was a Big Problem just three years ago, and everyone in this episode is acting like that never happened.

Meanwhile, in the Land of Korin, Goku’s planning to seek help from Korin at the top of Korin Tower.   But he’s all beat up, so Bora suggests that he rest for a few days before making the climb.  But Goku can’t wait, so he says Yajirobe will take him up.    Yajirobe refuses, until Goku tells him that there’s Senzu at the top of the tower, and it’s “Wizard Food”.

This leads Yajirobe to imagine a cereal mascot making giant food items appear out of thin air.   See, this right here is what all those Harry Potter movies should have looked like.   How hot would that be?   Dumbledore fights Voldemort, and they just keep trying to crush each other under giant pizzas and hot dogs.

Bora offers to help the boys out by doing a Fastball Special.   Only it’s even cooler than a Fastball Special because he’s gonna throw two people straight up.

I can’t believe Dragon Ball topped Harry Potter AND the X-Men in this one episode.   Well, actually, I can totally believe it.   This show rules.   Yajirobe grabs Goku’s butt, and Bora grabs Yajirobe’s butt, and we’re off to the races.

Of course, the animators sneak in plenty of upskirt shots of Yajirobe.   Wotta buncha perverts.

Once they’re as high as they can get, Yajirobe starts climbin’, crying out ORAORAORA as he goes.   Wow, a JoJo reference too.   This episode has everything.

Back at King’s Castle... uh... City?   Kingscastletown?  Castle City?   I think I’m gonna start calling it that.

Why are all these soldiers wearing pink?   I mean, they look all right, but they have a real ice cream truck vibe to them.     This makes me wonder if ice cream trucks in this town are Hum-vees driven by army guys in pixelated cookie-dough camo.    That’d be pretty badass.

So Piccolo’s ready to start invadin’.   First thing he does is T-Pose for dominance, and then he drops right on down on King’s Castle.

This guy at the gate tells him he can’t go in, and he has a gun, so Piccolo gives up and leaves.   And that’s the end of the story!   Kind of anticlimactic, but it’s a pretty daring way to wrap up a saga like this.   I think the moral here is--

Just kidding, Piccolo stone cold murders all the guards and just wanders through the castle at will.   Also, Piano finds a bag of chips next to some guy’s corpse and just picks it up like a crow.   This show is amazing.

Meanwhile, Master Roshi and Chiaotzu are still dead.

I feel like Tien’s sort of wasting time here.  I guess the last couple of episodes have taken place in roughly real-time, so it’s been maybe about twenty minutes since Piccolo made his wish?   That’s kind of nuts when you think about it.   But it feels like TIen’s been standing around all week.

The rest of Dragon Team finally arrives, and thank goodness Yamcha’s changed out of his blue tank top and short-shorts.   That outfit looked terrible on him.   Launch, of course, is still wearing her cool outfit from the Tien Saga, because you don’t want to mess with perfection.

So, just to be clear, Master Roshi is dead....

And Chiatozu is dead. 

Yamcha tells Tien that they need to team up to beat Piccolo.  Okay, time out, fantasy booking time.   What if they really did team up, and somehow they found out about the fusion dance, and King Piccolo met his match in... Tiencha!?

Like, TIencha would just instantly master the Mafuba, because he has Tien’s firsthand knowledge of the technique, combined with Yamcha’s ability to improvise moves like the Kamehameha and Spirit Ball.    But he’d be like, no.   No, this King Piccolo dude needs to pay.    So he’d wear him down with some Dodohamehas, and then polish him off with the Wolf Fang Volleyball Fist.    Then he’d cross his arms and shout “The Power of Tiencha!”

Then Tiencha would be made the new king.   Yamcha and Tien would rule jointly, but they’d use the fusion dance before making any important decisions. 

But no, we can’t do anything super mega awesome like that.  Instead, Tien wants to go off by himself and master the Mafuba on his own.   Yamcha offers to learn it with him...

But Tien tells him it would be impossible for Yamcha, since he’s never seen the move performed.  Well neither did Mutaito when he invented it, and so far he’s the only one who ever executed it successfully.

So Tien flies off on his own, leaving Launch to get all a-flutter over his stoic heroism.  Look, I get what they’re going for here.   This is Tien’s redemption arc, and Yamcha would just be in the way.   But this is a really dumb play.   Basically, Tien’s setting himself up to make the same mistake Master Roshi made.   Even if Yamcha doesn’t stand a chance of learning the Mafuba, he could still help in other ways, and if nothing else, he could be there when Tien tries it, and then if things don’t work out, he’ll finally have firsthand knowledge of the technique, so he can learn it himself.

Back at the parade, King Furry receives flowers from little girls from different parts of the world.   One of them is Suno from the Red Ribbon Army Saga.   I think this is the first time her hometown is called “Jingle Village”, and I really wish they had used that name back when I needed it.

Unfortunately, Piccolo blows up a bunch of heavy artillery at the castle, and the explosions finally disrupt the celebration, spoiling Suno’s big moment.

In hindsight, it probably would have been better to call off the rest of the celebration, but this guy in white only got word that a lone intruder was a the castle, and he thought tanks would be enough to stop him, so he decided not to interrupt the ceremony.   It was the wrong call, but I can’t blame the guy, since none of them had any idea what they were dealing with.   Now that he does know, he suggests King Furry leave the area immediately.

Furry really doesn’t want to do that, although he’s wise enough to know that his security chief is right.   Piccolo came her to get Furry, so if he can escape the city, there’s at least a chance Piccolo will follow him instead of hurting anyone else.

Meanwhile this huge dude tries to buy them some time.   From the dialogue, I get the impression that he’s the guy on the security detail they call when conventional weapons don’t work.    So at least King Furry’s staff recognizes that there are fighters in the world strong enough to resist tanks and guns.    It sort of makes me wonder why anyone still bothers with tanks and guns, though.   

Piccolo offers the guy a job, but he’s not interested.   It says a lot about King Furry that these guys are willing to lay down their lives for him, even against a foe this powerful.   This whole part of the saga feels like an inversion of Goku’s assault on Red Ribbon Headquarters, only now it’s a villain no-selling a bunch of good guys with guns.   But unlike the Red Ribbon soldiers, these guys are motivated by honor and loyalty, rather than denial and fear.  

To be sure, a couple of other guards see Piccolo kill this dude and they run away, but at this point, I’d say it’s the smart call.   There’s nothing left to defend here but an empty castle, and they’re way out of their league.    All they’d accomplish by staying is to die.

Unfortunately, Piano spots King Furry making his escape.

And it doesn’t take long for Piccolo to catch him.

Elsewhere, a kid asks his mom if there’s anyone who can stop Piccolo.

Suno knows someone.   

Yeah, Goku’s gonna come back and tear Piccolo apart.   You just wait and see.  

He just needs a little time to get his shit together.   Hang in there, world.

[celoica]

Standing in the middle of the cereal aisle, clutching a box of Rocky Road in one hand and C-3PO's in the other, Steve asked, “What are marshmallows made of?”

Billy snorted, nudging Steve with his shoulder as he reached past him, knocking Steve’s hand. “It’s all crap,” he said, plucking a box of fucking All-Bran off the shelf and dropping it in the cart.

Steve gave the All-Bran a skeptical glance and said, “Like I trust your taste.”

“You’re gonna get fat.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Fat,” Billy said, pushing the cart down the aisle. He grinned over his shoulder. “And bald.”

He shoved the boxes back onto the shelf and followed after Billy. “That’s probably the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me.”