#currently trying to write a script on how that “episode” would go

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

alright ykw you can have my Relativity Falls Northwest Mansion Mystery episode bulletpoints

For Context: The events in the original nwmm happened when Pacifica was about the same age she was in the original show- everyone got turned to wood, but she managed to get away and began studying paranormal stuff in hopes of getting them to turn back, which is part of how she wound up working with Dipper, and she's the reason he came to Gravity Falls in the first place.

Preston gets Ford's help with getting rid of the ghost that comes every year at the abandoned Northwest Mansion 

He believes that by capturing and exorcising the ghost, it will free the people under the curse of being wood, and that it might help Pacifica's sanity (since her parents and people she knew are among them) 

Preston read about Ford being all good with the paranormal and decided to come to the Mystery Shack to get his help

Stan does not like him (he maybe had the same role as Pacifica in Double Dipper and Irrational Treasure), but as soon as Ford hears he needs help with a ghost, he's eager to come and Stan decides to come with him 

They go to the abandoned mansion, which has a ton of people turned into wood, and keep thinking they hear the ghost, but it turns out to be Gleeful sneaking around 

Stan is immediately hostile towards her, but she's like “I just want to help” and pulls out the pages from Dipper's journal 2 that cover what he knows of the Northwest Family Curse 

Ford freaks out, like “you have a journal????” And she's like “well I used to, or rather my dad used to, but I think it got confiscated or something when he was arrested” 

They end up splitting up, Preston with Ford and Gleeful with Stan

Stan and Gleeful end up talking about Gideon, and Stan can't help but sympathize a bit with her 

Ford starts asking Preston about Pacifica, hoping to find out more about the author 

But Preston gets all defensive and they start arguing, but then the ghost comes out all like “I smell a NORTHWEST” and tries to get Preston

Which interrupts Gleeful and Stan's conversation, and the four of them reunite 

They end up catching and exorcising the ghost, but it doesn't free the wooden people, and Preston tries to hide his disappointment 

Ford, Stan, and Gleeful go to visit Pacifica anyway, and she asks Ford to stay for a moment 

She tries to give him the warning about something terrible coming, but Ford is like “hey it's kinda late and you're probably unstable from learning your family is never gonna be fixed, so why don't we rest and talk about this tomorrow?” And then leaves 

The end 

@clownjacket here's where the mandatory season 2 stan and gleeful bonding takes place :>

[avelera]

I do have one thing and one thing only to say about the Neil Gaiman revelations.

Others more articulate than I have gone into detail on the horror of it. It should go without saying that fans across every fandom linked to him are horrified and each dealing with the revelations in their own way. My thoughts below may seem, I don't know, pithy in response but I'm not trying to address the enormity of what happened or offer any sort of solution, or comfort, or anything but my own confusion on a particular, perhaps even silly point. This is just my own moment to grapple with an aspect of the revelation that just won't get out of my head.

Here's a thing I don't get. It's a stupid thing, even ridiculous, but it haunts me:

Why remake the comic issue "Calliope" in the Sandman show? If you're N.G. and you know what you've done?? How could you be so fucking stupid? Or is it pure hubris? Why in the world would you update it so Madoc bore more similarities to current N.G., with such similar crimes of hypocrisy, using progressiveness as a mask over such crimes of sexual abuse?? Why wouldn't you try to distract or at least not bring such direct parallel attention to what you've done in your own story??

Writing Calliope in the first place as a younger man is one thing. The Sandman comic is edgy and dark and a story like that fits the 90s era grimdark tone. And many accounts seem to point to him not having committed any of those crimes back when he wrote Calliope. His ability to commit and get away with such abuse, perhaps even his interest in doing so I don't fucking know, came later, once he had money and power and influence. Sure, take that as you will, I don't claim to know, but most of the accounts seem to be from after he was 40 and he wrote Calliope long before that.

But the Calliope update in the Sandman show so specifically seems to draw parallels between Madoc and Gaiman. Like, there's a whole bit about how Madoc wants any shows or movies based in his work to have at least half women and people of color, Madoc is posing himself as this progressive feminist and the disgusting hypocrisy of it of course is that he has a woman he's abusing locked up in the attic.

I remember watching that scene, while watching this remake of Sandman that is, of course, more than half women and people of color. One of the biggest dudebro complaints against the Sandman show was that Lucienne got genderswapped and Death was played by a black woman. Like, you're watching the show where the acclaimed author's works are getting a progressive facelift, in the episode, with a fictional author, who is demanding the progressive facelift for film versions of his work, while he's being a vile predatory hypocrite with a woman locked in the attick.

I remember watching that scene and thinking, astounded and rather anxious for him, "My god, Neil must have absolute ironclad certainty that he has never done anything that can be construed as sexually inappropriate if he's making this update to the characters with parallels that could so clearly apply to him as well! He must be totally wholesome, faithful to his wife, and careful around fans. He must be 100% dead certain that he is above reproach because even a whisper, a false accusation of impropriety, one unhappy fan at an event, could make this episode look like the rankest hypocrisy. Why would you ever dare remake Calliope, and remake it so specifically to model after Neil, if you're Neil, unless you're 1000% certain Madoc's update doesn't apply to you at all?"

Like, even the most squeaky clean person in the world has gotta hesitate a bit when drawing a potential parallel between themselves as the author of the work and a villain in the work, and saying "This is me if I was a bad person." RIGHT? Like you've gotta have a moment's hesitation, even if you know none of it is true, before you dare risk drawing such parallels and literally updating the work into the script to make it more like you. Even if you know you've never done anything wrong in your life as an author, when you create Madoc, who is an author, who voices similar views to things you've said, you've gotta have a moment's hesitation just in case people misconstrue that the other villainous stuff applies to you too, right?

I think there's a part of me that like... understands obviously that there's evil in the world but sometimes what makes me additionally angry is when evil is stupid? Like when really obvious fraud is committed, or when the coverup is just really blatantly false. And this kind of falls into that category of like, what were you thinking drawing attention to your own potential abuse of power with fans, how your own progressive ideals could be rank hypocrisy over a mask of horror, that you could be saying all these feminist things while keeping a woman locked up and assaulted in your attic, almost literally, why would you even dare put that-- I mean, I daresay, confession out into the world and make the parallels so obvious, to actually update the parallels to be more like you now! Why would you dare do that?!

I can only imagine two answers:

It wasn't Neil. It was the other show creators who came up with the idea, because they truly thought Neil was above reproach (or maybe they did know some element of the truth and it WAS a warning but that feels less likely with him as executive producer that he'd let that in) and he couldn't cut it from the story without raising questions about why he wanted this rather salient update to the character removed without raising questions, especially if Orpheus & Calliope plot was going to a big thing later in the story.

It was Neil's choice to put that update in and it is some sort of twisted confession or he didn't see the parallels or he truly didn't think anyone would spot it or know?? But again WHY make Madoc progressive in such a specifically similar way to Neil?! Madoc didn't need to be progressive! He didn't need to say his films should be adapted to be more diverse the same way Neil did, in a show that was adapted to be more diverse! You didn't need to make the parallels to Neil so goddamn glaring, you could just adapt it directly to the comic and avoid the possible parallel! Why risk it??

It's a stupid thing to get stuck on, I know. But it baffles me, the sheer... hubris of it? The foolishness? I can't control what happened, I can't help the victims, and many fans are grappling with many questions about this but still, holy shit...

Why update Calliope with a Madoc that is so much like Neil, knowing as Neil did how deep the parallels actually went? Why, in the fucking world, would you ever fucking do that??

[misticloyal]

Pure Vanilla and his fated 'other half'

So I'm currently drafting a huge master post of my analysis/comparison of the entire Beast-Yeast Campaign thus far but I could not let this idea go so here's my thoughts.

Throughout Beast-Yeast it's pretty clear that patterns can be seen. Every Beast has a 'lackey' of some sort- and ever Ancient has a 'right hand' so to speak.

And as it happens, these tropes actually help guide the story along.

In the end (imo) in Apathy vs Resilience it was Dark Cacao's love for his kingdom, and his right hand- Caramel Arrow Cookie (and Crunchy Chip) that help him overcome the things that Mystic Flour torments him with. That was what motivated him to ascend and 'beat' his beast.

Similarly, Golden Cheese sets out with a specific other cookie (Burnt Cheese Cookie) and it was the greed and love for her kingdom that helped overcome her beast.

Now with Holly berry's story out I can FINALLY address Eternal Sugar's whole deal with her (holy shit there's so much to unpack lmfao) but something intriguing I noticed is that she ALSO has a right hand (Wild berry Cookie and Raspberry Cookie) that clearly serve as a catalyst and her main support system throughout the story.

As of writing this I haven't finished Eternal Sugar and Hollyberry's campaign, so I'm not sure how her love of her kingdom will help Hollyberry actually ascend but from what I've PLAYED- Eternal Sugar literally involved HOLLYBERRY'S ENTIRE KINGDOM.

So far every Ancient's kingdom had been involved as collateral damage in somehow someway.

--

So what about Pure Vanilla Cookie?

Well he's a weirdo. Pure Vanilla's right hand is White Lily Cookie. His best friend- the one that literally half of his entire kingdom is DEDICATED to. It's clear throughout even the first two episodes that White Lily is SUPPOSED to Pure Vanilla's right hand and main comforter when he is being tormented by Shadow Milk.

She was supposed to be there for him. But we all know that White Lily is a little bit quirky and whenever she's 'supposed' to do anything sheeeee goes 'off script' a little. Which in this case actually worked in Shadow Milk's favor but still lol.

Point is that as soon as gang arrives at the Spire of Shadows White Lily splits up with them- Pure Vanilla just LOST his main support. I can't remember if it's canon whether or not Shadow Milk actually addresses this but it's quite intriguing because we've already broken the pattern set up so far:

Pure Vanilla has no right hand. He is alone in a spire to face his beast with a band of three crack kids on cocaine /j

And the effects of this is immediate in the way where he hallucinates the trio becoming incredibly angry and bitter at PV for misguiding them to the spire. Normally; the supporting role would help the main character. But that doesn't happen at all does it?

Might I add as well that Shadow Milk also breaks the monotony for once by having not one but two well trusted henchmen. And not any more.

Shadow Milk and PV's entire arc revolves around them being incredibly isolated and not being able to rely on anyone around them. Literally JUST to emphasize this I made a diagram of how Shadow Milk harasses everyone in Crispia.

If you were lonley... you'd go out of way to harass ANYONE. Everyone. Just for attention. If you already had your playthings exactly where you wanted them why would you try to manipulate anything more?

Mystic Flour and Burning Spice only target things related with their ancients because their goal is the soul jam. Eternal Sugar only targets the Hollyberrian Kingdom because her goal is Hollyberry. Annddd what does Shadow Milk do?

He reaches his grubby little hands out into Crispia and targets EVERYTHING BUT THE VANILLA KINGDOM.??

Sorry but I still haven't processed that right.

The only time we get a glimpse into who Shadow Milk torments with his lies is specifically those shown on the map- GRANTED it's supposed to be implied that Shadow Milk's power and deceit stretched across the entirety of Crispia. That doesn't disprove my POINT though- Shadow Milk's lonely ahh bitch decided that if he's truly 'lonely' he's going to straight up harass the entire COUNTRY.

Right so how does this relate to PV?

Well the other ancients surley ascended because of their love of their kingdom (because it's being tormented) and their right hand right-?

Lets go through our list here....

Right hand? No where to be seen White Lily is GONE and PV has only three friends who he CLEARLY does not want to burden with his issues.

Kingdom in peril right-... oh. Well erm this is kind of awkward... Who's going to tell Truthless Recluse that he should be CARING about the Vanilla Kingdom (that he renounced king-dom-ship over...)

My live reaction /lh

So yeah as FAR as the story is concerned PV ascends because of the love of his friends- as in Gingerbrave, Strawberry, and Wizard right.

Okay so maybe he didn't have the love of his kingdom (on my MAMA he never mentions his kingdom one god damn time despite LITERALLY BEING A KING IN THE PAST </3) - but that leaves us with one... final... issue...

PV's ascended now, we all find out that Truthless Recluse was a trick he did to better understand Shadow Milk but where the HELL is this man's one person???

Where is the person that at the end of the beast arc he comes to reconcile and say 'Oh wow I'm so glad THATS all over'...

...

Case in point, White Lily was supposed to be Pure Vanilla's support system... she was supposed to be there for him. Instead, PV not only figured it out by himself b u t.

Yknow he wasn't exactly wrong.

The entire time their arc consisted of conquring lonlieness. Was Shadow Milk the villian really? Or was it the fact that he lashed out- not knowing how to deal with the truth. Pure Vanilla was not the only one that was missing his 'person' so to speak (take this romantically or platonically).

While both Shadow Milk and PV had their friends there with them (ie; Black Saph, Candy apple | The trio) they were missing their main pillar of support.

So in the end what better way to end their arc then having PV extend his hand towards Shadow Milk and ask him if he wants to be his friend? The reason why PV's proposal is the final chapter in their story instead of an ascension and an 'epic battle' because the main antagonist of their story was merely a facade. And all they needed was each other to conqure it.

SPOLIERS FOR THE MOST RECENT ETERNAL SUGAR AND HOLLYBERRY ARC THIS IS UR ONLY WARNING CHAT ALR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Too bad Shadow Milk ran away though right guys /lhj

[emytellsrandomstories]

I'm in love with your idea of ​​protective Kim towards Marcaniel! The fact that he canonically has two fathers is so amazing to me. I hope we get more content on this in the future, if you have more thoughts on this topic could you write them? 🫶

Oowww🥹🥹🫶🏽🫶🏽 I'm glad you liked it!!

I also hope to receive new content about Kim's parents. The way the series is representing LGBTQIA+ themes makes me very happy, excited and hopeful for the development of Kim's family in the episode "Sleeping Siren"!!

About the interactions between Kim, Marc and Nathaniel, I have some ideas!! I really wish write something to explore the dynamics of the boys group, something like a "Partycrasher 2.0", with the boys taking Adrien to shopping new clothes and change his look!! It would be an interesting situation to see the group's friendship dynamics!(and also to see a change of look for Adrien... All the characters got new clothes and accessories, why does he have to be excluded?). But I'm currently shelving that idea because I'm already writing a medium-length Marcaniel fanfic to create a illustration book for my artist portfolio, a 4-chapter script about "unshown scenes from the episode The Ruler", so I won't be writing or drawing anything beyond that until the end of July😅(hopefully)

Anyway, I'm going to share some points here that I think about Marcaniel and Kim's dynamic!! I hope you like it and forgive any writing mistakes, English is not my first language!!

(and if there is something written in Portuguese in the middle of English, please let me know so I can fix it!! My computer sometimes translates texts into my native language automatically and I'm afraid I may have missed a sentence among the corrections)

My little thoughts on Nath, Marc and Kim's friendship!!

(don't know what to name this, lol)

The first time Kim's dads saw Marc and Nath was at the Heroes' Day picnic.The boys were smiling at each other and talking shyly as Nathaniel showed what he had just drawn.One of the parents asks Kim if the "redhead" and the "noiret" were dating. He says no, they were just friends and comic book partners. The other parent immediately tells Kim to wait a few more months, they would soon be "changing the status of that partnership" , men recognized very well what was written in those looks... but Kim hadn't understood what his dads meant until the day she heard Alix teasing Nathaniel about his crush on Marc. It was from then on that he began to pay a little more attention to the boys, realizing how the little things they did for each other reminded him of the loving couple his parents were and how often, like his dads, the artists received sidelong looks and negative comments disguised as compliments… Kim grew up receiving these negative looks, knowing full well that whoever looked at Marc and Nathaniel's closeness like that would look the same way at his parents… The men always protected each other and their son from anyone who dared to insult their family. Kim just felt the need to do the same with the boys. If his family deserves to be respected, his friends deserve it too and he would make sure no one hurt them.

Kim is not a fan of reading, but he supports Marc and Nathaniel with their comics, always trying to keep up to date with what is happening in the story with each issue that the artists release even without having read the previous one completely. He has his own (and slow) reading pace, He is more of a conversational person than a reader, but he wants to support his friends and goes around recommending and asking about comics to everyone.

Ever since becoming a regular holder of the Monkey Miraculous, Kim has been teasing everyone about how awesome the Monkey King is! He openly shows himself to be the biggest fan of the monkey hero to the point of even trying to convince Marc and Nathaniel to make an exclusive comic about the hero, challenging them to do so over and over again. The boys refused every time, as they were leaving the superhero theme aside, to focus on in his new idea about knights, medieval times and fairy tales, but Marc secretly has a draft of a little one-shot that Nathaniel will illustrate for them to give to Kim for his next birthday. (Don't worry, after months of excitement and fanaticism for receiving your Miraculous, the weight of responsibility fell on Kim's shoulders and he went back to being just a "normal fan").

Kim showed the Sun-heart and Rain-piercer comic to their dads and they loved it! They followed all the volumes excitedly and, just like Marc's parents, they cried with emotion. Especially because Kim asked Marc and Nath to sign and write a special dedication to his parents in the last edition, right below the knights' kiss! The day after the latest issue of Sun-heart and Rain-piercer was released, the men personally accompanied Kim to greet and thank the artists for this comic.

Kim already challenged Nathaniel judging Adrien's clothing style, since the redhead designed clothes for his characters, he must have understood fashion. Nath threw the question to Marc, justifying that he himself didn't know get ready and it was noiret who taught him how to dress up. Drawing is different from dressing someone for real! And so, somehow, between jokes and teasing, the boys decided to take Adrien shopping for new clothes!

I imagine the boys shopping: Marc giving suggestions for clothes and accessories, putting together charming and varied combinations for Adrien, Nath helping him with color combinations and Max calculating the prices and probabilities of the combinations assembled making the blonde more or less attractive for his girlfriend, and Nino and Kim judging them to see whether or not they are doing a good job or not with their bro.

(Don't ask me where Ivan is, I honestly don't know where to put him. He's probably helping Marc hold the clothes or he went out for a moment to buy a brooch or bracelet for Myléne)

In the midst of this clothes party, Kim is paying attention to the strange looks that some others boys give Marc, trying to understand what he is and mentally disapproving the fact that this extravagant and exotic person, and his supposed boyfriend, is giving fashion advice to the son of the late great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. Kim frowns and grimaces, scaring away anyone who wanted to say anything out loud, especially when Adrien admits to liking the composition that Nath and Marc put together and and the artists hug and kiss in celebration, happy to help.

----

Wow this is longer than I imagined… I'll be tagging @goldenwitherphoenix13 because you also asked me to talk more about my headcanons about Nath, Marc and Kim!! It's not really a fic, but I hope you like it!!

Thank you so much for reading this far! Kisses full of love and light ~Emy🌹

[annie-silverl2]

CHARACTER STUDY: Megavolt, Representation of insanity or of a person with a disability issues?”

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, good afternoon, good night and dawn, when you know you should be sleeping, but you're on the internet to read creative and extremely specific texts from fans — ANYWAY, welcome everyone! My name is Lauanny, you can call me Annie, today I wanted to try to present an idea that It had in partnership with my dear friend (Beatriz, applause, please). This means that it will have to restrain myself a lot so as not to give away some spoilers, but someday it will do that when everything is ready.

It would like to initially warn you that this is a blog about character studies while also considering factors in a more serious tone of the character's actions, with that, there will be mention of attempted murder. Night terrors and psychological and health problems. The reflection here is about some ideas that may be more closely linked to future representations of the character. If you disagree or want to add, feel free to do so, I'm not the type who will be upset to hear your point. Just politeness and respect between the comments, that's enough to deal with the mistakes It may make. Please let me know if there are any grammar or information errors in the translation. With that, HERE WE GO!

IMPORTANT WARNINGS ABOUT SENSITIVE CONTENT: POSSIBLY MENTIONING VIOLENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL/PHYSICAL ISSUES.

DARKWING DUCK SERIES - Taking everything the show SAYS for itself

“Darkwing Duck” is a television series produced between 1991–1992 by Disney's main channel, being a spin-off of its classic show, “Ducktales: the adventure hunters” telling what we already know from the show's trajectory. Simple in its genre, but interesting information to the most attentive eyes can easily question how much the script was treated as just a comedy, superhero, and adventure animation.

It is a fact that proves this point by treating the past of the character, Megavolt / Elmo Sputterspark, with more serious eyes. In the show, his true character is introduced in Crash Reunion, episode 10, third season. In this episode, Elmo Sputterspark is presented as a typical intelligent student with a promising future, however. It turns out that, among so many days of bullying, a few weeks before the prom, the young rodent is trapped in his science project by his recurring bullies, Hamilton Spring and his girlfriend Preena Lott. Remembering that the project consisted of using the electric current from the treadmill to light a light bulb, the character spent indefinite hours running until he freed himself by burning the motor. When he touches a doorknob, he awakens his electrical powers and slowly begins to thirst for revenge. He follows those responsible for this event at the prom, fortunately stopped by a younger Darkwing Duck (who very ironically was Drake Mallard, a classmate of his from some year in the 70s). In the present of the episode Megavolt, the current Elmo Sputterspark, after surrendering to crime. Has a memory trigger and decides to have revenge for his first plan, and along the way discovers the identity of his enemy and even gains an advantage. However, he is defeated by being stuck with oil (I hope so) and when he tries to threaten the hero duck, he has a complete crisis of forgetfulness, and his router's battery runs out.

DARKWING DUCK FANDOM - Building everything that was formed for the fans together with the most indirect interpretations perceived in my participation when writing or drawing with lore

Megavolt, as you would imagine, is one of the super villains in the main cast. The affection for the character is so great that there are from the creator himself to the smallest fans attracted by his charismatic and considerably eccentric personality. There is an extreme variety in what fans are used to doing, fanart, fanfiction, blogs, memes, stickers, interactions with their own characters (family relationships, friendships, dating). And it is an important point to add because the character has passed through countless hands and will continue to do so. From my knowledge many agree that the character is a rodent, intimate interactions with the Fearsome Four (I know that some are romantic as it could be just Platonic). It does not write five because his interaction with Negaduck is turbulent like 99% of the characters in the show. Some observations are the indirect references to the character that range from his name to references that relate to his memory problems. And, what if I told you now that this is much deeper than you think at first glance? Okay, follow me below, and you will hear everything, well, almost everything because there is a story to write about AU.

IN DARKWING DUCK appearing in the episodes:

“Duck Blind” (Season 1, Episode 8)  

“Comic Book Capers” (Season 1, Episode 9)  

“A Revolution in Home Appliances” (Season 1, Episode 13)  

“Just Us Justice Ducks, Part 1 and 2” (Season 1, Episodes 20–21)    

“Ghoul of My Dreams” (Season 1, Episode 30)  

"Up, Up and Awry" (Season 1, Episode 34)

“Life, the Negaverse and Everything” (Season 1, Episode 35)  

“Planet of the Capes” (Season 1, Episode 36)  

“Darkwing Doubloon” (Season 1, Episode 40)

"Twitching Channels” (Season 1, Episode 42)

“Dead Duck” (Season 1, Episode 47)  

“Time and Punishment” (Season 1, Episode 52)

"Stressed to Kill (Season 1, Episode 53)

“Inside Binkie's Brain” (Season 1 Episode 55)  

“Whirled History” (Season 1, Episode 58)  

“Jail Bird” (Season 1, Episode 62)  

“Negaduck” (Season 2, Episode 3)

“Inherit the Wimp” (Season 3, Episode 2)  

“The Frequency Fiends” (Season 3, Episode 6)  

“Clash Reunion” (Season 3, Episode 10)  

IN DUCKTALES 2017 appear in the episodes:

"Beware the B.U.D.D.Y. System!"  (Season 1* Episode 11)  

"The Duck Knight Returns" (Season 2, Episode 16)  

"Let's Get Dangerous!" (Season 3, Episode 12)  

IN COMICS (Boom! Studios and Joe Books):

"The Duck Knight Returns, Part 1" 

"The Duck Knight Returns, Part 2" 

"The Duck Knight Returns, Part 3" 

“The Duck Knight Returns, Part 4" 

"Crisis on Infinite Darkwings, Part 4" 

"Dangerous Currency, Part 1" 

"Dangerous Currency, Part 2" 

"Dangerous Currency, Part 3" 

"Orange Is the New Purple, Part 1"

"Orange Is the New Purple, Part 2”

"Orange Is the New Purple, Part 3”

MEGAVOLT/ELMO SPUTTERSPARK - Story adapted without extreme spoilers, just adding the changes, ideas on his biological identity and influence:

Elmo Sputterspark/Megavolt has always been of special interest to me. I won't lie that eccentric characters don't immediately steal my attention. The adaptation I used had no references at all. In the version, I tried to create an interpretation that was a little more appropriate to more serious series and work only a few references within the Fandom's ideas. Despite everything, It still consider each part that is presented throughout his appearances (and when I say each, It MEAN EVERY DETAIL). Crash Reunion has a more serious and considerably possible approach in my notebook in the course of the characters' development. Especially when the fact that brought the plot of the episode is exactly the mistakes that Drake Mallard makes influencing his heroic persona. Some events that It warn you still maintain are the concept; the differences would be in the time given for the accident to affect the character (much more time than you can imagine than Elmo spent running in the flashback). Another important change is that Darkwing Duck failed, unlike the first heroic action he defeated the villain, this would not have happened because it extends the timeline between the 1990 and 2017 versions. The truth is that the first time he had to seriously face Megavolt in a risky situation, he ENDED UP LOSING and this had consequences for the others as well. This time, Megavolt was responsible for the death of a considerable group of some former students of the old St Canard and Hamilton and Preena are among the main targets (for now it is directly stated that it was MEGAVOLT who committed the crime).

Another thing It consider is to reformulate exactly the information about the two visits to the electric chair, he would only have gone ONCE. However, It does not disregard the second time in the sense that he still wants to use it to work on what happened in his mind after the second OVERLOAD. Exactly, a visit to the electric chair and an overload in this version. An interesting and somewhat silly fact is that I considered that the character would be a mix between animals, half dog and half rat. It seems silly at first, but considering how much some mutations (whether genetically, individually good or bad, disability, how can I explain it) influenced the mutation of his superpowers. In some drafts, despite some ideas of family origin, the final result is that the character is a mere American, with influences in his more distant relatives from indigenous to European. I would bet on a member of the Iroquois people as much as a Russian immigrant (or some nationality from Eastern/Eastern Europe). In truth, I haven't fully defined it yet, so it serves as a suggestion for you in your own notes.

MEGAVOLT/ELMO SPUTTERSPARK - Character Design

Concept art Vs Final Design

Canon Redesign  

DEVELOPMENT: 

There are three topics that I can mention that I will be working on throughout my writing in LYG (and also my participation with PU, Beatriz's AU). The first is to work on social change from the 1945s. Elmo Sputterspark, as confirmed, was a typical genius student, fond of exact sciences, good grades, curious and politely cute, but vulnerable to bad people. One fact that I consider is to work on the difference between American and Brazilian bullying. Many say that it refers to a type like this or type like that, however. It considers it to take exactly the social classifications and behaviour according to some readings that It has already done through blogs and Reddit (if you delve deeper, you will see that it is no small thing even today). An example that I think of in some concepts is when the character had suffered from hair loss, which came mainly from the trauma of when in childhood Hamilton cut his hair until his ears were visible. It's a cruel example, but this type of situation would continue over the years, until at some point it resulted in the actions at the reunion of the old students of the main academy of Saint Canard. However, it's not just pain that would come to the character. Have small blocks to add, someone to help him during the most difficult days of summer, especially to give a flying kick to specific bullies that fans are interested in. One fact that was pointed out that could be seen as differences is in the way that the writers can bring back the villain's superpowers. It varies a lot according to the way they want to fit it into the story and the interpretation of the AUs together. Beatriz and I put forward to consider the impacts of the accident to the rodent, which, regardless of whether it was, perhaps a project that gradually became overloaded. An abnormality, special equipment or reference to other characters, the issue that brought the powers that we know, is exactly THE OVERLOAD carried out during the event. When Elmo wakes up from it, regardless of the form, it is exactly the aftermath of the artificial electricity acting on the tiny portion of the brain's electricity. Gradually becoming so much that it would hinder the bearer's ability to remove it from his limbs (yes, this small logic is broad for anything that wants to add or rewrite its origin, and, unintentionally, there was a clue as to how it happened in the main story).

CONSTRUCTION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC AND ELECTRICAL POWERS

Talking comes, talking goes, won't beat around the bush, just adding to the organization. The main fact is exactly to remember in the post that, considering that in the main version (used in Purple Union and Little Yellow Girl AU) the electricity that came into contact with Elmo during the accident is both organic and artificial. Over the time he was in contact with the charge it gradually came into contact with his energy waves until at a certain point the process and storage of neurons was completely broken (if you want to research in depth, you will understand that this is exactly what I say next). When Elmo's brain came in, in short, the artificial electricity kind of altered the waves of his neurons, which gradually. In addition to giving him incredible electrical powers, it would also gradually eat away at the few functional cells in his brain and influence his thirst for revenge. > 

CONSEQUENCES

Among all the factors that I have heard or read according to fans or based on research abroad, there are four factors that I think can be used to address the difficulties and changes in Megavolt/Elmo's life. Remember that this is data that I found on websites and official documents by health professionals, even so I am not a professional. I am presenting references for something small that can be added and provide recognition of these conditions and if familiar, seek out a health professional nearby.They are popularly known as:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder — PTSD

Alzheimer's

Dementia

Epilepsy

> POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER — PTSD 

Known as "Post-traumatic Stress Disorder" here as PTSD, the disorder is recognized as the difficulty after a high-stress event. It can last for months or years, and many people with this disorder may try to avoid returning to the event as much as possible, whether due to memories, triggers, or having spent time with the person or place. Many things can result in PTSD, and one of the main ones that raised the point for the character to carry this condition would be his exaggerated reactions when the subject is about some event from the past. Depending on what it is, it can even bring positivity, however, for those who have the condition, any trigger that has brought pain into their life tends to have strong consequences for their safety. 

In a certain rewrite, the thought of remembering school days would not simply have only the good times. Megavolt is essentially forgetful and with the temperament of a threatened bull. In consideration of this, he may initially not present fear until slowly the memories try to remember what brought him there. From social isolation after the abrupt end of their plans to the future, from the repetition of what would be expected to never be seen again, the consequences of years of bullying, verbal, social, and physical. One thing to consider is that some symptoms vary, but they present the same traits, and for a moment of transition of their enthusiasm. It could easily be exchanged for a panic attack mixed with thirst for repressed fury for so many years. Aggressiveness and emotional indifference are some visible signs, and can be broad or on a smaller scale, varying according to the symptoms in the sufferer. The possible additional symptoms include: Physical reactions such as stress or fatigue:

Hypervigilance:

Panic attack:

Anxiety attack:

Nervousness:

Distrust:

Hopelessness:

Indifference / Emotional Detachment:

Headache:

Agitation:

Hostility:

Aggressiveness:

Irritability:

Hallucination:

Insomnia:

Sleep Deprivation:

Unwanted Thoughts:

> ALZHEIMER'S DEMENTIA

Alzheimer's disease is recognized as a progressive disease responsible for the degradation of brain cells and is caused by genetic factors, such as an abnormal gene in the predominant trait of ancestors. It is commonly believed that the disease consumes the brain's strength until the individual is completely unable to perform their activities due to damage to the area of the body known as the hippocampus and the cerebral cortex (and there are other similar diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer's, Dementia, Korsakoff Syndrome, Huntington's, stroke, Head injury or tumour, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, multiple sclerosis, normal pressure hydrocephalus, hypothyroidism, high blood pressure, depression, and ADHD…). One factor responsible for the genetic abnormality of Alzheimer's is some lipoproteins in the cholesterol in the bloodstream. There are three types of lipoproteins:

Epsilon-4: (Leads to earlier development of Alzheimer's)

Epsilon-2: (Leads to a decrease and some safety in Alzheimer's)

Epsilon-3: (Leads to neutrality between developing or not). An important part that I will highlight from the sources (everything will be at the end of the post) is that it is not in any way a routinely recommended test. As any disease in the field of cells and brain can lead to having it, it is commonly done in middle-aged individuals.

In some rewrites, Alzheimer's is one of the most popularly known diseases and is often reviewed in some indirect way among characters who have had their past taken away. Whether by force or by chance, the main consideration is demarcating that Elmo will not have it completely. However, he would gradually go through some signs as he would lose connection with his reality. A significant fact to mention is that Alzheimer's disease is commonly targeted at middle-aged people, and a fact that could point to the approximation is exactly the character who originally is in his 30s to 40s (I read the Reboot notes). Even though, it is not completely impossible for the disease to be present in younger people. However, in a headline a century ago from “the Journal for Alzheimer's Disease”. Reported in Beijing, China, a case of gradual memory loss lasting two years in a 19-year-old from Beijing, China, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Becoming the youngest patient to have the condition in the world and being treated by finding beta-amyloid in his brain in the hippocampus. I could mention the age that the character would have during the course of the story, however, for now I will say that he was born (in this interpretation) on 09/16/1964. The main fact is that he would present considerably signs of a little of each of the conditions mentioned. However, one fact is not directly linked to another so easily, each reference influences in some way to itself and the additional possible symptoms are from:

People may experience:

Disorientation (partially):

Forgetfulness:

Difficulty concentrating:

Difficulties and Loss of recent memory (there is an additional point that your implicit or declarative memory has recovery points at an average level):

Agitation/Restlessness:

“Personality” changes:

Difficulty performing functions:

Lack of or wandering aimlessly:

Apathy (significant on average):

Mood swings, anger or loneliness:

Hallucination:

Paranoia:

Rhythmic muscle contractions:

Disorientation:

Slurred speech (rare signal):

Limited social skills:

> DEMENTIA IN GENERAL 

Dementia is recognized as not being a disease, but rather as a group of cognitive and social symptoms that interfere with the individual's daily activities. Characterized by dysfunction of at least two functions, such as memory and discernment, in the brain. This suggests that Alzheimer's is a type of dementia and a term used to describe poor function in the area of the cerebral cortex. With treatments that help deal with the progression of cells, there are medications to treat the symptoms brought on by the passing of the years, perhaps not preventing them completely, but helping to improve the health of the body.

In this part of the post, in the rewrite, I confirm with a green flag that the problem in question that I would mark as total would be dementia. As it would be the field that would most encompass a behavioural analysis of the character's day-to-day difficulties. It would also represent some possible consequences for the aftermath of the genetic mutation in the character. At this point, I mention an important fact that developed over the years. Megavolt's thinking contains, to a certain extent, temperament issues. Considering that certain occasions of indifference and raising of the voice with triggers are not necessarily wilful, but are partly caused by a short temper, poor communication and low tolerance in moments of mild to serious stress. This consensus caught me when I was remembering Quackerjack's mentions with the nickname “Sparky” and that somehow it seemed very much like he repressed as much as possible the impulses of verbal threats to violence. Which, contrary to what normally happens in crises/anger attacks, tends to lead to impulsive choices at the time and then accommodated by a dose of guilt and shame (something that I will try to present directly in the future via text, stay tuned).

> EPILEPSY  

Epilepsy is recognized as a disease in which there is a disturbance in the activity of nerve cells, gradually causing temporary convulsions, which can present as a crisis or epileptic fits. It can occur both generically and due to injuries, lesions, trauma, or substance abuse that affect the cerebral vascular system. An epileptic fit occurs with the contraction of muscles, or rather, as a switch from voluntary to involuntary contractions or muscle paralysis. Among the signs throughout the body, there may be loss of control of movements, incomprehensible speech, tremors, chewing on the tongue (or even rolling it up), intense salivation, panting, and this will result in what the individual's gaze does. Often, because it can occur for a short period of time, it is often not noticed by family members, caregivers, or even teachers. At the end of the recurrence, the person does not remember what happened during or before the involuntary seizure, called a partial seizure (consciousness is not influenced) and a complex seizure (consciousness is impacted). Generalized seizures define those that affect the person in a generalized manner, as the name suggests. There are some types of generalized seizures:

Absence seizure: characterized by the behaviour of staring into space, spaced out, and may make subtle movements, such as blinking.

Myoclonic seizures: characterized by sudden movements, such as sudden jerks or spasms in the arms and legs;

Atonic seizures: characterized by loss of muscle control, which can lead to sudden falls or uncertain movements.

Atonic seizures: This type of seizure causes loss of muscle control, which can lead to sudden falls.

Tonic seizures: characterized by muscle rigidity, generally affecting the muscles of the arms, legs, and back. They can also cause falls;

Clonic seizures: characterized by causing rhythmic and repetitive movements. Tonic-clonic seizures. In this type, there is loss of consciousness, rigidity, and tremors throughout the body, and in some cases, loss of control of the bladder and tongue. This is the most well-known type of seizure, when the patient struggles.The symptoms in addition to your profile:

Fainting/Fatigue:

Tingling:

Visual or sensory symptoms:

Amnesia:

Mental confusion:

Seizures:

Headache:

Temporary paralysis:

If we are now referring to the representation of Megavolt/Elmo, he takes on a considerable role in the situations in which he lives together and, many times. It is the result of a physical overload of electricity running through his veins. Furthermore, in reference to one of the actions that occurs when he pushes his body's energy limits, and one of the reasons for merging with his crisis episodes. And one of the factors that led to this connection came from the character's defeats, in which Darkwing Duck or company used water, or an overload of their powers to defeat him. With the change in tone, it is possible to direct that this was one of the reasons for considering the influence of the development of these symptoms on the character. Another fact that is considerably open to work on his psychology within his arcs until his last appearance in the AUs. It will still be studied a little more to improve the writing of the subject, even though it already contains its own notes on PTSD. It is essential to make progress to improve and find a way to show the individuality in the rat

An important fact to mention is that, despite the differences, the relationship between the Fearsome Five has undergone some considerable changes. However, the essence between the four members carries a considerable essence, even with the relationship problems and threats caused by Negaduck. An essential piece of information to be said is that as Megavolt's experience progresses, health issues begin to appear that influence a considerable dependence to treat some negligence, difficulty remembering and performing simple activities. More information and it's a bucket of unintentional gossip.

CREATIVE WRITING: What ideas can be worked and how can each one fit in? 

Relationships with the Fearsome Four:

A great approach for the group of villains is to explore how interactions work, their development. Mainly, to address how they can help their little friend with his difficulties in everyday life and how sometimes he can have both good and bad days in relation to trying to be his emotional support. Negaduck is also a good placement, he could work on how both good and bad relationships can affect his personality. If it is thanks to this or that he can give in to crises or because he is someone trying to deal with everything alone for fear of being dependent. However, who can gradually show again that support in some way is essential to give him independence of his identity.

Relationships with family members:

Every character in Darkwing Duck, unlike the protagonist who has a daughter and frequently interacts with the audience, there are few characters who have any affinity with their family members, even with some small mentions. For example: Liquidator has already mentioned his cousin, Morgana has a large family, Drake has his ancestors and his adopted daughter, but what about other characters like Megavolt? Well, I say that here, it would give writers and artists total freedom to play with the concepts. They could give the same country, brothers, uncles, cousins, grandparents, even adoptive purposes that were built from friendship and relationships of consideration for a negligent environment, in the same way as giving a romantic partner. However, the point I'm getting at for now is about the certain almost coming of working a possible son into the character. Of course, the artists could even swap it for a daughter and even the fans themselves with OCs, the point is that this fact would give an influential sequence to the character. A child in their care could have countless origins, the focus on their presence would be the changes it would give to the character's personality. Would this kid be a joy for him? Just a bait? An emotional support over time, together? A line between sanity and domestic life? Or how could little Isha (Arcane) end her days to give the total loss of hope? Well, I don't tremble at all with the hands of a person committed to a message. 

Non-intimate relationships and relationships with strangers:

Now let's get to the comment that would cause the most confusion among the common citizens of the city and the lawyers of the lunatic gentleman. Would there be a way to work on this without disregarding his crimes and the terror he caused to ordinary people? Would this influence his emotional indifference if it came back to haunt him? It could open up many ideas, perhaps the rodent's going to a reformatory, a psychiatric clinic or even moments of his monitoring sessions with a psychologist or therapist. Maybe there would be someone who could be a helping hand to show him other sides. Would giving him a future if he is at the end of his line of conscience or lack of security for others open up space to debate Megavolt's redemption? Well, the numerous answers are all valid, and it would be interesting to hear from each one what would be in their argument. This also applies to the relationships of enemies like Megavolt with Darkwing Duck and how much this influences his development. Whether there is variation, resentment, or that it brings some small sense of morality regarding his opinion to the hero's companions. It would be possible to play with the other topics in the smallest interactions. Such as a possible neutrality that would lead to leaving LP, Honker and Gosalyn alone or even that there would be no sense that would prevent him from hurting the hero emotionally.

INTERESTING REFERENCES FOR YOU TO PICK UP FOR THE CHARACTER 

Pearl of Steven Universe;

Fiddleford Hadron / Old Man McGucket of Gravity Falls;

Doctor Two-Brains of Word Girl;

Ice King / Simon Petrikov of Adventure Time;

Junk rat of Overwatch 2

Powder / Jinx of Arcane: League of Legends;

Damian Wayne (Batman #655) and Dick Grayson (Detective Comics #38) of DC Comics

CLOSING

I thank everyone who had the patience to listen to some ideas of my anxious personality, I continue trying to have something that can be recognized and that can interact with the other people present. And probably some, coming from Instagram, must have thought of the original characters that Beatriz and I made, and that includes Isabella and little Vanna. Recently, I will try to help in the return of her main universe if I don't go back to writing the fifth chapter of LYG's story for 12/26. However, well, if you want to participate in throne-year anniversary of progress by sending questions, I would love to draw them while I'm helping in the Purple Union AU. So, if you want to help us with support or questions, we will try to answer them without spoiling the fun. I hope you enjoyed it, see you soon!

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:

Darkwing Duck - Fandom Wiki. Epilepsia: Conheça os diferentes tipos de crise - por Maiara Ribeiro, DRAUZIO 06/05/2020.

MANUAL MSD, Versão para Profissionais de Saúde - PorBola Adamolekun, MD, University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Manual MSD, Versão Saúde para a Família - Doença de Alzheimer, Por Juebin Huang, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Healthdirect Australian health advice you can count on - Memory disorders

Epilysis Foundation - What is Epilysis?

Alzheimer's Association  - What Is Dementia?

Psychiatrist.com - A 19-Year-Old Is Youngest Ever to Be Diagnosed with Alzheimer's

Mayo Clinic - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

[lurkingshan]

Dead Friend Forever is a Marvel of Mystery Writing

I haven’t been watching Dead Friend Forever live, because I am not always that into the slasher genre and I figured I would wait to hear whether it holds up before jumping in. I admit, I was a bit dubious about a drama sustaining a slasher narrative for 12 entire weeks and didn’t want to spend time on something that might be too shallow to sustain and would end up falling apart. I basically told bestie @wen-kexing-apologist to vet it for me and holler if I needed to start paying attention. And a few weeks ago, they started poking me with increasing intensity, along with a few other friends, because the writing was holding up better than they could believe. I started asking questions, and once @ginnymoonbeam mentioned that Sammon was the writer, it all started to click and I dove into a binge to catch up.

And they were right! This show is excellent, and its strength is sourced in an incredibly strong script from a writer who knows how to construct a longform mystery. Because it turns out, that’s what this show actually is. How do you sustain a slasher for 12 weeks? By embedding a deeper mystery within the slasher framework and pacing your story so that the entire middle delivers a backstory narrative that is even more compelling than the current events. This show is expertly structured to grab your attention and then get you deeply emotionally invested in the coming bloodbath, which is crucial for a slasher to feel like it has any stakes. Let me also note that the excellent writing here is supported by extremely smart direction and editing and some standout performances from young actors. I am going to focus on the writing here because that’s what I do, but it should be said that this whole production is all around excellent. 

So let’s talk about why the writing in Dead Friend Forever works so well! Great drama mysteries should support two kinds of engagement from the viewer: 

no thoughts head empty engagement from the people who just want to be pulled along for the ride and be constantly surprised

red string board theory engagement for the people who enjoy finding clues and trying to solve the mystery in advance. 

It’s actually really fucking hard to thread this needle as a writer, because it requires seeding strong enough clues that attentive viewers could reasonably guess some of the big reveals, but not giving away so much that you are unable to surprise them. A reveal in a good mystery should have you saying “oh my god WHAT” and “of course, that makes perfect sense” at the same time. And the best mysteries support the viewer being able to go back and rewatch, find new meaning they missed the first time, and realize every single thing that happened adds up. A tight mystery has no loose ends and no false steps; it never lies to the viewer, it only works to draw your attention where it wants it at any given point in the story.

Dead Friend Forever does this masterfully with several of its reveals, but I will highlight the biggest example: the reveal of Phee and Non’s relationship in episode 7. In the first four episodes of the show, the story lets us in on a few crucial facts: Phee is newer to this friend group (along with Tan and White), he was not present for whatever went down with Non three years ago, he has some kind of fucked up not!friends with benefits relationship with Jin that involves lots of sexual tension and dick biting, and he seems interested in figuring out what the hell happened once all these dudes start acting crazy about the videos. The string board theorists had enough to go on there to reasonably guess that he was intentionally trying to uncover the truth—but not why—and the no thoughts head empty crowd could just vibe, enjoying his scenes with Jin and wondering how exactly he ended up hooking up with him and getting involved with this group of people he doesn’t even seem to like.

Once we get to the backstory and see Non’s narrative, additional clues emerge, like the existence of both an older brother and a mysterious sweetheart that is only saved as [heart emoji] in Non’s phone. No thoughts head empty is over here going huh I wonder who they’re gonna be and hey when are the rest of the characters going to show up; string board theorists now have two clear options for how Phee could tie in to Non’s story and why he might care enough to investigate, but no one knows for sure. So when the show ended episode 6 with Phee running into Non’s room and began episode 7 with The Most Effective Five Minute BL Of All Time, everything clicked into place. No thoughts head empty got to experience a very pleasant shock moment, the string board theorists got to feel satisfied that they figured out at least part of the reveal, everyone got to enjoy an unexpected shot of romance in the middle of this stressful narrative, and there were still parts of Phee’s motives and involvement with this group that we didn’t understand and would require additional reveals. That is great mystery writing in a nutshell.

And it’s not only the mystery construction that makes the writing here so smart. It’s also the way Sammon is weaving in tons of social commentary, embedding Thai cultural and religious values, incorporating complicated crimes with lots of players in the mix that somehow don’t get confusing, and drawing complex and nuanced characters whose choices and behavior you understand even if you find them abhorrent. It’s not easy to make a viewer both despise a character and still care what happens to them; when you write a story about despicable people you run the risk of inspiring apathy in the audience, which is a death knell for a mystery. We have to be invested for this story to work. We have to feel deep empathy for Non to the point that we fully support axe murdering his bullies, but we also have to be interested enough in the bullies and why they behave the way they do to watch 12 weeks of them running around being awful to each other and harming everyone in their paths. And Non, too, gets to have real complexity. He is not a perfect little Mary Sue who never does anything wrong. He makes big impulsive mistakes, and seeks attention and affection from the wrong people, and lies to the ones he loves, and doesn’t always ask for help when he needs it. He is a flawed human being and that’s so important, because he is the center of this story and we need him to feel real.

In conclusion: holy shit. I tip my hat to you, Dr. Sammon, and I am very excited to be on this ride for the final four episodes. 

[dichenlachmandaily]

The actor chats with Glamour about portraying miscarriage on screen, how her own motherhood journey informed her character, and how she thinks Gemma really ended up at Lumon.

There were many revelations in the Severance finale, but one packed a particular punch. Gemma Scout, the imprisoned wife of the show’s protagonist Mark, finally faced her biggest emotional challenge in the mysterious “Cold Harbor” room, and it was an empty crib.

While viewers still don’t know how Gemma (Dichen Lachman) ended up in the basement of Lumon as a captive, the season two finale did answer some burning questions. (Spoilers, detailed plot threads, and very specific Severance speak obviously ahead.)

While her husband believes Gemma died in a car accident two years ago, she has actually been forced to undergo the “severance” procedure multiple times, creating a new “innie” every time she enters a new testing room. Once she’s in the room, her innie is forced to engage in an activity which coincides with things she fears (going to the dentist, airplane turbulence) or dreads (writing thank you cards). In each room and with each innie, Lumon seems to be testing if engaging in these activities she dislikes breaks the “severance barrier,” or allows her real “outie” personality to bleed through to her innie.

The last room waiting for her was Cold Harbor, which offers the biggest emotional test of all. As we learned in episode seven, titled “Chikhai Bardo,” Gemma and Mark (Adam Scott) had struggled for years to have a baby, undergoing rounds of IVF and miscarriage without success. One of their worst moments was when Mark angrily took apart a crib he had optimistically assembled in a spare room. As he tore it to pieces, the couple’s anguish was clear on both their faces. In Cold Harbor, Gemma is forced to disassemble the same crib, as a test to see if being forced to relive one of the worst moments of her life would break the severance barrier.

The couple’s arc throughout the season depicted how infertility can strain a marriage in a way that was both poignant and realistic, and getting it right was something Lichman tells Glamour she took incredibly seriously, speaking to friends who had suffered pregnancy loss and drawing on her own experiences as a woman.

This research and Lichman’s innate sense of the character led to one of “Chikhai Bardo’s” most heartbreaking moments, when Gemma apologizes to Mark after they arrive at the fertility clinic for the first time. The line was something Lachman improvised, when she realized Gemma would feel guilty that she couldn’t get pregnant even though, of course, she had no reason to.

“It just sort of came out,” she says. “A lot of women, even though it is not our fault and we have no control over it when something like that happens, we feel this need to apologize. We tend to do that. Generally, we tend to be quite apologetic about things that we can't control.”

Lachman chatted with Glamour about how her own experience as a mother informed her character, how she thinks Gemma ended up at Lumon, and that crazy Severance finale cliffhanger.

Glamour: Gemma is absent for much of season two, but then stars in “Chikhai Bardo,” which revealed a great deal about both her current situation at Lumon and her relationship with Mark. What was your first impression of the script?

Dichen Lachman: I was excited to have more to do and to be able to participate in the show more, obviously, but I was so very nervous. I wanted to make sure the infertility issues were handled the right way. That was also really important to Jessica [Lee Gagné], the director. She wanted to try and make that as authentic as possible, and so it was a mixture of excitement and fear.

It was such a lovely opportunity to really deal with something that women go through like that every day, but isn't often dealt with on television. I think it's important that it's represented, especially because women now, we're burdened with so many roles.

I think modern women are constantly being pulled in this direction and that direction. And sometimes we feel, I know I do, I feel like I'm failing at all of it. I try to be there for my daughter and my husband and our little family, but work pulls me away…It's really difficult. There's a lot to balance.

It’s so difficult! Being a working mom is so hard.

Patricia Arquette [who plays Harmony Cobel on the show] said something to me because I asked her, how did you cope? You know, with being both a mom and the powerhouse that she is. She told me… it's important for them to see mommy go to work.

The infertility scenes were incredibly realistic, in a way I had never seen before on TV. How did you and Adam approach telling this story?

Adam's as extraordinary a person as he is an actor. In terms of developing the relationship, I think his generosity and kindness helped create that sense of familiarity. In terms of the miscarriage scene, I spoke to a lot of women and it's more common than people admit or talk about. It’s one of those things that just isn't in the conversation. It's something that a lot of women feel like they go through alone, and it's very difficult, I think, for a male partner to understand what it feels like.

…It was so important for Jessica to make it feel authentic. I think both our desires to really deal with it that way, hopefully landed really well with the audience and the writers and Ben [Stiller, who executive produces the show] and everyone. Obviously they’re men who haven't been through something like this, but they were really encouraging in terms of just saying, whatever you guys want to do with this, however you want to approach it to me and Jessica. They were great that way.

You mentioned speaking to women who had experience with miscarriage, who were they?

I have a couple of girlfriends, I'll let them be nameless, but people who've had multiple miscarriages and also people who had multiple miscarriages in the IVF process. I've personally had my own experiences with things too, but I didn't want it to only be my point of view. I wanted it to not just make it like, oh, well, because everyone's experience is different.

In some instances where there's that real desire and you've tried multiple times, it's really heartbreaking and you feel like you are failing, you feel like the one thing that should come so naturally is so difficult. It's a real thing that women go through regularly. Often they feel like they're going through it by themselves,

There is a scene where Gemma has a miscarriage that I thought portrayed the experience so beautifully, without explicitly stating what happened. Afterwards, I was reading some of the show chatter on Reddit and there were multiple (male) posters being like, “Wait, what’s wrong with her? What happened?” When to me, and assume most women, it was pretty obvious.

I think the men who really understand what women have to go through, even on a regular basis on any given day, they're few and far between. We're constantly going through a transformation every month, and then as we age, it changes, and then we have to deal with a whole host of things…I actually wondered, when I watched it, I was like, I wonder if the male audience is actually going to understand what's going on.

There’s a lot of fan theories about Dr. Mauer (Robby Benson), the Lumon employee running the experiments on Gemma who seems to be a little obsessed with her. He was also lurking in the background when Mark and Gemma were at the fertility clinic, leading people to wonder if they somehow recruited Gemma from her treatment. What do you think?

I see the theories and I'm like, oh, wow, I didn't even think of that. It's incredibly fun to see the level of investment that people are putting into it and the level of thought into what situations could have got her in this whole thing. But I try to just tell myself, you know what? Maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong. But at the end of the day, I'm just going to trust the process and enjoy what it is for now. And [show creator] Dan Erickson is such an incredible talent. I'm just looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. Although I know he's admitted to reading the Reddit thread. I don't know, maybe he'll find inspiration.

My main question on Gemma’s captivity is what’s with all the weird outfits for each different room?

I feel like it was Dr. Mauer's infatuation with her. He’s enjoyed living out this fantasy. I mean, this is me speculating—disclaimer—but I think the clothing would maybe inform her innie when she was in that space, and it would just change the whole environment and it was part of the experiment. That's how I justified it. He's left up to his own devices and then even [Lumon executive] Drummond says to him in an earlier episode, why are you wearing that ridiculous sweater? It seems like it's just part of his little experiment down there, and which makes it even more creepy.

There’s a lot of speculation as to how Gemma ended up trapped at Lumon, with Mark thinking she died in a car crash. Some think she was kidnapped, while others are speculating she went willingly, possibly because she was lured by a promise of an infertility treatment that could work. What do you think?

When my character says goodbye to Mark that day [of the alleged car crash], I really believe she was going to her friend's house. To be honest, I didn’t even ask Dan that question. But now that I've seen it, it does make me think, oh, maybe she knew that he would never want to go, and she did sign up. It's possible. The thing is that the possibilities are so endless, and I'm with the fans, I'm like, when are we going to see what happens?

You have a 9-year-old daughter. How did your own motherhood journey inform your portrayal of Gemma?

In terms of my daughter, I feel like she was coming whether I was planning it or not. I can't imagine my life without her, as hard as it is sometimes. I think that intense love and understanding of what that love is now, which I couldn't quite understand before, thinking about not having experienced it, especially when you're really wanting and yearning for it, helped me have more empathy, more understanding of how heartbreaking it was for her.

I have a feeling fans are going to have a lot of thoughts about Mark’s innie, Mark S., ditching Gemma in a stairwell to stay on the severed floor with his love interest, Helly R. (Britt Lower), rather than help outie Mark and Gemma flee to safety at the end of the finale. How do you feel about the cliffhanger?

Even though I'm on the show, I'm a fan of the show, and you're so torn. Britt's done such a wonderful job of giving this Helly character life and with Mark S. and their dynamic. Then episode seven does kind of throw a spinner in the works because finally you are introduced to what Mark had on the outside world, which feels meaningful too. So it's a real conundrum. Sometimes. I joke that they have to find a new, modern way of a timeshare relationship.

I was rooting for Gemma and Mark to escape, but I think I’m in the minority. A lot of the audience seems to be more pro-innie.

It's really interesting to see how connected the audience has become to the innies. But I mean, it makes sense. That's who they've been spending time with the most. So I don't know what's going to happen. I have no idea. I mean, the best emoji to describe it is just the brain exploding.

Well Ben Stiller has promised we won’t have to wait another three years for season three, which is good, because we can’t just leave Gemma in the stairwell!

I know, and it's so complicated too. She has so many different innies. I wonder if she'll do the backyard brain surgery. Who knows? It's like, what do you do when you have so many innies? I can't wait. But yeah, I have no idea what's going to happen, but I just hope the fans are really invigorated by episode 10 and they enjoy the ride.

[bromcommie]

for the wip ask!! who is origins 👀 she’s intriguing …

Ah, Origins. Or as I like to call it, Why Am I Doing This. Or alternatively, The Latest Baby in the My Own Personal Goncharov Series.

Basically what happened was I made these silly mockup posters for an in-universe HBO show about Steve's life pre-ice, and then the lovely @booksandabeer made a joking comment in the tags of her reblog about me writing the script for it. And I saw that and thought, "Haha! Yeah, that'd be fun. Would be nice to write a script again. I'm not actually gonna do that though I don't have the time and it's definitely an insane thing to do anyway". And went to bed without a care in the world. And then, well. It Compelled Me for like a month straight. Both because I'm always thinking about just how much better those movies could've been lol, but in this case more specifically the story-within-a-story element, considering that that's already a major part of the whole Steve Rogers vs. Captain America dichotomy.

Anyway flash forward, I'm manically layering post-its on my desk trying to map out the timeline and structure and style for this fucking fake meta Emmy bait-esque biography miniseries (say that five times fast) and its in-universe ripples. It's still in its very early stages and slow going so I don't wanna jinx myself out of getting at least the first "episode" actually done lol, but basically: the series itself is supposed to be around 5-6 45-minute episodes that span Steve's life concluding with the Valkyrie crash. I'm currently playing with the idea of making it a not-strictly-linear narrative with each of the episodes possibly centering around a different theme/aspect, but we'll see. It's also supposed to be a little too dramatized and not a 100% accurate, but close enough to the real thing that it attracts some mixed opinions from the general public as well as Steve himself. Which is really the toughest part right now, because I've decided it means having to a) settle on some kind of outline of what's supposed to be the "real" course and nature of events in the first place and separate it from how the "real" Steve remembers those events, and b) then figure out the context of when this is being made and released in-universe, who this filmmaker is, what their sources/influences would be and how they'd frame it all, and with what goal in mind.

So. I have no idea who this is for honestly or what I'm doing with it, exactly, but. I might've gotten too invested. There are playlists and pinterest boards and possibly a bible. It's all great fun, and it also makes me scream internally because whyyy.

[sincerely-sofie]

Seeing as you have finished writing the script for your AU thingy, I wanna know, how?

Like, were you motivated the whole time? Or was it a on and off writing type thing?

i'm trying to write but I don't know if I have the motivation...

How did you keep the motivation if so?

Oh man. I have so much to say about writing and creativity that I could make an entire series of posts talking about the subject, but I'll try to keep things orderly and brief.

Disclaimer: I should let you know that I have never finished a writing project before recently finishing my TPiaG AU. Keep that in mind when reading the advice I offer— the tips I give have only been put into work in my own life over the course of the last couple of months, but they’ve proven very effective in my experience!

Sofie Creativity Tips Episode 1, go!!!

Was I motivated the whole time I was writing TPiaG / How did I stay motivated?

Absolutely not. If I hadn’t provided myself a detailed chapter-by-chapter outline for TPiaG before starting the writing process, I would have given up thanks to a mix of writer’s block and absent motivation. Motivation is a fickle muse and prone to ditching me for months on end, so I’ve adapted by trying not to rely on it, but also by creating new motivation rather than clinging to past motivation. I create motivation for myself in two ways: removing friction when writing and being my own fandom.

Removing friction is pretty simple— I create very detailed chapter outlines that remove any fear of writer’s block, set up my devices in a way to make it easy to access my manuscripts and notes, download premade writing playlists that have Pomodoro session break timers built into them, and more. Anything that makes the writing process easier to get into and enjoy doing, I make sure to incorporate into my life.

Being my own fandom is less intuitive, but a thousand times more rewarding in terms of motivation. I make memes of my characters. I write self-indulgent snippets on the side. I make AUs of my own work. I make playlists and save audio clips that suit the characters. I draw comics exploring concepts that might not get into the manuscript itself but that I want to make content for regardless. Basically, I dive in deep into the story, characters, and world, and try to do so with the enthusiasm that I give other people’s projects.

(That part is extra fun, because if I have a headcanon, it automatically becomes canon to whatever AU or original project I’m working on. I have all the power in the world when working like this, and it’s very fun.)

What changed and made it so I finished my first ever written project?

This isn’t exactly what was asked, but because I have eschewed motivation as the main driving force in my writing process, I figured I’d give another insight into how TPiaG went against the pattern of half-started and swiftly abandoned projects that came before it and actually got finished. Late into October, I adopted a new method of producing first drafts. Previously, I would spend weeks polishing the same chapter and would only move on to the next chapter once the current one was perfect. My new method is the complete opposite. I’ve started calling it Writing BFF:

Write bad

Write fast

Write fun

First up, write bad. The point of this is not to waste your time writing prettily during your first draft. Don’t bother agonizing over how to reword that one sentence to be more elegant when it does the job well enough to get its point across. Don’t go off on a 30-minute research tangent in the middle of a writing session because you want to fact-check that one detail and make sure it’s perfectly accurate when you could just put a placeholder detail in brackets and CTRL+F search and plug in something accurate later on. Don’t write pretty, write bad. And be okay with it. You can’t edit an empty page, so fill the page with as much garbage as possible so that you can turn it into gold later on.

Next, write fast. This is only effective when paired with writing bad. Don’t pause, don’t hesitate, don’t deliberate. Write as much as you can and do it as fast as you can. This idea is best illustrated by Chris Fox’s book 5,000 Words Per Hour, where he talks about increasing your WPM (words per minute) and how it makes everything about your writing better. The person who creates a beautiful first draft once every three years is doing okay, but the person who cranks out a complete manuscript every three months learns leagues more about writing than the first person does by the end of three years. The second person has practiced outlining, drafting, editing, publishing, and more with every manuscript completed. The faster you write, the better you get, because practice makes perfect and quantity begets quality.

Finally, write fun. I write what I enjoy, and if I’m not enjoying it, I pivot the project so that I enjoy it again. I like writing deeply personal stories, so pretty much everything I write is heavily based on my life and experiences— TPiaG included. Grovyle’s portrayal is deeply influenced by my experience being an elder sibling who has been a bad example of self-talk, and cleaned up my act because my younger sister started echoing how I spoke to myself. Dusknoir’s portrayal is informed by my experiences with being the therapist / mom friend in different social circles as well as attending actual formal therapy. Twig is the character that my experiences have the greatest influence on in her portrayal, and I joke about her being a self-insert, but ultimately all of the characters are self-inserts to some extent. I also enjoy low-stakes and slow slice-of-life stories that are driven by character growth. If I ever stop having fun with a project, I inject more of myself and my preferences into my work to get it back into my favor.

TL;DR / Writing advice lightning round

Write as badly as possible as quickly as possible, and have fun as you do it. Momentum yields motivation and stagnancy yields doubt. Editing comes only after the first draft is complete. Be your own fandom and your project’s biggest fan. Give yourself direction and ward against writer’s block by making detailed chapter-by-chapter outlines. Make the writing process as easy and enjoyable as possible. Motivation is a lie and if you chase after it instead of making your own, you’ll be writing on hard mode for the rest of your life. Reject perfectionism, embrace flawesomeness.

If I didn’t answer your question right, let me know! I’ll do my best to correct it.

[stars-n-spice]

Trying Something - "BTB" Pilot Start

What's this?? Max actually starting on a project??

Lmao, let's pray I follow through with this one because I realize now how much work it'll actually be. Oh well!

Anyways, had this idea to do a Clone Wars era mockumentary sitcom and write actual scripts for this hypothetical show for fun and also to practice screenwriting since that's my major and I could use the practice.

The working title is currently "Behind the Barracks" but I am open for suggestions!!

Do I know where I'm going with this? No. Absolutely not.

But it's fun!

Anyways, enjoy these first couple of pages of the pilot episode I'm currently writing :)

The format might be,, strange to anyone who is familiar with how scripts work (specifically the single-cam tv format) but I'm using StudioBinder's script writing service (which is a little wonky) because the other script services I know of cost money and I'm a broke college student-

That being said, if anyone knows of any free script writing programs (?) I would greatly appreciate it if you let me know about them <33 Please and thank you!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed that little bit of the pilot!

If you would like to be on a tag list for the full pilot once it's finished, let me know!

[lordshroom]

Happy One Year Anniversary to 2012 Good Genes! WOOOOO

I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported the comic! Whether it's writing a comment, leaving a like when a new chapter drops (or spamming likes as you binge it), or just reading it. Thank you <3

Hard to believe I've managed to semi-consistently update a comic for a whole ass year. When I started this comic, it was a means to force myself to learn how to draw the turtles and just force myself outside my comfort zone: dynamic posing, perspective, shivers backgrounds.

I thought I would run with this idea for a few months, get bored, then move on to something else. A fate that has unfortunately fell many of my previous projects.

But then I started recognizing the same few blogs liking the new updates. I got a few followers. I got a few comments. Every note felt like something special, a sign that people actually wanted to read this story.

So I kept making the comic. One of the biggest shifts in mindset came from when I met Gavin Smith, an artist for the IDW series, I asked him how long it took him to draw a page. He said, "It changes depending on the page. Sometimes it takes three hours sometimes it takes three days." My priorities shifted from "Get the comic done as soon as possible before I get bored" to "make the comic you want to make". The comic went from this to this. I missed coloring, so I started coloring. But I always liked inking more than coloring, so I started inking the comic pretty soon after.

This does mean the comic takes longer to get out, and that bums me out. But I don't mind taking some extra time to give the pages some zest because, well, you guys. If you're going to take the time out of your day to read the pages, I'm going to take some extra time to work on them.

My dream job has always been to be a writer. I've fluctuated between writing books, movie scripts, comic scripts, and a bunch of other stuff.

When I was little, I would imagine elaborate 2012 fan fiction. I never wrote any of this down since I was deeply embarrassed by my fascination with TMNT. It was a boy's show, and I was a girl. On top of that, 2012 became my lifelong hyperfixation. I didn't even seek out an online community for 2012, the closest I ever got was the forums for the show on the Nick site I watched the episodes on.

In high school, I realized who the hell cares and started entering the online community. I watched Rise and 2003, bought the IDW hardcovers, and started getting the figures.

Then in college, I said, "screw it," and started writing a fan fiction on AO3. It did not perform well. I tried to tell myself that I should write for myself, but it was hard to find the motivation to continue so I moved on.

Last summer, I started working on my original story and considered making it a webcomic. I watched a bunch of videos about making comics and wanted to try it out. Now, all the advice for making your first comic is to "make it small so you actually finish it!"

I did not take that advice.

The idea for 2012 Good Genes was old, like, fan-fiction-I-made-in-my-head-in-high-school old. It was different from the current comic. That old version took place post-season 5 with a bunch of OCs and Donnie being mutated into something more bug-like. I went with a retelling of "Vengence is Mine" so I wouldn't have to worry about designing any new characters/ environments, and I those handful of episodes as a blueprint.

2012 Good Genes was supposed to be a learning exercise and became something so much more with your support. That support got me to work on another fanfiction on AO3, which got so much more love than I was expecting. It was so touching that people liked my writing enough to read it without any silly pictures.

So I'm going to say it again, thank you. Thank you so much for a fantastic year. I would not be where I am today without your support.

And if you managed to get through all my rambling, here's an update!

"The Invasion!" will have four more pages which I'm still drawing. After that is an original episode that I want to take time to write a script and design a character before I start posting updates, so in the meantime I will be working on drawing some stuff for my asks and working on the next chapter for "Perfect Son".

[rojaceartandgaming]

Hopping onto your blog to ask questions and statements!! I'd love to hear about your process for making your ffxv character analysis videos. Do you do any research? How long does it take to write a script and record your voice over? Is editing the video the easiest or hardest part? What part of the entire process is the most fun or rewarding?

I enjoy re-listening to your ffxv videos while I do chores or eat lunch. They're relaxing, and it's awesome hearing somone dive deep into the backstory and lore of characters I've grown attached to ❤

Good day to ya! Thank you so much for the ask, and honestly its so nice of you to say such kind things about those videos of mine. I'm rather proud of them!

I honestly do a lot of research for these videos for many, many reasons. First of all, my memory simply isn't always the best thing in the world. When working on a video I often try to get the b-roll I need while I'm scripting so the events of the game are still fresh. I think I played Episode Ignis... three, maybe four times while scripting that video? I'll often also have the fandom wiki, the collectors edition guide, and the Official Works artbook thing on hand for reference - along with the Dawn of the Future novel for the current videos I'm working on.

Honestly, I think doing research for videos on this game might be a special kind of hell that I willingly embrace since the lore is all over the place. Somehow I think researching stuff for the Sephiroth analysis video I want to make will be far easier. But Final Fantasy XV is my favorite game, so for now it comes first.

The longest part of making a video for me by far is the scripting process. Recording my lines only takes a couple hours at most, but jeez scripting things is a chore sometimes. Much like my college essays, the scripts often go through multiple drafts before I'm happy with them. I've learned to outline my scripts so I know where I want to talk about certain things, but actually getting the meat and potatoes of the video all figured out can been rough. I don't want to sound too rambly and I've got to make sure that things make sense when both reading the script in my head and out loud.

Basically, scripting can take months. I had to rewrite the Ignis video 3 times bc it was a struggle.

Honestly, I wouldn't say editing is hard. Once you figure out how to do it, it's relatively simply. But god is it tedious. Especially since, well... I am a very loud breather. I'm always rather short of breath and sometimes have to take a gasp of air in the middle of a sentence which doesn't sound good in a video. Noone needs to hear my asthmatic ass dying when trying to hear my thoughts and opinions on the character of the month. So a good chunk of editing is me listening to my voiceover audio and trying to cut out most of my breathing sounds.

Other then that, editing's just a bit tedious. Get the audio levels right, put the clips that I'm bringing up in the right spots and adjust their audio too, put the silent footage in where it needs to be so people have something to watch and not just a podcast, and then finally put in the background audio. Rinse and repeat for each segment, check over the audio once more, export the project - and ta-da! You've got a long form video essay on your hands and may feel sick of hearing your own voice!

All jokes aside, I really like making these videos. It's really satisfying to see the finished product, and it's kind of neat to be able to put all of my thoughts about things I love in an understandable format other then "AHDIKHAP:JS", y'know? And I honestly never thought that people would like these videos of mine. It's really cool to meet people who also like FFXV and are just as insane about it - and its equally as cool to know that people like my insane ramblings. It's just... nice! And I honestly am so, so grateful for how kind people have been,

Thank you so much for the ask and sorry for how long and rambly it was!

[asordinaryppl]

A3! Main Story: Part 4 - Act 13: Budding Spring - Episode 7: Hazy Spring Weather

[Keyboard keys clicking] 

Tsuzuru: ... Uhhh, this one’s kinda... Nah, this one’s too plain... 

Tsuzuru: (Even if they say it’s the same as always, I can’t help but be conscious of it...) 

Tsuzuru: (Just what kind of script do I need to write to ensure we’ll be nominated...?) 

Tsuzuru: (Something that won’t only satisfy our current fans, but will also bring in new ones...) 

Citron: ... 

Tsuzuru: *sigh*... I’ve got no idea... 

Citron: Tsuzuru! We’re having a strategy meeting! 

Tsuzuru: !? Got it. 

- 

Izumi: I can absolutely understand Tsuzuru-kun's conflict. 

Izumi: The burden we’re carrying is different this time around, so it’s harder to pick a topic. 

Masumi: And not just what the play will be about, but also the lead and co-lead. 

Chikage: A topic and cast that will get us the most votes... 

Tsuzuru: It gets even tougher when you put it like this. 

Citron: It’s the rivalry of local craw craws with no blood and tears!

Tsuzuru: ... 

Citron: Tsuzuru, you don’t even have the strength to tsukkomi me!? 

Itaru: Rivalry of local cools, right. 

Citron: It’s rivalry of local warlords!? Even Itaru is acting strange! 

Chikage: In any case, the pressure on Tsuzuru is getting bad. 

Tsuzuru: I was completely absorbed in writing during our debut, so the pressure was completely different. 

Tsuzuru: The Showdown ACT with the First Generation was also real difficult, but at least our opponent there was clear... 

Chikage: This time our opponents are every other theater company + the public who are voting, so we don’t know what the right answer is. 

Tsuzuru: Is there even a right answer to begin with... 

Itaru: ^ This. 

Sakuya: At the end of the day, our only choice is to perform to the best of our abilities. 

Itaru: That being said, it’s still difficult to tell what the best of our abilities entails.

Tsuzuru: That’s true... 

Masumi: Just what is a performance and stage that resembles us, the Spring Troupe, supposed to be? 

Chikage: ... Something that resembles us, huh. 

Sakuya: What kind of play would that be... 

Izumi: ... 

Izumi: I think we should do the event, after all. 

Sakuya: Eh? 

Izumi: The workshop for beginners that we put on hold. 

Izumi: Let’s try going back to our roots and the basics and enjoy theater with people who are experiencing it for the first time. 

Sakuya: Go back to our roots... 

Sakuya: So, something like remembering how fun it was to stand on stage for the first time, and what it felt like to find a place to belong. 

Tsuzuru: That might actually be good. 

Tsuzuru: I want everyone to feel what I felt when I started acting. 

Sakuya: Me too. I want everyone to understand just how interesting theater is! 

Itaru: There are things you won’t understand until you try them. 

Chikage: When we see the participants like that, we’ll also remember what our first time acting was like... 

Citron: It's at times like this that we need to go back to the Barbies!

Tsuzuru: Back to the basics, you mean. 

Citron: Tsuzuru is finally back! 

Itaru: I think it’s good to try new things as much as we can. 

Masumi: I wanna try. 

Izumi: It’s decided, then! I’ll let Kazunari-kun know too. 

- 

Izumi: Are those heavy, Masumi-kun? 

Masumi: It’s okay. They’re light enough that I can still carry you bridal style. 

Izumi: You don’t need to do that. 

Izumi: Let’s ask the shop that lets us leave out flyers if we can put up that poster.

- 

Towa’s aunt: Towa, when you go for your break, could you put this on that table? 

Towa: Got it. 

Izumi: Oh? 

Towa: !?!? 

Towa: Hold up, getting to meet my oshi so often... Is moving to Tokyo some Platinum Ticket that guarantees a response from my oshi...!? 

Izumi: No, I think this is just a coincidence. 

Masumi: We met a bothersome guy... 

Izumi: Are you working part-time here? 

Towa: This is my aunt’s shop, I’m living here with her. 

Izumi: I see. 

Izumi: Ah, right— We just got this flyer printed, but here you go. 

[Paper rustling] 

Towa: Beginners Workshop...? 

Izumi: You said you haven’t watched a live play yet, so maybe this is coming too quickly... 

Izumi: But this is an event we came up with after talking with you. 

Izumi: I think it’ll be a good opportunity for people to learn the appeal of theater and the Spring Troupe. We’d love it if you could come. 

Towa: Ah... Umm... 

Masumi: The Director invited you, so come. 

Izumi: Masumi-kun, could you work on your invitation skills!? 

Izumi: If you’re interested, think about it. 

Towa: Okay... 

momo has entered the chat  momo:  my oshi pull luck is so strong that it’s scaring me, but just thinking of acting in front of him makes me want to kms momo: i wanna sit out. i don’t wanna embarrass myself in front of the spring troupe shiki: it’s aimed towards beginners, so aren’t they already expecting everyone to be bad at it? Kar has entered the chat Kar: suuup, what’re we talkin bout?  Iv: he was invited to a workshop for beginners by his oshi and he’s hesitating  Kar: is there anyone who wouldn’t go to that?  Iv: ^ this  momo: butbut  Iv: just go and see  Kar: and if you can’t do it just go back home  shiki: they went through the trouble of inviting you, it’d be a waste not to go. won't you regret it if you don’t go?  momo: true, but still

previous episode | masterpost | next episode

NOTES:

(1) citron's barbies line is originally him saying they should go back to being girls instead of beginners/inexperienced by confusing 女子 (joshi, girl) with 初心 (shoshin), barbies was the closest fitting thing i could think of

(2) towa's kms line is originally something close to him feeling that just thinking of acting in front of his oshi feels like a public execution, i thought kms was a fitting alternative considering the setting (a group chat consisting of high schoolers)

(3) i drove my friend/proofreader/strongest soldier i know crazy with both of the above

[tethered-heartstrings]

genuinely not trying to dunk on molly but when ppl say will and molly were so compatible they loved dogs i just think of molly feeding them canned food from china and not even knowing it could harm the dogs, i feel like this is significant because this was what led to dolarhyde being undetected and her attack which led to her estrangement from will, even her common values w will she did not actually share at all there's a meta here

ngl this is pretty clearly dunking on molly. But let’s refute. I personally haven’t seen many metas/posts about the compatibility between will and molly, so I can’t really contest what they say. However, will and her were as compatible as will led her to believe, as much as he would let. He lied to her about his past, which made it so she couldn’t know all of him and couldn’t connect to parts she couldn’t see. Not a fault of molly’s at all

Having looked back on the script for that episode, no credible veterinarian would ever say “was it canned food from china”. It’s unprofessional and xenophobic. Also, a vet in an emergency situation isn’t going to use scare tactics. They just need to know what went in so they can take care of it. Yes, molly was feeding the dogs canned food because will was out of town so he couldn’t make them food. and I can guarantee will is rational enough to say “hey, these brands are okay” and molly isn’t stupid. And they are very well off, so they would need to buy “cheap dog food from china”. If we want to talk about the dialogue in that scene, we have to admit to ourselves fuller is a misogynist who can’t write women, so ofc he made her say “is it bad to be made in china”. It also neglects how SOME but not ALL food has shown problems, but dog food made in the US has also had toxicity issues! And (I can’t remember if this was in show or just in script) the vet says “pet food safety isn't regulated the same way as human food” which is just false. There is high regulation in pet food, and pet food is made to be human grade and safe for human consumption (and has been for decades). Dogs are more likely to be poisoned by xylitol or chocolate from your candy or get pancreatitis from your table scraps than die from “dog food from china”.

But let’s humor for a second it was the cheap dog food molly bought. The concern and toxic component is melamine, which is added to food to fraudulently increase the protein content. it’s nontoxic (ish) by itself and only becomes a problem when combined with cyanuric acid that forms a crystal and leads to renal toxicosis and failure. Some gi biomes have bacteria that can convert melamine to cyanuric acid, but not all, making it more toxic for these patients. It also wasn’t solely a dog food thing, it happened in human children, too. All that aside, most melamine toxicosis cases are chronic, aka molly would have had to feed the dogs for a while, building up these crystals, and slowly killing the kidneys. This wouldn’t happen suddenly to all the dogs at once. Early signs of toxicosis are very detectable symptoms (vomiting, polyuria, polydipsia, lethargy) and these are signs molly would have noticed and done something about. ALSO if it was melamine the veterinarian was worried about, she wouldn’t use activated charcoal as her treatment (as she states in script, again, don’t remember if this was said in the show). Activated charcoal only works for something currently in the stomach, and that isn’t the pathophysiology for melamine. To treat melamine toxicity, you need iv fluids and supportive care. So what we can take from the veterinarian interaction is 1) fuller doesn’t know how medical professional talk to clients and 2) he doesn’t even understand the toxin he mentioned so it feels xenophobic as fuck to even bring that up.

And no, her canon (fuck you fuller) ignorance to the danger of canned dog food isn’t the cause of dolarhyde being undetected and attacking her. Even if she was feeding them dog food with melamine, Will literally figures out and says that dolarhyde poisons the dogs in the family to get rid of the “alarm system”, so he can attack and not have the family alerted. It didn’t matter what dog food molly fed them, dolarhyde intentionally poisoned them. Even if she fed them food will handmade, dolarhyde would have still poisoned them. And she was a good owner who brought all 7 (probably) puking dogs to the vet as soon as she could. molly had nothing to do with dolarhyde attacking her. dolarhyde had something to do with dolarhyde attacking her (and hannibal ofc). At least give her some credit for, you know, surviving

And no, her getting attacked was not the cause of will estranging himself from her. He never really loved her and used her as a fill in for a man he outright rejected. He was having an emotional affair with Hannibal and not giving a shit about molly. That was nothing molly could control.

And we really can’t thoroughly discuss her values because we barely see her onscreen. Her screentime is a plot motivator, we aren’t privy to who she is as a person. She loves her son, lost her first husband, and loves will. That’s kind of it. Oh, yeah, she also takes her son fishing without Fisherman Husband because he chose to estrange himself.

[ncisfranchise-source]

This week on CBS‘ NCIS: Origins, viewers got to know a lot more about Field Operation Support Officer Mary Jo Hayes — both on a professional and a personal level.

Running NIS’ Camp Pendleton office as the “HSIC” (Head Secretary in Charge), Mary Jo was shown to have keenly absorbed over the years how the Special Agents (namely, Mike Franks) think. She has developed a second sense about when a witness or POI will be brought back in for questioning, and how to keep opposing parties from sharing the same waiting area air. We saw her labor to impart a fraction of that wisdom on a new secretary, with less help than she would have liked/hoped from her current underling. Mary Jo knows that the promise of free food will lure anyone to a dry sales pitch on profiling. And at episode’s end, we saw how her strong opinion on a thing can trickle up to Franks, and then down to the rest of the team — whether she knows it or not.

On a personal level… this week’s episode was set in motion by Mary Jo being served divorce papers, from the husband she’s been estranged from so long, the likes of Lala and Vera assumed the marriage was dissolved years ago. A flashback to a younger Mary Jo and Marcus showed them in a warm, if slightly melancholy, hug. When Mary Jo came to believe that Marcus was seeking “half” of everything she had in the divorce, she confronted him. Turns out, it was just a misunderstanding caused by a sus lawyer. During that face to face, Mary Jo made mention of their house, which Marcus had moved out of because it “haunted” him.

At episode’s end, we revisited that hug flashback once more, and realized that Mary Jo was holding between them a knit baby bonnet. They had lost a daughter, named Georgia. Mary Jo wanted to never forget what almost was, so Marcus cued her to write Georgia’s name on the wall of their home.

Cut back to 1991, where Mary Jo pushes aside some boxes on that wall to reveal there wound up being four names, four lost souls, in all: Georgia, Isaiah, Dawn, and Marcus Jr.

Here is what NCIS: Origins‘ Tyla Abercrumbie shared with TVLine about the assorted reveals in “To Have and to Hold.”

TVLINE | There were four names on that wall. What was your reaction when you read through that closing part of the script for the first time? It was definitely a shocker because I thought, just as a woman, “What must that be like to try to bring four lives into the world, and it be unsuccessful?” Watching that, seeing her writing the names on the wall to “not forget,” was very moving.

You know when you have a moment where you’re just a little bit quiet, because you’ve got to let it all land…? I remember feeling that when we did the first read-through. For me, it was like, “Wow, this is really going to touch a lot of women, and a lot of families that have lost [pregnancies].”

One of the things I asked, that I needed to be clear on is, that when women have a baby that gets to like five or six months [in utero], they usually have to have that child, through childbirth, which makes that thought even more unsettling, that you would get this far and still it’s unsuccessful. It was very hard, and very moving, and it was an emotional scene. It was very emotional.

TVLINE | Talk about the casting of Mary Jo’s husband. His name is Guy Lockard (Chicago Med). Guy is a really amazing young man to work with. A gentleman, I should say. I mean, he’s a young man, too — if he ever heard this, he’d be like, “Why did you throw the ‘young’ away?” — but he’s a wonderful, wonderful actor, out of New York. He was very emotionally available and willing to surrender and be in that backstory with Mary Jo, which is really beautiful when you’ve just met someone. He did a wonderful job. I loved working with Guy.

TVLINE | The other part of the closing act was also powerful, because you saw the “ripple effect” of Mary Jo expressing her point of view to Franks, about how the case wasn’t in fact over. He relays it along, using a lot of her words, and it trickles down, and you later see Randy saying, “I was really inspired by what Franks said!” That, coupled with the early scene where Mary Jo knows Franks won’t want the husband crossing paths with the people his wife swindled, really showed how she has her fingers on the pulse of this operation. Absolutely. It shows how important she is to the dynamic and that you don’t necessarily have to hear her saying it. You see how important she is to others, that what she says matters. She has the ability to penetrate the “wall” of Franks, and he gives that to his agents, and his agents take that out into whatever they do. You see how in life, really, we’re consistently being inspired by people who don’t even know they’ve inspired us. In the world of Origins, Mary Jo doesn’t know that he says that to the agents. Therefore, that person’s voice is constantly being given and serving others without them ever even knowing how many people they’ve touched.

TVLINE | And by nudging them to hunt down the missing money, Mary Jo “saved some lives” in her own way. She saved some lives, she helped them rebuild — which she clearly had to do. It also helped her. Don’t forget how important living their stories, hearing and typing up their stories, helped her with moving forward, as well. We’re consistently giving to each other. Just as in life, we don’t know who we’re touching and what makes inspiration for each other.

TVLINE | Lastly, what are you hearing about the first season finale? How are we going to be feeling at 10:55 pm that night? You’re going to feel good. You’re going to feel good because you will be like, “I had 18 episodes of a show that I thought I was going to know [how it goes], and it turns out I don’t know anything.” That’s how you’re going to feel. And as a TV watcher myself, there’s nothing like leaning into something and going, “I’m so glad this show is on.”

[thornedarrow]

AX Bungo Stray Dogs Premiere Panel Notes

Hello~ I tried to take notes while at the panel for the premiere of BSD Season 5. I did my best to transcribe what I could of the answers but there may be mistakes so please take this info with a grain of salt.

Note: Please do not repost this anywhere especially on twitter and if you mention anything listed here elsewhere, I would appreciate a link back to this post.

The three guests for the panel were Asagiri Kafka, Studio Bones President Minami Masahiko, and Kadokawa Producer Kurokane Chiaki.

Opening Talk

Before the episode aired, the host asked what they enjoyed about LA and Asagiri mentioned the view? and how kind the fans have been. I believe Minami talked about how he was here last year? but I did not go to AX last year so I'm not 100% on that info. Kurokane mentioned how the humidity is awful in Tokyo so LA was much nicer in that regard.

I think they also answered another question but I did not write it down rip.

Also they played the S5 trailer for us and it was really fun to watch in a live audience the screams at particular parts were funny.

[EPISODE PREMIERE]

- if you’re interested in details of the actual episode feel free to ask, I am omitting any info from this post though. It was not a light novel adaptation it went straight into the main story <3

Q&A post-premiere

At some point Minami pointed to his shirt and was like is no one going to comment on how I changed my shirt? It was now a shirt of Rocket from GOTG because he heard how many people liked Poe in the episode lmao. It was very cute

What is the process of working on the Bungo Stray Dogs anime like? [i apologize my notes rly sucked for this question]

Asagiri: (He said something else I did not catch) I often think about how to make the story even more interesting and engaging. If you noticed in the episode we just watched, the ending is slightly different from the original manga, because the director had asked me to add an additional catchphrase.

Minami: BSD has a strange charisma. I remember when Kadokawa came to me with the series and I read it before sharing it with Igarashi-san and Enokido-san.

He also mentioned how usually the anime production staff works on the scripts for an anime but for BSD, Asagiri-sensei is very hands on and involved that he almost feels like a staff member of Studio Bones.

Kurakane-san mentioned the role of supporting and promoting the series but I forgot to write down the details.

This question was for Asagiri-sensei and asked about how he comes up with abilities for the different characters, I think?

Asagiri, initially: I try to focus on making them mysterious (lmao).

He also said he waits for inspiration to strike. Then he mentioned specific examples.

For Atsushi and Beast Beneath the Moonlight, the inspiration comes from the Moon over the Mountain. In the original story, the friend who has transformed into a tiger tries to save the other character from themselves. Asagiri was inspired by the relationship between the heart and the tiger in the story to come up with Atsushi's ability.

For Dazai and No Longer Human, he mentioned that the original work has a strange allure of making the reader doubt the act of living. From that, he came to think of the idea of the ability to nullify all abilities.

For Fyodor...it's a secret.

Guests' thoughts on working on season 4 and 5?

Asagiri: Being able to make it until season 3, I could sense that the passion and fire from the fans.

Minami: We wanted to deliver Bungo Stray Dogs to more people who didn't know about the series. One big change we made was to the main visuals for the new seasons. The older seasons tended to have more calm and but we chose more action-oriented visuals for season 4/5 to better capture attention.

Kurakane: We also wanted to focus on attracting the attention of a broader audience (new fans) and so for season 4, we made a 3 minute video that recaps seasons 1-3, which was received very well. Currently, we are running a campaign where we post highlight clips of all 55 current episodes. This was also targeted at fans who may have drifted away from the series, so that it would be easier for them to return to BSD.

What to look forward in season 5? (to Asagiri)

Asagiri: Everything (said in English.)

Then he went on to say I would like the viewer/fans to specifically think about the relationship? between justice and terrorism. What does justice mean? What does it mean to be the enemy? If you were justice, what would you do? If you were the enemy, what would you do?

What was your reaction to Season 4 and 5? (also to Asagiri)

Asagiri: Amazing (also said in English.)

They have made an phenomenal series. Five seasons. There are few people who can say their work has been adapted into five seasons of anime and it is all thanks to you guys (the fans) for your passion for the series.

What future projects would you like to work on together?

Asagiri: Season 6! A movie? I will continue to do my best to continue to deliver an interesting series to you.

Minami: (turned to Asagiri-sensei and said in a dramatic voice) Please let me read more material!! If you don't give me anything to adapt, I can't proceed!

Kurakane: The stage plays that have spanned six and a half years just ended last night. With that, I do feel a bit of relief on the workload. But I will continue to find new forms in which to deliver Bungo Stray Dogs series to you all.

---

Final note, all three of the guests were so enthusiastic and passionate about this series it was really lovely to see. I cannot capture the intonation of specific comments from Asagiri-sensei but he was rly funny. The episode was incredible and I genuinely am so excited for the new season! If anything sounds awkward I apologize; that’s on me and my translation skills.