#even as a kid I wasn't that into cartoons and video games

[gillianthecat]

sometimes i see a post going around that makes me think, wow my taste is really different from the general consensus "tumblr taste"

[salamander-spark]

My first fanfic! I'm proud of it even if it's a little rushed. I barely managed to get it out within the day. Tomorrow's prompt might just be a drawing.

Day 1:

Hug/Cabin 7/Shapeshifter

Fic below:

TW: very brief depiction of a panic attack, description of nightmare.

It had been a month since Vee's mom and sister came back from the boiling isles.

The stress Vee felt the few days it took for the return was immeasurable. A worry for her family took root in the back of her mind, it made sleep nearly impossible, and gave her nightmares.

Waiting for months, no contact, no words, no way of knowing if they are alive. No magic. She'd be found out, spreding herself too thin with Camila and Luz's responsibilities, inevitably slipping up. People from the town gazing upon her demonic form. The eyes of Belos's monsterous form looming behind everyone. her family, Luz's friends all dead they couldn't stop him THEY COULDN'T COME HOME THEY WERE DEAD HE KILLED THE —

In the present, Vee shook her head to dispel the images her imagination made. She remembers the dreams vividly, still occasionally seeing them in her sleep.

The week following their return, she found the pamphet Masha handed her. Blushing (But NOT because she remembers making a fool of herself in front of them), she decided it was time to take up their offer. 

And it turned out AMAZING, Masha's gradoise flair really fitting the tour guide gig. It was just like back at Cabin seven when They waxed poeticly about the many pagen dieties and what they did. 

Vee kept up with Masha's narration, interjecting questions when she thought of them, keeping the conversation flowing. Vee told Masha about herself, and Masha shared stories about their friends. An aching Vee didn’t realize she had in her heart began to fade talking to her friend after so long, but only slightly.

Masha didn't know that she knew them. For all they knew, they were talking to a complete stranger. The person they talked to couldn't possibly be the shy, anxious girl they shared a cabin with. She couldn't be the friend they helped bring out of her shell, who looked at all things mundane with innocent wonder. She wasn't Luz Noceda.

The insecurity persisted, became even bigger after Masha invited Vee to hang out with their friends. Diego, the tall, relaxed boy who let his hair fall onto his face and probably had a million zits on his forhead. Samantha; or rather Sam, who had a love for video games and anime, and rambled about them to the captivated audience of her friends. 

Neither of them knew her as Vee either. It was awkward, but managable, getting to know them a second time. She noticed that they were each more comfortable in conversation than when they were back at camp. They were all less reluctant to share the information about themselves that took them weeks to share at camp. Vee supposed she was also more confident, staying in a cabin with each other must have been to thank for that.

She didn't know how long she could keep lying to them, for her own sanity.

"Say," Masha began, "What about those kids you were hanging out with? They're your other friends, right?" 

Vee, lying belly down looked up from the Cosmic frontier book she was reading. "Huh? She got so invested in the plot it took her brain a while to process Masha's question. 

"Y'know, at the historical society, right before Halloween," Masha clarified. "You guys asked me about that rebus remember? That one kid was going on like, 'Grahh chop off my ear' or something," Masha giggled. 

Oh. Luz's friends. Vee knew the witches also considered her part of the group, but it was easier thinking of them as her sister's friend group.

Wait... They didn't have a proper cover story! Vee was terrible at lying on the fly, but she needed to start talking now!

"O- OH YEAH, that was Gus. H-hes pretty fun. Then theres uhhh, Amity with the pink hair, Willow had glasses, and... oh yeah Hunter too but he was at our home that day." Vee needed to stall so she could come up with something.

"Is he The Blond cosmic frontier fan?" Masha asked, which confused Vee.

"When did you see him? I don't remember him going to your job after we left."

"No, I actually saw them at the haunted hayride! oh, I guess I only told you two-" Masha points two fingers at Sam and Diego respectively "-about that since you weren't hanging out with us back then. Whoops~"

Suddenly, Diego piped up. "Wait, you said 'Our' Home. So they like, live at your place or something"  

CRAP!

"Uhhhh well... you see." Think of something Vee, just spit it out. "Foreign excange students?" she thought out loud. "-From out of state not another country!" she amended in a panic.

"O–kay?" Sam raised her eyebrow "I've never seen them at school before, and you know I watch people like a hawk." It was true, back at camp, Sam compiled a list of the campers from other cabins activities in order to know who to watch out for. 

It wasn't a skill she thought would be used agsinst her.

"Well, There are other schools in the area you know? I think they went to, yknow..." She didn't know the names of any other high schools. "...Not Gravesfield high?" She finished with a shrug. And also, they went back to their own rea-" DONT SAY REALM "TOWN like, right after Halloween, so yeah, that's why you've never seen 'em" She finished with a shrug and a manic chuckle.

How did she keep this up for thee months straight? She must've lost her touch. Then again, she considered not having to lie as a good thing.

"Sure, I'll accept that." Sam relented.

"Hold up, am I missing something, or does that like. Not make sense." Diego once again came in with his terribly timed questions. "Cause like, you said they lived in your house, why wouldn't they go to the same school?" How is he so perceptive!? It must be because he doesn't devote much energy into responding so he can listen better.

Masha put a hand on her shoulder "Hey, sorry about him Vee, if theres something you don't want to tell us, you don't have to." assured Masha. "We didn't mean to push so far." Masha turns toward the offender, "Diego." They enunciate.

Vee didn't her most of what Masha said. Where Masha tried to reassure her, Vee only heard an accusation. 'something you don't want to tell us' sounded more like 'You're hiding something, aren't you Vee.' And what did that last part mean? Could they tell she was panicking? WHY DID THEY SOUND ANGRY?

They'reGoingToForce AnswersOutOfmeNobodyTrustsMe-

Everything turned blurry, she was hyper aware of all the sounds of the room closing in on her. Her heartbeat was in her ears, everyones voices blended into a cocophony She needed to get away She's clammy and very sweaty-

It's queit, what changed, is there still danger?

She heard breathing, not her own, someone elses, not her own, and it makes her realize how quick she's breathing. She tries to slow down, matching the pace of the other person. 

When she finally steadied herself (it felt like several minutes but also less than one) She opened her eyes (They were closed?) and sees Masha sitting on her knees on the bed in front of her (She doesn't remember getting into this corner). They continued to demonstrate the breathing exercise, which they also did with their hands.

Vee thinks she remembers something like this happening at camp, but isn't sure right now. Masha gestured their hands out wide, clearly asking if it was okay if they could give a hug. 

You don't deserve one, her brain tells her. No, she shakes her hehead.

Masha sits with her, and they both breath. Such a simple act, filled with so much understanding. You doesn't deserve Masha. 

She's now aware enough to know how mean she's being to herself. She spots her other friends sitting in the middle of the room, Dego on the floor while Samantha sits in the desk chair. She gives a meek wave and they wave back without keeping eye contact. They look ashamed, Masha must've given them a talking to.

"Hi guys, sorry you had to see that," she knew she shouldn't be apologizing, but this whole situation never would've happened if she was truthful from the beginning. 

"No Vee, this wasn't your fault." Says Masha

Sam adds in "We're sorry. Diego said he should've realised before he asked that. And I'm sorry for getting so uptight about answers." Sam makes eye contact at the end, though it almost looks like she's scrutinizing Vee's face-

-She spins to look at the mirror and sees a splotchy mess of skin on her face. One could confuse it for vitiligo -a skin condition she learned some humans have- if not for the fact her face was previously a single solid shade of brown. 

Her hair is now completely blue, and a bit shorter, exposing her ears in their full glory. They must've been flapping like crazy during her panic attack.

Her sclera was blue, and took on the glossy sheen of an amphibious creature. 

None of those are human traits.

Her head snaps back towards Masha, cringing while waiting for a reaction.

"So..." They began. "I um. I like your ears?" They clerly want to say more, but refrains to be polite. "Once again, I don't wanna force you to answer. I've just got a lotta theories in my noggin right now and I would like to know the truth. But again, no pressure. Whetever the truth is, I'll try not to react badly." They finished by putting their hands up and smiling. 

Both looked at their friends who nodded. "Hey I'm cool with you being a shape-changing spirit, or some cryptid, or whatever you are. Again, I'm sorry." Sam smiles.

Diego nods and says "Ditto, what she said."

"And if you're not ready right now, we trust you. We just want you to be comfortable with us. You can talk later

Now was the time to come clean to her friends. It wasn't because she was backed into a corner. They let her keep her secrets if she really needed too.

Her eyes tear up, and the tears wetted her cheek. They trust her.

Hopefully they stayed true to their words. Here goes nothing.

"Um, Let me tell you about a place called the Boiling Isles"

She shapeshifts into her true skin for the first time in their presence.

Sam fellbackwards off her chair while Diego simply said "woah." After squeaking in a high pitch, Masha just stared, taking in the details of her true for  from her tail to her hair.

She could’ve eased the group in better, could've given them a better idea of what to expect. But flowery speeches were Luz’s deal, and Vee wanted to rip off the bandaid.

She hoped they  would share Mom and Luz's opinions on how non-threatening she looked. Masha looked far from disgusted at least, but she had no idea what was on Diego's mind.

Sam lifted her chair to defend herself, before realizing how it looked and set it down. Vee only now remembered Sam has a fear of snakes, Ophidiophobia if she's correct. 

She considered apologizing, but decided against it, given this whole thing was mostly Sam's fault. She could be petty, she deserves it. She's definitely getting around to it later though.

they let her explain herself in full, with no interruptions. She told them about the titan, demon and witches. She wasn't quite ready to tell them how she was born, but she told them she pretended to be Luz for the summer.

Everyone's eyes grew wide at the admission, and it looked like they had something to say. Then they looked in her eyes and she gave a look that said she never wanted to hurt them.

She didn't expect them to start joking around so quickly after several earth shattering revelations, but she could tell that they wanted to lighten the mood before discussing them.

They were also being super frustrating about the cute comments.

“I'm not cute. Luz calls everything cute, like. Possums, for one.” She scrunches her face, “and she didn't even bat an eye at a bunch of talking rats!” 

“Your face looks like a cat,” says Diego, his mouth curved in an uncharacteristicly mischievous grin. “But like, a bald cat that fell in a can of green paint.” He teases. 

"Hey, you up for that hug yet, Vee?" Masha smiled that pretty gap toothed smile, and Vee felt her resolve shatter. 

"Y'know what? yeah. I could use one." Vee agreed.

"Want to make it four?" They asked, to which Vee nodded.

Vee tightly hugged Masha, and they embraced. With Vees hace in the crook of their neck, she wrapped her tail around Diego who had moved behind her. "Sweet" he simply remarked.

Masha looked at where Sam sat crisscrosed, hand hovering over Vee's tail hesitsntly. "Hey, you know she's not slimy, right?" Masha indignantly asked. "She's also warmer than I expected, she barely even feels like a snake. More like what I imagine a dragon would be like." Masha blinked "Can you turn into a dragon?" Masha almost shouted.

Vee shrugged, Sam insisted "But do I have to?"

"Yeah, get over here dummy!" Vee wrapps the end of her tail around Sam's midsection. Vee thinks she looks a bit pale.

"Geez it must be 'everybody bully Sam hour' today! Really, I'm still sorry," Sam defends. 

"You were a jerk, you owe me something expensive!"

Diego and Masha laughed at Sams expression, Vee leans deeper into Masha's hug. 

"You okay Vee-Vee?" masha softly asks.

"Yeah," Vee looks around at her friends. getting an idea.

"Cabin seven!"

"HOO HAA HAA!" chorused four voices

"I love you guys." whispered the shapeshifter amongst her closest friends.

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Animaniacs VS Crunch: WHY are they insane-y?

Despite being the creator (in-universe) of the main trio of Animaniacs, Lon Borax himself is a relatively obscure, and more often than not, absent character.

In "The Warners' 65th Anniversary Special", it's revealed that before he drew the Warner siblings, he created Buddy (again, only in-universe).

Buddy (both in-universe and out) was seen as a boring character, suggesting that Lon Borax himself perhaps wasn't the most creative person. In that case, isn't it strange that he went from creating a character as unremarkable and bland as Buddy to characters as boisterous and bizarre as the Warners? Especially, as it turns out, in such a short amount of time:

"Congratulations, Borax, you’ve discovered a cure for insomnia. That’s the most boring cartoon I’ve ever seen. Do you realize we have to show this cartoon to the front office tomorrow?"

This was Weed Memlo's response to the Buddy cartoon. When Lon tried to defend himself, claiming that is wasn't "that bad", Weed was having none of it:

"No! It’s worse! Fix it! Add more characters! Poof it up! Stay up all night if you have to! I want funny! If you need me, I’ll be at the smokehouse."

Weed Memlo (a director at WB) demanded that Lon work overnight, all the while he would be lounging around at a restaurant. Now, if you know even the slightest bit about how to make a cartoon, you'll know that it takes time...ALOT of time. As in, it takes over half a year to make just one episode of most cartoons, amount of time. So you'll also know that, even if he wasn't starting from scratch, expecting Lon to create new characters and heavily modify an existing cartoon in just one night is absurd.

link

What Animaniacs is depicting here is an overt example of an animator being forced to partake in crunch culture. And how did this affect Lon? Well, in his own words:

"I worked all night on that cartoon. I was exhausted, and then...and then I remember it was exactly 2:43 a.m. on the morning of February 30th, I-I started drawing these weird characters!"

What seems to be heavily implied here is that the stress and exhaustion he experienced due to crunch drove Lon mad, and that's why the Warners are as insane as they are.

As we know, the Warners go on to appear in more Buddy cartoons, then get their own shorts to star in (even if they didn't make any sense), but end up locked in the water tower once the studio didn't want to deal with them anymore. After a few brief escapes or instances of the studio temporarily letting them out (either to loan them out to other studios to make more money or to have them star in war propaganda short films), they escape in 1993 and end up starring in their own TV show.

But Lon Borax?

He went nuts.

Yeah he doesn't get better, they just put him in a home.

This is all portrayed comedically, but unfortunately crunch culture actually does have harmful affects on animators and people who work in the video game industry in the real world. 100-hour weeks, cases of sickness and depression, just really awful stuff. However, I don't think this was the writers necessarily making light of crunch, quite the opposite.

Weed Memlo got so fed up with the Warners he quit directing their cartoons. They constantly annoyed everyone who worked at the studio. Pulling pants down, scaring their crushes, playful teasing, stuff like that. They never did anything too harmful, in fact sometimes people just ran away screaming before they even did anything. This was their response to Wakko simply asking "Can we eat with you?":

Still, the studio certainly wasn't peaceful with them around. Most of the human actors were clearly bothered by them (although toons like Bugs and Daffy seemed to be more lenient to the Warners). It wouldn't have been like that if the Warners were sane. Sure they're kids (toon kids on top of that) so they probably still would've ran around and misbehaved here and there regardless, but not to the extent that they're known for.

The Warners made people afraid of going to work, and probably stalled if not halted production of a lot of what the studio was working on (Plotz even says "The Warners had single-handed brought this studio to a screeching halt.") The studio would've saved themselves a lot of trouble if they had given Lon more time, prioritised their worker over money.

But they didn't.

Watching this episode, it feels like writers were trying to get that message across. That the studio deserved to have to deal with Warners; that they were the consequences for partaking in crunch culture. The Warners had been serving large doses of karma for almost a full season at that point, only this time, their "special friend" wasn't just one person.

It was the corrupt industry that birthed them in the first place.

[thefloatingstone]

Not to be like "haha I'm better than you guys!!!" or elitist or anything because that very sincerely is NOT the point of this post.... but I never really understood people extremely love for Harry Potter.

I read them as they were coming out. Most of the time they came out soon enough that I was the same age as Harry. I liked them. They were cool. Goblet of Fire was my favourite and I was always happy to see what story the next book would bring but that's all it was. Interest to see the next story whenever it came out. Like a sitcom you enjoy but you didn't set your tv to record for you in case you missed it.

And then the word "Chosen one" was uttered and, just like that, I fucking lost all interest. Honestly there was "Chosen one" talk in the 4th book and already I was like

Honestly I think I liked Goblet of Fire the most because there was no friggen Quidditch. And there was less focus on the SCHOOL part of Harry Potter and more this weird Video game Quest setup which just appealed to me more.

In retrospect, I think that might be a big part of why I enjoyed it but never LOVED it like other people.

Like

"Oh boy my absolute biggest most favourite fantasy! THE BRITISH EDUCATION SYSTEM!!!!"

The fact that the books take place in a school seemed like a default to me because, well, most teenage focused cartoons and shows I watched had the main characters at school. Because they're teenagers. But the school wasn't why I enjoyed the books. The school was just a location. No I didn't want to go to Hogwarts. No I didn't want to get attached to a specific school house (although I feel it worth mentioning that when I was 13 I did the online house quiz thing on the official site and it said I was Hufflepuff so make of that what you will).

I really disliked whatever the one was that came after Goblet of Fire. So much so that it completely killed any and all enjoyment I had in the series. Which, considering I was only mildly entertained by them wasn't a massive loss or anything.

I know I read whichever book it was where Dumbledore died but I very genuinely cannot remember one single thing that happens in that book whatsoever. I read half of the Deathly Hallows after coming back from College and gave up because I wasn't enjoying any of it and I never picked the book up again.

I saw the first movie in theaters when I was 13 and I did not like it. It was visually very very dark and gloomy and just... extremely uninteresting to me. Idk how to explain it. The first book just felt so much more vibrant than what I was watching on screen.

I know I saw the 2nd movie although I have no memory of where or why. And I... THINK I saw the third one??? I think??? I'm actually not sure. But that's about where I just stopped and completely lost interest.

Because it wasn't very good.

They just weren't very good books.

They weren't TERRIBLE or anything like that but they were just so.... blah. The earlier ones 13 year old me enjoyed the one time I read each of them but I don't think 13 year old me had the best taste considering I also disliked the Princess Bride at this age.

But I was reading other books because I was a kid with ADHD in high school who desperately needed something stimulating to stop myself from going insane. And frankly, there were just far better books out there. Books I actually re-read. Books I borrowed from friends which ere just... so much better and more interesting.

So I just don't understand this insane appeal so many people have for it, even if they have severed that connection due to Jowling Kowling Rowling's bufoonery and showing herself to be a withered old crone with a shrivled heart and mind every time she opens her mouth.

I grew up with these books the same way as a lot of people. I was the exact age to go through the series' highest popularity and I just did not click with them despite reading them.

So seeing so many people my age or a little younger try and do their best to re-analyse and de-tangle what the books actually are and that... maybe.... just maybe.... they might not have been very good?? Maybe?? is very weird to me because I'm just like.

"Yeah they're overrated as hell and not that interesting."

It's a very weird thing to live through because it's like looking into a bizarro version of the world you remember living through... but not like THAT. I remember the Pokemon craze and yes, it was like that. I remember when anime started to become big and yes, it was like that. I remember DBZ airing and yes, it was like that.

But this insanity around Harry Potter while it was releasing?

Yeah I don't remember it being like that at all.

They were just mediocre books I read because I needed something to occupy my attention and eventually they got worse and worse and I just stopped reading them. That's all.

[zerbu]

Project Squealer BIG REVEAL

Calling all mystery buffs, adventure seekers, and gumshoe wannabes!

I am developing MY OWN INDIE GAME under the working title PROJECT SQUEALER! In this action-packed adventure RPG game, a disease called Laughter Pox has plagued the town, and it's up to three kid detectives to investigate!

These days, I'm mostly known for making mods for The Sims 4, but I've been interested in game development as far back as 2009. In fact, I originally bought The Sims 3 for PC back in 2012 as a tool to plan out characters and worlds, before becoming hooked on the gameplay. For a long time, The Sims was my main creative outlet, but I was still coming up with game ideas in the background.

Skip ahead to mid 2016: while playing with my Go to School mod, I needed to create some child characters to fill the school with. I created two rival teams of kid detectives, and came up backstories and mysteries for them to solve. I ended up liking these characters far more than any other characters I had created. They felt like my creative masterpiece, begging for something bigger than just creations made in a character creator.

That's when "Project Squealer" started brewing in my brain. This indie RPG wasn't just some vague idea; I was developing full-blown stories, environments, and gameplay planned for my kid detectives. I also had the perfect art style in my head. Emphasis on in my head.

Turns out, bringing my dream art style to life was way harder than I thought. So hard, in fact, that I spent the next few years learning how to create art. It took until 2020 to finally have character and environment art that could (almost) pass for pro-level game stuff. Not only that, the project was undergoing what indie devs refer to as scope creep. I kept adding more and more ideas to the design doc, making the game more complex and pushing the release date even further into the future. In 2018, I even decided to move from 2D to 3D, and switched engines from MonoGame to Unity (and later to Unreal Engine 5 in 2023).

Now, it's 2024, and I'm finally, finally ready to announce what I've been working on for the past 6 years!

Project Squealer is the working title for my own indie game about a team of three kid detectives: Orlo (middle), Von (left) and Zoros (right). Together, they go on adventures and solve mysteries… or at least they would, if they weren't constantly having their business stolen by a rival detective team.

In this action-packed adventure game, a mysterious disease known as Laughter Pox has plagued the town, causing people to laugh hysterically. Where is it coming from? How can it be cured? It's up to our detectives to find out! If they can convince others to trust them with such an important mission, that is!

Project Squealer uses a hybrid of 2D and 3D graphics to create a 2D cartoon look with full 3D movement. Characters and some organic objects are 2D sprites that move with the camera. Most environments, objects and buildings are 3D, but have texture-based outlines to give it a 2D look.

The game features a variety of different quests, characters, abilities, enemies, locations, weapons and items. In addition to the main storyline, you can help out NPCs by performing "errands" for them, which will unlock cool rewards and even side missions.

Unlike many RPG games, Project Squealer won't include a character level system, because I want the player to be able to progress using their own skill, not by grinding levels. One of the game's main design philosophies is that there are few, if any, permanent upgrades. Weapons will eventually break, status effects that make your stronger will eventually expire, etc.

Project Squealer is still in relatively early development. I plan to post more information, screenshots, and eventually even videos, as it gets closer to release. Follow my Twitter for quicker updates: https://twitter.com/ZerbuTabek

Your support and feedback is welcome, and will help improve the game!

[destinygoldenstar]

As a kid watching Ninjago, I was just interested in the flashy powers, and the heroics of the main characters, like any kid would. Like, 'Aw these guys are so heroic and selfless and awesome'

But now as an adult, when I recommended my GF the show, I specifically said "This is Family Issues: The Lego Cartoon"

Honestly, Jay likes to complain and hide his upbringing, but he's probably the ONLY ninja with any resemblance of a normal happy childhood and backstory. He has two loving parents who supported him, and was an aspiring inventor.

You could argue Fritz Donegan rectified it, but Jay didn't know this, so how would this affect how is childhood turned out?

At worst, he was dirt poor, living in a junkyard and all, but compared to what the rest of his team went through, I think they'd WANT what Jay had.

Nah, instead most of Jay's trauma and emotional baggage is in the present.

And who else do we have?

We have a robot who didn't even know he was a robot, or had any idea of his identity or memory, so much so that he was just... wandering around the land with amnesia. (Then, you know, everyone thought he was weird)

We have Cole, who grew up in a harsh family background where his dad forced/pressured his kid to be a musician, and canonically suffered depression and bad violence habits after the loss of his mother/during her illness. (Idk about those other Royal Blacksmiths if they are in the family or not, but either way they didn't seem supportive)

Kai and Nya's parents up and vanished from their lives at ages five and three, and they had to raise each other all by themselves with just a blacksmith shop. Basically means they were forced to end their childhoods right there, especially Kai, because older sibling. And there's no indication they had any friends or anyone to help them in their town, at most there was that one lady that they hated, so... ouch.

And... Lloyd.

Just Lloyd.

Half of the show is just Lloyd suffering.

Born as the son of a man forced into an evil oni maniac, said father ditched his entire family.

Mom decided it was a good idea to abandon her kid in a boarding school about villainy. (That's like, the ONE thing I genuinely think the movie did better than the show.)

And that school heavily bullied Lloyd and even exiled him, forcing him on the streets, basically

Everyone hates him and doesn't help him (until Pythor)

Gets tricked by Pythor

Gets kidnapped by Serphantine

Nearly dies in lava

Is given a destiny as the savior of all of Ninjago where he's forced to be on opposite sides of his father, and part of said destiny involves him needing to kill him

AGAINST HIS WILL MIND YOU

Was LITERALLY forced to give up his childhood for this destiny

Was tortured by the Overlord for his golden power

Ice Ninja died

He got his father back, and then he died.

Was possessed by an evil ghost tyrant and was forced to do horrible stuff with no control over himself

Was also physically strained to his limit with that possession

Lost his uncle

Fell in love, and then said crush turns out to be a twist villain who wants to TORTURE him, resurrect his father and steal that fatherly love from him, and have said father try to KILL HIM

Which he was very close to succeeding at

Has to live in hiding for a week thinking all his friends are dead

Twist villain crush dies in a building collapse

That traumatizes him and haunts his trust and empathy towards people for A LONG TIME

Gets cubed in a video game (idk if that counts as trauma)

He's also a dragon oni hybrid, and his oni hide haunts his mind for his entire life, and is terrified to even think of a part of himself

Merge. For weeks he thought all his friends were dead. (Again)

And you know, physical beatdowns from being the Green Ninja, one of the most responsible jobs as the savior of all of Ninjago.

And that is not even everything, I'm sure there's a lot of stuff I didn't mention.

This poor, poor Emo Child.

If this wasn't a Lego show, this would have a Clone Wars tone, I'm convinced.

So yeah, 'Family Issues: The cartoon'.

At least they all have each other. They're a happy found family, and the light in each other's lives. They're here for each other. Their dynamics are precious to me.

[yourmomsgranddad]

— 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐘 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃

— CHAPTER ONE: No rules in unbreakable heaven

— SUMMARY: You and Kate are best friends and you think nothing can tear you apart. Until something does.

— WARNINGS: kind of short but future chapters will be longer

"Kate?"

"Yes, Y/n?"

"Can you promise me something?"

You and Kate were laying on your roof, just staring at the stars. This was the last day of summer before the two of you entered high school. And you both were scared out of your mind.

You didn't know what was going to happen to you.

"Anything."

"Can you promise me that we'll always be friends? Even when we're old and wrinkly and forgetful?"

Kate left a little bit of silence, just causing your unease to flutter around your brain. "Of course. We're going to be best friends forever. And then we're going to have matching tombstones."

It was a nice thought. It was a beautiful thought, you figured nothing could break you two apart. You were best friends and you would always be best friends.

But let's back up.

A few months prior.

Summer had just started and you both were ecstatic. This was the last summer of the two of you being kids and you were going to make the most of it.

Do all the kiddy things you wouldn't be able to do high school.

Go crazy in a Chuck E Cheese. Stay up till the sun comes up watching cartoons. Play every video game known to man.

It was one of the best summers of your life.

Turns out, it was your last summer with Kate. However, neither of you knew it. You were just enjoying each other. A little too much.

It was late at night and you ran out of things to watch.

Right now, you were staring confusedly at Game of Thrones. You didn't know how it got on the tv but you didn't feel like turning it off. "Is he kissing his sister?" Kate wondered as her face scrunched in disgust.

"I believe so."

"Ulch!" She spoke as you just groaned. You didn't know what to say. This show didn't make any sense to you whatsoever.

But you knew you were having fun with your best friend, just being in her company.

You barely remember what happened that night.

But there was one thing you did remember about the night and it was going to be in your brain no matter what.

That was the night you and your best friend, Kate had your very first kiss.

But everything after that was kind of a blur, to Kate anyways. You knew everything. But you weren't in the place to tell.

You weren't in Kate's place at all.

Years after high school, Kate moved out of her old house and moved right into an apartment in New York, starting a life out there for herself.

And she was enjoying herself.

Living in her rinky-dink apartment, eating the worse food you can come by. It was the best and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

Something did always itch at the back of her brain.

It would be so much better if she was sharing it with you.

How much warmer the couch would feel if you were sitting there. How much more homier her place would feel if your stuff was filling every space.

But alas, the place was empty and rustic. No you in sight. Sometimes she wanted to enjoy to its fullest content but then realized. She wouldn't be truly happy until you were by her side once again.

She wished she wasn't so obsessed.

She hadn't seen you in years yet here she was, still thinking about you everyday. She needed to shake these thoughts.

So she got out of her blanket and decided to do something to get her head completely away from you.

Crying at the gym.

She wasn't a gym rat, she could only go so often. Every other week and then she can't do it for a few months. Then repeat. Especially if she does end of crying in there, can't let them see her fall.

But for some reason, when you got on the stair machine, she didn't feel like crying, she felt empowered.

Sure, she missed you but if it was meant to be, you would come back, she kept telling herself. And thankfully enough, she kept it in and got home, no tears needed.

And in less than 2 seconds, she was back in her old spot, eating her nasty food, watching her worse tv. It was a nice feeling.

At least it was, until her mom basically broke her door down.

"Mom!"

"Sorry Katie, you weren't answering your phone! I was trying to get a hold of you." Kate's brows furrowed, her mom looked majorly worried.

"Mom? What happened? Did someone die?"

She momentarily paused, Kate was even more worried. "Someone died?!" She shouted, rushing to her mom's side. "No! Everyone's fine. But something else occurred that I figured you should know."

She shrugged, she didn't know what her mom could tell her that had her breaking doors.

"Y/n is visiting New York. You're going to see her again."

Kate's eyes went wide and if she didn't cry before, she definitely was going to cry now.

Oh shit.

[vieraslaji]

Hello fellow Finnish learners!

I've been meaning to put this post together for weeks and I kept thinking it wasn't ready, but now I've decided to just keep updating it after I post so here it is, in its unfinished form:

While I do enjoy Käärijä's music and I think it's a great way to learn vocabulary, I have difficulty with auditory processing and sometimes I can't understand rap even in my native language. Also, as someone living very far away from Finland, listening and speaking are the hardest things for me to practice.

So! Here's some random assorted Finnish media that I think are nice listening practice and also (most importantly) not Peppa Pig. I cannot professionally vouch for any of these as a learning tool; all I can say is that I've watched/listened to/read them and I feel like maybe I learned something.

MUSIC

Katri Ylander (check out Pandat, Älä kysy miks, Sano mulle jotain kaunista, Kyselen) - she has a pretty low vocal range, which is great for understanding, and she has a lot of repetitive choruses

Ollie (check out Ainakin mä rakastin, Aavikolla, Älä riko mua enää) - we've got kind of a downtempo sadboy thing going on here, which is excellent for our learning purposes

Mikko Harju (check out Meidän puolella, Oon nähnyt unta, Mä olen tässä, Sinä riittää) - there tend to be clear breaks between words in his songs and he uses less puhekieli than a lot of artists

Younghearted (check out Kuljetaan, Tässä ja nyt, Sun numero) - literally I just like them idk

Antti Tuisku - Koti - I wouldn't put Antti Tuisku as an artist in general on this list, but Koti basically feels like an Ollie song

YOUTUBE

KatChats - great educational content for all learner levels, speaks very slowly and uses very little puhekieli. I also think she has a facebook and/or discord community?

Nedde - mostly a Sims and Sims-esque gaming channel, which is great for vocab building and comprehension because she narrates what she's doing onscreen

T I N K E - lots of life vlogs and sims videos; I think she speaks really clearly and understandably

Herbalisti - he speaks a lot faster and more colloquially, but his minecraft and random-pelit videos are good for the same reasons as Sims videos. also he has a really cute cat

Aleksi Rantamaa - specifically his TLDR LIVE videos are easiest to understand because he's talking to chat so he repeats himself a lot and takes a lot of pauses between his sentences

PODCASTS

Opi Suomea! - hasn't been updated in a long time but it's great listening and vocab practice about everyday topics

Soturikissat Kastepilven kanssa - I am about to make another post about this whole phenomenon but just trust me on this one

Miksei kukaan kertonut? - the host speaks very understandably and, way more importantly, her guests always have decent microphones

NETFLIX (it's what I have sorry)

Julie and the Phantoms - it's honestly very well done for a teen drama and the music is stupidly catchy

Zero Chill - another netflix teen drama; I liked it less than julie and the phantoms but it's fine

Heartstopper - don't lie to me, you're on tumblr. you've heard of heartstopper.

Carmen Sandiego - genuinely super engaging as far as kid's shows go; it reminds me of the educational cartoons I watched as a kid

The Dragon Prince - literally by the creators of ATLA, you don't need my elevator pitch for it

[mrxcreepypastamadness]

Here's my official reveal of BJ Harpyboo, and I wasn't even joking or kidding around with this mentioned character with this host I created since she looks similar to Peacock.

She's actually a mix of Peacock and DJ Hallyboo.

BJ Harpyboo

Appearances:

• Skullgirls 2nd Encore (Unlockable character) (Canon AU)

• Sugar Rush Party DS Anti-Piracy

• Friday Night Funkin': Sugar Rush Madness

• Sugar Rush Party DS Anti-Piracy: The Sequel (Upcoming)

• Skullgirls 2nd Encore Anti-Piracy Arc (Upcoming)

Real name: Bethany Hallyboo

Aliases:

• Host

• Harpyboo

Creator:

• Dr. Mammon (Main creator)

• Dr. Avian (Creator from Lab 8)

Affiliation:

• Peacock (Twin cousin)

• Big Band (Partner of the Federal Law)

• Lab 8

Species:

• Human ("was" before her tragic death)

• Top Hatted Being

Parasite: Annie P. Mammon (Top hat)

Gender: Female

Birthday: November 13

Blood Type: B

Height: 4'6"

Weight: 94lbs./Varies

Measurements: 18A-17-20

Sexuality: Pansexual

Eye Color:

• Red

• Yellow (Hat)

Likes: Cartoons, movies, video games, vigilantes, TV breakfast, lunch & dinner, Late night coffee, police cars, cages, wrestling cage matches, formal apology notes, being a personified host, being above the law, teaching pirates a painful lesson

Dislikes: Sinners, corrupted officers in general, the Medici Mafia, Lorenzo Medici, Vitale Medici, Black Dahlia (obviously), the Skull Heart, pirates who pirate the games for free, the fools who think they're above the law, Nadia Fortune (cause she rather lock her up for thievery), bland food, robbers and crooks

Family:

• Deceased father (unknown)

• Deceased mother (unknown)

• Patricia Watson aka Peacock (Twin cousin)

• DJ Hallyboo (Stepfather)

• Happyboo (Stepmother)

Allies:

• Peacock (ally)

• Marie (neutral ally)

• Big Band (federal ally)

• Officer Collie (The cop girl from The Finale)

• Donut Cop men/Wynchel and Duncan (Donut Cops from The Finale)

• Beard Papa (Equal Dislike but Business Partners)

Enemies:

• Julie (enemy and victim)

• Lorenzo Medici (enemy)

• Vitale Medici (enemy)

• The Medici Mafia (enemies)

Occupation:

• Host of Sugar Rush Party (piracy crack-downer)

• Anti Skullgirl Combatant

About:

BJ Harpyboo is the protagonist of Skullgirls 2nd Encore for an unlockable secret Story Mode and the main antagonist of Sugar Rush Party DS Anti-Piracy ARG. Her nature is seemingly evil, but she sides with the authorities in the ARG and not apparent "criminals" that pirated Sugar Rush Party DS. She's also upcoming for the sequel of the ARG series, and Skullgirls 2nd Encore Anti-Piracy Arc.

Voicelines:

1. Story Mode/Freeplay (Canon AU):

• "I'm going to kill you!"

• "Hereee I come!"

• "Geeet Ready! For Soccer Survival!"

• "Now you get to face my true power."

• "That doesn't cut it, criminal."

• "We don't serve criminals here!"

• "Looks like you didn't learn your lesson Ms. Nadia!

• "You know what they say Ms. Fortune, Piracy is no party."

• "You are always destined to fail, just like Lorenzo!"

• "What kind of apologies are these?! I can't except this!"

2. Friday Night Funkin': Sugar Rush Madness (Hellish Hallows):

• "We don't serve criminals here!"

• "Looks like you didn't learn your lesson, Mr. Boyfriend!"

• "You know what they say, kid; Piracy is NO PARTY."

• "If you can't have some accuracy, don't do the piracy!"

• "You were always destined to fail! Just like Taffyta!"

• "TobiKomi does what Boyfriend doesn't!"

[opinated-user]

LO does not understand what puritanism is

LO, you literally never heard a thing when people talk about stuff like code dresses in school that shames afab people for showing too much skin that "distracts classmates and the faculty"? never heard about the obsession that american society has with violence, but sex is a step too far and how that correlates with it's continuous degradation of queer people and kinky people?

never heard about the stigma that women/afab people face when they do dare to be sexual and open about it? never heard about the backlash that every woman/afab pop artist had to go through when they went through that? Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, just to give some easy examples that most people can recognize, even someone with such a media defiency as you. this isn't only about just gender either. when Lil Nas came out as gay and with the album Montero, suddenly his video Call Me By Your Name was too explicit and horrific, kids couldn't watch it, even though he had sang about sex before and nobody cared back then. why do you even think that conservatives keep insisting that kids are too young to know about queer people existing, that they want to make it illegal to even mention queerness in classroom, since they keep insisting that queer people are inherently sexualized? it is homophobia, for sure, but did you really never bothered to think for one second from where exactly that specific kind of homophobia come from? that kind of homophobia that says "this is too sexual, kids are going to be harmed by it", rather than the kind that just says you'll go to hell for being queer? i'm... these are the basic kind of conversation in leftist/femenist spaces. basic ones. the most surfice level white feminist Karen knows this, are aware it's a thing.

a movement called "the puritans" doesn't exist anymore as such, but if you honestly believe that they didn't have any influence in the current state of society then that, to me, it speaks volumes of how incredibly little work you have actually done to try to think about... well, anything critically. nothing outside of cartoons meant for children. puritanism is on the dress codes of schools today, it's on the current homophobia and transphobia that is making laws right now, it's on the book banning that are happening right now, it's on the knee-jerk reaction of the public when women aren't perfect, something you did talked about but obviously never thought too profound about because it was only about the women you fantasize about. people see it on you when you insist that sex scenes can never have any thematical or artistic value, only because you have never written one that wasn't purely for your own sexual pleasure. that's why they call you puritanical, LO, not because you're part of a specific movement like the Illuminati. i know you're lying when you say you don't enjoy porn and are only there for the romance. i know you're lying, because only someone that is way too familiar with pornographic material would be so bold to put Rapelay and a game about touching underaged characters, that doesn't even have an official English translation, on a video about SVTFOE. where do you think "purity culture", something that people that scaped oppressive religious environment talk about, comes from? are you going to go to those people, who often carry religious trauma, and tell them that what they went through wasn't real or should they look another name because you don't even understand what it is? you insist so much about people refusing to watch SU critically, but then you go and basically admit that have never looked at anything critically outside of your own nose. i guess i shouldn't be surprised by the woman who honestly thought was Cherokee because her mom told her, and never even knew her grandfather was from a completely different Nation, but color me surprised anyway.

i almost forgot: LO is still talking about the game with canon incest while still being accused of molesting her younger sister. i can't unsee this as intentional cruelty and deflection at the same time.

[sweetmariihs2]

List of inspirations that I noticed in ✨️The Amazing Digital Circus✨️

an almost-essay (PART 1)

When I watched the first episode for the first time I started to notice several similarities to other subjects that I also like and know, other fandoms and popular things on the internet, and I soon thought about sharing them on Tumblr (which I'm doing now).

I know there will be things that other people have noticed that will be missing from the blog, but I will try to include all the things that I remember recognizing at that moment. Feel free to share them, though!

I don't know the formal names of some things I'm gonna mention, and also my english It's not the best, I'm trying to practice my writing <3

I'll have to divide this blog into two parts because Tumblr doesn't support more than 10 images per blog. grrgrrgr I really wanted to put everything together but I can't. At the end of the blog I will put a link to part 2 and you can continue reading [when i finish the part 2 of course]

1 - Popee the Perfomer

Popee the Performer is a low-budget animation made in 2000, at the time when 3d animation was still a new technology. It's a collection of shorts and they talk about three circus performers' interactions. People found this on the internet in 2021 and they started a new fandom on top of it. What makes this show talked about it's the disturbing situations the characters put themselves through. There are a lot of violent scenes and sometimes the characters die by the end of the episode, but when we go to the next one they're just alive again, and that makes us question if they are living stuck in an eternal loop with no way of getting out of that small circus setting.

The 3d is pretty simple, mostly because it's old, but that makes me think about the connections between PTP and TADG are the aesthetics, the whole "disturbing adult cartoon about serious topics with a children's colorful aesthetic" thing, and also those connections with the Nintendo 64 graphics. I'M GONNA MENTION IT TOO!!

And a part of this fandom also it's part of Raggedy Ann and Andy's fandom. They were pretty close in 2021.

2 - Raggedy Ann And Andy

Ragatha, next one

I'm kidding there's more

Their fandom started around 2021 because the YouTube algorythm just decided that it was time to recommend a video about Raggedy Andy to EVERYONE! And that's how I discovered them too <3 (I WAS THEREEE I WAS THERE). Andy got the main focus and he was everyone's dream boyfriend lol

Also that's completely unrelated but I wanted to say that I'm one of the people whose video was recommended to everyone through YouTube algorythm and helped the fandom to grow even more (I'm so proud of myself guys I'm sorry awnqbehdjwndbwjdnh)

I believe that if that first video that helped me (and more people) to discover them were never recommended to us, maybe Ragatha wouldn't even have that design!! It's alright that Ann is a doll from the 1900s, but the whole "Raggedy Ann And Andy" thing wasn't a fandom topic, they were just normal ragdolls and they were recognized only by grannies and "the anabelle doll" (this one makes me pissed)

3 - Nintendo 64 (and old 3d art)

And this recognition that it is a fandom united this subject to other famous fandoms, leading to the same audience, and this audience is also TADG's audience. I'll talk more about this at the end of the blog! (Edit: Part 2 of the blog. *silently cries*)

And there's this blog:

That low budget 3d aesthetic it's turning really popular recently. I'm not much of an expert on the subject since I don't know much about games, but I recognize it from the old graphics and my biggest reference is Mario 64. There's a good explanation for it being so popular, I have a theory that it's related to liminal spaces, but I'm not sure. Still, it's worth mentioning.... and also that bubble character really looks like chain chomp!!

They're besties

4 - liminal spaces (backrooms and the "dreamcore" aesthetic)

happy balloons because the backrooms scare me (i hate it)

I think if you're on Tumblr it's very likely that you already know what the backrooms are. A part of our reality, but outside of it. There are floors and floors of eternal levels, where you wander in the same place and don't go anywhere. As if you had broken the matrix and were trapped outside, in a bug. This has become very popular on the internet and it's interesting that it is being used as inspiration for creating a show.

Furthermore, there was also the popularization of aesthetics such as dreamcore, traumacore and weirdcore, which consist of images that look like they came out of a dream. Things that you recognize, but don't know where they came from, like a deja vu, which makes you uncomfortable. It's extremely linked to the backrooms, since it's the same feeling. Many of the images are things that take us back to childhood, to the past, but they are not right, as if they were corrupted. Old 3D is also used a lot to make some of these images, like the example I gave of the Nintendo 64. The fandoms are all interconnected!

In this whole concept they also like to be inspired by childhood characteristics, such as old images of toys, empty birthday parties, playgrounds, and it also takes us to that famous sensation on the internet that I don't remember the name of, but it is basically feeling afraid of a place where people should be going, but they aren't. Abandoned places. The fear of being alone. All those topics revolve around each other. They makes us question abour reality, "do I even exist?" (I know I do, but writing characters that way and exploring the possibilities is kinda nice)

I know a brazillian youtuber that made a good video about it, her name is Replai and in the video she talks about how Poppy Playtime's art was made, but I know that most of the people reading this don't know how to speak in portuguese so... yeah. It's a good video.

5 - Children's aesthetics (but something's off)

This gif speaks for itself. It's that traumacore/dreamcore/weirdcore thing that I was talking about.

Still talking about that empty feeling of knowing that something it's familiar but don't knowing where it came from, childhood memories can be related to this, as they are vague, distant and sometimes carry a feeling of sadness. I'm not a great expert on the subject, but somehow the way that's explored scares us, I know there's a good explanation on the internet. This reminds me of the reason why people are afraid of clowns: they wear this fixed smile on their face and try to appear friendly, but it's this frozen, empty expression that leaves us afraid that there are other intentions underneath. And the fact that they are so related to childhood and children's innocence makes us fearful, because we don't know if they can do any harm to them. (of course, this all happens subconsciously, you don't think about it that way but your brain activates this instinct of fear) (not you YOU, people with that phobia)

I refuse to believe that these things are not interconnected. There is a strange feeling that can be explored from this childish aesthetic and connection to childhood.

Many media are using this aesthetic as part of their stories, especially horror ones. Five Nights At Freddy's was a pioneer, exploring this in the early 2010s, and then there were other franchises like Poppy Playtime, Bendy And The Ink Machine, other FNAF games (and there are also discoveries of things that do this unintentionally and that were created before this popularization, like Popee the Performer. In music we also have great examples like Melanie Martinez's old albums, during the Cry Baby era. There are also other aesthetics who like to explore this childlike-creepy vibe, and they're a little unrelated to all this stuff, like Morute/Dollcore). Whenever I talk about this I remember FNAF SB Daycare, as it is the result of all these topics we have talked about so far. The Security Breach DLC "Ruin" decided to explore this fear of empty, abandoned places, but which once had happy children walking through the corridors. This feeling is very scary.

Do you remember when I gave clowns as an example? The circus is also a way to explore this scary+childhood feeling. A place where there should be lots of games, but which only causes fear, as in the case of those scary clowns. It's quite common in the media for the circus to be used as a focus of terror, however in the internet version we were talking about just now, it doesn't have to be directly a horror circus, just feeling that childish sensation and feeling that something is wrong is enough. Enough to make us feel uncomfortable. It's like the characters were suffering, but they can't scream for help, and it's a disorted vision of how a circus should look like. Hi Pomni!!

The Daycare Attendant also explores that.

6 - Bendy and Fnaf (for the same reasons I already told you all, but one more)

Jax it's Bendy's and William Afton's lost son. We don't need no DNA test.

(I'm obviously just kidding btw, his design was probably inspired by them, MOST ESPECIALLY BENDY and maybe the Cheshire Cat from Alice because of his smile??? Idk)

stay tuned for part 2 <3

[obsidiancreates]

Something Strange Comes To Santa Barbra

(This may be the most Niche thing I've ever posted. @poltertoast this is for you, it's not the previously discussed crossover concepts but I might do those later)

Shawn ducks under the police tape and jogs right up to Lassiter. "This better be good Lassie. Gus and were just about to crush one of those restaurant food challenges down at a dumpling place."

"Just get inside." Lassiter gives Shawn a slight shove, and Gus makes sure to stay out of Lassiter's arm range as he follows.

Shawn's eyes go right to the wall; there's a huge bloodstain, and it's configuration is... strange. It looks more like a movie, or a video game, than a regular splatter pattern. His focus zeros in on one of the two beds next, highlighting an abandoned contraption that looks like an old GameBoy Color altered with all sorts of computer chips and wires and antenna. There's a book laying on the floor, open but page-down to show both the front and back cover in full. The Paranormal Prince: Ghost Hunting With Royal Blood by one Johnny Toast.

Shawn chuckles and nudges Gus. "Dude, read the name on that book."

"What boo- ... Johnny Toast?"

"Johnny Toast," Jules confirms, walking over to them. "Late twenties to early thirties, British, and presumed dead."

"Whoa, whoa. Presumed dead?" Shawn looks at the wall. "Seriously?"

"No body," Jules says with a sigh. "No blood trail indicating how it was moved, no missing sheets, and the owner of the condo says they didn't have any rugs. CSI didn't find any evidence of cleaning supplies, and no reports of gunshots in the area at the suspected time of attack."

"No gunshots?" Shawn looks again at the wall. It's really bothering him, he swears he's seen a pattern like that before but he knows it wasn't in real life.

Jules nods to the wall. "There's some deep gauges out of the plaster, we're thinking knife carvings. Murderer must've hit an artery, which makes the lack of blood anywhere else even stranger."

"No kidding. There's not even any on the floor." Gus keeps his eyes off the blood, and it's almost disturbingly easy to do so. The rest of the room is mostly spotless, save a strange image almost... superimposed onto the wall. A blue square, a red triangle, and a yellow V.

"What about this?" Shawn gestures at it. "Does the condo owner have the worst taste ever, or is this a calling card?"

"We looked into it, apparently it's a popular graffiti symbol in the victim's hometown."

"What town?"

Jules starts to say, and then takes in a deep breath. "Don't laugh," she warns. "Both the vic and the suspect are from a town in North Carolina called... Little Butts."

Shawn and Gus fail to not laugh. Jules looks like she wants to laugh too, but Lassiter walks into the room at that moment.

"You told them where they're from, didn't you?"

"They asked."

"After we agreed not to tell them because laughing at a murder scene is asinine."

"Ass," Shawn mumbles, and he and Gus laugh again.

"Just-! Tell us if you see anything." Lassiter gestures around the room. "Chief just called and she wants this to be top priority, apparently there's a serial killer from that town and she wants to make sure he's not taking a vacation in Santa Barbra."

"Well maybe I'd have a better sense of the case if you told me who the suspect is."

Jules nods while Lassiter scowls. "Johnny Ghost-"

"Johnny Toast and Johnny Ghost? Are they cartoon characters?" Gus whispers to Shawn. Jules ignores it.

"-late twenties, owner said he's short with red-brown hair and brown eyes, always wears a gray hoodie with this logo on it." She shows them a drawing.

Gus scoffs. "They spelled it wrong."

"What?"

"That's the symbol for Pi, Shawn. Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine, and then continues on forever? It's a fundamental of math."

"It's a fundamental of a good diet is what it is."

"It's a pun," Jules says. "They ran a ghost hunting business together, Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire. At least, that's what the owner said Johnny Ghost screamed at him when they introduced themselves."

Shawn looks back over at the beds. Now the DS makes sense... "So that's why the Chief wants me? See if there's a... spiritual connection? Maybe this Ghost fellow got possessed and offed his partner?"

"And to find the body, and Ghost himself. He was seen leaving the house alone around the time of the attack on some nearby security cameras, and hasn't come back to the house since."

Shawn nods, half-listening as his eyes travel around the room again and he does a slow, lazy-looking turn. He hones in on a business card, the corner just barely visible under the left bed.

"OH!" He dramatically drops to the floor, trying to make it look like he was yanked. "Oh, the spirits are strong here! But they're scared, yes, of the ghost hunters, they weren't ready to contact me before but now!" Shawn drags himself across the floor in one motion and snatches the card, jumping back up. "Now they're screaming! Crying out saying-!"

He discreetly peeks at the card and then holds it up to his forehead, text-side facing out at the 'crowd' that is his friends and fellow investigators. "Santa Barbra School Of Dance!"

Lassiter stalks over and grabs the card, reading it for himself. "Who the hell did the sweep?" he growls. "O'Hara, bag it as evidence!"

As Jules does, Shawn catches sight of a handwritten phone number on the front. Who writes extra notes on the front of a business card?

"Let's bring in the owner of the dance studio and find out what they know." Lassiter looks at Shawn and Gus. "Stay out of my interrogation."

"No problem, Lassie." Shawn puts his hand up in promise. As soon as Jules and Lassiter leave, Shawn drops to the floor again and reaches further under the bed.

"What're you doing?" Gus crouches down. "Did you find more blood?"

"No, Gus, no blood. But I saw this-" Shawn pulls out one of those lockable pencil cases. "-while I was grabbing the card. Here, give me a bobby pin or something."

"Why would I have a bobby pin?"

"I don't know, you're the one who loves cracking safes-es."

"Safes."

"I've heard it both ways."

"This is barely something you can crack anyway, just force it open."

"Force it open? Yeah, right. Do you know how many of these I tried to force open in middle school because someone wouldn't lend a pencil?"

"You lost it every time! My parents were gonna go broke buying that many pencils for me!"

"Just, find something I can jimmy this open with!"

They end up finding the key also under the bed, and popping it open they find... a box of macaroni.

"What the hell?" Gus picks it up and turns it around. "I've never even heard of this brand. Lettuce Squirrel Whiskey and 'Roni?"

"Why is there a dinosaur on the front? Man, that was a total bust, I really thought it'd be important. ... Let's go check out that dance studio."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Dude, what kind of dance studio has a teenage mutant ninja turtle as it's mascot?" Shawn turns, keeping his eye on the oddly swaying figure just outside the door until they're fully through. Something about it is bothering him... but he can't quite place his finger on what.

When they push open the door, there's a woman chatting with the receptionist. As soon as the first woman sees them, her face contorts into a nasty scowl. "Oh, no! Get out, you- you spineless rubes!"

Shawn and Gus freeze and put their hands up and take a step back in unison.

"Whoa!"

"Coming on a little strong considering you've never met us," Gus huffs.

"Yes I have," she seethes. "Over the phone, three months ago! I contacted your agency to investigate a haunting for me!"

"A haunting?" Shawn looks at Gus, who shrugs. "Which one of us did you talk to?"

"You." She points at Shawn. Her scowl could rival Lassiter's, maybe even Henry's. "And you told me to seek help!"

"That doesn't sound like me." Shawn casts his memory back. "Wait... were you the one who said that Donatello the turtle was haunting you?"

"All four of them!" she snaps. "And yes! Yes, I did! And you never came by! And it kept happening so I had to hire some out-of-town specialists-"

"Johnny Ghost and Johnny Toast of P.I.E?" Shawn asks, hand by his temple.

She blinks. It seems to shock her out of at least some of her rage. "Yes. Yes, and-and now I have bullet holes all over my studio."

"Bullet holes?!" Gus ducks. "They shot up the place?!"

"They had guns?"

"Yes, and yes! They saw one of the ghosts and-and I don't even know where they pulled the guns from, but it got away and they chased after it!"

"Did you call the police?"

"Not until that damn ghost is- oh, for heaven's sake!" Her eyes focus on something behind them and she storms to the door, flinging it open. "GET OUT OF HERE!"

It dawns on Shawn what disturbed him about the figure outside.

It hadn't been swaying in the wind at all. It had been bobbing like a person waiting.

The figure, Raphael by the mask color, shouts in fear as the woman screams at him-

And then phases through the floor and disappears.

Shawn freezes, the sight so not computing that it breaks him for a second. Gus's eyes go so wide they may try to run away since their owner isn't, and then they roll back up in his head and he collapses.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They sit in the Psych office, Gus nervous-eating an entire box of dry cereal while Shawn has his hands pressed together and covering his mouth, eyes trained on the floor.

They haven't spoken since they watched the Ninja Turtle Ghost phase through solid ground.

Their phone rings again. Neither pick it up.

It's silent for another hour until Jules runs by the window, sees them both inside, and runs in.

"We've been trying to reach you guys for hours, we have-! ... What happened?"

Shawn flattens his hands against his face and rubs it. Gus raches into the now-empty cereal bag, pulls out nothing, "eats" the nothing, and then repeats without ever blinking.

"Seriously," Jules sits down on the couch in the nook. "What happened?"

Shawn drags his hands down his face. "Those uh... those ghost hunters were onto something big," he croaks out. "Real... real big."

"How big?" Jules leans in. "Because that might make our findings make a little more sense."

"You uh... you talked to the dance studio owner?"

"Yes, but we didn't get anywhere. She just insisted that she was haunted and we find them so they can finish the job. What we did find out is that Johnny Toast is..." She shakes her head. "I don't even know how this is possible, but he's the grandson of the Queen of England."

"He's what?" It's jarring enough to snap Shawn out of his complete Brain Breakage. "Why's he in America hunting ghosts?"

"No clue. But it means our list of suspects got a whole lot bigger, and Interpol might get involved. This could become a diplomatic incident. You didn't find out anything related to that?"

"Uh, no. No, we... we didn't. Our thing seems stupid now." It doesn't. But how the hell does he explain why he, a supposed psychic, is rattled by a ghost?

Jules shrugs, putting her hands up and then plopping them back in her lap. "I'll take anything you've got."

"... Well, um... I see violence. Yes, great, great violence. They were both very experienced with guns, and had them on their persons during this trip."

"But there were no signs of gunshots at the hotel. ... Which might mean this was pre-meditated! It was done quietly, no witnesses- shoot, it's looking more and more like we'll have to get overseas offices involved." Jules stands up. "Thanks, guys. But answer your phone next time! Lassiter almost got the Chief to kick you off the case for ignoring us."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, what've you got?" Shawn looks up at Gus from across the room.

"Almost nothing." Gus frowns at his laptop as he scrolls. "It's like this 'Little Butts' place barely exists. All I've found is a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy forums where some kid named TheMightySpence with threes instead of E's is complaining about living there."

"Dang it. I'm not getting anything much better. There's a few clips on the internet of these ghost hunting guys, a TV commercial, and some kind of... fan club website for Toast. None of it gives me any motive, in fact, these guys were best friends by the looks of it! There's mentions of them growing up together, Toast lost his mind once because Ghost disappeared according to this clip from some terrible TV show I found, it just... doesn't add up. And all I can find on this 'serial killer' from that town is urban legends."

"This case is beyond us, Shawn. Real ghosts, and now a town that doesn't really exist, and it's an international incident? We're in over our heads!"

"I know!" Shawn shuts his laptop. "But we can't just back out because our entire worldviews were shattered, Gus, because the police think I already believe in ghosts!"

"Tell them that this one is something you've never seen!"

"It is something I've never seen!"

"I know tha-!"

"Excuse me?"

They look up. In the doorway stands a tall, handsome man, with stylish stubble and clothes fit for some type of fancy business party. He has a posh British accent, and...

He's definitely the guy from the book cover.

"Sorry to drop in uninvited, I saw you were closed but the door wasn't unlocked so I ah, let myself in. I was wondering if you'd be available to help me and my partner?"

Gus makes a high-pitched squeal-scream sound from deep in his throat. Shawn stands up, slowly, and goes to swipe his arm through the man's body.

"OW!" The man grabs his arm where Shawn slapped it. "Sir! They're hostile!"

"I'M COMING, JOHHNY!"

A short man in a grey hoodie comes racing in, gun drawn! "BACK UP A SECOND THERE, SNICKERS, OR I'LL SHOOT YOU RIGHT IN THE FACE!"

Gus lets the scream out fully and backs up against the wall while Shawn quickly draws away with a scream of his own. Ghost keeps his gun on Shawn as Toast rubs his arm.

After a long moment of Shawn and Gus screaming, Shawn is able to take in a few details. He hones in on the various stains all over Ghost's hoodie, some of which are unmistakably blood, meaning he doesn't wash it. There's dark circles around his eyes, and bags, and his clothes are hanging pretty loosely on him. So he can't take care of himself very well, may even have mental problems.

Toast is very well put together, and completely unphased by the response of a gun to a slap. He called out for Ghost, so he knew this would happen. Despite Ghost being smaller, and Toast being literal royalty, he called Ghost sir, so Ghost is both the wildcard and the one in charge. Given the terrifying glint in Ghost's extremely tired eyes, Shawn thinks that's not the best arrangement they could've come to.

"Alright," Shawn says, breathing heavily from the adrenaline, "Let's all calm down here!"

"Us?! You hurt Johnny!"

"I thought he was a ghost at first!"

"Why would he be a ghost?!"

"Because we're investigating his murder right now, which you are- were- the main suspect of!"

"Oh." Ghost looks at his partner. "Yeah, I killed him last night."

"That doesn't make any sense! He's here, he's real!"

"... Yes?" Ghost sounds genuinely confused. "Because it was last night? Of course he's fine now. After we went to the dance studio and got chased out by those turtle ghosts we got to the condo and the studio left him in a dancing mood, and then I caught him having macaroni! He was so out of it he almost did The British Disco right in front of me, so I killed him before he could!"

"Still sorry about that, sir."

"But how is he here if you killed him?"

"And what the hell does macaroni have to do with this?! And what's The British Disco?!" Gus keeps his distance, though his fear has subsided a bit.

Only a bit.

"We called Billy and everything was fine!" Ghost snaps as if that means anything. "And macaroni is a drug, obviously, and The British Disco is a dance so beautiful that it kills you if you see it and aren't either British or already dead!"

"If you can just come back from the dead-"

"Back from the dead, don't'ca just love bein' back from the dead," Ghost sings suddenly.

"... Right, sure. If you can just come back from the dead, why'd you have to kill him so you wouldn't die?"

"That's a different kind of dying!"

"There's only one kind!"

"Sir," Toast pipes up, "It seems this is one of those places. Where they don't follow the normal rules of reality."

Ghost's scowl disappears. "You're right, Johnny! Oh, I hate these places." The gun suddenly disappears from his hands. "Alright, let's try this all again. Ahem. I am JOHNNY GHOST, PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR EXTRAORDINAIRE, AND THIS IS MY PARTNER JOHNNY TOAST! Together we are P.I.E!"

Shawn nods, taking another step back. Situation diffused... for now. "Shawn Spencer, psychic detective," he says carefully. "This is my partner Nebulous Nevins."

Gus doesn't wave, but he does stop trying to melt into the wall so hard.

"Well, now that we're all ah, acquainted, could we... ask for your help?" Toast ventures. "See, our coworkers stayed back home and it turns out there's four ghosts at-"

"The Santa Barbra School Of Dance?" Shawn says, putting his hand to his head.

"Yes, exactly. We don't have any guns to spare you at the moment, however-"

"We don't do guns," Gus says quickly. "Not with ghosts."

"Well that's stupid," Ghost scoffs. "What do you do when they attack you?"

"I'm a psychic, not a ghost hunter. The spirits are generally on my side."

"You sound like Spooker. Let's go Johnny, apparently we have to clear up your supposed murder with the police!" Ghost grabs Toast's arm and drags him out.

It takes a full fifteen minutes for Shawn and Gus to relax after the two leave. Gus screams intermittently for five of those minutes. Shawn screams with him.

By the end they're collapsed in their chairs, completely unwound.

"... They're going to get arrested," Shawn says faintly. "If they tell that same story."

"Or put in an institution," Gus agrees.

"... Why do I get the feeling they won't stay in either one of those?"

"There's also still a real ghost in that studio."

"Yeah..." Shawn blinks, and then sits up. "Dude. Toast said coworkers. There's more of them!"

Gus looks horrified. "Who might come here looking for them, or to finish the job at the studio!"

"Close up shop." Shawn pulls the blinds down. "Gus, I can't believe I'm saying this, but we need to keep those two guys out of prison so they can solve that turtle thing and get out of Santa Barbra!"

"How are we supposed to do that?! They're living in a completely different reality, Shawn! One word to Lassie and Jules will be enough!"

"I don't know! I-I'll think of something on the ride, but we are so not dealing with more than two people like that! I feel like my brain is trying to fry itself! Did you see the gun just disappear?!"

"Into thin air! They've gotta be some kind of demons!"

"With the way this case is going, I wouldn't be surprised."

[marine-indie-gal]

After doing some Two Related Drawings of the Same Franchise, I have recently decide to join in a New Fandom that is "Space Goofs". I've watched Season 1 a lot recently and even seen the Gameplays behind the Video Game Adaptation, "Stupid Invaders" (I have heard of its Lost Cancelled Movie despite the Trailer still being up). I also have lost All Interest in Season 2 since I've been living a Lie throughout my Childhood that it was only Five Aliens rather than just Four since Season 2 was my very first exposure to the Franchise back on my Old Streaming Days on Rovio's Streaming Service, "Toons.TV" (before it got shut down).

I was actually in its own Fandom from back then, but that wasn't because I had to pay to much any attention since My Other Former Ex-Main Fandoms (which were only the Popular Ones that everyone else knows about) were my Former Hobby until when I grew out of it since not only did I realize that had my Love for Obscurity has grown so Wild through the Past Two Decades.

So I've decided to dig up an Old OC who I once actually gave to My BFF, @luci-the-stan-18, but now, since I am going to back to one of my Dead Childhood Fandoms that are actually still active, Me and My Friend have decided to create our own Personal Multiverses of Our Own One Certain Character for the sake of our own Personal Collaboration of a Second Refresh Reboot.

Introducing My Personal Take on Our OC, Star...As a Space Goofs Character.

Back then, when I created Her as a Single OC of Mine (before my Life had changed), I've wanted her to be an Xilam OC of Mine being raised by the Five Titular Aliens (being an akin opposite story quite similar to Disney's "Lilo and Stitch" but have the Roles for the Earth-Beings and the Aliens to be "Swapped"). Like, instead of having a Story of an Stranded Alien Experiment being raised by Humankind on Earth, why not have a Story about an Abandoned Animal being raised by Stranded Extraterrestrial Life on Earth?

Since I've wanted to give an Abandoned OC of Mine a New Refreshing Start to begin early of this Personal Adaptation towards this OC, I've decided to add more to Star's Character as a Mixture (not only with "Lilo and Stitch") but rather have my own Personal Version be also a Mixture to both the Foreign Czechoslovakia FairyTale and it's Obscure Adaptation, Karel Jaromír Erben's "Otesánek" (also known as "Little Otik" by Jan Švankmajer). In My Personal Views to the Concept behind "Space Goofs", I often see the Concept alone as an Idea for an Early 2000s Kids Live-Action Movie with Early CGI or even a Surreal Foreign Live-Action Film, rather than a Foreign Kids Cartoon about Aliens disguising themselves as Humans while still trying to get back to their Home Planet.

Anyway, here's my own re-take of My Own Rebirth of an Old OC of Mine that is now Mine and @luci-the-stan-18's Character.

Star is a Tabby/British Shorthair Mixed Breed Cat and is the Former Pet/Adopted Daughter of the Space Goofs. She was the Daughter of an Alley Cat who was the Random Fling of a Stray Cat that had to take care of her own Kittens (including Star). However as both Star's Biological Mother and Siblings were dead, the only Ones left Alive where Star and one of her Siblings as The Two Kittens only survived but got separated to different homes as Star was taken in by the Five Aliens who try to give her a Proper Home but then later Took her in as a Family Pet.

After when the Stray Cat had a One Night Stand with Star's Mother, the Mother got pregnant and couldn't find where her False Lover was so she had to take of herself alone. Upon during her pregnancy on One Night, she gave birth to her Six Kittens (3 Girls and 3 Boys). Because the Mother was once born to a Loving Family but then had lost her First Owners from a Far Away Town when she was Young, she had to raise her own Kittens the Hard Way as the Family lived somewhere in the Streets beneath the City near to where the Other Stray Cats live in the Junkyard. Star's Family was extremely poor but no matter how they thrive through their lives, Mother Cat would do anything to keep Herself and her Kittens alive as she would often look After, Protect, and even hunt Food for them.

But that was all about to change.

One day, when Star and one of her Siblings were playing around in the Streets, they accidentally bumped into a Group of Rabid Stray Dogs who chased them throughout the Whole City's Streets (even through a Market Place) until when The Two Kittens finally escape the Stray Dogs' clutches by climbing through a Fence (causing one of the Dogs' heads to get stuck through it) as they instantly ran back to their own Mother. After some time after the chase, Mother Cat then thought of the idea that maybe it would be best to move within to a Hideout where No Stray Dog or Evil Human could possibly find them beneath the streets. 5 Days later, when it came through a Dark Night, when it started to Rain Hard as a Storm came, the Mother instantly took her Kittens and ran throughout the streets as fast as she could be, but it was a Huge Crazy Rainy Night as Star accidentally slipped herself through the Wet Boulevard and landed on the Roads to where Star's Mother instantly came to rescue her off the Road until a Truck came and hit the Mother off the Road. Horrified by this incident, the Kittens tried to wake up their Mother but it was too late since the Mother had her own Very Last Life out of her Nine Lives. Heartbroken by their Mother's Death, Star and her Siblings had to flee themselves through the Streets without their Dead Mother but unfortunately, all of that ends in Another Tragedy when Star's siblings accidentally slip into the Stream from the Rain as the Kittens were trying to swim in order to escape. Luckily, Star had to be the one to survive from the Waterfall as she managed to climb up the Boulevard as she was about to rescue her own Siblings by grabbing a Gigantic Flower Steam as the Siblings had to hold on when Star held on to her own Rope as her Siblings managed to climb up to get to their Sister but when the Steam broke, they were all pulled from the current of the Water as they all fell right through the Sewer. They all drowned from the Water into the Sewers, only Star was Left Alive (but One Other Sibling was perhaps alive too). Only then, did Star had to survive throughout the Terrible Rain when she lost her own Biological Family and had to rested for the Night in a Small Neighborhood (which is where her true story begins).

The Next Morning, Star wakes up and finds herself in a Neighborhood within the City, only then does she look around and find herself within a Place where Citizens live in their own Houses. Upon the Kitten's Curiosity, she tried to find any House to have shelter in but none of the Humans seem to notice the Kitten at the Neighborhood's streets until she then stumbles upon a Big Mysterious Blue Mansion behind the Gates which already caught her attention as she went through the Gates and right into the Mansion. At first, what the Mansion from the Inside did seem very quiet compare to the rest of the Neighbors as she explored from around the House. What Star didn't know is that she was deeply unaware that she was somehow being watched from the Five Space Creatures beneath the Attic that the Goofs have found their New Victim to kick her out on so that she wouldn't recognize the Aliens that are hidden within the Big House alone. When Star discovered a big nose from upstairs when she heard weird sounds coming from up the Mansion, she journeyed herself upstairs & upon her own surprise from the Attic was none other than the Aliens themselves. Scared at first, the Kitten immediately screamed as she ran out of the House & went back on the Streets as she hid herself from the Blue Mansion. While she was originally thinking of going back to the Big City, she realizes that a Gigantic World is no place for a Young Cat herself to adventure out there alone so she decides to make the Neighborhood a New Place to live in as she would then sneak herself in away from the Humans in the Neighborhood (especially the Aliens themselves).

When a Family moved next Door of the Space Goofs' Mansion as New Neighbors came by, the Space Goofs disguised themselves as Humans in order to now have to contact with their New Neighbors from Next Door as the New Neighbors decide to welcome themselves to the Disguised Goofs, Star makes her own move to sneak in the Space Goofs' mansion in order to pick up the attention of the Other Family (so that she can be adopted by the Humans). But as the Parents didn't recognized her, the Family's Daughter by the name of "Ambre" (aka the Girl from the Cancelled Movie, "Stupid Invaders") noticed that there was a Cat hidden somewhere around in their House and asked the Disguised Aliens if they did had a Pet Cat to in which response they answered "No" because they didn't had a Cat (which causes the Goofs to believe that the Orange Kitten that they saw before has come back).

After the visit, the Goofs decided to find out on where the Kitten might've been again but Etno decided to confront the Kitten by himself as he found Star hidden in the Bush from their Backyard. Etno wanted to have a reason with Star on why she came back after investing their Hideout but the Poor Kitten looked very scared since she was very dirty, lost, and abandoned. Feeling sympathy for the Poor Cat, Etno decides to take Star back to their House where He and the Goofs decide to give the Poor Kitten some shelter.

For awhile as the Poor Kitten was now being taken care of thanks to the Aliens, Star decides to roam around their Attic while the Goofs mind their own Business but when she stumbles upon Etno's Lab, she finds his Scientific Potions as drinks one of Etno's Chemicals which causes her to give her own Talkative Voice.

When the Goofs find out on what she had been sneaking through in one of their Rooms, the Kitten apologized as she explained her Whole Backstory of why she came into the Neighborhood as she explains the Tragedy of her Family and that she's very sorry for trespassing their own House. When the Goofs began to felt such sympathy for the Poor Cat, they felt like wanted to raise her and give their House a New Home (especially Candy) but Etno figured out a plan that if they were to give her a New Home, they might as well sell her to the Humans for a New Home but the rest of the Goofs (except for Gorgious) disagree with the idea of selling the Abandoned Cat to the Humans (especially with Candy) but Etno believes that if they were to give an Adoptable Animal to a Human, it might still keep them safe from the Humans if they were to find out their True Identities. Leaving with No Choice, they helped the Kitten to be adopted for free in order to have any of the Humans have a New Animal as a Pet.

When the New Neighbors' Daughter recognizes the Same Kitten that she last saw, she notices something very suspicious about their Neighbors' Concerned about their "Pet" since Star kept being Adopted by New People but no matter how she tried to live within their House, None of the Humans seem to either Care or weren't Just Good Owners for the Young Animal as she would keep running back to the Goofs every time when her Adoption kept failing.

When the Goofs had enough of trying to get rid of her, they decided to keep her and even continue to take care of her as she was all Healthy now. They decide to name her "Star" (only because she didn't like being kept called "Kitty") as Star now had to live with the Space Goofs for Shelter until when Etno can finally find a New Home for Her for the Humans.

However, as the Weeks came for Star's shelter life being taken care of by the Stupid Invaders, she does get along with the Goofs very well.

Candy Mothers her a lot while treating Star as if she was his Daughter. Gorgious tends to spoil her a lot after not being interest in her at first until he started to grow fond of her as if she was his own niece.

Bud loves Baby Animals and adores Star as they often hang out together (either if they play or watch TV).

Stereo likes to teach Star on how to read and to be smart, but like Bud, they would usually hang out with her like a Sister.

Etno's case is far the Most and Main Relationship out of the bunch since Star grows fond to like Etno since he was the first one who found her as the Two have a Mutual Father and Daughter Relationship.

But whenever the Goofs are in disguised to blend within the Human Society, they would usually act as if they were a Family with Star being their own Pet of the Group (even if she's still not officially adopted) whenever they tend to go out shopping or to visit their own Neighbors as Guests, even Star made Friends along the Way who are also Pets of the Other Neighbors.

One Day, during a Birthday Party at one of the Neighbors' Houses when the Disguised Aliens were invented, Ambre finds out that Star can actually talk after when she spoke accidentally when she got out of the Restroom for Ambre always knew that there was something suspicious going on with her Neighbors Next Door (that being the Supposed Aliens). But Star encourages the Girl not to tell anyone the truth behind her Caretakers' True Identities or else, Evil Scientists out there might hurt them and that she would be all alone all over again. Fearing as if though that the Great Big Fear might come anytime soon if anyone else would start to notice besides than Her, Ambre made a deal with the Cat not to tell anyone about the Alien Neighbors as the Next-Door Neighbor Tween would keep Star's true owners a huge secret from anyone else. Although while the Daughter truly wanted a Friend to hang out with, She and Star somehow start to become friends for whenever the Next-Door Neighbor Family would visit the Goofs' home, the Child and the Kitten would often hang out with each other as they started to grow a Friendship bond between One Another.

After growing such a Mutual Family with the Space Goofs for 2 Months, sadly, her own Shelter comes into an end when Etno had recently met one of the Neighbor Families (which happens to be the Owners of One of Star's Friends) as he signed Star for adoption to a Human Family which shocks the Entire Goofs but it also heartbreaks Star since they had made a promise to take care of her which clashes into an Argument as the Group wouldn't allow to take Star to any Human but Etno assures that it is best for Her if the Humans were to find out their true nature which causes Star to think that maybe Etno's right and that it is for the best to keep their own identity safe.

Regardless of the Disagreement, Star agrees to the adoption as she is now sold to one of her Friends' Owners but she proudly thanks Etno and his Crew for taking care of her as Star was now sold to her New Owners of Humans.

The Next Day when Star and her New Owners are on a Weekend Vacation near a Beach, a Bounty Hunter by the name of "Bolok" (who was hired by Mad Scientist, Dr. Saccharin) was said to capture both the Aliens and the Kitten so that the Scientist could have an experiment on the both of them as Bolok then sees the Family's House and suspects that this must be where the Aliens' Former Pet must be at.

When the Bounty Hunter arrives at the Door, he starts to ask the Family questions at first if they had noticed something suspicious about one of the Neighbors that being the Aliens themselves (which shocks Star as she hides behind the Furniture, fearing that maybe her Alien Friends have might been targeted for experimentation).

Tired of the Confusing Questions, Bolok starts to instantly freeze Star's Human Owners with an Ice Razer Gun which causes Star to hide from herself but when the Alien Assassin recognizes her for the very first time, the Kitten had to face up the Alien Hunter alone.

Bolok starts to ask Star such suspicious questions on what her Old Alien Friends had been up to through a plan this whole time as the Professional knew where exactly The Orange Kitten had been hiding from when he had heard that she was the last surviving member of her own Family and that the Aliens stole her away as he assumed that her own Talking Voice was from the Aliens who had been experimenting Her like a Test Animal.

Star denies on what Bolok is saying was Highly False as she was never meant to be a target that would lead to where the Space Goofs' true hideout is. Ignoring from the Actual Truth, as Bolok was about to kidnap the Orange Kitten to take her, Star's Puppy Friend (Cleo) instantly bites Bolok on the leg, causing him to scream (while accidentally blasting the Roof from the Vacation House) which causes Star to immediately run away from the Hunter through a Wild Chase scene of Many Hijinks throughout the Whole Chase but when Bolok instantly crashes into a Farm (mostly like with Chickens), Star adventures herself on the Road to get to the Space Goofs so she can warn them that they're being hunted.

Back at the Space Goofs' Neighborhood, when Star then returns to the Blue Mansion after a Wild Goose Chase, the Goofs are confused on why she came back after when they gave her a Last New Family of Humans to live in, but Star confronts them telling them that they're going to be captured by the Evil Scientists and their Bounty Hunter who founded her. Feared by the Dreadful News, Etno decides to come up with a Plan to stop the Alien Hunters from preventing into going into their own House, so they all team up to start doing some Booby Traps before the Bolok and Other Hitmen that Dr. Saccharin hired would come and get them.

When the Alien Hunters start to investigate the Entire House just to find on where the Aliens and their Cat are hiding, but that's when the Booby Traps come in as they easily step or come across in, things start to go wildly crazily as the Alien Hunters try to survive literally every hijink throughout the House's Traps until when nobody can survive through the Alien Traps, they all instantly leave and fail to capture them.

After the Whole Booby-Trap thing, the Gang were relieved that all of the Alien Hunters were out thanks to their Traps, However, one stood up and didn't get Booby-Trapped with them was Bolok as he quickly step in from behind and grabbed Star from the Back which shocks the Whole Goofs that One Last Hitman didn't get fall into their Traps. Failing to stand up to the Hunter, Bolok instantly points the Aliens with his Razer Gun as they all had to come outside of the Door to reveal themselves as the Kidnappers caught the Aliens (and the Cat) as they bring them to the Scientists but when Bud quickly opens the Truck Door, Star escapes, leaving the Aliens behind to get experimented.

Star fears that she doesn't make it in time to save them, they might get trapped forever. So she comes to Ambre and asks her for Help after explaining on what happened. Agreeing upon this Deal, Ambre calls all of Her Friends (as well as their own Pets) in a Mission to stop Dr. Saccharin before it's all too late.

The Rescuers managed to get inside of Area 52 (which is located around in the Desert) after a Long Road Trip Journey through the Spaceship that they've used from the Aliens' House as they were far away from the City, Ambre's Friends along with their own Animal Companions managed to distract the Scientists while Star and Ambre make a run for it. When The Goofs are inside of tubes, Dr. Saccharin is glad that Bolok had finally caught them after he ordered Igor to kick Bolok out without paying as Saccharin has plans to experiment the Five Aliens and then Blast their Home Planet (Zigma B) but when a Loud Sound disturbs the Doctor, Saccharin and Igor go and investigate it, only to find that there was Nothing there, being deeply unaware if it was the Kids and their Pets that were making all of that Noise. It all turns into a Big Huge Trap for the Scientists as they were completely locked out, thanks to one of Star's Friends as Star and Ambre free the Space Goofs out of the Tube. As the Goofs are completely glad that they are being rescued, they realized on how that now they've got to get out of here before Saccharin even blasts their Original Home (meaning that they've got to stop the Evil Scientist first before quickly going back home).

But when the Space Goofs and their Animal Rescuers are all caught by the Evil Scientists and the Security Guards (who also caught the Human Rescuers), Dr. Saccharin (along with Igor who have both got out of their trap), is very unamused to see Children freeing the Aliens out in disappointment but his attention draws when he notices the Kitten that they've completely forgot about and that he realized that he should've have experimented on the Kitten first before he could get his stumpy little hands on the Aliens. Repulsed by this, The Space Goofs and Star immediately flee away from the Scientists after when Ambre pulled the Lever as Saccharin and Igor fall in, which leads into a Gun Battle between the Kids & The Animals vs. The Adults, as The Space Goofs & their Kitten run in the Hallways to get into Dr. Saccharin's Space Ship.

They finally made it to the ship as the Goofs felt very excited about going Home using someone's Rocket, but Star feels very sad about this. Because she knows that when the Space Goofs go home, they may never see each other again but Etno assures Star that maybe she should join Ambre as she could take good care of her in a New Home, but that he promises that maybe someday they might see each other again in Flight once they're finally back in Space.

But they're are immediately stopped by Dr. Saccharin when he closes down the Door shut permanently through a button and grabs Star by the Neck, threatening to kill both the Kitten and the Aliens if they don't get back inside of their Test Tubes, he'll then Test Star in a Cage.

Having enough of this Whole Slavery for Testing, Candy immediately goes all "Mama Bear" on Saccharin as he attacks Saccharin like a Wild Animal by scratching his Face which causes the Mad Scientist to drop Star as Star hangs on tight to the Cliff Floor (which is near the Edge) as the Poor Kitten meowed for help, making the Space Goofs shocked in Horror as one of the Goofs (that being Etno) stood out and rescued Star as he grabbed her by the Paw, then, throws her up back on the Ground.

The Goofs quickly aboard to the Ship as they all get inside with Saccharin inside as the Whole Family were still in conflict with the Mad Scientist when the Ship began to start taking flight.

What they didn’t realize was that the Ship itself was somewhat a Bomb (not a Zillion within it, unlike the Game version) to blast the Space Goofs’ Home Planet with a lot of Toxicity that can easily kill the Space Goofs when they get back to their Home Planet, they’ll quickly die within the Bomb inside, in which they've realized that they're gonna be doomed of death along with their Home Planet. As Saccharin was about to take advantage of the Ship that they were in, Star instantly jumps up to scratch the Doctor to bite him to distract the Space Goofs so they needed to figure out how to stop the Bomb from dropping down on Zigma B. While a Big Huge Fight had to lash on out during the Flight takeover with the Scientist fighting against the Space Goofs with his own Ray Gun, Star instantly saves the Space Goofs’ lives from the Toxic Ship as she figured it out on how to stop the Bomb by using her intelligence, in order to stop the Bomb from dropping by pressing the correct buttons.

When the Ray Gun ran out of Power, Saccharin was about to hit either one of them but when he accidentally pulls down the Lever by mistake, it causes a Big Huge Split inside of the Spaceship to fall apart separately. The Aliens and Star quickly run up the ladder into the Capsule (the First Half to where it’s still Flying) whereas Saccharin (whose on the Second Half) falls down back on Earth where the Second Half explodes, managing to survive from the Crash but ends up getting arrested by the Police after when he betrayed Bolok (who called out on him).

As soon as the Goofs were fleeing back home, they instantly get hit by a Meteor once again as they crash down back to Earth.

After the Whole Incident of what had Happened, 5 Days Later, the Goofs were already back in their Blue Mansion after when Ambre and Star had to recover their true identities when the Space Goofs told Ambre everything about their truth as they had to keep a Huge Secret from their Neighborhood as it was only Ambre and her Friends who only know about their Neighbors being Aliens and kept it as a Secret away from Everyone Else as a Major Promise.

While Star did had to stay with Ambre for the Entire Week until all of the Kidnapping had to fade away from their Memories as they needed to relax for a brief while, Star really misses the Goofs that much as she feel as if though that throughout the entire time, they did felt like they were Owners to Her as she realized that maybe she already did found a Family of her own. She asks Ambre to leave her at the Space Goofs' front door as Star goes inside of the House with the Space Goofs watching her through their own Channel in the Attic, confused on why she came back.

She then explains her Whole Memories with them downstairs as the Aliens listen through every word that she said through a Camera and that she realized that she did had already found a Family all along and that all of this time, the Space Goofs were her true owners that she first fond when she was abandoned throughout her life while she did apologized of the whole Craziness last week as she understands their pain since she always had herself being kept from the World from her Mother. Feeling the Understanding and the Guilt that was behind them the Entire Time, the Goofs had change their mind as they all ran downstairs (just before Star was about to leave) as they convinced her to stay with us as they all changed their own Minds as they now wanted Star as their own Family Cat. Even Etno did realize that maybe he was truly wrong of selling Star to a Family of Humans the Entire Time. Finally welcomed in Arms, Star was happy of the Aliens accepting her as when the Next Day as they disguised themselves as Humans, they signed the Ownership of their New Animal as Star now lives with her Alien Family throughout her life and that someday, when they all ride home, she will be joining her own life on Space far from Earth.

This Old AU of Mine involved around this OC was technically the kind of "Character Gets Adopted and Grows a Mutual Relationship with Family" sort of thing, which I know happens a lot in Stories but I still love the Whole Adoption Family trope thing, even to this day. The Main Inspirations behind Star that I drew were Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book", Oliver from "Oliver Twist/Oliver and Company", Sophie from Roald Dahl's "The BFG", and even Janell Cannon's "Stellaluna".

As for her Anthro Form, I do have plans to develop what's more than just her Origin Story (especially with the Space Goofs) as I'll probably make develop more of My Own Third Fandom AU after my Second and First Ones.

Let's just say that after the Potion that she drank which gave her a Voice, she sooner or later becomes an Anthro throughout her Growth as she's the Town's "First Feral Animal to become Anthro".

Before anyone also dares to ask, considering that Me and @luci-the-stan-18 are sharing her for the sake of this Collaboration. Then Yes, Brady (Luci's OC) is her own Love Interest.

We're still keeping our OCXOC Couple idea but as soon as my Friend will make her own version of Star someday, she'll only use that personal version of hers in her own X-Over Multiverse AU, so we still ship Brady with Star (no matter what version) as this whole "Starverse" thing is our little Spiderverse thing.

Collaboration and Star (c) Me and @luci-the-stan-18

My Version of Star (Old OC) (c) Me

Space Goofs (c) Xilam

[invisibleraven]

cuddling on the couch together for the Molina pairing of your choice lol.

"Family movie night!" Ray called up the stairs as he poured kernels into the popcorn maker.

"Please tell me it's not Carlos' turn to pick this week," Rose requested as she poured up mugs of cocoa, topping each with whipped cream.

"I think it's Julie's," he replied. "Which means some teen drama or High School Musical again."

"I'll take singing tweens over the weird talking food cartoon," Rose replied.

They both shuddered at that-they loved their son, but he had the weirdest taste in media. At least he was over trying to make them watch streams of video games during his turn. There was only so many hours of Minecraft they could endure.

Julie came down the stairs, and stopped, looking sheepish. "I...I can't stay for movie night."

"And why not?" Ray asked, looking disappointed. Movie night had been a staple since the kids were young, not an every week occurrence, but often enough that they treasured their bonding time together.

"I...have a date," Julie stated.

Rose squealed, bringing her in for a hug. "He finally asked?"

"He did," Julie said, smiling so wide, and then stepped back. "Do I look okay?"

"Glorious as always mija," Rose assured her. "You go have fun, movie night will keep."

There was a honk of a horn in the driveway and before Ray knew it, Julie was bouncing out the door, into a waiting red truck, and off. "He didn't even come to the door?"

"I think if he had you would have roped him into movie night," Rose snorted. "Let her have some fun, she'll only be young once."

"I just thought she was too young for dates and would stay that way," he grumbled back.

Rose giggled, but guided him to the couch where Carlos was waiting, already face and eyes in the snacks Ray had set out.

"I get Julie's pick right?"

Rose nodded, "But your papi and I get veto rights."

Carlos groaned, rolling his eyes, but picked the new Ghostbusters movie, which Ray was okay with, having loved the franchise in the 80's, and Rose was cool with it being something she wouldn't suffer through.

"Even if I don't like it, I can just stare at Paul Rudd!" she teased, receiving a popcorn tossed at her face from Ray, but she dutifully caught it in her mouth, grinning from ear to ear.

The movie wasn't bad, but it had some scenes that even Ray found upsetting, and soon found Rose burying her face into his shoulder, and Carlos clung to his side, a pillow over his eyes as the scarier monsters came on screen.

Ray was honestly ready to turn it off, but Carlos protested, wanting to see it out, even if Ray was sure the boy would end up with nightmares later on. A good thing he and Rose had invested in a big bed that would fit their kids as well as themselves.

He just pulled his family in closer, and prayed that the movie's more gruesome parts would conclude soon.

Thankfully the movie drew to a close before too long, and they all untangled on the couch, Carlos yawning through the credits, and Rose offered to put him to bed.

"I'm not a little kid anymore mami," he protested though he rubbed his eyes.

"So no to being tucked in?" Rose asked.

"I didn't say that."

Ray chuckled, cleaning up the mess as the other two went up the stairs, sure that Rose would fall asleep right next to Carlos and he would be carrying her to bed in a few as well.

He then heard a car door shut, and well, he totally peeked out of the curtains as Julie walked up the drive, a blissful smile on her face. Though it couldn't compare to the familiar crooked grin on her date's face-especially after Julie granted him a kiss.

Ray was tempted to flick the lights or open the door, but he restrained himself, merely grinning wide as Julie came in, sighing as the door closed behind her.

"Good date?" he asked, leaning against the door to the kitchen, crossing his arms and still smiling.

"The best," she answered dreamily. "But he felt bad that I missed movie night-and so do I. I know how important it is."

"It's okay mija," he assured her. "We can always have another. He can even come next time if you think it's serious."

"It might be," Julie said with a blush. "Just know that if we do invite him, we'll be watching Star Wars."

"I love Star Wars," Ray stated. "You tell your new beau he's welcome any time if I can have backup in getting your mother to sit through Jedi."

"I'll let him know. Buenos noches papi."

Ray nodded, going back to cleaning and shutting down the house. All in all, not the usual movie night, but a successful one none-the less.

But next time he was looking up the warnings before he let Carlos have free reign on the movie choice.

[staringdownabarrel]

The Game hits differently as an adult than when it did when I was a kid.

Back when I was a kid, mobile games were still in their infancy. Like yeah, there was Snake and Bounce, but that was pretty much it. A mobile phone had the games it came preloaded with and while you could get new ones online, most people didn't. And while there was still that phenomenon of annoying little kids going up to random adults and asking if they had games on their phone, I feel like it wasn't as common.

For the most part, mobile gaming hadn't really gotten to the point where it was psychologically addicting the same way it is now. That kind of thing only really started up when I was in high school. Even then, I tended to write off the "oh, my mum's addicted to Candy Crush" stuff as just a meme-y thing rather than an actual phenomenon. It's really only been in the eleven-ish years since I finished high school, and mostly in the last five or six years, that I've really been aware of people getting super addicted to mobile games as a thing. (This isn't to say it wasn't happening at all before then; just to say I wasn't as aware of it before then. Keep in mind that I live under a rock.)

The other thing here is that back when I was a kid and watching The Game for the first time, it wasn't really as acceptable for people to just sit there on their mobile for hours on end. For a long time, the mobile phone was seen as a thing you had for emergencies only, and even then a lot of people wouldn't bother to take it with them when they left the house.

This did eventually change around 2009 or 2010, when even less well off people could get a mobile phone that wasn't just a Nokia brick that was really only good for texting and calling people. Once that happened, people started using them more. But before that? Nah, not really. The Boomer cartoons from the mid-2000s about Millennial teenagers always being buried in their phones were either making mountains out of molehills or based around the one kid they knew who was a bit more of a social butterfly.

So the first few times I saw The Game, I wrote it off as just being a product of its time. When I thought of video games at the time, I was mostly thinking of console games, not of Snake. I dismissed the idea that someone would get addicted to a video game as being something that didn't really happen that much outside of a few edge cases here and there where maybe a guy died at his keyboard after playing World of Warcraft for a week straight, and even then I thought it was mostly because they had no life outside of it.

Nowadays though, I think it was weirdly prophetic, and I'm not entirely sure the writers on that episode fully realised that at the time. People really are getting addicted to mobile games (and, to some degree, MMOs) much more than they used to, and that's largely by design. Those games really are designed to be addictive.

So while in 2007, I wrote The Game off as being a wonky fantasy written by a generation who were maybe a little bit out of touch, now I realise they were probably on to something. The idea that someone might design a game to be extremely addictive and try to weaponise it somehow doesn't seem as farfetched now as I thought it was back then.

More to the point, there really are people out there who'll do remarkably stupid things because of an online game. It doesn't have to be some propaganda campaign or anything like that; they'll just be mad that a certain part of the game isn't realistic enough. War Thunder in particular has a bit of a reputation for this--there's been multiple military personnel from multiple countries who've leaked design specifications for their country's tanks online because of the game. I wouldn't be too surprised if most spy agencies have people keeping an eye on message boards related to it just because of that.

I don't know if I necessarily think The Game is a good episode. Of the Wesley Crusher episodes made after he goes to the Academy, this is the only one that really falls into that "Wesley the wonder boy" trap a lot of season one episodes had where he'd be pivotal to saving the day. It's still a more interesting take on that concept because it's ultimately Data who does it rather than him, but that honestly could have been incidental more than anything.

What I do think, however, is that it's an interesting episode. It's the kind of episode that's definitely made me think as I've gotten older. My opinion of it now is that while it's not really the best episode, it is good science fiction because it was remarkably on point about the general direction society was going to go down and it inspires thought.

[vancethehuman]

Hyper Specific Poll Time! 🎉🥳

Feel free to pick one if it closely aligns, even if not perfectly, or it just fits a vibe. Just curious if anyone understands me LOL

Thought it was stupid because "of course the dinosaurs would attack people; what did they expect"

2. Overthought it and was like "How can a reality tv show be a cartoon, that ruins the point" only to feel stupid later cause that IS the point considering how scripted reality tv is

3. The game over screens were so unsettling to me that, even though I owned them, I never played them until I was a teenager. Even with negative nostalgia, they are still in my top ten tho 4. You know those daily questions you'd get in elementary school that the teacher would check over every so often? One day it was "who would you bring to space with you if you went?" and I wrote out this whole thing about how it would be unwise and I wouldn't want anyone I loved to go up there

5. "What do teachers talk about in the break room?"

6. I printed out stuff from Nick.com and everything. It was just me and another friend, and honestly the 10th anniversary episode wasn't even that good, but I had fun :)

7. Titanic is actually a pretty good movie. I was just a weird kid. I have no excuse for this LOL

8. I LOVED Boomerang in general (Flintstones, Jetsons, Tom and Jerry, etc) but Pink Panther just hit different

9. One of my favorite memories was watching my mom play Toontown into the wee hours of the night. Penelope the yellow bunny will always have a place in my heart <3

10. I wish it wasn't weird to ask him nowadays cause I miss doing that. They were huge on me and I felt all warm and safe :)