#glowstick rave nonsense hours

[teh-kittykat]

Tron: The Animated Series (1986-1989)

What do you mean you haven't seen Tron: The Animated Series? It was my favorite cartoon when I was a kid!

So this all started as an exercise in how to explain why Sam inexplicably had merch for a 2010 movie in his 1989 house. In-universe there would have probably been toys using the 1982 aesthetic since that was what the video game used (and Sam DOES have an 82 Tron figure in his house!) but why the Grid stuff?

Enter THE CARTOON.

It was the 1980s everybody who was everybody made cartoons to sell toys. Encom made home gaming consoles by this point, and they would have had peripherals like Nintendo did. They had licensed characters like Nintendo did. You see where I am going.

Encom wants to sell Encom Gaming Power Gauntlets. Kevin wants to introduce kids to the ideas about the Digital Frontier since he's a futurist and knows kids will be mentally flexible enough to digest the new zeitgeist if it's fun and animated!

Production of the cartoon ran from Kevin's official retirement as CEO until his disappearance. Three official seasons with a fourth in production. Season three's airing was cut short due to the furor surrounding Kevin's going missing, but the "lost" final episodes of S3 were restored when the DVDs were eventually released for an anniversary collection.

The cartoon was also successful in syndication through the 1990s and early 2000s since it successfully anticipated the Educational/Informative movement-- Tron: The Animated Series actually does teach kids some of the basics of computer science around the silly adventure stuff. Think Captain Planet meets Captain N the Game Master for the overall tone of the series. It's not realistic, but you get the general concepts and issues.

The cartoon's popularity among millennials keeps Tron alive in pop culture to the present day. The IP remains a perennial revenue stream for Encom, and every so often they'll throw the fanbase something to keep the money going. (This is an ordeal to the program himself, since he has to deal with hackers sent by groups named after him on the reg.)

What's it about?

Young video game enthusiast Jethro "Jet" Keene lands himself the after school internship of a lifetime getting to work at Encom in a special new program for teenagers with attitude run by Kevin Flynn (voiced by himself).

However, it's not all fun and video game testing with the sweet new Encom Power Gauntlet. Thanks to some cartoon physics hijinks, Jet finds himself transported into the Grid, the Boss's new experimental computer system!

Jet gets to work with Clu (they hired a voice-alike for him) and Tron (ditto) to find a way back home to the real world, solving problems and learning how to code along the way... and that was the pilot episode.

Because this is a cartoon for children, Jet is naturally the regular User of the Grid instead of Flynn, though Flynn makes occasional appearances to dispense Yoda-like wisdom and is revered by all the programs inside the system as the Creator.

There are also no lasers or anything like that-- Jet does a silly toku-like thing with the power gauntlet to commute into the system.

Clu is more likable than in real life. He's mostly benevolent, trying to make a more perfect system but the show's writers actually picked up on the idea that making a perfect system is kind of an impossible lift and made it central to his character development. He's a little obsessed with copying the User world, and there's an arc in S3 where a lot of the conflict revolves around why can't programs be programs about it.

Tron's not a mayhem goblin, which is a crime. He's portrayed as a little bit Optimus Prime, since Jet's the primary mayhem source, and Fighting for the Users is otherwise his defining personality trait. He gets a surprisingly deep fate/free will arc in S2, since naturally several episodes revolve around attempts to reprogram him since he's the Champion and all. Afterward, he's a bit more chill.

Jet's storyline parallel's Kevin's real-life one a little bit-- a lot of the episodes focused on him as a character revolve around him trying to balance his double life.The cartoon also does not mention the time dilation jetlag. Jet, unlike Kevin, does learn how to ask for help, especially as S3 decides to diversify a little more and adds a girl intern, Paige.

S3 in general has a lot of emphasis on diversity and tolerance of others and their differences. The ISO-Basic tensions were running high in the real Grid. It was on Kevin's mind a lot. He was also starting to make thinks on introducing the ISOs to the rest of the world at the time.

Like Reboot in the 1990s, Tron has a lot of episodes devoted to video games and playing games on the Game Grid is a frequent trope. (Hardcore Tron partisans accuse Reboot of stealing this.) Unlike in Reboot, there's no derezzing the losers if the User wins. Games are sometimes the entire plot and sometimes an obstacle or diversion from solving an episode's actual problem.

Since the Grid is open in Tron, there is a recurring cast of villains in the form of viruses and hackers from other systems in addition to technical problems that have to be solved through coding and computer science know-how.

The fourth season didn't get much past a few animatics for the S4 pilot, but what was there got a release for the fancy anniversary collections as special features. Design docs indicate that some new characters were about to be introduced-- Jalen and Radia. Kevin Flynn disappeared while voice actors were being cast for these roles.

NGL I am extremely mad this wasn't a real cartoon.

[lostangelssong]

Tron: TAS - the best character

I was feeling nostalgic tonight about one of my favorite series when I was a kid. And because it's late, and I'm awake I want to talk about it. Particularly, I want to talk about Turing - my favorite character from Tron: The Animated Series.

What? You don't remember Turing? He was a recurring villain in season one and had that awesome face heel-face turn in season two, during the episodes where Tron got reprogrammed. And he was voiced by Tim Curry to make it even more awesome! How can you not remember Turing?

No one thought that much of Turing during season one, both in the show, and as far as people watching it were concerned. He was a program that was vaguely reminiscent of Dr. Wily from the Ruby-Spears Megaman cartoon, but instead of being the main villain of the season, he was kind of like the Mandarin in Season 1 of the 90s Iron Man Cartoon - before he became the big villain in season 2. Mandarin that is - not Turing. So kind of like a recurring mad scientist character who stole every scene he was in back in season 1, but they used him sparingly, both because Tim Curry was expensive, and also because the action was focused more around Jet, Tron, Clu, and all of the other good guys, like cartoons often are. (Though the behind the scenes stuff I've found said that Tim Curry was actually totally on board with being on the show and he had a lot of fun with the role).

For example, there was this one episode in Season 1, where it was the obligatory Christmas Episode (TM) that every 80s and 90s kids cartoon was contractually obligated to have. But since the cartoon was set in The Grid, that meant that programs didn't really understand Christmas. So it was this whole mess of Clu doing what he did and trying to copy the User World to make the perfect system, people saying Christmas every five seconds until it stopped sounding like a real word, and Jet, who was agonizing about whether or not he would be able to be home with his family for Christmas. And in the midst of all of this, Turing swans in to "Steal Christmas" for some nebulous reason, complete with tacky glowing accented Santa Suit, because he's a program and what else would he be wearing? He also was trying to goad Tron into stealing Christmas back, even though it was completely contradictory to his plans, because Tron was the Champion and that's what he was supposed to do.

As silly as it sounds, that honestly was my favorite season 1 episode with Turing in it. Turing had these ideas about how Tron was the Champion, and he was supposed to fight for the Users, but then would also be Very Put Out that Tron wasn't actually doing things for the programs in the system, since the system is where he actually lived, and all his stuff was there. Turing would also go back and forth about if the Users actually existed, because he had never met his, or any other User personally, and how do you prove something is real without data, or evidence to back it up? So Turing, especially Season 1 Turing, would sometimes vacillate wildly between hecking up Tron's day, because who cared about the Users (and also just being a menace), and also going on about how Tron was supposed to protect the programs in the system, and if he wasn't, then he was Doing It Wrong.

Season 1 Turing was kind of a mess. And I don't think the writers really knew what they wanted to do with him. But it was fun, and when he would show up his appearances were always memorable. Tim Curry hadn't reached the utter unhingedness of his Red Alert 3 SPACE scene, but he was doing great work all the same. Think of Mal back in Captain Planet, but dialed up more. But then came Season 2 and all that changed.

Season 2 had this arc about midway through it where another program, Asimov, who was Distinctly More Evil than Turing could ever hope to be, got ahold of Tron and reprogrammed him. Asimov was kind of like the Mr. Sinister of Tron: TAS, as he was interested in code, and what a Program's code destined them to be, or gave them the potential to do, and what could potentially happen if you tried to mix the code of two different programs together. Asimov was honestly terrifying for a kids show, but that's a rant for another day. The point is, he reprogrammed Tron into a cross between Rinzler and The Terminator, and gave this whole long monologue about Tron's code dictating this and it being Tron's destiny to reformat the system, and how this is what he was created to do. (Aside note: Asimov was voiced by Peter Fricking Cullen, playing amazingly against type. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings, but apparently not if your name is Tron.) Also, this was a three parter (the only one in the series, actually), and the first part ended on a cliffhanger, with the reveal of reprogrammed!Tron, whose circuits were glowing red. I'm sure that me, and a lot of the other kids that watched it yelled at their TVs when they saw that.

So. All hope seems lost. Tron is a bad guy. The Grid is doomed, right? Wrong. Because in the beginning of the second episode of this three part saga, Turing shows up. He is incensed. His nemesis/frenemy/most boon companion (yes, he used that descriptor) has been compromised. And while he and Tron have never seen eye to eye, that doesn't mean that he is destined to do anything like destroy the system. So Turing, who is So Extra, breaks into where Jet, Clu, and the rest of Team Good Guys are and gives an full on presentation (complete with pictures) of why they are going to rescue Tron, and how he is going to take point. This leads to a lot of arguing and shouting about how Turing even knows this is going on, and Turing being downright offended at even the hint that he is working with Asimov. There's talk of friendship, and Turing points out that neither Jet, nor any of the rest of Team Protag will be able to reprogram Tron, but Turing will be able to, since he's Just That Good. Clu seems to be gearing up to counter all of the reasons this is stupid and why it won't work (and why they can't just call Flynn and get him to fix Tron), when Tron and Asimov show up, intent on annihilating everyone. End of the second episode.

This is the part that I remind you all that this was your typical Saturday Morning Cartoon and that meant you were waiting a week for all of this to get resolved, which is an eternity when you're in the first grade.

So. The conclusion. Tron was standing there about to kill all the guys and reformat the system. Asimov is winding up to give another long villain monologue. Team Protag is very conflicted, because Tron is their friend, but he also doesn't seem to know who they are. Jet believes in himself and gives a speech about friendship. Clu tries to do the same, but it's Clu, so that doesn't really work and he ends up just telling Tron to stop being dumb, but it does give a really nice insight into his and Tron's friendship. Unfortunately, Tron is unmoved by this, and his circuits seem to start glowing even redder. And then Turing steps up. And since this is an 80s cartoon, there aren't going to be any more friendship speeches, because the writers have figured that the kids are bored with all the talking and there needs to be action. So it figures that there would be an action sequence, right? Wrong. Turing doesn't give a speech about friendship, oh no. He basically gives fricking Asimov a lecture about how if this was Tron's destiny, he would have reformatted the system a long time ago, and Asimov clearly doesn't know what he's talking about since Tron is just standing around looking redder than Turing did when he tried to steal Christmas (and yes they actually bring that up). Jet uses the distraction to throw a disc or fire a laser or something at Asimov (because again, 80s kids cartoon), and that actually does cause Asimov to retreat. Turing takes the opportunity to apologize for what he's about to do, before knocking Tron out, and then undoing Asimov's reprogramming.

Turing actually does explain (while Clu and Jet watch him very closely) that sure, he could reprogram Tron into someone that was easier to get along with, but that would make him just like Asimov, and who wants that? Tron is understandably very upset when he finally is back to his normal self, and the implications of the reprogramming and getting better from it last throughout the rest of Season 2, though Tron does mellow out a bit after he gets better from being reprogrammed. And Turing ends up as a recurring good guy after that, and while he doesn't show up in every episode, he is a more frequent presence than he was in season 1. (Though we don't really talk about the weird arc he had in season three. It was dumb, and he got better, so it's better left forgotten.)

(So @teh-kittykat - how did I do?)

[thesexycornerbalmung-blog]

Our obligatory OOC explanation post --

Hello everyone! OOC for  just a bit here to help explain what we have going on here in a clearer way so that everyone knows what we’re about and if they’re interested. 

The Sexy Corner is inspired by role-play night club/dance venue type events. The founders of this one (Bram and Xan) were both avid attendees of events like this on World of Warcraft (and some of you might recognize us from there). 

Given how silly FFXIV can be at times (flying T-Rex and Egg mounts I am looking at you) we thought perhaps this kind of silly event might be appreciated by some players of this game as well and we couldn’t find anything quite like it.  We WERE previously known as the Lunar Club here on FFXIV and ran for a good few months until RL happened. But we’ve gotten a housing upgrade and now with a larger venue we decided to give it another try. 

Yes, this is meant to be a silly ridiculous event. It is a glowstick waving rave glitter party of nonsense and flirting. That is our point, to be silly and over the top and have a lot of fun and forget the world and it’s troubles (both IC and OOC) for a few hours. We do realize this will not appeal to all players or all characters and that’s okay, it is definitely niche slice of life roleplay and not everyone wants that.

But for those that do we are here to entertain and help give you some fun! So if your character has a wild flirty side, likes to dance, wants to forget their problems in a glitter spectacle or just secretly is really in love with glitter we encourage you to come join us and let your silly flirty side out for some fun (All races welcome! You are all beautiful in your own way! Our policy is everyone deserves to be attractive and sparkle). LGBT characters are welcome. There is no one judging anyone by anything here we are all here to have fun, be beautiful and relax in our own ways!

We are geared for adult players. There is a lot of flirting. There’s innuendo. Our song choices match our venue name and are often sexual in nature (you can of course bring your own music if you want to glitter out to death metal or something we won’t judge). HOWEVER..while this IS a sexy flirty party where clothing can disappear this is NOT a sex party (all explicit sexual content is encouraged to be taken either to other appropriate venues or party/whispers between consensual parties). 

We are NOT a place to bring your serious/sad/dramatic roleplay. We are meant to be light-hearted, silly, flirty and fun. Please leave your worries, weapons and problems at the door (or to party/whispers between your friends). This is a place to FORGET your problems not dwell on them. 

Our host is Bram Dreamshade, a glittering handsome male Seeker Miqo’te. He is mute but we encourage you not to let that bother you. He responds best to statements that can be answered with gestures (yes and no being the most common/easiest way to communicate with him). He is friendly and flirty without discrimination and is here to make sure everyone relaxes and has a fun glittery time.

We also might be a fun venue for bachelor/bachelorette parties so if you’d like to bring one here let us know maybe you’ll get a special show! 

You -can- bring your grumpy friends to the party if you want as a gag or to try to get them to relax but only as long as they are not violently offended or disruptive or destructive. Bram is a glorious fellow who loves all the people but he’s big and strong enough he will usher you out the door if you’re ruining his party. ;) 

Hopefully that more clearly explains the purpose and direction of this event so interested parties can find us!

We have not yet hired ‘real’ bar tenders (as in players). You may order anything your character wants from our NPC ones for now. We’re attempting to be more of a dance venue than a tavern since there are so many taverns on Balmung anyway.

If you have a character that wants to be employed by this den of sexy silly-ness either as a bar tender or a dancer/host please let us know. Right now we do not have a set schedule though it’s more ‘whenever irl Bram isn’t busy working’ schedule. Bram does profusely apologize for his irl employer’s tendencies to make his schedule unpredictable.

---

A little background for roleplayers if they feel the need to have that sort of in character knowledge/connection to feel comfortable showing up somewhere: 

Our host is Bram Dreamshade (though his last name is not well known). Bram is a well known Seeker Miqo’te male exotic dancer (and previously an escort) that worked out of Ul’dah but became widely known other places as well through exotic dancing shows.He works with two others (Diajik, an older male Seeker Miqo’te who runs the show and Durriken, a male Keeper Miqo’te). He also hosted The Lunar Club in the Lavender Beds for several months (a night club event). He’s known for his brilliant red hair and his flirty flamboyant attitude.

Recently Bram convinced a friend of his to allow them to use their house for his new glitter dance party, The Sexy Corner, which he offers to Eorzea as his way of healing the damage the dangerous world does to its denizens by giving them a fun safe happy place to recharge and forget about their problems. Co-owned and sometimes co-hosted by his mate Xantheus. He wants everyone to feel safe, welcomed, beautiful and special if only for a few hours.

Your character might know (or have heard of) Bram either as an exotic dancer or as an escort in the past. They could’ve attended one of Bram’s shows (if they’re the type to go watch male Miqo’te strip). Fangirls/Fanboys are welcome, as are people who want to pretend they hired the group in the past. While they no longer offer escort services they do still have shows for their dancing (though as of this time they are NOT actually hire-able to come strip at your event. If there’s enough interest we might consider it but it would be extremely expensive in character to hire them so you would need a character of appropriate wealth to be able to afford them). 

OR your character might know Bram as that crazy Seeker Miqo’te that wanders around Limsa half-naked and covered in glitter that pesters the Arcanists to help him figure out spells concerning glitter. He is often accompanied by an exceptionally glittery carbuncle. ;)

Bram is extremely friendly, easy-going and VERY flirty toward everyone. He is mute though as previously mentioned so interacting with him will be a little different. HE can communicate through notes if your character can read however he’s not likely to be doing so on the dance floor so yes or no comments or things that can be easily answered with a gesture are the best way to communicate (or if your character knows sign language that’s also an option). He will equally flirt at males and females and all races (though he does get a bit pickier for anything past just flirting). His profession in general is making people feel special and helping them have the time of their lives to try to bring joy into this dreary and dangerous world.

Clearly this character and this event is meant for silly happy fun roleplay and not serious heavy lore-strict plots. Interaction is encouraged if you have a character that might have some fun with this. 

[teh-kittykat]

Ficlet - Blink

I don't think this is floating around Tumblr anymore, but I found it in my stuff when I was moving computers. It's ten years old, but what the hell, I'ma repost it.

It started with a gif and a note about how there was a lack of stuff about Sam and Rinzler getting along, and, well...

Blink

The first time it happened, Sam was pretty sure his life was over.

The transition was subtle—one moment Tron was following him while he laid out some plan or another for the Grid, making little polite I’m-listening noises that somehow still managed to sound sarcastic, and the next there was a thready rumble behind him, and Tron’s epic bitchface was replaced with Rinzler’s featureless helmet. And okay, maybe Sam freaked just a little, words cutting off mid-syllable as he froze.

Rinzler just tilted his head—and it was Rinzler, circuits glowing vibrant orange—and then tilted the helmet around like he was looking for something. The really bizarre thing was that after a moment he just stopped, flinching back and hunching, tensed, until he had somehow managed to make himself shorter than Sam.

All right. So maybe instead of doing anything intelligent Sam just stood there and gaped for a good few minutes. Rinzler still didn’t go for his disks—and it was disks, since for whatever reason he’d had to sync in two of the damn things when they dragged Tron’s ass out of the Sea. If anything, the program seemed to shrink on himself further, helmet locked on in what Sam had to assume was a stare. Just when Sam was about to open his mouth to actually try and say something, Rinzler’s circuits winked out and re-lit blue-white, and then Tron was asking why Sam looked like he’d seen a data-ghost.

The second time it happened, things were a little more tense.

Gridbugs were a fact of life in a system under construction, Sam found out, and apparently even using legacy hardware for the Grid’s new physical home wasn’t going to change that fact anytime soon. It was pretty fun learning he could just blast through the damn things like something out of an anime—and so what if he grew up staying up way too late to watch bad dubs on Cartoon Network?—and it felt pretty good to stand back-to-back with Tron while they fought the nest of them. Only… when Sam turned around to check on Tron, it was Rinzler at his back instead, tearing through bugs with an acrobatic eagerness that was actually pretty amazing to watch if you weren’t the target of it. Rinzler didn’t blink out, either, when the bugs were done for, but rather he did the same flinch-and-hunch as before. It reminded Sam of catching Roy’s niece playing with his old action figures once.

“Hey… good job back there,” Sam said, feeling like an idiot because this was just inviting undivided killbot attention, but instead of the obvious attack, Rinzler actually stood up a little straighter and nodded, his rumble going deeper for a moment before Tron was back and asking for a status update.

It went like that, as Sam did the painstaking work of trying to heal what his dad and Clu had managed to break. Every once in a while Tron would just blink away and Rinzler would appear to fight bugs or peer suspiciously at Sam’s work or sometimes just to hang from the ceiling. The last even started to stop being freaky after Rinzler did it and scared the shit out of Shaddox.

Sam never said he was mature.

He tried to bring it up with Tron. The monitor had apologized profusely and practically shoved his disks in Sam’s hands and demanded to be bug-checked right there, something haunted and worried in his eyes. No amount of reassurance that it was okay, that Rinzler wasn’t hurting anyone, stopped the insistence until Sam actually did check the relevant code with Tron as a worried audience.

The funny thing? There was nothing out of the ordinary there.

No convenient color-coded section that said hey, here’s Rinzler. No remnants of Clu’s control coding, which felt like a personal victory because cleaning up the mess of agonizing restrictions had been a bitch and a half and it was probably a miracle Tron still talked to him with as much trial-and-error as it took. Not even a check from the outside, with Alan’s archival copy of Tron’s code to look from, showed any real deviation from his core command set aside from the evolution and customization that, as an AI project, Tron should have after twenty goddamn years.

Honestly, armchair psychology was a bit out of Sam’s area, and he really doubted that he could drag Tron to a therapist to figure out why Rinzler kept manifesting at odd moments.

When the transition came this time, Sam had sprawled across Tron’s lap because the program was repairing damage and insisting he was fine with a big crack in his torso. Sam glanced up from the reports he was skimming to see Rinzler—thankfully whole—peering down at him.

“Hey, Rinzler. Stay still a bit longer. Your alter ego did a number on you. Big-ass worm. You shoulda seen it,” Sam said, absently patting Rinzler’s knee as he went back to the datapad. For a while they just sat together in silence, Sam’s attention drifting back into the intricacies of power flows and information routing. Warm hands settled on Sam’s back, and a few moments later he heard an unearthly humming. It took a moment to realize it was Rinzler, whose utter contentment was flowing through the circuit-contact along Sam’s back.

Sam smiled to himself and scrolled the report. This was something he could live with.

[teh-kittykat]

Ĥ̸̟̮o̴͎̲͌̎ẉ̵͊̐ ̵̟̒̈́v̷͕͓̀e̴̝͝ŕ̵̝̪ỳ̴̻̫ ̸̠͔͆g̴̻͚͆l̴͖̖͑͘ḭ̷̄̚b̴̩̏̕

[teh-kittykat]

Fanfic - Meanwhile, in the Real World

A little late V-Day present from me to me and also everybody!

Meanwhile, in the Real World on AO3

Getting in on that Tron/Ram/Yori OT3 action. :3 After a very long time apart, our gang is reunited once more. Also a small prequel to Mountains of Pi, which means I need to formally set up a series for it now.

[teh-kittykat]

Fanfic - Fathoms

I spent my weekend in rarepair hell! :D How was yours?

Fathoms @ AO3

"You think this will stop me?" Clu said, tightening his grip on his disc as his voice echoed in the barren waste, strangely muffled. Something hissed nearby, and he spun, trying to pinpoint the source of the sound. "Talking, talking, talking. I see you still love the sound of your own voice." Clu froze, every process locked. It couldn't be.

[teh-kittykat]

Somehow, we made it! Chapter 2: Real-World Solutions

Does anybody get stabbed? Were my twenty minutes of research on corporate governance worth it? Who knows?!

[teh-kittykat]

(Left, Solution 9, Dawntrail promotional art. Right, concept art Tron: Evolution)

Look, man, all I'm saying.

I'm saying is...

I better get to punch a User.

[teh-kittykat]

Tonight's writing music. I still can't believe this song exists. It's so good. Also, yes, it kicked my brain back into the dumb computer fandom after ten years off.

[teh-kittykat]

I invented a 1980s-appropriate Tron children's cartoon for a fanfic project and now I am mad it doesn't exist.

I may do a write up of it later, after I stop wrestling this chapter.