#it just reminds me of that scene in the princess and the frog where

[snobgoblin]

my bedside dresser as a child:

my bedside dresser as a grown ass adult:

[jei-rifni]

draw Jolyne but with huge ears

When i was drawing this my brain kept reminding me of that scene in Princess and the Frog where that one guy disguises as the prince and his limbs start going back to his normal form little by little as the effects wear off and short bit where he just looks like the prince but his ears are big and his ass is humongous .Anyone remember thats specific scene? I loved that movie as a child

[coolfijiwater]

larian studios and wyll

so i’ve been meaning to make a post about wyll for a while now, and now is the time (lol). but i’ve been thinking and talking to friends about the lack of content wyll has in bg3, and it’s something that i think i noticed even when playing with early access. but the full game release really puts a giant spotlight on the content disparities between the main companions and even various npcs.

i don’t know if i want to fully list every single spot where wyll clearly lacks in content because i find that it’s incredibly obvious. but the few things i do want to mention are his romance/sex scene and his story line and beats being about practically everyone else. and i know that the second one is super vague and encompassing, but that’s the core of the issue. larian studios “rework” of wyll’s story line did nothing to fix it and, quite possibly, made it worse.

since i only had access to act 1 during early access, i can’t speak to act 2 and 3. but even the changes in act 1 are apparent. while i do think some of the changes larian made were good (especially changing wyll from being incredibly racist towards goblins to not), but most of the changes were just cutting content.

and then there's what was added - mizora changing wyll’s race and appearance against his will because he saved karlach. i feel people have talked about this trope around poc and black people before when talking about disney’s the princess and the frog or brother bear, and that is something that has been discussed as openly racist (here’s a mic article talking about this concept).

but beyond this, that scene isn’t really about wyll. it’s about karlach, if you really think about it. wyll is being punished because of his decision (which isn’t even really his decision because your tav makes the real decision) to save her. and this sidelining of wyll is constant throughout his story line. saving his dad (multiple times) gets sidelined with ketheric or saving the gondians, finding ansur on behalf of his ulder gets overshadowed by the emperor and ansur relationship, and so much more. there’s also the fact that to learn anything about his mom, you need to kill his dad. and don’t get me wrong, i hate ulder ravengard with a fucking passion, but i wouldn’t purposely kill him because it makes wyll hate you. to make that aspect worse, wyll isn’t even the one to tell you the lore surrounding his mom, it’s just flavor text from ulder’s sword. 

there’s definitely more to say about how larian studios treats wyll’s story line, but i do want to talk about his romance story line. just like his story line, wyll’s romance is so much less than any of the other companions or even npcs. wyll has a sex scene, but it’s a fade to black with no voice over, which is nothing compared to one of the only other fade to black sex scenes: the drow twins. the drow twins have a number of sex scene options, all of which have voice overs. wyll, one of the 6 main companions, doesn’t even get this.

and i think this all leads back to larian studios not wanting to admit that they’re racist. wyll has consistently gotten nothing, even after release with all of these updates and patches. like, let’s be real here, the reason wyll has gotten nothing is not only because of the fans or data points, it’s because larian studios is racist. it’s them, seemingly, not being aware that the fantasy genre is steeped in racism because they don’t need to think about racism because they’re european, they’re not racist because they’re not american.

i don’t even know what i want to happen with this post. i guess i just wanted to open up this discussion and maybe remind people that larian studios is not infallible.

also! i feel like i need to mention that i love wyll. he is genuinely one of my favorite characters in bg3, i want more content for him. but we need to be real about why that content isn't already in the game.

[thediminishedheretic]

Pretending Zelpha is Canon: Part 1

You know the Mipha's Grace cutscene where Mipha is healing Link on top of Vah Ruta? Well, she never actually says Link's name in the custcene.

But you know who else in the game could easily fit into that cutscene with nothing changed?

Zelda.

"This reminds me of the time we first met. You were just a reckless child . . . always getting yourself hurt at every turn"

As a princess, Zelda would have probably spent quite a bit of time in the domain with Mipha, who is also a princess around her age (at least in terms of maturity and Zora years).

They easily would have met as children and spent substantial time together (you're going to need to build relations with the Zora if you want to fight the Calamity together).

And Zelda is kinda reckless in the game: she's a scientist (she would definitely get injured doing science), she abandoned Link to travel to Gerudo Town and almost got killed by Yiga in the process, fainted in freezing waters from desperation to unlock her powers, tried to make Link eat a frog, etc.

"Maybe things can go back to how they used to be when we were young"

This line could easily be about how Dorephan let them have fun together when they were younger but as they both grew up they had to get more involved in politics and spend less time doing what they wanted together.

By why would Mipha say this to Link if she was talking about Zelda?

BECAUSE MIPHA WAS PRACTISING WHAT SHE WAS GOING TO SAY TO ZELDA WITH LINK

And that's why she pauses and sometimes repeats words in the cutscene. She's still trying to get the right words out, and still feels nervous.

She's a princess, and Kass says in the Champions Ballad DLC that she was kind but also known to be quite strict. So wouldn't she be more eloquent if she meant those words to be for Link? (notice the difference between her lines after death and lines in the cutscene)

Also, people do ramble a lot to Link. He's a good listener. So it's entirely plausible that he would help her out like that, that's the kind of bestie he is.

This (delusional) interpretation of the scene can even connect to the Champions Ballad DLC!

Mipha has a line where she tells Link to, "tell the princess that I wish I could have told her . . . all of the things I never said".

But like, how would Link know all the things Mipha wished she could have told Zelda?

Because Mipha literally said those things! Right to his face! In the cutscene!

In summary, the Mipha's Grace cutscene is totally about Mipha practising her confession to Zelda with Link.

Thank you for making it this far, this ramble was brought to you by a delusional Zelpha shipper.

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: Any Duke in a Storm by Amalie Howard

4.25/5. Releases 1/09/2023.

Vibes: romance on the high seas, badass heroines, ridiculously besotted heroes, and sword fight boners

Heat Index: 7/10.

Lady Lisbeth, countess, divorcee, and spy, is on the run. She's taken on the persona of Bonnie Bess, feared by all--except her new sailing master, the infuriating Raphael Saint. Problem one: Raphael may be a part of the smuggling ring Lisbeth is attempting to infiltrate. Problem two: she is, sadly, both extremely annoyed by and extremely attracted to him. Problem three: she may just have to rely on him if they're going to get away from the people pursuing her in one piece.

I was, to be honest, a little worried about how Amalie would pull this off. A lot of pirate-adjacent romances can get super fetishistic super fast. Plus, Raphael (who is of mixed-race ancestry) could easily dip into the Exotic Brown Man caricature. However, after I let her do her thing, I was pleasantly surprised with a romance that is both heartfelt and ridiculously sexy, with a solid dose of adventure. It's worth the risk!

Quick Takes:

--If you're a fan of "man falls first and harder" in romance... You'll love this. Lisbeth is a very guarded, icy heroine who's here to do a job and doesn't have time for nonsense. Raphael... is so naturally flirtatious, first off--but he's also much more in touch with his emotions and isn't afraid of letting Lisbeth know that he's interested. The sexual tension is THICK, but their banter and interplay is another huge part of the fun. They play off each other so well, and it all begins with a SWORDFIGHT!

--Raphael does bring a lot of humor to the story. In a lot of ways, he reminds me (and this is a compliment) of Prince Naveen from The Princess and The Frog? Like, he's very consciously leaning into being FRANCH, and he never misses an opportunity to hit on Lisbeth, but he also genuinely appreciates her talents and abilities and has a lot of really sweet moments.

He's also super secure in himself, which brings up another thing I loved about this. Raphael isn't by any means "feminine", and he definitely has several scenes wherein he takes a dominant role in his dynamic with Lisbeth. But he's also very comfortable with being, like... pretty. And delicate. He's a swashbuckler, but he'll also joke about wearing her blouses, and revel in the newfound possibilities of her taking control in the bedroom. There's a very "local man realizes he may have a bit of a submissive side and he's GOOD with it" vibe to it all.

--I don't usually like kids in romance, but here we have a legitimately good one! Lisbeth comes into the story familiar with Narina, a twelve-year-old girl whose mother she was friends with. Narina becomes a part of their adventures, and she's... fucking hilarious? Like, a foul-mouthed, snarky young girl who has a knack for piracy. And it's one of those things where Lisbeth is always like "DECORUM" because she's attempting to save this child's manners, and Raphael (who of course has an immediate affinity with Narina, NATURALLY) can't help but indulge her and encourage her wrongs. It's adorable, it makes him even hotter in a "doting father" kind of way and I loved the conclusion it reached.

--I'm really not an expert on this particular part of history, so correct me if my impression is wrong. But it felt like Howard made an effort to represent the unique interplay of cultures across the islands, as well as how one really isn't that different from the other. Raphael, as I mentioned, is French--but he's also of Indian and Creole descent. The novel doesn't delve too deeply into the complexities there, but you do get the sense from Raphael that he hasn't really fit into any of the boxes offered to him by nineteenth century society, as a French duke who isn't white and is very much his father's legitimate heir.

But I really appreciate seeing a book that really didn't take place in the ballroom, or ballroom adjacent, or really in England at all. You have a great sense of life at sea here, as well as some island-hopping, a detour to America, and so on. It offers a much bigger, grander world than a lot of conventional Victorian romances.

--There's a great emotional beating heart here, and you really feel Lisbeth falling for this man, essentially against her will, while he steadfastly waits for her to recognize her own feelings. It leads to a great culmination, and some truly swoony emotions.

The Sex:

Um, really good. I do want to call out that Lisbeth is pansexual, and the book doesn't shy away from that; one of the supporting characters is her ex-lover, and at one point another friend is outright like "oh wait, you like dudes too?" I loved that, and I loved that it's seriously not a big deal, just this known thing about her and her experiences.

But yeah. This shit is hot. There's not a huge emphasis on penetrative sex. Like it, happens, but there are a lot of other things that happen, and they do not feel any less like sex. (Including one scene that I don't want to spoil, but you don't see a lot of that exact configuration in historical romance, and..... it's so good.)

Raphael has piercing(s!) and tattoos, and Lisbeth's obsession with them is certainly incorporated. And like I mentioned earlier--there's some exploration of both of them discovering New Things about themselves together. Essentially, they both go into this believing they prefer to be dominant, and realize that they're both, perhaps... switch-y. This leads up to a scene towards the very end that delighted me Very Much. Put simply: the sex in this book is REALLY great.

Like I said, I was at first a little worried about how this one would turn out. However, I was ultimately really happy with where it went. Seeking a "woman and her overeager dangerous himbo go do piracy together" book? This is it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[animebw]

Premiere Season is upon us again! And as always, there is too much goddamn anime to watch. I’m still waiting on Oshi no Ko, Uma Musume S3, Sacrificial Princess and the Ranking of Kings OVA, and my schedule is already stuffed. This is gonna be a heck of a spring season.

Ancient Magus Bride Season 2: Is this the first studio Wit anime to get an animation upgrade after leaving for a different studio?

Birdie Wing Season 2: Friendly reminder that if you are not watching Lesbian Golf Yugioh, you need to be watching Lesbian Golf Yugioh.

The Dangers in my Heart: Probably the worst case of “horrible opening scene to an otherwise surprisingly good show” I’ve seen in a long time. Make it through the first episode of this one, trust me.

Demon Slayer Season 3: #LetNezukoOutOfTheBoxYouGoddamnCowards

Dr. Stone Season 3: I still can’t get over how all the female characters look like mutant frog Barbie dolls. What even is character design.

Gundam Witch Season 2: THIS NEW ED GIVES ME L I F E

Heavenly Delusion: Instantly one of the most absorbing worlds and mysteries in all of anime. Do not fucking miss this one.

Hell’s Paradise: Ah, so we’ve found our next Perfectly Fine Shonen Action Thing That Certain Fans Are Going To Be Unbearably Obnoxious About, haven’t we?

Insomniacs After School: The rare case where I’ve read the manga before the anime came out! And trust me, you need to read this manga, it’s so good.

Konosuba Megumin: A Konosuba spinoff about the only character good enough to stand on her own? Sounds good to me.

Magical Destroyers: Feels like a forgotten mid-2000s Hiroyuki Imaishi show. Not sure if that’s a compliment or criticism yet.

Mashle: Mob Psycho 100 without the creative animation or strong sense of humor. Big disappointment for how much it was hyped up.

My Clueless First Friend: My only drop thus far. Not a bad first episode, but thoroughly mediocre, and there are too many better rom-coms this season to justify its existence.

My Home Hero: Is this show bad, or just interesting but awkwardly executed? Jury’s still out.

My Love Story With Yamada-kun at Lv999: So the director of My Love Story is directing another shoujo rom-com called My Love Story, and if that doesn’t immediately tell you that you need to be watching this one, I don’t want to know you.

Otaku Elf: No idea what this is trying to be so far. Probably second drop if the second episode doesn’t click better.

Skip and Loafer: girl help my serotonin receptors are overloading

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion: please let the production not collapse please let the production not collapse please let the

Yuri is my Job: Oh god, I’m going to spend this entire show cringing so hard, but it better be worth it.

[chuuyaanddazai2]

Just finished watching the new episodes of record of ragnorok and.. oh boy.

Now for context, I watched it by myself after I found it in 2022. But, a couple months after season two was first released I introduced it to my dad, so we have been watching it together.

Also, I have not read the manga only seen some things but like not much from the manga.

First thing: I was first like ,“Who the hell voices the English dub of Papiyus? He sounds so familiar!” Than I realized it was Michael Leon Wooley, the guy who voiced the crocodile in Princess and The Frog!

Second thing: BUDDA! Like oml he was awesome the whole time. And when he took his hair down? GOD DAMN. He looked majestic!

Third thing: When he was first on screen I was like who the hell is this. Man is sexy, holy hell. Then I find out it’s Beelzebub… I was like 🤨. This is no “Lord Of Flies”. But, it’s fine. He kinda reminded me of Levi from Obey me because of the scene where he’s in front if all these computer screens.

Fourth thing: Hades is so fine! I had seen him in pictures from the manga and I still thought he was sexy before. The anime did not disappoint. Also, once he talked I immediately new it was J Michael Tatum! He’s one of those people that once you watch something he’s in, you immediately recognize the voice!

So in conclusion, Record of Ragnorok is amazing and deserves more recognition!

[gemwing1988]

In The Season of Love

A/N: Just a small early Christmas present for my good friend, @Nataliepthatsme. This small fanfic will be based off from a scene from The Swan Princess Christmas with a Cuphead twist. All of the characters from the Cuphead franchise belong to StudioMDHR while Audrey, Josh and Monica belong to Natty and the song, “Season of Love (the movie version)” is from The Swan Princess Christmas. If anyone wants to know how the song goes, try checking it up on YouTube. Hope you like it, Nat.

************************************************************************

It is Christmas on the Inkwell Isles and everyone is getting into the spirit.

While everyone is hustling and bustling to buy some gifts and some tasty foods for the big dinner on the most wonderful time of the year and decorating their homes to add in some extra festive sparkle, the residents of Inkwell have one special tradition that takes place before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Every year, all of the good people of the Isles gather round the biggest and oldest pine tree in a peaceful little grove in the heart of the Inkwell Woods and decorate it with colourful lights, the dazzling tinsel and set the Christmas Star atop of it. Not only that, but they also place on handmade Christmas ornaments made based on the acts of good deeds and happiest memories the residents had made over the years. It was a charming Christmas tradition on all of Inkwell that had passed down from generations and years ago.

They call it “Ornament Day”.

And for Audrey and her husband, Josh, this wasn’t just their first Christmas on the Inkwell Isles but also their very first Ornament Day.

Over at certain cottage, an overly enthusiastic Elder Kettle swung the window open from his bedroom as he joyfully hollered: “IT’S ORNAMENT DAY!!”

This caught Cuphead and Mugman’s attention as they were in the middle of playing marbles, instantly stopping what they were doing in glee.

“Ornament Day?!” The brothers echoed.

Meanwhile, over at The Flytrap, the frog brothers, Ribby and Croaks were overjoyed as they were on stage and cheered out to their guests: “It’s Ornament Day, folks!”

Over at the Honeycomb Herald, Rumor Honeybottoms was just as overjoyed as she sighed, “Ornament Day… how I love it.”

All through town, the newspaper trucks zoomed by as the papermen tossed out the bundled piles of the latest issues of the Inkwell Blotter titled, “ORNAMENT DAY IS HERE!”

Over at the theatre, Audrey had just finished helped Sally Stageplay decorating the place for the holidays and for a special showcase that Sally and her work staff hold every year.

“Thank you so much for the help, Audrey dear.” Sally said as she and Audrey met up with her husband, who was holding out her coat. “It means so much to mean that we get the theatre into its most festive shape for the yearly Christmas Spectacular this year.”

“I’m always happy to help, Sally. You know that.” Audrey smiled. “So, what else were you going to tell me after that?”

“I thought you would like to know about a very special tradition we all hold every year on our dear Isles.” Sally explained as her husband helped her into her coat. “You know about Ol’ Noel?”

“Oh! You mean the oldest pine tree over at that grove in the woods?” Audrey asked. “Yeah, the boys showed her to Josh and me during our nature walk yesterday.”

It was true. It had snowed and Audrey had always loved it when there’s snow at Christmastime. Cuphead and Mugman had asked her and Josh to come for a hike in the woods with them through the snow and they led them into the grove where the tree that everyone affectionately named “Ol’ Noel”.

She was rested in the centre of a charming little grove that reminded Audrey of the one from the scene where Anna, Kristoff and Sven first met Olaf from Frozen, surrounded by frozen, glistening willow trees and a frozen lake suited for iceskating. It was so breathtakingly beautiful.

“Well, every year, everyone gathers over at Ol’ Noel’s to make her just as dazzling but we also present her special ornaments that the good people have made in memory of our past good deeds and all the special moments we have together.” Sally explained. “It takes place before Christmas Eve. We call it ‘Ornament Day’.”

“That sounds like a cute tradition.” Audrey commented with a smile.

“Indeed, and for us, it is just as valued as Christmas itself.”

And what is a good old Christmas special than a festive and catchy Christmas song that can warm every heart?

Sally: 🎶 Bells ring!

Her husband: 🎶 Heart sing!

They both take Audrey by the hands and lead her out of the theatre, leading her through town to show her the festivities of the people getting ready for the occasion as they sang themselves.

Townspeople: 🎶Come see what love brings!

Over at the bakery, Saltbaker is happily decorated some shortbread cookies after he got them out of the oven.

Saltbaker: 🎶 Pictures tell a story of two hearts full of love They’re sharing a memory of caring and tender rejoicing

After he had finished adding the finishing touches, he walked over to the window to show off the cookies to Audrey, Sally and her husband, offering some.

Meanwhile, over at the tailors, a grandfatherly human toon is happily making some Christmas stockings quickly, piling them up (cartoon logic).

Tailor: 🎶 It’s the season of love that comes at Christmastime!

Audrey turns to see the residents happily showing her their Christmas ornaments. Even some pets and inanimate objects that suddenly sprung to live (again, cartoon logic) were holding some ornaments.

Eddy Elephant: 🎶 We live it

Grandma Ellie Elephant: 🎶 Love it

Little Toon Rabbit Girl: 🎶 Beg it to come

Townspeople: 🎶 And want it to stay

Sally: 🎶 To have the season each day

Everyone: 🎶 It’s the season of love

Over at the jeweller’s, an elderly toon dog named Mr. Rover was asking the local jeweller clerk to help spruce up his old Christmas ornament.

Mr. Rover: 🎶 Lulu’s lost her lustre Will you help make her shine?

The jeweller was happy to help as he added in a gemstone onto the ornament. Just as Mr. Rover paid him, the jeweller generously and secretly placed the coin inside his back pocket.

Jeweller: 🎶 A jewel in this spot… And your coin in your pocket for Christmas

Audrey watches on as everyone is helping one another about. Even the Root Pack were on their best behaviour as they helped hurl some carts of goods into a loading truck.

Everyone: 🎶 It’s the kind acts of love That makes a Christmas shine We’re lighter, brighter Wiser by far

Out in town, Saltbaker and the tailor were passing the cookies and stallings to everyone, especially the children.

Tailor: 🎶 Because we follow that star

Saltbaker: 🎶 Because we find who we are

Audrey: 🎶 In the season of love

Later on, by sunset, everyone on the Isles gathered over at the grove in the Inkwell Woods and began t decorate Ol’ Noel, getting into the spirit of Christmas. Even Josh and Monica the fairy have arrived with Audrey.

Everyone: 🎶 Bells are rung Carols sung It’s begun Our glad Christmastime!

As everyone was preparing to get out the ornaments, Josh carefully reaches into a small box Mugman was hold up, pulling out a Christmas ornament he had made. With Monica and the Cups’ help of course.

As Josh happily gives it to her, Audrey was touched to see it was a light rosy pink glass bauble with figurines of Josh and herself in their wedding outfits inside. With Monica’s magic, the figures were actually dancing inside the bauble just like Prince Derek and Princess Odette from The Swan Princess.

Josh: 🎶 But when I give a gift from my heart

Audrey: 🎶 Then Christmas has finally arrived!

Waving her magic wand, Monica casted a spell to weave the Christmas lights and tinsel around the tree, leaving the everyone else to see to placing the ornaments on it.

Everyone: 🎶 There’s a magic that takes the fear out of living When you have it, there’s peace in your heart That’s what it does There’s a magic that’s found when you’re giving

As everyone placed the ornaments on each branch, they actually lit up and magical sparkles flow around them. It was not cartoon logic, but pure magic. The spirit of Christmas. Even Audrey and Josh were awed when their ornament did the exact same thing the moment they hung it.

🎶 There’s a magic that takes the fear out of living When you have it, there’s peace in your heart That’s what it does There’s a magic that’s found when you’re giving

Ms. Chalice was in her ghost form as she carried the Christmas Star and placed it atop of the tree. She returns to the ground and turned back to normal, revealing she is wearing an elegant light teal winter coat with white (fake of course) fur trimming, white earmuffs, orange gloves and orange winter boots.

Chalice, pulls Cuphead and Mugman into a hug as they, Audrey, Josh, Monica and Elder Kettle admired the beauty of the decorative tree.

🎶 And it’s here In the season of love

Working her magic, Monica casted a spell to turn on Ol’ Noel’s lights as making all of the willow trees in the grove light up in brilliant hues of blue and lilac, much to the awe of the residents as they cheered.

“Ohhhh! This is new!” Cuphead beamed.

“It’s beautiful!” Mugman sniffled happily.

“You can say that again, fellas.” Chalice chimed in.

“Works every time.” Monica said with a wink.

Admiring the beautiful lights, Audrey and Josh hugged each other.

“I think this will be the best Christmas ever.” Audrey commented.

“But it’s even better when I’m with the woman I love and married.” Josh smiled as he gently stroked her cheek, making her blush.

“Aww, you!” Audrey teased.

Just then, a mistletoe tied with a ribbon suddenly appears above them courtesy of Monica’s magic. Surprised at first, the couple looked at each other and smiled. And, just like from The Swan Princess, they kissed each other with Josh gently placing his hand at the back of Audrey’s head while she set her hand over his shoulder.

As they pulled away, gazed lovingly into each other’s eyes.

“Merry Christmas, Audie.” Josh sighed.

“Merry Christmas, Josh.” Audrey replied lovingly.

As she, her husband and all of the amazing friends they had made during their adventures on the Inkwell Isles, Audrey knew that this was truly going to be her most interesting and best Christmas for years to come.

************************************************************************

May you have a very merry and magical Christmas, Happy New Year and may your dreams shine. ✨

❄️🎄🎁

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff: Wendell & Wild

or How to Stop Worrying and Flex with Spirit Again

It's 2009. We're at our most innocent and optimistic, Bone's final volume came out, and while TV animation was kinda ass at the time, the films we got were like banger after banger. I'm talking Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the Ed, Edd 'n Eddy movie, El Superbeasto, Redline, Killer Bean Forever, Princess and the Frog, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Coraline. The latter was not only the start of Laika as a major studio but would be the last film the GOAT Henry Selick would frontline for a long while. Most of us wouldn't think of him while stop-motion was carrying on until the current year when Selick would return announcing a new film of his own. Wendell & Wild marks both the return of the mastermind behind Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach and the reunion of Key & Peele notably since that film starring a gangster cat. For what I can consider a very Blacktober film from the looks of it, it is newfound kino or diminishing returns?

If we’ll get this out of the way, the story... might be hard to swallow. I’m not gonna sugarcoat, Kat as a protagonist is understandable but annoying. I can see where the incident involving her parents can snowball her into being an isolating punk type, but it was hard finding her likable because of how much she’s a... “buzzkill” is the best word I got. It hurts when I like almost every other character, Raul especially, over her. I dunno, it’s like when most you get from a character is them being frustrated and spiteful, it’s hard to connect, and for being the main focus then the story falters in the mind. 

This goes for my other problem where the third act gets pretty jumbled and honestly feels like the one time I’ll say where they didn’t need a big action sequence. This could’ve been a more grounded affair like I cared about Kat facing her trauma and the big demon literally surfacing from hell to get our titular demon brothers than I did some ugly ass couple trying to build a prison. I think it would’ve worked better if it was just about Kat working with Wendell & Wild to get her parents back only to realize that it was a mistake like it never once crosses her mind that bringing them back is... kinda fucked up? The impact of the story overall feels lighter than, say, Coraline or Paranorman where everything built up before made the revelation stuck. Just saying, Kat’s final line in the movie really sprained the ankle at the finish line if you think about it.

The duo themselves never disappointed thankfully

But that’s all on the story, what about the visuals? Well... this feels like a definite return to form. Selick mentioned that stop-motion became too smooth over time and I can see where he was coming from with this. I love where it’s not just the puppetry, but the settings feel more of a blend between Rankin-Bass and Aardman. It knows when to make a moment smooth, but you can see they didn’t hide it being stop-motion. That’s not to say stop-motion between this and Coraline couldn’t recapture that older feeling (we just got Mad God this year) but it’s nice seeing Selick, and designer Pablo Lobato, among the many of the animation crew give us something familiar. I’m reminded of the movie Klaus where even if you understand, you can’t believe the lengths they went to trick you in a way. All this while being based on Selick’s original story, I feel like this was Henry looking to flex alongside Phil Tippett, the Daniels, and soon enough Guillermo Del Toro, in the creative flavors they cherished way back. The credits themselves tell me everyone had fun making this movie and I appreciates that the most.

Scenes like this tickled my animation loving bones

Overall, my time didn’t feel wasted regardless of my issues with the story. If there’s any takeaway it’s that Wendell & Wild is pretty emblematic of this year: you take the bad with the good. Hell any film that can have Death, the black godfathers of Punk music, gets points in my book easily. I say it’s a worthy film to watch a least once for Halloween or Turkey Day, y’know if you can work above my gripes with it. Peele already made kino with Nope but he and Selick made something genuinely special here. Just saying in terms of films, we still eating good this year.

7 Out of 10; Delightfully Devilish Feature

[nctsplug02]

Hey!! Love all your work btw!

Can I request a fluff dad!Yuta scene, if you're okay with writing it ofc :)

Thanks, love youuu ❤

[10:10am]

genre: fluff

warnings: nothing but fluff

note: thank you, my love! ilyanon

after yuta woke his daughter up and got her ready for the day, he brought her to the mall where he said she could get anything she wanted.

pika was confused on why her mother wasn’t coming along on the mini date. “daddy? how come mommy isn’t coming with us?” yuta chuckles and glances at her through his rearview mirror. “cause it’s a daddy and pika day.” she giggles and just nods.

“now,” yuta says as they enter the mall. “where should we go to first?” pika hums and perks when a store comes into mind.

“let’s go get something to drink! can we get strawberry and banana smoothies again?” yuta nods and shakes her hand. “anything you want, princess.”

off the two went to the NEO smoothies shop. where they ordered two small cups of strawberry and banana smoothies.

“okay, we’ve got your toys now. is there anywhere else you wanna go, or do you wanna go home?” pika hums, her eyes wandering around until they stop at a nail salon.

she giggles and looks up at her dad. “can we go paint our nails, daddy?” yuta looks straight ahead of him and notices the hot pink salon shop. it was labeled “NEOs nail shop”.

yuta looks down at his daughter. “of course, we can.” with giggles, his daughter guides him to the shop. as they wait for someone to become available, they look on the walls to see bottles of nail polish neatly ordered by colors.

“daddy! daddy! can i get that purple?!” his daughter points up.

yuta reaches forward. “this one?” she shakes her head.

“this one?” no.

“this one?” no.

“this one?” yes!

yuta grabs the sparkly dark purple and keeps it in his palm. “do you wanna pick out daddy’s nail color?” she nods and looks up again. “daddy, is it okay if i pick the color pink out for you?” yuta nods.

she giggles to herself before pointing up. “that color will look pretty on you.” yuta reaches up and grabs the neon pink nail polish. “will it?” he squats down and shows her the color which she nods to.

it had been a whole six hours of yuta and pika spending a great daddy and daughter time together. you were able to sleep in which when you had woken up and saw the time, you were mad that yuta didn’t wake you up until you saw the note he left you;

“good morning, baby— or afternoon. i took pika out for a daddy and daughter day just so you could get your beauty rest and so you could sleep in. we’ll be home soon! love you, baby.

~ your asshole husband, yuta.

the two had arrived home and they saw you sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream in your lap as you watched your show.

“welcome home, my two favorite people!” you welcome them with open arms after setting your bowl down.

“mommy! can i show you what daddy bought me?!” she squeals in excitement while holding her bags in her hands. “oh, why, of course you can!” you gasp.

she brings in her bags to the living room while you catch up with yuta. “welcome home, baby.” you ruffle his hair while leaning in slowly.

yuta grins, leaning in and pecking your lips. “how was your sleep, gorgeous? still sore from last night?” you squint your eyes. “it was great, thanks to you.” you lean up and press another kiss in his lips.

“mommy! look! can i show you my toys, now?” you pat his chest and make your way to the living room where your daughter had neatly ordered her toys.

she jumps in excitement when seeing you. “okay! this froggy bear is named after you!” she says holding up the green frog plushie from build-a-bear. “after me?” you walk over and sit in front by her toys.

“mhm!” she squeaks. “the teddy is supposed to remind me of you whenever i feel sad or.. scared!” you coo and lean forward, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

your daughter spent half an hour telling you about her toys and what they meant and why she got it. she only stopped because she felt hungry in the middle and left to eat.

“while she’s gone.. i wanna show you what i got for you.” yuta says bringing two bags over to you. “me? i thought this was a daddy and daughter day?” he hands the bag off to you.

your eyebrows raise when seeing the gift he had brought you. “red wine laced panties— set, oh?” you say analyzing the several sets he had bought you. “yes,” he nods confidently. “just a little gift as an apology for ripping the other set last night.” his shoulders shrug up as he laughs.

“a little gift?? yuta, this is like.. $200 in total?! victoria secret isn’t cheap.” he shrugs this time, confused. “was cheap to me? and no, it wasn’t $200.. it was $650 and two cents.” you sigh with a grin on your face.

you set the gift aside and you stand up, wrapping your arms around his neck and giving him a long kiss. “thank you, i love it.” he laughs softly and kisses you again.

“you wouldn’t understand the struggle i felt when picking those out.” you place a hand on his chest. “why? you didn’t know my size?” he shakes his head with a smirk. “just.. kept getting hard when thinking how sexy you’d look in them.” you scoff while he laughs and pulls away.

“nakamoto yuta! you’re a dirty man!” you scold.

yuta smirks, hands pinching your waist. “and look,” he holds his hand out and shows you the pretty neon pink color on his nails. “me and pika got our nails painted. she got purple and she picked out pink for me.”

your jaw hangs ajar when seeing that his middle and ringer finger was painted with the bright color. “nakamoto yuta, you did not!”

yuta nods and brings his hands back to your waist and pulls you to him. “i did too.” when he goes in for a kiss, your daughter interrupts.

“okay!” she says while chewing down her food. “i’m ready again!” she says while jumping down onto the ground. “so this one— mommy, look, please?” she asks when your attention wasn’t brought to her.

“oh, yes. i’m sorry.” you gently push yuta and make your way to the ground. “it’s okay, mommy! so this one, it’s an otter! i got it because it reminds me of my favorite uncle! shotaro!” she squeals hugging the plushie.

you coo, brushing her hair back. “i love uncle shotaro. he always brings me ice cream.” her shoulders rise up in excitement.

[stagemanagerssaygo]

Heaven and Hell: or my experience being a person of color in Disney’s Hyperion Theater

by Cooper Howell

Heaven and Hell: or my experience being a person of color in Disney's Hyperion Theater. #holdingtheateraccountable Im just gonna go ahead and be straight up. This is pretty scary to share. HEAVEN: Once upon a time Liesl Tommy cast me as Prince Hans in Frozen: Live at the Hyperion. And I was gooped. GOOPED. There was nothing in my prior history that gave any indication this was possible. Up until then every role I played had to do with my race. Every. Single. One. And even ones where it didn’t (Shakespeare or classical pieces mostly) I was always made aware that the novelty of me being a poc in that role that gave me the part. So much did I not expect to get this part that when I got the callback I rolled my eyes and didn’t take the actual callback seriously. I mean, there was a zero percent chance that Disney would ever let me play a Prince, especially when the dude in the movie is a ginger. But then I got it. And immediately everything I thought was possible about my career changed. My whole life I’ve never inwardly felt black. I’ve never inwardly felt white. I’ve always felt like I was Cooper, you know, on the inside. But whether it was every single white human in Utah reminding me that I was “the whitest person they ever knew/saw” (which DIDNT mean how white my skin was. It was how white I ACTED) or Mr. Johnson, my 7th grade drama teacher, telling me that he “wanted to put Velcro on the ceiling to see if I’d stick” or Mr. Smith, my high school drama teacher, saying “finally we can do black shows” as soon as I entered high school and then not casting me in roles because of the "optics" of it, or even my best friend in high school Tanner Harmon who called me "blackie", I was always reminded that I was an other. So imagine getting paid good money to put on that $10,000 costume and waltzing out to 4000 people a day to play a really amazing part. A fantastic, evil, complicated, person who sings a killer duet and then grabs the show by the throat with a vicious about-face monologue... and not once was my race ever mentioned cuz it didnt matter. What was being prized was Cooper, my talent, not my skin color that I never asked for. Heaven. Liesl MADE SURE, almost overly sure, that the poc’s in the cast felt equal. The kingdom of Arendelle, after all, is a make believe place. It can be whatever. From having Disney executives come and tell us that they were happy to have us there, to side conversations with John Lasseter, we were made to feel overly welcome playing the parts we were playing. She encouraged us to dive deeper into the script of a cartoon that I didnt really think much of until I was in it. We were encouraged to ask why. We felt seen as talent and not commodities. There were, of course, detractors. Gosh, I remember people at a party of cast members from "Mickey and the Magical Map" another show at Disneyland which features a princess and the frog number and many of those casts mates angrily claiming that “if that black girl Tiana Okoye can play Elsa than I should be able to play Princess Tiana” and then looking at me to confirm that was okay to say, not realizing that a) she’s one of my best friends, b) that I’m in the show with her also playing a role that wasn't created to be a poc, c) how racist that sounded, and d) why there's a difference there and why that wouldn't make sense. On Liesls final night I came up to her and said “I don’t know why you did it but thank you so much for casting ME in this part” to which she replied “you mean why would I cast a handsome, talented person in this role?” And I stuttered something like “well, I mean, I’m black. You know...” to which she tilted her head to her side and said “no. I don’t know why. Tell me why that matters.” And I had no answer. Seeing that I had no answer she smiled. That was the answer. There was no reason. On the spot my outlook about myself changed. Windows into what I thought was possible for me opened. -------------------------------------- HELL: And then Liesl went back to NYC and she was replaced by a man named Roger Castellano as show director. Rogers task, he told us on the first day, was to "change the show". We were not told what needed to be changed or even why, but that changes were on the horizon. You've got to understand: to a full cast of actors who had just spent more than three months dissecting a 60 page Disney script with a Tony nominated director like it was Shakespeare, we were initially emotionally/mentally/spiritually resistant to changes. But then it became clear that the spirit of collaboration was over, and the show changes were to be given without the same care, consideration, and thematic explanation of why they were being made. Everyones initial reaction was to push back, but when people who questioned their notes or their changes started getting days removed their schedule or being replaced entirely by a new actor, the Hyperion theater became a place where no one was allowed to speak out. Injustices were happening left and right and no one felt they could do anything for fear of losing their livelihood. And that's when the Frozen: Live at the Hyperion became a living hell. In my first note session with Roger he pulled me into a room with Domonique Paton, my best friend and incredible costar who played princess Anna in the show I was in. She just so happens to also be black. Almost all of Prince Hans’s scenes in the show are with her character and so most of my notes would be primarily based on those interactions with her. Earlier in the day I performed with a different (white) actress but it was the show with Domonique that I had a note session about. Imagine my surprise and dismay when, with how Liesl set up the show experience, we were told this: “WHEN THE TWO OF YOU PERFORM THE SHOW TOGETHER ITS TOO… URBAN.” Urban. What else could that have meant, do you think? He could have said maybe “too contemporary” emphasizing that we were maybe too modern in our speech patterns or movements. We weren’t. He could have said “too lax” or “too loose” meaning that maybe we were being unprofessional and goofy up there because we’re really good friends. We were not. The best me and Ms. Paton could think of was a 8 count moment of improv dance that me and Domonique decided to use as a synchronized moment of unity. It happened to fall on the line “our mental synchronization can have but one explanation” and thought, with the freedom that Christopher (the original choreographer) had given us, was appropriate, especially considering everyone behind us was doing the robot. As in the 80s robot. But he didnt clarify. He just said “WHEN THE TWO OF YOU PERFORM THE SHOW TOGETHER IT’S TOO… URBAN” And when asked what he meant he smiled with a little shrug and said "you can figure that out. You're smart." And thats how I became Black Hans and Domonique became Black Anna. My every moment onstage afterwards became about the optics of being a poc in that show. It was if I was suddenly made aware that I was LUCKY enough to be there and under any normal circumstances, or this new directors circumstances, me getting this part would have never happened. But the message was clear. It was especially clear when me and Domonique Paton shows together durastically decreased and made even more clear when the vast majority of the new hires were not people of color. But no one said anything. And made even MORE clear when, over the next few weeks, both Domonique and I got COPIOUS notes, ten times that of our coworkers that played the same parts. It was almost a game. In fact we did turn it into a game, seeing who would get the least amount of notes from him in a day. Our costars would even joke about it onstage with us, during the ballroom scene, and jokingly whisper "The shows been up 15 minutes. How many do you think you got today?" But no one said anything. And the notes were about all kinds of things. How we held our hand. If our inflections went up or down on a word. Which side of a couch we leaned on… which was fine! When you're an actor, thats the gig... until we started comparing our notes with the actors that played our same parts and none of them, NONE, would get the same notes. Our notes would be outrageously longer, the note sessions sometimes lasting 10/15 minutes. Others would get the “Oh hey, try doing this or that next time, okay bye” walk-by notes. Sometimes I would sneak into the audience and watch as some of the other Han's, some of whom changed lines, changed entire intentions of scenes, some of whom adding in all types of vocalizations and cackles and dance moves and what have you, and would receive ZERO notes. But I was watching them to see what was wrong with me. What was my performance missing? What am I actually doing to feel this singled out. And then I realized that the thing that was wrong with me was that I was a different color than the 5 other white Hans's they cast. And then I started getting notes about my penis. Most of the time these “penis sessions”, as I called them, were given in private rooms without another stage manager present. It was incredibly unpleasant and unprofessional. In fairness, those Prince Hans pants are TIGHT! And yes, Mr. Howell is indeed a party in the front and a party in the back, but so were a lot of those fellas. And thats where I put my foot down. If Disney was going to provide me with a costume it is not my responsibility to fix their problem, especially when other of my (white) costars had been given a dance belt for the same thing. But they never got penis notes. Private session notes about what their penis looked like in that show. Over and over again I was told to fix it, to not make it (my dick) so apparent, and that “if my daughter were younger I wouldn’t want her to come to a show you were performing at" all the more insulting considering his daughter, a cast member in the show, was a friend of mine and the loveliest person. He started demanding that I buy a dance belt. It was “my fault”, “my responsibility” …and thats where I took my stand. And then it really became hell. Penis sessions were now done out in the open. Once, he screamed at me, in the green room in front of all of my costars during lunch, about how incredible unprofessional I was, about how he was tired of seeing my dick, and that if I didnt go buy myself one I didnt deserve to be there anymore. Followed by a huge litany of notes. That doesnt compare to some of what Domonique went through and I invite her to share them if she’s willing. During this time I went to every stage manager in the building and told them about being singling out and about my penis. They all told me to write a complaint report and it would go to some place called "HR". Which I did. Numerously. More months passed. Nothing from "HR". Multiple cast members who witnessed my note sessions encouraged me to go to the HR themselves. I didnt honestly know what an HR was. As soon as it was explained to me by my allies even what an HR was I went to the head of HR at Disneyland herself and waited outside of her door. I asked her if she got any of my HR reports and she told me that she had received no HR reports from the Hyperion. Ever. And then asked me to fill out a HR form. As we went over it, she asked me some questions, and then set up a second meeting. On the second meeting she said that in order for my report to be given credence I would need witnesses to give their testimony. The witnesses, in fact the very people that told me to go to HR in the first place, said no. They didnt want to lose their jobs. In retrospect that might be the thing that hurt the most but, whatever... anyway, I was told "“well… without testimonies we’ll do an investigation and we’ll call you when we’ve completed it.” I never received a phone call. With absolutely zero protection from the stage managers from both the sexual harassment or my obvious racial targeting I (and others) were experiencing, not to mention that HR reports were doing nothing, aka not being forwarded, I thought about quitting. And when a white stage manager made a show mistake and laughed it off to the cast by saying an entirely offensive lynching joke, I quit. I didnt matter to Disney. How I felt and what I was being put through didnt matter. I was a commodity. My departure was unceremonious. Bizarre. 100% un-magical. I hung up my costume one last time and it was given to a new Hans, one who looked very much like me oddly, and stepped out of the theater. The park was playing “every wish your heart desires will come to you” and I remember laughing at how dead that song felt. The director has since moved on but still works as a musical theater director in Southern California. This one time 4 years ago I got to feel something other than my color for the first and only time in my professional career. It lasted from about March 2016 to July 2016 and never again since. I will never forget in those early days looking at all the beautiful princesses I got to woo and thinking “wow. I’m a prince right now.” Im sure that sounds stupid. But it didn't feel stupid. And a Disney prince! Yeah, a shitty prince kinda... I mean, he's a sociopath... BUT still a Prince! Especially special was being able to look in Dominique’s eyes and I could see the same glimmer of “can you believe we get to do this right now” reflected back. We never knew it was in the cards for us. My race always has and will always be part of my career equation and a determining factor of its projection. It will always be a determining factor in how im treated, by creatives, by people, by the those in authority over me, including the government and the police. #wasitmyskin

Copied in its entirety here from Cooper Howell’s public Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10163696376095054&set=a.10151302685610054&type=3&theater

[j4gm]

TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS

A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.

Keep reading ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".

2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.

3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.

4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.

5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.

6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.

7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.

8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.

9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.

10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.

11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.

12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.

13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".

14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.

15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.

16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".

17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".

18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from “The Silent King”.

19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.

20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.

21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.

22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from “Death in Bloom”.

23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.

24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.

25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.

26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.

27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.

28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episode “Storytelling”, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".

29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)

30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.

31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.

32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".

33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.

34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".

35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.

36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".

37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".

38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.

39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.

40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".

41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.

42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.

43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".

44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.

45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.

46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.

47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.

48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. It’s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials “PB” and both could be going by the title of “Princess”. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.

49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".

50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.

51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.

52. A translation of Life’s angry French dialogue by Shado: “After all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.”

53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.

54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that he’s dead.

55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.

56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.

58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Reboot”.

59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.

60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.

61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".

62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.

63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.

64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".

65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.

66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.

67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".

68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from “Dad's Dungeon” for banishing demons.

69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunks’ other lovers.

70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.

71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".

72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.

These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. That’s all for now!

[rainydaydream-gal18]

Star Wars - Boba Fett x Reader: Eyes of Starlight

   Author’s Note:  Wow, am I late to the Boba party, or what?  Back when Mandalorian S2 was brand new, tumblr blew up with Boba Fett, and I was so down for that, except the majority of the fics I came across were smut, so I didn’t get the Boba content I was looking for.  Alas, I finally decided to write my own smut-free Boba moment.

In this, Boba is younger in this than in the Mandalorian.

Warnings: Action, a fight scene, nothing graphic in my opinion.  Reader does encounter intruders, so if that is a trigger then be cautious.

   The evening was anything but quiet, yet it was the lack of silence that made it so peaceful.  Bugs and frogs chirped a sweet song of the warm spring that had arrived.  You stood barefoot on the balcony off your room, hands resting on the railing as you enjoyed the time alone.  The moon was only a sliver, but the lack of blue light made it easier to see the sky of stars.  One in particular was twinkling many colors like a cut gemstone reflecting light.

   A pair of eyes that held a similar gleam flashed in your mind.

   You shook your head.  The one who those eyes belonged to was the last person you wanted to be reminded of.  He could be so smug at times.  Annoying.  Sometimes even condescending.  Most of the time he was gruff, but every now and then he’d wear a smirk that got under your skin even when you couldn’t see it behind helmet of his.

   He was Boba Fett, the greatest bounty hunter there was, and he was hired to protect you; a fact that he would not let you soon forget.

   You thought back to one of your earliest exchanges with him months before, when you nearly collided with him in the hall and he regarded you with a raised brow as you waited for him to step aside as most of your guards usually did.  He hadn’t moved.

   “You know, around here it’s polite to let the princess pass.”

   “Princess _________,” he sighed.  “ I’m being paid a handsome credit to protect you, not coddle you while you play palace.  Besides,” he paused, shooting you that look as you stepped to the side to let him pass, “I’m not from around here.”

   His words were absolutely infuriating.

   Sure, you realized from the very beginning that this Boba Fett was not impressed by titles, and perhaps you’d been asking for it by trying to pull rank.  It was just a test, a nudge to get a feel for this renowned bounty hunter.

   That glint in his eyes flashed across your vision again.  Even though you were in the farthest corner of the estate, it felt as if he were right there with his gaze boring into yours.  It made you feel hot despite the cool breeze that ruffled your nightgown, whether the heat was from frustration or perhaps underlying feelings you’d been denying, you weren’t sure.

   A single slide of a foot on the stone balcony a few feet away caught your attention.  You whipped your head around to get a look at what it may have been only to see a figure dressed in dark clothes with their face covered, and they stood as if they had just crawled onto the surface of the balcony, their gloved hands still grasping the railing.  You let out a scream and made a dash for your bedroom, but the intruder had reached an arm out to grab and pull you away from the door leading inside.

   You recognized the insignia on his glove.  He was part of the group Boba had been hired to protect you from.  They had launched an attempt to raid the palace and steal priceless artifacts belonging to your people to sell illegally, and they had succeeded in taking a few.  For safety, you and a few other artifacts were moved to an estate of the royal family, and Boba was assigned to protect you.

    Just as the intruder tried to put his gloved hand over your mouth to prevent a second scream, Boba burst into your palace quarters.  He immediately shot at the assailant while you sank to the stone floor, frozen in place while he faced his opponents.

   More of the intruders were climbing over the railing after scaling the estate wall.  Boba fought off several of them, but they kept coming.  At one point, he had knocked most of them down, save for one he was engaged in hand-to-hand combat with and another that sought to sneak up on him from behind.

   Sure.  He could be smug, annoying, and even act condescending.  His smirk got under your skin even when you couldn’t quite see it through his helmet.  He was Boba Fett, the greatest bounty hunter there was, and he was hired to protect you; and not a day went by that he didn’t remind you of that fact with his actions or words.

   You could not have predicted the fear that clawed at your chest at the sight of some low-life attacking him from behind while he was preoccupied by another.

   It was like your body unfroze and reacted on instinct.  Your hand snatched up a nearby blaster pistol and aimed it at the figure.  In a matter of seconds, the intruder was lying on the stone floor while Boba’s visor turned toward you.

   Your chest rose and fell with each breath as you stared wide-eyed at the floor.  You barely registered his footsteps as he crossed over to where you sat.  It was only when you felt the blaster lifted from your hands ever-so-gently that you snapped out of your stunned state.  It had surprised you, how slow and careful his movements were when grasping your shaking hand in his gloved one and helping you stand.  Considering how he carried on and bantered with you, you half-expected him to yank you to your feet in a quick, unceremonious way and tell you to pull yourself together.

   “Pull yourself together.”  Though he didn’t yank you to your feet, he spoke firmly through the visor.  “It’s over.”

   Well, alright then.  Perhaps you did know Boba fairly well by now.

   Firing back a retort would be useless at the moment.  Besides, you were too shaken up to try.  Instead, you focused on taking deep breaths until your heartbeat slowed to a steady pace.  After a few minutes passed in silence, you spoke.

   “I can’t believe they found us.  We took so many precautions...coming here without any guards even, to not draw attention...”

   “That’s why your parliament hired me. These scum pose a serious threat.”  He spoke over his shoulder as he walked through the sea of unconscious invaders.

   “I’m...I’m going inside.”

   He gave no reply and only knelt down to search one of them.  You released a sigh and walked indoors, sliding the door to the balcony shut behind you.  No tears fell.  No sobs escaped your lips.  You stared at the roomy bed in front of you that had been made by handmaids, not even feeling like collapsing into it.  You were still on edge and unsure of how to shake it off.

   Part of you wanted to head down the hall to the library and sit quietly with a warm cup of (favorite hot drink), but what felt like an invisible steel cable kept you from wandering.  You didn’t like the thought of being too far away from Boba.  Just in case.

   So you settled for pacing around the room idly, your mind running through the event over again.  You wished you had gotten a few punches in or managed to kick the trespasser where the suns don’t shine.  You’d been caught off-guard and didn’t react the way you thought you should’ve.  Even so, it was something you could learn from.

   The door slid open, and Boba stepped inside, removing his helmet and setting it down on a side table.  You were relieved that he didn’t appear injured.  “I’ve contacted authorities.  This group will be handled from here.”

   “Do you know who sent them?”

   He gazed at you for a few seconds, and at first you didn’t think he would answer.  “I have yet to figure that out.”

   “Oh.”

   He was still staring at you, and your instincts kicked in when he took a few steps toward you.  The dim yellow light of the lamps that lit your room glowed on his face and reflected in his eyes as he neared you.  Your heart thrummed so quickly, and your body may still have been feeling the effects of the event that had transpired only minutes before.  You flinched when Boba raised a gloved hand.  It wasn’t a fast or sudden movement, but when he saw your reaction, he paused nonetheless.

   Still spooked, you sharpened your tone in irritation.  “What are you looking at?”  That’s when the emotion finally crept in your voice.  Your vision blurred with the forming of tears as your face twisted in a look of frustration as you returned his gaze with a new fire.

   He didn’t look the slightest bit phased, but you noticed his expression lost some of its intensity.  Boba reached up again to take your chin between his thumb and forefinger, carefully angling your face toward the mirror on the wall to your left.  You saw the eyes that haunted you each day and the man they belonged to staring at your reflection.  Then, your gaze traveled to his gloved hand and up to your own eyes which gleamed in the lamplight.  Finally, they rested on a splotch of blood on your cheek.

   Your hand immediately reached toward it, but Boba caught your wrist with his other hand.  His gentle touch kept surprising you.  It was very different from what you’d expected.

   “Do you have supplies for this?” he asked.

   You simply gave a nod and extricated yourself from his light hold to retrieve the first aid you kept tucked under the bed.  His eyes never left you, and you caught his gaze as you walked back over with the small box.  Boba had removed his gloves by the time you found a disinfecting swab.  He took your chin between his thumb and forefinger so delicately before taking the swab and dabbing your cheek.  The sting was mild, but just enough to make you wince.

   “Hold still,” he told you.

   “You know, I am capable of doing this myself.  This isn’t exactly in the job description of you protecting me and the artifacts.”

   Boba didn’t respond, only leaned in to inspect the minor wound.  You didn’t want to allow yourself to enjoy the moment, but there was no stopping the way he flooded your senses and filled you with a sense of calm.  His masculine scent put you at ease, and the way he treated you so carefully as if you were made of glass evoked a quiet sigh from your lips.

   When he was done, there was only a trace of the scratch that needed a few days to heal.

   “There,” he stated, retracting his hands.  You immediately missed the warmth.  Even so, you maintained your composure as he leaned in once more.  “Is there anything else I can help you with, Princess?”

   “N-no.”

   “Really?”  That smirk touched the corner of his lips as he took on an almost intrigued expression.  “No complaint?  Not even a comment?”

   “Well-” you began, and he chuckled.

   “Ah, there it is.”

  ��“Now you won’t get to hear it.”

   “Fine by me.”

   You sighed.  “I was just going to say you should let me tend to your wounds.  There’s no way you walked away completely unscathed.”

   He paced over to where his helmet still sat on a table and knocked at it with his knuckle a few times.  “It’s called beskar.”

   “Alright then,” you tsked as you began to put the first aid supplies away.  “Your loss.  Let me know if you do need anything after all.”

   His brows perked again.  “There might be one thing.”

   You paused before tucking the first aid box under your bed.  “What’s that?”

   “I do feel a little sting,” Boba said.  “Right here.”  He gestured to his lip.  You rolled your eyes, but humored him by bringing the box back over and leaning in to get a better look.  There were a few scars, but definitely nothing fresh.

   “A sting?” you repeated, taking another step.  “I don’t see anything.”

   “Maybe you should look closer.”  His eyes gazed deeply into yours, and you found it nearly impossible to look away.  So you didn’t.

   Not until your lips were on his.  Then, you let your eyes flutter shut.

   The kiss was, like his manner toward you before, gentle.  Only after you relaxed into it did he kiss you back more firmly, his arm wrapping around you to pull you closer to his armored torso.  When he did pull away, you nearly chased his lips with your own before you remembered yourself.

   You had been the one to close the distance and kiss him.

   You kissed Boba Fett.  He had kissed you back.

   Your handmaids and some security arrived on the scene, and Boba left you in their care without a word.  Sure, he was annoying and smug sometimes.  This man had been a mystery to you for the months that you’d spent under his protection.  At first he had regarded you with similar annoyance, but perhaps things had changed.  Perhaps you had started to grow on each other through the banter.

   You hadn’t anticipated this.  You hadn’t thought that you’d care for the bounty hunter so much.  It was only after the kiss that you were finally able to accept your feelings.  They went beyond professional, even beyond mere attraction.  Did you dare to venture into the territory of love?  You weren’t quite sure about that yet.  All you knew was those eyes, his voice, and now his kiss, would haunt your dreams.

[fictionadventurer]

Fairy Tale Retellings

I know that @magpie-trove has been recommended enough books to fill several years, but since fairy tale retellings are my niche, I’m going to throw some more titles out there. (I’m limiting myself to 1) books/short stories 2) that I enjoyed 3) that I haven’t seen mentioned in connection to the original post. I’m also trying not to branch out into too many tales, so I’m going to be leaving out some slightly more obscure ones).

Before I go into the specifics, I’m just going to say, that if you only read three books out of this list, read Entwined by Heather Dixon (12 Dancing Princesses),  Brine and Bone by Kate Stradling (Little Mermaid) and Valiant by Sarah Macguire. (And if you only read one series, make it Regina Doman’s Fairy Tale Novels.)

Cinderella

Before Midnight by Cameron Dokey: Short, sweet, autumny retelling that I like for the atmosphere and the loving relationship between Cinderella and her stepfamily.

Silver Woven In My Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy: Extremely short, traditional retelling, starring a mistreated girl who collects Cinderella stories while being in one of her own. Has a sweet charm to it.

Soot and Slipper by Kate Stradling: A short retelling set in a traditional fairy tale kingdom, but with an excellent plot twist. I like it very much until the ending entangles it in a far-too-complicated magic system.

The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo: A sassy retelling starring a grumpy fairy baker who tries to get out of his godfather duties by getting his two charges to fall in love with each other. Gets points for a unique, almost Wodehousish parody element that is an extreme breath of fresh air in a genre dominated by YA romances.

The Spinner and the Slipper by Camryn Lockhart: Mashes up the story with Rumpelstiltskin. Clearly the work of a very young author, but I’m putting it on here for the fun use of the fairies from A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Beauty and the Beast

Unseen Beauty by Amity Thomsen: Traditional fantasy retelling from the POV of one of the invisible servants. Writing that’s a cut above most self-pubbed books, with extra points for featuring a female friendship that’s just as important as the main romance.

Snow White

Fairest Son by H.S.J. Williams: Gender-flipped version involving the fae. Is the only Snow White retelling that had me uncertain for a while of where the plot was going to go.

Sleeping Beauty

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan: A sci-fi retelling involving a girl who was regularly kept in stasis for the convenience of her corporate mogul parents, then was left in stasis for more than 70 years while the apocalypse happened. She wakes up to a world that’s recovered to become a very different place and has to deal with the emotional fallout of everything that’s happened to her. And it’s intense. This book has the distinction of being one of only two books with scenes that made me put the book down so I could sob uncontrollably. (The other is Rapunzel Let Down). There’s a little bit of content (a couple of kissing scenes that veer toward steamy, and use of futuristic swear words that have clear connections to modern swear words) but easily skippable.

The Little Mermaid

Brine and Bone by Kate Stradling: On first read, I appreciated it as a faithful-to-Andersen retelling, but found it otherwise forgettable. I reread it earlier this year and cannot understand how I possibly came to that conclusion. This has beautiful character work in a unique world that, I cannot stress this enough, is loyal to the Andersen version while appreciating the true joy of that ending.

Silent Mermaid by Brittany Fichter: First half had some excellent world-building and interesting conflicts that fell apart in a more cliche second half, but I remember it being enjoyable overall.

The Princess and the Pea

The Bruised Princess by A.G. Marshall: Part of her Once Upon a Short Story collection. They’re all decent-to-great, but this one is my favorite, a sweet little romance that makes the story make a surprising amount of sense.

I need to give a shout-out to my favorite retelling of this tale. I can’t remember the title. It was on Fanfiction.net back in the day. (I tried looking it up, but it wasn’t part of the collection I assumed it was in). It was from the POV of the servant who had to stuff all twenty mattresses. She has allergies and is miserable by the time she’s done, and gets her revenge by stuffing the top mattress with gravel.

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Entwined by Heather Dixon: One of my very top favorite retellings, a creative and whimsical and touching story focusing on the twelve close-knit sisters and their relationship with their buttoned-up father in the aftermath of their mother’s death.

The Brave Little Tailor

Valiant by Sarah McGuire: The only retelling I’ve ever seen of this tale, starring a girl who has to masquerade as a boy to get work as a tailor, and winds up entangled in a kingdom’s battle against giants. The first act is very boring, but it turns into a very well-done retelling with excellent characters and worldbuilding.

Bonus: Series

These are series that retell several fairy tales in the same universe, and I thought it’d be easier to present them all together than separating them out by fairy tale.

The Fairy Tale Novels by Regina Doman: Catholic retellings set in the modern day. They have their weak points, but they’re my gold standard for how to write a modern retelling and how to write a religious romance.

The Shadow of the Bear: Snow White and Rose Red. Fun and adventurous. Gets points for introducing me to Chesterton.

Black as Night: Snow White, focusing on the Snow White character from the first book. Darker and more intense, but with some deep themes.

Waking Rose: Sleeping Beauty, focusing on the Rose Red character’s adventures in college. By far the most popular book in the series, it’s overlong, but extremely good.

The Midnight Dancers: The Twelve Dancing Princesses, focusing on mostly new characters with a side character from Waking Rose in the soldier role. A slighter story with a pricklier main character, but it’s a strong contender for my favorite in the series, exploring the connections between beauty and truth and goodness.

Alex O’Donnell and the 40 Cyberthieves: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, starring Waking Rose side characters. This is a lighter adventure tale. All the stuff surrounding the hacking subplot is slightly ridiculous, but it’s one of the only YA novels I’ve ever seen that explores the realistic nuances of considering marriage with someone very different from you.

Rapunzel Let Down: Rapunzel. By far the darkest themes (it’s classified as an adult book). All new characters with some cameos. I thought it was decent on first read, but on reread, it blew me away with some of its themes (Except for a very melodramatic fifth act).

The Andari Chronicles by Kenley Davidson: Retellings set in a very mildly magical fantasy world, mostly focused on political intrigue.

Traitor’s Masque: Cinderella. 60% longer than it needs to be because of the extremely wordy writing style, and it makes me tear my hair out every time I try rereading, but the core conflict between the two brothers is compelling.

The Countess and the Frog: The Frog Prince. A short prequel novella focusing on a side character from the first book. I think it’s only available as a freebie on the author’s site but may be one of my favorite romances because the leads are so cute and sensible together.

Goldheart: Rumpelstiltskin. My favorite in the series, focused on a shy painter given an impossible task and the friends who help her get through it. The writing style’s much more concise here.

Pirouette: The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Political-intrigue focused. Also much wordier than it needs to be, though not as much as the first book. Twists the fairy tale in extremely interesting ways and has some great characters. (Prologue and epilogue are some of my favorite bits of writing in the series).

Shadow and Thorn: Beauty and the Beast. The most magical book in the series, and the most confusing because of that. There was one really cool moment with Beauty’s father, but otherwise I didn’t care for it all that much.

Daughter of Lies: Snow White with spies. Short, but fun. Reminds me of a Georgette Heyer farce.

Path of Secrets: Red Riding Hood with spies. I remember nothing about this story, which may tell you all you need to know.

Once: Six Historically Inspired Fairy Tales: What I think of as a kind of spin-off to the Rooglewood collections, this novella collection by six different authors retells six different fairy tales. My favorites are a dark but beautiful “Little Match Girl” retelling set in WWII, a steampunkish Rumpelstiltskin, and With Blossoms Gold, a Rapunzel retelling set in the Renaissance. (The only one I didn’t like at all was the Sleeping Beauty story).

Destined series by Kaylin Lee: Includes retellings of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty in one interconnected storyline. I’ve only read the first four; they’re okay-to-decent books whose main strength is the unique world they’re set in (think magical steampunky 1930s, which seems like a work of genius after you’ve been reading through a million retellings set in generically fairy tale kingdoms). My favorite is the fourth, Betrayed, which retells Little Red Riding Hood and mostly stands alone (until the last act veers it into a really complicated overarching plot).

[shimmershae]

So.  Thanks to my new anonymous friend, this is going to become a thing.

Shae’s thinky thoughts about the latest episode--Acheron:  Part 2--beneath a cut. 

Because spoilers, however vague they might be.  

Let’s be real here.  This is more a stream of consciousness than anything else so if that’s not your thing, you are most welcome to nope right on out of this post.  Trust me.  I’ll completely understand, lol.  Sometimes?  I wish I could nope right on out of my own brain and the way it operates.  

That said?  Without further ado--

Episode 2′s opening, though.  Maggie trapped with hungry Walkers converging?  It totally gives me Glenn under the dumpster vibes.  I don’t know if that was intentional or just happy coincidence but way to link Maggie to her dearly departed better half, show.  

Is it just me or has Father G had more OOMPH to him these last few seasons?  Again, I have to ask--Rosita’s influence or no?  Regardless, I bet Seth Gilliam is loving the job these days.  

Side note:  am I gonna have to go to bed early every Saturday night from now until the end just so I that I might be able to SEE?  Something?  Anything?  My curtains are flimsy-ass.  I admit it.  But this is more frustrating than TXF.  Angela, WTF?  

No, seriously.  It’s like complete guess work who’s in these subway scenes.  Some of that has to do with them being overly populated by redshirts and the rest of it has to do with me having to squint and turn sideways to make out their facial features. 

Look at Daryl busting through concrete walls!  Should I call him the Kool-Aid Man considering NR has once again allowed himself to be led right into a biased, shipper trap?  Hmm.  I might.  

Imagine seeking refuge in those dark, filthy subways.  Any second now I expect to hear the skittering of rats.  Will Dog lose his effing mind a la Divergence?  He’s been shown to go off half-cocked that way, lol.  Oh well.  Guess it’ll be in character if he does.  

Impressive graffiti storyboards.  Does it mean something that it immediately cuts to the Commonwealth storm troopers afterward?  Maybe.  Who really knows at this point?  They been trying to gaslight us forever.  

LOL at Princess yet again.  Yumiko is just like da fuq is this person?  

No, really.  LMAO.  “That was her.  From last night.  Did you see how she was looking at us?”  

Then you have Eugene, hahaha.  “Oh God.  Why did he tell off the big guy?”  Like the man is totally me in this type of situation.  Not even gonna lie.  

“That’s right.  We want to talk to the manager.”  

I literally cannot wait ‘til Carol and Daryl meet Princess.  Can.  Not.  Wait.  

How sad is that note on that $100 bill?  Small moment but it totally gives me Season 4 vibes when they were on their way to Terminus seeking sanctuary.  

Hmm.  Remember how that place wasn’t what they thought it was?  I’m sure neither is the Commonwealth.  But I feel like what’s left of Team Family is totally going to do Rick proud, lol, and prove they’re messing with the wrong people if they try something.  

Daryl, Man.  You gonna have to get a better handle on your headstrong Fur Son.  I wonder if Dog would listen better to his mama?  Things to ponder.  

Sounds like Miko has this group’s number.  Or does she?  

Princess and Eugene totally look like they’re waiting their turn for the Principal’s office, LOL.  

“Stop moving!  You’re taking my nerves over the edge to a proverbial 11 on a scale of 10.”  I feel you, Eugene.  I do.  Also you, Princess.  Two of the most relatable TWD characters right there, I’m telling you.  

Princess is me when I really, really, really have to pee.  TMI?  Sorry, lovelies.  LOL.  I just...she’s so relatable.  

LMAO.  “If that fine ass dude in the orange suit...”  Princess and Mercer incoming in 3-2-----

Princess’s excitement over the toilet paper=PRICELESS.  

Eugene, Man.  You desperately need to develop a poker face.  

There’s Daryl getting another cool camera shot.  Angela?  You playing favorites again?  

Carol’s claustrophobia could have never.  I bet that’s in the back of Pookie’s mind.  You can’t tell me it’s not because Carol lives in there rent-free.  

Ohhh.  Back to the subway car.  Looks like we got the Maggie redshirts leading the way.  First sacrificial “lambs”?  

Maggie pistol-whipping Negan was kinda deserved, but he wasn’t all wrong so.  

Damn.  I’m no Gage fan.  He can fuck all the way off for what he did to my baby Lydia.  But Maggie over there with ice in her veins.  

Yep.  I think the dude just got one of the most gruesome deaths in a while.  Yuck.  

I think Alden’s faith in Maggie definitely took several hits.  I feel like he kind of had her on some sort of pedestal dating back to Hilltop times.  Father G, though?  The man is continuing to show himself a SAVAGE MFer.  

Josh gives Eugene such believable tics and mannerisms.  He IS Eugene.  

Thank you, Maggie, for lighting that flare.  I could not see a damn thing.  

What are these bad memories Negan alludes to?  Hmm?  Him being a shit husband to Lucille back when he was still taking her for granted?  

Father G on Gage’s Walker--”All that is, is a shell of a man, who died a coward.”  Kind of ironic considering Father G’s own origins, huh?  Has he any warmth in there for anybody but Rosita and Coco?  Does he equate it with weakness?  

“There are worse ways.”  And Maggie proceeds to paint us a horror story with mere words.  

Dark Maggie really surpasses anything certain fans have ever accused Carol of being.  Is she too far gone?  Who the hell knows?  I think it’s clear that she and Carol are both on a sliding scale of sorts when it comes to being able to compartmentalize shit to survive.  Personally?  I feel like Maggie might have leap-frogged Carol in this episode but it matters none because of the double standards so deeply entrenched in this fandom.  Both women have endured and had to do some horrific things.  It’s not a contest.  But it’s probably going to be turned into a season-long one.  

It’s almost like Kang was like, “Ya’ll bitches think Carol’s dark?  I’ll show you DARK.  Check and mate.”  

Whatever the reasoning, Maggie just got exponentially more interesting to me if not likable.  And before anybody out there comes at me, it’s entirely possible to be on a character’s side in some things and not be all up their ass in love with them, lol.  Like I’m attached to her because she’s family and Glenn loved her.  There’s a loyalty there and she absolutely is justified in her hatred of Negan.  But I’m not going to pretend her shit don’t stink like everybody else’s.  

Speaking of my baby Glenn.  What would he think of this version of Maggie?  I think he would be gutted and heart stricken that events led to her being like this but he’d understand because he’s pure like that.  Don’t mean he’d be A-OK with it all.  

Dog must be protected at all costs.  

Confession.  I know not the fuck who Pony Boy is, but I know him because all my fandom friends have pointed him out to me, lol.  RIP, Man.  I think you’re number’s up or close to it.  

Okay, though.  I admit it.  I am kinda LOVING Badass Father G.  

That scene in the subway car with all of them working to take all the Walkers out was already badass.  Then Daryl arrived and made it, in @freefromthecocoon’s words, HAWT.  LOL.  

Eugene staring at that little black book like it contains torture tools, hehehe.  

“Processed?  As in administratively?  Processed as in bologna or other meat stuffs?  This inquiring (enquiring?) mind needs to know.”  OMG, Eugene.  I admit it.  Even if it makes me look like a lunatic, LOL.  I straight up LMAO at that one.  I mean, ten years later and Terminus still fresh on the man’s mind.  

“You like feeling nervous?”  Well, no.  None of us that do, Mercer?  Do.  

Then he proceeds to make me howl with his “You can’t lie for shit” to Eugene.  

Josh McDermitt?  I love you, Man.  40 year old virgin, LOL.  

All this talk over the seasons of Daryl’s virginity and we have Eugene, hahaha.  But was he telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?  

Finally.  Some daylight.  Where I can see.  

Eugene’s relief at seeing his friends safe and sound was such a beautiful thing to see.  I loved those hugs.  

Mercer’s face when he snarled “beat cop” in disdain to Ezekiel.  I think I’m gonna love this dude.  

“I went to West Point.  Asshole.”  Yeah.  I am.  

I know they probably catfishing Eugene right here because spoilers tell us that ain’t Stephanie.  But my heart still did a little d’aww.  Angela.  Don’t play with his poor heart like that.  

What’s got Daryl so pensive, huh?  Is it that the note reminds him of kids being lost or taken from their family? Or separated from their family?  Is he thinking of those Grimes babies and wondering if Michonne will ever make it back and why and how she was able to leave them behind?  Tell me it ain’t that Find Me nonsense.  

“This place sure has gone to shit since the last time I was here.”  LMAO, JDM.  I mean Negan.  Sorry.  Sorry.  I still hate Negan, but JDM has me entertained at least since they gave the asshole some shades of gray.  And speaking of shades of gray.  I’m loving the gray beard.  JDM’s looking GOOD (hear that NR?  Embrace the gray).  Negan can still kick rocks, lol.  

Anyway.  That scene was CREEPY AF.  Not even gonna lie.  

The Reapers strutting right on up to our group like it’s The Purge:  ZA.  

My bad, Pony Boy. Now RIP.  

Dark, dark episode with loads of tension broken up by some welcome humor by Princess.  The girl is fast becoming a fave of mine.  

My baby’s back next week!!!

I’m just going to plug my ears and pretend they’re trying to capture/recapture the horses because they’re pets.  Not because they’re starving so bad they feel the need to eat them.  La la la la la.  I can’t hear you.  

[intothewickedwood]

Once Upon A Time Rewatch: 7x05 Greenbacks

Oh! Okay I thought I was on episode 6. Forgot about this one!

Listen, I love Tiana to bits but I’m not big on her centrics. I don’t find them very memorable, and they could have done so much more with them. I wish the frog had actually been Naveen. 

You know, I’m almost certain the frog wasn’t her Prince because they never intended to introduce Naveen. With her flirtatious relationship with Wish Hook/Rogers, I’m sure that was the road they intended to go down. And it would have been amazing! All that build-up. And the cut scene where they looked like they were flirting on a bench. I would do anything to see that! I think they made last-minute changes to their plans because fans were outspoken about not wanting any version of Hook with anyone but a version of Emma. Such a shame! Oh, well, Tiana and Wish Hook are married after the finale in my head and she’s a wonderful step mum to Alice. 

Tremaine and Gothel having a tea party!

Gothel is so creepy.

Sabine’s top is so pretty! 

How does Tiana know Drizella? Rich circles, I guess.

Drizella is so damn cruel.

I wanna try a beignet! 

I love the look of the symbol of the Coven of the Eight.

This is interesting. They’re putting a Princess in the position where she has to face those less well-off after she was upset about losing her expensive things. I guess it puts things into perspective for her. 

Facilier! 

They look delicious.

It must have been difficult adjusting to life as a human after being a frog.

Lol Victoria’s really enjoying that beignet.

Oh her father was a prince, not a king. That makes more sense. I thought they made him King because he won the war. 

Ivy reminds me so much of one of the tweevils from the Bratz cartoon series lol. She literally is Kirstee! Omg, I just found out their surname is actually ‘Tweevil’ xD.

Ivy must have put that photo in there but was it meant to wake up Henry or Regina. I’m guessing it wasn’t Henry because then the curse would break. So then, she somehow knew Regina would be the one to come. I’m not saying she was putting on that makeup before Regina turned up for Regina but I’m not saying she didn’t either. Got a crush, Ivy? That girl has such saphic energy. Love it!

Sabine and Lucy’s friendship is really adorable too!

Hey, don’t stab Tiana in the leg! Is she gonna be okay? 

Woah! Facilier’s magic looked really cool.

That frog is huge! Isn’t it a toad?

The frog twist lol.

Agfddrgffh! Sabine and Rogers interaction! It’s so cute! I love them so much! I’m so happy they’re married now.

Victoria is such a horrible mother to Drizella omg. Of course Drizella would have trouble adjusting to a different mother after being raised by Cecilia all those years. She was a child! Talk about holding a grudge! 

Woah! That was frightening! Gothel at it again, being a creeper.

Ivy: “What can I say, I’m a clever girl.” Gothel: “And a good one too. She may not see that, but I do.” Ivy can’t help but smile when Gothel says that. It means so much to her. Ivy, she is playing you! She knows you crave a mother’s love and she’s using that to manipulate you! 

Gothel: “My sweet Ivy.” She’s really going for it.

And here we find out Drizella was awake all along! 

Actually, this episode was better than I remembered.