#like I think his whole gimmick would be like. he makes a ‘story’ for human narrator to react to

[squuote]

I think the most I can say bout my swap stanley is that he’s definitely way more chill than the narrator. where the narrator would put in so much thought and care and detail into it, swap stanley just goes with the basic thing. like he would not care about appearance in the slightest. he just picked the first draft he made and called it a day.

[tmnt-tychou]

All Hallows Eve

Meant to be Bayverse, but you could probably imagine its any of them.

Female Reader x All Four Turtles (Slightly Mikey x Reader)

All Hallows Eve

She was dressed as an angel, standing on a street corner looking lost. The white feathered wings with matching boots seemed to glow with a light all their own in the dark, tin-foil halo glittering above her head. She caught Michelangelo's attention with her costume, but he had no plan to approach her at first.

Halloween was the one day a year where he and his brothers could walk the streets in the open without people screaming for their lives. But it still came with its own caveats. They only went out at night and stayed away from any bright lights that could give people a clear look at their forms. And they could never stay in one place for too long. People would compliment their “costumes” in passing, but if they lingered, people would realize they were too big, too real to be costumes.

So even though they were out among the humans, they continued to live in the shadows like ninja, but enjoying the fanfare of a New York Halloween. It was the closest any of them could get to feeling like part of society and Michelangelo milked it for all he could. He kept moving through the neighborhood block parties, enjoying the costumes and partaking of the street food.

That was when Michelangelo saw her. She seemed to be looking for something, or she was lost. But he wasn't sure if he should approach. Not until she looked his way; looked right at him. Her eyes were big, haunting. And they drew him in like she needed him. He found himself walking out of the crowd toward her.

“Hey there, Angel,” he said, referring to her costume. “You okay?” He knew he was big, even for someone pretending to be in a costume. He tried to hunch, make himself smaller. Non-threatening to a woman being approached by a stranger.

She didn't seem to be bothered by his looks or his size. She almost seemed relieved someone had asked about her. “I...I think I'm a bit lost. I was trying to get to a party, but I don't know the city very well and...” she looked at her empty hands, “I've misplaced my phone so I don't have the address.”

“Well that's no good,” Michelangelo replied. “Can I help you find it? Do you remember the address?”

She shrugged helplessly. “I only moved to the city a few weeks ago. I don't know where anything is. I met some people who invited me to this party.” She paused for a moment, as if trying to stop herself from getting emotional. “I just wanted to make some friends here.”

Michelangelo knew better, but he spoke anyway. “I'll be your friend. My name's Mike. My brothers and I are just out enjoying the vibe. Do you want to hang with us for a bit? Then I can make sure you get home when you're ready. Uh...that is if you're okay kicking it with some strangers for a while.”

She smiled, grateful. “That sounds like a lot of fun. Are your brothers giant turtles, too?”

He laughed. “Yeah, we all decided to wear the same thing. Like a group costume.”

He didn't notice she mentioned nothing about costumes.

***********

“What I'm saying is the whole shtick of The Addams Family is that they're weirdos,” Donatello said as he chewed on a caramel apple slice. “They're different than anybody else. But when you put her in a boarding school where everyone is weirdos—supernatural creatures—you're throwing the whole gimmick of the franchise out the window. The story would have worked better if the school was full of normal people. And she would have been the only one able to solve the murder mystery because only she would have suspected a supernatural killer.”

Raphael picked up his forth taco of the night. For a mutant his size, they were hardly a mouthful. But damn, they were so good. “I dunno about any of that, Don. But if you didn't like 'Wednesday', you don't have to keep watching it.”

“Yo, broooos!” Michelangelo called from below. “Come meet our new friend.”

The three other turtles looked down from where they sat on various levels of a metal fire escape. Each had been enjoying the food they collected from the street party, but had ultimately decided to eat in private and watch the people from the alley where they hid.

Leonardo, who was perched just a little higher than Raphael, leaned down so his face was more to his level. “Does Mike have a human with him?”

Raphael sighed. “Looks like. He's always been a sucker for a pretty face. Especially one that will say two words to him. Any two words. Even if it's 'fuck off.'”

Leonardo smirked and then gripped the railing. “Well, let's go meet Mike's new friend and hopefully that will be that.” But he wasn't thinking. He just hopped over the rail and landed two stories down like it was nothing.

Even Michelangelo was silently motioning for him to cut it on the ninja stuff as the two remaining brothers climbed down like normal people.

“So these are my brothers: Don, Raph, and Leo,” Michelangelo introduced. “And this beautiful angel is uh...” He looked helplessly to the human woman.

“Angel works,” she smiled back. “Hi.”

They all smiled back at her, a little awkward and a little clueless on what to do with her.

“Angel got lost trying to get to a party,” Michelangelo continued. “She's new in town and doesn't know the city too well. I thought we could hang out with her for a while and then make sure she gets home safe. What do you guys think?”

The brothers looked at each other and wordlessly agreed. How could they turn down anyone needing a safe chaperon for the night?

“You hungry, Angel?” Raphael asked.

“I could eat.” Her shrug made her cute little wings flap slightly and all four turtles went a little soft for her. She was a woman their age and she looked at them without fear. Like they were her peers. Like they were normal. How could they not go a little soft for that?

As the bottomless pits they were, the turtles didn't mind buying more food for themselves as well. They were happy to purchase anything Angel wanted while they were at it. At first, they wanted to make it quick. They knew lingering out among the humans for too long would give them away. But this time, something amazing happened.

Angel happened. All it took was one person to be with them. To talk with them like they were normal people and that strange bridge between human and mutant was built. With Angel near them, no matter how much their size crept into the uncanny valley for the masses, they were normal. Other people partying on the street didn't stare at them and quickly walk away anymore. A few people even stopped to compliment them on their costumes or even ask how they were made.

Raphael usually answered with random comments like “animatronics and rubber suits” or “it's CGI” and people would walk off confused. But not scared, and that was the important part.

As Leonardo ordered a basket of fries at a food truck to share with their new friend, he heard her talking to Donatello.

“Right?” she was saying. “This boarding school wasn't even really Addams Family core either. It was like...slightly spookier Hogwarts. Slightly. Fucking Harry Potter. Now everything has to be at a school.”

“I see you both have some strong feelings about a TV show,” Leonardo joked as he approached them. He offered Angel the warm fries in his hand. He thought she would take the whole basket, it was mostly meant for her. But she only took a few.

“For the most part, I was pretty on board with the whole show,” she continued. “But when Wednesday was stabbed, that was...jarring. Usually the family is portrayed as either liking pain, or they are somewhat impervious to injury. Maybe a bit of both. You never really know for sure. There's almost an immortal feel to them. There's just too many stories today that should have been original projects, but they keep being tacked onto existing franchises, but they don't have any respect for the lore.”

“Exactly!” Donatello agreed. He also grabbed a few fries and put them in his mouth. “The show and the story weren't bad per se, but it's not really an Addams Family story, so it wasn't as satisfying for fans as it could have been with a few tweaks.”

“God, are you still dragging that show?” Michelangelo sighed. “Angel, come dance with me. Let's enjoy this party while we can.”

He grabbed her hand, so small and delicate in his. She allowed him to lead her out into the thick of the crowd. The Monster Mash was playing over the speakers, a DJ at the stage in the front. The two found themselves a space to boogie and went about shaking their asses, just another normal pair in the sea of costumed party-goers.

“So what made you move to New York?” Michelangelo asked.

“Just trying some place new,” Angel replied. “Got tired of the little podunk town I came from. Not a lot of work there. Was hoping to find more opportunities out here. Maybe get some schooling in. What about you? How long have you been in the NYC?”

“All my life. Was born here. Might even die here. Big fan of the Big Apple.”

“Oh yeah? What do you do with yourself here?”

“Uh...” He paused for a bit, brain trying to come up with a reasonable response. No one had ever asked him his occupation before. “I work with the city in kind of a...crime watch capacity. Trying to clean the crime off the streets, make neighborhoods safer. That kind of thing.”

“Oh, like with the police?”

“I mean...we work with the police sometimes but what we do is more like...a neighborhood watch situation but on a larger scale.”

“Does that pay anything?”

“Uh, not really. It's more of a non-profit type organization. Donnie's the one that makes all the money. He's into tech and sells patents and stuff. He sort of bankrolls us so we can keep going.”

“Oh wow, that's a really noble goal. Though how to do watch the neighborhood on nights that aren't Halloween? With you guys being big turtles and all?”

At first, Michelangelo thought she was joking. “Heh, what?”

“You know, you guys are big turtles. How do you get around the other days of the week if you look after the neighborhoods? You can't convince people these are costumes forever.”

It was such a jarring revelation that Michelangelo's brain shut down, and then immediately went into panic mode. He picked her up under his arm like she was a plank of wood and fled the open area. He slipped through the crowds of people with an uncanny ease for his size and then continued to run past where his brothers were standing.

“Mike!” Raphael called after him.

When that didn't even slow his brother down, the three followed after him into a small, dead-end alley that was poorly-lit and would have very little visibility from the street.

“What?” Leonardo asked as they caught up with him. “What happened?”

By then, Michelangelo had set Angel back on her feet and then chewed nervously on his nail. “She knows!” he hissed, as if he were trying to keep it a secret from those who may be nearby.

“She...knows?” Raphael parroted, confused.

“That we're turtles.”

“Yeah, of course you're turtles,” she replied. She touched Michelangelo's arm and he visibly stiffened at her contact. “Clearly, these aren't costumes. I just think it's cool that you come out one night a year to hang out with people like this.”

“Uh...we actually come out a lot...just not...you know, street level,” Michelangelo replied.

“You mean you...” she pointed to the rooftops. “Is that where you live?”

“No, but it's how we usually get around.”

“Oooh! Like Batman!”

“Right! Yes! Like Batman!” Raphael agreed with excitement.

“Okay, okay, lets calm down,” Leonardo said. “This is a lot to take in all at once. You realized we weren't in costume and you didn't really say anything?”

Angel shrugged. “Hey, you guys were nice to me and you weren't trying to like get me alone in a dark alley or anything. Uh...except for right now. But you guys seem safe. What do I care what you look like? There's not many nice people in this city.

“I thought I would at least be meeting some fun strangers for a night and have the best Halloween. And maybe I would see you guys again, or maybe you were something magical that only happened on All Hallows Eve. Either way, it would be a good memory.”

She looked at the brothers who all had various bewildered looks on their faces. This person, she was someone special. Someone interesting. Someone who rolled with the weird and uncanny. Someone they could possibly make friends with. It had been years since they had dared to bring a new person into their world.

“So...what do you want to do now?” Donatello asked.

“I liked what we were doing,” Angel replied. “Let's keep hanging out. Eat good food, dance to music, talk to each other. And maybe I'll see you again after this?”

The brothers all looked at each other and smiled.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Raphael agreed while Michelangelo nodded excitedly.

“If you're okay with the turtle thing, we're definitely hanging out again.” Michelangelo offered his arm and she took it.

They went back to the block party. They danced and joked. They enjoyed the music, the food, the costumes. The turtles were brighter now. Not so guarded, not so careful or suspicious of the people around them. It had been a long time since anyone new had appeared into their close circle of people they trusted. This was the first one who was their own age. She had seen them and accepted them on sight. This knowledge came with a bit of a happy high for the turtles. A burst of hope and joy at being discovered and immediately accepted without even a demand for an explanation.

And they wanted her to know. They wanted her to see their world. After this night of costumes, they planned to see her again, to show her and share what they were with her. It had been a good Halloween night.

“It's getting late and it's getting cold,” Leonardo eventually announced. “Angel, can we help you get home?”

“If you could walk me to my car?” she replied. “I parked a few blocks away.”

She nodded in the direction they needed to go and Leonardo hovered a hand over the small of her back to guide her.

“It's our pleasure.”

“You think your phone is in the car somewhere?” Michelangelo asked. “If you find it, we can trade numbers.”

“You guys have phones? Like normal phones?” she laughed.

“Of course,” Donatello said in a pragmatic tone. “Why wouldn't we?”

“Oh uh...I guess you could get phones if you really wanted them. Sorry, my bad. I guess you guys feel more magical than practical to me. Like you'll just poof away at the stroke of midnight. Knowing you have phones makes you feel a little more real.”

“Oh, we're real, Angel,” Raphael said with a flirty smile.

“And we'll be your friends if you want us to be,” Leonardo said softly. “We don't have many of those.”

“Neither do I,” Angel replied with the same soft tone. “I would really like that a lot.” They walked a few more feet and she pointed to the last building on the block. “My car is just around this corner.”

As they turned the corner, the turtles jumped back at the sudden red and blue flashing lights. Several police cars and one ambulance were clustered around the accident site of a two-car collision.

“Shit, Angel, I don't think we can walk you all the way to your car. But you should be hella safe with all the—” Michelangelo turned to the woman who had been standing right next to her. But in a blink, she was no longer there. “Angel?” He looked around, then looked at his brothers. “Dude, where'd she go?”

“She was...just right there,” Donatello said in confusion.

Leonardo peered around the corner to see if she had gone on ahead while Raphael looked behind them.

“I don't think she bailed. Where is she?”

Pressed to the side of the building, Leonardo audibly gasped. “I think...I see her.”

The others huddled around him to see what he was looking at. Out of one of the smoking cars, paramedics carried a female body dressed all in white, complete with halo and feathery white wings. White that was marred with smatterings of dark red blood. The body was set on a stretcher where the entire form was covered in a white sheet. No further first aid was administered to costumed angel as she was wheeled to the ambulance. That could only mean one thing.

“What? That...no, that can't...” Michelangelo struggled. “She was here with us all night. I touched her. I fucking picked her up in my arms!”

In his ear, he heard Donatello's ragged breathing, as if he were about to have a panic attack.

“Hey!” A police officer caught their shadows peering around the corner and they quickly ducked out of sight. When the human started toward their location, they quickly took to the rooftops in hopes of getting a better view. But by then, the body was already loaded into the ambulance to be taken away and Angel was nowhere else to be found.

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

Her death didn't even make the news. What was one collision with a drunk driver with all the other crazy stuff that happened in New York on Halloween? And the turtles were never quite sure what happened that night; what they truly witnessed.

Only a few days into November, they all stopped talking about it. Tried to pretend it didn't happen. And it worked for most of the year. But then...October rolled around again. And as Halloween drew closer, the brothers didn't generate their usual excitement for their one holiday a year when they could go out on the street among the citizens. They still didn't talk about it. And when the night came, there was a certain unspoken trepidation in the air.

“You're not going out tonight?” Splinter asked them as they all brooded in the living room.

“Thinking about it, but...” Raphael trailed off.

“It just feels...weird,” Michelangelo added.

The other two brothers didn't say anything, but they seemed to agree with the sentiment.

“It is a shame your friend passed away after you had only known her for a while,” Splinter said. “But I don't think she would have liked that her memory tainted this holiday for you. You should be thankful you were able to have that time with her before she was gone.”

There was an uncomfortable silence from the turtles. As much as they tried to explain, Splinter never quite understood what they experienced. In his mind, they had met their friend during the party and then she had died in an accident on the way home after. All attempts to explain to the contrary resulted in failure.

“What if you went out just for a while to pay your respects? Perhaps find some closure,” Splinter then offered.

The brothers perked up a little and looked at each other. Something about that felt right.

**********

They went to the site of the crash, a year ago that day. They thought maybe anyone else might be there. Someone who missed her. Someone who felt the loss of her. Humans left flowers at sites like these on an anniversary like this, right? But there was nothing there. A year later, no evidence that the incident ever happened. The only proof that a life was lost here was that several of the road's street lights had been fixed. The collision had been largely blamed on most of the street lights being in disrepair at the time, even though one of the drivers had been drunk.

The turtles stood beside the street, out of the direct glow of the repaired street lights.

“So...do we say something or...?” Donatello asked softly.

“I dunno, we hardly knew her,” Raphael responded.

“Say something if you feel like it,” Leonardo offered.

They were all quiet for a moment, then Michelangelo spoke. “Well, Dudette, you seemed to be a super awesome chick. Too bad we didn't get a chance to see how awesome you really were.”

“A true tragedy,” Donatello agreed.

They stood for a while more and then turned to leave. The music and noise from the block party near by reached them before they could remove the nearest manhole cover.

“You guys wanna pick up some food before we head home?” Michelangelo suggested. “Grab something for Splinter too? See a few costumes, listen to some music before we go?”

The season called to them. It always did. The one festival a year about darkness and masked faces. Spooky fun and all sorts of delicious food. They had to be a part of it, just for a while.

The brothers split up, aiming for their favorite vendors. It wasn't like the year before, where they had a human friend hanging out with them, making them look normal. Now it was back to sticking to the shadows. Darting in and out to get what they were after and then sneaking back to the allies so no one stared at them for too long, lest they be figured out.

Michelangelo meant to grab some caramel apples for himself and one for Splinter, but the music and the atmosphere of the party caught his attention. He still wished to be in the middle of it. Talking with people, laughing, feeling like one of them. Even on this day of magic, he could only exist on the outskirts.

And then...something caught his eye. A woman dressed all in white. A little glittery halo and white, feathery wings. His breath caught in his chest. She turned, as if sensing his eyes on her. Angel looked right at him and smiled.

Happy Halloween

Tag List: @thelaundrybitch @leosgirl82 @dilucsflame33 @akesdraws-blog @happymoonangel @fluffytriceratops @beautifulfunanchor @asultrysiren @thepinkpanther83 @yorshie @yamanekomono @androidships007 @raphsmuneca @igotlostinthesewers @silversunskyless

[tangledbea]

Hey Bex! What gimmick do you think Gothel would have had if she had been a spirit? Like Tromus and Sugracha, what do you picture her “Boss Battle” being?

This is such an interesting question, Roy! I read this ask last night and decided to go to bed and think on it because I wanted to give you a really good answer.

So first, I want to go over a few facts that we know. The first is that we don't know what Tromus and Sugracha were like when they were alive. We do know that the "Mrs. Sugarby" guise that Sugracha took on was not her natural one, but "the vessel [she] chose to suit [her] purpose." It's safe to assume that Tromus is the same. Yes, the silhouettes they used in "Lost and Found" were of them, but that was so the audience would recognize them.

Second, let's break down their known powers that seem special:

Sugracha: Can travel unseen through crowds in her spirit form. Can control multiple people's minds at a time (perhaps only if she's giving them all the same task?), using a trigger sound to "activate" them. It's possible that she has a connection to art (I've RP'd a story with her where she could bring paintings to life for combat purposes) but we have no solid evidence of this. The manipulation/mind control seems to be her biggest "trick," though it's a pretty powerful one.

Tromus: Seems to like to collect magical artifacts (we don't know that he created any of the things in his house, only that he had them). Can put/keep people asleep and invade and control their dreams. Built the House of Yesterday's Tomorrow out of sand?

Like Sugarcha, his biggest "trick" seems to be tied into manipulation, something we know Gothel was skilled at as a human.

So I think Gothel's manipulation would continue to be mundane and not magical in nature. I wrote an au RP once where Rapunzel's power didn't come directly from the sun, but was tied to light itself. In that RP, Gothel had power over darkness and shadows. She could manipulate them, travel through them, remove the light from a room by increasing the shadow. In the movie, she used darkness to manipulate Rapunzel a lot, snuffing out her candles, using shadows to create monstrous forms to frighten her, and making sure that she was the only thing Rapunzel could see in a gauntlet of shadowed horrors. She even used the dark of night in the forest by the campsite to make herself more threatening and intimidating, and to seem to vanish. So, I think Gothel's spirit power would be darkness/shadows. It would feed into her drama, as well as her manipulation.

Can you imagine Rapunzel and Eugene and Lance having to fight spirit Gothel in the dark? Rapunzel's C-PTSD triggered not only by her presence, but by all the tricks she was playing that had been used against Rapunzel her whole life? Can you imagine how worried Eugene would be, paranoid that at any moment, there'd be a knife in his side, and trying to keep it together for Rapunzel's sake? Can you imagine Lance just having none of it, and succumbing to a panic attack, because he's skittish at the best of times, but this time he knows there's a threat out there in the dark? It would be horrifying and wonderful to watch.

[coredrill]

okayyyyyyyy initial bravern finale thoughts. i think i will be thinking abt this show for the next 7-10 business years so more to come ofc but. AH!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ISAMI SINGING THE OP LET THAT BE DIEGETIC TOO!!!!!!!!!! AND ALSO ON SPOTIFY!!!!!!!!!!

isami off his Fucking rocker at that one point like Yeah you deserve it king go OFF LMAO. i found that quite satisfying :] real talk tho for as much as i call him baby rice cracker all the time i really love him as a protagonist? like he just feels so damn human in the way he struggles so much but tries his best and then gets hit AGAIN but keeps trying again and again anyways. it's really good! and his whole arc of like. learning that he Can rely on others and with that reliance brings mutual care..............sobs

i love that piloting these fucking things just makes your hair grow. LMFAO

okay i know i've been complaining abt the translation of "bang brave" or whatever tf smith keeps saying before he dies BUT the reveal that that is just ANOTHER thing he's doing bc he's a Fucking Freak and isami thinks it's weird too KILLED ME. smith: "brave bang :]" isami: If You Say That Shit One More Time You're Sleeping On The Couch Tonight". what is wrong with you lewis smith!!!!!!!!!!

i wouldn't be atall surprised if this show got the ssssg treatment and got four million random manga/light novel spinoffs especially considering it's consistently like the most popular show in japan lmao. the lulu-superbia spinoff sounds like a lot of fun so i'd def be interested to see more in that vein!!! i need to learn japanese tho cause no way they're getting eng translations!!!!

i feel like. there is a specific Vibe of mecha thing that verum vita fits which Also includes dissonanza backarrow and uhhhh idk the name but that one mf who pops up in ep30ish of gaogaigar and is just kinda like. observing? like verum vita is not a court jester like the other two and this analysis does not go any deeper than Vibes but. it had me leo dicaprio pointing like. another one!!!

i'm literally obsessed with the unhinged worldbuilding in this show. like?

population is nine billion???

the suez canal is still blocked????

if you're gay you can just. Do That ???

like i love that they don't explain this shit either it's so funny to me. LMAO

something something smith can only express himself and his love for isami as bravern not just bc it gives him as a character/person separation from his Human Self but also. bc i wouldn't be surprised if that was The Way to get the queer stuff so blatant, bc he was in robot form rather than one human man saying "i love you" to another and then glomping him in an explicitly romantic sense after all the talk of riding and him being inside him. LMAO. this isn't a complaint beyond a vague shake of the fist at Corporations and TV Censors, just smth i think is REALLY interesting and which i had a surprising amount of fun watching play out from a story perspective :]

i feel like my hottest bravern take is and will always be that i really don't mind the 12eps LMAO. like i thought it provided a fun variety of Situations with which to deal with the DDs and it didn't give it enough time for the gimmick or mystery elements to start to feel old. also i am just generally of the opinion that most stories would work better if you wrote them to be told in X amount of time and then had to trim off like. 40% of that. so i know it's a personal thing but i think it worked well for bravern!!

i do wish we'd gotten to see smith and isami hug if only cause i think isami fuckin needs it. LMAO. but overall i'm satisfied w their arc, especially bc i think the whole "beyond bang brave" thing works REALLY well w smith returning to his human body. like as soon as superbia kicked it i had a feeling that would happen, and obv it's textually referring to isami/bravern/lulu's massive super robot powerup, but i also think it can just mean like. what happens After? cause smith keeps saying "bang brave" or whatever tf when he dies but to go Beyond that is to come back to life and experience a life where he can receive love, too (i.e., via cooking and food AND ALSO via Literally being brought back to life from bravern's heart. who had just merged with isami on a particle level or whatever lmao). so i'm rly satisfied with how it played out in the end :]

overall i think my only real complaint w the show on the whole aside from the military propaganda was that the boys looked like such fucking DERPS in half their shots. lmao. like obviously i'm biased cause i'm a sakuga whore and i actually rly do like their more realistic style a surprising amount cause i usually don't go for that sort of thing but uh. there's a reason that lulu is the human i gif most often and it's cause she always looked better than them by a long shot FSKDLJH. her character animation was consistently the best & most expressive and she was always the most on-model which. FUCKING DESERVED BTW. her arc was incredible and i'm so excited to rly think about her some more and dig into her as like. a rei ayanami clone (maybe even specifically rebuild? w the "your hair grows long inside your mecha" thing) but who takes control of HER OWN STORY TOO and is able to grow wildly beyond being that story point. like i love that she's taken care of too. agh she's really such an amazing character maybe i'll have to cosplay her too FKLDJSHF i'm rotating her in my brain So Much

overall that was really good and i really enjoyed it and i can't wait for the blurays <333 i love it when robot shows are made by people who love robot shows!!!!!

[that-rackin-frackin-varmint]

#4— 07/24/2022 12:17 AM

Back in Action review sort of

Back in Action is so funny to me. Cuz under my typical critical lens, I wouldn’t actually enjoy it as a whole, cuz the human characters aren’t that engaging, the villain is kinda forgettable (if not weirdly toon-like in demeanour), and the story I feel suffered some cutbacks (seeing from the sheer amount of deleted content).

I think what really saves it from being unbearable to me is the fact that the emotional backbone of it is Daffy and Bugs’ relationship, and especially Daffy.

He was portrayed so well with his character displaying the capacity to be so obnoxious and untouchable when he was toying with the security guard/human protagonist — which would mirror Bugs’ effortless ability to torment the ceo of comedy. So it puts them on equal standing in the sense that both are very good at tormenting people as individuals. And what’s more, the movie really goes out of its way to hold value to Daffy’s feelings, like not making his insecurities a joke (until the very last minute but I’ll get to that). The movie is very much driven by Daffy but it’s not made that apparent:

Why is this movie happening?

Because Daffy wanted to make a movie that focused on him without needing Bugs. Which ended with him getting fired.

What is the driving force of the story?

Daffy’s desire to take control of his life and be a hero of the story. But also the emotional desire to be treated like an equal.

Why doesn’t he want to come back to Warner Bros Studio?

Externally, it’s because he would rather go and find the monkey treasure with the human guy (which is just as true since Daffy’s very materialistic). Internally, it’s because he feels underappreciated and undervalued by the studio (and by association, Bugs).

The movie feels like it recognizes the anguish of Daffy’s odd status, and it doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the potent angst he could feel from being seen as replaceable. Course they didn’t get into anything obscure, like making Daffy mention his past as being beloved in the 30s-40s ish, cuz that’d be a lot of context for an average movie goer. So can’t say if that era was a thing for Daffy in this movie, but it feels like a natural development that after years of being second fiddle to Bugs, and not getting any of the acknowledgement for it, the guy would try to suggest a movie that centred around him. You can tell he’s done something like this a bunch of times before, but this time the new ceo of comedy straight up told him he has no leverage since his audience is pretty trashy, and he isn’t all that. So he got canned. Which also didn’t seem like a first time, since Bugs mentions he can make sure the pay won’t be docked as bad. Which brings me to my next topic: Bugs.

Bugs in this movie is not as dialled down like he is in the Space Jam movies, or TLTS. He is very manipulative and subtle when he wants to be, but also very teasing and attached to Daffy. Tbh, he isn’t as well-rounded of a lead as Daffy, but he is basically just following Daffy because he 1) cares about him, and 2) wants Daffy to get hired back into Warner Bros. When I say he ‘cares about him’, it’s not under any guise or gimmick, Bugs will go through the entire film because Daffy wants to. He personally isn’t invested in whatever monkey treasure Daffy and the security guard are up to, but he is kind of “obligated” since the ceo wants to find Daffy and get him back (since he isn’t as replaceable as she thought, as in, Bugs probably had a hand in screwing over her rep — quick tangent but I want to believe the only reason they were doing a Duck season-Rabbit season short without Daffy was because Bugs somehow led the conversation to that conclusion). Really, Bugs is capable of a lot of things, so if he didn’t want to be here, he probably wouldn’t. His emotional investment in the movie is Daffy. And that’s enough for him. Which is where I get into the ending of the movie…

God, when Bugs pulled a “Duck season! Rabbit season!” card on Daffy as his way of disguising a compliment, and Daffy caught onto the validation but not the point that Bugs was complimenting him, it felt right, like this was how it was going to end, and his arc was getting resolved.

And then we get a shot of the room but in a set, and my heart sank.

Bugs ends up coming out on top, as Daffy did technically end up starring in his movie. And this is the movie we’re watching at this moment. And Daffy’s resolution measures up to an empty promise from Bugs that he’ll be treated as an equal or something (I can’t remember what the exact promise was, I just know Bugs wouldn’t keep it). And so nothing changed, and maybe it meant something that this movie — which in-world was somewhat controlled by Bugs — was very much Daffy-focused as Daffy had wanted. But it’s conclusion is as ultimately ineffectual as Bugs’ efforts to somewhat give Daffy recognition. This movie can be deconstructed by the way Bugs described how he reconciles with Daffy:

“I tell him I need him. We hug, we cry, I drop something heavy on him, I laugh.”

If you were watching and emotionally invested in Daffy’s feelings like me, you got the second-hand equivalent of Bugs “dropping something heavy on him”. That even after Daffy got all that screentime, there’s no promise that things will change for him or his status. And Bugs basically leaves amused. And yes this only sounds as bleak cuz I’m viewing this so critically. That’s how I have fun, very tragic.

Basically, what this whole essay amounts to is that watching the movie on surface level is a drag.

But watching it under the perception that you’re watching Daffy and Bugs’ complicated relationship unfold on screen, makes it a lot more entertaining.

Present day thoughts:

Yeah, I feel like most of my thoughts are still intact for how I feel about this movie as both a pseudo-outsider back then, and a slightly wiser looney tunes fan now.

I have continuously analysed this film to varying degrees of seriousness, so all that's changed is that I feel like I let the impact of the ending offset the gravity of the journey's events.

Cause, as cluttered as the final product was, this film's unorthodox approach to character arcs and pacing gives it this distinct looney tunes-esque quality to it that I've yet to see be replicated in any other looney tunes modern film. The ending doesn't undermine the journey our characters took to get there.

Similar sentiments to the well-renowned Duck Amuck short directed by Chuck Jones -- the ending plot twist shouldn't reduce the story's quality. It isn't known as the "Bugs Bunny tortures Daffy Duck for 7 mins" the short. It's the critically-acclaimed short held in high regard for Jones' ability to convey personality in the face of ego death using Daffy Duck as his muse. Bugs being the artist is just a punchline.

So to this movie's ending, let me pose you a rhetorical question. What would a looney tunes film be without a punchline?

[daisygrayce]

Our husbands are fucked, but it's not as bad as it seems.

The Season 2 storyline is not as it appears on the show. It’s a clever amusement that functions on two levels: Fun for the audience and fun for the artists. Neil has commented on Season 2 being a bridge between the novel “Good Omens” that he and Terry wrote together and the ending or second novel that he and Terry plotted out before Terry passed. This gives him an immense playground to work with in Season 2.

I have three theories that together create a more romantic and satisfying story from a relationship standpoint. It doesn’t mean that our husbands are not in danger. It does mean that they aren’t in the relationship jeopardy that it appears as they stare into the credits. It gives hope that they are going to be able to successfully fight for humanity and their happy ending in the Downs, and do it together. My theories are not necessarily popular, but I’ve put a lot of work into verifying them back to the actual episodes. They work. They even explain things like memory issues and are continuous from Season 1 cannon.

My theories are: a) Aziraphale and Crowley do an appearance swap in the pub scene. They were not able to swap back after the Gabriel issue was resolved. The swap in Season 1 was not the gimmick. It's our preparation for Season 2. b) Metatron has decided to bring about Armageddon himself and he needs Crowley to do it. He knows when he comes into the bookshop that Crowley and Aziraphale have swapped appearances. He is offering the coffee as a threat and a pact that will save Aziraphale. Crowley knows this. Aziraphale does not know that the Metatron knows about the swap and Crowley is not able to let him know, so he’s going to Heaven to protect Aziraphale. c) Aziraphale was an Archangel before he was demoted to Principality.

I know that’s a lot, but I have actual evidence that’s timestamped and tied to dialog and references. I know, obsess much? I want to do individual posts that discuss specific elements and present the actual evidence there. This is way too large a theory to drop into a Word document and post. Hopefully, I’ll learn to put in screenshots and gifs so the posts are more than just test. Eventually, I hope to link all of it together so it’s connected and flows based on the reader’s thought process. Finally, if I think it’s necessary, I’ll post a link to my actual research.

Given the dynamics of the theories above, the final scene and kiss take on a whole new meaning. It’s a call back to the dance that Aziraphale and Crowley make when Aziraphale and Crowley first asked Crowley asked help, in the office, and even begged “No, I would love you to help me. I’m asking you to help me take care of him.” It ends much like Crowley’s comment “I feel like your exactly and my exactly are different exactlys.” In the end, the steps of their dance here have been set. Aziraphale will ask Crowley to do good, in this case go to Heaven, and Crowley will disavow Heaven. Ultimately, they will disagree and Crowley will leave. Metatron has seen this dynamic, as he looked over their “past exploits” and expects nothing less. It’s crucial to his plan that they be separated. However, the clues are there that they are working together. They may not have resolved their relationship issues, and while they may feel somewhat misunderstood, they are not alone. They are still a team.

This is my happy place.

[forevercloudnine]

Hello! You mentioned in a tag that you think Pamela is Bruce's favorite, and it made me wonder. I'd definitely be interested to hear more on that, if you feel like talking about it! Love hearing your thoughts.

💗💗 So a few years ago I was reading the "Gothtopia" arc and was incredibly amused by Bruce casually letting Ivy escape from Arkham to return a favor she'd done him.

Notably, Ivy was the only inmate imprisoned in Arkham at the time, because Scarecrow locked her up for interfering. So Bruce literally helped her escape and then lied to Jim's face about it. I know you recently read Run, Riddler, Run, so here's an amusing comparison: in this story, Ivy is pointedly not reformed, she punches Bruce in the face before helping him, and Bruce still sets her free. Meanwhile, Bruce rewards the assistance of a reformed Edward by punching him in the face and making sure Edward is re-imprisoned.

And then ever since reading Gothtopia, I’ve just been noting how much more tolerant Bruce seems of Ivy than his other villains. Obviously a large element of that is the metatextual factor of Ivy being a female character-- it would clearly Look Really Bad for artists to depict Batman brutalizing a woman with the same sadistic detail with which they depict him assaulting his male villains. (Though ironically the metahuman plant goddess could probably brush off a punch much easier than his variety of entirely human gimmick villains).

There’s also the factor of writers continuously flip-flopping back and forth on whether or not they’re attracted to each other. I kind of thought Pamela’s current commitment to Harley meant this was over, but then Tynion’s run depicted Ivy as holding the same spot in Bruce’s subconscious as Selina and Talia, so I guess it isn’t (though maybe that just means the attraction is one-sided on Bruce’s part now, which would be an amusing twist on Ivy having an unreciprocated crush on him in the 90′s).

But over time I think Bruce’s faith in Ivy has become less about her being a woman (who he may or may not be attracted to), and more sympathy for her motivations. Especially now that she’s transformed from a femme fatale who wants to be the queen of crime to a zealous ecoterrorist who wants to save the planet.

For as much as their interests are entirely alien to each other (Ivy wants to protect nature, often at the cost of human life; Bruce wants to protect human life, often at the cost of... well, human life, actually), their obsessive dedication to doing what they think of as “good” is very similar. Which means Ivy is easier to negotiate with than other villains, since she has goals beyond greed or sadism that Bruce is able to compromise on. Which means it’s easier for Bruce to believe in her capacity for good, in a way that he normally doesn’t bother to believe in his villains, because it’s inevitable that they’ll disappoint him. Which also means that he GIVES Ivy opportunities to disappoint him...

Detective Comics #823 is a huge point of frustration to me because the concept is so fascinating and the execution is just ENDLESS objectification to the point that it almost erases the plot (story of my life trying to read Paul Dini’s writing). But I love the bones of it as a comic where Bruce sympathizes with Pamela, to the point of letting her stay in the Batcave to protect her from an attacker (I can’t even think of another example of Bruce doing this for a villain, outside of Joker in the BTAS comics, and doesn’t that say a lot on its own). But then he discovers evidence of Ivy having recently gruesomely murdered several people, and he is so illogically hurt and betrayed by this-- a woman he knows is a murderer having murdered people-- that he threatens to kill her.

It’s not uncommon for Bruce to threaten his villains with death (I have a whole subfolder on my computer dedicated just to times where he does so with Mr. Freeze), but it’s fascinating to me that Bruce frames the threat here as a question. He wants her to give him a reason to believe in her, even though he has just been faced with undeniable evidence that her view of human life is fundamentally incompatible with his. But Ivy doesn’t give him a reason-- she just calls him on his bluff, which I love.

In the current continuity, Ivy is honestly less Bruce’s supporting character so much as she is Harley’s, but Bruce IS still the main character of DC Detective Comics, so they still interact on occasion. Although ironically, I think the most recent example of my point is actually Ivy’s ex-girlfriend Bella comparing the two of them in Batman Secret Files: The Gardener.

Bella believes that Bruce will ignore her and simply try to imprison Ivy more effectively, which is probably what he would have done normally: Bruce is extremely set in his ways, and his way is to drag any villains he defeats back to Arkham even though he knows Arkham helps no one. The 2021 Detective Comics Annual was all about how Bruce still has to be dragged kicking and screaming into investing in the idea of any criminal being reformed, and resolutely does not consider it his responsibility to help them do so.

Ironically, however, we know that Bruce DID listen to Bella. The issue with their conversation is set in the timeline right before Everybody Loves Ivy, which ends with Bruce deciding to bring Pamela to “Sanctuary,” the therapy center he helped build for superheroes, rather than bringing her back to Arkham. His dialogue with Ivy even uses a lot of Bella’s points here, which is very fun retrospective writing from Tynion. But then Heroes in Crisis happened and... well, Bruce’s attempt to help her instead of hurt her ultimately made everything worse, and has now domino effect led to her current solo series where she is trying to kill off a significant portion of the planet’s human population. (In his defense, Bella’s attempts to fix Ivy also failed and backfired just as spectacularly.) But the fact that Bruce was willing to try is notable and so fascinating to me, since as a character he’s so resistant to setting himself up for disappointment.

[chaoticgremlinpriest]

howdy party people.  i became obsessed with the stanley parable, and also happened to start detroit become human at the same time. so i figured ,why not combine my two hyper fixations into a single au thing. so, behold. havent decided what the name is, but my buddy and i think it should either be detroit: become stanley, or stanley: become human. both funny. as for the story stuff, the farthest i got was narrator being a director, but being irritated at how much actors stand out nowadays. he wanted someone ordinary, who could act. his buddy jim who works at cyberlife got a team to make him a gift - the stan lad. he comes with ton of stuff, like parkour, multiple languages, multiple attachments, body language, sign language. turns out they included that last one because for some reason (will explain in a mo) his voicebox wont work.  theres a whole gimmick where the control pad can set parameters, reset stanley (which just makes him temporarily shut down until someone moves him to either another scene or the beginning and is MEANT to reset his memory of the previous script but doesnt), but for the beginning its used as a guide since, new toy, need instructions. well, as you can see, at some point, stanley is able to break free from his script and show emotion (distress). seeing as narrator is holding something stanley is directly connected to, he sends a distress message showing that he is in fact living and remembering every time he is reset or dies (another thing i am working on. like i dont know if its like, his body after dying will automatically put itself back together or what. that would be kinda gruesome though). as for the reason his voice box doesn’t work, my current reasoning is because it couldn’t put itself back together after he was broken for the first (test) time. and seeing as jim kicked down a door asking where his special gift was, they decided it was 95% complete, and the sign language could make up for it. dont know what the narrator will look like yet. its allllll just an idea. but!! im excited about it. its a little silly, but with all the parable AUs people have been makin, i figured i would try my hand at it. ^^ have a good day yalls! (this will look scuffed as i ramble and just type what comes to mind. apologies) oh yeah, i forgot. the funky model is IR200 which i wrote as standing for either Infinite Repetition or Infinite Reset. idk which is better

[puntastic-artist]

Thought I'd sketch the main Eddsworld gang as DnD characters and tried to think of how they'd play in game!

From left to right:

Matt: a Fire Genasi Monk (Way of Mercy).

For Matt I see a lot of people cast him as a Cleric or Sorcerer. It's really cool to see different takes! But in my opinion I think he'd be a shitty spell caster and would spend all of his spell slots healing every single hit he takes, and COMPLETELY forget about everyone else. He probably wouldn't keep track of the spell slots either. Instead I went the route of a Monk! As a player, Matt would absolutely be a front line fighter and mostly be focused on using Ki points to hit the target and get heals in return! It's the perfect class because he gets to be productive and a badass healer, but mostly focused on damage. The Fire Genasi was just for fun because if he's gonna have red hair

MAKE IT FIRE.

I don't really have any other in universe reasons for why I picked this. I just wanted to try something different and see how it works. Also I guess one reason was because he literally had a whole comic about how he punches someone in the face.

Edd: A Variant Human Warlock (The Fiend)

For Edd I wanted to have a bit of fun with this. My original idea was to make him a sorcerer, but they get their powers from birth and Edd is a human, so then I thought of a Wizard! But it was also a no from my end because he seems like a played who doesn't want to die from 1d4 ANYTHING damage. So I thought, what if, instead of having a patreon he made a pact with, what if instead his powers needed to be kept in check and he HIMSELF was his patreon?

To keep his powers in check he needs to drink magic cola at least once a day to keep the radioactivity in his body healthy and fuel his powers! He got his powers as a curse more so than how he did from Power Edd! He's definitely the team's DPS and is really good at saving his spell slots, with choosing human, I think he'd definitely want the stat boosts that came with picking it. He seems like he'd be really into roleplaying.

Plus just imagine how confused people would be if they were told your Patreon is fucking Coca-Cola and watch the horror form on their faces as you drink it.

Tord: a Changeling Artificer (Artillerist)

Tord seemed like he'd be a player who's really into playing a min-maxed character when it comes to stats, and doesn't really care about roleplay that much so he just picks the feats, the stats, and the background he thinks would be more beneficial to his character!

Tord is also a great engineer, as seen in the show. So why not become an artificer?

As for why a changeling, Tord is a shifty guy who can fool anyone. Like the chainsaw wielding maniac! You know the one, he pretended to be a photo while the real Tord snuck away. Who needs a disguise kit when you have Tord?

Tom: a Tiefling Bard (College of Spirits)

For Tom, I always see him as a Barbarian or rogue, which fit and are cool, but consider!

Bard Tom

Let the man use Susan.

He seems like the type of player who doesn't really care about combat and is more interested in the Roleplay aspect of it, and writes really interesting back stories, works with the DM to make really cool character moments and backstory plot lines, and uses vicious mockery in battle so well he gets advantage on it! He's definitely strong in his own right and prefers to provide buffs and heals for his team than actually fight because he views it as "Lame".

A Tiefling for Tom seemed like a fun idea! Giving the opportunity to incorporate his monster form in some way without making it a main gimmick for fighting only, and thought I'd focus more on the roleplay aspect of it! His monster form was worked in as a curse and acts as more of a Hulk type of deal!

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2024, #3: Chrono Trigger (DS Version)

Completed: January 13th (first run including sidequests) / January 20th (NG+/all endings/near-100% completion run)

Time spent: 35 hours (first run)/55 hours (NG & NG+)

Rating: 7.5/10

i'll get the easy critique out of the way first, and this is specifically a DS version issue (/maybe a steam issue too? not sure): oh my god why the fuck did they think adding the lost sanctum and dimensional vortex sidequests would be a good idea. neither of them add a single thing to the story and are literally like 15 hours of boring as hell sidequests. whyyyyyy did they add this this was PAINFUL to do as a completionist. jfc.

other thoughts under the cut because they are LONG but the TL;DR is: i enjoyed this game! i don't think it's bad at all and can absolutely see the influence it had on the genre! i think it's absolutely a game everyone who cares even a little bit about RPGs should play if they haven't already! i also don't understand why people think it's one of the best games ever made even though i think it's actually quite good in a few aspects!

anyway. continued below

i constantly had heard that chrono trigger had a very cool time travel story, and while aspects of this, absolutely, are true, there are particular parts of the time traveling that feel rather tacked-on to me. in particular, the future and extreme past eras are just....kinda there. and hilariously the same is kind of true of the present era, but that i can excuse to some extent. i don't think any of the eras are particularly bad, but the future in particular was not nearly as well utilized as it should have been, IMO, which kinda bums me out.

for me, the main issue is that it doesn't do enough with the actual 'influencing one era to cause changes in the other' thing until the endgame sidequests, and by the time you can do those, it feels a little too-little, too-late. that or there should have been a better way to space those sidequests out as you actually play the game, because they genuinely add a lot to some of the characters (FROG MY BELOVED!!!!!!!!!!! and also lucca benefits a lot from her backstory). but making basically all of them only accessible in the eleventh hour felt very counterproductive to me. the plot is honestly mostly uninteresting to me until the zeal era, and that feels far too late for a game like this. idk. i like the world as a whole but some parts of the worldbuilding itself felt very minimal to me, like i wish the idea of a Nu was discussed AT ALL. or why its like completely normal for people to hang out with monsters/non-humans in 13,000 B.C. idk. just little things but i can tell it was probably more of a system limitation thing than anything else.

that said i think the main cast is quite solid. frog is the best easily, magus is a close second (though he also runs into the same problem where a ton of his character development is laaaaateeee), but i don't hate any of the other characters at all. ayla is fun (love a fun gimmick character every once in a while) and lucca is my favorite kind of weird nerd girl character. marle's playstyle annoys me until you have all of her techs and robo becomes kind of outclassed by frog but man. frog!!!!!! my man. hes so good.

basically no one is Not a fun character. is what im trying to say. i don't think they're all super deep characters, which bothers me a lot more than it probably should for a fucking 90s jrpg, but i like all of them a little bit, which is more than i can say for some games.

also, and this is more of a gameplay structure thing: i really appreciate how chrono trigger praises the player for being patient and for being kind. this is late game, but once you can unlock the chests i LOVE how you get upgraded rewards if you chose to not unlock them in the past. its so smart. that and the cases where your very small actions end up affecting things as minimal as the shopkeepers you can interact with? mwah. so good.

music: everyone always praises the hell out of the music and i do think there are some great tracks (CORRIDORS OF TIME MY BELOVED), but even for the era i dont think its truly exceptional in most ways. not bad at all and i know they had technical limits but.....still. still. corridors of time fucking sweeps them though. my god. what a good song.

art: okay yeah i dont have anything to say here. fucking amazing spritework going on in this game. enemies can be kind of whatever if they're not bosses but the fucking overworld/background art. the amount of emotion that is portrayed in a few pixels is astounding to me.

battle system: has aged so well and as soon as I started playing it i just went "OH THATS WHERE TWEWY GOT THE RELOAD SYSTEM FROM" because its almost a direct straight line of influence LOL. it really does force you to understand the mechanics and not just spam everything with your most powerful attacks. does get a little bit eh by the endgame once you're doing all-field-damage attacks out of necessity, but still. solid. not particularly unique by today's standards but if a game TODAY came out with this system i would have no complaints.

by this point you're probably saying "wow you wrote a lot about this for a game you think is a 7.5/10" and...yeah lol sorry. its just that i can see the influence and while i dont think its the BEST GAME EVAAAR i can absolutely see why people adore it so much. i think im just a slightly different time of rpg fan and this didn't quite scratch the itch for me in all the ways i was hoping it would, but there is no way in hell i can call it bad. i still think anyone who likes video games at all should play it. it just didnt scratch a very specific itch in my brain that i wanted it to (/it was less of a character story than i really like in my games), and so i cant quiiiite bump it up to that 8/10 i wish it so badly was. but theres a reason its a classic, it's aged incredibly well. just doesn't fit my niche enough.

that said. am i playing chrono cross after this? absolutely LOL. might take me a while but i am invested enough in this world to be interested in it. hopefully theres a bit more worldbuilding stuff bc the zeal stuff was SO GOOD but then it got crammed into the last 5 hours and hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i wanted so much more foreshadowing about it. god. anyway.

good game. not the best game of all time for me, but a good game. probably a great game to people who arent as picky as me LSGLSKDGH. just uh. dont play the extra DS content unless you're a completionist like me. lost sanctum MAYBE for the items but i would not bother with the dimensional vortex. its bad. lol

[godstaff]

Hello, happy new year,

How would you do a Superman Wonder Woman movie

<hi. Happy 2024 for you too.

Definitely not begining with an origin story. Nor getting to know each other by fighting the other.

It should start pretty much like the ill fated "Immortal Beloved", in which they are needed to fight an external (extradimentional or otherwise) invation. But they are in their respective homes: she on Themyscira and he in the Fortress up North. (No Lois, for fuck sakes) when they both receive a request from an ally for help. Only the two of them, because they are the most powerful. They are required to go somewhere far away. Just the two of them (please: no Batso, please, please).

I don't care if there's romance between them, I settle for a warm beautiful friendship, okay? Not in the stupid way they presented it in I.B., of course. There's no need for unrequited love or another form of humiliation.

We could see them risking their lives for each other, making heroic deeds and saving the day and uniting the many tribes involved in the war. Because this is not a war of other people: it's an immediate menace to our solar systema and our home. Their home. Most of all, negotiating a definitive, long lasting peace at the end, because that's their way.

I leave the possibility open to bring Darkseid, Imperiex or some other intergalactic despot to fill the enemy role. Here's to hope they will be used wisely and not in a cartoonish version.

Of course, the whole story would take a lot less than a thousand years, so they can return to a familiar Earth without the gimmick of being in a bubble in time (a narratiive convenience) or nonsense like that.

They are who they are: the first and most important line of defense for our planet and they will show it in this movie. They will use this experience to strengthen our defense capabilities, teaching the rest of the heroes how to best be prepared for what may come. They will instruct the metahumans how to best use their strengths and the human portion how to organize the population to be an effective last line of defense, should it come to it.

I believe the difficult part will be to covince the villanous faction to fight alongside the rest to protect what ultimately is their home too. There are powerful villains who can really be an asset against a common enemy.

In the end, building a united Earth, a stronger Earth in which, despite our internal differences, no external force would ever plant a foreign banner.

This is a general draft. It would take a team of developers and writers to make it viable. I think this would be the best way to use two heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman, even if it has to steal the original idea from an awful story which shouldn't be such.

[tinnictheguardian]

Ideas for new Fodlan Fire Emblem games

Okay, so Fire Emblem Engage is out, and it's set in a whole new World. However, it should be noted that Fire Emblem has released additional games in the same world entries apart. Notably, the worlds of Archanea, Jugdral and Valentia are all connected and set on the same planet but are thousands of years apart. Also, Fates and Awakening are set in the same world at the same time, just on different continents.

So while I think that the chances of us getting a DLC for either Three Houses or even Three Hopes that continues one or more routes is less likely, it is possible we can get more Fire Emblem games set in the world of Fodlan. This is in keeping with how IS has operated in the past, and the world of Fodlan is popular enough to warrant a second look.

So here are my ideas about when in time new Fire Emblem games set in Fodlan could take place.

The War of the Eagle and Lion

This is the most obvious period in Fodlan's timeline given that, based on the information we have FE3H, Loog and Kyphon used special weapons and soldiers provided by the mysterious tactician Pan. So Pan is your ready-made protagonist for an FE game. They were supposedly from the TWSITD, and it's made very clear that Loog and Kyphon were NOT used relics because the Church had their relics and only returned the relics to the Kingdom families after they became independent so they had the fighting strength to stay independent from the much more powerful Empire. So the potential FE game could have its own gimmick that's not relics.

Furthermore, the game set during the time of the War of Eagle and Lion would have at least two returning characters: Rhea and a youth Jeralt, who is pretty much confirmed to be from Faerghus and joining Rhea around that time initially as a bodyguard and then joining a knight of Serios when she shared her blood with him, thus giving him his crest, in order to save his life.

Other characters, such as Aubin, who we know lived long enough to share his blood with Yuri so as to give him his crest, would have been younger and potentially a unit you could play with. I don't expect to see Flayn because she was still sleeping or Seteth because Jeralt confirms he never met Seteth until his return to the Monastery. But the devs could maybe give Macuil and Indech non-beast forms and have them play a role... there are options, is all I am saying!

The story, in this case would be as linear as Engage because we know how it ends, Kingdom becomes independent from the Empire.

The Almyra Tales

Claude has the potential to live in all four routes and leaves for Almyra in all four routes. While he only gives his relic to Dimitri explicitly. You could just add a few lines of dialogue to explain why he doesn't have his relic at the beginning of a story about how Claude Khalid works with plucky Almyran tactician to secure the throne of Almyra.

IS could do this would out confirming a canon route for FE3H and have the potential to having branching stories because this isn't the past. Three Hopes Character Shahid would, of course, be able to make an appearance in this game.

Saint Serios

Go back in the time to help Rhea fight Nemesis or side with Nemesis and bring about a what-if world... I frankly don't see this one being on the cards because I don't think this would be of interest to the general FE fan. It could be a great Warriors edition because fans of Fodlan would pick-up a title like this to see what the world was like when Rhea got her revenge. It's also not a time which has a built in protagonist because we know Seteth was the tactician. But then again, would anyone cry foul if IS created random character X to be the protagonist of such a title?

Distant past/Distant future

Awakening and Fates was set 2000 years after Shadow Dragon, Gaiden etc, while Genealogy and Thracia are set 1000 years before Shadow Dragon, Gaiden.

Now we all know that Fodlan is that FE3H is a post-apocalypse world where in the distant past, humanity was much more advanced. Ballistic missiles advanced. So if IS wanted to bring FEH Niðavellir style mechs, or revisit the steampunk idea they were exploring for Awakening in the world of Fodlan. They could potentially set it in the distant past of Fodlan, when Sothis was alive and walking among mortals and humans as a whole had a lot more magi-tech.

Alternatively, we could have a game set in the distant future of Fodlan and it could be science fantasy plus sword and sandals like Harvestella or like they did with Awakening and Fates, just stick to more medieval stuff.

The game I want but won't get

So I did list these ideas roughly in "most likely" to "least likely" and this is the least likely but the game I want the most. That is, just acknowledge Azure Moon as the canon route, which means that almost all the characters, except for Hubert, Jeritza and Edelgard, have the potential to live. Just assume they all lived and procreated and you get to play with the kids.

You can import your saves from FE3H into the new game and the child characters have different stats based on who you S-supported, Awakening style. Also obviously if you played classic and didn't recruit/save X, you don't get X's descendants. But if you start a new clean game, the world assumes all characters were recruited, maybe you can some default S-supports or it's implied they all married off-stage characters and the child units therefore have default stats.

This incentivises new players to go back and buy FE3H, without making it impossible for this FE instalment to be a persons' first FE or at least first Fodlan FE.

As for who would be the enemies, well I heard some devs say that with Engage, they were exploring the idea of FE as not a war game but an adventure game. So just send the kids on an adventure!

Alternatively, given that homunculus technology exists in Fodlan, just bring back Edelgard as a homunculus and build her a faction with what remains of TWSITD, Impedial royalist + a Foreign power that aims to topple United Fodlan.

As I said, this is the most unlikely but it's the one I would want the most.

[from-mars-to-venus]

"it’s a scripted narrative about Fielder combatting his own isolating idiosyncrasies” That... that didn't happen at all? Was your post a joke?

Not really. I mean the back half of this show suddenly starts weaving through all these moments of Nathan achieving profound self-realizations while talking with the people he’s working with that are just very obviously scripted with and presented with a steady enough momentum to make it all a pleasing but seemingly natural narrative.

Which, again, is fine enough if this was enjoyable for you but I simply don’t think there was anything this show had to say that was worth pulling a bait and switch on the audience. The initial “gimmick” was able to peer into the peculiarities of the human disposition perfectly enough. Those first two episodes are considerably better than what follows because of that.

I know sitting here and saying “actually the show was better when it was a slightly exploitative comedy docuseries that bordered on being a prank show” just sounds kind of, I dunno, infantile? But it yielded really interesting stuff! I think the initial rehearsal with Kor was really beautiful because this whole thing is about a man lying to his friends because he’s worried about what they’ll think of the real him but he learns through rehearsing that telling the truth is easier and in the end his friend is really happy he’s honest with him! It’s a very sweet story with a lot to chew on. Scrapping that by turning the camera inwardly toward the artist, Nathan, and exploring a scripted identity crisis about his own neuroses and social ineptitudes is A) not what I’m here for, B) not terribly interesting, and C) bordering on banal narcissism. Like, fine, the tortured artist gazed into the abyss and it gazed back. Okay! There’s a glut of narrative art that explores this exact topic except I didn’t need to get tricked into engaging with it.

Either that or we just got to watch a man having a come apart from hanging around children for too long, which is troubling to me for a litany of other reasons, except that didn’t happen because it was all scripted. Like just clearly nothing that happened in that final episode was organic.

The ultimate tragedy to me is that there was clearly so much thought, care, and effort put into this. It’s the easiest thing in the world for some rando on the internet like me to look at some high-concept, high-effort project like this and give it a thumbs down before going on my merry way, but I think that’s why I’m so frustrated and vexed by this? It was such a tonally-confused, bland mess of an ending for a project of this scope to achieve. I think my criticisms are pretty grounded and valid and I’m sad that they are!

I feel like I’m coming down on this show way harder than I’m intending to. I see the appeal. I see why people would really enjoy this. Nothing about the execution of the idea really lands for me, personally.

[kaizokupolycule]

Sentai Reviews: Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger

I remember reading somewhere a long time ago that each Decade of Sentai fit into a trend. The first sentai of a season fits with the status quo of what was happening during the previous decade, while the second of the decade sets the mood for how the rest of the Decade is going to go.

If this trend says the same then BOY are we in for a fun decade with how insane and fun Zenkaiger was.

I think that's actually the best way to describe Zenkaiger as a season: Pure, Unbashful, FUN

As my first rewatch of Zenkaiger I truly did forget how just fun and silly the start of the season, the running gag with Jyuran and Gaon shooting the grunts the moment they get their morpher, Zox's entire first scene, the entire Zenkaiger Saber crossover. It's just fun!

Zenkaiger's strongest aspect is absolutely its characters. The Kikanoids are a fun cast of characters, with all of them having memorable moments or bits that didn't have them dragging down throughout the season, but I think the human characters absolutely steal the show. Kaito is a fantastic protagonist. He's such a joy to watch and you honestly cant help but root for him in all of his goals. The season would not be as fun if Kaito wasn't as entertaining to watch as he is. Stacey's entire development and growth through the season is probably the most compelling part of the entire story. Watching Stacey going from someone doing everything to get approval to just genuinely being a better person is so important and yeah the fandoms love for Stacey is entirely justifiable.

Without a doubt, my favorite character(s) in this season was Zox and the World Pirates. Whenever Zox appears on screen I know its going to be a great time. His introduction was iconic, his entire bit of singing and dancing every morph never failed to make me smile, his dynamic with his siblings (especially Flint) just warms my heart and makes me smile. Flint is everything, and honestly I am surprised the show never did give her a morph within it because she truly seemed a perfect fit for an auxiliary ranger for this season (thank you stage plays for the suit). Flint being the smartest person on the show and doing so much for progressing the plot and advancing the characters is just, everything. I love flint.

Now, Zenkaiger isn't a perfect. The villains as a whole are kinda weak. While I love the gimmicks they give us every week and the absolute insanity they provide, the whole organization and stakes don't feel all that high until God gets involved, and even then that's not for the last like 5 episodes at best. I wish they had done more with them, I guess had the stakes more high, or heck even had God more prominent than the last few episodes. And while I do love the Kikanoids and the development they do get is fantastic, they are greatly overshadowed by other characters which kinda sucks because they are the main characters alongside Kaito.

Overall, Zenkaiger was a joy of a season, and even with the flaws it has, it's a season I can see myself going back and rewatching more times in the future.

Final Score: 8.5/10

[rndyounghowze]

NJ RenFaire 2024

NJ-8

Double Edged Daredevils

Ses Carny and Crimson Locksley

We’ve seen Ses Carny eat and breathe fire. We’ve seen him hammer a nail into his head. We’ve heard the story of him putting fishhooks in his eyes. (Both those acts have been retired) What more can you say about a guy who can do all of that over and over and keep us coming back for more? The one person we forget to talk about is the person who has the power to change the fundamental DNA of his act. If there is one thing that’s painfully normal about Ses it’s how passionately and unashamedly in love he is with his wife Crimson Locksley. The Daredevils would not be the same without her. So we want to tell you about the artistry it takes to be the human down range of the knives.

A Confidence And Poise We Do Not Possess

Crimson owns the space like she was born there. It’s almost like those are her knives and she allows Ses to use them. She makes the Magic happen with her consent. If she didn’t consent to all this the act would go from side show to jail cell in a heartbeat. She exudes a confidence and poise that we do not possess. And she steps out and bows at the end of each trick like she’s Van Halen after a killer solo. As Ses himself will say he is not a role model. Crimson is the ultimate example of female empowerment and body autonomy. It takes both of them to make this trick work.

NJ-9

Lords Of Adventure

When you first look at these two self-identified identical sword-fighting twins you think “Their mama’s got some explaining to do”. The second thing you notice is that they are wicked funny. They have this manic energy of ten-year-olds that ate all of the sweets at the Faire and chased them down with a gallon of cream soda. Yet they have this wonderful way of converting the “token” stage combat show at the Ren Faire into something that’s laughingly disarming.

A Rollicking Good Time

Framing this show as a friendly duel between two brothers takes away the “hokiness” of stage combat” and turns it into a rollicking good time. Anyone who’s had an Xmas Day sword fight with wrapping paper tubes knows the kind of energy I mean. We all know brothers exactly like this, we all have cousins like this in our family. We all know someone who would get a bit too excited if you handed them a long sword.

Chaotic Doesn’t Translate Into Recklessness

Yet that energy doesn’t translate into recklessness. In fact the whole act felt very safe. You didn’t feel like a sword would come sailing at your head at any moment. Nice and Smooth might have an energy like kids but they have an adult’s awareness of their surroundings and the training to know what’s safe and what’s not. We walked by their stage during the afternoon when it was raining and they were doing a completely different act without swords. They know when to play and know when to put the swords away.

Nick Nice and Randy Smooth

NJ-10

Jacques Ze Whipper

Jack Lepiarz

One of the biggest things we’ve noticed about Jacques is that he is a stand-up comedian holding a whip. Yes, he’s trained and highly skilled but his humor is almost as fast as his whip. The other thing he does is he make himself the straight man in this comic duo of him and the audience. Half the fun is watching the audience catcall and shout from the stands and seeing Jack blush or zing them with a huge comeback. We also noticed that the acts became more Jack-centric and less “Jacques”.

Less Jacques More Jack

Less of the act explains who Jacques is and what whips are. He doesn’t have to introduce people into his little world. TikTok has already done that. So now it’s more showing the audience tricks that exhibit more skill (we think) and less gimmick. Also, there is less French accent. We feel like what we’re seeing now is more well-rounded. It’s more focused and grounded on a personal level. That grounded feeling is not what we’re used to seeing in a circus arts act. Jack’s act has something most solo artists can learn in building a grounded authentic performance.

NJ-11

Connor O’ Carraig

A Leprechaun that does magic tricks. That’s really what Connor O’Carraig is. He walks onstage and starts cracking jokes. He tells the audience he’s going to do three tricks and that will be it. If you’ve seen only five sleight of hand magicians in your life you’ve seen each of these tricks at least twice. Yet Connor goes on to demonstrate the magician’s true artistry, patter, and makes the tricks look brand new again.

Distinct Entrancing Style

You can Google linking rings, coin magic, and rope tricks and find out how these tricks are done. You know that and Connor knows that. The artistry is not in doing the magic moves but in using “patter” (jokes and words) to give us a plot that wraps around the trick. The plot hooks the audience in and brings us over to the magician’s side. We’re not just staring at a coin trick we’re listening to a story or laughing at some really good jokes. Now we don’t even care that we’re watching magic tricks. We’ve actually forgotten that we’re watching tricks. We’re watching a performance, we’re buying into Connor’s character, we’re enjoying ourselves. It’s proof that it’s not the magic trick or the secret moves. It’s the distinct entrancing style of the performer.

NJ-12

Shelli Buttons

When we first met Shelli Buttons it was pouring rain in 2023 and she had to cancel her show. But there she was in a mermaid tail and sliding around in the mud with her duck Winston following her everywhere she went. We knew we had to catch her act this year to see what the heck she was about. This year it was still raining but Shelli was ready to go with two students Jules and Gwen. Winston was there too having a love affair with Gwen’s boot. It was here that we were truly initiated into the chaotic mashup of fire, flair and feathers that is Shelli Buttons.

A Serious Chaotic Energy

You watch Shelli for five seconds and you will get a serious chaotic energy. She asks the audience what tricks they’d like to see, she has to scold the duck for attacking Gwen’s shoes, and even has to borrow a lighter from the audience to light her torches. Yet then she starts juggling torches and knives and walking on wine bottles and you’re like “oh now I get it”. If you’re this heckin talented you get to be a chaos demon. If you juggle three swords while standing on wine bottles in the rain you get to dance like an idiot at the end. What else would you do?

Where Shelli doesn’t mess around is with her students. Jules and Gwen are both young aerialists so you expect some awkwardness in transitions and some lack of grace in spins. But both of these artists were solid and steady in the routines and held their poses with confidence. Shelli’s chaotic energy vanished when she was spotting both of them and making sure they landed safely. When her students were on the Lyra she was all business. That’s what you want to see in an aerial instructor.

NJ-13

Bardy Pardy

Hannah Ward, Stephanie Krause, Chelsea Carlson

When you walk into a Ren Faire there are a handful of songs you just have to hear or it didn’t happen (Rosemary and Thyme is the Faire Free Bird). You have to see something played on a traditional instrument. You expect these things. Yet what you don’t expect is to hear a trio of femme voices singing right harmonies and beautiful songs. You also don’t expect to hear all this while shoving pizza into your face. This is how we met Bardy Pardy.

Not Your Normal Ren Faire Trio

Bardy Pardy just isn’t your normal Ren Faire Trio. From creating funny and engaging characters to singing lilting melodies they were a wonderful and entertaining act. It’s hard to make people care about your art while they are slamming food down. Most of the time as a musician you are just there to create the “ambiance” of the Great Hall. Yet Bardy Pardy had folx singing along and clapping the beat with them. They were also supported by a nice corps of fans. It was nice to see a group that built a community at the Repaste stage.

[tedcruzisthezodiackiller]

“all queer media is one dimensional, tropey, mass market, and made for teenagers-” not true. look harder

Memorial: Mike and Benson have been together for a few years and are in the middle of determining if they're going to stay together when Mike learns that his estranged father is terminally ill, and goes to Japan to reconcile with him before his death. meanwhile Mike’s mother stays with Benson in the US. my favorite part of the novel was the part in Japan, exploring the relationship between Mike and his father (TW for racism and abuse) 

the luminous dead: w/w romance between a spelunker on a mission on an alien planet and the women who hired her for unknown reasons, who’s stationed on the surface and communicates with the mc through her high-tech caving suit. toxic but intriguing romance, killing eve and TMA fans you will enjoy this (TW for graphic descriptions of injury) 

The Vanished Birds: explores a society that was created after the Earth has been environmentally destroyed and humanity has moved onto space stations, and all space travel and commerce is controlled by corporations. queerness isn’t the focus of this book but many of the main characters are queer. beautiful writing, will make you super depressed in the best way (TW for child abuse) 

The Color Purple: Celie is separated from her sister in childhood when she’s forced into an abusive marriage by her father, but she continues to write to her over the years. an important part of the novel is the relationship that develops between Celie and her husband’s lover Shug. what I love about this book is that its an important look at misogynoir and abuse of vulnerable people, but Celie ultimately gets her happy ending. (TW for abuse, racism, sexual assault, incest) 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: the first half chronicles the early life of Cameron, a closeted lesbian growing up in rural Montana in the 90′s. the second half is about Cameron’s experience in a conversion camp. I love the writing of this book, it’s very atmospheric. I felt like I could picture Cameron’s town in my sleep. (TW for conversion therapy, homophobia, self-harm) 

boys run the riot: manga, a trans boy who wants to work in men’s fashion one day works with two of his classmates to design and create a clothing line. I’ve only read the first volume so I cant speak on the series as a whole. the MC is only out to some people, so he gets misgendered and still wears the girls’ uniform in school. this might be difficult for some people to read, although there isn’t too much overt transphobia if I remember correctly (at least in the first volume)

The 57 bus: nonfiction, follows the stories of an agender teen who experienced a hate crime, and the boy who attacked them. A tough read, but a really important look at the justice system, racism, transphobia, and restorative justice (TW for transphobia and homophobia, violence, depictions of police and the justice system) 

our dreams at dusk: manga series about an LGBT+ center in Japan. follows gay, trans, and asexual characters. an interesting look at queer issues in Japan. also the art is gorgeous (TW for homophobia and transphobia) 

in the dream house: memoire about the author’s experience in an abusive sapphic relationship. super important, as abuse in queer relationships is so seldom talked about. hard to read but the writing is very lyrical and poetic, and beautiful (TW for abuse) 

ask the passengers:  mc is a girl who’s falling in love with another girl, while staying closeted from her gay friends because she’s not sure how to identify. the gimmick of the book is that the mc talks about her problems to airplanes in the sky, and this magically touches the lives of the people in the planes. I felt this part of the book was goofy and honestly I think it would be better without it, but I remember that the journey the mc goes through regarding her sexuality made me feel very seen (TW for homophobia) 

king and the dragonflies: written by the author of Felix Ever After. the rest of his books deserve an equal amount of attention. middlegrade, about a boy dealing with the death of his brother and coming to terms with his sexuality. I liked the relationship between King and his family. they weren’t super homophobic but they also weren’t completely accepting at first either, it felt like a very realistic and healthy depiction of a family (TW for homophobia, racism, child abuse) 

haven’t personally read, on my tbr: Giovanni’s Room, Nevada, Stone Butch Blues, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, My Cat Yugoslavia, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness 

“queer media is all boring period pieces and people getting divorced and experiencing horrible homophobia and tragedy-” not true. look harder

The Magic Fish: graphic novel, a young Vietnamese-American boy reads fairy tales with his mother to help her practice her english, and searches for a way to come out to her. some of my favorite art in a graphic novel, look it up its stunning

Honeygirl: going through quarter life crises and unsure of what to do after earning her PhD, the mc goes to vegas and ends up getting drunkenly married to a woman she doesnt know. the mc’s relationship with academia was very relatable to me 

whatever: basically just about the mc fucking around with his friends, being in a band, and discovering that hes gay. a lot of fun, love the characters

anything by Alice oseman: Alice Oseman is the only person I trust to write about the fandom experience in YA fiction. my personal fave is iwbft. disclaimer: I haven’t read solitaire, cant say whether its good or gay

Ivy Aberdeen’s Letter to the World: middlegrade, Ivy’s family’s home is destroyed by a tornado, and shes also dealing with the fact that she’s realizing she’s a lesbian. some internalized homophobia, but everyone in Ivy’s life is really accepting and its very sweet

my love mix-up: manga, mc has a crush on a girl in his class and asks to borrow her eraser, and sees the name of a different boy written on it (this is a popular love charm in Japan). boy #2 sees the mc holding the eraser, and thinks HE has a crush on HIM. very wholesome and funny, and one of the few times I’ve read a manga that actually allows a character to have crushes on people of multiple genders. it deals with homophobia in some cases, which makes it feel grounded in reality, but all of the mc’s friends are very accepting, and its very cute. 

The Tarot Sequence: urban fantasy set in a modern magical society, mc is the heir to a family of the magical aristocracy, but since his family was killed he’s fallen from grace, is broke, and works as a mercenary for other powerful families. he tries to unravel the mystery of his family’s death on the side. m/m romance and found family. love the characters and the world building, and the author is planning for this to be a NINE book series. next book is coming out May 2022!! (TW for sexual assault) 

In Other Lands: mc gets recruited to go to magical summer camp, except he’s genre-savvy, hates fighting, and misses technology. super funny satire of portal fantasy books, but will also have you aching for the mc? elliot schafer my beloved 

havent personally read, on my tbr: a hero at the end of the world, the poster children, tell me how you really feel, heavy vinyl

we absolutely do have a long way to go in regards to queer representation, but it frustrates me to no end when I see post claiming that queer fiction is all one specific type of story. there are lots of queer creators out there writing unique, thoughtful, beautiful stories who deserve our support! if theres a particular type of queer fiction you would like to see, do a little digging because its likely that SOMETHING similar exists. it just doesnt exist on like disney+

also @lgbtqreads is an incredible resource, if you want to read something gay and have a specific genre or type of story in mind I highly recommend looking around on their blog 

additional recommendations welcome!