#most of the time jason is telling the truth about his adventures but sometimes he lies just to freak people out

[undertheredhood]

jason 'perfect poker face' todd: and that is the story of how i got myself permenantly banned from three countries in the span of two months!

tim 'know it all' drake: *immediately picking up his stalking hobby because he doesn't know if jason is telling the truth or not*

[papipopsicle]

AFTERTASTE PART SEVEN

Pairing: Archie Andrews X Reader

Summary: In which two best friends since childhood test whether sex and friendship can co-exist without causing conflict. Including OC's Flick and Cherry, a bisexual and lesbian in a sapphic relationship who are best friends of Y/N.

Song: Dream Boy by Waterparks

Warnings: swearing

Words: 2.1K

MASTERLIST

feedback is always appreciated

Y/F and Y/M Robins were far from perfect parents. Y/F had the mental age of a toddler at times, and being an estate agent who always has to go the extra mile- he often wasn't home when his wife needed him the most. Y/M, on the other end of things, had been a stay at home mum until Y/N turned 16 last summer, and now she helped with all the administrative work for Mayor McCoy. She was a maternal creature which, coupled with her brilliant sarcasm, made for some explosive conversations. The two met on the first day of university and got married a week after the last.

When Y/M first found out she was pregnant with little Y/S Robins, the two realised they wanted a quiet bubble of a town to raise their children and grow up with them. But it wasn't until their second daughter was about to turn seven until they found their forever home in the quaint town of Riverdale. Ten years passing before their eyes, and the picturesque place didn't seen all that anymore.

Jason Blossom's death had nothing to do with the short gunshot sounding over the waves of Sweetwater River, the noise which woke Y/N from her sweet unmemorable dreams every few nights. The summer days rolled into early August without anyone caring, Y/N spending most of them at Cheryl's side listening intently to her past adventures with her brother. Betty threw herself into an internship at a publication house; Flick and Cherry had volunteered at a summer camp, and Archie was helping his dad out more and more with constructions job.

Although it hadn't been the start to the relationship Y/N had hoped for- the nervous giggles and hand holding, short and sweet kisses on late night walks followed by poetry worthy cuddling. There was a magnificent silver lining as Archie's muscles gained definition, and he suited the sweaty builder look far too well.

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y/n Humph!

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Cheryl busy being my own icon

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"Earth to my gorgeous queen? Y/N/N?" Cheryl quizzed her friend, who currently resided at the poolside of Thornehill Manor. Her mind was off on a glorious tangent about her rendezvous in the kitchen at two in the morning. Fixing herself a glass of water, when Archie slips his hand into her pyjama shorts, his other around her mouth muffling her needy moans.

The red headed beauty shoved her y/h/c friend playfully, warm skin sweaty under her pale touch. Y/N blinked innocently and sent her an apologetic smile, "What?"

"I asked if you've thought about dating anyone else since Clayton?" The fiery ginger girl enquired with her usual upbeat tone.

Cheryl knew she had a unique quality about her which made it almost impossible for Y/N to lie to her face. The y/h/c girl scrunched up her nose, hiding the smile the idea of Archie Andrews brought to her face. 'Yes. We started off as fuck buddies but never actually fucked. Then I drunkenly asked him to be my boyfriend, now a month later I think we may genuinely work out.'

"Maybe." Y/N bit her bottom lip, listening to her friend's squeal as she squeezed her sun tanned arm.

"I knew it! You have this euphoric glow you only get when someone else makes you climax." The redhead affirmed confidently, watching the Robins girl's eyes bug out before hitting her arm, "Y/N/N, you know your secret's safe with me."

"Fine." She sighed and took a sip of her fruity cocktail, "It started off as just fooling around, honestly I just needed to let off some steam after everything. I knew he was into the kinds of things I was, I mean he used to tease me about it non stop. And it was good, so good I stopped being a pussy and asked him to be my boyfriend."

"Holy freaking hell!" The Blossom girl grinned with excitement, "Dare I ask, who is it?"

Y/N deadpanned at her friend, "Guess."

"Please don't tell me it's that muscular oaf Reggie, he's pretty but there's not exactly much going on upstairs." Cheryl tapped her temples and rolled her eyes at the thought.

"Nope."

The ginger thought for a moment, consulting her liquid courage and splashing her feet around the waters edge, "It's Archie."

All it took was a side-eyed glance at the y/h/c girl's blooming rosy cheeks to know she definitely wasn't wrong. Y/N severely lacked the ability to lie, even if her tone held conviction, her features were far too expressive and told the truth all on their own. It's not like they were hiding it from anyone, but the past four weeks had gone far too quickly without any moments to spare for the world around them. They slept together each night, the majority of that time not actually spent sleeping, but they hadn't been given the chance yet to explore more romantic avenues.

"It's fucking Archie Andrews- you're fucking Archie Andrews and don't you dare deny it." Cheryl gawked in her gorgeous white and nude bikini, watching as her friend lay back against the hot marble slabs which encased the large pool with the largest grin adorning her plump lips.

"We haven't had sex yet, so technically you aren't completely correct." Y/N winked but carried on before the girl exploded with a hundred questions and could never be turned off, "Trust me, I want to, and I'm sure he does too. But you know, it's his first time, I want it to be perfect for him."

"Y/N/N, you really love him, don't you?" Cheryl gagged to begin with, but she found it sweet in truth. She wanted someone to hold, who would hold her right back just as tight for no other reason than needing to.

Y/N sat back up and paddled her feet, "You have no idea, Cher."

Arch 🧡

That new post should be illegal

Tiger 💛

Ooo

I like this reaction

Maybe I should post more

Like this one

Cheryl pushed me in the pool

And I may have had a drink

Or three

Arch 🧡

Well that's sexy

I swear nobody looks good like that how on earth

You're a goddess

But also

How's she holding up?

Tiger 💛

🥺😇

Broken

But she's strong yk

You coming over for dinner?

Arch 🧡

Yeah Y/D invited my dad too

Need me to pick you up from Cheryl's?

Tiger 💛

Awe cute we love a bromance, and it's all good my mommas coming now anyways :))

Hours had elapsed far too fast and soon the summer heat simmered into cool waves of wind brushing over sun kissed skin. Cheryl's arms were clasped around the blonde's shoulders in a tight embrace.

"Thank you so much, Y/N/N, I don't know what I'd do without you!" The Blossom girl professed with sparkling eyes and a brilliant smile.

Y/N beamed up at her, fingers carding through her damp y/h/c hair as she looked over her shoulder to see her mum pulling into the driveway, "You don't need to thank me, Cher, friends look after each other. Message me if you need me, okay?"

Cheryl promised she would and the two teen girls hugged goodbye, with Y/N soon heading home- listening to her mother gossip about Hal and Alice's screaming match last night, Y/N loved her inability to keep her mouth shut sometimes.

"Mom," The y/h/c stopped her mid sentence and received a side eyed glance in response, "I need to tell you something and you're totally not allowed to freak out while you're driving."

Y/M's eyes widened and her grip tightened around the steering wheel, her daughters very rarely confided in her. While she knew her youngest was safe in her promiscuity, neither of Y/M Robins' girls ever shared their secrets so for the most part she took finding out into her own hands.

"Honey," The forty four year old's calm tone was hardly comforting to the teenager, "if this is about you and Archie fooling around, your father and I figured that out a long time ago, like so long ago. Who do you think does your laundry? When your underwear starting looking like dental floss, we caught on pretty quickly."

Y/N felt like a deer in headlights, "Mum, what the hell?" Her cheeks heated to an inhuman temperature.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, as long as you're being safe and he's-"

"For the second time today, and I can't believe I'm saying this to you, but I am not having sex with Archie Andrews!" Y/N's high pitched voice sounded through the car. It truly was a blessing and a curse to have such open minded parents in situations like this. She thought about telling her mother the truth, but Y/M was a blabber mouth as well as a gossip, so Y/N chose to withhold certain pieces of information.

The Robins matriarch dropped the subject but didn't forget about her daughter's tone, and continued to ramble on about how odd she found Penelope Blossom and the whole Blossom family in general. "Like why on Earth is Rose in a wooden wheelchair? They know it's the twenty first century, right?"

As expected, the Robins household was once again filled with warm laughter and copious amounts of food. The topic of Jason was skimmed over, and Y/S found herself away from the dinner table. The eldest Robins sibling was currently pleading with Alice as she began shoving all of Polly's belongings in the boot of Hal's car. She couldn't comprehend life without her best friend, not after losing Jason. They were meant to be going travelling together for a year- working the worst jobs and staying up all night to watch the sun rise in different countries. But instead, Y/S's eyes were blinded by tears as she screamed down the street at the speeding car, with Polly Cooper taken out of her life indefinitely.

Y/N was oblivious to the dark inner workings of the Cooper clan, Betty's knowledge about her and Archie unbeknownst to the loved up teens. She'd spent every second not occupied by her internship trying to justify the romantic act as a fleeting moment of loneliness fuelled by alcohol. She wrote in her diary ideas on how she could win Archie back over, not knowing it was in fact, too late. Betty found herself hopelessly in love with the boy next door, unfortunately for her, the girl across the road was the only one his mind found.

Archie and Y/N washed up while their parents resided to the living room with three glasses and a bottle of white wine. The short girl turned the tap off after placing the last utensil on the draining board, flicking her sudsy hands at the boy's face. "What the-"

She didn't give him a chance to finish that thought, jumping up and wrapping her legs around his torso- planting a kiss onto his lips, then cheeks, then forehead. The two fell entranced by each other, planting pecks across nape of her neck and top of his head.

"Son," Fred's voice called out from the next room and the two immediately pulled apart, hearts beating in their ears, "we're going in a minute."

"Alright." He replied, placing his girlfriend on the floor once more.

"I wish you'd stay." Y/N pouted childishly, she meant the words entirely but hated feeling overbearing. Her life had been turned upside down this summer, it started off with her unable to fall asleep with another person next to her- now Archie's chest was her most comfortable pillow and is arms were the warmest blanket.

"Tomorrow night instead, Princess? I promised my dad I'd spend more time with him before senior year." The boy reasoned, holding her close and unknowingly feeling the exact same way, he adored holding her by her waist and pulling her close under the duvet.

"Monopoly night at yours?" She grinned and he nodded back in reply, the two sharing a final kiss in the kitchen before walking into the hallway.

Y/N felt at ease as she wished the two a goodnight and headed up to bed. She took off her tea dress and replaced it with Archie's bulldog t-shirt, managing to reach the same length on her thighs as her dress did.

Arch 🧡

I can still smell your perfume on my sheets

Tiger 💛

Marking my territory obviously x

Arch 🧡

I love it

Hope you sleep well baby x

Tiger 💛

Call me that tomorrow and we won't be sleeping so you better rest up tonight x

Arch 🧡

Whatever you say, baby x

Tiger 💛

Goodnight x

Arch 🧡

Night princess x

part eight?

wanna be tagged? just send in an ask x

[isaacthedruid]

Please allow me to tell you about one of my favourite cartoons through this informal essay I did for school a couple of months back. 

Gravity Falls and How it Did The Unimaginable

**SPOILERS... KINDA**

The 2010s saw the creation of some of the most iconic animated tv shows ever made, the likes of Adventure Time (2010), Steven Universe (2013), Over the Garden Wall (2014) and The Legend of Korra (2012). To explain why this era’s shows are so admirable is honestly rather difficult. Yet, there are many factors that can be taken into consideration when looking for an answer.

The past decade was very successful in perfecting their craft and utilizing the animated format to their favour, creating some of the wackiest and fascinating cartoons ever made. With the advancements made in both 2D and 3D animation for film, this bled into the world of TV as well.

To mention that 2010s cartoons have stunning visuals would be an understatement. Everything about the animation was beautiful; the strong colour palettes, the clean and imaginative character designs, the colourful and immersive backgrounds and especially the mesmerizing worlds that can be found within episodes that are half an hour.

This era’s cartoons also led to a massive shift in storytelling, writing longer-running stories that spread out across seasons while also swapping out episodic adventures for serialization. This heavily aided in the popularization of these shows, due to the rise of internet fandoms and dropping the taboo that cartoons were only for kids. Many shows acknowledged their older viewers by leaving clues and even puzzles to be solved by the theorists who have a large appearance on social media platforms like Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr. As the shows progressed, their fandoms created many theories for what they believed might happen within their favourite series. The top three shows from this era all utilized these changes, being at the forefront of the shift and helping guide the creative vision of 2010s cartoons.

Often regarded as many people’s favourite cartoon, Gravity Falls presented one of the best mysteries of the decade with two seasons and only 40 episodes. Inspired by Twin Peaks and The X-Files, it’s considered as the kids’ version of these two iconic shows as this cartoon acts as many people’s first introduction to horror through bright colours and fun characters.

This series follows the adventures of Dipper and Mabel Pines, twins, who are sent to spend their summer with their great-uncle or Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon. This town is full of oddities like supernatural creatures, insane and eccentric inhabitants, and many puzzles. The Pines twins must adjust to the weirdness while uncovering the mysteries and protecting their new town.

While living in Gravity Falls, the twins are forced to work in the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap created by their Grunkle Stan that overcharges unlucky tourists, teaching about fake monsters despite there being real creatures all over town. On his first day in Oregon, Dipper accidentally came across a mysterious journal written by an unknown author that explains all the oddities to be found in this strange town. This book acts like an encyclopedic of the Weird for Dipper, an inquisitive 12-year-old kid who seeks answers.

Dipper is an extremely intelligent kid, his brain being far more developed than his body. He’s rather awkward and self-conscious as he often stumbles over his words or gets embarrassed trying to talk to girls. Despite this, the boy is an adventurer at heart who just wants to grow up and skip his upcoming teenage years.

While Mabel is quite the opposite in many ways, she is loud and has an in-your-face personality. Mabel is bouncy and fun, she is so excited to start high school. She is easily excitable and for the larger part of the series, she is in her boy-crazy phase. Mabel is a girly-girl as she likes all things; glitter, unicorns, rainbows, partying and crafting. Yet, she doesn’t often compare well with many of the other girls in town, they see her as weird and “too much”.

(In all fairness through, it is not too kind to either of the characters as their personalities are more complex than just awkward nerd and artsy girl-girly.)

Dipper and Mabel’s personalities are very different but somehow, they—along with their Gravity Falls family—manage to solve mysteries and save the town, multiple times.

Gravity Falls is an honestly genius series that completely changed the way cartoons were made. Originally when writing a series, you’d create a base of your story; characters, the universe and a basic plot. Yet, when creator, Alex Hirsch (who was in his early/mid-20)s and his small team first began constructing their show, they planned out everything they could possibly think of for the first season. Additionally, outlining some answers for their biggest mysteries that would be answered at the end of the series.

Despite being rated TV-Y7, this series really pushed the boundaries of kids’ television. From the teeth being ripped out of a deer’s mouth by a demon, rearranging the functions of every hole on a man’s face to an aggressive pop-rock sock puppet show that ended in a dramatic slow-motion scene of the puppets burning. Gravity Falls wasn’t afraid to get a little weird or creepy. Or create some genuine nightmare fuel. 

From the beginning, Gravity Falls had built a mystery into its series, hiding secrets and clues all throughout the show. Most notably were the backwards-recorded message and cryptograms, using roughly nine different kinds, even creating two of their own.

The inclusion of cyphers and mysteries for fans to solve is possibly the reason why this series was so successful. As one of the first shows to do something like this, Gravity Falls used social media and internet fandoms to its advantage.

As mentioned earlier, cartoon fans have quite a presence on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. They create theories and share fun ideas about their favourite shows. Viewers of Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe were all included in their share of theory fun.

Sometimes, fan theories end up being correct but when you’re Gravity Falls creator, Alex Hirsch, you don’t just watch from the sidelines as your viewers figure out the biggest mystery of your show. No, you create a hoax to get your viewers off your trail and that is what he did. Around 2013, only halfway through the first season of the show, viewers had started to follow the clues, theorizing who was the author is Dipper’s mysterious journal.

Unfortunately for the Gravity Falls production crew, the viewers were right— for the sake of readers who have never seen the show, I will not mention who the author was as it would be the biggest spoiler.

In 2013, a supposed leaked image of a tv showing a younger version of the show’s crazy old man character, Old Man McGucket, writing in the infamous journal was uploaded anonymously (by Alex Hirsch) to 4Chan.

Despite the image only being on up for a few hours, it spread like wildfire. Much to the team’s success, theorists stopped searching for the answer to “who is the author” and just accepted the image of McGucket as the truth.

To further push the fake-out, three words were posted to Alex’s Twitter, “fuming right now.”

The tweet was deleted a few minutes later and fans genuinely believed that someone from the Gravity Falls team had leaked the most important part of the story.

While doing research, I came across a Reddit post from April 10th, 2013, the day after ‘leak,’ Alex’s tweet was uploaded. In this post, user, TheoDW uploaded an image of Alex’s tweet with the caption, “It seems that Hirsch got mad at last night’s leak. He already deleted this tweet.”

Seeing the reactions of these Redditors in 2013 is kind of weird and crazy to look at. “He has every right to be upset. Someone internally released a plot revealing screen shot of series breaking spoiler information,” a deleted Reddit account commented.

“This is Alex Hirsch’s biggest success by far, he spent a huge amount of time carefully planning out the series, and then in a moment someone releases a major spoiler. It would make anyone upset,” the user, Time_Loop commented.

“Seriously, this is a nightmare for a storyteller, and shows a breach of trust. I feel so bad for him–honestly, I hope whoever did the leak gets caught and appropriate action is taken. You don’t f–k with someone’s story like this. It’s unprofessional.” the user, lonelybeloved angrily commented.

In 2014, this ‘leak’ was finally disproven when viewers were given an episode on McGucket’s backstory and an amazing tweet from Alex Hirsch. 

Alex had post an image of himself playfully pointing at a monitor with the supposed leaked picture with the caption, “1) Make hoax  2) Upload to 4Chan  3) Post angry tweet about "leak" 4) Delete tweet 5) Let internet do rest”

It is so interesting to look at these comments know that all of this was orchestrated by Alex.

I wish I had been old enough at the time to follow theories and fandom stuff like I do now with current cartoons but really looking at this from an outside perspective, this was insane!

The real author wasn’t revealed until 2015 and when viewers first got the answer to this biggest show on their screens, they must have freaked out!

Following the finale in 2016, a single frame of a stone version of Bill Cipher, the show’s villain, flashed in after the credits had finished.

Alex Hirsch and his team actually created a real-life statue of their villain for their viewers to find and on July 20th, 2016, the Cipher Hunt began.

By following clues, the Hunters found themselves all over the world; Russia, Japan and then travelling throughout the United States for the final 12 clues. When the hunt took them to Los Angeles, actor, Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper Pines, also a massive fan of the series) and Alex Hirsch’s twin sister, Ariel Hirsch (the inspiration for Mabel) joined in the fun helping the search.

Finally, the hunt ended on August 2nd when someone tweeted out an image of the found statue in Oregon, the same state in which the fictional town of Gravity Falls exists. The Cipher Hunt had ended but finding the statue wasn’t Alex’s goal for the scavenger hunt, it was about the journey and bringing together the viewers, more than having them actually find the statue.

Creating its own hoax, an international scavenger hunt and quite a bit of nightmare fuel, Gravity Falls was a show truly unlike any other.

The 2010s saw some of the strongest cartoons ever made, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe acting as the leaders for multiple different changes in the medium; storytelling, worldbuilding, interaction with viewers, utilizing social media, representation and further pushing music into the cartoon world. From what was created this past decade and what has already been released in 2020, I’m so excited to see what comes next.

I have another one of these which is on Steven Universe’s representation and music if you would like to see that too!! 

[musicallisto]

Congrats on 800 followers!! You write beautifully and deserve every one of them and a thousand more 💕🎉

For the celebration, could I get a vanilla milkshake (ship)? Of Percy Jackson or Narnia?

I'm a straight girl, INFP, enneagram 5, hufflepuff student, and daughter of Athena. I really love any kind of art, from painting, to music, to literature, to sculpture, and anything. That doesn't mean I'm good. Even tho I wish I was. I really like to write, it helps me put my thoughts and feelings in order, and words come easier when I write them down than when I try to talk. The most important thing to me are my friends, my loyalty is one of the little things I actually like about myself.

I'm really bored with my life and always wished of something more, so any kind of media that has a good story it's something I'm a fan of. I'm literally waiting just to be old enough so I can go on my own adventure and live a little.

I'm not a very affectionate person, not in a conventional way anyway, I'm not good enough with words to repeat how much people mean to me (even if they really do), and I don't like to be hugged that often, and only if they're really close to me. But I'm always there for anyone that needs me and I'll try to do the best I can to help.

I don't like small talk, I want to have long talks about everything that comes to mind, whether it is the last book you read or a random thought about the stars, or mythological creatures, or aliens, or your deepest secret or some dumb thing that happened some years ago. Whatever, but a real conversation.

Did I forget to say I'm Mexican? Lol, I speak Spanish and we're known for joking around (And it's probably that I punch someone jokingly before I hug them. Yep, not very good at expressing emotions at first. I can be WAY more open once I gained trust).

I like to take things with calm and humor, but if it's something serious I know how to take the situation seriously and give the best advice and "wise" words I can think of. My friends come looking for my advice often lol whether or not they follow it afterwards. I don't like to talk about my problems, because I don't want to worry any of my friends, and even though I could need help, I just hold it in until it passes (I should follow my own advice and talk to someone but OH WELL...)

I really don't know what else to say. I love to read, and I love musicals, and I'm trying to learn how to play guitar, and I'd like someone with good sense of humor but that I know I can trust.

Anyway, congrats again!! You're really talented and I don't know you that well but you seem like an awesome person. If you don't have time to do this, don't worry 'bout it u.u

here’s your vanilla milkshake! I only did it for percy jackson for lack of time, but I hope you enjoy your story with leo valdez all the same - it’s my reckoning you two would get along pretty well...

Leo is definitely always down for an adventure. He’s the kind of person who effortlessly makes the most boring errand into an epic, and sees the excitement in everything around him, but understands exactly what you mean when you say you want to go out there and see what life has in store for you, for real.

You’re both sitting on your bed in your bedroom - it’s not often you get a break from Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter respectively and are able to go back to your human lives, but whenever you get the chance, you seize it and enjoy the peace -, and talking about your biggest wishes and desires ...

(The conversation came naturally and flows just as organically; because Leo is a childish and excitable fool most of the time, but he understands there’s a time for everything, and he can be particularly serious and insightful when he understands it’s time for him to be)

... And you tell him all you really want in life is to go on an adventure, a real one, unpredictable like a rush of blood to the head.

“Well do I have news for you about a place called Camp Jupiter--”

“I don’t mean running from monsters or fulfilling prophecies... I want to see the world with my friends by my side and live beautiful things. One day, when I’m old enough.”

“Who says you aren’t old enough right now?”

“I’m sorry?”

(He’s straightened up from his slouching position on the mattress, and is looking at you with the utmost seriousness in his eyes.)

“I mean it. Who says we can’t go on an adventure, like, right now?”

“Where could you even go?”

“I don’t know. Got a globe laying around somewhere here?”

You comply, and he spins it, and orders you to jab your finger at it whenever you feel like it (which he doesn’t give a real meaning to, because it doesn’t even have one), to determine where you will go.

“... Moscow?”

“Ah, great place for a son of Hephaetus, love the heat out there.”

But needless to say, when Leo gets a spontaneous idea like that, there’s no use in trying to get it out of his head;

so the following week you are to depart on your trip to Russia, and you can’t hide your excitement. Traveling on a whim with your boyfriend might just be the first step to the adventures you were awaiting...

OK, but Mexican solidarity!!! I love my Latin cousins ugh you guys are so much fun,,

Talking shit about half of your respective Camps in Spanish behind their backs (and from Reyna’s half-smiles she miserably fails to conceal, you feel like you might not be the only ones who find this terribly funny)

“Mira a Jason, siempre tan serio y melancólico. Cuenta la leyenda que la mueca se le quedó grabada en la cara.”

“Pobrecito. Igual alguna profecía le delivra de su maldición de gravedad perpetua.”

“¿Y si le voy a contar un chiste?”

“Creo que solo te abofetará, Leo.”

Expressions of affection are rarely overt between the two of you, because you both tend to deflect your real feelings (especially affection or love) via humor and play them off as something “just for laughs”. You’re also big on tough love, so much so that sometimes the others wonder why you’re always playfully hitting each other’s arms as though you hated each other’s guts.

But the truth is simply that you were always raised to express affection in these ways, and get a bit awkward when you’re expected to be upfront about your feelings. Still, you’re both extremely warm and loving, and your “I love you”s simply have to be deciphered.

And no one deciphers them quite like the other half of the pair. It’s a language that only you two understand; that’s why you’re such a good pair.

800 follower sleepover [CLOSED!]

[sunmaylight]

Red Hood Crossover Idea

Katekyou Hitman Reborn x Red Hood 

Lightning Guardian Jason Todd whose Sky is Byakuran.

Main Points (aka incidents where Jason uses/learns about Flames):

Jason has unlocked Lightning Flames while he was on the streets before Batman took him in. He kept the Flames a secret because he has seen kids who flaunted Flames around taken off the streets before Batman or Robin could save them. They wouldn’t have noticed either because all of the kids who have been taken are kids like himself, orphans who live on the streets.

When Bruce adopted Jason and trained him to become the next Robin, Jason tried to tell Bruce about the abductions happening right under Batman’s nose yet he doesn’t believe him. So Jason goes off on his own to gather proof for him. 

Jason stumbles upon the Vindice on pure accident as he witness a man from an unknown Famiglia get captured with chains and dragged into a portal. One of the Vindice sees him and senses the Activated Flames on him. The Vindice warns Jason to not get involved before vanishing through the same portal. When Jason come back home, he doesn’t bring up the abduction problem and it’s forgotten by Bruce.

As Robin, Jason sometimes sparks Lightning Flames while fighting. Batman barely notices and if he does, he brushes it off as something Alfred and Dick added to the Robin suit. The sparks die down as Jason learns control over them.

In ‘Death of a Family’, Jason sparks Lightning Flames every time he is tortured by the Joker. The longer it happens, the weaker his Flames become until he ends up a slightly less bloody mess than canon. 

The explosion still happens and Bruce is too late to save Jason. The two might have gotten a few more words spoken to one another, but Jason inevitably dies in the end.

The revival scene happens with the addition of lightning hitting Jason, ‘reigniting’ his Flames so to speak. Though with his catatonic state on the streets, he is sparking Lightning Flames like a broken faucet when he runs into danger.

When Jason is taken into the League of Assassins, he is a walking Pikachu with the Static ability activate for the first month. It made training Jason more of an exercise that by the end of it, all of his trainers have a slight resistance to electricity.

Talia found out that Jason stop shocking everyone with his Flames when he is in the library. He is then placed near the library until he stopped shocking everyone with his Flames. After that, Jason underwent training and was assigned babysitting duties for Damian. Though if he is too stressed out, he will start shocking people again

After some time, Jason is dumped into the Lazarus Pit. His Lightning Flames became chaotic when he exited. It is constantly tethering the lines into Discord that it is maddening. The only ‘good’ thing that came out of that experience is Jason awakening Cloud Flames as his secondary Flames.

Jason is then sent into the All Caste training route, but this time with Flame training. He learned about Flame Lore and everything that a Flame Active person should know as well as how Flames are connected to the Mafia.

Then canon happens until he reaches Gotham. Jason bumps in to Byakuran while he was scouting the area seeing what changed while he was gone. After their first encounter, Byakuran has latched himself to Jason like an annoying octopus. Essentially making it harder for Jason to do his work in his quest for revenge.

Their first meeting involves Byakuran annoying locals in Crime Alley, Jason being the unfortunate soul to stumble into said alley, a knife, some blood, and the loss of a marshmallow deluxe dessert.

What Jason doesn’t know is that his Flames are subconsciously reacting to Byakuran’s Sky Flames and Byakuran’s Flames in return. Poor Jason doesn’t know why Byakuran forced him to be his tour guide and dragging him to random restaurants/cafes in Gotham. All he knows is that Byakuran will get a cavity or cardiac arrest if he isn’t there to stop the man from consuming so many marshmallows.

Also his tethering Discord Flames feel the most stable around Byakuran that Jason doesn’t realize he tries to seek Byakuran out every time he goes out.

Jason finally enacts his plans from ‘Under the Red Hood’. Everything happens accordingly until the bomb goes off. Bruce tries to shield Jason from the explosion. Jason uses his Lightning Flames to protect both of them from the blast. 

(Did Jason die at the end of that???) 

Batman leaves the scene of the explosion to take Joker back to Arkham. Byakuran heads to the explosion site and finds Jason. He takes Jason back with him to Italy. Byakuran’s Guardians and subordinates are not surprised by this. 

Jason wakes up to the sight of Byakuran and learns that Byakuran is a Mafia Boss. He is somehow convinced to have a partnership with Byakuran’s Famiglia in exchange for more Flame Training and being provided with a Flame Ring. 

Jason: “No Byakuran. I will not make you another marshmallow parfait.” 

Byakuran: “My, my. How cruel of you to do this to a Mafia Boss, Speedwell”

Jason: “What did you call me?”

Byakuran: “Nothing.” :)

Jason leaves Italy to try and reunite with his family in Gotham with a nickname, a group of people who would welcome him again and a shiny new ring with a big green gemstone and wings on it. 

Jason does not know the significants of this Ring. His Flames calm down though. There is still some Discord in them, but significantly less than before.

The reunion goes as well as expected of DC canon. Jason as Red Hood forms the Outlaws and gets caught in all kinds of adventures. Takes his group to Italy to visit Byakuran at least every other month if he can with both groups of Outlaws. He doesn’t get why they are weary of Byakuran. Sure he is a Mafia Boss, but he has been more helpful to Jason than harmful.

Circumstances of canon happen that lead to Jason heavily injured and kicked out of Gotham. This makes his Cloud Flames rage because Crime Alley is his territory. Batman doesn’t get a say in it after neglecting this place.  

When Jason wakes up after RHatO #25, his Flames are reacting wildly. Lashing out at anything and everything until Byakuran calms him down. His Flames calm down and stabilize enough that the two Harmonize. Jason is told the truth about his Ring and accepts the Guardian position, but not joining the Famiglia. He is interested in contracted work though, as long as he doesn’t harm kids.

Byakuran gets a complete set of Guardians and his threat level is raised, but not really since Jason isn’t around Byakuran like his other Guardians. Jason takes in Byakuran’s Lightning Guardian position and shakes things up in the superhero world as a vigilante that no one knows the real identity of with his new name given to him by his Sky, Speedwell.

Speedwell has a similar MO to Red Hood, but different enough that no one will notice unless if they compare the two side by side. 

Jason as Speedwell gets teased because his name is also known as Veronica Persica. He knows this and reacts accordingly, but overall doesn’t care because it is a name that is solely his. There is no one who had this name before him. A clean slate where he can make a name for himself with no burdens and comfort that there are people who are genuinely there for him

[popculturebuffet]

The Jeffersons: Sorry, Wrong Meeting (Comission by WeirdKev27) (Black History Month)

Welcome on up! HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!  Yup i’m going to spend a good chunk of the month celebrating the best and brightest in black characters in animation, amid valentine’s coverage in the first half and a few bits of the usual stuff throughout. But i’m still throughly dedicated to showing off some of the finest media about black struggles and starring black characters, and going through it the best I can as a white dumbass. If I slip up or misinterpret something, never be afraid to call me on it, but I feel I can still try my best to honor these amazing characters who’ve brought such joy to my life and these wonderful stories.  So starting us off is a commission from Kev that’s been sitting in the queue for far too long. And it’s not due to lack of intrest: While before today I’d never seen an episode of the Jeffersons, I had seen the live performance of an episode done for that live with norman lear thing nbc did in 2019, and it was excellent and piqued my intrest. But with me never thinking to get the dvd’s, and not having Starz nor really wanting starz, there was no real easy way to stream it. But a few episodes were on DailyMotion, so I was fine with reviewing it for Kev and giving this series an honest try and the fact the episode dealt with white supremacy, at a time where we’d JUST gotten rid of a bigoted, white nationalist backing, piece of shit president, I was naturally all for it, I just never thought to clear space on my schedule and by the time I was scheduling things better, I purposfully saved it for this month as while the Klan isn’t as prominent, assholes like them sure are. And given the Captial Riots last month with sedionsits shitheads proudly waving the confederate flag around, I’d say this episode is even MORE relevant than ever. 

But before we can dive into why this one is so good, yeah i’m not going to hide it this is a really fantastic episode of television, we have to talk about the series itself. The Jeffersons was created by Norman Lear, a progressive and prolific television writer and producer who is a legend in the business for damn good reason. He created All in the Family, which shattered norms and standards for the time, and would go on to create Sanford and Son, Maude and Good Times, all to massive sucess. However this show came about because the Black Panthers showed up one day at his office to raise a valid point: While he did have black characters in his tv shows they were mostly poor and barely scraping by, with his two black lead sitcoms dealing with characters in object poverty. And while this was still a worthy subject to tackle.. they were absolutely right there should be a counterbalance to that, to show the obvious truth black people CAN be successful. Norman agreed and set to work. Norman already had the perfect lead for that: George Jefferson, an opinnated dry-cleaner with several sucessful stores. George was, and still is, a fascenating character with lairs: being cranky and curmodgenly as you’d expect with some fairly average sitcom quirks: He loves money, often overspends on flashy stuff to revel in his sucess, snarks at his maid and likes to scheme as a sitcom character can. He’s also in the early seasons a bigot himself, not really fond of white people or interacial marraige, which naturally makes living next to an interacial couple and their daughter marrying his son thorns in his side. But as far as I can tell from looking on wikipedia he does soften with time and grow as a person and by this episode he’s fine putting up with both his neighbor Tom, said guy married to a black woman and his goofy british neighbor, if snarky as hell because hey, that’s who he is. I bring this up for reasons related to the climax, trust me. 

So eventually the Jefferson's moved on up to that deluxe apartment in the sky, hell of a theme song, and got into their own adventures with the aforementioned supporting characters.. and so here we are. And after the cut we’ll take a look at just why this sitcom is awesome, why I desperately want to get some dvds for it at some point now or a starz trial, and how much the klan sucks. 

We open at the Jefferson’s Deluxe Apartment in the Sky. where his wife Wheezy and aforementioned maid Florence are preparing to take a CPR class.. which were that possible I certainly would after this episode, as I feel Florence is right in stating it’s a skill everyone should have. She also remarks that George had every employee at his drycleaners take it, even if it was because he got an insurance writeoff. But hey, doing something that can help your workers and customers in an emergency even if i’ts just to save money is sitll better than MOST businesses these days so props to him. There’s also naturally some banter and it’s really damn funny. As with my Darkwing Duck reviews,, I won’t be going into it bit by bit, but it’s good stuff and holds up REALLY well. To me that’s the mark of a good sitcom, one that can show it’s age.. but still make you laugh, think or cry all the same. So yeah in less than a scene the show had won me over.  So as the ladies depart for CPR class, George’s peace is soon interupted by Harry Bently, british person and wacky neighbor. Aka me if I were british and lived in the 70′s. He returns a tv guide, last weeks hence why he’s done with it, and ther’es some schtick and what not before Tom Willis runs in, upset because he’s been robbed. They took all his stuff, and while he’s thankfull his wife’s gone for the week so she didn’t have to be there for this, he’s obviously worried and suggests forming a building watch to prevent this, with Harry on board. George.. has no time for this nonsense, and after making a joke about Florence in curlers scaring them of, bredguringly agrees to attend if someone else starts it then slams the door on them once their out the door.  At CPR, our heroines volunteer enthusastically and meet the cpr dummy. resuscannie.. I don’t know how to spell that and frankly I don’t wanna because she is FUCKING terrifying. 

She looks like she’s going to come to life and strangle me. She looks like a hollowed out corpse doll a serial killer makes. She looks like something Charles lee ray would rnasfer into. She looks like Micheal Meyers grandmother. She looks like the corpse of Jason’s mom come back for revenge. She looks like sue sylvester transferred herself into an auton. Look I could go on, but the series does make jabs at the thing and most cpr dummies are objectively terrifying, so fair play to them. After some more gags, things.. take a turn. Part of what makes this episode so effective to me is this turn. It starts with, and even goes back to after this for a bit, some sitcom gags and cliches.. but it lulls you into thinking this will be an average episode... so when the instuctor asks two men to go next, an older man and his college age looking son refuse to participate.. and their reason is he refuses to touch anything tha’ts been touched by a ... well he uses a certain word and let’s just say you know what it is, I know what it it is and if I could’ve reached inside my computer and choked the life out of hte man, I fucking would’ve. 

Yeah turns out these two are KKK, with the older asshole leading the local chapter and their about as reasonable or likeable as you’d expect with Wheezy BARELY holding Florence back from giving them a well deserved thrashing, and only doing so because it’d both sink to their level and because they’d just use it as more fuel for their racist bullshit. And that’s WHY this works so well: It seems excactly like a normal episode.. until it suddenly isn’t. Until suddenly things are a lot darker, a lot more tense, but the easing into it means it still feels like the same unvierse. To me the good “very special episodes”, are the ones that use this: that ease into the heavy topic before punching you in the face with it and tackle it with nuance and skill. A Diffrent World has a TON of episodes like this, and it’s why it’s one of my faviorite sitcoms: it tackles a lot of really heavy topics with  a steady brush and while it can be heavy handed, sometimes heavy hands are necesary to carry a heavy topic.  The racists showing up suddenly also fits because Racists hide in plain sight. You don’t know someone you know is prejudice or some stranger is till they reveal themselves. They could show up any time anywhere and you can’t be ready. And I cant possibly claim to know what that’s like, but I’m sad that in this nation of ours this shit has never, and probably will never go away. So it fits that our antagonist shows up out of nowhere, having until now perfectly blended in with the other suited white guys in the class. Naturally, the instructor orders them to fucking leave and naturally klan monster makes some big white suprimacist speil. And being a sitcom he runs into Tom, with Tom mistaking him for talking abotu the crime and White Supremacist mistaking Tom for a fellow racist. Tom decides to invite george.. and while it’s clumsily framed as a wacky sitcom misunderstanding.. it’s very clear things just got VERY dangerous. 

Speaking of George he’s awoken from his nap by the ladies who are both still worried and while he goes into his usual digs on florence, and questions why she needs her bat... he instnatly sides with her and prepares to go kick some racist ass once he finds out what happened. It’s a nice shift, as it once again breaks the tranquil normalcy of this sitcom with the violence of racisim. And while there was no phsyical violence form the asshole.. to me racisim itself is still a form of violence. Thinking you are suprerior to another race just because your skin’s a diffrent color and wanting them gone or not to be near you is in itself violent to me. And while Wheezy again has good reason for holding George back, tihs is just what the fuckers want, Geroge is also right: right NOW it’s talk.. but how long before they start burning stuff on thier balcony or come for htem in the night? there’s.. no easy answer her, no easy solution.. just a man fearing for his life justifably whose probably been through this time, and time, and time again, dealt with his buisnesses being vandalized and his life being threatend and probably been beaten some too JUST for being a black business owner. So it’s understandable he’s fucking fed up and just wants them gone. Tom naturally invites him to the meeting., and harry agrees, botht hinking i’ts just a floor meeting and not a disguised KKK Rally. 

So at the meeting, the KKK Fuck does his spiela nd tries to assure them that “what you’ve heard about us is wrong”. And again this si part of what makes the episode resonate: guys like this try to make themselves seem resonable. THat “Their not racist” their the right ones and your wrong for wanting equality. It’s why these movements gain traction, they tap into people’s inner ugliness and disastifaction with life and give them an easy target for it. It’s what the president did for four years, i’ts what his sycophants at fox news CONTINUE to do: try and present being a racist, homophobic, xenophobic peace of shit as a viable and stable option when all it makes you is a racist , a coward and a dinosaur who can’t accept change or things difffrent than you.  When this guy eventually goes into a rant, as George showing up triggers it and Tom and Harry dont’ take his shit for as econd, with tom proudly mentioning his black wife, and both holding George back for the same reasons Wheezy did with Florence, he talks abotu them “taking our property and destroying our homes”.. and it all sounds EERILY like when Tucker Carlson went on about property damage during the black lives matter protests last year... and as a wise tucan in a suit once said, fuck you tucker. And as John didn’t say but I certainly will, I Hope you choke on your own spray tan you racist seditionist prick. My point is this sort of rhetoric, trying to frame black people as the enemy.. never fucking went away and is on cable news every night. It was in our white house for four long years. It won’t go away and probably never will and everyone of every race has to be on guard to find these pricks and make sure their message is drowned out with love. And that’s what makes this whole thing relevant: that these pricks hide in plain sight and mask their arugments with civlities.. but at the end of day are just hateful monsters who just want a scapegoat for their problems or even may just hate because it’s easy, or because they just wnat to and don’t need an excuse to be the worst human garbage imaginable. 

It makes what happens next all the better: Asshole has a heart attack, HORAY, and no one knows CPR since the kid walked out on the class with his dad before they actually learned it. George relucntantly sighs.. and knows what he has to do. He goes and saves the fuckers life. And that, friends, is why I brought up George’s racist past and i’m glad I knew about it giong in: because it shows how far he’s come. From hating white people.. to saving the WORST of the WORST of white people.  He regrets it of course, saying the guy should’ve died, and that he won’t be greatful and he’ll just keep on hating.. but his friends point out the truth: George was the bigger man. He saved the life of a man who hated him just for existing and who’d gladly have him lynched if he could and was trying to run him out of his rightful place in the building, because it was the right thing to do. Because that fucker sure as hell wouldn’t. Because despite being a monster.. it’s still a life.. and he can waste it however he pleases.. but he’ll now ALWAYS know a black man saved it. George may regret his decison.. in the dark, where no body would blame him for letting the fucker die or even know he could’ve saved him until he got home, and his wife would’ve barely blamed him, he still choose to save the worst of humanity proving depsite his curmodgnley nature, he’s some of the best of it.  It dosen’t change the asshole, he leaves on a gurney telling his son “You should’ve let me die”. George is unsuprised and leaves with his friends. And I do like this: the racist dosen’t MAGICALLY change because he’s saved by a black man, he’s still a fucking monster. And that is what sets him apart from George: Whiel George was a bigot, he not only never went as far as this monster, but he changed. He learned to let go of his hate as it was eating him alive, and while he certailnly and rightfully won’t let go of his resintment for white people, he’s accepted he can’t hate ALL of them for what some did to him. This asshole has no such excuse and no such growth, he probably died being the same miserable piece of shit he was , resenting forever a black man saved him. And that’s hwo it should end.. youc an’t save everyone and you can’t change a person that dosen’t want to. George changed only because he wanted to and he realized he was wrong evne if he’s loath to admit it. This guy wont’ and never will becuse some racist pieces of shit just will never accept the truth that all people were created equal.

His son though clearly has, thanking George before he leaves, and later as the rest of the meeting, realizing what these people are and what they plan on, leave as the assholes right hand man tries to continue said son refuses to acknowlegde him rips up the poster and leaves. See the old man not changing worked.. but so too does this.. showing some simply dont’ know better and some CAN change.. but like George.. they have to WANT to change. Only you can change you. And hopefully it’s for hte better. 

This episode was excellent as i’ve made clear, and I don’t have honestly much to add to it. It was a pleasure and black lives matter. 

[epochxp]

Whatever Happened to 20mm World War II Miniatures?

Yeah, I can’t say it’s been a question on everyone’s mind, but it has been on my mind and the minds of many like-minded aficionados. Many have proclaimed that 20mm is a dead scale for World War II. I can honestly say it’s the furthest thing from the truth. There are quite a few established manufacturers, as well as some new quality manufacturers out there. I would even argue that the scale is on a cusp of a renaissance., both in plastic and metal. This is going to be the first article in a series about 20mm and World War II, starting with a look at what I consider some of the best lead 20mm World War II manufacturers out there and where I’d go to get started in the scale.

Part 2 will be about the plastic side of the hobby, and Part 3 will be a discussion of various rules sets. 

Why 20mm?

20mm has had many advantages traditionally for miniatures gaming. The availability of soft and hard plastic figures has always been good, and for a box of $10, you can put together the beginnings of an army in many rules sets. When I was a kid, I used to call it “platoon in a box.” Most lead manufacturers back in the 70s and 80s used to have their 20mm lines supplement these plastic figure lines. But that’s not the case anymore. Now, there are many fine lead 20mm lines that stand on their own that we’ll be discussing here today. This list isn’t exhaustive, but it’s meant to show that 20mm as a scale for World War II is far from dead.

So, what is 20mm? 

20mm, as wargamers call it, is a nebulous scale. We’re using it to refer to the height of a miniature, from the sole of a figure’s foot to the level of his eyes. To be honest, most “20mm” figures range on a scale between 18mm and 23mm. Let’s be honest, most scales have that sort of range, and sometimes, some manufacturers don’t play well with other manufacturers. It’s just a question of getting to know what you’re looking for. 

As for vehicles, the scale corresponds with 1/72 to 1/76 scale, with many gamers preferring 1/76, but I personally like 1/72. I just like the larger vehicles, and it’s easier to find vehicle kits in 1/72 these days. That not to say you can’t mix the scales on the table-top, but I wouldn’t do it too often. The differences in scales can be a bit jarring, to say the least.

Here’s a comparison side-by-side of some of the more popular figure lines out there:

A Whistle-Stop Tour Through the Land of 20mm!

A.B. Miniatures – Their offerings in 20mm are basically the gold standard of 20mm World War II right now. The sculpts are excellent! (I can personally attest to their British as those figures are excellent in their quality and proportions). The packs are well-designed, and one pack usually gets you what you need for a given squad or heavy weapons crew. The packs are designed to mostly cover the mid-to-late war period, with Americans, Brits, Germans, Soviets, with some extra tank crews for the Italians and the French and some Polish paras for Arnhem. I will say the German Fallschirmjager works well for the Low Countries, Norway, and Crete, so long as you remember which kit you’re buying (no Stg-44s or Pak-40s). Their website is easy to navigate, and for American customers, you can purchase them through Eureka USA. One plea from this American customer, can you please do late war Americans in M43 uniforms? 

Wargames Foundry – This is a reissue of a miniatures line from the 1980s. There are things to like about the line, and there are things I don’t like about the line. I have some of the figures from some secondhand purchases at conventions, but not a full set of anything. The sculpting quality, like all Foundry products, is excellent but not quite as good as AB in 20mm. I don’t like that in many sets, you mostly get the same poses. I wish there were more dynamism in the sets. That said, you have German DAK, Fallschirmjager, Panzergrenadiers, winter dress, late war Germans with the anklet boots, tank crews, as well as early war Germans. You also have Italians in European and African uniforms and Askari colonial troops. You also have Nationalist Chinese (one of the few 20mm manufacturers to have them), as well as 1939 Poles, 1940 French, including Colonial infantry, and Foreign Legionnaires for Bir Hakim and Resistance types to fight the Boche at home! There are also Australians, Finns, Indians in turbans (all suitable for North Africa) as well as the SAS and Americans in summer and winter dress. It’s a fairly complete range, but the poses are an issue for me. Prices are a bit high with shipping on this side of the pond, and I am not familiar with any American distributor of the line currently.

Britannia Miniatures – Currently being sold by Grubby Tanks, I own a lot of these. The depth and breadth of the line is extensive! Want SS Cavalry on Horseback? They have them. Want late war Japanese? They have them. There’s very little they don’t have. Much of my Soviet army are Britannia and I rather like them and their manner of sculpting makes them easy to paint. Some aren’t nuts about it, as the figures tend to be on the larger side than other 20mm, but I find they mix well with most lines if you’re careful. Again, I am not aware of any current U.S. distributors for the range, but the prices are reasonable, but postage these days is going to take a bite.

Simon’s Soldiers – Simon Ford has been in the miniatures industry for a long time. He has retained the services of Andrew Stevens who has sculpted for Drews Militia, Battlefield, Wartime, and now Simon’s Soldiers. I’ve always liked Andrew’s sculpting style, especially for the Germans (of which I have legions of). All of the figures are full of character and give you that “I’m a tired guy on the frontline” look and I can recommend his Volkssturm line and the Panzer Lehr. The late war Americans are also particularly good figures. There’s really nothing bad I can say about them. My only regret is there’s no U.S. distributor, as while the Australian Dollar is lower than the U.S. Dollar, you’re gonna get nuked on postage these days. But, if you make a big order, you can probably order enough to make the postage not hurt as much! And you have to love Simon’s customer service. Who can’t like a guy who reminds you on Facebook you haven’t purchased any figures lately? Pay Simon a visit, and tell them Jason sent you. Simon and I are friends, and I can honestly recommend his product. Andrew also works for Playa Manor, a new Spanish company focusing on Battle of the Bulge, and the figures are gorgeous!

Ehliem Miniatures - I really like their sculpts, and Matt Hingley (See our previous interview here) does a fine job of customer service and providing miniatures nobody else does in 20mm for World War II. I mean, he has early, mid, and late-war Waffen-SS (FAA does Early War S.S., but their sculpts are a bit…eh compared to Ehliem). One of my favorites—and I might be a bit biased as I commissioned them—were the Soviet Navy sailors he produced. They’re the only ones with helmets in 20mm. Everyone else does them in the full uniforms, rather than the mixed uniforms of Army and Navy gear they wore as the war ground on. Again, postage is a bear from the U.K., but Matt will work with you! Again, tell him Jason sent you. 

This article barely scratches the surface of what’s out there, as you have Xan and Adler, whom I haven’t tried, but hear good things about, and the multitude of fast build plastic kits out there, which we’ll discuss in a subsequent article. But 20mm World War II is a plethora of options. If you want to wargame World War II in 20mm, a grand adventure awaits. One more piece of advice. I’d pay the Frontline Wargaming – WW2 Facebook group a visit. The group is a great place for the novice 20mm gamer to visit, and you’ll get tons of help and advice there.  

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At Epoch Xperience, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch Xperience’s service on our parent site, SJR Research.

-- (This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)

[wickedsrest-rp-archive]

Name: Morvern McAuliffe Species: Human (Hunter) Occupation: Game hunter and tanner; hunter-for-hire Age: 59 Years Old Played By: Mel Face Claim: Jennifer Jason Leigh

“Kiddo, I shredded my road map to this joyride a looong time ago.”

She served her revenge piping hot, ladled over rice and mixed in with potatoes and onion and mushroom just like papa used to make. Back in the day, werewolf could’ve fed half the clan. The rest of the meat was wasted. Thirty-six years, and she still wasn’t used to cooking for less than fifty plus strong.

For the most part, life had been a great ride. Sure, there had been some hard feelings on that night back in ’84 when Morvern clambered into the F150 older than she was, kin watching her from the trees with eyes shining like lampades hidden in the dark. Truth was, they had driven her mad. A hundred and seventy-five years and no Galford, Littlethunder, Van der Meer, Iskier, and certainly not any McAuliffe had ever set one foot further than the foothills and tributary rivers of the West Virginia-Kentucky-Virginia Appalachian communities they called home. No home but they mountains, they’d always say. No sense of adventure! Just a promise you’re going to be dead by the time you’re thirty, screaming and crying for your father to put you out of your misery in the dirt that nurtured you. That really harshed her mellow, killed her vibe. So she bounced. Bailed. No regrets, no looking back.

And boy, America’s a grand old place.

She never did find a Wampus Cat in East Tennessee, but she did find mermaids in Miami and shriken near Shreveport. Kereshag in Kansas City, lubber fiends in Laramie. She packed everything she needed into the back of a sunflower yellow Kombi van, networking with hunters everywhere she went to treat the whole country like their safari ground. Picked herself up a husband, too. Married in a Vegas chapel, Elvis officiated. Morvern + Clyde. A couple of kids, Kathleen and Beau. By the time they’re ten years old, daddy Clyde’s long gone. That’s just the way it is, she tells them, just like her mother told her.

In the end, Beau took after her more than Katie ever did. He was twenty-one when he told them he was through. Bounced. Bailed. No regrets, no looking back. He calls occasionally, but never gave his own address. Once four, now two. Even mountain odds were never as bad as that.

They made it to every state except Hawaii by the time Katie married and settled down in New Hampshire. It was the first hunt she’d gone on since before she’d given birth. She couldn’t wait for Morvern to make it up from Georgia, and when she died screaming and crying for her mother she wasn’t there and her blood drained into dirt that never even knew her, much less nurtured her. It’s not an easy thing to live with, the face of the child you once nursed proudly in your arms seared forever in your nightmares with her face torn off, eyeball hanging by a tendon. But that’s life, isn’t it? Sometimes you beat the odds, the first McAuliffe in a century in a half to nearly scrape sixty, and sometimes a werewolf decides your daughter, your first-born child is gonna be pack chow.

But two could play at that game.

It took five years to hunt him. Five hellish years of a phantom haunting your every waking thought, and then when you finally track them down in White Crest, Maine and kill them stone dead after they try and beg and plead and tell you how they’ve changed, they take it upon themselves to Haunt you haunt you this time around. Even when he was fresh, he tasted spoilt and she told the pieces of him floating in their own juices as much. Maybe that’s what made him so pissed that he felt the need to move in. Problem is, he knows a medium when he sees one. Exorcists, too. Even ghosts can make themselves scarce when inclined. The mediums shrug their shoulders, the exorcists do, too.

Maybe it’s true about hunters, they think as they head out the door. They all go mad in the end.

Character Facts:

Personality: Crafty, good-humoured, observant, secretive, gracious, stubborn, loose morals, independent, bitter

Lives deep in the woods by Candleton Cemetery in a ramshackle, formerly off-grid cabin that was only introduced to electricity and WIFI after Morvern became acquainted with online poker and Farmville. In the latter, she has now achieved the rank of Bastillion of the Barn. Recently picked up Animal Crossing. And DOOM.

Ardent old-school conspiracy theorist and is vehemently anti-government and anti-authority. True believer in an agrarian society governed by The People. WCPD can definitely stay off her lawn (not that she has one). The Freemasons are an ancient order of vampires, people!

Sells her leathers out to buyers all around New England. Mostly, they’re made from deerskin and cowhide, but occasionally more… exotic skins find their way to a select picking of vendors. As for her meat, it’s bought under the table by private buyers and unscrupulous restaurants around town. Accepts cash only in all her business ventures. Never reports taxes.

Is able to get along with most species nowadays on a case by case basis if they’re not total squares. Werewolves, however, are totally exempt from this. Not much of an undead fan either, but met a vampire who followed the Grateful Dead once, so maybe they’re not all bad.

Grows weed and psilocybin mushrooms in her vegetable patch. Mind you don’t mix up your cup of tea with hers. Or do. Be wild!

Like most of the friends and family she grew up with, Morvern was never born with a hunter specialty due to the historically insular nature of her community who were constantly coming to blows with all sorts of mountain creatures. They believed in strength in numbers and rarely hunted alone, and as such she connects herself with the hunter community in White Crest and beyond.

Jill of all trades, master of none. Favours ranged weaponry (expert marksmanship) and traps; not a fan of solo melee and hand to hand combat. Strong knowledge of non-humanoid regional monsters and favours hunting these types; will rarely accept a job to hunt humanoid or intelligent monsters alone. Knows which ones you can eat, and what parts to cut out. Make sure you avoid those salamander spleens!

Has two dogs. Atreides, a Golden Retriever, and a Maltese. His name is Richard.

[mastrmiscellaneous]

Writing colab: Time Turner Mishaps, Part 1

Description: @son-of-aurlius-piscius and i have been writing this together for a while. I’ll be posting part 1, and in a few days, hell post part 2. more information will be shared on his part. thanks mate, i really had fun doing this!

this story is basically our MCs, Jason, Charli, and Thomas suddenly joining each other in their curse breaking adventure. humour, angst, and fun times wait ahead...

word Count:

---

Thomas was having a pleasant day, the lake was reflecting the sun’s light perfectly, the wind blew gracefully through the trees, and he had finally found the perfect, quiet spot to sit in to study. But it all changed when two mysterious figures appeared from the sky. One of them was a tan boy in a Slytherin uniform who slammed hard on the ground with a loud “thunk”. 

“Woah! What the-” Thomas jumped back, eyes wide and a hand over his chest, breathing quickly, heart racing. The stranger lay face down on the ground and ground in pain, snapping Thomas out of his fearful trance and rushed towards him. “Hey, mate, you ok? What happened?”

“Merlin that hurt,” the boy pushed himself up slowly as the pain ran through him. “Where am I? Who are-” the boy looked at him confused. “Why do you have a prefect badge?”

Thomas looked down at the boy’s robes and noticed an identical badge to his. “What the- who are you?”

“I’m Slytherins prefect. Jason,” said the boy as he slowly stood up. “How would you not know me?”

“I think you’re mistaken, because I am the Slytherin Prefect. I’m Thomas.” He stared at the boy with his most intimidating look. He’d been told that he looked scary when he glared, which was weird, because he always saw himself as a massive sweetheart. But he needed to be intimidating. Someone was impersonating a prefect. “Why would I know about you?”

“Because my brother was expelled. Jacob,” Jason said with a broken look in his sea green eyes.

“My brother was expelled. His name was Jacob.” Thomas and Jason shared a confused and frantic look. “Weird question, but was he expelled for looking for… the cursed vaults?”

The two Slytherins stared at each other, not completely knowing what to do, or say. However, they didn’t have much time to think, as they heard a small, girlish scream and a loud splash from the lake.

“Fuck.” the feminine figure pushed herself up, dripping wet and a scowl on her face. She had jaw-length, wavey, brown hair, olive skin, and the most annoyed and terrifying look on a face either boys had ever seen, and they go to school with Ismelda Murk! Her fringe was plastered to her forehead, slightly covering her hazel eyes. “Why do these things always happen?”

“Um… Hello?” Thomas called out to her, looked between Jason and the girl, confused. 

“You alright?” Jason walked over looking all over the girl. “Any cuts?”

“Oh Jesus. Why is it always guys?” she muttered, standing up and checking herself. “Why is it never a cute girl?”

“Afraid not. So no cuts?” Jason looked at her concerned. “What’s your name if I may ask?”

She looked Jason up and down, raising an eyebrow and looking disgruntled. “Name’s Charli. I’m surprised you don’t know me. Everyone knows ‘the great cursed Gryffindor’.”

Jason scanned the girl and shook his head. “No Charli. Oh sorry, I should have given you my name.  I’m Jason,” he offered his hand in a friendly gesture. Charli looked at the hand, and shook it, her grip strong on the boy’s hand.

“Ok, so I’m never going to find out what you are doing here?” Thomas called from the shore, looking annoyed. “Who exactly are you both?”

“I am Jason Piscius Aurelius De Leone,” he said as he turned to face Thomas. “Slytherin prefect and unfortunately bitten by Fenrir Greyback. Cursed Slytherin. Ex cetra.” He raised his hand in a friendly gesture looking nervous at him.  

“Well, that’s a name and a half, aint it?” Charli looked shocked and mocking at Jason, laughing slightly to herself. “I can bearly remember mine, and it’s literally 10 letters! I’m Charli Rowe. Gryffindor keeper, curse breaker, sister of the famed Jacob Rowe. That’s all people really know me for.”

She shrugged, looking content with her words, simplistic as they may be. She looked at Thomas, expectantly, and she realized he was staring at her.

“Oh, right! My name’s Thomas Donner. Pureblood, Slytherin, disgrace to my family, hunter for cursed vaults.” He thought for a second, then jumped at his own thought. “Oh, and I am the Slytherin prefect. Not this Kid.”

He nodded his head towards Jason, a small scowl on his face.

“Wait a moment,” Jason raised his hand to chin. “We all have a brother named ‘Jacob’. Who is your best friend? On three we will say who it is.” 

The small group counted to three, slowly, and looking at each other, judging slightly. On three, they all called out their best friend’s name.

“Rowen Khanna.” muttered Charli.

“Rowen Khanna.” stated Thomas.

“Rowen Khanna.” Jason said as his eyes lit up. “Have you two had a recall on Time Turners?”

Thomas’ eyes widened, surprised at Jason’s knowledge. “Yes. Charli?”

“Yeah, I have.” she seemed upset, but this wasn’t the time to ask. Maybe in a few minutes, after they had figured out what the hell was going on.

Jason paced around the sand lost in his thoughts running his hand through his raven locks. “I have a theory but this is speculation.” He looked at the two fiddling with his bracelet on his left wrist. “What if the effect of the curse vault is messing with Time Turners? What if they are connecting possible timelines. Professor Binns mentioned something like this happening once in his nappy ways.”

Charli scoffed, arms crossed, left hand fiddling with something under her shirt. “You actually listen in those lessons? Nerd.”

“Look,” he stared at Charli with a more stoic look. “If we all have a brother named Jacob and a Time Turner recall then this isn’t a coincidence. Also yes I pay attention because Meri gets on me if I don’t pay attention.”

“I have several questions just about the word ‘Meri’.” Charli seemed to bounce on the spot and looked excited, smiling cheekily. 

“They can wait, Gryffindor. Right now we need to figure out what’s going on.” Thomas interrupted the girl. He hated being rude, but he needed to know what was happening.

Charli frowned and glared at Thomas. “Why can’t I have fun this year?”

Thomas and Jason looked at her, confused, and slightly worried about the shorter girl, but they brushed it off after she glared up at them, defensively.

“Thomas is correct,” Jason smiled at Charli. “I’ll tell you more after we settle this. But where should we start? I was in the middle of searching for the next vault when I kinda messed up with my Time Turner.” He blushed, embarrassed, and scratched his head giggling like he does when he got nervous.

“So was I. I was just about to search the lake when my TT just started spinning.” Charli shivered slightly in her wet robed. “Hey, can one of you lend me your cloak? This is freezing.”

“Sure, here.” Thomas slipped his cloak off and handed it to her. She looked displeased that it was green, not red, but slipped it on anyway, instantly looking better.

Jason pulled his TT out and looked at it as it sparked and acted like gears that were jammed. “Hmmm,” he glanced at the other two. “Hey, can I see your turners pleased?” 

Thomas picked up his bag and pulled out a small, leather pouch, untieing it and pulling out a silver time turner, handing it to Jason. Charli mutter something that sounded like ‘mister formal’ and slipped off hers. Charli’s time turner was bronze, the gears rusted slightly, and small sparks flew out of them. The weird thing was, Thomas’ turner looked fine, unlike the others.

“Okay,” Jason sighed. “If I’m right, we are in Thomas’s time. This has to be it,” he looked at the two nervously. “Any of you see in Jacobs notebook about an underwater vault?”

“Yeah, he’d drawn some creepy shit when talking about it. Drowning girls was a common thing for that particular segment.” Charli looked extremely disturbed, thinking back to her time alone in Jacob’s room.

“Same here, just not with the drowning.” Thomas looked at the three time turners, thinking intently. “I guessed it was in the lake, so I’ve been sitting in different corners of the lake, looking for hints to where it is. This is the last place.”

“I suggest one of us swim in if we can’t find anything around the lake. What do you all say? A little adventure?” Jason tried putting on a heroic pose to help lighten the situation. He had been practicing humor in times of strife. Sometimes it worked and others it didn’t.

Charli laughed, and shook her head. “You look weird. I guess I should go out, I’m wet anyway.”

“Are you sure? It’s freezing in there, and you’re already cold.” Thomas worried, fumbling with his cloak that had been thrown at him.

“I’m ok.” She said, bluntly, sounding annoyed. That girl has a short temper. She jumped into the lake and disappeared into the dark abyss of the water. She didn't emerge for several minutes, but when she did, they noticed that she morphed slightly, her brown hair growing and something disappearing from her head. “I can’t see anything.”

“It’s probably hidden, like the rest. It’ll take ages to find it.” Thomas called out to her, shaking his head. “Come back, we’ll think more.”

Charli swam quickly back to shore and shook off like a dog. “Do either of you gentlemen know a drying spell? I appear to be quite soaking.”

“I got it, sorry in advance,” Jason drew his wand and cast Ventus drying Charli off. “You feel better now? I’ll go next once we get a better idea of a location.” He put his wand back smiled at the two. “Thomas? Charli?”

“That won’t be necessary.” Thomas glared at Jason. To be truthful, he didn't really trust the other Slytherin. He had gotten used to spotting purebloods during his years, and he didn't know this boy’s family. He didn’t like that. “This is my vault. I will look for it.”

The boys stared at each other, Thomas glaring, and Jason looking confused at the anger in Thomas’ eyes.

“You Slytherboys done with your dominance competition?” Charli said, raising an eyebrow at them. “I have places to be at home, and I’d like to get to that.”

“Fine.” Thomas turned to the lake and sighed. “I feel like we need more brains. Maybe we should go to Rowen and Penny. They can help us-”

“NO!” Charli yelled, looking panicked. “We can’t do that.”

“I agree with Charli. Who knows the what effects we might cause. Fewer people the better, but I personally would suggest maybe a professor. Dumbledore? McGonagall?”

“Yeah, what he said. Effects and stuff.” Charli spoke quickly, then muttered, barely audible. “Definitely not my fear.”

“What was that?” Thomas asked.

“NOTHING!” she squeaked, tensed up and eyes wide.

“I know I shouldn’t ask but I’m curious,” Jason looked down at the short girl. “Something wrong in your reality?”

Charli, looking defeated, sighed and looked to the side, frowning sadly, and biting her lower lip. “A lot has happened in my reality the past year. Things that made my Rowen, and the others, not really trust me anymore…”

“Charli,” Jason walked over placing a hand on her shoulder softly. “I don’t know you all that well but what I can at least get from your actions is you’re a good person. Granted I don’t know if what I say might help but you aren’t alone. If all three of us have the same friends then we know they have our backs. They will welcome you back if you can apologize.” He moved his hand off her and smiled at. “We could consider each siblings too since we share one major thing: Jacob.” Jason always tried to comfort others despite his own personal pains. Fenrir attack. Cain’s bullying. His family divorce. He tried to smile through the pain for other's sake.

“It’s easy to say that stuff when you don't know what I did.” Charli sighed, then drew a long, strong breath, forcing a big, goofy smile. “But let’s not talk about that! We have more important things to do.”

“Are you sure? It sounds like you need some advi-”

“I said let’s move on! God, do you have slugs in your ears?” Charli joked, looking slightly pained as she thought about her home. Her Hogwarts.

“As you wish Madam Rowe,” Jason laughed softly, as Charli mouthed ‘madam’ with confusion. “Thomas, by chance, what spot seems to be promising? Your vault. Your Hogwarts. You lead the way.”

Thomas puffed his chest out, a cocky look on his face, that screamed ‘you bet I am’. “Well, this is, like, the last place I’ve been looking, but my friends are studying the lake to make sure. Are you sure I shouldn’t talk to them? Even alone?”

At that last point, he looked at Charli, smiling comfortingly.

“That would be fine I think. Charli?” Jason looked at her. 

“I guess that’s ok. Just don’t mention what’s happening here.” she looked confident, a stereotypical Gryffindor look. The one you see on quidditch players before a match.

Jason nodded in agreement. “We will see you in a few minutes?”

“Sure, ok.” Thomas looked at his bag, then at Jason and Charli, looking distrustful. However, he ran off, towards the castle, telling them to hide behind the boulder he was sitting by. Once he was out of view, Charli shrugged and slumped against the rock immediately picking up Thomas’ bag and rummaging through it.

“Looking for a snack?” Jason raised his eyebrow. “Very unbecoming of a lady.” He smirked at her, teasingly. 

“First of all, I’m not a lady. I’m a half-blood, we can’t be ladies in the wizarding world. Secondly, I know I’m skinny, I don't eat much, especially food I find in stranger's bags.” she finally looked up from the bag and looked at Jason. “Lastly, I’m just checking him out. One of my issues, I guess I just don’t like when guys are sketchy... “ she looked down, sadly, then rummaged through the bag again. “That’s how Jacob acted before he left. Before he… God, what am I doing, opening up to you?”

“It’s fine Charli. I was only trying to make light of it. I didn’t mean offense.” Jason started fiddling with his bracelet. “I can understand that to a degree. If want to you can speak to me. I know, ‘Slytherin’-”

“I get you were trying to do. I’ve just had a rough few years.” Charli seemed startled by her interuting him, but continued. “You being a Slytherin doesn't bother me, I just find it hard to trust people. I’m the youngest in my family. My older sister is a muggle, like mum. She’s mum’s favorite because of that. Jacob was the first of their children that showed magic, and the only boy, so he was dad’s favorite. I wasn’t supposed to happen, so I was kinda forgotten. Jacob was the only one that gave me the time of day, until he got to Hogwarts, and got entranced by the vaults. Then he left, and my life has been hell ever since. It was only made worse when… when something went wrong in the vault last year, and I had to push my friends away, so they didn't completely too. I’m completely alone, no matter where I go. I don't think people would notice if I disappeared like Jacob did…”

“Charli,” the look she had on her face reminded him of someone close to him. The pain of lose and rejection were something Jason knew. “You are so much like Meri with that look. I guess that’s why I am trying to help if anything. I got a few bits that happened sometime last year. I lost being a pureblood right. When I was searching for a cursed vault in the Forbidden Forest I ran into Fenrir Greyback.” Jason removed his cloak, loosening his tie and opening his shirt, showing his scar from when he was bitten. “I did something stupid for Meri. She was hurt and I pushed her out of the way and took the bite for her. Stupid but all I did was move. She suffered so much alone. I couldn’t bare her suffering. Granted, she and I fought our first four years, but I had this admiration for her, despite it. Then,” he raised his sleeves showing scars, “my dad would fight mom in the manor and I tried stopping it so I am scarred from trying to stop pain on others. Whether I get hurt makes no difference. I would step in front of anyone if it meant they were safe. Meri always gives me an earful but hey I’m an idiot with a hero complex.” Jason smiled at her. “Charli, we have people we care for. Pushing them away or stepping in front of something to defend them also hurts them. It’s fine if your skeptical but if you remain like that then you’ll always be alone. This world can be lonely and we need to cherish whatever we do have.”

“I get that…” Charli frowned, sadly, as she looked out at the shining lake. She thought for a second, then looked at Jason, a small side smile on her face. “Last year, in the vault, I had Merula, Rowen, Penny, and Ben accompanying me. In the beginning of the vault, Ben got injured, so Penny stayed back to look after him. Later on, Rowen said it wasn’t worth going forward without a full team. I disagreed. I needed to find Jacob, to maybe, finally, get some attention from my parents. Merula followed me forward, and we fought the vault with everything we had. But it just, wasn't enough. Merula got badly hurt… a few hours later, we finally got her to the infirmary. But it was too late. She’s gone. All because of me…”

Tears were falling down her face, now. Silent sobs were her specialty, as she had to hide a lot, at home, ad in her Hogwarts. She’s used to it.

Jason hugged Charli. Whenever he cried Jacob would always comfort him with hugs until he felt better. He picked up the habit from him whenever anyone of his friends was having a rough time. Exams. Personal. Jason was that snake that coiled around them for the sake of protection and love he had for everyone. If he could help someone he would. Friend or Foe. Snape and Puffskeins too. 

Charli leaned into his embrace, thinking back to her childhood with Jacob, after her parents scolded her for whatever she did ‘wrong’. She didn't care that Jason was a stranger. She needed this. Needed to tell someone about this.

“You’re more than you let yourself think Charli,” Jason smiled. “Jacob always told me I was more than let myself be. I am Autistic so I always have been pushed down. He thinks it gave me an advantage over most for some reason or another. The faith he had in me always kept my head straight. I have faith you have more to offer in your world. After all, we are ‘cursed students’ that makes us doubted for own strength but in reality, we are powerful. I just got a feeling you are amazing. I think if you were my sister, all I know is we’d cause all the trouble for Snape we could.” He laughed softly. “Maybe put some puffskeins in his class for a laugh.”

Charli sniffed, and wiped her tears from her eyes. She smiled at Jason and thanked him for helping her out. “I’ll talk to them when I get back. They don’t know why I left them, so I guess I owe them an explanation. Hopefully, they’re not too angry with me…”

Just as she finished speaking, and Jason squeezed her shoulders in a tight hug, they heard quick footsteps coming from behind the boulder.

“Hey guys!” Thomas panted, looking tired and out of breath.

“Jesus Christ, did you run there and back?” Charli quickly wiped her eyes and stood up, hiding the fact she had been crying from him. Thomas panted and nodded, looking like he was about to pass out.

“What did you find out?” Jason fixed his tie and rolled down his sleeves covering his scars while throwing his cloak back on. “You probably should sit too before you say anything.”

Thomas nodded and flopped to the floor, lying down on the ground and breathing heavily. Charli reached into his bag and pulled out a bottle of water, passing it to Thomas. He sipped a bit of it and poured the rest out onto his face, making both Jason and Charli laugh.

“Ok, I'm good. I know where the vault is.” 

“Really? Where at?” Jason’s eyes gleamed with excitement like a little kid. He only got excited when something goes right.

Thomas stared at Jason and Charli, worried, and bit his lip. He caught his breath, and spoke. “It’s in the middle of the lake.”

[the-paris-of-people]

THE GOOD PLACE SEASON 3 SHIT POST

Alright! Well the first half (or more than half) of The Good Place, Season 3 has officially aired and let me tell you, I have OPINIONS! about what I liked, what I didn’t like, and what I’m excited for/expecting in the episodes to come. I’m going to put this under a cut because it’s hella long so get ready for it! 

I’m going to start first by examining each member of Team Cockroach, character journey by character journey, and pinpointing what I liked, what I didn’t like, etc.! Also I’m going to try to refrain from screaming about Cheleanor in this post. We all know I love them a lot and there are other aspects about the show that I love and don’t post enough about! 

ELEANOR 

What I liked: 

I absolutely adored her close relationships with Simone and Tahani this season (YAY female friendships!) and I hope their connections continue to deepen throughout the series 

Her breakdown at Tahani’s engagement party was one of my favorite moments- I thought it was so realistic and human and lovely to have her relapsing and to deliver such a heartfelt apology really showed how she had grown in a different way than she did in the afterlife 

What I didn’t like: 

I thought the show focused too much on her character journey this season and not enough on the journeys of Jason, Tahani, and Chidi. I thought the episodes of “A Fractured Inheritance” and “The Worst Possible Use of Free Will” didn’t really add anything to her story that we didn’t know- they only confirmed what we saw previously. Like alright! We get it! She hates being vulnerable! I wish we could’ve known more about her previous relationships (romantic and otherwise) just for a more fair comparison of her relationships to Team Cockroach 

To be honest... her clothes this season. I thought her style in the flashbacks was more “Arizona trashbag” and wackier and more fun. I also don’t understand why she was wearing jeans so much? Like isn’t Australia really hot? 

What I wish for them in the future: 

For her to finally be happy with Chidi, to navigate all the ups and downs of being in a committed relationship

Now that she and Chidi are happy also, I would love to see more of her relationships with Tahani, Jason, and Janet (and Michael too! but they did already spend time together a lot this season) 

SPEARHEADING THE MOVEMENT FOR A MORE FAIR POINT SYSTEM IN THE AFTERLIFE WITH MICHAEL. LIKE YOU GO GIRL, YOU DE FACTO LEADER! 

CHIDI 

What I liked: 

I really enjoyed seeing Chidi in a committed relationship with Simone (seeing his hand around her shoulder in “The Snowplow” made me swoon!) and I think he grew a lot from it and (like he said) developed a lot professionally and personally. It made me proud to see him step outside his realm of comfort (philosophy) and toy with neuroscience, a subject which he is totally unfamiliar with (Did I think the study was a good idea? Ummmm that’s a completely different topic!) 

He loosened up and became less rigid, from not caring so much about being fired from the university to being excited about having a drink with his friends to abandoning rules, the very thing he always clings to for a structured society, and playing Jacksonville-style pool with his buddy Jason 

SHIRTLESSSSSSSSS CHIDIIIIIIIIIIIII HOLY FUCK 

Seeing his life in Everything is Bonzer! I really enjoyed seeing the university he worked at and spent most of his time, meeting with his colleagues and friends Simone and Henry, visiting Henry in the hospital and bringing him blueberry muffins, freaking out in the library, going to a cafe to break up with his girlfriend. None of it surprised me really but it was just nice to see his life outside of the neighborhood. 

I liked seeing Tahani and Chidi bond, even for a short while, in A Fractured Inheritance because they haven’t interacted in two seasons and I love these two highly educated sophisticates! 

What I didn’t like: 

How he went from 0 to 100 in regards to his feelings for Eleanor? I mentioned my feelings in this post but yeah... I just don’t get how he was able to leave Simone behind so quickly when he was lingering on his feelings for her even after he learned the truth about his fate 

Why the fuck did he wear so many sweater vests this season? I loved his button down shirts, short-sleeved, in the afterlife because they highlighted his chest/arms. SHED THE SWEATER VESTS 2K19!! 

What I wish for them in the future:

Again, HAPPINESS WITH ELEANOR! I’M READY FOR THE GOOEYNESS! 

To address the gap between the Chidi/Simone, Chidi/Eleanor relationships 

I want this more for Chidi than for Eleanor, but I REALLY REALLY REALLY want Chidi to become closer with Jason and Tahani. They have such wonderful relationships and they aren’t explored enough! I’m hoping now that he and Eleanor are finally settled in, he can form deeper connections with them. I also barely know anything about his relationships with the Tahani and Jason because he barely interacted with them in the Snowplow? 

TAHANI 

What I liked: 

I loved that she went about giving her money away because she WANTED to, rather than needed to for validation, in Jeremy Bearimy. She had genuine desire to become a good person and to hand her money over to people who needed it (like Jason). 

Also, even though I am not a fan of A Fractured Inheritance, I did really like that Tahani wanted to make up with her sister out of the goodness of her heart and that she expressed sympathy for Kamilah (even though Kamilah didn’t necessarily deserve it) It really showed how loving Tahani truly is 

Her reactions to Jason’s life in The Ballad of Donkey Doug... absolute golden 

In general, I adored her relationships with Jason and Eleanor this season. She has such strong friendships with both of them, and I wish we saw that level of bonding in Chidi’s relationships, too! 

What I didn’t like: 

I hate to say it, but most of the jokes for Tahani were kind of stale for me this season (I don’t think this is due to Jameela at all, but more the writing?) Though she KILLED it as a centaur! 

What the fuck was the point of Larry Hemsworth? Also, stop trying to make Jason/Tahani a thing. Also, STOP GIVING TAHANI MALE LOVE INTERESTS! SHE’S A LESBIAN.   L E S B I A N!!

What I wish for them in the future:

I really want Tahani to have more screen time because IMO she doesn’t have enough and she’s such a wonderful and relatable character. I hope she finds a role for herself in the afterlife system and creates a satisfying career for herself (WHICH I WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING) Honestly, at this point in the series, I’m not really rooting for Tahani to have a love interest because I think she could have a kickass self-journey first. Go Tahani! 

JASON 

What I liked:

I think the writers did the best job at depicting Jason’s life on Earth, probably because his Soul Squad adventure was in his natural environment/home turf. I loved his relationships with Pillboi and Donkey Doug, watching him work so that they became better people, and more than that, I ended up adoring and rooting for Pillboi and Donkey Doug in the process. I still am! Hi guys!

SEEING DANCE DANCE RESOLUTION! I think watching Jason lead his dance crew and ponder a deeper meaning to life showed a new depth to his character and also excellently highlighted his most positive qualities. I thought the humor in his Everything is Bonzer! storyline was my favorite and perfectly in line with who he was.

His two moments interacting with Simone were frigging golden and I wish there was more of that friendship (although Simone is more like his mom... yikes LOL) 

His friendship with Tahani. I mentioned it earlier but it really warmed my heart and I’m happy they are so close!

I actually loved his Earth clothes and getting a sense of his regular style, especially his jackets!

What I didn’t like:

Not much honestly. I liked Jason a lot this season!

What I wish for them in the future:

Reunited with Pillboi

A RELATIONSHIP WITH JANET PLEASE PLEASE PLEASEEEEEE

Again he’s a mixed bag, so we’ll see, but to reiterate I would love a Chidi/Jason friendship! 

JANET

What I liked:

Everything about that Janet(s) episode. I mean that was more D’Arcy but still, I adore that Janet(s) got her moment to shine because I thought she was underutilized this season (and now I see why, she was working hard filming this episode!)

Her adoration of Jason GETS ME! and I hated (and loved) how she admired him from afar

God. Her friendship with Michael I liked but didn’t pay much attention to but now I care about so much it’s now one of my favorite relationships on the show and it makes me well up thinking about how much time they’ve spent together. I can’t wait them to have more adventures together! I also liked how she was more rational when Michael was going nuts with his ideas of how to keep the humans together.

Seeing her develop new abilities like lying, throwing shade, kicking ass, etc. I’m so freaking proud of how far she’s come!

Releasing her queue in front of the judge so she and Michael could escape to Earth. GO JANET!

What I didn’t like:

Again, I thought Janet was underutilized and now I see why!

Sometimes I am ??? about some of her gaps in knowledge since she is supposed to know everything (like wouldn’t she have known no one’s gotten into The Good Place in 521 years?) but eh, that’s the show’s fault, not hers

What I wish for them in the future:

LET!!! HER!!! DATE!! JASON!!!

MICHAEL

What I liked:

His love for the humans truly touches me and I was astounded by the lengths he was willing to go to protect him.

I thought he was really funny this season, especially with the Dick Tracy joke!

His way of explaining the humans’ history in the afterlife (JEREMY BEARIMYYY) with all the whiteboards 

What I didn’t like:

Again, too much time bonding with Eleanor and not enough with the other humans!

Not treating Janet like an equal! GIVE HER WHAT SHE DESERVES!! ACKNOWLEDGE SHE KICKED THOSE DEMON ASSES NOT YOU!

What I wish for them in the future:

I’m so freaking excited to see him take charge of the point system! The last episode really got me pumped up for this reformed demon and I’m PSYCHED to see what’s to come!

Favorite moments of the season (Non-Cheleanor related, because I feel like that’s a given): 

Pillboi and Jason’s handshake

The reveal that Donkey Doug is Jason’s dad 

Eleanor’s breakdown at the engagement party

Eleanor forcing Chidi to ask Simone out

Eleanor pretending to be Simone 

Simone talking to Eleanor after her breakdown 

Chidi and Simone’s first meeting (I FREAKING LOVE IT! You’re so weird!)

Eleanor and Simone in the cafe  

Just anything with Simone really I’m in love with her 

The scene where Jason was lecturing DDR to give everything they got (Little Peanut: Now we can legally rob their houses LOL) 

Eleanor-Janet pretending to be Jason-Janet

PEEPS IN THE CHILI POT

Confrontation with the judge at the end of “The Brainy Bunch”

The fight inside the bar in Canada

The snail funeral for Martin Luther Gandhi Tyler Moore

Favorite episodes of the season: 

Janet(s)

The Ballad of Donkey Doug

Everything is Bonzer!

The Brainy Bunch

Jeremy Bearimy

Least favorite episodes of the season:

A Fractured Inheritance (that episode can choke) 

The Snowplow

Predictions about The Good Place in the future: 

Okay I feel like since no one’s gotten in in 500+ years, The Good Place must be incredibly outdated and therefore, not at all that great? Like it’s probably not up to speed technologically (in terms of the Janets, too) and everyone there is too old-fashioned/too goodie-two-shoes and it’s up to the gang to diversify and modernize it. 

I think Mike Schur mentioned something about how children are more likely to go to The Good Place since they have less time to collect negative point values, so I bet the place is crawling with kids? (If I can find the interview I will reference it!) 

I made a post awhile back about how William Jackson Harper in an interview said that Chidi would try to touch base/save someone from his past (Again I will reference once I dig through my posts)... my theory now that they’re back in the afterlife is that he is going to try to save his grandma! Will Eleanor meet his grandma? OMG will his grandma show Eleanor baby photos of Chidi? (This is just me launching into fanfic territory don’t mind meeeeee) 

What I want to happen in general/ what I want to know more about: 

What the fuck happened with Uzo? Like he was not even mentioned at all in season 3? Isn’t he Chidi’s best friend? 

WILL SIMONE EVER COME BACK I FUCKING MISS HER 

MINDY!! PLEASE!! COME!! BACK!! 

THE DEMONS! I NEED MORE OF THE DEMONS SHAWN VICKY GLENN ETCCCCCCCC

Anyway, this has concluded my ultra long shit post after the December 6th episode. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this and please let me know if you share the same thoughts or if you disagree! Ohhhh and I would love to hear your predictions too! Thanks so much if you got this far <3 

Tagging: @cheleanorwhore @dearestpartnerofgreatness @helianthus21 @montygreen @chidi-anagonye

[zykaben-art]

OC Masterpost

I keep a list of my OCs and the tags that I use for them here but this list is going to be a bit more in-depth.

This thing is long so I’m gonna put everyone under the cut.

D&D Characters — What it says on the tin.

Lulrin Malmun — A fallen aasimar wizard with a tragic past. Lulrin grew up as a protector aasimar in a happy community but he felt extremely isolated in his teenage years. This lead to him being manipulated by a tiefling named Nirza. Lulrin fell in love with her and she lured him into doing terrible things in the name of his love. Because of this, Lulrin fell and became something of an emotionless puppet for Nirza. She died a few years later, leaving Lulrin lost and conflicted and overwhelmed. He ended up removing his soul from his body to cut himself off from his emotions. He’s gotten a lot better since then—his soul has been returned to being inside of him and he’s made a good number of friends! He loves knitting and hot chocolate.

Haedus — Full of restrained anger and passion, Haedus is a bladesinger wizard. His rapier and his magic are potent weapons that he uses efficiently. He’s typically silent and wears a mask to hide his face. I’m still fleshing him out fully but he’s a very fun character.

Sly Silvervale — Sly is a half-elf monk who is doing his best to amass funds so that he can fulfill his dream of opening a tavern that can provide a good time, quality food and drink, and a place where others can find rest and general merriment. While he does his best to act polite, calm, and collected, he is inclined to make sarcastic quips towards friends and enemies alike and can be somewhat oblivious. He loves to cook for himself and for others and he also enjoys bartending and mixing drinks.

Stefan — A revenant NPC in my Curse of Strahd campaign(s). Stefan is crude and hotheaded, eagerly seeking out enemies to slay but quick to make friends. He can’t remember much of his time before being a revenant, but he’s pretty okay with that.

Sorina — She grew up as an orphan in her home town but was raised in a very loving and caring community. She’s kind and witty but won’t hesitate to tease her friends or fight her enemies. Stubborn and strong, she’s a brilliant guard.

Marek — He grew up alongside Sorina as an orphan. Marek is charming and flirtatious, preferring to keep all his shirts unbuttoned when he can and never passing up on a good time. The only thing he loves more than fun is his friends.

Jamila Shani — A sun soul monk and cleric of Ra. Jamila is an agent of violence and chaos, though it’s been directed in a more productive direction as of late. She grew up alone and on the streets, fending for herself. She approached an order known as the Monks of Ra and wished to join them. She was mocked and ridiculed instead. She then taught herself to read and stole (and later returned) scriptures so that she could learn the ways of the Monks. She then ran off where she became an assistant to Hemaka, a newly-illiterate scribe for the pharaoh. The two of them have since taken to adventuring and stopping the end of the world.

Heroes of Two Galaxies — Characters in a sci-fi campaign (based on Endless Space 2).

Laurence Verity — Laurence grew up on an Unfallen planet as a citizen of the United Empire. He was encouraged to pursue his interests and curiosities by his parents and community. He soon became dedicated to doing the right thing and ensuring that everyone was treated fairly. From there, he decided to become a lawyer, more intent on making sure that the truth came out rather than necessarily winning the case. When he moved to Raia, the capital planet of the United Empire, he was aghast to find that the government and judicial system were rife with corruption. He did his best to play within the parameters of the law but it quickly became apparent that no true justice was going to take place with the current state of things. Over the years, with encouragement from his mentor Runo and his husband Blaise, Laurence set out to find a way to reform the government so that it was truly fair. His actions earned him an invitation to the Academy, a collection of influential figures throughout the galaxies. Laurence accepted and has since graduated as a Hero, working with his current team while trying to fulfill his own goals.

Blaise Annora — Laurence’s husband and a semi-famous actor. Blaise grew up as an orphan who quickly fell in love with theatre and dedicated his life to becoming an actor. After a rough start (a failed television show and lots of commercials) during which he met and began dating Laurence, Blaise got his big break and has shown no signs of slowing down since then. Blaise is charismatic and fun to be around, someone who is lively bright. He donates incredibly frequently to charity due to his own childhood. He loves Laurence dearly and is the only person who Laurence likes being called “Law” by.

Runo Batin — An affable and outgoing man with a penchant for the dramatic. Runo is regarded as one of the best lawyers in the United Empire and is a mentor to Laurence. He’s kind yet distant and Laurence is determined to unravel the mystery that is his mentor.

Jared and Co. — Sometimes a family can be a group of magical misfits in a cottage in the woods. Traditional high-fantasy aesthetic. The main rules governing magic is that mages all have certain powersets that can be built upon but the kind of magic that an individual has is luck of the draw.

Jared — Jared is a very unique individual for a variety of reasons. His magic is some of the most powerful that any modern mage has ever seen before—energy manipulation and teleportation. Because of this, Jared is a force to be reckoned with. However, Jared abhors violence and he’s much happier to spend his time in his cottage, taking in all sorts of people, offering them tea, knitting them scarves, and being an endearing goofball. He can’t help but offer others assistance and has a heart of gold.

Damien — Damien was unlucky enough to be born with magic that is classified as necromancy. Necromancy as a field of magic is heavily disliked and makes it incredibly hard for anyone with that class of magic to be accepted for just about anything. Thus, Damien jumped at the chance to work for a guild, underpaid and unfair as the work was. He was originally assigned to neutralize Jared for taking away business from the guild. However, he was quickly defeated and offered a drink and a place to stay. Damien was wary but accepted. He has yet to regret it. He’s somewhat cold and stiff but cares fiercely for his newfound friends.

Seraphima — Seraphima is a half-human half-dragon hybrid who is one of the residents of Jared’s cottage. She was abandoned early on in life, unwanted by the dragons for her human half and feared by the humans for her draconic heritage. She was found by Jared after a nasty encounter with some particularly cruel humans. Jared immediately took her back home and recruited the help of Anica to heal her. The two of them were able to patch Seraphima up and Jared offered up his home. Seraphima eventually accepted. She’s a free spirit who enjoys a good challenge and isn’t afraid to tackle her problems head-on. She has taken up the role as the protector of Jared and his “strays” and guards them just as fiercely as any dragon protects their hoard.

Anica — A wood nymph who lives near Jared’s cabin. She is one of Jared’s oldest friends, though she has avoided the title of “stray”. She is calm and collected, offering food and healing to whoever she can. She is soft-spoken and has a great love for all of nature. She and Seraphima are wonderful friends, despite the vast differences in their magic and personalities.

Siri — Siri is a nomadic mage who has ice and snow manipulation magic. Because it drains her magic greatly to take water and turn it into ice or snow, she travels with the cold so that she can always use her magic. She stays at Jared’s cabin during the winter. She’s excitable and patient, delighting in new experiences and telling stories of her travels. A generally warm person despite her powerset.

Helen — A former assassin mage who used to belong to the same guild that Damien once did. When Damien failed to return from his mission, Helen was sent in his place. She’s cold and professional, rarely letting her emotions get the best of her. Her magic allows her to turn the blood outside of her body into incredibly potent acid, making her a dangerous foe. However, Jared was able to tire her out and then heal her, treating her with great kindness that she could not help but be moved by. She has since become another resident of Jared’s cottage.

Two Assholes in a Handbasket — Not so much a story as it is these two characters for the moment. Once I work something out I’ll update this more fully. They’re definitely in a modern-day setting without magic, though. Likely in high school.

Jason “J” Stone — J is something of an asshole with amazing computer skills. He doesn’t care for other people (with the exception of Derek) and has been living on his own ever since his parents left and never came back home around when he was 15 years old. He’s cold and sarcastic and independent, viscerally hating people who try to take away his freedom. He’s calm and aloof and it’s generally challenging to get him really, truly angry. Fairly apathetic to most others and gives no shits about school. Derek is his best friend and J is sure to help Derek get through his problems by using logic or calming him down.

Derek — A delinquent through and through. Derek is large and intimidating. He never starts a fight without a reason, but at times the reasons can be petty at best. He used to be more of a bully in middle school and the start of high school, but that fizzled out when he became friends with J. Derek officially lives with his foster parents, both of whom are not kind or pleasant people, but in truth he lives in J’s apartment, helping to cover the price of rent. J is his best friend and Derek is sure to help J remember to eat, sleep, and generally take care of himself.

Demons, Magical Contracts, and Other Disasters — A world where humans need all the edge they can get against other, more magical societies. Thus they have turned to forging contracts with demons for magic in exchange for their life force.

Silas & Caleb — A two-in-one sort of deal. Silas is a human host and Caleb is the illusion demon that he made a contract with. Though the relationship started off normally enough (at least, normal between a demon and a human) it soon became one of mutual respect, then friendship, then romance. The two of them Bonded (the demonic equivalent of a matrimonial contract) and have this achieved something akin to immortality and unlimited power. They’re incredibly powerful but they care more for stirring up trouble than doing anything truly nefarious or ambitious. They’re definitely not going to be the main character of the story, but they’ll definitely show up a few times to cause mischief.

Pokemon

Rowan — A pokemon trainer(?) who I am still fleshing out a personality and backstory for, but whose design I love. I’m going to have a lot of fun with them.

Supernatural Apartment Complex — An urban fantasy setting where supernatural beings live alongside our society, though they are vastly outnumbered. Their existences are ones that are kept secret. All of the characters here are all part of the same supernatural apartment complex.

Galen — One of the few humans in the apartment complex, Galen is a Magician (human magic-user) and an incredibly proficient one at that. However, Galen wishes to inspire awe in the world through stage magic and illusionary, not his actually real magic. Thus, Galen is training to be the greatest stage magician that the world has ever known without the use of his magic. He’s dramatic, mysterious, and more than a little silly.

Seth — Galen’s werewolf boyfriend. Seth is a fashion designer for the supernatural, creating all manner of comfortable and stylish clothing. He’s intuitive and has a brilliant eye for design. He’s fun to be around but he’s much calmer than Galen, not to mention more straightforward and blunt.

Conni — Seth’s older sister. Both she and Seth inherited lycanthropy from their parents. She’s reckless and stubborn and never passes up an opportunity to mess with her little brother.  She’s a personal trainer at a local gym and takes pride in her strength and muscles.

Lonan — Conni’s roommate. Lonan is a harpy that works as an editor for the local paper. She’s somewhat shy and quite diligent in her work ethic. She’s a sucker for staying up late watching all sorts of shows and videos. Conni often teases her by saying that Lonan would go fully nocturnal if it weren’t for her job.

Killian — A vampire who is the landlord of the apartment complex and runs the coffee shop that makes up the first floor of the building. Killian is always wearing at least semi-formal wear and always acts perfectly calm, respectable, and polite. He’s a great landlord to all his tenants. Despite all of this, no one really knows that much about him.

Faye — A lazy laidback faerie who typically spends their day lounging about their room, making cryptic statements, or creating art. Faye tens to not talk with the other residents when they can help it. Their history is largely unknown since they don’t talk much in the first place and tend to avoid the topic. With Killian’s permission, they’ll put up some of their work around the coffee shop for customers to marvel at or purchase.

Reyes — Faye’s roommate who co-owns a shop with Jira. Reyes is typically loud and outgoing with a penchant for mischief and challenges. He gets along fairly well with Conni when the two aren’t engaged in a prank war. Even Faye has admitted that Reyes is likable, “regardless of how annoying he is”. Reyes is a tattoo artist who takes great pride in his work and uses Faye as his own personal critic.

Jira — Jire is a dryad who owns the flower shop half of the shop she co-owns with Reyes. Jira is quick to lose her temper and take petty revenge, but she doesn’t really hold grudges. She’s lively and fun to be around and is constantly giving out flowers as gifts to her friends. She takes great pride in her shop and works well with Reyes.

Marina — Jira’s wife and roommate. Marina is a mermaid/siren. She’s a marine biology professor at the local community college who deeply loves her subject area and educating others. She’s gentle and helpful but will never stand for someone being rude or disrespectful. When she gives lectures, she’ll use her magical voice so that people are enchanted to pay better attention and recall the material more clearly.

Star Buds — A tale of Void and Nix, two beings that are of a race of essentially sentient, humanoid stars known as the Vanithen. They’re looking to make as many friends as possible.

Void — Void is sweet and kind and just wants to be friends with everyone. They’re incredibly empathetic and a people-pleaser. Be kind to them or they’ll cry.

Nix — Void’s best friend. Nix is the more logical of the two and is the skeptic to Void’s open trust and belief. Nix has steered them both out of trouble many times.

Hollow Knight OCs — OCs for the game, Hollow Knight.

Heart — A vessel OC with a major case of Corvid Brain who adores cute and shiny things. To find out more about them, check here.

Plum — A kind and spunky gal who loves to knit. She dual wields her razor sharp knitting needles. To find out more about her, check here.

[aion-rsa]

How Netflix’s Beckett Breaks Away from the Tenet Action Hero

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This Beckett article contains spoilers.

You could be forgiven, going into the new Netflix thriller, Beckett, for expecting a vibe not dissimilar to John David Washington’s last big movie, Tenet. Like Tenet, Beckett is a conspiracy thriller about someone who finds themselves out of their depth, with chase scenes and gunplay aplenty, and Netflix probably doesn’t mind you making those associations when you’re choosing what to watch. But while Tenet was a film that very much harked back to classic Bond movies, Beckett’s inspirations are quite a bit older.

Watching Beckett feels a lot like watching an old Alfred Hitchcock suspense thriller. The plot, a tourist has a car accident and stumbles into a deadly conspiracy, is pure Hitchock, reminiscent of films such as The 39 Steps or The Man Who Knew Too Much. Even the soundtrack is full of jarring strings that don’t sound too far off the signature “stabbing” score from Psycho.

But despite, or perhaps because, Beckett is such a deliberate throwback to an older style of filmmaking, it breaks a lot of the rules we’re used to having for our movie protagonists, resulting in a film that feels extremely fresh and new.

Taking Your Lumps

The film I watched most recently before Beckett was Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, a film where the stars have contracts stipulating how often they’re allowed to be hit and ensuring they’re never seen to “lose” or “look weak.” It shows. Throughout the film it is painfully apparent how well balanced the two stars are — one of them beats up six guys, the other has to beat up a really big guy. If one of them insults the other, the other has to have a zinger that matches, not outmatches, the first.

It’s enough to make one long for the days of heroes like Indiana Jones and John McClain, who despite their big money stars, spent most of their films getting the absolute crap kicked out of them. Hobbs & Shaw is a fun film with some good moments, but there’s nothing to match McClain trying to make his way around the Nakatomi Building with bare feet full of broken glass.

Beckett is in a different world from even that, however. He spends most of the film in a cast after a car accident. When he gets shot in the arm he spends the rest of the film bleeding. If he gets hit by a car he doesn’t leap to his feet or even struggle to them, he lies on the floor grunting in pain.

In the big, final climactic fight scene of Beckett, both combatants are literally lying on the floor, barely able to lift their arms up to struggle for the gun because they’re both in so much pain, and it’s as dramatic as any Iron Man vs. Hulk punch up.

Beckett also makes mistakes — sometimes really stupid mistakes. When he’s finally at the American embassy and the US agent is really obviously pumping him for information, Beckett happily and eagerly tells him everything he knows. It’s obvious to the audience he’s being interrogated, but not to Beckett, because he doesn’t know he’s in a movie, and that there’s almost half the movie still to go. He does what you or I would do in that situation.

And you might point out that it makes sense Beckett takes more of a beating than streetwise cop John McClain or Jason Statham in any given role. Beckett is just an ordinary guy.

Except cinema is full of ordinary guys who suddenly get weirdly good at hand-to-hand combat and random survival skills. Films from Enemy of the State to Shaun of the Dead show that deep down, under the right circumstances, we are all potentially ready to turn into Batman at a moment’s notice.

Throughout the film Beckett often has moments of cleverness and bravery, and he comes out on top in a few fights through desperation and luck, but he’s far more believably Not a Person Who Should Be in This Situation.

But more than that, he cries, he becomes paralyzed by panic attacks, he is literally traumatized by the horrendous things he sees and does.

Which brings us to the other big divergence Beckett has with established filmmaking rules.

What Doesn’t Kill Me, Is Also Horrible

Let’s go back to John McClain. John McClain at the end of Die Hard. He’s fought, he’s killed, he’s bleeding. He’s had his identity broken down and then built it back up again, turning from an ordinary street cop into a badass cowboy who is comfortable enough with his masculinity to be emotionally vulnerable with his wife. At the end of Die Hard he is a better, stronger, more well-rounded person than he was at the beginning.

We can see the same thing in Miss Congeniality (a film that I humbly submit is Die Hard’s equal). FBI Special Agent Gracie Hart undergoes humiliation, alienation from her co-workers, and faces some uncomfortable home truths in her search for the bomber, and at the end of it she regains her confidence, while also learning some important lessons about internalized misogyny. Like Die Hard, this was a journey she had to go on.

Community and Rick & Morty creator Dan Harmon calls this “the story circle,” loosely based off the old “Hero’s Journey” trope, and it’s a theme he returns to multiple times in both shows when he feels like getting obnoxiously meta.

The short version is that Harmon argues every story can be mapped onto a circle with eight stages:

A character is in a zone of comfort,

But they want something.

They enter an unfamiliar situation,

Adapt to it,

Get what they wanted,

Pay a heavy price for it,

Then return to their familiar situation,

Having changed.

Maybe you agree every story can fit this, maybe you don’t, but it can be a useful tool for examining story structure.

For what it’s worth, Beckett totally fits the story circle.

Beckett is on holiday with his girlfriend in Greece.

But they want to get away from the big protest in Athens

So they go to an isolated village, have a car accident, and Beckett finds himself on the run from the murder police.

He learns how to survive on the run…

…and gets to the US embassy…

…and accidentally sells out the people who helped him.

He returns to the square in Athens where the protest is taking place…

But this time rather than avoiding local politics, he rescues the kidnapped child of a politician.

It’s all very neat. Except an unstated rule of the circle, one that isn’t even implied by the letter of the law but which every movie seems to adhere to, is that the hero comes out of this adventure stronger, better, and knowing himself in a way that he didn’t before.

Beckett’s last words in the entire film are “I should be dead.” He hasn’t come out of this story stronger, or better, or having processed his grief for his girlfriend or faced his inner demons. Instead, he comes away with PTSD and survivor’s guilt, and whatever he’s going home to in the US, we sense it’s not a happy ending.

​​Where most films, particularly in the action and thriller genres, seek to turn their protagonists into heroes, Beckett fights just to be a survivor.

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[zombiesbecrazy]

Five Times With Feeling - Part 5/5

Summary: It wasn’t like Barbara had never watched Buffy without Dick, but it definitely wasn’t the same without his running commentary beside her.

Or four times Dick and Barbara watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer together and one time they didn’t.

Written for @batfamcontentwar ​‘s #halloweencontentwar

ao3  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Part 5 - After the Crime Syndicate

“What you watching, Red?”

Jason’s voice interrupted Barbara’s train of thought as she stared at the screen, trying to find what she was looking for. She looked up to see Jason and Tim come into the room, carrying soft drinks and bowls of snacks. “Nice shirt, by the way.”

Barbara smiled and looked down at her grey and blue Nightwing t-shirt. Dick had bought it for her one day a few months ago when they had been wandering around downtown, trying to decide on a place to have lunch.  He had seen it in the window of one of those touristy shops that a local Gothamite wouldn’t normally be caught dead in, full of knick knacks and cheap souvenirs. He had dragged her inside, saying that she definitely needed a shirt of her favourite vigilante and feigned the appropriate amount of indignation when she said that she didn’t see any Black Canary memorabilia anywhere in the shop. He bought it for her anyway, grumbling about not being able to compete with the fishnets.  

It had been a good day.

Now the shirt seemed like an appropriate homage to Dick on what felt like one of the worst days of her life. It had been a few hours since his funeral and she couldn’t bring herself to leave the manor. She could have gone home but didn’t want to have to give Frankie or Alysia half truths about how she was feeling or a full rundown of their relationship history, so she stayed put. She had wandered around the manor for a bit, consciously avoiding Dick’s old room on the third floor at all costs, and now found herself in the family room, curled up on the couch under what looked like a handmade quilt, queuing up Netflix.

“I was going to watch some Buffy, but I wasn’t expecting you two to stay after the service. We can find something else if you want.”

“No, it’s perfect.” Jason plopped himself down on the couch beside her. Tim nodded and sat down on the other side of him. “Love that show.”

“Really?”

“Of course. I love a good resurrected character.” He settled a bowl of popcorn between them and stretched his legs out onto the coffee table in front of him. “The lady died twice and was still a badass. I respect that.”

Tim laughed softly, “Definitely has you beat, Jay.” Jason punched him a little harder than necessary in the shoulder, but Tim continued on, giving Barbara a smile across the couch. “Good choice for tonight. Dick made me watch this show when I started as Robin. It helped me unwind after patrolling.”

“Me too.” said Jason, “I learned how to do kip-ups from watching Buffy when I couldn’t get it figured out on my own. Bruce was pissed that he had spent weeks trying to teach me such a basic move and I could suddenly do it on my own after watching one episode with Dick.”

They looked at Barbara, who was a little surprised by these revelations. She hadn’t realized that Dick had passed on their obsession. “I made him start watching it with me. Every week since season two. First time we watched it together was in this room before a patrol.”

“So it’s your fault that we know all the words to Once More With Feeling?” said Jason, with a laugh threatening to break through his voice.

“One hundred percent. I’m glad to know that I’ve been such an influential figure on the television viewing preferences of Robins.” Barbara waved at the TV with the remote. “Anyone have an episode request?”

No one said anything for a few moments until Tim quietly asked, “What was Dick’s favourite?”

Barbara smiled and scrolled through the episode list on the screen and selected The Zeppo, catching Jason rolling his eyes.  “What? He liked Xander’s random side adventures. Plus, Jimmy Olson references.” Tim giggled and Jason grumbled something about Replacement but Barbara couldn’t tell if he was talking about Tim or the Xander body double episode. “It was either this one or Becoming and I don’t think I can handle that one right now. He was a sucker for the heartbreaking episodes too.”

Too damn close to home.

She hit play and sank back into the couch. It wasn’t like she had never watched Buffy without Dick, but it definitely wasn’t the same without his running commentary beside her.  When the theme song started playing, she felt something that could only be described as her heart imploding, until she felt a hand rest on top of her own.  She looked over and saw Jason’s sad smile as he rubbed her hand, and then at Tim, who had shifted to rest his head on Jason’s shoulder, eyes staring at the screen. Barbara readjusted her position to lean against Jason as well, getting more comfortable, and shifted the blanket so it was covering all three of them. It was nice, watching together like that.

Dick would have loved it.

Barbara didn’t have to look towards the door to know that Bruce was leaning against the frame watching her. She had heard him in the hallway earlier in the evening, checking in on the three of them, but not interrupting. Jason and Tim had just left, having watched five episodes with her (including a mandatory sing along), but they were planning on patrolling together that night and were headed out to the city.  Television was a great distraction, but while he hadn’t said it in a straight forward way, Jason wanted to grieve through violence and Tim hadn’t disagreed.

Netflix was still rolling, but she was no longer paying any attention.

“You could have watched with us.”

“I prefer Angel.”

“You would.  Creature of the night with a preference for wearing black, sticking to the shadows and always walking dramatically through double doors.”

Bruce hummed in response and entered the dim room.  He looked towards the screen that had continued onto the next episode in silence, and then sat down next to her.  He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs, face in his hands.  She had known the man beside her close to half of her life, but this was the first time that she thought that he looked old.  Weary and moving a little slower than usual.  And definitely like he had been repeatedly punched in the face recently. She wasn’t surprised, especially today and especially after the year he had, but she didn’t like to see it.  This was Bruce Wayne. The Batman. He was what held the city together day and night and was supposed to be indestructible.  

Until he lost one of the few things that was still holding him together.

He turned to look at her and those intense eyes burned into hers. “You were his favourite person, you know.”

She hit mute on the TV and shook her head slightly, “I think Damian would have disagreed with you about that.” The words slipped out before she could stop them and she slapped her hand to her mouth.  She couldn’t believe how stupid she was to mention Damian on today of all days; on the day that he buried his second son in as many months. It was something that they had all been tip toeing around knowing that Bruce had not been dealing well with Damian’s death well at all.  She didn’t want to think about what was going to happen now that Dick’s funeral was over.

“Perhaps.” His voice sounded emotionless and Barbara couldn’t tell if that was because it was trying to detach himself to hold onto some semblance of strength or if he was just exhausted and didn’t have any feelings left right now. She knew he wasn’t the stone wall that people often accuse him of being; he just couldn’t always express it the way that other’s thought he should. He cared so much that it sometimes just came out ‘wrong’.

Sadness sometimes just looked like anger in the wrong clothes.

Barbara shifted so that her position mirrored his and leaned in a little closer, but still far enough apart that they weren’t touching. “I also think you are selling yourself short in the ranking of Dick’s people.”

“I was his guardian, not his friend.”

“If he were here Dick would be arguing that you were both.”

She knew she was right and she hoped that Bruce knew that too, even if he wouldn’t admit it.  She had been there to see the evolution of their relationship and she knew that it was a mixture of father and son, brothers, partners, friends and colleagues.  Sometimes it was the combination of those dynamics that caused friction (to the point of explosion), but they always would be there for each other when it really mattered. Even in the end, it was Bruce that Dick had wanted with him, not anyone else.

“Maybe, unless we were having one of our bad weeks.  But he loved you Barbara. Since the beginning. That love changed as you grew up but you were always what you needed to be for each other. Dick’s heart always led his actions, for better or for worse. It was always going to lead him back to you.” Bruce swallowed and rubbed his eyes.  He just looked like the stress of it all was burying him. “Magnetic pull.”

“We weren’t together.”

“Doesn’t change anything I said.”

“Maybe if I had gone with him to Chicago we wouldn’t been sitting here now. If I had just followed him there…” That had been running through her mind a lot for the past few days. Maybe if she had been there in Chicago, he wouldn’t have come back. Something might have stopped him from being captured by the Crime Syndicate and then this whole mess could have been avoided. She had heard enough about timelines from speedsters over the years to know that just one change could alter lives dramatically.

Thinking about fate was an overwhelming thing when you were already depressed.

“Neither of you were ready for that.”

“He told you?”

“Most things. Not sure he always realized how much he told me. Chatterbox.” He gave the smallest of shrugs, “He talked. I listened.”

“And grunted.” He grunted at her in response and they both smiled a little at each other. “I don’t really blame myself.  I just wish we made different choices sometimes. I wonder how we ended up here.”

“Don’t we all.”  Bruce was looking at a row of photos that were on the bookcase against the wall. All of the photos in this room were pictures of the family that Bruce had built rather than the one that he had been born into. Nearly all of them had Dick in them - by himself, or group shots with Bruce, Alfred, Jason, Tim or Damian, and she saw herself in a few as well.  The one that Barbara had always found herself drawn to was one from when Dick must have been about nine years old, getting a piggyback ride from Bruce.  It looked like a candid shot, probably taken by Alfred, and Bruce was grinning over his shoulder to look at Dick, who was clearly roaring with laughter.  There was something about it that was just so Dick.

Barbara placed her hand on Bruce’s forearm. “He loved you, too.”

“I know. Probably more than he should.”

“You were his dad.”

“I wasn’t. Not really.”

“You were in every way that mattered.  At least to him.” She brushed her fingers lightly against his arm and his eyes snapped back to hers and there was something there that she just couldn’t place. “He told me so many times that he was lucky that he had the chance to have two amazing fathers, when some kids don’t even get one. He was shattered when we thought you were dead. That he had lost another father.” He cast his eyes back to the floor, without Barbara having figured out what he was thinking about. “He’d do anything for you. You know that.”

“I’m gravely aware of that.”

It was one of those times that she had had over the years that she got the feeling that while she was talking to Bruce, they were having two drastically different conversations. Sometimes she called him on it, sometimes she looked into it later, but this felt like one of the few times that she was just going to let it rest. She didn’t need to know what Bruce was actually talking about if he wasn’t going to volunteer the information. Not today.

“Are you going out tonight?”

“No.” Batgirl and Barbara both needed a night off, which is why she hadn’t gone out with Tim and Jason. Her mind wasn’t in the game and she couldn’t afford to make a mistake in the field and get hurt. “Do you mind if I stay here?”

“Not if you don’t mind some company. I’m staying in too. It’s my pick now, though.” Barbara reached over to the end table and pulled out a bag of M&M’s and tossed them to Bruce. He grinned at her and grabbed the remote, hit a few buttons and the screen changed, and Barbara burst out laughing as words started scrolling on the screen.

Dick’s other viewing obsession was apparently up next for tonight.

“You may have got him hooked on Buffy, but I introduced him to Star Wars first. And he dressed up as Luke Skywalker for Halloween three years in a row. I win.”

“Dick was the best of us. We all got to win.”