#not to mention that's literally an entire full episode dedicated just to him ''walking off'' what happened at wembley

[izzyspussy]

my most abiding headcanon is that beard was abused as a kid too

[nautiscarader]

2020 in animation - recap

So, 2020. 

Yeah, I have to say I’m not entirely satisfied. Would not recommend, 1 star. 

But I would be willing to bump it to 1.5, if only because of one factor: the animation. 

Because I have to say, this was the best animated end of the world so far! And if there was something that kept our spirits up, it was the cartoon industry!

Just like last year, I should preface this by saying that this is highly subjective selection. Even when one is confined to their Hobbit holes for better part of the year because of *waves hands* everything around, 

day still only has 24 hours, so I have missed a few shows. (I should also apologise for omitting a few major ones last year, like Milo Murphy’s Law S2, Ducktales, or She-Ra. This is why I started keeping a track this year). I’m sure I will catch up with those I missed this year some time in the future, but for now, let’s see what this year has gifted us with.

And right from the start, January opens the race with very interesting propositions. We were still riding on an incredibly high wave from last year, with Infinity Train season 2.

This one focused on Tulip’s mirror, and pushed the season towards a much darker and complex story, diving deep into one’s personal journey and identity. There were tears, math, deer, and cops being murdered. Brutally. 

t was followed by two newcomers: The Owl House and first season of Kipo and The Age of the Wonderbeast. Both of them would dominate first half of the year, with The Owl House’s traditional, week-to-week airings, and Kipo's seasons appearing in  June and October.

The Owl House, a strong contender in "What will be the Next Gravity Falls?" contest, invited us to a world full of magic, mystery, elongated owl demons and some dark secrets. It has also created a milestone for Disney, introducing an LGBT couple with characters of bisexual Luz Noceda and lesbian Amity Blight. Their Grom dance has risen to the top of my animates scenes, polling very closely to the unforgettable Kataango.

On the other hand, Kipo has taken us to the post-apocalyptic world filled with mutant animals, revealing that despite the end of the world, our old vices and animosities have survived in underground burrows, and we have infected the overworld of giant doggos and suit-wearing frogs with them. 

Kipo did not pull any punches regarding commentary about our society, at the same time giving us hope in the form of the main protagonist, who was able to spread friendship and understanding amongst the mutes, as well as the humans that had to survive. And in the world that we have found ourselves in, it was a pretty darn good lesson.

February would bring end to two seasons of airing cartoons, Big Hero Six season 2 and Miraculous season 3, as well as another newcomer that won the hearts of fans: Glitch Techs, with its "second" season arriving in August. And while in my opinion he show wasn't as good as the other two new titles, I am clearly in minority, as the show about Ghostbuters-like team of game console technicians gained huge popularity... though not enough to keep the show afloat. As of writing this, it is currently in limbo, which is a shame, as the second set of 10 episodes finally added some much needed ongoing story.  

in March, another show from last year ended - Steven Universe Future. As we have expected, it tackled slightly more mature themes, showing how much Steven needed that therapy we have wished him, telling an important tale of finding one's worth and one's self. its ending might not have been as explosive as those of the original show, or the movie, but it left Steven’s story as open as an open road, and deep in our hearts, we all knew it would look like this.   

March was also the time when majority of western world caught the coronavirus, and that caused quite a turmoil with the movie and animation industry. One of the first victim of changed schedule was Disney's Onward, which was released on-line on Disney+ quickly after its theatrical release.

I have mixed feelings towards “Onward”. For such interesting promise, I think it made a few questionable and down right boring turns, though the unorthodox message at the end of it was its strongest point, and it was one I haven’t seen in a while, so it was worth watching just for that.  

April was relatively quiet (aside from more end of the world stuff); brought us third season of Ducktales that spread throughout the year, while May gave us final, fifth season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. 

To my eternal shame, I missed on this show when it premiered, and due to the lockdown, I binge-watched the previous four right in time for powerful and explosive season 5. And even though Catra and Adora finally gave us exactly what we needed, some fans felt slightly unsatisfied, calling for a movie, like the Steven Universe one to be made. And I’d be all for it, the rest of universe needs saving from the Horde! Also, cats in space - hilarious. 

May also revealed a new player on the streaming field: HBO Max, who surprised us with new Looney Tunes Cartoons, much more in the spirit of the legendary originals than the often-criticised Looney Tunes Show from 2011-2014. And in my opinion, it did; one could feel the same fluidity in animation, dedication to slapstick, and synchronisation with music than in the very first cartoons with Bugs and Daffy.

HBO Max would, however, return in June with first of series of Adventure Time original movies called "Distant Lands". The first centred around BMO, with second one - Obsidian giving us a glimpse into Bonnibel and Marceline's lives.

Distant Lands allowed people to revisit the odd, odd world of Ooo and learn about its colourful inhabitants, taking turns to seeing their past and the future, an, as usual, showing us that post-apocalyptic world can teach us valuable and meaningful lessons.   

Just in time for full lockdown in our burrows, aforementioned Kipo season 2 premiered in June, together with another cartoon movie, this time featuring We Bare Bears. While their movie wasn't anything to write songs about, it was exactly like the show, providing some wholesome content right when we needed it.

And just in case you needed more wholesome adventures, Craig of the Creek's second season ended, and its third season began, reminding us of HOW COOL LIFE WAS WHEN OUTERNET WASN’T SCARY AND WE COULD STILL WALK OUTSIDE FOR FUN AND NOT TO HUNT TOILET PAPER.

Just like last year, July was not dogs' days, but frogs'. Amphibia season 2 started raining on our heads, but unlike last year, its schedule wasn't a daily one, spreading the episodes throughout the Summer and early Autumn, with its second part arriving in February of 2021. There were more roadtrips, more mysteries and MORE MARCY.

August was equally strong: aforementioned Glitch Techs "season 2" premiered, offering better and more plot-heavy episodes than the first ten episodes. Unfortunately, the show's future is unclear; the uneven divide of plot between the seasons probably contributed to the show not being renewed. 10 new episodes apparently are written, but await in sleep mode, until Nickelodeon remembers about it.

HBO MAX picked up Infinity Train for its third season, after being derailed by Cartoon Network. And if you thought that killing a mirror cop was shocking... then this season has pushed the limit of what can be shown in modern children's cartoon to a frightening degree. The schedule was once again, weirder, with first five episodes airing on the day of the premiere, ending with a cliffhanger (literally) that only contributed to the shock factor and made us wait anxiously for its conclusion. It was bold, it was dark, it was memorable. 

And just like Glitch Techs, Infinity Train waits on a side track, unsure if it will be picked up, or will it be abandoned and left as a canvas for graffiti artists.

However, to end the Summer, a truly amazing TV movie has arrived on Disney Plus, where we came back to good, old Danville and could witness Candace against the universe. The new Phineas and Ferb movie brought back the glorious memories of this fantastic show, with the same humour, writing, abundance of catchy songs and a surprisingly deep moral.

In September we have seen the start of Big Hero 6 season 3 and a odd change of format. Instead of standalone 22-minute episodes, the show now consists of two 11-minute segments. In opinion of many, this weakened the stories, forcing them to be more comedy-oriented, and shortening the potential emotional drama. Still, it gave us funny, short stories, but they did clash with the two previous season, not to mention the movie.

However, if that wasn't up to your taste, Ducktales season 3 also started airing, and continued its first part up until December with more action- and plot-driven episodes, including the Darkwing Duck crossover, serving as a pilot of the spin-off. 

Later in December fans have learned that Season 3 will be its last, which broke the hearts of many duck fans; however, it seems that the season has been written as the last one in mind, and the news of the ending was known to the creators, which gives us hope for a kick-ass finale somewhere in 2021.

Miraculous New York, telling arguably one of the most mature storylines, opened the "Heroez" world to some new characters and new opportunities, with two more specials, taking place in Shanghai and Brazil, meant to air somewhere next year. AND I DO HOPE WE WILL SEE MORE LOCAL FOOD VENDOR SUPERHEROES LIKE HOT DOG DAN. 

October was the month of two season 3's: Carmen Sandiego and Kipo. In case of Carmen, as it is usual with Netflix, the "season" was only a half-one, with just a handful standalone episodes, and just a dash of more ongoing plot. 

For Kipo, however, season 3 was the end, and what a glorious one it was. Fans were saddened to learn of it, but Kipo was always imagined as a 3-part story, and it showed. The finale proved more than satisfying ending to the plot, elevating Kipo to one of the smartest cartoon characters we should all try to aspire to.

In November, Distant Lands: Obsidian aired, focusing on everyone’s favourite candy/vampire couple, and the long and complicated love between Bonnibel and Marceline. And as usual, it showed us that relationships are not always as straightforward as we would like them to be, but with enough music and teamwork, no enemy is big enough. 

For the next new show, I’ve waited with the most amount of excitement and anxiety. Because while I was completely fine with other reboots and re-imaginings to take creative takes, new Animaniacs, (airing on Hulu) had to be perfect and had to be the lightning that struck twice. 

And sadly... it wasn’t. It was still good, but some people criticised (incorrectly imho) the amount of political topics, while I mourned almost total cast-ration of additional characters, aside from Pinky and the Brain. This truly weakened the possibilities it could have had. It was still very good, but you can feel that some of the original charm was lost, due to these odd, odd limitations. 

December brought us a new original Apple TV movie, Wolfwalkers. A beautifully animated folk tale of friendship and social divides, and how short-sight can cause the collapse of both arguing sides, reminding me very much of the intelligence and heart of original “How to Train Your Dragon”.  

We’ve had to wait two years for the return of arguably one of the most wholesome shows out there: Hilda. Second season dived into deeper mysteries that permeate the rich and colourful troll-ridden land, we saw the return of some familiar characters, and introduced a whole new storyline, that ended with a surprising cliffhanger. Still as wholesome, but now with a tiny bit of Police incompetence. Also Twig, lots of Twig.   

Just like Onward, Pixar’s highly anticipated Soul aired on Disney+, telling a very mature story about finding one’s purpose in life, what that purpose actually means, and whether it exists at all. Beautifully animated, with fantastic soundtrack, it was a stunning tribute to creativity, and it never dumbed down its profound, open message about following your dream.   

And just if you thought that Soul was going to be 2020′s last note (pun very much intended), right before the year ended, DC Super Hero Girls concluded its first season on a rather anti-climactic two-parter. That being said, the season, running from March of last year, was packed with short, bite-sized, funny stories, taking interesting spins on existing comic book characters. For a comic book noob like me, it was perfectly fine, and I can’t wait for the second season next year. 

And so, we have reached the series finale of humanity. 

2020 ends in just under a day. What will 2021 bring us? I do not know, and if the animated shows of this year have taught me anything, is that the future is an always open book, full of worries and challenges, but also opportunities and possibilities. 

...

And in reality I was too lazy to check any news sites about upcoming projects.

[dameronology]

the one where he takes a break {finn x reader}

summary: finn is dedicated - sometimes a little too dedicated. it takes the combined forces of you, rey and poe to convince him to take a day off. (for @softdin​ -- i hope you enjoy!)

warnings: just language! 

- jazz xx

Finn was an almost perfect human being.

Almost. 

He had pretty much everything good going for him; everything you could possibly have asked for in a partner -- funny, kind, sweet, caring, bad-ass. He embodied everything that was good in the galaxy and you thanked your lucky stars everyday that your paths had crossed, and that you were lucky enough to have found him. In a world that was so full of darkness, he brought a light to your life that you never knew you needed. He could make you laugh without even trying, and pretty much everything he did, he did with you in mind. He was your partner in crime and you couldn’t even fathom the idea of life without him. 

Finn’s only downfall wasn’t even a downfall, but rather a testament to how dedicated he was. Try as you might to stop him, but he spent hours upon hours fighting the good fight. His life had become a tangle of late nights and early mornings, managing to strike a balance between providing relief for former Stormtroopers like himself and training to be a Jedi with Rey. You genuinely didn’t understand how he managed to find enough time in the day to juggle everything and still find time for you -- then again, Finn had proved himself capable of doing the unexpected a million times over. He made it look completely natural and easy too. 

He would normally listen to you when you told him to take a break, but it was never for more than five minutes. To you, a break was stepping back from his work for a few days and enjoying the new galaxy he’d fought so hard to create. To him, it was pausing for a few minutes to get a glass of water and maybe watch an episode of his favourite sitcom. Every time you insisted on pulling him away from his tight schedule, he’d whine about how he thrived on stress! and needed to get shit done! 

You weren’t the only one that noticed it either. Rey and Poe had both voiced their concerns for Finn - but, if he wasn’t going to listen to you, he wasn’t going to listen to anyone. Convincing one of the most stubborn people you’d ever met to do something they didn’t want to do was going to be a mammoth task. But, you figured that if three of you had managed to defeat the First Order, your combined expertise on Finn and the workings of his mind could have had some sort of success rate. 

“I’m just worried.”

You were sat in a cantina with the two of them, eyes solemnly eyeing your now-flat beer. Finn was supposed to be there too, but he’d pulled another late night. You knew his work was important, but you missed him; not just his presence, but the actual physical feeling of having him crammed into the little booth beside you. You didn’t realise how much you missed the gentle smell of his aftershave and the tingly warmth of his body until it was absent. 

“I’m his best friend and he couldn’t even hang out with me this weekend.” Poe muttered. His lips were upturned, arms folded tightly across his chest. 

“That’s not the main issue here, Poe.” Rey reminded him. “Finn is overworking himself. He needs to take a break.”

“But he won’t.” You sighed. “I’ve tried everything.”

“Not everything.” Poe said. “What’s the one thing we’re all really good at?”

You frowned. “Holochess?”

“No.” He rolled his eyes. “Scheming.”

“Do go on.”

“What if we told Finn there was an important mission somewhere?” Poe began. “Maybe somewhere he’s always wanted to visit. Then, when he gets there, you can be all sike! You have been punked!”

“Punked?” You quirked an eyebrow. “How old are you, Dameron? Fifteen?”

“You two really can’t stay on the same subject for more than five minutes, can you?” Rey muttered. “Language aside, I think that could work.”

“He’s always wanted to go to Coruscant.” You said. “Just never got the chance.”

“I can tell him we have a mission there.” Poe nodded. “Then you two can meet us there, and we can all hang out.”

“Or,” Rey held her hand out, shushing the pilot. “You take him there, give the two of them some much needed alone time for a few hours, then we all hang out in the evening?”

He furrowed his brow again. “Fine.”

You grinned. “Thank you! It has been a while since we’ve actually, properly spent time together.”

“So,” Poe glanced up from his drink. “How about tomorrow?”

--

Okay, so you did feel a little bit guilty. 

It was hardly like you were putting Finn out his way, but you and Rey had left it down to Poe to convince him of an emergency mission - and knowing Dameron, he probably would have recounted some horribly frightening story to make his best friend agree to come. The details of which you, quite frankly, did not want to know. 

You arrived on Coruscant a few hours before they were meant to arrive -- they’d taken the Falcon, so you’d snuck out in an X-Wing and docked up a little way out of the main city. 

It had been a few years since you’d visited Coruscant, but it was still just as beautiful as it had always been. The cityscape stretched out for miles, skyscrapers and buildings tangling into an urban jungle; the air was filled with a sense of hurry and adventure, crowds bustling wildly and people rushing around as though time here went twice as quick as it did everywhere else. You couldn’t help but smile; after years of fighting in the Resistance, it felt like someone had finally pressed the play button on your life again (and you couldn’t wait to spend it with Finn). 

Speaking of the devil, you were supposed to be meeting him on the corner of one of the busiest parks. After buying a horribly overpriced hotdog, you found a bench just by a fountain and took a seat, people watching for a moment. Hundreds and hundreds passed you by, some stopping to admire the green grass around you and others barely taking a breath as they flew off to their next destination. It made you wonder who they were, and where they were going. 

Your thoughts stopped completely when your eyes landed on Finn; he was a few meters away, a holopad in his hand and BB-8 behind him. He was clearly in work mode, with hand ready on his blaster, dark eyes scanning the crowd around him for any signs of danger.  Among the butterflies, it made your chest hurt a little bit. Even though the war was over, he still found it hard to completely relax. It was almost as though he didn’t trust the universe to be nice enough to let him. The only time he ever really let his guard down and truly untense was when you were both in bed, wrapped up in each other’s arms and presences under the covers of the dark. 

“What did you say the suspect looked like?” He spoke into his earpiece - presumably to Poe Dameron, who had had far too much fun orchestrating the entire thing. “Black jacket, dark jeans, red boots…”

Finn spun around, freezing when his eyes landed on you. For a moment, he almost thought he was imagining it, or that you maybe had a twin you either didn’t know about or hadn’t mentioned to him. Then, he realised you were wearing a black jacket and red boots, and his look of confusion morphed into one of realisation. 

“Dameron, you glorious bastard.” He muttered. Shoving the holopad in his bag, he gave you a grin and opened out his arms to you. “Fancy seeing you here.”

You met him halfway, flinging your arms around him. Finn lifted you up off the ground for a moment, arms gripping you tightly. He’d hugged you literally that morning before he’d headed out for the day, but this one felt a little different. It was tighter and warmer, as though the realisation of what you and your friends had done for him didn’t quite feel real. His brain was going at a thousand miles an hour, trying to calculate the fact that you’d all gone out of your way to surprise him. 

“Hey.” You greeted him. He placed you back on the ground and pressed a sweet kiss to your lips. 

“So, there’s no mission?”  He grinned at you. 

“Nope.” You shook your head. “We just wanted you to take the day off.”

“We?”

“Me, Rey and Poe.” You replied. “But they’re coming later. I wanted you to myself for a few hours.”

Finn smiled. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You returned the grin. “Now, c’mon! What do you wanna do?”

He threw an arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his side as you began to head out of the park. He hooked his hand around your side, resting it on your hip. Even though you’d been a couple for a while, you still got butterflies whenever Finn showed you signs of affection. They were always tiny, subtle things; a hand on your thigh under the table, fingers tangled together when you slept. He always liked to feel you in some way, to know you were really and truly there. You kept one another grounded - and when you lived in a galaxy that was completely fucking whack, that was important. 

The two of you walked together for a few moments, quietly chatting amongst yourselves. You were lucky that the weather was almost perfect; the sun was high in the sky, but there was still a subtle chill in the air that occasionally breezed past. There were barely any clouds in the sky either, which meant it was probably going to stay sunny for the rest of the day. That only helped further your good mood. 

“I thought I saw some kind of food festival going on earlier.” Finn said. “I didn’t have time to stop, on account for the fact I thought I was on a mission.”

“It was the only way we could get you to take a damn break!” You playfully reminded him, tugging his arm. “But I do like the sound of food.”

“Then food, we shall get.” He pulled you closer into his side. 

It was only a short walk away -- and once you’d left the park and headed back onto the streets, you got to see more of Coruscant’s sites. You passed the tallest building in the city; it was so big that you couldn’t even see the top, instead squinting up at a seemingly endlessly skyscraper that became one with the sun at some point. There was also many statues of important people - Jedis and rebels and pilots  - and it hurt your heart a little when you spotted Leia’s. Finn sensed your bittersweet glances at the memorial, giving your hand a gentle squeeze. His connection to the Force and the empathy that came with it was never too much, and never in your face. It was shown simply through small actions,  as though he had a very strong intuition.

The food festival was a few blocks over from where you’d meet. You didn’t even think it was possible for the city to get even busier and yet, the crowds here were even stronger and more wild than the ones you’d seen else-where. Finn’s grip on you tightened as you entered, tossing the door-man a few credits with a charming. You did open your mouth to protest, and insist on paying on yourself, but he gave you a look that said don’t even try it. 

“What’s this stuff?”

Finn grabbed something from a random plate, shoving it in his mouth. You couldn’t blame him for being curious but you did lose a few seconds off your lifespan every time he grabbed a random sample without reading the ingredients. And, it became quickly apparent that it was something he did a lot. After forty minutes of fuck, that’s spicy and I’m not entirely sure that’s even food, you eventually took charge of which flavour palettes he went for. 

“Okay, this one doesn’t look too spicy.” You examined a bit of...it might have been cheese? 

“Thank you kindly.” He took a bite and paused for a second. “That’s really good.”

“Oh my days.” You murmured. “It’s made your tongue go bright blue.”

Finn stuck his tongue out, going cross eyed for a moment to examine the damage. He looked horrified for a moment, before breaking into a grin. You barely had a chance to work out what he was doing before he lurched forward, trying to grab you.

“Can you kiss it better?” He asked. “I think I might be dying.”

“Finn!” You loudly squealed, narrowly avoiding ploughing someone over as you leapt out the way. “Get off-”

“- please!” He continued to implore.

He grabbed you by the waist, lifting you up and out the way of the crowd. There was a little alleyway in between two buildings that offered cover; he dragged you into it, bodies shaking with laughter as you fell back against the wall. Both his large hands rested above your head, one working its way down from the wall and to the small of your back. He used its positioning to press you flush against his chest, capturing your lips in a breathtaking kiss. 

“I love you.” Finn breathlessly murmured. “And now your tongue is blue too. We’re matching.”

“Finn!” You exclaimed. “It’s fine, because I love you too.”

“I love you more.”

“Don’t start an argument you can’t finish.” You reminded him. 

He didn’t say anything - instead, he just held your gaze for a moment, brown eyes completely capturing your attention and making you forget everything else around you for a moment. The crowds, the noise, the excitement. None of it mattered when you were together, because everything he made you feel was a thousand times more overwhelming that even the busiest cities and emptiest deserts. 

“C’mon.” Finn took your hand again, pulling you away from the wall. 

“Where are we going?” You asked. 

“Let’s just walk.” He said. “And talk.” 

“Mmkay.” You replied. “I like that.”

--

You ended up exploring lots of the city that afternoon; the financial district, the arts quarter, the Jedi museum. It would have taken days to see everything that Coruscant had to offer, but you were both content with what you had the chance to see. It was a stunning reminder that the history of the galaxy stretched back far, far longer than either you or Finn could fathom. Moreover, it made you realise how important it was, and that everything you’d spent the last few years fighting for had been beyond worth it. 

By the evening, you were both pretty tuckered out. Finn, who usually had a spring in his step, was dawdling now, an ice cream in one hand and his free arm tossed over your shoulders. The bright blue of the Spring sky had begun to fade into pink, with navy tinging at the edges and reminding everyone that the day was drawing to a close. It was perfect timing too, because you weren’t too far from where Poe and Rey were waiting with the Falcon. 

“Where are we even going?” Finn asked. 

“You’ll see.” You flashed him a grin, trying to pull his arm and force him to walk a little faster.

In his defence, it was up a steep hill, and he’d already done what felt like a million steps that day. He hadn’t even realised til now how tired he was, because you’d both been so caught up in each other’s presences for the entire day. And, whilst this whole thing hadn’t been to try and get him to take more days off, it was certainly an idea that he’d begun to think about. He’d forgotten how good it was to just take the day off and exist just as Finn, not Finn the ex-Stormtrooper or Finn the Jedi. 

The path eventually flattened, opening out onto a green hill. It was where the city ended and the forest began -- between a tangle of trees, the large grass space looked out onto the skyline. You could see for miles and miles, yellow lights illuminating the black sky and creating an outline of an urban utopia. It didn’t look all that different from the blurs of hyperspace, except if you looked close enough, you could work out single buildings and windows. Each one represented a different place and person; thousands of individual people who all lived their own lives and had their own stories to tell. 

Before Finn could say anything, there was a blur of brown leather and dark curls -- Poe Dameron had made an appearance, pulling you both into a tight hug and almost forcing you onto the ground from his might. He’d only seen you both that morning, but he truly was like a Golden Retriever who had been left alone that day. 

“C’mon, we’re over here!”

The pilot grabbed you by the hands, pulling you further towards the centre of the field. The Falcon was parked in the middle; the window on the top of the cockpit was open and covered with blankets and pillows. Rey was already up there, just as enchanted by everyone else at the view. Like Finn, there was still so much of the galaxy that she was too yet to explore. 

Finn went up first, sticking out his hand to help you up. He pulled you into his lap as he took a seat, arms winding around your front and holding you to his chest. With his head resting on your shoulder and a blanket thrown over both of you, it was easy to get comfortable. 

“A beer for you,” Rey handed you both a drink, “and one for you.”

“This view is insane.” Finn commented. “How did you find it?”

“My parents used to come here, way back when.” You explained. “It was kind of their spot.” 

“That’s amazing.” He replied. “Thank you guys. I really can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“We wanted to.” Poe chimed in. “We’ve all missed you, buddy. You work way too hard.”

“It makes us all look bad.” You joked. “No, but seriously. We’re all very proud of you, but you do need to start taking proper breaks. They probably won’t all be like this but the time off is good.”

His grip on you tightened, and he gave you a light squeeze. “You’re right. I just...I know that the war is over, but keeping myself busy is all I’ve ever really known.”

“We can keep you busy.” You peered up at a him with a grin. “I can’t promise we won’t get on your nerves, though.”

Finn shook his head with a chuckle. “I know I’ve said it a thousand times today, but I love you.”

“And me!” Poe reached out to give his shoulder a whack. “And Rey, too!”

“I love you all.” He corrected himself. “You’re my family.”

[stillness-in-green]

When MVA/MLA Arc gets animated, what will you be looking forward to the most? What (canon-compliant) additions and/or changed do you want or think Bones should make, if any?

There’s--a lot.  Does that surprise anyone?  There’s a lot.

o  I have been foaming at the mouth for voice actor announcements for almost a year now, particularly for Trumpet, Geten and RD.           Trumpet’s superpower is literally his voice!  I mean, nothing about that statement requires that voice be particularly entrancing, but it certainly seems like it should be, right??             Geten is a boku-type in the manga, but that was literally the only hint foreshadowing his pretty boy face through 21 solid chapters of Pure Feral Gremlin.  Everyone was shocked by Geten’s face reveal!  How do you maintain that surprise value with an actual voice actor in the mix?  Do you not even try?  Do you play up the disparity--in which direction?  I can’t wait to see what they do.           And Re-Destro!  Re-Destro requires so much range!  From his peppy, silly businessman persona, to the urbane commander, from the overeager yes-man to the raving zealot--who on earth do you get to believably cover all that ground?  I can’t even begin to guess, but I am living in anticipation of that article going up on ANN or the official Twitter sources.

o  I’m also much looking forward to getting official coloring on Trumpet and Geten.  Skeptic seems pretty straightforward--black, black, more black--and RD and Curious, we have color art for, but I wonder if Trumpet will also be all black clothes, to go with that dignified politician image of his, or if he’ll get some color to pep him up a little.  What color are those tinted shades of his?  His eyes?  The wicked-cool Sevens Loud?           I assume Geten is all wintery shades, but it’ll be great to confirm which ones.  I mean, we all assume he’s white-haired to better annoy Dabi with family parallels, but what if he turns out to be platinum blond?  And are his eyes blue?  Gray?  White?  What color is that awful parka?           Also, Re-Destro’s stress powers.  Having been writing them as black since at least August--Rorschach test blots are generally black, after all, and they’re the clear inspiration--I would much like it if the anime would have my back on this.  They made Destro’s mask a dark cinnamon brown, though, so I’m prepared to be unpleasantly surprised in this matter.

o  Predictable MLA adaptational choices aside, I’m also eager/anxious about how they’ll handle Spinner’s narration.  What I really hope is that they actually straight-up hand him ALL the narration duties--not just the stuff he dictates directly in the manga, but also e.g. the name and quirk explanation material that Present Mic normally gets, or the previews that are always handled by Deku.           The opening and closing sequences are another big structural thing, of course--based on the flashed snippets of Hawks and Endeavor in both our current and the previous OP, I’m expecting we’ll see at least a bit of something referencing the upcoming internship arc (which I expect to close out the season), but I hope the villains just walk away with the closing entirely.  I want my slice of life villainy ED, dangit.

o  Another thing I’m eager/anxious about would be Kotarou, and the Shimura flashback generally.  There’s a brittle edge of to Kotarou that I really love, and I hope he manages to keep it in the anime, despite the anime being generally not so great at moments that I would describe as “delicate.”  For example, I’d like it if he doesn’t get a super deep voice, and if they could manage to keep his pretty face, and capture how deeply bitter and tired he looks in the scene where he’s reading the letter Nana left him.           Also, I hope they keep the little montage bits and, crucially, the changes of clothes the family goes through.  We see Tenko in no less than five, possibly as many as seven, different T-shirts through the course of that flashback.  It seems like a small thing, but it’s one of the factors that makes me skeptical that AFO gave Tenko Decay, when so many days clearly go by between the opening with the man at the door and the tragic end.  It’d be nice not to see too much resurgence on that just because the anime can’t be bothered to come up with more than one outfit for the Shimuras.

I have enough issues with the anime’s usual adaptation choices that I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high on the actual content of the episodes.  The staff is diverting too much of its major talent to the movies (BAH) these days for me to expect the whole season to look all that great, and it’s never been particularly creative or daring outside of its climactic sakuga-heavy fight scenes anyway.  I’ve also long had a bone to pick with its scoring decisions, and am already eyeballing the climax of the RD/Shigaraki fight and imagining the minor-keyed terrifying dirge I fear the anime will play there, at the moment that Re-Destro (and, shortly afterward, Spinner) are supposed to be experiencing something akin to religious awakenings.           There’s also the issue of the violence and gore--judging by how the anime handled the scene where Shigaraki and Compress maim Overhaul, I have some severe reservations about how much blood they’ll be allowed to get away with, particularly in the scene where the League brutally decimates that CRC group and, of course, Shigaraki’s backstory.  I’m looking at MVA to serve as a preview for how all the same issues will be addressed in the War Arc.

That bit of pessimism aside, as to what I’m hoping they’ll add or change?  Well, off the top of my head.....

o  I would love to get a full episode devoted to the time the League spends fighting Machia.  Not that first tussle, but the six grueling weeks in the mountains.  There’s so much you could add there for character building and atmosphere that Hori didn’t so much as montage through.  Where was their food coming from?  How’d they pick out places to pitch camp?  How much access to news from outside did they have, and how frequently?  What were the circumstances in which Gigantomachia “told them himself” about his great sense of smell??  Stuff like that!             I don’t think we’re at all likely to get this--honestly, the series of late has had enough of a problem with trimming bits and pieces that I’m as worried about what they might cut as I am hyped about things they might add--but the one thing that gives me some hope is the training camp arc.  Specifically, the moment 1-A first gets to the Pussycats’ forest, they get jumped by earth golems, a fight that the manga off-panels entirely, but the anime spends a modest amount of time on, giving the kids a little bit of time to show off their moves and such.  I’d love to get something equivalent for the League.

o  On a similar note, I wouldn’t turn it down if they fleshed out some of those running street fights a bit.  One obvious thing comes to mind: there’s a weird jump in the manga between Skeptic and a horde of his golems being all but on top of Twice at the beginning of 233 and then that fight just--doesn’t happen.  There’s no mention of it at all.  I think the suggestion is that either Machia’s appearance or the tower going down interrupted it--Skeptic breaks off from his fight the same way Geten and Trumpet do theirs, shifting focus to protecting Re-Destro--but it’d be nice to see the anime touch on it.

o  It’d be nice to get a bit of expansion on the nature of the bullying Spinner endured.  We’re told he was, but was it limited to verbal?  Did he get beaten up a lot?  Was there an online element?  Deku’s our only other reference point for “bullied kid,” and whatever one might think about the story’s development of Bakugou’s mentality, it’s been made clear in retrospect that there was a lot more too that than just the matter of Deku’s quirklessness.  I’d love to know how Spinner’s bullying looked in comparison (not least because of some of the theories about Spinner and Deku needing to come to some kind of accord to free Shigaraki from AFO).

o  Make the Villa (both here and during the War Arc) look more realistic.  By which I mean, I know Horikoshi is capable of drawing interesting and lived-in interior spaces--he has an entire chapter dedicated to it in the 1-A dorm room contest, after all--but he normally doesn’t bother much with it.  At UA, it’s not too distracting, because we know good and well that that whole building is probably maintained by Cementoss anyway.  Ditto places like Tartarus (intentionally, dehumanizingly barren) or the League’s post-Kamino hideouts (abandoned homes and industrial spaces).  But the Villa?            For heaven’s sake, it’s called a mountain villa.  It has a clear reception desk on the ground floor; it’s obviously some sort of high-end hotel, if not an outright resort or rentable retreat lodge.  Speaking as someone who’s worked in one, places like that don’t look as fuckin’ bare as the rooms we see there always seem to.  For fanfic purposes, I’m happy to go on telling myself that e.g. the pool and the bar and the restaurant(s) and the gym are in the building Cementoss doesn’t tear in half, but it’d be nice if the anime could class the whole place up a little, maybe put some real furniture and decor in the rooms that are in use.  (Yes, I know this is a ridiculous nitpick.)

o  This is less a change and more a correction, but for fuck’s sake, BONES, give us white-haired Shigaraki.  The climax of Deika is a solid time for it, given that it’s obvious in the manga that Shigaraki’s hair gets paler in Deika--you can see it in the way Horikoshi inks it (which is to say, the way he stops inking it)!  I think if we ever get white-haired Shigaraki in the anime, a somewhat better time as far as narrative justification goes would be when Shigaraki gets out of the tube in the War Arc; you could easily justify it as a side-effect of the surgery.  Still, I’d rather see it here.  I want white-haired Shigaraki, gleaming and brilliant through the scattering ash in that crater, a veritable angel of sacred destruction.           Honestly, more than anything, the crater sequence is the one I hope I love.  It’s probably my favorite single moment in the entire manga, as Shigaraki wins over Re-Destro, Spinner and Gigantomachia in the same moment, and finally comes into his own.  If they can at least nail that, I’ll consider myself pretty satisfied.

[animaniachan]

A3! Act 3 Episode 9 Summary

Please read through this note before you start reading the summary!

whhhhew, finally finished episode 9 and THE EMOTIONS ARE ROLLING-😭😭

but ofc being the maniac that i am ive decided to provide a full summary of episode 9 for those who are interested!

Be warned that this is MAJOR STORY SPOILERS so i would recommend you be at least finished act 2 and all the events leading up to it before you read this. Otherwise you’ll probably have a hard time understanding the full context of things.

The last note I want to make is that this won’t be a detail-for-detail summary! I still want to keep things decently vague so people can still have the joy of experiencing the story for themselves while still providing adequate information to clear up any confusions and speculations. This summary will basically be a rough outline of the story that highlights some of the major events that went on. This summary will follow the order of how the episode played out, all the events will be listed in order.

Ofc, if anybody has any specific questions regarding the story that they want clarified or just simply want to discuss episode 9: always feel free to shoot in an ask or dm me! I’m always happy to provide with information and/or rant about these precious boys!

Well, without further ado, here y’all go~~

WARNING: EXTREMELY LONG POST AND MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD~

the new groups of people now are the following:

High schoolers- Yuki/Muku/Azami/Kumon

Yosei University- Juza/Tsuzuru/Tenma/Taichi

Amabi- Kazunari/Banri

Adult group is still adult group~~

Apparently Tenma’s parents decided it would be a good idea to let him attend university so it was decided on the spot that he would be going through exams. He had to get Chikage to tutor to barely scrape by passing bc of how busy he was. Taichi on the other hand....Tsumugi the GOAT-

Omi now works as a professional photographer through a job his friend introduced him to.

Masumi decided to go to Fuyou University which is Tasuku and Tsumugi’s old university to study. Misumi’s brother, Madoka, also studies there. Although Madoka does not look like it, he’s actually 19... I know...

Azami decided to attend the same high school as Kumon which warms my heart honestly bc it just showed how good of friends they’ve become <3~~ Here’s his new uniform look <333

not sure how i feel about the red hoodie but eh, boy can pull it off so it doesn’t matter aha~

Guy is apparently opening up a new Zahra style bar with the help of the winter troupe members such as Homare who introduced him to an interior design company (same company that installed that brick wall in his room orz). Hisoka will also be helping out in Guy’s bar.

The entirety of Reni’s backstory (5 episodes in total) which describe his initial meeting with Yukio during high school to how they built Mankai together was described through the format of portraits (the autumn troupe signature). HIs backstories are basically just narrations of Act 3 1/2 if any of you read that when it was first posted.

Reni’s real name is apparently “Kamikizaka Reiji” and “Reni” is a nickname that Yukio gave him in high school bc Yukio thought that his real name was too hard to write out in kanji and pronounce lolol.

Reni keeps a journal which documents his time with Yukio (basically Act 3 1/2) in a safe in his office.

Kasumi’s nickname back in the day was apparently “Juriko”: stems from “Juliette” and “ko” which is a way to feminize someone’s name in Japanese. This was because he was the crossdresser that had to play Juliette in the OG spring troupe RomiJuri- heh.

 Shifuto is now the new “top” in GOD Troupe after Tasuku and Haruto who got demoted.

FRIEND ANGST BETWEEN AZAMI AND SHIFUTO HNGHHH and that’s all I’m willing to say oop-

GOD Troupe challenged Mankai to an act-off once again and this time appointed Tsumugi as the lead and Tasuku to be in the play and the theme as “devil” and thus...Devil Tsumugi was born.

The company was initially debating on whether to accept the challenge or not but Tsumugi and Taichi desperately wanted to show Reni who they have become as an actor and prove him wrong on all the things he’s said to them. Basically, everyone who was casted for this play had their own reasons on why they wanted to act.

Misumi’s dad’s name is revealed to be “Kusumi” which literally means nine-points/sides and I- top 10 betrayals? I was certain that his name will have something to do with a square but apparently not-

Although it was briefly revealed during Sky Pirates, Misumi’s dad is the official script writer for GOD Troupe. However, it is shown here that he has absolutely no talent in writing so what he does is get Madoka to act as his ghostwriter and write for him.

Hence this birthed Madoka’s complex of wanting to write in his own free will and not under the control of his father. Since everything he writes gets “edited” by his father but everything his father edited gets rejected by Reni and so Madoka has to fix it himself anyways.

Returning to backstory, Reni revealed that Yukio legit went to visit Misumi’s grandpa (Hakkaku) as a senior high school student to ask him for a script. As a note, Hakkaku was already a very famous script writer at that time and age wise he is about what both their dads would be. Ofc he was refused many times but Yukio wouldn’t give up and would not stop pestering Hakkaku until he finally caved in.

Honestly I loved the autumn and winter troupe dynamic throughout this entire episode- just the way they supported Taichi and Tsumugi is just-

Kumon had to act as the mediator between Azami and Shifuto to try and recover their friendship and the entire process was hilarious.

Yukio and Reni were actually Yuzo and Kasumi’s high school seniors at Nanakusa High. Yuzo was the “ghost member” that was only member of drama club in-name only that was mentioned earlier.

NAMIKAWA DAISUKE’S VOICE IN KASUMI- *deaded counter x1* as a tiny side note: i realized half way through that Tezuka (Reni), Sanada (Yuzo), and Ootori (Kasumi) were in the same high school together bc of their seiyuus. This is for my TeniPuri fans out there haha~~

During their last performance in high school, Yukio and Reni got boycotted by the other junior members right before their play. Reni ended up forcing a reluctant Yukio to go at speak act out the monologue Hakkaku provided for them and everybody ended up being overwhelmed by Yukio’s performance.

This is what ended up making Reni dedicate his post high school life creating Mankai with Yukio, he wants to see Yukio act on stage again. He describes Yukio’s acting as “someone who was chosen by God” and even went as far as using his own money his parents gave him when they kicked him out (strict family bs) to build the initial theatre while they both worked part-time. Reni was the one who designed the entire theatre according to Yukio’s wishes to “make it long lasting”. However, Yukio revealed to him that he has no desire to stand on stage again and instead wants to make others “full bloom”, this invoked a sense of betrayal in Reni.

Reni was also the one who recruited Syu, his childhood friend, into the theatre. From there on, Yuzo and Kasumi also joined. Kasumi was revealed to also be garbage at acting at first but Yukio appointed him as lead for their first play nonetheless.

There is apparently some outside force wanting to ruin Mankai as they even went as far as stealing a part of Tsuzuru’s script and provided it to Misumi’s dad who ended up plagiarizing. It is later revealed that Reni had nothing to do with this so it is currently unknown who the main perpetrator is.

 In order to get a better grasp on his devil character, Tsumugi opted to spend one day with each of the other winter troupe members (Homare, Hisoka, and Azuma) individually. This is to get more insight from people who had lived such different lives and accumulated such different experiences. Honestly, one of the most heartwarming moments ever.

MY ANGST MAN IS HERE WITH HIS FIRST APPEARANCE!!! SAKURAI TAKAHIRO’S VOICE OMGGGGG *deaded counter x2*

He met Tsumugi in front of the GOD Theatre and asked him to “save” Reni.

On the day of the performance, Tsumugi and Taichi decided to walk to the theatre. They met Banri and Juza along the way who were planning to do a street act to release some energy. On their way, they ended up being surrounded by numerous punks who were presumably sent by the same outside force who stole Tsuzuru’s script.

The night before the actual performance, the plagiarism was revealed to both sides and both sides were just as much caught off guard by this. Reni, however, refused to change the direction of the play since it was too risky as the performance is the next day. However, Shifuto refused to act out something that is plagiarized since he promised Azami that they would have a “fair fight like men”.

And so, he managed to convince Haruto to use Madoka’s script that he has written for the first time according to free will and changed the entire play in one night. With the help of Haruto’s authority, they managed to do it in time. (I’ve failed to mention this until now but these three has been building up chemistry all through out this episode and im so down for them tbh)

Banri told Juza to take Tsumugi and Taichi and go ahead while he stays behind to try and buy some time alone against all the men. Just when Banri was in a tight spot due to power in number...

BAM THIS OLD MAN COMES IN AND SAVES THE DAY!! by now y’all already know... YASUMOTO HIROKI’S VOICE HAAAAAAAAAH *deaded counter x3*

After Banri revealed to Zen that he was autumn troupe leader of Mankai, Zen gave him a card of his restaurant, “Gentiana” and promised to treat them to a meal there afterwards.

Costume reveal for GOD Troupe. Honestly, I love the chemistry that was built throughout this episode between Shifuto, Haruto, and Madoka. Haruto really did give out redeeming qualities and i don’t dislike him as much as before aha (even tho he is still a snob) and I acknowledge him as a character. Madoka’s script consisted of two characters and basically talks about two estranged brothers (his way of writing down his guilt for towards Misumi)

Costume reveal for Mankai as many of you probably have seen already- devil tsumugi and sexy tasuku is just-

 In terms of actual in-game plays, this was the second play that I’ve actually cried at, the first being Clockwork. Super emotional and well-written play and certainly it draws a lot of parallels to Sympathy for the Angel.

SAME RENI...JUST-SAME. TT

After the performances...i won’t reveal who won and by how much but Reni did officially apologize for all his past actions as he was reminded of his passion for acting through this play. Izumi thought this too but it is hard to 100% forgive him bc of the pain he’s brought on all the members.

He revealed why he quit Mankai, it was bc he and Yukio had become so divided that if he had stayed, the entire balance of Mankai would fall to ruins. He actually came to the conclusion to leave after being trapped in the time loop with Yukio for about three days aha~

Reni decided to create GOD Troupe bc he wanted them to win the Fleur Awards first and crush Mankai, that way, he may have the chance one day to accepted a lost Yukio in his troupe as an actor and not a director (obsessed much my dude??)

The last part of the episode is Reni wanting to talk to Izumi about the Ikaruga family and being invited to Mankai Dorms as a result. There he reminisced the days with the OGs before we are left with a cliffhanger-

Even though he only talked for two lines but ONO DAISUUUUKE~~~ *deaded counter x4*

The very last scenes showcased how the OGs are starting to come back together as they will be getting involved with the new Mankai members.

THIS OLD MAN LEGIT WENT AND HELPED THEM PICK CABBAGE I-

LOOK AT THIS EXPRESSION HE IS SO PRECIOUS-

~❀❀❀~

that concludes the rough summary of episode 9! i...this was an ordeal to get through aha and sorry for it ended up being such a long post...It was inevitable bc this episode consisted of 39 chapters. 

Honestly im so dead by the end of this that i didnt have the heart to check for any grammar mistakes so there’re probably quite a few that i ask you kindly to just ignore~ 🥺🥺

now, time to dig a hole and cry until episode 10 comes out...☠️😇😭

[trashyswitch]

Trapped

NIGHT 4: Michael is stuck in an animatronic suit, and forced to stay alive while Minireena’s crawl inside, and attempt (keyword: attempt) to kill him.

For LunaBruceYT.

Trapped. That’s how Michael felt right now. Figuratively, and literally. He had been shoved into a suit of some sort. It was snug, dark, and deathly quiet. He attempted to wiggle, but only moved an inch or two. That was it. He couldn’t wiggle out! He couldn’t even knock himself down! All he could really do, was move his head side to side.

Was he dead? Was he alive? he couldn’t answer. How could he answer his own fate, if he can barely see the world in front of him? The only thing he could slightly see, was a red flashing light in the back of the room. His whole body seemed to be trapped in something, which included a mask with large holes for his eyes. Wait a second...whole body? Snug and dark? Mask?

Oh god...

Is he in an animatronic suit?!

“Shh! Be still...and quiet...” A female voice told him.

It’s Baby’s voice. But, where was she? He couldn’t see her. All he could do, was listen closely to her voice.

“You’ve been sleeping for quite a while...I think they noticed that you never left the building last night.” Baby continued.

Wait, WHAT?! How long was he asleep?! Did he fall asleep here? What happened last night? Most importantly:

Did he miss last night’s episode of The Immortal and The Restless?! CRAP! HOW’S HE GONNA CATCH UP?!

“The cameras were searching for you. But they couldn’t find you...I have you hidden too well...” the female clown explained.

Okay, so that answered some things...Baby put him into this dark, claustrophobic mess...

“I kidnapped you.” Baby told him.

Michael’s heart dropped. Panic began to set in, as he began to understand:

This is how he’s gonna be spending-

[NIGHT 4]

Michael wiggled a little more in the suit. He needed to get out of here. If that meant making tons of noise, then so be it.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you.” Baby reassured him.

Michael narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Sure...that’s ToTaLlY not something a serial killer would say! What’s she gonna say next? ‘I’m just gonna bash your brains in.’?

...Wait...Please don’t say that...

“I am only going to keep you for a little while.” Baby explained.

Michael let out a sigh of relief. He’s not gonna die today. That’s good.

“Try not to wiggle, though...” Baby warned. Michael slightly tensed at that. But, why? If there’s no one in the building, why stay still? It didn’t make sense. Nothing made sense so far...

“You’re inside something that came from my old Pizzeria.” Baby explained further.

Michael took a mental note to his ‘What’s going on?’ list.

“don’t think it was ever used...at least, not the way it was meant to be used...too dangerous...” Baby mentioned.

Now, what was THAT supposed to mean?! Did...Did someone have a bit too much fun in this thing?! Is there even a hole down there?! Oh God...did someone lose-

Ew...God, he hoped not...

“It’s just big enough for one person to fit inside...but just barely...”

So it IS a full suit! It’s a suit that barely fits him! No wonder he felt snug and claustrophobic...

“You’re in the scooping room.”

Michael raised an eyebrow at the odd name.

“Do you know why they call it they scooping room’? It’s because, dummy...this is the room where they use the scooper. I thought that would be obvious...” Baby explained.

Uh, did Baby just call him a Dummy? First of all, how dare she? Second of all, that explanation just created more questions! What’s a scooper?! Why is there an entire room dedicated to it? Is it an unknown animatronic? Or a machine of some kind? GET ON WITH IT, LADY!

“Isn’t that a fun name for something? ‘The scooper’...It sounds like something you would use for ice cream...or custard, or sprinkles...” Baby thought aloud.

Uh...ya, somewhat...

“It sounds like something you would want at your birthday party. To ensure that you get a heeping portion of every. Good. Thing.”

Ya...that line brought Michael back to a bit of his childhood...wanting to have endless amounts of ice cream, so he could satisfy himself in all that sugary goodness...good times...

“I wonder though, if you were a freshly opened pint of ice cream, how you would feel about something with that name...” Baby thought.

Michael couldn’t fathom it. He imagined the ice cream screaming in pain, as a big scooper ripped into its body, digging and scooping it out one by one. It was not a pretty thing to imagine...

“Thankfully, I don’t think a freshly opened pint of ice cream, feels anything at all.” Baby considered.

Thank god for that...Michael didn’t know if he was gonna be able to eat ice cream the same way again...

“Uh oh...It sounds like someone else is in the building. Shh!” Baby warned.

Michael’s eyes brightened. Someone could rescue him! He wanted to speak! He wanted to wiggle himself out of this metal trap! But, he couldn’t...he was too afraid to...

There were two people, talking to each other for about 30 seconds. It sounded like they were delivering a broken machine. An animatronic maybe? It sounded like he might’ve been right. After placing it inside the dark room, the two people walked out of there and let the squeaky door close on its own. Off went his chance of getting rescued...

Suddenly, some really loud automatic noises began echoing in the room. One of the sounds sounded like something hammering on metal, while the other noise sounded similar to a handheld drill. They were pretty loud; loud enough to bother Michael, but he couldn’t cover his ears. He just had to stand it. Pretty soon, a dark figure slid into view of the right eye hole. The inanimate figure kept on sliding to the left, on what could be assumed a conveyer belt, revealing itself to be...

Ballora? What was Ballora doing here? When did she break? How did she break?

As the lifeless animatronic’s head neared the end of the right eye hole and hid itself in front of the middle of the mask, the drilling noise started turning off and on. It would quiet down for a few seconds, and start back up again for that similar amount of time. The metal hammering sound stayed the same, hammering in an unpredictable pattern.

Within a couple seconds, Ballora’s face began appearing again in front of the left eye hole. It only got to the middle of the left eye hole, before the conveyor belt stopped, stopping Ballora in front of him. As a short rumbling sound started and ended in the background, Michael took the time to look at Ballora’s lifeless face. Her closed eyes with purple ‘eyeshadow’, the jewels on her forehead, her tiny nose, her lipstick-covered lips and her open mouth. The animatronic’s mouth seemed to include teeth, since Michael could see the teeth hiding behind Ballora’s lips.

“There’s something very important that I’ve learned how to do over time. Do you know what that is? How to pretend.” Baby spoke.

Michael stayed quiet as he listened.

“Do you ever play make believe? Pretend to be one way, when you are really the other?” Baby asked.

Michael quietly nodded. He knew how to do that. It was an easy skill. He’s been doing that since he was little. But...

How did Baby, a robot that was manually coded, know about playing pretend?

“It’s very important. Ballora never learns. But I do.” Baby spoke.

Michael decided it didn’t matter how baby did it. What matters, is that she can, and has gotten this far by using it.

“They think there is something wrong on the inside. The only thing that matters, is knowing how to pretend.” Baby explained.

Suddenly, a low beeping noise began beeping. It beeped for a few seconds, before stopping. Almost immediately after, a super loud metallic destructive noise could be heard! Michael watched with horror as Ballora got destroyed by something he couldn’t quite see.

Twice it attacked, causing pieces to go flying, and causing Ballora’s face pieces to fall in and out of place.

A third time the tool shoved itself into the animatronic. This one was a little less loud. Pieces hit the hard ground as the broken animatronic fell out of view. As Ballora’s broken and lifeless body slouched in front of him, a lit up eye of Ballora’s could be seen staring him down on the right side of the left eye hole.

Silence filled the room for a few moments. It was a relieving silence that allowed the man in the suit to process what just happened.

Ballora had just gotten destroyed by the scooper.

Soon, Baby broke the silence.

“I’ll open the face plates for you.” Baby told him.

Suddenly, the face plates over his head unlocked itself and opened up, revealing more of Ballora’s broken animatronic body and the dark room he was in.

“That way, they can find you on the cameras. Now: all you have to do, is wait.” Baby finished.

Michael took a moment to breath in some air that wasn’t mixed with the overwhelming smell of metal.

“I’d recommend that you keep the spring locks wound up. Your breathing and your heartbeat are causing them to come loose. You don’t want them to get too loose, trust me.” Baby instructed.

Spring locks? What spring locks? Michael looked around, and observed the nuts on the sides of the face mask, with the tiny white dots on them. They appeared to be turning loose. Michael began to wind them up as tight as they could, winding up one at a time with his fingers.

As Michael started to tighten the spring locks on the other side, he couldn’t help but notice a minireena climbing up beside his head. As he reached to tighten the top spring locks, he felt the need to physically do something to get it off. Baby told him to not wiggle. But, what else was he supposed to do? Get killed? That’s not happening. So, Michael waited for the Minireena to reach the top 2 spring locks, and wiggled the suit slightly. Thankfully, the Minireena slid down from the spot and onto the ground.

One down.

Michael continued to focus onto the spring locks. When he tightened the spring locks on the left side, he would move onto the right side and tighten those locks as well. Every time he tightened and moved onto the other side, his breathing would loosen the tightened locks. So, this made the job a never ending cycle.

Soon, a Minireena appeared on both sides of the suit! He followed his own previous advice by waiting for both minireena’s to reach the top, before wiggling a couple times to knock them off. It worked! Both minireena’s slid back down the side!

Unfortunately, he couldn’t knock off all the minireena’s...in front of him, a Minireena had began climbing itself into the suit, and began crawling around in there! Michael’s eyes widened as the small animatronic crawled around his chest, his middle, his arms and his upper legs, before crawling out of the open stomach area. It felt incredibly uncomfortable, but he was glad it was gone. His focus went back to the spring locks. Michael took some time to retighten the spring locks one by one. They were quite loosened by the time he had gained back his focus again.

It didn’t take long though, for another Minireena to start climbing into the suit. The feeling of the single Minireena climbing around in there was unbelievably distracting. But, despite that distraction, Michael was able to multitask and take care of both the spring locks and the Minireena’s on the side.

A few minutes later, Michael froze. The teenager watched in horror as four more Minireena‘s climbed into the suit! Michael quickly covered his mouth as all the minireena’s climbed around on his body like giant spiders crawling under clothing.

The feeling was so ticklish! Poor Michael couldn’t cope with the sensations! The giggles began to fill his lungs like a balloon. Michael, refusing to make a sound, tried to keep all the desperate giggles in his lungs for as long as he could. He was NOT dying tonight.

A couple minutes later, the minireena’s exited the suit. Michael let all the air out, and gasped for air as soon as he could. Though, the minireena’s weren’t done yet...they were just getting started...

Minireena’s began coming one after another. 3 became 5, which became 8! The line of minireena’s never ended! Every single minireena climbed around his upper body, tickling everywhere they walked! There was no longer room for a breathing break. Michael struggled immensely to keep his giggles in his lungs. But, his lungs were persistent and forceful to let the carbon dioxide out. Michael didn’t know how much longer he could take this...

Suddenly, Michael’s eyes shot open. One of the minireena’s found his left, exposed armpit! Michael let out a muffled whimper, as tears of mirth began to fill his eyes. He couldn’t cover his armpit. It was stuck outward to the side, in the suit’s arm! Only his right arm was free to tighten the spring locks!

Oh NOOO! THE SPRING LOCKS!

Michael slowly removed his right hand off his mouth, but quickly reached his right hand out to tighten the spring locks. They were completely loose! How did he not die?! Talk about a miracle...During Michael’s attempts to tighten up the spring locks, even more minireena’s began climbing into Michael’s suit! Michael’s body was beginning to break in slight ways. His whimpering returned a few times, his tears of mirth returned, and bits of air began leaving his lungs through titters. He was really close to losing this fight.

Was this how he was gonna die? Was Michael really gonna laugh to death? He didn’t want that! That would be such a stupid way to die! But, he can’t really change the inevitable...

Right as he was about to let go and accept his death, something amazing happened! The suit forcefully broke right open! The front half of the suit had broken open, causing Michael’s exhausted body to flop onto the hard floor.

When Michael’s body hit the hardwood below him, all the air he had kept inside his lungs had blasted right out of him. No laughs, no giggles in between, just a rapid breath of relief. As soon as Michael put air back into his lungs though, that was when leftover giggles began to spill out of his mouth uncontrollably. Thinking the mini ballerinas were finished with him, Michael took the spare time to clutch his stomach and let them out. Every single giggle that the man had kept locked up in his chest, could finally go free.

But, the puppets weren’t done with him yet! Not by a long shot! A couple minutes after Michael’s body had hit the floor, the puppets crawled out of the broken spring lock suit and quickly crawled over to Michael’s body. They continued crawling around on Michael, attempting to kill him by clawing wherever they could reach. What the minireena’s forgot however, was that their fingers were just little nubs with no sharpness to them. Their feet were very similar. This led their attempts to ‘claw’ and ‘kill’, to only tickle really badly.

Finally, with Michael out of the suit, he was no longer worried about keeping quiet. So, he let himself laugh.

“BAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHA! GEHEHEHEHEHET OHOHOHOHOFF MEHEHEHEHE! WHAHAHAHAT AHAHAHARE YOHOHOHOU DOHOHOHOHOIHIHIHING?!” Michael yelled through his laughter.

The little minireena’s stopped for a moment, and began childishly giggling in mischief. It seemed that they were still trying to kill Michael! or, they changed their mind and decided to tickle him instead. No matter what their choice actually was, the four minireena’s continued their clawing at the different spots. One of the minireena’s was digging into Michael’s abdominal muscles, while another minireena was attempting to claw down into Michael’s belly button. The third minireena had found his armpit again and began to dig there, while the last minireena had began clawing into his right side.

“NOOOOHOHOHOHOHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEHEHEHEHEASE STAHAHAHAHAHAP!” Michael begged the soulless minireena’s.

“Shh. Keep your voice down.” Baby spoke up, finally coming back to hear the commotion.

“BAHAHAHAHABYYY! HEHEHEHEHELP MEHEHEHEHEHE!” Michael begged frantically, as the minireena’s tickled the daylights out of him.

“Help you? How? Why are you laughing? What’s so funny?” Baby asked.

“THEHEHE- THE MINIREENAHAHAHA’S AHAHARE TIHIHIHICKLIHIHIHIHING MEHEHEHEHE!” Michael explained.

“...Oh? They’re tickling you?” Baby clarified.

“YEHEHEHEHEHES!” Michael replied.

Baby thought for a moment. “Hmm...Let me check...It looks like they’re being programmed to kill you. That’s strange.” Baby reacted.

“THEHEHEHEY’RE CLEHEHEHEARLY NOHOT- NOT THERE! NOHOHOHOHO! HAHAHAHAHAHA! NAHAHAHAHAT THEHEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Michael screamed. One of the minireena’s had managed fo find a SUPER ticklish spot: his lower ribs! And, to make matters worse, a second minireena had joined the other and started pushing and clawing at the other side of his lower ribs. Now, Michael was screaming and laughing hysterically!

Meanwhile, Baby was trying to think of what to do. “I think I know how to help you. I will be right back.” Baby told him, before leaving Michael alone with the tickling minireena’s.

“DOHOHOHON’T LEHEHEHEHEAVE MEHEHEHEHE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, DAHAHAHAMMIHIHIHIHIT!” Michael shouted through his hysterical laughter.

Despite what Michael pleaded for, Baby left him alone to find a way to hack the minireena’s.

Michael didn’t know how long he could last. He was growing exhausted from all the squirming, and was considering just giving up and laughing it out till they stopped. Tears of mirth had already been welling up in his eyes, causing his vision to grow somewhat blurry when he opened them. For the most past though, his eyes had been instinctively squeezed shut. Michael could feeling himself growing more and more insane from all the laughter.

Suddenly: something crazy happened! In a sudden turn of events, the minireena’s jolted and flopped onto the ground, lifeless! Michael continued laying on the ground, still letting out some giggles from the phantom touches still tickling him. He didn’t really think much of the animatronics at first. That was, until he felt one of the minireena’s flop onto his stomach. That was when Michael decided to open his eyes and observe the puppets in front of him. Sure enough, almost all of the minireena’s were laying on the ground, lifeless and tranced.

Michael picked up the minireena that laid on his stomach. It was surprisingly light, for an animatronic. Though, considering how small they were, it shouldn’t have been that surprising...it was like holding a heavy, dead-weighted toddler. It was weird, to be honest...

“Did they stop?” Baby asked him.

“Y-Yeah. They did. What did you do?” Michael asked back.

“I shut them down. They are unconscious now. They will stay that way for a while. I reset their settings to wake up at 6:30 am to dance for the children in the Ballora Gallery.” Baby explained.

“Thank you.” Michael said to the voice.

“You’re welcome.” Baby replied. “I’m going to leave now. The rescue team is almost here.” Baby added, before leaving him alone.

It didn’t take long for the rescue team to come barging into the scooping room with their tool bags, ready to get Michael out of there and to put the old animatronic suit back together...

T.S’s Note: So, I’m gonna be stuck in the house for 3 weeks straight. I’m one of the immunocompromised citizens who is fearing crowds right now, so I’ll get lots of writing time in the comfort of my home! :)

[louisapennyfeather2021]

Newsies/Teen Wolf AU

Title: Unleashed

Summary: Mike and Ike take things too far. Jack decides he's had enough of it.

A/N: Hello! This is a scene from Season 3a, episode 4 of the MTV show Teen Wolf. If you haven't seen it, basically the twins try to get one of the werewolves to kill someone and the main protagonist decides to put an end to it.

Warnings: Violence (not horrible), claustrophobia, panic, near death experience, mentions of PTSD.

***

"The two of you will wash all the boards in this hall. Reshelving the library. Restocking the janitor's closet." Katherine glances to the girl sitting in front of her and instantly tenses. Out of all people she could get detention with, it had to be her. The girl who tried to kill Katherine and her friends not once, not twice, but multiple times.

"Mr. Harris-" Katherine pauses when the arrogant excuse of a chemistry teacher turns his stoney glare on her. "Um, does it have to be with her?"

"Now that I know you prefer not to, yes. You have to be with her." Mr. Harris hands Katherine the keys to the janitor's closet before turning, not notices to obviously expression of anger and annoyance on Sarah's face. Katherine isn't much better, although she hesitantly follows Sarah to the janitor's closet down the hall from Mr. Harris' classroom. Katherine grabs the cart full of different sanitary items to restock and begrudgingly follows the hunter. She waits in boredom once they reach the closet, waiting for Sarah to unlock the door. As soon as it's open, Katherine tenses and her breath catches in her throat.

It's small. Too small. The only way too escape is through the singular door which has no window. What if they get locked in? What if no one comes looking for then after they've been missing? What if-

"Are you okay?" Sarah's slightly bored tone brings Katherine out of her minor panic. Her face heats up because she knows that Sarah knows. Sarah knows about what Katherine's father did. She knows about the freezer. She knows everything.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm just not a big fan of, um, small spaces." Katherine hesitantly follows Sarah into the closet, pulling the small cart in behind her. She leaves the cart halfway in the doorway to act as a doorstop in case the door shuts. Sarah starts stacking wrapped rolls of toilet paper while Katherine restocks the box of mop heads.

"Can I ask you something?" Sarah suddenly asks, not facing Katherine.

"Do you have to?" Katherine huffs, generally hoping to avoid any unnecessary exchanges. She can act civil around Sarah, that doesn't mean she'd ever go out of her way to give the annoying hunter even a smile.

"I guess not. i'm gonna ask anyway. Did you tell anyone that I was at school the other night?" Sarah's voice wavers just a little bit.

Ah yes, the night Sarah went against everything her and Davey agreed on to help save Smalls and Sniper from slaughtering the entire town. Katherine had been chasing the two rapid werewolves into the high school when a flash of bright light went off and both wolves retreated into the school. She had looked up to see none other than Sarah Jacobs standing on the roof of a bus, bow and arrow in hand.

Katherine knows her and Davey decided to stay out of the supernatural. Davey broke that pact when Jack managed to convince him to help track Sniper and Smalls, although it took a lot of convincing. Sarah seemed to have broken the pact long before that, seeing as she was the reason Sniper and Smalls had escaped in the first place.

"Was I supposed to?" Katherine lets out a deep breath, already tried of the conversation. She has enough to deal with already, with the twins still being around and Spot having found his little sister who he thought was dead. It's all a mess.

"It would make me really happy if you didn't." Sarah seems to relax just a bit, enough for Katherine to notice. She scowls at the back of the hunter and continues slowly stacking mop heads.

"Yeah, well, you being happy really isn't a big priority of mine, since you stabbed me, what, 20 times with knives." Katherine can sometimes still feel the blades. It was the night they found Hotshot and Snyder. Spot had made it clear that Hotshot couldn't leave alive, but Sarah and Jack were dedicated to keeping him alive. Personally, Katherine could care less. Hotshot was a dick, but she only gave up when she was repeatedly stabbed with multiple knives.

"Actually, they were Chinese Ring Daggers, but-" Sarah turns and immediately cuts herself off when she sees the way Katherine's eyebrows pinch together. "Oh, um, sorry."

"Was that an apology?" Katherine can't lie and say she isn't shocked, she's never not butted heads with Sarah on literally everything. An apology from Sarah to Katherine, especially since Katherine is friends with Spot and Spot did kill Sarah's older brother, is definitely not expected.

"Would you accept an apology?" Sarah asks and Katherine can see she actually means it.

"Um-" Katherine goes to answer, but she's cut off when something crashes into her and throws her against one of the shelves in the small room. She quickly stands up, ignoring the slight pain in her back, to see the supply cart now tipped in the room and the door slammed shut. Her eyes widen and she unintentionally starts breathing harder as she kicks the cart aside and pushes on the door.

"No, no, no, no." She mutters as she jiggles the hand countless times and pushes against the door. The handle turns, but the door doesn't budge. Even with the strength being a werewolf gives her, she can't move it the slightest.

"Maybe it's locked from the outside." Sarah offers, hoping to calm down an obviously panicked Katherine. It's not hard to tell that Katherine is panicking because of all those years living with her father and everything he did to her.

"No, there's something against it." Katherine starts frantically hitting door and pushing against it, effectively startling Sarah. She tenses when she hears an almost inaudible growl and she instinctively searches the room for anything to defend herself with.

"Okay, okay, okay. Okay, uh, all right. Just relax." Sarah starts to slowly panic, knowing she's in a locked room with a ticking time bomb.

"No." Katherine doesn't even leave room for argument as she starts knocking harder on the door, maybe in hopes of getting someone's attention. Sarah tries to get her to relax, to take a deep breath and realize she isn't with her father and that someone will eventually find them.

"Katherine!" Sarah finally yells loud enough to get through to the girl.

At least, that's what she thinks.

She's about to relax when she hears a louder growl. She watches in curious horror as Katherine turns around, her eyes glowing yellow and the tips of razor sharp fangs hiding behind her parted lips.

"Katherine, don't-" She hardly gets the words out before she's roughly pinned against one of the shelves, claws digging into the skin of her arms. Katherine growls low, her eyes feral. Sarah only stares wide eyed for a second before she starts screaming. She knows if she's stuck in here with Katherine, she'll die.

"Katherine, come on! Katherine!" Sarah manages to fight off Katherine long enough for the door to suddenly burst open and Katherine to disappear.

"Katherine!" Sarah jumps as Jack yells, although it's more of a growl. Sarah can see Katherine on the floor, her shoulders and chest heaving, although her fangs and claws have retracted. Her eyes eventually stop glowing yellow and turn back to their natural shade of brown. Her eyebrows quickly pinch together and confusion is evident on her face.

"Hey, Sarah." She flinches as Jack steps closer to her and she notices how tightly she's holding one of her wrists.

"I'm fine, really." Although she's scared out of her mind and she's never gotten along with Katherine, she knows it's not Katherine's fault. Something happened and Sarah knows better than anyone what PTSD can do to a person. She can also tell by the pure fear, shock, and confusion on Katherine's face.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I didn't- I didn't mean to do that." Katherine stumbles over her words as she rushes them out, her body subconsciously curling into itself. "I'm sorry."

"I know. Jack, it's not her fault." Sarah can see the skepticism on Jack's face. She knows Jack is still hesitant to trust Katherine.

"I know. I guess the twins want to get you more than angry. They want to get someone hurt." Jack sighs, shaking his head. He knows that if Katherine or any of the others lash out, it'll cause chaos that will only give the Alphas more of a reason to convince Spot to join them.

"So are we going to do something?" Katherine sits up straighter, although she doesn't look anyone in the eye and she keeps her knees close to her chest.

"Yeah. I'm gonna get them angry. Really, angry." Jack narrows his eyes and that's all it takes for the three to start planning.

***

"You know that there's a temple in Calcutta where they used to sacrifice a child every day? That's every day a dead baby, Albert, every day! Hey, you want to know what today is? It's dead baby day. Oh, no, wait, that's every day, because every day is dead baby day, yay!" Race throws his arms dramatically, only cringing slightly as some lower classmen pass them with odd facial expressions.

"Why are you telling me this?" Albert sighs, continuing his trek towards the other side of the school.

Race huffs dramatically, already knowing the attempt is futile. Ever since the deer, then Albert's dog, then the birds, he's found the pattern. Everything weird is happening in threes. So far, there's been three animal panics and three virgins killed. The only problem is, now he thinks whoever's causing this is going after protectors or something, he still hasn't found out that pattern.

"Because Jack's dealing with the Alpha Twins, someone has to deal with this!" Race raises his eyebrows, although they pull together when he sees the slight confusion on Albert's face. Albert drops walking, a far off look on his face. "You don't know about the twins?"

"Alphas?" Albert narrows his eyes in thought. It makes sense, even if he didn't know about it. Of course he'd never admit that, Race would find it too satisfying. Plus, nothing is ever normal in this town.

"Mike and Ike." Race confirms, waiting to see why Albert stopped walking. He wonders if maybe Albert doesn't know, but then he remembers Albert is a literal genius.

"Oh, yeah. Yeah, I knew." Albert starts walking again, not waiting as Race runs after him and falls into step with him.

"Okay, okay, good. So look, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that the murders maybe come in threes. Ancient people love things in threes, right? So maybe first it's three virgins, and then, I don't know, maybe it's three people who own little dogs." Race nearly falls on his face as Albert comes to a sudden stop.

"I own a little dog." Albert glares at Race, although he can't deny the slight fear he now has. He notices the slightly guilty, slightly suggestive look on Race's face that goes along with a sigh and Albert scoffs before storming towards the other side of campus with Race in tow. "I'm not getting rid of my dog."

"Would you just think about getting rid of your little dog?!"

***

It's last period when everything falls into place. Albert and Race are in their respective classes as the warning bells rings. Mike and Ike sit in their class, both bored out of their minds since their plan to make Katherine snap failed.

But a plan has been set in motion.

"How long is this going to take?" Katherine huffs, her arms crossed as she stands next to a shiny, new motorcycle. Not even seconds later, the bike roars to life and Sarah stands up with a pair of tweezers in hand. Katherine offers her and impressed look before throwing her leg over the bike and positioning herself comfortably on it. She jumps only a bit when Sarah's suddenly right next to her, gesturing to the handle bars.

"Okay, pull back with your left hand. Kick down to put in gear. Front brake. Throttle. Back brake for stopping." Sarah turns her head and both girls are suddenly very aware of how close they are. Despite the earlier problem and past problems, Katherine knows Sarah saw her in a vulnerable state earlier. The fact that Sarah recognized this and didn't blame Katherine created a whole new level of trust. And maybe sparked something new. Sarah suddenly backs away, far enough so she won't risk getting hurt by the bike. "Try not to crash."

Meanwhile, Jack is all but running across campus to get to his last period class. He can't help the slight grin when he sees and open desk next to the twins and he squeezes the strap of his now heavy backpack anxiously. He makes sure to sit down loudly, enough to catch the twins' attention through the chatter of the classroom. He drops his bag and immediately notices how the twins both turn at the sound of metal hitting against metal in the bag.

As class starts and Ms. Blake, the English teacher, starts talking, Jack calmly opens his bag and pulls out a large rod.

"Looks kind of important." He can tell by the wide eyes of Mike and Ike that both recognize the motorcycle part. Dismantling one motorcycle wasn't too hard and it won't be hard to put back together, but the look of pure anger and confusion on Mike and Ike's faces is worth it. With a smirk, he pulls out a gear and spins it on his finger. "I have no clue what this does."

Both twins turn to each other before the sound of a motorcycle revving meets their ears, only loud enough for their enhanced hearing to catch. Jack carefully packs the gears back in the bag and zips it, waiting for the unavoidable break.

"Wait, Mike, don't!" Ike hisses as Mike bolts from his desk, the motorcycle engine getting closer. Mike runs down the hallway towards the sound to see none other than Katherine slowing the bike as she reaches Mike, eyes narrowed and a small smirk on her face.

"Get off my bike!" Mike yells as he grabs the handle bars, his shoulders heaving and anger behind his voice.

"No problem." Katherine revs the engine one more time before getting off and hurrying towards an open stairwell. It's at that moment that Mike must notice what just happened, especially as multiple classroom doors open and the hallways slowly fill.

"You have got to be kidding me." Mike's head snaps up to see an angry and shocked Ms. Blake, followed by his entire English class. He grips the handles of the bike tighter, knowing there's no way out of this without him getting in trouble for what happened with Katherine and Sarah earlier. "You realize this is going to result in a suspension."

Mike notices movement out of the corner of his eye and he looks over to see a smug Katherine standings next to Sarah and Jack, all three trying to hide smirks as they discreetly high five each other.

Although they successful angered at least one twin, probably both actually, they don't anticipate the retaliation that will soon follow.

***

A/N: I hoped you like it! This is one of my favorite scenes from Season 3a of Teen Wolf and although it doesn't make sense, I can drop a season synopsis to help it make some sense. If you really want to understand, all the seasons of Teen Wolf are on Amazon Prime, u seriously recommend watching them. It's kind of cringy, but only because of 2010/2011 CGI.

I'll probably try to write more of these to go more in depth with characters, some will be sad and others funny or both, but I promise I will try to make some more fics like this.

Feel free to send me an ask or episode recommendation that you'd like to see! I'd love to write different scenes from different seasons for you guys, just let me know what you want to see and I can work on it!!!!

[d-other-i]

10.30 pm – 12/08/17 – Day 01

The bus set out from Bangalore, a slight delay, thanks to which I was able to grab some food! In about 14 hours, the bus would take me far away from the original intended destination.

A coffee never hurt, especially when stuck without a plan!!!

7am – 13/08/17 – Day 02

The morning found me staring into the countryside, its overcast gray skies, and the semi barren fields in against the rust red of the iron ore on the road! Hampi was still 2 hours away. What started as a trip to Gandikota in AP, was inching towards Hampi in North Karnataka!

The previous two days had gone by in a blur! With no plan, and no tickets to Kurnool, last minute changes had to be done to ensure that there atleast was a trip! The only other place that I could think of then was Hampi! Good thing I already had tickets to Bangalore! All that was left was to find a ticket to Hampi from Bangalore and from Hampi to Chennai! A colleague (now, wife) helped with the bus planning and booking a stop-over stay at Bangalore!

After almost an entire day of roaming, a café in Bangalore gave enough time to Google up Hampi and possible places of stay there! A few phone calls later, one place asked me to call them again on reaching! Wondering if the plans would materialize, strolled around Bangalore a little bit more, met some friends, and finally when it was time, boarded the bus to Hampi! The one persistent thought however, was what If there was no accommodation?! It was after-all a long weekend!

A gust of wind ensured I was back, staring at the overcast skies, the broken down trucks along the highway and the oodles of rust on the road. After a lengthy detour post Ballari, the bus ambled into the dusty little town of Hospet! Hampi is 16 km from here! Found a couple who were also headed the same way, grabbed an auto to share charges and off we went!

Dropping them off at their shack, I went about looking for the contact I had spoken to! Funny thing, with the mountains and boulders all around, there was very little network. Finding the place was a task, but thankfully, the temple town isn’t too large and finally, reached the homestay.

A small but a neat place, it was located very close to the Virupaksha temple.

** To those who plan to visit Hampi, there are basically 3 options for accommodation. Those that plan to do the trip by their own vehicles can stay at Hospet, or at Kamalapur (close to Hampi). The other two options are to stay at the temple town itself in its few homestays, or stay at Virupapur Gaddi, across the river! Those that stay at Hampi should be aware that the food available would be completely vegetarian fare since it is a temple town! The hippie town on the other bank however is for those with a palate for a wider spectrum of food, although the last coracle/boat is at 6 pm, after which the only other way is a 30 odd km detour! **

The family that ran the place were warm, and although the room they had planned to accommodate me in wasn’t empty till later that day, they found a temporary room for me on the first floor! The terrace had an amazing view, of the Virupaksha temple on one side, the Mathanga hill on the other side with the distant Tugabhadra river gurgling away in the distance! It was indeed blissful to spend time under the overcast skies on the terrace, with the multiple temples and halls on the Hemkuta hills for company!

View of the Hemakuta hills

The main road into Hampi

Mathanga hill from the guesthouse!

Freshened up, and having some nice toast with butter and jam for breakfast! I set out into the temple town! The first spot was the famous Virupaksha temple. Unlike many other temples in Hampi, the Virupaksha temple is still active, and the pujas are conducted here. One interesting aspect of the temple is the “pin-hole” camera effect, where a small hole on the wall inside a small room within the temple makes it act as a pin hole camera, forming a perfect inverted image of the main gopuram on the opposite wall.

Virupaksha Temple

Origin of Hampi: 

The name Hampi is evolved from Pampa, the ancient name of the river Tungabhadra. Also Pampa is the daughter of Brahma, the Creator God. She was a devoted worshiper of Shiva, the God of Destruction. Impressed by her dedication Shiva offered her a boon and she opted to marry him! The place thus came to be known as Pampakshetra (land of Pampa) and Shiva as Pampapathi (consort of Pampa).

The Hemakuta Hill in Hampi is the place, according to the myth, Shiva did his penance before marrying Pampa. Kama , the God of Love, felt sympathy for Pampa for her love towards Shiva. He disturbed Shiva from his deep meditation. That attracted Shiva’s wrath. Known for his anger, Shiva burned Kama with his third (fiery) eye. Rathi, Goddess of Passion and also Kama’s consort pleaded for mercy with Shiva. Shiva grants Kama’s life back, but only as a character and not as a physical being.

On Shiva’s marriage with Pampa Gods from the heaven showered gold on the place. This hill in Hampi is called Heamakuta, literally means heap of gold.

All these places have immense religious significance for the Hindus in south India, especially the devotees of Lord Shiva. In the beginning Pampa was a local folk deity. Through the concept of a marriage with Shiva, goddess Pampa is associated into the pantheon of the Hindu gods.

The places mentioned here has a continuous religious history ever since known timeframe. It just happened that the Vijayanagara Empire came in-between and gone as an episode in Hampi’s long history. Even today the annual ceremonial marriage festival & the betrothal are important festivals in Hampi. With time, Shiva became more popular here as Virupaksha. Virupaksha, an incarnation of Shiva, literally means the one with oblique eye. This refers to the fact that Shiva has three eyes. The third fire eye on his forehead opens when he do the destruction.

As a tourist you can visit Virupaksha Temple (the main functioning temple in Hampi), Hemakuta hill (with about 40 temples concentrated on it), Pampa Sarovar (where Pampa did penance) and of course the river Tungabadhra.

Kishkinda Episode: A popular folklore associates the landscape in Hampi with the Hindu epic Ramayana. The monkey kingdom, Kishkinda, is portrayed as the region around Hampi. Anjayaneya Hill, located across the river Tungabhadra, is believed to be the birth place of Hanuman.

For the Prahlada episode see the Story of Narasimha. You’ll find this man-lion incarnation of Lord Vishnu icon at many sites in Hampi including the Vittala Temple and Lakshmi Narasimha Temple .

The curiously named, Bhima’s Gateway located on the way to Vittala Temple from Kamalapura has a beautiful panel of Keechaka episode that happened during the exile of Pandava’s. On the left is the image of Draupathi tying up her hair after Bhima slayed Duhsasana. Right image portrays Bhima killing Keechaka.

Below is the panel of Bhima with a flower bud describing the Saugandhika flower episode

In Hampi you’ll find this theme of adolescent Krishna stealing cloths of cowherd girls (Krishna on the tree with Gopis pleading with their hands folded in reverence). There is one pillar with this theme carved on one of the the slender pillars of  the Kadalekalu Ganesha and another beautiful one at the Pattabhirama Temple, though a damaged due to vandalism.

Those finally end up in Hampi invariably wonder how on earth such a landscape got created! Well, you have two choices to find a solace: one in geology and the other in mythology. (Source: Hampi.in)

 Ambling through the ancient temple, one cannot help but wonder how many generations of men and women this place must have borne, the amount of prayers heard, right from the greedy selfish ones to the most selfless of prayers when the Vijayanagar Empire was attacked by the Sultanate rulers. But, despite all odds, the temple still stands, a mute testimony to the will power of the humans that ensured that at least some of the grandeur was not lost to the elements of time. The vast temple, led to an equally majestic tank on the side of the river.

Manmatha Tank

The temple is the center of activity in Hampi. While the road spread out on the South towards Kamalapur and onward to the highway linking it to Bangalore, the North side towards the Tungabhadra river is full of an assortment of homestays, restaurants and shops for various trinkets! Whether they are authentic, is anybody’s guess! A little walk from the temple leads to the ghats along the River, boats, both powered and hand paddled take one across for a small fare!

Tungabhadra river

To the South and the east of the Virupaksha temple are some of the more important ruins (did not have enough time to try explore the western side!). On the south, are the famous Hemakuta hills, and the large mandapams on the hills. Two major spots on these hills are the Kadalekalu Ganesa and a little further, the Sasivekalu Ganesa!

Kadalekalu Ganesha

Entrance to Kadalekalu Ganesha Temple

Other structures on the Hemakuta Hill

    View to the temple town from the Hemakuta Hill

The town is completely dotted with the ruins of the ancient Vijayanagar empire, so much so that it is hard not to see the remnants of the past! One cannot help but wonder how magnificent the city would have been in its heyday, if it can evoke such an awe when most of the city is in ruins!

Bang opposite the Virupaksha temple, is a large open space now used as makeshift stalls and car parking! There, are a series of a colonnaded ruins extending almost a kilometer to the east! These are called the bazaar street, and housed the markets related to the temple activities in the past! They were also said to have housed the residences of the nobles of the era!

                View of the Virupaksha temple from the end of the bazaar street

                  View of the Virupaksha temple from the end of the bazaar street

    A portion of the ruins of the bazaar!

  View of the Virupaksha temple from the end of the bazaar street

  Way to Nandi Mandapa

The far end of the bazaar street has a grand staircase with a large mandapa! The mandapa houses a massive Nandi which overlooks the entire bazaar and onward to the Lord Shiva!

Nandi Mandapa

Beyond the Nandi Mandapa lies a small trail that leads to the little less frequented, but very imposing ruins of the Achyutaraya Temple!!

Way to Achyutaraya Temple

Achyutadevaraya, who came to power succeeding his elder brother Krishnadevaraya built this temple in 1529. The presiding deity was Lord Thiruvengalanatha, a form of Vishnu! (Source: Karnataka State Website!)

    First glimpse of the Achyutaraya temple

  The temple, located at the Southern end of the grand Courtesan Street is a sight to behold from up the Matanga Hill from where one gets to appreciate the massive scale of the street and the beauty of the temple from an unconventional viewing angle! The temple, although in ruins does make one wonder about the glorious past!

  Inner Courtyard

 Carved colonnades around the temple court!

Sculptures in the mandapas!

Almost 300 years on, the glory still remains!

View of the Matanga Hill temple from Achyutaraya temple!

View of the gopuram!

  What remains of a glorious past!

Walking out of the main gopuram of the Achyutaraya temple, one encounters a rather massive open area with large pillared platforms on either side. This is the Courtesan Street. (The temple is accessed via this large pathway, with the trail through the Nandi mandapa being the alternate route!)

In the peak of its time, the place was a thriving market of gems, pearls, ivory etc. For some reason, this place was called the Sule Bazaar (The Prostitute’s Market). About 500m long and 50m wide, the market was once thronged by merchants far and wide. (Source: http://www.Hampi.in )

Courtesan’s Street

The Courtesan’s Street, at its Northern end meets the Kampa Bhupa’s path (the riverside path. Source: hampi.in), along the Tungabhadra river. There are the Varahaswami temple and the Ranganatha swamy temple nearby.

A small trail from near the Achyutharaya temple leads up the Matanga hill on the Eastern side. There is another path on the Western side as well. The western route seems to be used more often. While the easter side is doable, there are a lot of overgrowth due to minimal movement!

Walking along the outer couryard of the Achyutaraya temple, I met up with a fellow backpacker who was also doing a solo trip to Hampi. We decided to explore the places together from there on! Next up, was Mathanga Hill!

A view of the Achyutaraya temple from above!

Way to Matanga Hill!

A view of Achyutara temple and the Courtesan’s Street from Matanga Hill

Hampi from above!

View of the Virupaksha Temple from Matanga Hill!

Matanga Hill is one of the holy places described in the Ramayana! It is said to be the place where Sage Matanga was, and had given protection to Sugreeva, the King of Kishkinta! There is a Veeerabhadra temple atop the hill!

Although it was close to dusk, we dint quite wait for the sunset, although we were at the right spot, since it was quite hazy, and we had to visit the Vithala temple next! Getting down from the Mathanga Hill from the western side, we made our way back up along the Nandi mandapa, and then on to the Courtesan’s Street to get to the river path towards the Vithala Temple!

View from the Mathanga hill showing the Courtesan Street, the Pushkarni (right side) and the path leading to the Vithala temple from the Varahaswami temple!

  Way to Vithala Temple

Along the rocky path that leads to the Vithala temple, are a series of boulders that form a natural cave!

It is said that one of these caves were used by Sugreeva, the King of Kishkinta. It is also said that he used this place to hide the jewels which Sita dropped when she was abducted by Ravana and that Surgeeva met with Lord Rama and Lakshmana near these caves! A number of footprints seen on the floor of these caves are said to be that of Lord Rama and Lakshmana!

Sugreeva s Caves

A short walk from here is the Vithala temple. The King’s balance and the Purandaradasa mandapam are enroute!

Vithala Temple

The Vittala Temple, is one of the most iconic structures of Hampe, made even more famous by the induction of the Stone Chariot in the Rs 50 currency note! The presiding deity of the temple is Vittala, a form of Lord Vishnu. This form of the Lord was worshipped here as the main deity of the cattle herds!

Built in the 15th Century, the templs has grand hallways and a large pavilions and temples, besides the afore mentioned stone chariot! Outside the temple, are a series of colonnaded structure, the Vittala market place and the ruins of an ancient Shiva temple. The temple itself opens out into a kilometer long passageway, probably large enough for Chariots. There are remnants of a large tank along this passageway!

Entering the temple from the Eastern gateway, one is greeted by the Stone Chariot. This chariot is rumoured to have had the stone wheels rotating about its axis! The Chariot houses the shrine for Garuda, the vaahana for Lord Vishnu!

Stone chariot! Note the rear wheel, where the gap between the axle and the hub is more on the bottom than on the top, indicating that the wheel was indeed free to rotate about the axle! It is also believed that the structure was painted with natural/mineral dyes!

Unfortunately for us, the temple was very crowded, thanks to the Independence day weekend, and the day being a Sunday! Unlike the Achyutaraya temple, we could not have the Vittala temple for ourselves! Greedy, indeed!

A smaller mandapa within the Vittala Temple complex!

A little beyond the Chariot is the main building, the Maha mandapa! Ornately carved, the building is famous for its Musical Pillars! These are small series of stone pillars carved out of a monolithic block! Each of these smaller pillars when tapped emit a specific musical note! This stands testimony to the fine Architectural skills of the craftsmen and at the same time, the level of understand and the cohesion of arts that was possibly prevalant at the time!

  Ornately carved columns, depicting the mythical creature, YAAZHI. The sculptures of this creature is found across south India, with similarfeatures,  making one wonder if they actually existed!

Intricate stone carving stands testimony to the craftsmanship of the time!

The details along the roof, deft and intricate!

  View of the gopuram from within the complex!

Rear side of the temple complex

  With the crowd being on the higher side, we decided to leave earlier that planned. We also decided, we would try and make it to the Vittala temple again the next morning!

We headed back out to Hampi along the same river bank route!

The view of the Sugreeva cave from the Narasimha Temple complex

  A short detour later, we were at the Virupaksha temple, parting ways deciding to rent bicyles for the next day’s trip! A sumptuous meal at Mango Tree (highly recommended!) done, I settled down at the home stay!

  The Tungabhadra river bank along the way…

  Parting shot for the day.. Virupaksha temple, in the lights!

  A tiring day done, I wound up at the new room! Not the view the earlier one had, but I wasn’t complaining! Having walked miles upon miles, sleep took over in no time……

            A view of the Achyutaraya temple from above!

  Where Gods Walked…….. (2) 10.30 pm – 12/08/17 – Day 01 The bus set out from Bangalore, a slight delay, thanks to which I was able to grab some food!

[medea10]

My Review of Kaguya-sama: Love is War

How did I get into this anime? It was about time to do it as this was one of the best animes to come from the winter 2019 anime line-up (after Dororo and The Promised Neverland). Now let’s hit…

Hold it Medea! Weren’t you supposed to review Darker Than Black for your Aniplex pick?

Ah, yes…THAT anime. I watched it. I finished it. It was a mind-fuck. I bailed on the review. And while I’m at it, I’m also not reviewing Psycho Pass 3, Violet Evergarden, or A Certain Scientific Accelerator. Onto Kaguya-sama!

Shuchiin Academy, once a school for students that are well-off financially. Nowadays, it’s still that, but even commoners can attend. And one such student is a boy by the name of Miyuki Shirogane, who in just his first year managed to obtain the top spot at the school with the position of Student Council President.  By his side is his vice president, Kaguya Shinomiya. This girl comes from extreme wealth and excels in many fields including art and music. The students here revere these two as being the best of the best. And also…they make a great couple!

Pump the brakes here, pal. These two are NOT a couple. As a matter of fact, both characters end up playing 3D chess in their brains to try and take the other person down with mind games if even the slightest topic involving love is brought up. Both Kaguya and Miyuki already have feelings for the other, they just won’t admit it. The first person to admit love will be considered the loser in this war. And both of these characters are stubborn to the point of…oh my god!

THESE TWO ARE TSUNDERES! I’ve seen animes where only one person is the tsundere in the couple. But what happens when they’re BOTH tsunderes? Well…it took over 20 episodes for Taiga on Toradora. It took over 4 seasons for Louise on Familiar of Zero. But those two animes had only ONE tsundere. This anime has TWO. We might be here for a while!

Well, let’s watch who wins and who loses in the game (or war) of love!

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: Aniplex of America has a good grip on this anime as they have managed to license the second season before it has aired. Much to my dismay, this anime has not received an English dub. Aniplex of America has released the blu-ray last month ($100+ shipping and handling), but only with Japanese audio/English subtitles. Okay.

Now IF they decide to come back in a few years and dub this series, I have a few thoughts. And don’t say it’ll never happen. FUNimation and Sentai are guilty as fuck of releasing a series with no dub and two years later dropping a dub release just so they can grab extra dough.

I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN NICHIJOU YOU GRIFTING CRAP-WEASELS!

Anyways, if they decide to do this, I want R. Bruce Elliott to voice the narrator. I don’t give a shit about the rest of the cast, I just want that for the narrator! That’s just my take on that matter. I know this would NEVER happen unless Elliott ends up in L.A. for a few sessions (as he’s mostly stationed in Texas). It’s just that he’s the best person to play a narrator in just about anything. Don’t believe me? Watch Space Dandy and Sgt. Frog and get back to me!

Oh! And just my luck, FUNimation plans on giving this series an English dub. Though it’ll be a while before we see anything due to COVID-19 mess! No rush, take your time. Rest up. Consider R. Bruce Elliot as the narrator. And we’ll see you after we get off quarantine!

The sub version consists of a lot of newer, yet familiar voices. As for Kaguya’s seiyuu (Aoi Koga), this is my first time hearing her voice and so far I’m impressed. I’m also impressed with an anime to have several tsunderes and no sign of Rie Kugimiya, the QUEEN of tsundere anime characters. That shows great dedication, but if she ends up in season two, I’m gonna scream. Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

*Kaguya is played by Aoi Koga

*Miyuki is played by Makoto Furukawa (known for Saitama on One Punch Man, Hatsuharu on Fruits Basket 2019, and Banri on Golden Time)

*Chika is played by Konomi Kohara (known for Miu on Domestic Girlfriend, Fizel on SAO: Alicization, and Kai on Hitoribocchi)

*Yuu is played by Ryouta Suzuki (known for Ryouhei on Tsurune)

FAVORITE CHARACTER: Chika. Chika. Chika. Chika. Chika. And did I mention Chika?

Best girl!

SPEAKING OF CHIKA: I found an infectious little song in the form of an ending theme! For one episode, we got an ending theme song featuring Chika.

Chikatto Chika Chikaa♡! I just love it! This should win an award or something!

*several months later*

Thank you Crunchyroll Awards!

Seriously, this ED as well as the OP theme are just so infectious that I constantly go back to replay these two songs whenever I take a break from replaying Black Clover themes (no joke, I love Black Clover themes). The first ending is fine. It’s just that Chika’s special ED was so addicting that I had to mention it once, twice, or more!

SHIPPING: It’s pretty obvious to see that Kaguya and Miyuki are mad for each other. But there are several obstacles in their way. For one thing this is sort of their first love, so approaching this subject is very new. Secondly, both of them are dead-set on the fact that love is a war full of wins and losses. Both Kaguya and Miyuki play these mind-games when something mundane happens like a personality quiz or a weekend activity. They try to trap the other person into saying something embarrassing or admitting to something. Even though it’s so crystal clear that they both are romantically interested in each other!

However, I’m pretty sure Kaguya has lost more battles than Miyuki due to the infamous sick day episode. Sick Kaguya is pretty ballsy getting Miyuki to lay in bed with her.

FUNNIEST MOMENT: You can blame this on the fact that I’m absolutely immature and have the mind of an 8 year old. But there was a moment in mid-season where Chika learns of a specific quirk about Kaguya. Because Kaguya was suppressed when it came to matters of phrases and naughty words, she still finds the word “wiener” utterly hilarious. And so during this whole segment, you’ve got Chika continuously saying the word “wiener”. Then, she goes the extra mile to have other members of the student council like Miyuki and Yuu to say the word. And Kaguya is trying to prevent them from saying it until we just get a barrage of “wieners” and hysterical laughter. I gotta admit that it was one of the funniest moments in this series.

ENDING: A few episodes before the finale, a monumentous moment occurred. Kaguya got sick.

Just go with it!

Whenever Kaguya gets sick, her mind goes into a complete stupor. Her mind is almost that of an infant or small child and once she’s better, she will not remember a single thing that happened. And Miyuki was the poor sap to check on her during that sick day! I’ll cut to the chase and say what went down.

She opens her bed covers and drags Miyuki into bed with her. Now before your mind jumps in the trash, they remained fully clothed…although they both did fall asleep. So, they slept together. Just no intercourse! This kinda lead to a major fight involving a cake, an apology, and a cute moment where Kaguya touches his lip!

Hey, a girl who’s been sexually suppressed her whole life, this is like first base here.

I feel that was a bit of a breaking point to bring up on a count of a lot of the mind games stopped temporarily. Probably because the last two episodes of the season involved summer break! By the looks of it, Chika was having a blast eating so much and Yuu is doing his usual gaming stuff. All the while, Kaguya and Miyuki didn’t really do much during their break. But they promised to all meet up one day to see the fireworks. Unfortunately, that serves to be a daunting task for Kaguya as she’s been heavily sheltered her entire life. Her family (especially her father) never let her do things normal kids take for granted including going out with friends or even walking to school.

In fact, Kaguya’s plans of meeting up with Chika and others to go shopping were cancelled due to Kaguya’s father calling her to the main house…for literally nothing. Add to that, the family saw it in THEIR best interest to not allow Kaguya to leave the house to see the fireworks with her friends. But Kaguya decided to defy those orders! She gets her servant Hayasaka to disguise as her if any other servants come in and escaped her house. Yuu, Chika, and Miyuki were all in an agreement to save Kaguya…just not on the same wavelength. Kaguya on her own ended up missing the firework show. But once Miyuki found her, he took her and they went on a small adventure to another prefecture to see another firework show. But it could be cutting it close due to traffic and the show was reaching its end. Thankfully, they made it! Kaguya was finally able to see the fireworks with her friends.

It’s just that Kaguya didn’t pay attention to the firework show…she stared at Miyuki the whole time!

In the final segment of episode 12, Kaguya and Miyuki kinda realized how dorky they were the night of the firework show. Kaguya let her guard down so many times that night and spent the entire firework show staring at Miyuki. Meanwhile, Miyuki thought he sounded stupid when he took Kaguya to the show. We get one final mind-game between these two until it ended with Miyuki almost saying something and Kaguya chases him down while the end credits play on in the background.

Will either one of them say how they truly feel about the other? Who will win? Who will lose?

…Guess we’ll find out in a few days when season two airs!

This was an entertaining anime! It’s like if Death Note were a rom-com instead of a thriller. Both Kaguya and Miyuki have a similar mind-set to Light Yagami when it comes to the game of love. They both have the hots for each other and both refuse to admit it first. But thanks to key moments including Kaguya’s sickness and the firework saga, there’s been definite progress with these two letting their guards down. But they’ve got a long way to go! I mean, these two are major tsunderes meaning they’re going to suppress their wants and desires with the opposite sex with these ridiculous mind-games. So…we might be here for a while before any one of them admits their feelings. But I say give it a watch! It’s not that long of a series and it’s still fairly new so it’s still open for more sequels and side-projects before losing its luster.

Currently, this anime is available for streaming on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and FUNimation.

And stay tuned for the second season exclusively available on FUNima…You guys are really pissing me off with your exclusivity!

Okay, I managed to finish this baby up quite quick. What’s the next Aniplex title I’m going to watch?

Picture it, Medea. Osmosis Jones but…

Cells at Work?

That’s great. I’m also not reviewing this one. I have my own reasons for not reviewing this. So let’s hit the randomizer button again because as of this date, I finished Cells at Work.

Lord El-Melloi…I’M NOT READING ALL THAT SHIT! Sum it up quickly!

It’s Fate, but with Waver Velvet.

Jesus “Tap Dancing” Christ, it’s another Fate series! I’m not reviewing anything Fate! It’s a cluster-fuck of a series! Don’t get me wrong, I love Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works as much as the next dip-shit, but the franchise is a pile of cluster bombs and I can’t make heads or tails of any of this. Regardless, I finished that hot mess as well.

Okay you picky-ass bitch, how about the best animated anime of the 2010’s?

Demon Slayer!

Now that’s more like it! But I will still fight to the death that best animated goes to Violet Evergarden!

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S3 Ep 19: Seto and Mokuba are Turned Into Inanimate Objects...Again

Last we left off on the world’s most awkward family reunion, Moki was being used to take advantage of Seto again, which happens at least 2 times a season.

What’s kind of wild about this, is that everyone jumps to the conclusion that Seto is absolutely going to murder his little brother. Seto. The guy who 2 seasons ago was willing to absolutely jump off a ledge for his little brother.

And then suddenly, Duke makes his feelings known about just life in general at this point.

Duke in the background just spiraling deeper and deeper into his IDGAF apathy. And to be honest, Duke might not be fully aware of who Mokuba even is. It’s not like they’ve ever had a conversation, other than maybe “ah, you work for Pegasus, he locked me in a tower for weeks and then killed me by turning me into a little paper card and then tried to seize control of my company. Nice. Nice that he isn’t in jail.”

In fact, since Duke does work with Pegasus who probably is still doing his best to compete with/work with the Kaiba business...Duke actually has a lot to gain, business wise, by killing Mokuba. Like, I’m pretty sure Duke isn’t a mole but he could be. He has...a lot of motive, actually.

If bro hadn’t straight up told me that Duke isn’t a mole like I suspected, than I’d still be waiting for that other shoe to drop. But it won’t. A shame.

Anyways this shows up:

All I’m saying is that a black hole is an astronomical region in space and a dark hole is very often a butthole, but youknow...maybe that’s just a very particular English language thing that no one will ever teach you from a textbook and it just didn’t quite get translated over correctly. But yeah, in my eye, Noah's just up there holding up a sphincter. It’s very fitting, he is an asshole. Congrats, Noah Kaiba, you’ve found your card.

Meanwhile, Yugi is doing his very best to try and backseat, even if Kaiba instinctively slaps it out of his hands at every opportunity.

So I figured that he’d mention that both of these boys carry these card lockets around their necks with a little picture of the other brother inside--a little thing they carry for no other reason than to remember eachother. Which makes sense, because Kaiba forgets things SO OFTEN. The necklace around their necks is almost like those bracelets you wear to let police and medics know if you’re prone to narcolepsy--it even has a nice picture inside to indicate “please return this boy to this pictured person in case you find him wandering about completely lost.”

I kinda figured that necklace would be used at some point but nah, we’re gonna talk about cards. Which is fine, because we get to see this good drawing Mokuba made once.

Which, PS, it was sort of hard to pick up on the first time Kaiba talked about this period of his life, but this time when he talked about this incident it like...left quite a bit highly implied there by what Seto meant when he said Mokuba “saved me.” It’s some pretty heavy stuff that kind of gets blown over by the massive magic dragon that shows up in the next scene and then just flies Mokuba, who is wearing very cute fuzzy socks, up into the sky and into the moon like ET.

Nowadays they do this by hanging off of Helicopters, but flying on dangerous things to escape their horrible childhood has been their Fantasy for a very long time. These kids and their obsession with heights and dangerous ledges.

And apparently it was this moment in his youth that Seto decided he wanted to be “worthy enough to hold a Blue Eyes.” And like...I remember S1 Seto. That was the worthy Seto?

I guess “worthy enough” doesn’t really imply any sort of moral code, just if you have enough money and can like play cards pretty OK.

Anyways, it was a lot of new stuff applied to this card that I just only recently accepted as a GF and so it was like “All right show, I see what you’re doing, I guess we’re going to walk slowly out of the paper romance realm and into...some sort of card-honor brother realm.”

So, using the Blue Eyes, Kaiba destroys a bunch of Gradius ships, which Noah was like “These Gradius ships represent our Father’s company!” in case you’re a child and didn’t see the symbolism. And, along the way, he destroys what he thinks is Noah’s Game Master card but like...it’s this show, so apparently inside the Boat was another dude and the game is going to keep on going, fml.

Ah buckle up this...this is going to be a long one. This is going to be a lot more cards, huh?

Anyway, when I saw this card that is clearly based on a couple of Gods I was like “so um...isn’t that a...God card?” so I looked it up, also because it was BS and I was frustrated that it was even here after the boat thing ended, and this card is a...get this...a Fairy card.

Cuz it has wings? Like a Seraphim? Everything about this looks like a conglomeration of different Gods but--I guess since God Cards can only have the 4 God Cards, this is a...Fairy card. Interesting. That is a huge ass Fairy. Yugioh biology really eludes me.

Anyway, First thing Noah does as a fairy is destroy his younger brother who is also older than him, don’tthinkaboutit. He’s again sporting the poorly photoshopped glowing romper that the dub gave us in order to spare us.

Hey!

Question!

So when Noah’s wearing the game Master outfit, he’s ass naked underneath--but the Big 5 weren’t? Like wouldn’t the Big 5 have had the same issue of Noah here where they have no body, so whatever they’re wearing is just whatever they’re in?

Meaning that when they were all shoved in Tristan’s body wouldn’t they have just been 5 naked fat old guys hanging out like a European sauna? 

Or is this just Noah’s preference? To be ass naked when no one’s looking? Because he’s been here all alone for 6 years, so why the hell not? Like, no one cares. No one’s looking. You can’t get splinters or whatever. Just let it all hang loose, man, it’s not even a real body. 

Like, if you look closely, Noah only has ... one outfit he’s had here for 6 years. I’ve noticed this maybe more than most because...it’s not a great outfit. He had that same suit and shorts combo right after he woke up and got out of his jammies from the accident all those years ago. He also wore a space suit once, but that was a Birthday present from Dad and I haven't seen the suit since.

Did Noah recognize that People Are Coming and was like “oh dammit, dammit, I have to cover the goods” and just throw on literally the only thing in his closet? The office shorts combo from 6 years ago? Is that why? Is that the big secret of the baby boy suit shorts? That he, in reality, never really wears them?

Questions about nudity aside, out of freakin no where Noah just turns the Kaibas into this:

Noah spent like 20 episodes saying no one is ever allowed to cheat and then just flippin does this and is like “What? It’s almost legal enough.”

I mean, it’s not like there’s any official rules for Duel Monsters anyway but apparently you can just turn each other into statuary and it’s like...fine. That’s fine.

Also, fun fact, about Yugioh statues, they come with eyeliner built in.

So much dedication to the guyliner in this show, mad respect.

And yes, I have sort of thought that Moki’s been sporting a teeny tiny Adam Lambert line this whole time. Like most our cast, honestly. But not Joey. I feel like Joey would never have the patience to learn how to waterline.

I mean the Kaiba’s are essentially brain dead, yes? Their brain functions have been removed and uploaded to the cloud to never be downloaded back into their vegetable bodies? That counts enough for me.

Seto Kaiba just 2 corpses away from 169ing the Hell out of that death scene. A shame.

Bro was like “well at least this crying statue stuff is more like something that normally happens in a kid’s show.” and I was like “THIS? So this ever happened in Pokemon?” and bro was like “It did actually, Ash Ketchum was turned into stone and then cried as a rock statue, and then Pikachu hugged him to make him all better” And as you may be aware my bro is full of spicy headcanons so I’m not sure if that’s actually true but it was like

“Bro, was Ash Ketchum ever turned to stone because his abusive Father’s secret son, who has been turned into an evil computer, wants to kill his brother and then take over his body to run the Patriots from Metal Gear? That happened on Pokemon?” And Bro admitted “Ok, maybe not so much.”

Anyway, Pharaoh awakens to put a stop to this nonsense by bringing up the long list of things that Noah did just now that is absolutely cheating.

Anyway, this is Noah now.

He’s just this...huge 100 story tall person with very bored judgy eyes just floating in the sky with vaguely religious iconography going on and bunch of wings like that one character design that we all have in our portfolio. Yeah, you know the one. It’s this guy. We’ve all drawn this guy. Anyway, it’s going to be very hard to take him seriously when this guy has Noah’s voice.

Again, he is not, he is ass naked in there, though the dub did try and cover it up.

Anyway, next episode we get to basically start this entire duel over.

That’s nice. That’s nice of them to do to me. At least these kids finally got a chance to do some duel prep for the actual tourney they’re supposed to be doing later this season. Yeah. Remember that apocalypse? That’s still going on somehow. Maybe by the time they’ll get to it, most of the competitors will be dead?

Here’s a link to read the recaps in order from S1 Ep1

[theonceoverthinker]

OUAT Rewatch 4X14 - Enter the Dragon

Sorry for all the delays with these reviews! I’ve really been DRAGON my feet through this whole season, haven’t I? 

...You don’t come here for smart puns, Regina! XD

Anyway, there’s a nice juicy review under the cut!

Main Takeaways

Past

I love how this plays as the evil version of every “young person melts the heart of older person and convinces them to go back to doing what they love” story! While it’s not a parody -- and is in fact played deadly straight -- it’s funny as hell to watch because of that!

It’s kind of weird seeing such vague mentions of Mal’s backstory. All throughout the episode, we hear clues, but are never given anything concrete. I wonder when or even if we ever would’ve gotten a backstory for Mal and Briar Rose.

Present

Wow, I gotta say, considering how DESTROYED Mal was by what Snowing did to her kid, stealing another kid is just horrible (The fact that he’s turned back into August and she may or may not have known that is irrelevant for me since she stealing a son from his father at the end of the day) ! I don’t know if it’s exactly poorly written or not -- a case of extremism turning her into what she hates or mishandling a character who is supposed to be more balanced between being evil and sympathetic. I guess it’s up to interpretation, but given that the there doesn’t get to be a reaction from Marco to Maleficent over the fact considering how big of a deal it is that she reverted a little boy back into being a grown man, I feel forced to say the latter.

This also applies to Regina too, ESPECIALLY considering her conversations with Marco in the last episode and this is more of a problem than I realized. She’s stealing a child, putting him up against three villains, AND disposing any direct means of contact between herself and her backup. And the fact that Rumple reverts him into being August at the end of the episode changes nothing here because that wasn’t an anticipated move. It’s even more distracting given the gravitas of the moment where Emma and Regina try to figure out whether or not to steal him in the first place. Regina says she’s going to protect him and pull out if he’s in danger, but what does she think they’re going to do to him if not threaten his life? Even just the emotional duress of those kind of threats is crazy to do to a kid. And then to drop her phone so he can’t even be tracked? It’s played as this necessary evil, but is never given the payoff to back up what a horrible and reckless thing this was to do. They STOLE his childhood -- what was essentially his happy ending -- and that has to be answered for by ALL involved parties: Maleficent, Regina, and Emma too for ultimately agreeing to this.

This segment has a really interesting theme of not being overly insistent on complete control. Throughout it, Regina insists to her friends that she can handle the Queens of Darkness. Even as the stakes raise, she makes risky and riskier decisions that she says she can manage. This culminates in a horribly risky decision (See above) that, in her insistence in keeping control over the situation and her sureness that she’s right, has Regina abandon her means of getting backup. And this all ends with Regina, forced by her own hand, to relinquish control to Rumple. I think that this is an important lesson for Regina to learn, and while I didn’t like the big decision that she had to make for lack of a proper fallout (I’ll actually discuss in a bit why I choose this episode to take the issue with it), I think the rest of the story is good!

Stream of Consciousness

-Regina, you trying to KILL ME with the cut of that shirt?! Because it is working!

-Damn, Regina is AMAZING at acting evil! XD

-HOW THE FUCK DID YOU CRUSH GLASS?! ARE YOU THE FUCKING HULK? XD

-I love how Regina looks between Mal’s castle and her book like “I’m gonna get my favorite author to sign my book!”

-Wouldn’t someone just win “Don’t Be a Hero” by only saving themselves?

-I love how there were freakin’ BETS on the game! XD

-We got another Henry and Belle scene!!! Tbh, I wish there was a bit more substance here too. Belle ADORES books and this is literally a mystery surrounding a book! Why couldn’t she give him some advice on maybe where to look or just talk about the nature of books! You have two book fans sharing a scene! Why not use that?

-I would KILL to know how Regina’s night of drinking with the Queens of Darkness went! Like, they drank a whole bar! XD

-To be fair, Emma, Regina’s probably not reaching out because she’s hungover as FUCK after DRINKING A WHOLE BAR! XD

-MAL, DRUNK AS FUCK, SINGED A COP CAR! XD WHERE ARE FICS OF THIS! THIS IS THE TRUE SEQUEL TO “THE HANGOVER!” XD

-”Some drinking.” SOME DRINKING? YOU DRANK AND ENTIRE BAR! XD

-I like how Regina’s “pathetic” flame was more of a matter of nervousness than inexperience. It shows that Regina’s learned a lot during her tenure with Rumple while still having a lot of space to grow.

-Maleficent is introduced as a druggie! She literally stabs herself with something that “takes the edge off!” XD

-”You need to remember who you are.” “That Maleficent had a foul temper, and if you insulted her, she’d turn into a dragon and eat your flesh.” Holy hell! My eyes are filled with hearts!

-”Where the hell have you been all night?” I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW THAT AS WELL!

-NOW WHAT KIND OF CRAZINESS HAPPENED IN THE VAULT?! XD

-To be fair, Emma, Regina’s been ROCKING this undercover mission so far.

-This episode is full of sexy, badass people, but this cake is the sexiest thing of all!

-”Well, look at which two survivors found a dinghy together.” ...Rumple, HOW ARE YOU SO BAD AT BEING KILLIAN? IT’S NOT ESPECIALLY HARD AND YET YOU SOMEHOW FAILED AT IT! It’s like trying to pet a puppy and instead doing a handstand! XD

-I love how Storybrooke can appear on a GPS system! Is someone in town just a really good techie or is Google our new God? XD

-”The only magical thing you’ll find here is duct tape.” Accurate! XD

-”You didn’t ask your questions more forcefully.” Oh trust me, she did. It was scary.

-”One little snafu?” YOU WOULD HAVE TO STEAL A CHILD!

-”Break some rules.” YOU ARE STEALING A CHILD!

-A Pirate’s Oath! XD What the hell? Someone’s just looking to cop a feel!

-I love the fact that it is 100% canon that Regina rode on the back of a dragon. Maleficent gave her the best piggyback ride in the UNIVERSE!

-Wait: GOLD HAS A CABIN?

Favorite Dynamic

Rump-illian and Belle. I absolutely love Rump-illian and Belle’s subplot here. Rumple, for better or worse, knows Belle and is exactly slippery enough to forge a story to get the dagger back for himself but also not infallible as to still fail to  discuss things he wasn’t privy to. Major props have to go to Colin. He’s playing Rumple playing Killian and that is AMAZING! His lines and delivery are just awkward enough to capture Rumple’s failure to perfectly capture Killian, but they’re close enough that they could fool someone who’s just getting to be close with Killian like Belle. He’s always a little off center in how he conducts himself, making the reveal something that could feasibly be guessed but also surprise everyone! And the transitions -- the one at the docks the one as he walks into the pawnshop, and the one outside the pawnshop are done so well as to make the whole subplot even better!

Writer

David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz are in charge of today’s episode! So far, they’ve had a perfect season! But...well… Look. This episode isn't bad, but I do wish the present segment had some more polish. Considering that the three people involved in that final decision are all mothers and to not do more with that idea is really distracting in hindsight.

Rating

8/10. I’m torn about whether or not I should punish this episode for what goes down with Pinocchio. This episode is more setup in that regard than payoff and it’s not bad setup. But at the same time, I do have to ask myself if that payoff was ever going to happen and if it wasn’t, then the setup of something that upon inspection is so fucked up. And I do think that the payoff wasn’t intended to come up -- they had to know -- and so I do find fault with this episode for executing this idea in such an irresponsible way. Otherwise though, the storytelling is really good. Everything makes sense, the story’s engaging, the pacing works, the characters are for the most part in line, and the theme of the past segment lines up in a way that’s subtle, yet effective.

Flip My Ship - The Home of All Things “Shippy Goodness”

DRAGON QUEEN - This is my JAM! Look at Regina’s face as Mal enters the room. That is the face of a woman realizing “I am gay for LIFE!” And in the present, could these two flirt any MORE?! <3 Just look at the aspirin scene! Mal and Regina are both letting their guard down (Regina’s being more of a casual spitfire, Mal’s not wearing the jacket and is giving a bit more info), Mal’s helping Regina out a bit, there’s candles everywhere, and there’s a touch of loose tension in the room. It’s enough to make the moment pretty sexy. ALSO, they go on a mission alone and the presentation to it plays out exactly like an impromptu date! This is the BEST! I just love how Regina smiles for Mal. It’s big, but natural and just kind of happy!

Swan Queen - Dude! Emma is so worried about Regina! That panic in her voice is CRAZY and her dedication to having Regina’s back and protecting her really shows how much she cares for Regina! This as some of their best shippy moments by the sheer amount of concern Emma has for her!

Captain Swan - While it doesn’t work exactly, Killian does a really good job assuring Emma that things with Regina will be okay.

Mal/Briar Rose - “What happened to you?” “A Rose. A Briar Rose.” Mal says that line in the same way someone talks about someone who they had a bad breakup with!

-----

Hi!!! Thanks for reading and shout outs to the fine folks at @watchingfairytales and to the lovely @daensarah! See you all next time!

Season 4 Total (121/230)

Writer Scores: Adam and Eddy: (34/60) Jane Espenson: (20/40) David Goodman and Jerome Schwartz: (38/50) Andrew Chambliss: (22/50) Dana Horgan: (6/30) Kalinda Vazquez: (22/40) Scott Nimerfro: (14/30) Tze Chun (8/20)

Operation Rewatch Archives

[douxreviews]

American Gods - ‘Git Gone’ Review

"That was vulgar. I’m a vulgar woman. Anger and grief have… have really just made me vulgar."

American Gods gives us the Gospel According to Laura, and answers a few questions to boot.

OK, it's cheating just a little bit to end two episodes in a row with the exact same cliffhanger, but wow, what a trip it was getting there the second time around.

So, at the end of the previous episode, Shadow enters his motel room to find his recently deceased wife, Laura, sitting on his bed waiting for him. Expectations, then, were that we'd pick up at that same point and get to see their inevitable confrontation over the whole 'died while orally servicing his best friend' situation. But 'Git Gone' takes a different path, and instead goes back to before the show even began and tells the whole thing again, but this time from Laura's perspective.

This is by no means the first show to do an episode dedicated to re-staging things we've already seen, but from the perspective of one of the other characters, but there's a reason that shows like to do it, and it's not just the cost savings of re-using existing sets. The primary virtue of this setup is that it allows you to fill in a lot of character information, while revealing information about events you've already seen that we didn't know at the time. Case in point, we've already heard the phone conversation between Shadow and Laura in 'The Bone Orchard'. but now we know that she literally had his best friend naked on their bed while she was talking to him. That changes how we feel about Laura during that conversation a lot.

So, let's talk about Laura.

For the first three episodes, Laura has essentially been a woman in the refrigerator. It's an insidious trope, which can be boiled down to the idea that stories tend to treat female characters as someone to kill so that the important character, i.e. the man, can be properly motivated to do whatever the story needs him to do. It's a pleasant relief then to find out that, no, Laura has been having a fairly eventful story of her own, and her untimely death was only the middle part of it.

The thing that 'Git Gone' makes clear about Laura is that she is fundamentally self-destructive. The very first decision we see her make is to attempt suicide in her covered hot tub by breathing in the titular bug spray, and that appears to have been brought on by nothing more than the casino she's working at telling her that she can't shuffle the cards by hand anymore, but she likes shuffling cards so she's super sad about it. She's clearly smart and perceptive; it takes her all of three seconds to understand the con that Shadow is trying to pull at her blackjack table. She's also basically kind, since her response to his con is to point out the casino's security measures and what they'll do to him when he's caught, then takes his bet and tells him to finish his drink and go home while he can. But when Shadow approaches her afterward and tries to ask her out in a reasonably polite fashion she's not interested. She only becomes interested in him once he starts getting stalker-ishly creepy. The same is true of their sex scene. She's bored out of her mind when he's being a courteous lover, and slaps him full in the face for no other reason than to see what he'll do. That's just not a safe thing to do to a guy you just picked up after he attempted to rob your casino, and whom you know absolutely nothing about. Which is why she does it.

The sequence of scenes where we see Shadow grow happier and happier while she grows sadder and sadder tell us everything we need to know about Laura. She likes Shadow, but he's nice. And when Laura has something nice in her life, Laura is immediately compelled to destroy that thing. That's why she suggests the casino heist that gets Shadow sent to prison. That's why she starts sleeping with Robbie while Shadow's away. Note the way that Laura only slept with Robbie the second time because he had accepted her statement that they shouldn't. Note also how she was clearly just as bored during her sex with Robbie as she had been that first night with Shadow. It was never about the sex, it was about inviting things into her life that would cause as much damage as possible. When Audrey mentions that she wishes Robbie looked at her the way Shadow looks at Laura, you can feel how little Laura values it. How much she needs to destroy it, in order to prove to herself that she doesn't deserve it. Honestly, season one doesn't give us much in terms of Laura's early background information, and the book gives even less, but note that Laura's mother appears to be at their wedding and her father isn't. I suspect there's a lot of interesting backstory there, and I hope we get more of it in the future. People this self destructive don't just happen for no reason.

And hey, we mentioned Audrey a moment ago. Audrey, and I'll make no bones about this whatsoever, is my absolute favorite character in the show, despite only being in two episodes of the first season. The scene between Audrey and Laura in Audrey's bathroom is absolutely the centerpiece of this episode. That scene works on every conceivable level. It's simultaneously hysterically funny, heartbreakingly sad, and the weirdest thing you're likely to see on television. And it all comes down to the fact that both Betty Gilpin as Audrey and Emily Browning as Laura play the absolute emotional truth of the moment, despite the fact that the moment is a zombie with diarrhea on the toilet in front of the woman whose husband she died while blowing. Oh, and she stopped by to borrow craft supplies. The whole thing is basically, what if The Walking Dead was a production of the Hallmark Channel, and those two actresses make it work. Audrey is confronted with the woman she thought was her best friend but was sleeping with her husband. Who died while betraying her. When Audrey speaks the line 'I found out my husband was cheating on me and dead in the same sentence' you absolutely feel how much pain she's in, and it feels real. Despite the zombie diarrhea and the craft supplies, it feels like genuine emotional damage that she has no idea how to work through. It's amazing.

Then Audrey gets her craft supplies, sews her friend's arm back on for her, and drives her where she needs to go. Because she has no idea how else to respond to the situation. And if anyone is capable of getting through the following exchange without falling in love a little with Audrey, then that person has no soul. As Audrey is sewing her dead friend's arm back on and discussing the way that friend slept with her husband:

Laura: "I feel terrible about it." Audrey: "Oh, F*ck your feelings."

Quotes:

Laura: "Is this your first time trying to rob a casino?" Shadow: "A casino? Yeah." Laura: "Well, you’re really not very good at it."

Shadow: "All l know is there’s more than I know."

Laura: "There’s no farm upstate for old dogs."

Laura: "I have a perfect plan. You will never get caught." Cut to Jail Laura: "How did you get caught?"

Laura: "I lived my life. Good and bad. Definitely not light as a feather."

Audrey: "…Laura?" Laura: "Hey Audrey." Audrey:

Laura: "Audrey. Audrey. Don’t call the police." Audrey: "Get out of my house, you zombie whore!"

Ibis: "Don’t move. You’re still tacky."

Bits and Pieces:

-- Nice fake-out at the beginning with the Egyptian theme casino. The casino's name was 'The 26th Dynasty' Apparently that was the last Egyptian dynasty before they were invaded by the Persians. I don't know if that's at all important, but information is always nice.

-- Mrs. Fadil's post-death scene with Anubis last week served the important function of letting us understand what was happening to Laura this week. It's a little weird that Laura would be the province of an Egyptian death god though. They hand waved it last week with Mrs. Fadil remembering the old stories, but all we get here is that Laura is Anubis' concern because of the manner of her passing. That seems like a curiously specific thing for an Egyptian god to care about. Maybe she had to sign a release when she started working at the casino or something.

-- The hot tub is a visual metaphor for nothingness and oblivion. Watch the episode with that in mind and it opens up a world of interesting interpretations.

-- Do people leave their TVs on for the cats while they're out? It made total sense that it was the death of Dummy the cat, who Laura claimed to not even like, that drove her completely off the rails and into the affair with Robbie.

-- I'm not sure why, but the Egyptian eyes on Laura's work uniform bow tie really freaked me out. Like, to an irrational degree.

-- Laura's dialogue, 'When you die, you rot,' is shown over the images of her and Shadow's wedding. That was a nice directorial touch.

-- I liked the visual cue of Shadow leaving his wedding ring on the statue of the Eifel Tower when he went to the gym. That's a real thing, I take off mine myself to work out.

-- Three episodes later, we find out that it was Laura who killed all of Technical Boy's henchmen and saved Shadow from the lynching. Wow, zombie Laura is apparently quite strong. And can kick you in the balls so hard your entire spinal column flies out the top of your head, which was a funny sight gag.

-- Mr. Jacquel, a.k.a. Anubis, told Laura that after this was all over he would complete his task and send her to oblivion. So now Laura has a matching doom over her head to go with Shadow's promise to let Czernobog smash his head in when it's all over.

-- I'd have liked to have known what happened to Audrey after she and Laura encountered Jacquel and Ibis. I assume she just dropped Laura off and went back home, but it would have been nice to see it.

-- Absent entirely this week - Wednesday, Mad Sweeney, Bilquis, Media, Technical Boy, Czernobog, The Zorya sisters, and Mr. World.

A great episode that gave us a lot of character work and some intriguing answers, but at the expense of paying off the previous episode's cliffhanger.

Three and a half out of four hot tubs.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

[takaraphoenix]

Let’s talk about character death for a moment.

Because I’ve been thinking about One Piece all day long. And for me, personally, One Piece will always be king of character death.

But before we go into that, let me clarify some things about character death.

I’m not a fan of character death. I don’t want to see characters I love die. That being said, The Thing (show/movie/book/whatever) does not exist to please and make every viewer happy and feel fuzzy. Especially when it features heavy action elements, character death is kind of a very important element and tool.

Nowadays, character death is kind of... a joke.

No one stays dead anymore. When a character dies, the viewer very often isn’t even under the illusion that this character might be dead in the sense of “gone forever”, which death kind of should imply. Instead it’s more of a “Well, how/when are they going to bring them back?”.

In Shadowhunters, for example, Jace dies for a full three minutes of screen-time before being brought back from death. They could have milked this for some suspense and feelings by killing him off in a cliffhanger for the season - not EVERYBODY has read the books before watching the show, you know. You could have pretended that he stays dead by killing him off in the season finale and waiting with the “Oh, I’d like to have him back, please” for episode one of the next season, to keep the viewers on their toes as to how and when the character will be brought back.

Sebastian. Killed off, immediately summons his mom who promises to bring him back.

And even on the slim off-chance that a character is killed and actually stays dead - Jocelyn Fray - it is not really... handled.

She’s been dead for a little more than a month now. That is no time at all. Yet when Clary had the angel summoned, bringing back her mother and only good relative doesn’t even cross her mind. It’s not like Jocelyn’s death has been years ago and she is well-settled with never seeing her again. It’s only been a handful of weeks now. I find it highly unrealistic that she got over losing her mother that quickly.

Luke too. The supposed love of his life died a bit over a month ago but he’s already flirting up the next woman. Like. Where’s the grief-period...? I’m not saying he ought to wear black and mourn for the rest of his life, but... more than two months, maybe?? You spent twenty years loving this woman. Somehow, I feel like that should have a longer grief-period and a harder impact than chatting up a woman after not even two months.

Not to mention the part where the show just opted to completely ellipse the grief-sharing between father and daughter. Luke and Clary addressed Jocelyn’s death in passing.

And it was mainly just used to fuel a tiny bit of Alec angst - but really only a tiny bit because he literally completely stopped being guilty about it right after he tried to kill himself over it. And while the suicide attempt was mainly the demon, it still rooted from his deeply seated guilt for having killed Jocelyn. But after that, it was kind of just... done.

Jocelyn’s death was all in all completely horrendously handled.

And horrendously handled death is kind of what brought me to this topic, as I had just recently ranted about Kevin Can Wait and how they just fridged the female lead because they didn’t know how to further the plotline but also added a time-skip of a year to assure no grieving will happen and we can move on to the “fun part” again.

That’s the two big bad Hollywood ways of handling character death.

Either you avoid handling it by just... bringing the character back to life.

Or you avoid handling it by simply not having the characters grief and deal with the death.

Both of those are awful options.

Look at Marvel. Avengers was kind of a movie you walked into expecting no real major stakes - there was just NO WAY they would actually kill off an Avenger during the very first team-up movie.

But they killed off a secondary character very effectively.

And by Coulson not actually being a character anyone was close to, you got to avoid the grieving process. Yet still the movie made that death impactful, gave it meaning and an appropriate reaction.

...I am still intensely salty that they fucking retconned it out of existence by whatever the fuck they did to justify that TV show. Like. I genuinely don’t care for it and it absolutely ruins the rewatchability of the movie for me because now when Fury goes drama queen over Coulson’s death, I just shrug and go “Meh”, knowing full-well he is still alive.

Prior to the retconning bullshit, it was a really good and effective way of adding stakes and feelings.

And that is what character death should be.

It adds stakes to a situation. Knowing that your protagonists are not invincible. That something can actually happen to them. The “no one is safe”-principle.

It’s why I absolutely adore the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

It had stakes. I spent hours crying over the final book, because Rick Riordan put the effort into making you grow attached to characters like Ethan, Charles, Silena and Luke. You cared about them, their deaths were not throwaway lines, they were impactful on the reader, the story and the characters in the universe.

He gained a shit-ton of respect from me for that book. Genuinely.

Granted, he lost all that respect with the sequel-series where he did the literal opposite and just did not kill anyone. Oh, yeah, nameless, never-before-appeared characters in throwaway line-mentions, a failed comic-relief death for Octavian and the “No worries, we spent the whole entire fucking book setting up the Death Cure”-death of Leo. It was pathetic and insanely boring.

There was absolute emotional detachment toward the final battle, while in the original series, I could not put that book down reaching with bated breath as some of my favorite characters died or risked their lives respectively.

After Beckendorf blew up, when Silena sacrificed her life, all bets were off. I could not stop reading. I had to know. Had to know if Nico and Clarisse and Thalia and Percy would make it out alive of this series. What other twists would come. It was incredibly engaging, both plot-wise and emotional.

That is what character death should do. Make a situation feel real. Make it feel emotional.

It’s one of the many, many reasons why I love and always will love Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Oh yeah, sure, this show is like the OG sinner of “Oopsie daisy, brought back from the death”-protagonist and it was ridiculous on that behalf.

But even Buffy’s death had impact.

Dawn, who started stealing and acting up because she did not know how to deal with her feelings and her frustrations. The utter... loss.

Spike fucking a robot, because the woman he loved was gone. But also Spike working with the Scoobies, Spike being an anchor for Dawn and being there for Buffy’s orphaned sister.

The utter despair of Willow trying to bring Buffy back.

Literally the only plotline of an entire season is them dealing with Buffy’s death. Buffy included. It’s not just “Oops, dead - aaand we’re back online!”. There is grief, heartbreak, confusion, the... “What now?”.

Even as real consequences as how to pay the fucking rent with the “woman of the house” dead.

And it’s not even just this “We will literally dedicate a whole entire season to this character death and it will ACTUALLY work and be brilliant”.

The Body remains one of the best episodes in TV history to me, as it deals with the death of Buffy’s mother, because it is... mundane. It’s a normal, human death and it’s... normal, human griefing.

Or... even smaller things. Kendra. She was only in literally three episodes. She wasn’t a big character. Yet even seasons later, Buffy still had Kendra’s stake, the stake that meant so much to Kendra and you were reminded that Buffy is still thinking of this dead friend. It wasn’t just a one-off character who was shrugged off and discarded.

That’s how you should handle character death. That’s how you make it work.

And now back to where all of this started.

One Piece.

Because there is actually a third option available on the “Death doesn’t matter” scale, aside from bringing them back from the dead and just not having characters deal with the death.

Simply not killing anyone off to begin with.

It’s usually the anime go-to thing, but also typical for cartoons. Generally, the animated medium where violence is hilarious and did you see how this Normal Human just walked straight through a wall and should technically now be dead? Hahaha.

Yeah. That.

One Piece used to be one of those.

In fact, One Piece went out of its way to show you just how ridiculously many characters survive ridiculously deadly situations in the Impel Down arc. We were reunited with so many characters that I genuinely had thought had just died an off-screen death in conclusion to the prior battles.

And then my favorite character died.

Died and stayed dead.

In conclusion to a story-arc that literally reintroduced a handful of characters I thought had died, making me feel even surer that this all would be fine. That Luffy would be on time to save his brother’s life, that they would leave, together, reunited.

And then they killed Ace off. Actually, on-screen, fully. Dead.

I cried for months over this death. It was intensely impactful.

For one, due to the world-building so far that has set it up that no one really dies. All actual character deaths laid in the past - being shown in flashbacks. But no one ever actually died from a battle-wound. Crushed by an entire fucking building? Shrug it off, dude.

This... inversion of an “avoiding death”-trope can make a character death intensely effective, because it really does hit you out of left field then.

But it wasn’t just that.

Luffy’s reaction to it was so intense and real and deep and argh, I cried so much. So, so much. And I was so angry about this. Stopped watching/reading for a solid two years of grieving period for myself.

I’m not good when you kill off my favorite character.

And I gotta admit, I have never really managed to get back into it since Ace’s death. I think that’s less due to the death and more due to the time-skip. I didn’t like that at all.

But yeah, it was hella effective and well-written.

So, in overall conclusion, what I want is for them to stop with the cop-out deaths.

If you don’t have the balls to actually kill your characters off, then don’t fake it either, because it’s uncreative, uneffective, boring and annoying.

Kill them off or don’t, there can’t be an in-between, the in-between has become an overused trope at this point.

And when you kill them off, fucking deal with it and have your characters deal with it too.

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - “The Golden Lagoon of White Agony Plains!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Bob Snow

Directed by: John Aoshima

Storyboard by: Jean-Sebastien Duclos, Mark Garcia, Tanner Johnson, John Ramirez

I wouldn't call this a creek, either.

This episode starts with Scrooge and the boys paying a visit to a Gala dedicated to a newly opened Glomgold Wing at the Natural History Museum. The joke is that all of the exhibits are just whatever he can salvage from Scrooge's past adventures, and some outright falsehoods. Dewey even talks about how he's trying way too hard. Dewey's right...in maybe too many ways.

Scrooge, obviously not a big fan of this duck who tries to murder him any chance he can, is only there to support Duckburg's cultural institutions as an upstanding citizen. Oh, and to steal Glomgold's cocktail weenies and teriyaki skewers. The irony is that it's Louie that calls him out for this. That seems out of character for him, though it might be due to his suit giving him a rash.

As the boys follow Scrooge's lead in taking a bunch of buffet food, one of the guests of honor walks in the room. Scrooge drops his bag and gasps at the sight at this familiar-to-him face. The nephews ask him if his gasp is about a curse, a villain, or a villainous curse, but it's even worse than that.

Scrooge: ...it's my ex! (gulp)

🎵Life is like a hurricane...🎶

Well, that's one way to do a cold open.

Specifically, it's Goldie O'Gilt. He clarifies that she's an ex-rival and ex-partner, but the boys do not buy it. Scrooge gets the boys, and anyone in the audience who hasn't heard of this legacy character, ready by telling them to watch their wallets. They trade insults to each other, Scrooge saying that she has cloven hooves, and Goldie calling him a tightwad. Well, it is a fitting name for someone who takes hors d'oeuvres from a buffet. I learned just now that’s how you spell those words.

While the insults both disturb and intrigue Dewey, Glomgold shows up to tell Scrooge that Goldie happens to be his date. Even before she says anything, her body language clearly indicates he doesn't want anything to do with this man. Once the music starts playing, Scrooge and Goldie start dancing. He tries a second plan: dancing the same kind of dance with Dewey. I don't have a comment for that one.

After that, Glomgold decides to reveal the main attraction: a skeleton of a "Glacial Klondike Monster" his oil crew managed to dig up in the Yukon. Unlike the Glomasaurus Rex, which was clearly made up of random dinosaur bones, this exhibit is legitimate. The lights go out, and the mammoth's head disappears. No, it's not another mystery story, or another ghost story for that matter. Scrooge looks around and finds a certain someone missing, and he hot-tails it out of the gala.

While Launchpad drives Scrooge and the boys to the Mansion, it will make sense to how he would know about where she went later, the boys want to know more about "Scrooge's new old giiirlfriend", while they all make literal duck-lips. Yeah, that's their only real character trait they have for the rest of the episode. While DuckTales 2017 gave the boys far more distinct personalities, this episode is not a good example of that. Wait, Huey, Dewey, and Louie acting identically? No way!

They do get to be the audience of another Scrooge McDuck flashback to a time long before Donald or Della. We’re getting into “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck”-like material here. From what I've read, it's a very loose adaptation; no Goose Egg Nugget here.

They go into a cave in the White Agony Plains to find the titular Golden Lagoon. Suddenly, Goldie, in her scheming ways, decides to steal the map to find the lagoon for herself. Scrooge manages to catch her, but the map gets torn in half. Suddenly, the "Glacial Monster" shows itself, being what might be the last of the Wooly Mammoths. Goldie’s part of the map ended up stuck in the mammoth’s teeth, and over a century later, that same mammoth's skeleton ended up in Glomgold's Gala. We get a shot of the skeleton with a map sticking out of its teeth, which wasn't shown before when we got a shot of it before, but never mind.

Yes, I really mean a century later. While they don’t specify the exact year, Scrooge is definitely referring to the Klondike Gold Rush in 1896. Huey, in one of the few times he gets to show off his personality, starts counting on his fingers and outright asks how old Scrooge is. He obviously does not answer that question, but this episode gives a rather decent explanation beyond "it's just a cartoon, so just relax".

While running from the Wooly Mammoth, Scrooge and Goldie jumped into a freezing lake, causing them to be stuck in an ice cube for 5 years. In fact, this episode confirms this isn't the only time they've been in situtations that made them age slower. The dance scene from earlier shows them talking about a fountain of youth and several timeless demon dimensions. In an unrelated note, Goldie also offhandedly mentions a necklace that prevents burns, which the camera zooms into for a few seconds. I did not think much of this on my first viewing.

After the story that was captivating that even the driver got too interested in it, Scrooge finally reaches his Manor to find that Goldie barged into his house, and she immediately asks where his half of the map went. One may wonder how she managed to get past Mrs. Beakley, all but shown to be a super spy with great combat abilities, and her trained-in-similar-arts granddaughter.

Well, she did. As the rest of this episode will prove, she's just that awesome. After Scrooge throws a chair at his own nephews after they do the same "Scrooge loves Goldie" shtick, yeah, don't anger Scrooge, Goldie realizes that it must be in Scrooge's top hat. When Scrooge wrestles her down for it, she offers the adventure. Scrooge asks why.

Goldie: Because it's gold, because it's a treasure you never found, and because you're Scrooge McDuck.

Scrooge, Goldie imitating him: You think you know me sooo well!

They decide to go on the adventure. Speaking of the map, we later see it, and it's one of those "dotted line with the X on it" maps. I'd imagine the one that has the X on it could have at least tried to extrapolate the path. I guess I could assume that half was in that skull, but wouldn't Glomgold take it? Whatever.

Goldie puts on her old outfit, and they go into the cave. The entire episode essentially follows a similar path: throughout the adventure, they both accuse each other of trying to sabotage each other. They are totally doing that. Scrooge finds an arrow trap, which he activates by throwing a pebble at it, and accuses Goldie of doing it. Scrooge then stops Goldie from getting stuck in a giant bear trap that he totally didn't set up. Notice the difference there.

They end up at a pulley-controlled elevator, built for one. Not willing to let one person go and get a jump on the lagoon, they have to share the elevator. Of course, this leads to her complaining about his sweat. It's a funny scene.

Not speaking of particularly funny scenes, Glomgold is slowly following them. I'll be honest: his scenes don't really do much for me. All he really does is get hit by all the traps, cuts the rope of the aforementioned elevator, and talks about how Scrooge is taking his girl. He seems to disappear after this scene, because it's better to focus on the scenes with Scrooge and Goldie trying to mess each other up.

One scene has Goldie lighting a trail of gunpowder behind Scrooge, taking both halves of the map with her while he's chasing. In this universe of ducks and dogs that walk upright and talk, this trail of gunpowder leads to a bear. Not a relative of Baloo, but a bear just like in real life. I wonder how that works.

Unlike in real life, Goldie gets cornered by Scrooge riding that same bear. He even reveals that he speaks bear. This show now has just as much talking to non-language-speaking-animals as that other reboot. How can he do this? Because he's Scrooge McDuck. Yeah, that’s a running gag throughout this episode, and it does have a good payoff at the end.

They eventually reach a dead end, which happens to be right next to the frozen lake where they spent 5 years of their lives. This leads to even more backstory. After 5 years of being forced into staring at each other, their frozen scowls slowly turned into smiles. Aw, they really do love each other. While it's certainly romantic to see this, it is a horrifying thought that they were conscious in there.

Of course, there's a caveat: as soon as Goldie's half of the ice melts, she immediately leaves Scrooge behind. Scrooge realized that she loved gold more than him, and Goldie...agrees. Fitting.

They do get to the waterfall made of molten gold, thanks to the help of erosion over a century. Scrooge gets Nanook, the bear, to break the wall they thought was a dead end open in something that would have looked cool in trailers. However, as soon as they bask in the glory, a twist happens. I debated whether or not I should even have these ellipsis, to be honest.

← JAW$! 🦆 Day of the Only Child →

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Big shock, she was going to betray him in the end, just like Scrooge repeatedly accused her of doing! There is one surprise on top of this: Glomgold decides to show up, after stumbling down a hill because he's Glomgold, and reveals that he teamed up with her to do this ruse! Unlike the last time he tried, this turned out to be true.

Scrooge, telling himself he should have expected this, asks Goldie why she did this after all she did for her. He talks about how he untied her from Nanook...which he happened to tie her to himself. Again, fitting. Her response?

Goldie: Because I'm Goldie O'Gilt!

See, good payoff.

Regardless of what I feel about Glomgold’s involvement in this episode, I do like the flashback scene he describes, which is in this 50's romance comic book-like style. It even ends with him smooching the air. He sure loves that Goldie, he even came up with the shipping name: Glomgoldie.

There's a pickaxe fight that mirrors the dance scene down to certain lines, and a rather shocking scene that does give Glomgold a little more purpose in the plot. I don't want to give away everything, but I definitely questioned whether they would really do what they did.

I only have one thing I will say that will add to this review: the necklace I talked about earlier does become a plot point. What necklace? Well, that was my first impression of that ending, too; it took a second viewing for me to realize it didn't just come out of nowhere.

How does it stack up?

Promising a big adventure that happens to be a huge reference to the original comics, and the return of a classic character, DuckTales 2017 took a huge risk with this episode. As someone who hasn't really read the original stories, I can't judge whether or not it's a good adaptation.

I debated what rating I should give this. It's an entertaining adventure, sure, but it's a little repetitive, and Glomgold just became a third wheel that was more tiring than funny. This one slightly misses the mark for me. In a worse reboot, this would be one of the best episodes, but after Jaw$, it's just merely above average, which is a very high neutral for this show.

Next, the return of another classic character...whether you like him or not.

← JAW$! 🦆 Day of the Only Child →

[evenstevensranked]

#20: Season 2, Episode 14 - “Sadie Hawkins Day”

The Sadie Hawkins dance rolls around and Louis is expecting Tawny to ask him. He ends up blowing his chances with her by trying to seem desperately desirable to all the girls. He's left to go to the dance with Monique last minute.. and Tawny goes with some popular, shirtless dude Tad. Meanwhile, Ren’s stuck taking care of a pig. Seriously. So, let’s listen to some Relient K and get into the Top 20! 

This one opens with Ren getting everything settled for the upcoming Sadie Hawkins Dance. Of course she’s in charge of it. Who other than Vice Principal Ren Stevens? We see that a pig has been delivered to the school a day early, so Ren is now stuck taking care of it for the rest of the episode. Ren honestly deserves better plots. Like.. what the heck. Louis gets an entertaining, romance-y main plot -- and Ren gets... a pig. Christy Romano even said in an interview recently that working with this pig was a low point in her career, lol. Wow. 

A scene later, Tawny and Ren have a little conversation about the dance and Tawny mentions that she’s gonna ask Louis!! Yeeeee! She asks Ren if she’s gonna ask Bobby, but the melodrama strikes and Ren is all “That’s actually been over for a while...” EXCEPT!!! This episode initially aired the literal day before Sibling Rivalry, which is Ren and Bobby’s official break up episode. Seriously, Disney?! I will never understand why they jack up their airing schedules so bad. At least the order of my countdown inadvertently tackles these episodes sequentially! I’d also like to mention that Tawny says the idea of the girls asking the guys is cool, but states “I don’t do Hillbilly” with an air of disgust. I RELATE TO HER CHARACTER SO MUCH???

At lunch, 6 girls who have asked Twitty to the dance swarm him, anxiously awaiting his decision. This is one of those instances where you realize... Oh, right. Twitty is supposed to be cute and kinda popular even though he hangs out with the outcasts? Okay. Louis walks over with Tom and shouts to the girls “Hey, what’s up! I’m Louis!” The girls scatter and you hear one snicker “Yeah. No kidding! So what?!” HAHA. Louis is a little salty over the fact that not one girl has come “within 50 feet” of him, yet Twitty has 8 potential dates lined up. I think y’all know by now that if I were a student at LJH back in the day, I totally would’ve been that weird girl who asked Louis Stevens lol. Tom exclaims that the only other guy with as many offers as Twitty is Tad Taylor. Some popular dude we’ve never seen or heard of, who Disney clearly didn’t want to cut a check for because he never says a word. 

Twitty himself is shocked that the Sadie Hawkins thing has suddenly turned him into a “babe magnet.” Tom interjects “I’m like a lint magnet! I mean, how am I getting this stuff all over my trousers?!” *whips out a lint roller and gets to work.* Gee, I wonder why Tom hasn’t received any invites!! Tom doesn’t understand it either! “Why do all the really good looking guys with sparkling personalities get all the girls?!” he asks. Which is possibly one of the greatest lines in the entire series. Louis is left wondering the same thing! So, Twitty reassures him that no girls have asked him because they all assume that Tawny will. :)

Later that day, the guys are hanging around Louis’ locker when Tawny starts approaching. Twitty tells Louis “This is it! She was just makin’ you sweat a little!” and Tom says yet another gem: “Yeah, ya know. Girls are always doing that! ...................*cough* or, so I’ve read.” Tom seriously has SO MANY incredible lines in this episode. I don’t know how I’m gonna make it through this review without quoting every single one. This is probably my personal favorite Tom performance ever. 

Louis royally messes everything up. Tawny was totally going to ask him, until he tried to be over-confident. “Yeah, I figured. You wouldn’t believe how many girls have been asking me out to that thing. Can’t keep their paws off me!” Since Tawny is the greatest ever, she’s immediately turned off and doesn’t ask him. Yaaaasss, gurl. 

Twitty: I said play it cool.

Tom: “Yeah, and you played the foooooool! ...Sorry. Ya know, I just like to bust the occasional rhyme.” -- I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW FANTASTIC TOM IS.

After school that day, the guys go to Louis’ house and spin a literal wheel of dates to help Twitty make a decision. We get yet another A+ Tom moment. “Big money, big money!” he shouts as it spins... and lands on DORIS!!! HIS FREAKIN’ MOTHER. The camera zooms in on her photo and it kills me. “Oh. *nervous laughter* Sorry. That... Must’ve fallen out of my wallet” is Tom’s excuse. I don’t even fully understand this comment or why the HELL Tom (or Twitty accidentally) would put her on the wheel to begin with, but it’s hilarious. Just because it’s one of my favorite moments, I have to gif it:

That zoom in is something straight out of The Office and Louis’ reaction is the best.

Just then, Donnie receives a phone call from a random girl who called to say he’s hot. Donnie tells Louis his appeal and ability to nab dates comes from giving off a “bad boy” vibe. Louis takes that information a little too far (as usual) and transforms into the most repulsive version of Louis Stevens ever: 

First of all: He’s burping here. Secondly: Yeah, Louis. Dressing like a total bum from Middle of Nowhere USA with a taped-on anchor tattoo and bag of cheese puffs is really gonna reel in the ladies.

Obviously, this attempt at being a “bad boy” did not work for Louis. It did, however, work for Tom. Who looks absolutely amazing!! haha.

“Hu hu hu, au contriare pierre!” he says as Gwendolyn, his date, appears. Are we sure this chick isn’t at least 30 years old? Is that part of the joke? No way in heck she’s in 7th grade. I always thought that was a little disturbing, lol. 

It’s weird because Louis is actually already a “bad boy” ...is he not? I mean, he’s not the stereotypical “bad boy” but it’s not like he’s a nerd. He’s always getting into trouble, always in detention, etc. I guess people like the idea and aesthetic of a bad boy instead of the real thing, ayyyy!

We get a montage of Ren trying to ask numerous guys to the dance but the pig keeps ruining everything for her. It eats one guy’s lunch, farts in front of another guy, and attacks some other dude. Which means that guy is really weak, or that pig is really strong: 

If this were a lame sitcom someone would shout “Aw, shucks! That darn pig!!” and the audience would erupt in laughter and applause.

Louis runs into Tawny in the hall and tries to apologize for acting stupid earlier by yelling "WHY DON’T YOU JUST ASK ME!!!!” assuming she hasn’t asked anyone else yet. Wow, Louis. Wow. But Tawny, being the badass that she is, tells Louis “There’s one little problem with your logic... I do have a date. Bye.” Yes. Just, yes.  Louis is left sulking on the floor when Monique approaches him. She’s trying to give him a bag of some pig food that Ren left in her locker, but Louis jumps to conclusions and is all “YESSS, I’LL GO TO THE DANCE WITH YOU!!” before she even says anything lol. Even though that wasn’t Monique’s plan, she agrees to go with him. So, in the end Louis basically asked a girl to the Sadie Hawkins Dance... that’s not how it works, Lou. 

That banner tho... “GALS GIT YOUR’N FELLERS for the SADIE HAWKINS DANCE!” 

CUT TO THE DANCE! Monique isn’t there yet. So, once Twitty and Tom arrive with their dates, Tom gives us his last great line of the episode: “I gotta say, we’re all a little worried about ya. Truth be told I had Doris on standby.” Louis is so insulted: “DORIS? YOUR MOM DORIS?! No, Tom. I’m NOT gonna go out with your mom!” -- The way Shia says this gets me every time. He informs them that he was “asked to the dance” by the head of the cheerleading squad -- Yeah, that’s a bit of a fib, Louis.. but I’ma let it slide. Louis thought he was going to the dance with a hot cheerleader.. but Monique shows up in full hillbilly mode.. complete with blacked-out teeth and everything. Meanwhile, Ren is stuck in the pig pen. She’s purposely dressed to kinda look like a young farm girl so this is one of the only times I’ve watched this show and thought “wow, Christy actually looks 14.″

Lawrence Jr. High is really dedicated to ~immersion~ I guess, because Principal Wexler gets up on stage and speaks in the most ridiculous southern accent. Like... I always wonder... How do people from the south feel about stuff like this? Wexler announces that the square dance caller for the night is STEVE STEVENS. Oh my freaking god. Steve is the best, hahaha. He pops up outta nowhere like “HOWDYYYYY” and a crowd of 30-something-year-old adult extras stare back at him, confused and unimpressed. 

Yeah, Gwendolyn probably is 30+ years old.. because apparently the majority of LJH students are grown adults. Either that or... Did these adults not get the memo that it’s a dance for middle schoolers? Why is no one concerned that adults are partying it up with 13 year olds? WHO LET THEM IN?! *shrugs* But, seriously. Disney couldn’t find some KIDS to attend the dance? Come on, now.

Monique invites Louis to square dance with her and Louis says "I'm not a square dancer, I'm more of a circular kinda guy." Idk I just kinda like that line. Tawny shows up with her date, the popular silent boy Tad Taylor. She and Louis spend their night trying to act like they’re having a great time without each other. Tawny is specifically trying to make Louis jealous and it’s pretty great. They give us these dramatic slow-mo shots of them dancing and glancing longingly at each other from across the room. I love it. There’s also a bit where Monique takes the call “Swing your partner round’n round!” a little too seriously and I can’t help but laugh: 

I will always be a sucker for a good obviously fake dummy gag. 

That crazy swing ends with yet ANOTHER Louis stunt double flying into (and destroying) the pig pen. I seriously never realized how many stunts happen on this show!! There has literally been a stunt every week of this countdown as of late! Anyway, the pig gets loose, runs to the principal’s office, and starts oinking into the intercom. That’s basically the end of the pig subplot. 

Louis is scarred from the twirling incident so he hides from Monique in a tiny, little pig house. For whatever reason, Monique looks for Louis in handfuls of hay! WHAT?! She literally holds some hay, looks at it and asks “Louuuuis???” I kid you not: 

WHY IS THIS SO FUNNY 

She eventually finds him, of course. Right around then Wexler announces that it’s hitchin’ time! While Monique excitedly asks Louis to go get hitched, Tawny looks on and decides to get hitched to Tad before them as a way to get back at Louis... and it works. He’s all depressed watching the two of them up on stage. Monique can clearly see he’d rather be with Tawny so she encourages him “Go get her, cowboy!” So Louis ruuuuuuns up there and interrupts the “wedding.” Which is something else that must be gif’d:

“If ya’ll wanna get hitched, say waaAHHH-HOOO!” I love how Margo is laughing as she shouts “waaaahhh” lol. That zoom in on her confused face as Louis runs up there is too good. 

Louis objects and claims “This whole wedding is a mockery!” To which Wexler says “Oooo! You’re a sharp tack, Stevens” as he points to a sign that says “Mock Weddin’s: 5 Cents.” That’s one of my favorite moments ever honestly.

Tawny pulls Louis off stage and out into the hallway where they end up having a really sweet talk where Louis admits to messing everything up. It’s so nice, complete with tinkering romantic piano in the background and everything, haha. I love their dynamic so much. So, yeah. They makeup and square dance the night away to royalty-free, generic bluegrass music. 

And that’s it!

I like this one a lot. Tom pretty much MAKES it, he’s so good here. I obviously adore the Louis/Tawny content as well. It’s just a fun and solid episode overall, imo. 

Question: Did your school ever have a Sadie Hawkins dance? I remember both Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire (among other childhood shows, I’m sure...) had Sadie Hawkins episodes. So in Junior High, I remember waiting for my school to hold one but it never happened. For the longest time I was under the impression that Sadie Hawkins dances only existed on television. To this day, I still kinda believe that lol. 

Thanks for reading! Chime in via Disqus below please. :) 

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[weekendwarriorblog]

30 Minute Experiment: Another Free-For-All #30ME

Boy, I wish I could make that damn watch smaller.... hello there and welcome to what might end up being the grumpiest 30 Minute Experiment yet. I’m just not in a great mood and didn’t really feel like coming up with a topic, although for anyone reading this far, I’m definitely looking for more subjects and topics to write about so I don’t go further down the wormhole as I’ve been in the last few days.  Trust me, it’s hard to do this even when you think you have a topic to begin with. It’s even harder when you decide to do one of these “Free For Alls” and you’re hellbent on doing the 30 minutes as usual.

Right now I’m writing this while listening to a Mogwai record since that was one of the bands I first heard through the #TimsTwitterListeningParties that I’ve already mentioned a few times now. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll probably already realize that it’s what’s taking up my time most evenings from 4pm to 6pm Eastern. I’ve decided to take tonight off since the records being covered aren’t one I necessarily want to listen to right this moment. I also have a few other music-related things to watch/listen to today. I also probably should do some apartment-cleaning and that might be what I do right after this.

So why are you in such a bad mood, Ed, you ask? Well, I think I’ve almost reached my breaking point in this pandemic, and that’s only one month in. This is where I was at before Governor Cuomo announced earlier that we’ll be remaining in New York Pause until May 15... another month. It’s been a little over a month so far, and I’ve been damn good with all the rules... social distancing, washing hands, wearing a mask and gloves when you go out, etc etc etc. I’ve been doing this for a month whenever I go out which so far hasn’t really been for more than maybe 15 to 20 minutes on any particular day and rarely two days ago.

The problem is that I’ve never been a “walk around for the sake of walking around” type of guy. I go outside and walk around cause I have some place to go or somewhere to be or something to do. That’s it, and that’s why I get so irate at people who can just stand around bullshitting or just taking a nice leisurely stroll in the middle of rush hour in Times Square. It’s just the way I’m wired, and that’s been the case in the 30 years I’ve been in New York. It’s why I can get things done and seemingly be in two places or once or multi-tasking to the point where I can get a lot of work and writing done. It’s what makes me a valuable part of the work force, and it’s something that tends to be taken for granted because.... yeah, I can get moody at times. And this is most definitely one of those times.

I don’t know what happened but sometime before I went to sleep, I just took a look at my day-to-day and thought, “Well, my life before this pandemic wasn’t great but this, what I’m doing right now, is much MUCH worse.” Don’t get me wrong, I love what I love and I’ll continue watching and listening to and writing about as much as I possibly can before things get crazy again... and by crazy I mean, the three movie days where I’m literally going from where I live on the Lower East Side into midtown two or three times a day. I got a lot of exercise than cause I was walking a lot and going up a lot of flights of stairs (including my own).  But I always had something to do or somewhere to be. Those days are gone now and not having that sort of motivation is really starting to grind me down.

You also have to understand that I live in New York City... by myself... in a fairly small studio apartment that’s so cluttered and full of crap I can never find a place to put that it’s tough to live here in the best of circumstances. I mean, I deal with it because the alternative is to actually stop everything and go through the entire apartment throwing things away, clearing out the clutter, cleaning, etc.  Believe me, I understand the logic in why this is important. I’ve probably seen at least one episode of that Marie Kondo show on Netflix. I’ve already made the joke that if Marie Kondo saw my apartment, that ever-present smile would plummet and she’d run away screaming. Either that or she’d dedicated an entire season just to my apartment and the money I’d make from that would allow me to live in a much more comfortable place then where I’ve been the last few years.

Believe me, I’m getting the motivation and push and drive to tackle this from everyone in my family, almost all of my friends and most importantly, my landlord, who has been very patient about the constant tardiness in my rent paying. For those of you who don’t know, we had a pretty big legal battle about seven years ago (right around the time I was diagnosed with cancer) and we worked it out with the understanding that it wouldn’t get that bad again. It hasn’t gotten that bad again... but it isn’t great... and the little bit that I manage to do when I buckle down and do something, it just never seems to make that big a difference. 

While I might do something really major in terms of trying to clean a certain area, anyone (like my landlord) who walked in the door wouldn’t notice a difference at all. I mean, I notice the difference when I throw out three bags of accumulated Chinese condiments that have been sitting on my stove top and slowly growing over the past few years. Would anyone else? Probably not. You would have to live here to notice these minor differences.

But yeah, it’s gotta get done and it will. I’m stuck in here for another month and it’s not like I have a ton of other things to do. Besides this 30 minutes of writing and some work on screenplays that have been gestating for years, I either get to just sitting her watching stuff, playing the two video games I have any interest in right now (Overwatch and the 2015 Magic the Gathering game on my Xbox that I just discovered) or catch up on any of a dozen to a hundred shows I’ve been meaning to watch. 

Oh, yeah, there’s also the screener links that are always queued up so I’ll have something to write about in next week’s Weekend Warrior. If you think my apartment is cluttered, just imagine how my screener queue just keeps growing as I have no choice but to sit down and watch them.

Another thing you have to understand about my apartment, and I tell you this o may be you can make some comparison with your own domicile or living situation is that I live alone. I don’t have a typical bedroom, living room, kitchen situation as most people have. I have a futon that’s permanently in a “couch mode” where I sleep at night. When I wake up, I sit up and my laptop is on a small table by my bed surrounded by books, magazines, medicine and anything I might need. Next to this desk is my stove... it is about five feet from my head when I’m asleep. And that isn’t even the craziest and scariest part of my scenario. My gas heater, an old gas heater with a thermostat that’s never quite worked properly -- it’s wonderful on days where it’s 70 degrees outside where it kicks in mysterious as are the nights where it’s 20 degrees outside and only slightly warmer in my apartment because the thermostat has decided that the point of a heater is something other than to heat the apartment. 

So imagine that situation and every day you wake up and have to decide, “Do I look at this awful place I’m living?” or “Do I sit at my computer and communicate with the outside world, do some writing, listening, watching and just try to get through the day until it’s time to put up my feet and go to sleep again in the exact same place I’ve been sitting all day?”

Think about that and now you may have some idea why in the last 24 hours or so, my mind just couldn’t deal with it anymore. Don’t worry... I’m not at the point where anyone needs to put me on suicide watch or anything. I have enough of a support system that when I get to that point, someone in my life will know about it, whether it’s my brother or any of my hundreds of close friends. 

Oh! Speaking of friends, remember that earlier piece I wrote a few weeks ago about “friendship”? While writing about it, I began thinking of a guy who was one of my very best friends for decades, someone who I had a falling out with a few years back and had lost touch with. After writing that I thought to myself, “I probably should try to make right with this guy and see how he and his wife are doing” so I did. And we chatted briefly in Messenger agreeing to get on the phone sometime this week.  I’m not going to go into details but something happened a few days ago where I commented on his FB feed, probably the first time I had done so in YEARS, and I get a message hours later criticizing my comment. Things didn’t go particularly well after that because mind you, I’m already on edge due to other things going on in the world right now.

But it basically ended with this guy blocking me on Facebook and me thinking, “Why the hell did I bother to get back in touch with this good friend of mine? Clearly, I had a reason to not be talking to him for four years...and I try to make right and work things out and this is what happens.”

So yeah, there’s definitely a lot of frustration and futility in my life right now and all these daily rituals I’ve been trying to do (including this one) are partially because it’s the only way I can get through this.  

As I said, I have a pretty solid online support system and lots of my friends offered me advice on how to deal with my current mindset, and I certainly read every single word that was said and appreciated every bit of advice that was given... but again, I’m not sure that people out there really realize the situation that...  and I take full credit and responsibility for all of it... I’ve put myself in. 

There’s a common cliché about hindsight being 20/20 and if there’s nothing else I’ve learned from these 30 Minute Experiments, it’s that being able to recognize problems long after they’ve reached a breaking point as I have right now... it’s much easier when you recognize these problems before they happen. And believe me, I have, but for whatever reason I keep allowing these things (whether it’s the stress instigators or the clutter) keep building up to the point where it seems overwhelming to deal with them.

And with that, today’s time is up! If you have any ideas for subjects or topics you’d like me to ramble about, send them my way! (Just nothing about movies, please!) :)