#rip moringmark

[mdhwrites]

Self Defeating Endings With Grom Factor by MoringMark

A link to the comic's, Grom Factor by Moringmark, beginning.

(If you want to skip the preamble about endings and tragedies, I've bolded the start of the paragraph when I actually start talking about Grom Factor) So I don't like making this. I don't really want to comment too much on fanworks. I have no reason to shit on people who are just celebrating The Owl House. My goal is not to make people despise it, it's to analyze, process my own thoughts, and hopefully teach through sharing those thoughts.

But... I can't talk about tragedies with TOH. The VAST majority of media I consume wouldn't give me the chance and, well... Endings are important. Happy Endings actually happen the most often because they're the most safe. The most gratifying. Everything the characters worked for had the simple point of success and a better future. And, you know, I like that. Their ubiquity though makes them a common point of lazy criticism as people will try to nitpick all the things not fixed or it being so happy because, well, the story had to end eventually. It's why I've never really been like "HoW dO wE aCtUaLlY kNoW tHe IsLeS wIlL bE oKaY!?" I don't care. The show says they're happy because they got rid of the evil guy then fine. It needed to end and at least this means our characters can know peace. The only things I really interrogate about the ending is what it says about those characters and the story that was told because that is part of your ending.

But if you want to claim a more complex story, especially if your story is already ripping off so many elements from a previous one (I'm sorry but Grom Factor is just Grom+Eda's Curse but missing the emotional cores of either because we don't know these characters and there's been no real build up. Not to talk about how ripping off your own series' biggest stories is already going to tank investment), a 'tragic' ending can be a way to do that. A bittersweet ending can be a way to do that. A way to undercut the happy ending everyone expected by instead ripping out their heart.

But you run the risk of making the whole story pointless.

Most people will argue that most tragedies are pointless. Romeo and Juliet is so confident in how pointless the love story is that it tells you the two people die at the end at the BEGINNING. But... It's not. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet sticks with people and is something people want to retell because the tragedy of it all has a point. It talks of the brashness of youth, the collateral damage of endless fury, of how dangerous emotions can be, even the best of them like love. How things can be torn apart and destroyed, futures ended futilely because people will not let go of their emotions or even try to be calm when they have only ever been told to hate. Romeo's passion is both his most attractive quality but also the dooming element that makes sure he kills himself at the end, a trait that Juliet shares and both have from their families who never let people rest. Never allow there to be more than just extreme emotions and so anytime they're emotional, it's big and dangerous.

And so the ending has a point to it. It is the only one that fits the thematics and condemns properly all the damage that was done. That sweet words cannot fix an endless cycle of hate. It is an ending forced by the entire point of the story. Something is only self defeating when there isn't really a theme, core or narrative goal that requires that sort of tragedy. Or, worse yet, when the ending actively undermines all of those elements.

So let's finally talk about Grom Factor. For those who haven't read it, my description earlier is not far off. Luz and Amity's child, Ayzee, causes herself to be named as the next person who will fight Grom. She does this for the most bog standard next gen reason: Wanting to prove herself in contrast to her successful parents. To be her own person and prove that she can be great too. Meanwhile, her girlfriend Milan doesn't want this, partially due to being a healer and following the hypocratic oath, but then commits to helping her girlfriend no matter what. In this process, she gets a part of Philip's journal that shows that Grom is actually a small, scared child. So while Ayzee is preparing to fight Grom, her girlfriend prepares to try to cure Grom.

Big fight ensues, the elixir they bring (yes, just Eda's eliixir, nothing specialized or more complicated) doesn't work and Grom EXPLODES into something more dangerous than ever before. Ayzee and Milan are given a petrification glyph by Amity and Luz after showing Ayzee doesn't have magic of her own, they do a dance to get to the core of Grom to use the glyph... And Milan instead uses Lilith's spell from the end of S1 in order to split the pain of Grom and take the curse onto herself. It works but now anyone who touches Milan gets their fears shouted at them because her hair is now at least partially Grometheus. Then the two leads talk, kiss but we see in Ayzee's head that she is being tortured during the kiss with her fears of inadequacy and the idea that she will always end up hurting other people.

So there you go. A story about one person selfishly throwing themselves in danger without a care about others or the harm she may cause due to her potentially ready for this while the other lead preaches a stop to all harm and even pushes to save a monster because they're in pain too. All the while, the arc tries to sell us on the relationship and how much they theoretically care about each other, especially since this is their first arc together as a couple.

So the actual way to go for a tragic ending, that has similar results to what the comic does, is actually not that hard to see. Ayzee's fears and inadequacies, and her need to prove herself, has HER save Grom while thinking that this will fix her mistake and make her girlfriend happy because she's now taking part of her girlfriends beliefs: To let no one suffer. She could see about someone else taking the pain or not take charge in this situation her flaw, the thing that set all this up for failure which is a component of tragedies. is being unwilling to allow others to do that. To put the burden on herself. So, knowing that killing Grom would hurt someone she cares about by forcing her to take a life, but also needing to do something to set things right, especially as she sees this as her mistake through her original sin of wanting to fight Grom for glory, she sacrifices her happiness to do a selfless act and save the creature. It's bittersweet because of all the curse will do to her but it does actually resolve an arc to the episode and has something to say about how looking for danger for glory is always going to lead to more trouble than you want to have found. It has a POINT.

Instead... Milan's just such a dang good healer! It was so foolish of her to be a good doctor and not want harm upon others. If she had just been like Ayzee and focused more on herself, she might have been willing to let Grom rot and get to have anything resembling a happy life afterwards. Instead, this genuinely just good trait of this good person who did nothing wrong the entire story, means that she will NEVER have relationships again. Not just with Ayzee but ANYONE because she inherently harms people around her by mentally torturing them. By her own character motivations, this means she isn't going to be okay EVER unless this is cured.

But that doesn't track with the reveal of Grom's backstory. Because, you know, that did happen. The story ends so fast after Grom is saved and barely lets her have any time that it's almost easy to forget. But... Grom was made into what she was by cursing herself for the sake of power... To protect others. She was selfless. With it being Milan who saved her, this is meaningless. At best, it's cycles repeating. If Ayzee had, it would have been part of the point the story theoretically sets up for how one needs to do things for others, not for themselves. Instead, I guess the lesson is no good deed goes unpunished? It's not even that personal glory hurts those around you as collateral damage because that's NOT what Grom did.

And finally, there's just the last comic in general that REALLY highlights how little Milan or Grom matters here. She shrugs off the curse. She shrugs off the consequences. Her pain doesn't matter. The only pain that matters is AYZEE'S because this is still her story and NEVER was Milan's. All of this trivializes the tragedy and sacrifice Milan made, as well as the saving of Grom, because those things had nothing to do with the actual focus of the story which doesn't even payoff because the ending shot is making sure we know just how miserable Milan will make Ayzee's life.

THAT is a self defeating ending. The relationship that this arc ostensibly solidifies and sells to the audience? Dead. Ayzee's fears and worries? Made WORSE. Any themes about the need to do what is best for all instead of best for yourself? Falling on the character who already knew that OR saying that doing so always sucks for the person who actually gives a fuck. Any payoff for this? Dismissed so it can only focus on the person SPARED any consequences from her actions except tangentially. And yes, tangentially since Ayzee just needs to get over a teenage crush while Milan will never be a healthy partner to anyone.

The closest you might want to say is that because Ayzee's life did get worse, it sticks to a theme of her brash actions having consequences but then why is the ONLY person to explicitly be harmed by all of this Manila who didn't share that same flaw? At least in Romeo and Juliet, they BOTH die because they BOTH suffer from dangerous levels of brashness and passion. Not many main characters in tragedies get out unscathed for a reason. Usually even if others do get killed during their story, they still suffer just as badly, if not worse.

You can't even go with "Well, at least this version allows Ayzee to be her own person," something that would have been undercut by fusing with a creature" " which is ostensibly part of the point of this sort of next gen arc. To prove they stand alone from what came before... Except no. Ayzee's angst at the end, blaming herself for this, thinking everything she does will always end up hurting others, is literally just Luz's angst arc post Hollow Mind and just about as unreasonable for self hate as her justification. So even that theme, the most basic, number one next gen theme is pointless here, especially since it doesn't even get resolved in any way. The ending, and even the comments recognize this, reinforces that Ayzee is right: People will only ever see her like a little Luz instead of a strong witch herself.

So is there ANY point to this ending? Well... because it's a next gen retelling. Because TOH already did Grom. Already had Luz wanting to prove herself through being Grom Queen. Literally Ayzee's entire arc here is a more blatantly selfish, less interesting version of what her mom did one generation ago. The twist of Grom actually being a good person... *gestures to every character arc in TOH* so that adds literally nothing new, especially since it ends the same way as Eda's curse with the same spell. As such, if it ends happily, and with the couple okay and stronger than before... It literally is just Grom. So you have to give it a tragic ending or else there's no point to this story existing. There's nothing to say except that it's a worse version of the original and why didn't you try to shake things up at all?

It highlights the fact that yeah, this arc is just flawed from a conceptual standpoint which isn't surprising to me. This arc is much of why I made a post a couple days ago about the Isles being an objectively terrible setting for a follow up story. This story is the epitome of everything people dislike about next gen stories, even up to every change they make in a retelling being just worse than the original.

And here's the final nail in the coffin: I will never care about these characters because of this arc but especially because of this ending. We knew almost nothing about Milan before this besides her being Ayzee's girlfriend. Hell, we barely knew anything about AYZEE because we haven't gotten that many comics with her so the only trait that's really been established is that she's a gamer. And yet, in their first outing, a chance to really show who they are and to make them more distinct than Luz and Amity... Well, doing literally anything for your girlfriend and being a damn near saint is just what Amity turned into eventually and I've talked about how much the arc hammered in that Ayzee is literally just Luz all over again. It's a miracle she's not named Buz. Then the ending says screw you to any payoffs or themes for the sake of having ANYTHING to distinguish this from the original and little else. Even the idea that these characters could lead to a fun, silly extension of the show by how absolutely miserable the ending is.

So at this point... Why should I ever bother with these characters again? That seems like a self defeating goal for myself as a viewer.

======+++++======

As a note, this isn't because someone brought it to my attention. I still follow Mark and have since even before his started his final Star Versus comic story. I want to support him, I don't think he's a terrible writer and I like plenty of his comics, but it's rough when he took like two years to finally do a large arc like this again and it's just... not good. And no, I don't like A Hint of Blue either unfortunately but unless I just want to talk about how a boring romance happens, I probably won't ever do a blog like this on that.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[marketable-puckshie]

"despite that a lot of those people turn a blind eye to moringmark doing the same but worse and one-dimensional over a year ago."

He did? Where?

If you remember the one comic he did about Belos meeting Caleb in the afterlife and Caleb immediately just. Forgiving him. And it's implied he went to whatever good place Mark thinks people in TOH go after they die. You know, after he tried until his literal dying breath to kill everyone and all the other shit he did, ripping Caleb from his wife/girlfriend, cloning him repeatedly and killing the clones. Could Mark think of a way for him to become a better person even if he doesn't get forgiveness? Nope, straight to Caleb hugging him.

Like holy shit, I could go off on that comic alone for much longer, but the point is while Belos may not deserve forgiveness people shouldn't get death threats over AUs or even rewrites about Belos being a better person or gods forbid, him learning to become better during or after canon events.

[underdog121]

A moment of silence for @moringmark

[ordinaryschmuck]

Okay but imagine: AU where the Owl House is in the MCU and due to the multiverse breach, variants of Luz start appearing resulting in an army of Luz's from different timelines even dimensions with different goals and personalities but there's one thing that keeps them united, they all love Amity, except for that one Luz who has no idea who's Amity and unfortunately was jumped by a bunch of Luz's who said you don't trust a Luz who doesn't know who Amity is.

(For this one, I borrowed characters form AUs by @wiccsstuffs, @yogurthoopsart, and @moringmark...you can probably tell where this is going)

Into the Luz-verse

"What if she got kidnapped by the Emperor's Coven?!" Amity panicked as she, Gus, and Willow walked to the Owl House. "Or worse, what if she's sick and needs constant tender love and care!?"

"Then Eda will undoubtingly take care of her," Willow dryly told Amity, "Besides, don't you think you're overreacting? I mean, Luz missed one day of school. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal! Luz loves school! She wouldn't miss it without reason!"

"She makes a good point."

"You're not helping, Gus!" Willow shouted.

"Sorry."

At long last, they made it to the familiar old house out in the woods, with the ever familiar annoying house demon guarding its front door.

"Hi, Luz's friends!" Hooty greeted the young witches, "What brings you here--"

"Is Luz alright!?" Amity cut to the chase.

"Oh, yeah, she's fine! All of them are, in fact!"

"You see, Amity? Luz is--" But Willow blinked, finally catching on to what Hooty said. "I'm sorry, did you say all of them?"

"Yepperoni! See for yourself."

Hooty then swung the door open, revealing...something no one would have expected.

Because inside the living room of the Owl House were eight versions of Luz Noceda, each with their unique outfit, style, and even features.

"...Did you wish really hard?" Willow asked Amity.

"Shut up."

"Friends!" shouted one Luz in a Hexide uniform. "And awesome girlfriend. What brings you here?"

"...You didn't show up to school, and we got worried," Gus explained, "Er, well, Amity got worried."

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that. We've been dealing with a bit of an issue over here."

"Clearly," Willow nodded, "My question is...what are these...versions of you?"

"Well, it's like you said. They're versions of me. But from different universes. Pretty cool, right?"

"So cool..." Amity said, stupified.

"Titan's Elbow..." Willow muttered out of annoyance.

"And they're all totally different, too."

Luz pointed at a version of her sitting on the couch, arms crossed, expression indifferent, wearing a green jacket, ripped black jeans, and a red beanie with two strands of hair sticking out.

"That one's from a universe where everything's pretty much the same," Luz explained, "The only real difference is that everyone's, like, two or three years older and a lot ruder. I call her Hipster Luz."

"Up yours!" Hipster Luz growled, "I'm not a hipster."

"Then why are you dressed like one?"

"Ha. Great comeback, Pipsqueak. Now here's mine."

She then proceeded to give a crude gesture involving one of her fingers.

"Yeah, you see what I mean about the whole rude thing?" Luz Prime asked her friends. She then pointed at the Luz sitting next to Hipster Luz. "The one in the purple striped t-shirt and black jeans is Dark Luz."

"Hello!" Dark Luz waved.

"Why is she called Dark Luz?" Gus asked, "She doesn't seem that dark."

"I'm called that because, where I'm from, the Boiling Isles is in Hell!"

"Ok, yeah, that'll do it."

"You seem pretty chipper for someone who's, you know, in Hell," Willow pointed out.

"Eh, it's not like making a bad situation any worse is going to solve anything."

"...I oddly respect that."

"Ooh! Also, where I'm from, humans can do natural magic! Watch:"

Dark Luz then closed her eyes and clasped her hands. After concentrating really hard, a light yellow ora soon enveloped her hands. Once it dissipated, Dark Luz opened her palms, and a ball of light came out.

"Tada!"

"Woah!" Shouted one Luz in golden armor and a white cape as she ran up to Dark Luz. "How did you do that?! Also, can you PLEASE teach me that?!"

"Maybe."

"That's Golden Luz, by the way," Luz pointed out, "She comes from a universe where Emperor Belos raised her and made her a golden guard alongside Hunter."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"It's not that big of a deal," Golden Luz brushed off the insanity of her origins. "Uncle Belos is actually pretty sweet...sometimes."

"Did you just say 'UNCLE?!'"

"Pretty sure Belos is the devil in my universe," Dark Luz said, ignoring Willow's outburst.

"Well, that's you're universe," Golden Luz argued, "As we can tell, people from different universes can have drastically different personalities. Like Hipster Luz."

"I'm not a hipster!"

"Or Swap Luz," she then pointed to a Luz in a black hoodie and orange hair. "She looks a lot like the rest of us. The only difference is that she basically has Amity's personality."

"Your versions of Amity," Swap Luz said, "To me, she's basically the same as all of you."

"And mine's definitely not like any of yours," Hipster Luz, "Seriously, if Fwippy is anything to go by, then the rest of you girls are all on easy street. Believe me when I say that the bite marks I got from that witch weren't exactly pleasing...Ok, some were. But most weren't."

"First off, gross. Second, don't call me 'Fwippy,' you Hipster!"

"Why is she called Fwippy, anyway?" Willow asked.

"Because of her ears," Luz Prime said, "When she gets embarrassed, they make a cute little fwip-fwip."

And it was then that Willow, Gus, and Amity noticed the pointy ears on Swap Luz.

"Wait, she's a witch?!" Willow exclaimed.

"Yup, that's why we call her Swap Luz," Luz Prime explained. "Not only is she and her Amity's personalities are swapped, but also their races. In Swap Luz's universe, she's is the witch, and Amity is the human. Isn't that neat?"

"But why do her ears go fwip-fwip?" Gus asked.

"Look, it's just a thing that witches do in my universe!" Swap Luz exasperatedly told him. "I don't understand why it's exclusive to mine, but it is! So don't judge me for it!"

And, because she felt a little embarrassed, Swap Luz's ears actually did a little fwip-fwip.

"Aw, that is cute!" Amity cooed, making the fwipping worse and forcing Swap Luz to pull her hood over her head.

"But why call her 'Swap Luz?'" Willow asked, "Why not call her something simpler like 'Witch Luz?'"

"Because there's already a 'Witch Luz.' And it's her."

Luz Prime pointed to a Luz in a purple cape with some of it covering the bottom half of her face and the rest of her attire looking similar to Luz's casual look but seeming like it came from the Boiling Isles.

"And why is--"

"Because I'm also a witch who came from the Boiling Isles," Witch Luz answered the question before it was asked. "Except my situation is that I'm trapped in the human world where I became what is basically a superhero that fights against monsters from my world while also trying to find a way back home."

"...That sounds awesome!" Gus exclaimed.

"Doesn't it!?" Luz Prime joined in, "I keep telling her that if her life was a series, I would absolutely binge it non-stop."

"And I still have no idea what that means," Witch Luz confessed. "Besides, it's not like I'm the only superhero here."

"Oh, yeah, that's right. There's also a version of me that's Spider-Man...somehow."

On cue, a Luz in white and purple spandex with pink webs hung upside from the ceiling, holding on to a strand of webbing.

"For the record, I'm not a Spider-Man, whoever that is," she said, "My name is La Arácnida."

"I thought you said your name was La Araña?"

"No, it's La Arácnida. La Araña is taken...apparenlty."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

"Well, what if La Arácnida is taken too?"

"Then I'm open to suggestions!"

"I have one last question," Gus raised his hand. "Who's that?"

He pointed over to one Luz in the corner, tied to a chair and looking very pouty.

"Oh, that's Evil Luz," Luz Prime simply said.

"I'm not evil!" Evil Luz protested, "Seriously, Golden Luz is raised by Emperor Belos! How is she not Evil Luz?!"

"Hey, Uncle Belos isn't evil!" Golden Luz defended, "Sure, he has a few sour spots, may or may not have abused Hunter, petrifies witches who don't join covens, kills palismans--Oh, my Titan, is Uncle Belos evil?"

"Yes!" everyone in the room responded.

"But the reason why Evil Luz is Evil Luz is simple," Luz told her friends, "You see, she comes from a universe where almost everything is the same except that it's a universe without Amity. Which is horrifying to think about. And when we told her all about you, guess what she said."

"All I said was that I didn't see the appeal!" Evil Luz exclaimed, "How does that make me evil?"

"It makes you a monster is what it does!" Swap Luz yelled at her. "How can you not see the appeal of someone so pure of heart?!"

"Again, that's your Amity," Hipster Luz pointed out. "Ours is actually a lot less pure. Especially mine."

"I don't know. Mine's a little nice, actually," said Dark Luz. "I even drew art of us as best friends the first day we met because she was nice to me."

"Look, I just don't understand it, alright?" Evil Luz spoke again, "I mean, don't get me wrong, looking at her, she's cute. But I don't know how Amity can be the irresistible goddess that most of you call her as."

"Because we have hearts, and you don't, you evil scourge!" Luz Prime yelled.

"I'm not evil!"

"What I still don't understand is how did all these...yous came here, Luz?" Willow questioned her best friend.

"You know as much as I do, to be honest," Luz Prime shrugged. "I was just about ready to head to school when, suddenly, all these versions of me started to appear out of nowhere inside the living room."

"If I had to wager a guess," said La Arácnida, "I'd say someone in the multiverse messed up really bad and caused a convergence of people from different worlds to show up at the same place in the same time."

"...But why is it all versions of you?" Willow asked, "And why was it all in this universe?"

"That's why I called it a guess, not an answer. I honestly have no idea."

"So...what now, then."

"Well, we figured we'd all hang out until one of us figure out a way to get all the Luzs back to their universes," Luz Prime said, "Seems to be going great so far. Eda's definitely into it."

"The more kids, the merrier, if you ask me," Eda said, bringing in a tray of drinks. "Who's thirsty?"

"I am!" responded all the Luzs.

"Can I have a straw for mine?" Evil Luz asked. "I'm kind of tied up at the moment, pun not intended.

"Of course," said Dark Luz, "Because, unlike you, we're not evil."

"I'M NOT EVIL!"

"Sure you're not."

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

Lily’s newest comic. Which is just directly ripping off this comic.

Which isn’t surprising, since I remember a comic that just wholesale ripped off a joke from Friends word for word.

Update: Lily has since relogged the post, crediting the original source of her joke.

[twigstarpikachutroll22]

I love how Moringmarks’s comics are just pure silly fun lighthearted comedy most of the time, with a dash of super sweet fluff now and then, but once in awhile without any warning he’ll just drop one that RIPS YOUR HEART OUT OF YOUR BODY AND CRUSHES IT INTO DUST AND THROWS IT INTO THE SEA and there’s absolutely no way of telling when he’s going to do that.

[evergardenwall]

got tagged by @bauliya (ily) !!

1. why did you choose your url?

evergardenwall is a portmanteau word (i think that's how it's called in english?) mixing violet evergarden and over the garden wall, two animated series i love!

2. any side-blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

i can't maintain sideblogs so i don't have one rip

3. how long have you been on Tumblr?

i used to bookmark my favorite pjo fanartists' blogs plus moringmark's (for his svtfoe fancomics) back in 2016-2017 before attempting to create myself a blog during that same year... but i never used it and it got purged. then i made another blog (this one!) in. 2018 or 2019? to look at yuhki kamatani-related posts.

i started being really active in 2020! (thanks to quarantine i guess)

4. do you have a queue tag?

nope!

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

yuhki kamatani and hiromu arakawa's manga!! and cartoons

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

ponyo is one of my favorite ghibli movies, and the eponym character is a figure who brings me a lot of joy

7. why did you choose your header?

tillie walden's art makes me feel like someone represented my brain under the form of drawings and i Love her works so much. especially are you listening?

also the color palette!!

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

i think it might be one of my drawings! :>

9. how many mutuals do you have?

...no idea but i am amazed my fma mutuals are still following me even though i am a jasico blog at this point LOL

10. how many followers do you have?

[redacted]

11. how many people do you follow?

217!

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

honestly i think most of my posts are shitposts by default... they are just incoherent thougts (unless they get peer reviewed)

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

way too often and i should prepare my grand oral instead but i'm Stressed and fixate on the wrong things instead (pjo analysis posts)

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

sort of? i once got in a debate with someone who said the 03 winry x sheska ship was grooming (no comment) and then deleted the thread because it was making me too anxious

15. how do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

i scroll most of the time, unless i find the post genuinely important (but i really don't like the guilt trip going on in these)

16. do you like tag games?

yesss! it makes me happy to see people thinking of me haha

17. do you like ask games?

in general, yes, but my followers aren't v interactive sooo

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

several of my mutuals have popular posts but none of them qualifies for tumblr famous TM and you know what? that's for the better

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

i do have some mutuals living in my head rent free that i care about a lot and find Hot but i don't really consider them crushes (sorry guys)

20. tags?

tagging @iskindiriya @the-ghost-king @shrimpemojis @phlegathonbabe @nose-bl and @firewoodfigs ! no pressure tho <3

[incorrectstarcoquotes]

Prozzak AU

This is a response to @moringmark​ to help create an AU. This is an AU I’ve been sitting on a while now, so let’s get started.

First a bit of background. Prozzäk was a animated Canadian pop duo that was active between 1998 to 2008, then again in 2015 to 2019. Prozzak told the tale of two friends Simon and Milo as they searched the globe for true love. They released four albums before disbanding in 2019. I’m going to setting the AU using roughly the same story, but with Star and Marco replacing Simon and Milo.

The Legend of Star and Marco:

In another world, there was a large battle for between the kingdoms of Mewni and Monsters. In the Kingdom of Mewni, the next princess received the royal magic wand in order to lead her people to victory. One day, the princess was chosen to lead a sea mission. So she boarded a large warship as a part of her kingdom’s grand invasion strategy. As her ship turned the corner, there were dozens of enemy ships waiting for her.

In a distant time, there was a young man who had just reached the age to become a warrior in his tribe. He had completed his training and earned the name Red Dragonfly. His tribe was locked in battles for territory and power. He set off across the plains to conquer the neighboring tribe. But just as his band had turned the corner, they were ambushed by the enemy.

At the same time, both the princess and the young tribal warrior were locked in combat against well matched opponents. It appeared they were locked in a dead heat. The only question was how dead and how hot.

All at once there was a thunderous noise from the sky. The battles and the sea were plunged into the darkness. Out of this darkness, a huge vortex opened in the sky and a brilliant light ripped apart the dark clouds. It settled on the princess and the warrior and their struggles. 

The great unseen voice called from the sky, “You two have been chosen, chosen to live in a time and place that is not your own, sentenced to walk the earth in search of true love. Only true love holds the key to your destiny.”

And all at once, the princess and the warrior were transported from the blood, sweat and salt water of their battle and sent into the present. Through the princess’s magic, they learned to understand each other and their strange new world. Red Dragonfly adopted a new name for his new life, Marco Diaz. They settled in an abandoned castle as their studio slash compound. 

The duo began to document their worldly travels in song. This is the story of the musician Star and singer Marco as they travel the modern world in search of true love. Only their friendship keeps them going from port to port, city to city, from love to loss, with the hope that the right person will capture their restless hearts. How long will they search the world? How long until they realize that the keys to their hearts lie in each other?

The AU Playlist. (Spotify)

tl;dr version

Star and Marco are taken from time and place to find true love (it’s each other) and they document their travels through music and become a pop duo.

The only warning I have to give you is that while I love Prozzak’s music, I know it’s not for everyone. They have their animated music videos on YouTube, but if you don’t like their music, I guess just plug in your own. If you want, you could even called this Pop Duo AU.

[mdhwrites]

I feel like lately people started to ignore toh, Idk some artists I followed already moved on to other stuff to make content about (if you exclude mark). With Amphibia I think it lasted a year more after it's end till everyone completely moved on and I still can see some fanarts of it.

I guess people who said toh would be timeless may rethink that, it didn't even last a year.

So first: Timeless doesn't mean it will have an eternal fandom. Just that it will always be able to connect with an audience.

Second... I mostly agree. Like my timeline has definitely become MUCH more Amphibia focused nowadays. I don't see a lot of TOH art which... isn't surprising? Lumity was dying by the end of S2 because people just didn't have much to do with them and S3 really highlighted how shallow a lot of the characters and what not were.

It's not surprising that we didn't get the Amphibia of trying deepfake the fandom into thinking new episodes were coming out or a movie was in the works because... What do you do with these characters? MoringMark is doing pure fluff. I've seen a couple that I follow go strong but... Mostly by doing stuff like future children or Lumity as perfect mothers, stuff like that.

And that includes myself. I still do Lumischa but I swapped to AU stuff pretty much exclusively a LONG time ago now because sticking with canon was just... boring. I follow Yukifrill and she recently started doing Blight family stuff due to a dream but she explicitly said that part of why she even can again is because canon can no longer rip apart her headcanons, her desires, etc. like that. That's just kind of an awkward place for a fandom, especially with a show like TOH where most of the characters are mainly their base archtypes.

Buuuut: TOH will always have the shields of Disney meddling and LGBTQIA+ representation. Regardless of how good you think the representation is or if you think the meddling or shortening mattered, it doesn't effect things. Plenty of people will still hold onto TOH being an almost perfect being that we were just robbed from being the ultimate show ever.

This isn't even a joke. In a non-cartoon server I'm a part of, someone decided to bring that another server they were a part of talking about stuff they we were ever robbed from seeing in TOH. Others replied about Disney meddling, representation and how Lumity was still one of the best relationships they'd ever seen in ANY media.

Which, as a romance writer, that last one makes me REAL sad. It also is a sad irony because no one would have bat an eye if not for Disney and now Disney is also the excuse they use for it being bad. That makes me sad as an indie who no one cares about. At least not with his writing.

Because if my work is bad, no one is going to cut me any slack. If I cut corners because my brain is bad, people are just going to put it on blast. I'm an indie after all. Who is holding me back? Certainly nothing like what held TOH back, even if TOH also had an entire team of writers instead of only one.

But when enough time has passed for the knowledge of those excuses not to be common anymore... Will people still be able to excuse TOH for what it is?

Addendum: I want to make something clear since I've been letting my jealousy and personal pain show a bit more recently. I do not hate the show for being popular or successful. Dana and the crew put a lot of work into the show and I'm happy for them that it found so many. That it enriched so many lived. So many creative endeavors never do.

So yes, I get frustrated by the excuses. Get hurt by the cheats no one is willing to talk about. That's as much personal as it is professional though and if I'm just being honest, I'm still happy TOH was made and reached its audience. It means a lot to me just as it does to many others. I would not make these blogs if not for that.

I just wish that my interest in TOH didn't bring with it pain sometimes, but that's a personal problem, not TOH's.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!