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gch1995 · 4 years

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I’m 25 going on 26 now, and I grew up loving the classic Powerpuff Girls cartoon series when I was a kid. Even now when I rewatch it as an adult, it’s still a cute and funny cartoon, especially now that I’m old enough to recognize all of the adult jokes. Like, there’s no way it was a coincidence that Professor Utonium’s despicably dishonest, greedy, lazy, manipulative, selfish, and sleazy former roommate from college was given the name Professor Dick Hardly by accident.

Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup actually are pretty relatable little girls who have believable flaws and insecurities. They make believable bad choices for little girls. Those issues actually get dealt with seriously, rather than just being brushed aside as no big deal with no negative consequences. They are still endearing and sympathetic in spite of their flaws.

While he had a few OOC moments of bad parenting in some bad episodes here and there, generally speaking, Professor Utonium from the classic Powerpuff Girls is actually one of the best dads in cartoons that I’ve ever seen, which is sadly pretty rare in most cartoon sitcoms, even the ones that are actually aimed at a children audience.

Most cartoon dads are abusive, lazy, neglectful, selfish, and stupid oafs. Granted, those type of dads in cartoon sitcoms can actually be entertaining and funny to watch when they are actually being well-written as shitty and slow-witted, but still essentially well-meaning people in regards to their families, such as S1-S8 Homer Simpson from The Simpsons and even S1-S3 Peter Griffin from Family Guy. However, the entertainment quality of those shitty, but well-meaning cartoon dads was mostly lost when the writers flanderdized their negative traits to the point of making Homer and especially Peter downright despicable with little to no redeeming or sympathetic qualities much of the time anymore. They went from being shitty, but essentially well-meaning parents and husbands to downright bratty and spoiled man-children who were much more intentionally abusive, childish, cruel, neglectful, petty, and selfish in regards to their families and others around them with little to no sympathetic or redeeming qualities much of the time anymore, and that’s one of the biggest reasons why The Simpsons went downhill in quality after S8, and why Family Guy went downhill in quality after S3.

Nonetheless, even as they were originally written on their shows pre-flanderdization when they were still well-meaning, but misguided parents and spouses, cartoon dads like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin, weren’t good dads on the whole. There were still plenty of recurring plot lines and/or gags of them being abusive, lazy, neglectful, reckless, and selfish. Back in early seasons pre-flanderdization, it was more forgivable, though, because they also still had their fair share of kind and selfless moments with their families, and their shittiness as parents wasn’t intentionally abusive, malicious, premeditated, and selfish in nature, which balanced them out enough to still be entertaining and likable characters in spite of their flaws.

Realistically speaking, though, dads like Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson would be better off having their kids taken away from them by CPS. Their good qualities and lack of malicious intent, particularly in earlier seasons pre-flanderdization, would still not hold up as legitimate excuse as to why they should be allowed to keep their kids. Bart would have bruises all over his neck, fractures in his neck, and he could possibly be killed if Homer strangled him hard enough to actually break his neck and/or cut off his air supply long enough in real life just once. Meg, Chris, and even Stewie would not only be injured, but actually outright killed in real life from some of the abuse and neglect that Peter and Lois put them through in later seasons of FG. All of these kids, especially Meg, would have serious self-esteem issues for the rest of their lives because Peter, Lois’, and Homer’s abuse and neglect of their kids went beyond just a pattern of being physical in nature, but emotionally and verbally abusive as well.

So yeah, Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson are really not good fathers who you’d ever want to deal with for a parent in real life, even pre-flanderdization. The major reoccurrence of the abusive, bumbling, idiotic, lazy, drunken, neglectful, and selfish dad trope in cartoon sitcoms is exactly why I really love Professor Utonium from the classic PPG cartoon. I don’t necessarily mind it in absurdist cartoon sitcoms when it’s done well as a trope, but I’m also getting tired of mostly just seeing bad and stupid dads in cartoon sitcoms, and not enough good ones.

For the most part, the OG Professor Utonium is a great dad who goes above and beyond to make sure Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are happy, healthy, disciplined, and safe. He’s usually the parent most of us wish we could have in real life, if we don’t already. It’s refreshing to actually see a good dad in an animated sitcom for once.

Professor Utonium in the classic PPG cartoon is generally a very kind, loving, selfless, and supportive dad to girls. However, he also knows when he has to discipline them and be strict without ever being mean about it. He gives them good advice. He’s very selfless, and even though the girls are superheroes with superhuman abilities, he’ll still risk and/or sacrifice anything to protect them when they’re unable to protect themselves with their powers, including his own life. He didn’t need to be the stereotypical cartoon sitcom abusive, bumbling, dumb, and neglectful dad in order to be funny either. He was funny because he could sometimes be overprotective of the girls, and he could sometimes embarrass them by calling them sickly sweet terms of endearment and telling embarrassing stories that he shouldn’t have about them in public. He was socially awkward. These are relatable flaws in parents that even the best ones have.

While the girls don’t have a mother, Ms. Bellum and Ms. Keane were very brave, kind, and intelligent strong women who were good role models.

Also, the Professor did many activities with the girls and chores around the house that get gender-coded as “mother’s work.” Some of these things include begrudgingly playing dress up as Bubbles to make her happy when she was playing PowerPuff Girls with Buttercup and Blossom on a rainy day inside of no crime when he saw that she was upset that no one wanted to be her, cooking, cleaning, and actually sitting down to talk with the girls, listen to them, emotionally support them, and give them advice. He’s also not afraid to be openly affectionate, doting, and emotional with the girls. There’s just not enough good dads in cartoon sitcoms, which is why I really like Professor Utonium from the OG PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie. He mostly defied all the bad dad stereotypes, and was a really great one to the girls more often than not.

The main villains from the classic PowerPuff Girls cartoon are incredibly entertaining, especially MoJo JoJo. Him was always the creepiest to me because he was the most devious, insidious, and manipulative one. All of the psychological abuse and manipulation he put the girls and Townsville through was always the scariest to me when I was a kid because out of all the villains on the show, the torment that he wreaked upon the girls and Townsville by brainwashing them, gaslighting them, and/or exploiting their fears and insecurities often was played as dead serious with really scary results, especially in early seasons of classic PPG. While Him had a few human moments here and there, for the most part, he was pretty consistently played off as being seriously scary and dangerous.

MoJo JoJo was an egomaniacal asshole hellbent on destroying the PowerPuff Girls and world domination, and on a few occasions, he actually came close to succeeding. On a few occasions, he genuinely was more scary than camp evil. But he still had a lot of humorous, human, fallible, and relatable moments, too. My favorite MoJo moments are the ones where he is making jokes, irritably going grocery shopping to get eggs, getting too frustrated by the girls antics and childish behaviors and reactions to actually go through with his plans to destroy them at certain points, and getting angry and jealous enough to actually destroy the alien/robot invader from another planet who was destroying Townsville in all the evil ways that he always wanted to himself. He was highly intelligent at coming up with clever schemes and inventions with all his science and technology to take over the world, destroy Townsville, and/or destroy the PowerPuff Girls. However, his arrogance, impatience, and impulsivity always doomed him to fail to succeed in the end, though he did come pretty close on a few occasions, especially in the 2002 prequel origin story movie, and he did actually get to rule the world in “The PowerPuff Girls Rule the World!” Surprisingly, he actually was a kindhearted ruler who did good things, but then he gave it all up and went back to being evil because he got bored.

Originally, MoJo was a well-intentioned extremist who wanted to create a utopia ruled by primates where they would never be controlled or rejected by humans again. As much as Professor Utonium’s irritation with JoJo for being a destructive chimp lab assistant was completely justified, it’s also hard not to feel kind of sorry for Mojo Jojo and understand where he’s coming from in his motivations to become evil, particularly in the 2002 prequel movie because originally all he really wanted was to be loved by his owner, too. He understandably felt rejected when Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup became the center of his universe instead. Of course, that doesn’t excuse him for choosing to respond to the Professor’s rejection by becoming an arrogant, evil, cruel, hateful, hypocritical, domineering, manipulative, petty, selfish, and vengeful villain going on a quest for world domination, attempting to commit homicide several times, probably committing voluntary manslaughter of citizens several times that we didn’t see on screen when destroying Townsville all those times, turning the rest of the world into dogs to try to take over the world, and trying to destroy the girls. However, you understand why Mojo became the villain he did with his backstory. He’s relatable. Occasionally, he does have some genuinely sympathetic moments where he’s actually willing to be friendly with the girls, team up with them, and do the right thing.

HIM was just the personification of evil for no other reason than the fact that he was satan. While MoJo was a complex, human, and relatable anti-villain with his origin story as the Professor’s lab chimp, who gained genius-level human intellect from having Chemical X splashed on his brain, and then chose to become evil after feeling rejected by the Professor when he saw how he pretty much forget about him once the girls became the center of his universe instead, HIM was evil, manipulative, and hateful for no other reason than the fact that those traits were a part of his nature as the very embodiment of evil. Many times, a fictional villain being portrayed as one-dimensional with no sympathetic qualities or relatable motivations will annoy me, but with HIM being evil just because that’s who he is, it actually works because he is literally Satan. There doesn’t need to be a deeper sympathetic story behind why he is evil. Committing crimes, wreaking havoc, corrupting people, manipulating people, turning people against others, exploiting the fears of others, and deceiving others for his own amusement is just who he is, and in the early seasons of classic PPG in particular, that made him really scary to me when I was a six year old little girl watching the cartoon on TV.

You get the idea...The classic PowerPuff Girls was a fantastic cartoon, particularly the first four seasons. Granted, there was some series seasonal rot going on in the writing in S5 and S6 after the 2002 prequel movie, and Craig Mcracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure from the crew. Like, the characterizations of the characters and/or storylines in S5 and S6 felt comparably flanderdized, ooc, immature, inconsistent, pointless, shallow, and underwhelming at certain times to fit the plot, such as in the episodes “Keen on Keane,” “Pee Pee G’s,” “Seed No Evil,” “Reeking Havoc,” “Toast of the Town,” “Say Uncle,” “City of Clipsville,” “”Bubble Boy,” A Made Up Story,” “Mo’linguish,” and “Simian Says.” Even the good episodes of S5-S6 still didn’t ever reach the same level of greatness of the ones from S1-S4. However, the seasonal rot in the classic PPG cartoon of S5-S6 after Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartakovsky’s departure still wasn’t nearly as bad as the seasonal rot on The Simpsons after S8, Family Guy after S3, and SpongeBob SquarePants post S3–S4 ish, so I’m still willing to consider most of S5-S6 of classic PPG legit canon.

However, it sounds like the 2016 PPG reboot fucked up everything that was originally good about it to go for a more slapstick comedic feel without substance without consistency, depth, and intelligence. Now, I hear that the CW is making a live-action TV show spin-off of the PowerPuff Girls being jaded and resentful young women who’ve given up crime fighting as result! No, no, no! Why? Why does the CW keep making dark, nitty, and gritty live action teen soap operas out of beloved childhood cartoons?

Yeah, the original PowerPuff Girls cartoon and movie had dark moments. The girls could be bratty and make bad choices sometimes. However, it was still very much a fun show about normal little girls born with superpowers, which they chose to use to defend their father, their city, and on some occasions, the whole world, from crime. No one ultimately forced them to be superheroes for everyone in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. They chose to do it because they had brave and selfless hearts. There was ultimately no obligation for them to be superheroes in the classic PPG cartoon and movie. Sure, they got tired of fighting crime at times, but they still ultimately enjoyed doing it when push came to shove. They weren’t weighed down by the darkness of the world, hatred, and resentment. They still were relatively normal little girls with happy, peaceful, and normal lives of little girls whenever they weren’t fighting crime after the events of the prequel movie about their origins. That’s what made the PowerPuff Girls classic cartoon so special.

By turning Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup into jaded young women, who have given up on being superheroes because they’ve grown resentful of “losing the normal childhood to crime fighting” that they basically are shown to have in the original series for the most part in their spare time aside from having superpowers that they chose to use to fight crime to defend their dad and Townsville from, anyway, where is the fun in that?

#ppg classic #ppg #PowerPuff girls classic was an amazing cartoon!#there was some seasonal rot bad writing in classic PPG after S4 and Craig McCracken and Gennedy Tartovsky’s departure from the show #also looking back at even some of the early seasons of classic PPG Buttercup tended to get treated as a butt-monkey in her few centric Ed #but the seasonal rot moments of bad writing in S5-S6 of classic PPG wasn’t THAT bad so for the most part I’m willing to give it a pass #mojo jojo #him #professor utonium #blossom utonium #bubbles utonium #buttercup utonium #sara bellum #mayor #ms. keane #anti the cw live action PowerPuff girls!#is nothing from the childhoods of those of us who grew up in the early to mid 2000s sacred anymore?#what’s next a CW live action spin off of SpongeBob Squarepants in which SpongeBob works as a drug dealer for mob boss Mr. Krabs?#a CW live action spin off of Johnny Bravo where fool JD is actually rewarded for hitting on women who are strangers?#a cw live action reboot of dexter’s laboratory in which dexter grows up to run a crystal meth lab?#a CW live action spin-off of Courage the Cowardly Dog in which Muriel is a terrible pet owner too?#a CW live action of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends in which Mac is diagnosed as a schizophrenic who hallucinated in the OG series?#omg! just let these beloved cartoons RIP please!#Come up with something new! Stop ruining good cartoons from the past by reviving them into something they were never meant to be!

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yayninjabob · 3 years

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Why don't you like the Rowdyruff boys?

Well for one, there is no escaping them in this fandom apparently even if I don't actively write about them or talk about them, now I'm just constantly asked why. Seriously I get more Q's about them than about my actual fanfic that I work pretty hard on which suUUCKS. It is pretty annoying, ngl.

I mean no one asks why no Amoeba Boys in Villain: Redux and they're literally in more episodes of the og show, and I most definitely considered trying to find a way to have the Amoeba Boys fit into the story WAY more than I gave the Rowdyruff Boys a second glance.

For the record: I don't dislike the Rowdyruff Boys.

What I dislike is the PpG fandom's obsession and distortion of them and how the spirit of the original series gets lost in the Rowdyruff shipping STORM that hasn't quit for years. TBH I question sometimes whether some of these shippers have even SEEN the show.

The boys are 99.9% of the time just used as romantic props which... ugggghhhhh.. Look if it were less of a thing, I probably wouldn't give a shit. Hell, being in this fandom off and on for as long as I have, of course even I wrote some RrBxPpG ship stuff but I can honestly say never again because I refuse to be a part of that problem lol. Enemies to Lovers- hell yeah! You kidding me? I love that stuff! But dude, the fandom has just been SO overboard on all the RrBxPpG stuff for SO long that I. Am. Tired. Of. Seeing. It.

The Rowdyruff Boy's debut episode is absolutely one of my favorite of the series. Look, I grew up with this show as it aired and I remember when this episode premiered DUDE this one and Dynamo were like the most epic things ever- WHAT A COMMERCIAL BREAK BUT THE EPISODE ISNT OVER OMG THIS IS INSANE AIRGHSAKSHFGHAKAHSKK!!?!! Got to school the next day like YO DID YOU SEE LAST NIGHT'S PPG??? Recess time we were all playing PpG vs RrB on the monkey bars and shit. Great times lol. But the whole Rowdyruff revival? Ehhh.... Did it have to happen? Nah I don't think it needed to, and as a fan I wish it hadn't.

And in regards to Villain: Redux taking place after season 4, that more so comes from my own experience with the show than trying to "leave out" the Rowdyruff Boys. Villain: Redux is like my love letter to the show I grew up with, and for me that's seasons 1-4 and the movie.

... OK I go off on a bit of a rant here so more under the cut if you care to hear me whine and complain about seasons 5-6 and the RrBs lol...

I was 7-8 when the Powerpuff Girls premiered on What a Cartoon! in 1995. From the jump my sisters and I were fans of those shorts and even had the openings to their episodes memorized so if we tuned in and saw it wasn't the eps with the PpG in it, we'd usually go watch something else- but if it was OH BOY GET READY GUYS HERE WE GO. My sisters and I absolutely lost our minds when we saw commercials advertising they were getting their own show. I mean we loved super hero stuff and we were three sisters so you know- instant love there. Anywho. I stayed a fan watching every premiering episode and recording it on VHS to rewatch again and again and again later lol. Up until season 4, I had everything on tape and even when my sisters moved onto other stuff I stayed obsessed. The movie came out when I was in middle school and the tv show was just repeats for the longest. I assumed the show had ended because I didn't see new stuff for a while and my parents were like "great can we cut down on our cable bill now?" Lol.

And yeah season 5&6 certainly get their critique from a lot of fans so I won't dive too deep into that stuff, but more than that because of the delay in those seasons release even myself- a super fan I'd say- had no idea those seasons were even airing until after they had been completed. YEARS later... One Christmas Eve, I was at my grandparents and Twas a Fight Before Christmas came on and I was like "hold up... I have never seen this WHAT" ok and Princess is my fave so you can only imagine how psyched I was to go find these episodes I missed post-movie time. And then when I got to those seasons... well, it definitely didn't quite feel like the show I had grown up with. I got to the RrB eps and meh. That was how I felt. Dude the one that pissed me off though was Nothin Special ghrhkasjhdha WHAT. Course later I learned Craig McCracken was no longer involved with the show so FOR ME, I just don't treat those seasons the same as the previous seasons and the movie. There's a lot of contradicting things that happen and so yeah. I don't consider them as "canon" as the Craig McCracken stuff. Which ok technically they ARE. They're episodes from the og show still but... I dunno. I can't help but put them in their own category. And I know a lot of other fans have expressed feeling the same way.

And dude when the 10 year special dropped by Craig McCracken and the Rowdyruffs were NOT in it when like EVERY other villain was- to me it was like confirmation that those characters should have never been brought back and I do NOT consider them main cast at all. And you know what?? Dude outside of the internet based fandom, I do not think they were missed. Because the PRIME of the Powerpuff Girls series was seasons 1-4- that's what most fans of my generation remember and love. THAT is the show I like to write fanfiction for and that's what Villain, VillainE and VillainR are all inspired by.

So yeah. Haha anywho what was I talking about? Oh yeah. Rowdyruff Boys. So version 1.0 that exploded- they're A-OK in my book. Seasons 5&6 I don't particularly like and so I don't particularly like the Ruffs 2.0. Don't hate em, don't even really dislike them- they're just... Irrelevant? I dunno. Why write about them when they're are so many KICK ASS villains on this show? That's how I feel. Give me more Mojo, give me more Him, more Gangrene Gang, and more Princess <3 YES please.

#asks #ppg #powerpuff girls #rowdyruff boys #ppg fandom #so tired of these rrb qs guys please no more after this D:#unless you wanna complain with me then cool lol

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queen-of-my-goofball-army · 4 years

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Favorite Voice Actors

For those of you that know me, you know that my number one special interest is cartoons and the people that voice my favorite characters. Studying my heroes and watching them in interviews became a favorite pass time of mine. A lot of my friends thought that it was really weird and they stopped talking to me because of it. For a long time before I got diagnosed as having aspergers I talked forever about it. I think that both bored and confused people. For me, I love voice acting because anybody can be anything. You can watch a show and years later be like I know that voice it’s insert name here if you’re like me. True, certain actors have something that is brought to every character (I can think of one prime example later on down the list) but it is always about the heart that they put into their characters.

10. Charlie Adler: I’ll admit that I am mostly a fan of him due to the amount of work that he has done and the quantity. This man was the voice of Cow, Chicken and Big Red guy in Cow and Chicken. True, this show was past my time (and if it wasn’t I feel like it would get the Fairly OddParents treatment where my parents would forbid me to watch it.) When I listened to his episode of Talkin’ Toons I found his story’s really interesting and compelling. I can only imagine how much work and effort went into all of his characters in that show. To develop one character is one thing but to be able to switch between them like a deck of cards is a completely different thing. I did however watch a lot of Brandy and Mr. Whiskers when I was younger!! Growing up with that show and hearing him play Mr. Whiskers brought me a lot of joy when I was sick at home and for that I will always be a huge fan of his voice and his work.

9. Jim Cummings. If I were to say that one voice actor had a ton of versatility it would probably be him. I was a major Tigger fan when I was growing up. Not just that but I loved Raymond when Princess and The Frog came out. He is actually my mom’s favorite voice actor. But I also loved CatDog when I would see that on reruns, I grew to love Darkwing Duck and countless other shows that he leant his voice to. Studying voice acting and the people that do it has led to me finding some things out that I would rather not. Especially when I found that he wasn’t actually the nicest person in real life. But, to me that doesn’t matter when it comes to this list. He is here because so many of his characters made my childhood just a little bit happier. When I was thinking about favorite voice actors I considered two things, personality and character content. This one is here just for character content.

8. Bob Bergen: I reblogged a post a long time ago with this man at the helm. What he can do every time I see him do it blows my mind. Bob has been the voice of Porky Pig since pretty much Tiny Toons back in the early 90′s. He has stated that there have been some others but when I think Porky this is the name that comes along with it. Watching him do his thing is something that continually blows my mind. Listening to his life story on Rob Paulsen’s podcast Talkin’ Toons is something that inspired me more than anything. It’s this story of persistence and resilience from a young age. He is one of the few voice actors that actually got to talk with Mel Blanc when he was fourteen. I love his genuine heart and the ability that he has to jump into his character full force. Porky was a big portion of my childhood and I grew up laughing at his “silly” stutter. It wasn’t until I got older and learned that the stutter is an actual art form that I learned something entirely different.

7. Richard Horvitz: Most of you that know me might be surprised at this rather seemingly low placement for somebody that I greatly admire. I mean he was Invader Zim and Billy from Billy and Mandy for crying out loud!! I just bought a print for the man but really when I thought about it, he hasn’t really inspired me as much as my top six have. I love his sense of humor and his love of musical theater but he hasn’t taught me anything life altering. I think that he is hands down the funniest voice actor in Hollywood. I could listen to him make jokes forever and just talk in his voice but at the same time he is so other worldly and knows so much about the craft that it inspired me that way. He is as most of his fans joke “the dad voice actor” complete with dad jokes. I love Invader Zim so much, the show has helped me through a lot of loneliness and emotional moments in my life reminding me to keep laughing at life’s craziness. I also love Moxxie from Helluva Boss. All in all Richard is a fabulous man and actor. He has helped me figure out the kind of person that I wanted to be and I owe him a lot of laughter hours.

6. Greg Cipes: Can I talk about probably my OG hero for voice acting? When I was six I spent a lot of time in front of the television watching the original Teen Titans. My favorite character was Beast Boy his character that he played. When I say that BB changed the way that I think about my life that is not an exaggeration. He was one of the first characters that made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt. Growing up I had to fight people for his validation. It seemed like nobody loved him as much as I did. Cut to me in middle school I’m a bit more grownup and I start channel flipping. I wind up on Nickelodeon and see the reboot of Ninja Turtles. I figure I’ll watch it and see what all the hype is about. I hear Mikey open his mouth and instantly I get this rush of my childhood coming back. It was one of the first times that I made the connection between voice actor and character. Greg taught me so much vicariously through his character. He taught me about fun and laughter, about the importance of feeling lonely doesn’t mean that you’re alone in the world and even if you’re the goofball that doesn’t mean that’s all you have to be. The fact that he is such a relaxed and genuine person only adds to the admiration of this vegan beach bum.

5. Corey Burton: This is a very personal hero of mine. It’s one that I hold very close to me because of one thing. As far as I know, there have been very few voice actors on the autism spectrum. Corey is the only one that I have ever found. He’s the man that actually surpassed every expectation and said screw live performing it makes me anxious I’m going to get my experience through something that I know I’m good at radio. So he does radio and becomes really good at that. Then he goes to cartoons. He does Dale in Chip And Dale Rescue Rangers with a certain feminine icon of mine. He gets Ludwig Von Drake and has been that voice actor since the original DuckTales. Then he hits the peak, he was Mole in Atlantis Lost Empire a big budget Disney movie. I am so often inspired by my top six favorite voice actors. They are the ones that took me by the figurative hand and told me hey you can do get through whatever it is that you are struggling with. It just takes a little bit of laughter through the bad times, and an optimistic attitude that things will slowly but surely get better. Corey was the one that actually got himself to the top of the mountain and got to say that he did it. I admire that about him so much because for a while I thought to myself “Hey, he did it so can I”.

4. J Michael Tatum: In terms of anime voice actors, even though I love a great many, only one has ever remained of legend status. It comes yet again with a rather personal story. I was 17, lost and a little bit confused. I knew that I was ace but I had no idea how to tell my parents. It was around this time when I was getting back into anime due to Yuri On Ice, Space Dandy and Princess Jellyfish. I decide what the hell I’m going to watch some panels of my favorite voice actors for anime haven’t done that since I was thirteen. I had always loved Tatum as Kyoya Ootori in Ouran High School Host Club and France in Hetalia but other than that I didn’t know very much about him. I looked up panels for him and came across one for Florida Anime Con filmed that year. In it, he talked about being gay a lot. It implanted a seed that would inspire me. If he could be out and proud then why was I stoping myself? It might sound silly or stupid to some but to me it changed everything. From that moment on I loved everything Tatum. It led me to discover my love for Rei in Free, Okabe in Stein’s Gate and many other countless roles of his.

3. Tom Kenny: This man right here, he is the OG voice actor special interest of mine. He is the first name that I remember hearing because he did so much for Nickelodeon showing children how he did his most iconic voice. Who is that iconic voice you may ask yourself? Well it’s Spongebob flipping patties Squarepants. If that alone doesn’t put him at this spot then I don’t know what does. Like so many children in the early 200s I spent a good chunk of my childhood with me and my parents on the couch and this show on the television screen. You want to talk about legacy? This man voiced his way into the hearts of millions of children across the united states. I remember the first time I saw his actual face. I was flipping through channels and I saw this man on Nickelodeon. He had a goofy smile on his face and I figured what the hell I’ll give this a watch even though it’s not a cartoon. Then he started talking he introduced himself as Tom Kenny. Then he starts doing Spongebob. My five year old mind was blown. I never forgot his name ever since. Every time I would watch Teen Titans and Mambo would be on that episode I would be like “Oh that’s Spongebob’s voice actor”. It was that moment that changed everything for me. I have never looked back from my main special interest ever since. He has helped me through so much. Whether he be my favorite exorbitant yellow sponge, or Dog on CatDog, or Lazlo on Camp Lazlo part of me will always be with Tom Kenny. Keep making children happy Tom you’ve been doing a great job so far.

2. Tress MacNeille: Hoo boy this is a big one for me. For those of you that haven’t ever been around here before and don’t know the name of my character on my icon her name is Dot Warner (the Warner sister) and this is her voice actress. I hope that she changes your life and inspires you as much as she has mine. When I was nine I had an incredible fourth grade teacher. She showed us Yakko’s Nations Of The World for geography class. She also encouraged us to watch the rest of the show because it was full of educational songs and humor. I went home that day with on thought in mind. I wanted to watch the rest of that series. I go home and I make one distinction, hey that Warner sister I can kind of talk like her a little bit if I try hard enough. It was a little bit harder back in those days and I talk a lot more like her now with the reboot out in the world. This is the first and only impression I can do. I can do Dot and that’s it. And to me that was what mattered I didn’t need to be able to do anybody else. There aren’t a whole lot of woman voice actress’s that can keep working. All we have is Tara Strong, Cree Summer and the one and only goddess Tress MacNeille. Tress has helped me out so much in my life. I have never been the most confident person alive but from a young age hearing her absolutely smack down the actors of her brother’s in the show (Rob Paulsen and Jess Harnell) something about that inspired me. It was around this point in my life that I learned I can speak my mind and just not give a hoot if anybody feels the same way that I do. I can make my opinions known to other people. I was sixteen when I made that discovery and Tress was there for me all the way cheering me on in her Dot voice. I owe a lot to her and I wish that she was more active on social media so that I could have the opportunity to thank her for everything that she has done vicariously for me.

1. Rob Paulsen: If you were surprised by this, we probably haven’t talked before. At least not extensively because my dog do I love this man!! He has inspired me more than any other and he is not just my favorite voice actor but I consider him my ultimate hero in life. Where do I even start with him? There have been so many moments where I’ve fallen in love with one of his characters. I suppose one should start at the beginning. As I mentioned with Tress, my introduction through Animaniacs was Yakko’s Nations Of The World. This moment it changed everything for me because this was the first time that I could actually remember seeing Rob do a role. Yakko was the first cartoon character to actually make an impact on me. It was the first time that I ever loved a character that deeply. It was also the first time I ever made my own character to pair up with a canon character not even knowing that I was doing it. Ever since then a part of me has known okay that’s what Rob talks like. Now thanks to Tom Kenny I can recognize him in other places. And recognize him I did. From there I found that he was Carl on Jimmy Neutron, Mark Chang my favorite character on Fairly OddParents and countless other roles that we could be here all day for. As I mentioned, I was in middle school when the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were originally airing. When I watched that first episode, Donatello sounded really familiar to me. So I waited to the end credits only to find out that holy hell that was Rob!! The same person that played my favorite fast talking older brother. I found out about his fight with cancer a few years after it happened. This is when he went from favorite voice actor to hero legend status. He fought his way out of hell so that he could continue to sing “United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Heidi, Jamaica, Peru” until the end of his days. Reading his book changed my life forever as it gave me insight to not just the man who made me laugh, cry and cry laughing listening to his podcast but that same man had a whole ass heart and soul that he put into every character that he did. I find it really hard to explain what he means to me. He’s my hero, the one that made me laugh when I was a sad and lonely elementary schooler and the one that continues to bring me back to my childhood every time I see him in a show. I don’t feel the compulsion to give strangers hugs very often but if I ever met Rob I don’t think that I would be able to stop myself from giving a hug and just telling him thank you. Thank you for making my childhood and the childhoods of countless others much better than they would have been without you.

And that’s it folks!! Whew that’s a lot of me rambling but I feel a bit better now. Finals preparation week has officially started for me and I just wanted to give myself this big ol’ boost of serotonin before I went into it.

#Voice acting #Charlie Adler #Jim Cumings #Bob Bergen #Richard Horvitz #Greg Cipes #Corey Burton #Michael Tatum #Tom Kenny #tress macneille #Rob Paulsen

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stuckasmain · 4 years

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I still don’t think your ready for it, but here’s my Batb Cruise show review:

Yes you read the title completely right, I was made aware of this a day or two ago but apparently one of the Disney Cruises is doing/did beauty and the beast the musical but based upon the live action movie. So naturally a massive fan of the live action I was both shocked and wildly confused, lucky for me I found a video on the entire performance(likely taken from a cruise tv.) from what I skimmed over it looks like instead of full body suits to look like they are it’s going to be regular (human outfits.) and then puppets, so I am Really really interested to see how this goes.

The timing is a little off we skip the prologue (Aria etc.) and start straight in How does a moment last forever... are they placing Belle after it? It was before in the movie. Wait oh my god he’s also narrator- it is the prologue! Pulled a sneaky one on ya.

•Adams dramatic sassy hand movements are my entire life (no dance just this art right here.)

•The enchantress looks straight outa Atlantis but I LOVE the effects used omllll

• MARIE THE BAGUETTES.

•who needs her when you’ve got us (LE DUO OMG- it’s the thing.)

•from what I’m seeing it’s a combination of both the animated and live action, as some lyrics/moments are the animated , like Lefou reverted back to his original sorta idiot phase.

•met HER saw HER *kick* we stan.

•Lefou just waving his bag in the girls face. Legend lmao.

•a LOT more comedy then the movie. When Gaston drops the Boquet Lefou picks it up and smells it and just melts all cute like. My heart?

•”keep moving old legs.”

•Gaston is also a lot more like the animated, more dumbed down for comedic effect.

•so there’s no Philippe so some dudes took her dads wagon. That’s how jumanji started you know smh.

•PUPPETS IM SCREAMING.

Lumire looks like he’s absolutely losing his mind I’m deadddd. Also Cogsworth’s wig is my entire life.

• ok so the beasts voice- he sounds like a Pirate I’m crying “ee stole me rose matey.”

•belle straight up using the stick like a musket

•OML SO I NOW SEE THE EYES ON THE PUPPET AND IM LOSING MY DAMN MIND.

•storage space! Storage space! For all of Lumiere’s shoes! His shoes yes he had a feel large collection of shoes- he rather likes Heels-

Cogsworth.

What?

Stop talking.

•while my love massages my tight caves.

I’ll massage your caves Gaston!

Who has no one snatched you up yet? (He didn’t say girl :0)

•everyones awed and inspired by au

Gaston placing a hand to his chest.

•Gaston kissing his own portait, no bimbettes Lefou sings their line, no Tom , Dick or stanley that I can see either

•they all start russian dancing instead of the stopping/sword fight. Weird flex but ok.

Now the girls are... is that the cancan?

•Fun cult activity’s with friends

•lefou dreamily gasping over gaston along with the women.

•WHERED THE UKALELE COME FROM?!

• they kept my favorite line :)

•So Gaston has the French flag now? Also Maurice runs in automatically? Damn there goes pacing i guess- like aren’t they supposed to be together for at least awhile before going after her jeez

•why’s every single woman in this show use a super high pitched cutesy voice “YeAaA!” Is the audience one year olds and dogs???

•Gaston was a captain :0 Damn high rank.

•or a Budae *laughing* *distant roar* *s c r e a m *

•Madame de Garderobe has me screaming lmaoooo

•Mrs.Potts was a governess? Wack.

•ok so I cant describe the noise i made

L: OH YES! Darling

P: high pitched giggling.

The stage is still black and I can’t breathe-

They were definitely- whatever the equivalent would be of making out

•This plan is uh Dangerous~

I’m-I’m gay for the featherduster. This is not allowed. THEY ARE SO CUTE I CANNOT FUNCTION.

*more adorable couple giggling*

Cogsworth coughing

•food fashion show.. I cannot... I can’t function.

•Lumiere being dramatic:

Coggsworth: if i had hands, I’d slap you.

•*Whispers*Skin.

That’s- that’s not creepy at all lmao.

C’Est LA SALADE I CANT BREATHE WHATS HAPPENING.

•you lost me 2 verses ago now there’s cheese

•no one:

Plumette giggling and calling out everything:

•HOW IS MADAME DOWNSTAIRS IM SO CONFUSED

•OWWWWWWWWEWWWWWWWWWWW.

That hurts.

•ok so Mrs. Potts being a governess in this version now makes sense as she’s the one to start days in the sun instead of the queen/little Adam

•So Candenza is completely gone from this version????? So Lumierè and Plumette get both love lines from the song. Their still busy being cute as hell tho. (Does this imply their also singers? Pretty sure their still just footman/maid.)

•cogsworth now has Mrs.Potts lines but his voice is great.

•instead of soup it’s tea he I N H A L E and belle looks SO done lmao. Also no library?

•oh jeez yea no library just straight into something there.

•oh so the library is now IN something there, alright.

•Adam just DECKS Lumiere. Idk what that was about lmao - showing he’s nice now by uppercutting a candlestick across the room.

• BELLE:D this dork-

•Hes making jokes now.

•SWORDS. FIGHTING.

•”we love you.” But... everyone is still all-

Ok so either Mrs.Potts is a massive liar or they don’t count

•the dress is low key just as underwhelming as in the film

• Adam is trying *SHOVES CHAMPAGNE IN FACE*

•Plumette keeps running on and off stage idk what that’s about.

•the danceeeee

•Adam keeps talking about his mom

•no evermore ;-; my favorite song and it’s gone for a 5 second day’s in the sun reprise.

I’m wounded.

•belle casually taking a dudes knife to cut them free

•I feel like the mob song is cute down a lot, also Lumiere comes in sliding on his knees. Respect.

•”Gaston help.” Is kinda like nothing now as they have been so comedic. I feel nothing.

•i like the way they executed the final fight (beast/Gaston as servents vs the villages was literally nothing.)

•Lumiere sliding in on his knees again *French accent*YAAAAAAS

•ok so the death scene still hurts me like a truck.

Lumire: guys we did it :)

*literally watches the love of his life, his best friend and other friends die(yes it’s technically death.)*

Everyone steps away from the puppet and turns around, the lighting goes dark I’m - ;-;

•the prince is low key better in the suit the guy playing him is uhhhhhhhh I know the whole point is to look past Appearance but who’s dad is this?

•I’m absolutely SCREAMING. Instead of the dramatic one by one they all pop up together and collectively go :00000 what?! Whoa!

•Lumiere and Plumette low key not even a “hi.” Just kiss and start dancing. Mood.

•Ballet attack part 2 and middle aged prince returns.

•No chip or Madame at the end either! :0

•oh wait here’s chip!

Cogsworth melting in the background is me

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬/𝐏𝗼𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐬

so as I’ve said it’s like a mash up of the original and the remake with some of the choices it makes, I think it really makes or breaks some of the characters.

Lefou/Gaston-

Both of them fell back more into their Cartoon counterparts of : here to be the bad guy, here to be funny. Both of them become so overly comedic that you wouldn’t be able to tell who’s line was whos if you were shown them without being told. I think , funny as they were it negatively effected their character’s. Same case with the beast he definitely became more comedic if anything at all.

Lumierè/Cogsworth/Plumette-

These guys I think are the opposite. I think having a slight bit more of the animated made both banter and flirting hike it’s way up. Cogsworth and Lumierè were more showy in their banter , while Lumierè and Plumette were much more loud and showy with banter. Also the accents are art. Mrs. Potts was there to be the mother like figure and not given much of herself

Rip to chip who had like 4 lines and didn’t even show up to seconds before curtain. Also Madame de Garderobe who was there to be a good singer and nothing more as she lost her whole arc.Rip to Cadenza, Frou frou , Chapu and Philippe for being written out all together.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬/𝐭𝐡𝗼𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬

As I’ve said the changes either make or break some moments, like adding a overwhelming amount of comedy like the og movie. As funny as it was it did not have that same weight/gravity the remake did in its more serious/emotional scenes like the death/human again scenes I felt little here and Gaston betraying Lefou. As well as having the more serious/soft songs as the remake really backfired with so much comedy, and not even the more Witty subtle humor of the movie. Funny, but odd as character choice

So I know you had to cut it down a lot in order to fit it on stage however, nessisary parts or songs (evermore ;-;) were completely excluded likely do to the slightly unessisary over extension of dance numbers in Gaston(that didn’t need it) and Be our guest. Which could have been time better spent.

The servants are the absolute saving grace of this musical. The costumes! Oh!(again cogsworths wig is my life.) the humor! The acting, the singing, the relationships- all of it- all of it. They carry the entire thing, and if I’m honest it’s mainly Lumierè, Cogsworth and Plumette, occasionally Mrs. Potts if you stretch.

#batb 2017 #beauty and the beast 2017 #disney cruise #disney cruise show????#buckle up bitches #la salde #this was meant to have photos forgive me im lazy

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popculture-etc · 4 years

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Kenny Rogers, Adam Schlesinger,...coping with 2020

Worst year ever although there were some good.

It’s too early yet for me to do a quick look back on what 2020 is like here as we’re only going to be in the first of December tomorrow (it’s Nov 30 here) but I just have to as two losses this year broke me. Kind of, well, especially the second one.

You see, before East Asian pop, Jpop and Kpop, Western pop culture was my thing. It still is and this pandemic has made me go back to that recently starting with...the Beach Boys (their westcoast sound caught me, hook, line, and sinker and I wasn’t very fond of the Beatles to begin with...to be completely honest) I’m currently chillin’ to right now, as I write this post. I’m really weak to the westcoast sound. Beach sound/s in general, rather. I’m a big fan of the beach where nature goes, for one. Since some time, a few years ago, deep chill and tropical house music has been my go-to when I want to chill or calm myself down after an outburst of sorts and I put them on when I just feel meh, especially on Fridays. When I dream of being by the sea, the beach or in some island on my own. I live in a country with a lot of beaches and the Visayas here is basically island region Philippines, lol. Like most people, I listen to music according to mood just like the way I dress according to mood. And...it’s no wonder, really that I’m so into the Beach Boys now. RIP the Beatles. My dad played some songs of theirs on the guitar or so but the hold they have on me waned later on and I just think now how overrated they were back then. They did have good songs but when talking of good music, as in really good that it retains the same sound style or so, it’s the Beach Boys for me. Brian Wilson is the man despite his issues and personal struggles.

Anyway, we’re going quickly off tangent. I’ll save the Beach Boys fangirling for another day. lol.

I grew up with western pop culture rife all around me thanks to my American, cowboy country and folk music listening dad, my Carpenters-loving mom and then, college-aged aunts who’d made me see the Titanic film more than my fingers could count---the third is clearly an exaggeration but well...some of it is true and they were why I got into American films like Pretty Woman (we have this in good ol’ VHS in our family home, my grandparents’ in Jasaan), Mannequin, Ghost etc. in the late 80s, coming into the early 90s. So, tired of all the kdrama and uninteresting kvariety shows on tvn and the rebranded local channel, Kapamilya (long story for what we formerly know as ABS-CBN, the nation’s a mess right now and our gov’t’s just...ick!), I’d retreated to my cave and got into old tv shows I’d watched as a kid instead like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and it’s been, well, moving on from there. I’m checking out Twin Peaks later. I’ve been watching old Hollywood films too. Some revisits on this include: Casablanca, Gone With The Wind, and especially A Streetcar Named Desire will always and forever be my favorite. Very young and cute and good looking Marlon Brando, ugh. I have some others in the stash which include Bonnie and Clyde I’ll be getting into much, much later, maybe over the weekends and holidays. In sum, I have a long history with western pop culture, especially America’s, more than I have with Japan’s and South Korea’s. The latter being very, very recent so it doesn’t really compare as much.

Let’s get right down to it...

So 2020 had us lose Kenny Rogers to natural causes on March 20 in a hospice and after, Adam Schlesinger to COVID 19 complications on April 1. I know the latter as the songwriter of The Wonders’ That Thing You Do from the film sharing the same song title. I know Kenny Rogers well because my dad listens to him over and over in the car. In pretty much the same way, I know the words to Islands in the Stream by heart and I accept and revere it as one of the best, if not THE BEST country-pop duet songs of all time between Kenny and Dolly Parton...as far as country and pop music in the US of A’re concerned, of course. Miley and Shawn Mendez’s cover of it I’d seen recently was alright but nothing still beats the OG one, as always. With music, it’s just, really always the case.

Kenny departing from us March this year was alright. He was well cared for in a hospice and at the right age too, to leave us and this mess of a world behind for the afterlife. Sounds grim but not really. Heh. He died of natural causes so we know he was at peace and accepted then that his time has come. Fans and long-time listeners of his should also be at peace with this knowledge. I don’t consider myself a fan but since he’s been around so much because my dad plays his songs in the car often, I’m the same. I’ve accepted his passing away early this year. He’s lived his life well and given us good music to listen to should we like to remember him and his works and celebrate his life and legacy doing so.

Schlesinger’s case was way worse because, well, COVID 19. And it’s well...I guess we all saw it coming, me included, that I’d just learned, watching the one of many national English news on ANC that ‘pandemic’ is the word of the year according to Merriam-Webster. Timely, huh? Yep. Predictable, really. Sarcasm noted here.

So if someone ever asks what 2020 was about, we only have to say that according to Merriam-Webster, it’s the global (COVID 19) pandemic. Short, not-so-sweet, succinct, and grim. Yep.

This one, Schlesinger’s case, is something I still find difficult to accept. He was only 52 years old! He was at the prime of his life and had some projects still he was working on at the time of his passing so WHY?! I suppose that’s all of us who followed him and his extensive work on tv, film, the stage and his own band, Fountains of Wayne when we heard news he’s passed away due to COVID 19 complications. It’s definitely me now though I learned of it late. Heh.

To cope with the sadness of losing Schlesinger, gone too soon at 52 years old and with an impressive Hollywood tv, stage, film resume to his name since and his own band’s, Fountains of Wayne (FoW) really good discography, by the way, I’ve been listening to FoW’s Welcome Interstate Managers---all of the contents of said album/record---and That Thing You Do’s OST with the Beach Boys’ Sounds of Summer Best of in between. My favorite song on Welcome Interstate Managers is the sarcastic take on real life as an everyday worker in sales, Bright Future in Sales. As much as I like chill sounds where music goes, I like me some music with lyrics jolting us back to grim reality in much the same way I like films (indies, mostly, or lesser known short and full-length ones) that tackle social issues not frequently discussed in public or so but we are aware are there, still plaguing much of today’s society. I live for cynical, satirical, ironic, and even hyperbolic stuff about real life actually. It may be why I’m so entrenched and attached to the era where we all hated ourselves---the 90s. Although one would say much of that sentiment or feeling did carry itself to the 2000s, though. I don’t know about you, but until now, I still hate or have heavy dislike for myself and everything else around me, especially our gov’t or current admin here in the Philippines, and people in general so I don’t think it ever really goes away. And going off tangent again for the nth time today.

Anyway, my 1996 was That Thing You Do on HBO in our household...on and off along with other 90s films like The Craft, Clueless, Jawbreakers (I think this still plays in Cinemax from time to time) so of course losing Schlesinger also was...rather, is hard. He’s done so much and he was supposed to be working on more and he’s left such a deep mark here for us, avid fans of American pop culture...I suppose, even the casual ones. Aside from his That Thing You Do, I’d also seen Josie and the Pussycats at some point. I don’t remember when, where...though I did watch some episodes of the cartoon on Cartoon Network (CN) so of course, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the film of it as well. He worked on a track or some tracks there, too.

2020 sucks. COVID 19 sucks. This global pandemic sucks. But at least there’re films, tv shows, music, stage musical plays turned movies (Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick...Boom! is coming to us soon with Andrew Garfield in the lead---I’m wary of Garfield being a forgettable actor since The Amazing Spider Man because Dane Dehaan was what made that for me, to be quite honest so I’m not so sure of him being Jon here and as a self-respecting Larson fan since Rent, I’d rather they casted Neil Patrick Harris/NPH since he was in the London stage for this way back anyway...) to keep us entertained and fine until then. What would it take for ‘rona, and I’m not talking about the American Corona beer here that’s really popular in the west coast, to go away? I, like the rest of you in self isolation or quarantine, tend to think so but I don’t think we’ll have any answer to that until the vaccines are well underway by spring next year. Or at least, that’s what health authorities and scientists tell us anyway. I get reminded of it often in the news and I only tune in to that once in a while now because even that, following that daily, breaks my mental faculties down due to stress and pressure and all and I can’t have that when I still have so much, at the back of my mind, to do.

But anyway, time to conclude this one with one of my favorite The Wonders songs, All My Only Dreams just to end on a good note, better than the last paragraph’s ending at least and to remember Schlesinger as well that we’d lost this year along with plenty others we’d met in passing who’ve also left this world especially due to COVID 19 complications. I know we know a lot of those. For me, it’s a distant relative or family member I’d known since young but don’t have particular fluffy bunny feelings for because of some things that happened between the guy and me growing up in the NCR/Caloocan City to be exact. There’s also my good friend and former co-worker’s only remaining parent, her dad and a few more, I’m sure. So I hope 2021 would be better but I doubt it...very much. It’s still looking pretty dim, grim and bleak from here, where I’m currently standing in 2020.

Before we really end though, COVID 19 is definitely not a hoax. It hasn’t been since the first cases started in Wuhan, China. It’s just, only been getting worse and still continue to claim lives and spread to more people even those at home. So as someone who comes from a household of mostly medical workers or health care workers here, we should really be very careful about and around it. Let’s take the necessary health protocols seriously like wearing a mask out and maybe the face shield too and always keeping the sanitizers, alcohols in our bags among others---hygiene and sanitation, disinfection. It may come off really anal of me and I am not anal (I don’t like people with Type A personalities in the first place, lol...I’m just a very cautious Virgo, really, and a Type X---mix of Type C and D personalities) but seriously, SERIOUSLY, I can’t stress this enough, COVID 19, the virus SARS-COV2, that causes it is real. Very real and once it’s in your system, it can go the fatal, deadly way or just the mild and you’ll recover later anyway way. It’s not picking which people should die next and which should not, really. It’s really just there making a mess of things that are already messy since the beginning. My point being, it’s just better if we don’t spread it or are careful enough not to contract it with following health protocols set by health experts, scientists to help us get by this...pandemic.

Well here’s to 2020 being over soon and 2021 creeping in on us soon enough.

P.S.

Billie Armstrong of Greenday upped a cover of That Thing You Do as a tribute to Adam and the youtube live of the Wonders coming together again to pay tribute to and celebrate Adam’s life may still be up on the ‘tube. I have yet to see the latter but enjoyed the former. They are just so...sweet and precious. Ugh. Adam Schlesinger, gone too soon indeed. :(

PPS

Another songwriter/contributor in the TTYD OST passed away last year, too. Rick Elias. Cause of death is brain cancer. I had a friend from college, young and so full of life and dreams, who passed away due to the same thing so I’m kind of aware how this goes. Ugh. Cancer sucks. All of these are just so...sad. Depressing, actually.

youtube

#Adam Schlesinger #Kenny Rogers #american pop culture #USA #United States of America #That Thing You Do #Fountains of Wayne #music #entertainment #Hollywood #loss #COVID 19 #2020 #2020 is the worst year ever #what's next 2021?#A year in music #a year in american pop culture #a year in american rock and roll and pop music

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mirkwoodshewolf · 5 years

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Aladdin Queen fic John Deacon x reader Chap. 8; Love is formed

*Author’s note*

Okay everyone here it is, my most FAVORITE SONG OF ALADDIN AND MY FAV. PART TO WRITE. And since I love both versions of this song SOOOO much I leave it up to you all on what you want to listen to. Whether its the OG or the LA version I’ll have both links up for you all to enjoy. So I’ll shut up now and let you all get to it and OHHH CHALLENGE ESP. TO US GIRLS!!! DON’T. SING. JASMINE’S PART!!!!! Since you the reader are basically Aladdin’s part you’re gonna have to sing the male part while Deacy takes over the female vocals hehehe. So hope you all enjoy that challenge :)

OG version

LA version

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@psychosupernatural

@waddles03

@ixchel-9275

@georgesgentlyweepingguitar

@queendeakyy

@simonedk

@kairosfreddie

@geek-and-proud

_________________________________________________________

After the party Freddie and I were in my guest room with my pacing around and Freddie brushing out his hair with his disguise now dropped.

“He just—walked out.”

“Perhaps I might’ve gone too far with the splits, but darling let’s be honest here. That dance was probably the best thing you will ever do in your entire life.”

“I was pretty good wasn’t I?” I bragged still remembering the look on that bitch Priyanka’s face as she tucked and run. But then I thought back to John, I mean nothing seems to impress him and I thought all royals loved treasures or women fighting over them. “But nothing seems to impress him.”

“I know. Not gems or jams or jewels. I mean if I can’t impress him, I wonder who can?” I looked out of my balcony to see just across from my balcony was the Princes’ balcony. I saw John with Roger and Jim and the three of them went back into the room.

“What are you saying Freddie?” I asked as I turned towards him.

“I’m just saying maybe just try being yourself.”

“I already told you, he has to marry a Princess.” I sighed as I turned back towards the Princes’ balcony. “If I only just had a few minutes alone with him.” Then an idea came into my mind. “You have to get me over there?”

“That an official wish?” he asked me as he shook out his hair and turned towards me.

“No it’s more of a—favor. For a friend.”

“Sorry dear, genies really don’t do favors.” He said as he turned back towards the mirror and observed himself. “Plus we don’t really do friends.”

“But I thought you said you never had a friend like me.”

“See that’s where you’re wrong (y/n). I said you never had a friend like me. See when you’re a genie, people always want things from you it’s just—awkward.” He placed a turban on top of his head and modeled it wondering if it looked good on him. That’s when I got a clever idea.

“Yeah, you’re right. Besides it would’ve involved distracting a—certain animal keeper to the Princes.”

“Oh-ho I see where this is going you clever minx, I hook you up, you hook me up, right?” Freddie said as came up in front of me with a wide smile while I just grinned back at him.

*3rd Person POV*

Now back in his disguise Freddie appeared at the Princes’ door and extended his hand outwards to the door, then using his magic he made three knocks sound off before they opened to reveal Jim. He was surprised to see the advisor to the Princess and Freddie greeted him with a smile.

“Good evening.”

“How did you get past the guards?” questioned Jim.

“Oh I uhh—I snuck past them.”

“All 48 of them? Even the ones that spit fire? Impressive.” Jim said in a blunt tone.

“Well—that’s what people say about me.” Freddie chuckled nervously. Jim however just gave him an unimpressed look. “Oh that—that came out arrogant didn’t it? I mean I’m not overly arrogant or a prick I just I don’t know why I said that. Uhh….” He then saved himself by bring out from his back, a small bouquet of roses.

“They’re lovely.” Jim awed. “He’ll hate them.” Jim then suddenly spoke with a blunt matter-of-fact tone. “Tell the Princess that the way to Prince John’s heart is through his mind.”

“Actually these are from me—to you.” Freddie said. Jim’s face softened and he said softly.

“Could you excuse me for one moment?” Jim said as he reached for the doors and slowly closed them.

“No, wait I just….” Freddie tried to save himself but the doors closed in on him before he could say another word.

Jim remained calm as he slowly turned towards the Princes before finally letting go and silently pumping his arms up and down in victory. John, Brian and Roger also mouthed out a cheer for him.

Meanwhile from the hallway Freddie turned his head angrily muttering to himself.

“‘Not that I’m overly arrogant’ really Freddie? That made you sound like a right up arsehole basically.” The doors opened up and Freddie turned back and smiled at Jim. Jim took the roses and said.

“My favorite, I plant these all the time back home for the Princes garden. You may continue.”

“I was noticing of how—pleasant the evening is. At the party I noticed you noticing…me how—pleasant I am. Right, how is this going?” Freddie stammered awkwardly before asking cautiously.

“It’s clumsy. But in a…..charming sort of way.” Jim answered him honestly.

“A stroll.” Freddie blurted out. “Would you like to take an evening stroll with me?”

“Just the two of us? On purpose?”

“Yes, as people.” Jim was silent once again before whispering softly.

“Just one more minute.”

“Okay.” As Jim closed the doors once more, Freddie muttered, “Why the fuck would I say that?” as the doors fully closed he turned aside and softly growled “That woman is contagious!”

Inside the room, Jim tossed the bouquet over to John who caught it and he gestured and mouthed out ‘go’ to Jim. Jim opened the doors once again and he said to Freddie.

“I’ve never really been on a stroll, how does it work?”

“Follow me my dear and I’ll show you.” The two men then walked side by side of each other, their hands briefly rubbing off against one another.

*My POV*

“I’m happy Jim finally found someone while we were here.” I heard Prince Brian say from the balcony.

“Yeah, he seems to be happy with Ali’s advisor. He looks like he’s a lot of fun, maybe I’ll ask if he’d like to go for a ride in the gardens.” Prince Roger spoke.

“You know you just wanna interrogate the poor guy in case he hurts Jim.” John’s voice spoke up.

“I just care about Jim’s wellbeing. I mean remember that one arsehole that used him to get to us, mainly you Brian.”

“I’d—rather not talk about that thank you Rog.” I then decided to make my presence known so I knocked on the corner of the wall and I heard John say.

“Come in.”

“Actually I’m already in.” I said cautiously as I came around the column pillar.

“Don’t move!” John warned me. That’s when I saw both the lion and lioness stand up and growl at me, but the lioness seemed more protective as she looked like she was ready to attack me.

“I just came back because you left so…..”

“How did you—get there?” he asked curiously. I closed me mouth and said the first two words that came to my mind.

“Magic carpet?” he just scoffed at me.

“I, for one, am glad you’re here though Princess Ali.” Spoke Prince Brian as he stood up holding some sort of creature in his hand. It looked kinda like a mongoose of sorts but it wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen before. It was big, probably the size of a domestic cat, it had grey fur for the back but black on its underbelly, around it’s face was white with black lines along the eyes.

“You are?”

“Yes. For hours I’ve been trying to find Ababwa but it doesn’t seem to be on any of my maps. Care to show me?”

“Well I…..”

“Yes. I would also like to know just why your kingdom isn’t on any map.” John spoke up as he crossed his arms. As I took a step forward, the lioness took a step forward while the male lion softly roared. “Now Nala. You and your brother can’t eat the princess tonight she needs her legs for dancing.”

“Did I go too far with the split?” I asked as I finally began walking forward while the two big cats were distracted.

“A little. Ababwa?”

“Yes.” I spoke loudly before finally muttering to myself, “Freddie I need to find Ababwa, they have maps, lots of maps.” I cleared my throat as I finally stood by the two princes and picked up the map and held it over my face in between me and John’s face specifically. “Ababwa, of course.” I remained silent for a bit before finally saying again, “Ababwa.”

Finally I saw a cartoon drawing of Freddie on the map in his genie formed and he waved at me. He then began flying about and I followed his frantic movements as his genie tail began drawing random kingdoms at the center. Along a banner it read ‘WEMBLEY KINGDOM.’

‘Not funny Freddie!’ I mouthed at him. He then waved another banner in big bold letters that read JUST BE YOURSELF, his drawing scowling at me with his arms crossed. ‘Fred enough of…..’ John’s hand came on top of the map and he bent it over as he told me.

“Have you lost your country?” oh Allah say something you idiot.

“What no? No! No not at all its……” I set the map down trying to stand between the map and John. “It’s right here.” I pointed in a random spot. His brow rose skeptically as he said.

“I don’t think so, see I was with Brian when he was—” he looked down and low and behold Freddie had drawn the fake kingdom of Ababwa and gotten rid of the other drawings he had done, even his drawing was gone.

“There it is!” I exclaimed cheerfully. John and Brian hovered over the map and Brian said.

“How did I miss that?”

“Well I mean who needs maps anyways? They’re old, and useless and add no practical value.” I said as I took the map away from the desk.

“Maps are how we see the world.” Brian said as he set down his pet.

“But I thought a prince could go anywhere?” I asked. All three of them had solemn faces as Roger finally spoke up.

“Not these princes unfortunately.” John especially seemed to look the most solemn and heartbroken.

“Well, if you’d—Prince John I’d gladly oh!” I felt a brush up against my leg and a soft bite on my shoe. I know it wasn’t intentionally at my foot per-say, but I did feel small teeth nibble into my skin.

“Ahh Lulu naughty girl!” Prince Brian scolded as he came up and picked the creature up. “Sorry, she’s always been a curious little badger but I’ve never seen her act like this before.” Then just before Brian could catch her, she went between my legs, her medium sized body knocking into my heels sending me towards the ground.

“Oh dear Princess Ali are you…..” just before Brian could help me up, the male lion stood between him and I.

“Simba! Nala!” Roger proclaimed as I was now surrounded by two massive big cats. The female lioness standing right over me growling right into my face for a bit till it suddenly softened.

The male’s face also softened and soon the female slowly licked my face from my forehead down to my chin. The two of them softly bellowed a soft roar as I said.

“Thank you…..Nala.” I scratched the side of her face and she leaned into my hand and accepted my scratches while Simba came up and plopped right down beside me and raised his paw up and wrapped it around my neck which ended up bringing me down and forcing my face to be buried into his dark mane.

“Incredible.” I heard Brian mutter. Once I had my fill of lion snuggles and managed to break free of their loving grips, I adjusted myself and said as I walked out towards the balcony.

“I was saying you should really see these places. I mean there’s a whole world beyond books and maps. Do you want to?”

“How? There are guards at every door.” John stated bluntly as he looked at me.

“Who said anything about using a door?” I said as I walked towards the railing.

“What are you doing?” John’s tone turned into an alarmed tone as he came down the steps.

“Sometimes my English Princes, you just—have to take a risk.” I said as I swung over to the other side of the railing before finally letting go.

*John’s POV*

We all let out a gasp as Princess Ali just fell to her death. All was quiet as I looked from side to side.

“Please tell me we didn’t just witness a suicide.” Spoke Roger. Suddenly slowly rising up sitting perfectly fine and alive was Princess Ali on top of a—no way they really do exist? I thought these things were just stories.

“Is this…..” I asked as I walked up to her.

“A magic carpet? Yeah.” She scooted closer to the edge of the carpet and said to me, “Do you trust me?” wait a second. Did—did she just say what I thought she said?

“What?”

“Do you trust me?” she said again as she extended her hand out to mine. I turned towards Brian and Roger and they nodded and gestured for me to go on. I turned back towards Ali and gave her my hand as I said.

“Yes.” She then helped me onto the magic carpet. The two of us sat down on top of the magic carpet and as Nala came up towards the balcony bellowing out a whine, the carpet took off flying over the entire city.

It was then I heard Ali beginning to sing, and my god she—had the voice of an angel. The only other voice to sing so sweetly like that was my mother. We flew through the tight alleyways of the Agrabah city and I couldn’t help but be in awe of the city at night. When I turned back towards Ali, she had a small plum petunia in her hand and she held it out to me.

I took it and sniffed it as it’s delicate scent tickled my nose as we continued to fly through the rooftops of the city now before flying high into the sky. Going up and over the clouds before slowly diving back down through them, like whales breaching in the ocean. Even going as far to fly across the moon.

*Ali*

I can show you the world Shining, shimmering, splendid Tell me, my prince, now when did You last let your heart decide?

I can open your eyes Take you wonder by wonder Over, sideways and under On a magic carpet ride

A whole new world A new fantastic point of view No one to tell us no Or where to go Or say we're only dreaming

I then began to feel the song in my heart as we continued to fly high over the clouds. Soon the magic carpet even handed us some armful of clouds for Ali and I to hold.

Never did I dream that I would actually get to hold a cloud it was more—fluffier than I imagined. Kinda like feeling stuffing.

As Ali’s cloud broke apart, I released my cloud go as we spun around a cloud making it into the shape of whipped cream topping before doing a loop-de-loop. We now flew alongside a flock of cranes and I couldn’t help but extend my arms out, it was then we were briefly tossed off the carpet before being caught again, doing somersaults as we went higher and higher into the diamond lit sky.

*Me*

A whole new world A dazzling place I never knew But when I'm way up here It's crystal clear That now I'm in a whole new world with you *Ali*

Now I'm in a whole new world with you

*Me*

Unbelievable sights Indescribable feeling Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling Through an endless diamond sky

A whole new world

We flew straight down from the sky and through the clouds to see a river coming up. I closed my eyes but she took my wrists and gently took them away from my eyes as we flew right over the water before going back up towards the sky to see the city of Agra. The Taj Mahal standing so proudly just ahead as we flew over it.

We then flew far out of the city towards the open desert to see a herd of wild horses running freely. As we got closer to them, I stroked the youngest stallion underneath his chin and he whinnied while we flew on ahead of the herd. *Ali*

Don't you dare close your eyes *Me*

A hundred thousand things to see *Ali*

Hold your breath - it gets better *Me*

I'm like a shooting star I've come so far I can't go back to where I used to be

*Ali*

A whole new world *Me*

Every turn a surprise *Ali*

With new horizons to pursue *Me*

Every moment red-letter

Now flying over the Indian ocean we both looked down to see the dolphins swimming up to the surface doing their breaching technique, the moon bouncing off the water gave it a beautiful glow and as I looked towards Ali, the moon also gave her an ethereal beauty, especially from her raven hair to her bright (e/c) eyes.

We turned to face each other as our song came to a close and I could feel my heart beat just a little bit faster at seeing her eyes shine like the stars under the moonlight. *Both*

I'll chase them anywhere There's time to spare Let me share this whole new world with you

*Ali (Me)*

A whole new world (A whole new world)

That's where we'll be (that’s where we’ll be) *Ali*

A thrilling chase *Me*

A wondrous place *Both*

For you and me

We leaned up against each other, my head on top of hers and her head resting against my shoulder as my hand gently took hers and they intertwined with each other’s.

After seeing the world we stopped right back into the city of Agrabah to see the people having a celebration of their own in the middle of their city. A large bonfire was at the center, drummers banging on the drums in rhythm while the people danced in a circle and cheered. I looked over to Ali and took off my white vest and draped it over her shoulders to keep her warm. She turned to me and smiled in gratitude.

“Of all the places you’ve shown me tonight this is by far the most beautiful.”

“Sometimes you just have to look at it from a new perspective.” She answered.

“It’s them. The people. No matter what skin color they are, they make it beautiful. And they deserve to have an ally who knows that. I don’t see how that ever could be me.”

“Because it should be you.” She answered.

“Do you really think so?” I asked as I turned to face her.

“Does it really matter what I think?” she said as she tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, much like how (y/n) did a couple nights ago.

But it—it couldn’t be her. Could it? So I decided to test something out.

“You know,” I slowly moved my arm around her waist. “It’s a shame that Abu had to miss this.”

“Nah, he hates parties, besides he’s……” she stopped talking and I saw her face fall. So it was her. It was (y/n)!

“I knew it, you are (y/n)! Why did you lie to me!?” I said as I backed away from her.

“John I’m sorry.” She pleaded. No she doesn’t get any mercy from me.

“Did you really think I was stupid? That I wouldn’t figure it out?!”

“No, no you’re not stupid I was just….”

“Tell me the truth. Is your name (Y/n) or Ali?!”

“I’m Princess Ali.”

“So (y/n) wasn’t real?”

“No she is! Because I’m also (y/n). I—just use the name (y/n) for when I need to disguise myself amongst the commoners. To—escape the pressures of palace life.” I just looked at her with a skeptical glare and I asked her.

“Why didn’t you just tell me the day we met?”

“Well I mean you know—royalty going out into the city in disguise it sounds kinda strange don’t it?” well she’s got me there. I mean after it was my idea that Roger and I dress as commoners to escape the palace just shortly after we had arrived.

“Not that strange.” I said as I gently nudged her shoulder with mine. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. Is just I can’t believe I didn’t recognize you.”

“It’s okay. People just don’t see the real you when you’re royalty.” Don’t I know that much. We looked at each other and that’s when I returned the favor and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“We should—” she started off. I looked down at her and she continued, “We should head back.”

“Already?” I sighed and that’s when Ali had the magic carpet take us back to the palace.

We arrived back at my balcony and I could see the lights were off, so I’m hoping Brian and Roger are asleep by now. Ali helped me off the magic carpet and handed me back my vest and that’s when the magic carpet lowered itself down.

“Goodnight, Princess Ali.”

“Sweet dreams, Prince John.” She said softly with a soft smile. Slowly the two of us began leaning forward when suddenly she was pushed right up into my face. Well I guess I’ll have the thank that magic carpet tomorrow. I then leaned the rest of the way and softly kissed her lips.

She kissed me back and it felt like an eternity before the desperate need for air became necessary. I pulled away before giving her a warm smile and turning my back on her to walk into our room.

*3rd Person POV*

After the kiss and John turned back into his room, (y/n) extended her arms outward as she whispered.

“Yes.” Before falling back onto Carpet who flew away from the balcony and (y/n) let out a giggly, whooping cheer. However she was unaware of Iago who had witnessed the entire thing.

“Fascinating.” He crooned darkly.

Back in her room, Carpet stopped right at her balcony where Freddie now in full genie mode was drinking a cup of vodka and he said as he saw (y/n)’s face.

“Ohh I love that face. Good date?”

“The best.” She answered with a reply.

Meanwhile in the Princes room Roger and Brian who were still awake while Jim was preparing John for bed, John said to them.

“But it was better than the best.”

“Wow Deacy, who would’ve thought you had it in you.” Roger praised.

“However the thing was Roger we’ve actually met her.”

“Wait what do you mean?”

“He even figured out that I was (y/n). You said that wouldn’t happen.” (y/n) told Freddie.

“Well genie magic is really just a façade. Eventually real characters are always gonna show up. But that’s a good thing, right? Now he knows.”

“Well…..” she dragged out.

“Wai—hold-hold up now. What?”

“She told me that she was only pretending to be a thief to escape the stress of palace life, but she’s really a Princess.” John explained to Roger just after Jim finished brushing his hair. “Thank you Jim, you can retire for the night.”

“Thank you Prince John. Good night boys.”

“Night Jim.” Said Brian.

“G’night Jimmy boy” Roger called out as Jim left their bedrooms to go to his sleeping quarters.

“And you believed that?” asked Roger.

“I think so.” John said as he got into his bed.

“(Y/n) darling, eventually you are going to have to tell him the truth.”

“Eventually I will tell him Freddie. But anyway, how was your stroll with Jim?”

“Oh no, no, no you are not turning the conversation around dear.”

“I’m not I’m genuinely curious. How did it go?” Freddie looked at me skeptically but when he saw that I wasn’t lying to him, he proceeded to tell me everything. He seemed to really like Jim, and heck maybe by the end of it all, maybe they could end up together. Sure it’s frowned upon but love is love and that’s how everyone should live their lives, right?

Brian turned to his side to face John and asked him.

“You don’t think that maybe you want believe her because you have to marry a Princess, but can’t marry a thief?”

“No Brian. I believe her. I do.” John said affirmatively. He looked up at the ceiling before sighing softly and shutting his eyes to rest for a new day.

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terribleben10opinions · 5 years

Text

How I would’ve balanced the aliens in Alien Force (Part 1)

The FOOLS at Cartoon Network never thought to consult ME THE SMARTEST MAN ALIVE when designing Ben’s new roster of aliens and I think they made them a touch too capable. Having overpowered aliens really isn’t a problem, the threats are bigger this series so it makes sense to boost up Ben’s abilities but I think in doing so they made Ben not have to out think his problems as much and allowed him to just smash. Example, if in the OG series Ben had to fight a big guy probs Fourarms or Diamondhead is the best choice but if he gets Ripjaws he seems screwed BUT he’ll usually figure a way around it, maybe move the battle to water, maybe play possum then vore him IDK. In Alien Force though, if Ben is fighting a big guy I can’t really think of scenario where turning into one alien is much of an advantage over another (in the first original roster, they remedied this a bit in the second and 3rd seasons). So today in another time wasting exercise I’m going to go through AF’s original 10 aliens and put in changes to make them (in my opinion) a bit more balanced to possibly make the show more interesting.

1. Big Chill

Current power set:

1. Ice breath and beams

2. Flight

3. Intangibility

4. Invulnerability to heat and cold in extreme

Revised power set:

1. Ice breath

2. Flight

3. Invulnerability to extreme cold

Revised weakness set:

1. Blinded by lights

2. Weakness to heat/sunlight

Big Chill is p obvious an homage to the mothman and I like that, I think sticking with just “cold big bug man” is good enough, in adding intangibility to the mix it makes Ben able to escape any fight relatively easy and I think it would be cooler if Big Chill was a glass cannon type. I know it’s a cliche but the heat weakness makes it so Ben’s alien who can solve problems like fires or maybe explosions also have to be careful in those situations, I also added the sunlight thing to make it so every time he smacks the watch during the day there’s a chance he has a weak alien and has to do the nick cage ghost rider thing of crawling into the shadows to use his abilities best.

2. Echo Echo

Current power set:

1. Sonic screams

2. Near infinite duplication with no hive mind (one dies? No worries m8)

Revised power set:

1. Sonic screams

2. Near infinite duplication with no hive mind EXCEPT each echo echo can split once and each one after that gets smaller, weaker and dumber

Okay we all saw the Jim Carrey Grinch movie and low key wanted to eat a glass bottle after it, so we also know how an echo works: diminishing results. I think having one or 2 full sized echo echos have to command and army of weaker tiny idiot echo echos would be really fun, like maybe there's a rly small vent so Ben has to multiple like 8 times to this thing is basically a 3 year old who’s the size of a beer can and can maybe bust down a wooden door or maybe all hope is lost, Vilgax is about to win a battle but a very smol very determined echo echo BLASTS in whatever the closest thing Vilgax has to an ear and the battle is won. I don’t exactly know how weak the echo echos should get per each split because tiny morons with destruction powers is funny. One thing that also might be cute is the intelligence thing is also based on Ben so they’ll go around blabbing his secrets or trying to eat mr.smoothie signs. I just like the idea of Ben Gwen and Kevin picking up like 20 baby echo echos and Ben being like “ur my babies and I’d kill for you but I swear to GOD if you tell them about my real doll dressed like Xylene I will KILL YOU”.

3. Goop

Current power set

1. Gooey body = indestructible

2. Can be adhesive, acidic or none

3. Super strength

Revised power set

1. Indestructable to an extent

2. Adhesive, acidic or none

Goop is a good boy, just the super strength I think makes him OP. I’m TOTALLY open to him being able to stick like a brick to himself and use it to punch people like that but I think a pile of goo held only together with a spaceship shouldn’t have super or really any strength. Maybe also once Ben learns this he stops making fingers with Goop because they really can’t do anything. I’d also just want him to be easier to separate and then get weaker because of it. Maybe theres an episode were a piece of Goop get’s left behind and it grows into a goop Ben because it think it’s him or Ben loses a finger in human form. Again over all fine though, he's a cute boy.

#ben 10 #ben 10 alien force #ben 10 alien swarm #ben 10 ultimate alien #ben 10 omniverse #goop #big chill #echo echo

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forthemultiverse · 7 years

Text

Young Justice Headcanons (2)

A Teenaged Night In

- They still found a way to blame Robin when they found out Batman had walked in on them again.

- Technically he was the one that set up the game station in the cave…

- And technically it was his hard drive of illegally downloaded TV Shows and Movies.

- It all began when Artemis outed that Dick and Wally weren’t available one night because they were at the Batcave, playing video games.

- M’gann asked what video games they played. having heard the time a few times at school, and instead of just welcoming everyone to the cave, Dick and Wally decided to relocate to the mountain.

- He linked the training simulator to the video game so it was like some super high tech virtual reality game.

- Wally and Dick started explaining how to play the game to the group and Kaldur picked it up immediately.

- He destroyed them all.

- They never saw him coming

- He’d just appear, score points, disappear and somehow gain even more points.

- Conner…not so much

- He’s a button masher but doesn’t know the actual combos

- No technique, just hit and hope for the best.

- They can’t let him play certain characters in fighter games because button mashing started to work for him and Dick refused to lose.

- They started a rotation thing, every one pairing up to try and complete one of the levels

- Dick and Wally are an unbeatable combination, they didn’t even need to communicate in full sentences.

- They just played off each other to destroy all of the bad guys

- Seeing them be such nerds and so successful set off the next part of the night.

- M’gann watched them and suddenly started singing Two-Player Game from Be More Chill

- Dick started joining in as he played, attempting to sing at the top of his lungs and still play well.

- Wally and he were distracted by the song and started stupidly dancing along to the words.

- When they completed the level and the song had stopped, everyone was laughing and wanted to know why Robin knew all of the words.

- “My dad supports theatre and stuff…” he carefully phrased. “But if we are introducing musicals, a throwback to the other night, we need to show them High School Musical.”

- “Oh my god yes!” Zatanna clapped

- That discussion turned into a full-blown debate

- They all knew that they had to show theme High School Musical, but what about all the other Disney movies?

- What order to you watch DCOMS and the normal Animated Movies

- And what about Pixar

- What about the Pixar Timeline

- Or the must-watch animated TV shows like Avatar The Last Airbender

(Fight me, we all know Wally or Dick would have watched it and worshipped it)

- They binged all three High School Musical movies, the group that already knew the words trying their best not to ruin the musical numbers

- They failed, Dick started singing and dancing ‘I Don’t Dance because it’s his jam (+he’s the youngest and a ball of sunshine with no self-control yet)

- They also starting ‘arguing’ about whether Sharpay was truly a bad character.

- They started Avatar the Last Airbender and made Kaldur do the water movement each opening credits.

- They also didn’t get very far into the episode because they kept making Kaldur copy Katara.

- They stopped because Artemis started thinking about M’gann’s love of ‘Hey Megan’

- She suggested they should watch Friends

- The thing about Artemis is, she didn’t have much of a happy childhood, and she certainly didn’t have all the TV channels or a Netflix account to watch all of these shows on.

- She watched them illegally from rooftops and closet when she was hiding from her dad. She’d watch every time he and Jade had an argument before Jade ran away.

- She binged hundreds of shows when joining Gotham Academy to try and fit in, she thought she’d understand all the references, but she was wrong.

- Watching the shows now, surrounded by a group of people who loved her, laughing out loud and saying whatever she wanted, without the fear of being found and told off/caught in the middle of an argument.

- Thinking about it all made her snuggle even closer to Wally’s chest.

- She wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.

- Artemis and Wally started the clapping in the Friends Theme Tune since they had it on constantly when they had more relaxed dates.

- Soon M’gann joined in. Overly excited, and clapping far too many times since she didn’t know what the rhythm was.

- Soon everyone was clapping randomly.

- Dick and Wally started deliberately trolling the group by clapping out of time, or adding too many times.

- They watched the first three seasons and started classifying each other as the characters.

- They didn’t settle on anyone definitely because they all kept arguing.

- Some people would say Wally was Joey, since he used to flirt with everyone - but now he was with Artemis…it was harder

- Wally said Robin was definitely a Joey but no one agreed with him. They didn’t know Dick Grayson - ward of the billionaire playboy, the Dog who kissed Barbara Gordan in a closet during his fourteenth birthday party. (Dick identifies as Janice)

- Since they’d watched friends, Raquel said they needed to watch How I Met Your Mother, since she’d started watching it from the recommended section on Netflix.

- The Slap Bet is now banned from the mountain because if Conner manages to somehow win - you are screwed

- Plus, M’gann knows if you’re cheating to get extra slaps

- And Dick always wins, even if the bet is over something as small as the most popular ice cream flavour or the name of some random background actor.

- He then goes on a mini-rant how he’s constantly pressured by Batman and the second he lives home, he’s going to relax his head and focus on the things he wants to know - like people and real team leading, not just I always have a planning team leading.

- After the mini-rant, they needed something to lighten the mood. They could see the tension Robin’s feeling about Batman, and they aren’t ready to be the catalyst to their breakup.

- Wally suggested ICarly

- The Theme tune is all that’s heard from Kaldur’s room from that point forward for about a month and a half.

- Seddie versus Ceddie.

- They’re all team Seddie, and Dick totally doesn’t make them rewatch the first kiss from Season Five three times just because he can’t deal with how amazing it was.

- That pisses Wally off even more as the gang then say that a hopeless romantic like that couldn’t possibly be a dog/flirt

- Little do they know Dick just has emotional problems that stop him from expressing his hopeless love for people.

- They thought about all the videos of them up from their last non-superhero adventure and considered making their own little online show. Just some small vlogs about them training, or the stupid things Kid Flash does.

- They decided against ever publishing them since they can’t trust themselves not to use real names by accident (or just showing too much personality that would allow people to figure out who they are)

- Batman had said they were a team to work on the sly.

(cackling from a distance)

- Robin makes the Youtube channel anyway, just in case they ever change their mind.

- Zatanna also makes a team Instagram to post short videos or photos, they all have the password so they can post whenever they feel like it.

- They have to be careful they don’t accidentally post on their civilian account

(I reckon Dick fucks up one time, and that’s how the team find out his identity, but all the civilians just assume that something’s up with the Wayne’s so the team were brought in for protection)

- Watching ICarly leads them into looking at what exactly Dick has on his hard drive

- Phineas and Ferb came on by accident, and even though they’re all tired and half asleep, it’s too entertaining to turn off.

- It also got Wally in the mood for Snow Cones, due to the Swinter episode, meaning they attempted to make them, sending him and his superspeed off to grab the stuff for it.

- Watching Phineas and Ferbs starts an OG Team meme

- “Aren’t you kids a little young to be saving the world?”

- “Yes, yes we are,”

- Batman saw the social media account and wants to know what’s going on/ Why Dick hasn’t been home for over twenty-four hours?

- He walked into the mountain, and they were all too caught up in Snow Cones, lack of sleep, and kids cartoons to notice his arrival (even though the system announced it)

- He heard them laughing and thought about all the argument’s he and Dick had been having recently.

- He thought of Artemis’s stolen childhood

- How M’gann and Kaldur were now apart of earth culture, but they never grew up here, M’gann faced discrimination on Mars, Kaldur trained in magic. They didn’t get childhoods in their worlds, and they at least should get a moment of childhood here on earth.

- He thought of Zatanna, being forced to see Fate every time the Justice League was around, and how she can’t do anything to free her dad. Her family was so close, yet, she had still lost him.

- Raquel was inspired to help people by the team, that was her choice, but it still wasn’t fair. She may have chosen to give up a normal life, but she deserved a break.

- He thought of Conner. Clark was working harder to welcome Conner into his family, but it’s hard enough dealing with teenagers and Conner had appeared as a sixteen-year-old, and he was going to be that age forever. Conner was brainwashed to think he was a weapon; he deserved to feel like he was more than that.

- He retreated into the teleporter, disappearing away to let the kids have that weekend off.

- They deserved a weekend off, a night in.

- They deserved to enjoy teenaged culture.

Part One: Teenaged Night Out

Sorry guys, I wanted to write some cutie TV show stuff plus some sadness that was just on my mind. Hope people like it <3<3

xx Scarlett

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uclaradio · 6 years

Text

Interview with City Girl

Interviewed by Jennifer Liaw

album art for Time Falls Like Moonlight, by vickisigh

City Girl is a rising LA-based lo-fi/chillhop producer that incorporates a lot of soft piano and guitar intertwined with electronic beats and vocals. Starting out on Bandcamp and Soundcloud only 10 months ago, they now have three albums out on Spotify, the latest being Time Falls Like Moonlight, released in April.

Tell us a bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? What was growing up in that city like?

I grew up in California close to LA. To be honest once I found music I never really went outside. Before that I was just playing video games and watching cartoons. I guess the internet was more of where I grew up, as opposed to any geographical place.

What music did you listen to a lot growing up? What were your favorite artists back in like middle school, for example?

In middle school it was John Frusciante, all day everyday. Something about his guitar playing really inspired me. It was soulful and beautiful and just felt perfect, like every note was exactly where it should be. In high school my music taste exploded, but John Frusciante was the majority of the first music I learned and played.

Tell us a little about how City Girl first got started.

I uploaded on the train somewhere between my apartment and you 10 months ago on Soundcloud and just emailed a bunch of Youtube channels that were taking submissions. Aurarian music accepted that first release and put it out on Youtube and got the ball rolling so City Girl could get some attention back when it was only 10-20 followers.

How did you come up with the name City Girl?

To be honest, its in honor of “City Girl” by Kevin Shields from the Lost In Translation soundtrack. I’m a huge My Bloody Valentine fan and that song of his is just so amazing.

When did you first start making music? How did you get into it, and how did you first learn how to produce a beat?

I got into guitar playing when I was 12 or so. I just played because my older brother had a guitar. I took it and just Googled how to play guitar and taught myself songs and chords. It was the most fun I’d ever had. It felt so special. I didn’t start producing for like another seven years though. I would just record onto a Tascam tape recorder and jam with friends in garages. I had friends who made lofi beats waay back when it was like CULP and Simo and Onra and john wayne and stuff, but I never got into it, I was more focused on improvising and expanding my musical repertoire in a more performance-focused way.

Are there any instruments that you would like to try out incorporating into your music that you haven't tried yet?

I want live drums but I live in an apartment. If I could record drums that would be so cool, since I play drums too and I miss it badly.

Where do you usually record your music? Describe your studio space to us.

It’s about five feet no joke from my bed haha. It’s a desk and a midi keyboard and some guitars and other little instruments like the melodica. I have speakers and an old mic. It’s super cozy, my bedroom at my apartment is just covered with vickisigh’s art, like everywhere you look it’s just cute sexy ladies in pastel colors, I love it.

vickisigh’s (Vicki Tsai) artwork, from her instagram

How would you describe the lo-fi/chillhop genre and subculture to someone who’s never been exposed to it?

It’s just a bunch of people who love making music on their computers, and to be honest only one percent is unique and actually worth your time, but the same goes for all genres, 99 percent of it is just not that good. I would be more specific but at this point lofi stands for so so much that you can’t really go much further than that.

What do you think of the lo-fi hip hop/chillhop genre in general? It's really popular right now what with the YouTube 24hr lo-fi hip hop studying beats stream and the Spotify lo-fi hip hop studying beats playlists as well... There's literally probably thousands of really similar chillhop producers on SoundCloud... does that ever make you feel swallowed up, in a sense? Or does it feel more like a really large community? How do you try to stand out as an artist among all these other producers?

It’s a tough question to answer, because you can go from quickly, quickly to in love with a ghost and still call it lofi if you want to. These artists share playlists together and Youtube mixes. Who’s to say quickly, quickly isn’t just jazz? Who’s to say in love with a ghost isn’t just electronic music? It’s not so much a genre as it is a movement of instrumental music becoming the focus itself rather than the singer/rapper. Staying unique seems simple to me as I grew up playing and learning music by ear, so I just follow my interests/inspiration and play whatever seems cool.

Which artists would you say are your biggest inspirations or that you're just blown away by and really admire within your genre? How about outside of your genre?

Well in love with a ghost stands out, like most peeps I found them on Youtube. All the tracks from Let’s Go and Healing by them are amazing. Just super cool textures and melodies, really lovely and creative music. Kupla is amazing too, he’s an amazing piano player, all of his music is great. Outside of my genre I’d say Sheena Ringo, especially her album Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana - it’s pretty much game over, this album does everything better in every regard imaginable than any other music I’ve heard. Don’t know if you can get access to it in US tho, the copyright lawyers are hard at work on this one.

What artist outside of the lo-fi hip hop genre would you really really love to collaborate with? Can you describe the kind of track you'd want to make with them?

With anyone, well shit Beyoncé right? I mean she’s the best vocalist alive next to Frank Ocean. I would just want to make something really beautiful, some In Rainbows type stuff.

Being an artist based out of Bandcamp/Soundcloud in this day means a lot of your career is kind of born out of the internet. What are your favorite and least favorite parts about the internet and spending so much time on the internet/interacting with people on the internet/sharing yourself through the internet?

I love the internet because I can share whatever I want when I want. I don’t feel a lot of pressure because I don’t have any personal accounts on social media and never have, I always just read a lot of books and listened to records and stuff. I’m sure some people think it’s mysterious or whatever that I never cared for social media, instead opting to just read Sartre or watch old movies, but nowadays all I do is make music and play Skyrim so it’s all good. The internet gives me access to all that goodness so I can find it offline.

What are your top five favorite artists right now?

Tom Misch, Swell, quickly quickly, in love with a ghost, and Sam Gellaitry

What are your top five favorite female artists?

Sheena Ringo, Beyoncé, Aivi Tran, MISO (from club eskimo - a collective including Crush, Dean, offonoff, 2xxx!, millic, and more), and tiffi.

Do you have a favorite spot in LA that you wouldn't want to share with anyone else?

Wherever YAYAYI and JALENTUNA happen to be any given saturday night in k-town is a pretty special vibe that honestly can’t be shared even if I wanted it to be. God there was this $5 flat pho place on Western Ave. that was run by this old couple but it closed like 5 years ago, that was the best place ever and it straight up was ALWAYS empty, no one ate there. I think it was like Pho 36 haha one of those LA pho places that has a random number after it.

What are some things that you really enjoy doing for yourself? When you need to take a day for yourself, what are things that you'll usually do?

Skyrim is a go-to. It’s usually video games but a lot of times it’s just making music. You gotta understand music is like an addiction to me. I never stop thinking about sounds and I feel uneasy not making music.

So we know you like video games… what are some of your favorite video games of all time? Do you have any funny anecdotes from playing games online with strangers?

Favorite of all time is Psychonauts. Such a creative game and Scott Campbell’s art is the absolute bee’s knees. Right now my favorite is Skyrim as mentioned. I love RPG and adventure games, the immersion gets me good. I loved games growing up, played anything. I have a lot of anecdotes about gaming but I honestly can’t think of just one. Haha well when Xbox Live came out online gaming was brand new and I remember my dad getting on the headset asking people not to cuss (since I was just a kid) and THEY STOPPED. They were like “Oh sorry dude we didn’t know there were kids playing we will keep the cursing to a minimum.” Can you imagine that nowadays? It would never happen. That shit still blows my mind.

Do you play Fortnite? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

I played Fortnite with Chance, thrash, and Maru the other night and I hate it so much lol. The vibe is so terrible, the aesthetic makes me want to barf it’s so ugly. That was the only time I’ve really played it and it hasn’t been on my mind, the itch isn’t there so I guess no hype for me.

What are your favorite K-Pop bands or members?

SNSD was the OG. That old video of Sooyoung going “OP-EHHHH! OP-EH EH EH EH EH” lol that shit is so funny. I don’t follow it much anymore but MISO is the queen right now, she’s the best. I watched all of Jessica and Krystal when it came out too, that’s good stuff.

Ok I also saw on Twitter that you have a cat... tell us about your cat!

Ah yes, Seymour, the Russian Blue. He is a very handsome and beautiful man. He is a shadow in the night. Every part of him is gray except his lil tongue which is pink and his eyes which are green. He lives at my parents house so I don’t see him except at holidays, but he is my good soft boy. I think of him very often.

art from Snow Rose, by vickisigh

What would you say is your favorite track that you've produced?

“Anything Like Her” with tiffi is prob my fav. Tiffi is so cool and that song is really different sounding from other City Girl songs so I think it’s cool.

What is your favorite track off of Time Falls Like Moonlight?

“Sunset Lullaby” is probably my favorite. The second half with the acoustic and electric guitar just feels really special.

What was your inspiration for Time Falls Like Moonlight?

I make so much music, the inspiration doesn’t really ever make sense, I am inspired by everything in each moment, I am inspired by my own passion to make music. Not understanding what is going on is really important to how I work, it makes things exciting. I just want the music to make people feel loved and understood for who they are, that there is a purpose for them, a life they can live and be loved in.

When you make songs, are they ever about specific things, people, or events in your life?

Not really, it’s just all my emotions sort of bleeding into the computer. I don’t know if I could write about any particular thing, but I do enjoy imagining lots of people and situations to my music after I made it. Like oh this sounds like Moonlight Hill (from Kingdom Hearts) or this sounds like a tender look from someone or this sounds like a lonely plaza in the middle of some city. It’s all free and open to interpretation.

“Winter Fields” is one of my favorite tracks of yours... mostly because of the lovely violin part by mklachu. It's so dreamy and kind of reminds me of some of my favorite Ryuichi Sakamoto pieces, too. Can you tell us a little about this track?

It’s random but the track started as a like, flex? I was watching Joji’s Youtube aliases and god they are just awful I mean like him fucking with people and being super lewd and nasty I hate it but I was watching it anyway to like fry my brain and I thought it would be fun to make a nasty trap beat that would fit with his videos and I made “Winter Fields” (I know it doesn’t make sense at all). The song slowly got more romantic as I added piano layers the next day and then mklachu tweeted at me out of nowhere and I asked her to play over it and yeah it’s just what happens when you work on music all the time, everything going on makes it into the song.

Another one of my favorites is “Chateau Fountain.” I love the slow buildup, and then the talking portion that kind of just emerges and goes into like an acoustic drop... ahhhh.. I was wondering where that talking portion is from actually. The guy is like, "Take the flowers," and the girl is like "I’m all right!" and it sounds like an uncomfortable struggle...a common pattern in society where... men force women to do things regardless of their autonomy or feelings (ha ha). Does it have any significance to the meaning behind the track? What were your reasons for choosing to put that particular snippet in this track? It's interesting because for me, I think I'm more sensitive than the average person to these kind of power dynamics or like...oppression against women in all aspects of daily interactions or media that I consume, so when I listen to this track it's like a soft buildup to this point of conflict that is kind of grating, but then evolves back into a calming acoustic melody. That's personal, of course, but it's interesting.

DUDE YOU HAVEN’T SEEN ATONEMENT? Omg that movie is so incredible. It’s James McAvoy talking to Kiera Knightley and they have all this tension because they love each other but they can’t be together and ooooooooooooooooooh it’s so good. Their love is so beautiful and honest but it’s injected with all this tension and conflict from society and politics. I felt that snippet fit so perfectly into the emotions of the song, it’s one of the few few times I’ve used movie snippets because I felt it actually added to the track in a creative way.

How do you think you've evolved from the first songs you put out on Bandcamp/Soundcloud, and your first album Loveless Shadows, to now?

I know a lot more about mixing, especially with bass and drums. I try to make more upbeat stuff now, but honestly I still end up making a lot of downtempo stuff. I know a lot more jazz piano than I did before so that’s nice too.

What are some artists that you think are really underrated that you'd like to give a shoutout to and encourage people to check out?

frenesi is criminally underrated.

What are your goals for City Girl for the next few years?

Just put out an incredible amount of music and keep building the world of City Girl. I want people to feel relaxed and loved and understood when they listen to City Girl. Honestly I just want to expand the harmonic and melodic depth of City Girl, I want people to head bump and cry in the same track, I want to find that fusion of beautiful and funky that all great music has for me.

I know you just released an album, but besides that, do you have any upcoming events or projects your fans should be looking forward to?

I have another album finished already, but with the way vickisigh (I won’t put out something without her art on it) works it won’t be out until probably another two-three months. So by the time that comes out I’ll have another album done and so on the process repeats. So just look forward to a new album every two-three months for as long as I’m rockin in the free world.

art from Loveless Shadows, by vickisigh

Check out City Girl’s latest album, Time Falls Like Moonlight, out on Spotify, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp! They also have two other albums, Snow Rose from December, and Loveless Shadows from August that are equally as beautiful. Follow them on Soundcloud for all their music updates and on Twitter for all their promo updates!

#vickisigh #city girl #time falls like moonlight #city girl interview #loveless shadows #snow rose #ucla radio #uclaradio.com #ucla #college radio #ArtistInterview

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lysical · 7 years

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I was introduced to a lot of the Batfamily via the Morrison run. How screwed up is my perception of them? Comics are an effing minefield of characterization—I know, I’m a Hank Pym fan because I ran into him first in one of his highly rare likeable periods. Any tips/recs? It feels like everywhere I go the characters aren’t the “real” ones, and idk where to find these “real” ones. (This goes for Tim too, although you seem understandably down on him lately & might not want to talk Drake anymore

It does vary by character, actually. There are some fundamental things he does that are a bit out of there, and other things that are just plain offensive, but he’s not the absolute worst to come in on, as damned by faint praise as that is.

Long post ahead

Bruce: Morrison and I fundamentally see the character very differently. He sort of subscribes to some ideas about Bruce as Batman that I just don’t like re: emotions, life, family. He uses a lot of allegories and devices in his work and the depth is there, I just don’t agree with what he was doing and had to say about Batman on a fundamental level. Post-Crisis Bruce is a bit all over the place. A lot of different writers got their hands on him and the dark and gritty post-Jason transformation of the character was intense and permanent. Because of this, coming into Morrison doesn’t really hurt you that much--especially since for a lot of it he’s functionally dead. Maybe check out some runs like Hush (more emphasis on the family), Dark Victory (some young Dick Grayson), Batman: Year One (say what you want about Miller, but it’s a decent book and the atmosphere and art are great for an introduction to the modern character), and then hop over to some of Bruce’s team books. Sometimes characters get distilled well over in their team books compared to their solos (especially since the Bat Department is...weird at times). Maybe check out Superman/Batman, the old team up from the early 2000s. For Bruce it’s just best to cast a wide net and read a variety. JLA: Tower of Babel is a good one to see Batman and the wider superhero community in conflict, which brings in a lot of Batman’s negative aspects in a way that was decently balanced and didn’t villainize him via narrative even as the characters might have felt that way about him (Young Justice certainly did XD), but I havent’ read it in a long time so ymmv.

Dick: One of the few characters that didn’t get that bad a hand by Morrison, or too much of a characterization shift (his character shift had happened during the Chuck Dixon and Devin Grayson period, although the latter more than the former). Unlike new 52 onwards, while he was softened a little to pair effectively with Damian, it wasn’t too much as we saw at times later and how fandom kind of tends to portray them (’Shut the hell up, Damian’ comes to mind). The Dickbats run was a nice change and development for Dick, a natural progression. The things that were sort of tweaked to create conflict with that transition (Dick not wanting Batman, some characterization behind that) were pre-Morrision, during Battle for the Cowl and the setup to Morrison, so while they follow on from that they’re mostly absent from the run. For the modern Robin Dick stories, go for Teen Titans: Year One, Dark Victory, Batman: Year Three, a couple of the other year ones are decent, although some incorporate those characterization shifts, but that’s comics. I’d go back to New Teen Titans (starts in Pre-Crisis, goes into Post, but the book doesn’t have a huge change due to the crisis and it’s just a really good run, deserving of being the benemoth during that time period that it was) to get the best of Dick on a team, then maybe check out Prodigal (follows on from Knightfall, Dick’s first run as Batman), skip Nightwing: Year One (it’s got tiny amounts of Dick and Jason bonding but Dixon ripped everything else about Dick’s early Nightwing period to shreds). From there, depends if you want his solo or his team stuff, he’s a pretty easy character to follow. I like to start chronologically with him because then you see the shifts happen as he falls back under control of the bat-books, and his solo and team stuff have some interesting contrasts (I lean towards his team stuff generally because Dick has always been about that for me, rather than running solo).

Babs: Birds of Prey is her essential stuff, I don’t think Morrison really did that much with her but my memories of it all are a bit vague now. I’d personally take anything when she’s romantically involved with Dick with a grain of salt, that relationship was a bit of a disaster and they both do terrible things to each other (I believe the one responsible for it all is Devin again but it’s been a while since i visited that train wreck) and there’s some victim-blaming that happens that’s not so good. I prefer Oracle having a bit of distance from the Batfam, as she’s just surpassed being someone who is under Batman’s authority and is just crucial to the entire operation of the superhero community in general, so Bird s of Prey.

Jason: Hnng. Here’s where Morrison really just decided to throw away established DC continuity and try his hand at a bunch of crap that fell completely flat. Just toss it and purge, tbh. Winick got Jason back late in the run but it was too late for that. Maybe there are tiny aspects of characterization that aren’t bad (Pride and Prejudice) but Morrison misunderstood Jason on a much more fundamental level. Also the red hair was probably some attempt to make a witty visual pun and add ‘depth’ but there are so many problems with it. Continuity-wise it makes so sense with how pre-crisis and post- worked, particularly for Jason, and additionally Morrison is realllllly wishy-washy with his ‘EVERYTHING IS CANON’ stuff that it rings false, plus in Pre-Crisis he was like...blonde I don’t understand. The implications of Jason being forced to dye his hair are absolutely disgusting for Bruce and go back into that fundamental problem I have with how Morrison sees Bruce. Jason, Post-resurrection suffers a lot of DC writers not knowing what to do and unloading a lot of DC’s baggage and some unconscious, problematic tropes onto him. Read his Post-Crisis origin (Batman 408 on, there’s the origin and some issues after set up by his original Post-Crisis writer Max Collins) and maybe all his Post-Crisis, pre-Death stuff since there’s honestly not a lot and it’s fairly obvious when Starlin starts pushing for his death. For post-resurrection, Under the Red Hood, Lost Days (it goes off the rails at the end, so I only half rec it honestly), Outsiders 44 and 45, Countdown (but only if you’re skipping the plot and just reading the Jason (&Donna &Kyle) bits, it’s one of the most even-handed treatments he actually gets in Post-Crisis but the book is otherwise terrible). Then just go straight to RHatO Rebirth.

Tim: Ignore new 52 and Rebirth entirely. Red Robin is a book a lot of Tim fans really like but I personally think it’s bad in general and also don’t like what the writer does with Tim, but ymmv. Tim’s origin is also pretty weak and his initial mini and series aren’t that great at establishing him as a proper character outside ‘this kid is Robin pls like him we want to get away from the controversy of the last one’ so it’s hard to connect with him there without nostalgia glasses. By Knightfall (1994ish) on, that’s where he’s more of a character himself, and his stuff from about then through to the early 2000s is the best (before Geoff Johns got him in Teen Titans and Didio started doing Things, which basically led us to today to be honest). Personally, I think Tim functions best in a team, there are aspects of what his writers do in his solo where they just...missed the implications and it kind of grates on me. His stand out book imo is Young Justice (the og comic not the cartoon which only shares the name and nothing else tbh).

Steph: Another who actually got treated decently well during the Morrison-era, as opposed to the crap she was dealt earlier during her time as Robin and War Games. Steph’s Batgirl run is something I definitely recommend, and her stuff with Dick and Damian in Morrison’s era is contemporary with that. Her origin is actually really good and compelling, so I’d dig into that (TEC 647, i think, is her first appearance). She kind of just revolves around Tim during his run and their relationship is kind of...there are implications there that are a bit cringe. Her stuff with Cass on the other hand is really enjoyable so I’d recommend those. Her brief Robin run is decent if melancholy considering what we know happens, and I wouldn’t touch War Games with a ten foot pole.

Cass: Shafted from the mid-2000s on, tbh. She got a bit blessed with a solid creative team to start her off in her Batgirl run, it attempts some pretty deep and interesting explorations of her character that while not perfectly executed are still really good comics. I’d just read her No Man’s Land stuff, follow her book and stuff with Steph and pretty much just ditch out when One Year Later hits. Her Black Bat outfit is cool and there is some retroactive backpedalling by DC to justify shafting her but it’s all Morrison era anyway so you might be familiar already.

Damian: Morrison created him and he took a lot of liberties with that backstory which unfortunately have had a lasting impact for Talia, which is frustrating. As Damian’s creator, what you see is what you get. Morrison didn’t want him to be likeable and he also didn’t really want him to be permanent (ties in again to how Morrison sees Bruce and family tbh), other writers gave Damian development later, but despite being around for over a decade now, there is still a lot of push and pull between writers about his characterization and development. It’s unfortunate but there’s a noticeable lack of consistency with Damian and his development that is frustrating to read. Probably read Tomasi’s stuff if you want Damian’s softened, developed arc and avoid other stuff. I’m not the best for Damian because most of his stuff is during the new 52 which I wasn’t around for and am picking through only occasionally.

Hope this helps.

#asks #anon #opinionated opinions: dc comics #batfam #recs: dc comics #ymmv on all of this #and i put it together really quick off the top of my head #but i hope it helps #bruce wayne #dick grayson #barbara gordon #jason todd #tim drake #stephanie brown #cassandra cain #damian wayne #no one who came in later because obvs they weren't around for morrison #if i missed someone....rip

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tortuga-aak · 7 years

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A screenwriter who worked with Harvey Weinstein on some of his biggest movie hits says 'everybody f---ing knew'

Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg has posted an explosive "poem" on Facebook announcing "everybody-f-------knew" about allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein’s misconduct.

The screenwriter of "Con Air," "Beautiful Girls" and "Gone in Sixty Seconds" published more than 1,500 words on the topic. Rosenberg began his film career in the mid-1990s at Miramax films, co-founded by Weinstein, where he created "Beautiful Girls" and "Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead."

While Rosenberg repeatedly says that he, and others, didn’t know about allegations of rape, the screenwriter does say that people knew of "overly-aggressive behavior" and that there was "something rotten" going on.

The idea that Weinstein’s ongoing sexual harassment of women was an open secret is not new. More interviews and videos have emerged of celebrities alluding to allegations – or in the case of Courtney Love outright warning women to stay away from Weinstein.

His page now appears to be private as no posts after 2012 are displaying but, according to Deadline, this was his post:

So, uh, yeah. We need to talk about Harvey.

I was there, for a big part of it. From, what, 1994 to the early 2000s? Something like that. Certainly The Golden Age. The "PULP FICTION," "SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE," "CLERKS," "SWINGERS," "SCREAM," "GOOD WILL HUNTING," "ENGLISH PATIENT," "LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL" years…

Harvey and Bob made my first two movies. Then they signed me to an overall deal. Then they bought that horror script of mine about the Ten Plagues. For a lot of money. Also bought that werewolf-biker script. That no one else liked but was my personal favorite. They were going to publish my novel. They anointed me. Made it so other studios thought I was the real deal. They gave me my career.

I was barely 30. I was sure I had struck gold. They loved me, these two brothers, who had reinvented cinema. And who were fun and tough and didn’t give an East Coast f--- about all the slick pricks out in L.A.

And those glory days in Tribeca? The old cramped offices? That wonderful gang of executives and assistants? All the filmmakers who were doing repeat business? The brothers wanted to create a "family of film." And they did just that… We looked forward to having meetings there. Meetings that would turn into plans that would turn into raucous nights out on the town. Simply put: OG Miramax was a blast.

So, yeah, I was there. And let me tell you one thing. Let’s be perfectly clear about one thing:

Everybody-f-------knew.

Not that he was raping. No, that we never heard. But we were aware of a certain pattern of overly-aggressive behavior that was rather dreadful. We knew about the man’s hunger; his fervor; his appetite. There was nothing secret about this voracious rapacity; like a gluttonous ogre out of the Brothers Grimm. All couched in vague promises of potential movie roles. (and, it should be noted: there were many who actually succumbed to his bulky charms. Willingly. Which surely must have only impelled him to cast his fetid net even wider).

But like I said: everybody-f-------knew.

And to me, if Harvey’s behavior is the most reprehensible thing one can imagine, a not-so-distant second is the current flood of sanctimonious denial and condemnation that now crashes upon these shores of rectitude in gloppy tides of bullshit righteousness.

Because everybody-fucking-knew.

And do you know how I am sure this is true? Because I was there. And I saw you. And I talked about it with you. You, the big producers; you, the big directors; you, the big agents; you, the big financiers. And you, the big rival studio chiefs; you, the big actors; you, the big actresses; you, the big models. You, the big journalists; you, the big screenwriters; you, the big rock stars; you, the big restaurateurs; you, the big politicians.

I saw you. All of you. God help me, I was there with you.

Again, maybe we didn’t know the degree. The magnitude of the awfulness. Not the rapes. Not the shoving against the wall. Not the potted-plant fucking. But we knew something. We knew something was bubbling under. Something odious. Something rotten.

But… And this is as pathetic as it is true: What would you have had us do? Who were we to tell? The authorities? What authorities? The press? Harvey owned the press. The Internet? There was no Internet or reasonable facsimile thereof. Should we have called the police? And said what? Should we have reached out to some fantasy Attorney General Of Movieland? That didn’t exist.

Not to mention, most of the victims chose not to speak out. Aside from sharing the grimy details with a close girlfriend or confidante. And if they discussed it with their representatives? Agents and managers, who themselves feared The Wrath Of The Big Man? The agents and managers would tell them to keep it to themselves. Because who knew the repercussions? That old saw "You’ll Never Work In This Town Again" came crawling back to putrid life like a re-animated cadaver in a late-night zombie flick. But, yes, everyone knew someone who had been on the receiving end of lewd advances by him. Or knew someone who knew someone.

A few actress friends of mine told me stories: of a ghastly hotel meeting; of a repugnant bathrobe-shucking; of a loathsome massage request. And although they were rattled, they sort of laughed at his arrogance; how he had the temerity to think that simply the sight of his naked, doughy, carbuncled flesh was going to get them in the mood. So I just believed it to be a grotesque display of power; a dude misreading the room and making a lame-if-vile pass.

It was much easier to believe that. It was much easier for ALL of us to believe that.

Because…

And here’s where the slither meets the slime: Harvey was showing us the best of times. He was making our movies. Throwing the biggest parties. Taking us to The Golden Globes! Introducing us to the most amazing people (Meetings with Vice President Gore! Clubbing with Quentin and Uma! Drinks with Salman Rushdie and Ralph Fiennes! Dinners with Mick Jagger and Warren-freaking-Beatty!).

The most epic Oscar weekends. That seemed to last for weeks! Sundance! Cannes! Toronto! Telluride! Berlin! Venice! Private jets! Stretch limousines! Springsteen shows! Hell, Harvey once took me to St. Barth’s for Christmas. For 12 days! I was a broke-ass kid from Boston who had never even HEARD of St. Barth’s before he booked my travel. He once got me tickets to the seven hottest Broadway shows in one week. So I could take a new girlfriend on a dazzling tour of theater. He got me seats on the 40-yard-line to the Super Bowl, when the Patriots were playing the Packers in New Orleans. Even got me a hotel room, which was impossible to get that weekend. He gave and gave and gave and gave. He had a monarch’s volcanic generosity when it came to those within his circle. And a Mafia don’s fervent need for abject loyalty from his capos and soldiers.

But never mind us! What about what he was doing for the culture? Making stunningly splendid films at a time when everyone else was cranking-out simpering "INDEPENDENCE DAY" rip-offs.

It was glorious. All of it.

So what if he was coming on a little strong to some young models who had moved mountains to get into one of his parties? So what if he was exposing himself, in five-star hotel rooms, like a cartoon flasher out of "MAD MAGAZINE" (just swap robe for raincoat!) Who were we to call foul? Golden Geese don’t come along too often in one’s life.

Which goes back to my original point: Everybody-fucking-knew. But everybody was just having too good a time. And doing remarkable work; making remarkable movies.

As the old joke goes: We needed the eggs.

Okay, maybe we didn’t NEED them. But we really, really, really, really LIKED them eggs. So we were willing to overlook what the Golden Goose was up to, in the murky shadows behind the barn…

And for that, I am eternally sorry. To all of the women that had to suffer this… I am eternally sorry. I’ve worked with Mira and Rosanna and Lysette. I’ve known Rose and Ashley and Claire for years… Their courage only hangs a lantern on my shame. And I am eternally sorry to all those who suffered in silence all this time. And have chosen to remain silent today.

I mostly lost touch with the brothers by the early 2000s. For no specific reason. Just that there were other jobs, other studios. But a few months ago, Harvey called me, out of the blue. To talk about the bygone days. To talk about how great it would be to get some of the gang back together. Make a movie. He must have known then the noose was tightening. There was a wistfulness to him that I had never heard before. A melancholy. It most assuredly had a walking-to-the-gallows feel. When we hung up I wondered: "what was that all about?" In a few short weeks I would know. It was the condemned man simply wanting to comb some of the ruins of his old stomping grounds. One last time.

So, yeah, I am sorry. Sorry and ashamed. Because, in the end, I was complicit. I didn’t say shit. I didn’t do shit. Harvey was nothing but wonderful to me. So I reaped the rewards and I kept my mouth shut. And for that, once again, I am sorry.

But you should be sorry, too. With all these victims speaking up… To tell their tales. Shouldn’t those who witnessed it from the sidelines do the same? Instead of retreating to the cowardly, canopied confines of faux-outrage? Doesn’t being a bystander bring with it the responsibility of telling the truth, however personally disgraceful it may be?

You know who are. You know that you knew. And do you know how I know that you knew?

Because I was there with you.

And because everybody-f-------knew.

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