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realcube · 3 years

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CELEBRATING YOUR BIRTHDAY

characters ♡ bokuto, tendō, matsukawa & suna

tw ♡ gn! reader, timeskip! bokuto (all sfw tho), swearing, reader wears makeup (matsukawa), swearing, mentions of death & food

cred ♡ thanks to anon for this request <3

KŌTARŌ BOKUTO

♡ he was literally counting down the days to your birthday, he even took the day off practise to celebrate it with you so imagine his surprise when the special day finally rolls around and he wakes up to an empty bed

♡ at first, he thought that perhaps you were just around the house somewhere but nope, the place was completely empty and even worse, all signs pointed to his theory that you had gone to work/school on your birthday

♡ outraged. he was absolutely outraged.

♡ firstly, he tried calling you but you wouldn’t pick up, even after his many attempts so his next resort to call your place of work/school reception

♡ obviously he managed to get a hold of you then-

♡ he was originally gonna yell about how you lied to him about taking the day off on your birthday but there was no way he could be angry at you — almost ever — so instead, he made the quick decision of telling you to have a nice day before hanging up

♡ you were kinda pissed that he wasted your time like that but how could you stay mad at him? he’s fkn adorable! he blew you audible kisses over the phone for good luck!

♡ you laboured your way through the day, putting in great effort yet through it all, the only thing on your mind was how much you wanted to just pass out on the couch with bokuto as soon as you got home. you weren’t even sure if you had the energy to change into your pjyamas.

♡ however, when you finally did arrive home, there was no need to put yourself through the onerous task of changing clothes as the first thing you were greeted by when you stepped foot in your own home was a chorus of cheers of ‘surprise!’ followed by people spilling out into the foyer from the kitchen and living room

♡ then there was bokuto, the loudest of them all leading the crowd, blowing into the party horn while dashing up to, throwing his arms around your shoulders to pull you into a tight hug, ‘happy birthday, sweetie!’

♡ a light gasp escaped your lips at the sudden hoots, and the unfamiliar — and frankly uncomfortable — sight of many friends swarm towards you had you on edge but when you felt bokuto wrap you in his warm embrace, you knew you were home

♡ he held you close until you were forced apart by many guests tearing you away to personally wish you a happy birthday

♡ now that the initial shock had died down, you noticed that there wasn’t as many people present as you thought, it was a humble gathering of all your closest friends

♡ there was a massive pile of bright-colored gifts lying on the stairs, and it was hard not to immediately acknowledge them as the sheer mass and number of the presents scattered across the steps prevented anyone from being able to go upstairs

♡ the following day, you were made aware of the fact 90% of those presents were addressed from ‘your best ace husband ;)’ which was pretty straight-forward considering you only have one husband; kiyoomi sakusa.

♡ jokes, you married bokuto but sakusa was also at the party. he originally just wanted to drop off his gift then leave but bokuto persuaded him to stay, though he seemed to be regretting it now as almost everyone at the party now shared an unspoken goal to slam sakusa’s face into one of the cupcakes that decorated the circumference of your cake

♡ speaking of the cake, bokuto remembered what type of cake was your favorite from the wedding planning and he was so chuffed with himself. in fact, he was so confident in his cake picking ability that he ordered a massive 3-tier monster of a dessert

♡ neither of you would be able to finish it before it goes bad so you ended up cutting it up into pieces and sending each guest away with a little goody-bag with a slice of cake inside lmao

♡ once you had finished your goodbyes and everyone had filed out of your home, you flopped onto the couch and let out a deep sigh of relief. well, it was only a sigh for a few moment as it became a wheeze when bokuto laid down on top of you

♡ ‘happy birthday, (y/n). i’m sorry if i tired you out.’ he hummed, fiddling with your fingers as his lips curled into a shaky smile

♡ ‘i’m a bit sleepy but i had an amazing time. thank you so much, kō.’

♡ bokuto smiled, his heavy lid falling shut as he finally rested his neck, being able to fall asleep comfortably now that you’ve told him that you had fun

SATORI TENDŌ

♡ unlike bokuto, he’ll actually mention your birthday a few weeks prior to the celebration so he can plan the perfect date :3

♡ ‘so do you wanna go to the aquarium or the theme park? because i know we’ve went to the park before but they remodelled it apparently. plus, maybe the aquarium is a bit underwhelming for such a special day, but it’s up to yo--’

♡ ‘we won’t really get to spend much time in either. if you consider the time school finishes, the train ride and the time the aquarium and park closes so maybe we could just chill at my house instead.’

♡ tendō deadpanned for a moment, the most unamused look taking over his features until he suddenly burst out laughing, cackling as if you just told the joke of the century, ‘seriously, (y/n)? you’re gonna go to school on your birthday.’

♡ ‘yes, of course.’ you replied in all seriousness, resulting in tendō awkwardly beginning to stifle his chuckles.

♡ he frowned, slumping back into the seat beside you, ‘c’mon, it’s your birthday, though! you deserve the day off.’

♡ you shook your head, kindly declining his suggestion, ‘i have a test on that day.’

♡ ‘all the more reason to ditch!’

♡ now it was your turn to deadpan

♡ tendō tossed his head back while letting out a sigh of defeat, draping his arm around your shoulder to lovingly pull you to his chest, ‘alright, then. whatever you want, dear.’

♡ you smiled, glad that you didn’t need to disagree with him any longer — and you were even happier on the day. even though you insisted that he keeps things small on your birthday, he still managed to find a way to make things extra asf by getting you a massive plush that was about half the size of your stature and a hamper of homemade chocolates ><

ISSEI MATSUKAWA

♡ honestly, he’s never been the best at giving gifts but he tries extra hard for you

♡ like if you off-handedly say that you are cold during class, he’ll buy you a bunch of new jackets, jumpers and gloves

♡ or if you say you need more mascara, he’ll buy you exact same one you usually wear

♡ he’s observant enough to notice and remember the exact shade and brands of all your cosmetic products but he’s not observant enough to pick up on the subtle hints you drop as to what you want for your birthday

♡ you can never guess what he’s gonna get you and that adds to your anticipation for the day

♡ if your birthday is on a school day, he’ll bring in a batch of homemade cupcakes (which hanamaki helped him with) and stick a candle in one of them for you to blow out

♡ he offers you one but they are all pretty stale- just smile and nod while your teeth feel like they are being shattered trying to bite down on the cupcake

♡ it might set off the fire alarm but oh well, just count that as another present

♡ oikawa will probably get you something like a bouquet and try flirt with you so at that point, matsukawa and hanamaki begin using the cupcakes as weapons

♡ they are a two for one deal so you’re going to be spending the day with both of them tailing you like lost puppies

platonic RINTARŌ SUNA

♡ (requester specified) your birthday is on the same day as his so ofc he’s going to be a little salty abt it

♡ you both created a game to see who receives the most birthday wishes and whoever won gets ¥1500 from the loser’s birthday money

♡ for the past few years, he’s usually been the winner by just a few but this year, you made it a point to befriend all him teammates in order to ensure victory

♡ having to pretend to be friendly with atsumu — who wasn’t very good at hiding his massive crush —was definitely a challenge but you powered through

♡ in fact, you may have played the role too well as both the miya twins gave you a gift

♡ osamu gave both you and suna a plastic bag filled with some food he made and water bottles

♡ as for atsumu, his gift to you was a massive hamper filled with an assortment of many different luxury confectionary which didn’t look cheap at all but it didn’t feel appropriate to question the price so you simply took it from him with a bright smile

♡ of course, suna was excited (and very hungry) as he expected the same gift but he was more than disappointed when all he received was a bag of chips and a slap on the back

♡ he goes out of his way to tell every teacher it’s your birthday in hopes that they’ll make the class sing happy birthday to you

♡ but it pisses him off to no end when you add that it’s his birthday too so he ends up getting roped into your misery

♡ also your thumbs are going to be sore at night swiping through all the various candid pics that suna took of you throughout the day (in less than flattering poses) which he uplaoded to almost all of his social media stories with stupid ass captions

♡ but dw bc he’ll eventually post a nice photo of you with a sweet message

♡ ‘happy birthday to @(y/n) . i would die for you, bitch (even though you annoy the hell out of me every single day 🤠).’

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lucky-dreamfisher · 3 years

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This is quite an emotional rollercoaster that I’m being subjected to every day, lol.

The title definitely sounds intriguing. I'm a little worried that it might be too OC-heavy, but on the plus side, the title suggests that it will cover the most interesting and creepy parts of the studio’s history. This might be another horror book, like DCTL.

Sammy may come back, as he’s strongly connected to the Lost Ones. We might also see Susie and Allison, since they really seem to hate Alice Angels, so there’s gotta be a sad story behind this. Adrienne also acted very mysterious about the fate of Dot, so she may play a role too.

Looks like there’s a chance the next book will be just that!

Sillyvision is a film process used to create Bendy cartoons. It was created around 1941 and its purpose was to allow artists to make changes to cartoons already after they were inked. It involves using a “special” moving ink, which was later mass-produced by the ink machine and is behind everything that went wrong with the studio.

I asked Adrienne on her stream if Bendy controls the ink or is himself controlled by it, but she said it would be too spoilery to answer it, sadly.

Alice is barely mentioned in the book. The closest hint to a hint would be Joey’s play about an angel and a devil, who seem to be very close and even flirtatious. If the devil was supposed to be the inspiration for Bendy, then the angel could’ve been an inspiration for Alice.

His figure is sold with the cutouts, so maybe. Though the person moving them in chapter 1 was likely Sammy, there’s a lot of stuff in the chapter that’s associated with him - the record, the golden message, the candles, etc. Plus, the first time we see him, he’s carrying a cutout, and we’ve never seen a cutout move “by itself” after Sammy’s “death” in Chapter 2, aside from one which we know was Boris pranking us.

I originally assumed that the person moving the cutouts had to be the one who left the footsteps in chapter 1, because Sammy can walk through walls and that creature seemingly can’t, but in BATDS we see that there are some limitations to his abilities, so it’s looking more likely that it was him.

Another suspect is that creature with weird footsteps in Chapter 1 that we never saw again, but Dapper has shoes, so unless he transformed between the games, it couldn’t be him.

I hope not, but it’s possible. Someone must’ve drinked from them, and a child would be less likely to ask questions about the weird taste and texture of the drink than an adult would. Plus, an adult guest would probably be served tea/coffee, not milk. Milk is something you give to a child, and if they wonder about the color, just tell them it’s chocolate milk, or something.

Of course, Joey himself may have been drinking them. He said in TIOL that he always starts his day with a bowl of cereal, which obviously would include milk, and seeing all the hints he drops about refusing to die until his dreams come true, he may have intentionally turned himself into an ink creature when he realized his life was coming to an end.

If Joey could control Sammy, he wouldn’t be going around the studio asking about him, when Sammy went missing in DCTL. It’s possible that Joey could manipulate Sammy to some extent, but there’s a limit to that.

It’s confirmed that there are multiple authors of the secret messages, we can’t know for sure that Audrey wrote that one. Could’ve been Henry.

I miss ProdCharles, I really enjoyed his theories. He commented on some of mine, too, which was nice. As for MatPat’s Chapter 5 video, it’s kind of a weird thing to ask me. The video is now 3 years old now and MatPat himself chose the title “WE WERE TOTALLY WRONG” for his video released the following year. What does my opinion matter on a theory, whose own author no longer supports it?

Different eye though.

#Bendy and the Ink Machine #ask #bendy: the lost ones #sammy lawrence #joey drew

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prevaricatcr · 4 years

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‹ TARON EGERTON, HE/HIM, CISMALE, BISEXUAL. › ELLIOT GALLAGHER is the TWENTY SIX year old from SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA. when a friend asked them what they thought of the manor they said, ❝ MIGHT AS FUCKIN’ WELL, RIGHT? GONNA HATE MY LIFE EITHER WAY, MIGHT AS WELL DO IT WITH SOME SCENERY. ❞ they claim FUNNY GAMES is their favorite scary movie, and if they were to die in a horror film they would TAUNT THE KILLER AND GET WHACKED FOR IT. their fears include DRIVING A CAR, WRITHING SNAKES and PUPPETS, and they don’t know we know, but… HE’S PAID OFF MULTIPLE WOMEN WHO HAVE HAD HIS CHILDREN. hope they enjoy their stay. ‹ MUSE A from HOLLYWOOD’S BLEEDING penned by, Z, 25+, CST. ›

- - - - - - - BASICS.

Name: Elliot Rian Gallagher. Pronouns: He, him. Nicknames: n/a Age: Twenty-six. Birthdate: April 18th. Zodiac: Aries sun, taurus moon, gemini rising. Ethnicity: white, his father's grandparents were second generation irish and his mother always stated that her parents came from Sandusky, and didn't know more than that. Nationality: American. Birthplace: Santa Monica, CA Gender: Cis Male. Sexual Orientation: Bisexual.

- - - - - - - BACKGROUND.

Parents: Craig Robert Gallagher; 58 years old, alive. Teresa Dawn Shwitzer-Gallagher ; 52 years old, alive Siblings: 2 older siblings, a boy and a girl, and two younger sisters. Spouse: n/a. Children: 3 by different mothers, whom he sends monthly allowances to. He makes it his business not to know any more. Current Job: out of work musician. Dream Career: to be back on top of his game, winning grammies like he used to. Schooling: Attended Crossroads in Santa Monica on and off, eventually graduated with lots of monetary assistance. Income: Receives pay from royalties from the band he was in as a teenager that kicked him out.

- - - - - - - PHYSICAL.

Height: 5'8". Weight: 160 lb. Eye Color: Blue. Hair Color: Dark brown. Hair Length: Fairly short. Hair Type: On the thinner side, with some wave. Body Type: Fairly skinny, with small hips and waist. A little thicker around the midsection with his short stint of sobriety. Clothing Size: Medium to large. Shoe Size: Size 11 Complexion: Very pale, freckles fairly easy, burns very easy. Scars: scars and calluses on his hands, a puckered scar on his temple half hidden by his hair, and a scar on his right hip from a bad car accident, his knees are assessed as much older than himself because of how poorly he treats them combined with genetics, and a long scar on the left side of his back.

- - - - - - - PERSONALITY.

Positive Traits: adventurous, charming, direct, passionate, sociable, competitive, creative, lively, versatile. Negative Traits: volatile, extravagant, defensive, envious, juvenile, wasteful, unreliable, vulgar, pessimistic. Mental Condition: Currently drinking again and using cocaine along with a few prescription pills after attempting out-patient rehab and tapering down his drinking, which he's been addicted to since age fourteen. No officially assessed disorders or conditions besides his alcoholism. Struggles with intimacy while sober. Emotional Condition: Fragile, filled with guilt and self loathing after relapse. Sees trust as more important than love and is very guarded with what he considers his innermost self. Likes: All black outfits, sunglasses, a tall glass of boulevard when he's drinking to taste it, people that make him laugh out loud, old school SNL, the fine tuning of behind the camera work, treating the people he cares about to nice things, arguing about oscars prospects for any given film, penny slot machines, jokes that make people groan loudly. Dislikes: lazy jokes about addiction, late night talk shows, people who look at him and see his misdeeds and not who he is as a person, "lizard people" conspiracy theories, elevator music, plastic covers on mattresses, the concept of an all seeing, all knowing god, TMZ, the smell of industrial cleaner. Strengths: intelligent, ambitious, sincere, passionate, generous, philosophical. Weaknesses: reckless, impatient, cowardly, detached, foolhardy, irresponsible. Fears/phobias: sobriety, letting someone see every single part of him, allowing himself to be vulnerable when sober, having hallucinations, driving a car. Hobbies: little to none as his primary hobby has always been drinking, mostly reading and watching movies. Quirks: fiddling with his glasses, biting the inside of his cheek, humming any song that comes through his mind out loud when he's distracted or concentrating hard on something.

- - - - - - - HISTORY.

!!! possible triggers in the following biography: drug use, alcohol abuse and alcoholism, driving while intoxicated, car accidents, parental neglect of children !!! You are two and a half when you land your first commercial. Your younger sisters managed their first roles before you, but it was a little easier for them as they were infant twins; far more in demand than just a tiny toddler boy. This is how your family eats and keeps themselves in an apartment in Santa Monica that's meant to house three when your family eventually grows to hold seven in total. A lot of mouths to feed. Thankfully you don't remember a lot of this, as the small time work you and your siblings do is enough to keep your family afloat. You make your way into middle school; pissed and stand offish and looking like a cherub; which insures that no one takes you seriously. The friends you make, you hold tightly to, and you kick around in your best friend Boston’s basement, just fooling around on his parents drum kit, their guitars that aren’t actually supposed to be touched. It’s all just for fun, the band and the EP you slap together; just trying to impress each other, until one of Bos’ parents finds someone who wants to sign the band. Everyone tells you over and over again, that this is the deal of a life time. That this will make sure you work in Hollywood for the rest of your life. This is both true, and untrue. The EP is an unmitigated success, and every review has something to say about you, the kid on bass with backup vocals who’s face looks barely legal but plays like he’s planning a murder. Almost everyone remarks on how much older than your few years you seem. Which at first makes you feel special, important. Makes you seek out big words to use when you're sitting on the couch as a guest. The audience really loves that. Of course, this also spawns those times when you end up at wrap parties and after parties, your mother schmoozing whatever producers and execs she can find, your father nowhere to be found, and a sea of adults getting high and wasted around you. None of the vices of Hollywood have ever been all that strange to you, though. Your parents have always had a very blase approach to the innocence of childhood, and didn't much care to shield you from anything. It’s still all fun and games, really. The five of you have too much fun, and everyone wants to treat you to everything, so. Somehow the option you end up choosing most often is the bottle in your hand. The bottles that are so readily available, everywhere, that get pressed into your hands and put into the end of the night goodie bags your mother always takes three of. You think that waking up in an unfamiliar bed every single night of a week is something the rest of your bandmates are doing. It’s all a laugh, we all drink and we all smoke and it’s kid shit, right Boston? You learn that it very much is just a ‘you’ thing when you come to rehearsal (late, as usual) one Thursday afternoon and they’re all somberly waiting for you, hands in their lap and silent. You are being released from your contract with Cthulhu Rising...but the band has elected to move on and create their debut album. Unfortunately at this point you are eighteen and very, very deeply entrenched in alcoholism. The press has been playing you as a party boy who enjoys simple teenage excess for a very long time, but it's starting to wear thin. TMZ is growing a lot less glowing in their articles. You try not to pay attention even as you get yourself thrown out of clubs and tossed into drunk tanks and bailed back out again by whichever assistant your mother has hired this week. As long as you can find a way to make music, you can keep breathing. But with your growing notoriety, offers start to dry up. Those late night shows that loved your precociousness take pot shots at you in their opening monologues. Kimmel's pre-taped Lonely Island style sketch about 'you' endorsing a brand of gin in the style of I Love Lucy gets over a million views on youtube. All of Hollywood, and by extension all the world is laughing at you. It get a little less funny when you ram your matte black Lamborghini Aventador into the median taking the exit for Interstate 10, pinball off of it and into the car in the lane next to you, back into the median hard enough to flip your car into a roll, tumbling side over side across the lanes into the ditch. Your blood test results at the hospital show your blood alcohol content was nearly triple the legal limit. The accident doesn't kill you, though it's a close thing. You're convinced the recovery is worse. The total at the end adds up to a fractured pelvis, six broken ribs, safety glass embedded in your left temple, lacerations all over your arms and face, bleeding in your lungs and swelling in the brain that leaves you in a coma for the better part of two weeks. The most pathetic part of it all? All of that, the things you don't remember from that day coupled with the bursts and flashes of what you do remember, the year and a half you spend in recovery still isn't enough to make you put the bottle down forever. And doesn't that just make you fucking hate yourself?

#manor.tasks #! ; oof that took too long #❪ ⋅ ◆ ⋆ — YOU LOOKED AT DEATH IN A TAROT CARD┊❛ headcanons ❜ ❫

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inevitable-anna · 5 years

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Escape The Night S4X01 Spoilers

I’m so sorry that this took so long! I accidentally deleted my draft, when I went to post it!

Hopefully, this should have a ‘keep reading’ thing so I don’t spoil the show for anyone.

[[MORE]]

I love the flashback of the first three seasons in the beginning! And uggghh Colleen's screams from the maiden still give me chills.

Yass that's my gal Liza "I'll come back for you" yes I love my explorer gal so much, I hope we see more of he- oh wait, she's dead. I do have some questions about her, so I may put them in another post if you are interested?

I don't trust the SAE. They still seem sketchy to me?

Everyone in the fandom had really cool and interesting theories about Bretman and why he was in this season. Then he finally shows up and it turns out Nikita (who looks great!) invited him and told him there'd be cute boys.

"what about me? I did cancel my livestream for this" Mat I love you.

The Collector looks awesome and she has a jewelled key! The medusa monster with her looks great too!

Anyone else slightly creeped out that the guests are wearing different outfits to the ones they died in? Did the Collector spend time picking out a new role and outfit for each guest? Did she make her lieutenants have a fashion show for her to see what outfits she liked? Did she have folders on potential roles and outfit ideas? I need answers here!

MY FAVOURITE GAL IS BACK!!! RO'S BACK! "She's dead, I'm dead, so I'm dead... so where am I?" I love her so much! Please let her escape this time!

I love Gabbie immediately asking questions, like 'the last thing I remember is having my heart ripped out and dying... so is everyone here dead? Let me check'.

"You literally pushed me into the box, Ro!" "We-well, everybody did"

"Umm... Alex, maybe "you know I killed both of you, right?" isn't the best thing to say at the moment?

I love Destorm and Gabbie immediately teaming up again, it's nice that they still have each other's backs!

I can't really see who says "did you kill me?" (Sounds a bit like Tana?) And who responded with "I thought you died with Vine?" But I love it so much.

"Hugs and kisses"? Really, Joey? "I do not like this" well! They probably didn't enjoy dying!

Anyone else slightly curious as to why Tana dressed like a cowgirl if her role is the 'Pin-Up Girl?' Am I being dumb?

JUSTINE! You have other things to worry about then 'residuals'! Do the smart thing, okay? get your residuals after/if you escape! Duh!

"You can't double die" are you sure about that, Destorm? I mean, this is 'Escape The Night' where the only consequence is death, even when you've already died!

"Nikita said there was going to be cute boys" "where?" Gabbie!

I'm loving Gabbie taking charge! "Okay, everyone stop fighting, I'm freezing. I look amazing but let's figure this out" anyone else get major "I'm hungry!" vibes from S2?

*guards appear* "I'm thinking maybe we are in heaven." Not the time Ro!

My man! Alex! He went off on that guard! He's come along way from "nobody was able to escape their deaths so I'm not going to try and fight mine" to attacking a guard! I mean, he lost the fight but he tried!

"The Enforcer don't run. I strut" yass, Destorm!

The Sorceress is back!! My favourite villain! "Last time we met, we killed each other, shall we do it again?" This is why the Sorceress is my favourite villain! She's so sassy!

Mortimer is back! Not sure if I trust him though?

"Mortimer is my man from when I was still alive, however somehow since I died, I have gotten married and had a baby" I laughed so hard at this because I didn't expect it at all!

Mortimer asking "Colleen, are you with Janet" is so sad! Though in the show, did he call her Janet or mum? Because isn't it slightly strange to refer to his mum as Janet? I don't know, I'm probably reading into this too much?

Tana doesn't remember what the Sorceress looks like? Gabbie's reply is brilliant! "She killed you, me and Destorm."

"She killed Alex, huh? I mean, you tell me, I was dead"

The Collector kept the Sorceress in her study?

The Sorceress teasing Joey with the onyx trinket is everything I needed in life!

Joey calling out the Sorceress for having a giant portrait of herself in her mansion after she calls the Collector a "pretentious b*tch" for having one is amazing!

"Isn't she a copycat?" Can the Sorceress stay with the group the whole season and make sassy comments, please?

"She wanna be you so bad" "Mm-hmm"

Okay, I have said this a few times already but I'll say it again, 'final death' SERIOUSLY?

"I like know I've done a lot of bad stuff and I might go to hell but I really didn't think it would be this early in life" and "I have been told quite a few times that there is a special place in hell for me, so, I don't think it will be too bad" are moods.

I find Destorm and Tim complaining about the others following the Sorceress really funny.

I laughed so hard at "I always learned never to trust strange, white women".

Tim attacking the air and saying "you gotta come around the corner like this" is really funny to me.

"Thanks for the help" Colleen, I can taste the sarcasm there.

I like that Alex understands that having a grudge against Joey is slowing them down, otherwise they would still be stuck in there for their 'final deaths' come morning.

20:59 isn't the painting that Tana takes down from the Sorceress' mansion in S2X04?

Destorm says he doesn't know who to trust so he's taking the lead, to me, that sounds like a logical thing to do?

"Now more shirtless men with knives are running at me, what is going on?" Well, you did agreed to come back for S4, Tana!

22:06 IT'S AN EGYPTIAN RUBIX CUBE!

I wasn't sure what to think when Bretman was announced for the S4 cast, but now he's here, I actually really like him! He's funny and I like that he sincerely thanks Justine for giving him the egg/eye thing. I look forward to seeing more of him in the show!

It's nice that Destorm is realising that Tana is more than a pretty face, now for the rest of the S2 group to realise that. It was one of the things that really annoyed me in S2 that they kept saying that Tana wasn't helping but when she offered to do something, the group wouldn't let her do it.

"Originally I was here on a rescue mission, but I feel like I just made things worse." Well, you haven't really rescued anyone yet? I mean, yes the guests are free from the exhibits but they're still trapped in the museum.

Joey, I agree with Tim! Make the guards dab or even better... make them twerk!

"Can they tell us where to find some food?" "I have breast milk" I choked.

I was not expecting the Sorceress to stab that guard! I mean, I guessed that the Sorceress would still be evil but I hope she sticks with the group for a little longer, purely because she's my favourite!

"This is something. A clue." The way Ro says clue is so cute and reminds me of 'Scooby Doo' for some reason?

"Most frightening exhibit yet" mark me down as terrified and intrigued!

Again, 'FINAL DEATHS' COME ON!

"It's fine, the SAE will get here before we even have to do any of that." Are you sure about that, Joey? Really sure? 100% sure? Absolutely, positively 100% sure?

Ro is so happy when Destorm tells the group about door. "Look at you being a team player" I would like to see them interact more, I feel like they would have an interesting dynamic.

"I think we just opened the Egyptian exhibit" really, Alex? I thought this was the Tudor exhibit! Because the Tudors love of Egyptian hieroglyphics is very well known!

Tana is pulling her weight and I love how the S2 group are like 'what? How?'.

The prosthetic makeup on the Pharaoh is amazing! He looks great!

"This beef jerky looking ass b*tch" Bretman is great!

At the end when the 'this season' bit plays, I slowed it down and watched it and spotted a Minotaur! Which will be awesome as I love Greek mythology!

Okay, so if you watch the 'this season' section, right at the end, you can see Benjamin/The Man With No Name so has the Collector collected previous lieutenants?

Again, I’m sorry that I didn’t get to post this yesterday because I was stupid and accidentally deleted my draft!

I hope you enjoy it and I would love to hear about anything you noticed during the episode or any questions! If you like this, I may be able to try and do one for ep2 as well.

Have a nice day!

#escape the night spoilers #escape the night all stars #escape the night 4 #escape the night

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bittysvalentines · 5 years

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Loose Lips Sail Ships

From: @missweber (Sophia_Prester on AO3)

To: @ellieotbelle Pairing: Bob Zimmermann/Alicia Zimmermann Tags: Meet cute, pining, spoilers for Jane Eyre, accidentally getting stoned, mild second-hand embarrassment, Bob is a doofus, honestly Alicia is the brains in the family Summary: Bob has a crush on a beautiful actress, but there's no way she would be interested in him, so there's no point in trying to do anything about it, right?

Bob was in love.

Well, it was something akin to 'in love'. Kind of. Maybe.

A few (okay, several) dramatically bad breakups had taught him that you had to know someone before you could say you were in love with them, and seeing someone interviewed on a stupid talk show while you were stuck at home on injured reserve in no way counted as knowing.

So maybe it was fair to say that he was primed to fall in love with Alicia Andersen if he ever got the chance to meet her and she didn't turn out to be one of those people who was actually horrible once you got to know them.

Somehow, he doubted this would be the case. He wasn't a rookie any more, and he had learned from several (okay, many) dramatically bad breakups to spot the more obvious red flags.

The problem was, he wasn't sure how he would ever get the chance to actually meet her.

In theory, it shouldn't be difficult. He was Bad Bob Zimmermann, damn it, and he had met plenty of other celebrities at parties, charity events, and the occasional nightclub. In fact, many of these meetings were precursors to a number (a lot) of dramatically bad breakups.

Maybe it was a good thing that everything he read about Alicia Andersen (it was a dark day when Mario found out he had bought an issue of Vogue just because she was on the cover) said she wasn't much of a party person.

Maybe he could meet her at some charity gala, because she did occasionally go to those (she was particularly vocal about funding AIDS research), but she was always quick to state in interviews that her idea of a perfect evening was sitting at home reading or running lines for whatever play she was obsessed with at the moment.

When his thoughts turned in those directions, he realized that a jock with a playboy reputation might not merit a second thought from her. It was one reason why he brushed off Mario's suggestion of having his agent call her agent and arrange something.

Another reason was that the whole idea sounded kind of gross.

No, it sounded really gross. One part presumptuous and one part transactional and one hundred percent slimy. If he tried something like that, Alicia would probably have him burned in effigy before efficiently trashing what was left of his reputation.

"Or get yourself booked as a guest judge on one of those stupid shows, or volunteer to help co-host something," Mario suggested after Bob explained his reluctance. "It worked for Wayne, didn't it? What's the worst that could happen?"

The worst that could happen was that the divine Ms. Anderson, a woman who probably knew all the plays of Shakespeare and all the novels of Jane Austen by heart, would have little use for a man who once bragged on camera that he technically hadn't graduated high school because he kept skipping art class to practice his slap shot.

"I'll think about it," he said, privately deciding that it was safer not to take the risk. Not taking a risk meant not looking foolish. It meant not getting shot down, possibly in public.

Or worse, she could shoot him down in private and be nice about it.

He wouldn't try to get in touch with her, and that was that.

* * *

Bob almost changed his mind a few times.

The first was after the whole Danielle incident, the first breakup in a long time that wasn't dramatically bad only because she dumped him halfway through the first date.

"Bob, this has been fun, but... no it hasn't, because the whole time I've been sitting here, it's been clear you were wishing I was someone else." She got up from the table, all long legs and perfect hair and... well, he didn't really know much about her other than that, and didn't that say something?

(It did, and it wasn't good.)

She left the restaurant before he could apologize and before the waiter arrived with the very hefty bill. He hated to admit it, but she had been right.

Bob got as far as rehearsing how he would bring up the subject with his agent before he told himself not to be stupid.

The second time was because he went to see Alicia's the latest movie even though it wasn't the sort of thing he would normally go see, given that it was based on a book he'd only pretended to read back in high school.

He was sneaky about going to the theater, sneaky enough that the other guys chirped him about being desperate enough to go to a strip club, but a few pointed hip checks during practice put an end to that.

The truth was, he almost snuck out shortly after he snuck in, because to his surprise and displeasure, Alicia Andersen was not playing the lead role. Some other actress had the role of Jane Eyre, and given the movie's nearly three-hour running time, whoever Alicia was playing might not be around for a while.

But then Jane's shitty aunt sent her to that shitty school, and her friend got sick, and crisse, the poor kid died?

Well, he couldn't leave now. He had to stick around long enough to make sure Jane was going to be okay.

His first impression of Rochester was that the man deserved to be slammed into the boards, hard. Slew-footing was also an option.

By the time it was clear that something strange and unwholesome was going on in the attics of Thornfield, Bob was so caught up in the story that he almost forgot why he wanted to see the movie in the first place.

And then, there she was.

He didn't recognize her at first. She was wild-haired and wild-eyed, barely visible in candlelight as she threatened Jane (who deserved so, so much better) with a knife.

By the time the truth came out about the madwoman locked away in the attic (and seriously, what the actual fucking fuck??) Bob was of the opinion that the first Mrs. Rochester deserved a hell of a lot better, too.

It wasn't anything like the glamorous roles Alicia Andersen usually took, and she was only on screen for maybe fifteen minutes, tops, but Bob thought it was the best thing she had done, ever.

When she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, he felt just as smug as when his pet rookie got nominated for the Calder last year, and it took every bit of willpower he had not to ask his agent to forward his congratulations to her agent.

Every bit.

The third time was a week later, on his birthday. He was sulking in the press box, serving the first of a two game suspension (on his birthday!) for beating the crap out of a highly deserving Cam Neely (so yeah, he was carrying a little bit of a hate-on for the Bruins from his Habs days) and feeling more than a little sorry for himself.

He wanted someone to talk to who wasn't a part of his team, or his support staff. He wanted to talk to someone who wasn't part of hockey, and wasn't that a new feeling?

It would just take a call, and then a follow up call, and he deserved to have something nice on his birthday, didn't he?

But it would be kind of creepy to call her out of the blue like that, wouldn't it?

He didn't call. And if he didn't call, she couldn't say no.

* * *

In the end, it was the pills that did it.

At least, that was what he maintained the next day, the day after that, and every time he told the story in years to come.

The Pens were in New York for three days. The trip had a game against the Rangers on one end, a game against the Islanders on the other, and Valentine's Day smack in the middle. A lot of the guys who were married or who had a serious girlfriend had big plans for the night, and PR and the press were all over it.

More specifically, they were all over him. Bob's nickname wasn't just because of his reputation for starting fights. He was also known for leaving a string of broken hearted girlfriends behind (which wasn't fair, as he usually wasn't the one doing the leaving).

The nonsense started even before the first game.

"So, Bob. You have any big plans for tomorrow with a special someone?"

"No. I'm looking forward to a good night of rest between games."

He fielded a few questions about his thoughts on facing off against Marcel Dionne before it started again with another reporter.

"I heard a rumor that maybe you and Christy Tur -"

"Ha ha. No."

And then another reporter.

"You can't tell me that Bad Bob Zimmermann doesn't have a hot - "

"Oh, yes, I can!"

And then another.

"I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for you to pick up some pretty young - "

At this point, Mario frog-marched him to the visitors' locker room because PR had declared that him literally growling and baring his teeth at reporters did little to 'foster a productive relationship with the press corps.'

It was a good game from a team perspective, and the win was needed if they wanted to secure a playoff position. It wasn't so good from a Zimmermann perspective, because a pileup early in the third period tweaked his back enough that he needed help getting off the ice.

The only saving grace was that he didn't blow his point streak and the back thing seemed to be just muscle strain.

"We'll put you down as a game-day decision for the Islanders," the team doctor said. "If you can get some rest tonight and tomorrow, you'll probably be okay. The trick is getting it so you can relax."

The doctor handed Bob a small pill bottle with what sounded like two pills inside it. Bob fiddled with the child-proof cap while the doctor explained what to do with alternating heat and ice. "In there is some pain medication and a muscle relaxer. Go ahead and take them - "

Bob got the cap off and tossed the pills back without benefit of water.

" - when you get back to the hotel," the doctor finished with a sigh. "Just make sure you have someone with you until you get back to your room."

The one good thing about getting injured was that it got him out of doing press. One of the rookies got assigned to accompany him back to the hotel while everyone else went out to celebrate the win.

Any other time, Bob might have felt sad about missing out, but by the time their cab got them back to the hotel, he wasn't feeling sad about anything.

He was one of the best damn hockey players in the world, he loved his team (he really did, he told the rookie - whatever his name was - he really, really did) and he loved New York City, and tomorrow was Valentine's Day, and there was something important, something important he was supposed to do or say...

Oh! And here was this nice person with a tape recorder and his friend with a camera asking him about his Valentine's plans. How nice!

"I don't have any," he told the men, once he remembered that he should speak English. He swatted at the rookie, who kept on trying to interrupt them for some reason. "Nope. No plans. Not for me. But there's someone I would love to have plans with."

The bubble of happiness that had formed around him ebbed for a moment. He didn't have plans with her, and he doubted she'd want to have plans with him, and it was so sad that he just had to tell someone about it.

So, when the nice men asked him who that someone was, he told them.

* * *

Later, Bob wouldn't be able to say for sure what restaurant it was. He would remember the white tablecloths and romantic lighting and how his custom-tailored suit still didn't feel swanky enough for this kind of place and how his stomach tried to turn itself inside-out with terror.

Most of all, he would remember the tripping, tumbling beat of his heart as Alicia Andersen walked into the restaurant and stopped to talk to the hostess.

Film could never do justice to the gold of her hair, or the soft blue of her dress, which looked like it had been pulled down from the summer sky. The hostess nodded at her and then led her straight back. To him.

Bob staggered to his feet, and failed to bite back a curse when his back twinged. It was loud enough that a nearby couple glared at him, and Alicia raised an eyebrow.

Oh, this was getting off to a great start.

He hurried to help her with her chair even though his back protested. "I am so, so sorry about this."

She gave him a polite and questioning little smile, but said nothing.

"In my defense, not that I'm trying to excuse what I did, I had just taken a muscle relaxer and a pain pill?" He tried giving her a charming smile, remembering just a second too late that he was waiting for the off season to do something about that missing incisor. He tried for a closed-lipped smolder instead. "I didn't remember saying anything to that reporter until my agent and the head of our PR team both showed up in my hotel room to yell at me this morning. Actually, I still don't remember saying it."

The shift in her facial expression was subtle, but telling. It was the sort of thing that she'd used to tell the audience so much about the first Mrs. Rochester before she even uttered a word. She wasn't happy, but it was a different kind of not-happy than he would have expected from a woman who was probably badgered by her publicity team to go on a date she probably didn't want.

"Are you saying that you didn't really want to spend Valentine's Day with me?"

For one crazy moment, Bob thought irony had struck in his favor, and she had been pining after him like he had been pining after her. But no, she was just curious.

"Ouais, I wanted to very much, but only if it was something you wanted, too."

The brief lapse into French got a flicker of a smile. "The fact that your agent told mine you would understand if I didn't want to go to dinner was one reason I did want to go."

"What was the other reason?"

Alicia rolled her eyes and propped her chin in one hand. "My agent wants to drum up a bit more publicity for my latest movie. Classic case of good critical reception but slow box office."

"What? Even with your Oscar nomination? Euh, I should have said congratulations earlier. Sorry."

She laughed, but it was kind, not mocking. He wanted to hear it again. "You really are Canadian, aren't you? But thank you. I'm delighted about the nomination, but best supporting actress isn't as much of a draw as best picture. I'd give up my own nomination in a heartbeat if we could have gotten that one instead."

"That's right. You were co-producer on that, weren't you?"

The look he got was one of unguarded, unfiltered surprise.

"It was one of the best movies I saw in a long time, even though I was disappointed at first you weren't playing Jane. But that twist about the first Mrs. Rochester... " He whistled low and shook his head. "I honestly had no idea that was coming. And I love how even though you didn't have many lines, you could tell this woman had a whole life before that crosseur Rochester wrecked it all. Euh, are you all right?"

Her jaw had dropped, but it shifted into a smile that started in her eyes. "Oh, yes. I was hoping people would get that from my performance. But you really had no idea about the madwoman in the attic? I assumed everyone who went to see the movie would already know the story."

"Alas, I am but an illiterate goon," he said, raising his wine glass in a mock toast. "I only went to see the movie because this hot actress had a supporting role."

He wasn't sure, but he thought her foot might have bumped against his.

"You know, I normally don't like it when men comment on my looks, but from you, I find I don't mind. Now isn't that funny?"

Bob forgot how to breathe.

"So, you'd been wanting to ask me out for a while, but you had to wait until you were loopy on pain pills to do anything about it. Why?"

There were so many things he could say about being respectful and not a creep, and while these things were true, they weren't the most true.

"I was afraid you'd say no," he said quietly.

"But I maybe I would say yes. And you would never know."

Bob huffed out a laugh. "That reminds me of something my friend Wayne said."

"Oh, is Wayne a smart guy?"

Bob waggled his hand. "He has his moments. So will you?"

"Will I what?"

Her hand was on the table within easy reaching distance. He slid his hand towards hers, waiting for a signal that he had gotten this wrong.

"Say yes?"

She raised an eyebrow, but this time he saw the humor behind it. He placed his hand on hers, and the world tipped on its axis when she turned her hand over and gave a gentle squeeze.

"Well, you'll just have to ask to find out, won't you?"

He would.

He took a deep breath, and he took the shot.

She said yes.

#aliciabob #fanfiction #bittysvalentines #bv2019 #omgcp

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go-redgirl · 4 years

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Top 8 Reasons Trump Already Won Impeachment

Whether the senators put the trial out of its misery this week or drag it on for months, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Here are the eight big reasons Trump won impeachment.

1. Trump Didn’t Commit An Impeachable Offense

It’s an obvious point, but the most important point.

Impeaching President Trump has been the stated goal of the Resistance since his inauguration. The main effort toward impeachment was through the investigation of a false and dangerous theory of treasonous collusion with Russia to steal the 2016 election.

Even with a limitless special counsel appointed to achieve that end, the Russia collusion hoax ended with not a single American found to have colluded with Russia, not to mention anyone close to Trump, or Trump himself. A mini-effort to get impeachment going — on the special counsel’s murky near-findings that Trump had objected too strenuously to being falsely accused of treason — also fell apart.

Other impeachment efforts for, among other things, mean tweets, went nowhere. With time running out, the Resistance cobbled together what was always a weak theory regarding a phone call with the Ukrainian president.

At first the alleged crime was supposed to be a campaign finance violation, then bribery, then extortion. It ended with two articles of impeachment, neither ofor an actual crime, and one a more or less laughable claim that the president can’t use courts to defend his rights.

The other was a complicated argument regarding abuse of power that required not just hiding all exonerating evidence but the worst possible construction on what remained. It was such a weak argument that not a single Republican in the House fell for it and three Democrats declined to go along with their own party.

The range of opinion outside the Resistance about the phone call between world leaders ranges from it being, in Trump’s words, “perfect” to merely good or fine to not good. Resistance members tried to put forth the claim that the call was none of these things but impeachably bad. Even with the help of a compliant media, there is simply not enough consensus around this extreme viewpoint to justify even censure, much less bipartisan agreement toward impeachment, much less a removal from office.

Trump’s avoidance of a crime or any real break with public trust is the single biggest factor in his acquittal.

2. Terrible Decision-Making By House Democrats

With a histrionic media and political base spending the last few years demanding impeachment, House Democrats surely had hoped that President Trump would do something justifying an impeachment inquiry. They undoubtedly were not pleased when the best they had to work with was Trump asking for help investigating Ukraine’s known 2016 election meddling or investigation into Biden family corruptionin Ukraine.

So they started with a weak hand. But they failed to follow a good process. They didn’t have the House authorize an impeachment inquiry until late in the process. This decision made it unlikely that the many early subpoenas they sought would be deemed valid by a court of law if contested.

They refused to have courts validate their subpoenas, refused to let the GOP call their own witnesses, and suppressed information that was not helpful to their impeachment cause. Of the 78 days of the impeachment proceedings, they denied the president any right to counsel or due process for 71 days of them.

In general, the procedure was rushed and information that could have helped them seem more credible was never sought or acquired.

3. Democrats Failed to Get a Single Republican on Board Their Impeachment Scheme

It is nothing short of amazing that not a single Republican member of Congress joined with Democrats in their impeachment effort. There are plenty of Republican members who either dislike or even loathe the president. But even they didn’t find the impeachment to be credible.

The Resistance was also failed by its NeverTrump wing. That wing had pushed Justin Amash to dramatically leave the Republican Party earlier last year. He published his op-ed as to why and promptly lost any sway with anyone other than the tiny NeverTrump movement.

NeverTrump has long demonstrated trouble with strategic thinking and impulse control, so following their advice and leaving the party in a snit was an unforced error. Had Amash stayed with the party, the Resistance in the media and Democratic Party would have been able to make much more use of him.

4. Inexplicable 1-Month Delay In Sending Impeachment to the Senate

A main argument in favor of impeaching President Trump was that the situation, whatever it was supposed to be that day, was so dire that it required his immediate removal from office. The House Democrats couldn’t afford to wait a matter of months until a new election would be held and Americans could decide whether the “perfect” phone call was in fact so bad that it required the first removal from office of an American president in history.

Impeachment and removal had to happen immediately, they claimed. But then after voting to impeach the president, perhaps sensing the problems caused by a weak case and hoping for more information to come to light, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi inexplicably sat on the articles for a month. It killed whatever momentum the Resistance had and made a mockery of the whole process.

5. The Defense Team Was Amazing

Instead of turning things over to the effective Republicans who had handled the impeachment process so well on the House side, President Trump instead opted to put together a powerhouse collection of attorneys uniquely suited to address an audience of senators and the American people.

Even among their class of politicians, senators have an extremely high view of themselves and their office. Every senator’s ego must be stroked. They don’t want to feel upstaged, spoken down to, or lectured.

Patrick Philbin, Trump’s deputy general counsel, exemplified the defense team’s deliberate choice to put in front of senators someone who had encyclopedic knowledge of the law and this particular case, someone not there to make a name for himself. Philbin’s humble and bookish demeanor was neither bombastic nor flamboyant as he calmly explained the facts of the case and their significance. The other members of the team were also well chosen to argue their points.

6. Grating and Juvenile House Managers

By contrast, House Democrats picked impeachment managers who seemed perfectly calibrated to annoy and grate on those handful of senators whose votes were up for grabs. Reps. Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler were the leaders of a group that repeated their highly partisan talking points and used hyperbolic and loaded language. The media loved it, but it went over like a lead balloon with the non-Resistance senators.

The House Democrats accused senators of being cowards who were complicit in a cover-up. They suggested that the senators were unable to vote properly because President Trump would put their heads on pikes if they didn’t vote to acquit. They refused to answer specific and direct questions about whether the whistleblower worked for Biden, was involved in any decisions regarding Burisma, or about his interaction with Schiff’s staff. Even the Washington Post — even the Washington Post — gave Schiff four Pinocchios for lying about his staff’s secret collusion with the whistleblower.

At some point, the difference between the competent and highly skilled attorneys on the White House team and the bumbling and somewhat mediocre team of House managers was so pronounced it was almost embarrassing. It was as if one side belonged in front of the Supreme Court and the other failed to make the finals at a middle school debate tournament.

7. Kavanaugh Smear Operations No Longer Work

Along with the delay of the articles of impeachment, the House managers deployed a slow drip of supposedly damaging information. First they put Lev Parnas out as a “bombshell” witness who would bring Trump down. Parnas is indicted for various crimes and is something of a hustler and influence peddler who worked his way through Washington and supposedly had some type of negative information about Trump.

While the argument that Rudy Guiliani shouldn’t have been working with him in any way has merit, it’s a difficult argument to make while walking hand-in-hand with the same individual. Senate Minority Leader went so far as to invite Parnas to be his guest at the trial, which made the scene look more like a circus than a deliberative effort.

Late this week, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel issued a press release saying that he had been given information from a disgruntled former employee of Trump’s in mid-September to look into the firing of Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, suggesting additional witnesses needed to be called. A good time to release this information — if it needed to be released, that is — would have been four months ago or during the House’s impeachment proceedings.

These tactics of deploying information late to create “bombshell” news stories are losing their effectiveness post-Kavanaugh. Republican senators — perhaps with the exception of Mitt Romney, who didn’t even learn this lesson after he was called a racist, hair-raping woman murderer during his presidential bid — are finally wising up to the operation played by the media and Democrats.

8. Media Malfeasance

The media always owned this impeachment process. Pelosi did her best to avoid impeachment but the media all but forced her into it. They championed it every step of the way and provided help, including the blocking of arguments against it.

For instance, although it’s fairly standard to name whistleblowers and to do journalism figuring out who key players are, many in the media decided to help Democrats keep from having to answer questions about his role with the whistleblower. They steadfastly avoided looking into him and his motivations or how that might have affected the entire proceedings.

Each day provided evidence that the media didn’t just want Trump impeached and removed from office, but desperately wanted that. There are videos of scrums of reporters fighting with Republicans over their case, but none of them fighting with Democrats. Republican senators are hounded by reporters to pressure them to change their vote, but Democratic senators don’t receive the same treatment.

It didn’t help that in the midst of the circus, a CNN host and his panel were openly yukking it up about how Republicans are all stupid.

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a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan · 6 years

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Guest Analysis: Goron Physiology

I have been a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda franchise since I first played Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask on the N64 when I was a child. Among the many iconic and fantastical races those games introduced me to are the Gorons; the strong, hardy rock-people of Hyrule. Since then, the Gorons have played major roles in almost every major release in the series, including the most recent: Breath of the Wild.

Truthfully, the Gorons will always hold a special place in my heart. But there are simply far too many discrepancies that I cannot- that I WILL NOT ignore. They can walk on lava, they can breath underwater, there is no rhyme or reason to their reproductive cycles, and not ONCE has Nintendo ever bothered to explain any of this. We know almost everything there is to know about the other races of Hyrule, but the Goron’s inner workings remain shrouded in mystery.

Try as I might, I cannot solve many of the mysteries presented by these volcano-dwelling weirdos. But today I am willing to look past all of that. Today I’ll be trying to explain one of the few consistencies between all generations of the Goron. Today I am asking the question: is eating metal possible? And can one survive from doing so?

To answer the first question, we need to understand how the body is able to digest normal food. Your stomach contains acid, hydrochloric acid specifically, which dissolves the things you eat so that your body can take the nutrients it needs and get rid of the waste. But metal is not food (at least not to humans), so can it be dissolved by our stomach acid? It depends on the metal. Zinc, for example, is something you probably eat every day without noticing. Keep in mind that you aren’t eating bricks of zinc for breakfast, so you stomach is able to digest the smaller bits individually.

The problems become clearer as you move further down the periodic table. Hydrochloric acid just isn’t strong enough to dissolve tougher metals like iron. But Gorons are most certainly not like humans. If their skin is as hard as stone, who knows what’s in their stomach? So, for the sake of this theory, let’s imagine that Goron stomachs somehow contain nitric acid, and can dissolve strong metals.

Iron actually IS somewhat nutritious. If you could manage to break it down in your stomach, then that could effectively be part of a healthy diet. Only PART of a healthy diet, that is. Surviving on iron and zinc alone is unlikely to be possible, even for Gorons. Surprisingly, we are actually given quite a lot of insight into the Goron’s diet. Wearing the Goron mask in OoT will cause Gorons to suggest Link eats his green rocks to grow big and strong. In BotW, you can buy Goron spices from the store and meat from the grill in Goron City. Since I’m certain there aren’t a lot of Hylian tourists visiting Death Mountain, most of that food must be made for the other Gorons. This could all mean that Gorons are actually omnivorous creatures, and eat minerals simply because they can.

While I could just end this by saying that Gorons are omnivores with extremely powerful stomach acid, there’s one thing I’ve neglected to mention about the logistics of eating metal. No, I’m not talking about the excretion of the waste after digestion (I downright refuse to write a report on Goron feces), I’m referring to the gas. Dissolving metal in acid can produce hydrogen gas, with certain metals producing more gas than others. If the heat around that volcano is enough to cause Link to burst into flames, then it is more than enough to ignite the hydrogen and cause it to explode, making for a highly volatile belch.

Yep, that’s right. Gorons are explosive. Maybe they have more in common with the Nejirons from Majora’s Mask than we thought. As surprised as I was to learn this, I’m happier than ever to finally have a little closure on the Goron’s functions. Perhaps now I can finally be at peace.

- Researched and written by Ryan Bowers You can follow him on Twitter at @RusticGiraffe. He told me to say that.

#Goron Physiology #zelda #the legend of zelda #ocarina of time #majora's mask #breath of the wild #goron #gorons #guest analysis #video games #video game theory #nintendo #Link #death mountain #goron city #zelda analysis #analysis #neijiron

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sellinout · 6 years

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TRANSCRIPT for EPISODE 7

Courtesy of Steph DiBona!

[music]

DYLAN HANWRIGHT: It’s not comfortable, but there’s a little bit of hope on the horizon, of how can we keep ourselves afloat personally, while also having money for the van, the trailer, the gear. Just striking that balance is really, uh, is a tough thing.

MIKE MOSCHETTO: What’s the old saying? If it wasn’t for a mic check I wouldn’t have a check at all? I’m Mike Moschetto, and this is Sellin’ Out.

[music: “I’m a casino that pays nothing when you win / Please put your money in”]

MIKE: Hey! Thanks for listening to Sellin’ Out. Proud to be the #1 rated podcast named “Sellin’ Out” that I am personally aware of at the present time. If you’re listening for the first time, welcome, thank you. I’m mike Moschetto. But if you’ve been along for the ride up through this point, it’s probably become clear by now that I’ve been sitting on the oldest episodes of this show for over six months, in some cases closer to a year now. Just waffling about it like a coward. And so once I finally embraced my more narcissistic side and mustered up the courage to releases this stupid thing, I was fucking mortified to find that another show called Selling Out, that’s with a ‘g’, had released its first episode literally a week before I started the submission process for this one.

I think the only course of action when it comes to being beaten to the punch in something like that is that they may have had the name first, but I will utterly crush them in ratings and reviews and buzz. So if you enjoy what you hear, please consider going to Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcatchers and help me bury these guys deep down in the search results with a nice review. I don’t know, I’m sure they’re nice but what can I say, I’ve got the spirit of a warrior.

Anyway, my guests today are Dylan Hanwright and Malia Seavey, and where do I even begin? Uh, Dylan was one of the primary songwriters in I Kill Giants, who, I know, they just had a big weekend of reunion shows, and no I didn’t talk to them about it, and yes, this episode was taped months before it was even announced, so, I’m trying to get about that. But you’ll just have to appreciate this episode for what it is.

You may also know Dylan from his various other projects including Great Grandpa, Trashlord, Apples with Moya, Logfella, Slothfella, there’s probably even more that I don’t know about. And I was also joined by his partner Malia Seavey, who plays in Salt Lick, Dogbreth, and a number of other bands herself. And she’s also active in design work and screenprinting, which is such a huge economic engine within this kind of music I could do a whole episode just on that, and maybe I will.

Anyway, uh, Dylan and Malia and I talked about the role of college and its value to people pursuing creative fields, the lure of the new startup job, geographical isolation, and making do in a major American City and so much more. So, I’m pleased now to give you Dylan and Malia.

[music: “it’s just the kids these days they make me feel so old / I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin / I think the best is only over / the night is slowly closing in / and I’m staring at my thighs / you watch an episode and nothing more / I think I'd rather not be sober”]

MIKE: I met you, Dylan, through mutual friends, while they and you were at Berklee College of Music. What were you studying there and, uh, you know, this might be a stupid question for anybody who's in the know, but why Berklee?

DYLAN: Uh, originally I went in for um, the major music production engineering, which is basically recording, it’s engineering, producing, all that. That’s what my draw was, I couldn’t really find that anywhere else. Yeah, I just wanted that specific, I, you know, I didn’t just want to study music or music history or something, I wanted like a specific sort of education. So, that’s why Berklee, and I had pretty much had Berklee in my sights since I was like 15 or so.

MIKE: Right, ‘cause you’re like a player and a musician, and there’s something about that school that appeals, I mean it’s obviously the most prestigious in a certain sense, unless you’re trying to something like really classical.

DYLAN: Right, right. It’s, it’s like the more contemporary of the like, the, you know, bigger music schools, and um, and that’s definitely where I, like I didn’t do jazz band or anything in high school. I didn’t really, I was more of just like playing punk shows and stuff like that. So, so even Berklee was, it felt like a little bit of a stretch but, uh, yeah. And so when I got in I kind of had explored a little more and found a different major that seemed a little more interesting to me which was called Electronic Production and Design. And that was a little more focused on synthesis and creating sound, sound design, um a lot of like EDM folks went into that major. Um, so kind of the more like lonely end of production, just the like, you know, programming and sort of using the computer to, to get what you want done in music. And it took me, took me three semesters of applying to get into that major. So I was-

MIKE: Whoa.

DYLAN: Yeah, I was pushing hard for it and finally got in.

MIKE: Wow. And uh, Malia, do you have a formal like college education, like a post-secondary, any kind of vocational music thing, or..?

MALIA SEAVEY: Not really, I went to school for like visual arts, mostly costuming and textiles.

MIKE: Oh, okay.

MALIA: I took like one music theory class, but I really, it didn’t click [laughs].

MIKE: That’s all fine too, and do you do anything in like costuming now? Visual, kind of..?

MALIA: Um, not really, I still sew, I make like um, accessories and like guitar straps and stuff like that, and fanny packs. But um, I don’t really costume anymore, yeah.

MIKE: Okay. And did you, you had like aspirations of that maybe, like for theater, or...?

MALIA: I did, yeah, for theater. Um, I did, I wanted to do movies and stuff to but it’s, you have to dedicate a lot of nights and weekends to that, and I like to play, and usually, you know, practicing ends up at those times, and shows and stuff end up during the weekends and stuff like that, so-

MIKE: So your like music habit kind of got in the, got the better of it?

MALIA: It did, yeah. Which is funny ‘cause it was definitely like more of a, just a fun side thing for a while, and then I took it more seriously, put the other stuff aside.

MIKE: I guess I’ll throw this to both of you, did, when you were going to school for something so, I mean I think a lot about hyper-specialization, so like, music production, electronic production, sound design. I went to college for audio post-production and sound design, which is so specific that it’s like everyone from my major went to LA to work in film and TV.

DYLAN: Sure.

MIKE: Except for me. Did you get any kind of push back before you went to college for something so specific that, you know, the chances of it being lucrative are so-so?

DYLAN: Um, I feel like I was incredibly lucky with my parents and like my support system, and even like friends and everyone I went to school was like yeah this is what Dylan wants to do, Dylan's the music guy, he’s gotta go do this. And my parents knew that's really you know, all I really wanted to do. My grandparents went with me to visit the school, and you know-

MIKE: That’s nice.

DYLAN: -that was a little like scary, I was like you know, what, what are they gonna think, and they came out thinking it was incredible, they loved it, they, they helped me fund my education, and uh, so yeah. I feel really lucky that I didn’t have that push back, ‘cause I feel like, you know, a lot of folks would and, I think that definitely helped me decide, like ok, I can do this. Like, people support that, and I don’t want to let them down, so.

MIKE: Of course, yeah.

MALIA: Mine wasn’t taken seriously, until I started to get work, I think?

MIKE: That’s, I mean, the best way to prove anyone wrong, definitely.

MALIA: Totally, yeah. And to be fair I did get like a art degree from a non-art school, so I think that maybe that had something to do with it, but um, yeah. Once I started making money off of it, then people were like, oh yeah cool!

MIKE: Yeah, there you go, yeah.

MALIA: It makes sense now!

MIKE: Yeah, yeah.

MALIA: ‘Cause, ‘cause people care about money apparently.

MIKE: There’s a lot to be said, I guess, especially in creative things, for the networking, uh, parts of it. Somethings I think, like I wish someone had said like, hey you don’t need to go to like a private college, like an extremely vocational school for this. Um, and I guess it depends on what you’re doing, right? Especially if it’s networking in the sense of like, the only way into an industry, definitely? But, you know, I also like met the woman I’m about to marry at that college so I can’t really complain that much, but I mean... is there anything that you can say about the value proposition of getting a degree, like an advanced degree in music, or art, or design, or whatever. Could you recommend it to anyone, or is it totally from situation to situation?

MALIA: I personally think that one of the major reasons to go to a school like that, is like how you said the connections that you’re gonna make with the people, so I think that if you can find those kind of connections elsewhere, and um like, intern and get like on-the-job experience, I think that that could be just as good and a lot cheaper.

MIKE: Absolutely.

MALIA: But I think that school offers a lot of opportunity to get jobs through professors or meet collaborators and stuff like that, that’s really what I took away from, from going to school.

MIKE: Oh, totally. For sure.

DYLAN: I think what helped me kind of break out of my shell was college, and, and like allowed me, like I, you know, I wouldn’t have met you had it not been for meeting all of my bandmates at college, and I wouldn’t have toured as heavily and like gotten that experience had I not gone to college. And like, the most I learned about myself musically um, was outside of the college playing in bands. So it was like, a lot of the experience I got outside of the schooling itself was the most valuable-

MIKE: Extracurricular.

DYLAN: Right, and...

MIKE: Right.

DYLAN: And I think I wouldn’t have done that, I wouldn’t have been so extracurricular had I just stayed, you know, tried, tried to like intern or tried to go to local venues and stuff and just gone that route.

MIKE: Yeah.

DYLAN: To, to like break into the music scene. But I think that it’s up to, it’s totally a personal thing. I think a lot of people totally have the ability to get that knowledge and expertise and experience just by getting their feet wet, getting in and doing it.

MIKE: Of course.

DYLAN: But I think college helped me kind of like have a community to like surround myself in, and get comfortable with, and, you know, we all, we all kind of held each other up, and helped each other out and, um, I think that’s something really valuable.

MIKE: And you still do, I’m sure, even, however many years later.

DYLAN: Yeah. Oh absolutely, yeah.

MIKE: And that’s actually, you’re kind of doing all my work for me here, and, uh...

DYLAN & MALIA: [laughs]

MIKE: So while you’re, while you’re at school, obviously you get involved with I Kill Giants, and I don’t think I really appreciated this until maybe after, but like that band got-

DYLAN: I don’t think anyone did.

MIKE: -got huge, it got huge! It got huge. And I, I don’t know if this is maybe what drove it home, but like the reunion set, the Broken World Fest thing?

DYLAN: Yeah.

MIKE: Was that a surprise to you? That, I mean obviously you put in the work for it, but, were you, was it kind of an unexpected response?

DYLAN: I think that I knew that it was gonna be a big show, I knew that it was, you know, that band was a big deal to a lot of people. You can’t really realize that until you’re, you know, on stage and experiencing and having a blast. But um, yeah it was a weird thing, ‘cause I know that when I left the band, I left Boston, it seemed like such an easier choice. It seemed like yeah, you know, we don’t, we don’t have that much going. Like, career is more important, but uh, you know, months later after I’d moved and kind of like saw the, the like legacy quote-on-quote? Um, that really like set in, and, it’s just like grass is always greener, you know it’s...

MIKE: Yeah, of course.

DYLAN: It, you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone, that sort of thing, so.

MIKE: ‘Cause you did a last EP and like a last tour, and then the reunion show and all that, do you think to tag something with that kind of finality has some effect on the response and…?

DYLAN: Oh absolutely, yeah. Yeah, um, giving people one last chance or whatever, I think, you know, it makes it a little more special, a little more memorable. It means we’re gonna try harder on our end, it’s not just another show, you know, I think, I think that, in any, in any capacity, any band doing that sort of thing is gonna see... it’s gonna feel a little more special for that reason.

MIKE: I mean Aviator never did like a last show, I think we kind of fizzled out with the understanding like, ah if you’re not riding with us now then like, we don’t wanna give anyone the pleasure, I guess, which is what-

DYLAN: [laughs]

MIKE: -what, maybe why we never really got there.

DYLAN: Sure.

MIKE: I do wanna, I wanna circle back to, uh, the reason that you left Boston, and I’ve always been curious about this. Tell me about the opportunity that brought you back to your home state of Washington.

DYLAN: It was kind of a classic start-up situation. Um...

MIKE: Okay.

DYLAN: Looking back, like, maybe a little naïve at the time, but, right as I was kind of finishing up school, someone who I had been in touch with for a long time, um, really talented game developer, programmer, who, we’d always talked about collaborating and stuff. We worked together on like, you know, a few small things throughout college. As I was finishing up, he hit me up and was like hey, I’m starting a startup, we’ve got investors, we are, you know, we’ve got this house in Redmond, WA that they’re paying rent for us, we’re just gonna turn it into a dev house. Um, you’re welcome to live there, set up a, you know, set up a studio, and basically make music for our, for, and they were working on this game, that looked amazing, felt amazing, it was a really, from my experience with it, it was a really great product that I really wanted to work on. Um, and so after, you know, a lot of like back and forth and a lot of figuring out what would be best, I decided I wanted to move back, join this startup, get into the creative world professionally. There’s that panic of being done with college and being like, oh God what do I do, I don’t wanna, don’t wanna go work at food service, you know, like... Like you’d kind of said before, going to college for something like that, you know, if you don’t have something like that afterwards, it’s like a failure.

MIKE: Oh yeah, I mean I delivered pizza, I was a mailman, I did all that stuff.

DYLAN: So, that’s kind of what made the decision for me, and uh, I told the guys I was gonna quit the band. They were all really cool with it, they were stoked for me. Um, we recorded our last EP, booked our last tour, did all the stuff, and then once we were done with that tour I pretty much got back to Boston and moved out. Moved right into the house in Redmond, and I think within like a month the startup tanked.

MIKE: Wow, I didn’t know it was that quick, I thought it was at least a...

DYLAN: It was pretty quick.

MIKE: So the project never was like, completed then?

DYLAN: Nope. No, it was uh, they had an issue with like, someone who originally was part of the team, and they decided they didn’t want to be, they didn’t want to have them as part of the team anymore, then this person threatened to sue, the investors got freaked out, were like nevermind, we’re out, and that was it. Pack up and get out of the house, and kind of moved back in with my parents, and just like started from ground zero, not, not two months after leaving Boston.

MIKE: I mean I don’t pay really, really close attention but it seems like there’s been kind of like, or maybe this was the start of an indie game development renaissance almost?

DYLAN: Yeah.

MIKE: Have you, is this something you’ve continued to try to pursue in the meantime?

DYLAN: I, it’s been, there’s been like an on and off, you know, I’ll get really inspired, I’ll get, you know, just get my shit together, and you know redo my website every you know several months, and decide now’s the time. I’m gonna write some game music. I’m gonna get some stuff out there. Let’s see what we can do. And then like, a few months later, decide it’s too hard, decide it’s just like so hard to break into, and be like, maybe another time, I’m just gonna focus on writing my own music right now. So I, I feel like I’ve gone back and forth between that for the past four years.

MIKE: Was it the major change at Berklee that kind of prompted you to get into composing for something so specific as video games? Because a lot of that has to be responsive, right, like it has to be, it’s like a totally different mindset of writing.

DYLAN: Right.

MIKE: I would think.

DYLAN: Yeah, it’s very different, and uh, I actually minored in video game scoring at Berklee, which was like, just the fact that they had a minor for that, I was like ok, this, this is doable, this is like what I want to do. Um, and I can be taught how to do it, so.

MIKE: Yeah, yeah.

DYLAN: Um, it is, and it’s, there’s, it’s a lot of tech-heavy sort of, um, knowledge that goes into it and understanding how to write for an interactive sort of experience. It’s different, but it’s something I always felt like I was good at, I’ve always loved video games, I’ve always listened to soundtracks obsessively, and...

MIKE: I mean it’s some of the most, kind of culturally memorable music for a whole, like a growing generation of people.

DYLAN: Sure, yeah absolutely.

[music: “What a gift to feel stroked off by a phrase / to be so simple and so happy and undoubting / I keep commission on the TV and I’m PKD / What a mercy we’re perpetually occluded / we crave the twangy void of the perfect diploid / I am irrational - an expert eraser”]

MIKE: Malia, are you from the Seattle area originally then, or..?

MALIA: I Grew up in Olympia, I’ve been in Seattle like eight or nine years.

MIKE: Tell me about your, your music, your bands.

MALIA: Um, I’m in a few projects. My main project that I write the most for is called Salt Lick, and it’s with a group of close friends that, a few of us have been making music together for, I don’t know, two or three years, although this project is pretty new.

MIKE: Same people, kind of reconfigured.

MALIA: Yeah.

MIKE: Okay.

MALIA: Yeah, totally. I sing in that band and like, write the words and stuff, and I joined Dogbreth last August, I think? So I drum in the band. We actually, I got home at 4:30 this morning [laughs] because we were recording for the last week or so, um, at the Unknown in Anacortes, so. Really excited about that.

MIKE: Wow.

MALIA: And, I’m in another project called Super Projection. So yeah, pretty busy, pretty busy with the tunes.

MIKE: And, do these all tour, I mean, it sounds like you were record, were you recording remotely, or somewhere nearby?

MALIA: Um, Anacortes is about an hour and a half away.

MIKE: Okay.

MALIA: It’s like this old church turned into a studio.

MIKE: Ooh.

MALIA: Um, it’s really great, loved it, I recorded there with Super Projection about a year ago as well.

MIKE: Oh cool, cool cool.

MALIA: We, we tour mildly, nothing like something people I know. [laughs] Like you know, a week or two here and there.

MIKE: Regionally, obviously.

MALIA: Totally, yeah, the coast kind of thing, maybe over to Montana, but nothing too big yet, hopefully someday, you know.

MIKE: Yeah, yeah of course. I mean you have to, especially in, in your part of the country it has to be so gradual that you get outside of your home base ‘cause everything is like, I don’t want to say we’re like lucky around here ‘cause it’s not always, results may vary, but you know, you can drive an hour and a half and you’re in like a different market.

MALIA: Yeah, I know, it’s crazy.

MIKE: I’m haunted by the three days I did in the northwest.

DYLAN: [laughs]

MALIA: Oh, long drives?

MIKE: Nobody, nobody told me that like you should really have a day in between Portland and San Francisco. So we did the whole thing-

MALIA: Oh yeah that’s a long one.

MIKE: We did an overnight drive, and we were just fucking zombies, and didn’t get to-

MALIA: Sleepy gig? [laughs]

MIKE: Oh, boy.

MALIA: Yep, been there.

MIKE: Just running off of fumes. Um, so take me through some of the, you know, you’re obviously playing in bands too, and trying to support recording and all of that, how are you making money? You said you got some work doing like costuming, and design and stitching, how else are you paying the bills?

MALIA: Um, so I worked at a sewing shop sewing and then eventually managing for like four years after school. And then eventually, about a year ago, I left to do some screenprinting, I started screenprinting on the side while I was working at that shop. So that’s mostly how I make money right now, is printing shirts for organizations and like bands and all sorts of different things. Shirts and um...

MIKE: You own all the, you own like the presses and all that stuff?

MALIA: No, no.

MIKE: NO? Oh, okay. Do you work out of a studio?

MALIA: Yeah, I work out of a couple studios, I work out of um, a place called Fogland for flatstock and then I um, I work out of the Vera Project for some t-shirts and other, other stuff like that. And then, I’m like a dogwalker, like I had a dog walk today. I do like random jobs like here and there like that, and I don’t know, we do some random like, pickup work and stuff like that.

MIKE: Sure, sure.

MALIA: Yeah, mostly that.

MIKE: Like gig economy stuff.

MALIA: Yeah, I guess so. And I, I do some sewing, freelance sewing for people. I also have a company where I sew like um, accessories and straps and stuff like that, and I sell them at like craft fairs and stuff like this, to friends. Fix people’s stuff.

MIKE: So, going from working for a company for several years, and uh, you know, at the time we’re recording this, it’s tax season, that surely won’t be true by the time this comes out but, have you, like what has been the difference between working for someone and working for yourself when it comes to that sort of adult responsibility shit?

MALIA: Totally. Well, it’s definitely hard at points, but then it’s, it’s really nice to have um, the freedom to decide what I want to do and when I want to do it.

MIKE: Yeah.

MALIA: Um, that can also be kind of scary though. It’s hard to stay motivated sometimes, but I feel like I, I do a really good job at keeping busy [laughs]. So, whether it’s something-

MIKE: That’s, I mean, you have to, yeah.

MALIA: Yeah, whether it’s something that’s making money or not. I do a lot of inexpensive things now, like um, creating art, and stuff like that, like, you know, playing music, but. I mean, traveling is expensive, but I, I feel more creative now that, you know, I’m not like drained all day at the sewing shop somewhere.

MIKE: yeah, I mean that’s, that’s worth everything if you can make your schedule work for you, then that’s, I mean, so, I was a, I was a, I mean I still kind of am, but I was only a recording engineer for, I don’t know, two years maybe? And I remember the first year that I filed taxes and I owed like $1000, and I was like AUGH!

MALIA: Oh yeah.

MIKE: And then I got a side job and that kind of all balanced out, and I was like ok, alright I can like surrender a little bit, and then you kind of just inch a little bit more toward giving more and more of your time.

MALIA: Mhmm.

MIKE: Um, is what you do kind of feast or famine? Are you like loaded with work at times and then there’s a dry spell for a while? Or is it fairly constant?

MALIA: It’s pretty even. It’s, yeah, I mean, there are definitely, it, I’m always working on a project but sometimes they do stack up. So. Sometimes it can be a little bit overwhelming in that sense, but um, I don’t know I think I strive off of being incredibly busy, so, it’s good for me [laughs].

MIKE: It’s good, I mean, there’s nothing worse than getting really busy and then having a drought and then having to kind of string yourself along financially through all of that. Um, I guess I should get back to, so take me through, you alluded to this Dylan, within two months of moving out, you’re kind of back to the drawing board. You’re freelance now, but how are you kind of stringing yourself along between then and now?

DYLAN: So, um, I moved back in with my parents, they live like an hour south of Seattle. And so, that was kind of when I was back there, it was kind of a scramble, I was, you know, broke, trying to figure out like well, do I move back to Boston? Like I spent so much money getting back here,. but maybe if I can get a job and raise some money, like I can get back to Boston, just kind of, just resume what I was doing. Um, and so I moved to Seattle ‘cause I got a job teaching children how to ride bikes.

MIKE: Whoa.

DYLAN: That was my first job in Seattle. Uh, did that for a summer, basically took that whole summer to just like catch up to my credit card and pay off debt. So at that point, I’m like, now I’m, you know now I’m maybe a little bit in the black, but still nowhere near able to move back to Boston. Even, nonetheless pay for a plane ticket. So, I was like well I guess I’m here in Seattle, I gotta get a new job. Um, you know, I worked at a hospital doing, like, sound and video for conferences, and then I worked for a game company for quite a while. And then during all this, just kind of let go of the idea of moving back to Boston. I started to like make friends, I Started to meet people, started a band. And just like in all of this, sort of working a day job, just kind of like doing music when I could. A year or two after, you know, I had to move back with my parents, it was like, I’m in Seattle now, this is where I'm at, this is what I'm gonna do. Because it’s a great city, and it/s, there’s still, it’s like you said, it’s kind of a, you know there’s a renaissance for indie gaming, and there’s always gonna, it’s always gonna be there so, you know, I might as well just grind and grind and see what this can do for me.

MIKE: Let’s, I guess let's talk about Great Grandpa, right? I mean that’s going pretty well, huh?

DYLAN: Yeah, uh, as well as anything has gone for me in a band.

MIKE: It seems like it anyway.

DYLAN: You know, we put out a record on a label, and we had a booking agent, and we were like cool, let's do this, let’s do this music thing full time. And that was in July of, uh, 2017.

MIKE: How has that been? How is that, how would you describe...?

DYLAN: It's a strange world because it’s just like, it’s not that you have a better job, it’s not like you have more of an income playing in a band. It’s that maybe down the road-

MIKE: Whaaat?

DYLAN: -you will, you really have no idea but the only way to find out is just to do it. And so, that’s kind of where we were at. We had finished recording this record, we spent a lot of time on it, we got a booking agent through it, Greg Horbal, who, you know, maybe that wouldn’t have happened had I not gone to school also. So it’s like all these things that just, all these experiences, all these people, all these connections just kind of like culminated in like, great! We got a booking agent, our booking agent helped us get on a label, the label is, you know, run by folks that I’ve known for a little while too. And it’s like, sort of a, all came together at once. And um, we’re like great, we’re ready to release this record, Greg got us on our first full US tour with the band Rozwell Kid, who are some of my favorite people that I’ve known for a little bit. And uh, so it all just, it worked out so perfectly, we all felt so like, you know lucky and blessed and just kind of went for it. So, ok, let’s quit our jobs, let’s tour, and during that tour we got our offer for the next tour, the Citizen tour. Um, and then during that tour, we got an offer for the Diet Cig tour, and just kinda like, you know, you just kinda keep going.

MIKE: It’s kinda rolling at this point.

DYLAN: Yeah, you just do it. Maybe it doesn’t really work out monetarily, you kind of flounder a little bit, but, you know, when we’re on tour, we get like daily per diems to eat basically, that’s just like what we’ve budgeted for ourselves based on how much we make per show. Um, everything else pretty much just goes back into the band fund, we don’t really see a lot of that, so, um, really I just kind of saved up enough at my old job as I was preparing to quit to really just help me get by those months when I was back home, or like you know, paying rent when I’m on the road. But really, it’s like we don’t see a whole lot from the band itself, it’s still just kind of an investment towards our own future. And recently we, like, we were like feeling you know pretty, like ok, we just kind of settled down, we’re you know, about to finish off this eight months of touring, what do we want to do as far as money? Like, we get our payouts every day, but you know...

MIKE: You still have like phone bills.

DYLAN: Right, exactly. Like, what, what should we do, and so we kinda looked at what we had and just like decided on a fair amount that everyone should get, just because we had just gone through all this, you know, stuff with the record, we got like a publishing deal, and, you know. And so they gave an advance that says like, as a a band you get paid when something gets placed and licensed and used, but when a publishing company, sorry and this was all new to me when this started happening. I learned pretty quickly.

MIKE: Right, this is all kind of stuff that I’ve heard peripherally about.

DYLAN: Right, right.

MIKE: It’s so alien to me that it’s never really made sense, but.

DYLAN: It’s bizarre. It’s just insane that someone would just give you money to, to have the rights to your record whether or not it’ll get placed, you know, they could potentially not make any money off of us, you know, and, but, they kind of put their faith in us and said here’s this advance. And, so anyway, without going into like, you know, too much further into like what we make as a band.

MIKE: Sure, sure.

DYLAN: It’s, it’s not comfortable, it’s still sort of like we’re grinding, but there’s a little bit of hope on the horizon of like, ok, this happened, you know, how can we keep making this happen. How can we keep making enough to like keep ourselves afloat personally, while also like having money for the band, you know, so many expenses. The van, the trailer, the-

MIKE: Oh my God.

DYLAN: -the gear, just, yeah it all adds up. So, it’s like striking that balance is really, is a tough thing, but.

MIKE: Is there anything that you, or your bandmates, either of your bandmates, uh, that you could do from the road and like kind of generate some income while you’re, while you’re out?

DYLAN: For most of us, it’s work, work, work while we’re home, have enough to like survive on the road and pay rent, but uh, Pat from my band, uh, he’s a 3-D environment artist. Um, he does, yeah he works on video games and like VR experiences.

MIKE: Wow.

DYLAN: And so, yeah he’s been able to do a ton of work from the road, um, you know he’s had like business calls in the van, and you know, [laughs] shit like that. So, uh, it’s possible, I think it, for me unluckily, it’s, I can’t really, I don’t have a, I don’t have like a laptop, I can’t really work on music on the road in that capacity. I really prefer to have like my whole setup. So yeah, it’s more of just kind of like marinating on ideas and stuff, if that counts, but other than that, no.

MIKE: Sure it does.

DYLAN: There’s not a whole lot of money to be made, you know, freelance-wise on the road. For me, personally, I don’t know.

MALIA: I do some like, poster design and stuff like that, and I can like prep artwork for screenprinting when I get back and stuff. Uh, that’s pretty much the extent of mine though.

MIKE: Yeah. Can you like-

MALIA: Do like some clerical stuff, Photoshop.

MIKE: Can you like book work while you’re out and take like deposits or whatever? That was like, that was my bread and butter for a while.

MALIA: Yeah, definitely. I don’t really take deposits on stuff, but um, just like, yeah having, having work ready when you get home is important, or when I, for me at least.

MIKE: Oh yeah, of course. If you can line it up in advance, then, it feels a little better to be like ok I got two more weeks, one more week.

MALIA: There’s money on the horizon! [laughs] Yeah.

MIKE: Before you start calling home for a handout or anything.

MALIA: Oh my God.

[music: “I never thought it’d be easy / I never wanted to see it / and I don’t want to need it / like I do anymore”]

MIKE: Dylan, you’ve spent time outside of Seattle, like I won’t pretend to know enough about the music scene here that I can make this comparison, but at least, talk me through maybe the differences between Seattle and Boston in terms of like, I don’t know, just the cost of living, the opportunities that you get.

DYLAN: You know, I think Boston’s definitely, it costs more, but I also have a, I like got lucky with my situation here, and you know, pay a lot less than average. So that’s, you know, just my experience. But uh, cost-wise, it’s definitely seems more expensive to live in Boston, however, the community, the music scene that I was involved with, and still like tangentially am, in Boston, feels a lot more supportive but at the same time kind of like tight-knit. And I feel like I, I luckily have that tight-knit community around me, and that was really, I was really fortunate for that, and I think that helped me sort of like, exist in the music scene and, and you know, um, succeed. Uh, whereas here, it’s there but it’s not as, it’s not as like close, it’s not as friendly, it’s like everyone in the scene are, they’re my acquaintances, and I have some very close friends in the scene, but it��s all kind of-

MIKE: IT’s almost counterintuitive to think that a bigger music scene that’s kind of centered on these institutions like Berklee for example would be more cooperative, ‘cause you’d think that kinda breeds competition in a way, and kind of like shitty attitudes. And I think there’s probably that, too, occasionally.

DYLAN: Right. Well and that’s the thing, I feel like, you know, I’m sure that in Seattle there are these tight-knit communities, you know, through the college, or you know, just, there’s so many different communities, and there are very close communities where people have positions where they can book at prevalent venues and like you know, help out, sort of the DIY scene and help kind of raise it up. I feel like Boston, I saw that a lot in Boston. I saw people got positions at these venues, people like moved up and used that to like try to help each other out, and I just saw people turn from DIY people to like music professionals, but they’re still grounded in DIY.

MIKE: The rising tide lifts all boats kind of deal.

DYLAN: Yeah, absolutely. And so like I said, I’m sure that exists here, I just, it’s, I’m part of the scene in a different way here, I’m just a different sort of...

MIKE: Tapped into a different vein of it.

DYLAN: Right, right.

MIKE: Malia, have you lived in this area you’re whole life?

MALIA: Um, I’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of my life that I can remember [laughs]

MIKE: Sure, and is-

MALIA: But like I said, I moved here like eight years ago or so.

MIKE: Of the places you’ve traveled is there anywhere else you could kind of see yourself, like doing what you do in kind of, or is it really all about your social circles here?

MALIA: Um, I really appreciate the connections I have in Seattle, and I think that that makes it really difficult to imagine moving, but unfortunately, Seattle is getting um really expensive. So, I have lucked out in that I have a really affordable rent, but that is kind of, it’s not easy to find that, you have to kind of have an in to a house or something, or like, be willing to live with a bunch of people. So, eventually I’ll probably have to see myself in a different place. But I, I think my skills are transferable. I think I can do this kind of thing.

MIKE: Oh, no doubt.

MALIA: Live this lifestyle, you know, in a lot of different places so I’m not too worried about it.

MIKE: I mean anywhere there’s an artsy enough community to sustain it. But I guess in terms of the price of rent, like, that’s something that obviously Boston has down, um, well I should say up.

MALIA: Is it expensive there too?

MIKE: Oh my fucking God. It’s, it’s out of control, and it’s only, I feel like it’s only gotten worse since I initially lived here for college. Like you could find places for like $675 a month and now it’s [whistles] off the charts. Um, how close to the city are you?

MALIA: Dylan lives lieka five-minute walk to a light rail that brings you right in. ANd I, I live, it’s called the U DIstrict, it’s like where the University of Washington is, and it’s like a five minute bus to downtown, but, other than that, my neighborhood has, you know, a lot of what I need anyways. It’s like got a lot of, I got a lot of friends living around me and lot s of little house venues here and there.

MIKE: And how is that connected to, where do you practice with your bands, where does your, how far of a commute is the different places that you do screenprinting or whatever else?

MALIA: Um, I practice in Ballard, which is, you know, like a five-minute drive, without traffic from my house, so it’s not that bad. Or you know like, 15-20 minute bike ride.

MIKE: In like a rehearsal room, or uh, somebody's house?

MALIA: Yeah, I have a practice space. And then I practice at, um, my bandmate’s house, for Dogbreth, which is literally two blocks from mine so it’s like incredibly convenient.

MIKE: Oh, awesome. So all your gear lives there, and all that too?

MALIA: Mmhmm. Yep.

MIKE: Cool.

DYLAN: Yeah, and for me, I’ve kind of built, [laughs] built everything I need into my house. Uh, I, like I live with a bunch of people but I’m fortunate enough that they’re willing to, you know, have, let bands have practice here, and have me record here and all that stuff, so, um. Yeah luckily everyone comes to me for practice, in all three of my projects, so that’s pretty cool.

MIKE: Yeah it’s nice isn’t it?

DYLAN: Yeah, yeah. But like Malia said, I’m pretty close to downtown if I need it, you know, I think we’ve both just kind of set up our lives that, the stuff we need, you know the stuff about a city that you need, so like, you know, just accessible public transportation, accessible groceries, and somewhat of like a social scene. I feel like we've kind of got all those bases covered, sort of where we live, we kind of live on opposite sides of downtown.

MALIA: Dylan even brings the gig to him.

DYLAN: That’s true, yeah.

MALIA: [laughs]

MIKE: That’s right, you do.

DYLAN: We have shows here, and uh, yeah so really I don’t have to leave the house, ever.

MIKE: I mean, I’ve talked to, I’ve talked to folks who do gigs at their house before, and that’s a whole, that’s a whole ball of wax that, I mean there’s so much personal liability that comes into it. Like, you obviously know I had a house set up a little like yours, I didn’t share it with people, but um, you know, I, the night that I had to move out, like, somebody had said like when you get out of here, you should do a show and just like tear the place up. And that’s the only, that’s like the only outcome i can imagine, just like so much destruction. How do you, like, how do you navigate that? Is everyone pretty respectful generally? Do you find yourself putting a lot of rent money into like-

DYLAN: No, you know I kind of started out the venue, you know started booking shows with this sort of understanding that it’s like not a party house. We do shows here, and that’s it. You know, and, I want people to have fun and I want people to have a good time, but there is like, I’ve just seen, yeah, I’ve seen you know, what you’re talking about. I've seen some pretty rough DIY spaces in both audience kind of like unruliness but also sort of like promoter just kind of like, yeah we could have a show! And then they’re not there for an hour. You know, after bands are supposed to show up and they’re just drunk, or like whatever it is, so I think like my goal for the venue is to kind of like make it a place where people felt safe, where bands felt like they were communicated with, and like you know are willing to play here. And yeah for the most part it’s like kind of part of this venue now is that it, it is a pretty mellow, mellow place to see a show. And, I tend to even avoid like, you know, like louder punk bands, which part of me feels bad about, because that, you know, I still like that music. But, it’s also like-

MIKE: That’s sellin' out, dude. [laughs]

DYLAN: Yeah.

MALIA: A lot of thought goes into, um, like the promotion of the shows too, that’s like specifically respect the space, and I don’t know people are reminded that throughout the night sometimes by the bands.

MIKE: Doesn’t it suck to have to remind people of that?

MALIA: It does, I get it though. I think that people that don’t organize shows, they don’t really think about that, you know. They just go to this show and they’re like it’s a party! But um, you know, when you’re like hey this is our fuckin’ house, like, can you please [laughs] respect it, and like-

MIKE: Yeah, I see like, like pillows on couches and-

MALIA: -clean up after yourself, and you know.

MIKE: Yeah, of course. I, uh, in the interest of like journalistic fairness I should probably interview some like ornery landlords or something.

MALIA: [laughs] yeah.

MIKE: Uh, what’s your ideal situation, either of you? Like in terms of like earning, and making a living, like how does that, how does what you’re doing now play into it, into like a larger goal?

MALIA: I mean hopefully in the future my ideal would be like making a little bit more money, but like as for what I’m doing, like, I don’t really see myself wanting to anything much differently. Which is like a nice place to be in in life, I don’t, I feel really content with the activities that I do on a day to day so to speak.

MIKE: That’s great, that’s always nice to end on a high note.

DYLAN: Yeah, and it, to go off of that, I’d be stoked to like be similarly like, in any realm of possibility making more money off of music to support myself and, and be able to fund my insatiable need for video games and uh, and music gear. That’s all I need.

MIKE: Oh man, that’s a money pit right there.

DYLAN: It is, it really is, I don’t think anyone can really afford it.

[music]

MIKE: As always, if you liked what you heard today, I urge you to support Dylan and Malia in their numerous endeavors however you see fit. There is a veritable plethora of links and info in the description of this episode, including a link to the ever-growing Spotify playlist of songs featured on the show. You can find a transcript of this and every episode on my blog at sellinout.tumblr.com. If you want to support the show and get exclusive bonus content you can find out how to do that at patreon.com/sellinoutpodcast. Follow the show on Twitter, @SellinOutAD. Leave a nice rating and review on your favorite podcatcher, it helps others find the show. Or you can screenprint some bootleg Sellin Out merch, sell maybe two, and leave the rest to be eaten by moths in the attic.

Our theme song is “No Cab Fare” by Such Gold. Photography by Nick DiNatale. I’m Mike Moschetto, this is Sellin’ Out.

#dylan hanwright #malia seavey #salt lick #dogbreth #i kill giants #great grandpa #trashlord #podcast #sellin out #transcript #transcripts

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fantisci · 6 years

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Divide and Conquer: Voltron Series 4 and 5

I knew that there was going to be this type of narrative in Voltron, but I underestimated how long a game the writers were going to play. The writers are running with the idea that Voltron is being torn apart from within, but rather than getting rid of Keith and going “CLONE SURPRISE!” they’re continuing to steadily dismantle the Voltron team...to the point that the three original Paladins remaining on the team (if we assume Shiro is actually a clone, henceforth referred to as “Shiro) are little more than side-characters in their world-saving narrative. Pidge’s concerns are narrowed and familial, Hunk...has always been terribly treated by the plot anyway, so moving on...and Lance, far from having his moment in the spotlight this season, is increasingly isolated and reined in so tightly that he can’t be effective. Meanwhile, Season 5 turns into the Lotor, “Shiro” and Allura show (with a special guest appearance from the Keith-clan).

Card on the table: My pet theory is that Lotor, not Sendak, is Haggar’s puppet, and they are cutting out the team members of Voltron who will cause the most problems so that they can take over the team. “Shiro” isolates and undermines problem Paladins (Keith and Lance) until they leave, while Lotor flatters Allura into assisting him. Of course, there’s a good chance that Lotor is a double- or triple-agent that may betray Haggar - or even become the mask he’s wearing - but at this moment he’s definitely driven by self-interest, not the greater good.

If you want the long version, it’s under the Read More. Remember: my analysis is from the point of view of the mole/saboteur: it’s not that I think Hunk or Pidge can’t lead, but that, from an outsider’s perspective, they’ve shown little inclination or ability in that area.

First, Shiro goes missing at the end of S2. Showrunners talk as if they meant to kill him off (a recent interview talked of the poor guy as though he was just a plot device for Keith’s Rise To Leadership, and that he was supposed to “exit stage left) , but marketing objected. Of course, the showrunners can be trusted about as far as the Eiffel Tower can be thrown, but poor (real) Shiro surely deserves better than being bumped off so that his protege can prove how special he is. Anyway, back on topic...Shiro is a casualty of war in one form or another, and it’s unlikely that his departure was the result of manipulation...but his absence is a golden opportunity to replace him with a mole/brainwash him. After all, Shiro co-ordinates the team, and has the most offensively powerful Lion

Next is Keith. Apparently there were some real life reasons (voice actor scheduling conflicts) behind his departure to the Blade, but let’s put that aside for now. Keith has some fairly obvious issues once he takes over for Black. He doesn’t really bond with his Lion, certainly not the way he did with Red. He lashes out at everyone. He resents leading, and, true to form, acts out and rebels, going into self-destruct mode in order to prove that he’s right about how terrible a leader he is. However: (a) he’d never treat his teammates’ lives with the disregard he shows his own, and (b) Lance manages to lasso him into some semblance of responsible leadership, and props him up as far as he can. By the time they retrieve “Shiro”, Keith’s taken some shaky first steps into at least being a functional leader, if not a good one. He’s learned the hard way that he has to listen to his team.

Then “Shiro” is back.

It would take a spy all of five minutes to work out that Keith’s unhappy. When “Shiro” can’t pilot Black, that’s a problem for a saboteur...but not an insurmountable one. For the rest of the series, we see “Shiro” undermine Keith while still demanding that he continues to lead. He doesn’t teach him how to lead (admittedly, the real Shiro was extremely negligent in that respect too), he doesn’t offer support, and he doesn’t step aside. Instead, he uses the team’s by-now-instinctual obedience to Shiro to reinforce Keith’s idea that yes, he’s a terrible leader, and he’s going to get everyone killed. The team don’t make a very good job of reinforcing the new pecking order, with only Lance acknowledging that Keith remains team leader...and even then, Lance will not (yet) outright defy Shiro in favour of Keith.

Handily for the saboteur, Keith continues his self-isolating behaviour and “Shiro” does manage to get Black up and running. With the distance created between himself and his team, Keith is only too eager to remove himself from the picture entirely. Why he doesn’t take Red back is a bit of a puzzle, but the distance is a factor...as, possibly, are Lance and Allura’s places on the team.

Next on the hit list is Lance. Why Lance? Well, possibly because it’s convenient: he has the most obvious insecurities and, let’s be honest, receives the least back up from the rest of the crew. As the “goofball” (Pidge’s words), they don’t take him seriously except in battle - socially, with his history of flirting and opening his mouth at the wrong time, he remains the team joke. Furthermore, he’s becoming steadily more isolated, as Hunk and Pidge withdraw from him in favour of Matt. It might just be because he’s a soft target, and his emotional reaction to the messages they send home confirms that there really is somewhere else he’d rather be.

However, Lance is the Blue Paladin, and currently the pilot of the Red Lion - Voltron’s DPS Lion. He’s also shown to be capable in battle, a tactician who can spot a trap a mile away and is capable of giving out orders that will actually work. The right side of Voltron seems more forward facing and offensive than the left, who are more thoughtful, so “Shiro” or his puppetmaster may have targeted him as the last remaining member of the original team who was active rather than reactive, and one of the last two who could theoretically take on a leadership role in an emergency. Also? Allura may be the heart of Voltron itself, but Lance is the heart of this particular team.

Every office or department has a Lance: the social one, the one who organises the parties and the group chat, the one who may not have a specialised role but can always be found helping out others or working behind the scenes. Often they’re not really appreciated - sometimes others find them outright annoying. Yet they can mitigate the effects of an ineffectual or slavedriving boss, and everyone realises just how much they did for their coworkers once they leave and life at work becomes much more difficult.

Lance is the mediator (when he’s not needling Keith). He’s observant, and, unlike specialist obsessives Hunk and Pidge, not so wrapped up in his own projects that he forgets the big picture. He’s also outspoken. If “Shiro” starts bullying any of the other Paladins, Lance is likely to step in. “Shiro” needs him gone. So “Shiro” publicly humiliates him, berating him in front of his team, who stand by and do nothing (except for Allura, after the fact, but we’ll get to her). Lance still feels superfluous. He doubts his own abilities. Now he’s getting constantly shouted down, his (in his eyes) minor contributions being dismissed. Throw this on top of Blue’s rejection (an emotional hit to Lance’s heart and self-esteem), Keith’s departure (which saw Lance demoted from his vice-captain role), and Lance’s longing for his family, and “Shiro” might have found the straw to break the camel’s back...that is, if the real Shiro hasn’t managed to relay his message to Lance in time.

The final Paladin to be cut from the flock is Allura - and it’s Lotor, not “Shiro,” who’s responsible for this. Lotor adopts very different tactics than “Shiro”: instead of undermining his target, he flatters her. Tells her how oh-so-very-special she is (like the showrunners haven’t established this already...). He plays to her dreams, her insecurities...and her ego. She isn’t shy about her desire to be like her father, to be the saviour of her people - or at least, to ensure that the last Altean standing is an exemplary one. She feels that she has to be perfect, in order to be worthy of the title of “last survivor”.

In the final few episodes, Allura seems to get an awful lot of what she wants: she awakens the compass, proving that she is truly her father’s daughter in the process, she makes it through the white hole, the ancient Alteans acknowledge her and the white lion finds her worthy...at which point the Voice From Beyond confirms how super-special she is, and has been all along. Moreover, suddenly she has a kindred spirit in Lotor, someone who knows of the pressure of being royalty and who claims to want the same things she does.

You know what they say about something that seems to good to be true.

However, look at what happens in order to get her to this point. Lotor singles her out when he becomes emperor, leaving the three original Paladins to wander around aimlessly and entertain themselves. The implicit message is that she (and “Shiro”) are the only team members worth talking to - the other Earthlings are just making up the numbers. Remember: Hunk, Pidge and Lance have been fighting alongside her for at least two years by this point, yet she dismisses their concern for her out of hand on the say-so of a prince who’s been with them for a few months under dubious circumstances. She doesn’t even question Lotor’s proclamation that the other three be left behind while she does Important Royalty Things - does she really think Pidge couldn’t learn anything from the Galra tech?

We see it even more dramatically in the White Lion incident, where only she and fellow “Chosen” Lotor are worthy of getting past the White Lion. The team is worried...but Allura forces through the plan anyway. She’s riding high on Lotor’s praise and her own recent successes - why should she doubt that she can pull this off?

In short? I think this is Allura’s “Nyma moment”. Blue’s pilots tend to be romantic and trusting. Allura’s romantic ideal of perfect peace across the empire, and her trust of Lotor, could have further reaching consequences than Lance’s joyride.

But Allura thinks she’s covered her bases. She did distrust Lotor. She acknowledged that working with the Galra was difficult. In her eyes, Lotor has proved himself...and the viewer, really, is meant to agree.

It’s obvious why a saboteur would want Allura on side. First of all, she’s a Princess, and the last Altean; she’s a hell of a trophy (we do actually see Lotor referring to Voltron itself as a kind of trophy, claiming that he has “reclaimed” Black rather than admitting to an alliance). Secondly, she’s a threat to “Shiro’s” leadership, and the only person with any clout that could sway the remaining Paladins, or back them up should they refuse his orders. Really, that role should go to Lance, but “Shiro” has undermined Lance’s role of second-in-command so thoroughly that Lotor probably doesn’t consider him a threat any longer. Thirdly, like Lance, she’s sensed that something is wrong, and has shown an inclination to stand up for her teammates (I love Pidge and Hunk, but they’ve been fairly ineffectual in this area). She realised Shiro was out of order and moved to comfort Lance...who, remember, is a Paladin that “Shiro” wants out of the way. Notice the pattern: the Paladin who tries to comfort or protect the current target of “Shiro’s” sabotage becomes the next target. Unlike Lance though, the saboteur knows that she can be charmed by Lotor, and that she’s far more valuable as an ally than out of the picture altogether.

Finally, she’s the last viable Voltron leader - the final right-hand-side Paladin. Lotor knows that Hunk and Pidge won’t follow him, the same way he knew that the Galra wouldn’t follow a non-Galra...but Hunk and Pidge WILL follow Allura. If he can’t take over directly, he may be aiming to make Allura his puppet.

Let’s just hope she’s quick enough off the mark that she doesn’t go from powerful princess to damsel in distress.

#voltron season 5 #voltron s5 #voltron s5 spoilers #voltron spoilers #vld keith #vld lance #vld allura #vld shiro #vld lotor #voltron theory #next time on I have too much time on my hands: what the hell are the lions doing?

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wazafam · 3 years

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There's a trend towards sitcoms that show what an adult from another sitcom was like when they were a kid: Young Rock and Mixed-ish are just a couple of examples along with, of course, Young Sheldon.

In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon can be insufferable. While he means well, he is arrogant and talks down to the people who are supposed to be his friends. But he's also caring, though he has an unconventional way of showing it, and is deeply passionate about his work. It's only natural that, while watching the show, many viewers wondered what Sheldon might have been like as a child.

RELATED: Young Sheldon: 10 Most Heartwarming Scenes Of The Enter Series

On The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon made many references to his childhood, and Young Sheldon brings many of those to life.

10 More Sympathy For Sheldon

While it's easy to get annoyed by the adult Sheldon, it's tougher to do so when looking at him as a child. Even though the 11 and 12-year-old Sheldon acts like a grown-up, he is still a kid.

Seeing how difficult it was for him to deal with being miles ahead of everyone else academically makes viewers have more sympathy for Sheldon as an adult.

9 Like MeeMaw So Much More

MeeMaw only appeared in one episode of The Big Bang Theory in a guest role, played by a different actor. Sheldon always discussed how close of a relationship he had with her, and seeing Young Sheldon demonstrates just how important she was to his life.

It made the scene when Sheldon defended Amy over her all the more important. Knowing how much MeeMaw had done for Sheldon when he was younger, the fact that Sheldon took Amy's side meant she really was special.

8 Better Understand Sheldon's Obsession With Professor Proton

People always talk about their childhood heroes, and the people they looked up to on television, from athletes to actors, martial artists, singers, and more. For Sheldon, it was the host of a kids' science television series.

RELATED: 10 Questionable Parenting Choices In Young Sheldon

He always talked about Professor Proton and when he finally got to meet him in Big Bang Theory, it was adorable. But seeing how far back his memories go as the young Sheldon would kick his family members out of the living room so he could watch the show, made the meeting 20+ years in the future much sweeter.

7 More Respect For How Sheldon Helped His Family

It was difficult for Leonard to deal with Sheldon and his quirks, from the Roommate Agreement to his scheduled bathroom breaks. Fans pictured Sheldon being that irritating and demanding of his family when he was a child, too.

While it was indeed difficult for his family to deal with Sheldon's needs, fans also got to see how much they were able to benefit from them. Sheldon, for example, did the family's taxes and accounting, saving them plenty of money and ensuring they followed the rules and took advantage of every financial benefit at their disposal.

6 More Respect For Mary

Sheldon's mother appeared in several episodes of The Big Bang Theory, still fawning over her golden boy. While she referenced her younger days many times, this show actually lets viewers see her back then.

Mary was a loving and kind mother who did everything she could to keep Sheldon challenged and protected while also allowing him to spread his wings and reach his full potential. She lived to do everything for her family, often at the expense of following her own personal dreams.

5 Better Understand His Relationship With His Father

Older Sheldon always emphasized that he didn't have much in common with his father, who of referred to as a mean, beer-drinking high school gym teacher. And he did allude to his parents fighting a lot, which means he either remembered things differently or the situation changed as he got older.

RELATED: Best Episodes Of Young Sheldon, Ranked By IMDb

Nonetheless, while it was obvious that Sheldon and his father were very different people, the two did share some tender moments that Sheldon might have blocked from memory for the purpose of self-preservation.

4 Reminded Fans How Alone They Felt As Kids

While Sheldon felt like he was completely alone when he was younger, that one sequence that showed the younger versions of Leonard, Raj, Howard, Bernadette, and Amy, proved that he wasn't alone at all.

While Sheldon didn't think there was anyone else like him out there (until he met Paige, that is), it makes more sense why he gravitated so quickly to his friends once he finally met people he felt were on a similar intellectual level. Had he met them when he was a child, Sheldon's life might have been a lot different and he might not have felt so alone.

3 Sheldon's Love For Penny

Sheldon and Penny had one of the best friendships on The Big Bang Theory. They were the least likely pair to get along yet they did by offering comfort and support in the unlikeliest of ways.

But watching Young Sheldon brings new insight into the relationship and why Sheldon might have felt so drawn to and comforted by Penny. She is very similar to Sheldon's twin sister Missy, so his affinity for her makes much more sense after seeing the way Missy treated Sheldon - it was very similar to how Penny did.

2 Influences In Sheldon's Life

There were people who had a much bigger influence on Sheldon's life than fans knew because they were never mentioned on The Big Bang Theory. These include Dr. Sturgis, who was a mentor to Sheldon, as well as Paige, who kept him on his toes whenever he crossed paths with her.

There was also Pastor Jeff, who might not have been able to get through to Sheldon about religion and God but was often there to provide sage advice, even if Sheldon found his own way of interpreting it.

1 More Curiosity About Others' Backstories

Seeing a young version of Sheldon is exciting, but The Big Bang Theory featured an ensemble cast. This means it only sparks curiosity about seeing younger versions of the rest of the cast. What was life like for a young Leonard, constantly being treated like an experiment for his mother's work and living in the shadow of his siblings?

What about a young Howard, Raj, Penny, Bernadette, and Amy? Spin-off shows for any and all of these characters could be equally as entertaining and seeing how well Young Sheldon captures the character makes fans re-watch Big Bang Theory while thinking of how young versions of the other characters might be, too.

NEXT: Which Young Sheldon Character Are You, Based On Your Zodiac?

10 Ways Young Sheldon Changed The Way We View The Big Bang Theory from https://ift.tt/3ec7Sfl

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theprocrastinatingalien · 7 years

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Star Trek: Discovery - Which characters will survive to see Season 2? (Plus a compelling fan theory)

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the first five episodes of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY.

We are just five episodes in, with ten to go. Only four more before the Christmas break. It’s probably a little early to be predicting the show’s second season - we don’t even know if there’ll definitely be a second season! But it’s always fun to speculate.

So, this is my question - which of the main cast will still be main for the second season?

Historically, there aren’t many changes in the main casts of the Trek series. In the Original Series, Deforest Kelley (McCoy) was promoted to the opening credits for the second season. The Next Generation had the most changes, along the way losing Denise Crosby (Yar) and Wil Wheaton (Wesley) and firing Gates McFadden (Crusher) after the first season, only to reinstate her in the third. For Deep Space Nine, Michael Dorn (Worf) was added in the fourth season, and after Terry Farrell (Jadzia) left in season six, she was replaced by Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax) for the final season. Voyager suffered just a straight exchange, replacing Jennifer Lien’s Kes for Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine. Enterprise, however, stands as the only Trek series to leave it’s principal cast unchanged over it’s run. Rumours that Jeffrey Combs’ Andorian Shran was to be promoted in the fifth season were sadly never realised.

But here, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY is a different kind of Trek. We’re now in 2017, and the writers are very aware of popular series, where the trend is not to save your main cast, but to constantly put them in jeopardy. Adventure is all the more exciting when you don’t know for certain if your favourite characters will make it out alive. Series such as 24, THE WALKING DEAD and GAME OF THRONES, relish in killing off several main players each series… and the fans lap it up.

Apparently, we can expect the same from DISCOVERY, but only time will tell just how brave the writers are going to be. I mean, we have had a number of deaths already, but they were- mostly - signposted…

Captain Philippa Georgiou.

Let’s be honest, did we think Michelle Yeoh’s character was ever going to survive? Billed as the commanding officer of the USS Shenzhou, the fact she wasn’t the captain of the USS Discovery itself didn’t point to a happy end. As predicted by many, Georgiou was killed in the second episode. Now, her name was on the opening titles, but with the billing of ‘special guest star’, longevity wasn’t really wasn’t on the cards. She has made an appearance since, via a holographic message, and we can expect future appearances - presumably in flashbacks, but possible also as part of the mirror universe(?). The fact Georgiou was eaten by the Klingons (EATEN!!!!) Yeoh is never going to be a regular on the show.

Ensign Danby Connor

Actor Sam Vartoholomeos was announced early on, and it wasn’t clear whether his Ensign Connor would be a regular character or not. Sadly, one of the trailers actively showed him being killed, which took away the surprise when it happened in the show. At least Ensign Connor can claim to be the first 'speaking role’ to be definitively killed off in DISCOVERY.

T'Kuvma

The cult leader, aiming to bring together the twenty-four houses of the Klingons. Chris Obi was deemed to have a very important role… but T'Kuvma was killed by lead Michael Burnham just after killing Captain Georgiou. I’d say this was probably the first actual surprise death of the series. But still, he wasn’t on the opening titles, so the chances of his longevity was already in doubt.

Commander Ellen Landry

This is an interesting one. Not a particularly surprising one… other than how quickly Landry was dealt with. Like the majority of the Discovery crew, she wasn’t introduced until the third episode. The Chief of security (and I’d guess at second officer judging by her closeness to Captain Lorca), she wasn’t the nicest of people. There’s was something shady about her. Again, considering she’s the first crew member of Discovery we’re introduced to, and seemingly pretty important, with a bridge crew role, the fact she wasn’t included on the opening credits implied she wasn’t going to be around for too long. Add to that we knew Shazad Latif’s Ash Tyler was coming in to be a security officer, and his name IS on the credits… the ONLY surprise, I guess… is that she died in only her second episode?! Possibly a waste of Rekha Sharma, but a crowd pleasing moment - I don’t think Landry had many fans.

As noted, the above four characters are all missing from the opening titles. Realistically, in all series, recurring and guest stars can be seen as cannon fodder. A brave series will not shy away from killing off those named as main cast. Which is why I’m going to predict which of the six DISCOVERY main players will survive until the show’s potential second year.

Michael Burnham

The producers have admitted they found it very difficult to cast Burnham, and were lucky to get THE WALKING DEAD star Sonequa Martin-Green. Originally Bryan Fuller’s plan was to make an anthology series, with each season taking place in a different time period. That would have been exciting, and I wouldn’t have minded that at all, but at the same time, it’s nice to build up a familiarity with the cast, watching them grow, both as individuals and as a team. Anthology series miss that. Show bosses decided to veto that idea and a second season of DISCOVERY will see characters follow on… I have no real doubt that Burnham will still be the lead. Too much as been made of the fact she’s a black female lead, to have her side lined. Even if the series becomes more ensemble focussed, I’m sure Burnham will be a strong part of it. I presume she’ll be entirely redeemed from her 'Mutineer’ status, and expect her to be reinstated, with a new rank and position. Whilst I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up as a Captain in time, I think the second season will be a little soon. Maybe Executive Officer? Maybe the Science officer? Depends on who the commanding officer is (see below). The only thing, and really the only thing, that could get in the way of Burnham’s presence in future seasons is that pesky word 'canon’. She has never been mentioned anywhere else in Treklore… and whilst that’s understandable (Discovery hadn’t been created yet!) the writers might feel the need to keep her a secret from the record books… I don’t think so, though. I predict Burnham will be our lead for as long as the series runs… be that one, two or seven seasons.

Captain Gabriel Lorca

In every other Trek series, the commanding officer has been our lead, the audience entry point into the story. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway and Archer, all heroes. DISCOVERY is unique in that the main character is a lower level Starfleet officer. This mean’s the commanding officer can be… something different. Captain Lorca is definitely something different. Shrouded in mystery, already his attitude and actions are questionable and unlike those commanding officers names above. I like it. Lorca is interesting. We don’t know what his motives are, not really. He can keep secrets from us in a way the others couldn’t. Jason Isaac’s doesn’t have a habit of playing heroes, more likely a villain. Is Lorca a villain? Or is Discovery playing with shades of grey? Probably the latter, but that doesn’t discount the former. Isaac’s has stated that he didn’t sign on until he was told Lorca’s entire arc. I’ll say that again - entire arc. To me that suggests Lorca won’t be a regular character come the show’s second season. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the last episode of season one, see’s Lorca, fully revealed as a villain and ultimately his demise. However, I’d like to suggest something else. I don’t know if we’ll ever fully know, or be able to call Lorca a 'hero’ or 'villain’. He might be justified in his actions. Or at least, justified in himself, even if not to others. I do not see him continuing as a regular, certainly not as the commanding officer of the USS Discovery. What I’d like to see, is Lorca to 'do a Krycek’. In THE X FILES, the second season introduced a new partner for Mulder in the form of wet-behind-the-ears agent Alex Krycek. He turned out to be a villain, but rather than kill him off, they had him run off and become one of those interesting rogue players, out for himself, shifting loyalties as he saw fit. He’d pop up over future series, and you’d be guaranteed that if the credits featured actor Nicholas Lea, the episode was going to be a big important one. That’s the kind of role I’d love for Lorca.

Commander Saru

Actor Doug Jones has stated he’d love to see Saru’s homeplanet, or more people from his species in the second season. That sounds like Saru might be around for it! In some respects, I think Saru is the safest character for a return. He’s the show’s only regular alien. They created him from the ground up, and they’ll likely want to keep him. If not for those reasons alone, then because Saru is already becoming a fan favourite, despite limited screen time. We’ve already seen him promoted from a Lt. Commander science officer, to a first officer, and his relationship with Burnham is… complicated. Complicated is good. Whilst I have no doubt Saru will still be alive, what his function will be is less clear. If I’m right about Lorca moving on/dying, Saru is the next in line to be the commanding officer. We’ve already seen him in that position after Lorca was captured by the Klingon’s. In theory, Saru could become our first regular alien captain. (Spock didn’t become a captain until the movies). That, in turn, would allow for Burnham to be installed as his first officer. An interesting way to continue their relationship. However, I predict something else. I reckon the showrunners will bring in a new captain. Maybe with another 'name’ in the role, to get in new interest? I predict a new captain, with Saru continuing as the first officer. This would also keep Burnham further away from the captain’s chair, which is possibly the best thing for the series at this point.

Lieutenant Paul Stamets

Stamets’ is a tricky one. He’s a science officer, not an engineer, but is essentially the chief engineer on the USS Discovery. That’s because the ship was built entirely around Stamets’ work on the spore drive. Now, we know that the spore drive is doomed to failure. We know that because if it was a success every ship made after it would use it. Enterprise’s D & E, the USS Defiant, the USS Voyager… but none of them do. That says it all. Discovery will likely be the only ship (RIP the USS Glenn) to use the spore drive… and we’re not entirely certain how long it will be able to continue to use it. Either way, Stamets’ role is very linked to it. No Spore drive, and probably no use for Stamets. Episode 5 saw Stamets link himself to the drive and something odd has happened to him. He saw the universe, and our last image of him was his 'delayed’ mirror image. This might well tie in somehow to the mirror universe, but might be more personal to Stamets. I have no idea what Stamets’ storyline will be from here on in, and that makes it hard to predict whether he’ll stick around for season two. I’m going out on a limb and say, yes. I think the Discovery will continue to use the spore drive in future seasons, or a version of him. Maybe with Stamets 'plugged in’… but I believe Stamets will continue in his Engineer/Science role. They could shift him to a more straight forward science position of course, but I’ll edge away from that.

Question/Theory. Whilst everyone is suggesting Stamets may now be something to do with the Mirror universe, I’ll just pose the question… do we know how the Q Continuum was created? Could Stamets be the start? He has access to the entire universe, after all… (If he is, then no, I doubt he’d be a regular in season two… but it’s a fun question to ask).

Cadet Sylvia Tilly

Ah, Tilly. The first character in Trek to drop the F-bomb. Her place in History is now secure. She young, and unsure… but she has ambition. She might be annoying to a few, but to many she’s a comedic character, adding light to the shade. She is supposedly a talented engineer and this is something to watch out for. I believe she might end up the chief engineer should Stamets move on… or, and this is what I predict, she’ll work with Stamets to sort the spore drive - for the time being, anyway. I did consider she might have been put in to win the audience over, be the ultimate likable one, before getting killed off by Lorca or something to cement an 'aww’ factor. But the more I watch, the more I think, we’ll see Tilly change, and grow. We’ll see her progress through the ranks. I’m expecting Ensign Tilly to head up the Engine room with Lieutenant Stamets in season two.

Lieutenant Ash Tyler

Our last regular character… but one which is surrounded by a very interesting fan theory. One I’m totally behind. I, like many, believe that Tyler is in fact the Klingon Voq, surgically altered to look human. There’s so much evidence to support this… both in the story, and in real life/behind the scenes. If this is true, then expect Lorca’s pet tribble to out his cunning plan in the last third of the season… and that mean’s Tyler’s role will be done. I don’t see Voq/Tyler continuing into season two. Probably killed by Burnham in the season one finale.

Haven’t heard the Tyler/Voq theory? Behold the evidence:

In episode 4, L'Rell (Mary Chieffo) offers Voq a visit to her matriarch or spies but it’ll cost him… 'everything’. Episode 5, Tyler has been in a Klingon prison cell, on L'Rell’s ship, and look’s surprisingly spritely. She also has a thing for him. He’s been on the ship for seven months. But we know (from the previous episode) she’s been with Voq stranded on T'Kuvma’s ship for the first six months of the war. The story doesn’t check out. In real life, actor Shazad Latif (who has been credited on the titles since episode one, but has only just appeared in episode 5) was originally announced as a Klingon back in December. Months later he was reannounced as Ash Tyler. We know he was about for filming back in the early episodes (he was out on the town with co-stars… check their social media). The description of his character was a protégé to T'Kuvma - a description that certainly fits the Voq character. His character may have been named Kol, and we now know Kenneth Mitchell plays Kol, and opposing Klingon presence… and finally, you try googling the 'actor’ credited for Voq. You will only see one credit, and it’ll be Voq. Basically, Shazad Latif plays Voq, has been there since the beginning, and this explains a lot.

It’s actually quite clever, and I think many fans will welcome this plot twist if we’re correct. It works on many levels. We know, in the TOS era, Klingon’s should look human, but there was no real way for a 2017 series to 'do’ one of those Klingon’s. But look at Latif. The colour of his skin, the black goatee… he’s a pretty good fit for a modern take on the Human looking Klingons. It also gives a practical explanation for the new look Klingons. The new mask-type makeup on the Klingons allow a complete change of identity. You can’t tell what the actor looks like under the Voq makeup. Imagine the character with Worf-style makeup. You can clearly make out actors… such as when Avery Brooks and Tim Russ have 'played Klingons’. For this plot twist to be pulled off, Klingon’s needed a bit of a redesign. If the theory is right, maybe as fans we can cut the show some slack.

So there we are. To answer my question - which of the regulars will still be regulars come season two? Burnham, Saru, Tilly and possibly Stamets. I don’t believe for a second that either Lorca or Tyler will continue on.

Furthermore, I think we’ll get a new Captain in… maybe a female one? I wouldn’t be surprised if Wilson Cruz’ Dr. Culber gets upgraded to regular. Right now he’s only a supporting player. This could mean he’s got a bullet with his name on it. But he does play one half of Trek’s first ever gay couple. That might be enough to keep him alive, unless Uber-Stamets somehow kills him off in season one? I predict an upgrade though.

What do you think? Do you believe the Tyler/Voq theory? Will Lorca survive the season? What’s going on with Stamets? Will Saru receive another promotion?

Let me know!

#star trek #star trek discovery #michael burnham #sonequa martin-green #gabriel lorca #jason isaacs #saru #doug jones #paul stamets #anthony rapp #sylvia tilly #mary wiseman #ash tyler #shazad latif #voq #uss discovery #michelle yeoh

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seddm · 7 years

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Daron’s Q&A at Creativa Fest

I transcribed the questions Daron answered to during a panel at the Creativa Fest 2017. Below, a summary of what she said; after that, a complete transcription. Thanks to Alfrely on YouTube for having provided the video!

youtube

Continues after the Keep Reading

RECAP

- Daron has an idea for the series' finale.

- The original plan was for Marco not to have any friends: "Star and Marco are kinda like these only children, and they connect together, and they have like this special bond", but Disney executives wanted him to have male friends as well, and they came up with Alfonzo and Ferguson. Since they didn't really know what to do with them, they have been absent from S2. They are going to "come back a little" in S3.

- Daron has no real reason for Marco being Mexican, she just wanted him to be the average angelino.

- Daron originally pitched the show, when she was still a CalArts student, to Cartoon Network (to Craig McCracken and Rob Renzetti) for a project called “The Cartoonstitute”. They didn’t want to make anything out of it, but later Renzetti introduced her to Nickelodeon,where a one minute short was created, without them wanting to tale it any further, though. She eventually pitched it to Disney, where a pilot episode was and then greenlit into a full show (the whole process took about a year).

- In Blood Moon Ball, when Marco heard a voice talking to him, seagulls sounds were supposed to play, making it immediatly obvious how the one speaking was the Sea Captain in the frame, but the sound was forgotten during the episode's mixing. What or who he is might be “a bit” relevant in the future.

- There will probably be more "Tomco moments". “I am a fan of Tomco myself” said Daron, laughing.

- Daron couldn't say if we're going to learn something about Star and Tom's past, but there will be more on them.

- According to Daron all the dimensions seen in the show are “in the same space”, as if they were always “on the same planet”, but in different dimensions [imagine it as a stack of papers, the scissors allowing to go from one to another]. But, at the end of the day, “It’s fantasy. I think we are always like trying to make it logical, but I also think that at a certain point if you overthink it nothing probably actually makes sense”.

- Daron is happy to see the fandom being so excited about shipping, but also believes that fans likes to be “upset”, and that a show has to keep things interesting, no one would watch a show that were to be just “"Star and Marco get together and they will be like so happy, the end”. She also specified that they don’t let the fandom influence their writing, and that it’s understandably impossible to make everyone happy.

- Jackie is not a mermaid, nor magical. She sees her as a typical Venice Beach girl who is into skateboards and the ocean. And Janna is not a witch.

- Daron sometimes sees a fan theory and thinks "Oh that was really good!" (in relation to the show being written so much in advance compared to what airs). She also mentions liking a theory about Moon having been an exchange student in Toffee's dimension [specifying that's not what they actually did.]

- Adam had to audition to be cast as adult Marco in Running With Scissors, since Daron initially think his voice would have been too young sounding.

- Since Star has been a thing for Daron years before the show's production began, she doesn't really feel like she's "talking to Star" when she talks to Eden -while several of the crew members do feel that way, same with Adam.

- There's some shared background to Moon and Toffee's story.

- Writing is Daron's favorite part of making an episode, and she doesn't impose her ideas, but goes with the best one, discussing it with her crew. She also feels like, while the original idea for the show is hers, it would have never become as big as it is now without all the people working on it.

- There's going to be more about Eclipsa.

- Daron has ideas for other shows, but hasn’t really had time to develop them so far, being busy on Star.

- Star is her favorite character, as she is "close to her heart".

- StarFan13 was originally a one-time gag in Brittney's Party (boarded by Ian Wasseluk), but they then liked and kept using her.

- What Star did in Storm the Castle is a "precursor" to dipping down, she was channeling magic through her.

- Daron wanted to do some kind of "cameo crossover" with Rick & Morty and Gravity Falls, placing a common object in a scene, but while they ended up doing it, she didn't manage to. Talking about the idea of an actual crossover, she “feel like it could be... maybe Gravity Falls, maybe...?”.

- While some might have saved themselves, most of Ludo's old monsters died in the explosion in Storm the Castle.

- Daron doesn't know yet what she's going to do once the series is over, she might take a break, or eventually make a new show.

- Daron wishes Disney would do SVTFOE toys, and suggest fans to bother them to do it [Disney apparently values a lot people asking for products at their stores, when it comes to choose what merchandise to make]

- While talking about the show's animation, Daron said that they "had some troubles-", but then got interrupted and didn't pick up the question again. This might be related to the " number of difficulties producing the first season" she mentioned in this interview.

- While drawing a Marco on a fan’s book, Daron accidentally gave him heart cheeks, thus making the first official (?) Marar cosplay. If you want to hear Daron almost saying “Oh shit”, click here.

- Daron sometimes gets surprised by seeing fans liking episodes or scenes that she felt like were bad. "I think people connect with different parts of the show". She chose not to say if she has least favorite episodes, as not to lessen all the hard work everyone puts into the show, but said that first season was a little rough, since they still had to figure out things.

- Mewberty, Blood Moon Ball, Storm the Castle, Into the Wand and Face the Music are (among) her favorite episodes, and she was very excited about Ludo in the Wild.

- Most of the tapestries in Into the Wand were designed by one of the storyboarders, Jushtin Lee, and then got turned into the final designs seen in the episodes by background and layout artists.

- There are going to be songs in future episodes as well.

- There are probably going to be more guest stars in S3, but that's something for Disney to announce.

- We might see Star's "mewberty form" again [related post by show’s producer Hammersley].

- Daron designed Star and Marco, but for most of the other characters she just gives rough sketches or ideas to the designers. She described Hekapoo to Becky Dreistadt, the artist who designed her, as "a kinda fiery elf thing".

- Daron is not familiar with drawing Tom, since she didn't design him. It kinda shows.

- We might get to know what Lekmet's role in the Magic High Commission was, and Daron answered to a question about him being really dead or not with "Well he's gone to ashes, so...".

- Daron wants her characters, and villains, to have a perspective, and she feels like they did that with Toffee, comparing him to a Magneto-like character, who is not wrong, but is going about things the wrong way. He has "his own perspective" about how Mewmans treat monsters.

- Daron and Cheyenne Curtis (S1 designer) drew "like 100 dresses", since the executives at Disney were very concerned about it, not wanting them to be too girly or to have puffy sleeves (but Daron managed to put them in S2).

- The livechats, which were Disney's idea, are not “totally canon”, but they had an outline.

- The Star and Marco Guide To Mastering Every Dimension was supposed to be published after the first 14 episodes in S2, and the events into it are a little bit after Bon Bon The Birthday Clown and before the episodes that aired in February.

- As seen in Crystal Clear, Eclipsa, frozen in Rhombulus’ crystals, moved her arm, and the glove remained stuck in place just like Star's socks.

- Daron can't tell where Toffee's finger ended up when Star's room disappeared from Marco's house, nor if the color coding of dimensions in Heinous' metallurgy book in St. Olga's Reform School for Wayward Princesses has a connection to the wand/magic.

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTION

Q- Do you have a finale planned for the show? A- Yeah, I kinda got an idea.

Q- What happened to Al & Ferg A- It's funny like you know pitching a show for a network and stuff, so... and Disney is so awesome, they just let me do so many cool things in the show and they've been like so awesome, they really are trying to do amazing things in animation. But one of the things they really wanted for the first season with Marco, is that they were like "He doesn't have male friends. And we want him to have male friends 'cause we want him to be more... male, I guess? I don't know." So I didn't know... my original plan was for, you know it's like Star and Marco are kinda like these only children, and they connect together, and they have like this special bond. And I didn't really see Marco as having like friends. So I had to came up with some friends, so I created Ferguson and Alfonzo. I have to say that I didn't feel like I was getting a lot out of them. Like I really didn't know what to do with them. They are - they do come back a little in the 3rd season, I can tell you that. They are not gone forever, but honestly, I really didn't know what to do with them, they were kinda hard for me to write. But I'm glad that you like them. It was almost becoming a joke, we were like "Oh, we don't like them". They are in the comic, though.

Q- Why is Marco Mexican? A- Well so, you know, I grew up in Los Angeles, and I just wanted Marco to be your average angelino, so he's mexican, makes sense, you know? So no real reason other than that, you know. Asker: he looks a lot like you husband Daron: yeah a little bit, there's my husband, everybody look at him. I'm just embarrassing him a little bit

Q- In the Blood Moon Ball chapter there was this voice that talked to Marco, will we get to know who it was? A- Ok, that's a funny story too. So the voice is supposed to be the Sea Captain in the frame. And when we were doing the animatic. You know when we do the animatics, it's all the storyboard drawings, and they are all timed to be animated, we had the sound effect of seagulls, right? So that when you saw the picture you heard the seagulls, you'd knew that it was the sea captain. But when we did the final mix of the episode, the mix is like... we put all the final music and sounds and dialogues together, and check the levels and make sure that all- it's what you see on TV, for some reason the seagulls dropped down. We forgot, we didn't notice the seagulls were gone. And then when it was on tv there were all these people like "Who was talking to Marco? Was it the moon? Was it-" and I was like "Ah damnit we forgot the seagulls!". So it's the sea captain. Who does actually... maybe tie a little bit later. You'll see.

Q- How was it to pitch the series? A- I was kinda lucky, I went to school at CalArts in Los Angeles, and a lot of our teachers are actually coming from the studios to teach. You know so they are coming from CN, Nickelodeon, Disney... to each class, and you have the opportunity to know the teachers. And somewhere I heard that cartoon network, actually, they were taking pitches, they were taking pitches from students, from anybody. You just had to sign up, and it was called "Cartoonstitute". So I signed up for that, and I had been drawing Star for a little bit, and when I got the opportunity to pitch for Cartoonstitute I came up with a plot and some of the characters, and I actually pitched it to Craig McCracken and Rob Renzetti, which was amazing, I was like twenty. You know, Star is like ten years old, I created Star like ten years ago. My original pitch to them... and you know, CN ultimately didn't want to do the project, but I made a connection with Rob and Craig. So when I was in my fourth year at school Rob recommended me to Nickelodeon, so I brought it to Nickelodeon, they liked Star, so we did a one minute short that we produced, and they ultimately didn't want to take it any further, so... and I was like out of school, trying to find a job was very hard, it took me like a year to find a job, I was very broke, and then I brought it to Disney, eventually, and they wanted to try it! So then we made a pilot, which is a long process, right? It was very exciting just to get the pilot, and then I... I don't know how many pilots a year they do. I mean I feel like if I had to guess, maybe Disney they hear like a hundred pitches, and then they take like 10 pilots- probably less, probably more like five pilots, and then maybe they pick one to make a show. So it's very exciting to get to the pilot phase. And that took about a year, just to make the pilot, and then they tested it on kids and- you know there's a whole process for that, and in the meanwhile I was working at different studios, I was working at Warner Brothers doing a little bit of animation, I did storyboard revisions at Nickelodeon. Which is actually a really good- if anybody, like you know, wants to work in animation like at places like CN or Disney and stuff. Storyboard revision is a really good step in the door, you are basically cleaning up storyboards and stuff like that. And they were eventually like "Ok we want to make it into a show", and I was like "Aaah!", very exciting. But yeah, so... I think the thing I'm happy about with Star is that it really... I pitched a lot of other things too, but I feel like Star was close to my heart, like it was important to me, and I think that came through, you know? Like I think that if you are coming up with the ideas there has to be like a personal connection, or it's just not- or else you are just making something to sell them I guess, and it's never going to feel authentic, you know?

Q- I really love Tomco, so are we going to see more Tomco moments or episodes like Friendenemies? A- Oh, ehm- I can say... probably yes? There will some more Tomco happenings. I am a fan of Tomco myself.

Q- Will we know more about Star and Tom's past relationship in the future? A- There will be more on Star and Tom. I can say that. There will be more on them. I like Tom, Tom's fun.

Q- There's a theory about Jackie, that she's a mermaid, that she's half Mewman A- I like the theory that she's a mermaid, but... she's not a mermaid. She is, she's- I feel like she is like a Venice Beach girl, she likes skateboard, she's into the ocean... but she is not magical. Although I do like the theory, like you know she is a mermaid, and Janna is a witch, you know, it's cool... but not real.

Q- What's your favourite fan theory A- There are so many that are really cool. It's funny because you know sometimes- we are writing the show so far ahead, like right now we are writing the fourth season, since it takes so much to produce the episode, so we are like so ahead, sometimes I see fans came up with some things and I'm like "Oh, that was really good". But you know I- god, there was this whole one that people had that was like that Moon was an exchange student in Toffee's dimension, kinda like Star is to Marco. I was like "Oh that's a cool idea". We never did that, but that's a cool idea [inaudible part about her looking at theories on Reddit?] sometimes they say something and I'm like "Oh they already know, they already guessed!" Like I know people are excited about Eclipsa, so that's cool.

Q- How is it working with Adam McArthur like in Running With Scissors A- He's great. I mean, Adam has has such- all the actors, Adam and Eden and... Ryder Strong, who is Tom, everybody, the cast is so good. Alan Tudyk is Ludo, everyone is really great. Oh my god, I got to work with Jeffrey Tambor, who is Glossaryck. It's so cool. But yeah, Adam is like he is so- what's cool about Adam is like he, you know, as opposed to like Eden, she is on, this television show she is very busy, Adam is busy too, he does lot of acting, but he makes time to really interact with all the fans and stuff. "Running With Scissors", I got a story about that. So I was gonna cast- since he sounds so young, Adam, I wanted to cast, like, a manly man to do adult Marco, I was gonna cast somebody else, 'cause I didn't know Adam could do it, but he was all like "Let's try" and he did a great voice and I was like "Ok, you're good". He was like "I had to do try outs to be myself". Sorry.

Q- When you talk to Eden Sher, since she's the voice of Star, do you ever feel like "Oh my god I'm talking to Star"? A- Well, I mean I know someone of the crew, like sometimes Eden comes around, to say hi to the crew and stuff. Or you know, we do a party for the crew and she'll be there. And other people from the crew would come up to me and be like "Oh my god she sounds just like Star". For me, I mean, we had try outs, so Star was kinda real before Eden, I guess. [inaudible] but I guess Star was a character already. So for me maybe not, does it make sense? And people tell me the same about Adam too, "Oh my gosh he is Marco". Actually Marco has a funny story, he was like at a comic convention thing, he got snubbed by a Star fan. He saw a girl in a Star costume and he was like "Can we take a picture together?" and she's like "No!" and she walked away. And I told Adam he should have called after her, you should have been like "Staaar!". You gotta be careful not to snob people at comic conventions.

Q- Some theories say that Moon and Toffee had a relationship, not necessarily romantic... A- Well you saw the scroll (tapestry?) right? You saw "Into the Wand". So yeah, there's, there's... there is a background to them

Q- In the episode Mathmagic it was revealed that there is this multiverse. We saw multiple realities of Mewni, the Earth. So I was kind of confused, does it mean that Mewni and Earth exist in like one universe. For example, you can build a, I don't know, a spaceship or something to travel from Earth to Mewni? A- Well, I was like- I always liked the idea of other dimensions, I always thought that was cool. So I guess everything is in the same space. That's why they use scissors and they kind of cut into different realities, so they can kinda go through, but they are all on the same planet, I guess. I know sometimes it feels like it's other planets- I don't know. It's supposed to be- it's all like a dimension, that you can kinda travel through with the scissors. I think it- it's fantasy. It's always like- I think we are always like trying to make it logical, but I also think that at a certain point if you overthink it nothing probably actually makes sense. I like the idea of different dimensions, that's cool. So they are all in the same space, and uh- they are connected, you know?

Q- How do you feel about the fandom making all... weird relationships and... do you feel pressured by some people going "We want Tomco, we want Moonfee, we want everything"? A- That's so funny. I mean, you know- I'm very excited that the fans can be excited for whatever they want, you know? I mean, any "-co" they like, that's great. We don't really let that affect the writing in the show. Like I don't look at that when I'm writing the show. You can never make everybody happy, there will always be people- but I also think people like to be upset, you know? If you think about what's the show, what is like- what show would it be if it were just "We're gonna have Star and Marco get together and they will be like so happy", the end. There's no show, what is that show? No one would watch that show. So you have to keep it exciting.

Q- When you are working on an episode what part do you like the most? A- I like the writing, I guess... yeah, I like the writing and I like working with the team, like, it's amazing- you know, I've been on the show, I don't even know how long, I feel like I've been working on the show forever, I think it's been four years, I think? And some of my crew have been with me since the very beginning and I see them everyday and I really love my crew and they are really really cool, and I think the most fun part for me is- yeah, it would be, you know, the pitch of a boarder, there would be the boarders, the director, me, the writers, and we'd be going "Oh why isn't this working" or "How can we make this better", if someone has an idea it's like "Yes let's do that" and it's so cool that- like I love working collaboratively and it's amazing to see... I don't know it's just like- I came up with this one idea, you know, the idea was this big, but then it got this big this big this big, bigger and bigger, and I feel like I could have never made it this big, but then with all these great people who really care, you know, and it only gets better 'cause they care. I think the worst thing like anybody like a boss or like a show runner, I think the worst thing you could do is just go like "No this is my show, it's my idea. It's all about me, it has to be my idea, maybe you got a good idea, but let's use only my idea" cause I think it's, I mean, A) it's not fun for anybody, and B) I don't think you're going to get the best thing. My theory is always like- the best idea wins. You know if there are like three people with different ideas on how to do something I always try to go "Ok what's interesting let's do this idea", you know. So it's- it's good, I like it.

Q- Are we going to see in the season something about Eclipsa? A- Yes I think you're going to see more Eclipsa

Q- Do you have any ideas for other series? A- I do! You know, sometimes I come up with ideas, but I don't really have time to develop them ,as the show is really... consuming, you know?

Q- Who is your favorite character in the show? A- Star. Star is close to my heart (asker asks about Starfan13) I like Starfan13. You know I think who came up with Starfan13 was Ian Wasselik, he was a storyboarder during the first season. He just had her in that episode, you know with the locker? It's like "I filled my locker with pictures of you!" and I liked it, you know, so we kept using her.

Q- Did Star dip down in Storm the Castle? A- Yes. She did dip down, like a precursor to dip down, she was definitely like channeling, you know?

Q- Would you do a crossover? A- You know, I really want say I know... I know Alex Hirsch, I know Justin Royland, and I was like "I want-" 'cause they all go into dimensions, and I was like could we place an item, and they kind of did, and then I- didn't get to do it. It's just that's hard to coordinate that stuff, but... like if it were like a real crossover? I feel like it could be... maybe Gravity Falls, maybe...? (someone says "Mabel and Star would be really good friends") I think so. Yes, they are very- very positive people. (someone says "Why not Rick and Morty?") I do like Rick & Morty too, although I feel like Star and Marco would get in trouble, it'd be really bad for them to hang out with Rick and Morty.

Q- What happened to the monsters who were in the castle when it exploded [in Storm the Castle]? A- I think they might be dead. Maybe not all of them, some of them probably got out, but I think some of them are dead.

Q- What do you plan to do after the end of the series? A- After the end of Star? I don't know! I hope the series can go for a long time, you know? But you never know... So after Star I'll maybe just do another show, eventually, maybe take a break. But uh- 'cause it takes so long, you know? I've been on Star for maybe four years already, so...

Q- Is the show classic animation, or does it use puppets? A- Ok so it's like a bunch of things- we had some troubles with- oh shi- [Daron realizes that she was drawing, while signing for the fans, heart cheeks on Marco, interrupts herself and doesn't continue with the answer later]

Q- Do you think Disney is going to make a Princess Marco action figure? A- I wish they'd do toys! Everybody should keep bothering them to do the toys... but I... yeah, princess Marco, he's- he's fun

Q- Is there any episode or character you don't like? A- Oh! I- I don't know, you know it's funny 'cause there are certain episodes you are just "Oh this is terrible" and then it goes on TV and people like it, you know? Or some people like part of it, and it makes me feel better, I think people connect with different parts of the show. First season was a little rough, you know? 'Cause you are figuring stuff, but... I mean, I could say- I don't know, I don't wanna diss any of them, 'cause everybody works hard on them you know. I can tell you some of my favorites, first season definitely I loved Blood Moon Ball, Mewberty, Storm the Castle... Into the Wand is very nice- I really loved Ludo in the Wild, I was really excited.

Q- Did you design the tapestries in Into the Wand? A- No, they were actually- so the storyboarder who did that, Jushtin (Lee), he had those in the storyboards and they were really cool, and then our painters and layout people followed up on them and made them really awesome. And uh, our characters have designers too, you know, fleshed out from the board, but Jushtin originally came up with a lot of those.

Q- How was working with Patrick Stump? A- Oh my god, that was really cool. That was one of my favorite episodes too. That was cool, that was like so... our casting- we have like a casting person it was her idea to hire Patrick, and like oh man, it was awesome, and he was so nice. And each time someone has to sing in the show- something about singing just gets to you, you know? Like when Adam sang in Friendenemies, our supervising producer Dominic Bisignano tried it.

Q- Will we get more songs in the future? A- I- yeah, I think so. Songs... well yeah, there are some songs. God, they're like so all over the show, that I'm trying to remember like where- where they are.

Q- Are they going to be more special guests in the future? A- I- probably, I can't tell you that. That's one of those things like Disney castings, you know they want like to "get the story".

Q- Are we going to see Star in her mewberty form? A- Maybeee.

Q- Will we see new villains? A- I can't give spoilers guys!

Q- Did you design all the characters on the show? A- Uh- well I designed Star and Marco, and I have the ideas, like a rough sketch. You know what's awesome? Like, running a show is like- I have like Becky Cheyenne Stephanie- I have like characters designers who are really good, so I can just do some crappy thing and give it to them and it's like "woooa" it's like amazing, and that's really fun. Like I remember that with Hekapoo, Becky designed her, and I was like "Ok she gotta be like this kinda firey elf thing" and Becky did like this whole page full of things and I was like "That one!" and that's exactly what she is. And that's very lucky for me. But like- like with Tom, for instance, I didn't design him, I think it was Cheyenne? Someone asked me to draw Tom earlier and I was like "Uuh no sorry!" 'cause I don't know him as well, you know? But Star and Marco, I designed them.

Q- What inspired you, or how did you come up with Toffee? A- So Toffee kinda came from like- you know Ludo started as a villain, right? But he was not a scary villain, he's a goofy villain, which is fun too, but I wanted somebody who is a real nemesis, some really evil foe to fight. And I've never been really like- all the characters in the show, everyone has a perspective, you know. I really don't those kind of over the top villains who are just "Hahahah I'm evil I'm going to take over the world!". You know, it's not very interesting. So I always wanted the villain to have a perspective, and definitely with Toffee, I always thought of him more like a Magneto character. You know, like he is not wrong, but he's going about things the wrong way, you know? So I think it's more interesting. 'Cause I think you guys noticed, but we hinted to it- we begin to hint to it, but, you know the Mewmans are not maybe treating the monsters the best, and that's something Star is really learning about, and Toffee of course has his own perspective about it.

Q- Did you design all of Star dresses? A- Ok so the dresses were the funniest thing. It was like, you know- there are the executives, at Disney, you know, this guy, he was very concerned about the dresses. Like me and Cheyenne, I think we drew like a hundred dresses. And I wanted her to have different dresses, but he was like "We don't want puffy sleeves, we don't want it to be too girly" and I was like "Oh my gosh we drew so many dresses". But I think the one she ended up with are cool. And in the second season I got the puffy sleeves.

Q- What's going on with Eclipsa's arm in Crystal Clear? A- I can't tell you what's up with that- I can tell you her arm it's not missing, and it just looks like that. But uh- well, I want you to know that this is not a spoiler or anything, but, like, you know how Star was trying to get her foot out of there? So Eclipsa she just got her glove kinda in there

Q- Is Lekmet really dead? A- He's kinda gone to ashes, so... I love Lekmet, he's so sweet too. And poor Rhombulus, right? They are so- they are so close

Q- Are we going to know what was Lekmet's job? A- Yeah I think so, yeah.

Q- (talking about livechats) A- They are fun like, this was Disney's idea, these livechats- we got to have a good time. I wouldn’t say they’re, like, totally canon, just because it's... we try to like, ya know, make it in—we got like the outline.

Q- (talking about the Star and Marco Guide To Mastering Every Dimension) A- The book was actually written- season 2, it was written- it was supposed to come out after the first fourteen. So it's a little bit after the first fourteen and before the ones that aired in February, you know? So it's not quite... to the ending, you know?

Q- In Running With Scissors was actually there something between Hekapoo and Marco? A- I don't know, Marco went a long time- on his own...

Q- (talking about Marco being mentally 30) A- You know he's always been an old soul, I feel like, and I think that, uh, just, he's an old soul, still. But he has his memories.

Q- At the end of the season we see Star's room disappearing from the Diaz's house. I was wondering what happened to Toffee's finger- A- I can't tell you that!

Q- In Miss Heinous' metallurgy book there were colors for the many dimensions, and Earth was color green, which was also the color of the wand. Is there a connection or- A- I can't tell you!

Q- What is Starfan13 going to do now without Star? A- I don't know-

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #star vs evil #star butterfly #marco diaz #daron nefcy

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gloriousgwendolinechristie · 7 years

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Press: Why the Women of Top of the Lake Are Laughing in the Face of Male Complaints

“They’re asking for too much, these dudes.”

VANITY FAIR – A brief cloud crosses actress Gwendoline Christie’s face when I asked her if she thinks her Top of the Lake: China Girl character—the hopeful, open-hearted officer Miranda Hilmarson—bears a close resemblance to her real-life persona. Anyone who has watched Christie in interviews or on a red carpet knows that the six-foot-three blonde—who made a name for herself playing severe, lethal characters like Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones, Commander Lyme in The Hunger Games, and Captain Phasma in the latest Star Wars trilogy—is, in actuality, one of the friendliest and easy-to-smile actresses in the business.

That goofy side is on display for the first time in Christie’s decade-long career in a role that Top of the Lake creator Jane Campion wrote specifically for her. Hilmarson will stoop to make friends with a dog, and does her best to crack the hard nut that is Elisabeth Moss’s Robin Griffin. But Christie is still right to distance herself a bit from Hilmarson—because, like everything in Campion’s work, this bright and cheery constable has a darker side.

Moss herself is fond of repeating Campion’s thesis statement for creating Top of the Lake, an ongoing dark feminist drama disguised as a crime story which follows Detective Griffin from a small New Zealand town in Season 1 to the faster-paced dangers of Sydney, Australia, in Season 2. “The placid lake of Season 1,” Moss says, paraphrasing Campion, “hides the danger underneath. But while Season 1 dealt with the wildness without, this year we’re tackling the wildness within.” And indeed, the second season of the critically acclaimed drama—which airs six new episodes on three consecutive nights starting Sunday, September 10, on Sundance—brilliantly juxtaposes the gray, ordered facade of a city like Sydney with the messy, violent passions of the people who inhabit it.

Still licking her wounds from the trauma of Season 1 (the loose ends of which are brilliantly tied up via heartbreaking flashback and a harrowing guest appearance in Season 2), Robin once again serves as avenging angel—this time for a young Asian sex worker who washes up on a Sydney beach inside a suitcase. “Hello, darling,” she murmurs to the mutilated corpse. “Do you want to tell me what you saw?” But while Griffin has always had an easier time tenderly connecting with the dead, the second installment of the series pushes her, hard, out of her comfort zone when she is reunited with Mary, the long-lost teenaged daughter whom she gave up for adoption (played by Campion’s real-life daughter Alice Englert) and Mary’s parents (played by Nicole Kidman and Ewen Leslie).

In Mary, a role also specifically written for the actress who plays her, Campion has outdone herself in her ongoing exploration of duality, darkness, and femininity. A smart, damaged, vulnerable, hard-to-love teen, Mary finds herself wrapped up in the case of Robin’s dead girl and dares the audience to sort her into either the hero or villain category. She defies definition, which ultimately is Campion’s finest gift for all of the women in Top of the Lake. “When I took on the role,” Englert says of that at-times monstrous, at-times vulnerable Mary, “I felt like that was my challenge—to root for her. And I didn’t know if anyone else would, to be honest.”

Once I had seen the full season of Top of the Lake: China Girl (Sundance initially only set three episodes), I understood Christie’s reluctance to identify too closely with Constable Hilmarson. “I enjoy playing humor very much,” she admits, “but I would hope that I’m not as dark and sad as Miranda is, or struggling with life as much as she is. But she is a character with an open heart, and that is a joy to watch and a joy to play.” Moss also rejoices in getting to play Detective Griffin once more—a role that did a lot to change audiences expectations of what a petite and wide-eyed actress like her can bring to a part like this. TV lovers are quite accustomed, now, to Moss’s steelier edge, having watched her grimly stare down the camera for 10 episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale. But way back in 2013, Campion was the first filmmaker to really tap into the dark, messy potential of an actress then best known for playing good girls like the president’s daughter on The West Wing or Don Draper’s protégé (with, O.K., a slight edge) in Mad Men.

How does Jane Campion write such messy, complicated, hard-to-define women? Easy, Moss says. “Every character is an avatar of Jane. Every single one.” When I run this theory by Englert, she laughs in delight. “Yeah—now that you say, what I love about my mom is that sometimes she reminds me of that special energy and passion that you have. That fight in you at like, 12. Hormones haven’t hijacked you and manipulated all of your energy into ridiculous pursuit of procreation. You can see the adult world, but you’re not part of that yet. My mom reminds me of that.”

But for all the room Campion gives her female characters—space to be disasters capable of tight control, or monsters capable of tender heroism—she doesn’t quite afford the male characters of Top of the Lake: China Girl the same dimensionality. Almost every single male character, from customers in the brothel to Mary’s piggish, too-old boyfriend, Robin’s sexist colleagues, her somewhat selfish brother, and her wrapped-up-in-the-murder boss, is either an outright villain, an exploration of frustrated male sexuality, or someone caught in arrested development. There are scant men, other than Mary’s dad, Pyke, worth rooting for. And most of the compelling relationships in Top of the Lake: China Girl are between two women—either mother and daughter or female colleagues. In other words, as Englert puts it, the female issues that are usually the “side salad” of most films and TV (especially in the crime genre) are the “main course” of Top of the Lake.

Rather than reject this critique of the men in Top of the Lake—initially brought to my attention by a male TV critic—Moss and Christie gleefully embrace it. “Another man pointed it out to me,” Moss responds, laughing. “I didn’t notice it either.” Pointing out that it’s usually women who fill the two-dimensional roles while men have the meatier parts to chew on, Moss teases that Top of the Lake was a “taste of your own medicine. How’s that?” Christie also had to have this phenomenon pointed out to her. “I hadn’t noticed at all. A good friend of mine actually said: ‘There is not one likable male character in this.’” Grinning devilishly, she continues: “That’s unlikely, isn’t it? We don’t normally see that in our TV dramas, do we?”

Only Englert is willing to stick up for at least one of her male co-stars. “Pyke is a lovely man! He’s a beautiful character,” she says, heaping praise on her TV dad. He’s played with passive, bearded charm by Ewen Leslie, though some might argue that Pyke is neutered by the fact that his wife (Kidman’s brusque and insecure Julia) has left him for another woman. He’s also constantly capitulating to his willful daughter. And Englert also concedes that there are no unalloyed heroes (of either gender) to be found in Top of the Lake. “I find it really interesting that men want to be so liked. They have to be perfect to be a likable character. It’s like, get used to it. You can be imperfect and still be interesting. They’re asking for too much, these dudes.”

It’s the art of imperfection that Campion has truly perfected in Top of the Lake’s shaggy second season. The mystery of the girl in the suitcase resolves itself, improbably, much the way the first season mystery did, via coincidence and too many connections to Robin’s personal life. But that’s because Campion isn’t as interested in the mystery as she is in the striving, failing, complicated women caught in its orbit. Top of the Lake goes well over the top at times to highlight cartoonish male villainy, and has zero qualms about leaving certain threads dangling. But at its beating heart, this is a story of a girl caught between two mothers—which Campion can’t help but make intensely personal by casting her own daughter at the center of this unconventional love triangle, and drafting two of the finest working actresses to play different versions of herself. “What great auteurs do, in my opinion, is show you their vision about what it is to be human,” Christie concludes. In other words, this is just Jane’s world—and we’re all lucky to be in it.

Press: Why the Women of Top of the Lake Are Laughing in the Face of Male Complaints was originally published on Glorious Gwendoline

#gwendoline christie #game of thrones #got cast #Brienne of Tarth #star wars #Captain Phasma #The Force Awakens #Mockingjay 2 #Commander Lyme #THG #The Hunger Game

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