#this set of episodes is a lot funnier than i remember

[somestorythoughts]

THE LOOK ON HIS FACE I love this bit!

[shigayokagayama]

incomplete list of weird/interesting manga-anime discrepancies

-you know the bit where they break into the girls highschool in episode 2? yea thats chapter 56. spliced into the middle of chapter 4. its supposed to go before the bit with the ghost family as a lead up to the mogami arc with mob starting to consider evil spirits as just as much “people” as living humans are. all things considered its kind of weird how well it fits its anime placement

-ritsu in the manga gets introduced in the same chapter as teru. you dont see mobs family at all for the first few chapters. infact i dont think his parents appear until like. chapter 25????? every interaction you see between mob and any of his family is completely made up for the anime

-in the manga during the claw arc instead of reigen sending them away all the lackeys just stood there awkwardly during the fight w the scars fdnjksndkjgnd

-mogami arc got GUTTED my god. the part where the fake psychics tried to murder minori got removed, shinras role in the arc got reduced to basically nothing, they move mogamiland ritsu to a bridge like 50 feet away instead of having him walk right over mob, mob only gets beat up like twice, the cat lives, the boxcutter bit is totally removed, the fight with the spirits is made a lot more abstract and less graphic. like im glad this one took the hit instead of the separation arc bc i cant imagine that arc ever being effective as one episode but wow.

-putting the “mob finding his family dead” thing at the end of the episode instead of in the middle of a chapter where it originally was was an objectively hilarious move

-rip the scene of teru outsmarting all three claw guys and saying “say old man have you ever been tortured before” unfortunately all scenes of teru being competent are not plot relevant and must die. also teru can make shadow clones

-hey remember those weird satellite people in claw keeping the viewer updated on where all the characters were in that infinite arc?

-mob with a gun.

-mob getting briefly knocked out while fighting toichiro and dimple possessing him then getting kicked out was replaced w toichiro just throwing him out the window or somethhing???

-toichiro saying that he only kept the super five around as spare batteries and draining serizawas power getting cut was a personal affront to me

-every single emotion mob cycled through in the anime got a 100% meter. the kid was super emotionally unstable in that fight

-that old man whos house they went to whos wraith made everyone asleep that they exorcised? yea they anime team made that up. they never went to his house in the manga, he just went to spirits and such for a shoulder massage

-manga reigen got 0 money for helping the yokai dude. it wasnt on the table. also most of the stuff he was saying was lifted from a video game serizawa played which he pointed out. also serizawa thought getting arrested was a type of spell

-takenakas general meanness was significantly toned down manga takenaka was a huge bitch

-in general the alien arc was a lot funnier in the manga? like the scene where reigen crashes they had reached a dead end on an extremely narrow path and were driving in reverse while tome and takenaka were screaming at each other in the back and inukawa was 5 seconds from snapping and killing everyone in the car. these might be my favorite pages in the entire manga they as so fucking funny

-originally when tome said she wouldnt keep climbing reigen suggested mob carry her with telekinesis (which horrified her) and mob said he was too motion sick to use his powers (obvious lie) but could carry her instead which got her to get up

-mezato asking mob to sign a t shirt for the psycho helmet cult in exchange for relationship advice got cut

-i cry every day that the sequence of ???% waking up didnt get animated it set a very different tone than the anime did. the anime was like. slow build up of dread. the manga was immediately bone deep horror i was literally sitting in my room yelling “WHAT???” over and over again at my computer as i clicked through it

-shigeo and mob conversation cut down significantly, all the references to the body improvement club being mob making a new self rather than embracing who he really is and being scared that all the friends hes made wouldnt like the real him removed </3

-the scene where reigen takes his shoes off is made a lot less somber and depressing. it feels less like “oh he knows hes going to die” and more like. triumphant? in the anime

-100% shigeo kageyama is an anime addition they added specifically to ruin my “the first time we see mob 100% is to fight dimple and the last time is to stop himself from fighting dimple” observation

-anime teru generally seems like hes in a better place than manga teru? manga teru seems very melancholy and like he doesn’t really know what to do with his life or his place in the world (which seems to put shigeo off) but anime teru is like wanna go shopping ^_^ *sips tea happily*

-manga shigeo deliberately threw the cake directly in reigens face and my fury over them making this ambiguous will last until i am dead

[ankh-morporkianpostalworker]

The Rise of Dimension 20: The Changing Face of Roleplay

I remember when I first heard about Dimension 20 in 2019. I had subscribed to Dropout to watch Um, Actually and I saw D20 being pushed on the platform. I sat down and watched the first episode, then the second. In two days I had finished the first season.

I had never seen anything like it. I had tried NADDPOD and CR and bounced off both (I'd eventually fall head over heels for the former, and gain a solid respect for the latter), but I fell in love with the Bad Kids, the Intrepid Heroes, the world of Elmville, and the style of Brennan Lee Mulligan.

Later, I would learn that the first season of Fantasy High was seen by most in the community as a sort of novelty, the last death-rattle of a dying company. It was cool and new, sure, but it was also a flash in the pan.

Escape From the Bloodkeep proved the naysayers wrong. It proved that Brennan was as much the source of the fun as the Intrepid Heroes, and it showed us something that set him apart from the pack - Brennan was constantly pushing himself to be better. Out of the starting gate, he proved a technical proficiency on par with Matt Mercer, the reigning king, but for Brennan, that wasn't enough. He wasn't facing off with Matt, he was facing off with himself, and he needed to be better.

The Unsleeping City continued this trend. It was another setting the DND actual play community wasn't used to - the real world. The characters were fresh, new, more nuanced than the children they played in Fantasy High. They were up to the challenge, with the same drive as Brennan. Brennan and Ally redefined how the Wild Magic Sorcerer was played, Lou Wilson brought an abandoned Unearthed Arcana to the forefront, and the pair played, perhaps, their best roles to date.

Tiny Heist showed that Brennan could bend 5e to be something it wasn't meant to be - a heist simulator.

Then came A Crown of Candy. Some hold this season to be Brennan's magnum opus and the best performances the Intrepid Heroes have ever given. The combat was quick, dirty, tactical, the characters textured and nuanced. Our heroes had to get out of impossible situations, both in roleplay and combat. Death was a very real possibility. And this season was what sealed Brennan as a real rival for Matt, and was when "I only have Dropout for D20" stopped being a joke and started being a reality. Brennan had hit his stride.

The sidequests and seasons two from this point don't really prove my point, but they're good. Brennan didn't do a couple of them, though.

Then we get to Starstruck. Set in a world his mother had created, it obviously meant a lot to Brennan, and so he strived to outdo everything he'd done up to this point. It was funnier, more moving, the combat more tactical than anything he'd done before. He included space combat, and the cast once again rose to the occasion, portraying those cast out and cast aside by the corporatocracy that was the Starstruck universe, forming a touching bond. It was as if he had peaked.

And then came Neverafter, and with that, Brennan became king. It was horrific, scary, brutal. Combat wasn't fun or interesting, it was intense and nail-biting. The party dropped in their first combat encounter. Children were brutally murdered. They were up against eldritch horrors in perverse retellings of fairy tales. The humor was there, sure, but it was twisted, dark, more about relieving stress than being funny. And again, the cast excelled.

And all because Brennan wasn't trying to outdo Matt or Griffin or Brian, but himself. Each season, he wanted to be better than he had ever been before, pushing his technical abilities, his storytelling abilities, to the max. And the world of actual play shows improved as well. Matt stepped up his game, as did the other big dogs. Brennan redefined the game.

Or I could just be a massive fanboy who's reading way too far into things. Either/or.

[mdhwrites]

New Eridu is a Fictional Playground

TL:DR: ZZZ is written like a sitcom primarily and its looseness of world building and the looseness of the world reflects this. It discards things inconvenient for the vibe and mood it's going for with something because that's what sitcoms primarily do. However, this is for better and for worse as the setting does have rules that are treated like a big deal but then also given the same respect as the majority of elements and it causes friction in the details while the whole of it works in the broad strokes.

So let's first clarify what I mean when I say ZZZ is written like a Sitcom. I don't mean this in structure. We are not just playing an interactive version of something like Seinfeld. No, it's actually more based on something I heard the South Park creators talk about and that's how the town of South Park is entirely inconsistent because things will be where they need to be in order for the episode they're doing to work. One episode might portray Chef's house as being right next to Walmart. The next one might have them on opposite sides. That doesn't matter though because the story being told is what matters, not the firmness of the world.

The ultimate version of this for me with ZZZ is the Golden Bangboo City quest, both for its strengths and weaknesses. The quest is one of my favorite in the game. Optimize how to get over 500,000 gear coins, a number that sounds patently ABSURD. All while in this compelling Hollow that has a lot of fun mechanics. If you don't think about it and go by the rules of the mission alone, it's phenomenal.

We do also all remember how the people there admit to having been trapped within the Hollow for a minimum of days, if not WEEKS, especially to accrue the debts they have? Or how about how the guy we need to get the gear coins for wants them... To pay for debts OUTSIDE of the Hollow, despite there literally being lines from characters about being sad that we can't do that and ALL impressions being that gear coins mean nothing in the wider world (even if it makes the gear coin locks confusing as hell). The latter is excusable but ether poisoning, the restrictions of Hollows, etc. like that are a BIG deal but even in main content, like with the thugs just sitting outside Red Fang safehouses, or Koleda's Agent Story where they admit to these raiders just sitting in the Hollow in a supposed 'safe' area and like... What are the rules here?

But you're not supposed to really ask. It's like how you don't question that Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother has all of his money. It's funnier not to have an explanation and for him to reveal his literal wall sized television. It's more entertaining that Homer can be this bumbling idiot at work and get into all sorts of shenanigans and never get fired for more than a week or never have to really worry about finances. On the other hand, these shows never go out of their way to try and make these principal, important parts of the show. Those stay fairly consistent and lead to some of the best moments of any of these works and that goes for ZZZ as well.

My favorite scene in the entire game so far goes to Koleda calling out the prototype's name. Is it more magic than scifi? Kind of. Is it over the top and kind of silly? Absolutely. Does it break what has come before?

...Only in that the prototype has not been corrupted by this much time spent in a Hollow, which is something I'm willing to overlook as it's questionable how much of its AI was actually online by then that could be corrupted. Otherwise? We've literally just fought three different mechs who were empowered by their emotional programming. We have seen how much these mechs mean to all of Belobog Industries and been explained Koleda's complex history with them, not helped by her sister being the one to continue championing them after her father's passing. All of these are played for laughs as much, if not more, than they are taken seriously and so Koleda embracing her heritage, figuring out the truth and believing in her father and the legacy he left behind has me tearing up to think about even now.

The best sitcoms always manage this. Where elements that used to be funny can then be shifted to hit like a punch to the gut. M.A.S.H. is the EASY one to call out for this with shit like Colonel Blake's death but I actually want to go to a different one because it's more iconic to me for how it works. See, the first time I ever heard the gag line "I'm not as think as you drunk I am," was in Scrubs. One of the doctors comes in drunk as a skunk and the others are mad at him. When put that way, it sounds silly and amusing. When you're told that it's their angry, condescending mentor figure, who is arguably the best doctor in the hospital, having breakdown because he just lost like four patients, including a cancer patient he thought he'd just saved (if I'm remembering right) from catastrophic failures outside of his control except for one mistake, one break in quarantine I believe... Suddenly, you're laughing but it also hurts to see him laid this low. The contrast makes the point hit harder than it would in a regular drama.

This is also why I think Chapter 3 of ZZZ so far is the weakest of the main chapters. It has no emotional core like Koleda or Nekomata that helps make the plot of the chapter work better and for you to ignore the breaks in logic. Instead, they go with tension... Which is also the part of the logic they break. After all, we're told that Pearlman's escape plan is going to only take like a couple of hours. However, canonically, our work with Victoria Housekeeping is over the course of multiple DAYS. At bare minimum, one night passes simply for the sake of interrogating the rebel forces that we pull out of the Ballet Twins. It is already hard to ignore this break in logic when we are mostly not interacting with the stakes, we're just enjoying the gags of Victoria Housekeeping, but it becomes even harder when you're also having to constantly think about the break in logic so as to be able to engage with the big question of the episode. I still managed to like it but it's part of why the anti-climax of Pearlman getting away was so dissatisfying for me because it didn't give a real payoff to what was already a pretty flimsy story. I would argue that for most of Big Bang Theory, the thing I think genuinely makes it not very good, this is its problem too. Even when the jokes are good and the energy is high, Victoria Housekeeping is a fun group to spend time with, you're lacking that real hook to bring it above just something to kill time with. Something to take away once the episode is over. The worst of ANYTHING that's just mid-tier, purely enjoyment based writing comes from this.

That is the for worst element of ZZZ being like a Sitcom. It is far more malleable for anyone to do as they want with than I would argue either Genshin or Star Rail because it leans into its own flexibility. However, that does mean it walks a fine line against potentially having the floor collapse out from under it because it is relying on more ephemeral things like raw charm and charisma, rather than a solid world you can invest in, for its core appeal.

For now, it's working but there's a reason a lot of Sitcoms get labeled with, "It was really good... Until Season X." And I hope Zenless can figure out how to avoid that or else it truly will fall out of its current zone and zero out. See you next tale.

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Actually going to do a quick bit of additional notes here just because I feel like most people will see "X is like a Sitcom" and think I'm immediately being dismissive. That isn't the case. I love sitcoms. It's what I watched with my parents as a teenager and a young adult. I've seen almost the entirety of M.A.S.H TWICE with my brother (that final season deserves the reputation it has. sigh) Sitcoms are some of the most popular, beloved pieces of television ever for a reason. If you want some recs from me: Rules of Engagement genuinely has a lot to say about relationships, romantic and platonic, though with some wife guy humor from Patrick Warburton that is going to be up to your tastes. Scrubs is a classic, just stop when they try to swap the entire cast out, and while I know How I Met Your Mother gets given shit for its ending, the ride there is still good for most of the run. M.A.S.H... Just go watch M.A.S.H, PLEASE. It's old but it's not dated, nor is it offensive in really any way. Like the one person who wears drag isn't funny because he wears drag. It's because no one cares that he's wearing drag because he's only doing it to try and use prejudice to get discharged from the army and that doesn't make him special because none of them want to be there and that's about as insensitive as it gets as far as memory serves. It is one of the smartest things I have ever watched and has the weird paradox that most of the cast change outs actually IMPROVE the show for most of its running time, rather than diminish it and it starts at a pretty high bar so that's really saying something.

BUT the big thing I want to point out is that... ZZZ actually is using sitcoms for its groups. Belobog is a workplace comedy. The Cunning Hares are any of the billion broke bitch sitcoms out there. Soldier 11 is I think trying to capture some of M.A.S.H. with the absurdity of her quest but also being honest about her having done War Crimes. Even Victoria has that with, and I haven't watched any of this archtype so I might be wrong, being kind of based on shows like The Fresh Prince of Belair with Ellen being the low class person out of place amongst the group. If you're thinking that stuff like Friends or How I Met Your Mother are absent... I don't mean this in the way it's going to sound but Wise is Ross/his archtype and Belle is Rachel/her archtype. Not that they're in a relationship with each other but that they are the only nominally weird but mostly bland people in the group that grounds everyone else around them. The straight men comedically that bounce off everyone else.

And again: This is not a criticism. I could criticize how well each of these are done (Ellen suffers pretty badly from Wise being written as the milk toast guy that girls will just throw at themselves for no reason) but they are taking from good inspirations, at least in my opinion and I wanted to defend that. I feel like Sitcoms only really only ever get talked about negatively and I wanted to make it clear that that's not what I meant here and I even think it helps provide the unique vibe of ZZZ versus others around it.

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I know some of what I listed might not be technically considered sitcoms but I would argue for any of them that they're bare minimum close enough to the formula and concepts and priorities of sitcoms to be useful references.

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

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

A Twitter you can follow too

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

[mx-piggy]

I really missed writing Hulurama reviews. I had no idea that a new episode was out until Wednesday, and I was too sick to want to watch and review it until today. I'm really looking forward to writing these reviews again, and I'm hoping to start working on my Hulurama review and ranking that I'll post to my website at some point. For now, here's my review for The One Amigo. Spoilers ahead!

I think it worked well enough as a season premier. I definitely preferred The Impossible Stream as an episode and as a season premier, because I found Impossible Stream a lot funnier overall. But, I think I preferred this episode's social commentary a lot more just because I found it funny, whilst with Impossible Stream it was the same old tired commentary about streaming services, from what I can remember. I'm not overly knowledgeable about NFTs, but I did find most of the episode's jokes about them to be quite funny

I think my enjoyment of this episode exceeded its objective quality.

I found it to be quite sweet, with Bender getting to spend time with his family and with the Planet Express crew caring enough about him to do a museum heist to steal back his NFT and hopefully make him feel better.

The solid humour elevated this episode enough for me to make me like it.

That said, I do think that narratively it was kind of a mess. As far as Bender has a crisis episodes go, this one is probably one of the weakest. The set-up of Bender's crisis felt quite poorly justified, and overall the Bender's family plotline and NFT plotline, for me at least, didn't link very well together. I understood what they were going for. That said, I think a 'Bender finds his family' story should have been set up with a more explicit 'Bender wishes he has a family' set up. I'm glad they didn't just abandon the NFT thing once Bender went to Mexico and that they actually did more with it throughout the episode, but, again, I think that there must have been a better way to set up this Bender story. At the very least, I think that having the NFT story actually carry on throughout the episode was better than doing the Family Guy thing where there'll be 7 minutes of Peter having a falcon or something, and it sets up the rest of the episode but has no actual significance to the story.

Additionally, I didn't think the story was given the weight it warranted. Bender finding his family is so significant, but it never felt like that the episode understood that. I was fully expecting the reveal that this wasn't Bender's actual family with how little weight this was treated with, but nope. It struck me as odd that Bender was so emotionally unaffected by his cousin's betrayal. I think that the only way they can salvage this is to do a follow-up episode, but, at the same time, I think it'd be a bit weird for them to follow up this episode when a lot of us are expecting follow ups to episodes earlier in the show (like how Children of a Lesser Bog followed up Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch).

I think that this had the opportunity to be a good Bender crisis episode, but it missed the mark for me. Fry's family stories and Leela's family stories are typically really emotionally effective (Luck of the Fryrish, Leela's Homeworld), but this one just wasn't, when I think it really should have been. For what it is, though, I think it's alright, a solid 6 or 6.5/10 episode.

There were things about this episode I appreciated. The setting was interesting, and I like that Hulurama is giving us new and unique settings for episodes. Despite thinking that the NFT story and the Bender's family story didn't connect well, I did enjoy the museum heist as a fun little subplot. Seeing more of Amy's kids was really fun, and I hope to see more of them this season. I loved that Fry was at the table drawing with the kids. Leela's line 'thanks for springing us from the joint, kids' was so fucking funny to me. The return of the Fing-Longer was fun. I loved that we saw iterations of Bender from episodes past in the gallery of NFTs, like the gold version of him we see in the Farnsworth Parabox, or the knight version we see of him in Bender's Game.

I wouldn't say I was disappointed by this episode. I enjoyed it for what it was (i.e. a fun little Bender episode with a fun little subplot with the other guys), but I am a little frustrated about how it wasn't what it could have been (i.e. an emotionally resonant character episode). With this episode falling flat in that respect, I'm hoping that we end up getting some emotionally resonant episodes this season like we did last season, and that we get some good character episodes like we did last season. Honestly, though, this is a pretty mid episode and I still had a good time with it overall, so suffice it to say it takes a lot for me to dislike a Futurama episode. I just like seeing more of my little guys, I guess. But, I'm also prepared to find out that I'm the one person who liked this episode (it's a familiar experience for me lmao).

I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts about the episode, so feel free to comment or reblog with your opinion!

[beevean]

We finally watched Nocturne.

... what? No, no endless post this time :P not only because it's just one season. It's just as I expected: it's not as infuriating as its big sibling. (unless you're familiar with the French Revolution coughcough@the-crow-binary)

We only watched the first four episodes so far, and I have already said a lot, so let's go.

The thing I complained the most about, I noticed, was the worldbuilding, mostly how vampires work. The original show "elfified" vampires, only keeping the basic traits "need blood, don't like sunlight or running water, can turn into things like bats and mist". They were portrayed as this ancient rage, one with its own culture (much superior than the dumb humans who forget everything because church bad): they sleep normally, they can eat food if they so wish, apparently they can have sex with zero issues lol, and infamously child vampires are treated as, well, innocent children and not as poor human kids suffering a terrible fate. Trevor even kindly tells us that the reason vampires hate crosses regardless of their faith is because their eyesight is so advanced that they freak out at the sight of geometrical shapes. The only monstruous trait they have is that apparently they have a tendency to go insane and crave power. Honestly, they kind of remind me of Twilight.

And somehow Nocturne manages to get it worse.

Now, yes, vampires in Nocturne bite far more often than in the OG show. I think in that other show we see them doing that... twice? And Carmilla and Lenore lick Hector's blood; then they just drink from their stock of blood à la Drac from SoTN. Anyway, Nocturne is more willing to show them as beasts, so good job. Hell, Sun Thundercat even turns a human!

But in this setting, vampires seem to not even have those few weaknesses they had in the OG show. For a story centered on how Sun Thundercat will bring eternal night to the world because sun is the number 1 obstacle to vampires, it's baffling how easily they can just walk around in plain daylight. Olrox looks out of the window with his face illuminated by the sun. Drolta can literally walk just fine, even without a parasol. @spinningbuster98 kept asking "why don't peasants or slaves just destroy the windows of the places where they know vampires live?" - well clearly they'd be fine!

And special shoutout to Drolta who openly mocks the concept of her being hurt by being in a church. At least in S1, Blue Fangs explained its presence in the Bishop's church by blaming his heinous actions for pushing God away.

Vampires are also shockingly well integrated into society. These extremely pale people, with visible pointy ears and long fangs, can chill around in a nice palace or stroll into a theatre, and no one bats an eye. How? In the OG show, vampires could be in a position of power (see the council of Styria), but they mostly worked from the shadows. Did humans just... accept the presence of these monsters?

(the cross weakness becomes way funnier now. Vampires are weak to the religion they used to believe in, so Annette can ask the help of the Christian God to harm previously Christian vampires. I actually like this. But then this makes that OG "vampires have super freaky eyesight" scene even stupider than it used to be)

Another point for the clumsy worldbuilding. Hey, remember how I complained that N!Hector wearing Hector's CoD outfit makes no sense? Because that's what he could cobble up from his old Devil Forgemaster uniform and it's basically the best he can wear for running through the country and fighting, while N!Hector 1) is still in Drac's service in S2 so you'd expect a more professional uniform from him, like the one worn by N!Isaac, and 2) he very much does not fight, making details like the arm guard and the single glove look redudant. We have a similar issue here: Maria, whose design was taken straight out of DXC, complains in the first episode that her mother is too poor to pay taxes. You can tell that she doesn't look that poor. To make things even worse, in the second episode, Tera is able to offer bread to Annette and Edouard: the French Revolution started, among other reasons, because even bread got ridiculously expensive for common people! So which is it? Is Maria one of the common people, or a well-off young woman who really has no business leading the revolution?

And this... is tied to other problems.

The French Revolution is nothing more than a shallow backdrop for the main plot being the Vampire Messiah being hyped up as the greatest evil to ever evil. You can tell the writers did not care when they cast Vaublanc, a real person who fought against slavery, as a vampire slaveowner. I think. I think you shouldn't do that.

The point is, it becomes increasingly jarring when you see that the main protagonists, the ones who spout the most generic "liberty, equality, fraternity"... are not even French. Maria has Russian origins, and as I've shown she seems to be doing well. Richter is a Romanian who grew up in the US. Annette, who gets to make a super epic speech about freedom, is a runaway from Saint-Domingue. Edouard is a rich opera singer, also from Saint-Domingue.

Oh, Annette.

You know, I want to say something. I'd have much more patience for her abrasive, ungrateful, condescending behavior, I'd justify it as a result of her trauma, if it weren't for how mean-spirited she is and for how no one seems to even react to her.

bruh.

You did that, huh. Richter has been nothing but kind and supportive to you, relating to the loss of your friend and of your mother - this isn't a Trevor situation where you can fall for what the story tells you and believe he's actually rude, no, Richter is on-screen a very nice guy! And you say that? To his face? After he revealed to you that the Belmonts used to do magic but he can't because he lost his mom? Something you should know how devastating it feels? And you THROW THAT TO HIS FACE??

Richter is the one who gasps, by the way. Maria and Tera over there? Nah they're just eating popcorn as this stranger is deliberately hitting Richter where it hurts the most. Thanks girls.

Oh but she's not done!

I know what this is. Look at her, the Stronk former slave who suffered Hardships which inherently makes her more Mature and World Wise, looking down on the two white French people who obviously had it so easy in their lives.

Hey, Ms. Adult. Who's the one who lost control of her powers, leading to Edouard becoming a Night Creature? Richter is too nice to throw that in your face. I'm not :)

Hey, Ms. I Suffered More Than You. Who's the one who only managed to save herself from the plantation only due to magical god-inherited powers? Which is also incredibly insensitive to the real-life slaves who managed to escape with nothing more but human skills and intellect?

Hey, Ms. I'm More Mature Than You Whiteys. Who's the one who needed the help of a rich half-white man to be protected? Not that you even know the concept of being grateful.

Uh, and Tera? You mind chiming in? You mind defending your daughter and your adopted son from this stranger who keeps being rude and disrespectful? No? Okay. She just suggests how to save Edouard, but lets Annette's words slide. You and Lisa can compete for the title of Mom of the Year.

Oh, but this is not a sexism or racism issue. This is literally the same thing as Alucard in S2 being the biggest hypercunt to Trevor, making fun of his traumatic childhood, cruelly mocking his family and his legacy, and treating him like he's nothing more than a failure of a drunkard when the dude has been nothing but a help in fights and gave them access to the vast Belmont Hold... and Sypha always rushed in Alucard's defense because boohoo his depression is an icy well of sadness, he Suffered More Than You!

This is just the writers shitting on the Belmonts, and I am sick of it. Trevor did not deserve this, and Richter doesn't deserve this.

Anyway, characters. I have little to say. Richter is the best one, being reasonably cocky as you would expect from him; not to an insufferable degree, just yeah he comes off as an immature young man who needs to grow up. I like him. Maria is a parody of teens on Twitter talking about seizing the means of production, and I kind of forget she's there. Annette, yeah :) Edouard got retroactively characterized after his death, but I still don't know how to describe his personality beyond "helpful" and "source of infodumps". Tera exists. The abbot is profoundly stupid for allying himself with vampires for the sake of crushing the "Godless" Revolution (there's an N!Hector joke to make here but it's not worth it). Drolta is basically Isaac who slapped a pair of tits on himself and just like that she's a beloved slay queen icon. Templar Agent Stone Mizrak is mere bara bait so far. Olrox... well, so far he's mildly intriguing for being outside of the hero/villain dichotomy. Kind of a tryhard, though, and I still don't know why he didn't just kill Richter.

My last complaint is that it's really boring how they hype up Sun Thundercat as this harbinger of DEATH AND SUFFERING AND PAIN AND TERROR way before we even see her. It reminds me of Alucard exposing how a world without humans would be: just this empty, edgy narration with nothing to show for it. But at least by then we had a taste of Dracula's anger and powers, so this is even worse. You need to try harder to build up an antagonist.

and finally, have the best moment in the whole franchise

BUT, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[acetheabnormal]

things for the flippin family au--

does the show cover flippa being trans at anypoint?

ive been thinking of purgatory as like. one of those pta "family day!!!!" things w/ a ton of lil mini competitions and i'd like to know what your idea for it is

tilin ?? tilin death ?? question marks ??

with a ton of the romance arcs between other characters, do we see those at all?? like is roier shown just like kissing cellbit in the background one day?

Very good questions I'll answer to the best of my ability and with probably more detail than required!

1. Since the sitcom theoretically came out in the 80s, express usage of certain words was more limited to ensure the show's safety on television (but for the sake of the characters, the sitcom was produced by a queer-friendly studio that aired to a specific broadcast and was funded by the community!) So while there may not be an episode focused entirely on her coming out (yet, I haven't any ideas) she does appear pre-transition in her adoption episode and she comes out to them once she's comfortable!

2. I like that idea for Purgatory a lot actually, and one of my friends actually made an episode revolving around all the parents competing in a school event (I drew a titlecard for it as well but it doesn't take any inspiration from Purgatory)!

3. If I remember correctly from the frightening amount of conversations about all the little moments in QSMP that happen, Tilín doesn't actually die but something drastic does happen that has Charlie rethinking things. It's not concrete yet but the idea is that either Tilín is made to move away, or Charlie finally secures a stable job and has to move the whole family away which makes Flippa hate him for taking her away from her best friend. It's not set in stone, though.

4. The romance arcs that are technically canon in QSMP are present in the show, and there is an episode I wrote that has the Cellbit and Roier wedding as a secondary setting that Charlie messes up in a much funnier, more lighthearted way. But you would see pairing picking up their kids from school, or shopping, or talking in background public settings or have episodes dedicated to them specifically!

[thiinka]

Ok, I have seen TONS of posts about Josh Hutcherson complaining or observing that, “he didn’t do barely anything after Hunger Games! I wanted to see him in more stuff!” And with the new trailer for it, some want more Hutcherson content before the FNAF movie.

Well. I have a Hulu original (looks safe from the evil mouse merge)/yarr harr high seas (looks like at least 1337x has all 3 seasons) show recommendation for you. It’s taken up welcome space in my brain, for many good and funny reasons. I’m not a Hulu or executive producer Seth Rogan shill, this show is just surprisingly damn good.

Future Man, starring and produced by Josh Hutcherson.

Josh Hutcherson is Josh… Futturman, a janitor at a local biotech research lab which is doing work on curing all illnesses. He finishes a particular video game in his spare time, which turns out to be a scenario sent from the future to the past as a way to find someone to save humanity’s future. Future freedom fighters Tiger and Wolf, the other two main characters, time travel into his bedroom, and the story kicks off. Turns out the biotech research lab isn’t doing the good work it says it is.

Yes, there is time travel. Multiple forms of time travel are used in intelligent ways to the service of the story and the characters, not just to “be smarter than you.” Alternate timelines, doomed timeline individuals, altered main timelines, facilitated by multiple kinds of time travel devices with different capabilities. You’ve seen time cops done before, well here they are again but better and funnier. You’ve seen a time loop done before, well here it is again but with more horrifying implications.

Yes, the characters do start off fairly one-dimensional. You have a weak gamer, a strong woman, and a tough man. Then both the main characters and recurring side characters have arcs and development that make sense with their foundations and personalities, both individually and as a group. It’s consistent, they use skills they picked up in a time travel stint, plot lines that affected them come back. Same thing with the world setting. I really don't want to spoil it, it's so damn fun to see these guys pick up skills and traits.

Yes, the humor is ALSO very crude and sometimes fluid-based. A couple of the writers also worked on Sausage Party. I don’t have a lot of points here: if you’re ok with sex and nudity humor erring on the (well done!) practical effects gross-wise, go for it. If you’re not, I hope you can forgive me but this show might not be for you. However, some of these physical jokes come back for the sake of the story and character development, sometimes in surprising ways. For example, something that happens early season 1 comes back in mid season 2 to connect characters, and it's an incredibly touching payoff for how crude the setup was.

For having such crude humor, with such a tropey beginning to the story, with such basic characters, I was shocked by myself a couple episodes in: I was really invested in what these guys would do next and what would happen next. Wacky stuff happens every episode that still manages to logically follow what happened before. I know, it's the minimum for a fun show, but it was also emotionally engaging. I wanted to see these jackasses win and understand and work with each other! With the least amount of damage to themselves and the world! Their motivations change and shift and become more personal and come into conflict with the goals of others and their group! Holy shit, these are well written dynamic people who remember (or don't ;) ) things that happened to them!

Did I mention there are three complete seasons, each with its own different but logically connected arc, that it’s a finished story, and it was not cancelled midway through? Give it a shot!

[jbuffyangel]

A Leap of Faith: Arrow 1x14 Review (The Odyssey)

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!! FELICITY KNOWS!!! HALLELUJAH!

Hello to those who are reading this review right now.  I appreciate your dedication and patience as I have FINALLY resumed writing. HUGS!! I hope I remember how to do this. DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!

Let’s dig in…

Olicity

This is a heavy flashback episode, so much so they had to render Oliver unconscious so Stephen didn’t have to pull double duty in the past and the present. The writers at least came up with a better idea than Joss Whedon did when Sarah Michelle Gellar hosted Saturday Night Live. He turned Buffy into a rat (which now that we know his disgusting and abusive behavior on set towards women this really tracks, but I digress). 

Arrow went a simpler route. Moira shoots Oliver.

Can we just talk about Moira shooting Oliver for a sec? Cool? Cool. So, Diggle has bugged Moira because he added 1 + 1 = THE BITCH IS SHADEY and decided to deal with the math, which is something Oliver likes to avoid, but the recording is damning enough to warrant a visit from the Hood. Oliver crashes through the window, takes out some of the office dudes and aims an arrow on his mama.

Moira holds up a picture of Oliver and Thea, begs the Hood not to kill her because she’s a mother and Oliver lessens the tension on the bow. AS IF YOU’RE GOING TO SHOOT HER OLIVER PLEASE. LIKE YOU MOMENTARILY FORGOT THIS WAS YOUR MOTHER AND THE PHOTO REMINDED YOU??!!! Come on dude.

Side note: I’d like to point out that Moira literally uses Oliver and Thea’s photo as a shield against the Hood, which is what she always does. She uses her motherhood and children as shield to justify her bad behavior. Moira is not the only person to give birth on this planet, Oliver. It’s not a free pass to murder people.

Oliver is bleeding out and the person he asks for help is not Diggle (even though he’s a phone call away), L*urel (the writers would prefer not to further integrate her into the plot in a meaningful way) or Tommy (they have to save that golden nugget for another time). No, the person Oliver goes to help is FELICITY MEGHAN SMOAK.

Source: @oliverxfelicity

The scene where Felicity finds out Oliver is the Hood is iconic primarily because she has the best reaction of all the characters in the show. Emily Bett Rickards plays the scene with pitch perfect comedic timing, vindication and genuine compassion. It marks Felicity’s full integration into the show. There is no going back now.

The rewatch is funnier now than it was live because Emily has recounted numerous times that Stephen didn’t fit into the back of Felicity’s Mini Cooper. I have the visual of Stephen’s bottom half hanging out of the side door the scene plays out. 

Felicity brings Oliver to the Foundry as instructed and this is no small thing. Oliver has been shot enough times to know he was losing a lot of blood and would be unconscious soon. He doesn’t make any kind of contact with Diggle to let him know what happened. Oliver’s life is truly in Felicity’s hands. She could bring him to the hospital, but they both know that would result in revealing The Hood’s true identity. Oliver has no guarantees Felicity won’t immediately go to the police either, and yet there he is in the back of the Mini Cooper.

Source: @westallenolicitygifs

TRUST is a central theme in Olicity’s relationship. It’s examined from almost every possible angle over the course of 8 seasons, but these early episodes are the building blocks. You don’t get to 1x14 without 1x12. Felicity took the first step. She confronted Oliver about his lies, admits she had no real reason to trust him, and yet there she is in the restaurant handing over Moira’s copy of The List. Felicity takes a leap of faith and so Oliver does the same.

This revelation has been steadily building from the moment Oliver walked into Felicity’s office and presented the bullet ridden computer. 

Source: @swifterly

Arrow has many missteps, particularly when they are not invested in a character, but when the writers are invested they can produce really profound character arcs. They slowly and rather painstakingly build Felicity’s character and her relationship with Oliver, step by step, moment by moment. It doesn’t feel rushed when Felicity discovers Oliver’s identity, but it doesn’t feel overdue either.  

It’s Felicity herself who asks the most fundamental question in “The Odyssey” and perhaps in the show.

Source: https://gfycat.com/discover/1x14-gifs

I think one of the more remarkable aspects to Arrow is that the writers often anticipate the audience’s questions and literally answer them in the show. More often than not, Felicity is the voice of the audience. It’s difficult to explain how dismissive some viewers were of Felicity now that we know how the story played out, but Olicity shippers really had it rough back in Season 1 and Season 2. 

It was LUDICROUS to even consider Felicity as a potential love interest for Oliver - not when you had the queen of comic canon L*urel L*ance right there. This was the Green Arrow’s origin story and there was no other possible ending other than Oliver ending up with the Bl*ck C*anary. 

Anyone who dared to question the presumed trajectory of the story was on the receiving end of a lot of ridicule and hate. Olicity shippers were idiotic. We were delusional. Felicity Smoak was comedic relief and the Girl Friday. THAT WAS ALL SHE WAS EVER GOING TO BE.

And yet… we hoped because of scenes like THIS. The writers were challenging their own narrative by asking the very question some of the audience was asking. WHY FELICITY? Why does Felicity find out the truth and not L*urel? Why does Oliver go to HER? If this was really about her ability with computers and becoming his Girl Friday then Diggle would’ve answered that way, but he doesn’t.

John’s answer contains a lot more depth.

“As hard as it is for him to admit, even Oliver needs help sometimes.”

Oliver NEEDS help. He cannot do this alone, even though that was his very intention in the beginning, but as the mission evolved so did Oliver. He went to Diggle first and now Felicity. Yes, they both have skills that are useful to the mission. Diggle is a trained solder. Felicity is a tech genius. (Oliver clearly had some computer skills in the pilot that the writers rapidly backed off of once they discovered the gem that is Emily Bett Rickards.) We can easily right this off as skills are the only qualifications that matter answer.

But Diggle didn’t join Oliver’s mission because he thought Oliver needed back up in the field. John recognized Oliver’s trauma because it was the same as his trauma. Diggle knows the hole Oliver is in because he was in the hole too. Diggle’s mission was always to save Oliver Queen. Whether or not Oliver is capable of acknowledging this is the help he truly needs from John (and he’s sooooooo not capable at this point in the story), it doesn’t change the truth.

The antis aren’t entirely wrong. Felicity Smoak was nothing. She was a throw away comic book name that Marc Guggenheim tossed into a little scene with an unknown guest star to give it some extra pizzazz. But that’s all it was ever supposed to be – one scene. What happened next was completely unexpected for the writers and the actors. Emily’s performance sparked something in Stephen’s and thus lighted the path the writers were struggling to find in Season 1. Felicity wasn’t supposed to matter, but that’s exactly why she does.

Oliver’s story is not about how many comic book characters Arrow can produce. It’s not about reproducing a comic canon story directly from the issue page onto a television screen. It’s not about a predetermined ending. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. It’s about a broken man finding his humanity again. Arrow is about saving a man’s soul.

If we are to truly believe Oliver is a changed man then he must see beyond what’s on the surface. He has to see value and worth in all people – particularly those who are perceived to be nothing.  This is an origin story. He’s not the Green Arrow yet, but for us to believe in his hero’s journey then Oliver Queen must see people’s humanity. The sum total of his mission is not crossing off a list of names.

Felicity Smoak is the first person who sparks something in Oliver when he returns home. This inconsequential human being, who is a means to an end to catch a bad guy, finds a way past Oliver’s cold and detached demeanor and makes him smile. We see Oliver’s humanity. We glimpse the warm, kind and deeply good person Oliver is. We see his light. Felicity makes Oliver feel something he cannot quite put into words, but he keeps coming back for more.

People are dismissive of Felicity the same way so many of the characters are dismissive of Oliver. One of the main reasons he’s able to keep his identity secret is because so many of his loved ones believe it’s ludicrous to ever think Oliver is a crime fighting vigilante. He’s too selfish and stupid for that. Nobody bothers to look past Oliver’s surface other than Diggle.

I mean… why not L*urel? The woman is a friggin lawyer and she has helped the Hood before. Doesn’t it make more sense at this point to bring her into the team? Shouldn’t Oliver rebuild his relationship with L*urel by allowing her to know the person he truly is? Their relationship fell apart because of lies and betrayal, so wouldn’t the fix be honesty and complete transparency? The answer to those questions are clearly yes, but Oliver has absolutely no intention of ever telling L*urel his true identity, so there’s a solid 75% of his life that she will never know about. What kind of relationship is that?

Oliver has told two virtual strangers his identity while keeping those he loves most in the dark. Why? I don’t think he trusts L*urel. He doesn’t trust she won’t turn him into daddy. His identity is safe if he’s in her good graces, but if L*urel decides she hates Oliver one week then it’s a trip to the slammer for him.

Before anyone jumps on the whole “Oliver is keeping his identity secret to protect L*urel” bandwagon, I’d like to point out that Diggle brings up this very point to Oliver after he is revived.  

I really don’t think Oliver is ambivalent about Felicity’s safety, quite the opposite is true. So, if it’s really that simple then why can’t Oliver protect L*urel? He literally chucks his number one reason for a secret identity right out the window.

Oliver doesn’t want to tell L*ruel because there’s too much pain, loss and guilt. There’s too much bad road between them. Oliver doesn’t have anything to atone for with Felicity and Diggle. The fact they didn’t know pre-island Ollie is a real friggin plus at this point. Oliver can just be who he is. It’s a clean slate.

Source: @westallenolicitygifs 

LOOK at how ambivalent this man is towards life. He just survived death AGAIN and he can barely summon any appreciation beyond “Cool.” But the very next scene is Oliver shaking Felicity’s hand and welcoming her to the team. 

Source: @westallenolicitygifs 

Did y’all fangirl over the handshake? These are the seasons where seasons where shoulders are Oliver and Felicity’s erogenous zones, so an actual handshake is practically second base.

Oliver extends the same invitation to Felicity that he offered to Diggle. She’s pretty much a member of Team Arrow at this point anyways. But like Diggle, Felicity has her own reasons for joining up with Oliver. Her goal is to save Walter simply because he was nice to her. Felicity is as loyal as they come.

Source: @andjustforthismoment

We can breathe a sigh of relief. The show is on the upswing because Felicity is finally officially on the team. From the moment she enters the Foundry, it feels like Felicity is coming home.  This is where she was always meant to be. Her bright magenta sweater (with matching lipstick naturally) is like a burst of colorful sunshine amongst all the grey, black and green. It’s been thirteen episodes of just Oliver and Diggle yapping while shirtless. Don’t get me wrong, I like the shirtless, but this show is in major need of a feminine injection. I wonder if she’ll decorate a little.

Source: @swifterly 

Felicity is the ONLY woman in Oliver’s life who knows who he truly is. This is no small matter. I disagree with Diggle. Oliver did have a choice. There were other people he could have called for help, but he chose Felicity. He doesn’t have to pretend with her anymore and I think that’s in large part why he tells her. Oliver lies so convincingly with everyone in his life, but not Felicity. He is terrible at lying to Felicity because he doesn’t want to lie to her. It’s just that simple. He cannot quantify what he feels at this point, but it is Felicity who reminds Oliver what it means to be human.

And if you’re truly paying attention to the show the writers tell us why Felicity from the very beginning. We weren’t delusional. We were right.

Source: @yet-i-remain-quiet

Felicity and Diggle

Stephen Amell is pulling full time duty in the flashbacks, which allows for a long overdue quality Diggle and Felicity scene. These are always so wonderful and so rare.

Source: intrepidmare 

Diggle catches Felicity up on the previous thirteen episodes and confirms everything she already knew. The fact that she’s the only character to figure out who Oliver is BEFORE he reveals his identity speaks volumes about her. Felicity is brilliant of course, but you don’t need to be a genius to piece this puzzle together.  I appreciate the writers don’t treat her like an idiot for the sake of keeping an identity secret from someone who clearly should’ve figured it out by now (*cough*Laurel*cough*)

Not that I’m taking anything away from Diggle, but he was a hell of a lot more shocked when Oliver revealed he was the Hood. I think Diggle knew there was a lot more to Oliver Queen than he was letting on and he was up to some shifty behavior, but I don’t think Diggle believed that meant he was murdering criminals with a bow and arrow on a nightly basis.

As they wait for Oliver to recover, Felicity decides to pass the time by asking John how he feels about all the murder. It’s one of the few times we hear about Diggle’s experience in Afghanistan and we get a clearer understanding on where John’s moral compass is pointing lately. 

He tells Felicity about the time he killed a young boy in order to protect a warlord in Afghanistan. There’s nothing more righteous than fighting for your country and yet Diggle had to do terrible things. He wanted to be an honorable solider, but came home feeling like he lost his honor. He couldn’t see what good he truly accomplished.

Diggle: I killed this kid to protect this human piece of garbage and I thought am I still good? Am I still a good man? Doing this with Oliver, doing what we do, I feel good again for the first time in a long time.

It is seriously one of David Ramsey’s most underrated performances.

John’s explanation is simple. Yes, Oliver kills but they are bad people. John isn’t thrilled about the murder, but it’s not like he enjoyed killing while in Afghanistan and he knows Oliver doesn’t enjoy it either. Loss of life is the cost of war, and sometimes a necessary evil, but at least in this war John feels like he’s actually accomplishing something. Diggle is finding his honor again. If he has to break the law to win the war then it’s a cost Diggle is willing to pay.

Source: @swifterly

This scene is key to understanding why Felicity joins the team. Yes, she wants to save Walter, but it means a certain level of acceptance with the way Oliver does business. We’re going to flesh out Felicity’s attitude about Oliver’s killing a lot more in the upcoming episodes, but he may need to take some lives of VERY EVIL PEOPLE in order to save Walter’s life. Felicity is not stupid. She knows this.

One of my annoyances in later seasons is whenever Oliver does something bad to Felicity it can be treated like the worst thing he’s ever done. Whereas I remain firmly entrenched in torture and murder being the worst things Oliver has ever done. Homegirl not only joined up with Oliver while he was dropping bodies left and right, she also fell in love with him while he was doing it. 

Felicity Smoak is not pure as the driven snow. Her moral compass skews slightly left of dead center, no different than Oliver and Diggle. But we have to ask the same question Diggle asks himself every day – what is good? Oliver operates in a world of grey and watching Felicity navigate it with him is what gives their dynamic the necessary push and pull.

Flashbacks

Shockingly, everything I talked about previously is not the main focus of the episode. The Flashbacks are the main focus, but my investment in them was minimal when I watched Season 1 live and they’ve plummeted further upon my rewatch.

Island Ollie is such a pain in the ass. Honestly, I cannot believe Slade and Yao Fei put up with his ass for so long. Could you blame them if they just bitched slapped the hell out of Oliver and left him for dead? No. They deserve medals. Oliver is so whiney & entitled. How did any woman find this man attractive enough to sleep with him? The hair alone is ... 

WOMEN OF STARLING CITY I HAVE QUESTIONS.

Slade and Oliver are going to commandeer a plane and fly off the island. Oliver would also like to save Yao Fei, but Slade is not convinced it is worth the effort. Oliver’s refusal to abandon Yao Fei gives us a glimpse of the hero he will become, so I am willing to give credit where credit is due. But Ollie is right back to his old tricks when he tries to buy off Billy Wintergreen to save his own life.  

Dear Ollie,

These people are psychopaths. You are in Purgatory. You are paying for your sins. You will not be able to buy your way out of it.

Love,

Me

Slade’s training is not a total loss. Well, that’s not true. Oliver screws up virtually every job Slade gives him, but he is able to disarm a bad guy so that’s progress at least. Slade kills his ex BFF Billy Wintergreen too so Team Island is also on an upswing.

I wondered how much I was going to have to write about The Odyssey since the name of the episode is “The Odyssey” but leave it to Arrow to be subtle about it. It’s the book Fyers is reading on the island and the only book Oliver read in college, so he knows the secret challenge code when the pilot tries to verify their identity.

For those who never had an English literature class, The Odyssey is a Greek poem written by Homer about Odysseus’ 10 year struggle to return home after the Trojan War. The challenge code Oliver repeats from the poem flat out explains what Arrow is about. 

“Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man.”

Homer is acknowledging that humanity is weak by our very nature, especially when compared to the gods. We are powerless against the pain the gods inflict upon humanity, but more often than not we are the makers our own suffering. Yet, it is this very weakness which makes our victories so sweet. The gods‘ immortality & power ultimately renders their lives meaningless because they have nothing to lose.

Odysseus doesn’t have any magical powers. He survives by his cunning & will, which makes his journey home EARNED. Odysseus appreciates life and those he loves because he suffered. This appreciation for life is something the gods can never have.

“The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.” — Homer, The Iliad

Oliver = Odysseus. Here endeth the lesson.

Stray Thoughts

Oliver making Mama Queen off limits is really one of his stupider moves and sets up a lot of the disastrous things coming up.

I’m really trying not to read into Diggle’s “hickey gone wrong” comment in the episode Felicity officially joins the team, but alas I am failing. I will find my Olicity sexual content wherever possible.

Felicity ordered the sample of Oliver’s blood destroyed. Damn she’s good. And we get this adorable gif.

The bathroom is upstairs in the club? That seems inconvenient.

Yao Fei has a daughter. A daughter with the same tattoo Oliver has on his shoulder. The plot thickens.

It’s really amazing Diggle didn’t shoot Felicity by accident.

Me: UGH. They never include L*urel in the flashbacks. Also Me: UGH. L*urel is in the flashbacks. KEEP IT.

“Do you think you can sleep with your girlfriend’s sister and make it right?” Slade wins all the awards this episode honestly. Finally someone said it.

***No more commentary from the child. She is a teenager and is way too busy to watch a show with her old mom. She will always be an Olicity shipper though.

Listen to the @watchover-podcast reaction to 1x14!!! 

Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me.

If you’d like to support the blog, please buy me a cup of tea!

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I was listening to some real people comedians (as in, local comedians whom I have met in real life, and can therefore not be considered to have in any way “made it” in comedy, because if they had then they would not be hanging out around me) talk the other day, and they were discussing the concept of “laughs per minute”, and whether it’s a bullshit way to judge comedy. Which I think it usually is, depending on the context. In a really short club set, it probably does matter a lot because you don’t have time to do more than that. In a Stewart Lee Edinburgh hour, he can go 35 minutes setting something up and everyone will just trust that the punchline at the end will be worth it.

Anyway, it got me thinking about the concept, and how I judge comedy in lots of different ways, and what has made me laugh the most – both in terms of most laughs per minute and hardest laughs overall – is not exactly the same as my favourite comedy shows ever. But anything that manages any kind of notable laughs per minute rating is impressive, because lots of shows I really like never clear that bar. If we define a “laugh” as something outwardly expressed and audible, more than just a smile and a nose exhale, then it doesn’t actually happen all that often. I’ll consider a show very successful if it gets me to do that just a few times across an hour.

So I’ve tried to think of what comedy shows have successfully gotten more than that, have made me properly laugh out loud really consistently for their entire runtime (whether that’s an hour or 15 minutes, though obviously it’s more impressive if they can sustain it for longer). If I’m thinking about this across my whole life, I have to take into account the fact that everything’s funnier when you’re a kid, you haven’t already seen every obvious joke so nothing is hack or overdone. I remember the shows I was into as a kid (ages 7 to 14 or so, I think) as the funniest things in the entire world, I used to watch every episode over and over and over. The main ones on rotation being Flying Circus, Blackadder, Fawlty Towers, Mr. Bean, Ripping Yarns, Yes Minister, M*A*S*H, and Cheers.

Now, at 33, I can understand why it’s annoying to have the parrot sketch memorized – because it’s been quoted so often than at this point repeating it is almost like, for example, trying to sell someone something that's long dead and nailed to a perch. At nine, I could recite every word in it, over and over for hours, and it never stopped being funny. As an adult, I’m still pretty sure Blackadder was a work of genius, but I don’t think I’ll ever again find anything as funny as I found Hugh Laurie’s acting power stance when I was eleven years old. I used to wake up at 5:30 AM to watch a few episodes of whatever show I was re-watching at the moment (my list of shows on rotation was heavily determined by what was in my parents’ DVD boxset collection), until I could mouth along to all the lines but they never got less funny.

I did re-watch every episode of all those British shows in 2020 (so everything but M*A*S*H and Cheers, though I’ve rewatched a few episodes of both those recently as well) to see how they held up, and while they didn’t make me cry with laughter the way I did as a kid, I still thought almost all of them were very good. And by “almost all of them”, I mean… look, I think Mr. Bean is just meant to be a kids’ show. I loved it when I first watched it, because that shit’s hilarious when you’re a kid. As an adult, it looked like a kid’s show with a few genuinely funny moments. The turkey on the head is still funny. Playing with the toy Daleks in the Christmas store is still funny. My family still watches the Christmas special every year on that holiday. The rest of it we can probably leave behind.

Anyway, the point is that you can’t count that because I was a kid. Then I think of my favourite comedy shows that I got into as a teenager. Major ones to come to mind are The Thick of It, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, Community, Arrested Development, Flight of the Conchords, Freaks and Geeks. My favourite comedy shows of my twenties: Bojack Horseman, Veep, Archer, Brooklyn Nine Nine, The Good Place, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Portlandia, Broad City, Party Down, Bob’s Burgers. I supposed I should add a mention of my mixed and up-and-down longterm relationship with South Park.

I remember a lot of things I’ve loved about those shows besides pure laughs per minute – the characters, the ideas, the atmosphere. I’d go back to certain shows over and over just because I liked the way it made me feel to spend time in the world they created. But for pure, really hard, out-loud laughs? Looking at that list, I think the ones to get the most of those out of me were The Thick of It, Veep, 30 Rock, Arrested Development, and maybe when they were at their best, Portlandia, Archer, and Community could do it. But not all the time. There isn’t really that long a list of comedies that have consistently made me laugh really hard once I wasn’t a kid anymore.

Anyway, that isn’t actually what I was thinking about that made me decide to write this post. The conversation I heard from local comedians, about laughs per minute, made me think of what has done that to me in my thirties, the few years since COVID occurred and I decided to not do anything except British comedy. I have seen and heard and read so much comedy in the last few years, and I have really really loved quite a lot of it. So I was surprised when I realized that I think, if you judge it entirely by out-loud laughs per minute, there aren’t a huge number that come to mind as consistently providing a high rate of those.

In terms of full-length stand-up hours, I think there might still be no one who’s gotten more proper laughs per minute out of me than Rhod Gilbert. All four of his DVD shows are incredible – I think I’d say the first one (The Award Winning Mince Pie) is my favourite, though I might just have a soft spot for the first one I saw, when I first had my eyes opened to that captivating style.

I hesitate a little to comment on his health from the perspective of how much I love his comedy specials, because I don’t want to make something as serious as a person’s life or death about whether I’ll get to hear more comedy specials (I feel the same way about Mark Steel’s current situation – I did make a post a while ago in which I said he has to recover for the sake of Radio Four, but obviously, he has to recover for the sake of himself and his family, even his annoying son, I wish them all the best and it’s not about the comedy fans). But for everyone’s sake, mainly his, God am I ever glad he’s back and by all accounts okay. He’s said he was diagnosed with cancer the day after he recorded his latest special, and you can really tell in that video that he was being slowed down and struggled to match his usual frantic energy levels, but it was still brilliant.

Anyway, I think Rhod Gilbert still wins at laughs per minute from me in stand-up. Proper laughter. Laughing so hard I can’t breathe and have to pause the video so I don’t miss the next bit and end up with tears in my eyes and my throat and stomach hurt. I think Rhod Gilbert has done that to me the most. I’ve tried to think of whose stand-up material might do that to me the second most, and I’m slightly annoyed that I think the main two names that come to mind are Sam Campbell and Nish Kumar. Slightly annoyed because when I look at those two names alongside Rhod Gilbert… okay, is it possible that I might just like being shouted at?

I’m now trying to think of a non-shouty comic who’s done that to me. Kitson, obviously. I think my favourite stand-up hour ever is Daniel Kitson’s Where Once Was Wonder, which is fucking incredible for its ability to get every single aspect right. Brilliant on an emotional level, hitting multiple themes and topics that all have deep emotional resonance and saying original and significant things about them. Brilliant on an intellectual level – every time I listen to it I marvel at the number of layers in its structure, how its conceit of being full of contradictions is embedded in almost every line, how I catch more each time and he points lots of them out but throws even more away. And crucially, brilliant on a humour level. It is consistently, all the way through, hilarious. He probably never goes ten minutes without at least one bit that makes my whole body seize up from laughter until I can’t breathe right.

But honestly, most of the Kitson things that have gotten the highest laugh per minute out of me were not the intricately written shows. I wince at how much he would hate this, but probably, at laughs per minute from me, some of his 2007-2008 Graveyard Triple R radio shows beat some of his best proper stand-up shows. Same with some of his WIP/pre-WIP just messing around shows. There’s some audio footage of a 2007 Late ‘n’ Live night where Daniel Kitson and Andy Zaltzman do an incredibly stupid sketch that has put tears of laughter in my eyes. If you want to know what level of humour we're talking about, that sketch contains the line "That was three ladies booing my dick because it chose the wrong member of We Are Klang to fuck" (which it did, by the way, by which I mean Andy Zaltzman chose wrong while portraying the role of Daniel Kitson's penis, but not for the reasons that this Greg Davies-fancying website would expect, if you'd heard the Triple R shows with Steve Hall you'd understand. He then went on to choose the wrong member of Pappy's Fun Club, what does Andy Zaltzman know about the most attractive members of the most successful British fringe comedy sketch groups of 2007?). It's definitely not better than properly written Kitson shows, or Zaltzman shows, for that matter. But it might have made me laugh out loud more times.

I think It’s the Fireworks Talking is one of the best pieces of performance ever written, but recordings I’ve heard of that have probably made me laugh fewer times than a recording I’ve heard from the Melbourne Festival of when he finished performing It’s the Fireworks Talking and then went into a radio studio to talk shit with David and Claudia O’Doherty all night. Or than the Zaltzman/Kitson penis sketch, put together with everything else from that Late 'n' Live recording.

I know I’m not saying anything new here; I’m hardly the first person to point out that Daniel Kitson is absolutely fucking hilarious when he’s messing around with no script. Lots of people have pointed it out before me, and he has clearly heard those people point it out, as he’s often mentioned that it annoys him, and understandably so. What’s the point of working so hard on proper shows if people just like your unplanned stuff better?

But I don’t think I actually like that stuff better. I don’t think his radio shows are better than It’s the Fireworks Talking (I sort of don’t think penicillin is better than It’s the Fireworks Talking). And this is where I come back to the fact that laughs per minute are not the best way to judge a show (I’d like to clarify at this point that It’s the Fireworks Talking did have quite a high laughs per minute rate out of me, just not as high as Kitson and some O’Doherties getting weirdly competitive about indie music at 3 AM).

Anyway. I think Sam Campbell recently became the first person to make me laugh so hard that I had tears in my eyes, from hearing something that was performed in 2023. He did that with some of his recent stand-up. On Taskmaster he has, more than once, made me laugh loud enough to cause a cat to run across the room (I’m currently catsitting and one of the cats gets easily spooked by sudden noise, so whether I make her jump is a good gauge of whether something’s made me laugh out loud). But only his stand-up has actually made me cry.

I’ve been lucky enough to get to hear quite a bit of recent stand-up in the last couple of months. I’ve really liked a lot of it, but I’m now trying to think of how much of it has actually made me consistently laugh out loud, which is several steps beyond just being funny. I think the only people who’ve done that are Sam Campbell, Olga Koch, Nish Kumar, Greg Larsen, Sarah Keyworth, and Fern Brady. Which actually isn’t that short a list, but it’s a shorter list than the list of comedians I’ve enjoyed at all in the last couple of months.

Anyway, I didn’t start writing this post because of stand-up. I started writing this post because of a conversation I heard some comedians have the other day, but I started thinking of that conversation, and decided I wanted to write a post about that conversation, because I was re-watching some No More Jockeys today. And fucking hell, I have to say, this is supporting the theory that laughs per minute can come so much from unscripted shows that it could justifiably make comedians despair as they wonder what the point is of honing their craft. I’ve listened to a bunch of Tim Key’s properly written stuff in the last few days (went on a bit of a binge of his radio show and some of his old stand-up), absolutely loved it, it’s intelligent and funny and very well written stuff, but it still didn’t make me laugh out loud quite as hard as No More Jockeys does. Almost nothing makes me laugh out loud quite as hard as No More Jockeys does.

I tried to think of some non-stand-up thing that makes me laugh as hard/loud/often as No More Jockeys. The Bugle has managed it, at its best. I've only heard a few episodes of Pappy's Fun Club, but that's done it at times. Catsdown at its best has accomplished it.

The main thing I can think of that's done it really consistently is Taskmaster, but even that probably loses to NMJ at laughs per minute. It’s up there, though. Beats a lot of scripted sitcoms at it, including some really good scripted sitcoms. So from Taskmaster and No More Jockeys, you get the laughs, and the fun of getting emotionally invested in following a competitive game. Why are people still bothering to craft well written sitcom worlds?

This post has been massively disjointed, I think I've hit about six different topics since I've started, somehow including who's the most attractive member of Pappy's Fun Club. I finally have a weekend to myself and have decided I feel like writing things again, and it's started with this. I don't think there was any point to it. All I was really trying to say is I can't believe how fucking funny No More Jockeys is.

Mark Watson desperately, pleadingly trying to argue with Alex Horne about whether Donald Duck has been to prison – I'm sorry but I don't think Rowan Atkinson has done anything funnier than that in his entire life. He's done lots of things that are better than that. But not that can make me laugh harder than that while I'm over the age of 30.

[sleepykittypaws]

New Year's Eve Favorites

New Year’s Eve rolls around just six days after Christmas, when many are still knee-deep in wrapping paper and ribbon. It’s easy to just roll New Year’s into the Christmas celebrations, doing little to mark the moment beyond watching the ball drop at midnight. But there are plenty of films centered around New Year’s that deserve their own holiday film recognition. 

Updated: December 31, 2023

My Favorites…

About Time (2013) - This Richard Curtis written/directed movie is one of my all-time favorite films, period. But it all starts with a life-changing New Year’s Eve party.

When Harry Met Sally (1989) - Often considered a bit of a stealth Christmas movie, this rom-com classic ends, unforgettably, on New Year’s Eve.

The Cutting Edge (1992) - It’s hard to call this movie about a former hockey star turned Olympic figure skater “good,” in any objective sense, but that doesn’t keep me from loving it wholeheartedly. Even if you haven’t seen it 50 or so times, like I have, I doubt anyone can forget that moment when sparks fly, literally, between Doug Dorsey and Kate Moseley at a New Year’s Eve party, when they twirl into each other’s arms with sparklers at the stroke of midnight (sigh). 

Brittany Runs a Marathon (2019) - Not specifically holiday-themed but Brittany makes a pretty perfect New Year’s watch. Funny, inspirational and all about self-improvement. Absolutely adore this one.

About a Boy (2002) - While it also features some sweet Christmas scenes, Hugh Grant and Rachel Weisz meet cute on New Year’s Eve.

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) - The movie that defined 1970s disaster movies remains good, cheese-tastic New Year’s fun. I remember the first time I saw this one as a kid, on cable, on New Year’s Eve. A group of New Year’s revelers trying to escape a cruise ship that flips over? Indelible.

Starstruck (2021, HBO Max) - Think of season one of this 6-episode British series, written and created by a Kiwi, as a three hour rom-com that begins on New Year’s Eve and ends the following Christmas. A delightful watch any time, but extra-special during the holiday season.

Peter’s Friends (1992) - This criminally under-rated British ensemble  comedy features a host of stars—Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton, Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh and Rita Rudner—gathering to celebrate the New Year at their college chum’s English estate. 

Something from Tiffany’s (2022, Prime Video) - This holiday romance centers around Christmas gifts from the famous jewelry being inadvertently swapped, but most of the movie takes place between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve when everything comes to a head.

Plane (2023) - If this New Year’s Eve-set action movie leaned in just a bit more to its New Year celebration, it could reach Die Hard-style holiday classic status. While the New Year’s element doesn’t factor much after the first 15 minutes, this is a well-made, well-acted and well-paced watch. Honestly, some of Gerard Butler’s best work which, yeah, isn’t the highest bar, but Plane is a super entertaining action-disaster pic that, forgive the pun, is a lot more grounded than expected.

Other People (2016) - This very well told story about losing a loved one to cancer is funnier than you’d think, given the subject matter, has an amazing cast, led by Jesse Plemons, Molly Shannon and Bradley Whitford, and starts off with a New Year’s Eve bash.

About Fate (2022) - This American remake of a Soviet-era New Year classic, 1976′s The Irony of Fate, available to legally watch on YouTube via Mosfilm, stars Emma Roberts and Thomas Mann as recent (sort of) dumpees who meet cute due to alcohol-induced architectural confusion, and end up attending a New Year’s Eve wedding together with chaotic results, with the whole story playing out from December 30th to January 1st.

Fruitvale Station (2013) - This gut-wrenching Ryan Coogler feature directorial debut should have won Michael B. Jordan an Oscar. Set entirely on New Year’s Eve, it’s the devastating true story of the last day of Oscar Grant’s life. 

Phineas and Ferb: Happy New Year (2012, Disney Channel) - This fun episode of the crazy kids’ series works as a stand-alone New Year’s special that’s better than most.

Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings: Two Doors Down (2019, Netflix) - Cheese-y, feel-good, queer holiday romance that ends with Dolly Parton singing Auld Lang Syne. What more could you want?

An Affair to Remember (1957) - This Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr classic is basically the third lead in Sleepless in Seattle, but it is a New Year’s classic in its own right, as Kerr and Grant’s characters vow to meet on the top of the Empire State building after an epic New Year’s Kiss.

Entrapment (1999) - There’s just something about thieves and New Year’s, I guess, as the final job in this Sean Connery-Catherine Zeta Jones film is set on Y2K. There’s also a good bit of bonus millenium Christmas content.

Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne (2021, Apple TV+) - A kid-friendly New Year's Eve watch the whole family can enjoy. Apple is doing a fantastic job of preserving the Peanuts legacy with their new holiday specials.

Holiday (1938) - Another Cary Grant classic that features a memorable New Year’s Eve. Even though the “holiday” of the title refers to a vacation, it’s on New Year’s Eve that sparks really begin to fly between Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Trouble is, she’s his fiancee’s sister.

After the Thin Man (1936) - This sequel to the runaway 1934 hit kicks off on New Year’s Eve, with James Stewart joining Myrna Loy and William Powell for more mystery solving slapstick antics.

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023, Prime Video) - Based on the book of the same name, this delightful rom-com’s President’s son-meets-Prince romance really gets going at a New Year’s Eve party, following fitful Thanksgiving-Christmas flirting via text.

In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007) - This independent dark-ish, rom-com can be a little hard to find, but it’s worth seeking out. Two lonely people looking for hope and love by New Year’s Eve.

Ghostbusters II (1989) - Definitely less than the original classic, this holiday-set sequel concludes with New Yorker’s saving the city via a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, with an assist from Lady Liberty.

Boogie Nights (1997) - Definitely not an uplifting New Year’s Eve watch, this Paul Thomas Anderson classic does feature outstanding performances and an unforgettable New Year’s Eve party appearance by William H Macy.

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976, ABC) - Not the only animated New Year’s special, but easily the most memorable, this Rankin-Bass classic has Rudolph teaming up with Baby New Year and Father Time to save the holiday.

More to Explore…

If my New Year’s picks don’t make your ball drop, there’s plenty more movies/specials set around welcoming the new year.

Happy New Year (2014) - This bouncy, Bollywood showstopper is available on Netflix.

New Year’s Eve (2011) - This farly-cynical Garry Marshall attempt to recreate the holiday anthology magic of Love, Actuallyshouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as that film, but this mess of a movie can still be fairly good fun when watched ironically with enough wine and the right friends.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986, CBS) - Nowhere near as iconic as the 1960s Peanuts specials, this is still a solid, kid-friendly New Year’s watch.

Pete the Cat: A Groovy New Year (2017, Amazon Prime) - Hep cat animated special based on the popular children’s book character.

200 Cigarettes (1999) - Set in the 1980s, this follows a group of young New Yorkers looking for a memorable New Year’s Eve.

Snowpiercer (2013) - The Chris Evans dystopian thriller where civilization is relegated to an always moving train, strictly divided by class, and New Year’s is celebrated every time they circumnavigate the globe.

Highball (1997) - This very early, extremely low budget Noah Baumbach movie takes place over a series of holiday parties that culminates with a New Year’s Eve bash. Is it good? Well, Baumbach petitioned to have his name removed from it, so…

Waiting to Exhale (1995) - This movie about a close-knit friend group and their complicated romantic lives, based on the book by Terry McMillan, is framed by New Year’s Eve celebrations.

Four Rooms (1995) - This overly ambitious anthology, featuring four stories each written and directed by a different high profile auteur, with only one connecting character, a hotel bellman, takes place entirely on New Year’s Eve.

Ocean’s Eleven (1960) - The Rat Pack original isn’t as fun as the George Clooney-Brad Pitt remakes, but it does set its heist on New Year’s Eve.

The Sword in the Stone (1963) - This Disney animated classic’s pivotal moment—the extraction of Excalibur—occurs at the New Year’s tournament, which Arthur attends as a lowly squire.

The Godfather Part II (1972) - Fredo Corleone is handing out New Year’s party kisses in this, the only sequel to ever win the best picture Oscar.

Midnighters (2017) - When a couple accidentally hit a man with their car on New Year’s Eve, they put him in the backseat and go home to avoid the consequences.

Radio Days (1987) - This Woody Allen (yeah, I know) movie ends with the cast welcoming 1944 on a wintry New York, New Year’s Eve.

Repeat Performance (1947) - A New Year’s Eve wish to repeat the year comes true, but fixing mistakes made proves more difficult than Joan Leslie imagined.

Sunset Boulevard (1950) - The iconic tale, later turned into a Broadway musical, hinges on a New Year’s Eve party. 

A Midnight Kiss (2018, Hallmark) - Carlos PenaVega helps Adelaide Kane plan a New Year’s bash. 

Royal New Year’s Eve (2017, Hallmark) - Designer Jessy Schram meets her Prince at a New Year’s ball. 

The Birthday Wish (2017, Hallmark) - This is another Jessy Schram-joint that starts at New Year’s and is one of the more original Hallmark movies of recent years.

A New Year’s Resolution (2021, Hallmark) - This long-delayed Aimee Teegarden and Michael Rad movie finally got an airdate in early 2021.

Midnight at the Magnolia (2020, Netflix) - Natalie Hall and Evan Williams are radio hosts who fake a romance for a New Year’s Eve live show.

A Year and Change (2015) - Bryan Greenberg topples off a roof at a New Year’s Eve party, leading him to change his life.

The Gold Rush (1925) - For those who like their New Year’s celebrations extra-classic, this iconic Charlie Chaplin outing features the Little Tramp all alone on New Year’s Eve.

Two Lovers (2008) - This little-known Joaquin Phoenix-Gwenyth Paltrow movie culminates on New Year’s Eve.

Strange Days (1995) - Kathryn Bigelow’s sci-fi/romance prominently features a plot pivotal New Year’s Eve party.

Hudsucker Proxy (1994) - Some have called this critically-panned Tim Robbins movie It’s a Wonderful Life for New Year’s Eve. It even features Charles Durning as an angel.

Poseidon (2006) - This overly serious remake was a box office flop, but it’s still a big, dumb New Year’s Eve disaster flick. Just be careful it’s extra-long run time doesn’t make you miss the ball drop.

Money Train (1995) - This heist film starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson (remember when those guys were leading men and action stars?) has these former cops robbing the NYC subway on New Year’s Eve.

Are We There Yet? (2005) - Ice Cube’s original road trip comedy takes place on New Year’s Eve.

Carol (2015) - It’s a New Year’s Eve party that lets these repressed ladies first turn their passion loose.

Phantom Thread (2017) - Not mostly about the holiday, but does feature one of the most visually stunning New Year’s Eve parties ever committed to film.

New Year’s Evil (1980) - It wouldn’t be a holiday without a bad slasher film taking place on it.

Sex and the City: The Movie (2008) - The ladies celebrate a very memorable New Year’s Eves in this movie, based on the HBO series.

A Frozen New Year’s Eve (2019) - Direct-to-VOD animated kids’ movie

Dr Who: The Movie (1996, BBC) - The Time Lord takes on the millennium in this made-for-TV movie.

New Year’s Day (1989) - This little known movie is David Duchovny’s first major role. He plays a man who moves to L.A. on New Year’s Eve, only to find his newly-rented apartment occupied by three women. 

A Long Way Down (2014) - Four strangers meet on a rooftop on New Year’s Eve, each contemplating jumping.

Endings, Beginnings (2020) - This Shailene Woodley-starring movie features a love triangle that begins at a fateful New Year’s Eve party.

Do It Yourself, Mr. Bean (1994, ITV) - Mr. Bean plans a New Year’s bash in this ITV special. 

A Month in Thailand (2012) - This Romanian film follows a man in the time between Christmas and New Year’s trying to decide if he should pursue the ex who broke his heart, or stick with his current adoring girlfriend.

The Shining (1980) - This bleak, wintery horror classic wouldn’t be the most uplifting way to celebrate New Year’s Eve, but its plot pivotal NYE party photo certainly makes it seasonally appropriate if you’re looking to scream in the New Year.

Age of Adaline (2015) - This very weird movie starring Harrison Ford and Blake Lively begins at a New Year’s Eve party, with the holiday holding other significance in the story.

New Year, New You (2018, Hulu) - New Year’s entry in the Blumhouse-produced horror, holiday anthology movie series.

What for New Year’s Eve? (2018, a.k.a. Cosa Fai a Capodanno?) - This Italian comedy-drama from writer-director Filippo Bologna recently became available in the U.S. and explores what happens when a group of friends decide to switch partners at a New Year’s Eve party.

Midnight Kiss (2019, Hulu) - more holiday-set horror from Blumhouse.

New Year’s Kiss (2019) - Made-for-TV rom-com starring Erin Karpluk and Robin Dunne.

Way Through Snow (2017) - Russian movie about an online couple meeting for the first time on New Year’s, available on Amazon Prime.

Break (2019) - Russian horror-thriller directed by Tigran Shakyan about group of friends who get stuck in a gondola during a New Year’s Eve power outage.

I Hate New Year’s (2020) - LGBTQ holiday rom-com about a singer who goes home for the holidays and (surprise!) finds unexpected romance, made by TelloFilms.com.

The Lost Husband (2020) - Gentle romantic, Texas-set drama that’s not full of holiday cheer, but does start on New Year’s Eve, if you’re looking for a low stakes way to ring in the New Year.

The Silver Skates (2021, Netflix) - This sweeping Russian romantic epic, a lavish costume drama filmed in St. Petersburg, is set around the holidays, namely New Year’s, and is Netflix’s first-ever Russian-language international original.

All My Friends Are Dead (2021, Netflix) - Polish horror-comedy set at a New Year’s Eve party that takes an unexpected turn.

Prime Time (2021, Netflix) - Polish-language hostage thriller set on New Year’s Eve 1999. 

Ask Me to Dance (2022) - Rom-com set between Christmas and New Year’s when a fortune teller promises two strangers they’ll meet their true love by midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Stuck with You (2022, Netflix) - French romance about strangers stuck in an elevator on their way to a New Year’s Eve party.

Terror Train 2 (2022, Tubi) - Tubi original slasher sequel set during a New Year’s Eve train ride.

Snow Falls (2023) - The New Year’s Eve horror movie about a group of friends trapped by snow in a remote cabin stars Hallmark regular Jonathan Bennett.

To Catch a Killer (2023) - Shailene Woodley plays a troubled cop trying to catch a New Year’s Eve killer.

New Year, New Us (2019) - A newlywed couple overcomes challenges in their marriage with New Year’s resolutions.

New Year, New Us 2: Love Goals (2023) - Sequel to New Year, New Us

Sealed with a List (2023) - Hallmark holiday romance about undone resolutions that concludes on New Year's Eve

Christmas ➜ New Year’s

And don’t forget to consider these movies that carry over from Christmas to New Year’s, giving us a solid dose of both holidays.

Rent (2005)

Bridget Jones’s Diary* (2001) 

Last Holiday** (2006)

Holiday Inn (1942)

The Holiday*** (2006)

Sleepless In Seattle (1993)

Trading Places (1983)

While You Were Sleeping (1995)

Bachelor Mother (1939)

Bundle of Joy (1956, a remake of Bachelor Mother)

The Apartment (1960)

A Christmas Prince (2017, Netflix)

Holidate***** (2020, Netflix)

Starstruck***** (2021, HBO Max)

About Fate (2022)

Ask Me to Dance (2022)

Something from Tiffany’s (2022, Prime Video)

*If I hadn’t already dubbed Bridget my all-time favorite stealth Christmas movie, I’d have put it on my New Year’s list for sure, probably at No. 1, since Jones’s New Year’s resolutions bookend the film, which actually starts on New Year’s Day (when she meets Darcy at her mom’s annual turkey curry buffet). Really, it’s a pretty perfect New Year’s watch and an annual in between Christmas and New Year’s must-view in our house.

**As with Bridget, Last Holiday would be at or near the top of my New Year’s favorites, if I hadn’t already dubbed it one of my favorite Christmas films. But, while it takes place over the entire Christmas season, much more happens on New Year’s in this Queen Latifah classic, than Christmas, and it’s a great way to spend any New Year’s Eve.

***And the same goes for The Holiday, which is mostly Christmas, but culminates on New Year’s Eve, the only part of the film where all four leads share a scene.

****Yet another that would be at or near the top of my New Year’s list, if it weren’t already on my Top 25 Stealth Christmas Movies list, as the New Year’s Eve in Holidate was among its best, and most memorable, moments. 

*****Starstruck takes the opposite tack of the rest of this list, starting on New Year’s Eve and ending at Christmas.

TV Series Standouts

While Thanksgiving and Christmas-themed episodes of TV series abound, the timing of New Year’s, coming when most shows are on hiatus, means there are only a few truly iconic television episodes devoted to this holiday. A handful worth noting…

Mum: December (2016, BBC, series 1)

Absolutely Fabulous: Happy New Year (1995, BBC, series 3)

Dr. Who: Resolution (2019, BBC)

On My Block: Chapter Eleven (2019, Netflix)

My So-Called Life: Resolutions (1995, ABC, season 1)

The X-Files: Millennium (1999, FOX, season 7)

Futurama: Space Pilot 3000 (1999, FOX, pilot) - Like Matt Groening’s Christmas-themed Simpson’s pilot, this series intro could also be seen as a New Year’s Eve holiday special.)

That ‘70s Show: Finale (2006, FOX, season 8) -Though it aired in May, this series ender was set on New Year’s Eve 1979

Fraiser: RDWRER (2000, NBC, season 7)

30 Rock: Klaus and Greta (2010, NBC, season 4)

Friends: The One with the Monkey (1994, NBC, season 1)

Friends: The One With All the Resolutions (1999, NBC, season 5)

Friends: The One with the Routine (1999, NBC, season 6)

Modern Family: New Year’s Eve (2013, ABC, season 4)

How I Met Your Mother: The Limo (2005, CBS, season 1)

How I Met Your Mother: Tailgate (2012, CBS, season 7)

The Office: Ultimatum (2011, NBC, season 7)

Seinfeld: The Millennium (1997, NBC, season 8) - This one actually doesn’t take place at New Year’s, but is about a New Year’s Eve party

[ridley-was-a-cat]

What I Watched This Week – 2/11 – 2/17

Lovely Complex – After that contractor who worked on the English dub for this posted that long Patreon post about how awful this series was and how he rewrote it to be better in the dub script, naturally I had to go back and re-watch this to see if it was drastically different than I remembered, or if he was just full of shit. After re-watching it, I can confidently say that anyone claiming that the main girl was an unlikeable sociopath, or that the mangaka was some kind of narcissist sicko, is just a garden-variety misogynist with poor reading comprehension. The story aged just fine. The Osaka setting and Kansai dialect should clue in even the most clueless observer that the insults and roughhousing between the two leads is slapstick/manzai comedy and not anything abusive. Seiko’s introduction earlier in the story is certainly clumsy, especially by today’s standards, but after that she’s just one of the girls, and none of the sympathetic main cast ever deadnames her. It was honestly even a bit funnier than I remembered it. Risa is a sweetheart, her friends are golden, Otani is the shorty male lead we need more of in shoujo, and the whole thing is just a great time. Now that I own the Blu-ray, I might just watch the English dub to see what that idiot did or didn’t change. 8/10

The Quintessential Quintuplets Movie – This two-hour movie caps off the series, and I have to say that my first foray into pure harem anime was a bit of a mixed bag. As a work of romance fiction, I can’t say I care for this. While I suspected the “winner” would be who she was, it wasn’t because she had the best chemistry with the lead, or because the story took the time to establish a strong relationship between the two, it was because it felt like the series was saving her story for the end. Without that bit of metagaming on my part, I could easily have seen him end up with any of the girls. If the main character has the same amount of chemistry with everyone, it’s functionally the same as having chemistry with no-one. As a drama, I wasn’t terribly taken with it. A lot of the dramatic moments it brought up just felt silly or empty. As a comedy, though, I could kind of get into it. It was fun to watch a guy juggle the moods of five girls with very different personalities, and the pranks they’d play on him from time to time could be pretty funny. I think if I watch any other harem anime, I’m going to seek out ones that lean into the comedy rather than the romance or drama. 6/10

Seikimatsu★Darling – I have watched pretty much every BL series available on the various legal streaming platforms, so I’m down to watching short, fansubbed OVAs, like this one-episode OVA from 1996. BL was just built different in the 90s, with triangle chins you could cut yourself on and plots that are a little out there for the modern BL reader. The main characters of this OVA are two coworkers who have developed feelings for each other but resist taking their relationship to the next level, as neither one wants to be the bottom. This is all mostly played for laughs, and I will admit that it got me to chuckle a few times, but it definitely feels extremely dated. Still, it’s not exactly a major time commitment, and it was interesting to watch an older entry in the genre. 6/10

[incorrectmlpquotes]

Insert Holiday Pun Here

Well folks, the holidays are upon us, and I’ve been too busy to attempt to be funny. SO, I thought I’s treat you all to something a little different. 

[This joke would be funnier if my name was actually Gina]

I’m going to go through the holiday (read: Christmas, because let’s be honest: Hearth’s Warming is a Christmas expy) episodes and give my thoughts on each. This will not include the Equestria specials because I haven’t seen them (but I have read the IDW 2014 holiday comic and oh boy, that’s a post of its own). I’m not going to recap them (much) because it would take less than two hours to watch them all. Take a break from Charlie Brown and Rankin Bass to appreciate some true holiday classics.

Hearth's Warming Eve, Season 2 Episode 11

I don’t like it.

It’s hard to be the first of anything. You’ve got a lot to set up and only twenty-two minutes to establish lore and tell a complete story. I didn’t care for the Nightmare Night episode the first time I saw it, but upon rewatch it held up better than I remembered. Plus, it had the benefit of being really funny.  This only has a few moments that gave me a sensible chuckle.

What a shocker! An earth pony with no ideas.

Ostensibly, this is a very important episode because it introduces the holiday and gives us some Equestria history, but I never expected this show to have such a mean-spirited holiday episode. And I don’t just mean the pony summit that is supposed to show animosity. The beloved Mane Six begin the episode by grousing with each other.

The holidays stress me out too, and I wouldn’t have a problem if they resolved this by the end of the story, but they don’t. The name of the show is “Friendship is Magic.” This grinch’s heart should be growing three sizes, not reminded of family gatherings that turned into verbal brawls.

And then there’s the play. Obviously, the personalities of Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity get turned up to an eleven in their respective roles, but it just rubs me the wrong way. Especially since the other three are depicted normally. The three heroes bond over how much they hate their bosses. This is a relatable notion, but a weird choice for a children’s program. In the beginning, the three races of ponies were divided by hate, and now they’re being brought together…by hate. Talk about your mixed messages. 

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I don’t like it when they fight unnecessarily.

2/5

Hearthbreakers, Season 5 Episode 20

It was a long wait for another holiday episode, and it was worth it.  This one delves into a topic that I don’t see too many shows acknowledge: that different families have different traditions. And more importantly, that someone else’s traditions aren’t bad or wrong just because you might not enjoy them. It should be an obvious lesson to respect other’s differences, but the amount of people who lose their minds when told to have a happy holiday is any indication, it bears repeating. This time of year can be difficult for blended families or people coming together for the first time, and it’s especially relevant for this changing world. It stands to reason that the very stubborn Applejack would be a stickler for tradition and have difficulties being flexible.

How rare it is to see Pinkie Pie be the peace keeper?

4.5/5

A Hearth's Warming Tail, Season 6 Episode 

This one is a mixed bag for me. I am a big fan of A Christmas Carol and I do enjoy when shows do their own version. The story itself is fun, with the added twist of higher stakes than the original, but the framing devices gives me pause. Twilight freaking out because Starlight doesn’t want to celebrate a holiday is a little over the top. No one should be pressured to celebrate a certain way or celebrate at all if they don’t want to. Maybe someone has bad memories with the holiday and doesn’t want to be reminded of past events. Maybe they can’t stand the over consumption and commercialism of this time of year. Maybe they belong to a religion that doesn’t celebrate Christmas and are very tired of being constantly ignored. Maybe they work in retail. The reason doesn’t matter. 

It’s such an easy fix. Maybe instead of being indifferent towards the holiday, Starlight’s nervous that she’s going to be in such a big group and worried that she’ll mess things up. Twilight gives her the book to show that you can’t really ruin Christmas Hearthswarming because blah blah blah togetherness. I don’t know.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but this episode aired a year after people lost their minds over a red paper coffee cup, so my concerns aren’t unfounded.

3.5/5

The Hearth's Warming Club, Season 8 Episode 15

It was like the writers saw inside my brain and realized the issue with only recognizing one holiday that gets celebrated in the pony equivalent of December. 

The set up for the Breakfast Club-esque story has some issues, but I'm willing to look past them because I enjoy the episode. The best things that come from the magic school storylines are the exploration of the non-pony lore.

We had to wait eight years, but there was finally an acknowledgement that other holidays exist. 

4.5/5

Best Gift Ever (aired between seasons 8 and 9)

The gold standard by which I’ve held all the other episodes. Everyone is perfectly in character. No one had to resort to stupid “Gift of the Magi” BS that they could have easily done.

I’ve never seen a kids show display so succinctly how stressful the holidays are, while simultaneously expecting you to have a good time. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, right? Why aren’t you having fun? What do you mean you don’t have time to clean, decorate, bake, wrap presents, send out cards, do crafts, mail gifts, and spend time with loved ones while also working/going to school/ continuing to be a human being? 

I have been in this exact position, spending an hour inputting packages, and explaining that the delivery times were not guaranteed. 

But this friend group really needs to discover the magic of waiting until after Christmas to have your get-together.  It lessens the stress and gives you something to look forward to. Plus, you can snag those post-holiday deals.

I have pulled a Pinkie Pie and ignored the rules of a White Elephant exchange because I had already gotten everyone a gift. No one seemed to mind.

Forget the magic anthropomorphic horses, the most unrealistic thing about this show is how easy it is to make friends as an adult. It's trite to say that friendship is the greatest gift of all, but I am going to see my friends after New Years, and after not being together for over three years, I really couldn't ask anything better.

A totally heterosexual explanation for this image exists.

The chef’s kiss of holiday episodes. I will even forgive them for airing it in October. I will be watching it again this year while the rest of the family watches Die Hard.

5/5

Shoutout once again to whoever posts the images on the wiki gallery. You remain the funniest person on the internet.

[tfw-no-tennis]

tfc thotz

so ruth and I watched tf cyberverse, and since I love to talk, here are my scattered thoughts 

so this show???? was super fun and good??? why did it take me so long to hear that cyberverse is GOOD

like, when it first came out/back in like early 2019 when I was getting into transformers, I watched a couple random eps and I was like Oh ok this isn't terrible but also its just like, episodic and aimed at kids and kinda fluffy. okay!

ok but clearly I was wrong bc this biz has PLOT, babey! 

so yeah I ended up binging it w/ruth and I had a great time. I honestly enjoyed this show more than tfp, but I think it comes down to expectations - I expected very little from tfc so I was pleasantly surprised when my expectations were easily surpassed, and I expected something different/better from tfp so I was disappointed when it didn't live up to my expectations

anyways, my actual thoughts

I love the cast?? like I love how big the cast is and how the characters in focus kinda rotate around after s1 

also I love how stupid everybody in this show is. god. like nobody has any brain cells, its just No Thoughts Head Empty at all times. like, shockwave called the seekers dumb, and that might be true, but LITERALLY EVERYONE is dumb and I adore it 

s/o to bumblebee and hot rod, who are two wholesome frat bros trying to find a third frat bro to hang out with without that bro dying (rip blurr and cheetor)

also so many people die in this show???? like holy fuck. I was not expecting this amount of permanent, on-screen death

like when blurr gets fucking thanos snapped in the Spring Break Gone Wrong episode (which I think was one of the ones I watched back in 2019), I was like oh damn okay, but he’ll be back cause that's how it goes w/a show like this.

NOPE he’s dead for good. and like so many other characters die and stay dead, and that honestly caused actual suspense, bc it was like oh daym anyone can die and they'll probably stay dead unless they're starscream whos impossible to kill 

that's also another plus of a big cast - they can just murder people left and right. like starscream murdered like All the seekers at one point but there were more on cybertron so its fine I guess lmao 

also I like that there's a lot of female robots? and they’re all different and unique which is cool

also, no humans! I don't necessarily hate humans in tf stories when done right, but there being no humans in this show allowed it to be a lot freer in what they did w/the plot and lore and characters, which I appreciated

like, I remember when that netflix tf show was announced and it was like ‘ooooh a show set on cybertron without humans, baller!’ but I have like 0 interest in it after the stuff I've heard about it lol and meanwhile cyberverse was just doing exactly that - focusing on the robots, no humans, a lot of the show being set on cybertron 

like even when they're on earth there are like...no humans anywhere lmao they just don't care about the alien robots fighting I guess

except for that one segment where they show humans like, filming them & reacting and stuff, which was funnier and better than 90% of human-tf interactions in other tf media

oh and I fucking LOVE the time jumps in this show. cyberverse does NOT care about exposition at ALL, they'll just jump right the fuck in and expect you to catch up, which I adore 

like, the fucking s2 premiere. at the end of s1 they found the ark w/all the autobots and also megatron & co are heading for earth....then s2 starts w/a smash cut to the fucking moon where all the autobots are fighting all the decepticons, and we get a super brief summary of what amounts to half a season’s worth of content - the autobots waking up, the cons arriving, the humans finding out about the alien robots, the autobots allying w/the humans, the fight continuing, etcetc. its like we jumped in at the mid-season finale, and I LOVE it 

there's also a lot of tf lore stuff, which I love! like, they have the allspark, the matrix, vector sigma, titans, caminus...I feel like they throw a lot of lore at the audience with minimal explanation, which I enjoy as somebody who knows the lore well enough to not be confused by this (not that I think it would be confusing for non-fans, they do a good job explaining what needs to be known)

also loved that they never like, formally introduced most of the characters, they were just There suddenly lmao. that way they didn't have to waste time w/episodes dedicated to establishing their personalities and whatnot, and instead we just got to see what they were like ourselves - which now that I think about it, that harkens back to g1 where character would just randomly appear cause there was a new toy so boom new character, but they wouldn't explain it or anything hbhvsdkfbjaskd I love transformers

I love Hot Rod soooo much I'm so glad he was in this, he’s my fuckin BOI and he was so so good in this 

also I can’t believe drift was here but was EVIL ALL ALONG and then DIED that was crazy man 

oh man also optimus and megatron. I love this optimus, he was so cute...like, he was clearly most comfortable while fighting and giving inspiring speeches in the heat of battle, but the rest of the time he was kind of awkward and just really cute and polite, I loved that 

and megatron was SO hammy lmfao and he & optimus are clearly going thru the world’s messiest divorce but they don't REALLY want to get divorced and that's why its taking so long

but really I did love how the autobots and decepticons actually sat down for negotiations? and the autobots were like pshhh yeah this happens every so often, and things are going ok until BAM everyone's fighting again then its back to business as usual.

I just really enjoy that interpretation/approach to the war, it’s so interesting. it shows that both sides are aware that fighting eternally isn’t the best idea, but also that neither side is willing to back down on certain points, which makes peace difficult 

OH MANNN and I fucking LOVE how we got to see pre-war cybertron??? with everybody just hanging out, pre-faction...that was such a delight 

seriously, I love that episode about maccadams where it shows the slow slide into conflict...that was so great

one detail I especially loved was that bumblebee was all starry-eyed over megatron, not optimus - like the part where you see megs and OP sitting together at maccadams and bee is like oooh windblade I gotta introduce you and you think he’s talking about optimus but NOPE he’s talking about MEGATRON 

also another thing I love is that this show is like. rlly funny. I definitely laughed more than I expected to, there were some really solid jokes

OHHHH I love that they have a sport called CUBE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love cubes SOOO much such a good shape 😍 and in that ep when windblade is all like ‘ITS CUBE!!!!!!!!! OMG CUBE!!!! DONT YOU REMEMBER CUBE, BUMBLEBEE?’ I was like OH ME LMAO....CUUUUUBE

ok so the part in that one ep where megatron beats up starscream was??? so brutal??? and it lasted a WHILE too, and since the eps are so short it was like a third of the whole episode?? I was SO not expecting that level of brutality from this show, especially at this point in s2 where things hadn't really gotten that hardcore

ok I gotta talk abt the characters now. bc I love the characters and there’s so many of them which is fantastic 

as I’ve already said I adore my boi hot rod. I also love bumblebee SO MUCH in this, he’s just such a good boy....good lad....also I’m glad he got to talk after s1, I didn’t mind the no-voice thing bc it didn’t overstay its welcome

cheetor is soooo good too HE’S JUST A BABY. A GOOD CATBOY...cheetor and bee and hot rod was such a good and pure boy squad and I’m so sad abt cheetor dying. that shit was depressing 

ruth seeing beast wars cheetor: look how they massacred my boy 😫

me: ...you know he’s originally from beast wars, right???

ruth: IM STILL RIGHT

oh ym god shockwave. him being ANGERY was so ufcking funny especially bc in a few shots he WASNT angry so that means its not that he Just Looks Like That, it’s that he really IS angry All The Time and frowning constantly hvbhfdkhsfjbhskdjf god. anyways he was literally the only character with a brain cell in the entire show, he was the only one who got shit done. that part where megatron is like ‘finally you did something successful shockwave’ was so fucking funny bc like. all he DOES is succeed and meanwhile megatron is getting dunked on every 3 seconds. oh my god

SOUNDWAV?EE???? SOUNDWAVE I love soundwave he’s legit one of my fav tf characters ever, idek why it was just On Sight, I love his design and voice and his whole deal...cyberverse soundwave was SO good, he’s just SO RUDE and I love him. I love how he was always playing music and I just adore his whole ‘come at me bro’ attitude lmao

oh man I liked slipstream a lot, and her and windblade had so much potential, I’m sad slipstream died...unfortunately she was the only seeker to have half a braincell so she had to perish (I mean all the seekers ended up dying anyways but still)

also that bludgeon guy??? wtf was up w/him???? we legit never got an explanation for why he was Like That hbvhfakdjhbfdsjkf and like idk him from any other media so I was legit just so confused abt him lmao. he looks like orange cyclonus and he’s mean bc he killed slipstream >:(

ok I love grimlock he reminds me of thor tbh and he’s just such a good himbo. him and arcee hanging out was so perfect. himbo/hermbo solidarity at its finest

I find it hilarious that it seems like ratchet is The Only medic on all of cybertron, cause we literally never see another medic on either side, and the decepticons are apparently just letting shockwave do whatever to anyone who was injured...hvsdkjnfkasfdbh its like rung being The Only therapist on all of cybertron in idw1

oh my god the wild west episode was so sad like...that was str8 up depressing bro and there wasn't even a happy ending. oof. also I love the continuity, where we see multiple stasis pods falling from the arc (one being bumblebees) in s1, but we don’t follow up on it until here in s3. nice

I liked the pacing in the show a lot - I feel like s1 was pretty basic and straightforward, and a solid season in general, but things got real good in s2 when a bunch of character showed up and multi-episode plots started happening, and then s3 was really really good with the actual arcs happening, and the focus shifting throughout different characters 

like I feel like s1 did a great job starting slow and setting up the worldbuilding for the other seasons, and s2 went All In and threw a ton of characters and more high-concept plots in, which I think worked as well as it did BECAUSE s1 was a lot more lowkey

for example, I like that pretty much the only autobots on earth in s1 are bumblebee and windblade, and later grimlock, and the only decepticons are shadow striker and a bunch of seekers; it makes the conflict feel appropriately smaller rather than jumping right into The Big War

ruth said this and I kinda agree but the weakest point of the show was probably the fight scenes, especially in s1 bvhjdkhfbjhs it’s not that they were badly animated or anything, just that they weren't that exciting and I was more interested in the plot, so I was like guyssss stop fighting and keep moving the plot forward already! which is actually a compliment bc usually I love fight scenes and don’t care as much about plot stuff lmao

also cyberverse has THE funniest scene I've ever witnessed which was of course starscream’s twitch stream funeral BHVJSDKFHBSJKDHF that LEGIT made me die laughing like...I did NOT expect that and it totally killed me, holy shit, and the fact that there’s no real explanation for why megatron decided to do a big grand funeral for starscream while pretending HE wasn't the one who killed starscream??? and he streamed it all on twitch??? like the fuckgin emotes hbvhjadkjfbsjkhf and the twitch chat oh my GOD ‘#starscreamgate’ and ‘who is storescream?’ BHJGKSDHBFSKBF I cant yall it was so fucking funnyyyyy other tf media could NEVER

ok thats it for now, more thoughts at a later date im sure!

[seabreezeraincloud]

So I've recently finished watching Amphibia, and I absolutely loved it! The animation is wonderful, has an awesome sense of humor, the ending was both beautiful and perfect, and Anne is my fav! I would love to hear your thoughts on the show, who's your fav character, and your opinion on the rumors of an Amphibia movie that fan were chatting about.

Oh, Amphibia is great. Definitely in the Top 10 for me.

You know, it’s funny; I remember when the show premiered and I watched the first episode on YouTube. I thought it was fine, and said to myself, “Alright, this didn’t really grab me, but I’ll keep an eye on it to see where it goes,” but then I blinked and suddenly the entire first season had already aired (which is obviously Disney’s fault, not the show’s), and that made me put off watching it because I was overwhelmed by the amount of episodes I had to catch up on.

And during this time, people were praising the hell out of it, saying it was “the next Gravity Falls” (ugh) and whatnot, but when I did get around to watching more…I had trouble getting invested. The setting and plots were uninteresting to me, and I didn’t think the jokes or characters were strong enough to make up for it.

BUT! Despite it kinda feeling like a chore, I did eventually get through that first season a little after the second season started airing, and I thought it was…good! Not great, like everyone was saying, but I definitely understood the appeal a lot better than I did when I had only seen the first few episodes.

For me, the show really started to pick up with the introduction of Marcy. Not just because she’s my favorite, but because I truly do feel it was all uphill from that point on. They expanded more on the lore, the main characters were growing on me (especially Anne), it was funnier, and the story was overall just getting a lot more engaging. At first I was taking my time with the new episodes, but by the last few of the second season I was eagerly watching them the same day they came out. I was finally hooked, and just in time for the season finale…to be delayed :')

While the “meh”-ness of its first season does still kinda hold it back for me, I’m just so impressed with how much it was able to win me over as it went on. The messy relationship of the girls was compelling, I really felt the bond between Anne and the Plantars, King Andrias became one of my favorite DTVA villains, and it ended in a way that was kind of bittersweet, but still incredibly satisfying and fitting for the show’s themes and messages. Overall, it’s a fantastic show that I’m so glad I gave another shot when it didn’t click with me initially.

As for a potential movie, this is the first I’m hearing of such rumors, and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that they’re prooooobably not true. I would love to see a sequel or spinoff of multiple shows, but DTVA doesn’t really tend to do that kind of thing. Usually when a production wraps up, that’s it, and the door for any other major projects related to it slams shut. But who knows! I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong.

[meant-to-be-a-hero]

Season Three, Episode Twenty-Two: De-Void

Picking up right where we left off, I see.

Again, DOB does so well with this stuff. He should play evil more often.

Haven't we all learned that shooting the Oni doesn't work by now?

So what was the Sheriff's new punchline for the Nogitsune? They just did exactly what the Nogitsune wanted, played right into his hands.

Probably the closest we ever got to shirtless Stiles, unfortunately.

"Chaos has come again!" - The Nogitsune is a drama queen.

Ew, flies under the skin is just gross. What a horrible visual that is.

"Maybe the GPS would work better if it was on." - that's funnier than it has any right to be.

Chaos, strife, and pain is really the name of the game here.

Tying Allison to the bed's a little kinky, Isaac.

That's gotta be the only time Stiles ever shuts up, surely.

I hope Chris put the firing pin back in his gun.

The crying is a nice touch, you little fucker.

Melissa's secret is something else I don't remember. Hmm.

I know the Sheriff's board hearing is meant to be important but when you weigh it against the Nogitsune stuff, it really pales in comparison lol.

I love how Peter is everyone's last resort but the best choice every time lmao.

Ah, sibling rivalry.

Again with the molotovs, god damn.

Is this like the only time Allison and Kira get to team up? :(

Alpha powers, engaged!

Blowing the lighter out is a baller move, lmao.

"Do I actually need to remind you that you're a werewolf?" - Yes, Lydia, he does forget quite often.

That's a lot of balloons.

Trapping Scott with Allison I get, but Lydia literally 30 seconds before she gets bitten by Peter doesn't seem like the best memory to paralyse her in.

This white parking garage or whatever it is, is a neat set, if a bit hard on the eyes. It also illustrates that the Nemeton is a prop and not a real tree, because how else did they get it inside otherwise?

Weapon swapsies!

"They howl!" - We love a good howl. It's so simple, but it's so effective.

Flip the board, change the game!

All that black blood can't be healthy.

Now we get double Stiles, yes?

Oh, the bandage barfing is also gross. Yuck.

It's interesting that they let the Nogitsune keep Stiles' face for the last two episodes instead of just going with Aaron Hendry, having double Stiles must have been a nightmare to film sometimes.