#tobias and ax are knights | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

phantomofthepairofdice · 4 years ago

Text

The Rosscars 2020

Wow. It’s that time of year again, only this time it’s different because it’s on a blog that no one will read! (hold for applause) Welcome to the first annual online publication for the Rosscars (hold for applause while the reader acknowledges how positively droll it is that I combined my name with “Oscars”). Who can forget such indelible Rosscar memories like when Steven Soderbergh surprised us all and won Best Director for Out of Sight or Bill Irwin’s beautiful speech upon winning Best Supporting Actor for Rachel Getting Married?! The Rosscars mean something different to everyone, but we all know that they mean quality choices made by a committee of one schmuck. This year’s Rosscars are bizarre because in an effort to be more like the Academy guidelines, film’s nominated have been released between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021. As usual, theatrical windows be damned, streamers are welcome. Of course, I have my gripes. I like categorizing movies by release year – specifically, when they become available to the plain old public like yours truly – not at festivals, limited runs in NYC and LA. Well, the Oscars are still weeks away and I feel like everybody wants to forget about last year and move onto this one that we’re already three months into - So here are my awards for the films, performers, and craftspeople that stood out in a pretty exceptional year for movies even though distribution was stranger than ever.

**A few caveats and guidelines to Rosscar newcomers (which I imagine is just a formality since we all know the Rosscars so well)**

The rules and categories are a little different around here. First, not every category is honored directly. That’s for a few reasons, chiefly that I don’t feel qualified to reward the technical categories properly – I suppose I should say that I feel less qualified to do so than the “above the line” categories. In keeping with the Academy standard, there are five nominees in each category, except for Best Picture, Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature, and Best Ensemble Cast which allow up to ten. Every category, save those three, will have the possibility of honorable mentions, because I want to highlight some things that just barely missed the cut. The narrowing down of a lot of these categories was awfully tough.

Nominees are listed alphabetically, and the winners are in bold and italics.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that I couldn’t see everything (this isn’t a job and it’s still $20 to rent The Father, y’all) and that these are just the opinions of one (self-described) “bozo on the internet.” If you’re a reader and have different picks, feel free to share!

Special Commendations for some things that I want to recognize: • Ludwig Goransson for his Tenet score which is an absolute banger • The costumes of Emma. (Alexandra Byrne), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Ann Roth), and Small Axe (Jaqueline Durran, Sinéad Kidao, and Lisa Duncan) all struck me as exceptional • Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross with their scores for both Soul and Mank. Crazy that Pixar is working with the guy who made “Closer” • The cinematography of Da 5 Bloods (Newton Thomas Sigel), First Cow (Christopher Blauvelt), Beanpole (Kseniya Sereda), and A White, White Day (Maria von Hausswolff)

The Rosscars red carpet was, as usual, a bizarre affair. People filed into the theater and it seemed like the only encounters were awkward ones. Vin Diesel showed up in character as Bloodshot, Aaron Sorkin started getting really verbose about what a lovely night it was, and it became clear that most of the celebrities in attendance didn’t read their invitations closely enough to realize that this was not, in fact, the Academy Awards.

Everyone’s seated, and the show is under way. After a medley about the nominees this year by Common and Seth McFarlane that was more corny but clever than it was funny, the first official category is here, and the presenter is none other than... Ross!

Best Supporting Actor:

1. Chadwick Boseman for Da 5 Bloods

2. Matthew Macfadyen for The Assistant

3. Jesse Plemmons for Judas and the Black Messiah

4. Paul Raci for Sound of Metal

5. Glynn Turman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

Honorable Mentions:

• Lucas Hedges for Let Them All Talk

• Orion Lee for First Cow

• Bill Murray for On the Rocks

Best Supporting Actress:

1. Vanessa Bayer for Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

2. Candice Bergen for Let Them All Talk

3. Gina Rodriguez for Kajillionaire

4. Amanda Seyfried for Mank

5. Yuon Yuh-jung for Minari

Honorable Mentions:

• Jane Adams for She Dies Tomorrow

• Charin Alvarez for Saint Frances

• Talia Ryder for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Debra Winger for Kajillionaire

Everyone loves a montage. The audience gets comfortable in their seats as the video screens start to show a montage of some of the most famous moments from Hollywood’s most magical movies. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers waltz, gliding across a dance floor like two hovering angels. There’s a clip of Leo declaring himself king of the world in Titanic, the flying bicycles in ET, Bogart stares longingly into Bacall’s eyes, and then there’s some scene where Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle from 2010′s Knight and Day. The audience all seems confused how that last one got in there. The John Williams music swells as little Kevin McAllister screams when puts on aftershave. We see clips of Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia embrace Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Bruce Lee smoothly declares that boards don’t hit back and... wait... was that a clip from Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet with Seth Rogen? And that’s a clip from What Happens in Vegas... Bad Teacher... Vanilla Sky... Shrek 2... Any Given Sunday... Everyone is flummoxed. The last clip fades out and a sole editing credit appears: Cameron Diaz. The lights come up and there’s some applause, but mostly confused murmurs.

The ceremony has had a bit of a misstep, but nothing it can’t recover from, especially as the next category is announced over the PA, and it looks like the presenter is... Ross!

Best Ensemble Cast:

1. Bacurau

2. Da 5 Bloods

3. Kajillionaire

4. Let Them All Talk

5. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

6. Minari

7. Nomadland

8. Pieces of a Woman

9. Small Axe

Best Original Screenplay:

1. Danny Bilson and Paul Dameo & Spike Lee and Kevin Wilmott for Da 5 Bloods

2. Lee Isaac Chung for Minari

3. Brandon Cronenberg for Possessor

4. Sean Durkin for The Nest

5. Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles for Bacurau

Honorable Mentions – a very difficult task to weed this down to five.

• Shaka King and Will Berson for Judas and the Black Messiah, from a story by Kenny and Keith Lucas

• Steve McQueen, Alastair Siddons, and Courttia Newland for Small Axe

• Kelly O'Sullivan for Saint Frances

• Thomas Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm for Another Round

Best Actor:

1. Ben Affleck for The Way Back

2. Chadwick Boseman for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

3. Delroy Lindo for Da 5 Bloods

4. John Magaro for First Cow

5. Mads Mikkelsen for Another Round

Honorable Mentions:

• Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal

• John Boyega for Small Axe

• Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah

• Hugh Jackman for Bad Education

• Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson for A White, White Day

We have a break in the action and it looks like Darius Rucker has showed up to perform what he would have nominated for Best Original Song. The crowd is absolutely furious as he starts playing a song that apparently was in Trial of the Chicago Seven. An ocean of sonorous boos and curses overtakes the the once docile crowd. The Rock just ripped his chair from out of the ground. Jane Lynch somehow smuggled in a civil war era flintlock pistol that she’s now pointing at the stage! Suddenly, the crowd unifies around what started as a confident chant of one lone audience member - John C Reilly. It’s growing... Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong, Ja Ja Ding Dong - it’s like the macabre circus performers from Tod Browning’s Freaks, but instead of chanting “Gooble Gobble” they’re clearly pining for Darius to change his tune to the silly and delightful jam from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Darius, scared for his life, leaves the stage, but here come Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams to deliver the goods. Busy Philips and Michelle Williams burst into tears. Tom Hanks nods in approval. A segment saved by brave artists placating a toxic group of fans... we’ve just witnessed a live version of the Snyder Cut, folks.

Jack Nicholson seems completely unfazed, giving a thumbs up to the camera and blowing a kiss to the next presenter. Coming to the stage is... Ross... again...

Best Actress:

1. Jessie Buckley for i’m thinking of ending things

2. Carrie Coon for The Nest

3. Han Ye-ri for Minari

4. Sidney Flanagan for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

5. Vasilisa Perelygina for Beanpole

Honorable Mentions – these cuts were especially painful

• Haley Bennet for Swallow

• Morfydd Clark for Saint Maud

• Frances McDormand for Nomadland

• Christin Milioti for Palm Springs

• Geraldine Viswanathan for Bad Education

Best Adapted Screenplay:

1. Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things from Iain Reed's novel

2. Sarah Gubbins for Shirley from Susan Scarf Merrell's novel

3. Kelly Reichardt and John Raymond for First Cow

4. Simon Rich for American Pickle from his short story "Sell Out"

5. Mike Makowsky for Bad Education from Robert Kolker's "The Bad Superintendent"

Best Non-Fiction/Documentary Feature:

1. Boys State

2. Collective

3. David Byrne’s American Utopia

4. Dick Johnson is Dead

5. Feels Good Man

6. In & Of Itself

7. The Painter and the Thief

8. Time

Jimmy Fallon has come out on stage to do a bit about the pandemic and watching movies at home. People are just absolutely not having it. He tries not to laugh at his own jokes while doing what I guess is technically a pretty good impression of Dr. Fauci interviewing James Corden as Martin Scorsese (the less said of this impression, the better) on what is or isn’t cinema. The bit doesn’t track and Fallon is absolutely tanking. The producers cut away from the stage to spare the viewers at home from this monstrosity. We see crowd shots of Millie Bobby Brown shaking her head in dismay, Colin Firth is simultaneously grimacing and trying to stave off laughter, Cynthia Erivo is texting, and director Tom Hooper is taking notes for his next film. Corden yells, “Carpool Karaoke! Remember?!” Ron Howard has fainted. This thing is almost completely off the rails.

Coming back to the stage is the next presenter, a clearly embarrassed... Ross! He’s in a total flop sweat, but stumbles his way through a joke about how Fallon should try co-hosting the Oscars with James Franco sometime. There are scant chuckles throughout a crowd that mostly just wants to see who won and go home.

Best Director:

1. Christopher Nolan for Tenet

2. Spike Lee for Da 5 Bloods

3. Steve McQueen for Small Axe

4. Kelly Reichardt for First Cow

5. Chloé Zhao for Nomadland

Honorable Mentions:

• Kitty Green for The Assistant

• Eliza Hittman for Never Rarely Sometimes Always

• Charlie Kaufman for i'm thinking of ending things

• Thomas Vinterberg for Another Round

Best Picture

1. Bacurau

2. Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

3. Da 5 Bloods

4. First Cow

5. i'm thinking of ending things

6. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always

8. Nomadland

9. Small Axe

10. Tenet

Accepting the award for best picture is none other than Eve, the cow actor who played the titular First Cow! The audience is enamored with how graceful she looks in her cow gown, and her speech, though indecipherable, is likely simple, observational, and deeply profound for those who speak cow.

Wow, what a ceremony! Hearts were broken, property was damaged, dreams were fulfilled... blood was shed? Damn it, Meryl Streep came in and mugged Charlie Kaufman before absconding with the trophy. Oddly, she’s a previous winner, so the attack isn’t out of need for hardware. People are reading through articles about production on Adaptation for potential motives. Streep made time for a photo opportunity, but remains at large.

I could go on ad infinitum about all of these nominees and winners themselves and why they did or didn’t make the cut, but that’d be better served in a different piece. For now, my thoughts on most of these can be found on the Best of 2020 write-up and over on my Letterboxd. And, as always, these awards can be revoked and redistributed at will, so don’t get too cozy with that statue, Danny Bilson!

On behalf of the RAOGL (Rosscars Association of One Guy at a Laptop), thanks for reading, and stay tuned as we’re establishing a tip line for anyone has seen Ms. Streep or her stolen valor Rosscar. We’ll see you next year. Keep watching movies, and keep arbitrarily quantifying them in terms of subjective quality!

#awards #movies #film #Rosscars

4 notes · View notes

words-writ-in-starlight · 5 years ago

Note

Ok so while going through ur she ra tag just now I noticed that in a tag for one post you offhandedly mentioned an animorphs she ra au and I am here to very seriously ask if you plan on ever expanding on that because HOLY F

OKAY so there’s a bunch of ways you could do this, and I made that post, lo, these many years ago, so I don’t remember which one SPECIFICALLY I was thinking about, but here’s some thoughts:

Obviously, Elfangor was Mara. I think...hm, actually, I think Ax is not a First One, nor is he She Ra, I think Elfangor got the jump on the Horde business and accidentally kidnapped himself a clone. Ax, an incomplete (therefore younger) clone of the great Horde Prime (Visser Three), got a personality and a name and a proclivity for dying his hair blue--and he also got himself slammed into stasis when Elfangor crashed his ship. It was Elfangor’s idea and he did not take debate on the issue. Ax is...kind of angry with him about it.

If I’m being honest with myself (and let’s be real, fanfiction is about self-indulgence, why NOT be honest) I really want to make this work with She-Ra!Rachel, so I’m going to manipulate things accordingly.

Rachel is raised from childhood by the Horde, as the leader of a strike team featuring Tobias, Melissa, and Jordan, and she’s been taught her entire life that the Regents are innately evil powerhouses on a crusade to take down the kind and benevolent Horde. When she was nine or so, another person was added to her team, and took her place as leader--a slightly older boy who didn’t remember much, and who Iniss (Chapman is Shadowweaver now, I guess?) calls Temrash. He’s like a big brother and she adores him and he does not leave with her, when she sees the light. He hates her for leaving.

(Tobias--Tobias understands why Rachel didn’t take him, or thinks he does. No one in the Horde really trusts him, the last son of the Regency that gave up their land to the Horde. He can’t even use his powers. He understands. Temrash is harsher, without Rachel there, but Tobias doesn’t hold it against her.)

(Tobias is sorely misguided. Rachel all but hauls him out of the Fright Zone by the collar at the first opportunity. She’d ideally like to have gotten everyone but...well. The others wouldn’t come. Jordan raised the alarm. But Tobias, he slung his gun over a shoulder and put his hand in She-Ra’s and didn’t flinch, and they ran.)

Jake is the heir to Bright Moon and he’s the second born and no one ever lets him forget it. It’s been years and years since Tom went missing in the Whispering Woods, leaving nothing behind but bloody clothes and no sign of him to all the scrying in the world, and Jake has one hell of an inferiority complex about it. So when he finds She-Ra--THE She-Ra, with the sword and the hair and the killer instinct--of course he hauls her back to Bright Moon. She’s happy to fight and he’s happy to fight with her, and they fall into lockstep like she’s been his knight all her life.

Marco is Jake’s best friend--he’s not a Regent, no powers in his bloodline, but he has a bow and a head for technology and a cool, level-headed sense of how, exactly, to fuck over the Horde most efficiently. He can’t say he was particularly enthused with Rachel at first--Marco lives with an eye out for spies--but she’s dedicated to the cause and ready to rumble at the slightest provocation, so he comes around.

Cassie is the first additional Regent they recruit, a Princess of the Whispering Woods, and while her powers are terrifying (if it grows from the dirt, it does what Cassie says), the most valuable thing she brings to the table is a deeply competent grasp of how people work. She and Rachel are best friends within the day and Marco picks on Jake near-constantly for gaping at her like he’s been hit with a truck. She’s a good addition to the crew.

The plot of She-Ra is somewhat accelerated, because they find Ax in season 2 and therefore know what’s up with the Horde proper much earlier, and Jake gets his revenge by picking on Marco for slavering so obviously over Ax’s alien tech. The Ax-quisition is a small arc at the start of season 2 to make up for what’s obviously the gutpunch at the end of season 1, in which the Bright Moon crew storms the Fright Zone and discovers:

Rachel’s team don’t trust her

Tobias thought she abandoned him on purpose

And of course, Temrash, the thoroughly brainwashed and deeply devoted prime servant of Hordak, is none other than the Crown Prince of Bright Moon, all grown up and ready to kill his family

Also, Rachel’s sacred mount is a bear.

#she ra #spop #animorphs #she rachel #is that funny? that seems funny to me #she ra au #starlight writes stuff #i really don't have a strong motivation to write this but i DO kind of love the idea of tom being brainwashed into being part of the horde!#i just...jake held captive on horde prime's ship. and tom sitting outside his cell.#is an image that appeals to me #obviously tobias gets his powers back and gets rad lightning abilities #i've not decided who the other princesses/regents are but i think gafinilan and mertil are netossa and spinerella #mertil is spinny obviously and gaf is out here to beat ass and kiss his husband #and his husband recently got kidnapped #a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #Anonymous #asked and answered

27 notes · View notes

maribatshipper · 4 years ago

Text

Trollhunting Lantern Chapter 3

Previous part:

“This is incredible.” Oriel whispers.

Scarlett nods, “Yep.”

“Woah.” Crystal gasps.

“Pretty much.” Bracha smiles.

“Trollmarket is home and hearth and sanctuary for all good trolls.” Blinky smiles.

Scarlett tries get a grasp of all the beauty within Trollmarket.

“This way, ladies. There is much to see.” Blinky smiles.

Oriel said, “And I thought caves just had normal stones. Not giant awesomeness.”

“Stay close, ladies. Trolls haven’t been the most kind about humans being around. They have grown used to Claire and Tobias; no others have been in Trollmarket.” Blinky warns.

Claire nods, “Yeah, they’ll grow used to you after they find out about you being the Trollhunter.”

Scarlett sees a book in a stall and sneaks a peak at the cover, seeing a dragon on it. She plans to ask Blinky for some books later.

“Hey, Scarlett, look at this!” Oriel exclaims.

Scarlett runs over to her sisters and sees Oriel looking at a living, breathing gnome.

“It’s so amazing!” Oriel smiles.

Crystal sighs, barely amused, then suddenly, the gnome bares incredibly sharp teeth.

“What on earth?!” Oriel exclaims and jumps back.

Blinky stamps near the gnomes. Crystal is now excited.

“Scum of the earth!” He yells.

“I want one now!” Crystal smiles.

Scarlett exclaims, “You want anything that ends up being dangerous! Blinky, what exactly was that?”

“Gnomes are vermin. Pickpockets, scum of the earth. We only tolerate them for their grooming services.” Blinky frowns.

Claire mumbles, “Chompsky wasn’t.”

Bracha raises her eyebrow, but ignores the sentence and plans to ask about that later.

“I’m not even gonna ask if you groom like apes or humans.” Crystal mumbles.

Bracha suddenly takes notice of the biggest crystal in the cave.

“What’s that?” She asks.

Claire smiles, “That’s the Heartstone, the lifeforce of Trollkind. I’ve been here so long that I have grown… attuned to the effects it has on trolls. I’ve been told that it’s the means that keeps trolls from crumbling to stone. It’s also a source of light and sustenance.”

Scarlett stares at the Heartstone. She walks closer to it. Bracha tries to scan the Heartstone without anyone noticing. She looks at the results of the scan. She sighs and puts away the scan. She’ll look over it with her friends later.

“What are more Fleshbags doing here?!” They hear a troll exclaim.

Scarlett asks, “Is Fleshbag an insult?”

Blinky ignores her as more trolls complain.

“Puny humans!”

“Where’s the Trollhunter?”

Crystal sighs, “We attracted paparazzi.”

“There is no need to be afraid, friends.” Blinky exclaims.

Another troll exclaims, “You brought more humans! It’s a disgrace! Why were you made leader again?!”

Scarlett clears her throat and smirks, “Probably because he was one who was a very close acquaintance of the previous Trollhunter, and therefore has a right.”

All the trolls shut up. The human girl had a point. The previous Trollhunter had done some questionable things, but they turned out being the right choices in the end.

“Now, we must start her training, for this young girl is our new Trollhunter.” Blinky smiles.

The trolls stare in shock. One of them mutters “Bushigal” as they all part and let them through. The girls and troll walk through.

“Okay, so what as that about? Why don’t they like you?” Scarlett asks.

“They have always persecuted me for my intelligence, although it has lessened after I have become the leader.” Blinky replies.

Crystal giggles, “So you’re a nerd.”

Scarlett scolds, “Crystal!”

Crystal sighs, “Sorry.”

Scarlett then realises something.

“Wait a cotton-picking minute!” Scarlett exclaims.

“I am unfamiliar with that term, Lady Scarlett.” Blinky frowns, confused.

“If you have all this in New Jersey, and have to protect the Trolls in New Jersey, why were you in Australia in the first place?” Scarlett asks.

Blinky pauses, clearly not prepared for this question.

Claire answers, “You see, when we were in the previous Trollmarket, the Heartstone there was kind of killed by Gunmar the Black. So we heard talk of a Heartstone in Australia, and we went there-”

Scarlett then interrupts, “So you could prepare a new Trollmarket in Australia if anything ever happened to the Heartstone in New Jersey!”

Blinky and Claire stare in shock.

“Yeah, she does that a lot.” Bracha smirks, clearly used to it.

Blinky shakes his head and smiles, “Well, you are correct, Lady Scarlett, but now is the time for your training.”

***

“This is our new Hero’s Forge!” Blinky smiles.

The girls stare at the stadium-like place in front of them. They look up, and sure enough, there are places for people to stand and watch. Scarlett notices some statues being put on pedestals inside the Hero’s Forge. She looks carefully, and something inside tells her they aren’t statues.

“Are those-?” Crystal asks.

Claire sighs, “Trollhunters. Your predecessors. Actually, it took us forever to move them here away from Arcadia. We’re lucky only Unkar got broken.”

Suddenly, a giant arm falls right next to Bracha. She wipes dust off her face and moves away from the pedestal she started leaning against.

Blinky smiles, “They are a line of heroism that reaches back to the age of Merlin,” He then mumbles, “before he came back.” But it was too quiet for the girls to hear. “This is the final resting place for Jim, the Gunmar Slayer. One day, there will be a statue of you here, Lady Scarlett. One day far in the future, of course.”

Bracha smirks, “Nice save.”

Blinky ignores her, “We must start Lady Scarlett’s training now. Step back, please.”

Scarlett walks backward, grabbing both her sisters, and noticing some pillars are not ones for placing Trollhunters, making her go back a little farther than necessary. Blinky pushes a button and giant blades come out of the Forge. The girls scatter, dodging the swinging axes. Oriel and Crystal immediately rush to Bracha, who has a giant force-field around herself. She opens it to let the sisters in. Scarlett runs over to Blinky.

“Excellent reflexes, Lady Scarlett.” Blinky praises.

“Yeah, I don’t know how troll physiology works, but being hit with a giant axe is not ideal for a human!” Scarlett exclaims.

Suddenly, Blinky sees something and turns off the Forge, much to the siblings and Bracha’s relief. A human man walks up to Blinky and Claire.

He frowns, “So, he’s gone, isn’t he, Blinkous?”

Claire frowns, “Yes. But not that it’s any of your business, Merlin.”

Bracha and the siblings stare at each other, then towards the man, then back towards each other, then back towards the man.

“MERLIN!? You mean the guy that was a wizard a thousand years ago and was with King Arthur and his knights at the round table?!” Crystal exclaims.

Oriel nudges Crystals ribs, causing Crystal to stop talking.

“Yes, I am he. I’m also the one that created the amulet that your sister now possesses, young one.” Merlin smirks.

Scarlett stares in shock.

“Wait, back up. There is no way you’re Merlin. A human’s lifespan is quite short, we only live a hundred years, if we’re lucky. Admittedly, that was different a thousand years ago, but you shouldn’t be alive according to any human lifespan. Unless you were put into a stasis chamber or something, because if you’ve been asleep with nothing around you except air, you would’ve decomposed ages ago! It’s basic science you learn as a child!” Scarlett frowns.

Claire stares at Scarlett in shock, then realisation, then facepalms.

“Trollhunter, I got other magic users to cast a spell around my body, so I never decomposed.” Merlin replies.

Scarlett mumbles, “Spells wear off.”

“So, my amulet chose not just a human, but one with attitude. Maybe she’ll end up like Unkar, Blinkous.” Merlin frowns.

Scarlett turns to Blinky, waiting for an explanation.

Claire sighs, “Blinky trained a different Trollhunter. Unkar the Unfortunate.”

Bracha asks, “Do I even want to know?”

“His first night out, he got torn… Limb from limb.” Claire finishes.

Merlin frowns, “Remember what Vendel did for the previous Trollhunter? Maybe we should do that.”

Claire and Blinky glare at Merlin.

“Lady Scarlett hasn’t had a minute’s training!” Blinky exclaims.

Scarlett puts her hand on Blinky’s shoulder and smirks, “I’ll be fine. I just need to know what to do.”

Merlin points right in front of him on the floor, where Scarlett sees a place for Troll feet. She puts her feet there and brings out her amulet. A giant statue-like thing comes out of the ground, and it looks much like a Troll head with shark teeth in the mouth.

“This is the Soothscryer. It will judge your true spirit. Insert your right hand.” Merlin smirks.

“You mean in the mouth with rows of teeth?” Scarlett asks.

Merlin nods. Bracha comes over and uses her willpower to make a platform for Scarlett to stand on so she can reach to put her hand in. As soon as Scarlett gets high enough to put her hand in, the mouth no longer looks like a shark’s, but a Whispering Death’s mouth because the teeth are spinning. She throws her hand in, and the Soothscryer clamps around her hand, seeming to squish it. Her face contorts in pain, and she doesn’t scream, but let’s out a yelp in surprise. Bracha makes green pillows underneath Scarlett, and the Soothscryer finally lets go of Scarlett, causing her to fall on the pillows. She checks her arm.

“Well, I was hoping I wouldn’t lose that. That would’ve been the biggest lie to make up.” Scarlett jokes.

“You aren’t in pain?” Claire asks.

Scarlett giggles, “Life is pain, Claire. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.”

Crystal walks forward and asks, “Well? What’s the giant stone say?”

Merlin shrugs, “Inconclusive.”

Scarlett stares at him, then groans, “Do I have to do that again?”

“No. There’s only ever been one human Trollhunter. It needs time to render its judgement. Let’s hope you live long enough to see.” Merlin replies.

Scarlett imagines throwing something at him.

***

“What have we gotten ourselves into?” Scarlett asks as the girls walk home from the portal.

Crystal smiles, “Something that can take us from Australia to New Jersey in 5 seconds flat, Trolls, underground city, shiny stuff, am I missing anything?”

“Yes actually. The risk of death.” Scarlett frowns.

Bracha smiles, “It’s not that bad, Scar. I have the risk of death every time I go into space. My ring could go flat while I’m up there if I don’t charge it, thus exposing me to the vacuum of space.”

Scarlett nods, “You’re right. Besides, if Blinky fails to train me well, you can train me. I may even use my sword as a baseball bat. But we’re gonna do it all in your house. Mum will get suspicious of a punching bag hanging from the roof.”

Oriel frowns, “Mum and Dad are home.”

Scarlett looks at her phone. 9:47 p.m.

“We are so dead.” Scarlett frowns.

“I’ll tell your mother that it was my fault. We say we went shopping for clothes for me and I needed your opinions, and we’re just exhausted and trudged back, and that’s why you’re so late home. Besides, I need to put some info into your computer.” Bracha quickly plans.

“How do you always come up with good excuses?” Scarlett whispers, glad she went through with this plan before they went into the house.

They open the door, and immediately, Scarlett apologises.

“I am so sorry we’re late home, Mum!” Scarlett exclaims.

Heather walks towards the girls and smiles, “I’m just glad you’re home. Ahh, miss Gilthoniel, what are you doing here? You know what, never mind, come in. You can tell us later. Aaron is here.”

Scarlett suddenly looks behind her Mum to see that Aaron is indeed sitting in the loungeroom. He has been a family friend for years.

“Please tell me he didn’t bring his kid.” Scarlett whispers.

Crystal rolls her eyes.

“Jonas isn’t here. Just go say hi.” Heather whispers back.

The girls walk forward.

“Hi, Aaron. What’s up?” Scarlett asks.

Aaron smiles, “There’s a singing competition coming up. I know how much you three girls love to sing. Besides, if you all go separately, you get more chances to win. Even if you’ll only go in to show them some old songs.”

Scarlett smirks, “Like Ego Is Not A Dirty Word?”

“Exactly.”

Michael laughs, “My daughter has the best songs in mind for the perfect occasion. For arguing with her brother, she’ll have a song. For doing the dishes, she’ll have a song. For sword fighting, even! I’m sure she’ll have the best songs that exist in that talent show.”

Oriel lists, “Do What You Gotta Do from Descendants 3, Something Better from Muppets Treasure Island, and Bad Reputation. In that order.”

Scarlett nods, “Yep, I just need to change the words slightly for that first one. Other than that, it’s inconceivable for me to not have a song for arguing with my brother.”

Heather exclaims, “Don’t you dare!” to Michael.

Michael ignores her. He suddenly speaks in a Spaniard accent.

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” He says in the accent.

Everyone has a good giggle.

“Princess Bride is the best movie.” Crystal smiles.

Suddenly, the door opens and in wobbles Nicholas. Scarlett grabs Crystal before she can punch his face out again. He wobbles to his room, not speaking to anyone.

“I should be going. Have a lovely evening, Atkin Family.” Aaron smiles.

Scarlett smiles, “Have a great night, Aaron!”

Aaron walks out the door and Heather turns to the girls.

“So, full story, girls.” Heather frowns.

Scarlett smirks, “You want the fun story, or the normal story?”

Michael hasn’t heard Scarlett say this for years and perks up, ready to hear the fun story.

“Fun first!” Michael says excitedly.

Scarlett says, “We were chased by an evil troll! I fought him off with a sword while Crystal was playing Bad Reputation from my phone! Then he was crushing me, Bracha body-slammed him, we ran into a portal, where a good troll was ready to protect my sisters, and we hopped into a giant hamster ball and went to New Jersey at Flash speeds, then we came home!”

Bracha stares, wondering why Scarlett’s telling her parents this.

“And the normal story?” Heather asks.

Scarlett turns to Bracha.

Bracha sighs, “It was actually my fault we were late. I dragged the girls shopping for me and I needed their opinions. I didn’t want to look bad, and some clothes you just can’t tell anymore until someone else looks at it.”

Heather raises her eyebrow, then looks at Michael.

“Only one of those stories is true. You pick which one.” Crystal smiles.

The girls walk upstairs, and Bracha whispers, “What was that?! You basically told them everything!”

Scarlett sighs, “When I was younger, when I did something wrong, I always asked if they wanted the fun story or the normal story. It became… a tradition. Dad loved fun stories. Of course, mum hated that I made up that a velociraptor came into the kitchen and broke the ceramic plates I was putting away. But she was proud that I did tell her the truth afterwards. I found a way to tell them everything and give them a story they’d believe. Now, if something happens and they find out, they’ll know I have told them.”

As Scarlett puts away most of her things, Bracha raises her eyebrow, never hearing this story before.

“You serious?” Bracha asks.

Crystal sighs, “Yeah, I followed in her footsteps. Dr Seuss helps me come up with good stories.”

Bracha shrugs and smiles, “Well, that explains that.”

“Pizza’s here! There’s even some for your friend!” Michael yells.

The girls exchange glances, then Oriel and Crystal run downstairs. Bracha and Scarlett just laugh and walk down to eat something.

***

Meanwhile, in Washington

“Listen to this, guys! According to these readings, there have been strange magical energy spikes in Australia, Queensland. The exact location can’t be tracked, though!” a guy in a red suit and a lightning bolt symbol on the front exclaims.

A man in a bat costume frowns, “Has Zatanna had any shows there, Flash?”

“Nope. No one we know of has been there, Batman. Plus, the magic readings are different. It reads as ancient magic, like Captain Marvel’s, but different.” Flash replies.

Batman frowns, thinking, “And it’s around the same place that Bruce Wayne will be judging a talent show.”

A man with a similar outfit to Bracha’s walks over and frowns, “That’s around the place one of our lanterns lives. I’ll check in with her this evening.”

Flash asks, “Why this evening, Hal?”

Hal responds, “Time difference, remember? It’s night-time over there right now.”

“Well, I’ll be visiting Australia anyway, I may as well check what’s going on.” Batman frowns.

Hal asks, “Should I get Martian Manhunter?”

Batman doesn’t respond as he walks away, leaving the room to assume his secret identity.

“Yeah, I’ll get Martian Manhunter.” Hal frowns.

***

Morning in Australia, but in New Jersey

"Wider stance, keep your frame." Blinky corrects Scarlett's fighting stance. "No, that's good, that's good. All right, fine. That's better. Raise your sword, Lady Scarlett. Head up, chin out, stomach in.'

Scarlett has her armour on with her hair tied up, but one strip of hair escaped and is hanging in front of her face in a ringlet. Her sisters, Claire, and Bracha stand off to the sides.

"Can she get that stomach in any further? If it gets much smaller, she won't have one." Crystal jokes.

Oriel bumps Crystal, making Crystal shut up. Claire rolls her eyes.

"The Trollhunter lives and dies by three rules. Rule 1, Always be afraid." Blinky explains.

Scarlett nods, "That makes sense. I don't think it'll be much of a problem. I just- woah!"

Scarlett dodges as Claire throws a rock towards her. Bracha catches the rock, quite surprised.

"See? Fear is good! Keeps us alert! Keeps us on guard, makes us vigilant! A hero is not he who is fearless, but he who is not stopped by it." Blinky smiles as he throws rocks at Scarlett.

Scarlett sighs, "Well, if you let certain people up there know you're scared, they will do everything to make you so scared you quit. So, be scared, just don't show it. How's that?"

Claire and Blinky blink in surprise.

Claire smiles, "That actually makes sense. Anyway, rule 2, Blinky?"

Blinky nods, "Of course. Rule 2, always finish the fight. An opponent must be given no mercy."

Suddenly, Bracha, Oriel, and Scarlett pale. Crystal raises her eyebrow in confusion. Scarlett dodges more rocks.

"Uh, okay then. My sisters are not allowed on my missions then. They can only watch me train." Scarlett immediately orders as she dodges.

Oriel says, "That's OK with me." At the same time Crystal asks, "Why not, Scarlett?"

Scarlett doesn't answer but gives Bracha a signal to cover Crystals ears. Bracha covers both siblings' ears with green soundproof earplugs.

"First off, I don't think it's appropriate for my little sisters to see me... dispose of my enemies. It could ruin their lives worse than it's already been ruined by my brother. Plus, with Crystal having autism, she won't be able to understand that you can't go around killing things. Mum's even gone so far as to not let any of us watch any international news while Crystal's nearby because of all the people going around getting rid of people in other countries. Plus, I'm not very comfortable with it. Even pretending some troll or other thing is a rodent, like a rat or I'm hunting an animal to eat may not help me. Especially if the thing looks humanoid." Scarlett frowns.

Blinky sighs, "Our's is an unforgiving world, Lady Scarlett. I understand you will have hesitations, but you will need to vanquish your enemies. Hence, the third rule: When in doubt, always kick in the gronk-nuks."

He makes a move, raising his foot up, and Bracha gets rid of the earplugs.

"Gronk-nuks? That's a new word for them. That is a rule we can all use in self-defence." Scarlett smirks. "So, a third of being a Trollhunter is kicking someone... there? Easiest rule to follow."

"Ahh, so the New Trollhunter's training begins!" A troll exclaims.

Scarlett looks at the troll, confused as to why the troll cares when training begins.

"I thought the great Trollhunter might accept my services as a sparring partner. Part of your training regiment, isn't it?" He continues.

Scarlett quickly analyses him. He stands well above her, purple stone skin, giant spikes on his back, horns on his head, and a nose-ring. She knows that if she were to go against him, he could easily win. Blinky looks like he's about to say something, but Scarlett speaks first.

"Well, as much as I would love to learn how to dodge a troll much bigger than me and quite obviously would have the advantage, given size, strength, and how long they've been fighting the troll way, I have to decline, because I am not experienced enough to go up against someone who has been in glorious battles, while I have been in none." She tactfully refuses.

"Why wait?" Merlin's voice echoes.

Scarlett looks up to see him standing in the stadium-like seat part.

"I am eager to see her demonstrate her mettle." Merlin continues.

Scarlett mentally facepalms. Did he not just hear what Scarlett said?

"Let them spar!"

Scarlett gulps and grabs her sword, following Blinky.

"What do I do now, Blinky?" Scarlett asks.

"Hit him as hard as you can." Blinky says.

"I can't do that. He's made of stone. If I hit him hard, I'll break my hand! He'll only feel a tickle! Does he have any weaknesses?" Scarlett frowns.

"Only that of a normal troll." Claire answers.

"Not helping."

"You fought Venjo, although quite briefly, and it was glorious!" Blinky responds.

Scarlett facepalms, "I was using moves from dancing and spy movies, and they don't actually teach you how to knock your enemy out by just touching their necks!"

"Exactly! The fight is within you, Lady Scarlett. Trust yourself. One hit!"

Scarlett growls, getting ready.

"Begin!" Merlin’s voice orders.

The troll growls and suddenly rolls at her, spikes digging into the ground.

"HE'S BLOOMING SONIC THE HEDGEHOG!" Scarlett thinks as she dodges his attack.

He rolls to attack her again, and without any thought, throws her sword towards the incoming spike ball. He hits the sword, unrolls and grabs her chest, bringing her over to the seemingly bottomless pit. She then grabs his nose-ring and pulls as hard as she can. If Scarlett can't punch, she can certainly give this troll some nasal discomfort. He groans in pain and drops her, only being saved by the nose-ring she still has a grip on.

"Let go!" He grumbles.

She tightens her grip and frowns, "Only if you walk back onto firm ground. I'm not letting go until my feet are at least 5 feet away from the edge, Rocky!"

The troll grumbles and pulls back 3 troll feet. Scarlett lets go and takes a gasp for air, something she hasn't had a chance to do yet. She gives the troll a glare as he walks off, the spar over. Scarlett holds her chest in pain, the armour protecting her partly. She pulls off the amulet and groans, her sisters and Bracha running towards her.

"I think that's enough training for one day. I'm going back to Australia. I'm exhausted." Scarlett sighs as she walks towards the Gyre.

Bracha smiles, "So you messed up a little. Like you said, you haven't had any experience."

Blinky smiles, "I concur with Lady Bracha. You've barely had a day’s training. There's no shame in what just transpired."

Scarlett glares, and Oriel whispers, "Bad choice of words."

"I heard that!" Scarlett hisses.

Claire winces at the hiss.

"And, by the way, if you think there was absolutely no shame there, you must be blind as a bat! There was certainly some shame there! The only reason I survived was because I pulled his nose-ring! It may not have been enough to hurt him, but it was enough to irritate him!" Scarlett practically screams.

Claire sighs, "It could've been worse. Jim didn't even think to grab Draal's nose-ring. He was just dropped and threatened."

Scarlett sighs, "I don't care at the moment. All I know is that I need rest before midday in Australia. Come on girls. Claire, you can come too if you want."

Claire sighs, "I have things to do in Trollmarket. Sorry."

Scarlett just grabs her sister’s arms and drags them to the Gyre. She hops in and taps a few buttons, already knowing how to use it. Bracha jumps in a few seconds before the gyre zooms back to Australia.

***

“Okay, we try out for this competition, and go during the day, while at night, Trollhunting. We’ll just say we are practicing our singing far away at night. Unless we don’t get in. Then we’re gonna have to sneak out, or make up some gigantic stories, or tell the truth.” Scarlett explains the plan, seemingly forgetting about her previous failure.

Bracha sighs, “Let’s focus on the here and now.”

Suddenly, Bracha’s ring makes a beeping noise. The sisters sit down and watch the sky, Crystal naming things she sees.

“Hello, is this a bad time?” A voice asks from the ring.

“No, I’m just hanging out with friends. What’s going on, Hal?” Bracha replies.

“The League found odd magical readings around your location. Have you noticed anything different?” Hal asks.

Bracha pauses, Scarlett getting an idea.

“Hey, B! You got any strange rocks to add to my collection?” She exclaims loud enough for Hal to hear, winking.

Bracha gets the idea.

“It could be some strange rocks. My friend loves collecting the weirdest objects. I swear I’ve seen some Kryptonite in her collection. She told me she had a mask that turns green if put on at night. I’ll scan her objects later and send you through the readings.” Bracha smirks, actually being half honest.

“Good. I’ll check back in five hours, got it?” Hal asks

“Got it. We have a competition to enroll in, so we’ll be busy there for now. Seeya, Hal.” Bracha smiles.

“Bye, Bracha. Don’t get into any trouble.” Hal hangs up.

“Too late.” Bracha frowns.

Scarlett asks, “You serious about Kryptonite being in my collection?”

Bracha nods, “Yep. Anyway, more important at the moment what songs are you going to sing? Are you going in as 1 big team, 1 team of 2 and a solo, or 3 solos, how are we gonna do it?”

“I thought you were gonna sing with us? Aren’t we doing that?” Scarlett asks.

Bracha sighs, “I can’t do it. I can’t sing as well as you girls.”

Scarlett sighs, “Come on. You have more knowledge of music than Twisted Sister and Taylor Swift. My Dad’s exact words about her were, “She may think she can sing, but she’s rubbish.” And honestly? I kinda agree with him. If you really don’t want to be in the big picture with us, you can be a back-up singer later, and the music/tech person. Would be helpful.”

Oriel whispers, “I don’t want to be alone.”

“I have an idea! Let’s draw straws. Whoever can draw an amazing looking straw wins and chooses how many teams we have!” Crystal exclaims.

Bracha, Scarlett, and Oriel exchange glances.

Bracha sighs, “That’s not what drawing straws is.”

***

“You ready?” Oriel asks, completely worried.

“I am. Thanks for drawing the short straw and having us compete at the same time. Why are you worried, Oriel?” Scarlett asks.

“Bruce Wayne is a judge.” Oriel gulps.

All the girls stare at Oriel in shock, then look through the curtains on the stage.

“Which one’s Bruce Wayne?” Crystal asks.

Bracha sighs, “The one that has bags under his eyes, next to Jessica Mauboy.”

Scarlett sees him, and Bruce’s and her eyes lock. She doesn’t dare look away, feeling a fear go up her back and a familiar sensation covering her body. Bruce gets tapped on the shoulder, and he’s the first to break eye contact and talks to Jessica Mauboy. Scarlett closes the curtain.

“Scar, can you take off the armour? It’s not a good time.” Bracha whispers.

Scarlett looks down and jumps about six feet in the air.

“Not now. We’ve already rented costumes for this! I’m not changing my outfit choice before the show! I’ve already gone through enough stress for you today.” Scarlett glares at her amulet.

She tries pulling it off, but it doesn’t work.

“Good thing a few other people go on before us. That’ll give you time to take it off and leave the magic amulet with Bracha so it doesn’t go weird again.” Oriel suggests.

Scarlett nods and runs into the costume change room, the girls following her. She pulls outfits out of her bag. She tosses them to each girl.

“I made sure they were just right.” Scarlett smiles.

Oriel unfolds a purple outfit that looks sort of like Princess Jasmine’s animated version of her outfit. Crystal unfolds a red outfit very similar. Scarlett unfolds a blue one. Bracha unfolds a green one.

(Like this, only different colours.)

“Which one, sis, Prince Ali or Friend Like Me?” Crystal asks, not very amused.

Scarlett flips a coin, “Friend Like Me.”

Now that Scarlett’s relaxed, her armour disappears. Another person walks in as Scarlett smiles and moves into a room to change. The others follow suit.

“This is gonna be fun.” Scarlett smiles.

They all come out wearing the outfits, looking absolutely stunning. The other person stares in shock.

“What? Never seen a person dress up for a singing competition before?” Crystal suddenly snaps.

Scarlett smiles, “Sorry about my sister. She’s protective. Come on girls. It’s almost our time.”

***

With Bruce Wayne

Bruce nods politely. Most of these singers are singing popular songs, like Taylor Swifts songs. He frowns, thinking of the person who managed to make eye contact with earlier. He could tell it was a girl, her eyes said she was at least 16. He couldn’t tell much because of how much of her body was obscured by the curtains. She was hiding something. Suddenly, the lights turn down. Another singer maybe? Suddenly, 3 girls roll out as the music starts. They all stand up, and Bruce locks eyes with the one in blue for a split second and recognises that it’s the girl he saw. Looking at her, she looks like she’s 13. Suddenly, the girls start singing and dancing, being extremely dramatic. (Go crazy with your imagination here, guys.)

youtube

S: MASTER! I don’t think you quite realise what you got here!

C: So why don’t you just ruminate

O: Whilst I illuminate the possibilities!

B: Watch this. Here I go. Uh, ooh, woo! Back up! Uh, Watch out! Uh, You done wound me up! ‘Bout to show you what I’m workin’ with!

C: Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves,

Scheherazade had a thousand tales

S: But, master, you’re in luck, ‘cause up your sleeves

You got a brand of magic never fails

B: You got some POWER in your corner now

Heavy ammunition in your camp!

You got some punch

C: Pizzazz!

S: Yahoo, and how?

All: See, all you gotta do is rub that lamp!

B: And then I’ll say,

Mister-

C, S, & O: Aladdin, sir.

B: Whatever, what will your pleasure be?

C: Let me take your order, jot it down!

You ain’t never had a friend like me!

Life is your restaurant

And I’m your maître D!

All: Come on, whisper to me whatever it is you want

You ain’t never had a friend like me!

O: Yes sir, we pride ourselves on service

C & O: You’re the boss, the king, the shah!

B & S: Say what you wish, it’s yours! True dish

How ‘bout a little more baklavaaaa?

B: Have some of column A,

B & S: Try all of column B!

I’m in the mood to help you dude!

You ain’t never had a friend like me!

O: Wah wah wah!

C & O: Oh my!

O: Wah wah wah!

C & O: No, No!

O: Wah wah wah

C & O: wah ah ah!

O: Wat ba bado ah!

B: Can your friends do this?

C: Can your friends do that?

S: Can your friends pull this

C, & O: Out their little hat?

Can your friends go-

B: *Beatboxes*

C: Well, looky here!

B: I’m the genie of the lamp

I can sing, rap, dance if you give me a chance! Oh!

C & O: Well don’t just sit there, slack jawed, buggy-eyed!

I’m here to answer all your midday prayers!

C & S: You got me bona fide, certified

Got a genie for your charge d’affaires

O: I got a powerful urge to help you out

So what you wish? I really wanna know

S & O: You got a list that’s three miles long, no doubt

Well, all you gotta do is rub like so, ay ohhhhh!

B: Mister

S, C, & O: Aladdin!

B: Yes, have a wish or two or three!

C, S, & O: I’m on the job, you big nabob!

You ain’t never had a friend, never had a friend

B: You ain’t never had a friend, Never had a friend

C & O: You ain’t never!

B: Never!

C & O: Had a

B: Had a

C & O: Friend

B: Friend

C & O: Like

B: Like

All: Meeeeeeee!

You ain’t never had a friend like me!

Everyone claps, glad for something different.

“Well, it seems that everyone likes you. What are you called?”

The one wearing the blue outfit smirks, “We are known as the Lantern’s Daylight! I’m Scarlett, the one in red is Crystal, and the one in purple is Oriel.”

Bruce asks, “Wouldn’t it make more sense for you, Scarlett, to wear the red?”

The girls exchange glances and giggle.

“Yeah, if I tried to do that, Crystal here would rip off my arm and hang it above her bed.” Scarlett jokes.

Oriel frowns, upset by that comment. Bruce notices that as Scarlett hugs Oriel and whispers something in her ear.

Jessica Mauboy smiles, “I assume that you are competing together?”

The girls look at each other and shrug, “We’re flexible. As long as Oriel gets to team up with one of us, we don’t care if one of us is a solo.”

“Well, you three are through to the next round!” Jessica Mauboy smiles.

The girls hug each other and do a strange handshake.

“Hi five! Shoulder bump, hip bump, shimmy shake!” Scarlett giggles as they do those moves.

The girls walk backstage and Bruce Wayne thinks carefully about those girls. Something’s different. They’re hiding something. Bruce shakes his head. He should focus on finding the energy readings.

***

“You guys were awesome. I swear that if I had to choose a winner, it’d be you three!” Bracha smiles.

Scarlett smirks, “Aren’t you a little biased? Being our friend and all.”

Bracha lightly punches Scarlett’s arms. Scarlett pulls her hairband out letting her hair flow.

“Who cares? I say we were 20% cooler than everyone else!” Crystal smiles.

Bracha and Scarlett roll their eyes. Crystal was always so over the top.

“I’m gonna hang around here for a while longer. Could you escort my sisters’ home, Bracha? For safety reasons.” Scarlett requests.

Bracha nods, “Of course, Scar. Be careful. If he shows up, call me.”

Scarlett nods. She pulls out her phone, seeing it’s 85%.

“Seeya.”

Scarlett walks towards a tree and leans against it. Australian sun is just too hot. Even in spring near sunset, it’s too hot.

“You’re Scarlett, right?” a male voice asks.

Scarlett asks, “Who’s asking?”

“Bruce Wayne.” The voice says.

Scarlett looks over to him and notices he’s still wearing a suit.

“Don’t you feel a little hot, mate?” Scarlett asks.

She’s already changed into a shirt that says, “Installing Muscles, please wait” and some denim shorts.

“Yes, but it’s good to keep up appearances.” He responds.

Scarlett sighs, “Please, Mr Wayne, don’t. Our prime minister doesn’t always wear a suit. He wore Budgie Smugglers for crying out loud.”

Bruce tilts his head in confusion. Scarlett rolls her eyes, remembering that not everyone understands the lingo.

“Right, Aussie slang. He wore just a pair of swimming pants. Can’t say I blame him. After all Australian weather, feels too hot to be natural.” Scarlett shrugs.

She suddenly tenses. The sun is going down much faster than she’d like. She hopes she doesn’t run into Venjo.

“I actually wanted to ask you about something, Miss Scarlett.” Bruce says.

“Well, ask away, Mr Wayne.” She responds.

She then looks around and realises, she’s in a park with only Bruce Wayne nearby. She feels her fear rise, but she pushes it down. Maybe Venjo can smell fear and she may lead him straight to her.

“Are you okay? You seem to be jumpy. You’re not worried about an ex, are you?”

Scarlett sighs, “Just heard some disturbing reports a while ago. And an ex? Please! I am staying away from that kind of relationship until I’m 20 or 30. Decided that when I was 10.”

“Okay… Has anything strange been happening around here?” Bruce asks.

Scarlett suddenly looks at him and scoffs, “Please! Strange? Mate, we’re Australians. Anything that’s strange is actually pretty normal. If someone hangs from a tree like a bat, we’re ok with it. If someone likes going under bridges for the sake of it, we’re ok with that. If someone wanted a Medusa wig to totally freak people out, we’re ok with that. Heck, some of us have even had our snakes come out of the toilet. I've even seen a guy dressed up as Santa here. The whole shebang, in hot, Summer, Aussie heat, at Wet'n'Wild. You want strange, you came to the right place.”

She then realises it’s very dark.

Scarlett smiles, “Ya know, I’d love to stay and chat, but my mum’s gonna kill me if I’m not home by 10:00.”

Bruce nods, “I understand. Be careful. Wouldn’t want one of the singers to disappear right after her first performance.”

Scarlett nods, “Thanks for your concern Mr Wayne. I’m think I’ll be fine. Seeya.”

Scarlett walks off, a bad feeling in her stomach.

***

Bruce Wayne changes into his Batman outfit and follows Scarlett for a few blocks. She’s hiding something and he’s curious what it is. Plus, he picked up some of the previous energy readings on her. He follows on the rooftops. She stops every now and then to look around.

“Why follow her? Shouldn’t you be investigating the magical energy, Batman?” Martian Manhunter asks, appearing behind Batman.

Batman frowns, “She’s hiding something. I think she’s connected to the readouts. I picked up some energy on her.”

Scarlett turns around again. She has fear written in her eyes. She then looks towards the roofs of the houses. Batman ducks from her sight. She looks straight up as well, which both men found odd.

“Why is she scared?” Batman mumbles.

“It could simply be she’s broken up with someone and she’s worried he’ll show up.” Martian Manhunter suggests.

Batman frowns, “No. This is a different fear. She said she’s staying away from romance until she’s older. She’s paranoid, like something is going to come from anywhere to attack.”

Suddenly, a buff man comes near to her. He makes some suggestive comments.

“I’m not that desperate, and you’re not that lucky.” Scarlett shuts him down.

He suddenly grabs her and drags her to an alley. Batman and Martian Manhunter jump towards them.

“Leave me alone, you creepy, barbarous, brainless, cold-blooded, animalised jerkazoid!” Scarlett hisses.

“I don’t think so, pretty. We’re gonna have a little fun!” The man smiles.

Scarlett looks him up and down and says, “Dude, your and my definition of fun are 2 very different things. And I’m not gonna be a victim again! How about you go back to Hell!”

Scarlett grabs at air next to her, then facepalms.

“I think now would be a good time to intervene, Batman.” Manhunter suggests.

The man punches Scarlett, making her fall to the ground. She goes to get up and he kicks her. She groans in pain. She moves her hand to her pocket.

“You’re gonna feel more of that if you resist, worm.” The man says.

Suddenly, Scarlett turns around and gives him an uppercut, then kicks him where the sun don’t shine.

“No one calls me worm, you little piece of troll poo!” Scarlett hisses.

He growls, “You’re gonna regret that you #*&%$!”

“Wash your mouth out with soap!” Scarlett orders.

Batman decides enough is enough and throws a batarang in between the two people. Scarlett looks up and sees both Batman and Martian Manhunter. She mumbles something Batman doesn’t catch.

*From Scarlett’s point of view; earlier*

Scarlett stops and looks around. Someone’s following her. She’s sure. Her guts are going haywire. She remembers rule number 1. Always be afraid. She’s afraid now, and she swears someone’s around. Could Venjo be around? She looks to the roofs. She thinks she sees something, but it could’ve been just the shadows. Scarlett then looks up.

“Why am I looking up? Trolls can’t fly, can they? I’m gonna ask Blinky for a list of troll species now.”

Suddenly, a buff man walks towards Scarlett. He makes a suggestive comment.

“Today just isn’t my day.”

She scoffs, “I’m not that desperate, and you’re not that lucky.”

*Trigger Warning!*

The man grabs her and drags her into an alley. She struggles against him.

“Leave me alone, you creepy, barbarous, brainless, cold-blooded, animalised jerkazoid!” Scarlett spits.

“I don’t think so, pretty. We’re gonna have a little fun!” The man smiles.

“Ugly jerk.”

Scarlett looks him up and down and says, “Dude, your and my definition of fun are 2 very different things. And I’m not gonna be a victim again! How about you go back to Hell!”

She grabs at her bag, only to realise she gave it to Bracha earlier. No pepper-spray to use this time. She facepalms. Suddenly, the man punches her in the guts. Scarlett collapses. She tries to get up, only to get kicked. She holds in tears.

“It’s Nicholas all over again.”

“You’re gonna feel more of that if you resist, worm.” The man says.

Something clicks in Scarlett’s brain. She feels pure, hard anger and hatred. She turns around and gives him a good, hard, uppercut, then kicks him in the Gronk-nuks.

“No one calls me worm, you little piece of troll poo!” Scarlett hisses.

He growls, “You’re gonna regret that you #*&%$!”

“Wash your mouth out with soap!” Scarlett orders.

She’s not going to be his victim. She’s going to be her own hero. A boomerang suddenly goes in between the two. Scarlett notice the shape is of a bat and looks up and sees 2 figures. One green and one black. She recognises them as the American superheroes Batman and Martian Manhunter.

*Trigger ending*

“Bushigal.” She mumbles.

“Only spent a day with them and I’m already using Trolls words!”

The guy runs away after seeing the boomerang.

“Hey, hey! I’m not through with you, Ugly!” Scarlett calls after the crook.

Batman jumps in front of him and knocks him out.

“Never mind.” Scarlett sighs.

Batman frowns, “You shouldn’t be alone at night.”

Scarlett sighs, "Shouldn't you be in America, where all the supervillains are? Or are you on Holidays?"

Batman raises an eyebrow in what seems to be surprise.

"Why else would you two be in Australia if you weren't having a break? I don't remember the Joker being in Australia." Scarlett smirks.

"Just investigating something." Martian Manhunter replies.

Scarlett frowns, "And I suppose that you just happened to be passing by while I'm going home and just happened to see me almost get abducted by a guy like him?"

Batman deadpans, "Yes."

Scarlett frowns, "And I suppose you weren't following me?"

Batman doesn't respond.

"I had a feeling." Scarlett frowns.

"Did he pick up on the Amulet? Maybe it gives off magic radiation. That sounds silly. But maybe?"

"Okay, you know what? You can follow me home if you are so worried. And if you need to question me about stuff, like whatever you are investigating, give me a number to call to arrange a date, time, and place to answer your questions. But please bring in a girl. Being around just a guy who ya don't know is enough to set a girl on edge, ya know?" Scarlett suggests.

Batman looks to Martian Manhunter and they seem to be speaking telepathically, discussing the matter. Scarlett then gets bad memories about her brother. She shakes the memories out of head, putting her hands in her pockets, holding the Amulet in her right. Its’ cool surface surprisingly calms her.

"Agreed." Batman suddenly speaks, snapping Scarlett out of her thoughts.

"Great!" Scarlett smiles and suddenly turns to walk home.

She feels the smile fall from her face. Then it comes back, and she giggles slightly. She hums "Giggle At the Ghostly" while swaying side to side.

"There goes my logic tonight. Wonder if he's reading my thoughts?"

She looks behind her to see Batman and Manhunter have already disappeared. Probably hiding in the shadows, because Batman just walking behind her would draw suspicion. She suddenly finds herself at her house.

"That trip went by fast." Scarlett mumbles.

She goes to open the door, but it's locked. She pulls out her phone, notices it's actually 11, and rings her Mum.

"Yes?" Her mother's tired voice answers.

"I have a good excuse, Mum." Scarlett says guiltily.

Heather hangs up and opens the door.

"What happened, Scarlett?" Heather asks.

Scarlett hesitates, "I was attacked, but I got away from him."

Heather suddenly pulls Scarlett inside and checks Scarlett all over for any cuts, scratches, and bruises.

"Mum, calm down, I'm fine. Look, I'm here, aren't I? And he didn't even get far. Just a few bruises, nothing more." Scarlett reassures her paranoid mother.

"You should be more careful, honey! What would've happened if he kidnapped you, or worse?!" Heather exclaims.

Scarlett puts her hand over her mother's mouth.

"Do you want to wake Dad up? Doesn't he have a 3 o'clock start in the morning?" Scarlett asks.

Heather sighs, trying to calm herself down.

"We're talking about this tomorrow." Heather orders.

Scarlett nods, then realises she has unfinished business in New Jersey.

"I'm going to bed Mum. Seeya in the morning." Scarlett smiles, knowing she probably won't be able to wake up until midday.

She walks into her bedroom, to see her sisters still awake. She sighs and tucks them both into bed.

"We can't sleep, Scar." Oriel sighs.

Scarlett sighs and sings Aladdin's Desert Moon to lull them to sleep. She searches her pants pockets for her amulet and finds a piece of paper with a bat symbol on it. She reads over it.

3:00p.m. Wivenhoe Dam, Tomorrow.

Scarlett sighs. She's glad she only has Trollhunting training on tomorrow. When she's sure her sisters are asleep, she stuffs pillows and toys under her blanket. The girls don't have to know about this sneak out. She changes her shoes into Roller shoes.

***

"I was going to kill her, but I couldn't make up my mind as to how! Then she grabbed my nose-ring! That irritating Fleshbag. She isn't worthy of the amulet. I could've killed her then and there. But where's the fun in that?" The troll laughs.

Blinky grumbles at another table, drinking his glug. Claire sighs and rolls her eyes.

"If only Lady Scarlett had managed a single hit! She would've been changed forever." Blinky grumbles.

"All I want is to wail on that Fleshbag again!" The troll laughs.

Suddenly, Scarlett rolls in on her heels. She nudges the troll she sparred with, making him spill his drink.

"That was a wonderful spar earlier. Very enlightening. I'd love to do it again sometime! As long as neither of us die in our next spar, I'm sure we can be wonderful, glorious allies! I'm sure with some training with you, after a while, I will be a glorious warrior, fighting battles and will have the most honourable death!" Scarlett smirks as she rolls over to Blinky and Claire's table and sits down, an evil smile on her face.

"What happened in Australia?" Claire asks.

"Let's just say, I gave a jerk what he deserved." Scarlett smiles, still looking evil.

A few trolls move away from the table, and Blinky and Claire stare in shock.

"Changed forever." Claire whispers.

"Oh, by the way, I never got his name." Scarlett asks.

“Yavo.” Blinky says, still in shock.

#Trollhunting Lantern #Trollhunters #Green Lantern #Crossover

2 notes · View notes

disastersun · 5 years ago

Text

I have posted one thing on this app but here we go again. Three houses has consumed my life so here’s some fankids I made because I have no actual social life on or off the internet.

I also made unique classes for the lords children but the class names are really stupid so bear with me

Ferdinand and Dorothea

Felicity Von Aegir

Age: 17

Hair Color: Orange

Eye Color: Orange

Height: 5’6

Birthday: December 14

Siblings: Theodore Von Aegir (Twin)

Crest: Minor Crest of Cichol

Strengths: Axes, Lances and Flying

Budding Talent: Reason

Weaknesses: Faith

Canon Class: Wyvern Lord

Likes: her brother, editing her brothers writing, being in positions of power, singing and tea

Dislikes: slothfulness and people who believe social status determines everything

Theodore (Teddy) Von Aegir

Age: 17

Hair Color: Orange

Eye Color: Green

Height: 6’0

Birthday: December 14

Siblings: Felicity Von Aegir

Crest: NA

Strengths: Lances, Reason, Swords and Riding

Budding Talent: NA

Weaknesses: Flying and Brawling

Canon Class: Dark Knight

Likes: writing, his sister, reading, singing and black magic studies

Dislikes: fighting, flying and being practically blind without wearing his glasses

Dimitri and Marianne

Alexandra Marie Blaiddyd

Age 18

Hair Color: Blonde

Eye Color: Brown

Height 5’5

Birthday: September 1

Siblings: NA

Crest: Minor Crest of Blaiddyd

Strengths: Lances, Faith, Riding, and Authority

Budding Talent: Swords

Weaknesses: Axes and Brawling

Unique Canon Class: Holy Calvary (Lances, Faith, Riding and Authority)

Likes: her parents, horses, nice weapons and reading

Dislikes: Selfish people, being organized, easily breakable objects (that tend to fall from selves she is assigned to clean)

Felix and Annette

Elias Glenn Fraldarius

Age: 17

Hair Color: Orange

Eye Color: Blue

Height: 5’8

Birthday: July 21

Siblings: Liara

Crest: Minor Crest of Dominic

Strengths: Lances, Reason, Authority and Brawling

Budding Talent: Riding

Weaknesses: Flying, Heavy Armor, and Faith

Canon Class: Dark Knight

Likes: his sister, knightly duties, Alexandra, spicy food and his wits

Dislikes: lazy people and coffee

Liara Mercedes Fraldarius (Lie) (Ra)

Age: 16

Hair Color: Dark Blue

Eye Color: Blue

Height: 5’1

November 20

Siblings: Elias

Crest: Major crest of Fraldruis

Strengths: Swords, Axes, Reason

Budding Talent: Bow

Weaknesses: Bow

Canon Class: Trueblade (Sword) (This class is not in TH but it is in other games)

Likes: her father, swords, sweets

Dislikes: darkness, people calling her short or cute, and chivalry

Claude and ???

Kalea Von Riegan

Age: 16

Hair Color: Brown

Eye Color: Pink

Height: 5’3

Birthday: November 7

Siblings: NA

Crest: Minor crest of Riegan

Strengths: Swords, Bow, Axes, Flying

Budding Talent: NA

Weaknesses: Reason and Faith

Unique Canon Class: Wyvern Warrior (Swords, Bow, Axes, Flying)

Likes: schemes, Almayra, hair bows, spicy foods and having nothing to do

Dislikes: Racism, Stressful situations Discrimination, people who she can’t charm and choices based on luck

Edelgard and ???

Anastasia Von Hresvelg

Age 20

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Purple

Height: 5’7

Birthday: October 8

Siblings: NA

Crest: Crest of Seiros

Strengths: Axes, Reason (dark magic), Lances and Authority

Budding Talent: Flying

Weaknesses: Bow and Flying

Unique Canon Class: Wyvern Sorcerer (Reason, Flying, Axes and Authority)

Likes: dark magic, powerful positions, loyalty, her hair color, and sweets

Dislikes: the church, crests, swimming, gambling and reflecting on past conduct

Sylvain and ???

Tobias Glenn Gautier

Age 17

Hair Color: Red

Eye Color: Green

Height: 6’1

Birthday: March 11

Siblings: Madeleine and Elijah

Crest: NA

Strengths: Lances, Riding, Reason

Budding Talent: Brawling

Weaknesses: Flying and Bow

Canon Class: Dark Knight

Likes: girls, chivalry, people who don’t care about crests, and his siblings

Dislikes: people who value others based on crests, fish, and bragging

Madeleine Dorothea Gautier

Age 14

Hair Color: Red

Eye Color: Green

Height: 5’4

Birthday: April 3

Siblings: Tobias and Elijah

Crest: Minor crest of Gautier

Strengths: Lances, Reason, Flying and Swords

Budding Talent: Authority

Canon Class: Falco Knight

Weaknesses: Heavy Armor, Bow and Faith

Likes: girls, food, knights (specifically hot female ones), and board games

Dislikes: jealousy, those who lie frequently and caterpillars

Elijah Micheal Gautier

Age 10

Hair Color: Blonde

Eye Color: Red

Height: 4’10

Birthday: Jan 16

Siblings: Madeleine and Tobias

Crest: NA

Strengths: Swords, Axes, Lances

Budding Talent: Faith

Weaknesses: Authority

Canon Class: Holy Knight

Likes: meat, board games, his parents, and his hair (it’s fluffy like Sylvain’s)

Dislikes: taking command and picky eaters

I have more of them but they didn’t fit on this post and I might put them on a different one if I decide to stick to this whole tumblr thing. There’s more male children which is good because all the lords have 1 female child because that’s what my mind decided.

54 notes · View notes

owxanimorphs · 5 years ago

Text

Before the Re-read the Animorphs

Okay before I begin my re-read this is my thoughts on the main cast based on my memory of the last times I read the books (which varies between a few months ago for some and several years for others)

Let's get the hard one out of the way first. I'll start with my thoughts on Cassie. I make no secret that Cassie is the only Animorph I actively dislike. In a way it is tragic because as I've said before Cassie had potential as a character. A character with a very black and white viewpoint and a strong desire to stick to their point of view no matter the cost being confronted with the messy nature or war could have been a gold mine for interesting story lines. Instead Cassie is cast as the voice of morality and the conscience of the group which is a role she is absolutely terrible at. Because in the end she's no more moral than the rest of them (arguably actively even less moral) and her being right is more a function of being creators pet than any real logical story progression. Things work out for her because the creators say even when it breaks the story or contradicts established facts.

In Essence everything wrong with Cassie is everything wrong with the books as a whole which makes her a pretty big example of what not to do in writing. However, even if you ignore all that and focus only her personality she is still lacking. When first introduced Cassie is your typical childish self centered idealist. She puts great value on the things she cares about and tries not to thinka bout things that contradict that view point. Then she doens't really change she's a static character.

There is one redeeming factor about Cassie that is interesting but since it was unintentional I can't give complete credit to the creators for it. Cassie is a perfect example of everything wrong with Empathy as a stand in for goodness. Cassie is actually a very empathic character but she is also a very selfish character. Once she empathises with someone they become "Good" in her mind and she'll bend over backwards to justify making decisions that would negatively effect folks she isn't empathising with. It also informs how she is determined to stay in others good graces and only fights them when she can play the martyr. Which reminds me of my wish that David had stuck around longer and been a foil to Cassie for a while because they really are starkly similar characters in most regards except Cassie has an almost over developed sense of Empathy (to the point she can be okay with horrendous shit if she empathizes with the ones doing it) and David has almost none outside of the things he cares out. They are both also able to manipulate people to get what they want. And they read people very well to keep in their good graces or really hurt them if they piss them off enough.

But that isn't what this post is about so to sum up my view on Cassie is that she had potential but what we got was a horrendous character and the biggest disappointment of the books.

Now let's move onto another hard one to talk about and that is Tobias. When I first read the books oh so long ago I way over identified with Tobias but then I was a messed up lonely kid so it's not that surprising. Looking back on them as an adult it flew over my head back then how utterly fucked up Tobias is. This is not a healthy kid even before he got stuck as a hawk. Tobias was clearly already borderline suicidal even before the hawk thing and afterwards it and everything else in many ways turned into a much slower long and detailed decline into an early death. Tobias hated himself so he chose to give up all humanity forever. Which brings us to the problem with Tobias and that is the narrative never acknowledges how fucked up his situation is. Sure some of the other characters come close but they never fully grasp it.Tobias is in many ways one of the other great disappointments of the books because early on they clearly drop hints that he has a major role to play in things to the point where the freaking Ellimist preserves his existence by bending space time twice once to keep him around and then to ensure the animorphs happened and then the plot line is abandoned in favor of creators pet Cassie being the most important and special.

Now I love stories where the chosen one isn't that chosen after all but that needs to be intended from the beginning when you heavily lay on the foreshadowing that this is going to be an important element you need to address it. Instead the potential story line just peters out in a way that doesn't amount to anything not even a subversion. Tobias then sticks around to be a general misery magnet and to have the most unhealthy relationship possible with Rachel.

I mean I know stories change direction in production and over time and some times that leads to better stories and some times it leads to obvious dropped plot lines and a general degrading of quality. Animorphs sadly is in the second category. Part of it of course was the real world rush to churn out the books for Schoolastic but parts of it were clearly the writers getting a bit too enamored of their pets and how they wanted things to end.

I'm getting off topic again. My view on Tobias is that he's an interesting character and one that you can pity but man is that boy fucked up.

Now let's move onto Ax the Andalite Animorph and the other one besides Cassie and Tobias who ends up kind of one note. Ax plays an interesting role since hes alien and the books do a good job of showing an alien viewpoint. Far better in his case than many of the other aliens. It helps that he's basically a slacker alien who was a poor student and probably only got brung along on the ship because his big brother pulled some strings.

Ax is also a prime example of another time when the potential of the story gets left by the way side. Ax's torn loyalties should have come up more than they did and should have had more lasting repercussions. Way too often he'll get reduced to joke one note status when he should be figuring into things more. I don't have much more to say about him since I really remember as liking him but thinking he was wasted several times.

And now we'll move onto Marco a character who when I first read the books annoyed the crap out of me but as I grew older grew on me a great deal. Marco is a wonderful example of a character who can be obnoxious to protect themselves and despite being the other creators pet he is allowed to actually change in ways that are both good and bad so he's not another Cassie. The fact he's even allowed to disagree with her at least temporarily and call her on her BS very rarely also helps. Marco is also very realistic in that he reacts like many people would and for a lot of folks it would take somethign that affected them personally to make them fight as hard as the kids had to end up fighting.

Of course there is still one irritating thing about Marco and that's how he's often forced into the role of the complainer is wrong some times for the others (esp Cassie) to be right. It's a role he shares wtih Rachel she'll suggest the violent solution so it can be rejected and he'll suggested the better strategic solution but it'll be rejected for being wrong.

So final thoughts on Marco slightly annoying at times but very realistic and really grows on you.

Now let's talk about Rachel and this is the character whose fate pisses me off the most. I have no problem with character death in a story but Rachel's death is treated by the creators as necessary and it bleeds into the narrative abit and that really pisses me off. She's also unfortunately the one who gets the most chaotic characterization as depending on teh writer how aggressive she is varies. Not to mention the books that paint her as a control freak. Of course you can hand wave it as the stress getting to her in different less pretty ways but that raises it's own problems with with how the narrative treats her. She's often also used as a foil to shill for Cassie and that bugs me. She and her cousin get the most discussion of Cassie's moral superiority though everyone gets a turn on it.

And what is really sad is that she only gets to really call out Cassie and the others very rarely even though they are some of the most satisfying moments in the entire series. She's right when she calls out that the others need her to be the blood thirsty one. She's actually someone clearly sacrificing for the greater good but the narrative treats her as a blood knight. It really pisses me off and while her relationship with Tobias isn't even remotely healthy it makes a lot of sense because the others treat her as damaged and thanks to his neediness he'll never look at her as a monster like the others tend to do to make themselves feel better.

I'll make one final observation and that's that poor Rachel may have died twice in the series the first time being the starfish incident. Cause the Rachel that was split in half would never exist again. The two Rachels may have been re-merged but they had each had time to begin to diverge so what was formed out of them would be a new Rachel. Hell a lot of her issues later in the series could have been a direct result of that and it would make perfect sense.

Final thoughts on Rachel she deserved so much better and was probably one of the more selfless animorphs but gets written off by the narrative as just a blood knight too damaged to live.

Now let's move onto Jake who is actually my favorite character. I know a lot of folks find him boring and generic at first but that's exactly why he's the character that interest me the most because even more than the others he was just a kid when this mess started. You can see the seeds of who everyone else turned out to be in who they were at the start but Jake was just a kid who was slightly more mature and better able to mediate. That got him forced into the leadership Role and from there for good or ill that's the role he got stuck with. Like Rachel he became exactly what the others needed him to be and at times it wasn't pretty.

I mean it's so easy to picture how the others would have turned out, Cassie would have ended up one of those activist who says a lot of good things but is very much a walking illustration of perfect is the enemy of good with her probably doing more harm than help to her causes by turning folks off with her my way or the highway stance. Rachel would have excelled at whatever chosen path she took with incredible zeal and bending herself to be what folks in her life needed. Ax would have lived in the shadow of his brother as a semi competent warrior at best, Tobias would have remained very fucked up and Marco would have done what it took to not be poor and mask all his hurts with laughter and entertaining folks. Jake on the other hand is the one that just sort of was. He could end up really generic or find something he's good at and make it his life.

Instead he was given the role of responsibility and for the most part he carried the burden though his putting Cassie on a pedestal constantly was one part character flaw and one part character shilling by the creators. It was a realistic flaw he liked her and wanted her to like him. That was very human and relatable but his constant support for some of her more stupid moments crossing the line into plot induced stupidity.

One part that is really sad is that he's often compared with Elfangor and the narrative takes the appraoch that he falls short but honestly to me Jake comes off as more of a success than Elfangor and I wish the narrative acknowledged it. Of course I'll share my thoughts on Elfangor in another post.

There is more I could go into but this post has gotten long enough for now so final Thoughts on Jake generic kid forced to grow up even faster than others. Has an irritating blind spot when it comes to Cassie but over all my favorite of the kids.

#animorphs #animorphs 2020reread #Before the Reread

5 notes · View notes