#well i mean obviously the video about sonic is sonic-related but it’s just interesting the major shift in perspective i’ve had

[sonic-adventure-3]

“either sonic is a god or could kill god, and i do not CARE if there is a difference” hits a lot different after getting into sonic fr

[goombasa]

SLARPG and Writing Good Relationships

So originally this was an idea I was going to try and make a video about not long after Super Lesbian Animal RPG came out. Due to a number of factors, that obviously never happened, but it's a topic that I do want to at least talk about, both because I think it's a fun discussion to have, and because I just love this game so much. It's like… it's really, really good, guys.

Super Lesbian Animal RPG (heretoafter referred to as ‘SLARPG’ for simplicity) is a turn-based RPG released in December of 2022. It was created and published by Ponett, largely a one-person development team headed by Bobby Schroeder, someone who I was already familiar with via their blog “Thanks, Ken Penders”, an analysis and retrospective of the various Sonic the Hedgehog comics published by Archie and written by Ken Penders.

The game boasts a banger soundtrack, and beautifully realized world that combines magic and technology together in interesting ways, fun and colorful character designs and a simple combat system that makes you think about what sort of moves you have the resources for in the moment, with a difficulty curve that is just right. Even at the peak of your power by the end of the game, you can't just steamroll everything, and the game wants you to keep paying attention from the start of the game all the way to the end.

But at its heart, the real driving force in its narrative, at least to me, is the relationship between our main character, Melody, and her best friend, now girlfriend, Allison. Their relationship is beautiful in how its portrayed, mostly because it doesn't try to present their romance as anything special. They goof off, they joke with one another, they speak casually, but they aren't dramatic about their own relationship, it feels completely natural. You are very aware of the fact that these two were very close friends before they started dating, just from listening to the two of them chat with one another. It's not only very cute, but it also grounds the two of them as a very normal, relatable couple, despite being adventurers for hire in a world where they regularly fight off slimes and minor nuisances around their own.

Watching their relationship grow as the game goes on, with the stress of an invading, reality-warping force coming after their world, is fascinating, because despite the adventure, a lot of what happens with them is very mundane. We see the two of them confront their personal hang ups, we see the two of them eventually have a full communication breakdown that actually really hurts their relationship for a while, but despite the situation that causes it, the way that they work around it, and how they handle it, it all feels so real. Their observation that they felt like they were tiptoing around each other, worried about upsetting one another before their first big argument was such a massive moment for me especially, that I felt myself kind of deflate in relief in my chair after witnessing it.

(I'd give more context, but I really want anyone who hasn't already to play this game, so please, please, if you want more context for what I'm talking about, go and play this wonderful game!)

Melody and Allison's relationship is also contrasted well with their other party members. Jodie, who is the most experienced adventurer in the group, was already in a relationship pre-game with the Guardian (leader of the paladins), Faith. Her relationship is stable, but the workload placed on faith, and her own job as an adventurer does mean that their professional lives often lead to separation between them, and while they love each other, they do realize that finding a good work/life balance is something they need to adjust to, even after being in a relationship for a while. But because their relationship is more mature, the two of them are pretty good at handling their rockier challenges in their relationship, at least for what we're shown of it.

Then there's Claire, who definitely has one of the bigger character arcs in the game, with her journey being just as much centralized on finding value in herself before she actually ends up in a relationship, which is another good contrast because it relates back to Melody's struggles with her own self image as well. These relationships and stories could have easily just been their own standalone stories with no real bearing on the main plot, but the relationships, both romantic and platonic, are woven into both the main conflict and each other's relationships so well that it feels as though they grow as a group as well as individuals.

Relationships are also woven into gameplay as well. Not so much that they are the major focal point of combat, but in smaller ways that are meant to reinforce the relationships between characters. Characters that are in a relationship for example, can choose to take a turn to smooch their significant other, which gives a temporary buff to the participants' stats. There's even a counter in the pause menu that keeps track of the number of smooches you've given. It doesn't affect anything, but it's a cute addition. This gives certain events in the story more weight when you temporarily lose access to the ability to smooch. It is integration between story and gameplay that I love to see in my RPGs.

The game is really a romance disguised as a traditional, adventurous RPG. It's main focus is on its characters and their building relationships. That is the main focus, and because of that, the romance and everything related to it feels front and center, but not separate from the main plot. The two are woven together wonderfully in their themes and experiences, and that, to me, makes this one of the best written romance games I have played, and I'm counting games where getting into a relationship is the main focus.

If you're looking for some wonderfully written characters, a nostalgic feeling RPG systems from the 16-bit era, some clever writing, and a colorful adventure, Super Lesbian Animal RPG is absolutely something you should play. It is absolutely worth its asking price and I am wondering if we'll see more of this world and these characters down the line. I sure hope so. You can visit the game's steam page HERE (#NotSponsored).

I love these girls.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

Hello, i wanted to ask you why people haven't been liking taylor's newer album. I don't really follow her but i've seen a lot of videos that criticize it. But i still don't understand what's so bad about it, they don't really even talk about the music.

Lmaooooooo. Classic! (as in, that they'll complain about an album without elaborating on what they think it lacks).

I mean, I don't think you can separate the critique TTPD has received from the widespread general Taylor fatigue which has been building up for years, due to her being kind of constantly in the news for almost 2 years now (and also a fair amount the 2 years before that on top of that). So one part is definitely just "she's annoying because I see her everywhere".

However, here's a rundown of the musical critiques of the album I've seen and my thoughts on them:

1) It's not sonically adventurous, within the context of her discography.

I think this is a fair criticism, overall, though it's not true that she broke zero sonic ground with it, and I'd say there's a lot of new stuff in terms of theme, which makes up for this at least a little. TTPD isn't exactly like any of her previous work (or merely a worse version of it), but I understand finding the production lacking in a lot of places.

2) It's too long.

I mean, it's 31 songs. I think all albums of this length will catch criticism like this, and it's valid IMO. Albums being of digestible length has advantages, but I also love having as many songs as possible. There aren't many songs I personally would cut.

3) It's too self-referential.

Honestly, this one kind of annoys me, but I also can't fully blame people who make it, because there's a type of swiftie who will insist on a lyric being important because it references some deep piece of Taylor lore only fans know – I get finding it eyeroll-inducing to be told you have to do "homework" to understand a song. But here's the thing: those swifties are wrong lol. It's not that I'm against their way of interacting with the music but it's just not true that you need to know Taylor's life to appreciate it. Case in point. people routinely relate her songs to their own life or to their blorbos. And, honestly, TTPD is IMO mostly thematically consistent and thus works well as an isolated work of art if you're actually willing to just engage with what it has to say.

4) It's cringe.

There are songs on TTPD (especially the first few) that are highly stylized and include lyrics which feel clunky. I think these lyrics are either a) literally fine, you just need to hear them in context (thinking of beloved "Aristotle/Grand Theft Auto" in particular), or b) they're blunt or strangely worded in a way I think is kind of intentionally off-putting, but I also get it if it just doesn't work for someone and they have trouble taking the line seriously.

I feel like that sums up most issues people have that are specific to the album. There's other critiques which are applicable to all of Taylor's music, which obviously some people don't like, but it wouldn't be relevant to people who like her previous work.

Also, btw, I kind of admire you for asking me about this. As in, being genuinely interested in people's opinion on something you're not that invested in :)

[simowis]

Monthly nonsense 23.9

I would prefer Mass Effect to be an Idealism/Realism system than a Paradigm/Renegade system and lean more towards Rationality in its options. Rather than the all-encompassing black/white moral dichotomy. It's a pity they've given up the philosophical space for options

Having gone through another dozen or so Prothean/Javik-related fanfics, I realise that my understanding of him is not quite the same as what's in those fics. After re-examining his behaviour in the game, I'm sticking with my own thought of him.

The understanding of the character necessarily depends on the reader, who is a mirror personality created within each individual. As a reader, I'm pretty open-minded, as long as the fanfic representation of him doesn't drastically conflict with the in-game representation; after all, all of Javik's plot dialogue only adds up to two hours in the game, and he certainly has a lot of room for imagination. As the creator, I also hope that my reflection of Javik's performance doesn't conflict with the game's content, but that's as far as I can go.

The moment the work is made public, it has nothing to do with the author, and the meaning of the work is to be discovered through the reader's interpretation; on the other hand, readers have their own subjective preconceptions, and they can never recover the author's original intention, as Harold Bloom said: "All reading is misreading".

——

Javik says: To the Protheans, the ability to sense touch is as natural as breathing. So I guess for their race, most of the daily communication is done by touch. Talking is a very inefficient way to spread information. They don't have auricles, just modest ear holes. So their auditory system isn't that important, and lower volumes might be inaudible.

I can reasonably surmise that in their flourishing cycle, communication by speech was a condescending courtesy when confronted with other races. Nowadays, with everyone watching countless videos every day, it's easier to imagine. If you have information so important that it would kill everyone not to listen, and you need to tell it to a few primitives, you don't show them your 'magic mobile phone video' right away, because that would scare them, but you learn their language bit by bit and convince them in their own way. That's what Javik is doing. So why would anyone have the impression that he's arrogant?Obviously, his way of dealing with 'primitives' is polite and fair.

——

Javik and the Turrians have very similar opinions about war. They can actually get along quite well. He and Garrus will eventually have a good relationship.

It's interesting to imagine communication between Protheans. Mere touch shouldn't be enough to put the other person in a state of first-person experience, and their tactile exchange should manage to be limited to sharing some of their senses.

How big can his mouth open?

Fanfic is so hard to write :(

The Hanar language translator may have come from the Protheans, as the Protheans' gift allowed them to help the Hanar move from an optical language to a sonic one.

I always thought prothean was once aquatic.

I get a sense of the ideological differences through country differences in fiction.

Love is selfish, love is possessive, love cannot be selfless. That's why protheans don't get it.

I often wonder what kind of advice he would give me if I didn't do well enough. Maybe he'd say something about not being able to compete with others, or maybe he didn't care too much about it, or maybe he'd say not to overwork yourself and that the most important thing is your body? He's not as strict as Vegeta, not in the way that Vegeta would strive for perfection. Maybe he'll be the side of my personality that tells me to do things in a moderate way.

what kind of music fit him?

So Javik use the word “affection”, not “love”, to comment the “join” fact about Shepard…hmm.

His subconscious was filled with despair. Without stopping his speech, his line includes how to live and how to die properly. This is the truth of his inner thoughts.

I had thought that the internet would be eternal, and that my story would be seen by more and more people as it was shared on the internet. But no, the Internet is still young and has yet to suffer major setbacks, parasitic on countless companies, servers and personal computers. The carriers of information are constantly changing. How many oracle bones can the current generation see, how many old books still contain all the information? The medium evolves, iterates. The old medium gets old and disappears with most of its information. I envy the Prothean Echo Shard, the high level of technology they have preserved is testament to the peak of their civilisation. The stories of the Protheans can be remembered for as long as there is a single Prothean left in the world.

I feel like my love for him has calmed down a bit. Instead of a blazing fire, it's now quietly smoldering. It's been four months and I've been blazing a little longer than last time. He's still there, he's become a part of me.

LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!

Still cannot resist him, cannot love any other person now, oh, why?

It was clearly ill-considered and made most people think negatively of him when he said something like 'rule over you primitives' in the first communication in Normandy. It probably didn't matter to him, there was no hope of resurrection, his race was gone, all he had to do was find a battlefield to die on. He had never thought that there might be a future, even if it wasn't his own.

Want to hear Mordin’s suggestion about sex with prothean and human…

It feels like he would say that you humans are full of liars and that your race needs a great purge. Then he listened some more and understood. So, there are so many different factions of your race, then he can understand and says that your race is very skillful in deceiving each other tactically.

[meowsticmarvels]

whats on your mind rn in terms of Games ?

OOH FUN.... assuming you probably asked this bc most of my interests are games LOL but i jhave some Thoughts on games in General and the industry as a whole. buckle up!

- currently im playing. a lot of them obviously but my most recents are persona 5 tactica and the sims 4 :] - fav fav games EXCLUDING THE SPECIAL INTERESTS . - ghost trick, UT/DR, NITW, TS4 ( i havent played any other sims except the sims 2 pets for the 3ds im sorry.), super mario galaxy, goodbye volcano high - the special interest ones include pokemon (fav out of main series is sun/moon, black/white, and scarlet/violet, but i do like many spin offs like mystery dungeon), mii/wii games (i.e. wii sports), minecraft story mode, and the persona games (never finished one but i've reached various distances in P2IS-P5 excluding some spin offs and stuff like i havent started P5S or P2EP. favs r 3 + 4 + tactica) ^ ask me about any of those (or other ones i like i.e. gvh) i WILL ANSWER even if its something thatd be faster with google im better - underrated gems i'd say goodbye volcano high, death road to canada, chicory a colorful tale, signs of the sojourner, aviary attorney, tails noir, blanc. ghost trick to a lesser extent ig but the others are indie - current main wishlist (inc. ones i Will emulate): shin megami tensei V, devil survivor overclocked, fire emblem 3 houses, professor layton, pokemon black 2, persona q2, persona 3 reload ( I Want. Now. its on gamepass but i literally need everything related to it you dont get it.), wii play motion, twewy, and okami. OH also in stars and time and oneshot. also disco elysium and hylics look cool too. AND CASSETTE BEASTS. fuck i hate when every game looks good. need to play murder of sonic the hedgehog also. and looking forward to billy bust up. OH AND I NEED TO PLAY THE STANLEY PARABLE. AND BALDURS GATE 3 - i think the only game i really truly regret buying is 1-2 switch. im sorry it was good for like 2-3 weeks when the switch was new now i just do not care - i love you indie games i love you games that in general are not afraid to be weird and deviate from stuff. get crazy with it - video games r kind of an art form. if you think about it - industry kind of shit !!! stop laying off your devs!!!!!!!!!! what the fuck!!!!!! its been bad lately even my dad (a QA tester) got laid off a game he was working rly well on because they abruptly cancelled it. ok - i don't care for most FPS games. not my thing. too stressful. not enjoyable for me that much. im more of an RPG guy but i'm open to new things i played like food maker apps when i was a kid - speaking of industry stuff crunch is another thing severely a major problem. and the thing with sag aftra approving ai voices in games. Stop!!!!!!! - i miss e3 :( was a fun thing to look forward to each year - game preservation is also a real issue. like ig i get saving money by killing the servers on old consoles but in nintendos case people still actively use them theyre not that old. kind of dumb. xbox i get it the 360's been out since 2005 but 3ds/wiiu things are younger than me chill out - HATE when good fun mobile games are cash grabby. like STFU its more annoying than anything when they make resources impossible to get without paying. whats the fucking fun in that. i'd rather it be an easy way out last resort than oh i can get like 1 gem every month by doing this BUT if i pay i can get 10 of them for like 10 dolar. like ok die - waiter! waiter! more transgender as hell games please! (i.e. goodbye volcano high. that game changed lives) - also we need more autistic as hell games and i mean canonically. and not fucking Creepy Autism Simulator - more and better accessibility settings!!! i personally dont need many myself but it's important to me that others are able to play a game without severe issues due to disability. indie games doing great abt this based on feedback though ive seen a lot of good ones - any streetpassers in the chat thats all sorry it was long but i have a lot of thoughts abt Games in general. if theres any in particular u wanna hear abt shoot me an ask!!! can be one not on here i'm open to reccomendations or just things ive gathered from people who have :]

[felassan]

Check out this video interview with Mark Darrah, ‘On Anthem’s Launch, Dev Advice, And Leaving BioWare’. It’s interesting and pretty substantial. He talks about a bunch of different things, including his YouTube channel, things BioWare could’ve done differently, crunch, whether he’ll write a book about his gamedev experiences, gamedev pitfalls, Anthem’s troubled development, the development of projects he worked on including DA2, cancelled projects (and what happened to them) including Jade Empire 2 / ‘Jade Modern’ / Revolver and Mass Effect: Corsair, the reasons why he left BioWare and Dragon Age 4.

I recc giving the whole thing a watch, but if you’re not able to, here are the Dragon Age 4-related quotes and other especially interesting-to-me portions transcribed for ur convenience! (under a cut due to length):

Mark: "There is a tendency for projects that are small to think they're amazing, because it's so much easier. Like when I ran Sonic [Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood] - it was a 20 person team - it's just so much easier to make things go smoothly than when you have a 200 person team. So I think that we've made progress, but as Dragon Age pivots into production and that team gets bigger and bigger, it will be interesting to see if that's true or if it's just the blindness of being a small team. Like when Inquisition was in the throes of shipping, both Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem would love to talk about how they were 'doing things right!' and then they fell in totally different holes, but still fell in a bunch of holes after Inquisition shipped. So I do think that there is a hubris that comes from a project in early development where you feel like this time you've figured it out."

---    Mark: “As Dragon Age [4] was moving towards production, I could see that like, the team, I've been told by people that they've never met a team that more wants to be in production than Dragon Age team. But what ended up happening was, in order for the team to really explore the space properly, we had to sort've train them to be in pre-production. But that meant that that team no longer really wanted to be in production, they wanted to be in pre-production. And so, looking at what was going to be required to pivot that team into production, it wasn't a challenge that I thought I was up to any longer. I think that team, once they get into the mindset, is capable of moving entire mountains, and will move entire mountains, but they need someone that can lead them through that."

Interviewer: “Yeah, from the outside it's striking that you and Casey Hudson left at the same time. It sort’ve definitely implies a ‘fuck this’ moment for the two of you. If it was just you saying ‘I can’t do it’ then it’s understandable.”

Mark: “Yeah, no, I mean, it’s hilarious, because, we definitely were not coordinated. That was, as near as I can determine, there was nothing that triggered us on the same moment other than maybe just a sort’ve mounting, just, like, this friction, being at the, I would say, the GM and EP, the point at which the [something?] friction and the project friction meet, and you’re just sort of grinding there. But I don’t think there was a massive injection of anything late last year that triggered that. Not that I can point to. For me, yeah, I do think it was, weirdly, a coincidence. Casey and I have stayed in touch, we didn’t leave to go form a studio together or anything.”

---

Interviewer: “Are you being torn apart a little bit internally about that pressure of, ‘I know if I just made a video that said, The Secrets of Dragon Age - not even Dragon Age 4, whatever the hell that thing’s called at this point - but just, The Secrets of Dragon Age: Origins’, like, you know that  audience surely would show up. I imagine there’s that community that’s screaming at you, like, ‘Tell us something we don’t know about Dragon Age, tell us about the future!!’, versus, trying to play it a little more straight and actually offer gamedev advice.”

Mark: “Yeah, for sure, absolutely, like, looking at, there is an entire segment of YouTube which is ‘Dragon Age fans talking about Dragon theories and watching the trailers and picking them apart’ and I could do that, and that would be, I feel like that would almost destructive to everybody, because I could deflate all the theories, some of which are completely completely wrong, some of which are amazingly right. But I think, like, I don’t think the community actually wants that. They might sort’ve think they do, but I think if I just sort’ve pulled away the curtain, I think it’d be like, ‘Ohh.. but now what are we gonna talk about? :(’ Like I don’t think that anybody wants that honestly. It would be great for my metrics but I don’t think anyone really wants that.”

Interviewer: “And not to offer you advice, but like I think there’s somewhere in the middle. Like when they have the next teaser trailer for the next Dragon Age project, you could do a reaction video to that and it would be your most viewed thing by a mile, and you wouldn’t be stepping on anybody’s toes.”

Mark: “Yeah, I have thought about that exact thing. Cause we’ve now moved, I think, beyond the horizon of anything that comes out of Dragon Age at this point, like if they’re at EA Play, and I don’t know if they’re at EA Play or not, then whatever that is will be something that I didn’t have anything to do with, so we’re reaching the point where I can now, I feel like, start to provide, yeah, reaction videos from the perspective of, an incredibly well-informed outsider.”

---

Interviewer: “And you must know, even though you’re not inside the studio, like, just have an appreciation how much that [MELE’s good success and good reception] can do for the studio’s morale. I’d imagine it’s just night and day.”

Mark: “Oh, absolutely, like. Andromeda and Anthem being the last two things before the remaster, that is a cloud that hangs above the studio for sure.”

Interviewer: “Yeah, I mean I remember visiting for Dragon Age: Inquisition, it must have been, and it was still, like, the Mass Effect 3 ending, I feel like, even visiting the studio for two days, you could feel that like, funk, of just like ‘ugh, good Christ, we’ve gotten the crap kicked out of us’.”

Mark: “Yeah, I mean. The Mass endings is an interesting one for me. Because, it’s not the choices I would have made to end the game, but those are the choices that were made. I wonder... I don’t like ultimatums, and I feel like with Mass 3, the team kind’ve gave into an ultimatum. The community was so angry that we then released new better endings to ‘fix it’, and it’s not that that’s a bad piece of content, that’s a good piece of content, but I just worry that, the internet today, seems almost like... a reaction to the Mass 3 endings. Almost like, the internet learned that if you just yell loud enough you get what you want. And I don’t think that’s real, because it’s Mass Effect, it’s not Star Wars.”

Interviewer: “But I mean, if it wasn’t the ending of Mass Effect 3, it would have been something else in that era of Voices On The Internet Being So loud that it causes a big company to pivot and be like ‘Okay, we’ll try and make you a little bit happier, please just relax everybody’.”

Mark: “Yeah, totally. So I mean, I don’t think Mass Effect bears the brunt of the blame of toxic fan culture. But certainly it’s one of the very first examples of that culture managing to make something happen.”

---

Mark: “Now I do feel that maybe I overlearned that lesson, because, something that I did a lot on Anthem was talk about how, you know, ‘this is not a BioWare-style game, this is not gonna have the storytelling that you’re used to’. And I think maybe I overstressed that. I do think that at the end of the day where we are with Anthem today, if you were a BioWare fan that liked all our other games, and you play Anthem with an eye to playing it as a storytelling game, it’s certainly not our best, but it’s not bad.”

Interviewer: “So Anthem marketing and messaging was hurt because you were overlearning the lessons from Sonic, that’s the takeaway?”

Mark: “I do think so. I do think that like, I don’t think it was from the marketing perspective, but I do think that both Casey and I overstressed [that]. We didn’t want people to get mad at us for making a game that wasn’t a very good storytelling game, so we wanted to get ahead of that message and say like, ‘it’s not a very strong storytelling game, it’s a game about all this other stuff’, but, at the end of the day, it is a storytelling game, it’s still in there. And those are the people that stayed away. And if those people hadn't stayed away, I’m not saying the game would have suddenly done [awesome], but it would’ve softened the narrative a little bit, I think.”

Interviewer: “Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’m sure you understand this better than anybody, but that’s such a loaded term to say ‘This is a BioWare-style game’, and obviously there’s that era of EA where they were trying to say that every project within EA was a ‘BioWare-style’ game and so, it’s interesting to hear you kind’ve, hemming and hawwing about how much to lean into, ‘no no, this one is 100% BioWare, this one is 73% BioWare’ - it’s such a murky thing.”

Mark: “It absolutely is, I mean, and I even said these things. Like we made MDK2, well, we made it, so I mean is that a ‘BioWare-style’ game? Is Baldur’s Gate a ‘BioWare-style’ game? But if it is, then how is Mass Effect a ‘BioWare-style’ game, and certainly I don’t think anyone would argue that Mass Effect is not a ‘BioWare-style’ game. So that term has to evolve as the studio continues. But I think for whatever reason, for a variety of reasons, I guess, with Anthem we were worried that maybe we’d pushed it a bit too far. And then I guess we did.”

Interviewer: “Did you enjoy any part of working on Anthem, or was it just a matter of putting out so many fires that it was just nothing but stress til the end?”

Mark: “It was stressful for me. I mean. I have a weird - the last ten years of my career at BioWare seemed to involve a lot of helping people land their planes. And that’s what Anthem was for me, I wasn't there from the beginning. I was helping to land it. I think there’s a satisfaction that comes with landing a game, with finishing a product, and I felt that with Anthem as well, and there were a lot of talented people on that project that I’d never worked with before, and that was great. It was great to, y’know, figure out these people that had only ever worked on a Mass Effect, that I’d never worked with before, their skills and abilities. I really like understanding the strengths and weaknesses of a person and building around that. I didn’t really have an opportunity on Anthem to do that because y’know, we were just trying to get the plane on the ground, but I think, having learned about what those people could do, that’s very gratifying because it lets you imagine what you could do with them in the future.” 

Interviewer: “Yeah, if things aligned magically, but for you you realized it never was gonna align, and it was always just right on the horizon of being able to cobble this amazing talent together and focus it down.”

Mark: “Yeah, I mean - I think that I, the mistake that I made on Anthem, I think the biggest mistake, was I’m used to getting a team that pushes back on me in a certain way. So as I’m sort’ve pushing the stick down to get the plane to hit the runway, I’m used to pushing it sort’ve too far, because I know that the team is gonna push it back and then we’re gonna end up where it should be. And I think that given the state of the team on Anthem when I came on, and given the differences in personalities of the leaders there, versus the ones that I’d been working with for ten years, that’s not what happened. I think if anything, I pushed it down, and then they grabbed it and pulled it even further, because they were desperate for help in decision-making, and I was providing decisions. And they were grabbing onto that, and so I thought we were on this glide slope [motions], I was aiming at this glide slope expecting that we were gonna be like [this], but instead we were like [this], and so we, yeah, we landed that pretty rough. But, I mean, it was my call, I’m the one that said we shouldn’t push to move this, not because I thought it was perfect, but because the only path I could see to making it way better was moving it a lot. And when you’re in the last eight, nine weeks of a project, I could only see like, if we were gonna move it, we [would] have to move it like a year. And that’s - in a public corporation that’s a hard argument to make.”

---

Mark: “One of the most expensive things a project can do is slip. Because, your team, when you do that your team is at its maximum size, so if you got 200 people working on a project and you move a month, well that’s 200 staff months, you just got a bunch more expensive just by moving a month. Whereas actually adding more people, well if you only got a month left, to add 200 staff months to a project, you gotta add 200 people, that’s a lotta people. Moving the date is one of the most expensive, and you can reach a point where it’s like, look, it’s not worth it, if we move the date it’s gonna cost more to continue this project than it’s gonna make, so we’re not gonna. But rarely is that the case, you’ve already spent the money you’ve spent, so the only cost that matters is the cost going forward.”

Interviewer: “So, do you regret not pushing for Anthem to be delayed a year or was it good just to get something on the ground so that we could start building to take it off again with a living game?”

Mark: “Yeah, honestly, I don’t regret it, the [team/game?] was tired and it didn’t have another year in it, and I think a lot of the things that are super obvious now, some of them we knew, some of them we knew, like the balance, we had done one, clean balance pass, by having QA come in and hotseat their way through the game over Christmas break. Like literally playing the game 24 hours a day. We’d done basically that once. So we knew that, we knew that. But a lot of the other things kind’ve only came out once it was out in peoples’ hands. I think the path that I wasn’t capable of seeing at the time that could’ve maybe resulted in a better game would’ve been to put it into beta, like a real beta, in the state that it was in, and run it like that and then release it a year later. But I don’t know if there was the will to do that frankly. There might be now... I think Anthem taught EA a lot of lessons.”

Mark: “[on Cyberpunk] I think many of the same things happened there [as with Anthem]. They had a team that was tired and it wasn’t ready but they couldn’t see the path to getting it more ready. If the team is too tired, just taking another two months just isn’t gonna get you what you think it’s gonna get you.” [source]

[path-of-my-childhood]

How Aaron Dessner and Taylor Swift Stripped Down Her Sound on ‘Folklore’

By: Jon Blistein for Rolling Stone Date: July 24th 2020

At the beginning of March, the National’s Aaron Dessner traveled back to the United States from Paris, where he’d been living with his family, to shack up at Sonic Ranch Studio in Tornillo, Texas to work on the next Big Red Machine album with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Those plans - obviously - soon shifted, as the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Dessner and his family were able to relocate to their home in upstate New York as lockdown orders went into effect, and the musician soon settled into a groove of homeschooling his kids and able to focus fully on music in a way he hadn’t in a while, due to the National’s regularly rigorous touring schedule.

In the middle of what Dessner describes as one of the most productive moments of his career, Taylor Swift called. A longtime and avowed fan of the National, Swift asked if Dessner wanted to try collaborating on a few songs remotely. He said of course, and asked if she was looking for anything in particular. He noted that he had plenty of material at the ready, but acknowledged he’d been in a more experimental mood, due to the Big Red Machine sessions; not to mention, Dessner added, he’d never really ventured into the pop world Swift has dominated for well over a decade. She told him to send everything he had.

“I think she was interested in the emotions that she feels in some of the music that I’ve made,” Dessner tells Rolling Stone.” So I just sent her a folder of things I’d done recently and was excited about. Hours after, she sent back a fully written version of ‘Cardigan.’ It was like a lightning bolt struck the house.”

Over the next few months, Dessner and Swift crafted the bulk of Swift’s eighth studio album, Folklore. Dessner spoke with Rolling Stone about working with Swift, their instant chemistry, how the album developed under a thick cloud of secrecy and more.

When Taylor first reached out, did she have a specific vision in mind for the album? She was a bit cryptic. I didn’t know that we were actually working on a record for quite a while. It just seemed that she was seeking me out to collaborate. And then we were both feeling very inspired by it. Once there were six or seven songs that we had written over a couple of weeks, she said, “Hey can we talk?” Then she said, ‘This is what I’m imagining,’ and started to tell me about the concept of Folklore. Then she mentioned that she’d written some songs at an earlier stage with Jack [Antonoff], and they felt like they really fit together with what we were doing. It was a very inspiring, exhilarating collaborative process that was almost entirely remote. Very sort of warp speed, but also something about it felt like we were going toe-to-toe and in a good pocket.

After “Cardigan,” how did these songs develop and do you think she pushed you in any new directions as a songwriter? When you’re working with someone new, it takes a second to understand their instincts and range. It’s not really conscious. She wrote “Cardigan,” and then “Seven,” then “Peace.” They kind of set a road map, because “Cardigan” was this kind of experimental ballad, the closest thing to a pop song on the record, but it’s not really. It’s this emotional thing, but it has some strange sounds in it. “Seven” is this kind of nostalgic, emotional folk song. Even before she sang to it, I felt this nostalgia, wistful feeling in it, and I think that’s what she gravitated towards. And “Peace,” that just showed me the incredible versatility that she had. That song is just three harmonized bass lines and a pulse. I love to play bass like that - play one line then harmonize another, and another, which is a behavior I stole from Justin Vernon, because he’s done that on other things we’ve done together. And actually, that’s his pulse, he sent me that pulse and said, “Do something with this.” But when she wrote that song, which kind of reminds me of a Joni Mitchell song over a harmonized bassline and a pulse, that was kind of like, “Woah, anything can happen here.” That’s not easy to do. 

So, in the morning I would wake up and try to be productive. “Mad Woman” is one I wrote shortly after that, in terms of sound world, felt very related to “Cardigan” and “Seven.” I do have a way of playing piano where it’s very melodic and emotional, but then often it’s great if whoever’s singing doesn’t sing exactly what’s in the piano melody, but maybe it’s connected in some way. There was just some chemistry happening with her and how she was relating to those ideas.

“Epiphany” was something she had an idea for, and then I imagined these glacial, Icelandic sounds with distended chords and this almost classical feeling. That was another one where we wrote it and conceived it together. She just has a very instinctive and sharp musical mind, and she was able to compose so closely to what I was presenting. What I was doing was clicking for her. It was exhilarating for us, and it was surreal - we were shocked by it, to be honest [Laughs]. I think the warmth, humanity and raw energy of her vocals, and her writing on this record, from the very first voice memos - it was all there.

Do you think that chemistry might’ve had something to do with her being a National fan, and you being a fan of her music? We met Taylor at Saturday Night Live in 2014, or whenever that was that we played and Lena Dunham was hosting. We got to meet her, and that was our first brush with a bona fide pop star. But then she came to see us play in Brooklyn last summer and was there in a crazy rainstorm, like torrential downpour, and watched the whole show and stayed for a long time afterwards, talking to me and my brother. She was incredibly charming and humble. That’s the nice thing about her, and a lot of people I’ve met that have that kind of celebrity. It’s great when you can just tune it out and be normal people and chat, and that’s how that felt. So, we knew that she was a big fan, and we really got into the 1989 album. Our Icelandic collaborator, Ragnar Kjartansson, is a crazy Swiftie. So we’ve kind of lived vicariously through him. I’ve always been astonished by how masterful she is in her craft. I’ve always listened to her albums and put them in this rarefied category, like, “How did she do that? How does anybody do that? How do you make ‘Blank Space?’” There was an element that was intimidating at first, where it just took me a second to be like… Not because I think her music is better than what we’ve done, but it’s just a different world.

Were there particular songs, albums or artists the two of you discussed as reference points for this album? “Betty,” which is a song she wrote with William Bowery, she was interested in sort of early Bob Dylan, like Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, I think. “Epiphany,” early on, felt like some weird Kate Bush-meets-Peter Gabriel thing. I think we talked a little about those things, but not a lot. Actually, I think she really trusted me as far as my instincts to where the music would ultimately go, and also the mixing process.  We really wanted to keep her voice as human, and kind of the opposite of plastic, as possible. That was a bit of a battle. Because everything in pop music tends to be very carved out, a smiley face, and as pushed as possible so that it translates to the radio or wherever you hear it. That can also happen with a National song - like if you changed how these things are mixed, they wouldn’t feel like the same song. And she was really trusting and heard it herself. She would make those calls herself, also.

You mentioned William Bowery - who is he? He’s a songwriter, and actually because of social distancing, I’ve never met him. He actually wrote the original idea for “Exile,” and then Taylor took it and ran with it. I don’t actually know to be totally honest.

We’ve been trying to track him down, he doesn’t have much of an internet presence. Yeah, I don’t fully know him, other than he wrote “Betty” and “Exile” with her. But you know she’s a very collaborative person, so it was probably some songwriter.

So it’s not an alias for anyone? No, no, no. I mean, I don’t know - she didn’t tell me there was a “Cardigan” video until literally it came out, and I wrote the song with her [laughs]. So I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure he’s an actual songwriter. She enjoys little mysteries.

With the National, you and your brother write the music, Matt Berninger adds the lyrics, and then you fuse it - was it a similar process on Folklore? Taylor is very collaborative in that sense that, whenever she sent a voice memo, she would send all the lyrics and then ask me what I thought. And sometimes we would debate certain lines, although generally she’s obviously a strong writer. So she would ask me if I liked one line, and she would give me alternate lines and I would give her my opinion. And then when she was actually tracking vocals, I would sometimes suggest things or miss things, but she definitely has a lot of respect for the collaborative process and wants whoever she’s writing with to feel deeply included in that process. It was nice, and was a back and forth, for sure. And she would sometimes have ideas about the production if she didn’t like something, especially. She would, in a tactful way, bring that up. I appreciated that, too, since I wanted to try to turn over every leaf, take risks and sometimes get it wrong. That always takes a second, to get over and then you start again.

You mentioned earlier that once you had six, seven songs, she was able to describe a concept behind the album. I’m curious what that conversation was like. She would always explain what each song was about to me, even before she articulated the Folklore concept. And I could tell early on that they were these narrative songs, often told from a different… not in the first person. So there are different characters in the songs that appear in others. You may have a character in “Betty” that’s also related to one in “Cardigan,” for example. And I think that was, in her mind, very, very important. It doesn’t seem like, for this record at least, that she was inspired to write something until she really knew what it was about. And I think I’m used to a more - at least lately - impressionistic and experimental world of making stuff without really knowing what it is. But this was more direct, in that sense. That was really helpful, to know what it was about and it would guide some of the choices we were making.

Every time she would send something, she would narrate a little bit, like how it fit, or what it was about. And then when she told me about Folklore as a concept, it made so much sense. Like “The Last Great American Dynasty,” for example, this kind of narrative song that then becomes personal at the end - it flips and she enters the song. These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record. It was binding it all together and I think it’s personal, but also through the guise of other people, friends and loved ones.

You were working in secret - how did that affect the process? Was that a difficult burden? It was. I was humbled and honored and grateful for the opportunity and for the crazy sort of alchemy we were having. But it was hard not to be able to talk openly with my usual collaborators, even my brother at first. I didn’t know if I could really tell him, because we normally… Ultimately, he helped me quite a bit, he orchestrated songs. But we always help each other. But eventually, we figured out how to do it. Towards the end of the process, I said to Taylor, ‘I really feel that I need to try a few experiment and try to elevate a few moments on the record because we have time, and we’ve really done a ton of work here, and it all sounds great, but I think we can go even further.’ And then she said, ‘Well what does that mean?’ And I explained how that would work, and the way that we work. Our process is very community-oriented, and we have long-time collaborators that we have a good understanding with. So I was able to say, to my friends, ‘This is a song I’m working on, I can’t send it to you with the vocals, and I can’t tell you what it is, but I can explain what I’m imagining.’ And the same with my brother, he knows my music so well that that was very easy for him to just take things that we were working on, add to that, and do his kind of work. So it was all remote and everyone was in their corner and we were shipping things around. It was incredibly fast because of that, because you didn’t have eight people needing to come to the studio. You had eight people working simultaneously - one in France and one in L.A. and one in Brooklyn. This is how it went, and it was fun. We got there.

When were you able to tell everyone who contributed that this was the Taylor Swift record, what was their reaction? You can imagine. I think they realized it was something big because [of] the confidentiality, and they were like, ‘It could only be a few things.’ I couldn’t tell them until, basically, when she announced it. Just in the moments after she announced it, I basically told everyone. I was like, ‘By the way…’ And they were thrilled. Everyone’s thrilled. Nobody seemed mad, everyone was thrilled and honored. Even Justin Vernon had not heard anything else except “Exile,” even though the pulse of that song “Peace,” he gave that song to me. It was important to have it be a surprise, and you know how it can be with someone in her position, with all the speculation, and she’s always under a lot of pressure like that. So it was really important to the creative freedom she was feeling that this remained a secret, so she could just do what we were doing.

Being such longtime friends and collaborators with Justin, what was it like hearing “Exile” for the first time? His voice and Taylor’s together? He’s so versatile and has such a crazy range, and puts so much emotion… Every time he sings when I’m in his presence, my head just kind of hits the back of the wall. That’s the same on this song. William Bowery and Taylor wrote that song together, got it to a certain point, then I sort of interpreted it and developed a recording of it, and then Taylor tracked both the male and female parts. And then we sent it to Justin and he re-did obviously the male parts and changed a few things and also added his own: He wrote the “step right out” part of the bridge, and Taylor re-sang to that. You feel like, in a weird way, you’re watching two of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of our generation collaborating. I was facilitating it and making it happen, and playing all the music. But it was definitely a “Wow.” I was just a fan at that point, seeing it happen.

Are there any moments that really stick out to you as particularly pivotal in shaping the sound of this record? The initial response. When we first connected, and I sent a folder of music and Taylor wrote “Cardigan,” and she said, “This is abnormal. Why do you have all these songs that are so emotional and so moving to me? This feels fated.” And then she just dove into it and embraced this emotional current. And I hope that’s what people take out of it: The humanity in her writing and melodies. It’s a different side to her. She could have been every bit as successful just making these kinds of songs, but it’s so great that she’s also made everything that she’s ever made, and this is a really interesting shift, and an emotional one. It also opens other doors, because now it’s kind of like she can go wherever she wants, creatively. The pressure to make a certain kind of… bop - or whatever you want to call it - is not there really anymore. And I think that’s really liberating, and I hope her fans and the world are excited by that because I am. It’s really special.

[straykidsupdate]

Stray Kids Aim to Reach A Global Audience with Relatable Take on K-pop: 'Stray is Okay'

“Not all those who wander are lost,” is a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, but it may as well be a slogan for K-pop boy band Stray Kids.

The act has spent the last few years carving out a niche for themselves in the K-pop world, gathering and inspiring their fans, known collectively as Stay. With several producers in the team, Stray Kids have released a multitude of albums since then that feature songs that are both riotous and introspective, energetic and motivational. The eight-member act, which started out in 2018 as a nonet but saw one member depart last year, recently completed their Clé album trilogy, and debuted their first-ever all-English songs earlier this year amid a world tour that will see them hit up dozens of cities across Asia, North America, and Europe.

While in New York City for the first show of their 2020 District 9: Unlock World Tour, the members of Stray Kids sat down with Billboard backstage ahead of their concert at Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden to discuss their career, the Clé album series, and their artistic vision.

How’s New York treating you guys?

Bang Chan: It’s like our third time in New York, but every time we find something new. Hyunjin and Seungmin went to Times Square and they took a lot of photos and stuff. Every time we come, it’s always great.

How do you feel about 2020 so far?

[Members gasp exaggeratedly.]

Felix: Excited. What else? Not only excited, but we look forward to 2020 because it is our first world tour. Bang Chan: True. Felix: We really want to show our much improved sides. We haven’t really shown much of what we’ve prepared so we’re really looking forward to showing that at the concert.

How do you feel you’ve grown since you performed in the U.S. last year?

Bang Chan: Well, I got a little taller. [Members laugh] I’m joking… Throughout the years, without even us knowing, we’ve improved skill wise and just getting used to the stage. Just the fact that we’re able to do a world tour with our own concert is an improvement itself, so I guess 2020 is another year for a lot of improvement so we’re getting ready for that.

What are you looking forward to the most on this tour?

Felix: Meeting our fans, it’s been such a long time since we met them. We do look forward to meeting them and seeing how cheerful they are. It’s very memorable. Bang Chan: It’s been around seven months since we last came to the U.S. Seven, eight months.

I.N: It’s really exciting because we’re going to a lot of different, new cities.

You just released “Double Knot” and “Levanter” in English. Why did you opt to release these two songs as your first English-language releases?

Bang Chan: I suppose it was an opportunity for us, because we’ve never released a full English track. But to have this opportunity to do that -- especially because there’s a lot of international Stays as well -- getting closer to them through these full English songs was really a great opportunity and chance for us.

Was there a reason you picked these songs in particular? 

Bang Chan: Well, they are our most recent releases. But because, especially with “Double Knot,” sound wise it’s really strong and confident, and we wanted to share that with Stay. And “Levanter,” it’s kind of got a different vibe to “Double Knot” so it’s the perfect one-plus-one package. 

Was it a different experience for Stray Kids as a team to approach creating songs in English? Some members speak English and there is an ample mount of English in your songs, but linguistic differences always affect things, so was it at all difficult?  

Hyunjin: Because my rap was all in English and it had a lot of speed to it, it was a little bit challenging. After recording it and listening to it, it felt really refreshing. It sounded like something new even though it was challenging to get through the recording at first. But after doing that, and doing the whole song in English, it felt like we were taking a step closer to our global fans. Felix: Getting to perform in English [on Kelly & Ryan and Good Day New York] was pretty cool. Very new. Very, “Oh wow, I’m not singing in Korean. Now I’m doing it in English.” It seems pretty cool. It was interesting. Bang Chan: I wrote the lyrics for “Double Knot,” cause the Korean version these two boys [points to Changbin and Han, who are credited with Bang Chan as co-lyricists on that version] wrote such good lyrics and I wanted to keep the meaning. So I was really trying my best to save the meanings they originally had, and try to translate it as close as possible without ruining the rap flow or the melody and stuff. It was a bit hard at first but luckily the song came out well, the boys recorded it really well. I was kind of proud of that. Thanks everyone.

In many of your songs, you sing motivationally about being yourself, expressing yourself, and share the intent to go towards goals and dreams. Why are these themes that you revisit time and time again?

Changbin: We tend to write about songs with that type of theme because a lot of people in the world, just like us, have goals and dreams that they’re running towards. So by writing songs that can relate to these people, we hope to give them strength and support through that, as well as give that to ourselves too.

Are there any lyrics from your songs that you’re thinking about a lot lately?

Changbin: I didn’t write this part in “Miroh,” but I think about it a lot. “It’s not hard, in this rough jungle/ It was me who ran into it, I’m okay.” Han: In “Grow Up,” that hook part where we say “you’re doing fine,” that’s something that I think about a lot because it gives me a lot of strength. I.N: I didn’t write this, but in “My Side” there’s a lyric- Bang Chan: [translating}: “I hope these lyrics touch your ears.” I.N: I think about that a lot.

Based on that lyric... How do you feel about the fact that maybe the lyrics aren’t reaching your listeners ears, since many don’t understand Korean or, with the new songs, English without a translation? 

Bang Chan: For me, it’s pretty funny. And they [the members] may not know this as well. But sometimes I listen to Indian music, sometimes I listen to Spanish music as well, usually from Spain. Honestly, I have no idea what they’re saying. But I dunno, just the vibe of the song and how the person actually sings it, I get a lot of different feelings as well. That kind of makes me want to find out what the lyrics actually mean, and what the singer really wants to say through the song. I do understand that there may be Stays that may just listen to our songs but not understand the lyrics, and I completely understand how that feels as well. So just want to put that out there. [Laughs] Han: People may not understand the message completely but, while there’s strength obviously in lyrics there is also strength in the melody and just the song in general as well. We do think about that as we perform and sing these songs because there are different ways you can gain strength through music, the lyrics are just one element.

In the Clé album series, you went kind of grittier, darker, sometimes industrial, and just generally more experimental than some of your prior releases. Where did you draw inspiration from?

Bang Chan: I think you’re probably talking about “Side Effects,” and also “Maze of Memories” which is really gritty as well. For “Maze of Memories,” it was pretty fast. We wrote it pretty fast. The lyrics go really deep. But we wanted to try a really raw -- If you listen to the song, the rhythm changes, the BPM changes, the vibes of the song changes, the instruments change as well. I dunno. We just felt like through this Clé series, especially Clé 1 where “Miroh” talks about just going for a new challenge with a lot of confidence. With that being said, we wanted to make a song like “Maze of Memories” really experimental.

You said it took a short period of time to write the song, but what does that mean exactly? How long is your songwriting process usually like that that was considered fast? 

Han: It’s always different, every song. On average maybe 4-5 hours. Bang Chan: If everything flows smoothly. And we have to do the guide as well. With a guide, like six-plus hours.

You talked a bit about what you wanted for Clé 1, but now that you’ve finished the entire series, what do you want listeners to take away from the sonic era as a whole? 

Changbin: We told a lot of stories through the Clé series. There were a lot of moments where we had a lot of confidence, and ones where there’s a lot of confusion, a lot of thoughts running through our head. A lot of people are going through that same thing as well, when they’re going through a lot of confusing thoughts in their heads. So we wanted to relate to other people going through that. I was kind of hoping that when people listen to this series, they can overcome those moments together [with us] by relating to each other. 

Are these feelings that you’re feeling as well?

Changbin: Of course. I feel like everybody goes through that at some point. 

You released a lot of music videos throughout the Clé series. How do you feel the visual elements help relay your lyrical messages, if at all?

Bang Chan: Last year, we had so many music videos. But if I had to pick some, for example “Side Effects” itself has a lot of... Seungmin: ...Easter eggs. Bang Chan: Yea, easter eggs. Especially for “Levanter,” it has a lot of easter eggs. Everything has its own meaning. I guess we know what it’s really about, and it is kind of difficult but it’s always fun to know what Stays think about it as well, because Stays do have a hard time trying to really solve what the music video is actually talking about. Even at a fansign event, they’ll be like, “So what does this video mean?” Like, “No, you gotta find out for yourself.” It’s kind of really fun to just know that Stays are trying to solve what the music videos are actually talking about. Changbin: It’s like, “You should guess.” Felix: It’s a challenge. Bang Chan: It’s like Inception. Cause there may be a meaning that we want to put into the music video as well, but for some people they could take it in a totally different way, but that could be their own answer if you know what I mean.

You shared your “Mixtape: Gone Days” at the end of last year, what did you want people to reflect on when listening to the song?

Bang Chan: It was a word play on “Gone Days,” as in days that have passed by and “kkondae(꼰대).” Seungmin: A little joke in Korean. Bang Chan: Yea, it’s a joke in Korean saying like, “old people.” But what I wanted to say was just, you know, the whole thing, really shortened, is, “The past is the past and, you know don’t really worry on the past too much and just focus on now. The future will come based on what you do now.” I think that’s what I wanted to say.

Was that a message you wanted to give your Stays at the end of 2019?

Bang Chan: I suppose so, because even if a lot of things have happened... Especially in 2019 there were quite a lot of things that happened. But in the end, they will be memories to us and we might learn a lot from them. Those days aren’t going to come back. Because we’ve learned so much from what has happened, we can focus on how to improve a better feature. I think that’s what I wanted to tell Stays. 

We’re moving into 2020, and you mentioned that quite a lot happened in 2019, and changes often lead to stress and anxiety so how do you face any hardships that come your way? Any advice for fans?

 Felix: I do feel that there will always be hardships, and it’s not always easy at first for everyone to overcome a situation. But, then again, once you have the help and support from someone, or even if you try yourself, eventually there will be a time when you can overcome that loop or that hope, that wall. I always think that there’s positivity, and there’s always a chance to break through. Always have a good ending. I don’t worry too much. I always think that it’s a challenge and I’ll be able to overcome it. 

You have released a lot of “Mixtape” tracks, both on and off albums, so is there any difference between “Mixtape” songs versus non-“Mixtape” songs? Is there an obvious thing that I’m just missing? 

Bang Chan: Uhhh…. It’s not obvious. I think the slight difference that it is, is that we can be a bit more experimental with mixtapes. More comfortable, freer. I think that’s it. 

You don’t think your other music is experimental?

Bang Chan: Oh, no! Like “Side Effects” was crazy experimental. I think, augh. What is the difference?? It’s hard to explain. I guess it depends on how you package it, I think. Give me a moment... 

You finished the Clé series, so what are you working on now? 

Bang Chan: There’s a lot. Changbin: We are making a lot of new stuff, and we can’t go into too much detail but we will say that it’s going to be another chance for us to show people, Stays, a lot of different sides to us so you can expect a lot from that.

Your name is “Stray Kids,” and in English “stray” means extra, lost, wandering, things like that. So a few years into your career, touring the world, do you feel that you’re still “Stray” Kids?

Hyunjin: Because we’re “Stray” there are so many roads that we can take, there are many options. Because we’re kind of lost. Because of that, we can also create our own paths, making roads that have not been taken yet thing. Being “stray” isn’t a bad thing. Bang Chan: I want to continue off of Hyunjin. People may think that “stray” isn’t a very positive word, but through being Stray Kids we’d like to make that being stray is okay.

To end off on something kind of fun, what is each Stray Kids member’s song pick for a Stray Kids playlist?

I.N: I’m going to say two. “My Side” and “Victory Song.” Bang Chan: Oh no, they’ll take everything away. Ah… [Felix laughs evilly.] Lee Know: “Sunshine” and “19.” Seungmin: For me, I’m going to pick “You Can STAY.” Felix: I’m going to say “Levanter.” Han: “Levanter” and “Stop.” Bang Chan: I got it, I got it! “Miroh!” Felix: I left you that one. Changbin: “Gone Days.” Hyunjin: I like “Voices.”

This interview was conducted in both Korean and English, and edited for clarity.

[bananaofswifts]

At the beginning of March, the National’s Aaron Dessner traveled back to the United States from Paris, where he’d been living with his family, to shack up at Sonic Ranch Studio in Tornillo, Texas to work on the next Big Red Machine album with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Those plans — obviously — soon shifted, as the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Dessner and his family were able to relocate to their home in upstate New York as lockdown orders went into effect, and the musician soon settled into a groove of homeschooling his kids and focusing fully on music in a way he hadn’t in a while, due to the National’s regularly rigorous touring schedule. 

In the middle of what Dessner describes as one of the most productive moments of his career, Taylor Swift called. 

A longtime and avowed fan of the National, Swift asked if Dessner wanted to try collaborating on a few songs remotely. He said of course, and asked if she was looking for anything in particular. He noted that he had plenty of material at the ready, but acknowledged he’d been in a more experimental mood, due to the Big Red Machine sessions; not to mention, Dessner added, he’d never really ventured into the pop world Swift has dominated for well over a decade. She told him to send everything he had. 

“I think she was interested in the emotions that she feels in some of the music that I’ve made,” Dessner tells Rolling Stone.” So I just sent her a folder of things I’d done recently and was excited about. Hours after, she sent back a fully written version of ‘Cardigan.’ It was like a lightning bolt struck the house.” 

Over the next few months, Dessner and Swift crafted the bulk of Swift’s eighth studio album, Folklore, which was released today, July 24th, after being announced the day before. Folklore is yet another mesmerizing musical move from Swift — a shift in sound, style and palette towards a vaster indie sound (à la, of course, the National) that still feels distinctly Swift-ian, as if she’s been making music like this her whole career. Lyrically, too, the record finds Swift playing with character and myth in new ways that — befitting the album’s title — recall the great American folk tradition. 

Dessner wasn’t the album’s only collaborator; Swift wrote several songs with regular producer Jack Antonoff, as well as songwriter named William Bowery, who doesn’t seem to have much of an internet footprint. Vernon also contributed to two songs, singing on one of the album’s many stunners, “Exile,” while Dessner’s brother and National bandmate, Bryce Dessner, helped orchestrate it with a mix of musicians scattered around the globe (none of whom even knew what they were playing on when they recorded their parts).

Dessner spoke with Rolling Stone about working with Swift, their instant chemistry, how the album developed under a thick cloud of secrecy and more.

When Taylor first reached out, did she have a specific vision in mind for the album? 
She was a bit cryptic. I didn’t know that we were actually working on a record for quite a while. It just seemed that she was seeking me out to collaborate. And then we were both feeling very inspired by it. Once there were six or seven songs that we had written over a couple of weeks, she said, “Hey can we talk?” Then she said, ‘This is what I’m imagining,’ and started to tell me about the concept of Folklore. Then she mentioned that she’d written some songs at an earlier stage with Jack [Antonoff], and they felt like they really fit together with what we were doing. It was a very inspiring, exhilarating collaborative process that was almost entirely remote. Very sort of warp speed, but also something about it felt like we were going toe-to-toe and in a good pocket. 

After “Cardigan,” how did these songs develop and do you think she pushed you in any new directions as a songwriter? 
When you’re working with someone new, it takes a second to understand their instincts and range. It’s not really conscious. She wrote “Cardigan,” and then “Seven,” then “Peace.” They kind of set a road map, because “Cardigan” was this kind of experimental ballad, the closest thing to a pop song on the record, but it’s not really. It’s this emotional thing, but it has some strange sounds in it. “Seven” is this kind of nostalgic, emotional folk song. Even before she sang to it, I felt this nostalgia, wistful feeling in it, and I think that’s what she gravitated towards. And “Peace,” that just showed me the incredible versatility that she had. That song is just three harmonized bass lines and a pulse. I love to play bass like that — play one line then harmonize another, and another, which is a behavior I stole from Justin Vernon, because he’s done that on other things we’ve done together. And actually, that’s his pulse, he sent me that pulse and said, “Do something with this.” But when she wrote that song, which kind of reminds me of a Joni Mitchell song over a harmonized bassline and a pulse, that was kind of like, “Woah, anything can happen here.” That’s not easy to do.

So, in the morning I would wake up and try to be productive. “Mad Woman” is one I wrote shortly after that, in terms of sound world, felt very related to “Cardigan” and “Seven.” I do have a way of playing piano where it’s very melodic and emotional, but then often it’s great if whoever’s singing doesn’t sing exactly what’s in the piano melody, but maybe it’s connected in some way. There was just some chemistry happening with her and how she was relating to those ideas.

“Epiphany” was something she had an idea for, and then I imagined these glacial, Icelandic sounds with distended chords and this almost classical feeling. That was another one where we wrote it and conceived it together. She just has a very instinctive and sharp musical mind, and she was able to compose so closely to what I was presenting. What I was doing was clicking for her. It was exhilarating for us, and it was surreal — we were shocked by it, to be honest [Laughs]. I think the warmth, humanity and raw energy of her vocals, and her writing on this record, from the very first voice memos — it was all there. 

Do you think that chemistry might’ve had something to do with her being a National fan, and you being a fan of her music? 
We met Taylor at Saturday Night Live in 2014, or whenever that was that we played and Lena Dunham was hosting. We got to meet her, and that was our first brush with a bona fide pop star. But then she came to see us play in Brooklyn last summer and was there in a crazy rainstorm, like torrential downpour, and watched the whole show and stayed for a long time afterwards, talking to me and my brother. She was incredibly charming and humble. That’s the nice thing about her, and a lot of people I’ve met that have that kind of celebrity. It’s great when you can just tune it out and be normal people and chat, and that’s how that felt. So, we knew that she was a big fan, and we really got into the 1989 album. Our Icelandic collaborator, Ragnar Kjartansson, is a crazy Swiftie. So we’ve kind of lived vicariously through him. I’ve always been astonished by how masterful she is in her craft. I’ve always listened to her albums and put them in this rarefied category, like, “How did she do that? How does anybody do that? How do you make ‘Blank Space?’” There was an element that was intimidating at first, where it just took me a second to be like… Not because I think her music is better than what we’ve done, but it’s just a different world. 

Were there particular songs, albums or artists the two of you discussed as reference points for this album?
“Betty,” which is a song she wrote with William Bowery, she was interested in sort of early Bob Dylan, like Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, I think. “Epiphany,” early on, felt like some weird Kate Bush-meets-Peter Gabriel thing. I think we talked a little about those things, but not a lot. Actually, I think she really trusted me as far as my instincts to where the music would ultimately go, and also the mixing process.  We really wanted to keep her voice as human, and kind of the opposite of plastic, as possible. That was a bit of a battle. Because everything in pop music tends to be very carved out, a smiley face, and as pushed as possible so that it translates to the radio or wherever you hear it. That can also happen with a National song — like if you changed how these things are mixed, they wouldn’t feel like the same song. And she was really trusting and heard it herself. She would make those calls herself, also. 

You mentioned William Bowery — who is he?
He’s a songwriter, and actually because of social distancing, I’ve never met him. He actually wrote the original idea for “Exile,” and then Taylor took it and ran with it. I don’t actually know to be totally honest. 

We’ve been trying to track him down, he doesn’t have much of an internet presence.
Yeah, I don’t fully know him, other than he wrote “Betty” and “Exile” with her. But you know she’s a very collaborative person, so it was probably some songwriter. 

So it’s not an alias for anyone?
No, no, no. I mean, I don’t know — she didn’t tell me there was a “Cardigan” video until literally it came out, and I wrote the song with her [laughs]. So I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure he’s an actual songwriter. She enjoys little mysteries. 

“These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record.”

With the National, you and your brother write the music, Matt Berninger adds the lyrics, and then you fuse it — was it a similar process on Folklore?
Taylor is very collaborative in that sense that, whenever she sent a voice memo, she would send all the lyrics and then ask me what I thought. And sometimes we would debate certain lines, although generally she’s obviously a strong writer. So she would ask me if I liked one line, and she would give me alternate lines and I would give her my opinion. And then when she was actually tracking vocals, I would sometimes suggest things or miss things, but she definitely has a lot of respect for the collaborative process and wants whoever she’s writing with to feel deeply included in that process. It was nice, and was a back and forth, for sure. And she would sometimes have ideas about the production if she didn’t like something, especially. She would, in a tactful way, bring that up. I appreciated that, too, since I wanted to try to turn over every leaf, take risks and sometimes get it wrong. That always takes a second, to get over and then you start again. 

You mentioned earlier that once you had six, seven songs, she was able to describe a concept behind the album. I’m curious what that conversation was like. 
She would always explain what each song was about to me, even before she articulated the Folklore concept. And I could tell early on that they were these narrative songs, often told from a different… not in the first person. So there are different characters in the songs that appear in others. You may have a character in “Betty” that’s also related to one in “Cardigan,” for example. And I think that was, in her mind, very, very important. It doesn’t seem like, for this record at least, that she was inspired to write something until she really knew what it was about. And I think I’m used to a more — at least lately — impressionistic and experimental world of making stuff without really knowing what it is. But this was more direct, in that sense. That was really helpful, to know what it was about and it would guide some of the choices we were making. 

Every time she would send something, she would narrate a little bit, like how it fit, or what it was about. And then when she told me about Folklore as a concept, it made so much sense. Like “The Last Great American Dynasty,” for example, this kind of narrative song that then becomes personal at the end — it flips and she enters the song. These are kind of these folkloric, almost mythical tales that are woven in of childhood, lost love, and different sentiments across the record. It was binding it all together and I think it’s personal, but also through the guise of other people, friends and loved ones.

You were working in secret — how did that affect the process? Was that a difficult burden?
It was. I was humbled and honored and grateful for the opportunity and for the crazy sort of alchemy we were having. But it was hard not to be able to talk openly with my usual collaborators, even my brother at first. I didn’t know if I could really tell him, because we normally… Ultimately, he helped me quite a bit, he orchestrated songs. But we always help each other. But eventually, we figured out how to do it. Towards the end of the process, I said to Taylor, ‘I really feel that I need to try a few experiment and try to elevate a few moments on the record because we have time, and we’ve really done a ton of work here, and it all sounds great, but I think we can go even further.’ And then she said, ‘Well what does that mean?’ And I explained how that would work, and the way that we work. Our process is very community-oriented, and we have long-time collaborators that we have a good understanding with. So I was able to say, to my friends, ‘This is a song I’m working on, I can’t send it to you with the vocals, and I can’t tell you what it is, but I can explain what I’m imagining.’ And the same with my brother, he knows my music so well that that was very easy for him to just take things that we were working on, add to that, and do his kind of work. So it was all remote and everyone was in their corner and we were shipping things around. It was incredibly fast because of that, because you didn’t have eight people needing to come to the studio. You had eight people working simultaneously — one in France and one in L.A. and one in Brooklyn. This is how it went, and it was fun. We got there. 

When were you able to tell everyone who contributed that this was the Taylor Swift record, what was their reaction?
You can imagine. I think they realized it was something big because [of] the confidentiality, and they were like, ‘It could only be a few things.’ I couldn’t tell them until, basically, when she announced it. Just in the moments after she announced it, I basically told everyone. I was like, ‘By the way���’ And they were thrilled. Everyone’s thrilled. Nobody seemed mad, everyone was thrilled and honored. Even Justin Vernon had not heard anything else except “Exile,” even though the pulse of that song “Peace,” he gave that song to me. It was important to have it be a surprise, and you know how it can be with someone in her position, with all the speculation, and she’s always under a lot of pressure like that. So it was really important to the creative freedom she was feeling that this remained a secret, so she could just do what we were doing. 

Being such longtime friends and collaborators with Justin, what was it like hearing “Exile” for the first time? His voice and Taylor’s together? 
He’s so versatile and has such a crazy range, and puts so much emotion… Every time he sings when I’m in his presence, my head just kind of hits the back of the wall. That’s the same on this song. William Bowery and Taylor wrote that song together, got it to a certain point, then I sort of interpreted it and developed a recording of it, and then Taylor tracked both the male and female parts. And then we sent it to Justin and he re-did obviously the male parts and changed a few things and also added his own: He wrote the “step right out” part of the bridge, and Taylor re-sang to that. You feel like, in a weird way, you’re watching two of the greatest songwriters and vocalists of our generation collaborating. I was facilitating it and making it happen, and playing all the music. But it was definitely a “Wow.” I was just a fan at that point, seeing it happen. 

Are there any moments that really stick out to you as particularly pivotal in shaping the sound of this record? 
The initial response. When we first connected, and I sent a folder of music and Taylor wrote “Cardigan,” and she said, “This is abnormal. Why do you have all these songs that are so emotional and so moving to me? This feels fated.” And then she just dove into it and embraced this emotional current. And I hope that’s what people take out of it: The humanity in her writing and melodies. It’s a different side to her. She could have been every bit as successful just making these kinds of songs, but it’s so great that she’s also made everything that she’s ever made, and this is a really interesting shift, and an emotional one. It also opens other doors, because now it’s kind of like she can go wherever she wants, creatively. The pressure to make a certain kind of… bop — or whatever you want to call it — is not there really anymore. And I think that’s really liberating, and I hope her fans and the world are excited by that because I am. It’s really special. 

[hlupdate]

Interview: Louis Tomlinson Opens Up About ‘Walls’ & Tour Plans

It’s go time for Louis Tomlinson. After years of building anticipation, the 28-year-old unveils his debut solo album Walls today (January 31). And the 12-song collection (featuring familiar titles like “Two Of Us” and “Kill My Mind”) was well-worth the wait. On it, he reintroduces himself to fans after taking over the world as one-fifth of One Direction. And the crooner does so by placing the focus on his powerful pen to provide a glimpse into his heart and soul. Whether he is overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles on the title track or embracing a youthful sense of adventure on “Fearless,” every song offers a chance to engage with him on a new level.

But dropping Walls was just a warm-up. Now he turns his attention to the accompanying world tour. It all starts with a March 9 set in Barcelona. Then the hitmaker spends the next several months making stops across the globe. That includes a string of North American dates in June and July. And it’s the moment he’s been waiting for. Last week I had the opportunity to chat with Louis about the rest of his action-packed 2020. He opened up about how he mentally prepared for the arrival of the album and his goals. After that he spilled some tea about the show. That includes a little insight into the setlist selection process.

OG fans will be happy to know that they’ll definitely hear a couple One Direction staples in a live setting again this year. Even better, Louis plans to play every song off Walls. Keep an eye peeled for our official album review in the coming days. In the meantime, dive into our interview below to learn more.

You’ve been working towards Walls for a couple years now. How does it feel to be so close to releasing it?

I think just a big sense of relief. I’m excited to release it and to have the fans hear it. And to go out there and tour it. So I’m just excited to get into this stage. It feels like it’s been a long time coming.

Obviously you’ve done a couple album releases before, but it was always as part of One Direction. Do you feel like this being a solo project changes your perception at all?

Yeah, I think there was a slightly different goal. Naturally with the One Direction albums versus with my own solo album. I think I actually kind of review once I’d come out of the band… I had to almost redefine the word success really. Because the experience I had in One Direction wasn’t really real life. So in terms of what I want to get out of this album and what I’ve for starters learned a lot along the premises. But what I want to get out of it is that hopefully my fans think I’m a good songwriter. So really it’s almost less pressure in a way.

I think lyrically your writing is coming across so well.

Thank you.

Speaking of the songs you’ve released, it’s interesting looking at the tracklist. Some of the songs made the final cut, but there are a couple older singles that didn’t. How did you decide what would live as a stand-alone moment in time versus what would make the final album?

I think when I looked at the older singles that I’d done it was hard sonically for them to sit on the album. On the vinyl I did a version of the Steve Aoki song “Just Hold On.” But it’s a completely new production. We reworked that. But with the other singles, it was kind of difficult to imagine them on that record. I feel like my songwriting kind of matured a little bit since then.

Can you talk about why you settled on Walls as the overarching title for the album?

To be honest it’s my favorite song on the album. I think it’s the best song on the album. It’s the song I’m most proud of. So I’d been thinking about what title I was going to have for the album for a while. And then I kind of just thought let’s not overthink it. What’s my favorite song? I love the concept behind the single so I kind of just went with my gut and went with that.

It’s interesting too because as I’m listening to the album I notice that you obviously reference walls in the title track. But you also talk about fences on “Defenseless.” It seems like there was a theme emerging of overcoming barriers or putting yourself out there without barriers. Was that intentional that you were doing lyrically while writing?

Not deliberately but I do try to write in an autobiographical sense. And as relatable as possible. I think that’s one of the things that we all go through at times. So I felt like yeah it was important to cover that. I hadn’t realized. A lot of walls and fences.

A lot of things we had to get over. Looking at the tracklist, is there a song that hasn’t been released yet that you’re most excited for fans to hear?

I’d say “Only The Brave,” which is the last song. It’s just short of two minutes long, and it doesn’t really have a traditional structure to the song. You only really get the chorus once. And I think it’s an interesting moment in the album. It closes the album, and I think it’s interesting.

One of my favorites is “Fearless.” I love the message. I took it as encouraging yourself to return to our youthful confidence and just saying fuck it to expectations and anxiety.

Yeah, absolutely.

I was hoping you could tell me a bit about how it came together?

I think the age that I’m at at the moment, I’m 28 now. I’m kind of in this strange age. We’ve got a bit more life experience, but it’s kind of reflecting on how fearless you are when you’re young. The fact that you are willing to make mistakes over and over again. It’s just drawing on that whole vibe, really.

That’s something I relate to being at a similar point in my life.

Nice. I appreciate that.

Do you plan to release any more singles off the project?

No I don’t think so. I think I’m going to release the album, and I’m going to get into tour and just concentrate on that for a little bit. Just so I have more stuff to write about. Then at some point this year I’ll get into writing the next record I suppose.

Awesome! It’s good to hear that there are already plans for another album.

Yeah. Definitely.

Something else I wanted to ask about was the “Walls” video. Some of the other videos this era have been more straightforward in terms of a plot, whereas this felt more conceptual. How did you come up with the idea for this one and what does it mean to you?

This is the fourth video that I’ve done with that director Charlie Lightening who’s amazing. I really enjoyed working with him. The first three videos fit together. Were narrative driven and had a bit more story to them. So I thought, we both thought it was important with this video to kind of move away from that and make something visually more interesting. We went to Morocco to film it in the desert. I Think it looks incredible. You’ve got that scale with it being in the desert. And yeah, we were just trying to make it look kind of trippy and surreal. Visually interesting. Just a good sort of performance video instead of getting lost in a narrative.

Cool. I also wanted to talk about touring. How are you getting ready for the show?

I’ve been doing little bits of rehearsals here and there because I’ve got TV performances anyway. Like two or three weeks of rehearsals. To be honest since the year started I’ve kind of been counting down the days in terms of my solo career. This is what I’ve been working towards. So I’m really excited about it.

It brings everything together, and it’s great to see that this is coming. I was reading your last interview with us and you mentioned that touring was a big goal. So it’s great to have it be here.

Definitely. It feels good.

Speaking about the show, will the focus of the setlist be on your solo music or do you plan on throwing in any of the material you wrote for One Direction?

I think it’ll be like there might be three One Direction songs in there. I mean I’ll definitely put a few in. It would be rude not to, and there are some bangers in there. But mostly Walls. I’ll probably do the whole album and maybe two or three One Direction tunes.

That’s awesome. I can’t wait to see what the setlist ends up being. Thank you so much and good luck with everything you have going on.

Thank you very much. I appreciate your time, man.

[herocentral]

Possible Hero 6

Evening folks Chapter 4 is here, sorry for the unfortunate delay I’ve been a little occupied with uni work. Plus I’ve been to see the Sonic the Hedgehog film, loved it loved the references and the action scenes, it defiantly deserves a sequel heck the games could learn from some aspects of it. Now without further delay heres chapter 4 of Possible Hero 6

I don't own the characters in this story this is just for fun! 

Kim Possible & Big Hero 6 (c) Disney, 2020

Chapter 4: Train up Hero style!

Things couldn’t be any worse for Big Hero 6 not only did their mystery villain thief AKA Shego escaped from them, twice and Momokase escaping as well with her intentions unknown. Now they return to Hiro’s garage to find Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable waiting for them, this could only mean one thing. 

“Hiro?” Hiro said but then coughed and straightened up. “Sorry Miss, uh Possible but I have no idea what your talking about.” He then acted. 

“Yeah, Ki.. uh, complete stranger who we have only met once at the…”

“Okay drop the poor acting Fred.” Kim said interrupting Fredzilla. 

“You, mean you…” Wasabi guessed. 

“Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, Fred Frederickson, Hiro Hamada and of course Baymax.” Kim pointed to each member of the team in a Batman like style which confirmed that she knew their secret identities. 

Everyone looked at each other in worry wondering what this could mean for the teams future. 

“Oh guys it’s so not the drama, your secrets safe with me.” Kim then assured. 

So one by one each member of BH6 removed their helmets/masks revealing their true identities and Honey Lemon put her glasses back on her face. 

“So how’d you know it was us?” Hiro asked. 

“Well for starters when I first saw Big Hero 6 and the tech they were using I could see that it looked a lot similar to each of your friends majors.” Kim began to explain. “Chemistry, mag lev suspension, laser induced plasma and of course Freds super hero theme all applied with the use of robotics, which with Hiro being a super genius could engineer.”

The team listened with interest and Ron as always was impressed by Kim’s deductive skills. 

“Plus when you told me that robot gauntlet was a souvenir from Alister Krei I could tell by your micro expressions that you were lying.” Hiro could only rub his neck in embarrassment as Gogo glared.

“And the final thing being, Tadashi’s death, his connection to the fire at SFIT and Professor Callaghan AKA Yokai. The fact being that Big Hero 6 appeared during his attack on Krei tech that day. Plus the coloured visors they’re terrible identity concealers.” Kim finished.

Everyone’s jaws dropped with amazement how could she have put together all the dots in such a way to find out their identities.

“Wow very impressive.” Gogo said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah told you she could do anything.” Ron added.

“Yeah that and being the daughter of a rocket scientist and brain surgeon doesn’t hurt.” Kim then added. 

“But I’m surprised that you were obviously followed all the way here and didn’t even notice, you’ve got to work on your security training.” 

“Wow, we do need to keep our eyes open or we’ll be blind.” Said a drunk Baymax. 

“Uh is he okay?” Ron asked. “Uh yeah he’s just low on batteries.” Hiro explained. 

Soon Baymax was out of his armour and on his charging station recharging his batteries. He begins to reinflate as he recharges. Meanwhile the rest of the team talk things over with Team Possible. 

 “So, now that you know are you going to tell my aunt Cass about this?” Hiro asked with worry. 

“No I’m....” “it’s just if she ever found out about this she’d literally put me under house arrest she worries a lot like a lot and.” Hiro said interrupting Kim. 

“Hiro!” Kim said getting his attention. “I’m not going to tell anyone about your identities.” 

“Oh.” Hiro said. “Actually when I first heard about Big Hero 6 I started doing some research I’ve seen the work you’ve done to help people and I’m pretty impressed how you’ve handled supervillains and kept the city safe.” Kim explained.

“But I do want to know why you decided to become super heroes in the first place?” She then asked. “Yeah I mean every super hero has a cool origin story.” Ron added as Rufus nodded his head.

Hiro took his time to answer but knew that since Kim and Ron now knew who they were that it was time to share why they do what they do. 

“Tadashi.” Hiro said then turned his attention to Baymax. “Show them Baymax.” 

Baymax’s chest monitor then lit up and began showing his video logs of Hiro’s brother building Baymax. 

“This is Tadashi Hamada.” He said introducing himself. Kim and Ron looked at the screen as did the rest of the team. 

“And this is the first test of my robotics project.” Tadashi then said holding up a black board with the words test 1 on it and he began testing his invention. 

“Hello, I am Baymax.....” Suddenly Baymax’s voice generated feedback which nearly deafens Tadashi. 

“Stop, stop stop stop!” Tadashi said as he quickly shut Baymax off. 

Kim saw who exactly this was whilst Ron was all but puzzled. However he saw the looks on the faces of everyone watching the video and could see some of them were happy and nearly brought to tears by the sight of this. 

“So is that...” “Yeah that’s Tadashi.” Hiro answered Rons question. 

The footage then moved onto the next entry log of the tests. 

“The seventh test of my robotics project.” Tadashi announced. He then activated Baymax to test him again. 

“Hello, I am Baymax.” Baymax said but suddenly began punching Tadashi with his inflated hands his left hand then flew off like a balloon quite literally. 

Tadashi held onto Baymax to try and get him to stop. 

“Wait wait stop scan stop!” Tadashi exclaimed. 

The next log showed Tadashi was completely exhausted, with bags under his eyes completely sleep deprived. 

“Tadashi Hamada again, and this is the thirty third test of my robotics project. He then said tired out.

Suddenly there was a spark and it completely took out the lights in his lab rendering leaving him in complete darkness. 

Tadashi then shines a torch  and looks over his creation though he was looking doubtful of making it work he wasn’t one to quit. 

“I’m not giving up on you.” Tadashi sighed. “You don’t understand this yet but people need you, so let’s get back to work.” Tadashi said shutting down Baymax to begin testing again. 

Kim just looked at the video in awe, she knew that Hiro’s brother built Baymax but didn’t know he saw difficulties doing it he persisted not giving up. She had to admit she was starting to admire him. 

The footage then moved to the next log it was the afternoon and Tadashi was looking a little tired after working hard through the night. 

“This is Tadashi Hamada, and this is the 84th” Tadashi sighed before continuing. “Test, what do you say big guy?” 

Tadashi activates Baymax and waits for another fault. 

“Hello, I am Baymax your personal healthcare companion.” Baymax said. 

Tadashi could only look in complete shock and surprise to see that his creation was operational and working. 

“It works.” He breathed. “IT WORKS!” Tadashi then shouted. ‘This is amazing! You, you work!” He said kissing Baymax in joy dancing with delight and excitement. 

“I knew it I knew it I knew iiiit!” He squealed. “You work I can’t believe it!” 

Ron nudged Kim’s shoulder and saw that there was a lone tear running down Hiro’s face and they could tell that he missed his brother. 

“Alright, alright big moment here.” Tadashi said as he stepped back ready for the biggest test of all. 

“Scan me.” Tadashi said and Baymax did as he was asked. 

“Your Nero transmitter levels are elevated, this indicates that you are happy.” Baymax diagnosed. 

“I am I really am.” Tadashi said in joy. “Oh man, wait till my brother sees you, your going to help so many people buddy.” 

Honey Lemon hugged Gogo slightly whilst Wasabi put a hand on Fred’s shoulder. 

“So.. many, that’s all for now, I’m satisfied with my care.” Tadashi said with a smile. The recording then ended and there was a minute of silence before Hiro broke it. 

“He wanted to help a lot of people, he cared, that’s why he worked so hard to create Baymax.” Hiro said gesturing you his robot friend. 

“So you became superheroes to, honour his memory?” Ron asked. 

“Well it didn’t really start that way at first, we did this to just catch the guy responsible for his death.” Hiro explained as the rest of his friends came over. 

“But after we saved everyone at Krei tech then after I enrolled at SFIT and stopping an army of rouge Baymaxes.” Hiro said. Kim could see where this was going. 

“The last thing that Tadashi ever said to me was, someone has to help.” Hiro explained. “So, that’s what we decided to do.” 

“Yeah Tadashi was our best friend, in a way his dream lives in all of us.” Honey Lemon added. 

Kim couldn’t help but smile at what she’d just heard, she knew they had the best of intentions and couldn’t help but relate to that sure when she first started out she didn’t ask to be a hero but after saving a billionaire collector and many other things after that, she knew this was her path.

“I see, well I know you guys have the best of intentions but Shego isn’t like most villains you’ve faced.” Kim then said. 

“I thinks that’s pretty obvious.” Wasabi said with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah even with our tech we have no way to fight her.” Honey Lemon said. “Come on guys we can’t just give up!” Gogo argued. 

“Yeah didn’t stop us before won’t now!” Fred said standing dramatically. 

“With our current skills I calculate our chances 0.000” Baymax explained. “Baymax no need for the number crunching.” Hiro said.

The team could see they would need to do something to be able to handle the likes of Shego but Kim seemed confident about what to do in this situation. 

“No big guys we can handle Shego and Drakken just leave this to us.” Kim said. “Ron, Rufus let’s go.” 

“Right behind you KP.” Ron said Hiro was all but shocked to see they were going to stop Shego by themselves however they had been following the case too and they couldn’t just let this go after tonight. 

“Hold on!” Hiro said getting the duos attention. 

“We’re coming too.” Hiro said standing forward. 

“It’s okay guys we got this.” Ron assured. “No.” Hiro said with confidence. “We have to help, my brother would have.” 

“Besides San Fransokyo is our turf, we’re not going to stand by and let this green lady or her boss wreck it.” Gogo said. “So you’ll need our help, like it or not.” 

“Yeah.” Said the rest of the team. In response to that the teen hero could only smile in response. 

“Good, that was actually a test, to see how committed you were to what you do, and I’m happy to say you’ve passed.” Kim said. “We could use help navigating this city.” 

Hiro could only smile in pride and relief. “Oh yeah I’m sensing a super hero team up!” Fred said practically jumping up and down in excitement. 

“Okay geek cool your jets.” Gogo said. “Yeah we still need a plan to take on this Shego.” Wasabi agreed. 

“Well maybe it’s best if we first get our facts straight.” Hiro said gesturing to his board of all the locations that Shego has robbed over the past week. 

“Hiro, you are due to wake up in 2 hours, sleep is recommended.” Baymax said 

“I guess your right Baymax we’ll talk more in the morning.” Hiro agreed to which Kim nodded because even heroes need their sleep. 

Drakken’s lair

Meanwhile as San Fransokyo slept Drakken’s evil mind was at work using the equipment stolen he began assembling something in his lair. All the while his henchmen were moving the components into place. 

“Now thanks to those plans we stole from the Krei tech servers our plans are now moving into place.” Drakken said as he worked. “Soon the world shall know my name and tremble before my genius! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“So you’ve said the last 23 times Dr.D.” Shego said filing her nails. “Quiet Shego your harshing my mellow!” Drakken said harshly.

“Yeah yeah whatever.” Shego said when she continued to do her nails. Suddenly an alert sounded from her phone and she looked to see she had received an email, from an anonymous sender. She opened it only to reveal a strange monster symbol in purple on her phone and then. 

“Greetings, I have a proposition I’d like to discuss with you  Miss Shego, I’ve attached directions come alone.” Said a voice from the phone. The message then disappeared. 

Shego was very much surprised, how could someone know her contact details only Drakken knew that, but at the same time she wanted to know how someone could find her. There was only one way to find out.

The Water front San Fransokyo bay:

In the dark of the night fog surrounded San Fransokyo harbour all was quiet in the air soon a figure arrived at the waterfront she was wearing a dark green jacket brand new Club Banana. It was Shego, she had to admit she was a little skeptic about this meeting but was never the less curious. 

It wasn’t clear but she could make out a faint light in the dark it was neon purple and it looked like a thin one sided skull face. 

The fog cleared to reveal Obake standing in the fog. 

“I see you decided to come.” Obake said smirking. 

“Okay, you got my attention what do you want.” Shego demanded. 

“Oh I have been watching you for a while my dear, and I merely wanted to meet someone of great potential.” Obake said simply. 

“Watching me?” Shego asked. “Yes, ever since you and your employer Dr.Drakken arrived in the city.” Obake said. “And I must say the power you have has a lot of potential, potential such as that shouldn’t be wasted on an amateur like him, for you see there is no limit to the potential you have, I learned that from an old friend of mine long ago” Shego listened you what this stranger had to say and a small part of her couldn’t wonder if he was right. 

“ That is why when the opportunity arose I decided to test you’re potential against another with similar ambitions.” Obake then said.

“Wait you sent that ninja lady!” Shego said in surprise. “Yes you see in truth I had no interest with that hard drive, I merely sent her to test your abilities against her. However the arrival of Miss Possible and Big Hero 6 did complicate things it did prove how much potential you have.” Obake said. 

“You said you had a preposition for me, what’s that supposed to mean?” Shego asked. 

“Why to merely have you consider what I’ve said, and to provide you with the means to expand your potential.” Obake said as he stood aside to reveal a small black crate. Shego was all but curious at this point. 

“Consider this a gift.” Obake said as he walked away. 

“Oh and if and when this scheme of your employers goes awry, you’ll know how to find me.” Obake said as the left side of his face glowed and disappeared into the mist. 

Shego used her powers to give a light in the mist to look for the stranger but couldn’t find him all that was left was the small black crate that he left for her. Being curious she opened the crate and found something inside, something that intrigued her. 

The following morning

As the sun shon on a new morning in San Fransokyo Kim and Ron were making their way to the Lucky Cat Cafe. They entered the cafe to see Cass seeing to her customers. 

“Morning Cass.” Kim called. “Oh morning Kimmie” Cass greeted. “Please Cass call me Kim.” Kim insisted. “Oh sorry your mother still washes off on me, even after high school.” Cass said. 

“Right so is Hiro around?” Ron asked. ‘“Oh of course Ron he’s in his garage with Baymax Gogo and the others just recently got here.” Cass said. 

“Right thanks” Kim thanked as she walked through to the back. “So how do you handle being...” Kim quickly pulled Ron away before he could blurt out anything. 

In the garage, the team was gathered, Hiro was working at his computer whilst Baymax scanned Gogo. 

“Gogo, you appear to have fully recovered from your minor concussion.” Baymax said. 

“Thanks Baymax but I’ve taken worse falls than that.” Gogo thanked. 

“So guys is anyone but me excited for this super team up with Kim Possible!” Fred said bouncing round in excitement. 

“Fred calm down.” Wasabi said. “Yeah besides this is a collaboration.” Gogo said. “Yeah to take down a common enemy.” Fred said “classic super hero team up, just like the time Captain Fancy teamed up with another super hero to take down their arch foes who teamed up!” 

“You read Captain Fancy?” Called a voice and they turned to see Kim and Ron standing in the garage doorway. 

“Oh hey guys.” Honey Lemon greeted. “Glad you could make it.” Hiro said. 

“Now, let’s have the sitch about what Shego’s been doing in the city.” Kim said. 

Soon Hiro pulled out his large board from the back of his garage showing all the Krei tech facilities that Shego has hit over the past week. 

“Okay, over the last week Krei tech has had several break ins at their warehouses in the city and we’ve been tracking them.” Hiro explained. 

“Yeah and at each one different things were stolen tech pieces both cybernetic and mechatronics.” Gogo then explained. 

“At first we thought it might have been one of our enemies like maybe Momakaske or Yama.” Wasabi added. 

“But it was actually Shego, who’s been taking these items for Drakken.” Kim eventually surmised. 

“Yeah so what’s the deal with that blue skinned guy?” Fred asked. 

“Right best you guys know what your dealing with, but it’s best to late Wade snow you.” Kim said. 

“Who’s Wade?” Asked Honey Lemon. Then all of a sudden the holo computer near the front of the garage lit up showing Wade in his room at the computers. 

“That’s me” Wade said startling everyone. 

“Guys, this is Wade our resident super genius and our secret weapon.” Ron introduced. “Wade meet Big Hero 6” Ron then gestured to the team in the garage. 

“Dude!” Hiro panicked. “Guys relax Wade can keep a secret.” Kim assured chuckling. “Yeah plus Hiro, he’s a super genius like you and graduated college at 13.” Ron added. 

“All are true.” Wade said. “Well okay, I’m Hiro.” Hiro introduced. 

“Hello I am Baymax.” Baymax introduced with a wave. 

“That’s Gogo.” Hiro gestured and she just blew a bubble gum ball. “He’s Wasabi” “How you doing” Wasabi greeted. “That’s Honey Lemon.” “Hello there.” Honey Lemon greeted. 

“And I’m Fred” Fred said introducing himself. 

“Pleasure guys been reading up on you guys pretty impressive.” Wade complimented. 

“Okay Wade show them everything we have on Drakken and Shego.” Kim said. 

“Right showing files now.” Wade typed in some commands on his keyboard and showed files on Drakken and Shego. 

“Well as you guys have probably guessed Shego is an ex superhero gone rouge, and she works with Dr. Drakken.” Kim explained. “Drakken is your typical mad scientist who wants to conquer the world, he never does though. His real name is Drew Lipsky he was once a friend of my Dad in college.”

“Wait he was a friend of your dads!” Hiro said in surprise. 

“Oh.. a twist I’m liking this origin story more and more.” Fred said sitting down on a chair. Gogo just nudged him. 

“Yeah but he dropped out when he couldn’t build a good robot and his friends laughed at him.” Kim added. 

“Classic!” Fred said. “But what’s with the blue skin?” Wasabi asked. “Maybe he turned blue with sadness.” Honey Lemon guessed. 

“Blue skin is often what happens when someone holds their breath for a long period of time.” Baymax diagnoses with a diagram on his chest monitor. 

“I have a theory.” Fred said with a knowing finger pointing up. “When he was laughed out he must’ve accidentally fallen into a vat of chemicals which turned his skin blue and made him a little insane.” 

Everyone looked in surprise, to what Fred just said Baymax just blinked. 

“Wow that’s actually a good theory.” Wade said in surprise. 

“Yep never underestimate the power of comic books” Fred said proudly. 

“Okay, so back to the matter of Shego, what could she want with these components?” Hiro said. 

“Knowing Drakken it could be another one of his take over the world schemes.” Kim said. “Now they know you guys are onto them we’ll need to work together to stop them and figure out what they’re up to.”

“Great, but don’t we need a plan we haven’t fought someone like Shego before.” Wasabi asked. 

“Well you guys are good and judging by the security footage you stood your ground against Shego, but you need to learn how to fight better to stand a chance against foes like her.” Kim explained. 

“So I’m going to train you guys how to fight and how to better use your tech in team work.” 

“Oh yeah! IT’S SHUGYO TIME!�� Fred exclaimed taking a kung fu training pose. “To the mansion!” 

Fred’s Mansion the gardens

Soon everyone was gathered in Fred’s back garden which was rather large with very Greek like architecture structures and statues. Everyone was now dressed in training attire; Hiro wore a white shirt with his normal pants and sneakers, Wasabi was in his yoga gear which was a green shirtless vest with black pants and shoes. Gogo just wore her white shirt with her black pants and leggings. Honey Lemon was in her yoga gear and both were bare foot. Fred meanwhile was in a training suit. 

“Dude this back yard is huge!” Ron said in amazement with Rufus looking wide eyes.  

“Yeah we train here with our suits sometimes.” Fred explained “You see that statue over there.” Fred then gestured to what was left of a statue that was destroyed by something. 

“Baymax wrecked it with his rocket fist when we first got our suits.” Fred then explained. 

“Whoa!” Rufus squeaked. “But weren’t your parents tweaked about that?” Ron said concerned. 

“Nah my dad didn’t like that anyway it was imported from someplace called the Southern Isles they didn’t want it for some reason so my mom bought it.”Fred then added. 

“Alright guys gather up.” Kim called who was now dressed in training gear of her own which was comprised of a pink short sleeved crop top, dark pink yoga pants and sneakers with a grey shirt underneath. Everyone soon gathered as she placed down some training gear such as punching pads. 

“Okay guys in order to stop your opponent you first need to know more about how they fight.” Kim explained. “So when you first fought Shego what did you see?” 

“Shes fast.” Hiro said “Mean!” Fred said “Fights dirty” Gogo then added. “Loves the colour green” Honey added. “And uses plasma blasts!” Wasabi then said. 

“All good answers.” Kim said with a thumbs up. “Shego’s style is all about attack and going on the offensive, and yes she uses energy blasts which trust me sting if you get hit.” 

“Got that notion.” Gogo said remembering her fight with her last night.

“So, how do we fight someone like that?” Honey Lemon asked. “By learning how to fight better and use teamwork.” Kim said “Now lets get you guys in fighting shape.” 

(Music Starts: Call me Beep me Sadie Stanley)

Kim holds up some punching pads in her hands and Gogo begins punching them followed by some kicks and Kim manages to block them all. Soon she and Wasabi are facing each other on the grass. Kim motioned for Wasabi to come at her, though he was a little hesitant at first he knew this was training so he charged forwards and threw a few punches which Kim dodged and then grabbed Wasabi’s arm and flipped him onto his back. 

Hiro was lasting a little longer when training against Kim she threw a few punches and kicks whilst Hiro avoided some of them and Hiro threw a few punches of his own. However Kim did a leg swipe and tripped Hiro up. 

He looked up and saw Kim offering a hand smiling which he took. 

Ron meanwhile sat on the sidelines with Rufus, Mini max and Baymax. Those who weren’t training namely Hiro, Wasabi and Fred were sat resting and with towels. 

Meanwhile Kim was doing a two on one with Honey Lemon and Gogo, they came at Kim with punches and kicks which Kim was able to block, and gave advice whilst doing so. 

“Remember coordinate like a team.” Kim said between kicks and punches. So the two responded by working as a team Gogo slipped past Kim whilst Honey Lemon threw a roundhouse kick and Gogo came up from behind and performed a leg swipe tripping Kim up who was quick to recover. She looked to the two impressed knowing they were learning. She then came in with back flips and then performed several round house kicks. 

From his viewing point Hiro was amazed by Kims fighting skills but given she said she was a cheerleader it did help a little, however when he looked to Baymax an idea soon sparked in his head. 

Later at the garage, Hiro was typing at his holo computer keyboard and was looking at recordings of their training session and Kims fighting skills. He knew exactly what to do with this. However, he then noticed Rufus was in the lab and looking at Baymax’s armour lying around and he saw the little mole rat was pretending he was firing rocket fists from his hands. Hiro could only chuckle a little but he then got an idea and so slid his chair over to the rear desk and picked up a small scanning device. 

“Hey Rufus.” Hiro called getting his attention. “Arms up and hold still.” He then said and Rufus a little confused held his arms up and Hiro scanned him creating a 3D render in his computer. 

Back at the mansion Kim had set up an obstacle course for a training exercise the course consisted of several benches hoops and even a balancing beam.Fred was suited up in his Fredzilla suit. Kim then ran forward and performed some of her cheer leading moves back flips on the benches, swinging on the hoops and then bouncing on the beam to back flip and land on two feet. She then gestured for Fred to try.

“Oh yeah!” Fred said putting on the top half of his suit on then charged in. “SUPER JUMP!” He exclaimed. He performed a super back flip with the enhanced springs in his suit and then jumped and then swung round the hoops and launched forwards jumps on the board and finally span in a circle breathing fire from his suit and landed on the ground in a dynamic super hero pose!

Kim nodded in approval of Freds success. Soon she was facing Wasabi again and this time he was more confident in his hand to hand combat skills and was able to avoid Kims leg swipe and then performs a round house kick knocking her to the ground. She saw him offering a hand which she took. Hiro too was improving not only with his own knowledge of self defense compliments of his brother, but with Kims help. 

He was able to avoid water blasts from water guns that Ron was firing at him from behind a cardboard cut out of Shego. Gogo who was now wearing her mag lev skates slide past all the water blasts grabbed Hiro’s hand and then swung him towards the target and gave it a round house kick. 

Hiro and Gogo gave each other high fives. Back in the garage Hiro was transferring data to something and out of a disk burner came a small data chip coloured in green. He then placed Kims signature logo on the chip compliments of Wade. He then went over to Baymax and opened his access port revealing his health care and superhero chip. 

“Okay buddy ready to take it to the next level.” Hiro asked. “Doing shugyo makes me a better health care companion.” Baymax replied and so Hiro placed the chip into Baymax which then retracted into his chest. 

Soon everyone was taking a break from their training and soon Hiro arrived with Baymax armoured up. Hiro then laid out some small devices in the garden and then opened his laptop typed in several commands and then Wade appeared on his desktop. 

“Okay Wade let it rip!” Hiro said “Right initiating training exercise.” Wade said as he typed in several commands and then activated devices which then projected holograms of several villains including Baron Von Steamer, Shego, High Voltage and Duff Killigan. 

“Baymax Go!” Hiro said and Baymax responded by rocketing forward and the holograms became aware. Holo Steamer fired a huge blast of steam which Baymax then formed his wings flew up into the air then came slamming down to the ground fist first, knocking the hologram to the ground. 

Holo High Voltage then attacked, and Baymax was quick to avoid it and rocket forwards performing a round house kick then saw Shego coming and backflipped over her back and in slow-motion fired his rocket fist from his left hand and knocked down the two holograms in one shot.

Kim was all but amazed by Baymax’s abilities and noticed how his fighting style was similar to hers, she then remembered how Hiro told her he’d made a chip full of combat programs for the original Baymax (the one Tadashi built) when they were starting out. So it was clear he had programmed him with her skills. 

Holo Duff then fired some explosive golfballs and Baymax quickly reacted by deflecting two with his left hand then jumped into the air rolled into a ball then kicked away the next three that holo Duff fired which didn’t hit him but Baymax then landed in front of him and then just looked down on him. 

“Aye I surrender!” Said Holo Duff and with that Wade and Hiro ended the exercise and the hologram disappeared.

(Music ends)

“Whooo!” Fred said in excitement. “That was amazing Baymax!” Honey Lemon said. “Not bad.” Gogo said. “Boyah Baymax!” Ron said excitedly. 

“Spankin job big guy.” Kim congratulated. Baymax then turned round to Kim and lifted up his right fist. 

“Uh..” Kim said confused. “Now we fist bump.” Baymax then said blinking. 

“Wait you know how to fist bump?” Kim said with a raised eyebrow. “Yes Hiro taught it to me.” Baymax replied. 

“Yeah I kinda did.” Hiro said rubbing the back of his neck. 

“Come on KP just go with it.” Ron suggested. “Don’t leave him hanging” 

Kim decided to just listen to Ron and the others and so. 

“Okay.” Kim then fist bumped with Baymax. “Bah-la-la-la-la-la-la” Baymax then said wiggling his fingers in the air after the bump leaving Kim with an even more confused look than before. 

Just then Kim’s Kimmunicator beeped and she answered it. “Go Wade.” She said. 

“Kim you guys may want to check the latest news casts.” Wade advised then bringing up a news report from San Fransokyo and their reporter Duff Blunder was on the scene. 

“This is Duff Blunder reporting live from San Fransokyo bridge where citizens are being attacked by what appears to be three individuals with jet packs.” Duff said through his microphone as he was on the bridge with panicking citizens. Suddenly dropping from the air came three armoured individuals two men and a woman each wore matching black armoured suits with grey underneath and red visors on their faces.

The first was a caucasian male with blonde hair and a muscular build, with a darker beard than his hair colour. The second was a dark skinned male who is bald and has a dark beard on his face and is more muscular than his compatriots. The woman was tanned skinned has long brown hair but a shaved off part on the right side of her head and wears red lipstick. 

“I’ll take that thanks!” Jack said snatching the microphone off Duff blunder and looking into the camera. 

“Hi there the names Jack, these are my compatriots Jaq and Jack” He said introducing his compatriots who took up action poses. 

“Together we are the Mad Jacks, normally we’re mercenaries for hire but today we’re making an acceptation several months ago we were humiliated and defeated and so I hereby announce a challenge to Big Hero 6, unless they agree to face us at the bridge my associates and I shall detonate bombs at key points under the bridge.” Greg Jack announced 

“So what’ll it be Heroes? you have two hours don’t keep us waiting.” Greg Jack said. 

The team looked at the footage in shock especially Hiro and his friends. 

“Old friends of yours?” Ron asked “Not exactly.” Hiro said. 

“Yeah the Mad Jacks are villains we’ve faced before their an elite special ops unit who work for the highest bidder.” Fred explained. 

“I’ve heard about them professional mercenaries for hire, and I thought Team Impossible gloated a lot.” Kim said. 

“Well Hiro was able to help us stop them despite being sick and with a broken leg.” Wasabi then explained. 

“Whoa talk about being a stubborn patient.” Kim pointed out. “Well if you think about it KP you went on a mission when we were full of a cold.” Ron pointed out remembering their Sick Day episode. 

“So it looks like their back for a rematch.” Gogo said. “Then it’s time we put our training to the test.” Hiro suggested. “Hey guys care to give us a hand?” 

“No need to ask we’re in.” Kim said confidently. “Okay guys suit up!” Hiro then announced. 

The team each suited up in their armours and bore their gadgets, whilst Kim and Ron dressed in their normal mission clothes Kim span her hair dryer grappling hook round her finger then placed it into her belt pouch. Then Rufus appeared and Ron noticed he was wearing armour identical to Baymax’s except it was in the same colour scheme as Kims mission suit and he wore the armour on his chest and hands. 

“Whoa Rufus sweet armour!” Ron said “Yep” Rufus squeaked. “Yeah saw him taking an interest in Baymax’s suit so I made him one of his own.” Hiro said and soon everyone was riding Baymax’s back as he rocketed across the city with his jet boosters. 

Hiro rode on Baymax using his magnetic gloves and pads while Gogo, Honey Lemon and Kim held onto the wings while on Baymax. Rufus held onto Kim as well. 

“Okay I’ll admit this is a killer view.” Kim said impressed. “Maybe if you were on his back!” Ron called as he and Wasabi were holding onto Baymax’s arms while he held onto Fred via his suit collar and he was posing like super man as Fred pretended to fly.

Ron wasn’t enjoying a single moment of this. “This is not cool man!” He said practically yelling. 

“How’d you think I feel I’m terrified of heights!” Wasabi exclaimed to Ron. 

Soon they were approaching their destination and the police were doing the best they could to barricade people off the bridge until the crisis was over.

“Look!” Called a woman and they saw Big Hero 6 and Team Possible arrive on the scene and the crowd cheered knowing the heroes had arrived. 

Baymax landed on the bridge and the rest of the team disembarked, however there was no sign of the Mad Jacks anywhere. 

“Where are they?” Honey Lemon said the rest of the team looked around but were a little cautious, Kim didn’t like the looks of this one little bit. 

Baymax scanned the area for any sign of trouble and when he looked up he saw something alarming. 

“Oh no” Baymax said and Kim looked up to see what he was alerting them about and her eyes widened in shock.

“LOOK OUT!” Kim shouted and everyone jumped out of the way of an incoming laser blast and were quick to avoid the impact. Everyone quickly recovered and got back up on their feet just as the Mad Jacks floated down using their jet packs.

“Well look who decided to show.” Said Jaq with a smirk. 

“So you guys still sore about us beating you last time?!” Hiro said “Oh you mean how you outsmarted and humiliated us!” Greg Jack said with a smirk.

“Well now it’s payback time!” Jack grunted. “Oh and I see you have help, your going to need it.” Greg Jack said noticing the presence of Kim and Ron. 

“Mad Jacks lets take em” Greg Jack yells and they fly in and attack, the team then scatter Hiro climbs aboard Baymax who takes to the sky after the three villains. 

“Jack, Jaq, take care of the six on the ground I’ll take care of the big bot and their leader.” Greg Jack ordered. “Copy that!” Said the two Jacks. Baymax and Hiro began chasing Greg Jack in the sky whilst the rest of the team take on the other two. 

The two Mad Jacks pull out their laser blasters and try to blast the team. Gogo and Honey Lemon jump to the left whilst Kim, Ron, Fred and Wasabi jumped to the right. 

“We need to find those bombs if they go off everyone still on this bridge will be toast.” Gogo said. 

Kim then reached for her Kimmunicator. “Wade scan for the bombs!” Kim said “Way ahead of you.” Wade said and after a few typing commands on his keyboard he soon heard a beep sounding that he found what he was looking for. 

“Got it! They’re under the bridge on the centre support!” Wade relayed as he showed a diagram of the bridge. 

“Wade put me through to Hiro!” Kim ordered. Meanwhile Hiro and Baymax were in a dog fight with Greg Jack who was trying to shoot them down with his laser bazooka. 

“Eat laser bot!” Greg Jack exclaimed. Baymax was able to doge the blasts and Hiro held on to his back. 

“Hiro you there!?” Kim said on the coms. “Yeah kinda busy!” Hiro replied. “We’ve located the bombs there under the bridge, near the centre support.” Kim relayed. 

Hiro looked down to the bridge and with the scanner in his helmet scanned the bridge and zoomed in to see several bomb like devices attached to the bridge. 

“I see them.” Hiro relayed. 

Back on the bridge the rest of the team were contending with Jack and Jaq. Gogo used her mag lev skates to skate and avoid the blasts then jumps and throws her mag lev disks at Jack which he then deflects. 

“That all you got speedy!” Jack exclaimed. “Okay time to use our training.” Gogo said 

“Honey let’s ground these chumps.” Gogo said “ Thought you’d never ask.” Honey Lemon said as she typed in a formula on her chem-purse and made two chem balls and threw the, both at the bridge supports, they explode and expand into a splat wall of elastic goop. 

(Music starts playing- Immortals Fallout boy)

Gogo then kneels down on all fours and revs up on her discs and launched herself forward into the ‘sling shot’ and pulled back all the way to the other end of the support until she was catapulted forwards into the air, heading straight for jack pulled back a fist then POW right in the face which sent him flying into the pillar at the far side of the bridge. 

Gogo then skated as she landed on the ground and Honey Lemon rushed to her. 

“Oh yeah Speed punch!” Gogo said “way to go Gogo!” Honey Lemon said giving her a high five. However they didn’t notice that Jaq was flying towards them. 

“Guys heads up!” Ron called to them they turned and saw Jaq arming her arm cannons. “Your Jacked!” Jaq yelled but suddenly. 

“SUPER JUMP!” Called a voice and she saw Fredzilla jumping in the air above her. 

“FLYING DROP KICK!” Fred yelled and performed a drop kick mid air knocking Jaq to the ground. Honey Lemon peeped a Chem ball and tossed it to Ron. “Throw it Ron.” Homey said and so he threw it to the spot where Jaq landed and it created a pink goo ball trapping her inside. 

“Grr!” Jaq growled as she couldn’t get out of the ball no matter what she tried. 

“You just got gooped” Ron cracked. “Boo yah!” Rufus squeaked. He then noticed Kim was not with them. Kim was below the bridge using some magnetic discs. She held the Kimmunicator up to the bombs so that Wade could properly scan them. 

“Kim I’ve got bad news!” Wade said. “Okay let’s hear it.” Kim asked. 

“Well, the bad news is the bombs can’t be disarmed manually there’s about five different triggers.” Wade explained. “Is there a way to disable it?” Kim asked with worry. 

“Yes disable the master detonator and that’ll disarm the bombs.” Wade surmised. 

“Well where is the trigger?” Kim asked. “I’ll scan for it” Wade began scanning for the bomb trigger and soon found it.

“Oh boy.” Wade said 

Baymax and Hiro were still in the air fighting Greg Jack who is chasing them with his laser bazooka Baymax was able to avoid the blast Hiro looks back and sees the Mad Jack behind them. 

“Hiro there’s a way to disarm the bombs!” Kim relayed on the coms. “Okay what is it?” Hiro asked. 

“The guy chasing you he has it, it’s located in his gauntlet on the left wrist.” Kim relayed. “Right that’s going to be a problem.” Hiro said seeing how Greg Jack was dead set on shooting the, down. 

From the bridge Kim could see the issue and from her back pack forms her jet pack and rockets into the sky. 

Back on the bridge the Police try to keep the crowd back within that crowd was Karmi who was trying to record what was happening. However she looked up to see Baymax and Hiro or as she knew them Captain Cutie and Red Panda fighting Greg Jack whilst the rest of the team deal with Jack who had regained consciousness. Then all of a sudden she saw a figure emerge fro, the bridge she zoomed in on it using her phones camera. 

“No way is that!” Karmi gasped her phone camera showed her it was Kim Possible fighting alongside Big Hero 6 she couldn’t believe it.

Meanwhile Baymax launches his rocket fist at Greg Jack, who used his jet pack to avoid it then fires his blaster at them which Baymax quickly avoids it as his fist returns to him. 

Then suddenly Greg Jack received a kick in the back delivered by Kim Possible he manages to stabilise himself and looked to see Kim just as Baymax flew next to her with Hiro. 

“You got the drop on me impressive miss...” “The names Kim Possible, ring a bell.” Kim said answering Greg Jacks question. 

“Oh yeah now I remember your the hero with a lame website it doesn’t even have a cool theme song.” Greg Jack cracked. 

“Says the guys all called the same name, Greg” Hiro then cracked. “Wait your names Greg but your all called the Mad Jacks?” Kim asked “yeah it’s really a code name found that out when we first fought and won.” Hiro then added. 

Greg Jack just growled with frustration. “Enough talk time to blast stuff!” He yelled as he blasted the two of them but they quickly avoided the blast. 

He kept blasting the three heroes with his bazooka until finally he clipped the wing of Kim’s jet pack causing her to spin out of control.

“Kim!” Hiro yelled, Kim quickly managed to get her jet pack off but was still falling to the ground Baymax quickly rockets down after her and reaches out with his hand. Reacting quickly Kim pulls out her grappling hair dryer and fires it towards Baymax who grabs it and swings it round lifting her into the air for her to land on Baymax’s back. 

Her grappling hook retracts leaving Hiro completely amazed. 

“You always carry a hair dryer with you?” Hiro said in amazement. 

“Never leave home without one, it’s saved me on multiple occasions not just life and death but also hair crisis.” Kim breathed. 

Suddenly Baymax avoided another blast from Greg Jack and flew away as he chased him. 

“He is still shooting at us.” Baymax said “no kidding, we’ve got to get that detenator!” Kim said to Hiro, “Then we’ll need to ground him.” Hiro suggested. 

(Music ends)

Back on the ground Wasabi was using his plasma blades to deflect blasts from Jack who was recovered and blasting them with his wrist blasters. Ron was running quickly to avoid them. 

“Yow, yikes!” Ron said avoiding the blasts. Fred then charged forwards and using his suits enhanced jumping skills he performed a triple back flip.

 “Homey chem ball me!” Fredzilla said and she fired a pink chemball from her purse and on the third flip Fredzilla kicked the ball into Jack and the chemball exploded and stuck him to the ground. 

“Boyah Fred!” Ron cheered. However their celebration was interrupted by the sound of laser fire they looked up to see Baymax, Hiro and Kim struggling against Greg Jack and getting the detonator from him. 

“We’ve gotta help them!” Honey Lemon said. “They’re too high up and none of us can fly.” Gogo said knowing that Baymax was the only one on the team who could fly. Or was he? 

Rufus pulled on Rons shirt and he saw that his mole rat friend was wearing armour similar to Baymax including its ability to fly. 

“Wait, Rufus! You can help them!” Ron said and Rufus nodded and almost on cue wings emerged from his armour and he posed like superman and rocketed into the sky. 

“Go get um!” Ron called which left the rest of the team skeptical looks as to how a small mole rat can help their friends. 

Greg Jack is going all out trying to shoot Baymax down he was beaten by these heroes before there’s no way he was going to let this happen again it would be an insult to his profession. 

However he felt a tap on his head and he turned to see a small pink rodent dressed up in armour with a jet pack. 

“Whuh?” Greg Jack said in surprise. “Hello” Rufus squeaked he then kicks Greg Jack in the face who cries in. Pain as he got hit in the mouth Rufus quickly flies away and Greg tries to grab him but misses. 

“Hold still you little..” Greg jack growled and Rufus just spits his tongue like a child which winds up the Mad Jack even more. 

However he’s so focused on the armoured naked mole rat he neglected a certain someone coming right at him. 

“Hey!” Called a voice and Greg Jack turns to see Baymax heading right for him with Hiro and Kim riding him. However strangely as Greg braces for impact he sees the flying red robot missed him as he flew right by. 

“Ha! You missed!” He shouted. Suddenly Hiro lands on his back and then hits a button on Greg’s jet pack which releases it from his armour. 

“Oh no...” Greg Jack gulped. “JACK DOWN AGAAAAIIIIIN!” He yelled as he fell to the ground and Hiro was falling right behind him but then Baymax swings in and Kim manages to grab him as they fly down and grab Greg Jack and lower him to the ground safely. 

“Nice one guys!” Honey Lemon cheered just then Rufus hovers down and lands on Baymax’s shoulder who turns to see him. 

“Flying makes you a better companion Rufus.” Baymax said and Rufus smiles and offers his tiny fist for a. “Fist bump” he squeaked. 

Baymax raises his fist and they bump them. 

“ “Bah-la-la-la-la-la-la” The two said. “So” said Greg Jack getting their attention. “You think this is over?” 

“Uh yeah.” Kim said taking the detonator from the compartment in his gauntlet and presses a red button that said disabled. Below the bridge the bombs then deactivate. 

“Your bombs are disabled, your revenge done.” Kim listed. ‘“Oh and look.” Kim then pointed and they saw a fleet of helicopters but they didn’t belong to the SFPD. 

“There’s Global Justice already here to Cart you guys away to prison.” Kim then pointed out. “Seems you guys have worked for a number of people on their most wanted list and you’ve committed a number of offences on their radar.” She then explained. 

“Yeah sounds like someone tipped them off.” Ron then added with a smirk. 

“Grr how did you guys get so good!” Greg Jack then asked Big Hero 6. 

“Easy ‘Greg’ we’ve been training.” Hiro smirked “with the best.” He said looking to Kim who could only smile. 

Soon Global Justice took the three Mad Jacks away to be incarcerated at their jail facility, whilst an officer of GJ explained everything to the police officer at the scene. 

“Okay guys seriously, were we awesome? Or were we totally AWSOME!” Fredzilla said in excitement. 

“I’ll admit, that was cool we’ve never taken down an enemy of ours that easily before.” Gogo admitted. 

“Yeah, did you see that sling shot move we did!” Honey Lemon bounced excitedly. 

“Yeah I hereby dub that move the Slingshot Punch!” Fred said. 

“Yeah not to mention I was totally alive out there!” Wasabi said. “What about me I was helping too I drew his fire!” Ron pointed out feeling left out. 

“We acted very efficiently in neutralising the target.” Baymax diagnosed. 

“We stopped the bombs, thanks to Rufus.” Hiro said thanking the Molerat. 

“But Kim I have to know how did you know that the Mad Jacks were wanted by those GJ guys?” Hiro then asked. 

“Oh that’s easy during the fight I had Wade do some research into them hacking their website..” “Cool theme some by the way.” Ron then interrupts Kim. 

“...yeah anyway Wade found the list of a number of clients they’ve worked for in the past including a number of war lords, crime bosses and of course a few super villains.” Kim listed 

“To cut a long story short forward the info to some fiends of ours in GJ and off to jail they go.” Kim finished. 

“Wow, you really can do anything.” Hiro said impressed. Kim could only smile humbly by this compliment. Just then.

“Oh my, that was AWESOME!” Shrieks a voice and they turned to see Karmi standing behind them. 

“An actually team up between Kim Possible and Big Hero 6!” Karmi said excitedly. 

“Oh I’ve got to get a picture of this.” She then said holding up her camera phone to take a photo. 

The nine heroes just stood bemused but decided to pose for a photo while Hiro just kept a natural expression. Karmi takes a photo showing her a photo of Big Hero 6 and Team Possible together. 

“Oh I’m so writing a fan fic about this Captain Cutie teams up with teen hero Kim Possible!” Karmi said practically bouncing away in excitement and could already picture her fan fiction taking place featuring chibi versions of the team and Kim. 

Hiro just grimaced at the thought of what she just said. 

“Captain Cutie?” Kim smirked with a raised eyebrow “Don’t ask” Hiro groaned. 

Meanwhile

Whilst events transpired at the bridge, far away in a old derelict warehouse on the dark side of town a lone figure stands alone in the darkness. 

It was really Shego except something was different on her wrists she now wore metal gauntlet like devices with glowing green lines on them. Ever since her little meeting with Obake he left them for her as a ‘gift’. Though a little skeptical she decided to test his present somewhere away from prying eyes and she knew Drakken would just ask questions. 

She looked at the gauntlets and they did seem to fit perfectly and surprisingly they didn’t clash with her outfit. However she was still unclear to their function. 

“Alright let’s see what glow face’s toy can do.” She said to herself. 

She infighter her powers as normal this then caused the gauntlets to activate which then caused her energy to glow brighter even her eyes started to glow a little. 

She threw an energy blast at a crate in the warehouse and it immediately blew it into a million pieces. She was completely shocked.

“Whoa! My blasts were never that powerful?” She said in amazement. She looked to her gauntlets and when she touched one of the lines it took her energy and formed it into a blade comprised of her energy. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

She then smirked and swung her arm blade like a samurai and then with one swipe let loose a huge energy wave that completely incinerated two of the rear pillars. 

She then bore a sadistic smile as her eyes glowed green and her hands burned with enhanced energy. 

“Oh ho ho ho! Me likie.” She said “whoever that guy is he’s right it’s time to see what potential I have!” Shego said and let loose a huge blast of energy from her hands. 

End of chapter 4

Whoa looks like Shego got an upgrade, looks like BH6 is gonna need that training Kim’s given them. Yes Obake has started to get involved in this story but still not the main villain (yet) The gauntlets were actually inspired by the KP 2019 live action film whilst they did make it look like the source of Shegos powers it didn't work for me so I’ve repurposed them as energy enhancers in this story.In terms of the Mad Jacks I always thought of them as the Team Impossible of the BH6 Universe except with more showmanship and cooler toys. So I was a bit gutted not seeing them in season 2 of the series lets hope they return for season 3 , but this did give me an idea revolving around their absence namely caught by higher authority. Chapter 5 coming soon. 

[lyrazehedgieboiii]

Maybe prompt number 25 it sounds very sincere to the heart

Rated M b/c of cussing, and mentions of sexual activity.

Prompt 25- “Do you realize how much I love you?”

Modern Sonamy oneshot. This is for you, Anon! Whomever you may be~

Amy was walking home after a long day (of getting kidnapped) and started breaking down. After a few minutes of sobbing, she heard an innocent voice call out to her.

   “Ms. Amy? Why are you crying?” Amy looked up to see ten year old Cream, with her chao, Cheese. She changed her outfit to something a little more conservative. She wore an orange sweater dress in the winter, along with black leggings like Amy did. Amy had a similar sweater dress, except it was a turtle-neck, and it was a little tighter around the waist. Amy wiped away her tears and smiled.

 “I’m fine, Cream.” Her voice cracked. Now Cream definitely knew something was wrong. Amy’s sweet, melodious never cracked.

    “Stop lying, Ms. Amy. I’m going to call Ms. Rouge, Ms. Blaze, and Ms. Lyra. They’ll know what happened.” She called the following girls on her phone. She had it in case of emergencies. Clearly this is one.

     “Hi, Cream. What do you mean? WHAT?! I’m on my way, Rouge is with me, I’ll get Blaze. Just get her home.”

     “Hi Ms. Lyra. Amy’s crying for some reason. I don’t know, she just dropped on the floor and started crying. Okay, see you later.” Cream ended the call, and helped Amy up, while giving her a hug.

-

   “It’s about Sonic, isn’t it. That no good, cowardly, piece of-” Rouge’s mouth was covered by Blaze because of Cream’s presence.

   “Cow pie. A stinking poop is what he is!” Cream exclaimed in anger. The girls all agreed at Cream’s comment. Amy sniffled.

   “W-why?! Why c-can’t he l-love m...me?! Is it the way I look?! I can change! I-I’d even dye my hair!” The girls all looked to each other. They all shook their heads.

    “Amy...I-We, don’t think Sonic’s worth it. He keeps breaking your heart, no matter how much you do for him. He’s not even considerate. You deserve so much more better than that.” Blaze told Amy, as she cried in Blaze’s arms.

   “B-but, no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to fall for anyone else! And Sonic wouldn’t allow me to date other people.” Rouge looked puzzled. Lyra asked the question that Rouge was thinking.

   “What do you mean, Sonic won’t let you date other people?” Lyra brought her chair closer. She was sitting in the corner, writing about at least fifty different ways she could kill Sonic for breaking Amy’s heart.

    “Well, I can’t really explain it. Rouge, you know how you set me up on a blind date? Well, I was sitting with him, and suddenly Sonic came out of nowhere, and pulled me out of the cafe. He told me to stay away from other guys. Of course I was upset, so I told him to stop acting all overprotective, I can do whatever the hell I want, and he doesn’t listen, he just drops me off back here, and basically patrolled my house for the next few hours while I cried myself to sleep.” Amy said, her tears not scared of falling out.

    “That little shit!” Rouge yelled. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

     “Oh! It must be my mom.” Cream ran to the door, and there stood her mother. She said ‘bye’ to everyone and left.

      “Okay, since I couldn’t say this in front of Cream, but, wanna go to the bar? It could get your mind of things!” Rouge literally started begging.

       “Fine. I guess that would help. Let’s go.” Amy was about to get up, but Rouge stopped her.

        “You’re not going anywhere in that. I brought some outfits, and we’re gonna wear them.” And with that, Rouge took out four skimpy outfits. Lyra had a poker face.

       “Ain’t no way in hell am I wearing that shit.” Rouge rolled her eyes. She took out a denim jacket, and handed it to her. They all put on their outfits in Amy’s room.

Amy was wearing a red silk strapless dress that hugged at her waist, she wore some bright red lipstick, but used a napkin to bring down the tone.

Blaze was wearing a purple spaghetti strapped deep sweetheart cut at her chest, and was wearing some lipgloss to make her lips sparkle.

Rouge was wearing a black strapless dress which ended about mid-thigh. The dress clenched at her waist. She wore deep red lipstick, and didn’t bother with the tone.

Lyra wore a white circle skirt dress, the skirt ending to her knees. She had a denim jacket on. She put on some lip balm, not really bothering putting on make-up. She sneaked her headphones and laptop, knowing that she’d need it later. The girls all took their purses and left in Rouge’s car.

- At The Bar

There was hip-hop music playing, lots of people everywhere, strangers getting all over each other, and some private booths for...you know...

   “Here we are~! Let’s go get something to drink!” Rouge drags the girls to the bar counter. She orders four cocktails (lol I’m too immature to drink and go to clubs) for the girls and they sit down in a couch that surrounds a circle table. After a while, Rouge sees a familiar red figure at the entrance. She stands up and waves, making the other three girls with her confused.

  “Rouge! What’re you doing here, babe?” Knuckles asked the bat as he, and his three friends, one being a specific hedgehog. Lyra signaled Rouge to huddle up as a group.

   “He’s here. With them.” Blaze said, her eyes wide open, gesturing to Amy and wanting her to be happy.

   “I want her to be happy and forget all about that asshole. The only way to do that is to keep him away from her! She’s suffering through heartbreak.” Lyra bluntly stated. The boys, being the idiots they are, decided to try and eavesdrop on their conversation. They heard something about her heartbreak. Everyone looked at Shadow, seeing he was the womanizer.

   “I haven’t been playing with any girls, honest.” Shadow said emotionlessly. The boys turned to Sonic. He looked confused.

   “What did I do?” Was all he asked. Knuckles face-palmed, Silver was making an ‘Are you fucking kidding me?!’ look, and Shadow just rolled his eyes, looking like he doesn’t give a fuck, but cares for his self-proclaimed little sister’s wellbeing. “No, seriously, I don’t understand, what did I do?” He dared to ask.

  “You’re off breaking hearts, like normal.” Silver muttered. Sonic got even more puzzled. Silver sighed. “You hurt little Amy’s heart, Sonic. The little cinnamon roll doesn’t deserve this. We all know you like her, you ain’t fooling anyone.” Silver was right, but Sonic’s ego didn’t want to admit that.

  “He’s right, Sonic. Ya’ know, she’s been having suicidal thoughts lately.” Lyra lied. Lyra was right tho-WAIT, WHAT WAS SHE DOING IN THIS CONVERSATION?!

 “Pegs, this is a boy conversation, stay out of it.” Shadow told Lyra. She muttered some profanities at him, and he only smirked.

 “PEGS? What the hell are you doing to my sister?! Why the hell have you given her a name that doesn’t even suit her and doesn’t even relate to her?!”

  “Relax, Faker. Let your sister date whoever she wants. She won’t let me flirt with her. Focus on your own girl.”

- WITH THE GIRLS~~~~~~~

 “Why don’t we hook you up with someone, hmm? I hear Shadow’s fre-”

 “Fuck no.” Lyra and Amy said simultaneously.

 “No offense, Rouge, but I don’t think I’m interested in dating or having a fling with anyone. My heart’s stuck with someone who could possibly be attracted to boys-” Amy’s comment was interrupted by a loud snort by Lyra.

 “What do you mean, could possibly be attracted to boys? I hope you’re not mistaking Silver as Sonic.” As Rouge said that, Blaze scowled at her friend. Rouge thought for a moment, not acknowledging the fact that Blaze was burning imaginary holes through her head. Rouge gasped and ran over to Knuckles and whispered something into his ear. He did a small nod to his girlfriend.

 “Oh, Shadow! Silver! There’s this new spirytus bottle that I’ve been dying to try out.” And with that, he dragged Shadow and Silver out of the scene.

 “Oh, I think we should do the same! Right Lyra, and Blaze? Amy, you stay here, I know you get a little tipsy you get after a strong drink. You even flirt with boys when you’re in that state.” That one comment made Sonic snap his head towards Amy. Amy mentally facepalmed. Sonic’s not happy. AT. ALL. Rouge dragged the two away from the oblivious hedgehogs.

  “So...you’re sixteen, and you’re drinking. And it’s obviously not your first time. Am I right.” Amy stayed silent. She just wanted to melt into the ground, not wanting to listen to the useless shit that the guy who ruined her life was spitting out.

  “Why do you always try to find other guys?” This really made Amy snap. She stood up, giving Sonic a chance to scan her figure very quickly without her realizing. No wonder he’s called the fastest thing alive, am I right? Amy gave herself a few minutes to regain her posture because she was a bit drunk.

 “Now listen here, y-you ass-napkin! I hate being treated like I’m not allowed to date other people, when I am. So, stop it. You have no right to tell me what I can or cannot do. Just don’t talk to me Sonic the Hedgehog. Stay away from me, and don’t talk to me.” She straightened out her posture, and before walking away, she said something that made Sonic truly feel like an ass-napkin. “Do you realize how much I love you?” A hand grabbed Amy’s waist, and pulled her to their chest. She tried squirming out, but the person wouldn’t budge. She took in the scent of the person, and stopped. It was Sonic.

He leaned down, and captured her lips in his own, even though she wasn’t kissing back. He kissed harder, and Amy had no choice but to give in. She decided to take advantage of the moment, and to take as much as she possibly could. In the background, Lyra and Rouge were fangirling, Blaze was recording a video, and the boys were silently cheering Sonic on.

    “The reason I keep you away from dating other boys is because I want to. Seeing you with other boys internally hurts me, that’s why I’m so protective of you. But, I’m too shy to confess my feelings to you. I just want to keep you safe.” Amy smirked.

   “You’re not shy, Mr. the Hedgehog. You’re just afraid it’ll cause a huge damage to that oversized ego of yours. Go choke on a peanut or something.” Lyra yelled “HEY!” at Amy because that was usually her line. “But, I no matter what I do, I just can’t get my mind off you. Frick that rhymes.” Amy looks over to the fourth wall, where the author is sitting. (”Sorry for that unintentional rhyme, I don’t want to change it.”)

    “Sorry Ames. I just love you too much to let you go. I want you to be mine, but...I just want to run, too.” Sonic put his head down. Amy rolled her eyes.

    “Enough with the cheesiness, Sonic. It’s soooo not you. First of all, it wasn’t so hard to confess, was it? Second of all, I won’t tie you down. All I want is for you to be happy, and I know that running makes you happy. So whenever you’re with me, and you feel like running, don’t hold it in. Just go.” Amy said calmly. Sonic grew excited and kissed her again. His confident signature smirk was back, and he looked down at his new girlfriend.

     “So, there’s no way I’m letting you get away with wearing that outfit, missy.” Sonic said smugly. He picked Amy up bridal style and ran to her house.

#sonamy 

[spongeguyandlelouchvibridankia]

SpongeGuy Reviews Every Disney Sitcom Ever!: Austin and Ally (1.1): “Rockers and Writers”

cI came, I saw, I.. Was ok with it.

Austin and Ally is a show about two people whose names you’ll never guess. It follows the adventures of Austin Moon, current internet music sensation and Ally Dawson, a shy but talented songwriter. Together, these two very different people try to make it in the music industry.

I remember when this show was SUPER POPULAR it aired all the time, and thanks to seeing a minute here a minute there I thought I would hate it.

And... I’m ok with it. Like, it’s not bad, it’s not great, it’s not quite good but it’s slightly good?

It’s hard to pin this one down so far, obviously once I’ve seen a few more episodes I will (I also must add thanks to an Even Stevens fan who contacted me about this that Yes, I am reviewing all the episodes when possible, not just the first one or two).

So... Yeah, let’s get to it!

SUMMERY:  Ally Dawson, a shy songwriter, works at Sonic Boom, a music store owned by her father, Lester, located at the Mall of Miami. Austin Moon, an aspiring singer, interrupts Ally while she is in her practice room, singing a rough cut of "Double Take". Unbeknownst to Ally, Austin and his best friend, Dez, accidentally use the song thinking Austin wrote it himself, create a video, and post it on the Internet, after which Austin becomes an Internet sensation. After performing the song on "The Helen Show", Helen suggests that Austin returns and performs another original song. Austin isn't good at song-writing, and the only solution he can think of is to plead with Ally to write another song for him. Ally initially denies in anger, but later agrees to help him. The two bond while working on their next song, "Break Down the Walls", and Austin asks Ally to be there when he performs it. However, when the pianist gets sick, Ally has to fill in. This was all part of Austin's plan to help Ally overcome her stage fright, but it only ends in disaster. However, Austin and Ally become partners, along with Dez as video director, and Ally's best friend, Trish, as Austin's manager.

COMEDY: 3 Out of 5

Originally I was gonna give a 2, as this show wasn’t really funny, but the more I dwelt on it, the more I realized how unfair I was being, so I gave a 3. And I think this might be a good time to go over how disney channel sitcoms don’t all have the same humor despite attempting many of the same jokes.

Example: Liv and Maddie and Good Luck Charlie are your average sitcoms (in fact, their template are about half of every sitcom that’s isn’t a “high concept”), but despite this they have more unique senses of humor (snark, mockumentary interviews, characters are multi-faceted, humor doesn’t undercut the moment).

On the other side of that, we have Lab Rats and Pair of Kings. Both have different, interesting concepts for a sitcom (Bionic teens and two brothers who are kings of an island). However, they attempt the same jokes we’ve seen over and over again, alongside some asshole humor (Lab Rats does it better but still).

In other words, contrary to popular belief, a sitcom can be a sitcom like you’ve seen over and over and OVER again. But that doesn’t mean it can’t work. The proof is in the pudding: The 3 best ones I’ve seen so far are all about families and learning to live with each other and stuff like that, your typical sitcom fodder.

So then we get to Austin and Ally. It’s your typical disney sitcom with a sort of high concept: Someone wants to be a music star because Disney are good at finding those and Hannah Montana was such a success, another person is helping them/falling for them/their opposite. BOOM. Recipe for success.

And the humor for the most part (there is a little snark and some surprisingly ok visual humor and slapstick) is your typical sitcom humor, with the obvious gags, the idiot jokes, the teen humor, yada yada.

But I didn’t groan. Maybe it’s because of the leads, maybe it’s the atmosphere, but for once, a few sitcom jokes and a little snark went a long way. In a weird way, it’s Good Luck Charlie’s humor but less fun. But... Well, it worked for me! It’s hard to explain these things sometimes.

But maybe it boils down to characters, and how the two leads are surprisingly likable.

CHARACTERS: 3 Out of 5

First of all, let’s be honest: I was always gonna like Ally. She’s level headed, relatable, understandable, adorkable, shy, smart. Hard not to like her! No wonder she got a high position right now in the character ranking lists. And it was fun to be in her world for a bit.

The real surprise for me was Austin. While I have nothing against Ross Lynch (in fact I like his singing in Teen Beach Movie) the channel overexposed him a lot and I tend to dislike those kind of actors. That and his character is an idiot, so that was worrying.

But to my surprise, Austin was more of a PJ in Good Luck Charlie than a Brady Bunch and Ok Boomer from Pair of Kings. He’s an idiot, for sure, but more of the sweet, gullible, well meaning kind. I mean, any episode where a character accidentally steals a song (which is actually totally possible according to a friend of mine) and doesn’t come off as a jerk is impressive, but even when he tries to help Ally lose her stage fright by showing her on stage when she asked him not to comes off as him trying his best and not him being a dick. And Ally does sort of get revenge on him, so there’s that.

So yeah, the two leads are fun, sometimes even funny characters with well defined personalities and no asshole tendencies. That’s super!

Sadly, the rest of the cast falls flat for now (and I understand they get worse so YEESH). Tish (PAUL BLART’S DAUGHTER) is that kind of annoying best friend you see in so many of these, and Dez is the idiot best friend you see in most of these, and they’re just... They’re just like that the entire episode. Their running gags of getting fired and coming up with stupid merch ideas aren’t bad but they’re not great, and I prefered it when it was just Austin and Ally. Lester, Ally’s dad, is also possibly gonna hurt the show according to my research.

Also this is a small thing but the Ellen Degeneres parody is so true to real life I’m shocked it’s not.

Anyway, yeah, a weak cast outside of two surprisingly likable leads.

STORY AND HEART: 3 Out of 5

I was gonna give a 2 here as well but decided to bump it up to 3. Why? Because is was surprisingly invested (I used that word a lot today). It was a typical story, no doubt about it, but I still enjoyed it. I usually use this segment to sum up my thoughts, so I think it’s best put like this. This was a basic, average story. There was NOTHING new here. You’ve seen this a million times.

I still liked it. I didn’t LOVE it, but I liked it. It was fun in it’s own way, it was ok. I found myself struggling to sum up my feelings for this yesterday, and I think I know why. We as consumers have massive expectations. We want originality and subversion, yet also nostalgia. We want to be surprised, but we also want things to go exactly the way we think they should. We want something new, yet also old.

Austin and Alley isn’t as funny and breezy as Liv and Maddie. It’s not as wacky as Phil of the Future. Not as relatable as Stuck In The Middle, not as high quality as Good Luck Charlie, not as life like as Even Stevens. At the same time, it’s not as disappointing as Lab Rats, average as Dog With A Blog, Mediocre as So Random, annoying as Pair of Kings and kind of meh as Bunk’d.

It’s just ok. And... I think that’s ok. Not every show needs to be the second coming. Old tropes are used a lot for a reason, not just out of laziness but because they work. And sometimes, what we need after a long day is something that’s just ok and makes you smile.

I smiled watching this. I didn’t wish for something else. I just let myself enjoy something that wasn’t that great but wasn’t that bad.

Sometimes, we just need a smile.

And that’s ok. :)

FINAL SCORE: 9 Out of 15

Wow I didn’t expect that score or for me to get so philosophical, but here we are. I liked this, so I look forwards to the next one.

Anyway, next time we have Lizzie McGuire! Cool! I was waiting for that one! High expectations for this one!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/100qHOP9aQ1AmKbrYuc--CQAP3LQnHfsS/edit#heading=h.nh4udkykrnki (I should add that the theme song wasn’t ranked because I need to hear it again to re-evaluate it)

[mobius-prime]

206. Sonic the Hedgehog #138

Return to Angel Island (Part 1): The Message

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Jon Gray Colors: Jason Jensen

We're in for a big one, guys! This is another four-parter, and it's time to finally find out what's going on on Angel Island! But first, Sally and Sonic have to deal with the blowback from the king about their little Tommy mission. King Max chews them out for a while, with Sally tersely accepting the scolding, but Sonic actually attempts to cover for Sally by lying (badly) that she only came along because he kidnapped her. Of course, the king doesn't believe him, and after coldly calling into question Sally's ability to rule in his stead when they leave on their tour, he sends them off.

Yikes. Seems things are going to stay frosty between these two for a while. That afternoon, the king and queen, along with Uncle Chuck as their advisor and Antoine as their bodyguard, depart for their world tour. Shortly thereafter, everyone is hanging out in Chuck's diner, which is currently being manned by Jules and Bernie, while Sonic confides in Knuckles and Julie-Su about his troubles with Sally. Julie-Su points out that Sally's feelings are understandable to a degree, as she herself struggled for a long time after Knuckles' return from the grave with feeling comfortable about him going back into battle. The conversation is interrupted by a sudden crash at the door, and everyone is shocked to see a badly injured Charmy and Saffron enter the establishment and immediately collapse. They're immediately taken to receive medical attention, and after that Sally questions the two on what exactly happened. Charmy and Saffron relate, stricken by grief, how Eggman attacked their home at the Goldenhive Colony, and try as they might, they failed to save anyone - and they mean literally anyone. Their parents, all their friends, every single other member of the colony is dead now. I have to say, while this is certainly an… effective way of kicking to the curb Kenders' weird plans to shunt Charmy away from the spotlight, it's also an incredibly brutal way. I mean, how many others here have lost literally everyone they care about? Oh, wait, Knuckles is getting there! Fittingly, at that exact moment a transmission comes through on the Technolo-Tree, but the only thing that can be made out through the static is that Locke is apparently being held prisoner on Angel Island. And at that moment, Knuckles' patience, so carefully maintained just a couple issues ago, finally snaps.

Sally, you have to remember that it's been almost an entire year that he's been off his island, and he knows he still has friends and family stuck there, with Eggman doing who knows what to them. Can you blame him for wanting to rescue literally the only home he's ever known from Eggman's brutal occupation? Sonic sheepishly leaves with Knuckles, and together they, Julie-Su, the Chaotix (back together again! Also this time including Ray, who's been severely sidelined for quite some time now, and Saffron), and Bunnie all pile into the FFS and fly to Angel Island. Bunnie remains behind at Sonic's request, since he wants to make sure Sally still has a heavy hitter watching over Knothole while they're gone, and everyone else airdrops in, landing in the Marble Garden Zone. Sonic races away to do some split-second recon, and comes back with some pretty horrendous news - there's an honest-to-god prison camp not far from there location, sponsored by Eggman, run by dingoes, and filled with enslaved echidnas being worked half to death by their captors. So, naturally, the intrepid infiltrators race directly in and start causing some havoc.

Okay, this is something I've danced around for quite a while now, but… I really don’t like the portrayal of the dingoes as this weird military hive mind. Penders very obviously based them off of Nazi Germany in many ways (like… as we saw before in KtE#22, his hints toward this weren't subtle at all), and I believe he's even said that he deliberately only ever showed male dingoes, avoiding portraying women and children among their ranks, so they didn’t appear too sympathetic. Quite aside from the fact that that's a kind of ridiculous and sexist position to take especially given that one of the comic's current most threatening villains is in fact female, this just turns the dingoes into cardboard cutouts of villains instead of an interesting opposing faction in this world's political landscape. I mean, how much more interesting would they be if the story bothered to humanize them, make them relatable? But of course, that would mean that Penders would have to portray his precious echidna society as less than honorable for discriminating against them, and we can't have that, so instead they're all just military hardasses who love xenophobia and hate democracy. Hell, even the actual Nazis had more depth to their evil actions than the dingoes. And, to be fair, I know that this arc is written by Karl, not Penders, but he's just building on everything that Penders has established here, so I'm still putting the blame on Penders.

Anyway, the heroes make quick work of the dingoes stationed in the camp, though Knuckles takes a bad blow that Sonic has to save him from due to his lack of powers. Knuckles begins to protest at being helped, but he's suddenly drowned out by chanting… from the echidna slaves they've just freed. They're all bowing down to him and calling him the Avatar, hailing his return. A flabbergasted Knuckles spots Remington among the crowd and asks him what the hell is going on, and Remington explains that there's been a bit of a, eh, religious revival shall we say, among the echidnas on the island ever since he returned from the dead. Apparently, there's an old prophecy from the Ancient Walkers stating that someone will come back from the dead and deliver everyone on the island from their suffering, and, well, Knuckles fits the first part of that criteria. However, he'd barely come back from the dead before Eggman made his move on the island a year ago, preventing Knuckles from returning until now.

So things have kind of deteriorated to a severe degree in Knuckles' absence. Echidnaopolis is now Dingo City, and the dingoes are led not by General Stryker, who is conspicuously absent, but instead General Kage, a cyborg underling of Eggman's in charge of finding the Master Emerald somewhere on the island. Of course that's what Eggman is really after here, and they've captured Locke with the intention of getting the location from him one way or the other. He's been chained upside down in some dark room, and Kage has been torturing him nonstop for the past few days trying to get him to crack, to no avail. Eggman merely encourages Kage over video call to keep it up, while we transition to the Lava Reef Zone, which is where Knuckles has led all the rescued echidnas to, away from the prison camp. He's here because this is approximately where the message informing him of his father's capture originated from, but suddenly the group finds themselves surrounded by smoke, and out of the smoke steps an army of Dark Legion soldiers, surrounding them with weapons drawn…

Mobius 25 Years Later: My Dinner with Sonic

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Steven Butler Colors: Jason Jensen

…but who cares about all that interesting plot stuff when we can watch some forty-something moms chat next to a pool where their annoying kids and husbands are playing? Apparently, despite their husbands' rivalry, Julie-Su and Sally have actually become pretty good friends over the years, and lament that they barely get together anymore because of Knuckles and Sonic's hatred of one another. Sally is upset because of how distant Sonic has been acting lately - according to her, he barely talks to anyone he doesn't have to anymore, including Tails, whom he hasn’t spoken to in three whole years now! Excuse me, what?! Okay, Sonic and Knuckles at least have some precedent for their rivalry, however weak that precedent is, but I cannot even begin to imagine a world where Sonic just straight up ghosts his best friend for apparently no reason. Literally, no reason is given! He just doesn't like Tails anymore now! Also, in this timeline, Tails is married to Mina and he's moved to Downunda, because why the hell not? Who needs to make sense or give reasons for anything in their plot? Oh, but that's not all! If you thought that was the extent of Sonic's incredibly out-of-character writing, you thought wrong!

That's right - Sonic the forty-one-year-old father, war hero, and king of an entire nation is apparently so petty about not being able to hit a volleyball in the pool that he thinks it's acceptable to shove his own young son under the water so he can get to the ball instead. And this isn't just some case of me taking these panels out of context - on the very next page Manik rightfully calls him out on this, only for Sonic to irritably say that Manik has been "getting in his face all afternoon" and that this was the only way he could get to play with the ball. And then, just as if to rub this in our horrified faces, Knuckles also comes over and points out how terrible of an action this is, and when Manik speaks up SONIC FORCES HIM UNDER THE WATER AGAIN TO GET HIM TO STOP TALKING. I just… I cannot even begin to express how bad this is. This is literally the opposite of Sonic the Hedgehog. You cannot get further off the mark than Penders just has right here. Everything about Sonic's characterization in this arc is bad and inaccurate to who he really is, but this interaction right here is the cake topper, the prime example of just how much Penders does not understand the characters he is trying to write. I can pinpoint this as the exact moment I lost all remaining respect for Penders as a writer. I've defended him before, and I stand by my opinions that I do enjoy many of his earlier stories for the comic, but this is a goddamn travesty. Penders. Needs. To. Stop.

*sigh* We have to finish today's issue, so let's… let's just get to the end. Everyone goes inside for dinner, with Sonia and Manik heading out to play with Lara-Su while the adults have dinner together, because apparently they're so stuffy they don't even let their own kids eat with them. Knuckles and Sonic start arguing at the table, big shocker there, while Abby desperately tries to serve them dessert and their boring wives try to rein them in.

Are we gonna hear anything about what the "drone problem" or the "Overlander uprising" entailed? Those sound too interesting, so NOPE! Instead, the kids walk by and overhear the argument and promise each other they'll never fight like their parents do, while Manik tries to put the moves on Lara-Su, who is not having it. The argument ends when both Knuckles and Sonic belch simultaneously while their wives scold them disapprovingly - I think Penders is trying to go for a comedy movie sketch type thing here where classical music ramps up in hilarious intensity behind the bickering over the family dinner before everything ends on a few sharp notes from the string section, but it just comes off as utterly cringeworthy. Knuckles finally - finally! - manages to get to the point of this entire arc, which is to tell Sonic about how the world is ending. Yes, it took this long for him to tell the main character of this goddamn comic about the main conflict of this goddamn arc. Kill me. Someone please kill me.

…are you kidding me?! You mean all this time we could have been exploring the ramifications of a planetwide environmental disaster caused by dimensional travel, and the possibility of having to evacuate the planet's population into space, and instead we got to watch two boring husbands belch at each other over goddamn dinner?! I'm done. I'm so done. Everything about this sucks and I hate it. Ken Penders, if I ever see you in person, I will be throwing these hands.

[kirinda-ondo]

Rant/tell me about Cobalt and why u love him so much??

Ok so this is probably going to get very long, and very, very cheesy, and I hope y’all are ready for this.

Cobalt is a very special character to me and is absolutely my favorite character of all time, from anything in the history of ever. It doesn’t matter what other fandom I’m hyperfixated on or what character I’m saying is my son at the moment, if you bring him up at any time, in any context I will be there.

So you’re probably wondering how I got here.

Once upon a time, it was 2009 and I was a young weeaboo, constantly absorbing everything anime or manga I could. I had just come out from the Astro Boy movie, and I immediately wanted to watch the source material. I’d already seen a bit of it on adult swim when they were running an Astro Boy marathon, but I had to go to bed at 11:30 then so I didn’t get to see much. So this time, I went to youtube and I found all the (dubbed) episodes of the 60s series. (Sadly you can’t find them all there anymore and it’s a crying shame).

I basically marathoned them, but over in the sidebar where the recommendations were, I kept seeing the thumbnail for part 2 or 3 (this was back when youtube only let you post 10 minute videos and you had to watch anime in 3 parts) of the episode “Brother Jetto.” You could plainly see him, and so it was clear this was supposed to be Astro’s brother. I thought it was neat that Astro even had a brother, as I’d only known about Uran before. I wanted to know more, but I promised myself I wouldn’t skip ahead. Though it was very tempting at times, I stuck to my guns and watched all 83 episodes up to that point.

However, it was not actually love at first sight. When I finally got to this episode 84, I wasn’t really impressed. “Wow, he’s kind of annoying, what’s the point?” I had thought like a fool, but I was still willing to accept him as part of the canon, as I figured I’d be seeing a lot more of him now that he had been introduced. After all, that’s what they did with Uran! But then…. that pretty much didn’t happen at all, which I thought was kind of weird. After all, why introduce a new sibling if he’s not going to show up again?

But then I got to the episode “A Deep, Deep Secret” about 6 episodes later, and I found myself a little relieved that he wasn’t completely canned. Upon watching that episode, I’d found that he’d started to grow on me a bit, but he still wasn’t my favorite. However, the trend of him being gone for several episodes only to show up once in a blue moon continued until I’d run out of episodes. I moved on to the 80s series next (and then the 2003 series) having learned that Cobalt had been replaced by Atlas as Astro’s brother. While I enjoyed those series (the 80s one a bit moreso than the 2003 one), I found myself kind of missing Astro’s dingus brother that had barely seemed to get a chance. After marathoning all the series (at the time), I started doing some googling and found out he had a slightly better run in the undubbed Japanese episodes (which was also how I discovered AB-O! Hi fandom!) and I’d learned a lot more about him. But the most important thing I’d learned was that I was in fact very emotionally invested in this character now and I was in deep.

Mind you at this time the undubbed Japanese episodes were nearly impossible to find without purchasing the complete DVD set and a player that could play them (on account of the fact that the set was region locked from western DVD players) so for years I sat wondering more about what those Japanese episodes were like, as the forums only had plot summaries with a handful of screencaps to go off of. Nowadays you can watch all the undubbed (and sadly unsubbed) episodes here but 13 year old me did not have the knowledge to do foreign language googling at the time.

But still, my Cobalt-loving heart wanted more, so I scoured the English speaking internet for whatever I could find, official or fanmade. Official content was virtually nonexistent, and the amount of fanmade content, I could count on one hand. The general fan consensus at the time seemed to be “Who the hell is Cobalt” or “Eh, whatever,” which was a far cry from how it is now. But being horribly deprived back then, I did the only thing I could: I combed through the dub for every episode he was in, coming up with a whopping total of…..four (well technically five but in that one he’s literally only in the last five seconds with no animation or lines), and I watched them religiously. I could pretty much quote Cobalt’s debut episode by heart. (For the record I can no longer do this to the extent I used to, but should the opportunity arise, I can still quote large chunks of it).

As I did this and learned more about him in my desperate googling, I started developing jokes for what would become my first silly comics, for which I am known in this fandom for. The art and writing for these was….. painful, to say the least, so I don’t even like to think about it, but as I’d already had a decently sized following from drawing silly (read: bad) Sonic comics, they caught on decently well, and I’d even managed to drag my friend and son down with me into Cobalt Hell™. Together, we made a group for Cobalt fans on deviantart (which is still up, but I no longer run it, as I deactivated the account that modded it without transferring ownership, so now it’s likely a wild west hellscape that I’m a little scared to look at).

This seemed to help do the trick though, as Cobalt fans were slowly coming out of the woodwork and appreciating this good boy. On and off I’d spread my yelling about Cobalt (and my silly drawings) to different platforms like the Astro Boy forums and tumblr, and even as I got into different things, after awhile, things kinda grew without me. Now I’m not gonna be out here claiming I built this city myself with my own two hands, as a lot of people got dragged into this hell of their own accord, but I do like to think my, umm….passion at least helped generate some interest, and I can’t help but be proud of how far this fandom has come from “Who the hell is Cobalt” to “Look at this good boy, I love him” and literally all the other Cobalt fans I’ve met have been the coolest people (in general, not just because of their good taste).

I think what really changed my life though was when AprilSeven, a mod on the Astro Boy forum and also probably the original Cobalt fan, as she’d seen the 60s version back when it was originally airing, finally got a hold of the undubbed Japanese episodes, and graciously allowed me and a few of the other big-name Cobalt fans get in on that action, and boy howdy, the screenshots and plot summaries really did not do these episodes justice (at least in terms of Cobalt content). My understanding of him as a character expanded like tenfold, and my appreciation of him expanded even more than that.

…Which brings me into a nice segue in which I shift more into just exactly why I like Cobalt so much. Yes, there’s more. I warned y'all, this was gonna be a Pandora’s Box that could not be closed once it was opened.

I honestly just find him a joy to watch. A lot of what made him grow on me was just how funny he is. I’m a sucker for comic relief characters in general, and he has a personality that lends itself to comedy. In the anime version, he’s literally introduced right out the gate as being kind of a dingus. He’s naive, he’s way too trusting of obviously suspicious people, he’s easily confused, he’s easily distracted, he’s a klutz, and he just… regularly destroys the laws of physics and/or the fourth wall just because. Sometimes he also gets weird ideas in his head to do things that could have been done a completely different, easier way and weirdly enough, it actually kind of winds up working? It’s so fun to watch him approach problems because he’s just… so far out there sometimes.

But beyond being absolutely weird and hilarious, he’s just a really sweet kid. He doesn’t like to fight, he wants to make friends with everyone and everything, he will drop literally anything he’s doing, no matter how important it is, to help someone in need, he’s good with babies and small children and puppies (sometimes), he would fight (and sacrifice himself) for his family, and just means well even if he tends to bungle things up and make them worse sometimes. Honestly, and this is gonna sound dumb, but he helped me be a better person. I used to be an absolute asshole when I was younger, but once I’d gotten into Cobalt Hell™, I was like “I wanna be that sweet and good (but with a better sense of stranger danger)” and I made that effort and did that shit.

That being said though, he’s not perfect, and I wouldn’t want him to be. His flaws, though they kind of give him the short end of the stick in life, are a lot of why I find him so endearing. All the naivety and confusion and general lack of coordination I mentioned before aside, he’s honestly just really relatable. He’ll say jokes so bad that Uran wants to punch him, he’ll opt out of the plot because he doesn’t want to get out of bed, he’ll fight with his siblings over silly petty things, he’ll get frustrated if he tries something and it doesn’t go his way, he’ll absolutely partake in his siblings’ mischief (if not start it sometimes), and just so much more. He just feels like a kid you would know (or maybe a kid that you were at one point) and I really appreciate that about him.

Unfortunately, the canon was not kind to Cobalt, and I think a lot of that comes from Osamu Tezuka just… not knowing what to do with him after making him? Like in the manga, he was just kind of created as a really rushed contingency plan because they thought Astro was missing. Sure, he was taken in as part of the family afterward, but not many appearances later, he was killed off in a firey explosion… Until Tezuka decided to change his mind and let him live in the end. His grave’s still there though. He gets to see it. I know it’s a framing device to explain the circumstances of Cobalt’s retconned death but it’s kind of fucked up to let a boy see his own grave..

Even being brought back, Cobalt didn’t get to do very much. He’d get some good scenes with Uran, but a lot of the time, he was sort of just relegated to filling up space in the background, provided he actually survived til the end of the chapter. When he wasn’t getting forgotten by the plot and thusly zapped out of existence, he would wind up sacrificing himself in some way that wouldn’t allow him to continue to take part in the plot anymore (be it parts, energy, etc.) The most painfully egregious example of this is in the chapter “Youth Gas.” Astro and Cobalt are convinced to fight each other to the “death.” They’re not really dead, but Ochanomizu says they are and can’t be repaired. At first, there’s mourning for “two of the world’s greatest robots,” but then we see a funeral service in which only Astro’s body is shown and his parents are only mourning him, completely forgetting Cobalt exists. He’s never seen again for the rest of the chapter. Now I would assume this is just a writing mistake, but it really does make it look like Cobalt’s own parents wouldn’t even bat an eye if he died, so there’s that.

The anime isn’t quite as horrible, and it is kind enough to give Cobalt a more prominent role once he finally shows up (even getting a handful of focus episodes!), but he doesn’t go unscathed either. In this version, he has the misfortune of being created by Dr. Umataro “Father of the Year” Tenma before Astro was made and was scrapped because, to quote dub!Ochan, “his electronic brain wasn’t as perfect as Dr. [Tenma] wanted.” (read: he thought Cobalt was a dumbass). Cobalt is eventually found and brought into the family, but because he still winds up not being relevant to the plot a lot of the time, he is once again zapped out of the existence and looks like a victim of child neglect. As a result, he gets left out of family vacations and holidays, even in favor of Chi-tan, who is usually even higher on the scale of irrelevant Astro Boy characters. Unlike Astro, Cobalt doesn’t have any consistent friends to even remotely justify what he could possibly be doing offscreen by himself, so it just kind of implies a very sad and lonely existence in-universe.

And of course, the final, meta blow that literally every fan of Cobalt is still despairing about to this day: basically being yeeted out of the canon. After the 60s series, he disappeared off the face of the earth until 2015 when some lovely soul decided to bring him back for Peeping Life TV: Season 1?? (The question marks are part of the title). He’d be referenced again a couple years later in Atom: The Beginning, and will be here for the game Eshigami no Kizuna sometime in 2019 as a… moe anime girl. That’s a little weird, but I’m hoping these sorts of weird appearances will mean a trend toward putting him back in the canon (and hopefully being treated better).

It just hurts my heart to see such a good character get treated like this by canon. He deserves way better and it just seems really clear to me that Tezuka didn’t really know what to do with him. I feel like he has a lot of potential as a character, though. Regardless of what origin you pick for him, Cobalt is essentially existing as a worse version of Astro. I feel like you could have some good character development regarding how he would feel about himself in relation to Astro in sort of a parallel to how Astro might feel about himself in relation to Tobio, the person he was based off of. You could go some neat places with these sort of questions about identity and expectations, I think. Or if you want to just do something funny because your character arcs are getting too real now, you can just let Cobalt do some silly shit. He’s a versatile character!

I’ve done all this rambling and now I’m not really sure how to wrap all this up, so umm

Cobalt is a good boy and deserves better, please hire me Tezuka Productions, and thank you for coming to my TED Talk

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

One Punch Man 13 (S2 Ep 1) | Afterlost 1 | RobiHachi 1 | Kimetsu no Yaiba 2 - 3 | BSD 25 - 26 (S3 Eps 1 - 2) | King of Prism - Shiny 7 Stars 1 | Shield Hero 14 - 16 | Double Decker! EX 3 | Sarazanmai 2

The shows that have made it this season will be getting their tags...soon. Because I fell behind early in the season, trying to read ahead is nastier than it really should be...

Update: I forgot to roll out the tags...! Sorry about that.

One Punch Man 2 1

This season’s name…sounds counterintuitive, to say the least.

I love how Genos is carrying a box of hijiki (which looks like hair) and Saitama’s wearing a shirt that says “hair” (in kanji) all over it. It’s funny for a bald man and his “work of modern art”.

I never knew Genos was so blunt. Maybe because the last season was a good 2 – 3 years ago…and was by Madhouse and Shingo Natsume, and so this feels slightly different.

Oh, Sonic…! I didn’t realise how much I missed you! (Not to mention, you look hot with the off-the-shoulder shirt, y’know?)

“Enoki” is a type of mushroom.

Oh, Garou!...Oh wait, there isn’t much more of the episode left, is there…?

Afterlost 1

Oh great…this is the second time the subs don’t work on my device of choice. Then again, it seems to be a problem with the ad blocker and not the video…Okay, fiddling with the ad blocker worked.

Let’s play Spot the Main Character Amongst All the CGI Guys! Yay! (obviously sarcastic)

Without the volume…this OP is, to not put it lightly, s***.

Shoumetsu means “extinction”, not “lost”.

And the reward for Jankiest CGI this season belongs to…

Okay…this is stupid…if it f**ks up even more, I’m out of here!

I know the horned owl is your mascot, but that doesn’t mean you needed a real owl.

Waittttttttt…how did the scientists know Yuki’s father was responsible for this stuff anyway?

I feel like Takuya was shoehorned in. I mean, there’s a better example of this character type in Naofumi (Shield Hero).

This guy’s name, as we know it, is Geek. Wow (sarcastic). Also, I find it funny Takuya has a “ta” on his licence plate.

“…she’s just a package.” - Welp, you don’t get any more blatant than that for female denigration! I think Anime Feminist had a field day with this one.

Come to think of it, I saw some helmets back at Geek’s place but Takuya never seems to use one…

You had one job, Takuya…*sigh*

I swear I said a few previews ago I don’t like 1st person cam…no one ever listens to me, do they???

Not dis shitto agen!

Okay, enough complaining. It seems Yu-no wasn’t bad enough, so they had to produce something like the Chaos Dragon and Seisen Cerberus of old…

RobiHachi 1

It’s Takamatsu being Takamatsu again. Also… I forgot to mention this earlier, but…Taiga Umatani seems to be related to Kurari Umatani (who is credited for Boueibu), so…I wonder if it’s a collective writer’s name for Studio Comet, like Izumi Todo for Toei? The only thing that goes against that is the fact “Kurari” existed during the Diomedea days of Boueibu. Also Isekandar seems to be related to Yamato’s Iscandar (which Takamatsu seems to like, based on the fact he once used Matsumoto metres as a shorthand for being in space). If you don’t understand, Yamato’s endgoal contains a place called Iscandar and that’s by Leiji Matsumoto.

Okayyyyy…what are these rabbit creatures…? But yes, it does smack of Boueibu simply because the episode layout’s the same.

Hmm…? So Robby seems be En (the do-nothing life) in spirit, but Kinshiro in background, but also he runs away from his fortune. “Hmm” indeed.

Oh! That’s what this string of misfortunes reminds me of! The monsters of the day from Boueibu.

Acrymalide.

Hatchi is a Kinshiro in looks but an Atsushi by being a goody-goody.

Hmm…they actually bother to show girls now…apparently Takamatsu went to a boys-only school, which is why his original works focus on dudes (as in, you can pick out when Takamatsu is adapting someone else’s work because it has a heavier focus on girls as supporting characters).

Mechs and spaceships are probably two of the only ways I accept CGI…and you, Takamatsu sir, have just done it (the latter)!

Aw! Lookit his (Hatchi’s) face light up like a Beppu’s! It’s cute!

Hatchi getting out the hatch…lame, but still somewhat effectve on me (because that’s my wordplay game you’re playing, Takamatsu…!).

LOL, it’s a transforming mech. It seems my words from a few comments earlier were basically foretelling the future.

Kimetsu no Yaiba 2

Yikes, “Sakonji Urokodaki” has a lot of strokes…

My Little Sister Lives For Headpats…hey wait, don’t all anime kid sisters do that(?)

For some reason, I know the “Don’t Lose Your Way” meme from Kill la Kill and yet I’ve never…watched KlK…?(!)

I swore that was Giyu (it’s the haircut, I swear), but it’s a random demon…

When all you have is a hatchet…use your head. (LOL)

Ooh, nice eyecatch!

This is really black comedy, in a sense. (I remember this demon fight from the manga which is why I say that.)

Hmm…this wispy stuff wasn’t in the manga.

Come to think of it, I don’t know how Tanjiro got his scar…

If you squint really hard, you can see CGI Urokodaki and Tanjiro…

He probably has no footsteps because of his shoes. Or the fact he’s a ninja. Were there ninja in the Taisho era…? Update: Tanjiro has the same kind of shoes…oops.

Come to think of it, Daisuke from DN Angel had to dodge traps every day before he became Dark…(thinking of this because I reread the first volume of DN Angel recently)

Oh! Manga panel preview! That’s quite fun, really.

Kimetsu no Yaiba 3

I just really like how Tanjiro’s eyes grew larger with what was clearly resolution before he closed the door.

Why do the non-descript hunters look like Giyu too…?

I’ve never seen KnY so comedic…and that’s coming from someone who thought the Head Demon fight from last episode was funny.

Welp, this is…kinda interesting (<- says a fan of Touken Ranbu).

This letter writing…it reminds me of Kekkai Sensen somewhat.

This realistic water…it’s beautiful, but it looks like it came straight out of Niagara Falls. Is that…too realistic for anime?

“No matter…”

It’s a fox version of Speed of Sound Sonic! Then again, the real Sonic is around this season and probably won’t be happy about that comparison…

Is “that guy”…Giyu? Or the demon who slaughtered Tanjiro’s family?

Spider lilies! I didn’t mention it last time, but the symbolism of the spider lily makes the ED real cool.

Bungou Stray Dogs 26

I’v read the wiki page for Chuuya enough to know the next few eps involve the LN Fifteen, so even though I haven’t read a translation of the source material, I know some of the ins and outs of it already.

Ooh! Kitty! (If you’re a manga reader, you’ll know the cat’s significance.)

I think at this point in time, all viewers are used to Dazai’s bulls*** by now.

Is it just me…or did Bones use CGI for the city? It actually looks kind of good…! Sasuga Bones!

I have a fic that predates Fifteen and could be set in the same period (the fic’s vague enough that it could’ve been them at 15, 18 or even 12)…and basically the only thing I got wrong was the fact Chuuya doesn’t have his hat (because I wrote Chuuya as having his hat in the fic). Also, the banter is tenser than I imagined it, but that’s subjective and something only I, the fic writer, can compare.

I wonder who the yellow-tinted Ability holder is…? Update: That’s Randou. Spoke too soon.

There was a box in the subs…I wonder what symbol that might’ve been.

“…closest to the explosion.”

BSD 3 2

Oh, so that’s what Randou was for! I see now.

Chuuya may be OP, but he’s one heck of a fun character…also, he’s not as OP as Saitama, so…yeah.

Oh, the ED from last time is the OP. I should’ve known.

I like the almost storybook-style of this episode!

I thought Dazai was faking releasing the hostages…I was wrong.

Face-stealing aliens return! (They were around last ep too, I think, but they were harder to see then.)

Again, watch for the cat!

Well, with only one suspect (or 3, if you count the Sheep kids), it was quite easy to figure out one of them was behind it. I kind of suspected Randou, anyway, considering what I’ve learnt from all the mysteries I’ve read.

Because I was watching this episode with the volume down low (so I could hear the OP and ED), the volume really did work wonders for the plot this ep…!

King of Prism – Shiny 7 Stars 1

This is the final debut of the season, so basically how this and Shield Hero perform will decide what will stay and what will go. Oh, yeah…apparently this is the companion to a movie, but the movie and TV series have slightly different content.

This dude’s (the one at the very start’s) so grumpy.

…welp, I didn’t expect it to be that much CGI.

This chunk of exposition…makes me feel like I missed something. It was probably in the previous movies, come to think of it…

Basically, this is…uh, Makura no Danshi or Room Mate all over again??? I’m noping out of here…! Bye!

Shield Hero 14

I’m putting this on the chopping block…just so you know.

…uh, age gap romance? It’s hard to tell at this stage, but they (Filo and Melty) sure act like it is romance.

Welp, this survived the chopping block. “Raphtalia backstory” is a good enough reason to stick around for, isn’t it?

Double Decker! EX 3 (FINAL)

I always miss the OP when I’m not watching Double Decker, but I miss the ED even more…

I can’t believe they tried to get away with a Spirited Away parody…!

I can’t believe I get to see Dr Apple all buttered up like this…

I love how Kirill is censoring himself. (At least he can prove he’s not a girl, unlike Valery/Milla, whose entire shtick is the confusion between genders.)

Oh! I think I know the answer to the case already! It was Kirill’s soap, so Doug is the “killer”. But then…why is it Derick, of all people???

LOL, the angles were so reminiscent of Detective Conan…

Underwear-stealing sextuplets…? Why does that kind of sound like Osomatsu-san…?

Ahh…I really am going to miss this ED. See you next time!

Shield Hero 15

I never thought Raphtalia would be so angry…that’s Naofumi’s job.

Okay…it’s the age-old question: do demis listen with their animal ears or their human ears? Do they even have human ears??? (That’s 2 questions, isn’t it…?)

Uh…CGI dinosaur, much?

Shield Hero 16

…and of course, the Queen is a loli. Of course (<-sarcastic).

“Why’d I even have to feed this KFC farm?” – LOL, but I wonder what it sounded like in Japanese…? (i.e. I didn’t listen to it and when I try to do that, there’s always something over the top of it…)

Sarazanmai 2

I wonder if I’ll ever get used to watching Ikuhara on a weekly basis…?

Kappamaki…geddit?

Wait…y’mean, Keppi’s breath smells like cucumbers? Uh…okay, TMI.

Enta’s Japanese house kind of looks like the one in Mawaru Penguindrum.

Wait…why does the Japanese word for “Fish Buffet” (Osakanazanmai) end in –zanmai? Does that mean Sarazanmai is…Dish Buffet?! (LOL)

Notably, one of the signs said “Union” in katakana. It must be an English play on words…y’know, trade union and union = connecting with each other? I’m surprisingly enjoying myself a lot with Sarazanmai, by the way. I didn’t think I would, but I am!

I think that might be Irohassu water. Or Dasani. I saw both those brands in Japan, but I don’t remember which had the green flowers.

Oh…my goodness! Nekoyama (Cat Mountain) Mokichi (written with kanji for “hair” and “luck”). It’s a Boueibu monster! Frick, I’m laughing too hard!

It’s very small and very thin, but the word next to the cat in the eyecatch is neko.

“…Meow God!” – It’s a pun on “Oh, My God!” but with a “meow” in it. It’s pretty forced, but it does get the nuance of the joke across…

Why the heck did the subbers choose “herb” as the word for weed in this? “Weed” is sufficient, right? Right…?

Well…if that spurt of water wasn’t symbolic…I don’t know what is.

The title translates better as “…but I want to steal”. Y’know, add a little force into it.

The two As and the “sara” below it seem to make a zombie face, huh?

Ooh, that ending…