#your family is literally terrible... therefore i will kidnap you and make sure you get the treatment u deserve

[deldeldel90]

platonic yanderes r so interesting and 💖💖💖 to me <33

[jynjackets]

Do you think Jyn and Maarva would like each other?

tl;dr: no <3

I don't think Jyn would get along with maarva as she is a source of Cassian's issues with self-worth and guilt, similar to how Saw is a source for her fear of abandonment. Maarva doesn't even like her own son so who knows who's good enough for her lol.

a long rant below the cut

Jyn being someone who knows exactly what it’s like to be adopted and re-abandoned, her seeing Cassian's mother be consistently disappointed in her drugged n kidnapped adopted son is a whole other level of fucked up parental issues. Maarva opting to be with her her town instead of Cassian in her last days and also disbanding his actual family, it would be very difficult for someone like Jyn to see past these actions.

There's also no real justification for Maarva's treatment of Cassian (because he doesn't do his capitalist ferrix job? because he brings girls home? because he still lives with her even though he takes care of her?). AND even after her death, the last thing she wants him to remember was “hey, you’re a big fuck up, but that’s okay <3”.

Maarva has done nothing but live her life from her fuckass couch and yet had the audacity to tell Cassian that he needs to stand up, that he needs to rebel or get a job. Even after when he fought back and went to child prison after seeing his adopted father hanged. So not only did you get ripped away from your parents, but also the person that supposedly chose you felt like they got more than they bargained for, Cassian therefore feeling ultimately undesired by both the biological and adopted family.

But being a parent is complicated, is she at fault?

Compare it to Saw abandoning Jyn. When Jyn grew older he was forced to choose between his daughter and his life's mission. Abandoning her is, without argument, fucked up. While it created irreparable damage, we can understand why he did it. Not only was it traumatizing for Jyn, but it was THE ultimate sacrifice he was making from himself. The thing that shifts some blame away is that it gutted him to do this, and he did it from a place making sure she was safe and alive.

So with this in mind, what is Maarva’s sacrifice in being constantly disappointed in your adopted son because he isn’t like everyone else? What does she gain when she tells him to forget about Kenari, that there’s nothing left? Imagine being adopted, being told as an adult that, no, you can’t be looking for your biological family and that they’re nothing now, and that even trying is useless. The only thing I can see is that she just wants Cassian to fit her image of an ideal Ferrix citizen, which isn't amazing and isn't enough to justify her actions.

Moreover, as someone who has lost a parent, the last moments you have with them hold a permanent memory that weigh differently than everything else, and imo require its own sort of grief. On Maarva's last days, she made him leave without her, even when she knew she was going to die by not taking her meds. She would rather spend her last days being memorialized as a hero on Ferrix than being with her only son. And at the end of your days, you want to go home. You want to be with family for as long as possible. For Maarva, home was Ferrix and everyone else there, not Cassian.

So Maarva sucks because she was a terrible mother at the benefit of literally nothing. Where Saw was the insurgent leader of the extremist cell that made major attacks against the empire; and not the best father largely because of his life's work but also still wanting to do his best to keep his daughter safe. But look who gets more villainized than anybody else and who is more celebrated as a hero?

On a tangent now, I believe Jyn and Maarva would be comparable to Cassian and Saw's relationship: you don't feel all warm and fuzzy inside meeting the [person you care about]'s greatest source of trauma.

All that Cassian knows about him is that he adopted her, then abandoned her. Upon seeing him on Jedha he almost draws a gun to protect Jyn (doing that before THE guy, THE supposed terrorist and Empire's most wanted, mind you), unsure where their relationship stands. Saw of course, would protect his daughter in turn, not knowing who this guy is.

I would believe Jyn would see Maarva in a similar light on a dramatically smaller scale. That "I hate my MIL and our interests are only mutually aligned around what's best for Cassian", but of course what that means is totally different things. Maarva sees Cassian and believes he needs to change. Even when she’s fucking dead he still needs for things to come together in order to be unstoppable, or whatever vision she had in mind for him and that him on his own is not enough.

And so the rest of this is how I interpret the implications for Rogue One: that the lessons both Jyn and Cassian took from their adopted parents can be mutually shattered as they see each other for who they are and not what they've been molded to believe.

As we know with Jyn, she has a complex moral code. When she sees a stormtrooper she feels the reflex to kill. When she sees a war-torn child, her reaction is to risk her own life to save innocents. And this is what she continues to do when she meets Cassian. She has every reason to shoot him and steal his ship. But on Jedha, seeing him agreeing with her that she was perhaps worth saving after her deed of saving the child, she sees him in return when he shoots the partisan. They see each other for their actions, for the better parts of each other, despite their words and even their own personal doubts. Jyn continues to risk her life for him over and over again and vice versa. She doesn’t want to change him at all and she inspires him to fight in ways he perhaps has forgotten or never knew was possible.

In fact, the reason she’s angry with him on Eadu is because he lied to her. Revealing the intention to kill someone’s dad easily put your anger in the right, but while she is mixed up with grief, the bigger part of her knows he was incapable of doing it and doesn’t revel in the fact of who he could’ve been if he killed her father or even combined with terrible things he's done, but just sees the present man that didn't and instead came back for her. Even Cassian is thinking how she was going to kill him for it, when he hadn’t even committed the crime. He’s caught up with the impression and perception of the kind of man he is, the narrative that he’s been fed his whole life that he’s committed atrocities that deem him unworthy.

Jyn and Cassian offer each other a break from narratives and reputations that they've tried to sound out their whole lives. And although both characters have a lot of integrity, being told the same thing over again through life lessons, you begin to believe it yourself. It's where we meet the two of them at their lowest points. That for Jyn, she wasn't someone worth returning to, that there isn't hope amongst war. And for Cassian, that he's not a good person for things he's done, that war is endless, and he has to follow orders or do things for others in order to belong. As the events of Rogue One unfold, we can see how they come to understand each other. They create a bond by feeling seen for the first time.

IN SUMMARY:

Maarva is like the exact opposite of Saw Gerrera in all the worst fucking ways, I tell you. Instead of being family friends with and saving the child that he later abandons, she kidnaps the child away from their actual family and then holds them hostage on her planet to force-assimilate and take care of her in her old age. And instead of actively rebelling through extremist insurgencies, she sits around and berates her son to go be a rebel, and yet disappointed that he doesn't have a job or doesn't do what everybody else does(?).

Jyn would hate that bitch like. Every Life Day would be an ordeal. The irony of how she fucking dies doing nothing when Saw Gerrera is barely held together by oxygen tubes and yet outlives this couch potato. Andors versus Erso-Gerreras it's first-planet problems versus outer rim problems. Yeah they're both traumatic but the biggest difference is one of these is entirely avoidable if you just weren't a piece of shit.

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Hi Dear Jalebi, I demand your analysis :)   What are your thoughts on IPKKND might have some typical track if the audience, TRP, actors departure didn't influence it otherwise? Let me explain, IPKKND was supposed to have a longer office track (that wasn't common though, I would've loved it) but the TRP was low, so Shantivan track was introduced. Then, I read that, Sana Maqbul (Lavanya) wanted to quit IPKKND, that's why the quick breakup???

Is that why they didn't give us the COMMON AF *jealousy and hero's ex GF turns villain* track? Then again, Anjali was jealous and sad about Khushi after the first reveal of Shyam, and it looked like track about Didi Ki Saut was beginning. But again ratings dropped and the fandom didn't react well (kinda protested), Anjali quickly stopped showing jealousy and Dadi was introduced to give ArShi a common saas-bahu vibe.

Hello Dear Analysis Anon!

I am going to over answer this with a lot of detail because I have a lot of thoughts, as always! Time to get into my thinking cape/coat:

This analysis is going to cover:

(1) every example you just mentioned,

(2) my thoughts on external things affecting plot of the story,

(3) things/plots/ tracks that could've been if not for external factors

Examples

1) IPKKND was supposed to have a longer office track (that wasn't common though, I would've loved it) but the TRP was low, so Shantivan track was introduced

As far as I can remember from one of the writers' interviews, the office track was cut short because this was a show on Star Plus - which, as a channel, caters to 'family audience' therefore needs to have sanskaar and stuff at its core. Hence the rude shortening of the office track and weird 'makeover' and 'desi-dying' Lavanya. And hence we had a very weird four months of an eighteen-twenty years old Khushi teaching someone about sanskaars and suddenly knowing everything about a household when Bua-ji or even Payal would've been a more apt choice for this 'tutoring'.

If this was a Star One show, they might've not shifted out of the office for the longest time!

2) Sana Maqbul (Lavanya) wanted to quit IPKKND, that's why the quick breakup??? Is that why they didn't give us the COMMON AF *jealousy and hero's ex GF turns villain* track?

I did not know that's why the quick end happened. Honestly that happened perfectly. I think Lavanya had an inkling about their relationship heading south right when Arnav told everyone he's getting engaged to her. But she chooses to not see it until one day she couldn't. Maybe we could've gotten more from La but if you see carefully, La clearly knows that this relationship is now just for face. Bless her heart for trying though, trying with a smile!

Also, again I think the writers never thought of making Lavanya a vamp. They had enough material with Arnav-Khushi's own differences, Shyam and Buaji playing enough roles to mess up Arnav-Khushi's love story. I probably think they always had planned Lavanya as a beautiful person who was unintentionally caught in all of this. I feel they planned La and Khushi's friendship - they clearly enjoyed writing two completely different people becoming closest of friends.

The writers/creators deserve full credit for this.

3) Then again, Anjali was jealous and sad about Khushi after the first reveal of Shyam, and it looked like track about Didi Ki Saut was beginning. But again ratings dropped and the fandom didn't react well (kinda protested), Anjali quickly stopped showing jealousy and Dadi was introduced to give ArShi a common saas-bahu vibe.

This is all true.

My Thoughts on External Things Affecting Plot

It's not necessarily bad that external things affect plot. Feedback, from channel or fans, can help the show to pivot and understand what is working and what's not. The problem is when feedback is implemented regardless whether or not it matches the theme of the plot.

I loved:

1) The channel moving out of the office because the power dynamic was too great and the contract terms were very unhealthy and Arnav Singh Raizada deserved to get sued at least 10 times by the end of this contract so yes, the shorter the office track the better. Literally the saving grace is they didn't "fall in love" there.

2) The fans protesting against Didi Ki Saut track. Not because I hated the track - I think it was executed in the worst manner! From identical visual languages to show Arnav-Anjali and Arnav-Khushi scenes (which didn't work to show Arnav being equally torn between the two most important women in his life, but just made the audience get creeped by Arnav-Anjali's relationship) and writing scenes of Anjali getting offended by Arnav-Khushi's intimacy/Arnav spending time with his wife, on her birthday, in his bedroom... did she expect Khushi would just *disappear* in a her and Arnav's bedroom? Like that was the worst way to show a compelling plot line and giving people some weird thoughts about Anjali-Arnav (which I hate because I LOVE Anjali-Arnav).

3) Barun walking out when the plot was literally done. Yes, thank you!

4) Barun going to do a movie led to the kidnapping track, which I liked a lot. No, not the nonsense of Manorama Bond fishing out Delhi's security camera footages in vintage recording system - but the fact that given the chasm and angst between Arnav & Khushi, only something bigger than their misunderstanding could force Arnav to give weight to his feelings and for Khushi to be able to forgive him. And his life was at stake. It was a sharp reminder to both of them that they lost so much by not communicating that it doesn't matter what they had to say - they loved each other, they just needed to get back and fight off everything together.

And then again, there are things I HATED that happened because of external factors:

1) The channel for the whole La becomes Desi. And the overdose of sanskaar and tradition that followed for a few months *uggggh* Clearly the channel demanded this from the plot because family, traditions and all are important to Star Plus (wtf are they thinking for Ghum Hai Kisi Ke? though or YRKKH?) And even the Aarav track and Mrs. India - two tracks with terrible execution - were very Star Plus recommended content. Just now Saath Nibhana Saathiya 2 had a Mrs. Surat/Gujarat track and Yeh Hai Chaahatein had a miracle child popping up...

2) The fans demanding Arnav & Khushi's proximity. The whole hut scene was *noooooo*. Lack of consent, body doubles, GLARING logical loopholes and them just trying to do it when one of them is really not in the mood and they were both so out of character. @phati-sari explains this really well in her post (just search for the hut to get all relevant posts on her blog)

3) Barun? Not exactly - he's never in control of the plot so really it's the writers that kinda know what to do with his presence and absence. Even if they get a short time, it's upto the creators who know if they use the last 2-3 weeks for stretching a random track as much as they can and give a rushed ending or quickly wrap up a crap track and give a satisfactory ending. A good example of this is Lavanya's exit - although rushed was dealt with grace, important conversations and memorable hugs. Bad one is the end of the show - I know Barun gave his papers but I wish they went the La way with the end of the show - important convos, teary hugs and a sweet moment (they tried their best tho...)

It's an ITV trend though to not plan for the end of a show... they stretch a crappy track as much as they can and have like a 2 min epilogue. Kasautii 2.0 was the funniest cause they had all misconceptions cleared, Komolika and Mr. Bajaj die and then have a weird 2 min pillow fight to show 'happy family'... guess in that way I'm glad we had whatever we did with IPKKND!

Possible Tracks Then

So if external factors didn't influence the show, we might have had the following:

1) A longer office track. It would end the way it did in canon though. I think it was prewritten that at one point Khushi would tear up the contract and hold him accountable for everything Arnav did. Just instead of 3-4 days it would've been 10-15 days after the contract.

2) Didi Ki Saut track. Honestly that was compelling if executed right. Sometimes you can have an antagonist without becoming a villain, Anjali the perfect character for that.

3) A separation track. I'm pretty sure Arnav-Khushi could have separated at some point in their six months marriage - this is just my inkling and not something I heard in an interview unlike the above two. If given full reign to writing, we probably would've gotten an angst heavy stuff at some point post marriage/6 months.

4) A remarriage track sans Dadi. We know why Dadi was introduced (honestly I didn't mind her, it was a track done well and kinda to redeem Arnav in front of the public eyes. It's a perfect track cause Arnav is 'nice' for standing up for her and kinda heals the wounds he caused in the first few months of the marriage by retorting someone who tells Khushi everything he told her...) But anyway I do think a remarriage was in the works, not because of TRPs but the way their whole 'marriage' was framed and how Khushi was broken because of the lack of everything in it. And they deserved one w/o the devastation that night brought.

5) The 'marriage' would've been a live in. Arnav and Khushi's elopement was supposed to be darker in nature*. Their 'marriage' would've had no religious nor legal validity, therefore a stark contradiction to everything Khushi stood for... but you can't have that in ITV. *By dark I don't mean sexual violence - never.*

6) The whole IPKKND was meant to be darker. I am glad for the romantic comedy though! I think their balance of angst and comedy pre marriage was perfect! Not sure post marriage because it felt like a loop of going back to square one with no progress. But I think things were meant to be less subtle, more tragic and dramatized. So I think we could've gotten extremely angsty periods post marriage with a slow, gentle lull to the romance/comedy. While I am extremely glad for the lightheartedness, I wish I could've read what the whole original concept for Arnav/Khushi was!

7) Arnav revealing the truth to Khushi would've been different. We know the distasteful suicide track quickly came as a way to push Arnav's buttons and have him confess the truth of his elopement to Khushi. And that came from Barun going away - hence the quick kidnapping track and everything. So if Barun didn't go away, I honestly don't know how the revelation would happen. Would Arnav start piecing things together from information and things about Shyam in Laxminagar? Would Arnav end up helping and hospitalizing Shashi who would tell him the truth? Would Arnav come across any hidden wedding card Buaji could've had printed for Shyam-Khushi or even Shyam's fake kundili? Given the Gupta house wasn't the place where Shyam covered his tracks... was this where Arnav would start seeing things? Or guilt ridden, would Garima/Khushi/Madhumati tell Arnav the truth? Something was meant to happen for this revelation, whether it's Arnav believing Khushi or just getting further evidence against her - I... don't know! I wish I knew what the writers had in store.

We highly appreciate for not showing a typical Nanand against Bhaabi trope, also for not making La villain, but would it result differently if things didn't have a hand? Imma cry thinking Anjali jealous and La villain! meh!  What a feast for the eyes it was to see ONLY ONE VILLAIN and less negativity in a tellywood show. Baas bohut hua my casual verbiage. By demand I mean no pressure, please take your valuable time and reply whenever you feel like it.Take Loads of Care and Chocolates your way <3

I hope the above answered all your queries :) Thank you for all the chocolates and care!!!

Phew this was rather long! A big hug to anyone who went through it! See ya later!

- Jalebi

[vrishchikawrites]

About YZY leaving YMJ/JFM with her kids Post-WWX Arrival

Dear Dee, feel free to delete or ignore this or post it, whatever floats your boat. This just stuck in my head after those posts and I had to blurt it all to someone. Thanks for taking the time to read my word vomit.

So I had to do this instead of an ask because it got long and I wasn't sure how many asks it'd need or how short I could cut it down without losing parts of the argument. And then other things came up as I was writing and, well.  Well..... >_>;;;; 

But you know, after that post/ask you had about YZY fics saying 'Fuck U' to YMJ/JFM & leaving both with her kids, I had a sarcastic 'yeah right' attitude about it. Mainly due to a lot of negation emotions to such an abusive (and delusional) bitch, partly due to how she wouldn't do that since it doesn't seem to be something her sort of character would consider either because she'd think of it as 'losing' (losing what, IDK, it's why I consider her type of person crazy) or she legit wouldn't think about such a viable action.

But then later, in the shower, I seriously went 'Wait, she can't fucking do that' and it wouldn't be about how MXTX uses her as a part of the narrative but entirely about the/their culture in the novel; the actions that have and would be taken in response; and her entire toxic personality as well.

1) We already know that the sects and the cultivation world in general is sexist, elitist and so Capital T 'Traditional' to the point that it's starting to petrify and any deviancy from this is an exception rather than the norm. YZY might be a madame of a great sect (for what that's worth considering how shit of a madame she's been and the titles she's chosen for herself) but she's still a woman even with her high rank and the things she's personally accomplished.

Even if she was in her rights to leave a 'bad' marriage, she'd be the one who'd get scolded more instead of JFM by her natal family, her former husband's family and by their entire society at large even if she had a few singular supporters. Because That's Not How Things Are Done in their society and I do believe that such a thing was rare even when it was accepted method by the upper echelons. Especially since it would have to be done by more than YZY simply deciding that She Wants Out and just- goes and Gets Out. With no serious allegations that would allow her to divorce or separate from YMJ/JFM without the input from her family, JFM's family and, I think, possibly some measure of compensation as well. And no, having or bringing in a 'bastard child' is not a serious enough offence for such a humongous decision. I think something more along the lines of treason or crimes against multiple, high-ranking parties would be more along the lines. Maybe.

And even if she does this, she'd be considered 'Used Goods' (such a terrible comment) and there'd be no other good/proper marriage prospects for a divorced woman with children let alone a woman like YZY with her entire abrasive personality and attitude put off even easy-going JFM.

(If she'd been widowed then it'd be more forgiven but I consider that a Real Bad End since, IMO, it would lead to the sudden and inevitable decline of YMJ either via mass exodus of disciples and/or residents of LP; being merged with another sect due to it's unstable leadership; or create an internal political war 'cause I bet you anything that the YMJ Elders/relatives (if they have any) Would Not Want YZY in charge of YMJ when she's already proven herself such a shit betrothed let alone madame.)

2) Speaking of families, while YMJ/JFM/LP as a whole might be glad to see YZY's back, I don't think her natal sect, MSY, will be glad to see her come storming back after all the effort they put into getting that particular marriage alliance with YMJ. And if she brings her children with her? Oh man, oh boy- mother or not, that could be considered as kidnapping or line theft (is that a thing?) especially if YZY is also seriously considering divorce proceedings and raising them as Yu and not Jiang. That could give leave to, for anyone more unforgiving and maybe JFM if he's pushed enough, disown both JYL and JWY from the Jiangs through no fault of their own (though I'm sure YZY would make it so as well as blame JFM for her own decisions and mistakes).

Therefore, any inheritance or benefits they might gain for being legitimised children of a great sect are forfeited. JYL will likely lose that betrothal with JZX because JGS will drop it like a hot potato and JWY won't be a sect heir because YZY literally decided to remove that by deciding to raise JWY as a Yu, no matter their blood relation to JFM. They leave him, they leave YMJ and everything attached with it. Which is if YMJ/JFM doesn't demand MSY to give back their heir/ess and to punish YZY for her actions. Or send all three of them back for the appropriate reactions/decisions.

Their society would demand no less in reaction because, to them, it would seem like YZY had gone mad and JFM would look weak (or weaker) and imply that YMJ is vulnerable and exploitable if JFM doesn't do something in response to her actions. That's not even getting into what the other smaller sects may try to do in an attempt to curry favour with YMJ or what LLJ or QSW would try in order to destroy or diminish YMJ. And whether JFM chooses to demand his children back or not, it may not change the fact that this may give him reason enough to choose a nephew or niece to be the new sect heir especially if, even after getting rid of YZY's poisonous influence, JWY grows up to be his mother's child more than his father's or even his own person.

Either way, such a thing would bring great backlash on YZY, and MSY as well as the collateral. No one would want to give face to her or her children because it would bring up some very uncomfortable questions and scenarios to the other sects- specifically, what would happen if the female members of their clans/sets decided to follow the footsteps of YZY and leave with their children and heirs. Especially if they use it as an excuse to leave for their own comfort and whims and not some legitimate wrongs and dangers. That would create some more restrictions on women thanks to YZY

3) And lastly, if any one of those idiot YZY stans think that she'd ever give up the status of being a madame of a great sect they'd be as crazy or crazier than her. YZY is all about status and power and face. Specifically, her status, power and face and how people in her reach reflect her or 'insult' her. She is a selfish, terrible, abusive and toxic person and can only see people in regards to how they would benefit her and the elevation of her and in no other way. Especially her family. They cannot be their own person, they can only be an extension of her and gods forbid they go against her.

We can see this in how she treats the people she supposedly loves. JFM? Arguments day in, day out along with accusations and slander of cheating, having one(1) supposed 'bastard' and being 'in love' with CSSR. Which all seems sus as hell. And that's when she's actually there and not out 'night hunting'. Even her 'training' seems to border on unhelpful rather then helpful if my vague recollections of juniors fainting from exhaustion can be relied upon (please call me out if they're not or find proof).

JYL? Berated by not being 'strong' but not helped at all to be 'strong'. It doesn't help that YZY seems to believe in the same standards strength in their society- that is, of martial masculine strength which does not and should not apply to JYL who has been said to be sickly. Which means h should have been learning a different way of cultivation/fighting anyway.  If that was something she wanted and had been offered in the first place- which I doubt. That isn't even getting into her repeated generational trauma mess of a betrothal which was decided only by those 'sworn sisters', accepted by her as a way out of her terrible home life and puts her squarely within reach of JGS who we know to be a womaniser, rapist, predator and a possible ephebophile considering we don't know the exact age of his youngest 'conquest' or the age of MZY's mother when they met which could be anywhere from 14 to 21.

JWY? Gods, so much meta on him and his(non-) relationships with his parents that I don't think I can contribute more to it. It's been all said and done. Unless people want me to stir the pot by saying that, maybe, just maybe, YZY resents JWY as much as she 'loves' him.Either because he's her son and yet never manages to 'accomplish as much' as WWX or because he's a boy and therefore, more benefits and allowances than a girl/woman- more than anything that YZY ever got without either a fight or screaming at someone about. *shrug*

So, in conclusion to this sudden an unexpected essay that I wrote(I'm so sorry about that, I thought it would be shorter -.-;;;;), YZY leaving YMJ/JFM with her kids? Impossible. Not without some sort of personality transplant or a complete AU. She's too prideful, too bitter, too angry, too everything negative and little positive. She's a resentful product of the values and restraints of her society taken to the extreme negative with a willingness to inflict her pain on others to an abusive degree. But she's also too obsessed and reliant on those same values and restraints to keep up the image of her status. So her? Giving those up? You'd be more likely to see WRH as a doting grandfather than that.

---

Dee - All of this is true and yes YZY leaving YMJ is highly unlikely. While there will be consequences if she decides to leave, she does canonically lives separately from her husband. They seem to be in a situation where they are married but living separately, which was a common way to end a marriage (at least in spirit) back then. She essentially had all the perks of being Madam Jiang but fulfilled none of the responsibilities.

Afaik, her training the Jiang disciples is a donghua thing? I may be wrong but I recall she spent most of her time nighthunting.

As for taking her children along with her- that's completely impossible. At that point, children were the property of the father. She could leave but she would've never been allowed to take JC.

[mst3kproject]

The Star Wars Holiday Special

Happy Holidays, MSTies!  Your present is Episodes that Never Were are back!  Remember last year, when I said Elves was so bad I wished I’d watched the Star Wars Holiday Special instead?  Let’s find out what those words taste like.

The galaxy may be in the midst of a rebellion, but Chewbacca promised his family he will be back for Life Day, and god damn it, he’s gonna get there!  He and Han Solo dodge Imperial forces and asteroid fields on the way, but the real danger may be waiting for them at home, as Stormtroopers do a treehouse-to-treehouse search for rebel sympathizers.  It won’t be much of a holiday if Chewie arrives home only to be immediately arrested!

That sounds exciting, doesn’t it?  It even sounds like it could be made to mean something. There is perhaps a point here about inter-ethnic empathy – Life Day may be a Wookiee holiday, but Chewbacca’s alien friends still know how important it is to him and they’re gonna help him keep his promise.  We could also compare it to Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.  In that movie, the Martians want to celebrate Christmas but aren’t particularly interested in what it means.  They get all their information about it from pirated television and from children who don’t understand anything much more than ‘free stuff’.  We didn’t give Christmas to them, they literally stole it by kidnapping Santa.  In the Holiday Special, the Wookiees are sharing their cultural traditions with outsiders who have become part of their family – Leia’s speech at the ends notes the humans’ respect for this.

But none of that’s relevant, because this is just a bad 70’s variety hour in a Star Wars costume.  We don’t get to see claustrophobic scenes of our brave heroes hiding from the Storm Troopers.  We don’t get sweeping space battles or bickering robots or weird new planets… we don’t get anything we go to see Star Wars for.  Instead, we mostly watch the Wookiees sitting around their house passing the time as they wait helplessly for Chewbacca to get home.  This could have been neat in itself if Wookiees had an interesting culture, but they live in a Mod 70’s Treehouse and seem to spend most of their time watching television.  The brief opening sequence, in which Solo and Chewie outrun their pursuers in the Millennium Falcon, is just a tantalizing offer of chocolate on the tip of a giant turd.

The actual point of the show, as far as the people who produced it were concerned, was the various little musical numbers and comedy sequences along the way, some of which are more Star Wars-themed than others.  Most of these are presented as one or other of the characters watching them on some form of television, which often doesn’t make any sense.  The sequences themselves are usually not very well-presented and a lot of them are just downright boring, so let’s go through them one by one. Top up your eggnog, folks.  We may be here a while.

Our first setpiece is a holographic circus featuring jugglers and acrobats, which the adults use to distract Lumpy so he’ll stop bothering them – like parents at the mall letting their kids watch Paw Patrol on a tablet while they shop.  When you see televised circus acts, they’re usually filmed up close and at interesting angles, to heighten the sense of danger, and give you a good look at what’s going on.  The Star Wars Holiday Special presents it as tiny figures on a table, always shot from far away and looking down, which removes all the drama from the stunts.  Lumpy enlarges a figure, but it’s only the ringmaster.  The others remain tiny, all while this little Wookiee looms over them like a kaiju that will start stomping if it isn’t entertained.

Then we get Mark Hamill’s cameo (in which he looks weirdly like one of the puppets from Invaders from the Deep), followed by Malla’s attempt to cook Bantha Surprise by following the directions on a tv show.  I’m not very interested in cooking shows anyway, but I have a hard time imagining anybody being interested in a fake cooking show featuring fictional ingredients from other planets.  What we see on Malla’s screen comes across as a sort of parody, but not actually a funny one. I’m tempted to think Harvey Korman must have been making fun of some particular 70’s cooking show maven but I don’t begin to know who that might be.

The ‘humour’ of the sequence is supposed to come from Malla’s attempt to follow the directions even though the cook on the show has four arms and Malla only two.  I could pull some commentary on ableism in cooking and cooking shows out of this, but it would be a stretch, and nobody on the writing end was thinking about it that hard.  It’s just stupid, and so is Korman’s plastic wig.  Malla eventually turns it off in frustration, long after we’re tired of listening to it.

By the way, if you’re wondering whose stupid idea it was to set the whole thing on Kashyyyk (or, as a guy in the Special calls it, Kazook) and not have any subtitles to the Wookiee’s dialogue?  That was apparently 100% George Lucas.  The actual script and everything was in the hands of the television producers, but Lucas would not budge on the premise being Wookiee-centric.  At least he exorcised that particular demon here, instead of subjecting us to it on the big screen.

Anyway, next Art Carney drops by to deliver some Life Day presents, among which is the source of our next setpiece: a VR machine which reads Itchy’s mind to present a personalized fantasy!  This takes the form of Diahann Carroll in a sparkly feather wig, singing a song and saying things like “I am your fantasy, experience me!”  The song is okay, I guess, and Carroll has a lovely voice, but what we’re seeing is basically a boring music video.  She’s just standing there on a glittery black background, and we can’t forget that she’s singing to a geriatric Wookiee who is doing the Wookiee equivalent of jacking off to this (emphasized by the appearance of literal little swimmers in part of the sequence!).  The fact that it’s a personal fantasy plucked from his subconscious makes it feel like this was something we weren’t supposed to be privy to, like we’re looking through somebody else’s computer at his girlfriend’s nudes.

Princess Leia (also looking disturbingly puppet-like… are we sure the actual actors appeared in this, and not look-a-likes in heavy makeup?) and C3P0 get their cameo, and then there’s the single actually effective moment in the Special.  This is when we think Han Solo and Chewie are about to arrive home, ending our torment a full hour early, but no, it’s the Storm Troopers!  This bit isn’t fantastic, but it does work.  Then, sadly, we’re on to the next variety act.

This is a holographic music video which Carney shows to the Imperial troops as a demonstration that the device he has brought Malla for Life Day is harmless.  It’s Jefferson Starship moaning out a rock song, in which I can understand at best one word in three.  The visuals are in intense soft-focus that’s probably supposed to be artsy.  The costumes (what I can see of them) aren’t any more Star-Wars-y than anything else bands wore in the 70’s.  And the song sounds like something you’d find in the ‘easy’ setting on Rock Band.  Why does Black Helmet sit there and watch the whole thing when he’s supposed to be searching every house on Kashyyyk/Kazook for rebel sympathizers?

The version of the Special currently available on YouTube, which tragically lacks the commercials, has a lot of comments along the lines of this is what you hallucinate after buying Death Sticks from that guy on Coruscant.

To drive the point home, the next thing we see is Lumpy watching a cartoon about Han Solo and Chewbacca crash-landing on an ocean planet while searching for a mystical talisman that makes things invisible (I wish they hadn’t actually shown this object – then I could have made jokes about it being the One Ring).  This sequence is generally regarded as the best thing in the Special, and it introduced Boba Fett and provided some characterization for him.  It is definitely true that this is the only segment with a plot, and with its weird aliens and grubby outposts it feels a lot more like Star Wars than anything else going on here.

The main thing that keeps me from enjoying this segment is that it just looks weird.  The animators use exaggerated squash-and-stretch on the droids, even more so than on the living characters, which makes them look like they’re made out of jell-o. Princess Leia looks like something out of a cheap 60’s manga and Luke like he was drawn by a twelve-year-old based on an action figure that wasn’t actually of Luke Skywalker.  Luke has no pupils, which is very distressing, but not as distressing as when C3P0 blinks.  Even worse, as far as I can tell Han Solo has no eyes at all.

The design of the alien planet in this sequence is pretty cool, though.  It appears to be entirely covered in a kind of goopy ocean and the creatures that live in it are neat-looking, even if not terribly plausible.  Animation is really a great medium for fantasy and science fiction, because it levels the playing field: we’re not thinking about the special effects because everything on screen looks equally unreal.  This is something Disney, who used it to such beautiful effect in Lilo and Stitch, totally forgot at just about the same time as they acquired the rights to Star Wars.  Oh, for what could have been.

I want to note here that the average review on this blog is about as long as what you’ve read so far.  We’re only about two thirds of the way through the Special, though, and I can’t really divide a holiday review up into two weeks.  Therefore, consider this your permission to take a break and go snag another latke or whatever you’re snacking on, and then we’ll continue.

There’s one fun bit of background social commentary in the animated sequence, too: the only way for humans to survive the virus is to hang them upside-down so their brains will get enough oxygen despite their weakened hearts.  In the city there’s an advertisement for the cure – and the upside-down human pictured in the ad is, of course, a woman in her underwear.  The image isn’t detailed and it’s not the focus of the shot, so I don’t think it’s an actual piece of gratuitous cheesecake.  Apparently somebody at Nelvana Ltd was just salty about the advertising industry.

The self-contained story in the cartoon makes sense within itself. It justifies Fett’s fearsome reputation far better than anything in The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi, and the characters seem to be in-character even when they’re off-model.  The problem is with it as a part of the framing story about the Imperial troops searching Chewbacca’s house!  The Special is very explicit that this is not something that’s actually happening in the real world at the same time as the other events – it is a cartoon Lumpy is watching on TV.  Why, in a galaxy controlled by the Empire, would there be cartoons using the real names of real rebel operatives and presenting them as the heroes?  If nobody’s supposed to know Boba Fett is connected with the Empire, why does the show blow his cover?

More importantly, where can I get one of those awesome giant stuffed Banthas Lumpy has in his room?  I don’t know if that’s a real toy that was available in the late 70’s, but Comic Images does make something similar and you can buy them at Wal-Mart or Toys R Us.

While cleaning up the mess the Stormtroopers made of his room, Lumpy watches an instructional video of how to put together some kind of radio. This features Harvey Korman as an android who keeps getting jammed.  Like cooking shows, instructional videos aren’t very interesting unless you’re trying to follow the directions – since we can’t follow the directions, this one is pointless to begin with.  The ‘joke’ is not funny, and lines like “every one of the ten thousand terminals on your circuit breaker module is a different colour” might be amusing when written down but they just don’t work when somebody says them aloud.  Fortunately, it doesn’t last long.

Then we get on to what’s probably the second-best thing in the Special, the bit where we learn that the Mos Eisley cantina is owned by Bea Arthur.  It would be easily the most expensive thing in the Special were it not made up of b-roll footage and re-used puppets from Episode IV.  It’s also kind of got a plot, in that a guy with a baking soda volcano on top of his head (this is certainly an efficient way to get the alcohol directly to your brain) is trying to confess his love to Bea while she just wants to get on with running her business.  Eventually he gets his heart broken and leaves, and then the Empire shuts the bar down, so Bea throws everybody out with a song.

I have to admit, in The Force Awakens when Han Solo mentioned a female friend who ran a ‘watering hole’… there was a moment there when I was half-expecting it to be Bea Arthur’s character.  I’m relieved that it wasn’t, but also just the slightest bit disappointed.  We had to wait for The Mandalorian to get a proper Holiday Special callback.

This bit almost had a chance to say something with its ‘thwarted romance’ plot.  Usually such a thing in a tv show would get what the male character would consider a happy ending.  He would prove to his love interest that being cared for is important, she would realize that love is better than money, and they would metaphorically ride off into the sunset.  What it looks like we’re going to get here instead is something more like the episode of South Park where Butters fell in love with the Hooters waitress. Harvey Korman’s character (yes, he plays three different characters in this Special and this was apparently supposed to be a selling point) realizes his crush is based on a misunderstanding, and while it makes him sad, he’s not going to be an asshole about it.

Nor is Bea’s character vilified for rejecting him, which she does tactfully but firmly, as if she’s gone through this many times before. He’s just a minor annoyance in her day before she goes on to worry about bigger problems, like getting everybody to obey that Imperial curfew.  Then, however, at the last second he pops up from behind the counter after everybody has left – and that’s where the segment ends.  I think we’re supposed to assume they got together after all, but I kind of hope she just threw him out with the rest of them.  No means no, damn it.

Bea Arthur’s Go Home Song is to the tune the Cantina Band was playing in Episode IV, so it pretty much goes without saying it’s the catchiest piece in the Special.

Then, finally, it’s time to celebrate Life Day!  The Wookiees hold up some glowing Christmas balls, then dress in red robes and walk through outer space into a, uh, wormhole, I guess, that takes them to the base of the giant tree from Avatar.  There it’s time for our final setpiece, the culmination of this whole ninety-minute ordeal… Princess Leia sings!  The Life Day Carol is to the tune of the main Star Wars theme, and the lyrics sound like something from a generic Christmas album you get free if you buy three cards at Hallmark.  Carrie Fisher is a decent singer but she looks like she’s as glad this is over as we are.

Much like Howard the Duck, The Star Wars Holiday Special is a production in which they made all the worst decisions they possibly could.  Focusing on the Wookiees at home rather than following Han Solo and Chewbacca through the action killed the whole thing at the starting gate.  Then that plot is nothing but a frame on which they can hang the various variety acts, and none of those are very good.  It’s only towards the end of the sequence that what we’re seeing even has anything to do with Star Wars.  Watching it is an ordeal on the order of an un-riffed Coleman Francis film.  It’s so bad, it’s not even something people get together and watch like they do Manos or The Room.

So why do we still have it?  The Holiday Special was only broadcast once, and was met by fathomless loathing from critics, Star Wars fans, and ordinary people alike. It has never been released in any other format (Andrew Borntreger of badmovies.org has a story about how Lucas had him thrown out of a Q&A panel for asking if it were getting a DVD release), so the fact that you can find it on YouTube today is down to some nameless hero who recorded it on their newfangled VCR back in 1978.  That person then showed it to friends, apparently on the basis of oh my god, you guys, this is so bad, you have to see it, and then because misery loves company they copied it to show to their friends. What we have today is copies of copies of copies of copies, like fragments of Sappho only with VHS artefacts instead of holes in the papyrus (and without the artistic vision).

Humans like to preserve remarkable things.  Sappho we’ve preserved because it’s remarkably good, but the Star Wars Holiday Special we preserve because it’s remarkably bad.  Lucasfilm has tried very hard to stamp it out.  George Lucas himself has said that if he could he would gather up every copy that exists and smash them with a sledgehammer… but we won’t let him do it. We keep copying the Special and passing it along, in a way that’s very familiar to MSTies in particular.  We’re circulating the tapes!  Why this tape in particular?

I don’t claim to know, but my working theory is that it keeps us humble.  We are a species that can produce great things when we put our minds to it.  We landed on the moon.  We eradicated smallpox.  We built the Taj Mahal and the Sagrada Familia.  We wrote The Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Einstein Field Equations and the aforementioned works of Sappho.  But for all that, we are also capable of throwing the same kind of effort into creating utter disasters – and the Star Wars Holiday Special is the rare example of an unmitigated disaster that didn’t actually hurt anybody.  It reminds us to take a step back and look at what we’re doing without getting too invested in it, but does so while being harmless and at times humorous.

Would I still rather watch this than Elves?  You bet your shaggy Wookiee ass I would.  The Star Wars Holiday Special may be longer, but it doesn’t leave nearly such a bad taste in my mouth.

I will leave you with this: the Special was, as I mentioned, only broadcast once, in 1978 – that means its signal is now forty-one light years from Earth and still going.  There are several hundred stars within that bubble, around two dozen of which are known to have planets.  Somewhere out there, aliens might be getting their first signal from humanity right now and it’s the Star Wars Holiday Special.

[tiaragqueen]

Yandere One Punch Man Headcanons Pt. 2

99-nct asked: “If it’s not too much to ask, could you do a couple more for characters like Garou and Amai mask (with maybe some s-class heroes)?”

Anon asked: “Hello!! Can I please please get a yandere garou headcanons, tyy :)”

As per requests, I’ve decided to write the second part of Yandere OPM headcanons. I admit, Garou was a little hard for me to imagine but he certainly has a yandere potential. So, I apologize if it’s not up to your liking. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it!

If you like my writing, please support me on ko-fi!

Amai Mask

Pretty boy... I honestly love his short hair more than the long one

Probably the busiest yandere out of the others

Vain

You might catch his interest due to your strong power and beauty

Though I can see him liking a celebrity as well

But you know, cameras are on them all the time

So it decreases his chance of ‘owning’ you

Amai Mask is very generous, you see

There’s nothing he won’t buy for you

Clothes? Just take them

Cars? Pick any brand you want

Vacations? Where do you have in mind, darling?

Tries to organize his time evenly, but fails miserably

I mean, he's still human and juggles tons of jobs

Hero, model, actor, singer

Each needs his attention just as much

It’s hard to be organized when you always have something to do

But it’s a hidden blessing, you know

You can escape anytime he goes to work

Which is almost all the time, to be honest

But you gotta know that he’s famous and therefore, has many connections

You can escape to other countries and he'll be there to bring you back

Or one of his lackeys

Or even his GODDAMN fans

Whoever and whichever works the best

He’s not delusional per se

More like he doesn’t understand why do you want to leave after he provides you with literally everything you need

Though, not exactly self-aware either

Harsh in punishing

Bondage, starvation, isolation you name it

Prefer sexual punishment than physical one

Merciless in killing anyone who even injures you in the slightest

Especially monsters

Has a burning hatred in everything he deems evil and ugly

And anyone who taints your beauty shall not live long on his hands

Definitely obsessed and possessive with you

Likes to mark you

He’s not too forceful in showing you off

Because he knows that you’re his

The world knows, all heroes know, his fans know

You literally have no chance in escaping

So you might as well give up and start enjoying the luxury he happily bestow upon you

Before he takes them away

Garou

The first time I saw him I thought he was Bang's younger self

Surprisingly nice to kids

Therefore, he might be more attracted to younger partners

Won’t tolerate being looked down upon

A mere scolding is enough to set him off into an enraged state

So you have to tread carefully with him

Very carefully it’s ridiculous

It’s like walking on an extremely thin rope or a brittle ice with bubbling fire underneath

Which is his temper, by the way

Unless you’re feeling suicidal enough to get a taste of his anger

Doesn’t mind hurting you to prove his point

You might be one of those wallflowers as he hates popular ones

Despite that, he's always protecting you from any bullies

A good shoulder to cry on

He knows what it feels like to be bullied so he easily sympathizes with you

Yet, he often belittles your low self-esteem to disguise his good intentions

After all, he doesn’t want you to think that he’s gone soft on you

In a way, he’s like Tatsumaki but meaner

Sometimes you have to hold him back from fighting any heroes who have the misfortune on crossing paths with you

Absolutely wants to start a family with you at some point

It doesn’t matter if you’re not ready

He likes children and he wants one

So either he forces you to make love with him or adopt a child

Stalks you at all times

If anyone has the audacity to harm you, he’ll kill them right in front of you

Won’t lie and instead boast when you ask him if he’s stalking you

Not clingy, has too much pride for that

Possessive

But he doesn’t mind if people talk to you

As long as they keep the boundaries in mind, he stays chill

Like Saitama, Garou won’t kill humans

Unless provoked

Then again, who wants to provoke such a dangerous man?

He doesn’t get a nickname ‘Human Monster’ for nothing, you know?

Metal Bat

If his sister doesn’t like you, then he won’t

Depending on how you see it, it can be an advantageous situation for you

You just have to make yourself as unpleasant as possible

Then Bad would certainly release you

But he's not all temperamental and cockiness

He’s smarter than he looks

So he'll catch on your attempt rather quickly

Let’s just say that you’ll be traumatized so much you won’t be able to look at Zenko in the eye again

Hard on the outside, soft on the inside

Loves spoiling you

But he’s a little tsundere

Secretly clingy it’s almost endearing

Overprotective like hell

Sometimes stalk you from the shadows

He just wants to make sure that you’re okay all the time

Blushes heavily whenever you show any sign of affection to him

Not above threatening you, either

Quite terrible in lying, so subtle manipulation doesn’t come as easy for him

So he uses fear instead

Won’t force you to start a family with him

But wishes for it anyway

Sometimes comes to your apartment/house unannounced

Loves cooking for you

Especially when you’re the type who eats snacks all the time

He can easily excuse it as ‘you need to more healthy food’

If Zenko likes you, you’ll probably spend the majority of your time in their apartment

Thus giving him more chance to get close with you

Or if you’re a hero, then Bad will find a way to work together

It doesn’t matter if you refuse

Bad’s stubborn

Therefore you need to suck it up

Unless you want to suffer again

Zombieman

Serious and strict

Doesn’t really care about your feelings

Won’t hesitate to kidnap you

Secretive about his past

Very jealous

You can stab him all the time you want and he’ll still alive

He’s immortal, you see

Hence his name

So if you want to leave, you need to step up your game

And you can’t give any hint that you’re scheming something either

Intelligent with a detective-like thinking

If you even show the slightest odd behavior, then he'll immediately be suspicious  

However, he’s fairly forgiving

As long as you apologize sincerely and promise that you wouldn’t repeat that mistake

Openly shows his annoyance at your habits that he finds irritating

Such as eating greedily or with mouth open

Prefers modest partner than loud-mouthed ones

Thinks that they’re easier to be ‘taught’

Not at all bothered with death or gore

Doesn’t mind killing in your sight

Because you should get used to it now or force yourself to do it

A lone wolf

If someone is bothering you

Rest assured he’ll come home with their head as the ‘souvenir’

Suppose you’re a powerful hero

Might develop an inferiority complex to you

But he won’t show it, of course

Don’t be surprised if he asks you to be his sparring partner someday

Knows his limit very well

However, it doesn’t mean he’s giving up either

He'll create a plan

And when the time comes

Your enemies/anyone who harms you will disappear

King

Looks intimidating at first glance

A HUGE otaku

Don’t get me wrong, tho

He can bluff his way out of everything

Too much of a coward to actually kill a person or monster

But can be pretty possessive

Peacemaker

Doesn’t like to argue with you

Willing to throw away his stashes of otome games in exchange for your affection

Or if you show any sign of jealousy

Obsessive, secretly collects your photos or posters

Especially if you’re famous

Gaming together as a date

Always win

Unless you’re an expert like him too

Then be prepared for lots of rematches

Not that you complain

Dominant in public, submissive in bedroom

I feel like he’s suitable for a quietly assertive partner that seems submissive on the outside

Needs guidance because he’s pretty clueless in real relationship

That’s why you can easily escape from him

If you’re famous

Then he would be one of those obsessive fans

Always sending you love letters and tells you to stay healthy

Might stalk you too

But he always excuse it as ‘passing by’

And you’ll believe him of course

Because why would a hero like him stalk you?

You feel honored to have the strongest man on earth as your fan

Whenever he meets you by chance, he’d get tongue-tied

But it’s endearing

You’d never know that he’s a yandere

Mumen Rider

I know he’s not an S-class hero but I have a soft spot for him, okay? I mean, do you see how precious he is in this gif?

The subbiest yandere out of any yanderes

Like, he wants to do everything to ensure you’re comfortable with him

You want food at three in the morning? Okay, let me put on my helmet first

You’re feeling ill? What kind of medicine do you need?

Your feet hurt? Here, let me massage them for you

You’ll feel like you’re a royalty when dating him

Which is his intention by the way

He wants to make sure that your needs are met

Feels sad if you talk to other men or purposefully making him jealous

Because he’s done so much for you

He’ll take it that he needs to improve more

Extremely hardworking to the point of being a perfectionist

If you show the slightest displeasure towards something, especially if it’s his action, then he'll blame himself

Tends to ask or send you messages with ‘are you okay?’, ‘how are you feeling?’, or ‘do you need anything?’

Puts your feelings above his

Loyal

If someone bullying you, then he'll step in like a brave hero he is

He's weak compare to other heroes

But his determination is admirable

Dominant in bed

Only because he wants to make you feel good

However, he doesn’t mind giving the reins to you if you’re the dominant type

Loves to appreciate every inch of your body

Very supportive in any hobby you do, even if he doesn’t particularly like it

Won’t hesitate sacrificing himself should a danger ever arises

You often lecture him on the importance of self-preservation

If you ever save him, be it accidental or intentional

Then he'd be your BIGGEST fan

Like King, he'd send you love letters

Considerate and sympathetic

He'll charm you with his pure heart and sincere kindness

You don’t want to leave him

Because such a man is very rare amidst insincere heroes

Or maybe it’s just me but oh well

[dappercritter]

You have been granted the oppurtunity to recast your favorite animated movie! The only catch is that each of the characters in said movie are animated characters from different shows/movies (X from show/movie is Bob, X from show/movie is Larry, ect.)

Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo boi. You have no idea what you’ve just unleashed, my friend!

Once long ago, before the Cringe Ages, I loved recasting my favourite and sometimes least favourite movies with characters from my favourite shows. But then I started taking storytelling more seriously and sentimentally and… art-y, and I started acting as if I was above the stuff somehow. To this day, I still don’t know whether to blame the masses or my own hubris.

But now! Now, the floodgates of my childish, innocent mind are open once more! And I have just the idea: The Nightmare Before Christmas but with Villainous and Batman* characters! (With a few CN villains on the side.) So, I guess you could call it…

The Villainous Nightmare Before Batman! 

(No, wait. Uhhhhh…)

The Dark Knight Before Villainous!

Ok, yeah, that should do.

Now you’re probably asking yourself, “Dapper Critter, what are you doing this? Sure, Batman meets Villainous could work, but why are you bringing The Nightmare Before Christmas into this? It’s not even Halloween or Christmas! What are you thinking?!” Well, first of all, Christmas and Halloween aren’t just holidays, they’re states-of-mind. Second, I think it’s time you guys learned something important: I’m a big ol’ lowkey goth baby, baby! If it’s spooky or gothic, I’ll soak it up like a sponge in sink full of soapy water. And nothing says gothic like the hero of a city literally called “Gotham,” a show with a grotesque monster hiding behind the guise of a well-dressed man, and the classic story of Jack Skellington himself! What’s more, all three of these hold a special place in my heart, as they all played a huge part in helping me develop and realize my interest in gothic culture. Lastly, I can see the worlds of these three stories coming together quite easily. Behold, this plot pitch I just made!

“Another Halloween has come and gone in CN City, and another cheerful Christmas is on its way. Black Hat, unofficial master of all that is dark and evil, is thoroughly disgusted that the multiverse will soon be returning to it’s obnoxiously cheerful and wholesome state. He morosely tears a hole through time and space to talk a walk through reality, miserable that he’s stuck living in such a wonderful place. That is until he stumbles upon the city of Gotham, where no matter what time of year it is, the streets are filled with misery and malicious mayhem. Delighted, he sets out to celebrate Christmas his own way: by taking a certain caped-crusader out of the picture and making Gotham his very own holiday vacation home! Little does he know, there’s one special girl who thinks he can celebrate right where he is, as well as a certain clown who’s got his own sinister Christmas party in mind…”

So now that I’ve convinced you, I think it’s time we got down to the actual recasting! Let’s begin, my darling children of the Hot Topic night…

Black Hat as Jack Skellington: This couldn’t have been easier—they’re both creepy gentlemen with excellent taste in fashion. Yes, I know Black Hat is a lot less nice than our dear Pumpkin King, but let’s just say this story takes the odd liberty here and there. Not to mention, Black Hat could easily match Jack’s enthusiasm, intelligence, style, and obsessive inquisitions. Plus, he could totally pull off an evil Santa suit. (Though to be honest, I’m not sure if his snarling, slimy, cockney-accented voice could match Danny Elfman’s melodious singing.)

Demencia as Sally: A devoted, mildly ghoulish, and totally cute fangirl who’s always pining after their darling idol, and who may or may not have been made in a lab? It’s like this fancast is writing itself! Demencia might be a bit more proactive—and scary—in the plot, but I can see her a lot Sally’s dilemma in her as she tries to get Black Hat to notice her and not to abandon them in pursuit of a crazy dream. (Well, that I’m filthy Lizardhat trash.)

Dr. Flug as Dr. Finklestein: Flug, being the only mad scientist who’s employed by Black Hat, as well as the only to survive this, seems like a good pick. Sure, he’s not in a wheelchair and, no, he’s not as creepy as the bugger, but he could still work as our horrid hero’s right-hand man. Plus, since a big part of his canon character is putting up with Demencia’s BS (tell my family that means “baloney-sandwich”), he’d also do great as the one trying to keep the free-spirited love interest under control. Only here, it would be because he’s trying to keep Dem out of trouble so she doesn’t make his boss mad and try to kill him, as opposed to… whatever Finklestein’s problem is. And of course, he can still be menacing if need be. (Just watch the Lost Cases of Townsville and The Tree House…)

5.0.5. as Zero: A cute animal sidekick is a cute animal sidekick, I always say! And 5.0.5. was basically designed to be the ultimate cutesy animal sidekick. Therefore, he can be basically do anything Zero did. Try to cheer up Black Hat? Check. Pull Black Hate’s sleigh? Why couldn’t he? Yeah, he can’t be a flying ghost dog with a glowing nose, but I could just throw bedsheet on him (it was just after Halloween after all) and maybe say he swallowed that anti-gravity device.

Batman as Santa Claus: For Santa Clause, I needed someone who could be the absolute good guy in a world filled with bad guys and weirdos, much like Santa was in the movie. Likewise, since Jack kidnapped Santa to take over Christmas, Black Hat would need to kidnap the guy in charge of Gotham in order to take it for himself. So, of course he’s going to go after it’s #1 protector. I can also see Batman being the voice of reason in this madcap story. Not to mention that he could pull off a Santa suit even better than Black Hat! (In fact…)

The Joker as Oogie Boogie: This one I had some trouble with. I kept asking myself stuff like, “who would be brave enough to usurp Black Hat?,” “who could match Oogie’s siz—er, presence?” or “who would want to kidnap Santa Claus?,” and “Who would be into gambling and crazy funhouse stuff?” And then it came to me: The Joker. I mean, he’s got charisma, a sense of menace, he’s a cutthroat who loves to play with his enemies, and almost always has a big ol’ amusement park deathtrap on hand. Sure, he wouldn’t have the creepy demise like Oogie, but he could get a good beating and traumatizing from Black Hat and/or Demencia (who’d really hate being a damsel in distress, I imagine).

The Delightful Children from Down the Lane as Lock, Shock, and Barrel: At first, I thought of using other Batman villains or Shannon, Darrell, and Ernesto from OK K.O.!, but then I thought it would make more sense to have child villains from a CN show who could do bad things for slime-balls like Black Hat and Joker with pleasure. I instantly thought of these scheming, little monsters from Codename: Kids Next Door (an old favourite of mine). Although they’re usually talk and act in unison, they could have some comical bickering now and then. (After all, “Lenny is an idiot.”) Likewise, I can see Black Hat using Batman’s affinity for young people to get him while his guard’s down. They could make for great trick r’ treaters as well!

Lord Boxman as The Mayor: The mayor wasn’t a very important character, but he was definitely a memorable one, and the first character I thought of who could match his dual personality was Lord Boxman from OK K.O.! They both act like leaders but are really terrible at their jobs, suck up to better villains, and throw a whimpering tantrum like nobody else. (Also, I get to imagine Jim Cummings singing lines from The Nightmare Before Christmas songs, so that’s nice.)

Various CN Villains as The Citizens of Halloween Town: Like with The Mayor and the Trick R’ Treaters, I like to think that the various CN villains who cameoed in the Villainous Orientation series would show up as the denizens of the seedier side of CN City which—as you probably guessed—would be standing in for Halloween Town. Unfortunately, I do not have an encylcopediac knowledge of either Halloween Town residents, nor CN villains, so I’ll just list the ones I can remember and am the most proud of without offering any real justification.

Nohyas as Mr. Hyde: I couldn’t think of anyone besides Black Hat with a fancy hat or smaller versions of himself. Nohyas just so happens to have a suitable villain’s hat, and Handre (his hand puppet) could work in place of tiny clones living under his hats. (And yes, I like Mighty Magiswords. Deal with it.)

Zombozo as Clown with the Tear-Away Face: I don’t believe all creepy clowns look the same, but a ghoulish clown could easily stand in for another. Plus, I used to be a big Ben 10 fan, so I thought I ought to work something in.

Donny as Behemoth: This grass ogre from Adventure Time was more of an outright jerk than Behemoth, but he has a softer side so that would make him a great candidate for a resident gentle giant.

Loony Toons’ Dracula, Billy and Mandy’s Dracula, and Count Spankula as The Vampire Brothers: Do I really need to explain this one?

The Red Guy as Devil: I sure don’t need to elaborate on this one.

The Gangreen Gang as the Zombie Band: The Gangreens were basically based off edgy bands of the late 90’s, and thanks to Gorillaz, we know Ace can play the bass like a boss. Also, I can totally hear Ace saying, “Nice work, bone-daddy.”

Earl (AKA Dopey Black Hat) as Igor: Earl doesn’t get enough to do, inside or outside of Villainous canon.

The Beast as The Hanging Tree: Yeah, I know, I’m messed-up.

HIM as Harlequin Demon: Seriously, this one cast itself!

The Queen of the Black Puddle as Undersea Gal: I don’t watch Courage the Cowardly Dog much, but I remember seeing this villainess once before and I instantly thought she’d be a dead-ringer!

Morbidia and Gateaux as The Witches: Another natural casting derived from my soft spot for Mighty Magiswords. Although Gateaux is a male and a tall one at that, he’s perfect for being a huge suck-up. (I originally considered Miss Endive from Chowder and Duchess from Fosters’ Home for Imaginary Friends, but then I remembered that no matter what they dressed-up as, they’d be unlikeable.)

Monstrous Black Hat as The Monster Under the Bed: Like Earl and the other Black Hat clones, he doesn’t get enough love. (Though this may be a good thing, since he seems too nasty to receive or return it…)

Rob as The Melting Man: There aren’t a lot of CN villains who are melting, per se, but I figured this poor bad guy from Amazing World of Gumball and his unique media-mixed malformity could work.

Biowolf as The Wolfman: Because they’re both well designed wolfmen and I refuse to forget Generator Rex.

The Robins, Batgirl, and Alfred as the Elves: If Batman’s going to be Santa, then his support staff/family might as well be his helpers. Not to mention, they’d look great in cute little elf outfits happily working on Batman’s gadgets in preparation for the big Christmas crime wave.

The Justice League as The Army: Someone needs to show up to shoot-down Black Hat and his idea of Christmas at the end, and since he’s kidnapped Batman, I think it only makes sense that the Justice League would retaliate and come to clean up Black Hat’s mess. He’d also get a reminder that he isn’t just in Gotham City, he’s in the DC universe.

Unikitty as The Easter Bunny: I have my reasons. Them being, Unikitty is good at being sweet and innocent, the episode “Batkitty,” and her world is one of the few Black Hat has interacted with so far. I like to think that’s because he’s too repulsed by her cuteness to touch it. So imagine his reaction when the Delightful Children bring him to her by accident while she’s cosplaying as LEGO Batman or something.

And there you have it! I had a lot of fun making this recast. It was a great way to step out of my comfort zone and to have some fun. Not to mention, I had an excuse to listen to the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack early. I sincerely hope you like it as much as I do, @good-guy-is-alive!

Now I just need to make sure Black Hat himself doesn’t see this, or else he might find me and—

Oh no.

No, please, Mister Black Hat, sir, you don’t understand. I just was doing this for fun. I wasn’t trying to make you look—

OH NO.

NO!

NOOOOOOOOOOjglkajgflkjdshGH;LJF’W abfklghlfuGFARGTADS!!!#%RQ#@!

…

…

…

*Since DC changes their Batman shows like people change their socks, we’ll just say that this is your standard DCAU/Bruce Timmverse Batman.

[mysticharleyquinn]

Hrrmph! A Hartnell Era Meta

I’ve just finished the William Hartnell’s run as The Doctor and the first Doctor’s run in Doctor Who, so I figured I’d write a meta about the characters and the acting instead of the production. So, let’s start off with the man who would make sure Doctor Who shone like the star it’s meant to be: 

Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the Fourth Dimension? Have you? To be exiles? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet - without friends or protection. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. William Hartnell was the perfect choice for Early Doctor Who. We first meet the Doctor in An Unearthly Child and he’s a far cry from the man we’re used to be. This is The Doctor at the very beginning of his life and he has yet to understand the compassion that drives him and his future incarnations. He kidnaps Ian and Barbara (more on them later) and whisks them away to the stone age, and during their first adventure he almost kills a caveman! In The Daleks he purposefully sabotages the TARDIS just so he can explore this strange planet that he’s never been too before, the gall! He starts to soften overtime during the first season but The Aztecs give one of Harnell’s most memorable lines:  You can't rewrite history. Not one line! By the end of Season 1, he’s come to think of Ian and Barbara as family just as much as Susan is his granddaughter. His character has been evolving over the stories and Hartnell is a master performer, able to bring the character to life with his indignant outrage, soft and gentle, and later down the road absolute comedy gold. With Season 2 comes a changing of the guard. Susan (more on her later) has left the TARDIS on Earth and that leaves the Doctor, Ian, and Barbara traveling alone for an unknown amount of time.  Then in The Rescue comes a series tradition: The Orphan in the TARDIS. Vicki is all by her lonesome in the 25th century until she meets Ian, Barbara, and The Doctor. From then on she’s practically adopted by the Doctor. Vicki coming aboard provides a vital element towards The Doctor’s character. Gone are the days where he’s a rough and calloused old man, instead he treats Ian and especially Barbara like his own children, doting on them and constantly making sure that they’re alright. When Vicki comes along, his mischievous side comes out. You can feel the chemistry in the actors when he’s on screen with them, and The Romans highlights how glorious Vicki and The Doctor’s relationship is. That is until The Chase happens and we’re suddenly losing Ian and Barbara. The Doctor is devastated, he sounds heartsbroken. “I HAVE TRIED FOR TWO YEARS TO GET YOU TWO BACK HOME!” He’s roaring at them in total anger, calling them idiots and stupid but we at home know how much he’s hurting. Vicki promises that she won’t leave and that she’s staying with The Doctor, and in turn gain a new companion: Steven. (Definitely more on him later) The final episode of Season 2 is “The Time Meddler.” And this is extremely important because it shows off for the first time another member of The Doctor’s species: The Monk.  The Monk has already changed history, and instead of a villain he’s more treated like a naughty child. The way The Doctor giggles and hoots with the Monk before rounding on him in righteous anger is a treat to see.  Now we move onto Season 3, where most of his stories are lost but they are some of his best. The Myth Makers shows Vicki being lost to the Trojans in a whirlwind of chaos, and it’s just Steven and The Doctor in what is doubtlessly the masterpiece of Hartnell’s first era: The Dalek’s Master Plan The prologue of Mission to the Unknown sets up the scene of what is one of the grandest stories and shows how desperate Doctor Who was to push the envelope and go to such exotic locations. Galaxy 4 already took us to an alien world, and sooner than that was The Web Planet, but the Master Plan shows everything coming together. Hartnell is in top form here, but the devastation weighs heavy on his heart. “ What a waste. What a terrible waste.” And we see him at his most broken and defeated in The Massacre with a somber soliquity after Steven storms out of the TARDIS: “My dear Steven, history sometimes gives us a terrible shock, and that is because we don't quite fully understand. Why should we? After all, we're too small to realise its final pattern. Therefore don't try and judge it from where you stand. I was right to do as I did. Yes, that I firmly believe. [Steven leaves the TARDIS] Steven... Even after all this time, he cannot understand. I dare not change the course of history. Well, at least I taught him to take some precautions; he did remember to look at the scanner before he opened the doors. And now, they're all gone. All gone. None of them could understand. Not even my little Susan. Or Vicki. And as for Barbara and Chatterton — Chesterton — they were all too impatient to get back to their own time. And now, Steven. Perhaps I should go home. Back to my own planet. But I can't... I can't... “ Soon after that, Steven returns and the infamous Dodo Chaplet joins the TARDIS, and his character quickly returns to the grandfatherly figure we all know and love. I would like to skip ahead to his final story, and one of the most important in Doctor Who history: The Tenth Planet. Not only does it introduce the Cybermen, but it introduces the one concept that would change the foundation of the show forever: Regeneration. In hindsight, the signs seem to be there. The Doctor was at the heart of The Dalek’s gigantic time bomb in The Master Plan and during The Savages he’s had his energy drained more. Maybe one starts to think this was planned.  “This is not the end...” He staggers towards the TARDIS and changes into a new man. He started out as an old grump in a junkyard, but he leaves with his head held as high as he can, the warm and loving grandfather. Of course, no Doctor is complete without his companions, and The Doctor has plenty of them. Let’s start with the first of them: His own Granddaughter, Susan Foreman.   

Grandfather and I don't come from Earth. Oh, it's ages since we've seen our planet. It's quite like Earth, but at night the sky is a burned orange, and the leaves on the trees are bright silver. Susan is a bit of an oddity. As the first companions along side Ian and Barbara, her time in the TARDIS is mostly unmemorable. I’ll be honest, the writing at the time never gave her the type of character she was meant to be. She would scream her head off like a frightened little girl and cling onto the adults for dear life.  We see later on that she’s starting to grow up, but her departure is perhaps her most famous.  The Doctor: During all the years I've been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me. Susan: Oh, Grandfather, I belong with you! The Doctor: Not any longer, Susan. You are still my grandchild and always will be. But now, you're a woman too. I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David, you will be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do. Believe me, my dear, your future lies with David and not with a silly old buffer like me. One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine. Goodbye, Susan. Goodbye, my dear How does one speech dictate how a show will continue on? Susan’s importance in the episodes themselves might not have been very memorable, but it’s her departure that changes something in The Doctor. She isn’t someone to be coddled anymore, and even though it rips his hearts apart, he has to let her go. The scenes where he’s asking for Susan to fiddle with the controls and realizes she’s no longer there, it’s disheartening. Without Barbara and Ian, he’d be lost. Speaking of which...

Ian: There is someone coming. Barbara: Goodbye, Doctor! Thanks for the ride. Ian: Yeah, it was fun, Doctor. goodbye. If The Doctor is the soul of the show, then for the longest time Ian and Barbara were the heart. It is impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other due to how influential they are to this show. As I mentioned earlier, during their first adventure with The Doctor he kidnapped them and whisked them away throughout time and space. It’s Ian who first changes The Doctor’s ways and turns him into the moral champion of justice we would come to know him as. It’s Barbara who gives him a good tongue lashing when Ian is out. These two represent everything a companion should be. Smart, Dependable, and Curious. Every time Ian fights for his life for his friends, you can feel the desperation and later the joy when he wins. When Barbara believes they should help, no force in the universe will get them to stop.  Ian and Barbara quickly become family to The Doctor, and helped shape his moral compass that can be felt even into the current series. The ending scene in The Chase where they’re frolicking about modern London and just enjoying being home is a fitting send-off for two of the best.

After all. That's why he went out there, to find out where we are. Anyway, that man looks quite friendly now. He's probably showing him to the nearest town. The changing of the guard is a difficult thing. While I have no doubts that Ian and Barbara could have carried the show beautifully, they too had to leave at some point. Before that though, they brought the beautiful and clever Vicki aboard the TARDIS.  Hailing from the 25th century, Vicki marks a turning point in Doctor Who. She is the first companion to willingly be brought aboard during Hartnell’s Era (something literally every other companion bar Susan cannot lay claim too) and her chemistry with Hartnell is instantaneous. Although there are some moments where she’s nothing more than Susan Lite, Vicki quickly marks out her own character by being everything Susan should have been. She’s witty, funny, and bursting with curiosity. One of her finest adventures is in The Romans, a hilarious tale where she and Hartnell get along like a pair of mischievous school children, off to the capital and leaving the old fusspots lazing around.  Vicki was there on the cusp of a turning point, and her absence is painful and noticeable during The Master Plan and her mere prescience is sorely missed. Mercifully, we have in my opinion one of the First Doctor’s greatest companions. 

What a gorgeous specimen Peter Purves is. He is not only one of the longest male companions The Doctor had (Jamie has taken that spot) but he is one of the best early ones. Steven Taylor is one of if not the best companion the 1st Doctor had. He’s hot-headed, rash, trusts the Doctor implicitly but he’s not afraid to give him a good yelling when it boils down to it. Season 3 was a transformative year for Doctor Who. They were throwing everything at the wall to see if it stuck, with Steven being the sole constant through a whirlwind. His anger and grief after The Master Plan over losing both Katarina and Sara is palpable, and the sheer frustration about The Doctor’s insistence to keep History on course is ultimately forced him out. “Oh, no. You just sent her back to her aunt's house where the guards were waiting to catch her. I tell you this much, Doctor, wherever this machine of yours lands next, I'm getting off. If your researches have so little regard for human life, then I want no part of it.” During Him and Dodo’s run, he’s treating her like an exasperated big brother, scolding her and making sure she’s safe. During The Gunfighters we show off his impressive singing ability! Purves as an actor could do it all, providing the seriousness and drama when required and later making us bust a gut with laughter.  It’s only fitting that Steven is picked to make peace in The Savages and thus end his time in the TARDIS. His absence in my opinion is most noticeable even as new faces come and go.

No, it isn't. I'm crying this time. Oh boy. The Infamous Dodo Chaplet. Is she really as bad as they say she is? So much so that she’s most famous for dying of an STD and getting gunned down. No one can seem to have a high opinion of her, and I find myself in the middle. I don’t believe Dodo was an awful character. The Celestial Toymaker has shown however her almost incredulous stupidty but it’s marred by other stories such as The Gunfighters that dare I say she was even competent. She burst from the TARDIS full of gusto and adventure and she could shine when the time is right. She had the second shortest run of any of The 1st Doctor’s companions and it’s most noticeable in her departure. Not a proper goodbye, just a not stating she’d like to stay home. I feel like if given more time, she could have been remembered more fondly.

Ben: Hey, come on Doctor, wakey wakey! It's all over now. Polly: Doctor? The Doctor: What did you say, my boy? It's all over. That's what you said. No, but it isn't all over. It's far from being all over. Ben: What are you talking about? Now, Ben and Polly are most famous for being the 2nd Doctor’s companions, but they got their start in Hartnell’s Era and my word do they shine wonderfully. With only two stories under their belt with the 1st Doctor it’s agnozing we never saw these three together more because the results are wonderful. Both Polly and Ben’s performers are so full of emotion and character you can forget that they’ve only been with the TARDIS for two adventures. The Smugglers is a wonderful piece of storytelling that sets us up nicely for The Tenth Planet, and that serial really shows off how wonderful these two are. Polly’s indignant objections to the Cybermen and Ben’s clever methods of stalling and defeating them prove why they are instrumental for the 1st Doctor’s final installment. They’re a wonderful representation of the Swinging Sixties coming to life in the TARDIS and on Doctor Who.

Dalek Supreme: Rebels of London, this is your last offer - our final warning. Leave your hiding places. Show yourselves in the open streets. You will be fed and watered. Work is needed from you... but the Daleks offer you life. Rebel against us and the Daleks will destroy London completely. You will all die. The males, the females, the descendants. Rebels of London, come out of your hiding places. Cyberman: You must come and live with us. Polly: But we cannot live with you, you're different! You have no feelings! Cyberman: Feelings? I do not understand that word. Doctor: Emotions! Love! Pride! Hate! Fear! Have you no emotions, sir, hmm? For every good hero, there must be a good villain. And early Doctor Who gave us two of the best and most memorable. I’m not saying that the Daleks and Cybermen are the only baddies Hartnell Era Doctor Who produced that’s highly memorable. The Monk, the Celestial Toymaker, the aliens in Galaxy 4, there is a long line of baddies that are just teething with possibility. But these two are the most famous. The Daleks are a frightening force in the galaxy. First brought onto Skaro in The Daleks, they quickly established themselves as a universal threat with The Chase and finally The Dalek’s Master Plan. During both of the latter stories, the Daleks relentlessly pursued The Doctor and companions and carved a bloody gash through time and space that would forever leave audiences shaking at the core at how terrifying the Daleks could and ought to be. The Cybermen, while primarily famous for later serials, also had such a strong start. Trapped in a base in the antarctic, the first ever Cybermen are sympathetic and mean to the core. Mondas is dying, and they are desperate to save their home and survive. They have no emotion, for they do not need them. They resist the heat, the cold, and suffer no pain.  The humanity has been stripped by the early Cybermen, but ghastly images still remain. A human eye clearly visible, the human-hands and the bulk machines. The Cybermen were a representative of what humanity could become if pushed far enough to the brink. Their first and only outing with the 1st Doctor is bone-chilling. Marvelous work.

In Conclusion... Doctor Who started out as an educational show. That’s why the shift between historical and science fiction was so great, and why ultimately a science and history teacher (Ian and Barbara respectively) were the first ever companions because their job was to teach the audience. But Doctor who grew into something more than that, and through the years of William Hartnell’s time as the Doctor we visited breath-taking locales, explored strange and wonderful ideas, and in hindsight, saw the birth of a series that’s still going strong to this day.  Please watch the 1st Doctor’s run, I had thought that I would despise it, that the special effects would be old and hokey and the acting would be of similar quality. How wrong I was. If you’re willing to look past the budget and the cheap costumes, you will find something brimming with intelligence and life like no other.  Thank you for reading this. :)

[yuzuria]

I-Z-U-V :P

Thanks~! :p

i - has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

If we’re talking about not liking fandoms anymore and not the series/franchise itself, of course, gintama fandom attitude drove me off its fandom and made me dislike a huge portion of content in the series because of a lot of toxic people, even people I had never talked to have me blocked for some reason, because I dislike their waifu then gotten me involved in their shit talking in their public platform which is hilarious if not I feel sorry for that deranged person, no bitter feelings attached personally but I dislike that person because of them attacking my friends but since it still has a special place in my heart as one of my favorite series, i still enjoy the content exclusively with my friends and I refuse to search for fan content anymore unless I happen to see it in my dash/timeline. Other than that I haven’t liked the series itself because of tumblr, gintama was the first series I became active in in fandoms and tumblrr, I was a lurker most of the time in my previous fandoms and didn’t get myself involved with drama or loud people so I just naturally stopped liking them.

u - three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

Komaeda Nagito from Danganronpa: My ultimate favorite at this moment, to make things short he’s all in one package I’ve always wanted in a character: soft demeanor, sparkling fake that’s not considered charismatic by others ^_^✨, morally gray with idealistic view that eventually destroyed him, contrasting complex personalities that I never get tired of analyzing and each day I learn new things about him, has a tragic past that didn’t hinder nor trapped him forward but rather shaped him for who he was and moved on (he honestly gets little appreciation in this department, this boy had been through so much but smiles and accepts what was to come in full arms, in a way makes him so emotionally strong yet fragile at the same time) and ultimately, his death broke my heart the most, not because he died but his intention behind it made him capture my heart and crashed it literally with spear.

Toph Beifong from Avatar: My childhood sweetheart

Imai Nobume from Gintama: I fell in love with her even before I caught up the first episode she’s in. She’s so gorgeous and I love girls introduced to be ruthless and deadly, and her first appearance did that. She’s trained as an assassin as a child and had been cutting down people since then, even though she appears to be an emotionless killing machine, she has a sense of humor fitting to the series, has a childish streak and with that she gets along well with other (sadistic) girls (kagura and soyo), doesn’t give a fuck to senseless uninteresting things, and will bring down people she deems bad with no hesitation. Her story with sasaki is really emotional to me, the most this series has ever made me feel, I love them and their found father/daughter relationship. I love how her development went too in farewell shinsengumi arc, how of all people it’s kagura who understood her and saw her tears, telling her to stop fighting and live how she wants, that she can be more than assassin she grew up as and no one can stop her, not the organization who raised her to be a killing machine and not the promise she had with sasaki where she’s the one who’s going to end him as an assassin. I love the moment kagura told her too that earth is the star of freedom.

v - which character do you relate to most?

Ahh this is difficult, I never try to see myself in a character and ~relate~ to them, as much as possible I make myself disconnected to the characters, not associating them to myself. The only time I ever considered relating to a character was punpun lmao, I relate to his pathetic-ness when I happened to read oyasumi punpun during dark times.

z - just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (prompts optional but encouraged.)

okay, i haven’t considered making a fanfiction ever but there’s an AU i’m fond of, AU with no hpa and where Komaeda and Servant(Meshi) are brothers and kamukura and hinata are twins :D In this setup it’s focused to meshi and hinameshi with kamukoma in the sideline uuuuu anyway it doesn’t go well, i have no concrete plotline and ending, all i thought of are sad stuff. Komaeda in this AU still has his cycle of good and bad luck but with meshi’s presence as his older brother(a year or two, i’m pretty undecided), and not so good relationship with their parents, he swore to never leave komaeda’s side so he’s the one who caught all the bad luck komaeda’s cycle produced, marking him the “unlucky child” in the family while komaeda is credited with the good luck he brings, although it doesn’t necessarily means he’s treated much better. (Anyway it’s my hc komaeda doesn’t experience bad luck himself unless there are no people around him therefore the bad luck he experienced with the kidnapping and diseases was because he already lives alone in that time) So with that, it was Meshi who experienced and endured the terrible things to keep Komaeda and other people from harm. I’m undecided if I’ll also include the cancer and dementia...

Things are rough from here, I’m still contemplating how Meshi would act in this setting and how similar it would be from dr:ae so i could change stuff from here. izuru, hinata, and komaeda were high school classmates where they all met each other. all of them have their internal conflicts which is similar in canon but with no hpa presence, meshi has a complicated relationship and attachment with hinata who feel overshadowed by his twin, meshi doesn’t like izuru, izuru and komaeda kind of get along as outcasts and hinata is intrigued with the komaeda brothers. Four of them used to hang out though, meshi and komaeda can’t cook so the twins come over from time to time to keep the house from burning and feeding them. Sometime after meshi graduated, there’s a shift in his relationship with hinata and the two started going out, meshi told about him and komaeda and hinata wanted to change it but how? when the three graduated, komaeda and meshi moved out and disappeared with no contact. Time skip happens and few years later, and things get even messier, komaeda is in uni and part times as a librarian while meshi doesn’t and works as a bartender (possibly fools around too), i’m still not sure what hinata does besides being in uni but he stumbled upon komaeda one day and brought the news izuru is in coma for overdosing. Hinata and meshi tried (or not) to reconcile due to their disappearance for years, and later komaeda took his own life... aha...

questions meme