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primus-why · 10 months

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A Prime and a Warlord Sneak Onto a Spaceship...

Okay but imagine Optimus and Megatron wind up on a stealth mission-- you could put them in a truce, but I decided to stick to wartimes for this one-- only they weren't supposed to be the stealth options. As in, through some shenanigans, the usual mechs for the job are out of comission at that very moment, and the window of opportunity to gain what they initially came there for is closing... hence a hail mary attempt from the two leaders who usually act as the muscle. Say for example, they've snuck aboard a ship that will be jumping into hyperspace in less than an hour, so they need to find their respective mcguffins and FAST.

Optimus could literally turn a corner and run into Megatron like:

Optimus: Oof!

Megatron: Watch it-- Prime?

Optimus: Pardon m-- MEGATRON?!

Megatron: Shh! Announce it to the whole ship, why don't you!!!

Optimus: What are you doing here?!

Megatron: *scoffs* That's classified.

Optimus: Well it must be something important if you're just going to walk away without a fuss...

Megatron: Do you want me to kick your aft? Because I will! I'll-- *suddenly gets a com* ugh, just a klik...

Optimus: ... *starts inching away*

Megatron, to his com: Yeah... Mhm... I know that!... Well, I'm not just gonna-- hey!

Optimus: *takes off in a sprint down a different hallway*

Megatron: *catches up and tackles him* Primus, you're terrible at this.

Optimus: At what?!

Megatron: Sneaking around!!

Optimus: Oh, like you're doing any better!

Megatron: I was doing much better before you came along!

Optimus: *struggling to break free* Then let me go, bolts for brains!

Megatron: Don't be foolish! Your bumbling about will not only jeopardize your own objective but mine as well! I need to keep an optic on you...

Optimus: And I assume you'll also be taking me hostage once you've got what you came for?

Megatron: Ah, you know me too well, Prime...

I mostly set this all up because I want the usual stealth/spec ops teams to be watching from their consoles back on the Nemesis/Ark. Like yeah, sure, Jazz might have exaggerated Mirage's delay just a tiny bit, and obviously none of them expected Megatron to be there... but since the big bad Decepticon was playing nice for now what's the harm in watching the show for a bit longer? (Via all the security cameras they hacked into, naturally)

Meanwhile Soundwave is in the medbay-- recovering from an incident he suspects Skywarp is behind-- grinding his denta while watching Megatron bump into (and get distracted by) the damn Prime.

#megop #tf g1 #g1 #silly #fuzz writes

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thealmightyemprex · 1 month

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Reading Ted Newsome and John Brancato's Spiderman script

1.So we start with an artsy shot of a spider web before showing our antagonist Doc Ock working on the Cyclotron (Im assuming this is the The Mcguffin ).I like the intro to Ock,working with a tenticaled doodad,while taking a drag of a cigarette and eating a chili dog.I also like the depiction of him as a brooding broadly built guy with long hair ,a bit unkempt with stains on his shirt due to being focused on his work

2.So we are introduced to Ocks colleagues,and OC's for the film Thorkle (Tall thin guy wearing glasses in his 40's) and Rossomoff (Who despite being 75 is very spry).The writers were Hammer fans so wrote these roles with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee respectfully in mind ....Which I see it ,but Lee was younger then Cushing but whatever,maybe makeup

3.So Bob Hoskins was the main choice for Doc Ock .....And I kind of love the idea of this super genius having Hoskins signature Cockney accent

4.Also Rossomoff admits he doesnt like Thorkle to Ock,RIGHT IN FRONT OF THORKLE .DAaaaaaaaaaaamn what did Thorkle do to get disdain from both Ock and Rossomoff ???

5.Huh Peter is a collage student here instead of Highschool.Neat

6."Curtis Connors Science center " Cute

7.So Harry Osborne here is an awkward weird friend in a heavy metal T Shirt......So he is basically Evil Ed from Fright Night

8.Liz Allen is reading Jane Austin ....Dont know what else to say but she is

9.Also so Liz Allen is the romantic interest instead of Gwen Stacy or Mary Jane Watson....Interesting

10.Liz and Peter flirt by saying how much they dont like eachother.....Kay

11."Doc Ock has a cigarette dangling out of his mouth as there is a no smoking sign behind him"....OK that made me laugh

12,Otto is so dead inside,I love it

13.Harry stole a rabbit from a science lab and releases it and a dozen Basset hounds into a library .....What an elaborate prank

14.Huh Jameson is introduced BEFORE Petey became Spider-Man

15.Also should point out Stan Lee wanted to play JAmeson

16.So Aunt May here is a woman in her 50's,very stylish and full of life......So the opposite of comic Aunt May ,and thank the Lord for that .Honestly this feels more like modern takes on Aunt May

17.Uncle Ben seems nice ,not the brightest guy but clearly cares for Peter but isnt sure how fatherly to be

18.So Doc Ock is forced to quit an experiment but does it secretly anyway causing an explosion....huh....Why do I feel Spider-Man 2002,Spider-Man 2 and Into the Spiderverse took elements from this movie

19.I like that the accident that makes Otto Doctor Octopus also mutates the Spider that bites Peter

20.Love the pure joy Peter has at finding his powers

To be continued

@ariel-seagull-wings @piterelizabethdevries @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking @filmcityworld1 @princesssarisa @countesspetofi

#spider man #unmade films

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wherevenusholdssomeofficespace · 11 months

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I think we all know by now that Candace is the real main character of Phineas and Ferb. While on first glance, our title characters are the real protagonists, and thus, Candace who desires their downfall is an antagonistic force to them. And its true, Candace CAN BE antagonistic towards them but protagonist and antagonist are really defined in terms of a stories framing, and as established she's more of the protagonist which would make Phineas and Ferb the antagonists. But Phineas and Ferb never really go against Candace. In their eyes, Candace isn't an antagonist, she's their cool big sister, who's sometimes a little weird, but always loves them, and so very rarely is anything they do is meant to antagonize her.

Really breaking PnF characters into protagonists and antagonists isn't really helpful when looking at the show. PnF has a wide variety of characters with their own wants and needs, these needs can conflict with each other, but we are never truly lead to root for one character over another (see Finding Mary McGuffin, or Vanessasary Roughness). Sure, we might not want Doof to succeed in taking over the tri-state area, or to see the boys get in trouble. But we also don't really want Candace's mom to think she's crazy, and we don't really want Doof to be arrested either. Major Monogram is a bit of an asshole, despite being the "Big Good". Perry costs Doof a fortune in repair bills. Buford is a bully whose secretly rather soft. I think the fact that both Vanessa and Candace want to "Bust someone", and this desire is often treated with equal amounts of respect. But Candace wants to bust her fun loving little brothers, and Vanessa wants to stop her evil father says a lot. If Vanessa's a good guy, then so is Candace, and if Vanessa's a bad guy for wanting to stop her dad, then does that make Perry bad too?

Candace and Doof, the surface level antagonists, are merely the ones who are screwed over by "Mysterious Force". Candace may see herself and her brothers as antagonists towards each other, but ultimately, it's her low self-esteem and a universe that treats her unfairly that are her true antagonist. Doof may see himself and Perry as enemies, but ultimately Doof's REAL antagonist is his own lack of planning and feeling obligated to seek revenge for his tragic backstories.

It's not that there are never antagonists. Buford often acted as an antagonist in earlier episodes. Thaddeus, Thor and Mandy in that one episode. And Doof is very much a antagonist to Perry most of the time, and aside from Doof, we're given to real reason to root for other evil scientists such as Poofenplotz who does act as a more one sided villain. Brigitte the fireside girl was an antagonist to Buford without being evil that one episode.

There are plenty of antagonists in MML and H&G. In Milo we have the pistachions, Elliot, and often the time bureau (even if the latter aren't necessarily evil). And H&G has its large rouges gallery. But the closest PnF has is Doof, whose solidly a protagonist by the time MML begins.

In PnF while there is plenty of interpersonal conflict, much of it is two sided where neither party is necessarily evil, no matter how much Doof tries to be. Though his schemes do need to be stopped victory isn't necessarily what he really wants/needs. While Candace and Doof are often "punished", it is often genuinely unfairly, not necessarily karmic justice. We the audience don't necessarily feel satisfied that they got what was coming to them. (Not to say this is always the case, these two do bring most of it on themselves). A lot of the conflict is ultimately situational, rather than personal.

Though it makes sense that someone might assume Doof and Candace are the antagonists. After all if your just glancing at it, obviously the evil scientist is an antagonist. And Candace is kind of a jerk towards her younger brothers who don't deserve any of it. (Well, they mean well at least, that doesn't mean they never cause problems). But the truth of the matter is that even when characters are in opposition to each other its often a temporary thing. Doof and Perry often team up, as do Candace and the boys, Buford and Baljeet, and so on. Labeling a character an antagonist is done on a episode by episode basis, and is dependent on who your deciding to frame as a protagonist, which is often rather arbitrary.

Lots of shows (slice of life) do have casts who are sometimes in opposition to each other, and sometimes not. But I bring this up because Phineas and Ferb feels like it should have clear cut protagonists (our title characters, the super spy) and antagonists (bratty older sister stopping the fun, evil scientist, bully) but instead of demonizing one side or another, a lot of it is just. Value neutral. The two sides work together almost as often as they are "against" each other. Perry needs/enjoys fighting against Doof as much as Doof. Doof being good isn't even necessarily shown as changing Perry and Doof's relationship, or even necessarily as the "right" thing. (Just the frequency with which they beat each other up). Considering any of our main cast to be obstacles to each other misses the point of like every single special.

#pnf #phineas and ferb #I mean #nemesis is basically a synonym for bestie in this universe

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eisforeidolon · 9 months

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(This is gonna sound random because I was reading old posts, sorry!)

What makes me bitter about Season 12 is that they had the perfect opportunity for a reset and even seemed to set it up several times, so I actually dared to hope they might go that route, but they didn't.

The MoL after the Amara storyline seemed like a way to make it smaller again when they could not possibly go bigger, but still present a new challenge because Sam and Dean are experts on fighting MONSTERS, but what do they do when the villains are human? They could have blown up the Bunker when they were trapped inside, eliminating that stagnation. Mary could have sacrificed herself after her redemption during the raid. Cas could have stayed dead with Crowley. Lucifer could have been locked away for good. The Jack storyline should never have happened. They even got the Colt back! It could have been two brothers on the road with their magic gun again, instead of *gestures disgustedly at everything*

No need to apologize, anon! I'm generally up for discussion, even from old posts.

Yes, exactly, it was just so frustrating! There were a couple of things they did around season 11-12 where it felt like they actually sat down and realized the show was stagnating and came up with a few things that might have actually worked to fix that ... and then it felt like they basically just sloppily threw it all away.

When they introduced Billie and The Empty, it could have reintroduced real stakes in terms of physical peril. Sure, nobody with any sense believed Sam or Dean would die permanently before the end of the show. But at a point when heaven/hell/purgatory basically had a revolving door for the Winchesters? It brought back the idea getting resurrected might actually be hard/complicated and shouldn't just be taken for granted. Except instead of actually utilizing that, they threw it away on one of the most pointless Castiel deaths & resurrections in the entire series (which is really saying something) to show just how overpowered their latest absurdly overpowered character was. Can't exactly take it serious as a threat when the first time they bring somebody back from the place "no one comes back from" it was barely even on purpose.

Resurrecting Mary could have helped to re-center the show in terms of emotional stakes. At that point, Sam and Dean had been subjected to so much trauma that the writers just brushed under the rug when it wasn't convenient to deal with that it didn't even feel important. Of course the show wasn't going to deal with it 100% realistically, but when it starts to feel like the characters don't even get to care, why should we? But they could have reexamined all kinds of things from the way they grew up to the latest disaster through Mary's new and concerned eyes. Except the Mary they brought back could barely be bothered to give a single solitary fuck about her sons at all, because she was too busy being an embarrassing caricature of a Strong Female Character who is actually just an asshole with informed awesome abilities.

Introducing the BMoL could have helped stop the problem of ever-escalating enemies and bogging down in heaven/hell bureaucracy bullshit. Where do you go after you have your protagonists fight God's Sister? Well, if you don't want to make up yet more random deities or have them fight God himself (sigh), you find a different kind of challenge to give them, a new angle they have to work they aren't already experts at. The BMoL were human, so Dean and Sam should have needed to find new ways to deal with them. They couldn't just straight up murder humans, right? They should have needed to actually learn how to be subtle, maneuver, compromise, organize, do something they had reason to be challenged by. Something that wasn't just searching fruitlessly for the next McGuffin until the script said it was time to find it and win. Except the BMoL were absurdly competent and incompetent in turns and then just cartoonishly evil for reasons, until in the end? The Winchesters just got together a group of hunters and murdered them all as if they were literal monsters. So we could go back to yet more heaven/hell bullshit that they also half-assed on all fronts.

So, so much of the Dabbernatural seasons felt to me like the writers over and over choosing the laziest and least interesting paths.

#askboxery #anonymous #spn discussion #anti dabb

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willowthegraycat · 9 months

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Phineas and Ferb in Alphabetical Order PART 1

A hard day’s night A phineas and ferb family christmas A real boy Across the 2nd Dimension Act your age Agent Doof Ain’t no kiddie ride Are you my mummy? Ask a foolish question At the car wash Atlantis Attack of the 50-foot sister Backyard aquarium Backyard hodge podge Bad hair day Bee day and bee story Blackout! Bowl-r-ama drama Boyfriend from 27,000 B.C. Brain drain Bubble boys Buford Confidential Bullseye! Bully bromance breakup Bully bust Candace Against the Universe Candace disconnected Candace gets busted Candace loses her head Candace’s big day Canderemy Cheer up Candace Cheers for fears Chez platypus Comet Kermilian Crack the whip Cranius Maximus Day of the living gelatin! De plane! De plane! Der kinderlumper Destiny of Delivery Does this duckbill make me look fat? Don’t even blink Doof 101 Doof dynasty Doofapus Druselsteinoween Dude, we’re getting the band back together! Elementary, my dear Stacy Escape from Phineas Tower Excaliferb Father’s day Fear your fear Ferb TV Ferb latin Finding Mary McGuffin Fireside girl jamboree Flop starz Fly on the wall For your ice only Gaming the system Get that bigfoot outa my face! Gi-Ants Got game? Great balls of water Greece Lightning Hail Doofania! Happy birthday, Isabella Happy new year! Hide and seek Hip Hip Parade I scream, you scream I was a middle aged robot I, Brobot Imperfect storm Interview with a platypus Invasion of the Ferb snatchers Isabella and the temple of sap It’s a mud, mud, mud, mud world It’s about time! It’s no picnic Jerk de soleil Journey to the Center of Candace Just desserts Just our luck Just passing through Knot my problem La Candace-Cabra Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Max Modem! Last day of summer Last train to bustville Lawn gnome beach party of terror Leave the busting to us! Let’s bounce Let’s take a quiz Lights, Candace, Action! Live and let drive Lost in danville Lotsa Latkes Love at first byte Magic Carpet ride Make play Mandace Meapless in Seattle Meatloaf surprise Mind share Minor Monogram

#phineas and ferb

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ot3 · 1 year

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Do you have favorite episode from Phineas and Ferb? And song?

impossible to pick on either front because there are so many bangers but i think us against the universe from the newer movie is one of my fave songs, and in terms of non-special episodes i think finding mary mcguffin is a really fun one

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pftones3482 · 2 years

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Vanessa and Charlene go away to a cottage with Charlene’s parents and siblings. Charlene’s family never liked Heinz, and Charlene has always been firm on them not talking smack about him in front of Vanessa. So whenever she’s in the room, they don’t talk about Heinz at all.

Drunken confrontations happen, horrible things are said, and Charlene takes Vanessa to spend the remainder of the two weeks with her Dad. Heinz knows something is up, because Charlene rarely brings Vanessa by unannounced, and they were only at the cottage for two days. He goes down to the street to chat with Charlene, and isn’t surprised that she stood up for him, because for a long time, she had been the only one in his life willing to defend him.

(That got long sorry)

Nooooo don't apologize bc I think Doof and Charlene being co-parents had SO much untapped potential in the show. Like yeah they bicker with each other but they never talk shit about one another to Vanessa, they're both respectful of each other in person (for the most part lol), and they both clearly care about Vanessa a LOT. She's obviously allowed to express herself, with both her parents, and that's something a lot of kids with divorced parents don't get. This feels like a very realistic thing that would happen at any stage in Vanessa's life.

Finding Mary McGuffin is a great example of Doof and Charlene respecting one another - after Charlene accidentally throws away the doll, she genuinely apologizes to Vanessa upon hearing it was a gift from her father, and offers up an immediate solution to getting it back. Also the fact that Doof and Charlene are still close enough that he can go to her with money issues (even if she does make fun of him a little bit) says a lot about their relationship even as exes. I think it Doof was less of a petty-grudge holder, he and Charlene would still be close friends.

#pnf #phineas and ferb #heinz doofeshmirtz #charlene doofenshmirtz #animationnut #asks

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drwhotht · 8 months

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When Patrick (almost) Met Ian

When Patrick (almost) Met Ian Another foray into the joyous, endless forests of ‘archival TV,’ all of which is especially helpful during the long (but fortunately shortening rapidly) time between new Doctor Who stories. Even during these sojourns there are stories which, as it happens, feature an abnormally high concentration of Doctor Who actors from various episodes. In later years, as the entertainment landscape continued to fracture into ever-tinier shards, the notion of collecting actors with a common connection from a show or even a genre and mixing them in an episode of another show had some traction as an engineered ratings gimmick. But in 1977 this kind of ‘event’ was entirely a natural (and very rare) phenomenon. The second episode of Series 3 of ‘Van Der Valk’ titled ‘Accidental’ was one such constellation. Over there is (yet again–to the point where are almost surprised not to see him) is Patrick Troughton as Father Bosch. Having his scenes in that corner was Hubert Rees from The Seeds of Doom doing his character bit. Then there’s Mary Healey, who would later appear in The Happiness Patrol doing her bit. Lest we forget Nigel Stock, (from Time-Flight) who was a series regular at this time as Barry Foster’s superior) harrumphing his way through the story. And for the terminally curious… When Rokin, the Chief Prosecutor in an international scandal over charges of corruption in high places, disappears, Van der Valk must find out if the man has been bought off by the villains of the piece. The McGuffin of the piece, Rokin, was played by William Russell, ‘ol Chesterton himself. As a police procedural with Russell being the endpoint, none of the above character actors shared any scenes together. That’s a pity, because as a Doctor Who concoction, the cherry-on-top would have had them interacting, even the littlest bit. Still, for a post of this sort, that’s not the point, is it? Tags and categories: Tangential Tardis, Who Not Who!, Time-Flight, The Seeds of Doom, The Happiness Patrol, William Russell, Patrick Troughton via WordPress https://ift.tt/N8ZpWTa August 25, 2023 at 08:30AM

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104-days-of-gifs · 2 years

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104 Days of Phineas and Ferb GIFs: Day 55

#phineas and ferb #pnf #finding mary mcguffin #phineas #phineas flynn #ferb #ferb fletcher #csi miami #airboat #sunglasses #disney #disney channel #disney tva #gif #my gif #104 days of phineas and ferb gifs

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dwampyverse-tournaments · 1 year

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Hemoglobin Highway vs. Not So Bad a Dad

#pnf #pnf songs #pnf songs tournament #phineas and ferb #pnf music #dwampyverse #poll #poll bracket #poll tournament #tournament poll #dwampyverse tournament #danny jacob #journey to the center of candace #hemoglobin highway #vanessa doofenshmirtz #finding mary mcguffin #not so bad a dad

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animation-recaps-by-sean · 9 months

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Okay someone on a discord i;m one asked for a quick list of phineas and ferb episodes

Rollercoaster

Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror

Flop Starz

Raging Bully

The Magnificent Few

S'Winter

I Scream You Scream

It’s about time

Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together

Tree To Get Ready

Greece Lightning

The Ballad of Badbeard

Crack That Whip

Voyage To The Bottom Of Buford

Put That Putter Away

Does This Duckbill Make Me Look Fat?

One Good Scare Ought to Do It

Hail Doofania!

Phineas and Ferb Get Busted!

Unfair Science Fair and Unfair Science Fair: Redux

Tip of the Day

Elementary My Dear Stacy

The Chronicles of Meap

Oh, There You Are, Perry

Hide and Seek

Vanessassary Roughness

No More Bunny Business

Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo

Isabella and the Temple of Sap

The Bully Code

Finding Mary McGuffin

Nerdy Dancin

What Do It Do?

Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation!

I Was a Middle-Aged Robot

Undercover Carl

Hip Hip Parade

Phineas and Ferb-Busters!

Robot Rodeo

The Beak

She’s the mayor

Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You!

Nerds of a Feather

Wizard of odd

Ladies and Gentlemen, Meet Max Modem!

Rollercoaster: The Musical!

Make Play

Canderemy

Phineas and Ferb Interrupted

A Real Boy

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension

Skiddley Whiffers

My Fair Goalie

Bullseye!

That's the Spirit

Escape From Phineas Tower

A Phineas and Ferb Family Christmas

Monster from the Id

Bully Bromance Breakup

Meapless in Seattle

Buford Confidential

Agent Doof

Minor Monogram

Sipping With the Enemy

Where's Perry?

This Is Your Backstory

Happy New Year!

Sidetracked

Where’s pinky

Happy birthday isabella

Phineas and ferb mission marvel

Druselsteinoween

Phineas and Ferb Save Summer

The return of rogue rabbit

The Klimpaloon Ultimatum

Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars

The Inator Method

Night of the Living Pharmacists

Doof 101

Act your age

Last Day of Summer

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe

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beneaththetangles · 1 year

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12 Days of Christmas Anime, Day 12: R.O.D the TV’s Slow, Strange Christmas Miracle

The Christmas episode of R.O.D the TV centers on a classic Christmas miracle, where a little orphan girl on the verge of freezing and starving is adopted into a loving home just in time. For added Yuletide appeal, the entire drama plays out beneath the loving gaze of Mother Mary and Baby Jesus in an abandoned Catholic church, because nothing says Christmas like chiaroscuro and statues. But here’s the thing: this Christmas miracle didn’t have to play out just in time. It could have happened a day earlier, saving the little girl, Anita, from a frightening night spent wracked with hunger and in the depths of despair. But the delay to Anita’s miracle—the miracle that sees the Paper Sisters come together and forge the found family that carries this series—reveals something profound to us about the nature of the miraculous, which is at once both supernatural and natural, both wonderful and weird.

It’s a cozy Christmas Eve under the kotatsu, as the Paper Sisters and their friend Nenene celebrate the season with…a birthday cake? That’s right, it’s the sisters’ birthday! Not their literal day of entry into the world—that would be too big a coincidence even for anime—but rather the anniversary of the day that they were reborn as sisters. So settle in for story time, because this calls for a flashback!

~~~~

It was a dark and stormy night. Michelle and Maggie, both workaday Paper Masters for hire, cross paths in a client’s dingy warehouse basement and hit it off straight away over a shared passion for a book about a giraffe with a short neck. They’ve been hired to check out a hidden cache of rare books, secreted away beneath a church somewhere in the wilds of Hong Kong. Once on-site, as they rummage through the suspiciously undusty tomes—the books are fakes, a mere McGuffin to bring the MCs together—a little voice pipes up: “If you’re Santas, then give me a present, and if you’re thieves, then let me join you.”

The voice belongs to Anita, who proceeds to mumble an account of her sad life story: her orphanhood, her inability to find food, her increasing desperation, and finally, her prayer to God for a miracle. “It’s Christmas Eve, right?” she explains, “So I was praying. Then I heard your voices.” Are Michelle and Maggie the answer to Anita’s prayer? She seems to think so: “God must have brought you to me.” But they aren’t ready to jump to any such conclusions. They certainly aren’t Santas, and they’re not exactly thieves either, but of the two, they’re closer to being thieves, as they admit. And so they dodge little Anita’s question, claiming that she’d have no future with them. They leave the girl to fend for herself as they go their separate ways, never to meet again. They don’t even offer to buy the girl a meal.

What a desultory Christmas Eve. Alone in the empty, cold church, Anita curses God. Her prayer was useless.

Poor Little Paper Girl…

Or was it? After all, miracles are supernatural, it’s true, but they also have a natural element to them. God chooses to partner with people to do the impossible. And so sometimes, miracles need a little time to take root in the hearts of those who must help bring them about.

As Maggie wanders along streets alight with decorations and jolly with celebrating couples and families, she lifts up her drooping head (her head is perpetually drooping, possibly in an attempt to appear not quite so tall) and glances to the side, where she catches sight of her reflection melding with that of a statue of Mary and the baby Jesus. It’s a moment of realization for the lonesome gentle giant—recognition of the family that could be, perhaps.

Meanwhile, Michelle finishes reading the book that had fleetingly bonded her and Maggie, The Story of the Giraffe with the Shrunken Neck, and stares into the mid-distance. Is she recalling that moment of shared bibliophilic delight and the friendship it seemed to portend? In the let-down of the failed mission, Michelle and Maggie’s shared sympathy was overshadowed, too fleeting a thing to keep them connected. Like Maggie, Michelle is struck by a sudden understanding, though there’s no indication of what it might be.

Until the next morning, that is, because Michelle is a woman of action. When she returns to the church bearing a gift for Anita, the girl is despairing of hope and humanity and bemoaning her empty stomach, enunciating cynical remarks about Christmas Day. She is in no mood for Michelle’s offering of the giraffe book, partly because, as she points out, a good story won’t fill her stomach. But more so because, as earlier episodes revealed, Anita has a deep-seated loathing of books due to childhood trauma (insert series-long dorama arc). But no sooner does the complaint leave Anita’s lips than she finds herself in a warm embrace, with reassuring words from Michelle, “I can do something about that,” and an offer of a home to call her own. This is followed shortly by another gift, as this time Maggie darkens the doorway with that same book in hand and her heart ready to make room for the little girl. When Anita adds to her physical complaints (classic tsundere), pointing out that “a good story won’t warm my body,” Maggie unwittingly echoes Michelle’s words, “I can do something about that,” wrapping her scarf around the little girl as proof. And with that, beneath the indulgent gaze of Mother Mary holding Baby Jesus, the three decide to become sisters. Christmas miracle achieved.

There are two key things about this story. The first is that the miracle here takes time. The two young women do not abandon their solitary lives right away. They are professional working women, after all, and taking on an orphan all alone (as each expects to be doing) is a big commitment, whether it is for life or just until they find the kid some proper help. And so in the moment, when faced with Anita and her desperate need, their instinct is to return to their usual routines and ponder awhile. They consider the implications. And then they act.

In the meantime, Anita is left unaware of what all is going on in the hearts and minds of her soon-to-be saviors, and she succumbs to anger and despair. Miracles can take time. That’s part of it. But there’s a beautiful picture of grace here as well: God had already put into motion Anita’s miracle, the answer to her prayer, and he did not interrupt or abandon it when she became ornery and impatient (i.e., her usual self!). He kept working on the hearts of Michelle and Maggie, even as Anita cursed him. He gives good gifts, regardless of whether or not we are gracious recipients.

There’s more too. Anita herself actually takes a long time to fully receive her Christmas miracle. Yes, the three become the famed Paper Sisters from that moment on, but they’re not yet truly sisters. On Christmas Day, Anita doesn’t admit to Michelle and Maggie that she hates and fears books; to do so would be to bare her own broken heart, and she needs time to learn to trust them first. For now, she misdirects them with the complaints about her physical needs, avoiding the issue of her emotional wounding. Opening up to Mi-nee and Ma-nee will come later—and in fact, it takes the rest of the series (providing it with its core emotional arc). In other words, the fullness of the Paper Sisters’ Christmas miracle doesn’t play out on Christmas Day. It takes years, with many painful downs, yet also joyous ups, along the way. Just like the original Christmas miracle, the incarnation of God himself into our world. Yes, Jesus’ birth was a miracle in the moment! But the fullness of that miracle took many years and much heartache to be fully realized.

The second key thing about this story has to do with family. This episode brought home to me the strangeness of the Holy Family—of Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Let’s face it, the Holy Family is weird: an unwed mother, a seemingly jilted fiancé, and God in baby form. I guess I never really considered how weird a family they must have made! Just like Michelle, Maggie and Anita. The Paper Sisters’ origin story as a found family highlights something crucial about the Holy Family and, indeed, the Family of God more generally—that Family of which we are all a part. You see, it isn’t their shared identity as Paper Masters that binds the sisters together, or the commonality of their worldview, culture, and ways of engaging with the world, which are distinct from those of “regular people”. Nor is it a shared passion for books and seeing books respected and loved throughout the world that knits their hearts. (Anita’s bookworm side takes a very, very long time to emerge!) Instead, it is Anita herself who brings and keeps them together, forging them into a family.

In the Paper Sisters’ family scenario, as it plays out in this episode, Anita is the Baby Jesus. Just so, it isn’t our shared worldview, culture, or identity that ties us together as Christians, or even our passion for God and his Word that keeps us together. Frankly, those things aren’t actually enough to prevent the schisms and splits and feuds that emerge in the church, which is why we struggle with unity and grace for one another. Neither doctrine, worldview, nor even good worship music is enough to bond us together through thick and thin. Instead, it is Jesus himself who unites us. So when we get distracted and we think that Family is about how we celebrate together or how we vote or how we make decisions and the opinions we hold about both worldly and church matters, it falls apart. But when we keep the one who brought us together in the first place front and center, it is much simpler to navigate the ups and downs of the miracle of life together.

So, maybe you don’t have a family to celebrate with this Christmas. Or maybe your family has a poor track record of being able to celebrate together in peace and with grace for one another. If that’s the case—and even if it isn’t—let’s all take a page out of the Paper Sisters’ book and ask God to continue to outwork that first Christmas miracle in our lives and hearts, and bind us to our Family through Jesus.

It may take time. In fact, it most likely will, because these kinds of miracles often do. There may be healing we need to go through, like Anita, as we learn to trust, or a courageous step we need to take, like Michelle and Maggie, in being willing to disrupt our daily lives. It may not be only up to us; our miracle may rely on someone else pitching in and partnering with God and with us too. Together, we may need to recenter our family lives—be it with our natural family or with our church family—on Jesus himself rather than on the other, more frangible ties that bind.

But the good news is that the necessary miracle is already in play! And God is inviting us to be a part of it, and to receive it, all at once.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

With love from the Beneath the Tangles family.

Michelle, Anita, Maggie—and Jesus too!

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R.O.D the TV isn’t streaming anywhere, but it can be purchased on DVD. Totally worth it too!

#Anime #Christianity #R.O.D. the TV #Christmas #Advent #Miracles #12 Days of Christmas Anime #Articles #Author: claire

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