#but when i explained that it was likely more of a fun callback and proof that dpa stuff likely existed in the same universe

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #33: Tales to ASTONISH Part 1: The MAN in the ANT HILL!

June, 1988

APE ATTACK!

WONDER MAN to the rescue!

Comic book guy with a mullet beating up apes. What more can you want from your comic books?

Plot? Characters?

DOES NOTHING SATISFY YOU?

No but this is an interesting one. Because it’s not actually Wonder Man focused. Like the callback title Tales to ASTONISH Part 1: The MAN in the ANT HILL! suggests, this is a Hank Pym story!

Once again, a lying cover. Although mostly in who it implies the focus is on.

Last time on West Coast Avengers: Mockingbird planned a vacation to the Grand Canyon as cover so she can beat the shit out of Hamilton Slade. Moon Knight covered for her absence by claiming she was stuck under a rock and he saved her. In gratitude, Hawkeye decides Moon Knight’s probationary period is over!

Yay for Moon Knight!

Also, Wasp is hanging out with the team. She claims its because she was worried about how the team was holding up after Iron Man went rogue on his Armor Wars thing.

So the issue picks up with Moon Knight being named a full Avenger with all rights and parking privileges!

Also featuring Tigra mooning over Moon Knight, ha!

Each of the West Coast Avengers offers their two cents on Moon Knight.

Hawkeye reiterates from last issue that Moon Knight rescuing Bobbi from supposedly being trapped under a rock was the final proof he needed.

Tigra... Tigra just likes him. She doesn’t say for make out reasons but she says the rest of the team knows she likes him.

Wonder Man says he had doubts about Moon Knight because of his time as a mercenary but has decided anybody can become a killer if they go too far. “The thing is, we don’t!” Boy is Wonder Man going to become disappointed in the modern age of comics.

Mockingbird just says she’s in favor while thinking to herself that Moon Knight knows her secret about Phantom Rider. Implying that she’s worried he’ll spill the beans if she doesn’t approve him becoming an Avenger!

Dammit, Bobbi!

And Moon Knight adds his own two cents onto Moon Knight, saying that he’ll be a good replacement for Iron Man. A superhero team doesn’t need two strong guys! And he doesn’t say it but they have Hank Pym for science stuff. And Moon Knight adds something the team didn’t have before, a guy with the foot in the mystic and magical nonsense.

Wasp does not have a vote in these proceedings since she’s a special guest star but she says its good to see the Avengers tradition expanding to yet another person.

And Khonshu (in Moon Knight’s head) says something cryptic about how Marc Spector is as ephemeral as Steven Grant or Jack Lockley so “I am here now!”

Does that mean Khonshu is driving Moon Knight until otherwise stated? God only knows.

Him god, him only knows.

The only voice missing is Dr Pym who busts in to make this issue about him.

Before I let him get into it though.

The red jumpsuit is fine. It’s got a lot of pockets for him to keep his bat utility belt esque amount of random tools and gadgets. I kind of miss him dressing like Doctor Who or in random scientist duds, like the scientist equivalent of a trenchcoat hero.

Ah well.

Hank Pym manically explains that he was taking some Hank Pym time, doing some relaxing fun time activities, i.e. hacking a Soviet security network for shits and giggles.

But when he was wrapping up his fun hacking, he noticed a message on the network discussing what to do with Maria Trovaya!

DUN DUN DUNNNN!

The entire West Coast Avengers team: blank expressions

Wasp: “Oh, my god!”

See, Wasp knows her Hank lore.

And it has been decades and Hank doesn’t really talk a lot about his pre-Avengers days.

Maria Trovaya was Hank’s first wife. His supposedly dead first wife. His supposedly dead first wife who didn’t make good life choices.

The comic does a recap so conveniently, I can recap the recap for you.

Hank Pym was an antisocial researcher who spent all his time trying to think of ways to shrink stuff when he met Maria and her father, who was a Hungarian geneticist who had to flee the Eastern bloc because of a bad case of open-mindedness.

Maria was Hank’s manic pixie dreamgirl. Except not very manic pixie but same general idea. She pulled him out of her shell, similar to what Wasp would try to do later to mixed results.

(Later it would turn out that Hank and Maria had a daughter who is named Nadia and she is a delight. Jan basically adopts her. What with Hank being dead by the time Nadia shows up. Dead and stapled to Ultron.)

ANYWAY.

Hank and Maria got married. And bad life choice maker Maria Trovaya decides that they should honeymoon in Hungary despite her being a refugee from that country who had been a political prisoner once upon a time.

Her thought is that they won’t know its her if she goes by Mrs. Henry Pym.

She was wrong.

I don’t want to kick a dead girl while she’s down but she made the wrong call on that one.

Hank tries to get her back through legal channels at the American embassy. The embassy’s inquiries eventually turned up her body. And a note that says “this is what happens to those who attempt to escape the People’s Republic -- !”

Just to pile onto poor Hank, Maria’s dad is also dead. His lab blew up with him in it. Sabotage is suspected. Nothing is ever proven, it seems.

Weird. With a lot of other characters, that kind of thing would be a loose end that someone would pick up on in the decades of publishing Marvel has had. But Hank’s pre-Ant-Man life doesn’t come up a lot.

Anyway, as Hank is wont to do, he goes on a bit of a tear.

Of course, he doesn’t even know where to look for his wife’s abductors and he’s no Liam Neeson with a particular set of skills. So it looks like he mostly just goes and beats up a crowd of policemen.

Good try though!

I guess everyone is trying to avoid a diplomatic incident because Hank is released from custody to the embassy on the promise that he’ll leave the country.

So he goes back to America but he’s not ready to quit trying to avenge his wife. Based on her saying “Go to the ants, thou sluggard!” to him, Hank decides to study ants. Because that will help him find where criminals prowl!

I am reminded back in the early Avengers days, Hank was able to communicate with all ants in the entire world to try to find a missing scientist.

It’s a little sad that with that kind of capability, he never did track down the killers.

He does say that he used every resource he could as an Avenger. Sources with the government, with NATO, with SHIELD and only ever turned up ‘yup your wife is definitely dead, stop asking.’

(Which doesn’t seem like the question he should have been asking anyway? It sounded like his wife’s body was already found. Why are you looking into whether she’s alive?)

So now he’s very twisted up wondering why information is popping up now when he’s put the bad behind him and reinvented himself.

Belatedly, he also apologizes for showing up to Moon Knight’s induction and making it all about himself.

Moon Knight: “No, Dr. Pym! Marc Spector was -- I was -- a mercenary! I have spent much of my life fighting governments! What better way to become an Avenger than battling tyranny to save your wife?!”

You’re a heck of a guy, Moon Knight! ... Or Khonshu? You dammit this is confusing.

Anyway, Moon Knight is the 24th Avenger!

How highly specific.

So that’s Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Ant-Man Giant-Man Goliath Yellowjacket Dr Pym, Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, the Vision, Black Knight, Swordsman, Mantis, Beast, Moondragon, Hellcat, Wonder Man, Ms Marvel the Carol Danvers version, Falcon, Tigra, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel the Monica Rambeau version, Starfox, Namor McKenzie, Dr Druid, Mockingbird, and now Moon Knight?

That’s 28 people. That’s too many people. Which four don’t count?

Hulk, Mantis, Moondragon, and Hellcat, maybe? Moondragon and Hellcat were only provisional members before Moondragon convinced them both to quit. Hulk had his founders status given to Captain America. And I think Mantis’ membership was honorary and awarded just as she was going on her space tree honeymoon.

And not counting any retroactive continuity like Avenger X.

I think its bunk not to count those four people who maybe don’t count. But whatever. What does this narrator know.

After all the congratulations are done being said, the West Coast Avengers take off in a QUINJET, Hawkeye declaring that this settles the debate whether the West Coast Avengers are supposed to stay on the West Coast.

A debate that nobody but you was having, Clint.

As they go, Mockingbird thinks to herself that she’s glad to get away from Phantom Rider for a while, just for Moon Knight to say to her that he’d bet she’s glad to get away from Phantom Rider for a while.

The look she shoots him. Perfection.

She has no idea what his game is.

And she doesn’t have long to worry over it because Tigra pulls Moon Knight aside to probably make out with.

Since Hank got to have a big flashback, Wasp decides she’ll have one too. A flashback to their shared history! Ha, take that, nerd!

Just like with Maria, Jan was introduced to Hank by her father who was a scientist. Because Hank has one and only one way to meet women.

Dr. van Dyne wanted Hank’s help with a gamma-ray beam meant to communicate with other planets.

Didn’t the Hulk teach people that gamma radiation wasn’t a toy?

Anyway, because Hank wasn’t an omnidisciplinary scientist at this point, he says he can’t help because gamma-ray beams aren’t his field.

But shortly after, Dr. van Dyne is MURDERED and his research destroyed and its Hank who Janet calls in a panic.

Hank being Hank, goes right to 11. He shows up, reveals that he’s Ant-Man, and asks if she wants to be his superhero partner.

This was before decompressed storytelling. Every story began and ended in like twenty pages.

Ant-Man: “Do you see those synthetic cells in the microscopic field? I can implant them below your skin! It will leave no scar, but when you’re reduced in size you’ll grow wings and tiny antennae -- like a human wasp!”

Janet van Dyne: “It sounds so wonderful -- !”

...

On their very second meeting ever, Hank Pym proposes to do mad science to her to give her superpowers and Janet is like hot damn sign me up.

She was made for the superhero life, I swear.

Also, she put together her first (of many) Wasp outfits from a pile of alternate Ant-Man outfits Hank had prepared.

They go, they fight an alien monster, they murder said alien monster, and Janet exuberantly declares she loves Hank.

Hank tells her he never wants to love again because of the tragic loss of his first wife but Jan is sure he’s just pretending not to feel anything for her.

And thus starts an ultimately unhealthy relationship!

Janet’s flashback narration calls the whole thing a fairy tale, her “wildest dreams, all rolled into one” but after she comes out of the flashback she wryly reflects it was a fairy tale after all.

Wasp: “It really was a fairy tale, wasn’t it? Couldn’t last after we woke up! But if there’s even one chance in a hundred that he can get Maria back, I’ll be cheering him on the loudest...!”

Aw.

Anyway, the West Coast Avengers land in Slovakia where they’ve arranged to meet with the American ambassador who has arranged visas for them.

Buuuut, those visas have been revoked. As the arriving People’s Defense Force notify the West Coast Avengers.

Now these are some characters.

I do love other countries having superhero teams of their own, even if they’re antagonist due to global politics.

The leader, Madame X, says that the West Coast Avengers are criminals and enemies of the state. They’re associates of Iron Man who did a diplomatic incident in Russia. Mockingbird is a former agent of SHIELD. And none of these guys like Hank Pym because he’s thwarted all of them.

Yeah, these are a bunch of old Ant-Man enemies! His older rogues gallery doesn’t get a lot of love.

An unnamed member of the Force is one of the Soviet spies Ant-Man thwarted in his first Ant-Man appearance.

El Toro was a super agent from Santo Rico who had rigged an election but was defeated by Giant-Man and the Wasp. He’s got a hat with horns on it. That is his super power.

Madame X was introduced as Comrade X and was disguised as a man. Ant-Man foiled her with ants. She has a gas gun. That is her super power.

Hmm.... starting to see why Hank Pym’s older enemies don’t get a lot of love.

BUT: there’s also the Beasts of Berlin! Gorillas given enhanced intelligence by Soviet scientists. Hank learned about them when he was breaking a friend out of jail, beat them up, and broke the ray gun that made them smrt smart. The group here is apparently a new group. But hey! Comic books are about fighting apes!

Given that the People’s Defense Force is packed full of old foes of his and that they knew he was coming, Hank declares that the whole Maria thing was a trick, a ruuuuuse to lure him into a trap!

The People’s Defense Force has no idea what he’s talking about. But they’re still going to arrest the shit out of the West Coast Avengers.

The West Coast Avengers Assemble to resist arrest and now there’s a fight scene.

I assume Tigra would rather do the designated animal person fight than the designated girl fight because she jumps right at the Beasts of Berlin. But, alas, she’s not watching her six. El Toro headbutts her from behind, poisoning her with the horns on his hat.

Hawkeye and Mockingbird fight Madame X. Since they’re doing it together, it probably doesn’t count as a designated girl fight for Mockingbird.

Wonder Man fights ALL THE BEASTS AT ONCE. Because working together, they’re nearly as strong as he is. That’s what we call a fair fight. Also, c’mon, a super strong dude fighting a bunch of gorillas. Amazing.

Moon Knight (Khonshu?) fights off the regular soldiers that came with the People’s Defense Force, thrilling at his first official battle as an Avenger.

And then he gets headbutted and subsequently poisoned by El Toro.

Wow, not having someone fighting this dude is really headbutting the Avengers in the butt.

Wasp zaps the Beasts of Berlin to save Mockingbird who is getting pummeled. Wonder Man starts fighting the entire ape group again (not sure why he stopped fighting them long enough for them to gang up on Mockingbird...) and Wasp flies off to see how Hank is doing.

Hank is doing good.

He’s still getting a lot of mileage out of his new superpower of infinite inventory space. He pulls out two pistols, claims they’re just toys when the soldiers tell him to stop pulling shit out of his pockets, and then grows them full size to spray the soldiers with rubber bullets.

Wasp shows up just in time to crack a joke that as Giant-Man he was “highpockets”, so now they should call Hank “hugepockets.” Hank adds onto the joke by suggesting “Captain Kangaroo.”

Y’know, despite following a lead on his definitely murdered wife, Hank is in good spirits. It’d be a justification to fall into anger or depression. While he’s clearly driven to find out whether this lead is anything, he’s keeping a good attitude.

Also, he pulls hedgetrimmers out of his infinite pockets and uses them to cut a hole in the fence so he and Wasp can fuck off.

Not ideal for the West Coast Avengers since El Toro has managed to headbutt each one of them and forces Wonder Man to stop spanking the apes if he wants his friends to be saved from the poison.

This dude is alarmingly effective for a guy who - and I repeat myself with some incredulity - has the superpower of wearing a hat with horns on it and he poisoned the horns.

Are the West Coast Avengers just having an off day?

(To be slightly fair, Hawkeye didn’t get headbutt poisoned, he got captured by the normal soldiers.)

The American ambassador assures Hawkeye that the US government will not rest until the team is freed. Hawkeye isn’t optimistic about that.

Madame X alerts all security forces to find Dr Pym and the Wasp. Because they fucked off, remember?

Anyway, they fucked off to a boarded up building. With Wasp as lookout, Hank breaks a board so he can sneak into the abandoned building.

Off the battlefield, Hank is having less of a good time. He tells Wasp she shouldn’t have come because he’s a danger magnet right now and he doesn’t want her to get hurt.

She points out that she’s the actual superhero of the two of them currently to his irritation.

Then they sulk for a panel before Wasp comments that nothing has really changed between them, prompting Hank to burst out laughing because she’s right.

But he insists that they act professionally, not personally right now, and get down to business. Not business of saving the Avengers team they both ditched to get captured. No, no. Hank wants to follow the lead about Maria Trovaya.

Wasp says that’s going to be a difficult task since they don’t have any contacts in the city and also they’re wanted by the law. It’d be easier if Hank was Ant-Man because he could use the power of talking to ants, which is the greatest power.

But Hank isn’t Ant-Man. But she’s and the Wasp. And the Wasp used to have antennae that would pop out when she shrank down and let her communicate with ants.

And here’s where things tie delightfully into the elaboration of Wasp’s powers that happened under Stern as well as Hank’s new powers.

Wasp barely used the antennae. As far as she’s concerned, they died by this point. But Hank claims that the way they were designed, they wouldn’t die as long as Wasp lives. But they’ve clearly atrophied since they don’t pop out anymore.

Its the opposite of how Wasp’s bio-electric sting and wings and shrinking have all gotten stronger since she kept using them. Those are the parts of her power set that she really leaned into. Leveled up. The ant communication power she barely ever used so the antennae are basically vestigial at this point.

BUT: While Hank can’t change his own size, his current powers are all about changing the size of other stuff. So he boops Wasp in the head and grows the antennae back to functioning size.

The signal quality isn’t great - the antennae did atrophy after all - but Wasp is able to use them to contact ants across Budapest.

(Apparently the way that the ant communication power has such a huge range is because the ants themselves act as rebroadcast antenna, passing the message on further afield.)

But anyway. Wasp gets word back from the ant network that Maria’s name was spoken in Bratislava Prison just this morning.

A lead! A good lead!

It takes them awhile to get to Bratislava Prison since Hank has to go slow and avoid the police. But they get there by nightfall.

Wasp flies in through a keyhole and beats up the guard before opening the door for Hank. Various ants guide Wasp through the prison to a high tech cell that’s very locked.

But when Hank opens up the cell, it’s not Maria Trovaya he finds.

HEY VISION AND SCARLET WITCH. ANOTHER CROSSOVER WITH THE WEST COAST AVENGERS, I SEE.

Okay, so what’s this about. The Maria Trovaya lead was clearly a ruse and bait. But who would have beef with Hank, Vision, and Scarlet Witch?

I’d guess Grim Reaper, since he was the guy last time the West Coast Avengers and the happy couple crossed over. But if it was Grim Reaper, you’d think Wonder Man would be more central to this.

Iiiiis it Ultron? I’m pretty sure he double died pretty recently but that means nothing in comics or for Ultron specifically.

Guess I’ll find out in two weeks. Curse you, East Coast Avengers and your alternating weeks!

Follow @essential-avengers​ because let us unravel this mystery together. Or you could read ahead or check marvel wiki. I can’t stop you. Like and reblog if you liked this post or think other people would like it. Leave a comment, maybe.

#avengers #west coast avengers #essential avengers #People's Defense Force #Madame X #Beasts of Berlin #El Toro #the C-squad of Ant Man enemies #Hawkeye #Mockingbird #Tigra #Wonder Man #Dr Pym #Hank Pym #the Wasp #special surprise guests #can't hate an issue where a man wrestles four gorillas #no clue why Englehart ditched his ongoing Phantom Rider plot to have some fun for a few issues #not complaining either

[whataphantasia]

ugh ok that poll i reblogged made me listen to UUFO again and i didnt realize it's been like a few months since i listened to it in full FKKEDN (ok this got long so it's under a cut now)

every song ive just been going "OMG I LOVE THIS SONG" DJAKDJEK IM NORMAL IM NORMAL

i know its cringe to like a camellia album this much but uufo is like. a culmination of a LOT of the things i like, and all of camellias experience leading up to that point yk.. and so much love and effort went into it from so many different people.. auuuughhh

every part of the album comes together... i LOVE albums with a theme and this one is PARANORMAL OCCURENCES and URBAN LEGENDS and shit ITS EVERYTHING I LOVE!! the different pieces of album art... ufo girl... wauuuu wauuuu cries sobs

idc if its uncritical and cringe to love every song i do what i want. i dont rly care abt if a song is structurally good as long as it makes me happy it goes hard (and all of them make me happy)

the website.. so pretty...

ok im gonna go to bed after doinf this but heres a few tracks i want to ramble abt (i wish i could do all of the tracks but i wont (FOR NOW...))

for the longest time buzzbox was my favorite song LOL. it was one of my first songs on the album and the russian bass/hardcore mix is just SO good. idk why i liked it so much honestly, its not rly what i LISTEN to yk. i have a fond memory of making my geometry teacher listen to it in 10th grade and she never let me pick a class song again. SHE LIKED EDM TOO I THOUGHT SHE'D GET IT </33

obviously ghoul is amazing. no notes. everyone loves that song.

OOPARTS IS A BONUS TRACK ON THIS ALBUM. OOPARTS. OF COURSE IT'S GOOD

speaking of the muzzle facing.. god idk. the melodic metal undertones. i LOVE a big variety in musical textures and this song just SCRATCHES my DAMN BRAIN. the part where it goes *metal guitar riff* *oingo boingo ass scratching noises* ANDJWJDJEJD IM NORMAL (at 1:37)

POLYBIUS GB IS SO GOOD. the way every section of the song builds on eachother AUGH. the final drop with the chiptune/extratone. CAMELLIA AND HIS EXTRATONEY FINAL DROPS ARE SO GOOD WAUUU WAAAA

a lot of what i feel abt polybius gb ALSO applies to final blenderman!!!! except final blenderman has WAYY more electric guitar YEAHHHH!! camellia final drops. the shift from rock guitar to chiptune melody, and an extratoneish finale,, reminds me a bit of million pp actually? haha. it miiiight be my favorite song? it outranked buzzbox a while ago but tbh this place might be slipping for like, the muzzle facing.

i actually didnt like myths you forgot as much as the other tracks when i first listened to it.. idk why? maybe bc it was a little slower? past me has no taste bc this track is so layered. and good. thanks toby fox

artcore is usually an "eh, its good" for me (i have a lot of artcore i enjoy, like fallen symphony) but #1f1e33 is different.. just felt like pointing it out (esp since this album has a longer version of it) like! i never felt BORED! every section builds! and has interesting auditory textures! lol. ig thats how u keep my attention (not that "being boring" is inherently bad ofc)

i have really fond memories of listening to microwave-proof cat in like, 10th/9th grade... sighh that song is so fun. the main melody's texture is just so bouncy. kisses it.

OKAY. DAMN. its 3. i need to go to bed. i'd love to continue rambling abt this though. maybe later.

as of right now my favorite camellia song (outside of this album) is parallel universe shifter :3c yeah, like, his most recent 7 minute song. of course its good. idk just.. it has all the things i like in it. i'd love to be able to one day make music like this song specifically. but point is, it has all of my favorite musical things.. in it. idk how to explain it. the name too. its super personal to me LOL. and the references and callbacks in the song. so tasty

ig another 8+ track edm album i like is also good evening hollowood... can you tell i love paranormal/halloween themed albums. JK LOL the songs in that album have nothing to do with that. while im talking abt t+pazolite i like ponko2 girlish too.. maybe ill dedicate a post to that if i get bored.

OK FOR REAL NOW ILL STOP. BYE

#ph_ramb

[love-fireflysong]

Hi. This is so late and I’m a failure oops. Cause while me missing last week has an excuse (ala my siblings coming to visit so i wasn’t around a whole lot lol) me missing the week before that was just being too lazy to make a post. So I’m here to (hopefully) fix that. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of writing’s been done to my ever expanding displeasure, but I did get some minor stuff done before the visit so you can all have some minorly angsty chrashley for my last kiss prompt to tide you over.

And yet, despite the near-panic with the pork, the rest of the morning had gone well enough that Ashley actually felt brave enough to leave the safety of her home for the first time since the mountain. It had taken a not insubstantial amount of time to try and convince Saundra of that fact though, almost an hour of begging and pleading and even then she only barely relented. The fact that the place in question would be the Hartley residence meant very little to her, only agreeing after Ashley swore that they would turn around or leave the second it looked like she was about to start freaking out.

And yet, while she had agreed to any and all stipulations in a heartbeat, Ashley almost hadn't been able to even make out the threshold of her own front door. When she turned around after locking the door behind her, the sight of the thick and heavy layer of freshly fallen snow was nearly enough to make her want nothing more than to bury herself under the safety of her blankets. The sharp whistle of wind through the couple of trees just in front of the building certainly hadn't helped matters either. Involuntarily, her body froze on the front step as she held her breath. The only reason she was able to move again after that was the realization that although the sky was fairly overcast, they didn't come out to hunt during the day and she was safe. Still, she tucked her head down onto her chest and all but ran to the idling car at the end of the sidewalk. Just in case. 

The second she opened the passenger-side door, the warm air buffeted against Ashley as she practically threw her herself in the vehicle. The warm air was like a wall, strong and thick enough that it made her feel safe again and she let out a sigh of relief and was brought back to her senses just in time to see the suspicious and worried frown on Saundra's face.

Due to seeing a couple of my sibs for the first time in nearly four years, I also didn’t get any time to sew either. But considering my last sewing update I was barely even half-done with baby timon, it’s a decently large improvement nonetheless. Fully finished previously mentioned timon, added an arm to a sentient bell, half of a purple ball of literal ghostly gas, and got a magnet boy looking—dare I say?—magnetic. So pretty close to finishing this page all in all, just three more pokemon left to fill in before I can finally move on to the last one for this particular quadrant!

#wip wednesday #my writing #cross-stitching #until dawn #pokemon #at least one fun result happened with my siblings coming to visit #the day after they arrived back home my sister texted me to let me know that i had won her over #and she had immediately boughten the dark pictures games that were available lol #so far she's only played house of ashes and little hope though #and hoa she played here #she did say that she liked lh though and when i asked about her thoughts for the ending #she said that she liked it actually! #she (like me) hadn't expected the ending at all and enjoyed the twist #she did admit that she thought that the diner would be more important because i pointed it out to her when she played hoa as a callback #but when i explained that it was likely more of a fun callback and proof that dpa stuff likely existed in the same universe #her exact text was 'oooooh that makes sense!' and she dropped it right away lol #told her that the devil in me was probably gonna be releasing in hopefully october this year #and that a bunch of us on here were freaking out about the quarry releasing in june and that it was gonna be a spiritual successor to ud #though whether or not she remembers any of that and looks into is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #but the important thing is that i brought an actual family member into this fun little obsession of ours lol #apparently she also played the walking dead game and borderlands too so she'd fit right in sdkfhjdsjkh #hell! she's doing even better than me in that regard sjdfkhskddhfksdfhj

[aparticularbandit]

so - saw that episode again (and also started jtv again because...want to go through the first fourteen episodes again for soulmate au purposes) and here are the things i gleaned!

1) jane thought rose was 38 instead of 51. like - i know we harp on the 51 bit but this time it’s the 38 bit that stuck out to me.  not because there’s an age difference there of thirteen years (yikes) but more because of the age difference that would be between lu and rose.  at the end of the series, lu is roughly 45.  in fandom, we usually put rose at three years younger than lu (because bridget is roughly 3 years younger than yara), but jane is here making rose seven years younger than lu. and here is why that is important (and also indicating a missed opportunity that i would have liked them to delve into more): jane is seven years younger than rafael.  jane is mentally putting the age gap between rose and lu as the exact same as the age gap between her and raf, where lu stands in for raf and rose stands in for her.  this is just another bit of that mental paralleling that we see jane do between herself and rose - or the writers do between jane and rose - that we see coming up again in the episode: rose making the claim that this isn’t jane’s love story, it’s hers (when we, as the viewers, know it is the other way around); jane setting them up as good vs. evil in that final confrontation (and the parallel of rafael coming to save her vs. luisa coming to kill rose)--

even before this, there are instances of rose/lu meaning to be a parallel of jane/raf.  rose constantly saying that she and lu are the greatest love story ever told (as compared with jane’s preoccupation with telenovelas and her love story turning out to be one); rose and lu having literal fireworks over their first kiss as opposed to the dramatics that we see happening with jane’s “first” kisses with her respective love interests (the fake snow falling with michael; the blossoms with rafael (not her technical first kiss, but in context, i think you understand what i mean).  both love stories are shown with that telenovela flair to them so that there is a contrast between them.  you can even bring up jane and her different janes (critic!jane, drunk!jane, etc.) and compare them with the different masks that rose wears as sin rostro.

(you can make a fandom argument here.  i don’t feel like making it, but you can, technically, make it.)

to an extent, rose is a negative version of jane where her love - and her obsession with her love interest - destorys her, changing her life for the worse instead of changing it for the better the way it does with jane.  (and you can make the argument that jane tries to make the appeal that lu should be her michael and that rose should move on to find her actual raf, but idk how much water that holds).

we can also look at jane making rose and lu’s age gap similar to her age gap with raf as a way of her trying to connect to their love story as she writes her novel.  for most of her writing time, jane’s relationship with luisa is...rocky, at best, if it’s actually there at all.  you could make the argument that she didn’t actually really start understanding writing luisa until the flashback chapter in s4 and used that as her basis for writing her, but the point is that most of what jane wrote about luisa and rose would be built from what little she knew.  those parallels would be her insertion.

i’m just surprised that she put rose in her place instead of lu.  but that may be due to rose was emilio’s trophy wife, so she has to be the younger one, which - says a lot about what jane thought of emilio (from the little time she spent with him and the stories she likely heard from raf) that he would be married to a woman she thought was seven years younger than his oldest daughter.

(there is also the potential thought that jane thought rose was 38 at the beginning of the series and that rose was 51 at the beginning of the series - which, you know, would make more sense in terms of where authors would talk about their character’s ages, which would make rose, what, 59? at the end of the series?  (a year a season with a three year time gap would be eight years - s1 isn’t really a full year, but there’s a time jump in s2 re: petra’s pregnancy, so i’m evening it out - so 59?  almost 60?  idk.  jtv, maybe make things a little clearer here.  actually, don’t.  it’s more fun to speculate.)

2) where rose was stabbed through by the statue (which probably wouldn’t have happened anyway, that thing was probably made of styrofoam or some other lightweight material that would more likely have broken under her weight, but i digress), she probably still could have survived.  with some immediate medical attention and a lot of constraints, probably.

or faked it, to be fair, but let’s not go there.

the statue stabbed through the lower half of her torso, approximately cutting her in half.  but not entirely.  idk, in a telenovela sort of way, she could have survived that.  i just think i originally thought the statue stabbed, you know, her heart, not her lower regions.  so maybe she couldn’t have actually survived that.  it just feels like it’s more likely there than otherwise.

idk i have less proof for this, just a general feeling.

3) xo is really good at keeping secrets to the benefit of other people.

this is less a that episode thing and more of a starting jtv over again thing but like!  she spent all of jane’s first twenty-four years letting jane believe that she had wanted an abortion and alba convinced her to keep her instead of the other way around so that she could protect jane!  and she kept the secret about rogelio for just as long and let alba think she didn’t know who the dad was and was just a random hook-up (because she didn’t want to be with rogelio then) because that was the better option!  like xo is a determined woman who is actually very good about protecting her people and that’s something i hadn’t noticed before and like, yeah, i might have a higher appreciation for xo now.

4) luisa is definitely wearing the same dress when she goes to jump off the bridge that she is when she explains to jane and raf and petra and xo that she artificially inseminated the wrong woman.

it’s the same blue dress.  she literally went immediately afterward to try and commit suicide and rose talked her out of it, like, i’m wondering - i know that lu was supposed to die when roman apparently did (but aaron actually did), but i’m wondering if the bridge jumping thing was a callback to the original plan (and if in that universe, luisa’s death was a suicide and not a murder by sin rostro.  not that aaron/roman’s murder was.  but you know).

5) also luisa and no patient confidentiality why are you telling rafael that jane works at the hotel where is your privacy woman

there are probably more but, uh, gonna stop there for now.  maybe will bring up more later with further episodes!  will see!

#musings #jtv #jane the virgin #jane villanueva #rose solano #roisa #jafael #i really want to write a meta on the jafael/roisa parallels #specifically on the parallels between jane and rose that the show set up #and the parallels between luisa and raf #like #they are very much very there #and UGH i regret that the show didn't make those clearer because it's actually a very interesting device #also still think that rose was jane making up a bs final confrontation because her editor asked her to do so #because as much as i love bridget #that rose didn't feel like the same rose we saw in the rest of the series #just didn't #and she was back to an outfit that felt more like trophy wife rose #which is the rose jane knew best #like.... #she felt more like the rose jane would have written than the actual rose #idk #a n y w a y #it wasn't as painful this time #that was good

[jounetsunosymphonia]

The Clockwork Heartbeat (Mankai Stage Spring 2019 translation)

translation for the stage version of spring’s third play! the song can be listened to in full here. and please, please listen to it while reading.

hello folks. i cried multiple times while translating this. and while watching it. and listening to it. clockwork hurts. i might be a winter but it’s my favourite a3 play ever i have every fucking emotion thinking about it. please enjoy.

cast list

Minagi Tsuzuru (Maekawa Yuuki) as Luke Citron (Furuya Yamato) as S Sakuma Sakuya (Yokota Ryugi) as Colt Chigasaki Itaru (Tateishi Toshiki) as Boyd and Narrator Usui Masumi (Makishima Hikaru) as Alf

-

Narrator In a certain town in a certain country A time where people’s lives depend upon steam The alchemist Luke— creates a homunculus, an artificial human, forbidden by law.

Luke There, it’s finished. Your name is S!

S: Good morning, master. Please give me an order.

Luke I won’t order you around You and I are friends

S: That will be a problem. If I am not given orders, I cannot move.

Luke: …alright then, let’s give you one. Be my friend.

S: Friend…?

Luke: Yes.

S: Understood.

Luke: How dry...oh! Let’s shake hands! It’s how humans greet each other.

Luke: S, are you left-handed? Ah…this is hard to explain. S, a handshake is when you clasp hands together.

S: Hands together…understood.

Luke No, no. We have to take each other’s hands. This is a handshake.

S: Handshake…

Luke: It’s a sign of our friendship.

S: Master and I, are friends. Handshake.

[spring telepathy time part 1!]

Citron: (Oh! Like I thought, doing manzai with Tsuzuru is the best!)

Tsuzuru: (No, we’re acting right now. Jeez…making me do comebacks even in my head…)

Citron: (I’ve had it!)

Tsuzuru: (But thank you. You helped out a lot this time.)

Citron: (I didn’t do anything. I just always want to be able to play around with you.)

-

Colt: Good morning, sir! Eh? Did you get a new apprentice?

Luke: Hey, Colt. He’s S, he’s my friend.

Colt: I’m Luke’s apprentice, Colt! Nice to meet you, S!

S: I’m Master’s friend, S. It’s nice to meet you, too.

Colt: Ow ow ow! My hand’s going to break!

S: This is a handshake.

Luke: You’re doing it too strongly, S.

Colt: Sir, is S—?

Luke: He is, but he’s my friend.

S: Yes. I am Master’s friend.

Colt: Ah, is that so. I’d expect no less from you, sir!

Narrator Luke teaches S many things S slowly absorbs it all. Luke has a lot of fun, and perhaps…S does as well

Boyd: But there’s no way it’ll be fine like this, fool apprentice.

Luke: Master—!

S: Master…?

Luke: S, this is my alchemy teacher, Boyd.

S: I am Master’s friend, S. It is nice to meet you.

Boyd Homunculi are outlawed throughout the land Get rid of that doll at once

Luke: S is my friend. Please don’t talk about him like that.

Boyd: Their kind can’t understand human emotions.

Luke Yes, they can! I’ll teach him. I’ll give S a heart!

Boyd: My, my. Perhaps rather than teach you alchemy, I should have shown you how to make friends.

[spring telepathy time part 2!]

Itaru: (Having me be both the narrator and the teacher is a bit much.)

Tsuzuru: (It’s a role only you can do, Itaru-san.)

Itaru: (Tsuzuru, you say that every time.)

Tsuzuru: (Has acting become more fun than games?)

Itaru: (Who knows. But…your scripts are interesting.)

-

S: Master, do I not have a “heart”?

Luke: That’s not true—

S: But Master’s teacher said so.

Luke: Your master is me.

S: What is a heart?

Luke: Why do you keep asking about this—

S: Master, please order me to have a heart.

Luke: It’s not something I can just order you to have.

S: But if I do not have a heart, I will be destroyed.

Luke: I won’t let that happen! …anyway, S. Maybe you should step outside for a bit.

S: Is this an order?

Luke: An order? …yes, yes it is.

S: Understood.

-

Narrator Luke hides S from prying eyes, but it is already too late. The news on his existence reaches commanding officer Alf.

Alf: Robots with artificial intelligence are illegal in this country.

Luke: S isn’t a robot. He’s completely human.

Alf If machines and humans mingle, it will only bring misfortune The law exists to prevent that. As soon as a homunculus is discovered, it will immediately be— —destroyed.

Alf: What’s this door?

Luke: Please, don’t!

Colt: Sir, let’s make a run for it!

Alf: Just a smoke bomb, eh. These alchemists…Go after them! Find them no matter what!

Luke: S, the guards are after us. We have to escape.

S: Escape? But if we run from the law, then Master will become a criminal.

Luke: If I don’t, then you’ll be destroyed!

S: Is it because I do not have a heart? Because I am a doll?

Alf: Give up. Treating mechanical dolls as equal to humans is merely hubris.

Luke: …hubris…?

Colt: You’re mistaken! My teacher’s become so much brighter. All because S is his friend!

Alf: They’re only playing at being friends. Your imitation of friendship ends here.

-

S: Master.

Luke: S! S, fight. We’ll get out of here!

S: I do not wish to cause you trouble.

Luke: That’s an order. You’re my friend. Our friendship isn’t just make-believe!

S: Understood.

(back at it again with “watch it if you can” but citron fighting is just. chef kiss. i love my boy so much. i would give up my life for furuya yamato.)

Luke: S!

[spring telepathy time part 3!]

Tsuzuru: (Citron-san, this is…!)

Sakuya: (He had some special training with Banri-kun and Sakyo-san!)

Masumi: (You’ve gotten a little better than before.)

Citron: (I was learning self defense from friends, so that came in handy, right!)

Sakuya: (We’ll all definitely come together to live up to your script!)

Tsuzuru: (Don’t make me cry in the middle of the play, now.)

Masumi: (Don’t cry.)

Tsuzuru: (I won’t!)

-

Alf: After them!

Narrator: But in the battle, S takes a great deal of damage, and the clockwork in his chest is bared.

Luke: S, that wound—!

S: It is not a problem. There are only screws and gears within me.

Luke: Let’s get back to the laboratory. We have to get you patched up right away.

Colt: But the laboratory’s going to be crawling with guards—

Luke: We can defeat them again. At this rate, S is going to stop functioning.

Colt: Sir, your crimes are just going to pile up!

Luke: If he stops working now, he’ll lose all his memories from when he first woke up!

S: Master, please remove my key.

Luke: What are you saying. If I do that, you’ll break—

S: If I cease functioning, you will no longer be chased.

Luke: No, I can’t. We’ll run together. That’s an order.

S: I will not obey. I wish to save you.

Luke: Why won’t you listen to your master’s orders?!

S: Because…I am…your friend, Luke. You gave me a life. You gave me friends. You gave me…a heart. And my heart is saying—even if I can no longer move, I’ll always be your friend.

Luke: No…I don’t want you to break.

S: I want you to do it. Not anyone else.

Luke: Being created and destroyed on the whims of a human…isn’t this too cruel?

S: We’ll meet again someday. Saying goodbye makes me sad too, but when I think that we’ll meet again, I’m okay.

(luke clutches s’ hands tightly, resulting in the most painful callback i have ever seen)

S: Luke, that hurts. You’re doing it too strongly.

Luke: I’m glad I met you, S.

S: Tha…nk…you……Lu…ke…

Colt: Please, won’t you let us go? My teacher, he—!

Alf: Thank you for your compliance with the law. Pardon the impoliteness.

Colt: You’re not taking S away?

Alf: We don’t have the free time to be confiscating broken inventions. Now, if you’ll excuse me.

-

Boyd: Huh. That straight-laced commanding officer did that?

Colt: Yes, he was really cool!

Boyd: So, how are that guy’s wounds healing up?

Colt: He seems fine now. He even went on a stroll this morning!

Boyd: That shut-in did? You’re not mistaken, are you?

Colt: Since then, teacher’s changed quite a bit. It’s like a bolt from the blue!

Luke: Hey, Colt. Don’t exaggerate.

Colt: Oh, teacher!

Boyd: You seem perfectly well now, don’t you.

Luke: Thankfully.

Boyd: A wind-up key? Quite a tasteless necklace you have there, my idiot apprentice.

Luke: This is an important key, I don’t want to lose it. So that I don’t forget a precious friend’s heart.

All Living on in my heart Important things don’t have to be seen

S So that one day we’ll meet again

Luke So that I don’t forget

All The ticking noise resounds

(then it goes into omoide no nejimaki here, from here again boop)

All Thoughts are superimposed on each other, acting like a spring To the proof of the connection that we created

Luke The last greeting is a source of calm wind

S Let’s go to sleep like this

Luke It was left in the hand

Luke, S A key to memories

#mankai stage #spring 2019 #spring troupe #minagi tsuzuru #citron #sakuma sakuya #chigasaki itaru #usui masumi #maekawa yuuki #furuya yamato #yokota ryugi #tateishi toshiki #makishima hikaru #november translations #a3

[ichayalovesyou]

Broken Bow parts 1 & 2 (Live Reaction):

Ah, so we’re kicking off with smarting up Archer’s prejudice against Vulcans that I know from all my Vulcantology research he grows out of. Neat.

Oh shit Klingon on earth?? Look at those glorious locks! Who are these weird squishy bendy dudes?? Oh that shiz EXPLODED. I’ve got my yeehaw phaser rifle and I kills a Klingon- fuck is THAT how the war started?! Whether or not that’s stupid remains to be seen.

Wowwwww this theme song... is... a lot. Star Trek, bruh, since when??? No. Just... no. Oh hey it’s Archer & Trip a lil’ light fantastic! Ngl Trip’s actually cute. Oh wow they really don’t know Klingons. Oh hey Phlox is here! I get where Archer is coming from about the plug pulling thing, even if Klingon culture is very “HONOR!!” and stuff. Even then, wouldn’t it be detrimental even to a warrior race for them to die when they can be healed?

Vulcans just love acting like everyone else is stupid don’t they? Wow everyone is racist at like, everybody (aliens wise) this definetly has established itself as pre-Federation. Ope! More new characters! Baby ensign dude (Travis!) and British ship’s engineer(?) oh hey it’s Hoshi Sato!! Oh look they’re acknowledging that aliens speak more than one language on their workds finally!! Behold T’Pol! She doesn’t sound like I thought she would? (Idk what that means lol but yeh)

Ohhhh man Trip, Vulcans don’t do haaands my dude, didn’t you get debriefed? But also would it have killed her to explain? Communicate damnit! Give us a speech elderly white boy! Yeehaw warp engines!! Cool speech call back or really it’s Kirk (& Picard and prob Pike soon) Doing the callback to Cochrane!

Oooh shady time travel aliens are back!! Phlox is here! I always got good/fun vibes from him, like, a lil’ creepy but in an entertaining way! Travis is adorable and I love him already, space station boyyyyy. THREE, THREE WHAT?? Travis’s generation are called Boomers?? LOL it makes sense that we’d have a baby boom after planetary colonization became possible but that’s practically a derogatory term now 😂

Time for a dinner chock full of microaggressions! Yup I was right, wowwwwwww everyone is being secret awful (T’Pol not so secret awful) but yeah I can see where all that VHS racism stuff comes from. Lol, oooooo Hoshi & T’Pol having a lil’ cat fight, Archer is such a dad lol. Poor Sato is so fucking stressed it’s okay gf! The ship is just not working and you’re learning Klingon and there’s an invisible alien aboard its FINE!! OH SHIT THAT KLINGON GOT KIDNAPPED!!!!!

Oh so the engineer’s name is Reed okay, oh this is the one with the Suliban. Wow T’Pol is kind of a bitch! She is just belittlement after belittlement, she’s like Spock but WORSE. Like, I’m definitely starting to understand Archer’s resentment toward them is coming from, not that it’s right, but it is understandable. Especially Vulcans have been having this sort of attitude toward humans (and other species) this whole time. Both races clearly have a LOT to learn.

Oh so this Suliban dude is a GMO, I actually freaking love Phlox. Good job Trip tryna bridge the gap between T’Pol and Archer but ooof still too salty. Oh wow! We’re going to Rigel for the first time okay?! Neat! Oof our Klingon boy out here getting interrogated oh shit! It wouldn’t be an earth 2000s scifi without a skanky bar and funky alien strippers. Uh oh Trip is about to make a mistake, oh thank god T’Pol stopped him *big exhale* everything is so new to us! It’s so interesting!

Ew creepy lady why u kiss him??? Oh it’s the “alien woman has to do (explicit/romantic action) to do (thing)” trope 🙄. Oh so there’s time travel shit going on??? Okay!!! What?! Okay! Man the GMO Suliban can do some seriously freaky shit! Okay I love Travis & Reed they’re cool, Reed is suave and Trav is adorable! OOp ARCHER GOT SHOT THE LEG! Close call close call!! Oh ffs T’Pol don’t take command, everything you’ve shown us so far is that you think humans are shit, hey maybe she’ll surprise me.

Ugh this is about to be- aaaaand it’s unnecessarily sexualizong T’Pol 🙄🙄🙄🤮🤮🤮. Trip can you please not call T’Pol out and be racist in the same sentence, I’d rather you just do the former please. OH YAY! T’Pol did surprise me! Good job T’Pol (and Trip... kinda... I guess). “One good turn deserves another” good line, but “doesn’t sound very Vulcan” is proof Archer really doesn’t understand Vulcans! Or at least not what they aspire to. Ohhhh Kay NOW we’re working together! Good! Good!!

I wonder who creepy time lord dude is. Sato THANK YOU why, WHY don’t starships have seat belts?!?! Makes no goddamn sense. Oh I was wrong earlier! Reed’s a pilot and Tucker’s the engineer, okay! I wonder what happened between this episode and Discovery (being the next closest in the timeline) that makes us enemies with the Klingons? Travis out here teaching Tucker how to drive I’m sure this will end well. I’m low key starting to get Bones-Spock energy from T’Pol & Archer. FURST PISTOLS WITH A STUN SETTINH HELL YEAH!

Alright alright, T’Pol is growing on me, awww Archer is soft! “U okay?” I can vibe with that! Hell yeah! I kinda wish I knew Klingon so I knew what this dude wa saying (but I’ve already got my hands full with Vulkansu). Archer why in the fuck are you wandering around?! Do you want to get caught/not found!??! Stay put dummy! Aaaand there’s the BBEG, oh, and he’s Suliban! Oh good thing that laser pistol is set to stun (oh and he dodged). Oooh scary transporter lmao.

Uh oh, was it al for nothing are these dudes gonna kill him anyway? Oh, no! Good so they just cussed Archer out lmfao. Thus the saga begins! Abandon yo grudges and pride Archer my dude, vouch for T’Pol hell yeah! Alright! I hope these two become friends hell yeah hell yeah! Time to boldly go say hi and introduce yourself to all these new aliens! Heck yeah!!

God I’m sure there were plenty of annoying ass Trekkies who were like “iT’s nOt rEaL sTaR tReK” like, how?? Because the costumes look different and they’re exploring a new time period and themes?? 🙄🙄🙄 gimme a BREAK with that shit, honestly. So far it’s been pretty interesting! Every Star Trek is Star Trek!

#star trek enterprise #ichaya watches ent #liveblogging #ent liveblog #Star Trek #ent #enterprise

[fly-pow-bye]

Powerpuff Girls 2016 - “Hustlecup” (with Captain B.Z.!)

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: Kyle Neswald, Jaydeep Hasrajani

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Hate & basketball.

Before we begin this review, for the first time ever, I have a special guest! Yes, Fly Pow Bye has mostly been about my opinions and mine alone. Please welcome, Captain B.Z.!

Captain B.Z.: Hello, I’m Captain B. Z.! A few of you might know me as the person who archives old Cartoon Network VHS recordings and ads to YouTube but I’m always willing to give shows new and old a chance.

While I initially wasn’t a fan of PPG 2016, I grew to find it an average show around the second season and have found things to like about it, including the Bliss arc and the attempts by the writers to slowly incorporate more action. However, PPG 2016 still isn’t without its problems, as evidenced by today’s episode.

We definitely have a very similar viewpoint; I do admit that the show has gotten better over since those early episodes. This episode, however, might not be the best indicator of that. Let's see if this episode is on fire, or if it should be lit on fire.

The episode starts with electricity flowing through a bunch of tubes...which powers a lightbulb which illuminates the room the Powerpuff Girls and the Professor are in.

Captain B.Z.: Now, I’ll admit that I really like the shot at the start where it shows what’s powering up the mysterious invention - a green light. It’s completely unnecessary and doesn’t apply to anything, but it’s a nice way to start off the episode that doesn’t rely on a Family Guy TV show cutaway gag.

That opened my eyes a little. This mysterious invention is so mysterious, that each Powerpuff Girl repeating that it's so secret. What could it possibly be? How it passes through those circular tubes, and, as mentioned, how it is a green light, could be a hint at what it will be.

Captain B.Z.: Foreshadowing! It’s not just blatantly obvious anymore!

It turns out to be a new hat with a traffic light on it, called the traffic hat. The Powerpuff Girls are disappointed at first, as emphasized by a sad trumpet. Seems to be the running theme with the Professor's inventions. The Professor is ecstatic about it, saying it will be the #1 at the Science-Palooza. Blossom is confused how this hat could possibly win anything, but the Professor tells Blossom that it's not just any hat.

He tells Bubbles to throw this plate of spaghetti at Buttercup. Bubbles immediately does it before the Professor can say "when I say go", which ends up with Buttercup getting a plate full of spaghetti. I'll admit, I actually chuckled at this gag; it's all in the timing.

Captain B.Z.: Plus the fact that it’s freaking "scientific-grade" pasta. The Professor cares more about which type of pasta he gets than his own children.

How fitting. The Professor then pulls out another plate of scientific-grade pasta, and Buttercup tries to get her revenge. The Professor then yells "yellow light", and the pasta starts moving in slow motion, and then a "red light", stopping it in mid-air. Buttercup moves right in front of the pasta to look at this closely, and one can guess what happens next.

Granted, it's not that Buttercup wouldn't deserve what came to her. Despite being a victim of two different spaghetti related incidents thanks to this hat, Buttercup is very excited to use his hat for nefarious purposes. Specifically, she wants to freeze Jennifre's face when she sneezes so she'll look ridiculous. She demonstrates by making this face. Not among of the worst face gags this show has to offer, but it could have been made a little bit better.

That would be a good start.

Captain B.Z.: The face gags have their place and time, in my opinion. Plenty of shows have done really good jokes involving facial expressions, including fellow Cartoon Network series OK KO.

However, in order to make a face gag work, you have to time it just right and not have it be on screen for too long at the risk of being annoying. This is an example of a face gag I didn’t particularly find funny, but I can appreciate that it gets a callback later.

Buttercup has to promise the Professor not to take the hat to school, which she does oblige by...

...but he never said anything about taking it to the park to cause that sweet, sweet mischief! It starts with a little scene with Barry.

Captain B.Z.: Barry’s scene was one of the few redeeming factors of this episode. Partly because it was legitimately funny, and partly because we get to see Barry get injured. Shame it couldn’t have been the Professor in this situation, but we’ll get to that later.

She eventually does what she promised to do to Jennifre by red lighting her as soon as she sneezes. Jennifre was making fun of her hat, so Buttercup's actions are justified. As mentioned before, this does give more of a point to that Buttercup face from before. The other kids start to chant her name for causing all of this torment on people that aren't them, and she catches the attention of one guy who appears to be far older.

It turns out, the Gangreen Gang were hanging out at a nearby basketball court watching all of these time-stopping shenanigans unfold. Sorry to say, all of your headcanons on how Ace left this reboot to hang out with the Gorillaz are now wrong. It was my headcanon, too. They see Buttercup singing the theme song, except she says "I got the power". As much as it's supposed to exemplify Buttercup's selfishness, that's not too inaccurate.

Ace decides to challenge Buttercup to a game of Horse. If one doesn't know how the game works, Ace explains it via a scene that looks like a cross between a diagram and one of those Tiger LCD games from the 90s.

Ace: If I make a shot, you gotta copy it. If you miss the shot, you get a letter. First to spell "horse" is the loser.

Notice how he doesn't explain what happens if Buttercup actually makes the shot. It could be that he's pretty confident, but it's a big hint on how good these "horse" scenes are going to be. They decide to make a wager, if Ace wins, he gets the "doo-hickey" on her head. If Buttercup wins, she gets...

...Ace's prized scooter! What would a 6 year old girl do with a scooter? I don't even think her hands would be able to reach the handlebars! Besides, she saw Ace miss one shot, which either means he's terrible at it, or he's just acting like he's bad at basketball to lure in the mark. Buttercup assumes it's the former.

Captain B.Z.: I’d complain about how Ace has a scooter in this episode and this episode only, but there are far more concerning matters that apply to this episode’s character development, so I won’t.

...damn it, I just did it, didn’t I?

The game begins, and right from Buttercup nervousness from Ace's first shot, one can guess this is not going to end well for her. It should be noted that the very first short this reboot ever had focused on Buttercup not being able to make a "downtown" shot into a wastebasket, so it's interesting to see three seasons later that her skill hasn't changed.

Captain B.Z.: I’m debating whether or not the writers even remembered that short while writing this episode, though. If it was an intentional nod, good for them, although I’m surprised it came this late in the series’ run, when many people had began to ignore the series.

Yes, it's probably a coincidence, but a nice one nonetheless. There's no funny business, Ace manages to perfectly shoot 5 hoops in different ways, some ways so different that they didn't even bother to animate them, and Buttercup's vain attempts to copy them only adding more letters to the LCD game-esque scoreboard. In the end, Ace doesn't get a single letter, and Buttercup gets h...

Mr. Ed impression: You got hooooorse!

GYAH! What is that thing?!

Captain B.Z.: Isn’t it obvious? It’s another uphill roller coaster! It doesn’t lead anywhere and is just there to remind you that this show is a comedy. Even though there’s no punchline to this joke whatsoever.

Wait, this show is a comedy? That horse made me think this was a horror show.

After that...thing, the Gangreen Gang take their scooter home, Ace taking the "doo-hickey" with him. Back at the Powerpuff home, Blossom tells Buttercup that losing the hat was the most irresponsible thing she has ever done!

Well, except for that one time where she joined the Prune-A-Cycling Club. Get it, because pruning would be so hard if you were on a unicycle! Really, this feels like another uphill roller coaster gag, though it is one that only shows up twice. If only other gags got that honor. Also, Blossom and Bubbles joined it too, so it's not like it's just Buttercup's fault.

The Professor barges into the room, so excited about the upcoming Science-Palooza. He can't decide which shade of white lab coat he wants to bring! It's an okay gag based on how his outfit is usually the same, though that might be by comparison. He decides not to question where the hat is, and assumes Buttercup is taking good care of it.

None of the Powerpuff Girls had the heart to tell him the truth, so they decide to confront the Gangreen Gang as a group. They got to "mop up Buttercup's mess", in Blossom's words, said in a way that makes me think even Blossom is getting tired of these kinds of plots.

After a surprising cameo appearance by the pizza guy from the Small World special, the Gangreen Gang gets confronted by the girls. Bubbles said she thought she smelled a rat, because they had a joke about Grubber using a rat as deodorant, and they didn't want to just leave it in the pile.

Like a true hero, Blossom outright threatens him to give back the hat, or he will get hurt. Ace did say he won it fair and square, and those couple of misses to lure Buttercup into a false sense of security were just "a couple of misses". He decides, as the "gentleman" he is, he does another wager on a game of horse. If Blossom wins, she gets the hat. If she loses, Ace gets Blossom's favorite protractor and one of Bubbles' pigtails. The latter was specially requested by Ace, by the way. We will see how, we won't see why. Maybe that's a blessing.

So get this, Blossom is going to use her knowledge of math to enhance her game. Yeah, because Blossom is smart, she has to be, say, the mathlete of the group. It seems to make so much sense, I mean, it’s not like we’re supposed to believe that Buttercup is the mathlete! Yeah, that's what I'll go with, because anything else would be silly. This would have worked, too, but the Gangreen Gang decide do something even worse than pretending to be bad at basketball.

They decides to outright cheat by moving the basket and blocking the perfectly made shots. At least this time, we actually see five different ways they do that. One oddity is that none of these ways involve the time-stopping hat; in fact, Ace never actually uses it in any of the games. He's far from playing with honor at this point, he might as well use it.

Since there's nothing in the Gangreen Gang's rulebook that states they can't have the other members block the shots, though I highly doubt they even had one in the first place, Blossom is the next one to get...

Mr. Ed impression: Hoooorse!

GYAH! Yeah, repetition is not doing this gag any favors. In fact, I'd argue it's not doing anyone any favors.

Ace grabs the ponytail, twisting it off like a loose nail. They also take Angel-gelica. Yes, the protractor has a name, because Blossom is the nerd character that loves math. This doesn't nearly impact Blossom's looks, but is treated as just as important to her. They could have taken her bow, her hairclip, or even her ponytail. It seems to fit Ace's odd obsession with stealing other people's hair in this episode.

The Powerpuff Girls now decide that violence is the answer, threatening to crush their bones with half of a basketball court. Kind of an overreaction, I'd say, but one thing I can appreciate is that this is the only time they get to use any kind of superpower besides flight in this episode. It is sad that we need these reminders.

Ace decides then and here that the hat would come in handy, and says "red light". This makes the Powerpuff Girls and the basketball court float perfectly still in mid-air. They probably didn't even need the hat, that seems to be their usual strategy anyway.

This leads to a psychedelic slideshow beatdown, with the red-lighted Puffs getting licked both figuratively and literally. It's here that we learn what exactly what the hat brings to the plot: the ability to make a scene where superpowered girls getting beaten up by regular thugs more believable. Well, that, and a way for Buttercup to do something wrong, get in trouble, and learn a lesson that she would probably forget by the next episode anyway

Once Ace says "green light" on the court, Buttercup suffers something worse than losing at a basketball game...

...getting scolded by her father figure for the second most irresponsible thing she has ever done. A good hint on how good that pruning gag is: they don't even give it a proper background for the second time.

He decides to help the girls out, and go to the "basketball fields". Oh, silly Professor, that's not what basketball courts are called! Man, this guy must not know sports at all! However, he's sure that he can just talk to the Gangreen Gang like civilized adults, and they'll happily just hand over the hair, the protractor, and maybe even that time-stopping hat!

At the basketball court, somehow completely undamaged from the Powerpuff Girls' post-loss and somewhat-justified temper tantrum, we see that, needless to say, that civilized adults strategy did not work. As the gang is laughing at this dork, Ace offers another game of horse. Ace really needs another pigtail. Again, we see how, won't see why, maybe it's a blessing.

The Professor doesn't take it at first, because, in his words:

Professor: I'm not about to bet on a game I've never played before!

Lil' Arturo calls him a chicken like a 90's bully, and that's enough for him to change his mind. How hard could it be, you just put the ball in the hoop thingy, and he makes a practice shot by just launching the ball straight into the air. I am summarizing this because I want to point out that he is really trying to show off that he is just not good at sports. However, he's going to do it anyway.

The conclusion was so obvious, the episode just presses the fast forward button. We instantly see the Professor getting each letter. We don't even know if the Gangreen Gang decided to cheat here, it's just H, O, R, S, E, with the Professor's face zooming in with each one. In just a few seconds, the Professor gets...

Mr. Ed impression: Hoooorse!

Yeah, yeah, we get it, you stock image abomination. By the third time, I'm just rolling my eyes in disgust.

Bubbles loses her last pigtail, and all hope seems to be lost. Left with nothing else to wager, the Professor challenges him again, this time putting their residence on the line for everything Ace has taken, plus his scooter. The Powerpuff Girls object, but the Professor is so assuring by saying they always wanted to travel. I mean, what's the worst that can happen if the Powerpuff Girls leave Townsville?

Dispaired Citizens: Why'd you leave us, Powerpuff Girls?

Oh yeah, that. Okay, that was the original, but I'd imagine something very similar would happen here, too. But Townsville can go to heck for all he cares, he wants that hat back, no matter what the risk is!

The Professor looks at the basket, sweating profusely. How are they possibly going to beat Ace at his own game? He makes a desperate attempt to copy Ace's shot...

...and he makes the shot perfectly. He then tears off his shirt, revealing his hairy, hairy abs, and says that he's still got it. Wait, what? This comes completely out of nowhere; one minute, he's incompetent at sports, and then, snap, he's good at basketball now. But hey...he has a pi symbol on his shirt! That's nerdy!

"When did the Professor suddenly get good?" isn't even the only question I have about this scene. If the Professor was really trying to "hustle" these green gangsters by pretending he was bad at sports, why did he let them win the first time? Also, no matter suddenly how skilled the Professor is now, wouldn't the Gangreen Gang just cheat some more?

They at least explained that last one. The Powerpuff Girls decided not to just sit back and let the other members cheat, and tied them up with ordinary rope while Ace was too busy focusing on the Professor's sick moves. They could have did this when Blossom was getting horsed, but then the episode would have ended too early.

With the other members tied up, the Professor's unexplained sudden skill increase, and Ace never realizing he could just use his hat, Ace finally gets...

...

...gets...

...

...so now the reboot decides not to do the "horse" joke? Honestly, this ending is bad enough already, you might as well go for the Full Monty and give us that forsaken furlong-runner! Maybe that horse got disqualified.

Blossom gets her beloved ruler back, Bubbles gets her pigtails back, Buttercup gets grounded again, and the Professor now has a sweet scooter for him to take to the Science-Palooza. We never quite find out if his invention is a winner as the episode suddenly ends here...but this ending sure isn't one.

Captain B.Z.: So let’s talk about why this ending doesn’t work.

The Professor has had literally no experience at playing basketball in his life, neither in the original or this series. His initial plan is to talk to the Gangreen Gang sensibly but he does even worse than the girls. Then, he becomes ridiculously good out of freaking nowhere, throwing in another muscle “joke” for extra measure.

There is no buildup to this ending whatsoever due to the Professor being such a forgettable character in this episode. It's to the point where if the girls hadn’t told him that his hat was stolen, he wouldn’t have even cared.

Does the title fit?

It wasn't Buttercup doing the hustling. I honestly argue hustling was kind of forgotten halfway through!

How does it stack up?

It's such a shame that a major appearance from the Gangreen Gang that doesn't involve them just dressing in drag for a talent show is in such a lousy episode.

Captain B.Z.: Hustlecup is an episode that suffers in many different ways, from a story that isn’t well-defined to plenty of out-of-character moments - more than average for the reboot. While I don’t mind these errors if they’re just a small part of the episode, here, they get in the way of any merit the episode might have had and make it a truly frustrating watch.

Indeed. There are other variations of H-O-R-S-E with less letters, but even if this episode was playing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, it would still lose.

Captain B.Z.: As I mentioned earlier in the review, this episode did provide some interesting concepts. The idea of a traffic light hat that actually slows down time is pretty neat but the writers did nothing with it. I’m surprised we didn’t get another episode like “Lights Out!” where we get to see Bubbles figure out how the hat works when the Gangreen Gang steals it and messes with Townsville traffic. Sadly though, the Professor being an asshole and Mr. Ed jokes had higher priority to the writers, making this episode fall apart instantly.

Next, another episode focusing on everyone's favorite Sitcom Dad, if we discount all the other Sitcom Dads. Special thanks to Captain B.Z. for joining me with this one.

← Cat Burglar ☆ Rebel Rebel →

#fpb ppg 2016 #ppg 2016 #powerpuff girls #cartoon network #fpb reviews

[amazildoessomethingstupid]

Chapter 91: Dial Tone

Y’know kids, forcibly shitting on these chapters so violently has really done a number on my bowels.   I think I should take it easy a little, luckily it seems Taeshi heard my cries (in the past, somehow) because this chapter just feels like it was aimed at my heart.  And not in the way she normally aims at my heart to fucking drive a stake into it, but I digress.  The chapter starts with Mike going to school and...

Yeah I’m with you Mike, I can’t believe summer’s over either.  I mean what was that?  Two chapters?  It weirded me out that it was already July when Golden Hour came around, and now it’s August!  I guess nothing else of interest happened.  Anyway they go into school, and...

Oh shit, why did no one tell me?!  It’s her!  I can’t believe it took 3 years, but she’s finally back!  Damn it I was supposed to take it easy!  I can’t get into Lucy’s new behavior, it might destroy m-

Oh, false alarm this is clearly a dream.  

A...very..weird...dream...

THE LEVEL OF CONCERN IS ELEVATING. 

OH THANK GOD!  We’re safe.

Wait...what?

OH SHIT BOYS IT’S VOLUME 1 STYLE!  WE’RE TAKING A RIDE DOWN MEMORY LANE AND EVERYONE’S INVITED!  AND GUESS WHAT? 

I actually like this part!  These callbacks are great and their implications are not lost on me! So allow me to splurge about something I like for once, and something that I actually do understand.  

This could very easily be seen as fan service, and hell my reaction to this should be proof that it probably is.  But if I’ve learned anything from Two Kinds, it’s that there’s two kinds of fan service that work for a story like this.  fan service that doesn’t effect anything, and is just there if you want it but doesn’t detract from anything, or fan service that actually drives a point home.  And credit where credit is due, Taeshi put fine use for this scene.  The volume 1 style isn’t just meant to be a visual callback, but also to create a mental connection between what’s being said and done in this current scene, and comparing it to the past.  

But before we go into the writing of the scene, let’s play a game of SPOT THAT VOLUME!

first one mid-Volume 1 Mike aka Naked Mike.  very short lived, but an alright Mike.

Second is Acapulco Mike, jaded and angry, aka Liquid Mike he is the source of all Mike’s problems.

Third is clearly early volume 1 Mike, aka Solidus Mike.  a fine man.  caring, likable, he put up with a lot of shit but he was always capable of throwing it back at them.

first is clearly Christmas Mike aka Raiden (Mike).  His time was short-lived, and he yelled at a little bird.  

second is freshman/sophomore Mike clearly pre- Just Beautiful  He is the Solid Mike.

And finally we go back to current Mike aka Punished Mike.

Lucy is a lot harder to pin point, because I can’t just go off of the scarf anymore.  The details on Lucy are more about style, a big give away though, is the eyes and face fins.  

First one is a bit of a trick Lucy.  Because the eyes and lack of face fins is Volume 1, but the proportions and body is more reminiscent of far later chapters.  

Second one is mid-Volume 1 Lucy, specifically it reminds me of Unmerry Melodies Lucy.

a fine Lucy, a happy Lucy, a carefree Lucy.

Third is early Volume 1 Lucy clearly, not even a challenge.

1st one is kinda hard, I’d have to say Late volume 1 for lack of face fins.

2nd one is volume 2 Lucy, her face fins are still stubby and haven’t grown out as much 

Example: Wonderland

3rd was hard to pin point to since the proportions look new and Lucy has been out of the picture since Volume 4, before they got that big of a head, but I found her! 

It’s volume 5 Lucy!  That’s what my choice and I’m sticking to it.  Odd since that was only a flashback from Augustus, but I’ll take it

And honorable mention to Volume 1 style paneling. It’s a nice touch.  

Anyway let’s see what they’re actually saying.

a lot of it is just arguments we’ve heard before, but this time it’s a self-reflection.  These things are maybe just what he tells himself to excuse what he did to Lucy.  

and while this may be a dream sequence this shows that it’s not pointless, we’re seeing more context to how Mike feels about the flowers he received in Class of 2008.  The doubts he has with his relationship with Sandy is interesting.  I’d say how kind of annoying it is that this is what one of the biggest relationships that has persisted in this comic has come to, but I can’t get mad.

Except that now we’re back at this again.

Look I know what I said about liking Fan service, but...

NOT THIS KIND OF FAN SERVICE

HALT!  I HAVE A GUN AND I’M NOT AFRAID TO KILL MYSELF WITH IT!

OH THANK GOD IT’S #NOTMYSANDY! 

Oh hey and we’re back to the early Volume 1 panel structure!  Although the style is still pretty much the same...Except Mike still has the pre-Just Beautiful scarf...

I feel like I gotta get into the artsy mind set to understand why he has Tess’ scarf instead of Sandy’s in this part, but... ehhh.  Let’s focus on the writing in this scene, first of all the whole “mike cheating” part.  Which kind of makes sense for the Volume 1 style given that that part of Mike’s problems only really came up during Volume 1.  I’d give shit about it being such an old plot point that’s being brought up now, but the fact that we have these volume 1 visuals helps to refresh the mind and make us remember that.  It’s a very effective way of artistically preparing the reader, and I appreciate that. 

The rest of this page feels so culty, and it really shows just how far gone Mike has gone with his relationship with Sandy.  It’s like he’s a zealot and begging to his god for mercy, but sadly...

his prayers go unanswered.  He is worshiping a...

False Idol

Oh come on! You know I had to make that joke!  

Anyway, this leads to Mike pleading for Sandy to listen, but she simply Magnetos outta there leading to Mike finding himself drowning, and there’s some neat imagery. specifically, here 

Did you catch it?  Cause I did!  IT’S MOTHER FUCKIN’ TROUBLED WATERS!  Except from Mike’s perspective, because Lucy was the one who dived in first to save Mike!  I’m glad it’s here, I feel like the people who hate on Lucy seem to forget bits like this.  And then we see another version of Lucy 

Hmmmm I know that bandaged Lucy is a reference to something, I want to say confrontation because I don’t know of any other where Lucy got physically hurt like this.  But enough about references and callbacks, they’re talking and we see Mike facing his inner demons, and I actually kinda like this.  

We finally get to see Mike getting eaten up by his  feelings about Lucy, and how he sees himself as responsible for it.  It’s a good scene, it was necessary for this character (I wish it would’ve come in earlier, but y’know better late than never I guess).  More than that, we get reminded that Mike really does care about Lucy, and didn’t want to hurt her, it’s melodramatic with the blood, but it’s a dream so it’s alright.  Although this bit is pretty hokey 

Look man, this is the most fun I’ve had reading a chapter, let me have this one.  Come on.  I can’t laugh too much because we swiftly switch back from fun times to 

Well...that’s...

And Sandy is not helping! Sh-...wait...that looks familiar.

Wait...

Nah...nah...Taeshi wouldn’t be that pretentious.   I don’t know if she was going for that, but I know what I’m going for! 

THEN PERISH

Anyway, we get more of Mike’s self-loathing and how he feels about himself in his relationship in the form of Sandy roasting the guy.  Then she points to Lucy for some reason that I’m not gonna dig too deep for 

I can’t believe Lucy’s fucking dead!  err AGAIN!  I think that might be her dress from the play.  And I’m not sure what she’s implying here.  Does sandy see herself as responsible for killing Lucy? (I mean, for triggering December I guess that would be the case)  Does Mike think that?  I’m not sure, but in either case.

One night and one more time~

EVEN THOUGH THEY WEREN’T SO GREAT!

HE TASTES LIKE YOU!

ONLY SWEETE-BLJGJLKHSKLF

“So this is how Lucy felt during Wonderland”  Anyway, Mike cries and looks for solace in trying to call Sandy but she isn’t picking up making him fed up and going back to sleep.  This leads to a similar scene except this isn’t a dream 

It’s a flashback!  And again, I give props to Taeshi because I really like this scene. 

We get to see more of Mike and Lucy’s relationship, reminding those who may have forgotten, that there was more to their relationship than just Lucy being a bitch to Mike.  Mike used Lucy himself as a shoulder to cry on, just the same as how she did him.  It shows the hypocrisy of the character, that I feel some people seem to forget too easily.  

It’s a nice scene, and we see how Mike used Lucy, but took his anger out on her.  VALIDATING A LOT OF PEOPLE’S (myself included of course) COMPLAINTS WITH DECEMBER!  Again I really wish this had come sooner to when Lucy got hospitalized, I think a lot of people needed this.  But like I said, better late than never.  And we end on mah boy, Bee’s favorite page!

imagine waiting 2 days for this page...

ANYWAY THAT WAS DIAL TONE!  And I think it was pretty good! 

I liked that they finally gave some proper introspection for Mike’s character, to make him less of an unforgivable little shit.  The callbacks, and references were very well executed, and overall I give it a 9/10!  I’m glad that Taeshi isn’t just ignoring Volume 1 and instead bringing that to the front and using it to explain the characters.

Yeah, that’s right I can be positive about BCB.  I am knocking a point though, because seeing a broken false image of Lucy seducing and tempting Mike just makes my skin crawl... I don’t have a problem with these characters in lewd shit outside of the comic, but the characters within comic, with their own fucked up mindsets, doing the lewd just feels so wrong...

Except Rachel of course. 

cuz slut pup is best pup, and I’ll see you guys on the next one!

#Bittersweet Candy Bowl #rant

[comicteaparty]

January 31st, 2019 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on January 31st, 2019, from 5PM - 7PM PST.  The chat focused on Apricot Cookie(s)! by Louis Lloyd-Judson.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Apricot Cookie(s)! by Louis Lloyd-Judson~! (https://apricotcookies.net/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

Superjustinbros

Hello!

RebelVampire

hey super~!

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Hi everyone This is late into the comic, but I loved the reveal of Apricot's family -- how it was treated as normal and matter-of-fact in-universe, because for her it is, even though it's a real Wham Moment for the readers.

Superjustinbros

Glad to be here!

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

(And that's gotta be the reason why she can't transform properly, right?)(edited)

Superjustinbros

https://tapas.io/episode/1265858 This oen gave me a good chuckle

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Yeah, I love all the self-aware genre jokes.

RebelVampire

i agree with erin. my favorite scene is when we find out that apricot's secret is that shes the princess of darkness. because i did not expect the secret reveal right then, and just like the entire process as things evolved was personally comical for me. cause first her dad shows up in this weird attire, then grandma darkness, then the helmet thing, and then just more from there. like it was a bunch of puzzle pieces all falling into place. if i was a cartoon character thats when a lightbulb and exclamation point wouldve appeared over my head.

Superjustinbros

the genral humor of the comic is top notch

and how it plays with stereotypes

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Ooh, it was totally unexpected. And most people would consider this as a possible reason why she can't transform! But it's perfectly in-character for her that she never spoiled the reveal by even thinking about it.

She's such a ditz, I love her.

RebelVampire

yeah. the humor of the comic is definitely top notch. this, imo at least, is parody done right. because its walking that fine line between mocking the tropes but having them and loving them anyway.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Definitely.

RebelVampire

i also love the reveal cause suddenly this page made more sense https://tapas.io/episode/274726

and i love that sneaky foreshadowing i didnt mark in my mind as sneaky foreshadowing

Superjustinbros

Yes^(edited)

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Ooh, nice.

RebelVampire

but yeah, i definitely think everything played out in a natural way for apricot. cause of course she denies all the things. cause her family doesnt fit into her tragic back story

which btw i love when shes talking about that and her dad is just sitting there reading the newspaper

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

A+ introduction there.

mathtans

I like how it all clicked together too. Though I think my favourite moment was on this page: https://apricotcookies.net/5/31 ... Not only a BTTF reference at the sake of fashion but also a callback to an earlier joke that I hadn't expected.

Superjustinbros

Time traveling movie references in a reference to a past joke. Genius(edited)

mathtans

Yeah, it's interesting the stuff in the background, not just that bit with her dad, but her sister in the background of one shot, and I was like, hmmmm wait? Then it all gets explained.

Missed the "An" bit though.

RebelVampire

yes. i love that this joke made a comeback. like this is the sort of attention to detail i love and that i think really makes the comic's humor top notch.

mathtans

Speaking of which, I will say, not impressed by the fart humour. I feel like it's (comic's) too clever to need to reach for the bottom shelf there. It's the one thing I shake my head over.(edited)

But that's me.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Nah, it's me too.

Superjustinbros

Fart humor in 2018/19?

mathtans

Back to the amusing, the line about her being "16 but 18 outside of Japan". OMG.

RebelVampire

that was way too topical and i loved that line

cause its so true

Superjustinbros

Indeed

mathtans

I was thinking about it again when she was in England. Like... hm?

RebelVampire

especially now with more companies cracking down

and suddenly all these 18 year old high school girls

mathtans

Yis. eyeroll

Superjustinbros

eyerolls

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

That's a good example of a joke that's clever and genre-savvy, it just happens to refer to something that's bad news IRL. In contrast to the "it's gross, that automatically makes it funny" bits.

mathtans

Yeah, there's lots of clever genre stuff.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

A little more seriously...I really liked Starlit Pony's whole arc. It's irreverent and wacky but there's actually something sincere underneath.

mathtans

Sorry, which? Abysmal with names.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

The trans one!

mathtans

Ah! I suspected but wasn't sure. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about that one, like I almost wish it had gone deeper. I wasn't sure if the dad was being sarcastic with the "son" comments near the start or not. But I agree there was some good consideration there.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

She's a great counter-example for the kind of people who say "what, you don't want us to make fun of crossdressing-boy characters?? How will we be funny now? You obviously just hate jokes!"

Like, no, you can be funny and respect trans people. Here's proof.

Superjustinbros

^

RebelVampire

i really liked they involved the trainers aspect more in that arc. because i also love the boys all card duel just as much as i love the girls are all magical girls.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

And her dad refers to her as his daughter eventually -- it's a happy conclusion, that he comes around to accepting her gender.

mathtans

Yup, smashing stereotypes through use of stereotypes. Or something.

Erin: Yes, but I wasn't sure if she was actually a girl who liked cards, or a boy who liked magic. Like, the way it was presented felt ambiguous, even through the dad's comments, until later.

Of course, I'm also sleep deprived.

Gawd I hate January.

Superjustinbros

As someone that dislikes stereotypes anything that's used to bash/take shots at them is welcome by me

I know that feel

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Well, she's a girl who likes magic. But she has the card-based powers because apparently those are divided by biology, not gender identity.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. One of the main aspects of the comic is to parody manga and anime in a comedic manner. Of all the parodies so far, which one do you think is the most accurate? What about its execution in the comic do you think makes it work as a parody? Additionally, which of the parodies did you find the funniest? Outside of the writing, there are also plenty of visual gags. Visually speaking, which moment stood out to you as particularly comedic? Lastly, what do you personally feel the underlying commentary is saying about manga and anime? Has any parody in the comic made you think about manga or anime in a new light?

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

It's really funny that there's this whole card-game-based conflict going on in the same world, in the background to the magical-power-based conflict.

Like, that's how the industry as a whole feels sometimes -- though obviously it's not along such a rigid divide (much as marketing companies wish it was).

mathtans

The visit to the Convention was rather amusing. There's these times when the creator pokes fun at themselves, visually or otherwise. (eg "No one does these things in full colour").

Superjustinbros

lol

Yeah, doujinshi are rarely drawn in full color

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Yeah, that was good. I love that even the in-between pages have that kind of self-referential gag. "This is best read out loud, in a crowded place, such as on a train."

mathtans

I had feels for the artist when Apricot critiqued. Though Apricot also seems to appreciate things that are "hard to draw".

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

XD

mathtans

Yeah, the explanation pages are clever. I like how it's actually a different character and bird each time.

I still remember when they were looking at that post with all the wires too.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Usually "that looks hard to draw" is a cartoonist's lampshading of the fact that they're fudging their way out of drawing something. Here, nope, we get to see the whole thing.

Superjustinbros

This^

RebelVampire

i love thatd moment where they took a moment to look at the electrical telephone pole

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

("They", I say, as if I'm not included in this group, heh.)

RebelVampire

for the hard to draw thing

A+ joke

mathtans

I liked the dark lord muttering about having to watch teenage girls too. With the globe he got and everything. He probably would prefer Anzu to be doing it as part of her training.

Actually, his intros are hilarious.

I'm not sure what it parodies, but it works.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

He seems like a riff on the standard Video Game Final Boss to me.

RebelVampire

i think my favorite parody of them all is the one where apricot actually does wake up late and then takes the time to go get bread, and etc. etc. cause its just so drawn out in how long it takes. but its true, you cant go late to anime school without toast in your mouth.

Superjustinbros

lol yes

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

...realizing now that I don't actually have much personal experience with Video Game Final Bosses, I'm basing this impression mostly on how they get parodied in other webcomics. Like RPG World, or Adventurers.

mathtans

Heh. That was clever (the toast). I felt like it went on a bit long was the only thing. (Also, in the background, 11-11. Subtle.)(edited)

The language thing (are we speaking Japanese or English) felt like it went on a bit long too. I think it only stands out because usually the pacing feels very good.

I don't play the Video Games, I only watch Let'S Plays.

RebelVampire

i also loved the translation bit. it did go on for a bit, yet i think what sold me on it was the OK that was supposed to be english was actually changed to the correct universal font for trying to show things in english

mathtans

I did notice that. Another clever detail.

RebelVampire

he seems most assuredly a riff on video game final bosses, especially considering everyone mistook him for sephiroth at the convention

Superjustinbros

lol

mathtans

Do not challenge him. He will summon your parents.

Superjustinbros

that would be amazing

RebelVampire

one of my fave visual gags is probably this page https://tapas.io/episode/483838

mathtans

The navigation is also really clever (on the main site). My first time there, I just clicked right arrow. It brought me to the first page again, and I had to actually read what was going on.

RebelVampire

where shes telling jacques shes surely pretty under that helmet

but nope

Superjustinbros

those eyes tho o_o

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

And the "sorry if you were looking for recipes" in the header cracks me up.

mathtans

Jacques is creepy. Another nice detail with the missing a leg in human form, but like, wtf with birds.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I'm so glad she put the helmet back on

RebelVampire

yes i really loved that detail in the header

mathtans

Header's good too, yup.

RebelVampire

but makes me wonder how many ppl have gotten to this site wanting apricot cookie recipes XD

mathtans

I like how "Anzu" means "Apricot". Though it just adds more language confusion.

RebelVampire

oh lol, i didnt know that. never crossed my mind to translate her name XD

mathtans

I suspected, so I went to a translation program.

Superjustinbros

god bless translations

RebelVampire

smart. thats a great detail then

https://apricotcookies.net/5/21

i enjoy the last panel

about the adaptions

especially cause the hollywood one would be terrible

too accurate

but i also appreciate the art style switch in the next page

cause that takes some skill

Superjustinbros

yes

RebelVampire

and i love the filters kind of effect on it that references the kind of shit quality 90s anime had

mathtans

I'm bad for noticing art stuff at times.

Interesting how she started blonde though.

RebelVampire

i assume the blond is their natural color, and their hair only becomes black when infused with dark power

so ya know

typical anime stuff

QUESTION 3. The comic features a slew of colorful characters with even more colorful personalities. Which character at the moment is your favorite and why? Further, of the comedic moments related to them, which one do you think was the best? What sort of scenarios are you hoping to see this character in in the future? Finally, what do you think their relationship with our protagonist Apricot adds to the story? Speaking of relationship dynamics with Apricot, how do you feel like those dynamics in general might change between all the characters as the story continues? Overall, what typical manga scenarios are you hoping to see addressed in the comic, and which character are you hoping to see participate in them?

mathtans

It amusing that Apricot wants her parents to be dead in her backstory, but her real story is kind of messed up too.

Superjustinbros

Design wise, Meal Deal and Moonlight Spritzer.

mathtans

Cream ftw. For definite.

Can't beat teleporting and quipping like Spiderman.

I'm bad for noticing designs too.

Superjustinbros

Especially with a name like Cream

RebelVampire

im really sad there wont be more moonlight spritzer cause shes now an office lady

Superjustinbros

r.i.p.

mathtans

... ... I had always pictured it as "cream and sugar" until you said that ...

I was amused by "that doesn't count". I'm not a motorcycle fan though. ^.^

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I was thinking whipped cream. To go with the other desserts.

mathtans

I guess I was automatically onto the tea or coffee mindset.

Wait, butter's a dessert?

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Butter cookies are?

They're not all desserts, just several of them.

mathtans

Did not even pick up on that. Point.

Superjustinbros

mmm, butter

mathtans

Speaking of, Apricot's interest in Butter, like trying not to look at her transforming or how she reacted to the idea it was just the two of them at a sleepover... that amused me. Because of the yuri implications. ^.^

Though I guess Apricot's turned out to be... pansexual?

RebelVampire

they at least all have a food theme i think.

mathtans

Not sure if that's the right term.

RebelVampire

i assume apricot is just into whatever although i doubt were gonna get any actual ships going on alas.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Bisexual or pansexual would both work. Unless she uses a specific word in-universe...and AFAIK there aren't separate words in Japanese.

She just says she's into "men and women...and trains."

mathtans

Bisexual implies male or female to me though, versus the trains thing. ^^

RebelVampire

apricot x trains otp

mathtans

apricot x ships?

Superjustinbros

apricots on ships sounds liek the name to a song

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Eh, there are straight and gay people who talk about weird xeno attractions too.

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

Geh. 9A9 I'm late! jumps in anyway

I like the Apricot x Butter ship. XDDD

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

So many anime with trains/planes/boats/etc personified as sexy moe girls...

Superjustinbros

^

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

Much agreed with Erin. ; v ;

RebelVampire

i wonder if jacques plays hatoful boyfriend

mathtans

Erin: ... Point. I hadn't even gone there yet. O.o

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

It would be some epic planning if the endgame ships turned out to be foreshadowed by "they're named after foods that go together well."

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

I've had Apricot Butter before... 8L

mathtans

Well, the girls seem to go for harem-style guys (aside from Butter).

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

I do have to say, I didn't expect Butter to be called Butter because she's got a blue scheme going.

Superjustinbros

In before there's a yellow-themed girl called blueberry

mathtans

I wonder why Butter sleeps underwater.

RebelVampire

yeah butter's mostly blueness really stood out to me. but maybe reflective that you dont want too much butter

Superjustinbros

Yeah, lol

RebelVampire

cause you put too much butter on something and it tastes icky

mathtans

I can't believe it's not Butter.

Superjustinbros

Too much butter on something is kinda gross tbh

I can't believe I missed that reference/joke Math just said

RebelVampire

the character i really want to see more of is jammy smasher the head bully. cause she and apricot need to have that arc where they become the true best friends who still constantly bicker but are on the same team and all those shenanigans. cause im really interested to see what punches the comic throws at all those tropes

mathtans

Just gotta put Butter on Apricot.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I'd be into this Jammy Smasher arc.

mathtans

I could see that, Rebel, though it might get subverted.

ShaRose49

I only read some of the beginning so far but I wanted to say all it’s breaking of the fourth wall was great. I liked the lord of darkness guy the best or whatever his name was

mathtans

I'm still on about Cream. She knows more about Apricot's family now, could be relevant later.

Superjustinbros

always love me some good fourth wall destruction

ShaRose49

@Superjustinbros sometimes it needs to be broken

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

I actually got a bit confused when I started out reading because I thought Lord of Darkness would be the main character. XDDD

RebelVampire

he can be the main character in your heart

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

True, true. ;v;

RebelVampire

and im sure hed be the type to tell you everyone is the main character of their own life story

mathtans

Dude can't even figure out slide shows, let alone the internet. (Though I guess now we see where some of Apricot's incompetence comes from.)

RebelVampire

and his mom did say his love story with his wife would be like a 10 year manga so he can be the protag of that

and 100% its gonna get subverted cause this is a parody comic. no way theyll play it straight. i half expect apricot to turn to jammy in the climatic bond moment where they admit they arent so bad and apricot just goes "just kidding youre a bitch"

Superjustinbros

well stories aren't limited to just one main

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

That too~~. XD

Superjustinbros

Sometimes you get a side character or two that has such a large impact on the story that they become a major fofure

RebelVampire

i really did like the opening introduction though where the lord of darkness treats it like a business meeting and such.

although

who exactly are we in this context. like what if this isnt just a fourth wall break, but were just first person cameraing a character

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

I actually felt like I was being thrown back into the days when I was in Uni. XDDDD

Like, Lord of Darkness felt like a professor and his powerpoint struggles... ; v ;(edited)

RebelVampire

i enjoyed that he called tech support XD just wasting more of the time. and i enjoy that panel where hes crying about the wasted hours he spent on a powerpoint that doesnt even work

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

RIP oh great Lord of Darkness. XDDD

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. Apricot’s one true dream in the story is to become a magical girl. Do you think that Apricot will achieve her dream eventually and learn to transform? If so, what measures do you think she might have to take to ultimately achieve this dream? How might this affect Apricot’s relationship with her family? Alternatively, will she eventually come to accept her role as the Princess of Darkness? Regardless of which event occurs, how do you think Apricot’s friends/school mates would react to finding out who her parents are? Do you think they’ll find out or will it stay a secret forever? Finally, what shenanigans do you think Apricot will get up to in general throughout the story?

💩 💩 💩 YY 💩 💩 💩

I havent' read that far, but I think Apricot will become a magical girl at some point.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I think she's gonna get a Devil Homura type of magical-girl form. And it'll be epic.

Superjustinbros

Yes

mathtans

(Back - little one's entered a fussier time of the evening.)

RebelVampire

that would be awesome if her form just winds up being pretty evil looking. as long as all the others comment loudly about it. like "Wow who would expect the ditz girl to have a form like this." "Isn't this form a little evil looking?" and apricot just has to flail assuring them nah its fine, perfectly normal

mathtans

The others are all aware of a great power when Apricot tries to transform. Thing is, didn't someone say at some point that Princesses couldn't transform? I think she'd need to renounce her throne for it to work. Which she might do, but then regret.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I thought it was "only the Princess can transform without relying on her bird companion."

mathtans

I'm torn between thinking her form would show off too much, or like practically cover her entirely like a snowsuit. (There's few in betweens with her.)

Erin: Oh, that might have been it, good call.

Maybe that's the important thing the bird had wanted to tell her, the power's in you, I'm only holding you back.

RebelVampire

it was specifically the princess of light though. who can transform without a bird companion. and her sister is the princess of light and i assume its a there can only be one thing.

Superjustinbros

Hmm

Is that so?

RebelVampire

although idk what would happen if the parents decided to have a third child

very convenient they stopped after two

mathtans

Princess of darkness might have similar restrictions.

What if it was a boy? Would darkness have a deck of cards?

Superjustinbros

What about the princess of in-between?

RebelVampire

yes i support this if the third child is a boy. a boy who is destined for a magical cube that contains the soul of an egyptian pharoah. and that even as a baby he becomes the best dueller in japan.

and you cant have a princess of in-between. theres only light and darkness. this isnt real life where all the things are actually gray and cant be fit into two boxes O_O

Superjustinbros

Are you sure about that

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

I get the impression there could be multiple light/dark Princesses within the family -- it's just that this kind of power can't manifest outside the family.

Superjustinbros

Aah ok

RebelVampire

definitely can agree it cant manifest outside the family.

i def cant wait to see the fallout when others find out apricot's secret. not that i expect huge amounts of drama

but no way they wont react

i could actually see them encouraging apricot to accept her role

cause once her dad retires what are they supposed to fight if theres no ruler of the darkness

director of darkness

cause suddenly remembered the appropriate title

Superjustinbros

Director of Darkness sounds badass

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Maybe at some point they'll meet a girl who hates being a frilly magical girl and longs for a dark evil powerset. (With parallels/foreshadowing in how Starlit was born with the deck-of-cards powerset but wanted the frilly powerset.) And then she and Apricot can engineer a swap somehow.

Superjustinbros

Lol

Well not every girl wants to be some sweet and dainty rightly colored girl that's for sure

RebelVampire

this does seem like a potential arc, but more like the kind thatll blow up in their faces and not work out. XD

mathtans

(Back again.)

RebelVampire

i really hope chapter 7 is about cream though. cause as i think math mentioned earlier, i want to see cream deal with being the only one who knows at the very least that almond and apricot are sisters

mathtans

Maybe the family decides to adopt.

I just want more Cream! ^.^

Superjustinbros

*ads more cream to Math's dessert

mathtans

I wonder, if students transfer to Japan, do they get wrapped up in this stuff? Because there aren't magical girls in the UK, as Cream indicated.

RebelVampire

i think cream is evidence that yes

Superjustinbros

What about in the US?

RebelVampire

yes they do

it is destiny

the comic hasnt said anything about the US

mathtans

So what if they move away? Powers are sealed?

(Reminds me, they're able to toe the line rather neatly, what with tentacles and rope tricks, without crossing over.)

RebelVampire

thats basically what is implied. that they dont get to use their powers anymore. since cream was barely there a few mins before the visa kicked in

i was looking at earlier pages

https://apricotcookies.net/1/8

i wanna know who the figure is that got her own panel

cause that is the chara who shouldve been butter if we go by color scheme XD

mathtans

Oh yeah, the figurine. I'd forgotten about that.

Also, sleeping in hair ties for branding. Hah.

Superjustinbros

If only we had known

mathtans

(Was it Cream who said "in the name of the spoon?"... I forget but it sounds like something she'd say.)

Maybe the figurine is Mom when she was younger.

Superjustinbros

Anyways since the tea party's ending I'd like to wish Louis luck on continuing the comic, this is a great read so far and I'l looking forward to what happens next

mathtans

One last wondering, is Apricot's last name "Cookie"? Or is that a web cookie pun? Because her real last name is "Hikari", right?

Superjustinbros

Lol, that'd be one hell of a last name

RebelVampire

i assume its apricot's pre-chosen magical girl name

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

Same.

RebelVampire

considering her first name is anzu

not apricot

Superjustinbros

Fair enough

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

But anzu means apricot, yes? So that's just a translation thing.

RebelVampire

yeah but still her actual first name. i dont think its necessarily just a translation joke

mathtans

I suppose. I wondered about translations.

Superjustinbros

Anyways cya (edited)

mathtans

Anyway, final remark is the recipe if people hadn't spotted it yet. With 3D printing. Well done. https://apricotcookies.net/specials/2

All very clever.

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Louis Lloyd-Judson, as well, for making Apricot Cookie(s)!. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Louis Lloyd-Judson’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: https://apricotcookies.net/

Louis’ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Louistrations

Louis’ Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/louistrations

Louis’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Louistrations

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #apricot cookies #apricot cookie(s)! #louis lloyd-judson

[sueboohscorner]

The 100 404 Recap "A Lie Guarded" #The100

This episode's opening reminds us how fun Jasper Jordan can be. Jaha awakens on a mattress that's floating in the middle of a pond. He looks around, groggily assessing his surroundings, and Jasper calls out to him that he's been floated. The crowd laughs, and so does Jaha, and for a moment, the world doesn't feel like it's ending. 

But don't let your guard down, because a moment later, everyone's running inside to escape a sudden rainstorm, just in case this is "black rain," which carries radiation. Jasper still doesn't care about his life, though; he doesn't run with everyone else. While they watch in horror, he play-acts extreme radiation sickness, then laughs--it's just regular old rain. No one else thinks this is very funny.

Eager to follow up on the potential for Nightblood to save everyone, Abby is leading a mission to the island where ALIE was created. This is great, because it gives Murphy and Emori a way to make themselves useful to the group, piloting Emori's old smuggler boat and leading the way. Emori's still not sold on this whole joiner mentality, though; she quickly suggests to Murphy that they go hole up in the bunker where he used to be a wine-wasting captive.

Luna is along for the ride, of course, but she's really not into her role as Nightblood donor/reluctant savior/test subject. Nyko tells her to trust these people and let them try to save the world, but she acts like the potential outcome is irrelevant--it's the principle of the thing. I kind of hate her, because her selfish idealism is far more important to her than even trying to help others. 

As they reach the treeline on the island, ALIE's automated defenses kick in. Nyko is killed, Luna runs off, and our heroes have to split up to track her down. Raven's left behind because of her injuries, which gives her some quality time with the downed defense drone. She'll hack it so well she could use it as a teakettle.

Back in Polis, Kane has asked Octavia to sit down for a serious talk. This won't go well. He wants to reason with her and engage in a discussion of the difference between vengeance and justice. She's Skairipa, to whom vengeance is justice, and no one is innocent. Kane's real mistake is to bring up Pike. Sorry, Kane, you know I love you, but you're just never going to get Octavia to feel bad about killing Pike.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what Kane thinks about Octavia's Batman-esque behavior, because Kane's being stripped of his official position. Echo has indeed discovered how little effort is being expended toward saving anyone other than skaikru, and Roan is not interested in any more excuses. What's worse, they've also learned of the plan to manufacture Nightblood, and they see that as blasphemy within their belief system, not to mention a threat to their political standing.

Kane's under arrest, as is Bellamy, but at least they only go to jail for now; Echo slits a skaikru redshirt's throat, throwing Bellamy a glance that says, See how I'm sparing you? Remember this later.

Back in Arkadia, Monty and Jasper are trying to reconnect by breaking into the chancellor's office to prank Clarke. It's juvenile, and definitely beneath Monty, but totally within Jasper's wheelhouse these days. Of course, the dumbass prank is not the real story here--Jasper sees the list of 100 people Clarke has selected to survive, and he immediately knows what he's looking at. 

Clarke walks in on them, and Jasper's already trying to spread the word to the whole population, so she has him arrested. It's a perfect callback to how her father got floated for trying to tell the truth about the Ark, and Clarke knows this isn't a good look for her. 

She makes the mistake of not immediately confining Monty along with Jasper, though, perhaps because Monty's not known to be unstable. Monty runs for a microphone to finish Jasper's work.

Now, the truth is out. Everyone knows they're working to save some, but not all, of their population. Worse, they know the decision of who survives has already been made. Clarke is surrounded by an angry mob, demanding explanations for her choices.

Clarke's ability to coldly evaluate worth for the future is impressive, to be fair. She didn't just choose all her friends, all the people she trusts and relies on. (We saw how hard it was for her to admit to herself she wouldn't leave Bellamy off, because she was afraid it was a selfish choice!) Her evaluations were made on very clear criteria, such as including more women than men, because the future of the human race depends on bringing babies into the world. Challenged to explain why she omitted Harper's name, she was able to point to the hereditary medical condition in Harper's family line. She did her homework, that's for damn sure.

Of course, the bitter climax for this mob is raging at her for including herself and Bellamy. That's when Jaha shocks us all by helping out. "Of course she and Bellamy are on the list. The future needs strong, capable leaders." 

After validating the list, Jaha then nullifies it immediately by declaring that there will instead be a lottery. Every day that you show up and help prepare the shelter, your name goes in the lottery. The more days you put in work, the more chances you have to be picked when the time comes. It works to disperse the crowd and renew their willingness to contribute. 

Clarke points out that the lottery's randomness could ultimately hurt their chances for survival, but Jaha has solved the immediate problem, leaving the long-term planning for later. Rather like how Bellamy blew up the hydrogenerator to save a few people from captivity, acting as if it was unquestionable that Raven and Clarke would figure out a way to make it all okay later. I'm sensing a trend.

Speaking of Raven, she's managed to convince Luna not to steal the boat and abandon them all there. Also, I mean, has Luna not given any thought to the fact that if she doesn't help them, or if it doesn't work anyway, she will literally be the last living person on Earth in a few months? Is Luna crazy enough to want to be the sole survivor of the human race?

But I digress. Raven hacked the drone and got Luna to calm the hell down for a minute. They reach the underground complex where Becca did all her mad genius work back in the day. Time to start saving the world, Abby and Raven. 

Finally, Echo leads a team to hunt down Octavia, and our favorite badass manages to kill both Echo's comrades before getting stabbed and falling off a cliff. Echo presents Octavia's broken blade as proof of death, and Bellamy is utterly destroyed. (Notably, Echo was clearly reluctant to let Bellamy know what had happened or that she'd been involved. It's weird what having a crush looks like in warring clans!)

Of course, I was prepared to willfully disbelieve Octavia's death until I saw her dead body. I'm glad the show isn't going to leave us with that literal cliffhanger though! Her awesome horse finds her washed up along the riverside, and she struggles into the saddle to ride for Arkadia.

I'm giving this a 9. It beautifully dealt with Clarke's burdens and the uncomfortable similarities she's seeing more and more between herself and the old leadership she despised. It gave us back a little of fun Jasper, at long last. We got to enjoy Octavia's badassery and Raven's genius. The only knock on this episode for me is the untimely loss of Nyko. I think he deserved a better death.

What about you? Hit Like, and tell us all about it!

#The 100 #The CW #Sci-fi #Recaps from Wednesday Night TV Shows

[moldygreenblue]

Netflix’s The Magic School Bus Rides Again

I grew up watching it (via tapes that my mother recorded), so I was please when the original show ended up on Netflix and when I learn of the reboot/continuation. I honestly thought it was killed in development hell because the last time I heard info on this, the whole class was supposed to be replace, not just Ms. Frizzle and Phoebe (like did Phoebe got tired of all the magic?). The trailer...I honestly saw it once and I pretty much forgot most of the things shown there minus the whole ‘Ms. Frizzle getting replace with her sister’ part. I’m not going to judge it on how educational it is, so I’m going to judge it in other ways.

Theme Song: It’s almost the same like the original, and it’s now sung by the Hamilton guy. I never heard the guy sing, so hearing it is quite pleasant.

New Animation: It’s kind of wonky since it’s now Flash. Not smooth like the original, but it’s not bad at all. Plus, it kind of grows on you midway in the season.

New Character Design: Ms. Frizzle looks the same, but the students....that’s a mixed bag. Ralphie more or less got an updated outfit along with Carlos, Arnold, Wanda, and Dorothy Ann who also got updated outfits. However, I can’t figure out why their hair got an update as well. Carlos had black hair in the original show, so seeing him with brown-ish hair is weird. Arnold apparently got a hair straightener, and Wanda and D.A grew their hair out to the point the former needs a hairband and the later decided to put her in a high ponytail. Keesha and Tim probably got the worse of it because not only did their hair and outfits change to the point you can’t see hints of their original show appearance (Carlos kept his hair style, Arnold is still a red-head with glasses, Dorothy Ann has her purple color scheme, and Wanda’s hairstyle, while different, makes sense because that happens when her bobcut style hair grows out [happened to me a few times before I got rid of my bangs for good]) I’m pretty sure Netflix changed their skin tone to be lighter. I’m wonder if they’re any reason for it.

New (Human) Characters: Fiona Frizzle is proof that their family is more supernatural than human. I can tell that she’s a good person and she cares for the kids. And hell, she act more like the cool big sister type than being an actual teacher. Unfortunately, because of that, I think the students were more at risk under her care than her sister (I know Ms. Frizzle did her fair share of putting them at risk, but she acted as a teacher and handle it appropriately). Fiona Frizzle got more lucky than handling it like a teacher. Maybe it’s because there are 13 episodes, so when (maybe) it gets another season, her numbers will even out more. Jyoti replaces Phoebe and her character...well, this sounds odd, but I’m going to talk about another show to explain how I feel. On Arthur (the show about the aardvark and his animal friends), the show introduced a new character named Ladonna. Ladonna is the new student, and while pleasant and interesting, the show kept on putting her as a main focus pushing other characters in the background, which rubbed many long running fans the wrong way. Ladonna is a character people could have enjoyed, but because she was handle wrong, it made fans dislike her. Jyoti is like, the opposite of Ladonna. Her introduction, while kind of pushy (I know kids her age could pull out fancy moves, it might have been exaggerated for the show), the show never put her as a main focus which pushed the other characters in the background. Her character is quite interesting (like girl you can make a robot at this age? Why aren’t you in college or somethingt?) and enjoyable, and she fits right in with the rest of the students.

Field Trips: I honestly don’t remember all of the original show’s field trips, but you think they would make callbacks to their pass adventures. Like the Space episode, I thought someone was going to bring up the fact Arnold almost died to get his cousin to go back on earth or that one time they tried to buy a star for Dorthory Ann (it was her right?). Or the rat/allergy episode, when they could have mention the time they went into Ralphie’s body when he was sick. Minus that complaint, some of their adventures were fun, if stretching reality (a giant robot? Did we become a Japanese Mecha show for one episode?).

As a old fan watching it, I give it 6/10. It’s certainly entertaining, but some things just rub me the wrong way, which really makes this show average as hell. As pretending to be a new person who have never watched the show and watched on a whim who want to show it to their younger sibling, it’s a 8/10 because while it has its flaws, it’s all animation ones that don’t harm the show at all.

#the magic school bus #the magic school bus rides again #moldy watching shows