#everything we learn about season 2 is just making me more deranged

[books-and-omens]

the face of an angel thinking but Crowley, he only tried to kill me once, surely we can move past this?

#I'm dying #everything we learn about season 2 is just making me more deranged #good omens season 2 #good omens

[ecargmura]

Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective Episode 13 Review + Final Thoughts - See You In Season 2

This may be the final episode, but it’s a Christmas present! The staff announced a second season! I’m so glad! This show was so fun that it’d be a waste to not have a continuation. Since it’s still in production, the release date has yet to be finalized. Let’s just hope it steps up the story more than the first season. Because it’s the final episode, the opening updates one last time; Mii and her grandfather, the mayor, are added onto the table behind Ron when Toto and Ron meet up.

I did like how Toto actually did try to solve most of the case this time around; too bad he couldn’t figure out the final step, which was the location of the key murder weapon, the rope. I’m proud of Toto for not relying too much on Ron this time around. 

The episode basically concludes the murder case by exposing the culprit, the mayor. I did predict the mayor and Muroi, so getting the former right made me happy. Though, I didn’t really predict the murder weapon or the motive, so getting into why he did it got me intrigued. It turns out that the mayor was hiding something in the mountains and killed the official as he knew what it was and threatened to expose him. What he was hiding was none other than Spitz’s brother, Shepherd.

The reason Shepherd hid himself for the past eleven years was that he learned crucial information that could’ve gotten him and his loved ones killed, which was why he disappeared without saying anything to Spitz. The villagers, the Mayor and Mii knew he was hiding, so they all did whatever they could to protect him. Throughout those eleven years, Mii developed feelings for Shepherd and they most likely hooked up after the mayor gets arrested. It was really nice seeing Spitz reunited with his long-lost brother, but I am also curious; what did he learn that warranted him into hiding? Was it something that had to do with the M Family?

Ron’s magic eyes almost gotten Toto killed, but I’m glad that he’s not too shaken up over it this time as Shepherd came in last minute with the rope. Back in Episode 6, Ron was so shaken up about how Toto almost got killed, but Toto didn’t mind risking his life. I’m glad that for this case, Ron was able to trust Toto and not get too vulnerable. I make it seem like it’s a good thing he doesn’t care; I promise I’m not!

Another twist happened when Spitz carries out his promise to Ron by infiltrating BLUE’s secret stash but gets caught by Eme Emmerich, the principal of BLUE. I was on edge when he got caught, thinking he’d get killed or exposed, but it turns out that the principal isn’t as strict as she initially seemed. She has a fondness for Ron, which was why she gave Spitz a special message for him to pass onto him. The message says that Ron really isn’t the culprit of the Bloody Field Training incident and that he was framed; the framer was an unknown third party who deleted everything about the case to conceal Ron’s innocence; yep, there’s a mole in BLUE. Not only that, she then tells who the mole belongs to: the House of M, a very notorious crime family; every crime they do is left unsolved. We already did see a hint of what they could do back in the observatory case. They’re clearly terrifying adversaries.

I liked the post-credit scenes with the House of M, mainly Winter Moriarty, making their move. I liked learning why the Moriarty, or mainly Mylo (or Milo) does this. He does this because he wants to see if Ron is worthy to become a member of their family; the reason why Ron got expelled and didn’t get his detective license was because the M Family didn’t want him to become a detective; it makes sense as he has the blood of both Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty in him. The family seems quite a strict household as they dispose anyone considered a failure; this was why Alice, one of their siblings was disposed of. I’m really anticipating what Winter and Mylo bring to the table next season. Winter hates Ron for being mixed-blood while Mylo is a sinister, palette-swapped version of Ron. Now that Winter is making their move, what sort of crimes will they commit for Ron to solve? Will it be a step up in difficulty or will it be a step down? Given the family’s rumored track record, I expect it to be a step up—no, five steps up in difficulty; if the first season was Normal mode, I expect Season 2 to be on the hardest difficulty.

I honestly can’t wait for Season 2. I’m impatient, so I might read the manga while I wait. I think that I may gain new perspectives on the cases if I read both the original source material and watch the anime when it airs. What are your thoughts on the finale and are you anticipating Season 2 as much as I am?

Final Thoughts

This show is honestly one of my Top 5 favorites for this year. I came into this show because I like Amano’s works, but it made me become a bigger fan of the mystery genre. Heck, I recently got some books as a Christmas present and one of them happens to be a mystery book. I feel like watching this show gives you a craving of mysteries.

The characters are so quirky and entertaining; they really beat the generalization that mystery stories have to have serious characters and tone. Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective goes the opposite direction with the characters. Ron is seriously hilarious with his eccentric personality. Toto seems like the quintessential earnest detective, but the way he’s written is perfect as he is the ‘normal’ guy in a world and cast full of weirdos. The other characters were great too. I just wished Amamiya had a bit more screen time, but what the first season gave to us regarding her was enough for me to get a good sense of who she is. My personal favorite besides the main duo happens to be Spitz. He’s not as weird as Ron, but weird enough to be the funny man to Toto’s straight man.

The mysteries were fun, but some of them were hit or miss. My favorite case was the Observatory case where it spans three episodes and did new things like having a second known murder victim and it being a locked-room mystery. My second favorite would be the psychic case that introduced Dr. Usaki; I liked how Ron and Toto had to prove that Torage killed the victim with normal murder methods and not via ESP.  My least favorite of the bunch was definitely the Hand Collector case; I even openly admitted how much I didn’t like the case because it was all over the place. I do admit that the cases do get a bit better as the story progresses, so hopefully nothing like Episode 5 every pops up again.

The music was nice to listen to. I especially liked the opening! You can’t go wrong with UNISON SQUARE GARDEN and the fact that the song they sang for this show was super unexpected. For a show with gruesome murders, you wouldn’t expect an upbeat, jazz and swingy tune, but it fits the quirky nature of the show. I also love how soothing the ending song is. Speaking of the opening, I loved how it updates during or after every important case; I read somewhere that it speculates Ron opening up to the world after keeping himself isolated from cases for five years. I like that theory, so I am believing it too. I can’t wait to see if Diomedia will continue the trend with the next season.

The voice actors are great! This is the first time I heard Yohei Azakami in an anime and I’d love to watch more anime with him. He does a perfect job with Ron’s eccentrics and seriousness. The way he made a gremlin voice when doing the hand puppet and also mimicking the television show jingle was seriously hilarious. He may be a new face, but if he can do that effortlessly, he has a great career ahead of him. Junya Enoki has always been a good voice actor. He was a good choice for Toto as he can do the “good boy” and the straight man aspects of him perfectly. The other characters had perfect voice actors too. What amazes me the most is that the anime staff casted high quality voice actors to voice the minor characters. Like, getting Maaya Uchida, Yui Ishikawa and Sayaka Senbongi as those girls from the Poisoned Latte case was crazy. Even getting Katsuyuki Konishi as Spitz’s brother was crazy too! Mylo and Winter’s voice actors are amazing too. I can’t wait to see who they cast for the second season, whether it be for minor or supporting characters.

While this isn’t the best mystery anime out there, I do recommend giving it a watch if you’re a fan of the genre. I mean, it’s also created by Akira Amano. If you’re a fan of Reborn!, come check out this show and story! Seriously! Also, when are we getting a Reborn! reboot?

#ron kamonohashi's forbidden deductions #ron kamonohashi deranged detective #kamonohashi ron no kindan suiri #ron kamonohashi #totomaru isshiki #spitz feier #eme emmerich #mylo moriarty #winter moriarty #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal #see you in season 2

[lonesomedotmp3]

2, 4-6, 20 :D

hiii 🖤🖤🖤

2 - album of the year

emails I can't send fwd SORRY!!!! that album legitimately got me through this year it turns out what you listen to in the worst month of your life sticks with you... but the baby by samia and grace by jeff buckley and the rise and fall of a midwest princess are all runner ups...

4 - movie of the year

just did this and listed quite a few but tbh there are so many more... dick 1999 escape room 2019 slashorette party STUDENT BODIES. student bodies was so fucking good... and I did already say bottoms but FOR YOU i Will repeat bottoms was such a Moment 🫶 I had literally been waiting for it the entire year and my girlfriend havana rose liu was there and everyone was so sexy it was unreal...

5 - tv show of the year

faking it was one of the greatest parts of this year it was so fun and weird and 2014 and my best friend amy was there and the toxic homoerotic girl best friendship was insane HOWEVER. seinfeld was formative this year... truly by the end it was just like hanging out with friends everything I did I was like wow this is just like seinfeld it was so good to watch.during the especially as i.kept feeling more and more insane. Comfort television that's sort of meandering and emotionless and anti comedy <3

6 - episode of tv that defined the year for you

wow that's a deranged question ok. the first thing I can think of is yellowjackets 2.01 friends roman countrymen which was such a good brain altering episode and ofc at the time we didn't know season two was going to kind of flop so it was really exciting waiting for the next episode. but DEFINED the year. honestly maybe 7.01 of riverdale in the most bitter pessimistic way possible like it did Define The Year in that riverdale was supposed to Fix things (I know that's a stupid idea but whatever things were rough) and now only did it fail to do that it just left me confused and insulted and.more miserable than ever. yeah that's perfect actually. so much hope and optimism (february fortune cookie) Instantly dashed to create a.more depressive mood than ever. 🤸 but whatever season seven isn't real and it can't hurt me.

20 - what's something you learned this year

it's not going to get better. sorry that's horrible I'll think of something nicer to end on. I wasn't planning on this being a bummer I sort of forgot this year sucked. and I'm not saying that in an edgy way or to get attention it's purely just that sometimes things are the way they are and there's nothing you can do about it and I can't spend my whole life feeling bad about it. like my mum is so upset that cbt didn't magically cure me and it's like. this is just a thing I have to deal with forever! there's no cure! and if it ever gets better it'll be a pleasant surprise but why would I set myself up for devastation and disappointment again like I did at the beginning of this year. frankie community voice I never hope hope is pouting in advance.... anyway on a lighter note! talk to your seminar professors about your essays! it sucks but it does really make them so much better!! I got a first in a philosophy essay for the first time because of it 🫡🫡🫡 now I just have to remember to keep doing it even though it's extremely embarrassing asking your professor to do their job for some reason

#thank you abby<333 #ask tag #munamania

[teeth-and-tea]

ANIME & MANGA I HAVE BINGED IN THE LAST MONTH: May 2021

I've Been Hunting Slimes for the Past 300 Years and Now Ive Maxed Out My Level: incredibly long name aside, cute af slice of life that suffers Same Face Syndrome. I'm still happy to watch it because of how feel good and fluffy it is though, Im probably gonna forget about it in two or three years tho. 8/10.

Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro: I found out this was a webcomic first and suddenly all the HORNINESS made so much more sense. A Femdom, Degradation, Humiliation, Dacryphilia Bullies to Lovers story disguised as a high school rom-com which, I'm not going to lie, misses SKEEVY CITY by mere inches on a regular basis. However, I'm a Dom/Switch and this entire relationship sets off my dom brain center like New York City just shy of midnight. So if you're into that sort of scene, this anime is for you. If not, it's still fascinating but you're probably gonna be a little put off by how mean the Girl!Bully is to the guy MC. Unless you find out something about yourself, in which case, congrats! Stay safe, sane, consensual, and learn about the traffic light system on top of safe words, I promise you'll have a better life in general after that. Still Ongoing, currently 10/10.

Fruits Basket: IM GONNA CRY I LOVE THIS ANIME SO MUCH???? The original anime came out when I was in... I think middle school and my parents were really strict on what I watched so I never got to experience the first wave and I never bothered to watch the show ever after I moved out of the house years later. However, now that I'm much older I honestly can say this is one of my favorite anime to date, and all the characters are charming, lovable, with their own problems that I can connect to or sympathize with, and I love the MC which is always a treat tbh. Except Akito. Akito can suck a sandpaper dick. I'm only on S2 tho so no spoilers! Anime 11/10.

Monster Girl Doctor: went in thinking it was gonna be a monster girl who's a doctor with a homoerotic assistant (her name is SAPPHY okay sue me for thinking it) and ended up watching the entire dubbed harem series. Honestly, I've seen worse and this one has consistent follow-through on interesting characters and backstory enough for me to shove aside the blatant under-monstrousness of the female monsters and the harem-ness of everything else. Dubbing is honestly really good, which is a treat, and the monster designs are not the worst and the MC is tolerable. Honestly, I don't mind having watched it! The mix of cgi and the traditional animation together work pretty strangely though, and it often doesn't flow super well. 7.5/10

So I'm a Spider, So What: Dubbed version which honestly isn't that bad. Took me a bit to get into it, but after realizing that it's got a mismatched timeline a la The Witcher, it made so much more sense. Heavily done in cgi, and you can definitely tell between the 2D and 3D animations, but not the worst in the world. I went in not expecting much but it ended up being an Issekai I can stand and even enjoy. On god has a decent story... with the spider. I'd be a liar if I didnt say I skipped some of the human parts just to get back to the best part of the show. 8/10.

Somali and the Forest Spirit: I'm so fucking nostalgic for this thing it makes me want to go and hug my dad. About a human girl under threat of being eaten with a monster-dominated world. Very obvious "humans fear what they don't understand" message but instead of the humans learning tolerance it's what happens when they get annihilated first so like, kudos for the mangaka for having the guts to do that. I cried like a baby regularly. It's really good, I watched the dub and ID WATCH IT AGAIN!!! 9/10.

To Your Eternity: Oh my god. O h my g o d. Fell in love on the first episode, ngl. About if an immortal being learned how to be a person from scratch. I love it. HOWEVER. Keep a box of tissues on you at all times because you're gonna need them. I'm only on EP7 because that's all that's out right now but just know. I love it. Not for everyone but certainly for my "what do we define as human and the human condition" ass. 12/10.

Those Snow White Notes: A sports anime without any sports. About shamisen playing which is cool because I never realized how cool this instrument was??? Its neat af. OP1&2 are by Burnout Syndrom so know theyre fire. Gonna be real, its pretty alright, but not extraordinary. You can tell they were using the characters as archetypes rather than actually characters which kinda kills a lot of the emotional value you could've had, but I'm still gonna watch it. It doesn't make me cringe as hard as other sports anime tho so I consider it toptier in that regards but if you're a big sports anime fan you might be bummed out by it. Every single musical performance is INCREDIBLE tho. A solid 8/10.

Toilet Bound Hanako-kun: THE ART OMFG IT'S SO GORGEOUS. Listen, if you took coptic markers and gave them an animation budget with some manga panel direction thrown in there, that's this anime. It's beautiful. Gorgeous. I'm in love with the aesthetic every second. Story? Really good. Characters? I love the MC and his evil little twin brother asshat. Demons? Not super imaginative but I'm carrying on happy as can be anyways. Dubbing? A bit shaky at times but I found the voices charming if a little off for some of them. I'm already waiting for the second season with popcorn at the ready. 10/10.

Prison School: I watched this directly after Hanako-kun and it was like I got slapped in the face by sweaty unwashed titties and some fedora wearing schmuck's piss kink. No character is likable or redeemable. I finished it, but at what cost? 2/10 and only because a character shit his pants and I laughed.

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle: watched this right after Prison School and it was NECESSARY tbh. Its so CUTE and honestly, im not even kidding you, the fucking funniest anime I've seen in months. I watched the dub and the VAs are having the time of their lives working on this anime not just giving it their all but literally just going ham. Its great. If I read this im sure id be bored outta my mind but the VAs giving it a joyous performance make it an insta fave for me tbh. 9/10.

Sk8 the Infinity: i watched the dub with my bro and I can confirm that its a spectacular show because we both loved it and we have vastly different tastes. Incredibly SUSPENSFUL AND STRESSFUL for an anime about skateboarding but we finished it in a single sitting tbh. The last episode is not dubbed for some reason but we still loved it. Like if Free! was less obnoxious but the only fan-service here is Joe ♡ a beefcake who owns my lesbian heart. I think there's exactly one named female character tho and I legit couldn't tell you what it was if there was a gun to my head. So, over all, 9.5/10.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: I'm going to be entirely honest, I went in thinking it was going to be a boring isekai of no value. I was right about the Isekai part. It was honestly pretty interesting and focused on nation building like you're playing civilization rather than the usual "Get Stronger" narrative or "Get Some Pussy" narrative most isekais take which is delightfully refreshing. Granted there are flavors of that in this which means it doesn't alienate the big isekai watchers out there, but it's not the whole dish and it doesn't make me want to cringe the same way others do. You've got a slime MC just vibing and building a nation of monsters nbd. Does lose points for making the female monsters more humanoid than their male counterparts but makes them back by only doing perfunctory fan-service and nothing that makes me want to cry... except the butt sumo episode but in fairness it was all a terrible dream. Literally, the MC refuses to dream anymore after that. solid animation, decent voice acting, decent story, made me realize how HUGE this is in the Light Novel community???? There's like 18 fucking novels and that's WILD. 8.5/10.

MANGA:

Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono: a one shot special by the mangaka of The Promised Neverland! Honestly a really delicate touch of both super creepy and really touching, and I'm not gonna lie I'm bummed that this isn't a bigger project but the single chapter makes it a good taste for their style. I've been wondering if I wanna read/watch The Promised Neverland and now I think I will. 10/10

Deranged Detective Ron Kamonohashi: from the mangaka of Hitman Reborn comes this Sherlock and Watson derivative! Not even 20 chapters out yet with a sort of spotty schedule, I honestly love it even thought it's exactly as you expect. HOWEVER. Kamonohashi the "Sherlock" character uses mental pressure to kill all confirmed murderers and it's up to Toto the "Watson" character to save all those people before Kamonohashi kills them! It's just recently introduced a "Moriarty" family of crime lords (not a big spoiler don't worry it was obvious) so the tension surrounding Ron's past is amping up rn. Personally, I think the art is GORGEOUS, the characters engaging, and the story quick enough to keep my interest. Most mysteries are solved within a chapter or two so you're not stuck 20 chapters into one locked room mystery which is just peachy tbh. RN, 10/10. If this gets an anime, I anticipate a legion of fangirls who ship the two main characters along with their many friends. I've been alive too long to believe otherwise.

Don't Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro: Yeah I read the manga after I watched the show. A slower build than the anime, but it works for the format, if theyd done the same with the show then I don't think it wouldve done as well. Honestly? Cuter tbh but just as horny. You dont start really LEARNING about your character until like, chap 65 tho and no real "drama" happens until like 75. A good chunk of the chapters are like 8pgs so its a breeze to get through. I love these slow burn idiots of the century. 9.5/10 because you can DEFINITELY tell the mangaka does hentai too.

Yugen's All-Ghouls Homeroom: one-shot by the mangaka for Food Wars, it's no wonder there's this constant perviness from the MC, a guy who can see and exorcise spirits. Takes place at an all girl's finishing school with KICK ASS monsters tbh, kinda bummed its not longer. The MC? Blatant monsterfucker who is also a CONFRIMED monsterfucker???? Idk i vibe with that single emotion. Everything else is hit or miss. 7/10 for monsters and cool concept, lost points for the MC very pointedly being okay with admitting he'd wait for the teenagers to be adults tho. Creepy af. Could live without that.

Hell's Paradise: I finished the entire 127chps in 3 days and I was really enthusiastic about it 90% of the time thinking about how deep it was and then I actually thought about it and I ended up being very neutral about the whole thing tbh. The art is fantastic tho, but DEFINITELY deserving of the M rating. Tits. Tits everywhere. But not tits to be ecchi over, no, monster hermit tits on beautiful women-ish figures. Now generally I give that a pass but a huge theme in the story is that men and women are "no better than one or the other" but like, lady tits are what you see 99% of the time. Men tits are few and far between. I call bullshit on most of the "deep" themes is what I'm saying, so it's like the mangaka was trying for those deep thoughts but missed the margin a little too far for my preference. That being said, the MC is a married man who loves his wife which automatically makes him my favorite character so like... idk so many good things, so many misses, but overall really spectacular themes and imagery. Unique but classic all at once. It's getting an anime and I have NO IDEA how much censorship they're gonna be doing but they're going to be doing SO MUCH. Oh yeah, and one guy is a plant/human hybrid who fucks a 1000 year old plant-hermit which makes him a canon monster fucker. And one canon non-binary character who I, a nonbinary, actually like. So like... gosh I've got mixed feelings. 8.5/10.

Choujin X: From Sui Ishida, mangaka to the mega hit Tokyo Ghoul comes this brand new manga!... Of one chapter, lol. Not really binge-y because it's just the one chapter out right now but I'm already keeping my eye on it. The grasp on anatomy in the art is PHENOMENAL and you can see Ishida flexing his art skill which is great. Can't give a true rating but I'm giving it a tentative 9/10 because I'm excited to see more.

Shag&Scoob: technically not a manga, its an ongoing webcomic I binged an subscribed to in one day and I just think it deserves more attention. Starts off funny with "what if Scooby Doo had a gun" and has been led to "what if all cartoons are aliens that survive and receive their powers by the humans that love them in an epic war with Martians." On god, its good. I finished the current series in a couple hours so it's a breezy read, highly recommend it. 9/10.

To Your Eternity: Yeah I watched the anime and then finished all current 143 chapters in like 3 days. GOD IM WEAK. I don't buy physical manga unless I know I want to remember the story forever and I'm already budgeting for the current books out. Yeah, this is a good series. That being said, definitely not for the faint of heart or those who suffer under common triggers like suicide, molestation, death, etc. It's all framed as bad and necessary to the story don't get me wrong, but it's there and has lasting affects on the characters. Incredible story telling by the creator of A Silent Voice. Keep tissues nearby at all times. 12/10.

#i've been killing slimes for 300 years and maxed out my level #don't toy with me miss nagatoro #spirit photographer saburo kono #fruits basket #deranged detective ron kamonohashi #yugen's all-ghoul's homeroom #monster girl doctor #so i'm a spider so what #somali and the forest spirit #to your eternity #jigokuraku #hell's paradise #choujin x #shag and scoob #toilet bound hanako kun #prison school #sk8 the infinity #that time i got reincarnated as a slime

[thebad---catholic]

Why I don’t think Azula should’ve gotten a healing/redemption arc

k so I made this meme a couple weeks ago

and I got a lot (a lot? Like 10 but that’s a lot for me) responses disagreeing with my post, which is fair because there’s really only a tiny subset of fans who fit into the “if you stan villains you’re a bad person” category, and Azula’s character (like most other things in atla) is fairly nuanced. I won’t dive into her personal psychology so much, just why I was satisfied with her arc as a viewer.

Note: I’m only speaking within the context of Atla. I haven’t read any of the comics or seen Lok so for the sake of this lil post those don’t exist.

Not enough time

Plain and simple, Azula didn’t have enough time for any sort of healing or redemption. She would’ve needed at least 2 seasons based on what Zuko went through. Adding more seasons for this purpose would feel kind of pointless. Maybe they should’ve explored this in other media but not within atla as the story works best as a tidy three season bit.

Along this same vein, I’m not viewing the show the same way as I would irl. If we’re being realistic, Azula was a horribly abused mentally ill 14 year old who most definitely should’ve gotten treatment. But this is a cartoon, where standards are a little different, which I’ll talk more about in a minute.

Iroh used to be a bad person/If Zuko changed so could she

This one is more complicated for me, but basically I view it like this. In the show, Iroh and Zuko display goodness before their redemption.

We see this with Zuko especially. He is banished for trying to protect the lives of fire nation soldiers from certain death. Twice he spares the life of his rival Zhao, even after that rival tried to kill him. In season two, he saves appa, risks blowing his cover to light lanterns for Jin, saves a town from mercenaries, and even when he’s robbing, he spares certain people (the pregnant woman for example) and mostly targets the wealthy. Zuko, even at his worst, had hard limits on his morality.

Iroh is more subtle. The most clear example comes from the flashback in “Zuko Alone” where Iroh gifts Zuko a dagger from the earth kingdom that he notes is of superior craftsmanship. This, to me, shows where the start of Iroh’s arc comes from: his appreciation of the other nations. It’s been noted before that Iroh has also mastered all four elements, even though he can only firebend. Redirecting lightning comes from waterbenders- likely learned before Iroh “turned good”. Even as their adversary, Iroh respects the people of Ba Sing Se for their resilience. (This again contrasts Zhao, who was so deranged he murdered the fucking moon just to win.) Finally, the dragons. Iroh is known as the dragon of the west even to people from Ba Sing Se- this means that he spared the lives of the final dragons before Lu Tens death. Like Zuko, Iroh shows mercy even when on the wrong side. Lu Ten’s death breaks Iroh because it forces him to finally come to terms with the fact that the fire nation is built on a lie. Fire nation superiority is a lie, and it’s one he’s known for a long time.

Azula doesn’t display any of these traits. The only time in the entire series where she apologizes is after she insults Ty Lee, and I’d argue it was an act of manipulation, as she quickly uses the apology to receive praise from Ty Lee. The beach episode is the only soft side we ever see to Azula, and all of her interactions can still be interpreted like my example. Was the comment about Ursa thinking she was a monster a slip of her mask or an attempt to “perform” like the others? We know Azula is a liar, so was she lying when she said ursa was right, or that it still hurt? Or both? And, mind you, I do love how this episode explores azula more closely, but I don’t believe being a nuanced villain makes you a redeemable one. Even as a child, Azula is cruel and takes pleasure in hurting Zuko, and animals, and her friends. She’s a master manipulator who makes friends through fear and intimidation. Imo, the only reason she doesn’t actually kill someone is because Avatar was technically a kids show, though that sure as fuck didn’t stop her from threatening multiple peoples lives. There is no action of Azula that signifies an ounce of good in her.

She was abused

1) a tragic backstory isn’t the be all end all of whether or not a character’s redeemable, and 2) So was Zuko. And probably Iroh and Ozai, and probably Azulan. The fire nation royal family is fucked up. Even if Azulan was a “good” father to Ozai and Iroh he was still a dictator who was grooming them to take over.

Having Azula be a puppet in her fathers game was an incredibly mature route for atla to take. Once again, it adds depth with a realistic take for Azula’s villainy. Very rarely are individuals born evil (enter nature v nuture debate here). Some of the worst people to ever exist were victims of abuse and neglect to varying degrees. Once again, though, this doesn’t suddenly render Azula open to redemption. And from a storytelling perspective, there’s parallels between Ozai and Iroh and Azula and Zuko.

Ozai continued the cycle of abuse, Iroh broke free from it, Zuko ended it, and Azula was broken by it. These are all things that happen in real life.

She’s 14

Oddly enough this is the argument that baffles me the most. I know I just said a whole lot about real life vs fiction, but I’m gonna pull the fiction card on this one. I can suspend belief with these characters and their ages. I don’t think any 12 year old could function after waking up from a coma and finding out his entire people were slaughtered and that he only had like, six months to save the world, regardless of his upbringing and power set. I also don’t think any 14 year old could lead a trio to infiltrate a city state, outsmart the shadow leader of said city state, and manipulate and entire little army for her favor.

There’s just a point where you have to suspend belief. The characters of avatar are fantastic, but are not realistic portrayals of people in their age group. Azula could be 14 as easily as she could be 25 and nothing about the narrative would change. The same is true for the rest of the main characters- even Aang, as youthful and fun loving as he is, also has more emotional maturity than anyone in the gaang, and more than most adults i know. If you want a realistic example of a child working through trauma, try Lilo from Lilo and Stich. Not anyone from Atla

Not everyone needs a happy ending.

This is ultimately what it comes down to for me. I like Azula as a villain. I like Azula as a villain who stays a villain and who is driven insane by power and paranoia. I like Macbeth. Azula is a tragedy- and that’s what I like.

So there ya have it folks. That’s my take. I’m writing this at five am with very little sleep, so please forgive typos and whatnot. I feel like maybe I haven’t explained everything the way I wanted to, but I can’t stop thinking about this, and the great thing about this show is that it’s fun to keep thinking about.

#avatar #avatar the last airbender #azula meta #azula deserved better #atla azula #avatar zuko #iroh & zuko #uncle iroh #atla #atla spoilers #atla headcanons

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia: Night Drivers/Return to Wartwood Review “Many Happy Returns”

Hello you happy people. And Amphibia is back and that means my reviews are back! As for why this reviews a bit late despite it leaking, I wanted to wait for today, and long story short both focused on finishing a review that WASN’T time senstive, instead of finishing it Sunday, and overestimated how much time i’d have to do two reviews on a day that included my first covid shot, grocery shopping, helping mom clean the car, and my friend coming over to watch Judas and the Black Messiah. Excellent film by hte way, as was the Sound of Metal which we watched after. Point is I done goofed and I will try to at the very least actually get the reviews of the episodes out on the same day they come out. 

But slip up or not i’m happy to be back in the saddle, and back to Wartwood. I’m pumped for the heavier second half, with more secrets to uncover, some zelda style temple action, and some heavy drama with just a whiff of keith david, as well as to see the supporting cast from Wartwood again after far too long. So how’d the mid-season premire pair fair? Join me under the cut to find out. 

Night Drivers: I was really excited by the Road Trip idea when first announced for season 2. A chance to expand the world and get the plantars out of their comfort zone was an amazing concept and it did lead to some really great stories and interesting locales.. mixed with episodes that had interesting locations but no interesting plot or character stuff. It was a mixed bag, and disappointing after close to a year’s wait to continue the plot that it really didn’t outside of “Toadcatcher”. Anne never really dealt with her trauma and the show never dealt with hop pop’s poularity or anything else. Again there were GOOD episodes and ideas but it felt like the show stalled for a good chunk of the season till we got to Netwopia which while still having tons of slice of life stuff felt a lot fresher with it, and had a lot more fun playing with stock plots and gave us a fresh new setting to dig into. 

So I was a bit hesitant to go back to the road for an episode.. even if it was just one episode. Thankfully I was very wrong there as Night Drivers was a pretty good episode and would fit well among the best of the road trip arc like “Truck Stop Polly” “Fort in the Road” “Anne Hunter” “Toadcatcher” and “Wax Museum”.

The plot is straightforward: Sprig and Polly are excited that their almost home to wartwood and if Anne and Hop Pop drive all night they’ll be there by morning. Polly will get pillbug pancakes and Sprig will see Ivy again. This is part of a long tradtion of “skiping over the journey home because we’re tired and we wanna go home” in fiction. Jokes aside it’s a resonable device used to prevent ending fatigue and in this case to free up episodes for the second half. We already saw the journey once, we usually don’t need to see it again. To Amphibia’s credit they have valid reasons for it: The journey is LITERALLY sped up, as Hop Pop and Anne have been driving for 20 hours straight.. and their on a timer. As was established last time.. well the last time that wasn’t a spooky halloween episode, The Plantars have to get back for the harvest and really don’t have time to sightsee, while they all have to be there for whenever Marcy comes back to take Anne to the first temple. They’ve also traveled these roads before so while their going a whole other directoin, they know what perils to avoid. 

But as anyone whose taken a long cartrip can tell you, you can’t shotgun it forever and the two eventually tap out with Hop Pop telling Sprig and Polly not to night drive as it’s dangerous and blah blah blah standard parental warning that will be swiftly ignored. So once Hop Pop and Anne are conked out they swiftly ignore it after we get their dreams.. which are the best gags of the episode: Hop Pop has a dream with weird, really cool looking monsters that represent his faults, only for it to turn Lucid and him to start flying and take his shirt off and whip it around Muscle Man style. 

While Anne’s is about a yogurt world where there’s only one flavor... BLACK LICORICE. Yeah it quickly turns from Shopkins to the Lich From Adventure Time really fucking quick. 

So while Anne has a nightmare and Hop Pop becomes unto a god, Sprig and Polly drive all night, repreadtly running into a creepy hitchiker and realizing it is as dangerous as they said with bolders, even worse creatures than usual because of course theye’d be a lot of nasty things lurk in the dark why wouldn’t they on froggy death world, a nightmarish fog and nearly dying on said foggy road they took to evade the hitchiker. Naturally the scary hook handed hitchiker.. is a friendly one, simply trying to help them and saving them from going over a cliff. They do make it three miles from Wartwood and Hop Pop wakes up angry to find they disobeyed him.. but Anne gets him to back off as they clearly learned their lesson from the sleep deprviation and nearly dying, and our heroes head for home. 

Night Drivers isn’t an exceptional episode, but it is decent and still does belong with the other good road trip episodes, with some good dream sequences and a nice dynamic between Sprig and Polly. It was nice to have an episode with the two that was good unlike Quarallers Pass which made me want to run full speed into my nearest wall until I was given the sweet gift of unconciousness. While the Hook Handed man thing was a bit obvious it lead to some great gags. It’s a nice breather after the tearjerking mid-season finale and while we’ve obviously had months and a haloween episode between that, the creators rightfully realized a lot of people will be binging the series in the future. The issue I had with the first quarter of the season was it was ALL break and only a little plot progression. Here we’ve had a lot of plot progression in the last episode chronlogically, and are going to have a lot in the coming episodes with ‘After the Rain” coming next week. It’s nice to take a break and see the forest for the hook handed ghosts.

Return to Wartwood: I was excited and terrified of this one. I was excited because I missed the supporting cast from season one, mostly Ivy and Maddie, and was delighted to see them again in full. But I was also worried the show might pull out a melancholy breakup plot and having gotten attached to Ivy/Sprig and Hop Pop/Sylvia I was worried. And I was delightfully wrong as instead it’s another breather episode and an utterly fantastic one after the simply decent one above. 

Our heroes return, without being drawn by rob liefield or replaced by the Squadron Supreme first, and are happily greeted by the town. Aformentoined fears died a happy death as Sylvia squeezes Hop Pop and as for Sprig, Ivy unsuprisingly ambushes him. Everyone’s back and the Mayor, who I also badly missed is back using Toadie as a gong to get everyone back to buisness, with Swampy inviting them for a big dinner at his diner that night to celebrate and welcome them back.. and to give out their gifts. 

Sprig and Anne are equally confused while Polly and Hop Pop are sweating bullets. Turns out when they got the Fwagon they agreed to get a bunch of stuff for the town and forgot and now everyone’s on the hook for it and want to lie their butts off to solve it. In a nice show of character development, Anne has learned that the lying never solves anything “I think we’ve learned that lesson by now”. After SO many plots of the characters lying and it going terribly, it’s nice to have someone speak up. Sprig also wants to lie but only becuase he’s deeply afraid Ivy will break up with him as she wanted a Red Sun shell to go with the blue moon shell she gave him. Awwww. And oh crap. 

So our heroes head home to plan and kick Chuck out (“I grew tulips”). So they do the natural thing... and decide to summon an edltich beast from the necronomicon... which of course Maddie gave Sprig as a present (”Aww that’s nice”. Agreed Polly, agreed.). I also can’t help but love the line “We’re all cull with practicing the dark arts to solve our problem right?” So our heroes get the proper summoning horn, thing to go with the horn and some candles.. i’ts not part of the ritual but Anne says it helps with ambience and it’s right. 

So our heroes summon the Chikalisk, an edltich god that’s naturally basalisk in all but name, which dosen’t attack unless attacked and goes after gold. So they fake some golden presents, and the beast attacks at the party.. but the town naturally fights back, and our heroes are forced to help fight the monster as it stonifies people. So we get a truly glorious battle sequences as the whole town shows off how badass they are, with Maddie curing people, Sylvia showing she can keep up with Hop Pop and Ivy showing her already established badass bonafieds. It’s just awesome. Also the Mayor uses Toadie as a shield not realizing he’s turned to stone which can only remind me of this. 

Once the townsfolk are freed they get into Chickalisk formation (”We have a formation for that?” “We have a formation for everything!”) And it’s offended enough to just nope out. The townsfolk are depressed though the presents got destroyed and Anne glares the family into coming clean. And while the mayor seems mad at first... he just laughs with everyone taking it in stride: It was boring without them getting into trouble and learning lessons every week, and they missed them.  Ivy likewise dosen’t care about a gift she just missed her boyfriend.. and asks Sprig to take her on a proper date and smooches him on the cheek leaving both him and Anne catatonic, with Polly dragging Anne away and sprig just falling over before Maddie hits him with the potion. It dosen’t work that way, end episode. 

Return To Wartwood was a standout episode, with tons of great jokes, pacing and a nice plot that showed growth in anne. While Night Drivers was decent, this was the show at it’s : Sweet, deranged and adventurous all in one episode. While Night Drivers was a good appitizer this was one hell of an entree. Or an appetizer sampler which I often use as an entree. Great episode and a nice high note to start on. 

Next Time: We get an Ivy focused episode!

And Hop Pop is finally forced to own up to his lies!

As the twin kermits sooth you if you liked this review, follow me for more, check the amphibia tag for more reviews from this season and join me on patreon. If I get another patreon, i’ll add reviewing season 1 to my 25 dollar stretch goal so look out for that and my next one at 20 dollars, only 5 dollars away, nets a monthly review of a darkwing duck episode. Check it out and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. 

#amphibia #night drivers #return to wartwood #anne boonchuy #sprig plantar #hopidiah plantar #polly plantar #ivy sundew #maddie flour #sylvia sundew #mayor toadstool #disney channel #disney #animation #amphibia spoilers

[spogwam]

Film Narrative 2 - 3

Critical Reflection - Fiction Project

My Influences and Inspiration

I found inspiration in the original idea of a deranged, delusional “detective” who turns out to be a kind of pseudo-vigilante from many different sources.

George Romero’s “Martin” - I found Martin’s character, a sick, evil man who is perfectly normal on the outside to be of great inspiration. The scene in which he breaks into a couple’s home and only one of the couple know that something is wrong made me think of a similar concept but with the audience being the only one in the know.

True Detective (Season 1 only) - The interrogation scenes in this show are phenomenally written, with the revealing of truths and story elements so subtly hinted at through its performances. The power dynamics in these kind of scenes interested me, making me envision similar scenes except with a morally corrupt psychopath in the place of a troubled police detective.

Paris, Texas - The idea of a conversation in which only one character can truly see the other was helpful in developing my ideas. Also the iconic nature of this film’s dialogue scenes towards the end between two characters in entirely different circumstances and spaces helped inspire my creativity more generally.

My Contribution and Role

I was the director for this assignment and so took responsibility for producing three of the seven pre-production documents, managing other’s progress within the group as well as organising meetings. My progress and more details of my work within the group can be found in my prior two posts on this module.

Feedback

Every criticism our work received was perfectly valid, although unfortunately old drafts were submitted in place of the most recent ones. Although these criticisms applied to these submitted drafts, many of the points of criticism were in fact corrected in the final drafts. There was some confusion in the final work submitted, with some work also omitted, and as the director I should have concentrated more on whether the submitted material was correct than whether my own document was perfect when it came to the crunch. I have definitely learnt where to better put my priorities in a leading key role like I have had.

Key points of criticism and responses:

Our script was given a C- which is something we all felt was harsh, feeling it was a story with great potential written with passionate creativity. The use of consistent profanity was a main issue and I can definitely understand this point. It didn’t add very much to the character and I think it would be a greater achievement to either leave the profanity to a key intense moment or leave it out, leaving the film just as shocking and thought-provoking but more accessible. These are points I should’ve thought to bring forward in the development stage.

An older draft of the shot list with 42 shots was submitted instead of the current draft sitting at 40 shots. This led to a lack of connection between the shot list, the storyboard and the marked-up script submitted. This was an easily fixed issue and perhaps giving only one person out of five members of a group the task of submitting everything was not a good call by us and a problem I should have foreseen. The point of actually submitting all the work should have been a more prominent point of discussion.

On a more positive note, our final edits were greatly received, without any major issues such as continuity. Minor issues in sound and shot length were highlighted in our criticisms and I was dead chuffed to have our group produce three varied yet equally competent edits, especially seeing as most groups only produced one. 

Group Seven and Conclusion

It has been a blessing to be working in Group Seven in this semester so far, every group meeting has been amazing fun: a free space for wild creativity in which no one slacks behind or takes things overly seriously. There were absolutely some silly oversights towards the end of our pre-production work, which might have come about because we were having too fun, but I regardless should have remained on top of the co-ordination of everyone's submissions more. I look forward to working again with these talented individuals on the next, independent project, having grown as a director and filmmaker in general by having made these mistakes and learning from them.

[thelawyerthatwaspromised]

Part 1: There are a lot of people saying that little finger's death was pathetic and not like him because he was supposed to be this great mastermind in the game but he was executed in a "unjust"way for his character (??) but for me, I think that it was pretty accurate for his character because I remember in the 1st season, the scene where he and cersei talked about "Knowledge is power" and "Power is power" --

Part 2: – how he had that “Shit! I’m screwed” look in his eyes and how Cersei got the last word in their conversation, says a lot about him. I think Petyr Baelish likes it and is confident when he knows everything about everyone because “Knowledge is power” but once things doesn’t go his way the way he expected it to be and it happened right in the spot, he panics. I don’t know I might be wrong. It’s just a thought/belief anyway. What do you think? Sorry about my grammar. I suck at english 😂😂

Your english is more than fine! 

I think Littlefinger went exactly how we should have expected. The reality of Littlefinger is that his entire “empire” is built on deceit, betrayal, and, ultimately, it’s a house of cards.

Littlefinger never understood that at some point, his style would catch up with him. He also had a pronounced weakness - and that was Sansa. His entire power arc began as a revenge plot against the Starks. The second Brandon Stark spared his life, I am pretty convinced LF started planning.

LF learned a couple of lessons; he’ll never be able to beat someone like Brandon Stark head on. His way will always have to be the hidden dagger. He also believes that he learned, via Catelyn, that women will always choose the “wrong” option if given the choice. He has such a deep rooted sexism which shows in how he’s treated Sansa and how he manipulated the entire situation with Jon Arryn to lure Ned to KL that he could eventually betray him.

I’m also fairly sure he is the one that spread the rumor that Lyanna had been kidnapped and raped to lure Brandon to KL knowing he was so aggressive that he would get himself into Stark Trouble ™ and end up dead because of it. Brandon, no doubt, wanted to duel Rhaegar like he dueled LF. The fact that LF wrote a letter to Cat immediately after Brandon died (which she burned without reading) is, I think, something we’ll eventually get more information about. I’m willing to bet the Mad King killing Brandon and his father was the culmination of his revenge for the duel with Brandon.

Then Ned steps into Brandon’s shoes, and Cat falls in love with Ned because he’s such a good man. This makes Ned the next target of LF. I’m halfway convinced that he told Hoster Tully himself that Lysa was pregnant because he didn’t want to marry her and was well aware that Hoster was going to force Lysa to terminate the pregnancy. I think him delivering this information to Hoster is why Hoster mysteriously spared his life rather than having him killed.

So, this is who I think LF is. He thought he slept with Catelyn but it was really Lysa. He revealed Lysa’s pregnancy and ruined her life. He left and made it to KL. He used deceitful financial practices to elevate his position in KL and (I believe) preyed on Brandon’s aggression and sense of honor and lured Brandon to KL (using Lyanna as the bait) to die. Then does the same (using Jon Arryn as the bait) to lure Ned to KL to die. 

Then he sets up an elaborate scheme to have Joffrey killed to essentially kidnap Sansa - the new conduit for Catelyn. 

He’s ALWAYS the hidden dagger. He’s always trying to isolate the victims of his schemes. Which is all leading to my main point about LF’s death.

When all the lies are stripped away, he’s still just a pathetic, weak, jealous little scumbag. He doesn’t have any true support. He doesn’t inspire loyalty. He can only hope that the truth about him can be buried and blamed on somebody else. But we’ve seen repeatedly that when confronted directly, he is weak.

On the show, he’s spared by Brandon but left a mess, he’s gripped up by Ned, directly threatened by Cersei, and choked by Jon. Every single time he’s made to look pathetic and weak. All he has are his schemes. So when those schemes fell apart because of Sansa’s awareness - yes, he is the blubbering, pathetic little scumbag he always was. And the portrayal of the stages of his death are actually pretty fascinating in s7xe7.

First he’s in disbelief, then he tries to bargain, then he becomes angry and yells that no one saw what happened, then he tries to command Royce to take him home (again seeing how he has zero actual power), then he falls to his knees and begs. It’s like the stages of grief in about 15 seconds. Then his last play was to again try to prey on Sansa’s innate desire to be LOVED. 

He is such an asshole. He just spent about 3 seasons trying to cultivate Sansa’s belief that she’ll never be loved exactly for moments like this. His whole scheme is predicated on Sansa believing that she, for some reason, needs LF..but she doesn’t.

And it’s so damn satisfying when this asshole, the guy who (I think) got Brandon and Rickard Stark killed, got Ned killed, got Jon Arryn killed, got Sansa framed for murder, got Tyrion framed for murder (Tyrion later does become a murderer), essentially started the War of the Five Kings that ravaged Westeros, and tried to psychologically turn Sansa into nothing but a slave as a fulfillment of his deranged fantasies about her mother, died on his knees blubbering like the true cowardly evil piece of shit that he is.

It was…in a word…perfect.

#sansa stark #littlefinger #littlefinger x death #sansa x justice #game of thrones

[itsjustaphase-mom]

Luther Hargreeves

ok listen. i know he is certainly not a fan favourite and i absolutely hated him the first few times i watched ua. but this time, i rewatched it specifically to try to sympathize with luther and guys there are so many things at play here

he doesn’t realize the extent to which his siblings were abused. he brushes klaus off and doesn’t think twice about locking up vanya again because he just assumes they had the same experience. he’s not being an asshole (on purpose), he just never stopped to think about the fact that being Hargreeves’ favourite made life a lot easier for him.

similar to the first note, he never stopped to consider the implications of having powers that hurt to use. he has super strength, something that, compared to some of the other powers in the family, is nothing. he just doesnt realize what seeing corpses is like, which is why he doesnt get klaus’ addiction (and to be fair, neither do the rest of his siblings). Same with Vanya. He doesn’t think about what it’s like to learn you have powers after being told you’re horribly boring and average your whole life, nor what it’s like to find out your memory was erased. he had it a lot easier than his siblings, but he doesnt think about that. that leads to some poor decisions and awful seeming actions, but keep in mind that we know a lot more than he does about his siblings. we’ve seen their pain but he hasnt. no one in this damn family communicates, so he just doesnt get it. i wish hed stop to think about how other people feel every once in a while, but itd also help if they just straight up said “hey being high keeps the gory corpses out of my field of view, im not a fan of this either” to help him understand. he wasnt taught empathy, but he tries for the most part. honestly, the fact that he turned out that nice considering what he grew up with? kind of incredible

hes not just obsessed with the moon. and to be fair, he has a right to it? i mean i havent stopped talking about this show for 2 months and ive had other things happening in my life. he was alone up there for 4 years. that doesnt give you much conversation material. and also, bringing up the idea that the apocalypse could be caused by the moon makes sense because, yeah, he was sent up there by their dad who knew about the apocalypse (whether luther was aware of that or not). He was up there to look for threats, so its not that odd to consider that the threat he was watching for could have caused the apocalypse...oh speaking of which HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE MOON IT DID CAUSE THE APOCALYPSE

i think a lot of people like to ignore the fact that he was also abused. sure, it wasnt to the extent of klaus or vanya but he had a horrible childhood nonetheless which messed him up too. he wasnt taught a lot of the things we take for granted so like i said earlier, the fact that he’s not completely deranged is astonishing

also can we mention the horrible trauma he went through? like lmao monkey man but oh my gosh can you imagine? he almost died (in a horribly painful way) and woke up months later with a fucking gorilla body. he’ll never look like a normal person again. he probably will never be able to look in the mirror and like what he sees (you can find out first hand what its like to be me so GATHER ROU-) yes everything Klaus went through was horrible but Luther has lived through some fucked up shit too and i think we like to ignore that because he’s not very likeable

the scene with vanya. it hurts me every time i think about it. HOWEVER. i understand why he did it. do i think he made the right choice? fuck no. but i get why he did what he did. Vanya was extremely dangerous. She caused the apocalypse. she literally killed everyone on earth. these arent things we should brush over. (and yes i love vanya but that’s not what we’re talking about here) she very nearly killed Allison, and he doesn’t know her well enough to know if she’s here to genuinely apologize or finish the job. He just knows he has a responsibility not only to his family, but to the entire world. so he makes a tough decision. it hurts him too, look at his face. he doesnt want to do it but he doesnt think he has any other options.

about dismissing klaus: he has good reason (at least in his head). klaus is intoxicated constantly, and like i mentioned before, he doesnt realize its because of his powers. he just thinks klaus is trying to have a good time, and to be fair, klaus tries to hide his vulnerability (for the most part) so luther wouldnt know any better. in the end when he tells him to be a lookout? justified. the man is heavily suffering from withdrawal (or intoxicated, to luther’s knowledge? i cant remember if luther knows or not or whether he believes him for that matter) which is gonna impact his reaction time, and he doesnt have powers that can help anyway (as far as luther knows). yes, he was trained alongside them and allison is allowed to help despite also lacking usable powers; however, she is in a clearer state of mind and a lot healthier. She can physically fight. Klaus just kinda...jumps on people’s backs for the most part. Did you see her fight Cha Cha? *swoons* no but seriously, Allison is still highly skilled and in far better shape than Klaus. He’s a liability and staying outside is safer for everyone (again, as far as luther knows) all this being said, the way he treats klaus when hes drunk is Disgusting, Abhorrent, and Unacceptable. i understand that he doesnt realise his own power but thats inexcusable

luther x allison is gross, i agree HOWEVER they were not raised as adopted siblings, they were raised more closely akin to a boarding school. their dynamic had always been romantic; they never saw themselves as siblings. yes, i do find it very odd that literally everyone else considers each other siblings, but im just saying that their dynamic has always been different and technically it’s not really incestuous (im not condoning it, i hate it personally i just can see why its not the worst thing ever? its still pretty yikes though. also shipping literally any other characters IS fucking gross because the rest of them see each other as siblings and always have so gtfo with klaus x diego or klaus x ben g r o s s)

those are the main complaints ive seen (and voiced myself)... basically it all boils down to the facts that 1. he was abused, just like his siblings 2. he doesnt stop to think about how other people are thinking or feeling 3. hes just trying to do what is best for his family (and the world). I sympathize with monkey man. He deserved better. I really hope in the next season he’ll pause to consider things every once in a while (and that klaus will open up because he’s not useless but he’s not explaining to anyone why he does the things he does and he needs to!!) so yeah was this basically just me yelling at me from a week ago? yes. does anyone care? probably not but i felt it had to be done. anyway im done ranting for now....if i missed anything lemme know

#luther hargreeves #tua #umbrella academy #casey talks #analysis #if i need to clarify smth plz tell me #if youve got other qualms with luther i can try to explain his thought process #i just understand the man so much better now #also fricc you carina and jayden here this is what i mean #i try so dang hard to be open minded and sympathetic so i was real mad at myself for not giving luther a chance #hey #judging people without thinking about why they act the way they do? #yall are actually just luther XD

[your-friendly-neighborhood-sc00t]

Star vs. The Forces of Evil: Thoughts on the Series Finale

SvtFoE just concluded a few days ago, and to be perfectly honest, Im incredibly conflicted.

I've been putting this off for a little while now, since I've needed to time to gather all my thoughts and criticisms of everything that happened in the finale.

Firstly, I don't think they needed a full hour or so to properly wrap things up, like other people have stated.

Instead, more time should have been devoted to the plot and Star in general.

The very strange thing is, despite how much of a threat Mina is, and clearly was in the past few episodes, the writers decided to severely downplay her in favor of revolving mostly around Star and Marco's relationship.

I'm sorry, but in a show as engaging as SvtFoE, romance shouldn't really be the priority in the FINALE, the SERIES finale mind you.

Alot of time gets wasted on the two obsessing over being with each other and it's honestly sickening.

Like, I never cared for Starco, but I really feel like they shouldn't have wasted time with Marco/Jackie Tom/Star, if these two were obviously gonna be endgame.

Had they gotten together waaaay earlier, as they should've, let's say, Season 2, I probably would've felt more about them supposedly being forcibly separated after just getting together.

Another thing that really bothered me was that Star literally just broke up with Tom a few episodes ago, so basically, the relationship was entirely one-sided, and Star was forcing herself to cry during the breakup, and forcing herself to simply be in the relationship with Tom, since she was absolutely, head-over-heels for Marco at that point.

Just feels so rushed and forced, but whatever.

Something that really urked me, was the fact that there was no final battle between Star and Mina, y'know, one last confrontation between Star and the primary antagonist of the season.

No, she just, convienetly is out of the picture thanks to one of the stupid corrupted milhorses, and that's it. She can't even postpone the destruction of Magic or anything.

In my opinion, two, actually cool situations could have played out here.

So, y'know being in the Realm of Magic and all, this should've powered up Mina even further, and Star as well, they're surrounded by pure Magic, so, why shouldn't it empower them?

And then there's some epic final battle between them, maybe Moon and Eclipsa fight alongside Star, Hell, maybe even Tom and Marco get in on the action, and maybe Mina's so powerful here, that they just barely stop her, and while she's temporarily incapacitated, bam, they destroy magic, y'know? Something cool like that.

The other scenario that could play out, is the one that would've been FIRE.

So, the show established a Multiverse exists within the show's universe.

This is seen in Mathmagic, where we get a glimpse of various versions of Star in different universes and timelines.

Now, IMAGINE, if in the Realm of Magic when Mina shows up, Star tries to fight her, but she's too strong or whatever, so she opens up several portals to enlist the help of herselves to help her battle Mina, that would've been so cool, and would have killed two birds with one stone.

1. A proper final confrontation that is epic and different from all the other battles in the show.

2. The show has it's first and only "Multiverse Episode"

Just feels like a missed opportunity to me.

But what do we get?

Oh boy! More Starco drama!

Well, not before they successfully destroy Magic.

I did think it was really nice to see Solaria's spirit, or whatever it was, finally accept Meteora, she just kind of touches her cheek and smiles, it's a pretty sweet moment.

And Glossaryck's last (actual) line is kind of sad to be honest.

Something that really freaking bothered me was the fact that both Star and Marco chose each other over their friends, FAMILY, and HOMES.

Sorry, but I'm just not buying into this whole

"uwu we belong together forever uwu" crap

Like, they should've been together ALOT longer than a few episodes if dialogue like that was to be warranted and for non-Starco viewers to even care about them being separated.

Wait, there was one thing I forgot to mention that happens during this RoM part.

Marco literally is impaled around his stomach by Tom's corrupted Milhorse, and the crazy thing is, he just WALKS it off.

Like, I understand that after Magic is destroyed, the wound disappears, since that's obviously a magical wound, but, he walked around for a good long while BEFORE Star successfully destroyed Magic, so... He just, walks it off???

There's no logical reason for Marco to be able to endure a wound like this, he's fifteen, he's a CHILD for crying out loud.

So, that was shown in the trailer specifically to clickbait everyone, but there's actual pay-off at all.

Marco is able to literally flip one of these horses by the freaking horn, AFTER HE IS WOUNDED.

I feel like, obviously Marco shouldn't just fall over and die after being impaled, but I feel like he should've had to lean on Tom for the rest of the time here, like, there's no plausible explanation as to why he is able to walk this off like nothing happened.

But that isn't the only thing that has no logical explanation.

I know I'm covering most of the negatives so far, but just so you know, I actually was digging this episode for the most part, up until the last two minutes.

Moon and Eclipsa helping Star destroy the Magic was nice and dandy, and finally seeing Eclipsa's and even Meteora's Butterfly forms was pretty sweet.

Finally discovering why Glossaryck loves pudding was actually kinda funny, and served for the plot.

I've hated Ponyhead for a really long time, but she actually made me smile for the first time when she was comforting Star, telling all these stories to assure her, her friends were all well.

And Janna had a similar moment with Marco, where the two, for what seems like the first time, genuinely acknowledge eachother as friends, which was actually really nice.

But then, something has to happen to ruin EVERYTHING.

For a literally entirely unexplained reason, a portal opens between Mewni and Earth, then it explodes, and then Mewni and Earth have merged...?

Oh HEY, Star and Marco can be together at last!

Oh wait, none of this makes any fucking sense.

Is this show honestly trying to tell me, that a MAGICAL PORTAL opened up, despite the fact that Magic was literally destroyed five minutes ago???

There's no logical, rationale, reasonable REASON for this to have happened.

It's all just deus ex machina bullshit Daron came up with just so Star and Marco could be together, great.

Aside from that, there's some very concerning implications as a result of Star's actions that doesn't seem to be acknowledged at all by the characters.

The first thing being, the destruction of Magic means that all magically-based entities will be wiped from existence.

Meaning that entire species have just been wiped off the face of the Multiverse.

Meaning that Star has committed mass-genocide on a Multiversal scale.

And yet no one in the show seems to acknowledge that.

What they should have done, in my opinion, was simply depower all magically-based entities, leaving them to learn how to live without utilizing Magic on a day-to-day basis, that would have been interesting, and far-less scary.

The only one who would justifiably be gone is Glossaryck, who clearly has strong ties to Magic.

I'm surprised a show that is marketed towards children includes a protagonist who commits mass-genocide, and still gets smoochies from her boyfriend.

Woooow.

Another thing is, the Cleaving of Earth and Mewni, isn't exactly beneficial to ANYONE except Star and Marco.

Are humans, mewmans, and monsters, etc going to be able to live together in harmony?

I mean, I highly doubt everything is gonna be all peaches and cream, especially at first.

This probably is going to result in a whole slew of problems, but remember, it was worth it, so Star and Marco could be uwu'ing.

Props to a friend of mine for bringing this to my attention, but Star destroying Magic should've technically erased Meteora as well.

Think about it, Meteora was pretty much reborn through Magic, which would probably make her fall under that magically-based area.

Same thing with Star to be perfectly honest, her original body was destroyed during The Battle for Mewni, and her new body was entirely reconstructed from Magic, meaning that she should've been erased as well.

Which would have made for a hell of an interesting conflict in the finale, but oh well.

Seems like the rules are being ignored if you ask me.

The show unfortunately follows in the footsteps of the Legend of Korra, in which it's final shot and lines are dedicated to shipping, and not the series as a whole.

Which is incredibly disappointing, but oh well.

And then Mina, man oh man...

So Mina is depowered, and Moon offers to rehabilitate her, truly pitying her, and apologizing for using her, (although technically Mina was using her but, whatever)

And instead of Mina finally regaining a bit of her sanity, instead of finally showing some kind of development, instead of finally ending her conquest against monsters, instead of accepting that offer.

Mina just, basically says her racist ideas will always linger in the minds of others, and she walks off into the woods.

Her dialogue and the way she does this is just an absolute joke, like, the writers just downplay her at every possible moment.

The dialogue is clearly supposed to be funny, despite how mentally fractured this woman is, and it just feels disrespectful to the character in general.

Do you want her to be a psychotic, deranged soldier, stuck in her ways, who knows nothing but war and bigotry?

Or do you want her to be a clown, which is it, Daron?

I can't really say I'm satisfied with this ending.

There's too scary and/or concerning implications, unsatisfying resolutions, and questions for this to be a truly good finale.

I think more time should've been dedicated Mina, considering she's the main antagonist of the season, and it's the series finale, and the merging of Mewni and Earth should have never have been a thing.

Star and Marco should've went on with their lives.

The last we see of Marco should have been him going back to school.

And the last we see of Star should have been her giving a speech to the people of Mewni.

I don't know, I was just hoping for alot more, but the end result was just kind of rushed and unfulfilling.

However, when all is set and done,

Star vs. The Forces of Evil was a hell of a four-year ride, I had a blast watching it for all it's 4 seasons, and I'm really gonna miss it.

#star vs. the forces of evil #my thoughts #might edit later if i have more thoughts

[lookbackmachine]

Manny The Uncanny Oral History Transcript

00:07 Speaker 1: When you're a kid, there's a few television moments that make you say, "What the hell was that?" Those shocking moments in which you're exposed to something wholly different than you've ever experienced. This doesn't occur often because most television shows created for kids are trying to replicate what has already worked in the past. It's why after a juggernaut like Ninja Turtles you get Biker Mice from Mars, Street Sharks and Moo Mesa. Children's television breaks with the old adage, "everything old is new again". Instead it's everything new is new again. In addition as a child, you are limited in what you can see. Your movies generally go up to PG, PG-13 if your dad was cool or if your older brother was cool, and NC-17 if your grandmother was weird. Profanity, sex, and violence are beyond your cultural scope. Not to mention as a kid you don't have the cultural framework or vocabulary to describe what you've seen. It's a purely internalized experience of the weird. That's why when there's something truly different it's so memorable. In the '90s, Manny the Uncanny definitely falls within this distinguished, "what the hell" category. Not only because he's weird; he certainly is, but because this...

01:21 Speaker 2: Why don't you go talk to the head potty guy? Come on! And Mr. Jim Langely, the head potty guy, is going to be telling us all about what happens with our potty bits. Tell me about potty bits.

01:32 Speaker 3: Potty bits?

01:33 Speaker 2: Potty bits.

01:33 Speaker 3: Potty bits.

01:34 Speaker 2: Grandma's trousers!

01:38 Speaker 1: Was on a Disney-branded Saturday morning. It begs repeating, What the hell? This character creation comes from the brilliantly deranged mind of Paul Rugg, and he spent the majority of his adult life making your childhood strange. But first a little history. Steven Spielberg has made several attempts to be Walt Disney. There was An American Tail, which eventually launched his own animation company Amblimation. There was Roger Rabbit and the Roger Rabbit shorts. And of course there was his most famous endeavor, DreamWorks. And yes, he's not Walt Disney, but he's damn close. And what puts him even closer to the heights of Walt Disney's pencil thin moustache was his run at Warner Brothers Animation in the '90s.

02:24 Speaker 1: It had been 20 years since the studio had created an animated short. The days of Termite Terrace were long gone, and that's where Spielberg saw opportunity. He thought maybe a Looney Tunes movie would work, and was working on one in 1987 about young Tunes learning from the greats at the Acme Academy, but it never panned out. Instead, the movie was put into television development, which was better suited for the wonderful short form zaniness of the Looney Tunes, and thus Steven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures was born.

02:55 Speaker 1: The show borrowed the Disney television animation model and infused historically cheap television animation with cash resulting in smoother animation and live orchestration for every show. Before the first episode, $25 million had been spent on Tiny Toons. After all, there was a daunting legacy to live up to, and it did. In its second year it was beating Darkwing Duck, Ninja Turtles, and DuckTales. Buoyed by that initial success, Spielberg and Warner Brothers Animation created the Animaniacs, which gracefully captured the essence of the old Looney Tunes classics, that have long evaded reproductions. Because the classic Looney Tunes shorts are perfection. That's not an exaggeration or an opinion; they are perfect. If you're a non-believer, imagine writing a joke that's still funny 70 years later. Imagine doing animation 70 years ago that is still seen as some of the best to this day, which is why its spirit has been so difficult to recapture. But the Animaniacs are the closest thing to the Looney Tunes since Looney Tunes. An integral part of the team that captured the bygone era was Paul Rugg.

04:02 Paul Rugg: I was in, sort of a offshoot of The Groundlings, called the Acme Theatre, which was founded by some people from the Groundlings. Where the Groundlings was more Hollywood-based, we were more San Fernando Valley-based, just because we were all very lazy and we all live in the San Fernando Valley. I had written some sketches for a show. Sherry Stoner, her partner Mark Sweeney, he was the director, and she started liking my stuff along with John McCann, and she said, "You know, I think you should come and we're developing this show." And I was like, "Oh, okay." And I didn't really know what they were talking about. They sent over a bible, which is everything about the characters, what the characters are. And I think I read that a couple weeks, and so did John McCann. And then we went in to meet Tom Ruegger to just get one script. He sort of told us more about characters, that they were very similar to the Marx Brothers, which is all I really needed to know. Over a week sort of wrote one and then got hired the day I turned it in, and that was it. When I saw that all of the scripts were being sent to Steven and we were waiting for his approval, and then I was like, "Wow, so he's gonna read these, huh?"

05:15 Paul Rugg: When they started doing the auditions, backgrounds, he was... We're always pending Steven's approval, so after a time I was like, well, he really does read this stuff, and he looks at this stuff and he listens to the record. And then I'd written something that never actually made it, but he sent me a memo saying, "That was really funny," so I was like, "Wow, he really is reading this stuff! My gosh, this guy really is involved". We really were writing for ourselves, and luckily he sort of liked that style. We never wrote for him, or oh, he likes this or he likes that, we were just doing what we thought was funny. And luckily he was liking it.

06:01 Paul Rugg: Once or twice, I think I might have written a joke and Tom Ruegger would say, "There's no way a kid's gonna know what that means," and I remember changing it. But maybe that happened twice out of all the scripts that I wrote. So, no, we never really thought about kids. We always wanted to keep it clean, but I can't remember ever catering a joke or a line or any of the ideas for a kid. I remember we did a parody of... Not of Apocalypse Now, but the documentary that Coppola's wife made about his making of Apocalypse Now, which is so totally obscure, and it was like, yeah, make that. So [laughter] I don't think... If we were really writing for kids, we never would have done that.

06:47 Speaker 1: Then there was Freakazoid! Which Paul voiced, wrote, and eventually produced. Freakazoid! Came along during two major changes, Time Warner would create The WB, and the Warner Brothers Animation shows would be transferred from Fox Kids to the new network. And the second, Spielberg made his final attempt to become Uncle Walt.

07:07 Paul Rugg: They were developing Freakazoid! For Steven. It was Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, and Steven wanted to take a really quirky turn and make it more very, very comedy-based. Tom Ruegger took over, and then he took John McCann and I off of Animaniacs and said, "You know, you really gotta help me, this show airs in like eight months, we don't have anything." By that time, I of felt that I had written as much as I could about Animaniacs, and as much as I loved the character I was looking for something new to do, so it was perfect.

07:38 Paul Rugg: The WB just didn't like it at all. I just don't think they liked it, which was a shame because we were having a great time with it, and Steven was really having a good time with it. We would send him a script, he goes, "This is crazy, I can't believe you guys are doing this, this is nuts". So we were all just loving it. But the WB was trying to think about... Well, in the second season, they asked us to do half hour stories in the hopes that it wouldn't be so bizarre. All that really did was [chuckle] give us a license to do more bizarre long-form stuff. Yeah, I don't think they were delighted with what we were doing.

08:20 Paul Rugg: Our demographics were coming in. Well, they weren't coming in right at the sweet spot that they want, we were really appealing to an older group, more high school, college, and some very intelligent younger children. Well, I don't wanna say The WB changed everything, but it did change everything. I think The WB in and of itself was sort of the demise of Warner Brothers Animation as we knew it then. They had a definite agenda, and that was to compete in this broader field of children's television. And they had a certain idea about what that should be. Well, they wanted Pokemon, they wanted... Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was doing really well, they wanted stuff that wasn't what necessarily we were doing. They wanted hits. While I think Warner Brothers Animation was doing very well, you know Animaniacs was doing well, they didn't care what it was, they wanted big hits. And well Freakazoid! , while it was doing really well with the critics and Steven was happy, it didn't fit in their wheelhouse.

09:34 Paul Rugg: They didn't really understand what they had. They had Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, they had the golden chest, in my opinion. And then they had the Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. I don't think they ever really truly understood what they had. The way Disney sort of takes care of their characters... I think for reasons that I've never really understood, I think that they didn't really understand the characters. And therefore you got things like Space Jam, which you might like Space Jam, but it was... I remember we all watching and we're like, "Oh my gosh, what are they thinking?"

10:12 Paul Rugg: When he formed DreamWorks, we still had, I think, some Freakazoids left to do, Animaniacs left to do, but we knew that, that sort of partnership was over. And then there was a lot of talk about us all maybe moving over. I think we all got interviews at DreamWorks when they were just starting it, we all went over there and had a meeting. And then some of us decided to go, some of us decided to stay. I was one who decided to stay because I really liked working for Ruegger, I really liked working for Jean MacCurdy. As far as bosses go, they didn't get any better.

10:54 Paul Rugg: We used to work at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, and there was this fountain where we would all... We would go down from the lobby and sit and talk, and I remember sitting there and somebody came up and said, "Hey, Steven's starting this big new thing." And we all went upstairs, and I don't think there was the internet then, but somebody got a copy of Variety and we read it. We're like, "Wow, this is big." And I think... As I recall, we were still doing the first season of Freakazoid! So I started putting that in some of the Freakazoid! Scripts, there's a Lord Bravery script that mentions DreamWorks. And in typical Warner Brothers fashion, we made fun of it because that was our job, so. Nobody was scared, I don't remember being scared because I remember we were really happy working at Warner Brothers and we really liked the anarchy there, but I think maybe people were ready to move on, to try different things.

11:53 Speaker 1: Peter Hastings was a writer who had his fingerprints all over Warner Brothers television animation. And this resume led to Disney putting him in charge of creating the vibe of Disney's, One Saturday Morning. He based the program around Bob McAllister's '70s kids show, Wonderama and Late Night with David Letterman. The colors were bright, the jokes were fast. And if you were wondering if an elephant could crush a blueberry pie with its foot, you could find out here. And within this wonderland train station was a man, a beacon of weirdness, an 11 on the dial, if you will. Manny the Uncanny.

12:32 Speaker 2: How's it going? I'm Manny the Uncanny today with the US Mint in Philadelphia to see how they make the coins. Come inside and don't be lazy. How does, how does, how does it... This is the build, large epoxy quarter. Here it is. This is touching, feelings. It transfered here, into this machine which is drilling it in there. It goes from shrunk down to this, which will make our coin.

12:53 Speaker 5: That's exactly correct.

12:54 Speaker 2: Wow, you learn... So much. Does Amos make you nervous? Okay Tim, now you're... Hey, I'm Manny the Uncanny. Do you ever wonder where all of your potty bits go when you flush them down? It comes here to the sewage treatment plant. Let's go talk to the head potty guy. Come in. Hey, hi there and all of that, this stuff. I'm Manny the Uncanny and today I am at the Bazooka Joe where... Sorry, Joe Blasco Cosmetics where we're going to learn about the make-ups. But not the make-ups for going to market or going to the fishing store, it's the makeup of scariness to be in the movie. So I tell you what, let's...

13:37 Speaker 1: Manny is delivered to each destination by a hot air balloon man, known as Mr. Lighter Than Air. He's suspended below the man's belly by cords that are similar to a baby's jumper. His glasses are thick, his suit God-awful plaid and he looks like a cartoon exiting a dynamite explosion. He's of course not the first bizarre children's TV show host. In fact, Linda Ellerbee and LeVar Burton come to mind as the only normality within this group. At the top of the list is of course, Pee-wee Herman. The voice, the suit, the bike. Strangely enough, his world is so off-kilter that Pee-wee, despite the odds, is the straight man in many of his scenes. A weirdo pointing to bigger weirdos and saying, "Isn't that weird?" In fact, Pee-wee Herman loves who he is and goes home to his amazing house filled with warmth and friends. He's undeniably happy. Manny, on the other hand, is desperately trying to relate in man-on-the-street segments with real people while having a complete inability to do so and lack of understanding of how to do it.

14:40 Speaker 1: And you can't imagine Manny going home to a magical talking chair. Instead his one counterpart is a mechanized cat puppet which you know Manny controls and voices. There's no magic, just desperation and loneliness. Because even though the shows are titled, "Manny Goes to the Mint" and "Manny at the United Nations", they might as well be titled, "Manny tries to make a friend." It's tragic comedy. This isn't Greek by any standard, but there is something incredibly human about this fictional farce that comes from Paul Ruggs's performance, which is real and grounded. But he's playing off the wall insanity.

15:20 Paul Rugg: Because we knew that Freakazoid! Was cancelled. So myself, and John McCann and Doug Langdale were developing a Daffy Duck show based loosely on the Larry Sanders Show where Daffy had his own extravaganza sort of like the old Carol Burnett Show. And it was sort of behind the scenes and in front of the scenes, and then it was clear that the WBJB counter didn't really want anything like that so that's when I decided to leave Warner Brothers. I had shot a couple of things for Peter Hastings who was... Who really wanted me to do Manny the Uncanny for One Saturday Mornings. Manny developed out of a thing I had been doing at Acme. He was this sort of washed up, cruise ship entertainer, he was the worst magician ever. So that's what I would sort of do on stage. And Peter always liked it, and I sort of always liked it, and the audiences always liked it. Which is why [laughter] I was more surprised than anyone that give me... Sort of said we should do it there but that's all Peter.

16:21 Paul Rugg: I mean Peter wanted to have fun, that sort of goes back to what we learned at Warner Brothers. If we think it's fun, hopefully it'll be fun. And then he said, "Well, maybe Manny should just go out and sort of meet people." a la Cole Huaser who was sort of a very famous guy on public television here who used to go out and visit with various people in the LA community. He would go to a bagel maker and spend time with the bagel makers. And we said, "Well let's do the same things." So Manny's segments basically became, where are the really weird places that we can go where Manny can be the world's worst interviewer. So he took a camera while I was working at Warner Brothers and decided to film some stuff of me doing Manny. I guess they really liked that. And I was writing the Daffy show when he asked me to come actually be Manny for the wrap arounds that they were doing, the on set, the whole digital set they had created. So I took two weeks off of Warner Brothers and filmed that. And then, came back to Warner Brothers. And then, I left Warner Brothers because they didn't pick up Daffy. And he called and just wanted to know if I wanted to come be a part of it.

17:38 Paul Rugg: I helped him pitch it. I remember sitting in front of the executives [chuckle] who were sort of horrified because I had dressed up in my whole Manny costume and I was, I was sort of doing my whole Manny act for them. And I don't remember them being very enthused that there was this really weird guy with funny hair in front of them, but. Which was, [laughter] which was kind of funny, but. They were liking it but they didn't wanna be a part of the Act, meaning, executives are very funny, they're like, "Great we like it, just don't put us in the position of having to sit there and be a part of this", they were just more like, "Don't look me in the eye, stop it" and so we was like, I think that day Peter and I learned a very valuable lesson. Never go pitch and sort of make those people you're pitching to part of the act. Because Manny was very abrasive he was very silly and I remember literally picking out people who we're pitching to and these are the big, big wigs and I'm insulting them and they were smiling but you could tell they wanted it to end like now.

18:51 Paul Rugg: Peter and I were having a great time I think we just did the whole thing, we were just having a blast we heard later that you probably shouldn't do that, but then we were Walt... Warners and we were more pushing the boundaries having some fun. Because I helped Tom Ruegger do the same thing at Warner Brothers when he was pitching Hysteria and he had me come as Nostradamus and do my whole act in front of the president of Warner Brothers and they were all very happy about it. So it's just a different culture at Disney it's a little more... I found it to be a little bit tightly wound, let's just say, and the Warner Brothers vibe was a little bit more it wasn't that I had never worked at Disney and so, and I was so stuck in that Warner Brothers we can do anything it never occurred to me that they wouldn't like it. So I was never surprised that we were getting away with it 'cause I didn't know that we were getting away with anything if that makes sense. I didn't know sort of what I know about Disney which is a fine company and stuff but they are definitely hands on and they want it done as a certain way, but back then I don't really remember knowing that.

20:09 Paul Rugg: Well after I left Warner brothers and did other things, I went back in for a meeting once when all of the people that I had sort of known were gone and it felt like walking into Disney and I remember going that's a shame. Because I think it was a very specific time a group of people got together and were just having a great time doing what they were doing. Manny works in very minimal doses. Anything beyond five minutes you sort of are like okay he's really beginning to annoy me which I love but no, we really didn't get any notes the biggest shout was stop screaming and that was it.

20:54 Paul Rugg: 'Cause Manny is very energetic and very sort of excitable and that is where I would play it on stage but when you put a camera like two inch in front of him it basically looks like he's gone insane. So we sort of modified him a bit and I wasn't quite sure how the bits were gonna cut together but we really lucked out and the first editor whoever took a crack at sort of putting the Manny's together was the lead editor on Waiting for Guffman and he was sort of in between gigs he just got this footage together in a way that was so surprising and fun that it really set the tone for all future editing then he eventually got busy and had to move on but we decided to sort of copy his style which was making the editing even more bizarre and it really worked. Peter Hastings and I came up with at Warner brothers and I have no idea why I think we were in the elevator, once and doing weird voices or doing something we came up with it's true.

22:00 Paul Rugg: And I have no idea where it comes from but I remember we just started giggling and then when he came in to say we need Manny song for his intro. I remember we wrote that in about 30 seconds, because we realized Manny didn't make sense so I remember, I just went into his office he goes, "I need this now". And we went in there we recorded it and that was it. I think we recorded at once it was just dumb and it made no sense, and It made us laugh and we're like okay we got that.

22:28 Speaker 2: Where are we going today miss Mr. Lighter than Air?

22:34 Speaker 6: Well, Manny some place wonderful.

22:40 Speaker 2: Hi there oh and happy days let's have some fun. And not be lazy it's true.

22:46 Paul Rugg: Yeah, I was trying to think about how Manny would get around and it just made me laugh my friend Mark Dropman was super, super, super funny guy I said I have this idea what do you think he goes, "That sounds great", so yeah, we filmed it I don't think we could get away with that now, but gosh it made us all laugh and I remember being in that harness and I think a couple of the execs might have come in and go, "Why are you in a harness?", I go, "Well I'm floating below Mr. Lighter than air." And they're like, "What the heck is that?"and I'm like, "Oh, never mind I think I've said too much already". So I don't think we would have the same budget today. We had this great makeup person and she always wanted to get Manny's hair perfect. So I think we went through literally 10 gallons of hair spray and she would sit and work on his hair and I remember that being like, Wow, I never thought anyone would be working on my hair. I remember they had been shooting a lot. They only needed me for a little bit. I came in one day and they said, "Stand here", and I was doing obviously my Manny thing very broad, very big, and the elephant wasn't liking it and they told me to not move so much 'cause the elephant was freaking out.

24:05 Paul Rugg: The trainer came over and said, "Really this elephant is about to kill you, so... " So, I might have changed a little bit. Maybe if you see it now because I hadn't seen if for years. But maybe you'll notice a very rather muted Manny who doesn't wanna get trampled by a very large elephant. I think maybe they separated me from the elephant at one point, but the elephant didn't like men. People, depending on who they were when they sort of saw what we were doing and how we were conducting the interview. And then was just all a bunch of fun, they really got into the fun. Some places didn't really like it. There was a... I remember we did something for the Egg Board of California. And we got... I think I got five minutes in to the interview, and they thought we were making fun of them and kicked us out. So, they literally put their hands in the in front of the camera and told us to leave because they thought... I don't know who they thought we were, but then as I just started airing, people were like, "Yeah yeah, you can come and do that." They saw that we were just having fun. But yeah, some people didn't really like it.

25:25 Speaker 1: Despite the Egg Board, most people seem to be enjoying themselves. They're in on the joke, which eliminates any cynicism. And they're as nice as they can be to Manny. It reaffirms acts of charity that deep down all people are good, or maybe they just wanna be on TV. Either way, it humanizes them. Likewise Manny never gets the best of someone. The ordinary people constantly try to help him understand. In the same way they would help an over-questioning kid understand. It's actually kinda sweet. The guy who is in charge of the State Quarters, or any of the knights at medieval times are for once, cooler than the TV personality, with Letterman, Conan, and Leno, that's never the case. Those are smart asses picking on the defenseless. While Manny is less than defenseless. It's this dynamic that provokes the wonderful moments in the sketches. In which an ordinary person who probably thought they had a lame job smiles. And it reads on their face "Yeah, I guess my job is pretty cool after all". As for Manny, there's a respite for the strange ones. In spite of everything, the security guard that Manny once feared... Well, see for yourself.

26:35 Speaker 2: Thank you very much. It's been a great pleasure. You wanna go get a soda or something?

26:44 Speaker 7: Sure.

26:46 Speaker 1: In that moment, there's hope for anybody weird, awkward, to meet at least somebody for a soda. Make sure to check out Paul Rugg's Freakazoid! Celebration Freak-A-Con on March 15th on Facebook Live.

#disney #one saturday morning #mannytheuncanny #retrodisney

[themattress]

My Top 50 OUAT Episodes

And now, as a final goodbye to OUAT, I give you this list of my personal picks for the 50 best episodes in the series, listed in order of airing. Two-hour broadcasts are counted as one here.

1. Pilot - 1x01. One of the best TV pilots of recent years due to how quickly it grabs you and emotionally invests you in its magical atmosphere and the plight of its central characters. 

2. The Thing You Love Most - 1x02. Best watched immediately after the pilot, as it deals with the same story but from the dark and twisted perspective of its villain, the Evil Queen.

3. Snow Falls - 1x03. Snow and Charming are, well, charming in their first adventure together and the start of their romance, as is sweet Mary Margaret in the present day.

4. That Still Small Voice - 1x05. Jiminy Cricket of all characters gets a surprisingly dark and emotional backstory that resonates with him in the extremely intense present-day scenario.

5. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - 1x07. Jamie Dornan gives an incredible performance as the tormented Sheriff Graham / Huntsman, all the way to the episode’s tragic conclusion.

6. Desperate Souls - 1x08. We get our first true insight into the backstory of the enigmatic Rumpelstiltskin, and Emma becomes sheriff, making this a truly pivotal episode for the show.

7. Skin Deep - 1x12. A truly subversive, twisted take on the Beauty and the Beast story, with some unexpected layers added to Rumple’s character and Robert Carlyle’s performance. 

8. Red-Handed - 1x15. Little Red Riding Hood IS the Big Bad Wolf. That is awesome.

9. Hat Trick - 1x17. One of the most terrifying, surreal episodes in the entire series, with the great Sebastian Stan knocking it out of the park as the deranged Mad Hatter, Jefferson.

10. The Return - 1x19. We learn why the curse was cast in a devastatingly emotional story that adds more to the characters of Rumple and August as the season enters its final stretch.

11. The Stranger - 1x20. August’s true identity is one of the best reveals in the whole series.

12. An Apple Red As Blood - 1x21. Part 1 of the season finale, as Regina in both the past and present gears up to finish off her nemesis, with the episode ending on a huge shocker.

13. A Land Without Magic - 1x22. Part 2 of the season finale, the best finale the show ever had, and quite possibly my all-time favorite episode. Almost everything about this episode is perfect and gives you the feeling of a story coming to its end as the threads come together.

14. Broken - 2x01. A solid season opener that sets the show on an exciting new course.

15. Lady of the Lake - 2x03. Things really pick up as Team Princess is formed, Cora is established as the new Big Bad, and we get some beautiful moments between Snow and Emma that make it all the more shameful that the show utterly ruins this dynamic later on.

16. The Doctor - 2x05. Dr. Whale is Victor Frankenstein. Did NOT see that coming!

17. Tallahassee - 2x06. The first adventure that “Captain Swan” (Emma and Hook) partake in together, while at the same time we finally learn about Emma’s sad past with her ex-lover.

18. Queen of Hearts - 2x09. A thrilling conclusion to the first arc of Season 2, where we finally learn Cora’s motivations and get an epic fight between the heroes and the villains.

19. Manhattan - 2x14. This episode is a real turning point, with Emma’s ex-lover being revealed as Rumple’s long-lost son, along with several new insights into Rumple’s past. 

20. The Queen Is Dead - 2x15. One of the show’s most emotional episodes, in no small part thanks to Bailee Madison’s truly amazing performance as young Snow in the flashback.

21. The Miller's Daughter - 2x16. We learn about Cora’s fascinating backstory and the true nature of her relationship with Rumple. But then she dies, and the season totally falls apart.

22. Second Star To The Right - 2x21. Finally it feels like shit is getting done, and the concept of a terrifying re-imagining of Peter Pan in the flashback is immediately captivating.

23. And Straight On 'Til Morning - 2x22. The mess Season 2 became gets cleaned up in this gripping finale, with a brilliant new story set-up laid out to be followed in Season 3.

24. The Heart Of The Truest Believer - 3x01. OUAT is truly back at the top of its game here, juggling four different plot threads perfectly and introducing its greatest villain, Peter Pan.

25. Lost Girl - 3x02. The flashback here is meh, but the present day stuff is nigh-perfect.

26. Quite a Common Fairy - 3x03. For the first time, Regina’s potential redemption feels good and genuine, and Rose McIver’s re-imagining of Tinker Bell is a delight from the start.

27. Good Form - 3x05. Hook’s backstory is amazing, and Captain Swan truly begins here.

28. Ariel - 3x06. JoAnna Garcia Swisher makes a truly perfect live-action rendition of Ariel, and the interactions between all the characters in Neverland take a truly engaging turn.

29. Dark Hollow - 3x07. Belle and Ariel, on a mission from Rumpelstiltskin, team up to fight John and Michael Darling who serve the villainous Peter Pan. Only on this show, people!

30. Think Lovely Thoughts - 3x08. The “Nevengers” truly show how far they’ve come working as a group here, and we get one of the show’s most shocking and twisted reveals.

31. Going Home - 3x11. The perfect series finale that isn’t a series finale, with the action increasingly slowing down so that you can fully appreciate the emotions. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if the show had ended right here, I’d have been completely satisfied. 

32. Witch Hunt - 3x13. Just plain fun and funny, with great dialogue and great character interactions that really get you re-adjusted to these characters and to life in Storybrooke.

33. The Jolly Roger - 3x17. Quite possibly the quintessential Hook episode, showing just what kind of a person he was and how he desperately wants to be a better man now.

34. Snow Drifts / There's No Place Like Home - 3x21 / 22. After the incredible letdown that was the climax of the Wicked arc, we get this two-part finale that really embodies the magic OUAT had and never quite will again, with Emma’s character arc coming to a fitting end.

35. The Apprentice - 4x04. “The Dark One lies. The Dark One tricks”. This episode does a perfect job at re-establishing Rumple as a true villain and a schemer to be reckoned with.

36. The Snow Queen - 4x07. Quite possibly the most heartbreaking villain backstory the show has ever had, plus riveting scenes between Elizabeth Mitchell and Jennifer Morrison.

37. Smash the Mirror - 4x08. It’s overlong and the Regina and Robin subplot is complete bullshit, but everything else in both the past and present is golden. The 4A arc peaked here.

38. Shattered Sight - 4x10. The boffo comedy in this episode is cringe-inducing, but all of the serious, emotional stuff centered around the Snow Queen and her family gets me every time.

39. Poor Unfortunate Soul - 4x15. Ursula’s backstory is kind of iffy, but the effect it has on Hook and his development here is really good, as are the villains and August’s return.

40. Sympathy for the De Vil - 4x18. “Evil isn’t born, it’s made”...except in this case, where it is 100% born and takes us on a twisted tale that could pass for a good Twilight Zone episode.

41. The Broken Kingdom - 5x04. The twist of the glorious kingdom of Camelot being a kingdom literally built on sand, and its monarch a disturbed megalomaniac, is a great one. Plus, Snow and Charming actually get do something heroic after a long period of inactivity! 

42. Nimue - 5x07. The actors portraying Merlin and Nimue really sell the doomed epic romance between the two, as we get the most far-back flashback in the show’s entire run.

43. Labor of Love - 5x13. This episode can be summed up as “The Nevengers are back.” That alone counters the disappointment of how blandly Hercules and Megara are portrayed.

44. The Brothers Jones - 5x15. A touching tale of brotherhood, good intentions gone wrong, self-loathing and forgiveness, plus giving Hook closure with his big brother. I just love it.

45. Firebird - 5x20. The flashback is utter tripe, but the escalation in the present-day story, the performances, and Captain Swan’s True Love test makes this episode well worth it.

46. Last Rites - 5x21. Aside from that moment with Robin, this episode is awesome, especially the Underworld scenes with the duo I never knew I wanted: Hook and Arthur.

47. The Other Shoe - 6x03. This episode embodies what the show SHOULD have become: a more light-hearted series with adventures-of-the-day starring Emma, Hook and Henry. 

48. A Wondrous Place - 6x15. Hook sails on Captain Nemo’s sub, the Nautilus, alongside Aladdin and Jasmine, meeting up with Ariel and facing down Jafar. Only on this show, people!

49. The Song in Your Heart - 6x20. Because really, who doesn’t love a Musical Episode? This one centering around Emma and her marriage to Hook makes it all the more special.

50. The Final Battle - 6x21 / 22. It’s got a LOT of problems, but the ending it reaches is truly one that fits the show, and we would have been better off if ABC hadn’t renewed it afterward.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Price of Gold - 1x04. Rumpelstiltskin’s first showcase episode, and he’s terrifying in it.

Dreamy - 1x14. Screw the haters, I really liked this episode! It was hilarious and sweet.

The Crocodile - 2x04. Our introduction to Killian Jones / Captain Hook. It’s a good one, and I’d have liked it better had Rumple’s role in both the past and present not been so disturbing.

Save Henry - 3x09. A tad anti-climactic and the Regina focus was misaimed, but still good.

New York City Serenade - 3x12. A damn fine start to a new beginning for the show.

Rocky Road - 4x03. Elsa and the Snow Queen are both fantastic characters, both shown well here. It’s held back by the introduction of Will Scarlet, who ended up being a waste.

Darkness on the Edge of Town - 4x12. This episode gives us the visual of villains on a road trip stopping at a drive-thru. You just gotta love that! Also, the Chernabog was awesome.

Operation Mongoose - 4x21 / 22. Despite Isaac’s (and by extension, A&E’s) terrible writing, the weird situations and performances from the actors makes this an entertaining finale.

Siege Perilous - 5x03. A good old-fashioned Camelot adventure is just what I wanted. 

The Bear King - 5x09. Again, screw the haters. The show needed more episodes like this, a standalone where the plot takes a pause and the side characters are allowed to develop.

Broken Heart - 5x10. The present-day plot is absolute crap, but the flashback in Camelot is really well executed, and Colin O’Donoghue is clearly having a blast playing Dark Hook.

Souls of the Departed - 5x12. Not ideal for the 100th episode, but a good start to the Underworld arc, with a lot of familiar faces returning and a great new villain introduced. 

Devil's Due - 5x14. Despite her fate in this episode, it’s great to see the writers presenting Milah more sympathetically than she was before, and Hades continues to be a delight.

Our Decay - 5x16. The first episode where Zelena feels truly human instead of the cartoonish psychopath she was before, with her and Hades’ romance being legit touching.

Sisters - 5x19. While I don’t much care for the subplot with Prince James, the main plot featuring the reconciliation between Cora, Regina and Zelena is great and beautifully acted.

Strange Case - 6x04. Oh, Mr. Hyde, you left us way too soon. The episode is sadly weighed down by Rumple’s textbook abuse toward Belle, which we now know is never truly punished. 

Dark Waters - 6x06. A good bonding episode between Hook and Henry, plus a great new character from the Land of Untold Stories who is actually faithful to his source material!

Heartless - 6x07. For once, Lana Parilla actually gives us an old-school Evil Queen performance, where she’s scary and truly malevolent rather than campy and over-the-top.

Mother's Little Helper - 6x16. I really like the Dark Realm, and wish that more was done with it. The reunion between long-time rivals Hook and Blackbeard is also a lot of fun.

The Black Fairy - 6x19. The retcon that Rumple was born a Savior is ridiculous, but the titular Black Fairy’s backstory actually makes her an interesting character for the first time.

A Pirate's Life - 7x02. It was nice to see Emma again, and even better to see that the Hook in this arc is actually Wish!Hook rather than the original, who is still living happily with Emma.

The Girl in the Tower - 7x14. Robin and Alice are beyond precious as a couple in both the past and the present, finally washing away the bad taste left behind by “Ruby Slippers”.

The Guardian - 7x18. It may have been late in coming, but Rumple / Weaver actually becomes interesting here as we get to explore his relationship with his newfound friends.

Homecoming - 7x21. It’s good to see several old characters again, and even better to see all the loose threads from that abominable Season 6 Wish Realm two-parter finally addressed. 

Leaving Storybrooke - 7x22. Except for Rumple’s end, most of what happens following Snow and Charming’s appearance is utter shit. But.....at least the show is finally over!

#Once Upon a Time #ABC #Opinion

[i-need-you-means-i-love-you]

The Longest Post I’ve Made On Here

Destiel is is such an intriguing and complex relationship because it is always changing. Both the characters go through so much person growth and development, it’s impossible for the relationship to stay the same. Their roles to each other, to their family, to the rest of the world is always changing.

For example: in the very beginning Castiel was this astounding, majestic figure that Dean couldn’t help being astonished by, even if he tried to downplay it. He may not be an archangel, or a god, but when he first appears, he does so as the show’s first resemblance of something divine and holy. A whole new level of power. He brings with him the idea of Heaven, of a God, of creatures who supposedly didn’t even exist until Cas arrived and changed everything Dean thought he knew. This was before Cas had Fallen, or been cast out by Heaven, or had lost his powers for any amount of time, so to Dean he might as well have been invincible.

As we know, this brought a lot of sexual tension to the relationship.

The attraction definitely started as physical, on both sides. This continued for many, many seasons.

But they start to form an emotional connection as well, a “profound bond” as Cas elegantly puts it. Cas starts to open up to Dean, accidentally-or-maybe-not revealing that he’s not as heartless and robotic as the other angels. This helps Dean see Cas as more like a human, like an equal.

Than we have 5x04: “The End”. One of the greatest milestones of Destiel. In this episode, Dean finally realizes how much Cas means to him, which is when we get this expression:

Zachariah’s purpose of sending Dean into the (destroyed) future is to show him how awful the world will be if Lucifer isn’t defeated, and the message hits home- hard, and Endverse!Cas is what hits Dean the hardest. The relationship is still at the point where Dean still sort of revels Cas, holds him up on a pedestal as a representation of all things powerful and glorious. Then he goes into the future and sees this angel, this creature he has held so highly in mind, shattered- addicted to pills, having sex for no reason, so broken by his own failure that he can’t even bear being sober- and all because he stayed by Dean. Because he refuses to leave Dean. He see Castiel fall the furthest from himself, and that’s what breaks him. Which is why he’s nearly crying when he comes back to find present Cas and where this quote comes in:

But of course he changes. How could he not? Because as awesome as Castiel is with his powers and his wings and his blades, he still has a lot to learn. He can still be stuck-up and dangerously stubborn and short-tempered. It’s the little human moments of Cas we love the most, the ones that come more and more often as he spends time away from Heaven and with the Winchester family.

But the thing about humans- they’re broken. They feel too many types of pain. They hide themselves behind anger or humor or both. They lie to their loved ones. They’re haunted by their pasts. They also care more about each other than they do themselves- to an extent that can be both irrational and dangerous. Cas is witness to this plenty of times when he sees what Sam and Dean will do for each other.

So it does make sense that in Season 6 he turns away from the humans for a while.

He goes back to Heaven to fight their civil war. Remember, he’s a soldier, first and foremost. He actually was quite a legendary leader before... well, before Dean. But he has his duties. His is at the service of Heaven. That leads him away from Dean- and everyone else- both physically and emotionally. And of course Dean notices the changes.

And Cas is unhappy with Dean too. The other angels (and other creatures) are already mocking him for being the “Winchesters’ pet” and it doesn’t help that they call him at the most inconvenient times, with no regard for his schedule and responsibilities. He is at war; in his mind, his job is a lot more important than whatever trouble the boys have gotten themselves into so far.

And his war is important. The Winchesters aren’t the only important figure sin his life; he does have some close friends among the angels. And they are dying. Remember, he’s not just a footsoldier; he’s also a leader. Every death he sees as his fault. His need for the war to end rises to desperation. The Winchesters were the ones who taught him desperate times call for desperate measures. Turning to the dark side for the sake of helping “the greater good” is a very human thing to do, and working with Crowley probably never would’ve crossed his mind if he hadn’t been introduced to the human way of problem-solving.

Not that he particularly enjoys working with Crowley.

And he knows it’s wrong.

And Dean knows it’s wrong (even though he’s worked with Crowley too) but he tries to deny it to the very last second, bristling at Bobby and Sams’ accusations, reacting with hurt instead of outrage when he learns the truth.

And Cas almost breaks- almost. Because he remembers what he and Dean were. But not quite. Instead he tries to warp it around and blame Dean for his actions.

A very human action- twisting a situation so someone else is to blame, so you don’t have to face your own horrible mistake. But when Dean forcefully tells him, “No, I was there. Where were you?” he realizes he can’t get out this easy.

This isn’t the first Destiel fight, but it was the first one that really cut a whole out of my heart. That image Dean had been trying to keep of Cas- holding on so desperately to this picture of grace and beauty- had crumbled. He realized Cas was no more pure or right than a human- than him- and that was terrifying. Enough to drive a titanium wedge between them for the rest of the season.

This is also the first time we see of Castiel that he really sinks to this level of raw desperation- something the Winchesters have dealt with countless times. The contrast between how he deals with it and how the brothers deal with it is amazing. The main theme of the show is family, and how family will always be your backbone even in the worst of disasters- but since Cas turns away from his family, deliberately isolates them, he remains unstable and deranged.

By the time he takes in the power of the souls and Leviathan in Purgatory, he’s barely holding himself together- his mind is so fragile that the souls of all the monstrous, hideous, voracious creatures in the most shameful pits of the afterlife turn him into a monster as well, and also the perfect doorway for the Leviathan.

So then we flash forward a bit- let’s see, the Winchesters and Bobby are fighting the Leviathan, Sam is continually suffering from his hallucinations and shredded soul, Bobby is shot and becomes a ghost.... and Cas is supposed to be dead.

Cas, the one who betrayed them, manipulated them, worked against them, threatened to kill them, killed hundreds of others, devastated Heaven, let the Leviathans into the world, is supposed to be dead... and Dean isn’t ready to accept that. How do we know this?

Easy: the trenchcoat. When the trenchcoat washes up on the shore of the lake Leviathan!Cas disappeared into, supposedly never seen again, Dean picks it up and takes it with him. And apparently keeps it in the trunk of his car. This might not be a big deal if he hadn’t been switching cars all year to avoid detection- literally a different car every episode- meaning every time he got a new rental, or hotwired a new model, he would open the trunk of the first car, dig the coat out because you know he’d stuff it somewhere where he wouldn’t have to look at it, and carry it to the next car. Every week or so for almost a year. And when he gives it to Cas (who was Emmanuel two minutes ago) we know why he kept the trenchcoat for so long: he was waiting for Cas to come back. Because in his heart he could never accept that Cas was gone, even though their relationship had basically been shredded by the last time they’d seen each other. When Dean returns the trenchcoat, he’s saying: “I forgive you. You were evil and a monster and you lied to me and betrayed me and I hate you but I forgive you because I love you.”

We never really find out what could’ve stemmed from that, though, because their relationship is sort of interrupted with the surfacing of Crazy!Cas.

....

Since this was a crazy long post I’m going to split this into 2, maybe 3 parts. Stay tuned if you’ve managed to read through my entire ramble!

[the-questionmark-kid]

Once Upon A Fuckin Time

Probably gonna post about it now, so if you dont’ want to see this awful thing, just blacklist ‘ouat’ or ‘happy beginnings’ (i’m trash i am actual trash dear fucking god)

I finally finished this hell show and I’ve got a lot of thoughts so yes there’s spoilers this entire post is spoilers i’m so angry-

Alright in all honesty, I truly unironically enjoyed watching Once Upon A Time. The idea is wonderful, it’s everything a younger me would have wanted; fairytales existing in the ‘real’ world, their memories locked away until a fated day, magic existing all around us if only we know where to look. I love it. So many of the characters enchanted me, whether because of their strength, their intelligence, their kindness, or their cunning. The plot WAS interesting, for a time, some arcs better than others, some storylines falling flat while others reignited my interest in the show as a whole. But there was a lot of unnecessary mucking around in some ways, I feel. 

So to start, let me just say I began watching this show last year, it’s literally been over a year since I began this due to my fucked up attention span and work and sleep schedule and personal projects. So my memory of the storyline has always been a little disjointed. However: I did just marathon the last two goddamn seasons so I remember everything with near perfect clarity (aaaand I needed to watch some happy Rumbelle scenes so I went back over those episodes). And there are things I have issues with that like…aren’t even just my opinions, they’re just structurally bad for the series? I suppose that’s still an opinion, but I’m quite positive they’re opinions shared by many.

Now my biggest issue is honestly with how the writers handled Rumpelstiltskin, he himself but also his relationship with Belle, his sons, and his overarching destiny. But that doesn’t truly bother me that much until probably the middle of season 5 (that’s a lie, but this is how I’ll present the argument. I guess.), so we’ll skip that for now. First, I want to talk about the AMAZING opportunity they had to work with “the Moms” and how they threw it into the gutter:

1) Emma and Hook -Okay just….what the fuck. What was the Point. Captain Hook was one of my favorite villains as a kid, and honestly I was on board with this scrappy pirate and Rumple being the bane of each other’s existence. I enjoyed the feud for a little while, and the Emma not being swayed by Hook’s ridiculous attempts at flirting was a refreshing reminder of her true purpose in the show: she is the Savior. She has more important things to worry about than a romance. -Hook’s purpose was… Frankly, he felt expendable during the last two seasons, and when he died, I was thankful that arc was finally over. But beyond his practical uselessness, having to move on from Hook would have been very good for Emma, for reasons I was going to explain but I’m too fired up to get into right now. Point is, Hook’s presence stopped meaning anything beyond giving Emma her boy toy love interest. Given the fact that it’s a show about fairytales, okay whatever, that’s fine, but Emma is SUCH a badass! I actually LIKE this character! But by season 5, by the time Emma is as fallible as she can get as the Dark One*…most of her reasons for doing things are because of Hook. And frankly? That’s boring. Even Snow and Charming**, with their constant sleeping curses and “I will always find you” lines, still manage to be more engaging and keep me invested far more than Captain Guyliner trailing after Emma like a lost puppy.     -**On that note, can I just express my disappointment over David’s total lack of involvement in Emma’s life until season 5?? It felt like up until that point, David was just a side character that Emma never really spoke to and had barely any desire to be around, which I feel is a real disservice not only to the characters but to the phenomenal acting Josh Dallas provided when he WAS allowed to play as Emma’s father, not just Snow White’s Prince.

2) Regina -I didn’t like Regina until well into the third season, I’ll admit. She was a bad person who did bad things for very little reason, and it didn’t seem like her character was going anywhere. But I’m glad she grew. I actually have very little issue with the overall way her story went; she learned to love herself, which I feel was the most important thing for her to learn. That being said, that business with Robin Hood? Pretty unnecessary. Once again, it felt like a pointless romantic subplot meant to create drama and throw another snag in any potential plot building or character dynamic.

3) Emma and Regina - On that same vein of thought; I didn’t understand why my friend shipped Regina and Emma at first, but I sure as HELL do now. Jesus christ, what a missed opportunity. So much about them becoming a couple makes sense, would bring the series full circle; what could be more ideal than the product of true love, destined to defeat evil, falling in love with the personification of said evil? That is…the whole point of the show, I feel. That love and faith in those you love will always triumph over the darkness in the world. -Having them end up together also reinforces the central theme of family, as well as family found in unlikely places, which I got the sense was extremely important to Regina, Henry, Snow, Charming, Rumple, Baelfire, and Belle in addition to (obviously) Emma. -If Regina were a dude, they would have gotten together. Enough said.

4) Rumple -The series spent a great deal of time setting up Rumpelstiltskin’s tragic backstory, making his rage and his pain and his despair relatable, only each time his redemption seemed at hand, it was ripped away from him one way or another. -As frustrated as I am with Emma’s forced romances, Rumple’s actually make me cringe. Holy shit why are all the witches after the Dark One. Like, it’s not even Gold that they want, it’s literally scaly, deranged, conniving Dark One. And it’s not like Belle, who legitimately wants the man she sees struggling within, the witches are quite literally after the mad dog they see. And I am SO disturbed by this. Cora’s entire life did not need to be dictated by her obsession with a madman. Zelena did not need to be tossed away because she became infatuated with someone incapable of love. And that whole business with the Evil Queen in season 6? When he’s MARRIED? When he’s MARRIED to the woman he ACTUALLY LOVES, the woman he has a SON with???? I am. Actually disgusted with the writers for that cheap little drama. It just seems so incredibly out of character? Especially for how Rumple is in that particular moment when the Evil Queen approaches him. -Forcing Rumple to walk the line between light and dark even after he makes decisions that, for any other character, would be a decisive moment of positive growth. The struggle with the dagger and his ultimate decision to give it to Belle, the loss of his power on numerous accounts and the realization he could be strong without it, pulling Ex-fucking-calibur out of the stone and throwing it away without asking for a single thing in return (an act that only someone with the heart of a true hero could undertake and yet he still reverts completely????), finding out he was predestined to be a fucking SAVIOR. My god. You cannot give someone all of this growth, all of this struggle and positive reinforcement, and then insist he’s still the ultimate form of evil in the world. That’s. Incredibly hypocritical. Even when he’s still technically a villain and Isaac writes him his happy ending, Rumple’s deepest desire is to be seen and revered as a hero; he WANTS to be good, to be admired, to know his wife and son are proud of him. Even during this reality where he never became ‘evil’, he struggles with morality, something no other villain in that alternative story did. I am beyond disgusted by this character’s treatment. -You know what, there’s so much that dissatisfies me about Rumple’s treatment, I might have to rant about it in a different post. I was given a fallible character with an intriguing backstory whose reasons for doing evil were the best of intentions; who when approached with any sort of honest kindness or love, struggles daily with concepts of morality, humility, and selflessness; whose deepest wish is for family and heroism, a place of belonging and deep, unbreakable love; but there was no redemption arc. Correction: there were THREE redemption arcs, and each one of them fell flat for dramatic plot defects that served no purpose but to STOP this delightfully complex character from coming full circle and getting the arc he deserves. -I’m going to be salty for a long. Long time.

#ouat #thatdorianguy #once upon a time #analysis #most of this is rum #rumbelle #snow queen

[darkwinterchild]

Big “Malcolm Merlyn and Oliver Queen are lions and no one can convince me otherwise” trash post bcs I can’t help myself

What It Looks Like versus What’s Really Going On.

Fight me.

Warning: Long post under the cut. Because this is so important.

Both Oliver and Malcolm are big muscly brutes but also stealth ninjas. Plus they’re scary predators and they do most of their hunting at night. Ergo, in the animal world, they’re big cats.

The primary difference between the lion and other cat species is that it’s a social animal. Female lions form prides, male lions form coalitions. Malcolm is always more comfortable working with a group than by his lonesome (even if that group is hostile like Team Arrow). After his return from Nanda Parbat he could have chosen to work alone but didn’t. He looked for partners, created an organisation in order to pursue his goal of saving Starling City. Of course he prefers to be the one calling the shots (as leader of his secret organisation or CEO of Merlyn Global or even Ra’s Al Ghul), but he will bend when necessary (he was Ra’s horseman for years after all). As for Oliver, even if he feels like more of a solo artist, one of the first thing he did coming home is bring Diggle into the fold - just like one of the first thing young solitary male lions do after being kicked out of their pride is find themselves a partner, because they know they have almost no chance of making it out there on their own. Wherever he is, Oliver always ends up joining a group or forming his own. These aren’t just things that happen to him: it’s a choice, or a direct result of his personality. Oliver and Malcolm are both always looking to make alliances with different sorts of people (or groups of people). More than that, they are absolutely ready to ally themselves with somebody they don’t like, with each other, if they need to in order to survive, vanquish a common enemy or protect their family.

Generally, there are two things that matters to a lion (apart from food but that’s like every animal on the planet): family and territory/power. Malcolm Merlyn and Oliver Queen in a nutshell. Also note that while male lions are the only male cats who care about family and have a hand in raising their cubs (mostly by offering protection), their focus is the territory. Which is like the whole theme of Malcolm & Oliver’s story in S1: their unbreakable focus on their respective mission despite the distance and tension it creates between them and their respective family members, motivated by their (delusional?) conviction that they are doing this for their family (to secure a better future for them in a better city in the name of those they have lost). The main difference between them being that Malcolm is way more deranged and mostly doesn’t give a shit about human life if they’re not related to him.

Seriously though these two are mad territorial. Every time there’s a new predator showing up on their turf they just go “who are you and wth are you doing in my city rude i’m gonna beat you up”. Well, in season 1 in Malcolm’s case, because after he was ousted he stopped having a turf. But pretty much all 5 seasons for Oliver? (I think the most “wtf” time was when he decreed that the league couldn’t touch Merlyn in S3 while he was in Starling because he was under his protection or something, like I can’t even?? And every time there’s a new vigilante in town he’s like “nope the only illegal justice in this city is mine get out”)

But yeah ultimately one of the things I find most fascinating about lions is also one of the things I find most fascinating about Oliver and Malcolm. Violent, merciless killers who show a softer, more caring side around their loved ones. For lions, it’s like, how vicious and terrible they are to their enemies or preys has absolutely nothing to do with how affectionate and loving they can be to their companions (think Mr T and Kinky Tail of the Mapogos - bloodthirsty bastards who loved each other like hell). That contrast between the monster and the lover is always at play in Oliver and Malcolm’s characters (ofc with different levels of dominance for each side), and it’s just really interesting to me.

Young male lions leave their pride once they come of age, and spend years in hell as nomads struggling to survive in a hostile environment (between buffalo and crocodiles and most dangerous of all: other lions, pride males often in a coalition, eager to hunt them down and break their spine). They have to learn to fend for themselves for the first time (mommy isn’t here to bring the food home any longer), to hunt and fight and stand up for themselves. Most of them die, but those who survive, those who have managed to become... something else, these ones can hope to conquer their own territory by killing or driving away the older resident kings. If this isn’t Oliver Queen’s story I don’t know what is.

Btw, kicking out their grown-up sons is a very important pride male job. Adolescent males (big, lazy, hungry, aggressive, horny and useless) can become a real weight to the pride if they stay around too long, but if the males are neglectful (Malcolm) or distracted dealing with too many prides (Malcolm), they can be late to the task (Malcolm). But once they do it’s always kinda brutal (Malcolm). No offense to Tommy!

Also, really, if we choose an animal to represent Malcolm or Oliver, you know it has to be some major drama-queen. We-have-literally-evolved-a-mane drama-queen level. And the lions mane has basically three main purposes: 1) protection (practical purpose of the suits), 2) intimidation tactics (actual realest purpose of the suits - the whole Hood and Dark Archer personas), and 3) looking gorgeous and attracting females and I think this really fits Ollie Queen and Malcolm Merlyn (Malcolm doesn’t seem particularly interested in sexual or romantic pursuits but he is vain as hell just look at the guy it’s written all over him).

Male lions’ stories are all about war, just like Oliver and Malcolm’s stories are all about war (particularly S1 Oliver). In terms of evolution, they have sacrificed everything in order to become perfect killing machines. Their role in society is to protect or conquer. It doesn’t matter if they’re tired and just want to settle down with their family (happy little cubs!), if they don’t go looking for war war always comes looking for them - it’s a violent life. For lion fans who follow their shenanigans in real life, it can be kind of like Game of Thrones: you have several coalitions fighting over territory - who will be king? And for how long?

So, just like human warriors, there are two types of successful lions: the fiery ones and the cunning ones, of which I kinda think Oliver and Malcolm are fitting representations. Like Oliver “I fought the Dark Archer and Slade Wilson and won thanks to my mad willpower (also remember when I challenged RA’S AL GHUL to a duel twice)” Queen, some lions never run, are always in the thick of battle, and will fight to the death for their territory even against overwhelming odds (in lion fandom, Kinky Tail and Mr T of the Mapogos are again probably the go-to examples). Others tend to pick their battles, avoid serious injury, can patiently wait for a better opportunity or let go of a territory if outnumbered, and sometimes even let the lionesses do the fighting in their stead (the famous Notch is more this type I think - managed to hold on to his first pride alone for 2 years after the death of his companion with the help of the females, got ousted, came back with his sons and took over half the Masai Mara, and remained healthy and beautiful for all of it).

Lions are bloody resilient creatures. Like, it’s astounding what they can survive, and in battle you can see lions fighting to the end despite terrible injuries (freaking broken backs). Oliver Queen is the Arrowverse’s poster boy for resilience, I am not even going to begin listing the reasons why - it’s all over his body anyway and we viewers are treated to many shirtless scenes. And say what you will about Malcolm Merlyn but he also did go through a lot (poison, an arrow through the chest, torture, a handcut - he also lost everything twice), and he’s still healthy and fighting at like ~52 years old (5 years ago he was already saying that Oliver’s youth was a big advantage). “Every warrior must learn the simple truth: that pain is inevitable and suffering is optional”. They both just never give up.

They are both really intelligent, but unlike Ray, Felicity, Barry, etc. they aren’t scientists or tech geniuses. Oliver and Malcolm’s strength lie in tactic and/or strategy, which is what makes them natural leaders. Lions are often seen as big “all brawn and no brains” animals, but they’re actually pretty calculating. They can’t solve complex logical problems like ravens or crows (that’s Felicity btw - Overwatch), but they can count. They know their stuff when it comes to battle. They can calculate the odds, they have their established tactics when it comes to hunting, and they even make strategic choices all the time. 

Cute little heir is a troublemaker who worships his dad. Dad’s best friend/brother gets rid of both of them in the same trap, forcing Dad to sacrifice himself for son, sentencing son to exile. Son stays in exile for years, ravaged by guilt, and grows into a formidable opponent. When son comes back, Dad’s best friend/brother is forcing his mother to do his bidding. He finds out he’s the one responsible for his father’s death and stops him, but not before the bad guy had a chance to destroy his home. Tell me you don’t see the parallel. They’re lions.

#mp #malcolm merlyn #oliver queen #arrow #lions #... #this post turned out oddly more serious than intended #it's like half-serious #idek #it's lions guys #also fwiw i tried to rein in the lion fanishness ok #but erhm #there are some metas you gotta write for yourself yk? #trash post #my commentary #parallels

[stileshale]

What are your thoughts on teen wolf? especially writing wise? I have stopped watching regularly around 3b and I wasn't too convinced by what I've seen here on tumblr about the rest of the episodes, in particular 6x10...

i will always have a special place in my heart for the characters i love that the show gave me. i still blog about teen wolf, i write fic, and i enjoyed s1-3a. saying that, i don’t particular enjoy what the show became, or look back on the experience i had as a fan with much nostalgia (i think we were v much used and abused as a fandom online, for sure). i love my part of fandom, though.

short answer about the writing... it was terrible because

1) there was a complete lack of planning and follow through

2) we love this idea/actor/theme for 30 seconds but oops now we don’t

3) they completely misused their social media as a way to a) explain away/correct plot holes in their own writing and b) encourage viewers to watch a show they implied to be many things that it turned out to... not be any of

long answer

as a disclaimer here, i watch a lot of tv, i watch stuff on cbs, abc, fox, cw, bbc, tbs, p much something from every network, and i’ve seen the highs and lows of writing through comedy, drama, medical, supernatural, and everything inbetween. i’m not a professional writer, i am only a consumer. i have, however, over the nearly 20 years of watching shows as a fangirl (where i’ve been into something i follow religiously, and then later became involved in online forums) honed my tastes and opinions. on average i watch 15 shows a week, last year it would have been 21 around february time, but i’ve cut six shows including 3 i started this fall and dropped because of writing issues similar to that of teen wolf, or it just got terrible, either way). i have totally tried to rationalise what teen wolf did and i just... can’t. 

to elongate

1. the whole “let’s throw everything at the wall and see what sticks” approach is terrible. the best thing about breaking bad was that everything was planned to the very minute details. lost only picked up again when they were given an end date and suddenly had to come up with a plausible endgame. every season teen wolf has started off with a new plan, a new theme, and then it’s fallen apart because they’ve quite clearly changed their minds about something and either dropped it completely (they’re especially bad about dropping characters and never speaking of them again, or even acknowledging they were there in the first place), or made up new stuff to fit their new plan (scott is the true alpha so he can move mountain ash, kate is a werejaguar

not to mention they’ve joked about not being able to keep up with their own timelines, unsure how old any of the characters are, forgetting the characters have school/work/should be in prison, introducing siblings, changing history, forgetting actual canon...

2. kinda leads on from 1. where they would introduce an idea or a character and then totally lose interest and instead of trying hard to give them depth or something to do or going somewhere with the concept, they’d just drop it? see, parrish as a hellhound, kira as a kitsune, even way back when with stiles as a spark, a cool idea for thirty seconds to fit in with the plot and then... whoops it never happened, what are you talking about there was never a whole season about japanese culture, that season was about stiles conquering his internal battle with his own psyche telling him he’s never going to be good enough because we always make his dad out to be a total dick to him (surprise, his dad’s called noah, which we know you’ll hate because we dragged it out like some sort of magical plot twist, and also HIS dad is a dick so it’s okay he’s always told stiles he’d rather have had scott as a son) WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT FOXES FOR? THERE WAS NO FOX. THERE WAS NO TREE TRUNK. BANSHEES? THE FUCK? LYDIA JUST SCREAMS EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE AND SOMETIMES HAS MAGIC POWERS. but then doesn’t. pfft it doesn’t actually matter.

 or worse conveniently fix it/disappear it. it was tiring to watch and be confused and wonder why they were treating you like an idiot as a viewer. like the show is on mtv sure, but at least awkward stuck to a clear timeline. awkward covered where characters vanished to. we never actually even got clarification on basics like... why did deaton never want to help derek in season one... even though he was the hale emissary? what did emissaries have to do with anything by the next episode as nothing ever happened with that whole theme... why did stiles have a magic spark... where did cora go... how did she come back and how did the alphas find her before derek... why did the alphas originally start a war with derek, kill off his pack but then decide they didn’t want derek and just wanted scott... why did scott let deucalion walk off into the sunset? WHY IS PETER STILL NOT IN PRISON FOR THE MURDER OF HIS NIECE? these questions are all like three seasons old but that’s all i have and they still bug me. i can’t believe the show has never covered any of these huge issues. it’s lazy. everyone likes consistency, nobody likes writing leaving this big wink like “you don’t really care about this do you???”

again, with the big deaths, the characters they did kill off all had opportunities not to die, they could have had different endings, but each time their death was used to create man pain, probably one of the many reasons i’m not as big on male characters (they always need something to prop them up and make them more heroic and tragic in the long run), and that writing? erica, boyd, allison, was cruel and unnecessary. it did nothing for the show, and it lessened the writing. it actually made it worse when they tried to defend it, because they’d been going on about it for so long before hand as if it was a new and exciting toothpaste they’d all just gotten “now even whiter than before/now with even more death!!!”

the fact they hadn’t planned out a season without stiles (despite knowing dylan was out) and so instead of giving all of the other characters a chance to grow and learn and develop they literally wrote a whole season about stiles (after all of 3b, and from what i can tell most of s4 and s5 was about stiles). every character seemed to be focused on this missing person. the whole season was based around a character that wasn’t even on screen. and all because std fans were promised a big beautiful season of std??? gutted.

3. leading to point three! teasing your internet fanbase with ~thrilling and huge deaths to look forward to all season! using tumblr to answer questions about the plot holes/characters/encourage you to watch for the return of characters and not actually ever going through with it on screen. the teasing. the baiting. the flat out refusal to learn from your own viewership (when more than happy to use their gifs, use their images, their fanfics and their ideas) and then act as if the fanbase are the ungrateful ones. to try and join in with memes and tbt and a bunch of other infuriating actions that made even the actors uncomfortable. the tweets, the writers creating more drama even now, six seasons in, jeff saying “oh yeah if hoechlin had stayed on we’d have tortured derek some more with a fake julia (????? dick) haha i hope the internet doesn’t kill me for that one” as if we’re a bunch of deranged lunatics instead of just fans of a character that deserved better? like he knows what’s up. he’s a grown man. he knows they fucked up, in so many areas, and yet he’s just not willing to learn from it, or acknowledge it, he’s just always said “well if they don’t like it, they shouldn’t watch”... 

i guess we didn’t.

#Anonymous #asks for ts