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gunterfan1992 · 7 months

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Episode Review: “The Star”/“Jerry”

(Fionna & Cake, Eps. 7–8)

Airdate: September 22, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Jacob Winkler, & Sonja von Marensdorff

Directed by: Ryann Shannon (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

It is hard to believe that we are already privy to the penultimate episodes of the Fionna & Cake miniseries. So far, this series has been hit after hit. So do "The Star" and "Jerry" live up to what has come before them? Read on for more...

The plot to "The Star" is deceptively simple: Fionna, Cake, and Simon are transported into a universe where Simon was killed by vampires, which led to Marceline being abducted the ice crown-wielding Vampire King (once again played by the wonderfully sonorous Billy Brown) and turned into his protege, known as "The Star." While the world has been almost entirely overrun by vampires, a Mad Max-esque version of Princess Bubblegum is still putting up a hell of a fight (Mad Max Bubblegum is aided in this task by Peppermint Butler-as-a-Tank, a human[?] version of Huntress Wizard, and a non-psychopathic version of Martin). Cake's shapeshifting impresses Mad Max Bubblegum, and so she decides to enlist Fionna, Cake, and Simon's help in defeating the Vampire King and his evil 'daughter.' Alas, as goes the best-laid plans of mice and men... The episode ends on a purposeful anti-climax: Fionna, recognizing that all is effectively lost, forcibly teleports herself, Cake, and Simon away from Vampire World while Mad Max Bubblegum and The Star struggle in the sky, with neither wanting to land a killing blow. The fate of Vampire World is thus left unresolved.

As a major fan of Stakes, I was delighted to be transported back into the world of vampires in "The Star." And this time, the show does a very solid job showing just how powerful and scary these monsters actually are (despite their Kermit the Frog-meets-Nosferatu appearance). And let us not forget Evil Marceline (oh, where to start)! I quite like that Ooo's Marceline is a heroic anti-anti-Christ, but even I found the titular antagonist of "The Star" to be a terrifying delight. It has been a good long while since Marceline has rightly pranked someone, and while I don't know if killing people or sucking souls count as pranks, it was nonetheless wonderful to see her ornery side return—only this time, turned up to 11. You can tell that Olivia Olson had a lot of fun recording her lines for this episode; her performance is energetic, her tone mocking. When I heard The Star taunt Mad Max Bubblegum and Co., it took me back to when I first heard Olson's voice acting in "Evicted!"

It was a clever move having The Star and Mad Max Bubblegum be sworn enemies, as it allowed the series to explore their dynamic as a couple without focusing on their past or present relationship. In the Vampire World, we learn that the two have never been in a relationship together. But despite this, still found themselves pulled toward one another in an almost preternatural way. Who knows… Just as the souls of Finn and Jake seem to be destined to always find one another, perhaps Marceline and Bubblegum are "soul mates" in a similarly metaphysical sense? Regardless, the hesitancy to kill one another that both characters show at the end of the episode speaks volumes as to how they feel about one another, even in a universe where they are sworn enemies. (Man, I really hope we get a Bubbline spin-off one of these days…)

Ah, I feel like I could talk about the Star for days, but there is more to consider, so let me move on to…

Airdate: September 22, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Jim Campbell, & Jackie Files

Directed by: Steve Wolfhard (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

"Jerry" begins with Fionna, Cake, and Simon finding themselves in a dead and desolate world—humorously dubbed "Crapworld" by Cake—that we later learn was created by the Lich's wish in the season five premiere "Finn the Human." (As a mythological aside, when the Lich made his initial wish, it seems that Prismo did not simply wipe out all life in the Oooniverse; instead, he effectively created a copy of the Oooniverse within the Oooniverse. After killing off all life in this bubble dimension, Prismo then transported the Lich to his new wish-altered reality. Really, it is turtles all the way down…) While searching for the Crapworld ice crown, Simon tries to cheer up an increasingly despondent Fionna by telling him the story of how he and Betty met.

Eventually, our heroes run into Crapworld BMO, who upon learning that Prismo's remote is out of juice, attempts to recharge it with his robot heart. This does not go as planned (it actually results in Crapworld BMO spectacularly exploding, which is somehow both horrifying and funny), and Simon, Fionna, and Cake decide to track down Crapworld BMO's oft-mentioned friend "Jerry" and tell him that BMO has passed. Upon finding Jerry, however, the trio discover that he is actually the Lich… albeit a depressed Lich; it seems that after fulfilling his mission of ending all life, the Lich lost a sense of purpose. (I've been there, dude...) Simon sees this as an opportunity, and using the Crapworld ice crown and the Lich himself as a conduits, he manages to summon GOLB just as Scarab materializes to deliver divine punishment.

To be continued!

"Jerry" is a decidedly bleak episode that more than anything radiates the creative sensibilities of its supervising director, Steve Wolfhard. For those out of loop, Wolfhard was a storyboard artist on the original Adventure Time series, and he helped write some of the show's strongest outings (e.g., "Puhoy," "Lemonhope," "Escape from the Citadel," "Graybles 1000+"). Wolfhard has a unique approach to writing, often using humor/cuteness to paste over more existential horrors, and while he did not storyboard "Jerry," the episode nevertheless feels like the apogee of his "voice," brimming as it does with a darkness that is only lightly covered with a veneer of humor. Indeed, many of the episode's funniest moments (e.g., the scene in which BMO cheerfully, stupidly kills itself, the reveal that the Lich has depression) cannot be described as anything other than gallows humor. Wolfhard often joked in interviews that many of the episodes he pitched involved main characters dying. With "Jerry," he finally got his chance.

Ultimately, what prevents "Jerry" from becoming a bummer-fest is the way the episode is interspersed with flashbacks that tell the story of how Simon and Betty fell in love. Despite their being the emotional heart of the episode, I do not have much to say about these scenes other than they are sweet. They largely expand upon details that we already knew, but in doing so, they enliven those details, infusing them with a sense of affect that exposition or background detailing could never convey. There's a couple easter eggs thrown in for die-hard fans (e.g., several relics from the main series are name-dropped, we see when a photograph of Simon from "I Remember You" was taken), and its all tied-up nicely with a new HALF SHY song, "Everything in You." All in all, these scenes are the sweet, sweet eye bleach we need, given the tone of the episode's other half.

My biggest gripe with these episodes is that they both lean too far into Fionna's failures while somehow not leaning in far enough. The former issue is most noticeable in "The Star," the beginning of which sees Fionna follow up her candy genocide by making a series of increasingly bone-headed decisions, one of which leads to the direct death of a character (although, Mad Max Bubblegum was also quite bone-headed for letting Random New Girl put everyone in danger immediately after introducing them to her few crew members). Put simply, I feel the episode excessively plays up Fionna as a gullible girlfail, which seems a bit much. Paradoxically, in "Jerry," the show did not have Fionna properly, fully, believably consider the ramifications of the mistakes she had made; instead, the episode focuses much of its emotional energy on the story of Simon and Betty's relationship. Yes, Fionna does have a realistic breakdown in the middle of the episode, but almost immediately, the show decides to have Simon distract her with more of his own love story. None of this sinks the episodes, but it does make them less than perfect.

For some, the episodes' bleakness might also be a defect: indeed in both "The Star" and "Jerry," lots of characters die, and the fridge horror is off the charts. But while I have criticized the show for such cruelty in the past (e.g., my review of "Wizard City"), the bleakness in these episodes is not meaningless. Instead, it arguably serves to underscore that without Simon Petrikov existing and doing all that he has in the Ooo Prime universe, the world (any world) quickly goes to hell. (This is perhaps most noticeable in "The Star," given that the big twist of that universe is that Simon was killed by vampires, presumably before he placed the ice crown on his head, thus resulting in Marceline's capture and indoctrination by the Vampire King.) Even in his crazed "Ice King" state, Simon is something like a cosmic lynchpin holding together reality! Considering how much Simon/the Ice King is a woobie in the original series, it is nice to see Fionna & Cake accentuate just how important he actually is.

Final “The Star” Grade: A-

Final “Jerry” Grade: A-

#adventure time #atimers #marceline #review #marceline the vampire queen #princess bubblegum #bubblegum #bubbline #fionna and cake #fionna campbell #cake the cat #simon petrikov #ice king #lich

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hautevaux · 26 days

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ANONYMOUS ASKED : Since Vaux is an OC I can't send anything about your portrayal like everyone is doing to others on the dash because it doesn't count. BUT! I thought I'd ask you for some blogs you really like or recommend for one reason or another? No specific order kinda thing! Go go go!

Ok - keeping these to the FF7 universe for the moment and mostly as what I could remember off the top of my head and stuck on mobile! Frankly, I absolutely adore everyone I follow and they are all very special to me, but let's just call these a special mention!

@ceaselxss || A given, really. Cas is a phenomenal bean and I absolutely adore them and their Tseng - always have and always will ❤️ ilu forever

@speedchasing || A wonderful person, a sensational writer! I love how much dimension they give to Roche, how they literally made me adore him SO much more just because of their portrayal ❤️

@sacredflorist || Such a beautiful characterisation and such beautiful writing, too! I love them on my dash! ❤️

@poeticphoenix || We love one dramatic bard, and so does Vaux! Always and forever absolutely love. Such beautiful writing and characterisation, my dash isn't complete without them. ❤️

@ivory-paragon || Legit probably one of the blogs I have followed for the longest time, mostly over on Vincent because his blog is so much older. My dash wouldn't be the same without them in it ❤️

@reapersxfolly || A amazing blog with such a beautiful and captivating way of writing! Everything I read of theirs draws me in! ❤️

@blitzrod || ✨ Sensational ✨ I love seeing them pop up on my dash! Definitely one of those blogs that generally makes my dash feel at home. ❤️

@badassbarmaid || Another blog I have followed for a long time on various other blogs, namely my Vincent, and they really do make my dash feel complete. I adore seeing them pop up and always love seeing what they write! ❤️

@bitterarcs || Oh, I can't even explain how much I enjoy seeing them on my dash. Their way of writing is just so so good, so captivating, and it's something that once you start reading, you can't stop. Amazing af 👌❤️

@chthonicsurge || I don't think tumblr has a character count big enough for me to gush about how much I adore their Nero. My love for the Tsviets is eternal and I utterly love forever one darkness child. Their characterisation, their lore expansion, their theories and everything... I just 😘👌No words, all amazement.

@obscureign || Gosh, I haven't been following them for long but I'm already just so in love by the way they write things, the way they set scenes, the way that their writing just naturally has you hanging on to every word they've written. I can't get enough and I always feel so honoured to receive a reply or to see them on my dash. They are a blessing ❤️

@mezzomorendo || The most precious of bebs. Adore forever. Stuck with me forever be it here or elsewhere. Always love their writing, their hcs, their everything! ❤️

@holyguardian || Vaux's bestie. He adores her, I adore you - it's a happy circle of adoration! Honestly though, I really love their writing and how much you can feel their emotion in the words they write ❤️

@shinrasfirst || Forever sensational, to be honest. I really love them to death and always love to see them hopping onto my dash! ❤️

@cwarscars || When I think of Heidegger, I think of Han: only Han. Honestly, I just adore their blog so very much. I've followed them for a long while now and my dash just doesn't feel complete without them there! ❤️

@gcldfanged || I ADORE. A D O R E. Honestly 👌 So wonderful, highlight of my dash, always!! ❤️

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woainiaini · 3 months

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Name: Guang Tseng (曾光)

Ethnicity: Han Chinese

Species: Vampire

Birthday: 05.12.1666

Physical Age: 33

Height: 171cm

Sexuality: Bisexual

backstory summary

born in taiwan as the middle child of immigrants from fujian, who were former ming dynasty officials fleeing the qing rule

born blind (eyes very clouded they appear almost white from further away), spent most of his childhood inside, mostly with his grandmother and younger sister hsin-yi

loved when his grandma told them stories because it told him about the world, also loved music, especially beiguan

started teaching himself how to play instruments in his teens (erhu & guqin)

was kidnapped & forcibly turned by members of the taiwanese coven when out with his sister because blind vampires make for great soldiers due to the heightened other senses

trained to use echolocation under torture, then used to fight, enjoyed not being treated as fragile anymore but definitely didn't fuck with the fighting thing

conspired with mo & hsin-yi in the 1830s to kill the leaders & gain freedom, fled to south korea afterwards. returned to taiwan in the 20st century

lives in the southern countryside with hsin-yi, hasn't lost his passion for music and is a somewhat successful artist in taiwan (music inspo)

random trivia

him using echolocation unfortunately also means he's clicking his tongue constantly

huge fucking stoner. have you ever seen him without the lingering smell of weed? that's weird.

on top of wearing sunglasses his eyes are closed most of the time, so when he does open them the air feels weird on his eyeballs & he blinks a lot

used to be very strong in combat but hasn't used it since gaining freedom, just been chilling instead so it is mostly dormant

fluent in cantonese and mandarin but prefers to speak hokkien as much as he can, mostly sings in it as well

bit eccentric but has a very genuine personality that makes most people like him

would not choose to gain eyesight even if modern medicine ever made it possible for him

does not kill for blood if he can avoid it

also very invested in paranormal stories and ghost hunting in his free time, does a podcast or youtube series or some bullshit about it with chiharu

website

#my favourite <3 ily #are 茄子蛋 aware they half inspired one of my favourite ocs...sending this to ng ki pin this could be their magnum opus 💀#guang #vamps #slaps oc head this bad boy can fit so much oddly specific trivia #mine #oc moodboard #ALSO the websites are ONLY to be viewed on desktop...its a mess on moblle lol..#ok for the oddly specific things ig: erhu & guqin are traditional chinese string instruments/ beiguan was a popular music/theatre form #echolocation is whatever bats do #hehe

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lxstfuleclipse · 2 years

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【ＦＡＮＤＯＭＳ】

DEVIL MAY CRY ( 1-5 + REBOOT & ANIME )

Dante, Vergil, V, Nero, and Credo.

Nico, Trish, Lady, and Kyrie.

Reboot! Dante, Reboot! Vergil, and Kat.

ARCANE

Vi, Jinx, Sevika, Finn, Ekko, Vander, Silco, and Viktor.

Jayce, Caitlyn, Mel, Ambessa, Local Cuisine/Pretty Boy, Marcus, Grayson.

BAYONETTA

Bayonetta ( Cereza ), Jeanne, Rosa.

Luka Redgrave, Balder, Rodin.

BLOOD OF ZEUS

Heron, Seraphim, Alexia, Kofi, Evios, and Electra

Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Hades, Apollo, Ares, Poseidon.

CASTLEVANIA

Trevor, Sypha, Alucard, Lisa, Captain and Greta.

Dracula, Striga, Morana, Hector, and Isaac.

DAREDEVIL

Matt, Karen, Foggy, Wesley, Frank, and Elektra.

DEVILMAN CRYBABY

Akira, Miki, Miki (o), and Ryo.

DEVILS’ LINE

Anzai, Ishimaru, Hans Lee, Sawazaki, Juliana.

DETROIT BECOME HUMAN

Markus, Connor, Kara, Gavin, Hank, North, Simon.

FINAL FANTASY ( CURRENTLY 7 + 15 )

Cloud, Aerith, Tifa, Barret, Jessie, Biggs, Wedge, Yuffie, Sonon, Zack, Vincent, and Roche.

Rufus, Sephiroth, Tseng, Reno, Rude, Weiss, and Nero The Sable.

Noctis, Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus, and Cor.

Lunafreya, Ravus, Aranea, Ardyn, Regis, Cindy, and Nyx.

LIFE IS STRANGE ( 1-3 + TELL ME WHY )

Max, Chloe, Rachel, Nathan, Kate, Warren, and Victoria.

Sean, Cassidy, Finn, and Esteban.

Alex, Steph, and Ryan.

Tyler and Alyson.

RESIDENT EVIL ( ALL GAMES + ANIMATED MOVIES )

Leon, Chris, Wesker, Billy, Piers, Carlos, Jake, Ethan, and Luis.

Claire, Jill, Ada, Rebecca, Sherry (RE6, duh), and Sheva.

THE WOLF AMONG US

TREASURE PLANET

Jim, Amelia, Sarah, Doppler, and Silver.

VOLTRON

Lance, Keith, Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, Allura, Matt, Coran.

Lotor, Ulaz.

LEGEND OF KORRA

Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Asami.

Iroh.

STRANGER THINGS

Eddie, Steve, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and Argyle.

#blood of zeus x black!reader #castlevania x black!reader #devilman crybaby headcanons #devil may cry x black!reader #arcane x black reader #final fantasy x black reader #life is strange headcanons #resident evil x reader #stranger things x black!reader #the wolf among us x reader #bigby wolf headcanons #bigby wolf x reader #x black!reader

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fredfilmsblog · 2 years

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BTS w/B&PC Part 5

Click here for the other posts of ‘Behind the Scenes with Bee and PuppyCat’

Now that Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space has dropped on Netflix, I thought I would share some of my recollections as to how this special series of Natasha Allegri’s came to be. –Fred Seibert

Taking a break from the BTS chronology I’m going to take a minute for some thank yous. Of course, I’ll forget to include some people, but you shouldn’t take it as more than swiss cheese brain.

Some say that filmmaking is a collaborative art, and in my case, that’s been totally true. Yes, for me, that’s an understatement. Getting to a series like “Bee and PuppyCat” is a collection of experiences where I learned from hundreds of people, and then worked directly with hundreds more. In cartoons alone, I’ve had 30 years of a lot of ups, too many downs, some great successes and greater misses.

It was clear to me right at the beginning that American cartoons suffered greatly from relegating women to support positions rather than primary creative ones. Within weeks of starting at Hanna-Barbera I’d voice the lament to anyone who’d listen. It was a long time before anyone even pitched, but by 2006, with Random! Cartoons, we had more women coming in with their ideas than ever before, and in the end nine women created finished cartoons. And during Too Cool! Cartoons, for our Cartoon Hangover channel, almost half the shorts were by a new generation of creative women, including Natasha.

Onto the thanks. Please remember that these posts are about the “behind the scenes” of what makes B&PC. None of us miss the plain truth that it’s our fans that makes everything worth it.

I’m not sure if there’s a way to thanks Natasha Allegri enough, is there? An amazing artist, a deep storyteller, a lovely person with a stunning vision.

Eric Homan and I were colleagues for 27 years, the last 15 or so, heading development at Frederator Studios. It was Eric who, for us, spotted what a special talent Natasha had. He was the person who saw her web comic that kickstarted the Fionna and Cake phenomenon. And, of course, he invited Natasha over to show us the cartoon she’d been working on in 2013.

Carrie Miller has been another indispensable presence during my Frederator years. She ran our New York operation, produced our first original cartoons for Channel Frederator, and by the time Eric sent over the PuppyCat storyboard for a second opinion (”Greenlight this cartoon right now!”), she was running the entire New York office and our YouTube channels.

Don’t think I’ve ignored Pendleton Ward. Because it was Pen’s and Natasha’s friendship, built around the web comics that they traded over years, that inspired Pen to convince her to join the Adventure Time team, her first foray into professional cartoons. Without Pen, I’m not at all sure that any of us could have become her great followers. And don’t think he didn’t help B&PC creatively whenever possible.

Kevin Kolde and I met during my time at Hanna-Barbera, and during his pre-cartoon and SPüMCø lives I did everything I could to bring him over to my side of things. Eventually he succumbed, and while he was developing what has become the ”Castlevania” universe, he patiently worked with dozens of the creators –almost none of whom had ever run a professional cartoon production– I foisted upon him during various shorts productions. Natasha was definitely a mature artist and storyteller who had relatively scant experience in production, and over the decade that Bee and PuppyCat has lived it’s Kevin’s subtle hand that has made all the productions possible.

Efrain Farias and Hans Tseng have been key creative collaborators with Natasha throughout the decade of the B&PC saga. Both of these folks are talented artists, but that doesn’t begin to catalog their contributions to the shows.

Larry Leichliter has worked on everything. As far as I’m concerned, Larry Huber introduced him my way to direct on ChalkZone; Eric and Kevin suggested him for the Adventure Time short, and he eventually became the series’ original supervising director. He served on Bee and PuppyCat the same way where set the directorial vision.

Actors, we’ve had a few. You’re undoubtedly familiar with Allyn Rachel, Kent Osborne, Pretty Patrick Seery, but I think if you peruse the who cast you might get a few surprises.

Didn’t Will Wiesenfeld do an amazing job? Just check out Baths too! Natasha really scored here.

The entire Frederator Studios production team, small as it was, kept things on track, particularly Sylvia Edwards and Steve Worth, who had a lot going on at the same time. The editors, sound department, special and visual effects, Garrett, they all did incredible work. Thank you!

Meredith Layne has voice casted and directed both series (among a whole lot of others for us). And if you look at the credits closely, these shows do not in any way tread the expected paths when it comes to actors.

Heather Kenyon and Junichi Yanagihara really made the difference when we moved the animation to OLM in Tokyo, and kept it up during “Lazy in Space.”

Matt Gielen had recently joined Frederator Networks when we started looking at storyboards for Too Cool!. Though “influencers” were already flooding YouTube, which de-emphasized scripted, character based programming, Matt became an industry leader understanding how to help us build a loyal community of viewers who became the backbone of the Bee and PuppyCat fandom.

We heard from Nate Olson in Part 4 of this BTS series, but as I said there, a Bee and PuppyCat series might not have existed with his sweat, blood and smarts he brought to bear in shepherding our community of viewers-turned-fans into a group of committed supporters, first with the Kickstarter, then with the product companies that came aboard. Maybe more than anyone else, Nate was the loud voice representing the community, keeping all of us in line, understanding that without that special audience all our work would be for nothing.

Making a show like B&PC should be enough. The Cartoon Hangover crew in New York –Cade Hiser, Nicky Fung, Zoe Barton, and all the interns– lost a few years of their lives helped our fans stay fans. No, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Tom Pickett had bought my company, Next New Networks, for Google and YouTube to help them find audiences. And when he started Ellation (owner of Crunchyroll) and VRV to work with independent streaming networks, he reached out to see if Cartoon Hangover might be interested. His programmer, Arlen Marmel and business development head, Eric Berman, were particularly interested in “Bravest Warriors” and “Bee and PuppyCat.” Without these intrepid entrepreneurs we couldn’t have made “Lazy in Space.”

Michael Hirsh, Canadian animation innovator, saved Frederator when we ran into some tough times. “Bee and PuppyCat: Lazy in Space” probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day without him.

Brian Gucciardo was in the law department at my other company, Next New Networks. He’s been around the block, and then some, in almost every facet of the entertainment business. Let me tell you true, doing the kind of agreements we have with first time creators for “Too Cool! Cartoons” (home of B&PC) and “GO! Cartoons” (throw Sony Pictures Animation in that mix) is no easy rolling. Not to mention our arrangements with Netflix and everything else we through at him (thousands –thousands!– of Channel Frederator Network members!).

Fred Pustay and I have worked together for decades, starting at MTV. He's saved my bacon more often than I can say. And he kept Frederator on an even keel no matter now hard I tried to screw it up. We couldn't have gotten through the treacherous waters to get Bee and PuppyCat made without him.

Like I said, it takes a village. And any villagers I’d neglected will be added as they yell at me.

Wow! On Netflix now. Finally.

More to come in BTS w/B&PC Part 6. Catch up here.

#Bee and PuppyCat #Thank you #Behind the Scenes #BTS w/B&PC #Natasha Allegri #Eric Homan #Carrie Miler #Kevin Kolde #Matt Gielen #Nate Olson #Cade Hiser #Nicky Fung #Zoe Barton #Will Wiesenfeld #Hans Tseng #Efrain Farias #Meredith Layne

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sierra6x · 1 year

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------@griim queried: 3, 8, 13 !

------3: Who are your longest rp friends?

my best friend. we met like 11? 12 years ago? in a disney rp (lol). we ended up taking the muses we wrote together and have a big 1x1 town that we dump all of our subsequent muses into. she's my biggest inspiration and i love her so, so dearly. she's coming to visit in july and see the barbie movie with me~

also HMR, han, & mari in the same beat. i met han a little sooner? but mari & hmr shortly after. they were from ~3 years ago during the lockdown and we all wrote in the ff7 fandom during the resurgence. i still keep in touch with them all (and write actively with mari!) and love them very dearly. they've been pivotal to my character developments across the board, be it on six, aerith, or priest. or all of them.

also chris. dear chris. also met during the ff7 fandom time, and actively write with here. chris is v special to me because i like to remind him that he scared the shit out of me when i first met him (best tseng rper on this website, period). but apparently i also scared HIM. anyway, i love chris, even if he does try to hurt me with random asks from claire. chris is my white whale writer ---i admired him for so long and then somehow trapped him into thinking i was a good writer and now he's stuck w me.

------8: What are some similarities between you and your muse/muses?

uuuhh there's not much the same between six and i. we both work out? but he's way more fit than i am. we both have tattoos LOL. we're both gun savvy? otherwise there's just about nothing similar about us. which makes him all the more fun to understand and write, i think.

------13: What’s one random headcanon about your muse that people mightn’t know?

six has a tattoo on his left wrist, inside of a random barcode. it's usually covered by his wristwatch. (this is inspired by ryan's actual tattoo of the same thing in the same location, which he gave to himself. they kept it in the film, and you can briefly see it in the scene where he's washing his shirt.)

#xv. mun #xvii. answered #griim

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eaeulfl · 10 months

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Age of Empires: Art of the Qin and Han Dynasties

Sun, Jason Zhixin, with contributions by I-Tien Hsing, Cary Y. Liu, Pengliang Lu, Lillian Lan-ying Tseng, Yang Hong, Robin D. S. Yates, Zhonglin Yukina Zhang (2017)

#art #chinese art

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menwithsword · 1 year

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Luo Hong Zheng weibo update

09/11/2022 Source: 罗宏正_Wes (weibo) Post: 如果說從東漢書院畢業，同學會大概也就長這樣吧！只不過留下了這麼不好的第一印象，還請我們去第二集的第一名也真的算是大冒險了，一起來聽聽曾心話吧！曾沛慈 Pets Tseng 胡宇威 Geo Fans Club 第二集「曾心話大冒險」11/9上午8時於各大PODCAST平台上線記得收聽（收聽連結在留言處）＃終極三國＃東漢書院 #武虎將 #阿香 #關羽 #黃忠 #曾沛慈＃胡宇威 #曾心話 #曾心話大冒險 #podcast If you say that you graduated from Eastern Han College, that’s probably what the classmates would have looked like! It’s just that it left…

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thememory · 1 year

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↳ @cwarscars queried: bruh - tell me about aeriths connection to nature; is she the kind of person whose feelings change with the weather? ( and i dont mean that in like, a flaky way, but rather a 'connection' kinda way ). does she have a favourite flower & if you could compare her to one / say which one represents her most; which would you say? by extension - how does she feel about bugs / insects ? ily

han really said feed me.

AERITH'S CONNECTION TO NATURE

it's not easy, constantly hearing the planet. for a long time in her youth aerith struggled with the entirety of it: easily overwhelmed by the planet itself, being bombarded by the spirits of those who passed into the lifestream, feeling the consistent wither and decay because of the reactors sucking the very essence out of gaia. it was overwhelming, something a lot like charles xavier hearing the unbridled thoughts of everyone around him with no means to control it.

for a long time aerith hid from that, or tried to. she didn't know how to help, how to listen, or what to do when she was greeted by the spirits of the deceased. it was terrifying, but not in the same way being in shinra's basement labs was. it took time for her to accept that it was part of who she was, the thing that made her special, at least in shinra's eyes. tuning everything out wasn't working, so she did her best to try and live in peace with it. she makes small promises to herself, and to the planet through her flowers, that she will find a means to help. by the time she meets cloud ---and by the standards of remake where she knows what's going to happen, aerith has accepted that she will die and become, essentially, a god on behalf of gaia.

DO HER EMOTIONS CHANGE WITH THE WEATHER?

yes, and no. living below the plates, there's really no weather to speak of ... no rain, always sunny with the false lights to simulate the day/night cycles. it's almost like there's a veil wrapped around her, protecting her (or perhaps shrouding her) from the real cycles above the plates. the first time she ventured up into the real world was a slap of overwhelming stimuli. the first time it rained she felt joy to see it, because it meant that everything below was being nourished. you won't see her get depressed with the snow or a thunderstorm, and i suppose it's less that the weather is tied to her mood cycles ... more that she feels the same shifts in mood one might when they encounter it in the real world.

but she does love the rain. it's refreshing, among other things.

DOES SHE HAVE A FAVORITE FLOWER TYPE?

i love this question. i based it, partially, on the glowing forest of trees in final fantasy 7: advent children, when cloud goes out to meet the replicant triplets. do you remember them? (that scene was beautiful). anyway, i sort of made this flower - a long time ago in a meme reponse to a tseng i miss so very dearly - that aerith had a patch of flowers hidden behind her waterfall at home, that took a long time to grow and needed very special and specific things to grow. i called them moon flowers, and they liked damp, dark places. they glowed much like the trees in ac did, and they look a lot like calla lilies. only a select few people have ever seen them (to date, in threads, i think only? two people? know about them? if you count the above thread) and they are very precious to her.

WHAT FLOWER REPRESENTS AERITH THE MOST?

i think i would say that very moon flower i made up does, if i'm being honest. it was always the little intention, like a subliminal thing when i made them, that they were deeply tied to her characterization. they only really blossom in specific settings, they're vividly private and require a certain type of hand in order to really flourish ... which i think says a lot about aerith. the woman we see in game is very much a mask: flirtatious, a bit of a gremlin (a lot of a gremlin) and fearless. aerith as a person is very afraid, and it's understandable that she is because of what's happened to her and what she knows will happen to her (and honestly it's very brave to be afraid, because you acknowledge that fear and do your best to work around it or with it). it takes a very specific kind of person to see aerith for who she is deep down, to love her despite the intricacies that come with someone like her. i think that the relationship with cloud is very special in that right because - while he didn't get to know her in the traditional sense (they were together for such a short time, realistically) he carried a lot of this pain for her when he understood who she was.

at any rate, i'm waffling here. aerith is a moon flower: beautiful, requires specific settings to tender and grow, and only a select few get to see the woman within.

HOW DOES SHE FEEL ABOUT BUGS?

this is a hilarious two-answer question.

realistically the only bugs that the party ever came across were gigantic, mutanous things that you level off of and really were ... products of shinra testing, or the remnants of toxic waste, etc. so if we're going by that standard, they're gross and she hates them, thank you.

in a wire conversation with reeve, back in the summer of 2020, aerith discovered grubs in her flower patch. he actually assisted her with getting rid of the pests. as i recall, she was disgusted by them because they were slimy.

you have to understand that there's probably not a lot of bugs under the plate because of how artificial everything is, and mutanous bugs & grubs aside, aerith wouldn't mind insects as a whole. she'd love bumble bees for what they do (and how cute and fuzzy they are) and mostly any other insect - aside from slimy, is alright to her. they're part of the planet, after all.

#v. answered #viii. meta #cwarscars #han this is so long #you do not have to read it all gdosihsdf

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ceaselxss · 1 month

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✦ ur beautiful like a beautiful piece of pizza c:

//Han you rewired my brain chemistry, i never really found bears sexy before heid

For real though, you're in the same position as I've been with my muse but to a more severe degree; a minor antagonist side character who has some really fun moments and interesting potential that square just doesn't really care about. But you've given Heidegger so much life and depth; you took a character who only seems to exist for comic relief and to hate, and you made him so so interesting

The way you write war is really great, and even as I play through rebirth I keep finding myself thinking of how you'll interpret XYZ and mix it into your lore. I completely intend to go back through your blog when I'm done so I can read over your thoughts

I'm super excited to see how you go with Dyne, i really think you're the perfect writer for him and I love his character and I just know you're going to do amazing

Added praise like the last one: my gorgeous theme and headers and fancier icons are by Han and I love them so much its one of the things that makes me so soft; my Tseng is not just mine, he is a collaborate effort on every level, including the aesthetics of my blog and I love all the pieces of him that others have touched

#cwarscars

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gunterfan1992 · 8 months

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Episode Review: "Fionna Campbell"/"Simon Petrikov" (Fionna & Cake, Eps. 1-2)

If you had told me on the day that Adventure Time was canceled that almost a decade into the future, I would still be writing reviews about new episodes, I would have never believed you. And yet, today saw the release of not one, but two new episodes. (It seems that the fun really will never end!) What a world we live in!

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When I first heard that Fionna and Cake would be the focus of the newest Adam Muto-produced Adventure Time spin-off, I was a touch apprehensive. It is not that I disliked the characters... I just worried that they might not be able to anchor ten 22-minute episodes. After all, the two were always something of a funny gimmick. Other than explaining if they were real, what more was there to say about them?

My tentative apprehension started to dissipate when I learned that the one, the only Simon Petrikov would play a major part in the miniseries. Simon was always a strong character, and there was much to his story that still needed to be teased out. His presence in the miniseries signaled one thing: Fionna and Cake would not just be a fluffy romp, but rather one of mythological significance! Needless to say, my interest was fully piqued, and I began to count down the days when the miniseries would debut.

And now that the first two episodes are out, I am happy to say that my tentative fears were likely misplaced. Indeed, if "Fionna Campbell" and "Simon Petrikov" are indicative of the overall quality of this miniseries, we're in for a good time!

So let's dig in!

Airdate: August 31, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Hanna K. Nyström, Anna Syvertsson, Haewon Lee, Jacob Winkler

Directed by: Ryann Shannon (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

The miniseries kicks off with "Fionna Campbell," which follows the story of Fionna the human... No, not that Fionna the Human. This Fionna does not live in a magic land, and it is only in her dreams that she's a swashbuckling hero. Instead, the Fionna we meet lives in a mundane world very much like our own. This Fionna seems to feel as if she fundamentally lacks any sense of purpose. Accompanying her throughout her non-adventures in this alternate reality is Fionna's (non-magical) cat, Cake. The main plot of the episode begins after Cat and Fionna have a strange dream, whereupon Cake begins to act erratically; it is almost like she desperately needs to be in contact with ice of all things. After a series of humorous set pieces in which Fionna repeatedly discusses the dullness of her reality with a variety of uncannily familiar characters, Cake goes bananas and makes a mad dash for an ice cream cart. As Fionna gives chase, Cake dives into the cart, which turns into a magic portal and teleports Cake to a different world...

Of the two episodes discussed in this review, "Fionna Campbell" was the least impactful. Do not misunderstand me: It was still a fun, charming episode, but it did little more than introduce us to our heroines and set up the plot of the miniseries. The issue with this is that it makes much of the episode, on a strictly narrative level, superfluous (for instance, were you to have Cake dart over to Fionna's ice dispenser and have it—rather than an ice cream cart—the overall story would still work just fine). But while much of this episode is technically "unnecessary," it nevertheless mines a lot of goodwill and humor by introducing us to gender-bent "real world" versions of beloved Adventure Time characters (e.g., "Queen" [Queen of Ooo], "Ellis P." [Lumpy Space Prince], "Gary Prince" [Prince Gumball]). Perhaps I am biased as a Marceline fan, but hands-down the best of the gender-bent bunch is Marshall Lee, played once again by the uber-talented and oh-so-witty Donald Glover. (That said, Pen Ward's oddball hobo-vet character, "Ellis P.," is a close second.)

Regardless of any narrative weirdness, I applaud Muto et al. for approaching this Fionna and Cake storyline from a different angle. It would have been very, very easy to simply drop us back into the genderbent world that we have already visited in the main series. This, honestly, is what I was expecting the series to do. Instead, the writers decided to introduce versions of Fionna and Cake that feel more like they are from our world. This makes them solid audience surrogates. Over the course of the episode, I came to see Fionna as a character in and of herself, not just as a female version of Finn. Likewise, Cake felt less like "feline Jake," and more like a goofy house cat (albeit one that has a case of the Zoomies from Hell). "Fionna Campbell," in a word, gives Fionna and Cake a chance to become their own people before throwing them into the wider world of Ooo.

Airdate: August 31, 2023

Story by: Anthony Burch, Adam Muto, Hanna K. Nyström, Jack Pendarvis, Kate Tsang

Storyboarded by: Iggy Craig, Graham Falk, Jim Campbell, Lucyola Langi

Directed by: Steve Wolfhard (supervising), Hans Tseng (art)

After the purposefully abrupt ending to "Fionna Campbell," we are suddenly thrown head first back into the familiar Land of Ooo with "Simon Petrikov."

This episode picks up several years after the main series. Simon is now living a, shall we say, "unorthodox life in a museum-like facility, where he is treated as a relic of the past. He has lost his sense of purpose and direction, and he struggles with loneliness and boredom. Simon, in a word, is depressed. It does not help matters that people keep asking him about "his" Fionna and Cake novels--novels that he repeatedly emphasizes Ice King wrote. Alas, it is no use, and so Simon goes to the tavern owned by Dirt Beer Guy (A+ cameo) to drink his sorrows away. It is here that he runs into a 20-something Finn in all his himbo glory. Finn sees that Simon isn't doing well and insists that he must go on an adventure to reclaim his joie de vivre. Simon reluctantly follows Finn into the most primordial corner of Ooo, where the two are nearly killed multiple times.

At the end of the episode, Simon returns to his museum-home feeling just as bad as he did before. After sneaking off into his closet, we learn that his depression has driven him to create a shrine to GOLB; using the demoniac power of Evil Choose Goose, he subsequently attempts to summon the deity, presumably to reconnect with Betty. But, just like the best laid plans of mice and men, Simon's scheme fails to summon any eldritch abominations, but it does open up the portal we saw at the end of "Fionna Campbell." And out from this portal pops Cake the Cat!

The episode immediately shifts to Prismo's time room, where we see an alarm on the wish-master's remote begin to blink ominously…

Wow, what an episode!

I appreciate the focus "Simon Petrikov" places on depression and the struggle against nihilism. Simon, after all, is a man thrust into a new world. Everything he used to strive for is gone. Even the madness that took his old world away from him is gone. This might sound like a good thing, but interestingly, it seems to have had a deleterious effect on Simon’s psyche: Previously, when Simon was metaphorically locked within the recesses of Ice King's mind, he had something to strive for: He could overcome the crown’s curse and regain his sanity. And then he did! Thus, Ice King ended and Simon was back. But alas, his arrival occurred at the literal end of the story. The big bad was gone. The goal had been reached. All that was left was the ride into the sunset. But Simon could not do that, because even though he regained his sanity, it ultimately cost him his love, Betty.

I won't lie: I found Simon's story to be deeply relatable. For those who don't know, I recently earned my PhD. It was a long, uphill battle, and after I earned that degree… I didn't know what to do. In truth, I still don't know what to do. I have been a student almost my entire life, and now the rest of that life lays out in front of me. I achieved what I originally wanted; it is time to figure out what I currently want. Honestly, it has been an occasionally gloomy time, and I won't lie, I have struggled quite a bit with depression these last few months just trying to figure everything out. In doing so, I have realized just how much of my life I have sunk into my degree. It has been a bit disheartening to realize that while I have a doctorate, but it cost me the entirety of my 20s to get it. So yes, while I did not lose the love of my life to an eldritch demon-god, I still empathize with Simon's listlessness and his existential angst. (As an aside, post-PhD depression is very a real thing, y'all!)

When you have gained what you thought you wanted and lost that which was really important, what do you do? Of course, it is easy to simply collapse in despair. This is capitulation to vulgar nihilism, and it is something that I have struggled with ("Why even bother doing anything..."). At the start of "Simon Petrikov," the titular character is very close to this collapse, too. Indeed, Simon starts off in a dark place, but paradoxically, this darkness holds the seeds that can grow into a life-changing journey. After all, when we are at our lowest, the only (productive) way to go is up. Put most simply, Finn was actually right: Simon needs an adventure to reignite within him that sense of drive and purpose. But the catch here is that that adventure needs to be meaningful to Simon. It needs to spark something unique within his soul. The bizarro arrival of Cake may thus be exactly what he needs. Cake is not just a mystery—she's a mystery that perhaps only Simon can solve, since it was Simon (or, at least a version of him) who dreamed her up in the first place!

Simon now has a purpose.

Purpose.

Once again, Adventure Time is reminding us of the importance of "purpose." Purpose, the show seems to be saying, is what gives meaning to our lives, what motivates us to overcome challenges, and what inspires us to contribute to society. Without purpose, we may feel lost, empty, or hopeless. What, then, is the show suggesting we do to gain this sense of purpose? It is hard to say, given that the miniseries isn't over, but my guess is that the show is emphasizing that while meaning can emerge from even the most chance of occurrences, it is not enough to just recognize these coincidences. Instead, we have to seize them, embrace them, and make them our own. We have to act on our purpose, and not let it slip away. At the end of "Simon Petrikov," Simon is put in this exact spot, and while he might show some reluctance to seize the moment, something tells me that he'll eventually act in a major way.

Am I on the right track? I guess we'll have to wait a few weeks to find out!

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When news about the series first started to leak, I remember there was a lot of hubbub about its more "adult" tone. I was a bit apprehensive when I heard this; part of what I love about Adventure Time is that it is capable of being scary and profound without having to stoop to the shock value of cheap swears and bloody violence. After seeing these episodes, my worries have mostly been put to rest. After all, most of the "swearing" is pretty mild, and it seems to be used rather judiciously. (That said, I did a double take when Cake told Fionna to "Puke [the bad guy] up"—I thought she said another "-uck" word!) On top of all that, it was often just funny! Queenie shrieking "Jesus!" when Fionna ripped her pants off was comedy gold, as was Finn's line about "bust[ing Simon's] balls" back in the day. I'm a bit more ambivalent when it comes to the gorier elements (e.g., Finn killing that mudskipper in a bloody splatter), but that's largely because it feels a bit incongruous with the lighthearted Land of Ooo that we know. Adventure Time was often violent, this is true, but it was rarely gory. That said, the violence in these episodes is not over the top—this isn't Superjail! or anything—and I hope the show continues to maintain that nice balance. Right now, everything mostly feels "right."

All in all, these were solid episodes. In addition to all the positives that I outlined above, there were a variety of other things that made me smile. I'm quite happy that the show is returning to the multiverse lore, as I always felt that was a story thread that the show never explored to the fullest. The various cameos were also delightful (I had a lot of fun guessing who all the gender-bent normies were supposed to be representative of), and I loved the little post-Mushroom War Simon & Marcy moment. And of course, hearing Marceline say that someone is "pissed" is something that I didn't know I needed to hear!

I cannot wait to see what the series has in store for Simon, Fionna, and Cake.

Final "Fionna Campbell" Grade: B

Final "Simon Petrikov" Grade: A

#adventure time #atimers #fionna and cake #fionna campbell #simon petrikov #marceline the vampire queen #princess bubblegum #finn the human #cake the cat #fionna the human #review #miniseries

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