#it's more like...hello fellow 90's kids

[thelittlemermage]

There’s a certain genre of fan made merch where the person making it is clearly drawing the characters for the first time in their lives and are perhaps overly confident in their abilities. For example

This costs $700

#pinky and the brain #although maybe fan merch isn't exactly right #it's more like...hello fellow 90's kids #remember cartoon from the 90's?? #what if you could signal to people that you knew cartoon from the 90's! #I'm not trying to say they're a bad artist fwiw #they're just really tough characters to get a hang of #I also struggle with them #which is why I do not sell my art of them for $700 #I could get an animation cell for that price #but I guess a cell wouldn't have the supreme logo on it :')

[popculturebuffet]

Beetlemania Epilogue: Batman Brave and the Bold (Rise of the Blue Beetle, Fall of The BB, Revenge of the Reach and Meanace of the Madinks) (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy beetlemaniacs and welcome to the long delayed finale/epilogue to my look the blue beetle. So while I was working on this project which for those just tuning in was a look at all three men to wear the blue, Kev asked me to take a look at Ted and Jaime's brave and the bold apperances. Being a massive fan of both, enough that Brotoman asking me to do this retorspective in the first place was one of the easiest yesses i've made in my career, and absolutely loving brave and the bold it was an easy addition.

So for those less familiar with this cartoon, Batman: Brave and the Bold was a 2009 cartoon. Brave and the Bold is easily the most unique of the batman cartoons thus far: while each one has it's own touches, Bold decided to go against the usual dark and broody nature of batman he'd had in the 70's to do something a bit diffrent.

Instead BATB takes after the silver age of comics, a time of camp, innosence, and fun goofiness like batman getting his own dimensional imp, Superman and Supergirl having two pets with superpowers and capes a piece, and of course a bunch of kids from the future who still act like it's the 50s who come to grab a young superman, leading to one of my faviorite teams of all time. But not before you know making him cry because 50s. It was a time of brilliant concepts, bonkers carefree storytelling and superman in a pope hat.

And while some fans titled their head, some wailed he needed to be grim and gritty and I just said "oh cool plastic man's in this"... the change in tone was both brilliant and needed. We'd already had three fairly serious batman shows, each distinct: BTAS is a noir masterpiece, Beyond is neo noir putting someone else in the role and thus giving us a batman with school and family to juggle and an older bruce as the mentor, and The Batman was an attempt to really shake things up, using both a younger batman and wildly diffrent versions of his rogues. So while another likely would've worked, and as seen with Beware the Batman it did as likely will the caped crusader, I can't blame showrunners James Tucker and Mike Jelenec for deciding to do something entirely unique.

Thus while Batman's still stoic, instead of being a loner who slowly adds sidekicks and uses over the top silver agey gadgets, from having a jetpack and helmet in his suit, to being able to summon fighting gloves to having his batmobile as a transformer. It comes off as a child's idea of batman: a guy who can do anything and can use all those neat toy add ons you usually only see in his action figures. It's a batman that has a sense of fun about it: While he's stoic as ever, the world he's in is werid and he adapts to it.

The the other secret sauce here is the show's decision to be a team up show: instead of the batfamily, who still show up on occasion, Batman teams up with a fellow superhero in each episodes opening teaser as a fun one off adventure and then in the main story, another nod to the silver age in how many books would have more than one story, batman in particular. It's also telling that most of the main focus heroes are almost entirely b listers: Common sights include Plastic Man, Blue Beetle, Captain Marvel (aka Shazam, pre movie), Guy Gardner Green Lantern and Aquaman, the only a-list of the bunch and the main character. Some had shown up before in the DCAU, sure, but most hadn't gotten this kind of focus and some like Blue Beetle, our natural focus for today's, hadn't shown up at all thanks to rights issues. And even some like Aquaman got a revamp, with the stoic brooding 90's anti-hero of the DCAU replaced with a glorious large ham whose every bit as goofy as the silver age but every bit as badass as he is now. They also wisely kept his beard.

It provides a nice mix of actual silver age characters, and more modern ones like the Jason Rusch firestorm or Jaime that simply hadn't been adapted yet, as well as for whole teams like the Metal Men, JSA and Freedom Fighters to get proper first appearances in animation. This series is one giant love letter to dc and just about every hero they could cram in here and have it make sense is here> And if that wasn't enough, for me personally instead of doing a big 7 lineup of the justice league or just using heroes batman had teamed up with a lot like green arrow or plastic man, they just straight up decicided to recreate my faviorite Justice League Lineup of all time, the Justice League international, even bringing in Martian Manhunter just to make it as close as possible to the core lineup of Batman (Who was leader in those days), Martain Manhunter, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Guy Gardner, Fire and Ice. The only changes were changing the beetle from Ted to Jaime (to fit the shows continuity) and adding Aquaman as it'd be all kinds of weird to not feature the shows breakout star.

So with what the show is down that finally brings us to the Blue Beetle and his long overdue first animated apperance. The DCAU PLANNED to include him but rights headaches meant Ted was relegated to the tie in comics. And since Jaime was such a fan faviorite , when it came time for Brave and the Bold he became the primary beetle instead, providing the fun angle of batman having a teen sidekick.. whose far more powerful than he is, if lacking experince. We rarely see Batman mentor superteens, and it's an intresting concept: He has a partner he can order around and such but can't REALLY stop if Jaime wanted to operate without him. IT's something I hope gets explored again sometime.

That said while Jaime was the main blue beetle, and one of the most common recurring cast members, the series , like most adaptations didn't forget ted exists or to honor him. And while they sadly didn't give us the two beetles operating at the same time, something we didn't get in full blast until Blue Beetle: Graduation Day LAST YEAR (He did mentor Jaime for a while but weirdly they didn't have him resume the costume for a while), we do get one hell of an episode focusing on both beetles in the past and present, another hell of a heroic death, and a time travel episode with Ted's best buddy booster going back to see his friend one last time... and fucking it up because it's his superpower. So join me under the cut as we put on the armor and see the dawn of a new blue beetle and the legacy he protects one more time.

The Rise of the Blue Beetle!: Stinger: Batman teams up with Green Arrow to defeat clock king. Honestly my reaction to this version of Ollie is mostly

As he dosen't really have anything that makes him that.. unique or intresting. He's cocky and wants to one up batman. That's about it. I love Ollie, but this version is so boring. It dosen't help most of his spotlight episodes feature someone more interesting.

The opening however.. is solid, spotlighting the two's competitive nature with each other (and contrasting Ollie's open boasting with Batman being reserved and not showing his compettive streak outwardly), and fighting Clock King. And not the more grounded, awesome version we saw in Batman TAS, but the goofy silver age version complete with robes and a clock face.

Is it the best cold open they could've used? Probably not. But it gets across the team up theme of the series, and the important fact that most of the foes we face.. aren't batman's usual foes. Most of his Rogues are mia, and the only one who gets used a LOT is Joker, and even then it's in more creative ways like having him be Batman's team up for the mid season finale (And leading to the glorious scene in the final fight of him just running around with a mallet like a giddy three year old), teaming up with his own inspiration, or adapting emperor joker. Just like the team up format allows for a wide exploration of the dc's heroes, the antagonists are usually guys you wouldn't see or at least wouldn't see fighting batman.

The episode proper begins with Jaime and his best buddy Paco talking superheroes, with Jaime hyping up batman. It's here we get two big changes: the first is Jaime's personality: Instead of a kind, reserved, if with a biting tounge when called for it kid who just wants to help out his friends and family and who feels overwhlemed, this Jaime is a superhero fanboy whose super jazzed to have power armor.

This change is hit and miss for me: it does kinda miss a lot of the point of Jaime and his personality, a kid burdened iwth incredible power and responsibility who uses it not because he wants to but because it's the right thing.. but I get it for the context of this series. Here Jaime's being trained and mentored by batman, and thus having him be a bit more cocky and eager in places opens up stories more as otherwise Jaime would just be waiting at home. Not only that the series already had a reluctant legacy hero in Ryan Choi, the Atom, so at least one of them had to change personality a bit and it made more sense with Jaime. So while i'm not a huge fan of this change, I understand it enough to not be all that bothered by it, especially since both his Young Justice and Movie Counterparts hem closer to the comics.

A change I DON'T like at all.. is that Jaime's best friend Paco (his family and brenda don't show up).. has NO IDEA who he is. There is absolutely NO justification for this either. We don't see enough of Jaime's home life for him having a secret identity to have any impact and there's really nothing about his appearances that coudln't of been done without him knowing. In fact his next two probably would've been better had he known. It feels like the producers didn't know how to handle a superhero who doesn't have a secret identity.. despite Plastic Man and Aquaman, neither of whom have one and are just fine, being recurring characters. It's an annoying decision and one i'm not a fan of at all, especially since Paco doesn't seem to be in ANY other adaptations.

The rest of the episode is okay. Out of the episodes I had to rewatch (and in our last case watch for the first time) it's the one I was the least happy to see again as it didn't leave much of an impression. On rewatch it has some intresting ideas, but is mostly just a typical "supehero needs to not rely only on his powers" story mixed with a training the peaceful villagers one: Batman and Jaime are shanghied to a colony of admittedly neat looking little protoplasmic blob men woh put out an energy charge. They kidnapped Jaime to help because a previous wielder of his Scarab saved them from Space Pirate and justice league villian Kanjar Ro. Ro is part of why I largely forgot this one as i've never been a huge fan of the guy. He dosen't look terrible but other than space pirate there isn't much to him. The DCAU used him well but also had him as a simple criminal helping frame John Stewart. Here he works decently enough as he's intimidating ENOUGH to be a foe for Jaime, whose the real focus here, and give batman a fight, while still clearly being a villian of the week.

I do like that already, even before we get to ted, the writers of the show get that Jaimee. .is tied into legacy and It's a neat idea to hint at just who carried the scarab before Dan Garret, the first beetle, who for all we know very well COULD have been the person who fought Kanjar Ro before. It's just a shame this NEVER comes up again which is disappointing. It'd be neat to know if the Scarab had a host before the reach dispatched it to earth.

The rest of the episode is pretty by the numbers though, and while the idea of jaime getting cocky isn't bad... he's just not cocky Enough with his powers for the message to work. The episode has more clever stuff like batman hooking one of the little goo people up to a power cable to save them when kanjar leaves them all tied to a piece of debris to die, with the little guys later hooking their guns into themselves, using the fact Kanjar Ro harvests them for fuel against him. It's a clever chekovs gun and speaks to the message of the episode that DOES work: relying on one's self and the power of inspiration.

I"ll also say Batman is kinda.. fucked as a mentor this episode: While I get his logic, having Jaime pretend to be his predecessor to inspire these adorable blobs to kill their opressors, a good message for all, it's still mildly fucked up Batman is asking a children to lead a bunch of people to posisbly die in a war against a ruthless space pirate. I get jaime needs to be a symbol but maybe do't gloss over just how big an ask your asking bats.

Finally i'll say the episodes climax has a good idea: Jaime forced to rely on his brains.. and Kanjar Ro taking the armor. The problem.. is the latter RAISES A LOT OF QUESTIONS, especailly since later episodes go with the idea from the comics, that the scarab coudln't bond with ted kord and specifically choose jaime, making it come off contrived as all apokalips that Kanja Ro JUST SO HAPPENS to be a compatable host. It dosen't ruin the climax, seeing someone evil let loose with the armor is neat and Jaime turning the gamma gong, Ro's weapon he used to strip Jaime of the armor in the first place, against him is genius.

Overall an episode that's jus tokay. i'ts not a bad start to the series or Jaime's time on the show, but it's still clear they needed an episode or two before they started really cooking with gas. Thankfully that only took the first 4 or so episodes and by the time we next saw Jaime this season, the show was firing on all cyllnders with a true classic.

Fall of the Blue Beetle!:

Fall of the Blue Beetle! is more like it and while i'ts not where my obessesion with ted started, that'd be

This episode certainly didn't hurt. It is where Jaime started to grow on me though and where a lot more of his character from the comics comes from.

The biggest part of this.. is Legacy. We got a touch of that with the previous scarab wielder in Rise, but a key aspect of Jaime is that he ISN'T the first blue beetle. That he has to step into someone else's shoes. And it's something that fits dc like a glove as one of DC's bigger draws, one that they snuffed out for a while, is Legacy. Most heroes have more than one version and many have sidekicks, something marvel almost completely avoids thanks to Spider-Man's existence being a direct response to the concept, who more often than not later take up the mantle or find their own new one, leading someone take up THEIR old costume. Often you'll also get heroes sharring identities: it's why we have 9 earth green lanterns, three flashes, and two supermen.

So the fact that Blue Beetle was ALREADY a legacy made ted fit right in long before Jaime had to follow him up after his fatal case of bullet to the head. And Jaime learns that early, and thus has to carry around the fact that not only did Ted die a hero.. but armor or no this could EASILY happen to him. He has to learn to think with his head and learns to appricate Ted as he was. It's not an overwhelmingly major part of the book but the fact Jaime is part of a proud legacy is still important and when he needs help for his final fight, it's Ted's grandaughter Dani and Ted's friends in the JLI who come to help... because they know it's what ted would want.

Brave and the Bold cleverly plays with this as while like his comics counterpart Jaime knows there were other beetles.. he dosen't know what happened to Ted off the bat and this episode brilliantly plays with that.

It also plays with another Key aspect of Jaime: his self doubt. At the end of the days Jaime is a throughly normal kid given great power. In the comics and movie a lot of it is simply not WANTING this power, but with no way to remove the scarab and live he does what he can with it anyway because it's the right thing. The poor kid teared up because during a fucking hurricane, made worse by a supervillian, the kid couldn't save everyone, with his vetran dad having to explain that.. you simply can't. And the fact Jaime was there still saved a LOT of people.

While this Jaime's way more happy in the roll from the off, being a superhero fanboy, the idea that he's not worthy of it still crops up here in a clever way: He and Paco have a campout, and when he recites the Hal Jordan Green Lantern's origin (Which he likely knew as he easily could've met Hal at this point as he DOES exist in this continuity), Paco is doubtful. For those whose attitude to green lantern lore isn't

Like yours truly, a quick recap: The Green Lantern corps are space cops, though thankfully not nearly as corrupt as that implies, who patrol sectors of space. When one dies, their ring finds a replacement. But in this case, dying Green Lantern legend Abin Sur didn't really have time for the ring to do it's thing so he crashed his rocket on earth near Hal Jordan, the nearest worthy canditate and gave it to him personally.

Paco.. dosen't buy any of this, thinking heroes aren't chosen and most dickishly that a hero.. is just their powers. It's just the RING that's special not the person.

Okay look I try not to go on tangents refuting a fictional character.... but given this kind of argument occasionally crops up in real life... no. While a heroes powers are cool and what allow them to do the job...it's the person that makes the hero. And the green lantern's are the biggest example of that. They were all chosen sure but each chosen because they can overcome great fear (Paco IS right that the idea of someone being WITHOUT fear is kinda fucked and the daredevil comics have gone into what exactly that means, it's why they changed it), nad because each one of them chosen brings something to the table. Hal Jordan can think on the fly like noone's buisness, Guy Gardner WILL never give up (Wether he actually should or not), John Stewart is a tactical and archetcural genius, Kyle Rayner has a boundless imagination and some of the best contracts, Jessica Cruz has deep and noble heart and empathy and the power to go on and Simon Baz has a drive no lantern can match. And tha'ts not even getting into Alan Scott, gay icon or the ones whole books I own but haven't read like Jo Mullen or Tai Pham, both of whom deftinely deserve it.

I do love the episode exploring this idea though as given it's something a kid watching this might've thought it nicely deconsturcts it.. and shows what hearing that would do to a person. IN Jaime's case he sprials and goes to his mentor for validation. And this brings us to one of the weaker parts of the episode as Batman is in Batdick mode this episode. Granted at FIRST it's a bit understandable: jaime interupts him during a fight with Doctor Polaris. That fight itself.. is a nice subtle nod to Jaime's history as in the comics, one big arc had him fighting the newest Dr. Polaris. It's really damn good for the record and I hope it gets reprinted. Later we can see batman having recently beaten the Squid gang from Ted's first solo issue. It's some nice background stuff.

Jaime is worried he wasn't chosen for a reason, and while Bruce not reassuring him at first is okay... bruce saying, and I quote "you are NOTHING like the blue beetle I knew" is a level of dickish only suprassed by this guy

Seriously bats, a teen comes up to you, is clearly going through something regarding being worthy of this. I get it, Bats was close to ted in this continuity.. but even in that context it's comes off pretty dickish to compare the kid to someone who had years more experince in the field.

Also yes, in this continuity Ted and Bats.. were besties. I had honestly forgotten that and it's a fun uniquely wholesome take. See in the original comics.. Ted and Batman weren't exactly FRIENDS. They were coworkers: Batman was the stern, often mean boss who expected everyone to do what he said without question, and Ted was the snarky guy in his cubicle who'd shut up when that guy said to but certainly would talk behind his back. It was a good comedic value. Even later, when ted was in his final hours in countdown, batman was someone he turned to.. and Bats didn't take him seriously.. and later deeply regretted it.

Here? The two utterly respect each other, and we get a lot of fun dialogue as the two talk about their gadgets: Bats is impressed Ted managed to get a mini laser working, he switched the coils, while Ted is suprised he can get smoke pellets on his belt because his always blew up. Bats then explains he had the same issue and the casing was ungodly expensive. Thankfully he just put it on the bat credit card.

As for how the two are interacting when Ted's a corpse in present day, that's where one of the episodes most clever aspects comes in: rather than have the intro be an unrelated cold open... the intro is Bats and Ted's on Ted's final case. We don't find out the last part till later, but it's a clever way to have ted around while still having him sacrifice himself in some way.

I'd also like to stop for a moment to talk about how great the voice actors are for our beetley buddies.. and this show in general. For Jaime we have vetran voice acting legend, feeeeee-hany fan, podcaster, and critical role hall of famer Will Fredidle, who does a great job with Jaime's wide eyed enthusasim, ocasional haminess.. but also his vunerablity and depth. You can sense at times in these episodes a kid who badly WANTS to be a good as hero as the heroes who inspired him, covering it up with a layer of jokes... just like his predecessor really. Granted this all comes with the necessary asterix of THEY SHOULDN'T OF HIRED A WHITE GUY TO PLAY JAIME.. which.. they really shoudln't have. It's.. not complicated and it shouldn't of taken till 20goddamn20 for that to be standard practice and not just what some productions did and other didn't. Given a cast this size they STILL coudl've cast my boy in a roll that wasn't racist. Hell he woudl've made a great booster (though who we got is excellent). So the casting decision dose'nt have a leg to stand on.. but Will still did a good job and I dearly miss his voice acting. He's still around granted: he's currently doing the podcast pod meets world with fellow BMW allums Danille Fischelle and fellow voice actor who really should be doing more of it these days Rider Strong. Seriously he was great in Star Vs. Maybe he's focusing more on his family, as he sometimes watches episodes of BMW with his son for the pod, and if so.. fair enough. I do miss these guys and I am glad Will at least is showing up in Legend of Vox Machina and that they have a podcast together.

The other will in the equation is will wheaton, star trek's scrappy doo turned geek icon. Will is a natural fit for ted and does him justice: this version's a bit more anlytical, but as we see later with boosters ep he can play the jokey side just as well and does ted really good. he's the bar that's set for whoever plays him in live action.. and i'm pulling for their top pick of Jason Sudekis. that is PERFECT ted kord casting and the only thing that could top this casting. If not.. will is old enough to still fit the part in the live action dcu. Just saying.

The freindship adds a nice layer to Batman's action: yes he's being bat dick... but it's clearly hard to talk about his best friend's death, someone who really got him as a crimefighter and he could relate to. Green Arrow uses similar methods.. but Ollie's ego's so big he's more concerned with one upping bruce instead of talking to him like a person. Given mots of Batman's partners defer to him in some way or form (and it's telling that for as much as his boisterous baffles our blue bat, he treats aquaman with respect), it had to hurt deeply. And as we'll see later the pain is still there and he's still not quite over Ted's death. It also explains why he's specifically mentoring Jamie: he wants to protect Ted's legacy. While the meteor mission in the last episode was to test of Jamie was ready to partner with him regularly with this ep it feels more like he wanted to make sure Jamie was worthy of his friends mantle.. and makes how proud batman was at the end all the sweeter. It also shows that despite batman using the worst possible phrasing, he DOES think Jamie is worthy.

It also adds a layer to Batman's

Behavior regarding what happened to ted, refusing to tell Jamie and then flying off in his batjet. Bats later fully admits he was worried Jamie coudln't handle it.. but it may be in part he simply didn't want to relive one of the worst moments of his life, when once again someone he loved died and he could do nothing but watch. He didn't want to saddle a teenager with his grief or the fact that in this job you CAN die. And that's something shockingly consitent about this series: Dead.. means dead. There's only three major deaths in the series: Ted's, B'wanna Beast's and the Doom Patrols, but all three stick. All are given weight and gravitas and all deeply effect bats.. not from episode to episode as this is more episodic but the moment still clearly shakes him.

Jamie isn't really happy with that explination and the scarab suggests checking the internet. Turns out ted has a fanpage run by a notboostergold. Who knew? It tells Jamie ted vanished a while back and is headquartered in Hub City, Ted's hometown in the comics though where he operates out of varried: he also operated out of Chicago, New York, el Paso and currently Palmera City alongside Jamie and his long lost slightly older sister we just met because the movies gave him one and DC thought "eh this could work". Which .. honestly it does, with Vicotria being more buisness minded and ruthless. Also sidebar but.. this.. this has happened with booster and ted right?

This had to have happened. We're alli n agreement, good.

Anyways Jaime heads to Hub City and finds Ted's old layer, covred with dust, something the movie ended up copying and I fully approve of. In fact it feels like the movie took some cues from this episode, turning Ted's adventure on pago island into a jamie story, having someone try and use the scarab to create robots, little touches like that. I don't mind as they did enough of their own thing with it and frankly more people are going to see the movie over this episode, so i'm fine with a good idea being used twice.

Speaking of which Jaime finds out the last cordinates were Pago Island. For anyone who knows Ted's origin that's a red flag. Quick recap for those who didn't read my review of Ted's first two solo issues: Ted worked with his uncle jarvis, found out he was a bad dude, and then brought dan to stop him. Good news: it ended terribly for jarvis with his robots sealed and him dead. Bad news: it ended with dan dead. Gooder news: Dan told ted to take up his legacy. So the fact Ted died on an island where nothing good happens cannot end well for Jaimie.

Batman DOES try ot make up for earlier, calling Jaimie.. only for Jaimie to tell Bats where he's going and where to stick it. Batman takes it like a mature adult and while flying ot rescue Jaime, mumbles "no more teenage partners"

This line.. just.. my god> I mean yes he says "adults got him into just as much trouble " right after.. but he still soley blames JAIME for this catstrophe. Jaime is screwing up yes.. but h'es a kid desperate to know he was chosen for a good reason and to live up to someone he found out went missing on his own because you coudln't take two bat minutes to try and explain things. Maybe tell him about ted without telling him what happened just yet. INstead you accidently told him he wasn't good enough then got mad when he was rightfully pissed you gave him nothing. His timing sucked, but you really should've brought up ted LONG before this.

And as a result.. it makes it VERY easy for Jarvis, still alive here, to con Jaime into giving him data on the scarab , claming he intends to improve humanity's lot and make things better. I get not telling him he was dead.. but maybe if you'd screamed "Ted kord was dead", as traumatizing as that would've been it woudl've at least stopped a villian you KNEW was still around fro mconning him

I"ll also say this.. Jarvis' scarab based tech.. looks amazing, very beetly and while I saw the twist coming... most viewers not familiar with jarvis' existance wouldn't. The tech all looks like something ted would make. It's something I give it over the movie where despite victoria kord's OMAC"s being based directly on the scarab.. they look NOTHIGN like the scarab armor nor the actual omacs. i'm fine with it being different enough to be visually intresting but the omacs and later caprapax armore are just.. boring. But that's a rant for another review.

The main takeaway is that Jamie has accidently given a mad genius an army of super fighting robots.. and by bringing up batman NEARLY caused the man's death. But not only does Jaime catch on the robots are weapons whne one spills i'ts bullets, Batman, being you know, the goddamn batman, is alive and well. He only gets tied up when Jarvis puts a gun to Jamie's head.. which i'm 90% sure is a bluff as the scarab can take on MULTIPLE green lanterns as we'll see next episode, but it speaks to Batman's character he doesn't risk it.

Jarvis.. is an excellent villain here, taken from your usual cackler to a guy who genuinely seems like his talk about wanting to make the world better is legit.. he's just willing to conquer it to make that happen. And a utopia forged in blood isn't rally a utopia is it? But Will does a great job as Jarvis too, making his voice similar enough to ted to buy him as an older ted.. but diffrent enough to hint at the twist.

With that Batman FINALLY is forced to explain what happened: Ted gave Jarvis the scarab because he genuinely thought he could help him use it. IN this continuity dan died another way. So when Ted found out from Batman that Jarvis was instead plotting world domination, he lept to stop it.

In the end though while they did beat Jarvis... he had one last play: launch a rocket full of his robots out to begin his world conquest. So much like with Countdown when backed into a corner.. Ted sacrificed himself to save the world, not telling Bruce exactly what his plan was till the was already on the rocket. As for how the Scarab got away that's easy: ted stole it back during the scuffle and put it on the rocket, so like the comics but in a much simpler way, it still got rocketed to el paso. Ted Kord once again died a true hero.

This dosen't help Jaime as he feels he failed Ted and his leagacy and was chosen just to do this. Batman explains the episodes aseop, similar to last times but executed better: it's not being chosen or what powers you have that make a hero. It's choosing to do the right thing> Despite not having the scarab Ted choose to use his intellect to fight crime. And while Jaime didn't chooose the scarab.. he choose to use it to help people and fight for good.

The two naturally escape, fight off jarvis, and fight the throng of robots, actually beating him this time and with Jaime setting it to explode. Our heroes win, Batman shows his pride and Jamie has his confidence back.

As you can probably tell.. I love this episode> it's one of brave and the bold's best and aside from the excess of bat dick, it's a compelling story of legacy and loss. If you haven't seen the show or are curious about ted and jaime after watching the film, this is an excellent watch.

Revenge of the Reach:

Revenge of the Reach is another banger episode. On first watch I wasn't really into this one and didn't really remember it but on rewatch it was a lot of fun. I'm also happy this episode is as good as it is... as this marks the final Jaimecentric episode in the series. The big reason for this is simple: The Justice League International.

For those less familiar with Ted and this show itself, the JLI was the first version of the justice league post crisis on infinite earths, the grandaddy of crisis crossovers and the event that brought Ted into the DCU. Writer J.M. Demattis finally got the gig writing the league after begging for it but the amount of stuff being reworked post crisis meant most of the vetran justice league was off limits. Demattis and his partner in crime Keith Giffen decided "Fuck it let's make this a sitcom", and used lesser known heroes including good old ted. The only vetrans to join the team were Black Canary (Who only stayed for about the first 12 issues) , Martain Manhunter, and Bats himself as leader before giving that headache to Jonn.

And since Brave and the Bold already had prominent spotlights for key members Blue Beetle (Jaime instead of ted), Booster Gold, and Green Lantern Guy Gardner, featured Fire as a guest star and had Batman as it's lead, it was easy enough to simply introduce Martian Manhunter and Ice. Also Aquaman was there since, as said before, he was their biggest star. The team showed up a decent amount in season 3 and likely would've more had the series not been cut so short, eventually adding other members from the comics like Rocket Red and Captain Marvel.

So with season 3 cut in half and the crew knowing the end was nigh, there was less time to give Jaime more stories, instead focusing more on stuff they clearly wanted to get in before the end: Stories with the league, a whole episode dedicated to Superdickery that's one of the most glorious things ever put to film, an origins episode for batman and his other recurring patners that weirdly didn't have jaime. Season 3 was just packed and had only so much time left. It also had powerless which objectively sucks and I will get to when we eventually do a JLI in brave and the bold retrospective, one of a few Kev's floated along with the Starro arc and Batmite (the latter I especailly want to do as I forgot the late great paul rubens was his voice. ) So this is Jaime's last hurrah. And lucky for him, he got a heck of a writer on board as J.M. Demattis himself wrote this one.

Spekaing of the Starro arc, our intro ties into it and i'll likely be covering again when I do that one. It features a jack kirby creation, THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN, with the intro for the segment funly done in the style of a 60's tv show. THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN are a quartet of adventurers who well.. challenge the unknown, experts in their fields who survivied a plane crash, put on matching jumpsuits and took on weird cases for the pentagon. They , to my shock came BEFORE Kirby would move on to Marvel, and with the challengers not having got a lot of traction, and even in recent dc works mostly showing up for one off apperances, I wouldn't be shocked if he reworked the concept of four adventuerers with public identtites who fight weird shit while wearing matching jumpsuits as the fantastic four.

Anyways the quartet fight a weird creatue with batman... but where this connects to the eventual story arc.. is after batman leaves a bunch of mini starros popping out of the meteor to posses the challengers.

So let's move on. Our main story has Jaime going out to space for an unauthorized solo mission. I'd say it was suprising Batman dictated when he could save lives or not .. but he is batman. And TBF, Batman probably wouldn't chastise Jaime if say he stopped a local fire or helped out with disaster relief. I"m sure the kid does the basic heroing stuff daily to stay sharp, and Batman, for all his faults would never want someone to not step in and help when they could. He just likely dosen't want Jaime tackling super crime without him.

Jaime fights Evil Star, whose name isn't a joke from me, but an actual Green Lantern villian, fitting given the Corps plays a large role in this. With some unknowing help from Paco, Jaime does in fact win on his own merits. Batman however isn't pleased as he apparently has Jaime chipped and followed him out there in his bat space suit. What I like though is Bruce isn't mad and his reasons for keeping Jaime on a leash aren't dickishness like last time: he TRUSTS Jaime, he both likely worries about his young ward, especially after loosing ted.. and DOSNE'T trust the Scarab, knowing nothing about it.

The two take him to Oa to drop Evil Star off. Oa is the home of the Green Lantern Corps I mentioned earlier, where new corpsman are trained and the central power battery, the source of their power is stationed. It's there a squad of Lanterns comes to pick up the leftovers, lead by Guy Gardner

So quick backstory for guy: guy was the second space cop green lantern for earth, being a backup for Hal Jordan and only not picked because Hal happened to be closer to where Abin Sur could land. For a while he was an also ran who ended up in a coma.

Eventually though Steve Engleheart decided to make use of him. During his run Steve made John Stewart the main green lantern and had Hal depowered for being mad at the responsiblity and such. Standard angst. Many a fan was simply, as tends to happen in comics, waiting for Hal to come back. Steve however didn't want that and had a simple thought: "Why CAN'T there be more than one earth lantern? Ther'es thousands of others up in space". So he not only allowed John to remain in the role, hence John getting to be the GLC's rep for crisis, but also brought Guy back, this time as a jingoistic right wing loud mouth. According to wikipedia Steve.. regrets the decision a bit as other people around him weren't fond of it and he got no royalties as he didn't create guy. Which is sad as this version became the premiere one.

But while steve lit the spark, it was Demattis who turned him into the tire fire we all know and love, deciding to pick guy for the JLI, likely because out of the four lantern's avaliable, Guy fit into the dynamic the most. While the JLI was still fighting superheroes, it made sense for a more comedic group to have a resident asshole, someone within the group who generally tends to start shit. The person no one likes but they can't really chuck for whatever reason. So for the JLI, guy was that dick, swaggering onto panel demanding to be leader and pissing everyone off with his abrasivness and general dickishness, paticuarlyl Black Canary who, in one of JLI's weaker moments, was portrayed as a straw feminist, working best against guy as a chauvnist. It was essnetially if someone had given Steve Dallas a power ring.

While Guy has mellowed out slightly over the years, he's still largely the loud obnoxious older brother of the superhero set, mostly known for challenging batman to a fist fight with predictable yet hilarious results

Guy ended up as BATB's main GL, mostly because he fit the tone well and James Arnold Taylor did a pitch perfect job getting Guy down. He never got bumped up to the status of Jaime, Plastic Man or Aquaman of being as close to a main character as the series format allowed, but he was still a memorable part of it and they did him good.

Which is bad for Jaime as Guy's approach to the lantern's request to take JAIME in with his prisoner goes over like a lead ballon, not helped by Guy basically saying "Shut up and get in the van' While his fellow lanterns do fuck all to actually explain WHY the guardians want Jaime. A fight insues and it's easily the best part of a standout episodes. See with the Green Lantern's what makes them so awesome is that the power ring can make ANYTHIGN they imagine. Any thought can be a weapon. There's limits of course: some things can tamper with the vibration, the user needs to be able to concetrate, the rings have to be recharged by reciting the badass oath, stuff to keep the stories interesting, but even with those limits the ring is a deadly weapon in the right hands. It's also what makes the lanterns fun in comparison to other heroes who share the same power sets: while they all have the same ring, each person uses it diffrently: from Hal Jordan favoring planes due to his airforce background, to Kyle Rayner going with a lot of Manga style designs due to being a self confessed "Manga nut with a power ring". It's just some writers can't see the full potetial and just have it be a glorified ray gun or have them only reatrain people with rings and such.

Demattis.. dosen't have this issue, and also fully gets that Jamie's scarab is just aas formidable, leading to a dope as hell fight as we get two fighters both experinced, both with weapons that can do anything going at it with highlights including guy making a sword and shield and later armor for himself, befitting his brawler styles.

Batman eventually steps in and stops this, though I like that he dosen't chastise Jaime. While Jaime esclated, he was faced with a bunch of people wanting to take his incredibly dangerous scarab that he saw as a friend and not explaning why. Guy on the otherhand.. is guy and tries to get Bats to butt out.. only for Batman to remind him he punched his lights out in this contuity too. Yes folks BATB made sure to adapt that moment for Guy's debut. Guy wouldn't listen to batman on a mission, with Bats keeping him on a short leash.. so Guy decked him. While Guy mumble's it was a lucky shot.. it's clear he's cowed and the Guardians step in.

They explain things to the trio in private: the Scarab is, like in the comics a dangerous weapon of the Reach, intergalactic conquerers the Corps defeated years ago, with the scarab users being a false flag: heroes sent to help them.. to keep the planet alive long enough for said user to conquer later when the programming tookover. The diffrence here is in the comics, the Reach played the long game, planning to wait a few generations to sell the planet and use it's inhabitants for slaves, slowly making them docile so by the time they were ready for market, they woudln't fight back. IT's part of what made them such a threat: Jaime coudln't just punch them away, he had to outsmart them.

Here their more like the borg from star trek: a cold collective with but one purpose, a hive of insects planning to swarm. The false flag part remains, it's just less nuanced. And tha'ts.. okay. I didn't like it at first, but I get that unlike Young Justice after this... BATB simply didnt' have the real estate for that kind of story, so they codnsensed it.

The Guardians let Jamie go for now as they want to see if he can control it and trust Batman's words. Guy being guy.. isn't convinced.. and proves a broken clock is right once a day as the Scarab, now in position to do some damage way sooner, regretfully hyjacks Jaime. The one weakness of this one is it's hard to buy Jaime and the Scarab as friends given we've barely seen the two and don't really see them bonding. It just beeps behind him, with the comics, movie and young justice taking effort to show Jaime warming up to his metallic parasite.

Most of the ep is really just a large fight between a possesed Jamie and the corps, and unlike the comics, where their on an even keel, or when Jamie is in control.. this scarab easily mows through them without anyone holding the leash, and Jamie only gets to wake up for a secona nd panickedly try to fight it's control.

So we're left with two sides; Guy who, again, being a dick assumes Jaime is a willing traitor

And Batman.. who see has come a long way, now fully respecting Jaime and has all the faith in the world he can fight this. He gets blasted a lot but is ultimately p;roven right even as a small reach squad arrives.. and easily mops the floor with an ARMY of green lanterns who barely hold them back.

Jaime ends up turning the tide though, fighting his way free and proving himself.. and Guy decides to trust him because why not. How Jaime wins is also clever: he has the lanterns load him up with thier power.. but choose THEM for a reason: since the lanterns run on a user's will, it allows jamie to tape into the scarb's hosts an dresotre there,s disarrming the scarabs. The guardians not only thank jamie ut plan to destroy them... and Guy, as is necesiated by tv law, steps in and tells them not to include Jaime's, with Batman fully graduating his old sidekick.

Revenge is a solid ep. It lacks some of the depth of Fall, but is still a fun episode with some really tightly animated action and plays with the toys it has beautifully. So that leaves us with one last beetlecentric episode.. only this time.. it's Ted's farewell.

Menace of the Madniks!:

We end this retrospective still in season 2.. and this is a very close second favorite out of this pile. It's also the only one I hadn't seen, having not really tracked down most of the episodes I missed, apart from the Doom Patrol one.

The opening.. is the Haunted Tank. Now the concept of a possed wwII era tank, is awesome and the car chase is great. But for some reason not only did the original writers think it being a CONFEDERATE ghost was okay.. but so did the staff of BATB. I get this was long before BLM but.. come on. Just.. come on. He has CSA ON HIS HAT. WHy is batman riding shotgun with a racist confederate ghost? WHY IS BATMAN TEAMING UP WITH...

Menance builds on Batman's characterization from Fall of the Blue Beetle, having been one of Ted's closest friends and working hard to mop up the Madniks, the only member of Ted's rogues gallery to have staying power after his death. Their a bunch of artists, doodly doo, who want to peddle their weird anti-society ways man. Basically their what Steve Ditko thought beatniks were, but work because they have great designs that help cover up being created by an old man who yells at clouds.

Batman is trying to take them down in ted's honor.. but wasn't the ONLY one with that idea as we get the glory that is Booster Gold. Booster was ted's best friend in the comics, a janitor from the future who came back to our time to get rich being a hero, learned to be a hero, and spent most of his time in the league dragging Ted into get rich quick schemes

The two are joined at the hip, with Ted's death shattering the poor guy. Their also shipped a lot. Not really my thing in most cases but this episode is very much "the two guys into me have to hang out and neither likes each other", and I suppport it.

And tha'ts how they cleverly account for Booster and Ted's history not having been brought up till now: Ted was close with both bats and booster.. but made sure neither one knew about it, with booster only finding out when Batman berates him.

Booster being a time traveler also allows for them to cleverly bring ted back without undoing his sacrifice: While he is VERY dumb, Batman outright snaps at him later when he asks too many time travel questions a time traveler should DAMn well know, and Skeets, Boosters robot buddy voiced by voice acting legend billy west (Who along with Booster's va tom everett scott is reprsing his role from the DCAU, the only actors to do so here), is worried Boost just wants to save ted. He dose'nt know: while he'd LIKE to, he's again not THAT dumb and simply wants to see him again and wrap up the madmen as they were the last case Ted worked before Pago island.

It's sweet at first as we see how close the two are: Ted's super happy to see booster, glad to work with him, and only mildly confused his best friend is here after seeing him just a week ago. It speaks to the type of friends they are: wo goofuses who need each other and speak the same very dumb language. Ted is way more relaxed in this episode and it implies his more withdrawn manor with batman.. is simply matching bat's energy. IT's a nice way to have ted still be the awesome science guy.. but inject the fun back in.

The two go to stop the Madniks together, but booster makes an oopsie and shoots the gun their stealing. Their all imoblized by it but if you thought "a weird raygun backfiring and spraying red ominous energy over a bunch of c list villians" is going to end badly, your correct as Booster going back to the present.. finds it ravaged by three weird energy monsters who i'm calling the Meganiks as unlike booster, you can put two and two together. Booster tells on himself, and Batman, having not even REMOTELY suspected him, makes Booster take them back.

This leads to the fun part of the episode: Ted awkwardly having to navigate his VERY different besties, with batman being utterly shocked Ted spends time with such a goofus, not getting that not EVERYONE thinks fighting crime is the funenst thing possible. Seriously this episode has such "my best friend hates my boyfriend" energy and I love it. The two naturally bicker a lot with Ted trying to be civil before just telling the two to shut up and admitting this is WHY he didn't tell them about each other. Eventually the two DO end up working together well enough when Ted's in real danger.

And that's where the two sweetest parts of this come from. The first is when Booster finally admits he just wanted to see Ted again.. and Bats not only realizes he was a bit hard on the moron, accidently end of the world or no.. but that their friendship was as strong as Bats own with ted. I mean really.. who WOULDN'T want one last moment with a loved one, wether that loved one knew it or not. It bonds the two.. and in doing so gives ted something better than simply finishing his last case.. he gets to see the two people he cares about most actually get along. It's a really nice way to end it and when they get back to the present bats decides to invite booster to patrolw tih him. They may not really get each other.. but mayeb they can help each other move on.

So all in all one meh, early episode and a bunch of REALLY strong episodes. In general Brave and the Bold was really fantastic and only had maybe a few duds. It's a glorious celebration of the dcu and I wholly recommend checking it out especailly if you love those boys in blue

For now.. it's time to let Jamie and Ted have a rest. I'll go back there someday, I still want to cover the movie at some point, the rest of Jaime's run but for now we can simply watch as one flies and one swings off into the sunset, for more adventures, and a bright future. The bluest, and bravest, heroes there ever were. Thanks for reading.

#batman the brave and the bold #ted kord #jaime reyes #blue beetle #booster gold #guy gardner #will wheaton #will friedle #the madniks #the reach #the green lantern corps #green lantern

[moonflower-rose]

PLEASE tell me you're gonna scan the spock shirt and sell it omg the world needs this vintage trek merch!!

Hello anon! To be honest I would feel really bad about profiting from the image in this way and I haven't been able to find any sign of the original artists online (which makes sense as it was over 30 years ago). HOWEVER, someone else has worked on my photo to sort it out from the wrinkled state, in case people wanted to print on demand their own tshirt (or pillow case or poster or whatever I suppose). That person is @nmpositive and their post is here. Go forth!

I'd just like to take a moment to thank the first person, and everyone thereafter, who tagged the original post 'spock big naturals', and for all of the people who have appreciated my mum's awesomeness (including the one person who asked if she's single - she is, but she's not looking, thanks for the interest tho).

One final important note, my (late) dad would never have forbidden mum from wearing the shirt! It was more that he asked her (when he finally stopped laughing) whether she had fully thought through what it would be like bumping into the parish priest or the esteemed fellow members of the Good Shephard altar society, or the parents of one of the kids she taught at school, while down at the local Bi-Lo wearing Bondage Spock in 1995. Not to mention one of his three aunts who were Catholic nuns and who also tended to shop at said Bi-Lo and sometimes take the same bus into town. We all fondly reminisced about the time one of the nuns had bumped into me on the train into the city in full 90's goth regalia, an event which neither of us ever fully recovered from. She agreed that she had not considered this at all when purchasing.

#star trek #spock big naturals #fan art #tshirts that go hard #my mum the legend #my asks #rosie answers

[idontknowijuststartedsomething]

Gravity, Ghost, and Gems

Part 4/???

The Mystery Duo

(Also any weird spacing or spelling is intentional cuz I wanted it to feel like dialogue from the show)

“Dad, do we really have to spend the whole summer at some lame scientist convention. I bet half those guys wouldn’t even acknowledge the real scientific work I’m doing!”

Gaz stares at her brother with contempt for about the eightieth time since they got in the car.

“Oh no son, only I get to go to the science convention. You and your sister will be staying in the town near the science convention. For the. w h o l e s u m m e r. And by near I mean 90 miles away”

“What?!” Dib sprang up from the back seat of the car. “So than why did we have to come? With Zim gone for months I could spend this time getting into his filthy base and learning all his filthy alien secretssssss.”

“ I thought it’d be good for you to get out of the house and experience other things. Also the convention discounts my ticket if I say I have a child in some proximity to me near.”

“Well is there anything to do in this town?”

“As far as I can tell ,no. But at least you’ll taste the fresh woodland air, and get to spend more time with Foodio in the hotel room! Don’t worry kids, I’ll come down from Portland every once in a while to say hello. Just hello.”

Membrane litterally sped off into the distance after he threw his kids and their luggage outside the car. Dib though it was amazing how he could drive so fast and not hit anything, considering this town was really small and compact, with only a few main shops and one shady hotel.

“I’m just glad Zim is away at that InvaderCON in space.”

“Will you be quite for once?”

The hotel room was about what you’d expect from looking at the outside of the building, except ten times worse. As far as Dib could tell he and Gaz were the only actual hotel guests, and the room reflected that. Despite being under the Northwest name, this place didn’t look much better than Skool. After sitting around watching the two TV stations that were available, Dib finally decide he’d had enough and set out to explore the town.

“Some thing is a miss in this town Gaz! Some thing, supernatural. This town is way to normal to be normal. I can smell it, Gaz!”

“I can smell your BO.”

Despite Membrane’s orders that the stay together, Gaz made it very clear she wanted to be left alone with her games. This gave Dib the perfect opportunity to go exploring on his own and sniff out the town’a secrets(if it had any) by himself. He went into a few of the shops on Main Street, and the people seemed nice enough, if not more than a little eccentric. As he made his way down the street he saw a rather odd sight, which for him is saying something. A kid, probably a little older than him, was dancing on the street corner in some costume that looked like a question mark.

“Hey, quick question. Why are you dancing like an moron and dressed like an even bigger moron?” The kid in the costume seemed relieved that Dib said that, since it meant he could drop his weird act.

“I’m supposed to advertise this place I just got a job at. ‘Come to the Mystery Shack, where the worse fears of you and your wallet lie’”. He did a little dance again and handed Dib a flyer.

“A Mystery Shack! That sounds perfect! Just the place to learn the dark inner workings of this unassuming town!”

“Yeah are you done yet kid I’ve got a job to do.” Dib sprinted deep into the woods without answering, and Danny only hoped that his stupid dance didn’t set that kids expectations too high.

Dib followed the signs stapled onto trees, making his way deeper and deeper into the ever darkening woods. Then, he saw it. The rustic building in the middle of nowhere seemed like the perfect place for dark secrets to hide. He didn’t even mind the hokey signs all over the place, until he got inside. His excitement for the truly paranormal faded as soon as he took one look at some of the exhibits in the gift shop. The corn-o-corn? Really? And that thing in glass was obviously a monkey torso poorly stitched to a fish tail. “Ah, come on! Where’s the real paranormal exhibits. Does no one here want real?!” He shouted to the other gift shop patrons, but none of them seemed to care.

“Sorry dude. Nothing’s every really real at the Mystery Shack. I’m amazed Grunkle Stan was able to trick people for so long.” A kid in a blue hat and vest and about Dib’s height appeared behind him.

“Oh so all that stuff was just cheap advertising?”

“You couldn’t tell by the guy in the question costume?”

Dib scrunched up his face and tossed the flyer in disappointment. The kid next to him sort of felt bad, and with quick thinking offered a solution.

“Ya know, I do know a thing or two about real paranormal stuff in this town. Maybe I can show you some of it.”

“Really?” Dib’s face lit up.

“Uh huh. I’m kinda considered the big paranormal investigator in town.” A girl’s laugh came from the other room.

“Thank goodness there’s some real stuff in this town. And I thought I was the only one who could see through the noise. Seek the truth when the truth isn’t there. Could find the diamond under all..”

“Ok calm down dude. If you want I can show you around town. I also have some stuff in my room that’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah sure. It feels nice to meet a fellow believer. I’m Dib, by the way”

“Dipper Pines. Nice to meet you”

#gravity ghosts and gems #dib membrane #dib #dipper pines #gravity falls #invader zim #danny phantom #steven universe #see I told you they’d get here #gravity falls mable #mable pines #gaz membrane #professor membrane #fanfic #phanfiction

[revchainsaw]

Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (1997)

Season 1

Hello and Welcome back my creepy congregation! We will be taking todays service from the Big Screen into your living room for our first Personal Devotional. That's Right! We're reviewing full seasons of television series now and what better way to bring the spirit of the genre film to the idiots lantern that with the 90s Television sensation and all around love letter to the horror genre, Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

The Message

Regardless of how one may feel about Mr. Whedon we can't deny how much we love Buffy Summers and the Kids who live and die in Sunnydale! Season one of Buffy was a spin off/reboot of the earlier film and an attempt by Whedon to course correct the franchise by breathing a little charm and attention into the subject matter.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Season 1) focuses on Buffy Summers, a not so typical California high school student who, due to the events of the movie, has been relocated to Sunnydale High. Buffy is not just a cute, athletic, teenage girl looking to enjoy the prime of her life, though she is those things, she is also the Slayer, an anointed warrior who has been reincarnated throughout the generations to protect our vulnerable weak human world from the forces of evil; particularly Vampires. Buffy is a sort of supernatural Captain America, that is a peak human being, but instead of Nazi Science she was born with her powers.

Joining Buffy are; High School outcasts Willow and Xander (a nerd and a nice guy respectively), The ridiculously sexy librarian Rupert Giles (her mentor, guardian, high school librarian, and all around precious papa bear), Jenny Calendar (a technopagan computer teacher armed with all the mystery an ignorant 90s boomer could attribute to the internet), Angel (Spoiler: He's a Vampire, but he's a good guy. A hunky, broody, good guy vampire love interest), and her loving but entirely oblivious mother. The Scoobies as they have come to be called aid Buffy in her quest to protect Sunnydale from Dark Forces.

And Speaking of those Dark Forces, they are primarily vampires, led by the Master; an ancient vampire who resembles to some degree Nosferatu and a Bat, a look that Guillermo Del Toro would later perfect in his own series the Strain. The Master seeks to fulfill an ancient prophecy that would open the Hellmouth (a portal to hell, exactly what it sounds like) and free him in order that he and his kind should conquer the world.

The first season is fairly short consisting of the following adventures.

1. Welcome to the Hellmouth - Buffy moves to Sunnydale seeking to leave her Vampire ways behind, but the vampires just won't let her catch a break.

2. The Harvest - Vampire Shenanigans continues. Buffy learns of the Master.

3. Witch - A fellow Cheerleader is possessed by her witchy mom.

4. Teachers Pet - Buffy vs Giant Mantis

5. Never Kill a Boy on the First Date - Buffy vs the Anointed One (Not Really)

6. The Pack - Buffy vs Hyena Possessed High School Bullies

7. Angel - Buffy vs Angel but actually Darla

8. I, Robot ... you, Jane - Buffy vs Internet Demon

9. The Puppet Show - Buffy and Sid the Dummy vs Organ Harvesting Demon

10. Nightmares - Buffy has bad dreams

11. Out of Mind, Out of Sight - Buffy vs Invisible Nerd

12. Prophecy Girl - Buffy vs The Master (also Buffy Dies)

Overall the short season, while not allowing for too much world building, kept the show to a format that allowed very little filler. So although we mostly only get vampires as villains, we don't have enough time to really be bored of it. Some of the shows dynamics and cultural concerns definitely date the series but overall Season 1 of Buffy is definitely not a difficult watch, and can be enjoyed over and over again.

Let's get to the Benediction:

Best Character: Slay Girl, Slay!

As far as season one goes the titular Buffy Summers is the best character. Sarah Michelle Gellar is absolutely charismatic in the lead role and though at times she may seem selfish or reckless it makes perfect sense for the character. The character is allowed to be weak, to be selfish, and to be unlikeable. She avoids the foibles of a Luke Skywalker or a Harry Potter. She joins the ranks of primary protagonists who are not constantly outshined by their supporting cast. I believe when Buffy is sad, I believe when she throws a punch, I believe she struggles with her destiny. The only thing I don't believe is how ditsy she let's on.

Best Actor: Head's Up!

Anthony Stewart Head. Head as Giles is just fantastic. His balance of frustration with Buffy and genuinely parental concern is heartwarming and absolutely makes Giles one of the warmest father figures in television history.

Best Episode: A 'Master'ful Finale

It all builds up to Prophecy Girl and for good reason. Television shows often have mini-finale's at the end of their first seasons because the teams behind the series are not sure they will have a chance to tell more of their story. For that reason you can see just the first season of most television series and feel like you've heard the whole deal. I wish this habit was kept up in other seasons as we wouldn't still be wondering what the hell happened to Joel at the end of the Santa Clarita Diet. Buffy is no exception to this phenomenon and therefor attempted to tie up much of it's narrative in Prophecy Girl. While that often means big bads will be dispatched, I think it's a small price to pay for not winding up in a cliff hanger. Buffy and Giles just shine in this episode, Angel is given a more heroic role, Willow finally values herself as she should and Xander stops being a fucking horrible human being for once. This episode really satisfies in all areas.

Best Villain: Sweet, Sweetheart Killer

It's such a shame that Darla was killed so early on in the franchise. She is such a great presence on the screen that she overshadows all the villains that play alongside her, even the Master. I would have loved to have seen an alternate season where she offs the old coot and assumes the role of big bad much like Spike does in Season 2. Lucky for everyone that Darla is featured throughout the show in flashbacks and I hear she is even resurrected in Angel. Also, for Scott Pilgrim fans I feel like she and Envy Adams are very much sympatico. Maybe if they reboot Buffy all my dreams will come true.

I'd also like to take this time to recommend the song Angels and Darlas by Say Hi! It's pretty good.

Best Monster Design: Internet Troll!

While I can't speak for where the money in Season 1 of Buffy went, I can say that at least some decent cash was spent on both the forms of Moloch the Corruptor from the Episode "I, Robot ... You, Jane". Moloch was pretty wicked looking as a machine toward the end of the episode, he looked like a Mortal Kombat villain, but it's the green scales and ram horns the actor is sporting at the beginning of the episode that really catches the eye. In fact, I'm feeling compelled to hunt down any Moloch the Corruptor merch that may be out there on the internet. It's certainly no mystery why the demon's face is featured prominently in the theme song. It just looks great! Good job to the make up department there.

Most WTF moment: "Pack"s a Punch on Principle

While not the greatest episode in season one "the Pack" is certainly worth the watch if for no other reason than the horror is kicked up when a group of high school students under the influence of a malevolent Hyena God, decide that the School Mascot is not enough to satisfy their bloodlust turn on the principal, and yes, THEY EAT HIM. I remember being completely caught of guard the first time I saw that scene, and it kickstarted the running gag of Sunnydale high principles meeting their demise in horrific ways.

Worst Character: No More Mr. Nice Guy

When I was in college I often felt bad for Xander. The funny guy who just had no luck with women. He was sarcastic but had a big heart, and used a horny gimmick to mask his loneliness, or so I thought. But now I am older, I am wiser, I have known the touch of another human being and I have to say that Xander Harris is a really scummy fellow. I don't remember thinking so poorly and I wonder if the character develops a more nuanced view of women as the show goes on. As it stands there's barely a point in the series that Xander does not view the female cast as objects for him to enjoy or be embittered towards for one reason or another. It's not charming, it's foul. Xander Harris of season one is absolutely a terrorist attack waiting to happen, if Buffy had happened today it would be much more concerning to see someone so embittered, horny, and entitled to womens time and energy as Xander Harris. Dude is one step away from pulling an Elliot Rogers. Calm down buddy and maybe actually listen to a woman and you may find you aren't as much of a 'nice guy' as you think.

Worst Episode(s): If you're not first ...

It's a toss up on this one. Season One of Buffy is actually so short and concise that the 'Monster of the Week' episodes will have to be up for grabs as the worst episode by default, but even they are pretty watchable and don't warrant the vitriol a "worst" dub usually entails. I'd say there is not a worst episode of season one, just some episodes that aren't as good as the rest. In that vain, take your pick from "Witch", "Out of Mind, Out of Sight", or "The Puppet Show". However, I'd be doing a disservice to those episodes not to mention that each one of them takes what could just be a basic Buffy Vs (insert Villain), and does something unique and interesting with the idea. The villain of "Witch" actually turns out to be a has been cheerleader actually possessing the body of her innocent daughter to relive her glory years, The Invisible Girl is actually the victim of social cruelty, her peers disinterest in her manifesting in her condition becoming quite literal and she is picked up by the military in the end, then the Puppet show, well, it's just about the stupidest most absurd thing that could possibly happen and it's completely unafraid of that fact.

Summary:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (Season 1) is not the most groundbreaking TV, but it is absolutely evident why the show was such a phenomenon. Season 1 is particularly rewatchable. It does not demand too much investment or attention, but it will get it from you, especially on a first viewing. It's not afraid to take itself absolutely seriously or to plant it's tongue firmly in it's cheeks. It is to a degree a product of it's time, but in many other aspects feels timeless.

Overall Grade: B

#Buffy #Buffy the Vampire Slayer #Vampire #Horror #Television #Series #TV #television series #Grade B #B #90s #1990s #1997 #wilde 1997 #buffy btvs #Moloch #Demon #Monster of the Week #Season 1 #(B)

[lanaisnotwool]

404 From Teacher to Investor - Interview with Todd Dexheimer

http://moneyripples.com/2020/06/22/404-from-teacher-to-investor-interview-with-todd-dexheimer/

Chris Miles, the "Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor," is a leading authority on how to quickly free up and create cash flow for thousands of his clients, entrepreneurs, and others internationally! He’s an author, speaker, and radio host that has been featured in US News, CNN Money, Bankrate, Entrepreneur on Fire, and spoken to thousands getting them fast financial results.

Listen to our Podcast here:

https://www.blogtalkradio.com/moneyripples/2020/05/31/404--going-from-teacher-to-investor-with-todd-dexheimer

-----------------------------------------------------------

Chris Miles (00:00): Hello, my fellow Ripplers. This is Chris Miles. Your Cash Flow Expert and Anti-Financial Advisor. Welcome you out for a wonderful show. Show that's for you and about you. Those of you work so hard for money and you're ready for your money. Start working harder for you. Now! You want that freedom. That cash flow. That prosperity. Today! Not 30, 40 bazillion years from now, but right now, so you can live that life that you love doing what you love being with those that you love, but it's so much more than you guys. Than just having a lot of money and being comfortable and, you know, driving flashy cars and that kind of thing. Because if you're following us, we're not those kind of people. We're real people. We're sincere. We're authentic. And the truth is that you're a Rippler. That you, yes, you can create lots and lots of money create the life of your dreams, but your life is much more than that. You want to create a ripple effect through the lives of those, around you, whether it be your family, whether it be your community, the country, or across the world. And that's ultimately what this ripple effect's about. And I appreciate you guys allowing me to create a ripple effect through you because without that, we couldn't do it. And you guys have been bingeing on these shows. You've been spreading the word you've been sharing it. And I love seeing these numbers grow every single day. So thank you for being a part of this.

Chris Miles (01:20): Hey, as a quick reminder, check out our website MoneyRipples.com. You've got the great ebook on there called Beyond Rice & Beans. Seven Secrets. Free up cash today, and you can check out other information on there as well. So check it out.

Chris Miles (01:29): Alright! Today, guys, I'm bringing on another great, great investor on our show here. This is actually a guy by the name of Todd Dexheimer here. Now, Todd, like Todd's been doing real estate. He got in right during the last recession. Like he was born out of the fire, right? He was born out of those flames when everybody says real estate stinks. And that's exactly when Todd said, alright, let's do this. He actually started as a high school industrial tech teacher. Then went to real estate in 2008. Now, interesting thing about him is that he's the CEO of venture properties, LLC. Yeah. He's also been, has purchased and renovated over 800 units guys. Has focuses on syndicating value, add multifamily and emerging markets, as well as coaching other inspiring investors. He's the host of the Pillar of Wealth Creation Podcasts that actually I've been on as well. He's also been doing contributing things like Bigger Pockets. And he's been on various shows, whether it's like, you know, big real estate investing advice ever, or the Michael Blank show and many, many more. And so he lives in Minnesota, his wife, and two kids love skiing, hunting, camping, hockey running. Of course he's in Minnesota. He's got to love hockey. Right? So anyways, Todd, welcome to our show.

Todd Dexheimer (02:41): Yeah. Appreciate you having me on, I appreciate the introduction, man. I'm like, I'm pumped up. I, that intro was awesome! I'm pumped up to hopefully add some value to the show and yeah. This is, this is an exciting community. It sounds like we got here. So...

Chris Miles (02:58): Absolutely. No, these are good people. These are the best ones you'll ever, ever witness. I'll tell you that. So, you know, tell us like, how did you even go from, you know, high school teacher to real estate? Like what even sparked that because everybody's freaking out in 2008 and you're like, Hey, why not? Right.

Todd Dexheimer (03:14): Yeah. I've been, what was I going to lose, man?

Chris Miles (03:16): That's right!

Todd Dexheimer (03:18): I was making you know, not very much as a high school teacher. And I think there was, I don't, I don't know exactly what sparked it like it was, I don't know if it was just a spark, but I've always, I think had this entrepreneurial spirit with me. I actually built shipping crates for my dad's company that he worked at. He was a manufacturing engineer and they're making these vises and I built shipping crates for these vises. So I had my own decks, custom crates business that my brother and dad kind of formed and along with me, and then I took over and did that. So that was fun. And that was when I was in high school, I had the lawn mowing business, you know, but then I decided to be a teacher and just, just quite frankly, it just didn't click. Like I thought it was going to be great. And there was parts of it. That was, was great, but it just didn't click. And it wasn't for me. And I bet within like a month or two, I was telling my wife, I gotta figure out what I'm going to do when I grow up because this aint it. And so...

Chris Miles (04:26): It, wasn't a scary moment for her to say, wait, all of this to now say you want to get out. Right?

Todd Dexheimer (04:31): Well, we just started our life together, you know, as like all this. So it was kind of crazy, but at the same time I knew it wasn't for me. So it was just exploratory and just trying to figure out and real estate made a ton of sense. And like you said, it was right during that like firestorm, right. Everything was crashing. Everybody was running in the opposite direction. And I got in a little bit about, you know, I was naive. I didn't really understand a hundred percent what happened cause I wasn't involved. Like I didn't lose anything. Right? So it was a little bit of maybe me being naive, but also seeing the opportunity. Understanding like that real estate will go back up in value, even though some people sat and I heard this a lot of times real estate will never go back up to where it used to be. Never. And that's very shortsighted. And I knew that it was like, yeah, see, but these are people that got, just got burned. Right? And so it just made so much financial sense and I understood the industry being an industrial tech teacher and you know, doing construction through the summers too, work my way through high school and college. It just made sense.

Chris Miles (05:44): Yeah. So what was your first deal? Like what'd you start out doing?

Todd Dexheimer (05:48): You know what, I did three deals pretty much at one time, which is, which is crazy. And I didn't have any money, by the way. My wife and I had probably like $30,000 saved up, maybe $25,000 saved up. And so we bought a single family that we ended up living in, but it was a foreclosure. We did this 203K loan. So you can get in for very little money. And then we did the renovation ourselves, big renovation. I mean, when we moved in, there was no plumbing, water wasn't working. So like the first, like, I shouldn't say when we moved in, like probably the day we moved in, I just got it going. I can still remember working on some, we didn't have heat, which is fine. Cause we moved in in August, but we had to get heat because at Minnesota, by end of September, you need heat. So I, they like get around is we're on a time deadline. Yeah. But so that, that was one of them. The other one was a flip that I partnered with a guy that had money and we did the fix and flip. And then the other one was a single family rental house. I bought that out of foreclosure. For like 60,000, somewhere around there stuck another 10, 15,000 into it. Did all the work myself with my wife and a couple of friends came and helped me in, but that was it. And then was able to then refinance that house actually in that snowball, from there. Fix and flip, actually ended up being a flop. I bet I made a thousand dollars on it. I did all the work

Chris Miles (07:27): You got to learn pretty quickly. Like it's probably better that happened because in some people's case where they hit really big on that first flip, they think that's the way it's always going to be. Right?

Todd Dexheimer (07:35): Oh, this is easy!

Chris Miles (07:37): Yeah, exactly. And you're like, okay, that wasn't as cool as I thought that was, that was like a dollar an hour. Gosh.

Todd Dexheimer (07:43): But it probably wasn't even that much.

Chris Miles (07:47): Well, that's great. And you've done. I mean, you've done flips, you've even done mobile home, parks and you did a ski resort, is that right?

Todd Dexheimer (07:53): Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Miles (07:55): Tell us about that.

Todd Dexheimer (07:55): Well, I bought a defunct ski resort, so it was just a ski resort that, you know, we had some really bad winters in the early, the late 90's to early 2000's where there just wasn't a lot of snow. And so when that happens, these little skiers are just can't handle it. And so they ended up shutting it down. Somebody got hurt really bad too. And so there was a big lawsuit. And so it was just shut down. The guy that owned it originally passed away, handed down to his kid and grown adult, but yeah, just didn't want to do it anymore. So they ended up shutting it down and we stumbled upon it. Actually the business partner at the time was actually hunting nearby and he was seeing all these deer trails. And they all led into this property.

Todd Dexheimer (08:48): So we went and talked to the owner and then was like, Hey, what's going on here? And we ended up striking a deal. Then we ended up getting the property and we got it for such a cheap price that we had a bank that financed it a hundred percent.

Chris Miles (09:01): Wow!

Todd Dexheimer (09:02): It appraised for a million dollars and we were buying it for $450,000 and they fund us to a hundred percent of the deal.

Chris Miles (09:10): That's incredible.

Todd Dexheimer (09:12): Yeah. It was incredible. And that was 2000, maybe 13 or 14. So things, I mean still were a little iffy, you know, probably 13. Yeah. We're still a little iffy. There is banks. Weren't being super friendly. Yeah. Not like that, but...

Chris Miles (09:29): But the numbers made sense. It said, all right. Go for it.

Todd Dexheimer (09:32): Yup. Yup. So we ended up just taking that. We did some work to it. We were thinking about doing something with it, but it ended up just being more of a distraction to try to get it up and running. So we ended up selling it. So I basically flipped the ski resort. You know, I tried to convince my wife to move down there. She said, no.

Chris Miles (09:50): I'm saying it as a skier. You were probably really tempted weren't you?

Todd Dexheimer (09:53): Yeah, it was great. It was. And it's amazingly beautiful piece of property and it's just amazing.

Chris Miles (09:59): That's great. What kind of deals are you doing now? Like what kind of multifamily stuff are you doing? Cause I know with different people I've had on the show, some were kinda like, you know what, I'm getting so strict with my underwriting. Like I am almost refused things left and right, right?

Todd Dexheimer (10:13): Yup. Yup. And kind of the same actually. Things were heating up quite a bit, obviously that was pre-COVID. Things were heating up quite a bit and it was really tough to find a deal that made sense. Now people were just buying these properties for crazy amounts and we weren't willing to. So I'm buying, you know, value add, B class multifamily, typically a hundred plus units. So we can have some scale. We can have the onsite staff and, and we're buying those in a few markets cross country that are kind of emerging or markets that have some, the, all the right fundamentals that we're really looking for and we're doing the syndication. So we're raising the funds for down payment, all that kind of stuff. So that's, that's kind of our bread and butter. And I anticipate that to still be our bread and butter as we kind of emerge through this whole COVID deals will probably come out of this. You know, we don't know exactly the future yet, but I think there'll be some opportunity down the road.

Chris Miles (11:24): Yeah. I mean, not that I, I glory in people's pain right? Or do something bad, but I definitely foresee that there's a lot of deal operators that really weren't operators. They were just greedy people wanting to get in on the, on the ride. Right. And buy these properties even probably have investor's money out there. And, but they've never done a deal before and they don't know how to operate something. And I imagine that's where there could be some good opportunities coming up.

Todd Dexheimer (11:47): I think so. I think so. And like you said, we don't like for me, it's you, when you look at it and go, Oh, I really, so some people are excited. They're like, Oh, it's great. I can't wait for people to start losing their properties. It's like, well you do you understand like that, that actually only hurts you as well. Like I've got properties. So if the guys around me guys and gals around me lose their properties, those value, my property pretty value is going to go down. Right. And so it's, it's it's yeah. Well, do I wish ill will upon anybody? No. But the matter of the fact is exactly what you said, likely there's going to be people that are gonna end up maybe not losing the property, but be told to sell. Lenders have low incompetence and you are going to be told to sell if you're not hitting your numbers. And so you're going to be forced, basically forced to sell and yeah, you're right. A lot of those people had no clue what they're doing or even if they did have a clue what they're doing, they were just going about it the wrong way, or they're going after these properties for fees. I think that's a lot of things. A lot of what was happening is people are going, wow, I can do this deal. I can syndicate it and I can make $300,000 right up front on this deal. That's a great payday Al's I need to do is one to two of those each year. And I'm doing really well. And some people are doing two, maybe three deals a year, they're making 600 to a million dollars, man. They didn't care how good the deal was. That's, Unfortunately I think what was happening.

Chris Miles (13:21): Yeah. No, there's, there's definitely, I've seen that. I have definitely seen that out there and you're right. Like we don't want people to have to sell off, like in a sense of just being, you know, selling off for dirt cheap or anything like that, you know, I would more see like where's the opportunity of increasing profits and it's something that's already there. Right. It's like, you know, where they just didn't operate it well, and yeah. In your opinion, like right now, I mean, what are you seeing? Are you seeing like good deals or you see in most everything's just junk currently?

Todd Dexheimer (13:50): Yeah. So currently I would say we haven't seen much adjustment. The sellers aren't quite ready to take a discount and yeah, I don't need the salaries to take a bath. Like I don't need, in order for me to feel comfortable with the buy. It's not like I need the sellers to sell for 40% discount or something like that now would that be great? Sure. You know, I need the sellers to come off of their, their price by let's call it 10%, maybe 15% and then, okay, I'm ready to, I'm ready to start buying. For me, my company. We don't need to buy Properties, dirt cheap. Now will we? If that happens. Absolutely. But all right. It's still about the fundamentals of the piece of real estate and how the numbers work and can we get our business plan to be able to take any, can we execute it? And so that's what really important part. So...

Chris Miles (14:43): Yeah. What kind of cash flow or NOI can you get from it? Right?

Todd Dexheimer (14:46): Yup. So I've been talking to a lot of brokers that deal in my space and they're kind of the same, most sellers are looking for right now between a 10% and a 20% discount or sorry, most buyers are looking for a 10% to 20% discount. Most sellers are well expecting to sell either at the previous high or within at least 10%. So they, I have heard from brokers, but a lot of sellers are understanding. They've got to come down 5% to 10% and but most buyers are actually even more than that. So we've got a gap there eventually that'll close.

Chris Miles (15:22): Yeah. It's got to take some time before they start adjusting and believing the numbers and say, okay.

Todd Dexheimer (15:27): Real estate. It's not the stock market. I mean, you're right, Chris. I mean the stock market goes like this and actually overreacts quickly. Where real estate actually Under reacts and takes a while for those, those drops to happen.

Chris Miles (15:41): Isn't that the beautiful thing about real estate? Is that it doesn't happen overnight. Right. Where people are used to, if they'd been watching the stock market, it's, it's painful to watch. You can't watch it, you know, without freaking out, you know. Where at least the real estate there's slow adjustments typically. I mean, whether the price go down or up, usually there's there's time involved.

Todd Dexheimer (16:00): Yup. Yeah. I mean, right now I've got a property on the market and I have priced at about the 15% below where I would have expected to sell it just a few months ago and I'm kicking myself because I should have sold it in January, but I didn't know this was happening for some reason.

Chris Miles (16:16): Of course.

Todd Dexheimer (16:17): But I still want to sell the property and I'm happy to take a 15% discount because quite frankly, it's still gonna, I'm still gonna do really well on it. And I see there's opportunity potentially coming. So I'd rather take that capital, be able to have it, be able to do it. Okay. Put it out there when better deals do come. So right now, if you're wanting to be a seller, it's Still sell because real estate slowly, as you said, it's going to take awhile.

Chris Miles (16:43): That's a good point, too. Like you said, you don't always have to find bad deals. It could be someone just like you, who already bought a great deal. It's appreciated, you know, you've add value to it. And of course now price is great. Even if you have to take a discount, you're still gonna make good, good money on it. So there's plenty of those deals too.

Todd Dexheimer (16:59): Yup.

Chris Miles (16:59): Well, great. Well how like, like tell us more about your show, the Pillars of Wealth Creation Show. Tell us about that.

Todd Dexheimer (17:05): Yeah. So Pillars of Wealth Creations, mainly a real estate show, but we're, we also talk to a lot of people that not aren't necessarily real estate investors first and foremost. So we're, the show is kind of more catered towards the business side of the real estate. Like not necessarily talking the nuts and bolts of real estate. I can learn that in a book for the most part. And there's a lot of other podcasts that talk about nuts and bolts. But one of the big things that we like to focus on is how do you really build a business the right way? So how do we take cause so many real estate investors are transactional, right? They think they think about real estate as just buying a piece of property and that's it. And then we're going to, we're going to be passive, right? We're going to buy this piece of property. We're gonna buy this a hundred unit apartment. And then we're going to be able to sit back on the beach and relax. Cause now we got all this cash flow. Well, that's not how it works. If you want to do that, then you need to passively truly passively invest in real estate.

Chris Miles (18:05): That's right.

Todd Dexheimer (18:07): But, if you're going to buy the piece of property and that you're going to be a part of that deal, you've got to be an active business owner. You've got to learn how to make a business plan. You've got to learn, you know, how to set up systems and processes. And you've got to learn how to build teams. You've got to do all the things that a regular business owner does. And so many real estate investors have no clue that that's even part of what they should be learning.

Chris Miles (18:28): It's so true. Like I'm in a kind of a high level mastermind group where you usually have to have at least a hundred doors to be in that group. And it's so common even with those guys, those guys who legitimately do have a business, right. Even for them to say, Oh, like I am getting up at 4:00AM, 5:00 AM to basically get to work and just hammer this out. And I'm trying to manage everybody. And I don't know if I should have a CEO or not, or a COO or, you know, they're like going nuts. They went from just trying to make money on a few flips and deals like that. And now they're like, man, like just to make these millions of dollars, I have no life like no real passive income. And, and that's a big difference. There's a big difference in lifestyle between that active investor, right? The person that is a business owner versus those that are just passively investing in. Like some sort of what you offer.

Todd Dexheimer (19:14): Yup. Yup. Absolutely.

Chris Miles (19:17): Yeah. Well, great. So obviously like if people follow your show, you, when you talk about syndications, you're probably talking about your syndications and deals you're doing right then too. Right. If you're, if people are looking for passive investments, you've got to, you've got your own funds as well, right?

Todd Dexheimer (19:30): Yeah. You know, on the show, I try not to, I don't probably talk too much about the deals as are going, but if we, when we close on a deal, I usually will give kind of a, Hey, here's what we did. Here are the lessons we learned along the way, you know, here's maybe some things we, you know, found in due diligence and why we made adjustments. And so we'll talk about, yeah, there's a lot of mistakes and lessons learned even along active deals, I've been doing this for a while, but I still make mistakes. I still learn a lot of things on every single deal that I feel like it can bring to my audience and allow them to hopefully learn as well. From what I've learned from my mistakes. So...

Chris Miles (20:13): Well, the thing I love is what you do is you're not the kind of guy to say, Hey, this deal looks awesome. Like you're not just, you know, running around like a monkey with a machine gun. Right. You're actually like, Hey, this deal doesn't fit my parameters, next. Okay. Like takes me 30 seconds. See this, this one's a no, like you just keep passing and passing. And those are like the best investors in my mind are the ones that say no to almost everything just like Warren Buffett did. He would always say, I say no to almost everything. And yes, the very, very few things, you know, and then you have to, you have to right. Like, there's, you can't be successful if you're just chasing after every little deal, you're going to have big, you're gonna have losses and maybe some gains, but you're gonna have a lot of losses. You won't be in business very long.

Todd Dexheimer (20:52): Yeah. A hundred percent. Yeah. I mean, Warren Buffett's obviously a pretty smart man. And you know, there, he says that for a reason, there's so many deals out there and those are deals for everybody else. Not for me.

Chris Miles (21:06): Yeah. I actually remember him. He said a quote. And he said that to one of my friends in an interview, he said the difference between the successful and the ultra successful is that the ultra successful say no, almost every time.

Todd Dexheimer (21:16): Yeah.

Chris Miles (21:17): You know, I know it's true. And I know you're that kind of guy too. So same way as you know, listeners, you guys, those who are following this, like check out his website, for sure. What's, do you have a website that people could follow?

Todd Dexheimer (21:30): Yeah. A couple of websites, Pillars of Wealth Creation. They can get to my podcast and then just my general website, which should, they can actually still get to my podcasts or that is at VentureDProperties.com. So it's venture and then D as in dog or Dexheimer properties.com.

Chris Miles (21:49): Awesome. Yeah. I'll definitely make sure we get to get those links in the show notes. So if you can follow you, follow your show or even check out your site and get to know you more, obviously, especially if people are looking for investing in opportunities and things of that nature, because obviously you're looking right now, you're actively looking for the right deals. Not just any deal.

Todd Dexheimer (22:06): Yeah. Looking for the right deals and there's opportunities that are going to come down the pipeline. And I think the important part for people that right now to be just thinking about is, what are the paradigms that are going to be shifting through this whole event, right? People's paradigm shift. Consumers, thoughts are going to shift, workers habits are going to shift. So there's going to be different things that are going to come out of this. And how can we make sure we're positioning ourselves to be able to take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of us. And it's not necessarily take advantage of other people. It's take advantage of the people's wants and needs that, you know, the consumers wants and needs out there. If you can best serve them. I think you're going to have a lot of success. And that's what I'm working with. Multifamily with real estate in general, I consider myself a value add real estate investor multifamily. I love a lot, but I also look at other asset classes. So we look at, you know, what are the strengths and weaknesses? What are the trends? Where do we, I think that things are going to be going, and we're trying to make the best decisions obviously for ourselves and our investors on that.

Chris Miles (23:06): Yeah. Working to improve upon something and make it better, you know, for everybody. Right. And that's...

Todd Dexheimer (23:10): Absolutely!

Chris Miles (23:12): What cooler way to make money than actually bettering people's lives and making money from that? I mean, that's the way life and that's where the world should be in my opinion. Yeah. Well, great. Hey, I appreciate your time so much Todd. Like this is awesome. Again, everybody check out the links in the show notes, you know, follow his podcast or check out his site. So everybody, you remember, it's all about patience. It's all about looking for the right thing. Not just anything but the very right thing. So follow Todd and everybody, I hope you make it a wonderful and prosperous week. We'll see you later!

#Chris Miles #Anti-financial Advisor #Cash flow #Cash flow Expert #Debts #Entrepreneur #Financial Freedom #Money Ripples

[aion-rsa]

Where in Fiction Would You Spend Christmas?

https://ift.tt/34FuLCB

It’s been a staying-in kind of year. That New Year’s Resolution you made to travel more? It’s gained 20 pounds, started cutting its own hair and is now in a jigsaw club with your neighbour Ken. The only marathon you’ve completed in 2020 is a Battlestar Galactica rewatch. The only mountain you’ve climbed is the metaphorical one it takes to shower daily. That beach trip you’d planned? It went okay actually. You made some bells by selling coconuts to Nook’s Cranny and dug up a bunch of Manila Clams with a flimsy shovel.

For obvious reasons, escape is on our minds this year more than most. So we started thinking, if you had your wishing socks on, where in the collected imaginations of everyone who’s ever dreamt up a film, TV show, game or book, would you spend the holidays? On the holodeck of the Starship Enterprise or roasting on an open fire with The Simpsons, exchanging gifts with Ewoks or witnessing Scrooge McDuck’s transformation from miser to philanthropist first hand?  

To get things started, here’s what our writers picked…

Alec Bojalad would spend Christmas … reveling with the Sterling Cooper staff on Mad Men

If I’m to indulge this hypothetical in which I’m torn away from one reality and thrust into another, one thing is very clear: I will have to be extremely intoxicated to avoid my heart exploding from the stressful terror of it all. Thankfully, I know exactly where in pop culture to go to get absolutely blitzed: Mad Men. In terms of sheer debauchery, a Sterling Cooper Christmas party probably falls somewhere between a Bacchanalian orgy and Valhalla itself. As Don, Roger, Bert, Peggy, and company gather together to celebrate another successful year schmoozing clients and sexually harassing one another, I will don my finest 1960s attire and infiltrate the festive event. 

As Don Draper wonders who this soft-bodied weirdo in an ill-fitting suit is, I’ll catch up with Harry Crane about television. Then I’ll ask to see Bert Cooper’s weird tentacle porn painting. Sometime around my 9th J&B Whisky on the rocks I’ll visit the secretarial pool and beg them to demand better treatment because “you’ree ssssooo strong and eleganttt. Don’t listen to thessseee men. They’re Mad Men.” Hopefully I’ll be taken away to an old-timey hospital at that point, given electroshock treatment, and return back to my own continuity.  

Ryan Britt would spend Christmas… at Deanna and Will’s cabin from Star Trek: Picard

When Jean-Luc Picard uses the spatial projector to zap himself and Soji across the galaxy to the planet Nepethene, the result is a cozy pizza dinner with Will Riker, Deanna Troi and their daughter Kestra. For those who had been pining for more ‘90s nostalgia in this Trek series, the episode ‘Nepthene’ delivered, but with a strong shot of realism. Although Picard was written and created before the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea that Riker and Troi would leave the busy and crowded life of Starfleet, and retire in a remote cabin to protect their family is a choice many have actually faced in 2020. As people around the world have fled pandemic epicenters and tried to put shields around their own families, the peaceful and remote home of the Riker-Trois represents the optimistic ideal of Star Trek with a quiet, and very close-to-home twist. 

Spending time with the Riker-Troi family would mean great conversation, great music (oh the jazz!) and, above all, great food. I would happily put my own family in their ‘pod’ if only so Kestra could teach my three-year-old daughter the best way to construct a bow and arrow, and of course, how to learn that secret language of butterflies. 

Then, after the kids were in bed, having a glass of wine or some Romulan whiskey with Will out on the porch sounds pretty damn perfect. 2020 has been tough. A bear hug from Riker seems like the perfect Christmas gift of all. 

Caroline Preece would spend Christmas… at The Muppet Christmas Carol’s Penguin Skating Party

Ever since young-me set eyes on the ultra-festive world of The Muppet Christmas Carol I’ve wanted to visit. I can’t imagine a better way to spend Christmas Eve than in the cuddly version of Dickens’ cautionary tale, helping Kermit and his co-workers tidy up Scrooge’s office for the holidays, dancing down the snowy London streets and attending the Penguins’ annual Christmas skating party as the ultimate topper to a perfect evening. 

As well as being super-merry and joyous (‘tis the season), judging by Kermit’s performance on the ice, they let anyone take part.

It could just be the general lack of socialising and festive frivolity in 2020, but Bob Cratchit’s hopeful walk home from the office (remember the office?!?) on the night before Christmas has always epitomised the idea that the anticipation of Christmas Day is the best part. Add to that a trip to the market to pick up some singing vegetables, or the cosy Cratchit dinner with Miss Piggy and their gaggle of pig and frog offspring, and it’s a version of old-timey festive cheer that will always hold a place in my heart.

Louisa Mellor would spend Christmas… with the strippers in Hustlers

This choice won’t reflect well on me. It’s neither edifying nor improving and has a core of savage capitalist consumerism, which is probably what makes it so Christmassy. Midway through Lorraine Scafaria’s Hustlers – a film about a group of strippers who right the wrongs of the 2008 financial crisis by drugging Wall Street guys to run up their company credit cards – there’s a scene that’d make anyone’s heart grow three sizes. 

A dozen lap dancers gather for Christmas in a high-end apartment, their daughters and a grandmother in tow. Dressed in luxe loungewear and chunky gold, their skin glowing like a sucked butterscotch, they swap gifts, smile and sing and dance and thank the lord for their sisters. Expensive elegance is everywhere. Someone gets a fur coat, somebody else a pair of animal-print Louboutins. The woman who dips the dancers’ tits in bowls of ice before they go on stage is given an iPhone 4. Mostly though, they give each other affirmation. Without a natural hair colour, nude fingernail or a man in sight, it’s a dream family Christmas. Picture a Norman Rockwell painting with Jennifer Lopez in gold lamé, a cashmere Santa hat and a balcony bra. Feel-good festive perfection. 

Michael Ahr would spend Christmas… secluded in Hogwarts

Some may have found Harry Potter’s winter holidays without his friends rather lonely, but I can think of nothing more magical than having the vast empty halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry all to myself. Why let the staff have the warm, dry, magical snow that fell annually in the Great Hall all to themselves? Not being of school age myself anymore, I might choose to share a butterbeer (or perhaps a hot buttered rum) with Dumbledore and Hagrid by a roaring fire.

I might even be tempted to make the trip to Hogsmeade to see all the shops decked out with lights and blanketed in snow. I’d still be able to enjoy the comparative solitude without all the kids running around, but I’m almost certain there would be a group of carolers wandering about the square, never mind the singing enchanted suits of armor back at the school. And of course, if I could pick a particular present, I’d choose to receive the same amazing gift Harry received that first Christmas from Dumbledore: his father’s Invisibility Cloak. I’d likewise pass it along as a family heirloom to my own children on some Christmas morning to come.

Jamie Andrew would spend Christmas… in a Deep Space Nine Holosuite

At first, I entertained the idea of spending Christmas in Baltimore with the denizens of The Wire, mainly because I liked the idea of children running up and down the streets hollering, ‘Omar’s coming!’ moments before the shotgun-wielding Robin Hood of the Hood came swaggering down the street wearing a big red coat and a white beard, tossing out bank notes and whistling ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. Then I realised that the chances of me ending up a corpse inside a boarded-up derelict building before the turkey was even cooked were surprisingly high, so I thought I’d try Christmas with Frasier Crane and family instead. Unfortunately, my foreknowledge of Martin’s and Eddie’s deaths would cloud the occasion, and I’d probably spend all night slumped crying in Martin’s recliner, unable to tell anyone why I was so upset without violating the temporal time directive. 

Best, then, to spend Yule time on Deep Space Nine. Christianity and its associated festive traditions don’t appear to exist in the 24th Century, so after saying hello to Sisko and co., and maybe playing a bit of Dabo at Quark’s, I’d probably spend the rest of my time in a faithful Holosuite reproduction of a 1990s Irish bar on New Year’s Eve getting absolutely wasted with fellow Celt Chief O’Brien. Now THAT’S what I call Christmas. 

Juliette Harrisson would spend Christmas… in Narnia

Not, of course, the White Witch’s eternal winter, when it’s always winter but never Christmas, but a regular Christmas in Narnia. It would, of course, be a white Christmas because otherwise, how would Father Christmas come and deliver presents to everyone? So I could spend the season in a snowy woodland surrounded by magical creatures, and be in with a chance of a really good present. Or possibly a sewing machine.

Read more

Movies

Why Chronicles of Narnia’s Santa Claus Celebrates Christmas with Weapons of War

By Juliette Harrisson

Movies

The Rod Serling Christmas Movie You Never Saw

By Chris Farnell

On the first moonlit night when there’s snow on the ground, Narnian fauns, dryads, and dwarfs perform the Great Snow Dance, with the fauns and dryads dancing around while the dwarfs throw snowballs that don’t hit them (an often forgotten detail from the book version of The Silver Chair!). I would join in, although possibly not throw any snowballs as my aim isn’t that good. Then I’d go back to Mr Tumnus’s for sardines and cake on Christmas Eve and talk to him about his somewhat dubious taste in books (just what is Nymphs And Their Ways about, eh Tumnus?). I’d spend Christmas Day up at the castle of Cair Paravel, eating and drinking like a Queen, and then I’d go visit Mr and Mrs Beaver on Boxing Day for a feast of leftovers and maybe a little light ice fishing.

John Saavedra would spend Christmas…celebrating Life Day with Star Wars’ Poe Dameron 

No one has ever cared so much about Life Day, the Star Wars galaxy’s own version of Christmas, as much as ace pilot Poe Dameron does in the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. From decorating the Millennium Falcon and choosing the right Life Day sweater to roasting the traditional tip-yip (also known as Endorian chicken), Poe shows there’s something much stronger than the Force in the Star Wars universe: holiday spirit. Who knew the Resistance hero best known for his knack at blowing stuff up had such a soft spot? 

Hanging with Poe on Life Day would mean chestnuts roasting on an open exhaust engine, drinking whatever passes for cocoa in the Star Wars galaxy, hanging out with Wookiees on their homeworld of Kashyyyk, singing festive carols in Huttese, and finding just the right Life Day tree for the Falcon. It’d also mean dancing to the hip tunes of Max Rebo’s drum (the rest of his band is unfortunately no longer with us) and partying with Lando Calrissian, Finn, Rose, Rey, Jannah, Mon Calamari, Jawas, Rodians, Ewoks, and maybe even Chewie’s son Lumpy. If you’re not sold by now, your taste in holiday parties might be bantha poodoo. 

Elizabeth Donoghue would spend Christmas…. at The Office’s Classy Christmas

Dunder Mifflin has many memorable Christmas parties, but Steve Carell’s final festive special includes some of my favourite things about The Office; weird Gabe, Michael’s enduring hatred of Toby, and Michael and Holly’s adorable relationship.

After Toby announces he is taking a leave of absence for jury duty (‘Thank you, Scranton Strangler. I love you. You just took one more person’s breath away’) Michael learns that Holly will be returning to Scranton and demands that Pam’s regular Christmas party must get classy. What makes a Christmas classy? A backwards Kangol-esque Santa hat, a red velvet smoking jacket and a quarter of a jazz quartet of course.

I would actively enjoy watching Dwight take down Jim in their snowball fight (total bully, needs to be taken down a peg or two), get drunk with Kelly and Meredith, dance with Phyllis and Erin and learn more about the enigma that is Creed. And although it is slightly more subdued than their Benihana and Moroccan Christmas parties, I’m sure we could keep the party going at a Poor Richard’s after-party.

Kayti Burt would spend Christmas … on Themyscira

The Amazons’ decision to opt out of the “Patriarch’s World” has always been a relatable one, but never so much as in The Year 2020. Historically, I’m not really a beach person, but Themyscira, aka Paradise Island, has a lot going for it: warm weather, a supportive community, and live sporting events where you don’t have to worry about some drunken dudebro spilling cheap beer on your toga. 

As far as I can tell from the Wonder Woman movies, no one (besides Young Diana, who’s usually working through some stuff) ever seems to be having a bad time on Themyscira. And why would you? The pre-Crisis comics incarnation of the island (which I am going to choose to accept as my holiday canon) includes indigeneous kangaroo-like creatures called Kangas that the Amazons ride like horses. Diana’s is called Jumpa; mine will be called Jimmy Hoppa, and we will explore the island’s cascading waterfalls and cliffside terraces together. In the evenings, I will attend performances at the Themysciran amphitheater with my new Amazonian friends or, if I’m feeling introverted, catch up on my book reading and crossword puzzles.

Listen, I wouldn’t want to spend forever on Themyscira—I’d miss my friends, family, and TV shows (Themyscira doesn’t seem to get a good wireless signal)—but a few weeks (or months, especially as I will be quarantining for my first two weeks) for Christmas 2020? Bring me to the enchanted feminist utopia.

Alana Joli Abbott would spend Yule… at the coven house from the Nightcraft Quartet

Witchkind, as presented in Shannon Page’s Nightcraft Quartet, don’t celebrate Christmas, but they do love a good Yuletide celebration. Page’s witches and warlocks are separate from humans, long lived, and magical. Young witches train in the magical arts at a coven house, living there like a dorm; the adult women of the coven (always numbering thirteen) may be involved in scientific research (like protagonist Callie), medicine and healing, or reading Tarot, and they teach their specialties to the young witches. The coven house is a central place where women gather to live, to practice magic together, to celebrate, and to honor traditional rituals. While Callie’s coven in San Francisco has their problems, the community there is caring and genuine, full of both youthful energy and centuries of experienced witchery. 

One of the perks of editing this series is that I get sneak peeks into parts of the story readers haven’t seen yet—including Yule decorations. Rather than cutting down dead trees, witches coax living fir boughs to weave along the walls and mantles, accented with red ribbon and gold—coins, beads, chains. I can imagine the cozy San Francisco coven house filled with witches all rushing to perform their tasks to make the perfect celebration, some of them convincing the fir boughs to expand in just the right ways while others brew hot chocolate or prepare the feast. I picture them eating in the large hall, voices lifted in joyful chatter, and then making their way out to the grounds beyond the house to celebrate beneath the stars, singing midwinter songs and looking forward to the next year. After months of 2020 with smaller communities and less human contact, being surrounded by such a vibrant, magical group of women sounds like just the right way to end my year.

Rosie Fletcher would spend Christmas… with the Roy family from Succession

Go hard or go home, they say, so since I can’t go home this year, I’m going round the Roys. That is, of course, the family at the centre of Succession, a show peopled by the very wealthiest and utterly worst. Festivities would be held at the home of patriarch Logan Roy. His children and their partners would be obliged to attend. Logan would hire a chef to cook, waiting staff to serve, some of whom he would abuse. I would give them sympathetic “I’m sorry” looks but do nothing, secretly thankful Logan’s ire wasn’t focused on me. 

In all likelihood I would be a figure like Greg (the egg), or Tom Wambsgans – mostly tolerated, vaguely despised and very much the second class citizens of the Roy clan, skulking on the periphery as Kendall, Roman and Shiv compete for Logan’s love and oldest son Connor comes up will another entirely ridiculous life plan – I dunno, maybe this year he’s decided that his next career move is to become Santa Claus. 

The food would be extraordinary. The booze the very finest – how long before, like Greg, I would be claiming the bottle of vintage rose champagne I had just motored through was ‘not my favourite’? And the dinner table conversation would be electric. Electric like an electric shock – sharp, painful, disorientating, unexpected. 

So Christmas has become too commercialised? Fine, fuck it. I’ll take the eye-wateringly expensive gift that’s grudgingly bestowed on me, I will gorge on the finest cheeses known to man and coat my tongue with port made from molten rubies, knowing I am on my way to moral bankruptcy and doing it anyway. Go hard or go home…

Kirsten Howard would spend Christmas… singing along in the closing moments of Scrooged 

You’d be hard-pressed to find a Christmas movie that feels as genuinely uplifting during its climax as 1988’s Scrooged. Bill Murray’s arrogant TV boss Frank Cross, having been visited by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future, disrupts a live broadcast of A Christmas Carol to rant openly and honestly at the cast and crew (and eventually you) as he makes a passionate case for a life less invested in exploitation and capitalism, and eventually kicks off a collective singalong of Annie Lennox and Al Green’s version of ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’.

That’s where I’d like to be this Christmas. Not just to sing along with Bill, but to be around people immediately swept along by the much-less-explored altruistic route of ‘no fucks given’. 

Also hanging out with Bill Murray, though, of course.

So much of the last few years has been a public race to the bottom of Nothing Matters Mountain, but even if it hadn’t all been so demoralising and forced so many of us to reevaluate our priorities, Frank’s message of redemption in love and living as well as we can, while shrugging off our own heavy expectations of success, still feels really special. 

This Christmas, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We may not be able to grab the nearest stranger and sing “put a little love in your heart!” at them right now, but we CAN carry that feeling with us into 2021. As Frank says: “There are people who are having trouble making their miracle happen”. We can always try and find time to stop focusing on our own for a while and to help them.

David Crow would spend Christmas… chilling with Harold and Kumar

Not many people are aware of this, but A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is the best Harold and Kumar. It may not have the pop culture cache of their medicinal-fueled quest for mini-cheeseburgers, but it does have something very special, indeed: Wafflebot. If you’ve had the misfortune of living your life oblivious to Wafflebot’s existence, allow me to introduce you to a greater world of wonder and magic.

Wafflebot is the best Christmas present to ever come out of Santa’s Workshop. Displaying an eerily sophisticated artificial intelligence for a toy meant only to cook delicious breakfasts, Wafflebot can make you waffles any time by just popping the top and letting that batter drop. But he can also do so much more! Vaguely aware of the concept of friendship, this brunching Frankenstein can learn how to love and appreciate his owners… and defend them from any threat with scalding hot projectile syrup!

With the ability to serve breakfast, save your life, be manipulated into dangerous attack mode, and learn how to see the real you, all while playing a mean drum solo, Wafflebot would make any Christmas a sweetly warm experience. And then Harold and Kumar, and I could also steal a Christmas tree from NPH or something.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Where in Fiction Would You Spend Christmas? appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2WFwPWD

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[toonqueen]

DARK ANIMANIACS/TINY TOONS LORE

It's 9 am time for dark Warner sibling thoughts

First let's roughly establish:

-The warner siblings locked in the tower takes place in the same universe as Roger Rabbit.

-Tiny Toons, though not interacting with non animated  humans, takes place in the same universe as well. It does have the same fourth wall break that toons are actors since they're going to school for it.

-Bonkers and House of Mouse also exists in this universe but that's a detail I won't get to today.

This is written without doing research, just based on my memories of eps so things may be off. Woo.

Main plot  of the Warner siblings is that they were too wacky probably didn't fall in line to act to produce shows, pranked everyone, so they were locked up in the studio water tower. FROM LIKE THE 30'S TO THE 90'S JAYSUS. Though I believe there were some flashback eps where they broke out in the past. Lets roughly say from the 70s to 90s it had been completely silent in that tower. And that's kinda creepy.

BECAUSE TINY TOONS establishes toons can fade away if they are forgotten. There was an ep where Babs was looking for a female mentor. She finds old black and while films of a forgotten 1930s lady toon  that no longer exists cuz I remember it is stated that she faded away because she was forgotten. There was also an ep where the Dodo bird was captured by a villain and started to fade because while imprisoned he couldn't be wacky so he was literally fading away.

So did the human WB studios get so annoyed with the Warner siblings they locked them away to disappear- pretty much the toon form of a death sentence? Damnnnn. But then, they don't lock them away in some vault in the basement. No, they lock them away in a water tower that is seeable from  anywhere on a studio lot. Why?

TO SERVE AS AN EXAMPLE TO OTHER TOONS. To be a threat if you don't stay in line and make us money you can suffer this same fate of not being seen by humans and forgotten and then fade away. 

HOLY HELL.

Anyways this next part was written late at night due to too much caffeine: 

Now let's get back to Tiny Toons for a moment. What I remember from the ep that covered the kids and school origin was some animator had made some of the Tiny Toon’s villains first but they did not like the show premise he pushed or something? Anyways, he creates Babs and Buster bunny with Bugs bunny in mind. (No relation, all three of them. ha.) He creates the other kiddo versions of Loony Toons? GOD REMEMBERING THIS IS LIKE A FRIKKING ACID TRIP. Anyways, the kids make a ruckus? Bugs and maybe Daffy show up? Bugs just makes the University that the kids can go do. Like I bet he literally just painted it on a map and then it exists like the freaking elder god level powers well known toons have like DAMN. So thats how that all went down in show. 

Now my headcanon is that Daffy probably at first didn’t want to go along with this whole, ‘lets have this school for these new kid aged toons and be their teachers and we’re kinda responsible for them now.” lol since Babs and Buster was made with Bugs in mind, Daffy can make the side comment of something like, “Why am I responsible for your accident babies?”  Now the funny answer Bugs can give is something like, “Well there’s a duck that there too that has your eyes.” the more serious answer Bugs can give if he is irritated that Daffy is being difficult about helping is, “We don’t want another water tower incident.”

Because OH DAMN Bugs and Daffy would have been created around the same time as the Warner siblings were. And here’s the thing. Most toons are ‘created’ being adults just already. Some could argue the Warners were children. Hyperactive children with all the sorta powerful abilities that all toons have. Then they were expected to behave and make shows that were watchible to make the studio money and instead were just locked away. THATS SOME MESSED UP SHIT YO. 

So canonly Bugs made the school and headcanon he did it so the same thing that happened to the Warners wouldn’t happen to this new group of kids toons. Okay. Y’all still with me?

Okay, BACK TO THAT EPISODE where Babs finds out there is a lost female toon that would be a great mentor for her. What I remember once she saw the old reels of this toon’s stuff and found out of someone is forgotten the disappear. Just here seeing the vids doesn’t bring back this toon though.  She went to Bugs I think asking for the lost cartoons to be shown in class or something. And I remember Bugs being a HUGE jerk about it. Not helping Babs showing the cartoons. Like cold about it. Like DAMN BUGS. Anyways Babs rents? Builds? A movie theater herself and shows the cartoons. It then surprisingly brings back the lost toon in question so YAY. 

Now I don’t remember why canonly why Bugs was a dick in this episode but here is my headcanon. What if toons (At least WB toons) were lead to believe that only real humans believing in them lead to them not being forgotten and disappearing. What if this thing Babs did was a new discovery that TOONS not forgetting other TOONS could still keep them from disappearing. Bugs and Daffy would share a knowing look at this new information. One of them jokingly says, “I wonder if the Mouse knows about this.”

See something else is going down at Disney but I’m not getting into that now. Woooo.

Now let's assume soon after this incident is when the Warner siblings start getting active again, since their whole show was about them breaking out of the tower in now modern times after being locked away there for 50 years. Let's say that theater Babs made/used then started regularly showing old cartoons. Purposefully. Like a conspiracy to get faded out toons back real again. *cue X-files theme.*

BACK TO THE WARNERS PLOT.

Okay now the kids are back… mysteriously. The real human studio seems to have given up on having them be erased from memory and well, what was done in the 1930’s isn’t acceptable now so like they get that Dr. Scratch and Sniff to therapy them into good behavior??!?!?

Meanwhile while that's going on canonly I’m betting that Bugs, Daffy, and main Looney Toons crew are planning a Oceans 11 style heist to actually get the siblings out of there and to ToonTown/Acme Acres. Now they know they’d be in big trouble of the human studio knew they were behind this so they would go one step further and take the kids to Wackyland. Because while ToonTown in Roger Rabbit seemed like a place humans could go, I always got a vibe that Wackyland is this one step forward that no real human has ever stepped foot in so GOOD LUCK. 

Anyways I’m sure their plan would work. I TOLD MYSELF I WAS NOT GOING TO LOOK UP ANYTHING WHEN WRITING THIS BUT I HAD TO CHECK SOMETHING. Daffy was created in 1937 and Bugs was 1940 so even though Bugs is the brains of the operation and the more popular one and has better skills Bugs needs Daffy to make first contact with the Warners because Daffy was the only one that had known them before the whole water tower lock away incident. Like he is the one that has to be, “Hello Fellow kids, how about you -uh come with us.”

Once everything goes right and blows over they would either introduce the Warners to the school OR have them stay in Wackyland and ‘homeschool’ them.

Also rewind there are two things that could have gone on with the Warner siblings in the tower. A: They were around the whole time from 1930 to 1990 and did not fade away because they had each other. Since they didn’t have much exposure to the real world they still are toons that are kids. Or B: They had faded away for decades, came back because a duck and bunny plotted to have their shows shown to new toon crowds. <_< They came back but have no really emotional scarring from it because they don’t remember it.

NOW EVEN DARKER LORE:

But okay Yakko always gave me this strange- offness sometimes, in the show. He’s the oldest sibling of course so the only one out of three that seems to sometimes make mature decisions. I mean, as much as these three can. 

NOW IN THAT CANON BABS EP with her finding a mentor, get this- I remember from that old cartoon the toon that disappeared was from her male counterpart in the show was still around. Had not completely disappeared yet?!?!

What if- what if Wakko and Dot had disappeared in that long period in the tower but Yakko, being the oldest and still vaguely remembered, was all alone on that tower for decades. SHIT DAMN FFFFFF.  He seems completely okay but like, Bugs or Daffy pick up that something is off? Like hey kiddo, everything okay? Man I think Yakko is so elated and happy his siblings are back he doesn’t even realize he might have some bad feels.

I don’t know where I was going with this its time for bed. Bleh. 

#animaniacs #tiny toons #bugs bunny #daffy duck #yakko wakko and dot #yakko warner #wakko warner #dot warner #who framed roger rabbit #toontown

[punkscowardschampions]

Sick Kids Group Chat

sonmychest: 🤗 tigerbalm: 👋🧡 tigerbalm: it's been so long! 🙀 how are you?? sonmychest: I know! I suck sonmychest: don't want to be the youtuber spending ten minutes apologizing for not being here though sonmychest: I'm doing pretty good right now, how are you? 😚 tigerbalm: it's a bad day, not a bad life...is what I would caption if I was an instagram influencer or something 😸😸 brainpain: 🦸 speaking for me when I haven't streamed in days LOL sonmychest: 🤭🤭 sonmychest: at least we have reasons for being that #extra that aren't the vague notion of NEEDING a break from taking pictures of our ☕ brainpain: I do spend LOTS of time in a dark room but not for 📸 no flash photography PLEASE 😵 inandout: your feed just updated, Lo brainpain: 👮🚓🚨 sonmychest: stalking or hacking? sonmychest: either way I might need those expertise brainpain: I had a 🌈✨🧁 FIGHT ME, Zachary tigerbalm: it is pretty tbh inandout: friend request, but it's not as if I don't have zero hacking or stalking skills sonmychest: wait, what happened to the anonymity rules??? sonmychest: where's @gotspoons and what have you done with her?! inandout: you missed the overthrowing of a tyrant inandout: not really, but the rule book is gone gotspoons: going to pretend I was summoned by mention, not notification gotspoons: say how you really feel, Zach! 😔 inandout: I said not really, rowboat gotspoons: I have 👀 and 👂 everywhere so you better be nice 😏🤭 gotspoons: but no, hi again, @sonmychest! we missed you! gotspoons: it seemed the whole no names no real life details thing was more of a hindrance than a help to the whole goal of this group, so we came to the conclusion by majority, and the higher ups were all okay with it, providing everyone under a certain age got their parents to sign off and we all used the same common sense we use on other areas of the web gotspoons: so feel free to introduce yourself by real name if you would like, but it's not necessary if you would not 😊 gotspoons: reintroduce, I should say tigerbalm: we shared selfies & everyone was 😻😻😻 brainpain: learned what a sex god @tooexhaustedtolivevicariously aka Rich is sonmychest: 😱😱😱 sonmychest: can't believe I've missed so much sonmychest: need to get better at socialization, my mammy is right 😂 brainpain: an unrivalled love story brainpain: not that he's here to back me up on that inandout: Paris and Helen who? Romeo and Juliet who? Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII who? tigerbalm: wait, those are all 💔😿!! brainpain: he's being a brainpain: insert a swear word of your choice sonmychest: *stage whispers* it's not jealousy though, is it? sonmychest: clearly, fill me in on all the nuances whilst I frantically try to find a picture of myself that's even one 😻 brainpain: he's a 👶 you already know brainpain: but Rich will be leaving me for some uni girl 🤓 so he's not wrong about the doomed part sonmychest: face that launched a thousand ships is a really great insta bio though sonmychest: right, so we have Rich, Zach...who else? gotspoons: Rosie here 🤗 brainpain: Lauren tigerbalm: & me, Robyn inandout: the new girl who started the revolution is Zelda inandout: @ihatemyguts sonmychest: no way sonmychest: a fellow nerd, or at least child-of-a-nerd sonmychest: 'cos I'm Kara and I don't totally hate this photo [selfie] tigerbalm: 😻😻 tigerbalm: you look so like I imagined you, except I thought maybe you'd be 👼 tigerbalm: should we all send new pics? brainpain: [does because any excuse] brainpain: they'll be buried tigerbalm: [a selfie that's even shyer than the first one she sent] gotspoons: [the same photo as before] inandout: if I must [some ridiculous selfie] tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: This is a nice welcome back tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: and I've only been to physio brainpain: NOT ready for another selfie drop from you, boy brainpain: I'll be on my fainting couch brainpain: also hi tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Perhaps I should save your 🦴s and my pride when poor Kara, hello again btw, has to pretend to swoon too brainpain: 🦸 has great taste brainpain: we all love a shy boy tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: My teachers undoubtedly wish I were shy, make their lives a lot easier tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: [a photo] here we are anyway, I hope you found a soft surface suitable for you, Lauren brainpain: ☁ tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Ah, so you're the 👼 brainpain: LMAO 😈 brainpain: but you're looking angelic sir sonmychest: how are you ALL so cute sonmychest: this keeps happening, omg tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 👼 face hides a multitude of 😈 sins apparently inandout: but reading between the lines, who else is making you swoon/stalk/hack inandout: that's my question tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Well spotted, Zachary 🔎 sonmychest: 🙈 ugh, I'm so embarrassing sonmychest: but we can pretend it's all spilling out now because I played it SO cool in the actual conversation, right 😬😅 inandout: that's the official story, everyone'll confirm sonmychest: thanks, I need the backup so I can also pretend I have lots of friends and a normal social life gotspoons: we are your friends, Kara! gotspoons: though are normal is different from most tigerbalm: & you're coming to my birthday party & even though you have to stand on the other side of the room to Zach, it's still social tigerbalm: OH & we were talking about potentially meeting up!! All of us brainpain: keep it 6ft, children inandout: I'll be in the garden with my date, you can have the indoors with yours inandout: collectively, because we're all speed dating here now inandout: proud of you for picking someone outside this circle sonmychest: GAH so much exciting information today!!! sonmychest: 😁 sonmychest: obviously, I figured no one needed the drama of me falling for you, Zach sonmychest: 💀 not cute inandout: there's already a book and film about it, the chance has been thoroughly missed brainpain: Ignore him, Zelda's nothing but thrilled to find someone else in her age bracket brainpain: 👶👶 brainpain: hit us with your 💞 please sonmychest: well, I didn't just re-log into this chat today, I went on all my old forums because well, boredom, we can all relate, right? sonmychest: what I thought would be the least promising one was the sonmychest: not a dating site, I'm not 100 but you know the kind sonmychest: anyway, the CUTEST boy starts talking to me and he's also really funny and nice ??? tigerbalm: OMG! Did you swap selfies there too? sonmychest: not yet sonmychest: because he sounds so 😻😻 sonmychest: and he wants to talk to me again and he might not if we do tigerbalm: you're 😻😻😻 Kara brainpain: what she said brainpain: + if he's as funny, nice, all of that, as you said brainpain: I doubt he's a shallow jerk inandout: are you a good judge of character or not? inandout: what it comes down to sonmychest: oh, thank you guys! sonmychest: I don't know sonmychest: I think I am sonmychest: he didn't immediately come out with weird requests or weird 📸 of his own and that's a massive start on that site, I was honestly there to 🗑 my account but he changed my mind brainpain: I'll PM you the spooky stories my sister sends me about guys, it'll make you feel better brainpain: you'd know if he was one sonmychest: 🤭 do, can compare notes sonmychest: we honestly just talked about totally normal, nerdy things, it wasn't even a little sketch brainpain: ✉️ + 100000000s brainpain: hold up tigerbalm: that sounds 🧡 & so does this boy tigerbalm: awwhhh sonmychest: [sends the description he sent her slow your roll gal lol] sonmychest: assuming he isn't the archetypal internet weirdo from the 90s scare tactics tigerbalm: WOW inandout: tall, dark and handsome inandout: original sonmychest: okay, I know that covers a lot of bases sonmychest: but someone has to be brainpain: continuing to ignore you, Zach sonmychest: I get it though sonmychest: it's not like I even care what he looks like though, so even if the pics aren't exactly that description brainpain: not every man can be my Rich but doesn't make them 👹/🤡/👻/👽/👥 brainpain: trust your gut, it's not that body part that's failing you tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 👹 is a solid representation but the hair needs to be longer tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: at the risk of making myself or Zachary appear like overly protective boys, I think as long as you're as sensible as you surely are with this, then there's no harm in the back and forth tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: so if you were going to meet this person IRL, he could perhaps come to the group meet-up, that would be a good way to do it? brainpain: *🧝🏻 that's what needs to be said about your representation tigerbalm: Great idea, Rich! 😺 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: when the beard comes in I'll look more Gimli than Elrond but I'll take the compliment 👽 babe from outerspace brainpain: who's watching the LoTRs with me? gotspoons: count me out, I'm the worst film buddy ever 😴 ihatemyguts: how many naps could you have in 20hr28mins assuming we're watching everything extended release 'cos duh ihatemyguts: 🥳 go hard or go home 🥳 brainpain: that's you in ihatemyguts: of course ihatemyguts: long since stopped asking for a pause every time I gotta 💩 ihatemyguts: adept at catching up with the plot is a life skill I didn't expect to gain like this but 🙌 gotspoons: 😅 I could do the whole 20hr28mins and that not be a record for how many hours I've slept consecutively brainpain: I'll act it out for you, I can get the 🧝🏼🏹 costume together during the pauses brainpain: dressing up box runneth over sonmychest: 🙋 dibs Arwen sonmychest: my old Katniss cosplay can be repurposed with some bedsheets and a 👸 vibe to it brainpain: that makes Rich your daddy 👀 you, babe sonmychest: 😖😳 nooooooooooo brainpain: I'll be Galadriel if only so I can speak to my man telepathically 💕 brainpain: swerving off book for that love connection ihatemyguts: obviously eye of sauron ihatemyguts: jokes write themselves inandout: hair of a hobbit wig so likewise inandout: and you know, a jew, gonna be the one to handle the 💎 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: How hairy are your feet, a pickup line that doesn't get thrown about enough inandout: not sending you free feet pics inandout: PM for prices though tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Respect the hustle, Zachary tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: but I have clearly pledged myself and my allegiance to an e-girl already 🧝🏼🏹 brainpain: changed my Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim name to Galadriel for you, Richard, you've officially made me basic brainpain: will cite it in the divorce tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: as long as I can proudly produce said divorce to every mouthbreather that calls me a freak, I am okay with that tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: devastated, naturally 💔 but okay brainpain: hit me up for multiple re-marriages at your convenience, I like that for us tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: Make a solid livestream 👰💒🤵 gotspoons: I'll get officiated! tigerbalm: imagine if any of us actually did get together cos of this forum gotspoons: You never know, Robyn gotspoons: it would be so adorable 😊 tigerbalm: Kara is giving me hope that online dating doesn't have to be a minefield sonmychest: don't give up yet! sonmychest: you're so lovely, a total catch tigerbalm: there still isn't a blushing 😸 emoji & I NEED it ihatemyguts: a travesty ihatemyguts: who do we need to @ for that brainpain: @fibrofog brainpain: he was a BIG DEAL ihatemyguts: 😏 hoping he comes back and I can 👰💒🤵 him obvs brainpain: 🔺 between me/him/Rich was prime in my life ihatemyguts: glory dayz brainpain: if he doesn't show up to stop our first wedding ihatemyguts: Zach won't even properly date me until we're confirmed #foreveralone at 18 inandout: you don't call this properly dating? inandout: @Kara you've got yourself a hater before your romance has fully taken off ihatemyguts: oi, don't drag me in to your 🧂 behaviour ihatemyguts: I'm very nice, I swear inandout: that's just how I taste inandout: she knows brainpain: if I didn't know my CF facts I'd be calling for a ban brainpain: that sounds filthy sonmychest: first declaring Rich my daddy, now 👅 Zach 😲😲😲 sonmychest: I'm also quite nice but not that kind of nice, I 🤞 tigerbalm: I don't think I wanna know.... inandout: But I'll tell you inandout: when we sweat, we lose too much salt, one of our many flaws inandout: on a hot day, you could lick us and taste it, if we like you enough to let you sonmychest: maybe that can be enough of a selling point? sonmychest: if crush boy talks to me again and it invariably comes up inandout: he might get to see it crystallise on your skin, not 💎 or ✨ but hey sonmychest: such a sexy condition, when you leave out all the mucus inandout: ZZ top is feeling it, she wants to properly date me ihatemyguts: 🧂 is a flavour I can enjoy pretty unrestricted ihatemyguts: let me have some pleasure tigerbalm: do the normies flirt like this too? tigerbalm: Kara you'll have to tell us, when you go further undercover ihatemyguts: don't know how lucky you are to have that pickup line in your back pocket ihatemyguts: just add tequila and a lemon and you've got a good time sonmychest: I'll 100% report back, providing he doesn't go 👻 brainpain: you need a drink when a boy lovingly strokes your hair only to feel the dent in your 💀 sonmychest: but also, to work out if your amazing hair is real or nah brainpain: I have too many split ends to be asked if it's a wig sonmychest: I ✂ my own sonmychest: and not often enough 😅 brainpain: don't reach for the bleach cos Robbie sees you as a blonde, there's my sisterly/old lady advice sonmychest: oh God, with these brows? sonmychest: I can swear I won't do that, along with meet up with internet randos alone brainpain: I'd volunteer to come along but I don't do disappearing into the background brainpain: would wear a trenchcoat for the right 💸💸 gotspoons: Normies definitely TRY to use our disabilities as a way to flirt with us, with varying success gotspoons: the amount of time I spend in bed is nothing to be 😏 about, honestly gotspoons: even if I was also chiming in to confirm blondes do have more fun, when they've had all their vitamins, a perfect amount of sleep, the stars have aligned JUST right... 🤭 tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: as resident ♿ user, they most ask if IT 'works', which is a bizarre level of care for people who aren't concerned about how me getting into their establishment really 'works' tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: and, my dear, you are a terrible third wheel tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: 🔻 suits you better than obscurity 😎 brainpain: but I am a fun time with the TBI having increased the impulsiveness + removing the few inhibitions I did have 😉 brainpain: inappropriate sexual activity is a listed symptom 🤞 boys ihatemyguts: definitely a case of 'okay when I point it out to embolden myself, creepy if you do it' ihatemyguts: think some normies point out their flaws to be endearing but idk, is low-key a disability superpower guys, + 1 for us brainpain: like, what does that mean? Inappropriate for who? Answers on a ✉️ please ihatemyguts: could range from, science, you're being a prude to calling you a master criminal on the low brainpain: so many of my symptoms could describe anyone in their teens or early 20s brainpain: Rich, write a smart boy uni essay on it tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: depending on the bit that gets damaged, could be the same part that isn't yet fully developed in young people tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: checks out 🧠 brainpain: you're SO clever brainpain: you'll be fighting off more than one 🤓 girl tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: I'm not sure about that, on either count tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: though the chair is a useful battering ram when it needs to be brainpain: I'm into it tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: then you can hitch a ride, of course brainpain: reserved™ tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: the parking is unparalleled brainpain: not allowed to drive, you are my transport now, no pressure gotspoons: Me either, who can? gotspoons: need to work out the carpool situation brainpain: my housemate will, she owes me 10000s of favours inandout: + my parents tigerbalm: mine too but they're a lot to inflict upon anyone sonmychest: ^^hard same tigerbalm: maybe we get ourselves there unless someone can't? tigerbalm: & those people speak up sonmychest: That makes sense to me brainpain: ok, is there anyone who needs a lift? ihatemyguts: I'm good tooexhaustedtolivevicariously: likewise gotspoons: I'll make a permanent post where people can register interest in the meet-up, as well as need for a lift gotspoons: so anyone who can offer a lift, can respond there too, sound good guys? 😊 inandout: cool inandout: very un-tyrant like gotspoons: thank you, Zach 😏

[carmenxflores]

⌠ LINDSEY MORGAN, 24, CIS FEMALE, SHE/HER ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, CARMEN TORRES! according to their records, they’re a FIRST year, specializing in RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of sparks of electricity, hair falling loose from a messy ponytail as eyes narrow in concentration, and the sizzle of a frying pan. when it’s the AQUARIUS’ birthday on 1/26/1995, they always request their STUFFED BELL PEPPERS from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. ⌿ kendal, 24, she/her, EST ⍀ 

About Carmen

Full Name: Carmen Maria Torres

Age: 24

Birthday: January 26th 

Zodiac: Aquarius 

MBTI: INTP

Gender: Cis female

Sexuality: Bisexual

Birthplace: New Mexico, USA

Bio

Born to a large, loving, and loud Mexican family, Carmen was a middle child amongst five children.

For as long as she can remember, Carmen has always been extremely curious. She was the kid who constantly asked a boatload of questions like, “how can planes fly likes birds?” and “what made mountains so tall?” and “why are stars so far away?” 

It was in 2nd grade when her intelligence and aptitude for math really started to shine through. To the amazement of her teachers, she was able to do math that was much more advanced than any normal 8 year old could do.

Because public school proved to be not challenging enough for her, she was able to get a scholarship to attend a fancy private school geared towards math and science. At her school, she was one of only a small handful of Hispanic students, making her feel like she constantly had prove that she belonged. 

After years of hard work and pushing herself to be the best, Carmen was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and it was a dream come true. 

So at the young age of 18, the girl from the desert was off to New England and it was the best thing that ever happened to her. Finally Carmen felt like she was being challenged more than she ever had before and she was right where she belonged. She graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She still doesn’t like the snow though. 

She was in the middle of working on her PHD at MIT when a woman named Laura Sutton approached her in her lab. She explained to Carmen that she was Headmistress of an elite spy school and she wanted her to come study there. 

At first Carmen didn’t believe her. Come on spy school? That was something out of a bad movie. She needed proof. So Headmistress Sutton showed videos of students sparring and shooting, told her the history of the school, and told her about the technologies that were being created at the school and Carmen was convinced. Plus, Headmistress Sutton explained how the school would cost her nothing, and she would erase all her previous student debt for her. So Carmen said goodbye to MIT and hello to Gallagher Academy. 

Unlike at MIT, Carmen is feeling completely out of place at Gallagher. She doesn’t know how to shoot a gun or flip someone over her shoulder and she’s having a bit of trouble adjusting. She’s still working on her PHD thesis on the side. 

Personality

To put it simply, Carmen is incredibly smart with an IQ of 160. While she’s proud of her intelligence and doesn’t hide it, she tries her best not to brag about it or seem too arrogant. 

Still as curious as she was when she was a child, but this time she has science to help her find her answers. 

Carmen will always push herself to work hard and be the best. No matter how many times she’s proven herself, she still feels like there are people out there who doubt her and she needs to show them that they’re wrong.

When she’s passionate about something, Carmen won’t shut up about it. Get her talking about engineering and math and coding and she can talk about it for hours, talking very fast and sometimes pretty loud. 

Very much a people person, Carmen is very friendly and open when you first meet her.  

Once she sets her mind to something, there’s no stopping her until she accomplishes her goal. 

Though some people might expect a nerd like her to be quiet, Carmen isn’t afraid to tell it like it is and express her opinion. 

Very fact-minded, logical, and hands-on Carmen believes in what she can see and what she can prove. 

Misc

Will curse you out in Spanish if you piss her off.

When she’s stressed or actually pulls her herself away from her work, you can find her cooking up a storm.

Keeping to family tradition, she’ll throw food at anyone she cares about that may be sad or mad or distressed in some way. Good food is the solution to everything. 

Though she wishes she could do it more, Carmen loves to go out and dance. 

Will kick your ass in a tequila shot drinking contest. 

Usually can be found with earbuds in listening to music as she does her work, usually Spanish music or 90′s R&B and pop. 

Here at Gallagher she’s working on creating different weapons and other various technologies that would help her fellow students once they are outside of Gallagher. 

Still trying to figure out how to explain to her family why she left MIT, because they do not and can never know that she’s at a freaking spy school. 

Possible Connections

New friends

Roomies (how they get along can vary)

Someone who can help her fit into Gallagher and adjust to spy school

Studying partners

Other people that she can nerd out with

Academic rival

Give me drama, give me angst, give me love, give me friendship, give me all

#gallagher:intro #kendal writes a long ass intro

[dragonofyang]

Let’s Voltron! Ep 175 Transcript

The full transcript of the podcast Let’s Voltron! episode 175 with Donya Abramo as a guest interviewing JDS and LM below the cut. Feel free to use this for all your citation and referential needs.

@leakinghate @crystal-rebellion @felixazrael @voltronisruiningmylife

Vrepit Sa!

[Intro music]

MM: Welcome Voltron fans! This is Marc Morrell, your host for Let’s Voltron! the official Voltron podcast. We’re excited because we have a great interview today. We haven’t talked to these people since the season came out, since season 8, so, we’re excited. I have to bring on my cohost Greg Tyler, welcome Greg.

GT: Hello, Marc Morrell. Hello listeners and fellow Voltron fans across the universe. This is a really, really fun podcast because we have some really awesome guests.

MM: And I also have another guest that I wanna bring on. So, all the way from the other side of the pond, in the UK, welcome Donya Abramo. Donya, welcome.

DA: Hi! It’s really nice to be back again.

GT: Awesome, it’s great to have you back with us again. How are things going with Hypable?

DA: Really good! Yeah, picking up a couple new shows. So since Voltron went off the air, I’ve picked up a few more animated shows, so I’m now covering She-Ra, The Dragon Prince, and I’m also doing my usual everything Marvel. Literally everything Marvel, which, considering there are three movies now in quick succession that’s keeping me busy.

GT: No doubt.

MM: Yeah, Marvel has a pretty heavy spring coming up, don’t they?

DA: Oh, just a little bit, yeah.

[laughter]

MM: Well, it’s exciting to have you on, and I’m-I’m really thankful that you were able to do this even though it’s really strange time of the morning for you right now.

DA: Yeah, it’s actually really interesting, ‘cuz usually this would be 2 a.m. for me, but because you guys have saved daylight already, it’s actually 1 a.m.

MM: That’s awesome that we timed that just perfectly.

DA: Yeah.

GT: That’s right. Who do we have to thank for that? Ben Franklin? I think he knew you were going to be on this podcast hundreds of years later.

MM: Alright, so why don’t we bring on our very special guests, what do you say?

GT: Let’s do it.

MM: Alright. Coming all the way from California--from the other direction--we have the showrunners of Voltron: Legendary Defender Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery. Welcome guys.

LM: Thanks.

JDS: Hey guys, thanks for having us.

MM: [laughter] So great to have you guys on again.

GT: Yes, welcome back.

LM: Yeah, well, we’re glad to be back now that Voltron’s all wrapped and we can kinda talk about it on the whole. No more of this, uh, kinda shifty “we can’t tell ya” stuff.

JDS: [faintly] Right.

MM: That’s right.

GT: Yeah, you were last on when we recorded our fifth anniversary podcast, which was released on the season 8 drop day, so you know, obviously we couldn’t do spoilers during that recording, so now we can, uh, spoil in reverse.

[laughter]

LM: There you go.

MM: And we have another person on with us, so Donya you’re able to ask any questions any times you want. Is that okay?

DA: Yep. [laughter] That would be fine.

GT: Would you like that opportunity, Donya? [laughter]

DA: I don’t know, might be nice.

[laughter]

LM: I think Donya wants to take a nap.

[laughter]

GT: Yeah, so we started recording at 9 p.m. Eastern, it’s 6 p.m. Eastern in LA, and 1 a.m. in the UK, right?

DA: Yep.

GT: Alright, so we got a three-year time-jump in there, just like on Voltron. [others laugh] Er, not quite three years, just a little shy.

JDS: Yeah.

MM: These are decaphoebs.

GT: There you go.

JDS: That’s right.

GT: So, uh, real quick before we dive into the meat and potatoes of this, all those Altean time units - did you guys just know them off the top of your heads, or did you have to look those up all the time?

JDS: Oh--

LM: Oh, yeah, I had no idea at any point. I think those were all made up by the writers. All I ever knew was “ticks” and then everything after that, I was like, “Um…” I would just kinda have to go to the writers and be like, “Which one is a week? Which one is a month?” I eventually got “decaphoeb” which is a year, right?

GT: Yep.

LM: And then we assumed “phoeb” was kind of, like, generally a month.

GT: Right.

JDS: Right, “phoeb” was-was one-one quadrant of the year.

LM: Yeah, and they had a whole thing where it was like “movement”, which, I don’t even know if that was just a day or week--

MM: It’s like a week.

LM: Okay--

JDS: Wow, okay, see you guys definitely know better than we do because we were-

LM: Yeah.

JDS: “Movement” means something totally different to me, it’s like-like a bowel movement.

LM: Bathroom talk, right there.

[laughter]

LM: But yeah, I honestly, I don’t know. What was a day? Do you guys know?

MM: “Day” was a “quintant”.

LM: Alright, yeah! That’s right.

JDS: That’s right, a quintant.

LM: All these Coran lines are popping back into my head.

JDS: Yeah.

GT: Yeah, I remember Lance saying he wasn’t born yesterquintant. [laughter]

JDS: That’s right.

LM: Awesome.

GT: Alright, so Voltron is over, the two of you have moved on to, uh, other projects. Is there anything you can say about what you’re working on right now?

JDS: Uh, not really.

LM: No.

JDS: Other than it’s very cool and fun and we’re-we’re--

LM: Yeah.

JDS: --you know, very excited.

LM: It’s just the lay of the land. It’s kinda how animation goes. You make a thing, then you move on to another thing, and you make a thing.

JDS: Yeah.

LM: But, uh, but yeah.

GT: We’re excited for the next things, whatever they are. [laughter]

LM: Awesome.

MM: So, in preparation for talking to you guys tonight, um, I had gone back and listened to a lot of our previous conversations and everything just to make sure that, uh, anything that we had gone over before, uh, if there was something that we wanted to recapture or re-talk about or something like that we could bring it up tonight. One thing that I remember from going over all of this, we had done an interview with Andrea Romano.

JDS: Mm.

LM: Mm-hm.

MM: And she told us a story about when you guys pitched her the idea of you guys joining for this show. So do you guys remember that-that time? And it was basically where she said, “Okay, pitch to me, you know, what it is that Voltron’s all about and what it is that you wanna do with it.”

LM: Oh, gosh.

JDS: Boy, I… Yeah.

LM: So long ago! You’re asking my memory to do things it does not usually do.

JDS: Yeah, I mean-I mean I think-I think it’s safe to assume that we were probably begging and groveling on some level just to get her on board because we knew how awesome Andrea is, so there was probably a bit of that.

LM: There may have been a little bit of, you know, delirium from some hard working late nights but, uh, but yeah I-I remember the day she came in, I remember we sat in a room and that’s literally all I remember.

MM: So you don’t remember what you told her about what Voltron really is?

LM: Did it involve robot lions?

JDS: Did it involve teamwork? And did it involve, you know, friendship? I’ll bet, Marc, I’ll bet you know.

[laughter]

GT: Well I don’t remember either, so.

MM: I do know that it was a bunch of young people that under, you know, unforeseen circumstances come together and find these robot lions that form Voltron and it’s this giant robot that is formed by these five robot mechs. And along the way they, you know, find out that they’re basically the defenders of the universe. And they have, you know, they have to work it out as a team, and they have to work together, and they have a lot of adventures where they have to go up against the bad guys.

LM: That sounds about right.

GT: That’s a great pitch, Marc, I think we should make a show based on that, what do you think?

[laughter]

MM: Yeah. Well, the thing about it is-is Andrea remembers saying to you guys, “How did this ever work? How did it ever become popular?”

LM: Yeah, I-I think that’s something that probably people would say about 90% of the stuff I watched as a kid. I mean, I grew up on some--like Thundercats--like, and they’re just human people and they look kinda cattish, and then one guy was in-in a cryotube that cracked and then he came out a man. Like, I don’t know, how did that work? We watched that stuff anyway.

GT: And don’t forget “Snyarf! Snyarf!”

LM: Yeah! So, I mean, you know, Care Bears, they’re just little colorful bears with pictures on their tummies and they shoot rainbows out of their tummies. Like, I’m down. I don’t know if everyone’s down, but I’m down. So yeah, I think it was just something that captured our imaginations as kids and stuck with us, and so when it came time to, you know, to-to have it redone through DreamWorks, we wanted to kind of channel our love for the property into something that would maybe be a little updated to what our tastes were more like today versus what our tastes were as children, if that makes sense.

MM: Okay. So at that time did you know it was a 78-episode contract?

JDS: Yes.

LM: Yes we did. That was probably one of our biggest lies. You know, sadly. We try not to lie too much, but I’ll tell you, I’m gonna blow-blow the whole industry up right now: if an animated show tells you they don’t know if they have a second season, they probably know they have a second season.

JDS: That’s right.

LM: There’s a really good chance they already made it, and you know, so, where we always have to tell that, like, “Well, we hope people watch it and if they like it, well, maybe. We’ll see!” But it’s such-it’s such a lie.

JDS: The way it works, you know, is we have to make these things so far in advance for them to even make air, uh, that-that second season is either picked up or-or in production or midway through production or… yeah.

LM: Yeah, and I think there’s always just like, uh, that desire to, you know, be able to break that news. I think for-for whoever handles that kind of PR/internet traffic side of things, like, we want to be able to announce the next season and they’re like, “Okay, that’s fine, whatever.” W-we’re just making the show.

GT: That raises an interesting question. Do you have to be--and I know this is gonna sound silly--but do you have to be trained when you join a new project? Or are you so accustomed to the way this stuff gets marketed that it’s second nature to you now?

LM: A little bit of both.

JDS: Yeah.

LM: I think, like, upfront, so, um, I-I’ve always been, I guess, a little more truthful than I should have sometimes in my earlier projects. I made a, uh, movie through Warner Brothers. It was called Batman/Superman: Apocalypse, but it was about Supergirl. And they didn’t call it Supergirl, they called it Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.

GT: Right.

LM: And so when people would ask, I would be like, “Yeah, they had to put a big boy name on it ‘cuz they didn’t think a girl movie would sell.” And then I would get my PR guy and say like, “Hey, hey Lauren, you’re not supposed to say that.” And so, uh, I had to kinda learn, you know, sometimes you need to be a little more positive? [laughter] But, you know, hey man, sometimes people need to hear the truth.

JDS: But I’d say also specifically to Voltron, like it was pretty un-unprecedented in terms of like, an animated series of its kind getting picked up for that many episodes right off the bat, so… I mean we always joked that it was, like, the worst-kept secret ‘cuz I think Playmates at some point had, like, toy fair, like, put up a thing saying “78 episodes guaranteed!” and I think Tyler maybe said it because he hadn’t been told not to say it on some radio pod--some radio show. So it was like the worst-kept secret but it was also pretty interesting ‘cuz we were like, like one of the only shows that I know of that got picked up for that many episodes--

GT: That is amazing.

LM: Yeah.

JDS: --right off the bat.

MM: So, did they want you to write a story that only had a 78-episode arc, or did they tell you “there’s always an opportunity if this gets really big that we could have more”?

LM: I think--I don’t know--like at the time we were told 78 episodes, and that was it. And I think, like, maybe there--er, in our minds--like, if the thing was just, like, gangbusters, then there was a possibility for more, but I think what they actually learned over the process of making a 78-episode thing is that 78 episodes is a whole lot of a thing.

MM: Right.

GT: Oh yeah.

LM: And then, the-they’d actually made close to that of some other shows and realized that they really don’t need that many episodes. No, not every show has a serialized story and can maybe go that far, but for us, yeah. I think-I think ultimately when they started to kinda realize those numbers, it was like, “Alright, 78 episodes, that’s good enough.” And we were always planning for the 78 anyway, so uh, like honestly if they’d given us more we would’ve been like, “Uh… What’re we gonna do now?”

JDS: It’s funny, you know, we-we sort of, like, had this-this, you know, loose structure of sort of, kind of, where this story could go, but at some point you know, the show and the characters, they just kinda take on lives of their own to some extent and you-you zig where you thought you were gonna zag, a-and you know, the thing kinda goes where it needs to, so it’s like you… I remember we were, sort of, excited about the fact that like, hey we can like--and we did to some extent set some things up that could pay off later, but there was other stuff that we just-it was just kind of going and we were just on this-this production train, you know? We were like, “Oh wow, this-this thing is happening.”

MM: So, had Tim Hedrick, at the beginning, had he written out anything like a story bible that would kinda say “this is what’s gonna happen at the beginning”, “this is, like, a hazy middle area”, and then “maybe this is the end”?

JDS: No, our bible was about as loose as you’ll find. It was basically just to kinda pitch the show in its concept. So there was no… we would talk in meetings about maybe where we thought the characters’ arc would go.

LM: Yeah, I mean we had character arcs that we ended up, you know, having to completely adjust through--during the creation of the show because of, you know, whatever note here or there. So, like, we would have, like, some characters we thought we knew where they were going to end up that didn’t happen, and some characters we didn’t really know at all and then that just kind of solidified as it went through.

JDS: Right.

LM: And then, uh, a-and I’ll say, we really didn’t know--I’d say the biggest things we knew was we wanted Zarkon, kind of, for the first arc, and Lotor for the second arc, we didn’t really know, like, what we wanted for the third arc yet.

JDS: Right. That sort of started to present itself later.

LM: Like, and we had some, like, weird ideas that, like, never felt really personal, and then we kinda realized Honvera/Haggar was kinda the most--you know, the character who’d been with us the whole time. And uh, it was--and I was happy ‘cuz, you know, I like it when female characters can be involved in good ways and bad ways.

JDS: Yeah.

MM: Did you ever feel like you needed to, you know, give a certain complexity to those villains with always the chance that they could be somehow redeemed near the end?

JDS: Uh, I mean, I think we just like the idea of complexity in the villains, like, just-just generally and that came from, uh, Avatar but I think solidified on Korra. Uh, you know, when you look at a character like Amon or you look at a character like Zaheer, like, there were aspects of those characters that I totally agreed with.

LM: Mm-hm. Yeah, we also liked the idea not every, like, villain gets to be fully redeemed. Like, maybe there are things that are a little too bad to come back from. I think because we had worked on Avatar and Zuko was such a huge thing and he was such an awesome character, we didn’t want to immediately make everyone Zuko who was like yeah, and ultimately everyone becomes a good guy in the end.

JDS: Right.

[Hosts make noises of agreement.]

LM: So we wanted to, uh, to just have that door open.

JDS: But we also just didn’t want to do the mustachioed villain that’s just, like, a villain for villain’s sake so it was, we were playing this middle ground.

LM: Yeah, where you have characters who are doing bad things and you can kinda explain how they would get to that point.

JDS: Right.

LM: And ‘cuz that’s just, honestly that’s just a fascinating thing for me. Like I enjoy kinda studying what events would have to happen to get this character who you think would never do this thing, what would have to happen to push them to do that thing. That’s just something that I find incredibly interesting and love exploring, but uh, you know, hey man, shit gets crazy.

JDS: It does get crazy.

[Hosts laugh]

DA: Was there, um, was there a character who you were absolutely certain that their story was going to turn out a specific way that just flipped and went the, like, in the complete opposite direction to what you were expecting in the course of just figuring out the story?

JDS: I mean, you know, I-I think the big one for us was-was Shiro. You know, we’ve sort of talked about this publicly, we were orig--the original creation of Shiro was to set Keith up as the leader.

LM: I mean he was essentially our Sven. You know, we just changed his name from Sven to the original.

JDS: But we were going to keep him around a little longer than Sven lasted.

LM: Yeah, that was our whole thing was, like, “Okay, we still want to kinda do that Voltron thing where this character leaves the show, but we don’t wanna make--we don’t want him to feel disposable, we want him to feel like a super important character.” And then that kinda ended up kicking us in the butt because then the execs were like, “This is a super important character! You can’t, you can’t--”

MM: Well he became Space Dad.

LM: And it’s--and you know it’s--they were really just kinda channeling, I think, the love that they ultimately knew the fans would have for that character because he ended up being such a huge fan-favorite and, you know, we really can just thank the writers for that because they made sure that he did not feel, uh, you know, expendable.

JDS: Like, like, sort of expendable and--and also, like, you know, on one hand he fills a potentially boring space, which is, like, yeah, the leader/soldier/hero guy, and they very much made him not that, and, you know, that’s I think a perfect example of like, uh, a story point that just evolved on its own and sort of took a direction that we couldn’t have foreseen but we were-we were ultimately super happy with.

LM: Yeah.

MM: With knowing that Shiro was going to be sticking with you throughout the-the rest of the show, did you ever think of going back and telling us what his childhood was like, or who his parents were, or anything like that? He was one of the few characters who we really didn’t get that kind of a backstory on.

JDS: You know, we had originally a flashback pitch, uh, that showed Shiro I think with his family at a young age. It just, it became not as important to tell as some of the other aspects of his life, but also we had a lot of other familial backstories with the other characters that we wanted to cover.

LM: Yeah, and--I think, yeah, some of Shiro’s backstory just ultimately felt a little bit repetitive. I’m sure we could’ve, like, looked into it more and tried to find a way to make it stand out from the other characters, but ultimately when you’re, you know, moving at breakneck pace and trying to make these stories just happen, you know. I wish we would’ve had more time to sit there and-and really make every part of every character figured out 100%.

JDS: Yeah.

LM: But, when you’re moving so fast and you’re, “Okay, we have this, it feels like it’s stepping on the space for this other character, okay get rid of it.” Move forward. And that’s--that’s just kinda how these-these shows happen.

JDS: And it’s-it’s the same way that we, you know, we would sort of run in. With this many characters in a show, we’d often run into the thing where it’d be like, season 2, the big, sort of, the loudest aspect from the fandom would be like, “Oh, this character isn’t getting enough screentime.” And it’d be like, “Okay, we got, you know, this many episodes, we got this many characters, we’ll get to ‘em, but there’s only a certain amount of time.” And that’s all while juggling all the production craziness of, like, having three or four shows in production at a time.

MM: Yeah, I remember asking you at the end of season 6, uh, where was Matt? [laughter]

JDS: Yeah.

LM: Yeah. Well, Matt, actually, was--he started to become a little bit of a casualty of the availability of his voice actor because, uh, Blake was so hard to get into the studio, we literally found ourselves just writing him out of episodes.

JDS: Yeah.

LM: Like, and-and it was sad because I-I was really excited that we’d gotten Blake, um, and I was a really big fan of him from Workaholics, but he’s busy. He’s a busy actor, and so I think I had always wanted Matt to be a little more involved, but hey when you can’t get the actor in you just, you know. It--I guess you either have to get a sound-alike and we never really liked having to do that because it never sounded alike.

JDS: Right.

[laughter]

LM: So, uh, so yeah, he kinda--we ended up kinda crutching a ton on Sam, which I think was not at all expected.

JDS: Right.

LM: Because Sam was always kind of--his head was definitely on the chopping block, of like, “Hey, do we wanna give Pidge some sort of, like, she had a success with Matt, do we wanna give her, like, a failure with Sam?”

GT: Right.

LM: And then, like, I had no clue how-how integral he would become to that final Earth season, so it’s--I guess it’s good that we didn’t just axe him.

JDS: And it-it’s tough, like, it’s-it’s, you know, we call it, like, stunt-casting sometimes, but that’s-that’s the risk you run with, you know, hiring actors that voice-acting is not their, like, their main profession--

LM: Like their main bread and butter.

JDS: Yeah, like that’s--

GT: Like Norman Reedus.

MM: Steven, like Steven Yeun.

LM: Yeah. And Steven, he really bent over backwards to make himself available for us, but even-even with him we ran into a couple episodes, like, I think-I think we even, we’ve talked about it there was one episode, the game show episode!

[Hosts make sounds of understanding]

LM: Well you’ll notice in the beginning Keith sounds really groggy for no reason, and we literally just couldn’t get Steven in to re-read that line. It was like, “Alright! Well, this is going through.”

MM: “He’s just groggy.”

LM: “That’s production! Sorry.” It’s, you know. But hey man, sometimes that’s the fun of it. You can watch that episode and be like, “Oh, that’s one of the problems with making a TV show on a fast schedule.”

JDS: Right right right.

GT: So one of the things--and this is of very minor importance by comparison to character arcs--but one of the things that I noticed over a lot of Voltron merchandise: the tie-in books, uh, the toys, was all this stuff about each Paladin being a guardian spirit of this or that or what in the other, and the lions were labeled that way, too. What happened with that stuff?

JDS: This is where our, like, you know, our-our producing minds and our consumer/product, sort of, minds, uh, uh--

LM: Diverge.

JDS: Yeah. Where we sort of, like, grew apart. We sort of went divergent from each other. And, you know, early on I think that was a pitch that we got when we had, like, meetings and I think had we, I don’t even know how to say this--

LM: Yeah, it was--it was something that was not really in our original pitch--

JDS: It was--it was pitched to us from, like, the consumer/product standpoint, like, “Hey, this would be a good thing to latch onto.” And it just wasn’t really something that we were--

LM: Yeah, I think there were symbols that they really liked that they wanted to use in some of the consumer products, and like we’re all for it--

GT: Yeah, like different lion logos or whatever?

LM: --but we-we couldn’t really, like, it wasn’t inherent in our story and we struggled to find a way to work it in, and ultimately I think we just kind of came--we knew, like, we had voiced our opinions on the symbols. We weren’t super fond of the design, we’d done some designs to fix ‘em, and they had, kind of, just, I guess--

JDS: They had already moved along with their designs and so it was just--

LM: --and so we didn’t really want to work them into the show, just ‘cuz we didn’t feel like they could adhere to the aesthetic we’d created. And so we’re just like, “I’m sorry, it’s gonna have to be, like, a weird offshoot point”. So, you know. But it’s a lesson to learn that, uh, I wish we had control over everything in the show, but we don’t, and there’s other offshoots with the consumer products, and-and they kind of work in their own little bubble and we work in ours, and we try to meet up to--as best we can--to make things work.

JDS: But it doesn’t always work.

LM: Yeah, I mean we worked the lion upgrades in, like, that was asked specifically for the toys, and we found a way to, you know, get those into the show and make them feel kinda natural. But we couldn’t do it with everything.

GT: Right.

MM: There was a 3D-VR experience called Voltron VR Chronicles--

JDS: Yeah.

MM: --and that first episode that came out was called “Seeds of Corruption”. It was a Lance-focused episode, and they had said there would be more episodes coming. Did you ever hear what happened to that?

JDS: I think, yeah we were-we were, like, sorta peripherally involved, uh…

LM: I mean, yeah, they showed it to us along the way, and it was really cool to see it take form. I-I just don’t, I don’t know, I know that there were plans, they had like a story arced out.

JDS: Yeah, I think ultimately, a lot of it just comes down to if that-that was like a-a rip-roaring success, you would have absolutely seen more, but I think maybe,I don’t know, maybe-maybe there just wasn’t support because it didn’t-it didn’t get the numbers that they needed.

LM: Yeah, I don’t know how many Voltron fans have, like, the full VR/PS--

MM: Right.

LM: --VR setup. So it’s kinda--sadly I think it’s kind of a niche sale and I think when you’re marketing to something that’s-that’s not really, like, globally, massively accepted yet, maybe it’s a little harder to really get a big return on your investment.

JDS: I’d say V--like, I’d like to know exactly, sort of, on a-on a-on a bigger scale--like, VR in general. I’m excited about it still from, like, an artistic perspective, but I still haven’t quite seen, you know, the promise of-of all the things that were, like, supposed to be happening right now.

GT: Yeah, what’s the killer app, right?

JDS: Yeah, and I’m-I’m going back all the way to Lawnmower Man, guys, come on.

GT: Yeah.

JDS: Got our rig, while we’re spinnin’ around.

MM: What we need is a place called The Oasis like in Ready Player One, where we’re all connected and we can watch Voltron episodes completely in 360 degree immersion.

JDS: One day.

LM: There you go.

[laughter]

GT: Yeah, I’ve often wondered how that’d even work. To have full 360 degree immersion, how do you make sure you’re looking where you need to look as the story unfolds around you?

JDS: Right. That’s the big question.

MM: They cue you to look in certain directions to make sure that you’re following along with the story, but it also gives it an opportunity, if you are-are really interested in looking in a different direction, then they might have alternative options like Choose Your Adventure type things.

GT: Yeah, that’d be really tough to write in a-in a effective way, I guess--

MM: Right.

GT: --as a story. But getting back to-to-to what you talked about with the consumer products and all that good stuff, I mean, to a point it boils down to this Voltron not being creator-owned but rather a licensed property. And so I was wondering how would you--how might you compare and contrast Voltron with licensed properties you’ve worked on in the past such as various DC characters, G.I. Joe, and-and whatever you might have in the hopper right now. How would you compare and contrast Voltron with those others?

JDS: Uh, I mean, well, it’s interesting, like, I think Voltron is unique in the sense that it’s still--I don’t even know if it’s, like, owned by World Events--but it’s still, they still very much have, like, a say in the creative direction of it so that’s-that’s one aspect that we found unique, uh, even when producing the show. But I think it’s also, it was this property that had kind of, you know--I know you guys have been carrying the torch--but kinda gone away for a while, right?

GT: Oh, absolutely.

JDS: So we were kind of coming up with a lot of this lore and this backstory on our own. We were obviously using stuff from, you know Go--Beast King and Voltron, but it was unique in that it was just gone. So I think it was off people’s radars for a while, whereas like the DC stuff that we worked on, like DC’s been around the whole time, you know? People kind of know what to expect, they know generally who the characters are, what their personalities and backstories are, so it was--it was unique in that, like, we were, like, kind of reintroducing this and in a sense, it absolutely isn’t creator-driven but I think we got, sort of, put into, like, a, uh, a creator position on it.

LM: Mm-hm. And we were thrilled to be able to do it. We were thrilled to be able to bring, like, our vision to this show and I mean, essentially it almost felt like we were kind of almost recreating it, like, in our own little way. Whereas a lot of the times when I worked on a lot of the DC stuff, like, you know, I was never recreating Superman, I was just telling a story in his world, you know, with that character. And there was always, like, a very specific set of rules as to what that character could and couldn’t do. We could never really break that mold. But with Voltron, we have a lot of freedom to remake these characters how we felt we wanted them to be for the story, so I mean that was really great. I personally never worked on something that, I think, was gonna have such a large, kinda, consumer products, um, push behind it. I had mostly worked--a lot of the DC stuff was just kind of--

MM: They were just stories, right?

LM: Yeah, they were stories, they were one-offs, they were--they kind of, they expected--they knew, like, they were going to go to the specific kind of comic book fan market and-and that was it. It was just kind of like, “Here’s one piece of art that’s out there, enjoy it or don’t enjoy it.” And then Voltron had so much more around it, the whole franchise and, like, how this was going to play out in other departments. It wasn’t really just us there to, kind of, make the decisions.

JDS: It was the first time we had been in so many meetings with so many other departments that were, like, pitching us their vision for Voltron, which, you know, sometimes it was like, “Okay, that’s kind of a neat concept,” and sometimes it was like--

LM: “We’re not doing that.”

JDS: “We’re very scared about what we’re seeing right now.” Like, how do we nicely tell these people we’re not gonna do it?

LM: I feel we’ve told the--I think we’ve told this story before of, like, how many times we got asked if Voltron could talk.

JDS: Yeah.

LM: Yeah, they just really wanted to make a little, a helmet that, you know, you talked in the helmet and then your voice came out and it was Voltron’s voice. And I’m like, “I’m sorry, he’s not--it’s a robot! It doesn’t talk!” But--

MM: You got him to talk in “The Voltron Show”.

JDS: Exactly.

LM: Yeah, that was our wink-wink.

JDS: That was the total nod to that moment.

LM: All just so they could sell Voltron helmets. Just kidding.

[laughter]

JDS: There was a lot--it was a lot--it was a lot of coordinating beyond, you know, beyond uh, a scale we had seen before. And we were coming off of Korra, which was literally just, like, “Make a story. There is nothing tied to this beyond a story.”

LM: Yeah. And it was cre--you know, Bryan and Mike’s creation and then they got to make their own artistic vision there. And so, yeah, going from that and then coming to Voltron where we very much had to, kind of, play game with the studio and we were, like, 100% understanding of that going into it. But yeah, it’s a different part of the industry and you just, you adjust, and it’s just part of your profession, your career, and as a professional you-you figure it out and you make it work.

JDS: Right.

GT: Okay.

MM: Did you guys have any sense for inclusion, in diversity, in representation, all that you kinda wanted to bring into the show even when you were starting out?

LM: Yeah.

JDS: I mean I think that was--the idea was to-to make the characters, you know--you know, the original Beast King obviously was a bunch of Japanese characters which was, you know, totally appropriate for its time and, uh, you know I probably think Sven was probably the bad version of trying to, like, give these characters divergent voices in the, uh, in Voltron.

LM: But yeah, I mean, we always knew that we wanted to feature, like, a diverse cast as much as we could. Yeah. For us, our story was always our story, and within that story we wanted to be able to feature as much diversity as possible.

JDS: We never made it, like, the focus. They were just characters that happened to be from different, different backgrounds, but, you know, the Earth that we had sort of conceptualized was kind of more of a united Earth where everything was blended anyway. So it wasn’t, you weren’t going to get, like, a ton of, like, accents or the sort of trademark, you know, things when shows are bringing in diverse characters. It was just like, “Yeah, that’s Lance! He’s Cuban. That’s Hunk.” You know what I mean?

LM: And a lot of those things we never even really mentioned in the show, they would maybe make a little reference to it, but I think people didn’t know Lance was Cuban until Jeremy went out and said it. And then people didn’t really know Hunk was Samoan until Tyler went out and said it. For us, it was just like, “These are our characters.” And we maybe had these ideas of who they were, but the show didn’t center around their ethnicity, the show centered around how they deal when they fight this war.

JDS: Right. It was more personality-centric than it was anything else.

DA: With that, because obviously it becomes very difficult in terms of, like, with diversity--especially in animation because it’s in its infancy almost in terms of branching out and also being able to represent different areas--was there ever a time where you thought you actually wanted to make it more explicit who they were and where they came from and their backgrounds to, sort of, just to make it more, kind of, like, obvious where they’d all come from? Or was it always just you were going to allow that-that breathing room, that space for people to kind of look at these characters and maybe take a piece of them to sort of represent themselves? Like was there more of, like, an openness that you wanted to take with that diversity or was there ever, like, specifically in your head that you wanted to try and say more about it but the story just didn’t allow?

JDS: Yeah, I mean, well, there was little cues, right? So there was, like, an episode where Lance sort of said he missed Veradero Beach, and like, he sort of, you know, we had like small little homages to it. I think, you know, for us the big one obviously was Shiro, and we had a different story planned for Shiro. And when we explained his backstory and-and, you know, we were showing he was, you know--this wasn’t ethnic diversity--but we were trying to have some representation with-with LGBTQ+, and that, you know, we might’ve been pushing a little too early, too soon, for where maybe the-the studio or the industry was-was comfortable at the time. Um, and so obviously we-we had to divert that story. But I think we didn’t want to put too much import on anyone’s ethnic background. We wanted them, we wanted people to be able to find what they found appealing purely based on-on-on character, on-on the content of the individual character’s character. So it was-it was vague, we-we, you know, and it wasn’t intentional, it just, it wasn’t a focus of ours to make it overly explicit that they were--you know, Keith. Nobody knows where Keith landed in terms of anything.

LM: Yeah. It’s always, it’s-it’s tricky because the thing that you risk I think by super nailing down a character, is you can make one group really happy, but then you can also exclude a lot of other groups. And we-we wanted to--we would’ve loved for everyone to be able to be represented but couldn’t have, like, a million characters in this show, like, with large talking roles to feel like everyone really got their due. So what you oftentimes have to do is realize you have to create these characters and hope that people can see themselves in them. And sometimes the more--I mean it even happens with story, and like some of our crazy space magic stuff: the more you nail it down and explain it, like, kind of, the more the magic is taken out of it. And I’m not--I don’t want to say that’s for every situation ever, I think, I hope that everyone gets explicit representation somewhere, somehow, and hopefully in the coming years there will be so much representation across the board that no one will ever feel left out because they’ll be able to see themselves somewhere. But this, you know, we just had one show and a limited amount of characters to do it in, and so I think we didn’t want to nail down every one character so specifically to make anyone feel like absolutely “you are not in this cast”.

JDS: Right.

MM: So, out of all the characters, who did you feel had the most obvious representation other than Shiro?

LM: Huh, I, uh, I guess I would just say, just, Lance because Jeremy said he was Cuban and everybody was like, “He’s Cuban!” You know, it was a celebration, but I mean beyond that I know, like, I think Pidge was, like--we wrote in the bible that she was Italian, but like, that was never really, like, a thing ever--and I don’t even know if I would fully categorize her as that.

JDS: I wouldn’t.

LM: Yeah, I think that we really didn’t super nail down much of anyone.

JDS: Yeah, I mean, we just, you know, just tried to create a cast of characters that visually you could tell were from different backgrounds.

LM: It’s tricky ‘cuz there’s just, there’s--sadly there’s a nasty part of fandom out there where people will say, “You can’t cosplay this character unless you are specifically, like, the exact look of that character.” And we just don’t-don’t always want to give fuel to that sort of fire.

JDS: We want everybody to be able to find something that they appreciate and that they can latch onto about the character of all our characters.

MM: Okay. Like, I was thinking, like, Ezor and Zethrid. They kinda looked like they ended up together.

JDS: Sure. Okay.

MM: Okay.

LM: Oh, you want to talk about that?

JDS: You know, we’ve sort of talked about it in-in the past. We’ve-we’ve talked about it in-depth in the past. There was specifically with LGBTQ representation, I think there was a line within the studio and within the industry as a whole when it comes to shows of this type, which are sort of, like, traditionally marketed to be, like, boys toys, action/adventure, 6-11, which are, like, kind of these-these buzzwords that-that go out when you’re creating these things, um, where, like, characters on the periphery are fair game to some extent.

LM: They’re less-scrutinized.

JDS: They’re less-scruti--yes, less-scrutinized.

LM: Especially in a, in a boys toys, uh, show, if they’re female characters, they’re definitely less-scrutinized.

JDS: There’s just less import put on them in terms of they’re gonna sell a million toys. Um, and that’s--

LM: That’s a sad reality.

JDS: That’s a sad reality. And one, I will say that on a positive note is changing. And I truly believe that, like, we’re entering an age with animation and IP, if you look at something like Overwatch--

MM: Right.

JDS: --you know, which we, again, we sort of used as, like, this, like, barometer when we were pitching out storylines to the executive branch and-and at that time it was like, “Well, that’s a video game, and that’s meant for teenagers,” and that’s--you know, they were looking for-for reasons for us to not to divert or to change course. And you know all-all within, like, from sort of a business perspective you can kind of see it through that lens and go like, “Okay, but I mean, guys, this isn’t really a big deal.”

MM: You just made a show for all ages, right?

JDS: We made a show for all ages, but we were broaching subject matter for, you know, for kids to sort of, like, you know, maybe think about. And that’s something that we hang our hat on, I mean we did it on Korra I think really, really well and I think Mike and Bryan were-were pioneers with that and-and-and taking an IP that allowed its audience to age up with it. So we were sort of hoping that the audience had been on for long enough that they were like, evolving along with the show. But, you know, maybe we pushed a little too hard too soon. I think Ezor and Zethrid were clearly not, you know, uh, characters that were, sort of, front and center enough for the studio to, uh, to have any worry about.

LM: They weren’t quite the characters that, I think, they were kind of hanging the franchise on, so, uh… And that-that’s the thing is like, you’ll get a lot more freedom with some kind of side characters than you will a lot of times with the main characters.

GT: Yeah.

JDS: Keep in mind, guys, like, the other reason, you know, that Shiro stuck around was because he was the soldier character that was meant to sell a ton of toys. So it was like, “You can’t kill this guy because he’s like our, he’s our Optimus Prime. He’s our Duke. He’s our, you know, Liono, he’s our main guy. He’s our, you know, He-Man.” And, you know, that’s from a business perspective, like, if you’re sort of, like, looking at this thing without any, like, sort of social structure around it, like, it’s-it’s an ugly truth that sort of presents itself. That’s, by the way, part of the reason we wanted to use him as, like, the leader that sort of, like, allows the other character to sort of fill that position and rise up. It be-it became a, uh, uh, a strong throughline for Keith’s character to live up to his potential, and we did that to some degree, but we had to adjust the story.

MM: Yeah, well you had them saving each other constantly throughout the course of the series.

JDS: Yep, and it was, hey, it was one of those changes we, like, think totally, like, helped the show, so it’s...

LM: Yeah, it’s part of the job.

JDS: It’s part of the process.

LM: When you get a change, like, you know, you don’t just just kinda stomp your feet and storm off, you just, you try to make the best story you can, so ultimately when we get the note “Shiro has to be in-in the show and--forever”, then we don’t just be like, “Well whatever, we’re just gonna write him out of these episodes and treat him like-like nothing.” No, we’re gonna find a way to make his story still very important to the show and we’re also going to find a way to not disservice Keith and just make him--I mean he could’ve been season 1 Keith the whole series, where he just barely does anything, but we didn’t wanna do that. We always had, um, you know these ideas of him rising to be more, and so how do we service both of those characters? And we just kinda had to roll with the punches and-and hope that we were able to do so in a satisfactory way.

DA: So was that a huge thing, like the-the perception from the, sort of, toy companies of him being, like, this really stereotypical macho, kind of, symbol? Was that a huge reason why you kind of started to subvert that? Or was that idea always in your head, or the back of your mind for what you wanted Shiro to be around the time when you found out, like, he wasn’t going to be leaving the show? Like, when did that shift and when did he start to shift into the character he then became further down the line in terms of, like, showing his disability representation, but also you know, the queer representation as well? When did you start to, like, try to fold that in to kind of, like, subvert that macho hero perspective?

JDS: Uh, I mean, you know, I think the subversion, that’s like an aspect of it. We-we absolutely, you know, sort of knew we wanted to work in, you know, queer representation into the show. It was just, for us it was a matter of when and we knew we had to, like, try to--I don’t know--ingratiate ourselves, make sure that we were doing the show that the studio was happy with before we broached it because we knew it was a big deal, uh, for the studio and kind of for this genre of show.

LM: Yeah, and-and specifically in this genre, like, there are things that I-I’d always hoped we’d be able to do with the show that I definitely didn’t put in the bible ‘cuz there’s this kind of unspoken rule where if you push too hard too fast, you’ll probably get a no. But if you prove to them that you can make them a good show, and then you ask for it, like, once you’ve proven yourself, there’s a better chance that you’re gonna get a yes.

JDS: Yeah, you’ve sorta got a track record behind you.

LM: And so, like, I had, you know, always had these ideas of like, what if this-this macho guy was actually queer? That was about the time when I came across the bury your gays trope and I realized, “Oh, that’s not something we wanna do.” I knew what we needed Shiro to do in the story--which was we needed him to kind of exit the story--and so it was like, “Okay, well, you know what, let’s not do the representation through Shiro, let’s find it in another character somewhere down the line. We’ll move forward with this story.” And so then when that--

JDS: And this is still when we were still under the assumption that Shiro was not going to be in the show.

LM: Yeah, this was literally, like, development before we were even full-time in-house at DreamWorks working on it.

MM: Mm-hm.

LM: When, you know, we come in, we’re working on the show, and then at some point we get, y-you know--

JDS: The mandate.

LM: The mandate that, like, he’s gonna stay alive and that’s when we started thinking, “Okay, well then, we can--some of the things we’d taken off the table we can actually do again.” So we weren’t necessarily working them in hardcore from season 1, but I mean you’ll notice that, you know, Shiro isn’t, like, wink-winky eyein’ at any ladies, he’s always just a very respectable man. We knew his, I guess his sexual orientation was not something that needed to be explored in the first season, so it left that door open to us.

JDS: But yeah, I mean, I-I think the important thing was that, like, even in our original pitch in which, you know, Adam wasn’t part of the Galaxy Garrison, and-and doesn’t die in Earth’s invasion and all that sort of thing, like, the idea was to show representation but not--i-it didn’t affect Shiro’s character in any way. He didn’t-he didn’t act any differently, he didn’t fall into any of the tropes that you would, you know, in shows like I had growing up, like, a show, like, you know, for instance like Three’s Company where it was like, “Oh, Jack Tripper is pretending to be a gay man, so anytime Mr. Roper comes up he’s acting super effeminate.” Not that there’s, you know, anything wrong with acting effeminate, but it was its own trope. Shiro was sort of, like, bucking-bucking that in our eyes.

DA: So with that, obviously, you know the story changed with Adam and Shiro from what you originally envisaged. When in the development stage, like, when did you get the go on that? Like, when did you get the yes? Was it when, like, was season 7 all wrapped? Was it already done? Was it already, like, in the show and then you had to, like--

JDS: Yes. Here’s the weird thing, right? So this is--I’m gonna give you a very, very loose sort of fast and dirty breakdown of how it went down. So, we had a pitch for Adam and Shiro. It made it all the way to, like, storyboards. It made it through premise, through script, through storyboards. It got storyboarded, it was like a day out from shipping. And then, you know, we got called into a conversation where we were told we couldn’t have Adam and Shiro in a relationship. So we’re sort of in this weird position where we’re like, “Okay, well, let us pitch you, like, a version where, like, maybe they’re not saying things that are so explicit,” and maybe, you know, we can adjust the dialogue. So we pitched that back, and that sort of got rejected again. And at that point we were a little confused because, you know, Overwatch was out, and-and Steven Universe was obviously taking off, so we were sort of pointing at those things and-and we were getting pushback because it was like, “Well, you guys aren’t creator-owned. This is a show that’s, you know, more boy-centric, like, 6-11.” And I know this, it-it sounds horrible, but these were the excuses that we were hearing back.

MM: But by that time you had known who your audience was, right?

JDS: You know, we did, but-but the marketing machine that’s behind a show, like, those millions of dollars are spent and are going in a certain direction. And for us to, like, and… they’re millions of dollars, like, so from a company perspective, like, we were making a show that was diverting from maybe its original purpose. And that’s me, you know, sort of just looking almost from the outside in as much as inside we were. That-that’s all we could sort of take away from it. So we were given-given, like, notes on how to revise the scene, we salvaged as much of the staging as we could, so like the original version had a lot of the staging the same, but they were in an apartment and not in the Galaxy Garrison lounge, and you know, Adam was changed to be like a flight partner and so, you know, make it very much like a Goose and Maverick relationship. That got produced. That got made, the entire season got made, and we were well into making season 8 when the door sort of squeaked back open, um, and at that point I want to say Shiro was at least in development. And I think--She-Ra not Shiro. She-Ra. She-Ra--within, uh, within the studio, and I think the studio was just, sort of, beginning to sort of open its eyes to-to the possibilities of there being representation in their shows and there not being a huge backlash, a huge public backlash, for it. So they said, “Hey, maybe you can revisit that scene.” Adam’s, you know, fate was already sealed at that point, unfortunately. And so we had this decision. Do we revise the dialogue and have some level of representation versus no level of representation? And we had to make that decision really quickly and we decided to do it, hoping that confirming a character, being able to say that publicly, would, you know, make some in-roads and at least open more doors in the future for shows of this kind. And you know, obviously things turned out the way they did. We were very aware of-of the trope of bury your gays, but we thought that this was, uh, uh, a more important step to take. I think, we’ve said it before, like, our biggest, you know, regret was going to Comic-Con and making--

LM: Yeah, we--and, though the problem is we worked in animation a long time. We’re very used to that idea of, like, some progress is progress, like, small steps, like, you know, like... I’ve been--I’ve been campaigning for, like, more female involvement. I got two ladies in a main cast of seven, that’s-that’s nowhere near equality, but I was doing, like, backflips because, you know, every--any other time it could’ve just been one token female. We’re used to kind of those baby steps and and taking what we can get and appreciating it. We can’t expect the public to understand that, and that was where we kind of lost sight. We thought, uh, our excitement w-would, you know, I guess, somehow--

JDS: Carry through.

LM: --carry through and-and I think it was kind of like a snap back to reality, for me for sure, just realizing, oh yeah, like, we’re the people who’ve been in, you know, like, the pitch-black room for five years, and then we get, like, one window cracked open. And then someone comes over and is like, “Why are you in this pitch-black room, this sucks.” We’re like, “No, no, no, that window that’s cracked open this is the greatest room ever!” Like, you know, it’s-it’s sadly we’ve been, I guess, a little… our views have been skewed.

JDS: But I-I-I would say this, too, that, like, if given the choice again, I-I d-I don’t know what the right answer is. Like, I wanna say we’d make the same decision again because it’s the choice of confirming a main hero character, or nothing at all, like, that’s kind of the position we found ourselves in.

LM: Yeah.

JDS: Obviously, guys, if we could learn from this, and, like, go into, like, Voltron 2.0, or go into, like, next show 2.0, the assumption is that you would-you would have that built into the character from the get-go, and you would-you could--everybody would be on the same page.

LM: Yeah. You would-you would get signatures so no one would change their minds.

JDS: Yeah, it wouldn’t be a thing that y-you sort of had to, like, wait to ingratiate yourself to the studio with, and all that. So--but I think, I think we’re getting to that place. I think the industry is getting to that place. It sucks for us personally that we had to take lumps along the way and we wish we could’ve done things better, but, um, and in our case--and in that situation--it was sort of like…

LM: Yeah, we made the only choice we had to make, and we hoped, uh, that it would mean something to someone.

JDS: Yeah.

MM: Alright, so, you guys had a lot to deal with there. You had a marketing machine that was marketing to a different audience. During the course of you working on the show, DreamWorks had been bought out by Comcast, so Universal became y-your parent company, right?

LM: Yeah.

JDS: Yup.

LM: Yeah.

MM: So there were things that happened that--there were deals that were already made through DreamWorks when it was just DreamWorks, and now there were changes being made as a result of Universal coming in. So there were a lot of hands in the till--I’m sure there were a lot of people that gave you notes during the course of production and everything--and you had to take it all into consideration and still come up with the story you wanted to tell.

JDS: Well, I mean that’s kind of the case on any show. I mean, this was a lot because we were such a product-driven show, but-but as a showrunner, when you’re working on existing IP, that’s kinda par for the course. This was another added layer on top of that, obviously, we were broaching subject matter which, like--again, in, like, Steven Universe, I think Rebecca’s said that she dealt with her own version of this and that was on a creator-driven show. And Korra was obviously able to broach the subject matter at the very, very end of the show, but that was not--that was not the understanding of the show, you know, while it was in production, that was something that happened at the very end. But again, we were in a-in a unique situation in that, like, you know, we were-we’re working on this IP that-that is, it’s not our thing. The other element that we had to contend with, you know, Lauren and I had this moment where we kinda, like, were like, “Is this something we, like, walk away from?” And that’s not really on the table either because we had a crew there. Because we had, honestly like, investment in the quality of the show that we made up to that point, and to sort of hand that over to somebody else, it was just--

LM: Yeah, it’s just a matter of, you know, there’s the obvious way where you ask for a thing and, you know, you don’t get it, you get mad, and you leave. But we’re, I think, just much more accustomed to just as-as professionals, you ask for a thing, you don’t get it, you try to make the best of what you’ve got and you find a way, like, I’m sure there’s a version where it’s so dire and so awful that it’s nothing near the show that you wanted it to be and then you-you walk away. But we felt like we could still send the correct messages. Like, even if, if we ended up with, like, a hard no, no representation situation, we could still at least try to send positive messages through the body of the show if it weren’t through an individual character’s representation.

JDS: Right. I-I think our-our big lesson, too, was, like, “go all in or go nothing at all”. Is that our takeaway from this, or, you know it was just a lot to learn from the entirety of the experience, so it was-it was a big stew. There was a lot of moving parts. And that’s not to take away from-from anybody being, like, hurt or even worse, you know, offended by, like, how things shook out. We’ve learned from everybody’s reactions on this subject matter in particular, but it was--that was the truth of our circumstance.

MM: Okay.

GT: When you guys, uh, were researching Voltron, I mean obviously the two of you had seen some of Voltron back in the day, but when you were researching this IP--which had been more or less dormant for quite a long time--how did you go about doing that, aside from watching the show? Did you, you know--for example, you know, the pilots’ uniforms didn’t match the colors of their lions. Was there some research involved in figuring out what was done back then and how you wanted to address it in the new show? Something like that?

LM: A lot of it we just kind of followed our gut. Like, we definitely, I know I watched the old show, I watched Beast King GoLion on Crunchyroll of all places and just got myself refamiliarized with the show. One of those things that was always kind of confusing to me was, like, the differences of the pilots’ uniforms. And we looked at, like, comics and-and other, kind of, shoot-off material that had been done for Voltron and they had, I think even Voltron Force, they kinda changed the colors of the outfits to match the lions, but you know, that was, I think just, you know, me, I know my personal opinion and, you know, Joaquim feel free to jump in if you have differing opinions.

JDS: I agreed with you ‘cuz we did it.

LM: We did it! Like, I, I had always imagined, like, I think because as a kid I had, I had attached the characters more to their colors than to their specific lions, and in my kid brain I didn’t even realize, like, I had to kind of relearn that, “Oh, the red guy’s in the black lion, not the red lion. And the blue guy’s in the red lion, not the blue lion.” Because I know the pink girl’s in the blue lion, because that’s the one thing I remember. And so, when I would see, like, the comics had changed their outfit colors, it always felt weird to me, ‘cuz I, I had identified those characters so strongly with their colors. And so we kinda came up with this storyline that ultimately, you know, we liked because it progressed the characters, it didn’t keep them--we didn’t wanna be the-the show that did everything kinda like, nothing ever changes, everything stays the same through the whole show. And so this idea of the characters starting in one lion and then progressing to the next, but keeping their, their original colors and then ultimately in my happy child nostalgia place getting us to the original, like, Voltron line-up was something that, I don’t know, I was really excited about.

JDS: Yeah, I mean it was, it was a cool way to sort of, like, you know back into the familiar for, like, old fans, um, but I think that’s the really unique thing about Voltron in general. It’s such, I mean you guys are-are well-versed in it, but for a-a vast majority I’d say of the fans that grew up watching it when they were kids, it’s this foggy show that you had, sort of these, like, big pillars that you could latch onto in terms of what you remembered about it, but putting all those things together didn’t always necessarily make sense, so… I mean I remember at some point even when we were, like, in the early days of, like, making the show, I made this huge, like, mistake talking about Shiro and Sven and it was... I remember both Lauren and Tim correcting me like, “No, dude that just wasn’t the case” and I was like, “Really?”

LM: Yeah, like, Joaquim at one point he was like, “What, Sven wasn’t in the black lion?”

JDS: And he wasn’t and it was like, “No,” and I was like, “Really?” And I’d already done the research and I’d somehow again sort of undone and gone back to what my child brain remembered.

LM: But yeah, I mean, even looking at that old art, when you look at Sven’s outfit, he has, like, the black outfit and he has this gold trim.

JDS: He’s got the gold trim, man!

LM: He feels like he should be the leader. But it’s like, he’s got that special gold trim that no one else has, but it’s just kind of a weird thing.

JDS: But he was also kind of emotionally, like--

LM: He was kind of like, you know--

JDS: --kind of the big brother. I don’t know.

LM: He was--Keith was your standard kinda 80’s hero/leader guy, but, I mean Sven was the one who, like, put his life on the line to protect Lance, and so he was always the guy that I respected a ton. And I just appreciated that character.

JDS: He’s just, he’s just--yeah, exactly.

GT: Yeah, that makes sense. And another example--and I’m not just listing that as, like, the thing, but another item--I mean, clearly Voltron’s design was revised. One thing that disappeared was the emblem on the-the chest with the cross, which you know, you know, there in GoLion, there is an implication that there may be some, uh, western cultural impact on the planet Altea just through some of the gestures in the earlier seasons wherein the presence of a church on the planet and things like that. Was the thought to revamp this design, was it just to give it its own, its own distinct look? Or was it, was it sort of looking, “Wow, what is this here for? Does this-does this symbol mean anything in this new version of Altea where these lions are made from a comet?” I mean, I-I’m just curious as to how some of that kind of stuff--not just the uniforms, not just the emblem, but those sorts of things--as you look at the old stuff going, “Hm, what can we use, what can we discard?” You know what I mean?

JDS: Well, I mean, I think there’s the want to avoid sort of, like, the-the inherent, sort of, religiosity of it all.

LM: Yeah, well, like a huge part of it is just as we’re creating this story, we’re making an Altea that Earth doesn’t know about so no Earth symbolism should really show up over there. We kind of had to just jump the shark with lions because we’re like, “How do they know what lions are?” I don’t know. Nobody knows.

JDS: Hey by the way--no--but we pitched an idea.

LM: Did we?

JDS: We did. Where, where, uh, we show Alfor on, like, his sojourn and it was like, we show Alfor on his sojourn to, like--

LM: I think we were trying to, like, have some sort of time-travel, or-or was it, like--

JDS: No, it was like we see Alfor doing cave paintings on Oriande or something like that--

LM: --like he saw cave paintings that were lions or something, I don’t know.

JDS: --but he saw the mythical creature on Oriande and that gave him the idea--

GT: The guardian?

JDS: --to make their likeness. But we also pitched a really bad version where it was, what was it? It was like, I forgot what it was, like they go to Earth and they see, they see a lion, a real lion, and they go like, “Oh my gosh! It’s a,” I don’t know, “it’s a mythical whatever whatever!” And they’re just like, “No that’s just a lion.”

LM: Yeah, I don’t know I just think--

MM: I’m glad it wasn’t five yelmores.

[laughter]

JDS: That’s right.

GT: Oh my.

LM: I tried to pitch like, the hoobajoob idea that the comets, they’re like lions with trailing manes and I think Tim just looked at me like I was on some hippie shit.

[laughter]

JDS: But a lot of that stuff, I will also say is just kind of the randomness of how, like, these shows were created back in the day. I don’t think any of the creators of the original Beast King GoLion put, you know there was obviously thought put into it, but I think sometimes it was like, “That’s just cool” or “that’s western iconography that we find appealing, let’s put it on there,” you know. A-and working within that or-or sort of figuring out what to keep and what to lose, you know, we lost Voltron’s lips ‘cuz it creeped us out, like, cool in the show. He looked kind of Egyptian, you know?

GT: Yeah.

JDS: So… yeah.

GT: Yeah, that makes sense. A-a-and you’ve just mentioned cave markings, which leads to another question I had which was a story point in the very first episode, or the first, the pilot showed that there were cave markings in the hiding spots of blue, yellow, and green lions at least, if not also red wherever the heck it was. But Keith had been studying the markings and-and they told stories about a blue lion and had clues about an arrival, and-and it seemed like that night might have been when the arrival had been foretold, and of course on that night Shiro crashes to Earth. So what were the thoughts about who made those cave markings and when?

JDS: Yeah, I mean, so this is where we get a little loosey-goosey. Um, but, you know, I think the idea at the time was, like, you know, civilizations rose up and fell around, around the lions and-and those were sort of the remnants of-of maybe, I don’t know, maybe somebody interfaced with the lion on some level and could, could figure it out? We-we kept it super loosey-goosey. The same thing that, like, the most loosey-goosey of it all was, like, going into Keith’s shack and the frequency lining up with the, with the formation of the rocks and the mountains. That was--

GT: Yes, Fraunhofer lines.

JDS: --none of that makes any sense. It was just visual tomfoolery.

LM: The long story short is we tried to work something in there, and then we got, like, focus-test notes that was like, “Kids are bored, make this scene shorter.”

JDS: Yeah.

LM: And then we cut out a ton of stuff and it ended up being like, “I got these vibes, and then you landed.” And then we never went back, a-and yeah.

JDS: We had, we had a kind of thorough explanation for, like--

LM: We tried. We did.

JDS: --but it was, even that was still loosey-goosey and anytime you’re putting, you know, a suspect board up and you’re tying things with-with red string, like, good luck. I don’t know. That’s all I got to say.

GT: That makes sense to me. [laughter] The answer is “because.”

JDS: Yeah.

LM: Yeah.

GT: That works, that works.

LM: I would’ve loved to be able to have everything figured out on, like, a Star Trek level, but I’m telling ya right here--

GT: I’m work-I’m working on that, Lauren. I’m really working on that.

JDS: Much in the same way that we had to work around the loosey-gooseyness of the original series, maybe somebody will have to take these things, these wacky ideas and just make sense of them.

LM: Yeah maybe someday, someone will, like, fix our mess up.

GT: Ah, you didn’t mess that stuff up. It’s fun stuff that just gets me thinking, worldbuilding and all that stuff.

DA: So, obviously when you went into the epilogue in season 8, I’m bringing it back to, like, the Shiro and Adam thing.

GT: Yeah.

DA: After the response to season 7 and then moving into season 8, when you did eventually get the sort of “go ahead” to move into the epilogue and show Shiro getting married, was there ever a consideration that potentially Adam may not have died? Was there ever a consideration that you could have brought him back, mostly because with the chaos of, like, the war when you got to, uh, was there ever in the back of your head a thought that you might be able to revisit that original storyline a-and bring that back too and end that way?

MM: Can I suggest something?

[The others make noises of assent.]

MM: Okay. You brought back Daibazaal and Altea, so if they could come back, couldn’t Adam come back?

LM: Well, I-I’m gonna an-answer Donya’s bit first, I think the-the issue that we ran into was we had basically made this whole story on Earth where, you know, it was, the whole story was made, kind of, without us really having access to, to that relationship. And so bringing Adam back when he was essentially killed off as a straight man, it was not something that we had any need to do during our time on Earth. And so I think to bring him back at the end would’ve--in our story minds--just kind of, uh, brought up those questions of where was he that whole time. You know, “Why-why didn’t he show up in the rebellion?” sort of deal. It just seemed like it was a pretty far jump to go.

JDS: I will say this, too, like, as much as the door squeaked open on how we could revise the dialogue between Shiro and Adam, you know, I think to, to speak to some-some of the fandom’s complaints even about that scene was that the dialogue wasn’t necessarily explicit even in our revision. And that was, you know, due to, like, what we could and couldn’t say, uh, between the two characters. So even though the door was open, um, it was, it was squeaked open, um, and by the time fan reactions started coming in we literally had, like, a month left at the studio. A-and this is-this is just, like, the sad truth of it. So when the studio realized that we’d all collectively stepped in-in a huge mess, you know, th-they put the ball in our court and said, “What do you want to do?” And we said, “We would love to be able to confirm on-screen a-and make it very explicit and, and also play to the fact that Shiro was able to find happiness and was able to sort of find that balance that, that even in the Adam and Shiro, uh, storyline he wasn’t able to kind of find.” So that’s how we, that’s how we arrived there, I think, to if we were to introduce Adam, it would have left… I don’t know. I’m thinking of it purely from a story perspective, like, we would’ve had to have an epilogue that almost ran an entire episode long to, sort of, see him survive the wreckage and then… I don’t know. I-I-I don’t know. I-It wasn’t, it wasn’t something that came to our heads. So to answer your question: no, we didn’t really think about it because in our brains Adam was-was gone.

LM: Yeah, and to answer your question, Marc, it--this was never directly featured in the show, but our-our kind of personal logic when we were making out that scene of Allura making the sacrifice and kind of rebirthing some of these planets. Our-our thought was she was able to, through, through her actions, give life back to any planets that had been taken, kinda, before their time. To give back to that land, that quintessence-kind of-formed landmasses. And so any planet that had, kind of, died because it lasted its life cycle didn’t come back, but Daibazaal met a premature death. Altea did, even Olkarion. Like those planets would come back, but we kind of drew the line at souls. She couldn’t necessarily bring back a lost soul. That just seemed a little too god-like for us.

MM: So did that include any planet that had its quintessence removed by the Komar?

LM: That includes the moose planet!

MM: Oh, wow!

JDS: Moose planet makes a comeback.

MM: Okay.

JDS: But none of that is to take away from, sort of, like, you know, the seriousness of-of the question that you asked, Donya, because you know, look even, even in crafting that epilogue, like, i-it was done at the end, it was done as an--as an appeal to this amazing fandom that we garnered over the course of the series that we knew was there from-from, especially from working on Korra, but we just didn’t know it was going to be--and I think the studio definitely didn’t know it was gonna be--so prominent. So, we wish, believe me, had our original story, sort of, been told the way we had initially, you know, conceived it with Adam, and he wasn’t shown dying in a-in a battle, you know. We’ve discussed where we could’ve taken that story, you know, with like Veronica returning with the rebels and then Adam being part of that and there being a reunion, but like, it’s like weirdly armchair-quarterbacking something. Some of that that never took place.

MM: Mm-hm.

JDS: So it’s tough for us to kind of reconcile those two things. There’s a ton we would’ve done differently had we been given the opportunity, but we tried to make the most of the opportunities that were given to us. And that’s kind of where we landed on that.

MM: I know you guys probably haven’t listened to our, our episodes, our podcasts, right?

LM: Um, not all of them.

MM: Okay.

JDS: Yeah. I definitely listened to some of the key ones.

LM: I’ve been off the grid for a little bit for the past few months, so, uh--

JDS: Yeah, we disappeared.

MM: Okay.

LM: Been trying to get some, uh, some house, house stuff done, so my internet has been on and off.

MM: Alright. In response to what happened with Allura, I had an idea that there was a concept that was established at the beginning of Beast King GoLion that there was this goddess or queen of the universe and I was thinking, you know, that Allura had made this sacrifice, had brought back all the realities, had brought back Daibazaal and Altea, and basically saved the universe. This sort of makes her, you know, on a new realm. She is sort of the keeper of the stars, the caretaker over all realities. And it seems like a role she would’ve assumed at the end there, especially since we saw the lions going to her silhouette. She basically risked everything to bring back all those realities. I was just wondering, when she said goodbye to Lance and he got those Altean markings, is it possible that she left a piece of herself on Lance so that if Voltron ever needed to return, she could return as well through leaving, like, a horcrux of herself on Lance?

JDS: Uh, I mean, horcrux is the first I--I don’t even know what that means.

LM: That’s a Harry Potter thing.

JDS: Oh. Okay. Sure.

MM: It’s that Harry Potter thing where Voldemort had split himself up into seven different objects and as long as at least one of those objects was still intact with the horcrux, then he could come back.

JDS: Cool.

LM: I like all of that, and I’m gonna say you need to pitch it to whoever makes the next Voltron.

JDS: Yeah. I think the big thing was that, was we were just trying to leave, you know, with, with as much as we wanted the sacrifice to resonate in terms of what it means to give yourself to a cause, I think that post-credit scene was very much that, was the door being left open to, you know, the symbols glowing, to Lance feeling a sense that Allura was out there, to the lions going out.

LM: That she was somehow speaking to him through the lions.

JDS: Yeah.

LM: And then the lions leaving to, you know, whatever reason. If it’s told them their job is done or if it’s to go do something else, and then ultimately we see them heading toward that Allura-shaped nebula. Like, I always kinda had the story in my head was that her quinessence was ultimately kind of reforming and coming back together and we don’t know how long it’ll take, but one day, ideally, Allura would be reborn and the lions would be there to pick her up.

JDS: And I’m gonna pitch this here for the first time.

LM: Okay.

MM: Okay.

JDS: The lions go to the nebula, they merge with the nebula, become a sort of vision-like Allura deity being that comes back and we’ve got a mega-robot Allura godlike supercomputer--

LM: Yeah, and then she is Space Angel, which I think is what you were trying to say.

JDS: Exactly, she becomes Space Angel.

MM: Okay. You guys also mentioned that you pitched an ending that might’ve included some of the main characters being killed off.

JDS: All of them.

MM: Yeah.

LM: Well, yeah, well, just in, you know, in that, uh, very Voltron-like teamwork scenario, we always liked that idea of that ultimately Voltron the robot was a weapon and that it was a very powerful weapon and that all--so much of this war was basically came about because of that weapon and Zarkon’s, you know, looking for that weapon, he wants this power back. And the idea of if they take that weapon off the table will the universe be a better place? And so in ultimately having to make the sacrifice that they would have to make, they would also be, you know, taking that weapon off the table. And honestly, like, in doing that, when you have all of the characters kind of exit at the same time, it just kind of leaves the door open for anyone with an imagination out there to immediately write them all right back into the story at any point if they just want to boink ‘em out of, you know, wherever it is we sent them.

JDS: Yeah, I’m thinking of Infinity War. Uh, but you know, I’m also--it, it’s funny, like as we talk about this stuff, and we sort of, like, make comments off the cuff and say, like, “Yeah at one point they were all gonna die,” that’s not to, like, take any of the import of what that means to, like, a fan watching it or people who’ve invested their time in the show. Literally, like, when we’re in the writer’s room, everything is on the table. Um, so we-we-we talk about, like, all options.

LM: Yeah.

MM: So there was, was there a happy ending option?

JDS: That, that was something--I mean I’m sure there was an option where it was like everybody lived and everything was happy a-and Lance and Allura had a baby, or, you know, whatever. We wanted to make a show that ultimately demonstrates that there are consequences. As fantastical as the show gets, as crazy as the show gets, that there are consequences and that sacrifice can be meaningful. So, I don’t know about you guys, but like, I know I’ve lost people that are very important to me in my life. The lessons they taught me live on through me and live on through my, my child now, like I pass those lessons onto my child. That’s an important message, you know, and that’s an important concept for people, I think--especially kids--t-to understand. It stinks to lose somebody, but it’s important to honor their memories.

MM: You solidified that pretty much in “Day 47”. One of your storyboard directors from Studio Mir, Seok Jin Jang, you paid tribute to him in “Day 47”. That was really cool.

LM: Yeah, yeah, we lost Seok Jin during the production, um, it was amazing, he actually got to work on every episode up until the very end and it was incredibly unfortunate that shortly after, you know, he finished storyboarding that last episode he was taken from us. And it-it affected us all pretty badly, and the directors specifically--because they had worked so closely with him--and he was just such a shining light of happiness and positivity. He was so unbelievably talented, that when we lost him we just felt like we’d-we’d lost something that we were never going to get back, and that, you know, the world had kind of been robbed of this amazing human being, but, you know, we don’t get to, to write that story, that’s life.

MM: Mm-hm.

LM: And so we could only do what we could do, which was move forward and hopefully pay him some sort of tribute and know that he lives on through the amazing, you know, work that he put into this show.

JDS: And I mean, he really did. Some of, some of the key moments that you remember from the show are directly, you know, his doing and his point of view on how the story would unfold visually.

MM: Mm-hm.

JDS: And honestly, his memory, like, it-it’s cliche to say it, but his memory, you know, can live on through the art because he affected the show and everybody who worked on it so positively.

MM: Right.

GT: That’s very cool. Obviously Voltron: Legendary Defender is very character-focused, moreso, I think, than the prior shows, certainly the original, where, you know, they always form Voltron, they always slash up the robeast, they win, end of story. It was very common. Uh, in this show, where we’re focusing very heavily on individual characters and the bonds that each Paladin has with his or her lion, was it hard to write scenes with Voltron itself, the robot?

LM: Well, yeah, I think you can see he-he didn’t come out unless we really needed him. Like, and he really only came out to kind of, like, fight things. Because ultimately, the robot hims--I say “himself” but it’s a robot--doesn’t have a personality, so there’s not really, like, character stuff to get from that robot. And, you know, it’s all about the pilots that are inside of it. And so, you know, we can definitely, like we know how to handle, like, those characters and to do those fight scenes inside of Voltron with those characters, but, but if we were just to make a show about a robot kinda running around, it, I think we would--it would be a struggle.

JDS: Yeah. And he’s, you know--ultimately he became the symbol of teamwork and so we-we tried to, like, set Voltron up as a symbol for the universe to kind of rally around. But yeah, I mean, you know. I wouldn’t say it’s tough, it’s just, it wasn’t--it didn’t become our fallback every single episode. We were more trying to tell, you know, character pieces. But, that’s also, y-you know, a path that can potentially get a bit divergent from the intent of, you know, where the show was originally being marketed towards.

GT: Oh, I see. Yeah, I was just, I was just curious because obviously, you know, you’ve got all these characters with all these character arcs, the main story arc, and all these different threads, and then, I-I mean in tha--in the context of that, I mean I’ve loved Voltron obviously since the original and all that, so you know, for me to say, you know, this sounds kind of silly, but i-in the context of the show being as deep as it often was, I just wonder if it felt sometimes like, “Oh, yeah, we better form the robot now.” [laughter] As a writer, you know what I mean?

JDS: There’s that, there’s other stuff that, you know, sadly as we were dealing with-with fallout from, like, disappointed fans over, you know, certain storylines not coming to pass, o-or things not happening, uh, from a character perspective the way they would want. Sometimes things like, you know, Voltron and the Atlas merging got totally lost in the noise of that and we--I will scream to the heavens to this day that, like, that was awesome. Like, they became a super-robot, like, come on people! Let’s give recognition to super-mega-ultra--

LM: Z-zenith, I mean, you haven’t used “zenith”.

JDS: Zenithtron. Yeah.

LM: But, uh, yeah, I mean we, we--at our hearts, they were more ships than they were characters, but we take great pride in our ships. We love the castle, we love the Atlas, and we love Voltron and the lions. The lions became, we kind of tried to make them into slightly more character-like with their abilities and--

JDS: Their personalities, yeah.

LM: --yeah, have personalities, but that was something that was-wasn’t, you know, in every other version of the show. That was something that we kind of threw in there for our show. And, uh, but we always try to respect it and love our ships as much as we could because we actually appreciate that stuff, too. We appreciate good design and interesting things and, like, you know, like, I frickin’ love the SDF-1 with all my heart.

GT: Oh, yeah.

LM: So, uh, you know, it-it definitely doesn’t talk and definitely doesn’t have a personality, but I appreciate whenever that ship is on the screen.

JDS: And it’s a symbol, it’s a strong symbol.

LM: Mm-hm.

GT: Mm, yeah. And I am totally enamored with the Castle of Lions. I love, love the original the original design, and I think I told Christine Bian when she was on the show that the Legendary Defender version is the only version since the original that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with. It’s just a gorgeous design.

JDS: Aw, that’s awesome.

LM: That’s amazing.

MM: I wish we could’ve had a Castle of Lions toy! [laughter]

LM: Yeah!

GT: Yeah.

[laughter]

GT: Back to consumer products. Give me a spaceship toy!

LM: Let’s get some LEGO Ideas people on that! But, uh, but yeah, there was always a concern, I think, in the consumer products side of like, how, how the scales would never match. You would have to make the Castle the size of a small building to make it actually to scale. But we’re not super sticklers on scale, I would gladly just had a really cool light-up, frickin’ sound-making Castle of Lions.

JDS: Just make it a ship. It’s a ship. It’s like a Star Destroyer. There are Star Destroyer toys out there.

LM: Yep.

MM: Yeah. That there are.

GT: Sure.

MM: Well, I’m curious about the release schedule of the different seasons. I mean, certainly the first 26 episodes came out 13 and 13, then the next 26 episodes came out in 6 and 7 episode batches, and then Netflix went back to 13. Do you know any reason why the, you know, the first change went to the smaller seasons and then why things went back to 13?

JDS: I don’t think we know the exact reasons other than, you know, it’s sort of emerging technology, streaming, especially at the time when we were still making the show, a-and and Netflix was trying to figure out who the audience actually was and all that. They were, they were just trying to play with different models, so…

LM: Yeah, a-and a lot of it’s just kinda trial and error and experimentation. I think they’d released some 13 episode seasons and I remember specifically them saying they wanted, kind of, they wanted, I think, more awareness of Voltron year-round, so if they could release episodes. There was even one-one pitch that we kind of chuckle about where they were like, “What if we release one episode every two weeks?” And we were just like, “That’s just like being on TV! What are we doing?”

JDS: Yeah, that’s just network TV, man!

LM: Like, this is streaming! The whole point is you can, like, release a batch. So, you know, they played around with it, it wasn’t ever anything that affected our production schedule. We were always just making these shows at a steady clip, and so we’d get a lot of questions about that, about, you know, “How did it affect production?” It never did. It was really just a matter of when they, kind of, chose to upload them to Netflix and in what numbers.

JDS: Yeah, it didn’t affect the production, but it affected us having to then choose, “Okay, well this feels kind of like a natural break time,” or “this feels kind of tent-poley” where you could leave on this moment, but they weren’t always the natural places we intended for.

LM: Yeah.

GT: Okay, that makes sense.

JDS: Yeah. But they-they’re figuring it out, man. I mean--

LM: Yeah. Clearly they figured something out, ‘cuz then they put us back to 13, so what’s up.

MM: Yeah.

[laughter]

MM: One thing I wanted to ask before you guys go is that there’s this petition out there that was signed by, like, over 30,000 people.

GT: Jesus.

MM: Uh, asking if there was going to be a-an alternate version of season 8. Is there such a thing?

LM: No.

JDS: No.

MM: Okay.

LM: Sorry, guys, we don’t have that kind of time or money.

JDS: Yeah.

MM: Right.

JDS: And you know, I mean, look. We made the best show that we could make under the circumstances given and, um, to serve an alternate ending, I’m guessing it would be to address, uh, Allura’s sacrifice and--

LM: Or Shiro.

JDS: --Shiro, or maybe, yeah, or maybe there’s-there was, like, the thing that you pitched, Marc, where maybe Allura undoes everything and everything resets. Er, I-I don’t know exactly what it would be. We heard all manner of--and again, Lauren and I tried to stay off of social media just-just to not deal with anything negative that was coming our way--like, we obviously heard people’s concerns, and took that very seriously, but we heard some conspiracy theories that there was an alternate cut and there was this, that, or the other. And I hate to burst any bubbles and this will probably only lend to more conspiracy theories, but there is no alternate cut to Voltron.

GT: That’s okay.

MM: There’s basically a Voltron version of the Kobayashi Maru, it’s-it’s an unwinnable scenario.

LM: Uh, pretty much. That’s pretty--we made the show that we believed in to the best of our ability, and you know--

JDS: And within the parameters given.

LM: --you can like it, you can not like it. And-and that’s it.

JDS: And that’s perfectly fine. There’s-there’s--that’s totally fine. Everybody can still get along in the world, and, you know. It’s all, it’s all good. We-w-we, we did what we could.

MM: We’ve been reviewing season 8 episodes. So in each of these podcasts we’re doing, we’re reviewing season 8 episodes and we’re finding that a lot more people, you know, like revisiting these episodes with us and some people, you know, talk about some things that-that maybe they didn’t agree with, but overall it seems like when you take it episode by episode, things are a little bit better than they had originally perceived.

LM: I mean that’s good to hear. I would hate for, like, one moment that someone disagrees with to, you know, I guess put a negative wash on everything because ultimately a lot of people worked really hard and put an awful lot of love into this show.

MM: Yes they did.

LM: I mean, that’s just kind of how--I mean that’s how we do it. We work hard, we try to make the best shows we can--that’s all we can do--and then we put them out for people to, to love or hate and to judge as they see fit. And that-that is up to them, and they are allowed to do it. But that’s kind of, that’s kind of where it stops.

MM: Yep. I gotta tell ya, out of all the Voltron versions, I like Voltron: Legendary Defender the best, so...

LM: Oh, that is high praise! Thank you very much!

JDS: Coming from an expert such as yourself.

MM: It’s based on my ideas that, uh, if I was to pitch another Voltron show I really would work off of Voltron: Legendary Defender’s characters because you built such an incredible universe, all these worlds, all these different, uh, types of, you know, alien races, and everything. Just an amazing thing, the Voltron Coalition, the Galra… Just… it’s very deep, very rich, and, uh, you know, thank you to y-your character designer, y-your props and background supervisors, and your color supervisors, your special effects and your sound people, and your music people, and all of your animators, and it’s just, wow. Incredible job.

JDS: Yeah. I mean, everybody came together to do, uh, I think something-something that hopefully, like, can-can be looked on in-in some years and people can-can still find appreciation and, and we’re just happy to have been a part of an awesome crew.

MM: Oh, definitely.

GT: Yeah, I want to second, I-I’m, I totally love Voltron: Legendary Defender, I mean I, you know for a-anyone to say they liked absolutely every aspect of any show, I can’t imagine that ever happening with any show. But I just love the show, it was, uh, i-it was very obviously made with a lot of love, a lot of talent, a lot of skill, and a lot of this found-family that we see in the show, in the fiction itself. So thank you both, and to everyone who worked with you bringing this show around, it’s just, it’s been a lot of fun.

LM: Awesome.

JDS: We appreciate it, yup. And you guys were totally paid to say that, so right back atcha.

[laughter]

GT: Oh yeah.

MM: Yeah, I don’t think people realize we don’t get paid for anything.

JDS: Yeah.

[laughter]

LM: Yeah.

GT: Donya, did you have anything you wanted to say?

DA: I mean I’ll just reiterate--

JDS: A-and Donya, if you want to end on a question, too, that’s fine as well, like--

DA: That’s okay, um, I mean I can always follow up with you on, like, anything, I feel like.

JDS: Alright.

DA: I don’t want to keep you too late. Um… [laughter] And you know how I get when I start asking questions.

JDS: Sure, rabbit hole.

DA: Yeah, basically. But yeah no, I do want to reiterate that because covering Voltron, and obviously I got on-board, like, on season 2 because I think when season 1 came out, I, I was, like, caught up in some stuff and I was away and basically didn’t pick up immediately, but it really has been almost a life-changing experience for me, as well. And I think without that, and without, like, everything that came with it, like I’d be in a really different place, I think, than I am right now. So it has been, like, such a huge part of my life for, like, the last few years and especially, like, quite formative in terms of, like, where I was because, like, I turned 30 as like it was coming to an end, or close to an end, and it just, like coincided with, like, this weird switch and change in my life, as well, and there are pieces I’ve written, like coinciding with the show that had, like, hit really emotional personal beats that are, like, that’s always going to be a part of my life now, so it’s just… yeah. I guess, just thank you for that because without it, I think the last two years of my life would have been very different. And there are people that I would’ve never met without it, like, you know, Marc and Greg included, you know--

GT: We love you, Donya, you are the best.

MM: Yeah.

DA: Yeah, I love you, too. Um, you know, there are people that I reconnected with in my life, friendships that I reforged that had sort of come back around because our paths crossed again because of Voltron. So, like, in, like, big ways and in little ways, like, it’s like, really altered, like, the course of my life in some ways. So it’s, uh, I’m always going to be very, very thankful to that and to, like, everything that you’ve done over the course of the show as well with, like, being so gracious with your time and everything with, like, when-when the show was still in development and, you know, talking to me, a-and even talking to Marc and Greg as well and everyone involved in covering the show, like, you gave so much of your time, even just outside of the production of the show just to talk through everything, so, yeah, thank you.

JDS: We appreciate you guys, and again, like, the show helps bring people together or has helped bring people together or forged new friendships, that’s like, the best case scenario for us.

LM: Absolutely.

JDS: If it’s made people feel good, if it’s made them learn things about themselves, then that’s all we can ask for, like, you know. Uh, that’s, like, the best reward.

LM: It really is, and on a completely, like, completely selfish note: I just like that you let us kind of talk about the stuff that goes into making the show, guys. I mean I know I’m a person who enjoys listening to the commentaries and listening to, like, the behind-the-scenes stuff, and so for any of the people out there that really enjoy that, you guys have-have gone out of your way to bring people who are involved in this show on and ask them questions about that and get some of that knowledge out there. A-and some of that stuff is just interesting to people.

MM: Yes.

JDS: And you guys do it because you love it.

MM: Yes we do.

JDS: And that, I think, is, is another thing that people really have to, like, appreciate. It’s done out of love because like you said, you guys aren’t seeing any--

LM: You don’t get any kickbacks.

MM: Nope.

JDS: Yeah, you’re not getting kickback.

DA: Yeah.

JDS: Uh, but it’s, uh, you know, without you guys a show like this could easily go unnoticed. But you guys, you know, you talk about it. You, you get people thinking about things, so, we appreciate ya.

GT: Thank you.

MM: You have no idea just how many people have been inspired to be better people as a result of this show. Th-there’s, you know, tons of artists who we spotlight that say they became better artists as a result of the inspiration of doing Voltron fanart. Cosplayers who became better cosplayers as a result of doing Voltron cosplay. Writers, you know, fanfiction writers and other types of writers that had, you know, gotten better at their craft as a result of working on Voltron fanfiction or something like that. So in many, many ways you have inspired people to be better and to come together in a way that they’ve never come together before.

JDS: That’s amazing. That’s… amazing. That’s, uh, something that we can take with us to the end, um, and, that we will, we’ll, you know. You don’t realize it sometimes when you’re in the thick of it, when you’re in the middle of it, but when you get a little perspective on things and you, sort of, take the long view, this is definitely a pillar of, uh, not only our careers, but, uh, of our lives and we can, you know, have an appreciation for everything you guys did and everything the fandom did, and everything the studio and our coworkers, yeah our crew, did. That, that will stand the test of time.

MM: Yeah. So thank you.

JDS: Thank you guys.

LM: Thank you.

GT: Thank you both so much.

MM: And can we ask you to do it just one more time?

JDS: Sure.

LM: [laughter] For sure. Hey, this is Lauren Montgomery.

JDS: Hey, this is Joaquim Dos Santos.

LM: And you’re listening to--

JDS and LM: Let’s Voltron!

[outro music]

#dragon's ramblings #vld #voltron legendary defender #let's voltron #jds #lm #executive meddling #strafe #freevlds8 #TeamPurpleLion

[popculturebuffet]

Tex Avery Birthday Spectacular!

Hello all you happy people! And welcome to a celebration of the only cartoon director I knew as a kid and one of the finest whose ever lived, Mr. Tex Avery. 

Avery is a legend in the animation industry and rightly so. Starting out at a few other studios, and loosing sight in one of his eyes due to some tomfoolery at one, Tex was annoyed with the restrctive enviorment and eventually found his way to Termite Terrace, the animated shorts wing of Leon Schislenger Productions, aka the future Warner Brothers Studios and the makers of Looney Tunes. And his impact on the franchise is vast, cannot be overstated and I only learned about just how much recently: The man created Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, created the prototype for Elmer Fudd, and created the design for Porky we’re all far more familiar with. 

Eventually though while he was happy there, his career when ended when he eventually got into a squabble with Leon schsinger over the ending of “The Heckling Hare” and left soon after. Given he got a four week unpaid suspension for it , a bit extreme given all he’d given the studio, I can’t blame him. He instead went over to MGM who badly needed his wacky energy, and thus got to go as nuts as he wanted, with creative control a better budget and the result was his peak and classic characters like Red and my personal faviorite and personal boy: Droopy. I will try and do a birthday thing for him next month, we’ll see if my rather packed schedule will allow for it. Point is I watched the guys cartoons a lot as a kid between looney tunes and his shorts being repacked for the Tex Avery show in the late 90′s, and until recently I had no idea the depth and scope of his career: The guy gave looney tunes it’s standard fourth walll breaking and made it a huge part of the industry, and he was the one to hlep htem break out of being a Disney knockoff and into what we know today. The guy has my utmost respect so today I honor him as the first animator to get one of my birthday specials: As is my standard ten shorts, my patreons get to pick one each (I now have two but she start’s next month so her benefits will too) if they so choose (Kev opted out of the porky pig one next week) and I went to my friend blah for a recomendation as he’s an avid fan of the golden age of animation and thus usually has a really good choice up his sleeve. Now that’s out of hte way join me under the cut for some shenanigans as old tex would want it that way. 

1. The Gold Diggers of 49 (1935)

This was Tex Avery’s first short with warner and the first of his I could find, not ot mention his first time working with Chuck Jones and Bob Clampett, who he’d mentor and go on to be the heart and soul of Looney Tunes and define the characters Tex created. And since this is more significant than his earlier work i’m coutning it as his first. And as a start it’s.. ehhhhhhh. 

I don’t blame him for it though.  Most don’t hit it out of hte park their first time up to bat, and frankly the deck was stacked against him. He was saddled with Beans the Cat...

No one brak no one. He was part of an attempt by warner to create a new star as part of a Little Rascals/Our Gang style group of kids debuting in the short “I Haven’t Got a Hat”. This short is notable not for Beans, who no one cares about, but for the debut of Looney Tunes first star: Porky Pig. Porky was just one of the various characters but the only one audiences really liked. It took some time for Warner to get the hint though, hence Beans starring here and Porky playing his girlfriend’s father.. and also now being much older than him for some reason. 

So instead of being a Little Rascals ripoff bean is now a mickey mouse ripoff, as the short gives me mickey mouse vibes.. but without the things that made those shorts actually good and feels mostly built on studios trying to make what they think audiences will like. There’s sparks of waht Tex would become.. but just not enough wiggle room for him to make something special. Also porky looks and sounds weird in this one and Bean’s girlfriend has a REALLY annoying voice. Oh and two horrible Asian stereotypes, because it was acceptable at the time but lord was it never okay. Then again I should be at least mildly greatful none of the shorts had blackface.. because tex apparently REALLY had a problem with that, something I obviously didn’t know as a kid as they edited it out but given most of his MGM shorts have “blackface edited out of x version”, yeahhh.... I may like the guy, quite a bit and feel those gags weren’t done out of malice.. but it dosen’t make them okay, they were never okay and he should’ve done better. 

2. I Love to Singa (1936) Thankfully our next entry is 800% better, as we get a classic from my childhood and probably multiple childhoods. Admittedly part of the reason this one stuck in my head is the title song, sung by a young jazz singing owl whose dad doesn’t like that he sings Jazz instead of classical, enters a contest and nearly looses singing classical to please his dad only for his dad to intervene and finally accept his son. It’s a wonderful story of acceptance with some decent gags, beautiful animation and one hell of a title track that will probably never leave my head. The song is really what makes this short and sometimes that’s okay. Also just to note so someone else doesn’t: This short was a parody of the Jazz Singer one of the first talkie’s.. and also a film that uses blackface and whose 80′s remake bafflingly also uses blackface for some reason. Yes really. 

3. Tortoise Beats Hare (1941)

One of Tex’s only four Bugs Shorts.. but given 3/4 of them are certified classics, and one of them involving a horrible stereotype.. to the point it’s part of the rightfully infamous “Censored 11″ and the ONLY one involving Bugs Bunny. 

So as I said, Tex has a bad history with casual racism, and while it was the style at the time and I don’t THINK he was actively malicious towards black people.. it doesn’t make some of his work any less harmful. The rest of his bugs work though is remembered for the right reasons: his first appearance, and early classic we’ll get to next.. and this standout everyone who saw it as a kid or an adult fondly remembers. 

You all know the premise: Bugs finds out, in an utterly brilliant wall shattering bit at the start where he reads off the crew names and then the title, that this picture will have him beaten by a turtle and taking offense to that challenges the guy. This is honestly one of the few Bugs shorts where he’s the out and out villain of the picture. He’s doing this race purely out of ego, yells at Cecil whose perfectly nice in this one, and in general is the bully set up for a fall he’d later be famous for taking on. But it works, both because this si early in bugs career so it’s entirely in character, and because Mel just really sells the obnoxiousness while still being funny. 

This short also has one of Tex’s trademark setups as this is essentially a prototypical droopy cartoon: A meek, goofy voiced protagonist whose shorter than his large obnoxious enemy and who torments him by showing up every where he’s going to be and casually doing it. Cecil even does so using an army of fellow turtles with Droopy later using a similar trick in one of his shorts. As a big Droopy fan i’m clearly not complaining and while Droopy would do it better, this short’s still a classic for a reason with tons of great bits and is a fun break from the usual bugs setup, though in full fairness the usual bugs setup is still solid gold so take that how you will. 

4. The Heckling Hare (1941)

Originally I was going to have Daffy in Hollywood in this spot as I thought it was on Max, it was not,  so I swapped it out with his final bugs cartoon. For the record his first, and Bugs, is being saved for Bugs birthday this summer. And honestly i’m glad I did because this was 7 mintues of pure joy that has another setup that Tex himself and other Looney Tunes animators would resuuse: Bugs being pitted up against a far dumber antagonist. One who often still fully deserves it but allows him to just have fun for several minutes at this dumb bastard’s expense. It works well here, with tons of clever gags, my faviorite being the two doing dumb faces with each other only for bugs to stop and pull out a sign as seen right above. 

It’s also an approriate capper to our warner made Tex shorts for the day, as this would be the one that got him fired. He and Schisnger argued over it and he got suspended as I mentioned and I found it again a bit fucking extreme. So did Tex and after a handful of shorts elsewhere, he’d move over to MGM, whose cartoons would ironically be bought up by warner. They needed a shot in the arm to compete with Disney and Warner and Tex was happy to provide hte needle filled with nonsense. And the results.. are pure gold. 

5. Dumb Hounded (1943)

I’ll admit as a kid I didn’t know Tex’s MGM shorts were theatrical, or any shorts but somehow I knew they weren’t looney tunes. Besidds obviously having hteir own show they just had their own tone and pacing and style. While the Looney Tunes aren’t bad, at all honestly, Tex’s work here was in a class by itself with MGM gladly giving him a higher budget and even more creative freedom. And the results speak for themselves and one of those results is one of if not my faviorite classic cartoon character. And since I might not be able to get to his birthday with one of these next month, though i’m certainly going to try march is just VERY VERY FULL. Anyways point is our happy hero was introduced here. And given i’m frequently depressed and often withdrawn, not that you could tell from my reviews here, I related to this depressed bulldog who always won anyway despite being an outsider, finding love, sucess and always beating a much larger, much more assholish antagonist. But Droopy is good on his own merits as his shorts are just that funny. 

This was true from Day One as dumb hounded is fucking perfect: The Wolf that Avery always used in his cartoons escapes from jail and is hunted by bloodhounds including our boy, who charmingly introduces himself with “You know what, i’m the hero”. From there it’s a simple setup but a great one as Droopy finds the guy.. then chases him from here to enternity with one amazing gag after another. Simple, utterly hilarious and the dawn of a legend, with the ending having Droopy go a bit nuts after getting his reward money before returning to his usual demeanor “You know what? I’m happy” So am I bud, so am I. 

6. Red Hot Riding Hood (1943)

Yup same year. Tex hit the ground sprinting. This one is his signature MGM toon and for good reason. Using his usual forth wall breaking style, both the wolf and red riding hood rebel when it opens with a typical telling, so it changes to a 40′s nightlife setting: Grandma lives in a penthouse and is man hungry, Red is a fanservicey night club act and the Wolf is a sexually harassing asshole who chases after here and has some over the top reactions to her that are iconic in some’s mind.

The short is gorgeously animated with Red’s dance sequence and Wolfie’s reactions being the highlight and the short isn’t as bad as it could be as the wolf is treated as a scumbag for hitting on her and generally being a creep. SO the first two thirds aren’t bad with nice touches like the narrator clearly improvising the new story. It’s just badly hampered by the last half where Grandma sexually harasses Wolfie and it just doesn’t work. This double standard stuff annoys me and “haha get it it’s funny when a woman stalks a man” isn’t funny. Wolfie stalking her really isn’t that funny either it’s just not you know an entire third of the film. So a classic for a reason.. but one that really has degraded with time. Still worth analyzing and what not, just not great. 

7. Who Killed Who? (1943)

Yes still. It was a good year. This is another one off like Red Hot Riding Hood and as is tradition since the Tom and Jerry one, my patreons each get to pick one and Kev selected this one. And this.. was a great choice. 

Seriously I could not stop laughing with a great gag a minute, WAY too many to mention, a classic ending, and just nothing but net the whole time. I don’t have much to say really.. but because this one’s just good. The whodunnit genre hasn’t really gone away, it’s cliches are welll known even today and this is a lovely parody of it that hits the ground running after a live action intro and runs right through the wall across a lake and straight into droopy “You moved.”. 

The only real observation I have other than “This is fucking awesome watch it immediately” is that the villian looks exactly like the Phantom Blot. Who knew the Phantom Blot was a live action guy with a weird haircut the whole time huh?  Seriously this one is a masterpiece, an instant faviorite, and I highly recommend it. 

8. Screwball Squirrel (1944)

As you can probably guess by how I lead it in this one is not very good. It is tex TRYING to make a bugs or daffy type character again and somehow failing at it. He created them, he did plenty of shorts like theirs with other characters and got how the cat and mouse antics of the old theatrical shorts worked.. so I have no idea how this one happened. 

I’m really not overselling it: The short is about Screwy, who hyjacks it from a cute widdle bunny clearly parodying bambi.. who he beats the shit out of, then decides to get things going asks a dumb dog to hunt him, then insults him to provoke him to attacking him. He then spends the entire short tormenting the poor dumb bastard who again HE PROVOKED. It feels like a poor imitation of dumb hounded, as while Bugs clearly outclassed the dog there, he’d die if he lost, so while he was punching down, he clearly didn’t have a choice and you can’t honestly blame him. Here, Screwy is fine, he just wants someone’s head to fuck with and spends a whole short torturing him. We don’t even get catarsis as while the dog does catch him at the end via  weird gag, they end up deciding to beat up the bunny instead. 

His voice is also just the worst, just utterly grating and making me wish an anvil woudl fall on HIM instead. Screwy would return for some other shorts but I have no idea why. This was easily the weakest of these ten shorts and I will probably not return to the guy next year.

9. Bad Luck Blackie (1949)

This is one i’d forgotten till I got a ways in. It’s also weirdly one of the only MGM Tex shorts on HBO Max as this was included in the Tom and Jerry collection for some reason, the dog in it clearly isn’t the tom and Jerry verison of spike... though the dog Droopy fought a lot was indeed called spike. Yes that is confusing, no I don’t know why MGM thought this was a good idea. 

 As a result though I have been saving giving out about this till now but seirously , put the tex avery shorts on HBO Max. Their on Blu-Ray, their on boomerang, especially Droopys. I do not get why they aren’t on here. I’m tired of them holding things out for the boomerang app when not everyone subscirbes to that. Let me have my morose dog dammit. 

That giving out aside i’m glad this one caught my eye via i’ts weird name as it’s another masterpiece. It also does what one Tom and Jerry short I reviewed, the one where tom’s a millionare,  earlier this month failed to: properly make it’s antagonist loathsome enough to deserve the parade of abuse he gets. With that one Tom is tourturning jerry for like 30 seconds, but Jerry torments him for most of 5 minutes. 

Here we get about two minutes of our lead kitten getting torremnted by a mean bulldog. It’s not only still a bit entertaining to lessen the horror just enough to be watchable but not enough to make the bulldog likeable, but it makes what happens for the rest of the short oh so fucking satsifying. While the previous short today really didn’t get the karmic ballance neded for a good classic screwball comedy short this one overwhelmingly does.

Our kitten gets some help in the form of Blackie, a professional black cat who agrees to turn the tables, sauntring across to a wonderfully catchy tune. any time the little guy whistles. The result from there is 5-6 nonstop minutes of comedy genius, as Tex finds new and creative ways for the cat to come out of nowhere, and even shakes things up to keep it intresting towards the end iwth the dog getting the whistle.. only for it to still not work out, and for our little kitten to get his revenge at last by painting himself black after the bulldog paints blackie white. As should be obvious by now, it’s really good, showing Screwball Squirrel was the exception not the rule. In general Tex was this good during his mgm and when he was at his peak we got gems like this. Truly sensational, watch it if you have max it’s under the tom and jerry section for some reason. 

10. T.V. of Tommorow A decent one I remember seeing as a kid. Not much to say though, it’s mostly a bunch of gags about “future” tv’s based on their viewer’s needs. Some good stuff.. not as good as most of what was here today but still better than the worst of it and still very memorable and part of a memorable tetralogy i’ll probably come back to when I do Tex’s birthday again next year. Not a bad note to end on though. 

Overall these shorts show just how strong a creator tex was, gleefully taking convention and ripping it to tiny pieces. As i’ve mentioned many times i’ll be coming back to his work next year.. and probably be watching a hell ofa lot more in the time between. Might even do a second special on him in between birthday ones. We’ll see how this does. The Tom and Jerry one sadly wasn’t quite the hit I hoped. 

Until then I have many other reviews. And since Today (This review is late) was supposed to be the 90′s tom and jerry movie but that turned out not to be on Max for some reason. I still plan to cover it some day i’ll just have to find it and buy it first. But tommorow if I have the time i’ll be continuing the Lena retrospective with an intresting little side trip. So until then, i’ts been a pleasure and you know what? Thanks for reading. 

#tex avery #droopy #bugs bunny #porky pig #the gold diggers of 49 #cecil turtle #tortoise beats hare #the heckling hare #tv of tommorow #dumb hounded #red hot riding hood #who killed who #red #spike #bad luck blackie #screwy squirrel #screwball squirrel #owl jolson #I love to singa

[minimalexertion]

Chapter 4

What to do When Attacked

Chapter 4: Defending Yourself (Physically and Mentally)

Step 7 - Priority of Lives and Basic Defence

Always put your life above others as a dead dimension traveller will not be able to save lives. Never purposefully put yourself in danger, unless it is to save a salvum hominem or the injuries and damage that you will experience due to that action are not over 10% life-threatening, i.e. if you have a 10% ~ 100% chance of survival, take the action.

Your protector eorum will train you according to your assigned powers when you are asleep or alone. However, it is up to you to maintain and further better your own skills so as to increase your probability of survival. If possible, try to spar with fellow 'friends' in your new dimension, however this is only physical defence.

Mental defence requires you to be always aware of your surroundings to be able to fend off mental attacks, such as hypnotism. Your assigned protector eorum will assist in this, but yet again it is up to you to further strengthen the skills that are taught to you.

Handy Tip #11: Meditation and yoga tend to help in your mental defence.

Handy Tip #12: If attacked, physically or mentally, always remain calm. Panic will cloud your mind, limiting the number of possible decisions that you could make which may then lead to unfavourable outcomes.

You awoke 15 minutes later to find yourself on the ground of the Hokage's office, a blanket covering you and a make-shift pillow made from a folded jacket under your head. Groaning, you sat up and looked around the room sleepily, barely managing to notice Kakashi move to your side to slowly help you up.

Clearing your throat, you asked in the most nonchalant tone (which probably did not suit this situation), "So, what did I miss?"

Naruto and Sakura were quick to fill you in on the details, whilst Kakashi hovered around you, checking your temperature. Zoning out for most of the explanation, you caught the important details. You, and your newly appointed team members, had to escort this one guy back to his home. This sounded easy enough, but due to your new found 'psychic' abilities, you knew that this mission would not be a good time.

It was going to be a bad time.

A really, really bad time.

The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped you out of your gloomy thoughts, forcing you to turn your attention onto the people in the room. Kakashi, with a stern look on his face (well as far as we could tell since at least 90% of his face was covered), inquired, "What were you talking about before, [f.name]? About this mirror maze and the death of Sasuke."

Oh boy.

Nervously scratching the back of my neck, I barely managed to stutter out my response, "W-well, sometimes. N-not really s-sometimes, more like most of the t-time? I get this massive headache and then, I wouldn't really call it the future, but I would kind of see glimpses of the future?"

I'm a paid actor, by the way. Thanks for asking.

Letting out a nervous chuckle, I continued, "Just then, I think I saw what was going to happen? I'm not to sure though. Because most of the time I am wrong." Everyone looked confused at this statement. I gulped, before adding quickly, "Like, one time last month, I had a vision that I was going to get put into a group with a duck, a fox and a flower, but that hasn't happened yet. I think?"

It was so easy to lie straight through my teeth, as if I was made for this acting life. Step aside Meryl Streep, [f.name] [l.name] is coming for this year's Oscar for best actress. As I cackled in my brain, whilst feigning an embarrassed look on my face, I continued, "So, I saw um... Sasuke being surrounded by these mirrors? And then he basically keels over dead in the next second, so I don't know what happened?" I say, noticing that the Hokage and Kakashi shared the look.

You know. The look.

The look you give your friend when someone mentions one word that relates to an inside joke that only the two of you know.

Yeah, that look.

Except for the fact that the look the Hokage and Kakashi shared was not one where it felt like a, 'It's an inside joke!' But, more like a, 'She knows too much and now we must eliminate her,' one.

The office was too quiet after I had answered, until Naruto yelled out, "Wow! That's so cool! You can see the futu-"

Which was promptly then cut off by Sakura telling him to shut up followed by a slap. This might be fun, after all.

After resting for a while, the four of you met at Konoha gates to depart on this new journey of friendship and love. Well, that was what you wanted to believe. You sighed, as the 6 of you walked out of Konoha, Tazuna (the man who you had to protect) shooting snarky comments every now and then to Naruto, who (much to the amusement of both you and Kakashi) got quickly riled up.

"You want me to believe that this kid is able to protect me?! Ha! It's more probable for me to drown in concrete than that ever happening!"

      "Hey! Shut it, you old geezer!"

           "You noisy little brat!"

Before Naruto could lunge at this old man, Kakashi once again (for the sixteenth time in the past 15 minutes) yanked Naruto away from the ground by the scruff of his neck. Naruto grumbled as Sakura reprimanded him, before apologising again and again to the 'poor old man'. Sasuke hadn't spoken a single word

This was then repeated again when we passed a random puddle in the middle of the dirt road.

You sighed, slouching a little as you walked past this puddle, slowing down just so you could walk right next to Kakashi, and inevitably receive front-row tickets to whatever was going to happen next. Stopping in your steps, to Kakashi's confusion, you bent down to take off your shoes, feeling the whoosh of air pass right above you and hearing the screams of Naruto and Sakura.

Shoes off, you came face to face with the saddest battle scene in the history of battle scenes. In other words, Naruto was freaking the fuck out, Sakura looked like she had lost her mind, and Sasuke.

Well, Sasuke was team carrying.

But, this battle was taking a bit too long for your liking.

Sighing for the umpteenth time of this day (you noticed that you had been sighing a lot recently and you blamed it on 'stink bag'), you dropped your shoes and immediately stomped the ground, raising a chuck of earth the size of Sasuke's ego - for those that don't know, it was just a large piece of rock. Stepping forward and punching it with both hands, this massive piece of earth began to fly towards the unexpected visitors (at an unexpectedly high speeds), smashing one of them through several trees and surprisingly also demolishing the chain that linked the both of them.

Uh, hello? Mou here. I just want to break it to our fine reader here, but I think you just straight up murdered that guy, nothing wrong with a bit of murder, but did you have to do it in front of the kids? No, you didn't. But you went through with it anyway. Do you know how much paperwork this is going to be for me? Surprisingly, not a lot.

Turning to face the other surprise visitor, you quickly summoned a red-hot flame in both of your hands before rushing towards them, a bored look on your face. Throwing fiery balls of hatred, you managed to get close enough to kick him where the sun doesn't shine, but Sasuke had managed to not only get in your way, but also pin attacker number 2 to a tree with a couple of kunais.

Skidding to a stop by digging your heels into the dirt, you looked at Sasuke as he nonchalantly shoved both of his hands into his pockets and walked back to the main group.

'This guy. This guy is an A-grade asshole. I actually cannot believe he gets worse, like you would think that right now, this is scraping the bottom of the barrel. But, no. He just happens to exceed my expectations and become an even bigger asshole.' I thought, barely managing to keep my eyebrow from twitching in amusement. A short silence had fallen on your small group, as I turned to face a shocked Naruto, a shaking Sakura, a nonchalant Sasuke, a terrified bridge builder, and an indifferent Kakashi. Oh, Kakashi is alive?

Zoning out, I walked back to pick up my shoes, dusting my feet off before slipping them back on. Looking up, I nearly snorted at the sight of Naruto waving his arms around as Kakashi attempted to bandage Naruto's hand. Before we could continue on our way to our destination, Kakashi turned to me and asked, "So, [f.name]. What is the name of that jutsu you just did?"

Shooting him finger guns, I smoothly replied with, "I don't kiss and tell, sir. But, if you must know, it's called a secret."

Kakashi sighed.

Earth-bending skills: 7 out of 10

Fire-bending skills: 6 out of 10

Acting skills: 1000 out of 10

Probability of survival: 68.47%

#wishful thinking volume i #naruto x reader #naruto various x reader #x reader #reader insert

[fly-pow-bye]

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

Written by: Jake Goldman

Written & Storyboarded by: Kyle Neswald, Jaydeep Hasrajani

Directed by: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Hate & basketball.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That would be a good start.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...damn it, I just did it, didn’t I?

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

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

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

Mr. Ed impression: You got hooooorse!

GYAH! What is that thing?!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Ed impression: Hoooorse!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Ed impression: Hoooorse!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

...

...gets...

...

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

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

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

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

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

Does the title fit?

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

How does it stack up?

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

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

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

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

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

← Cat Burglar ☆ Rebel Rebel →

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

[anne1066-blog]

30th January 2019

This is a new idea that Jane suggested because I have various things niggling at the moment and I can’t quantify them.  So this is a very private blog diary just monitoring how I’m feeling and where I’m at.  I might share it with friends or I might not.  Why put it on a public platform?  Well pressing post makes you really feel you’ve set the feelings free and put it out there even if no one actually reads it.  It worked for me before when I was getting a load of stuff out of my system regarding a failed engagement, cheating and a pretty intense relationship with a much older man who had 3 children.

Where am I at today?  Bloody knackered.  I’ve basically called in sick all week with a recurrence of a cold that didn’t have major symptoms but made me feel crappy and subhuman.  I’ve fought through it a bit to work in extreme cold and also to go an a weekend with friends in York which of course I did enjoy but I also didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have.  It felt way too short.  I need a get away from my life at the moment.  There are a lot of hard decisions to face and I know I’m not managing them all that well.

So to recap what got me to where we are today:

In 2014 I moved to Oxfordshire to set up a cheesemaking dairy.  It was a brand new start for me and had the promise to be an exciting chapter in my life.  I learned a lot from it  - how to plan a new building specifically for a cheesemaking facility, how to find the site, plan the layout, source the milk, decide on a marketable recipe, build a brand (not the first time I’d been involved in branding to be fair) and not least but troubleshoot a recipe which ended up being the achilles heel. As it turned out the milk production standards weren’t really up to the recipe we wanted to make.  After months of cheese we didn’t want to sell, I was made redundant. I don’t want to be bitter but I feel there were some bad commercial decisions made by my business partner who was meant to be in charge of sales.  She charged ahead with full scale production when the cheese wasn’t good enough to sell at full price and she also gave away vast amounts of cheese which could have been sold for at least a price that covered costs.  All of this lead to a financial crisis and that was it - I was gone.

Before that happened, I had what had was a life changing holiday around the world which happened just as the cheesemaking dairy was opening and needing to go into production - it was 6 months over schedule. It was a revelation though.  I flew to countries I had never visited and had to negotiate them by myself.  I had a couple of days in Dubai, flew through Singapore (never left the airport to be fair so it doesn’t really count), flew on to Australia and from there to New Zealand after a very brief overnight stay in a hotel near the airport and from there after driving solo around South Island to Sydney, the Cook Islands, Santa Monica, San Francisco and then home.  It took 6 weeks and it really made me feel confident; not least because after years of being invisible to any guys out there but I got attention in every place I touched down in - some rather more meaningful than others to be fair. In Dubai, I connected with our desert tour guide who was a worker from Pakistan living in the UAE (not Dubai it’s far too expensive but the more restrictive Sharjah where women’s rights are quite seriously undermined).  He was an outsider but loved the desert and remembering the way the Namib desert had made me feel many years ago, so did I.  Our fellow travellers were good time tourists so there seemed a contrast between them enjoying the desert safari tourist activities and me just enjoying the culture of the country and the stillness of the desert.  i know that makes me sound extremely up myself but I can’t think of another way to describe it.  He asked me out on a date which never happened and in retrospect that was a good thing.  I would never have realised that things like holding hands with a potential romantic partner are forbidden in Dubai nor would I have realised that normal activities like kissing a first date can actually get you taken to prison.  After Dubai, I flew to New Zealand but happened to talk to my co passenger on the flight to Adelaide and have a very interesting conversation about colonialism and England’s position in Australia - not heavy - we joked about it - food for thought all the same which s the point of travel after all.  In New Zealand, I met up again with lovely friends I hadn’t seen for years and also met up with my sister and her boyfriend and my friend Cathi’s family who welcomed us as part of their big, lovely family too. It was an amazing time to feel so incredibly accepted and welcomed. And again I connected with someone, my friend’s older brother (also the only other single person there - I may have decided unlike me to flirt a bit with him as we were the only singletons there).  He was a lovely, funny, warm guy who as a chef was a great person to cook with and this was an area we had in common.  After the wedding ended and we moved on to normal life (him) and the rest of my holiday (me) we stayed facebook friends and he often is one of the first people to like my posts even to this day because he’s a genuinely great person. In Sydney, i went out to dinner with my uber glamorous friend Cristiana and because she’s open, chatty and lovely we ended up on a communal table in a restaurant when we went out for a meal and she got involved in conversation with a noisy group of guys sat to our left.  One of them was looking at me and when I went for a ‘comfort break’ he actually approached Cris to say I was lovely and ask who I was! From Sydney I flew to the Cook Islands where I met a lovely lady (not in thet way) who invited me to go swimming with her family after the kids got back from school and who took me down the road to my hostel to collect my swimming things on her motorbike.  My first time on a motorbike and frankly a bit terrifying.  I also get ogled which hadn’t happened in let’s say about 20 years in London.  In San Francisco, a waiter who I had quizzed about local cheeses and wines slipped me his telephone number on my bill.  I didn’t find it until I sorted my receipts back in the UK and hadn’t fancied him anyway so just as well but all helps the ego doesn’t it?  Especially when you’re over 40 at the time and have resigned yourself to no one finding you attractive anymore.

Anyway so that’s my trip and there was so much more too that I don’t have time to write about. The key thing is that I came back feeling much more empowered and confident.  I had travelled the world by myself and not only that but after years feeling invisible I had finally felt attractive again.  Boosted by this, I decided to take action, try internet dating again and this time I actually met someone.  I was a bit concerned about meeting him - he was openly into kink and sexual things I wasn’t experienced in but as well as that he was warm, made me laugh and I was interested.  I wasn’t openly attracted to him when we met.  There was certainly something there - we had been very open when messaging and honest and I fancied his personality but as usual on a first internet date, the nerves kicked in and it was difficult when we first said hello to feel anything much.  I knew that would happen though so when I couldn’t think of anything to say to him and he moved in for a reassuring hug, I decided to turn it into a chemistry test and effectively snogged his face off for about 90 minutes until our table reservation was ready.  That certainly broke the ice so conversation flowed more easily afterwards and I made moves to go back with him to his place after the meal where I could test the theory further.  I was relieved and rather pleased to find that the attraction wasn’t just based on text messages and being a gentleman he also drove me home and stayed in touch afterwards.  We met up a few times and eventually decided to get together.  I would never have had the courage to do this if I hadn’t had my empowering holiday and since we’re still together despite the odds 4 years later it was definitely a good move.  

However this was all very new when I was made redundant. He assured me he wouldn’t be going anywhere but it was too soon to move in together so I moved all my 3 bedroom house’s worth of belongings back to my parents’ house in Marple and looked for a job. I emailed anyone I could think of to explain I was looking for work and found somewhere in London that seemed a great match.  It was with a Spanish importer looking to improve their cheese maturation and whose owner I had worked with before  when setting up Borough Market in London.

Unfortunately although the interview went well, the owner wanted to work with me and my references thought it was a given, I failed their HR tests and I have to be honest it knocked my confidence extremely badly. I took another job that seemed exciting and had been a second choice due only to location - north Yorkshire, a long way away from the lovely new boyfriend.

I worked with them for 3 months before again, redundancy. This time, they great ideas they had had for expansion which I was a key part of, had to be put on hold because of a disastrous Christmas in which various storms flooded large parts of the north of England and cut into their sales. By this time, I had bought a house nearby and now had to find a new job and work out what to do with a house I had hoped to make a home.

Initially I had looked to resurrect the house which had at the time all the hallmarks of having been owned by an elderly couple who loved it and had also done nothing to it since probably the 1960s in a way i would live in.  The plans changed to make it something that could be sold or rented and without wishing to be dramatic, with that a little bit of me died at losing my home.

I didn’t wallow though, there was work to be done.  The house needed substantial work including rewiring, replastering, a new kitchen and new decorating and floors throughout.  By the time it was finished it was actually rather lovely.  I felt sad that i wasn’t going to live in the results of our work and sad that I wouldn’t be living in a beautiful part of the country. Actually I felt very sad not to be living in a house whose renovations I had initially begun with a view to making it my home. But again I had been looking around for another job although with a heavier heart this time.  Being knocked back 3 times will do that to you. This time I had a message from a friend who makes cheese in Suffolk and her cheeses are extremely well regarded so helping her albeit on a basis that wouldn’t be full-time seemed like a great idea.  We tried it out and she reckoned I could work 2-3 days a week although with some big changes to the recipe as she was currently making cheese at midnight and cat napping to accomodate the make schedule.

So I moved to Bungay in Suffolk.  It was different - flat lands where I am used to seeing hills, but it had an artistic, musical community and I  started to look at property prices again wondering about living there if the job worked out.

I had been there a month when Brexit happened.

My constituency was a big Brexit voting area.  I saw people in my local co op looking afraid when their children spoke polis to them.  I began to feel much less welcome myself.  It seemed there was a big difference between the artistic fringe in the area and the locals who resented anyone who moved in whether they were Polish or just from Marple.  I stopped feeling welcome.  I actually felt observed, scrutinised and as though I didn’t belong.  iI felt like Roystn Veasey.  ‘You’re not local are you?’

The vote itself upset me more than I realised it could.  I spent months watching the 2012 Olympics ceremony which was a celebration of multicultural Britain and crying my eyes out as racist hate crimes increased across the country and in he wake of right wing extremists killing the pro-Muslim MP Jo Cox.  During the football in the Europe that preceded the vote as violance and yobbishness hit 1908s levels among chants of ‘We’re leaving the EU and we don’t care’, I could see what the results of the vote were going to be.  An MP was murdered and my worst fears were confirmed.  And yet 52% of the country still cast their votes with a racist ideology and Nigel Fargae’s openly racist campaigning.  If I had been concerned about EU corruption and taking back control, his anti muslim poster and the rise of race crime before the referendum empowering racists to openly abuse people in public in a way they had not felt able to for over 30 years would have convinced me this vote was not going the way I hoped and I would have changed my mind.  I respect anyone who did this and I can not forgive anyone who didn’t.

[vinylexams]

Planet Score Records - St. Louis, Missouri

Today’s featured record store is none other than Planet Score Records (@planetscore) in St. Louis, Missouri! After hearing from so many of you that wanted me to feature your favorite shops in the land, Planet Score was the first to get back to me with lots of great pics of the shop and some great answers to a list of questions you all will become familiar with as more and more independently owned stores get featured here. The features on Instagram will be as lengthy as the word count will allow, but the full interview and features will always be available in their entirety on vinylexams.com so if you don’t have it bookmarked yet, do it!

Planet Score Records is a music store that’s been a St. Louis staple for years but was purchased and revamped in 2015 by long-time employee of the previous shop, Joe Stulce, and his friend from his years in the 2000s playing in bands around the city, Tim Lohmann. The Guided by Voices (@instagbv) fans here will probably recognize the name, but don’t worry, not only did they get Mr. Pollard’s personal approval, he’s even become a friend of the owners and the shop and is known to stop by from time to time (check out the pics above!).

Here’s the nitty gritty:

Hours:

Monday- Thursday 10am-8pm

Friday- Saturday 10am-9pm

Sunday- 12pm- 5pm

Planet Score Records

7421 Manchester Rd.

St. Louis, MO 63143

314-282-0777

And here’s the interview:

Tell us about your store and how it came to be:

Tim Lohmann (Planet Score co-owner) and I met in the early 2000's playing in bands together in the St. Louis music scene. I had been working at a long standing record store called Record Reunion since the late 90's (re-branded CD Reunion during the CD boom). It was always my favorite shop, long before I got a job there. My friends and I would hang out there almost every day after school, exploring the vast catalog and educating ourselves on all things music. Not long after I started working there, I was promoted to full time manager. In 2015 the owner of RR decided to retire and Tim and I bought the business from him. We really just wanted the stock and planned from the get-go to move the store out of the county and closer to the city (where we lived) and re-brand and re-vamp it. We quickly found a great location in the Maplewood shopping and restaurant district.

We chose the name Planet Score after a Guided by Voices song. Robert Pollard of GBV got wind of our idea, gave us his blessing to use the name, and has since become a friend, popping into the shop when he is in town. Being that Tim and I are both music obsessives and we grew up in record stores, we strive to create our ideal of the perfect record shopping environment. Fun, cool and friendly; the kind of place people will feel comfortable spending hours on end shopping, exploring and chatting about our collective obsessions.

Does your shop specialize in any specific genres of music?

We carry every genre: rock, pop, soul, jazz, blues, hip-hop, punk, metal, world, country, classical... you name it. We are personally really into psychedelic rock, punk, prog, jazz, funk, krautrock, post-punk, electronic, hip-hop, exotica, Indian, African, reggae... St. Louis is a big classic rock city, so we always have a lot of that on hand. LP's, 7"s, CD's, cassettes, movies, posters, even 8-tracks and reel-to-reel tapes.

If you had to estimate, about how much of your inventory is used vs new?

Probably around 70% used, 30% new. Reissues and new vinyl are cool and readily available, but there's nothing like the thrill of the hunt.

What do YOU think makes your shop special?

Customer service is really important. Either one or both (usually both) of the owners are running the shop every single day, and we make sure to interact with every person who comes through the door. We love getting to know our regulars, and keeping an eye out for records that we think they are into. You will never have to deal with a grumpy, clueless part-timer, or a pretentious record store snob here. We are music obsessives who are extremely passionate about what we do. We still get as excited about records now as we did when we were kids. We also try to stock stuff that we don't think is readily available elsewhere. The deep cuts if you will. We are a relatively small shop, and we are careful not to stuff the bins with filler and thrift store junk. Plus we love throwing events and parties: Record Store Day and special sales... our neighborhood will throw weekend events that we always take part in... Our secret weapon is our best bud Joey Bags, a chef who loves to cook for us and our customers. There is an amazing craft brewery, Schlafly Bottleworks, a couple of blocks from us and they always help us out with our parties. We are lucky to have some amazing friends, family and neighbors that always help us out behind the scenes.

What makes running a record store fun and exciting for you?

It's my one and only dream job. I've thought about it many times, and there is nothing else I would rather be doing. To be able to make a living listening to and talking about music all day is a dream come true. Exploring new and old sounds, digging through forgotten collections and bringing joy to fellow obsessives. Music lovers really are the best people to be surrounded by on a daily basis.

What is your most prized record?/Have you finally snagged your ultimate “white whale” yet?

Tim and I both kind of put our collecting on hold when we started Planet Score. We have even sold off large chunks of our personal collections to help build up the business. We get to play records all day, so having a huge collection sitting in our houses gathering dust is not as important as it used to be. We see records come through all the time that we would love to bring home (it hurts sometimes!), even stuff that I never thought I would see in real life. But seeing someone else find that record that they have been searching for brings just as much joy (well, almost as much...). Though, if I ever come across an original copy of GBV's Propeller that might change.

=====

Well, there you have it folks! Please, if you’re in the area, stop by and say hello to Tim and Joe and tell ‘em VINYLEXAMS sent ya!

As always, we encourage you to shop small and support the wonderful independently owned shops like Planet Score whenever you can. These stores make the scene exciting and fun and all of us started our love for our collections in dusty crates somewhere! Thanks Joe and Tim, I can’t wait to swing by!

VINYLEXAMS

#planetscore #planetscorerecords #stlouis #stlouismusic #stl #stlmo #vinyl #vinylexams #vinylcollector #vinylrecord #vinylrecords #recordstore #recordstoreday #rsd