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kachikirby · 1 year

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Kirby: Mysterious Incident on the Pupupu Train! - Chapter 4: The Great Sandwich Incident!

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In the early morning, Chef Kawasaki got to work right away. While he was cooking in the kitchen car, Kirby came.

“Good morning, Chef Kawasaki!”

“Good morning, Kirby. You’re up early.”

“Bonkers’s snoring was so loud that it woke me up!”

Kirby let out a sigh.

“Bonkers snores a lot, has a bad sleeping pattern, and is a real pain! And yet, whenever I hummed a little, he would wake up suddenly and get really angry! That’s awful, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah.”

Chef Kawasaki’s smile was wry. Kirby’s singing had terrifying destructive power. Even if he was humming a little tune, someone sitting next to him would probably flinch. Bonkers’s snoring versus Kirby’s humming. It was a showdown no one wanted to get too close to.

“It’s strange. Even though Bonkers really liked me so much that he insisted on rooming with me...”

“Bonkers probably doesn’t feel well in the mornings, so he hates them.” Chef Kawasaki comforted the disappointed Kirby.

“...that’s right! More importantly, let’s make breakfast early! I’ll help you!”

“N-no thanks. I’m good.” Chef Kawasaki’s smile was more and more strained.

Kirby’s cooking skills were just as destructive as his singing ability!

“You don’t have to worry! I’ll mix natto, strawberry jam, and eggs! If you put it on toast, it’ll be delicious!”

“It’s fine, Kirby! Leave the cooking to me! First, I have to make breakfast for the crew!” Kawasaki shouted with all his might.

“Ok! What are you making?”

“Something that you can easily pick up with one hand while working... I think a sandwich would be good.”

“Waah! Sounds good! What are you gonna put in them? Sashimi? Pickled radishes? Gyoza?”

“Ham and cucumbers. Kirby, would you mind going to the food car and getting some ham from the refrigerator?”

“Got it!”

Kirby ran to the food car. Meanwhile, Chef Kawasaki opened a wooden box on the floor and took out a cucumber. He then spread some butter on the bread and put on the sliced cucumber and ham that Kirby brought. Then he put on some mayonnaise and salt for seasoning and cut off the crust.

“Waaah! Looks delicious! I wanna eat it, too!”

“You can’t! This is for the crew! If you have a bit, there won’t be enough for them!” Kawasaki said to the drooling Kirby.

“Oh, that’s right!”

“I’ll make you plenty of them when it’s your turn later. Would you mind delivering these to the driver, the conductor, and the maid?”

“Suuuree!”

Kirby took one plate in each hand and one on his head before tottering out of the kitchen car.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The first place Kirby went to was the conductor’s room behind the food car.

“Good morning! Please open the door!”

Kirby shouted. The door opened and the conductor’s face peered out.

“Oh, Mr. Kirby. Good morning. What can I do for you?”

“I brought you breakfast!”

“Hm? For me?”

“Yup! It’s Chef Kawasaki’s specially made sandwich!”

The conductor’s eyes sparkled.

“Waah! Ham and cucumber! My favorite! I’ll have it after checking the machine. Please put it on the table over there.”

“Okay!”

Kirby put the plate in the conductor’s room and left. Next, he headed for the maid’s room. The maid was well dressed and had a broom in her hand.

“Oh, good morning, Mr. Kirby.”

“Good morning! Here’s a sandwich made by Chef Kawasaki!”

“Ahh! Is this for me? It looks delicious!” The maid smiled. “I was about to go clean everyone’s rooms. I’m so happy to be able to eat such a delicious looking sandwich before work.”

“Good luck with your work! See you!”

The last place he headed was the cab at the far front of the train. The driver sat in his seat, staring at the screen.

“Good morning, Mr. Driver!”

“Hm? Oh, good morning, Mr. Kirby.”

The driver stretched his arms as if to relax his body. Although he occasionally swaps with the conductor to take a nap, he usually stays in the driver’s seat for most of the trip. It’s an exhausting job.

“Do you need something? The train is running smoothly and there’s nothing to worry about!”

“That’s good to hear! I brought you a sandwich made by Chef Kawasaki!”

“Hm? For me?”

The driver smiled.

“Waah, it looks delicious! Thank you so much!”

He took a small piece of the sandwich, opened his large mouth, and took a bite. Kirby, having a rare opportunity in the cab, looked around.

“That’s a really big screen. So that’s how you know what’s going on outside. Is this a speedometer? These numbers... are how far we are to the destination?”

The driver spoke while munching on the sandwiches.

“You can look at it, but don’t... touch... anything...”

His words were interrupted. Kirby, wondering about this, looked at him. The driver was laying face down on the control panel.

“...huh?!”

Surprised, Kirby called out to the driver. “What’s wrong, Mr. Driver!? Are you ok?!”

There was no response. It seemed like the driver lost consciousness.

“Wh-what happened?! Is everything ok?!”

He shook the driver, but the driver did not move.

“Th-this is bad...! I gotta call someone!”

Kirby rushed out of the driver’s cab in a panic. As he ran into the passageway, an even more shocking sight caught his eye. The maid was lying down, her broom still in hand.

“Huuuuh?! Ms. Maid!? Ms. Maid, hang in there!”

Kirby shook her, but her consciousness did not return, just like with the driver. Except it was right in front of the Waddle Dee room. The door opened to reveal Bandana Waddle Dee.

“What’s wrong, Kirby? Why are you shouting so...”

Upon seeing the maid laying on the floor, Bandana rushed over.

“Ms. Maid?! Wh-wh-what’s wrong!?”

“I don’t know! This happened with the driver, too! They suddenly fell over!” Kirby answered.

“Huuuuuuhhh?! Even the driver!?”

Bandana turned pale. Some Waddle Dees heard the noise and rushed out of the room.

“You guys stay with the maid! I’ll let his highness know! Kirby... that’s right! Call the conductor!” Bandana quickly said.

“Got it!”

With that, Kirby and Bandana headed off in their according directions.

~~~~~~~~

Kirby knocked at the door to the conductor’s room violently.

“Mr. Conductor! Mr. Conductor! Open up! There’s a problem!”

However, there was no response from inside.

“No way...even the conductor?!”

Kirby quickly opened the door. His bad feeling was correct. The conductor was sitting slumped over in the chair, unconscious. On the table was an empty plate. It seems like he passed out because he ate all of the sandwiches.

“The sandwich...?! No, it’s because they all ate the sandwiches...?!”

Kirby ran out of the conductor’s room. Chef Kawasaki had to know about this!

~~~~~~~~

The news spread all over the train in the blink of an eye. The passengers gathered in the dining car and made a big fuss.

“What’s going on? Did the maid faint?”

“I heard that the driver and conductor also lost consciousness. What’s happened?!”

Everyone looked at each other with worried expressions.

Chef Kawasaki stood still with a blank look on his face. In front of him was York, King Dedede, and Meta Knight.

York raised his voice. “Calm down, everyone. First, let’s sort out this situation. What happened?”

“The driver, conductor, and maid all passed out!” Kirby said.

“The three crew members were taken to their rooms and are sleeping in bed. The three of them looked fine, were breathing normally, and appeared to just be sleeping. But no matter how much you would yell or shake them, they wouldn’t wake up.” Bandana said.

“H... hey! Never mind the conductor or the maid, if there’s no driver, then the train shouldn’t be moving! If there’s no driver, how is the train moving...” King Dedede shouted.

Upon hearing what the king shouted, the passengers panicked.

“If there’s no driver, then the train is running with no one at the controls...?! It’s a runaway!”

“Oh no! We’re in danger!”

“Kyahhh! Kyaaahh! I’m scared!”

“This is an emergency. Stop the train and return to Dream Land.” Meta Knight said to York.

“We cannot do that.” York shook his head.

“You can’t? Why?”

“When this train departs from its station, it uses a device installed at the station to accelerate the train. It is not possible to stop or start the train at a place that is not a station.”

“What do you... so you mean that without a driver, it will continue to run?”

Even Meta Knight was at a loss for words.

“Everything will be fine. This train has a self-driving device. Even if there is no driver, it will continue to run on the line. Unless something very bad...” York said emphatically.

“No, wait, wait!” Dedede shouted. “The train absolutely needs a driver!”

“It’s fine. The self-driving device...”

“Can you really trust a device? Leave it to me!”

“...huh?”

York was dumbfounded.

“King Dedede? You can’t be saying that you can drive the train, can you?”

“I’ve never done it before, but there’s nothing that I can’t do! Don’t worry, everyone!”

Dedede rushed out of the dining car in a confident manner.

“...seems more like he just wants to drive it.” Knuckle Joe said.

“Will it really be all right?”

“There’s an automatic driving device, so it’ll work out somehow, right?”

While the passengers murmured, Meta Knight spoke.

“I still feel uneasy without a proper driver. We have to do something to wake them up. But first, we must investigate how and why they fell asleep.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea.”

Chef Kawasaki stepped forward.

“The three of them ate the sandwiches that I made.”

“...what?”

“Everyone fell asleep after eating my sandwiches. I thought it was my sandwiches’ fault...!”

The passengers gasped.

“What were in the sandwiches?” Meta Knight asked.

“Just ordinary ham and cucumbers.”

“Cucumbers... it can’t be...” York, who was listening to the conversation, muttered.

Meta Knight overheard what he had said.

“Do you have an idea what’s going on here, York?”

“N-no. It’s nothing.”

York turned his back as if deceiving. Meta Knight turned back to Chef Kawasaki.

“Will you allow me to investigate the kitchen car?”

“Of course.”

The two of them headed to the kitchen car.

“I baked the bread myself. The ham was stored in the refrigerator. The cucumbers came from this wooden box. Then I put on salt, mayonnaise, and butter.” Chef Kawasaki explained.

“Was there an ingredient that made them sleepy...?”

“Impossible! I didn’t even use slumbercumbers!”

“Slumbercumbers?”

“It’s the name of a vegetable. It looks and tastes the same as regular cucumbers, but eating them causes you to be overwhelmed by intense drowsiness.”

Meta Knight’s eyes lit up.

“Would that box of vegetables happen to be sleep cucumbers?”

“That’s impossible! I picked the usual cucumbers from the usual field and packed them in the box myself!”

“But I want to check just in case.”

“Understood, though I think it’s useless.”

Chef Kawasaki took out a long green vegetable from the box placed on the floor. He then cut it in two with a kitchen knife.

“See? It’s just a normal cucumber...”

But at the next moment, his eyes widened.

“...huh?! This scent...!?”

He sniffed the vegetable and shouted.

“This is a sweet smell...! This isn’t a normal cucumber! It’s a slumbercumber!”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes...!” Chef Kawasaki said, dumbfounded.

“If you don't pay close attention, you won't notice, but slumbercumbers have a different, sweeter smell than normal cucumbers. I wasn’t paying attention when I made the sandwiches! Why were these things even in the kitchen car...?!”

Meta Knight stared at Kawasaki with sharp eyes underneath his mask.

“Is it possible that you mistook them with normal cucumbers when you brought them on?”

“Absolutely not!” Chef Kawasaki shouted. “Slumbercumbers only grow in the southern grasslands of Dream Land! There’s no way it can become lost in a field of regular cucumbers!”

“Did you carry the box on yourself?”

“I didn’t, there was just so many ingredients. I packed up everything I had prepared and shipped to the York Railroad Company.”

“...how long will the people who eat the slumbercumbers be asleep for?”

“It depends on how much they ate, and the amount used in those sandwiches... it’ll be about ten days.”

“Ten days...?!”

Meta Knight was surprised.

“What will happen to them if they sleep for ten days? They won’t be able to eat during that time and their bodies will become weak...”

“It’ll be fine. They won’t need to eat or drink anything while they’re asleep. It’s like they’re hibernating. So, there’s no need to worry.”

“...I see. That’s good.”

Meta Knight’s voice calmed down.

“Is there any way we can wake them up?”

“No. The slumbercumber’s effect is strong. Until ten days pass, they won’t wake up no matter what you do.”

“...and there’s four days left until we reach Baspa. So, the crew will be asleep until we reach the last stop.”

At that moment, York entered the kitchen car.

“What did you think? Did you find anything out?” He asked in a worried voice.

“...Mr. York.”

Meta Knight explained everything to him about how slumbercumbers look similar to normal cucumbers and how they somehow got into the kitchen car. After hearing everything, York turned pale.

“...I see. But why...”

It was a small whisper, but Meta Knight heard it.

“Mr. York, what did you just say?”

“Huh? Oh, no, it’s nothing... ahem!”

York cleared his throat.

“Why is something like that in the kitchen car?!”

“Chef Kawasaki said he doesn’t know. Do you have an idea, Mr. York?”

“Of- of course not! I have no idea!” York looked confused.

Meta Knight responded. “But it seems that you can only get the slumbercumbers in the south grasslands of Dream Land. It’s impossible to accidentally mistake it for normal cucumbers and carelessly bring it on. Someone put slumbercumbers in this box and brought them into the kitchen car.”

“What...” York said while sweating profusely. “Who would do something like that?”

“I don’t know. But Chef Kawasaki said that he left it to the York Railway Company to pack the ingredients.”

Chef Kawasaki nodded.

“York, of course, knows about that. I left the food I had prepared to the York Railroad Company to carry it into the Pupupu Train.”

“That’s correct.” York nodded. “The food car is used for items that need to be frozen or refrigerated. Seasonings and ready to use vegetables go straight to the kitchen car...my workers followed Chef Kawasaki’s instructions exactly.”

“...hmph.”

Meta Knight said with a serious voice. “There are several possibilities. First, there is the possibility that an unscrupulous employee of the York Railroad Company secretly slipped in a crate of slumbercumbers.”

“That cannot be!” York shouted quickly. “All of my employees are serious and hard-working people! I know everyone who works here! There cannot be any unscrupulous individuals!”

“Then the next possibility. An unscrupulous passenger brought on the slumbercumbers and put them in the kitchen car...”

“I don’t think it’s that.” Chef Kawasaki said. “The passengers are all citizens of Dream Land, outside of you and your subordinates, Meta Knight.”

“...that’s right.”

“I know the people in Dream Land well, and I don’t believe that they would do something like that.”

“My subordinates wouldn’t do something like that either. Next possibility is that someone other than one of the original passengers entered this car...”

“That’s unthinkable.” York denied. “The Pupupu Train’s passenger check is strict. Those who don’t have a ticket will absolutely not be allowed on. No matter who tries to slip in, it’s impossible.”

“Hmm...” Chef Kawasaki uttered while thinking. “But Kirby was the one who was in charge of the ticket gate. It seemed he longed for the job and the station attendant let him do it.”

“That’s right.”

“Someone sneaked in while Kirby was looking away...that’s probably what happened.”

“...yeah...”

Meta Knight nodded, his voice lowering.

“There’s still too much we don’t know. The most important thing is to not let panic spread among the passengers.”

“That’s right.”

York quickly nodded. “Our company wishes for the most enjoyable travel on the rails for our guests. We cannot let them panic.”

“Mr. York, confirm for me again. Will the train be fine without the driver?”

“Yes, of course.” York puffed his chest up. “Our company’s self-driving device proudly uses the best technology in the galaxy! There’s nothing to worry about!”

“Anyway, we have no choice but to keep going. Cook Kawasaki, make a delicious breakfast that will calm everyone down.”

Chef Kawasaki nodded. “I’ll make sure that each ingredient is carefully selected so that this won’t happen again. The afternoon snack party will be held as planned.”

“Good idea. Sweets have a calming effect on the hearts of others.”

With that, Meta Knight and York left the kitchen car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Table of Contents

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meerawrites · 2 months

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when the director doesn't give a f**k about historical accuracy

youtube

This is a really well-articulated analysis, I do not agree with all of it. But I appreciate it's general point.

#napoleon 2023 #napoleon movie #media analysis #media criticism #media literacy #napoleon bonaparte #ridley scott #vanessa kirby #19th century #historical fiction #napoleon #napoleonic era #napoleonic wars #french revolution #history #media critique #video #not mine

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void-dreaming · 1 year

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I have to keep reminding myself that Marzipan is exclusively a Magolor child with no other parent. I see all these other magobabies, and they all look super unique and interesting, and then I look over at Marzipan, and it's like

"...K"

Like, I'm also just not used to feeling genuinely confident, but I can't help but to feel like there's more I need to do for Marzipan design wise (this knowing she changes attire after a certain traumatic event, but that's later on down the line) so like

Do you guys actually like the way Marzi looks? Anything I should consider with her? Maybe I'm just kicking myself too hard, but... I do value audience feedback.

#fan character #anime #artist of tumblr #kirby nintendo #kirby of the stars #magolor kirby #kirby magolor #magolor #kirby fanart #kirby fan character #kirby fan art #kirby fc #kirby oc #critique welcome #please #i dont know how to feel confident in myself right now #kirby

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sortanonymous · 4 months

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BREAKING: Local Sonic newbie* has no clue how to play through them for the first time

With this year already shaping up to be an exciting time for Sonic, I've basically decided to just start playing through at least an assortment of Sonic games. (Thanks, random guys online for those PC decompilations of the first two games (even if the Spring Zone boss is the worst)!) And it's kind of weird because even though I've had a bit of interest in Sonic for eight years now (longer than most franchises) and have kind of dipped my toes in even some of the newer classics over the years (Colors, Generations, and Mania), I'm still pretty new to most of the actual games. So a part of me feels like going with some casual, safe picks, Safe bets like the Genesis classics, Colors, Generations, Mania, and the other consensus good Sonic games, maybe also slightly iffier ones or ones that might not have aged so well like the Adventure games (on GameCube).

That said, my more daring side that loves planning whole marathons for game series (and then giving up by the end of game #3 at the absolute max) is thinking, "ALL OF THEM" (okay, maybe not the allegedly really bad ones like 3D Blast, Shadow, Forces, or vanilla '06). Play the good ones! Play the meh ones (I guess like Heroes, Lost World, and Superstars)! Play the 8-bit games and handheld exclusives, even the ones that are just shrunken 2D versions of console games like Colors on DS or Generations on 3DS (funny how we now have the big versions of both games on a Nintendo handheld, even if at least one of the ports got botched)! It's not even like accessibility is a huge issue, as having a Windows laptop that can at least run 16-year-old Valve games really well at 1200p/60fps as well as both a modded 3DS and modded Wii U means I've got plenty of options for at least the pre-Switch stuff!

#sonic the hedgehog #local sonic returning fan/newbie has no clue how to go about playing them #none of... those types of sonic fans are on this site right?#as a kirby stan first and foremost i'm not used to famously heated fanbases #but i'm more than aware that there are plenty of great dudes in this community #especially having watched more than a bit of geek critique growing up #so hopefully we can get along if i stick the landing with this playthrough right #sorry if is sound like a confused alien i'm still very new to this site #what am i even doing

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felikatze · 2 years

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i'm not mad at the person who said "kirby and the forgotten land is a critique of capitalism." i admit that i think they are very wrong. and i am not mad at this. i am not foaming at the mouth.

#feli speaks #FALSE YOU'RE WRONG DIPSHIT #IT'S CALLED THE *FORGOTTEN* LAND IT'S ABOUT MAKING SURE NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND #ELFILIN REUNITING WITH ELFILIS AFTER THE TRUE ARENA? RESCUING EVERY WADDLE DEE? GOING AFTER LEOPOLD IN THE POST GAME?#IT DOESNT MATTER WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE. THEY DONT DESERVE TO BE LEFT BEHIND NO MATTER WHAT #IF YOU WANT A CRITIQUE OF CAPITALISM GO PLAY PLANET ROBOBOT YOU PRETENTIOUS-#i'm not mad about people misinterpreting kirby games #no mouthfull mode is not a metaphor for consumerism. in my opinion.#man. just play planet robobot.

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das-a-kirby-blog · 5 months

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alright, this goes out to you guys. just gonna build off of this post

(THIS IS ALL JUST MY OPINION, NOT FACT!)

soooo I think the reason there are so many contrasting headcanons is not only because of the open interpretations the games leave, but because of what kinds of kirby media people are introduced to at first. you got the main games, the anime, the mangas, the light novels, etc. which. wow that's a lot of material you can build on. AND CONSIDERING THE AMOUT OF LORE EACH OF THESE TOPICS ARE COOKING???? DAWG WH

and I GUESS I can understand why some hcs are so bizarre in other people's eyes. but the way this fandom handles those different headcanons is...a lil bad.

YES I KNOW THIS ISN'T SPECIFIC TO THE KIRBY FANDOM, but the whole reason why I'm making this is to at least understand why people take it so close to heart.

and. not calling anyone out. but I do see quite a lot of posts with people (critiquing? complaining?) about how popular headcanons "ruin" the fandom (and this goes with ships too, but I'll get into that later) and all I gotta ask is

does it really??? does it really ruin the fandom?

I'm just gonna say. no. it doesn't.

you are focusing on a small percentage out of...oh idk...AN ENTIRE FANBASE? at LEAST open up a little and find a new circle if it is bothering you that much. or better yet. BLOCK! filter out tags!

with the amout of differing kirby medias, please understand that there will be headcanons that will oppose yours and that's okay! just don't be a jerk about it!

NOW. with the ships. specifically metadede. gonna try to put my overwhelming bias aside for this one I promise.

though metadede is the most popular ship in the fandom, it still comes with it's critics. and some are. actually valid! such as their relationship doesn't immediately have to be romantic. it can be seen as platonic! and I can understand why people feel that way.

but things get sour when people immediately try to crap on it because in their eyes, and correct me if I'm wrong here, metadede overshadows every other ship in the fandom. you hardly get to hear about their rarepair because of how metadede is everywhere.

if you take a step back and really look. there is a reason it is so popular. because of the LARGE amounts of media they have together. in the games. in the mangas. in smash. in official art. I mean if you wanna count the anime go ahead.

what I'm trying to say here is that compared to any other character interactions, meta knight and dedede are definitely up there for the most interaction in the franchise. and I'm not trying to downplay any rarepairs or other ships with a smaller fanbase.

BUT DON'T BLAME THE SHIPPERS! they are only doing the same as anyone else, they are going off of what they are given by canon and simply building off of that.

though, because I am a metadede shipper myself, you can take this segment with a grain of salt.

---

in conclusion...people can have their different takes. and that's okay! having different opinions is what builds this fandom and draws the attention of so many. but please! do not take any of these takes personal!

If there is a point in here you would like to argue against or build on, feel free to do so. I'm open to any other views.

#ask to tag #rant #again sorry for complaining

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voiddemon · 5 months

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my son, kabastion, who i stole

context underneath ig

He's not a real oc I was going on this kirby fandom wiki, where someone was like. Making Do's and Don'ts and critiquing generic kirby ocs (I mean like. They're on a kirby fanfiction wiki what do you expect)

Anyway they included this beautiful image and i immediately stole their oc, Kabastion. Who has water powers and he has ice powers.

So now he is my son Kabastion. we will never speak of him again.

Also here's a link to his shitty fandom page I made for the lols

#doodles #kabastion

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imagitory · 7 months

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Review: Wish (2023) [SPOILERS]

Evening, everyone! Tonight my mother and I went to go see Disney's most recent film, Wish, which fortunately came to theaters in my area right before its formal American release date. I'd been very curious to see how this tribute to Disney's last 100 years of filmmaking would turn out, and now that I've seen it...well, I have to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I want to be very clear both that I was going into this with a rather sunny outlook and that there are things I really liked in this film...but overall, it felt like a lot of the good ideas it had were only half-baked, and I found myself -- forgive me -- "wishing for something more" than what we got.

For a more comprehensive deep-dive...a cut!

The Good!

+The single best element in this film for me was Chris Pine's performance as our villain, Magnifico. There are definitely some things I can critique about Magnifico's overall storyline and "character arc" further down, but Chris was clearly having a grand old time being an egotistical, sassy jerkwad, and it totally showed. Even in his villain song This is The Thanks I Get?, which just screamed "passive-aggressive abusive parent," you can hear how much fun Chris was having in the studio, recording it. I just about always enjoyed when Magnifico was on screen, and I actually did really like the idea that a lot of his villainy is rooted in him being obsessed with control over everyone and everything. In a weird way, Magnifico's turn to the Dark Side parallels Anakin Skywalker's in the sense that he lost so much in the past that he's determined to never lose anything important to him again -- especially the power he's accrued to make himself feel strong, after having felt so powerless. I find that very interesting, and I kind of wish that aspect was really highlighted more in the story, but we'll talk about that later.

+Asha was a likable enough heroine, even if I found her to be a lot like a two-way fusion of Mulan and Anna placed in a vaguely Snow-White-ish role in her clearly Seven-Dwarf-inspired friend group. Ariana DeBose portrayed her rather well, both acting and singing-wise. I also liked the "social justice" bent to Asha's character where she wants better things not just for herself and her family, but also Rosas overall -- in the French translation of her main song "This Wish," they even push this further by having Asha wish "to see the world happy again someday." We haven't seen a heroine really express this kind of desire for a positive change in the world since Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and that's cool! Plus representation in mainstream media for previously underrepresented groups is always nice. ^.^

+As much as I don't think they all got enough focus as individuals, I liked Asha's friend group! Especially the fact that it is a friend group made up of people that are around the same age as our protagonist, which -- let's be honest -- isn't that common for Disney heroines. Often with "sidekick groups," you're more likely to have situations like Cinderella with the mice (who are more like cutesy sidekicks than equals) or Snow White with the Dwarfs (who are all quite a bit older than our heroine)...so a friend group made up of peers with their own personalities and motivations was kind of fun.

+The setting of Rosas itself could be pretty. I liked a lot of the Mediterranean-inspired architecture, especially inside Magnifico's tower.

+The combination of 3D and 2D-esque animation was also interesting! It really served to give the film its own distinctive visual style that sets it apart from other Disney projects, which I always appreciate.

+Star was...cute. Obviously just designed to sell plushies and definitely reminded me way too much of Kirby, but cute enough. I do think it's kind of cool that they're never gendered at all in the entire movie, because it'd be silly to think of a sweet little androgynous ball of stardust as being specifically male or female.

+I liked the idea of Simon "betraying" Asha, only to be turned into a pawn by Magnifico in the process, but not being treated unsympathetically by the story for it. Didn't love the full execution of the idea, but hey, that's what the negative section is for.

+The idea of everyone finding the power inside of themselves to stand up against Magnifico (because they're "all stars," and presumably all have the magic needed to make their wishes come true) was a little predictable, but still sweet. I have problems with how the film wrote it (which we'll get to), but the idea itself was wholesome and fitting.

+I like several of the songs, just on their own -- I added This Wish and Knowing What I Know Now on my ITunes as soon as I first heard them prior to the film's release, and now I've added At All Costs too: it's a really pretty duet! (Gorgeous work, Chris and Ariana!) I'll leave my praise here, though, because sadly the soundtrack is going to get a lot of discussion in the less positive section.

The Not-So-Good...

+This film being "Disney's 100th anniversary film" really got in the way of this movie telling a compelling and unique story sometimes. The whole movie really twisted itself into a pretzel trying to check off all the usual Disney tropes, and there were points that certain choices made the story seem incredibly stilted. For instance, one common Disney trope is a dead parent, so of course Asha has lost her father -- but we learn so little about him and he ends up playing such a small role in Asha's arc and story that it seems like an unnecessary detail. Asha's grandfather honestly plays more of a role in Asha's motivation throughout most of the film, so it would've made just as much sense to have Asha's grandfather be the one who believed in stars having power, rather than her father. Another example is the concept of the cute animal sidekick who's just there to make jokes -- as much as Valentino the goat didn't annoy me personally, he added just about nothing of value to the story whatsoever aside from comic relief, in contrast to other funny sidekicks like Sebastian from The Little Mermaid or Olaf from Frozen, who also serve a plot purpose and have a developed relationship with the protagonists. Then there's Asha being cut from the same "naive, awkward, wide-eyed idealist" cloth as many of our Disney Revival heroines like Anna, Rapunzel, and up to a certain point even Mirabel are; Star being in a similar vein to cutesy, innocent sidekicks like Pua, Crikee, and Baymax while Valentino is more akin to sassier, comic ones like Mushu and Sisu; her friends literally being based on the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White; our heroine getting a pretty standard "I Want" song and the villain getting his own solo number that doesn't really take any risks...oh yes, and we mustn't forget the trope of the Storybook opening, which (I'm sorry) I know was supposed to be a reference to Snow White, Cinderella, and Enchanted, but just gave me Shrek vibes the entire time. I was waiting for Shrek to rip out the page and use it for toilet paper any minute. It just felt a lot of the time like the movie was very paint-by-numbers, rather than throwing in much that was surprising or different.

+This isn't even touching all of the pointless meta references to other Disney movies. Asha wearing the Fairy Godmother's cloak and getting a wand like hers at the end -- the mushrooms crowing "we love crazy!" the way Hans did in Love is an Open Door -- Asha riding the reindeer the way Kristoff did in Frozen 2 -- Magnifico using green smoke hands a la Ursula -- the ending with those obvious Wendy and Peter Pan look-alikes, come on, really??? That was just painful.

+As much as Magnifico was an awesome idea for a character and Chris Pine's performance was beyond entertaining, the movie did not always write him as well as they could've. From the very start, we see this guy is an egotistical control freak -- obsessed with his own image, incredibly hard-to-please, arrogant, vain, desperate for attention and unwavering praise and adoration from all of his subjects, and determined to keep an iron grip on everyone else's wishes because of the power it gives him. He's ALREADY a terrible person, from the start -- and yet the film tries to introduce this dark magic book that gets no explanation or backstory whatsoever and has no real characterization or presence, so it leaves no real impact on the audience corrupting him and making him a bad person, when it didn't need to! Magnifico was already the villain this film needed! Just let him fall head-first into madness without the book prompting anything! Even if Magnifico "lost everything" in the past, that doesn't make him a good person, if he takes everyone's wishes away from them and hoards them all to himself, only to grant a few now and again when it would make him look good.

+This above point actually leads nicely into one change I really, really wish the film had been ballsy enough to make -- have Asha already be Magnifico's apprentice, not trying to become it at the start of the story. Give our villain and hero a real relationship, with history that started before the events of this film! Asha lost her father at the age of 12...how interesting would it have been -- whether to make Magnifico more of an anti-villain or show how manipulative he really is -- if he'd tried to fill that fatherly role for our main character and twist her to serve his ends? What if At All Costs was rewritten to be about Magnifico not just being determined to hold onto all of the kingdom's wishes, but also this apprentice he sees as an extension of him and his legacy, while Asha is determined to protect this Star she's accidentally summoned and the suppressed wish of hers it represents? This change would've made Asha's break with Magnifico so much more powerful for both of them -- it would've both justified Magnifico's descent into madness and given Asha more reason to feel like it was her responsibility to stop Magnifico. You even could've then played more with Asha's relationship with Queen Amaya too, in this kind of a scenario.

+Oh yeah, and on that note, Queen Amaya. OOH, this really annoyed me -- okay. So this woman is supposed to be a good guy, in this story. But as I touched on earlier, Magnifico was already a pretty awful person, hoarding people's wishes away in order to make himself powerful. Was Amaya truly so blind to that? Did she truly never question anything, ever? But no, really, she only turns on Magnifico after he starts using the dark magic book and actively threatens her. Only that makes her turn from him, and it's pretty damn immediate. Now okay, I hear you saying, it's like Amaya sings in Knowing What I Know Now, right? "The good in him, I've watched it melt // I was blinded by the love I felt"? Excuse me, lady -- but Magnifico wasn't a good person, before. He was just playing a part so as to stay powerful and adored by the masses. And if the story wants to claim otherwise, and act like that dark magic book was responsible for Magnifico going bad, then why would our Queen decide to keep him locked up in his staff's crystal forever? If the book was responsible, then Magnifico would be the Frodo or Golum to the book's One Ring -- he'd be a victim, in such a scenario: one in need of help and pity, not punishment. So either Amaya is a selfish person who only cared about her husband's mistreatment of others when it affected her, or she's a needlessly cruel person who decides to punish her husband for a vice that anyone could fall prey to. Either way, I don't want this woman ruling anyone! Make this woman a straight-up villain, same as her husband, and have the whole monarchy come crashing down after she and Magnifico both go down in flames! VIVE LA RESISTANCE! (Playing into my idea with Asha being Magnifico's apprentice all along, maybe there could even be a twist on the Evil Stepmother trope with Amaya, where she's jealous of how much Magnifico has tried to groom Asha as his apprentice, rather than spending time and/or starting a family with her or something.)

+As I touched on earlier, there wasn't even close to enough time to develop all of these characters properly. Since our heroine and friends are most similar to Snow White and her friends the Seven Dwarfs, let's compare cast size. Snow White is 83 minutes long and has a cast of ten (Snow, the Prince, the Queen, and the Dwarfs) -- Wish is 95 minutes long and has a cast of fourteen (Asha, Magnifico, Star, Valentino, Amaya, Asha's mum and grandpa, and our seven Friends). This results in us getting the vague idea that "Grumpy" role Gabo is sweet on our "Bashful" role Bazeema, but no time to develop their relationship or give it any kind of conclusion; the others saying "Sneezy" role Safi apparently loves the castle chickens with no sympathetic explanation why, to the point that he gets super excited about a chicken growing to a giant size for no real reason; "Doc" role Dahlia having a crush on Magnifico that is then dropped immediately after Asha turns against him; oldest kid and "Sleepy" role Simon feeling incomplete without the dream he gave Magnifico and "betraying" Asha as a result in an attempt to get it back, only to get stabbed in the back by Magnifico, and then have no time for a proper redemption after he's unhypnotized; Asha's grandfather turning on a dime about whether or not he wants to know what his wish was if Magnifico thought it was dangerous; Magnifico getting some justification in his backstory for his bad behavior, but Amaya's backstory being a complete black hole before she married Magnifico when you'd think it'd explain all the more why she stuck with him so long; and Asha's mum having her wish crushed to dust by Magnifico and then given back without us EVER LEARNING WHAT IT EVEN WAS IN THE FIRST PLACE, even after we see just about everyone else's wishes as soon as somebody picks it up and Asha's mum's wish gets picked up multiple times!! Come on, if you're going to set up NOT showing it, you may as well have a pay-off for it!! At least give us some moment where Asha's mum hugs her in relief and acknowledges that her daughter was her wish! That would've been a nice "aww" moment for everyone!

+Okay, I said I was going to talk about my problem with the songs, so here goes. As I said before, I listened to the soundtrack before watching the movie, and even when I did, I could immediately sense a problem: these songs did not tell me much of anything about the movie, just on their own. Welcome to Rosas, which is pretty much just an exposition dump about the kingdom and how Magnifico founded it, didn't really paint a picture of our setting or characters much at all, the way opening songs like Belle or The Family Madrigal do. This Wish, although pretty, was something I could hear just as easily on the radio -- it didn't feel as tied or necessary to understanding our heroine the way something like Part of That World does. I'm a Star, quite frankly, felt like a lot of inspirational word salad, rather than anything particularly memorable or revelatory -- why else wouldn't it even be worthy of a musical salute in the reprise, where Asha remembers that she and everyone else are stars during the climax? Even after reading summaries of the plot and spoilers from the storybook for this film, I could not figure out for the life of me how At All Costs would fit organically into such a story, being sung by our villain and hero. It wasn't until I saw the film that I saw how the filmmakers decided to fit it in and honestly...the song didn't help tell that particular scene at all. It's a really pretty song and I like it a lot -- but it lacked any of the irony or contrast that kind of a scene that introduces the difference in focus between our hero and villain required. If the scene itself is needed to understand what's supposed to be going on while the song is playing, then the song is not effectively telling the story and is therefore unnecessary. There wasn't even a particularly Spanish or Mediterranean flair to the soundtrack to help set the stage, aside from the occasional flourish of castanets -- instead it sounded very contemporary, which I guess is appropriate, since it was largely written by pop composers rather than any musical theater talent.

+There were also points where the songs felt the urge to shove in a bunch of extra words just because, rather than have the words flow well and really mean something. I'm a Star is most guilty of this, of course, but even in This is the Thanks I Get?, we hear Magnifico gripe that "I let you live here for free and I don't even charge you rent" -- mate, THAT MEANS THE SAME THING! If you live somewhere for free, then you are NOT paying rent!

+Knowing What I Know Now is a bop and I like it (aside from Amaya's stupidity), but I'm sorry, all I can think when I hear it is "This is clearly trying to be Ready as I'll Ever Be from Tangled the Animated Series, but that song blows this out of the water." However fun the song can be, it would've been so much stronger if it actually addressed the contrast between the characters and revved us up for a big final battle, instead of it just being our eight underdeveloped characters psyching each other up.

+The idea of everyone being stars was a lovely idea, but the execution of Asha remembering this fact and using it to defeat Magnifico was terribly handled. First off, there was no revelatory phrase or action that prompted Asha to remember this fact, so her suddenly saying that "they're all stars" came out of nowhere. Second, even putting aside that there'd be no way any of her friends could hear Asha from all the way up on the tower if they're stuck in the courtyard below, there's no reason I can see for Asha's friends or family to know what the hell she was even TALKING about. They weren't there when the I'm a Star number happened! And the way that number made it seem, just based on the visuals, it looked like the "star" power came from a person's dream, since it's the same glow that returns to Asha's grandfather when he gets his dream back, but most of the town's dreams have been already yanked out by Magnifico at this point! I think the idea is that since everyone is a star, even with that big piece of them and the power accompanying it taken out, they still have enough stardust inside of them to be powerful enough to chase their heart's desires...but yeah, I'm sorry, for all the word salad I'm a Star threw around, this world-building aspect was really not made clear, and because of that and the lack of a proper callback to this plot turn, the climax didn't hit as strong as it should've.

Overall, this film felt a lot like a batch of unbaked chocolate chip cookies that someone decided to throw a bunch of brightly colored sprinkles on top of, just because they could. A lot of ideas just don't feel like they were fully developed, and there was a lot tossed in that didn't contribute to the overall taste or bring the disparate elements together in a cohesive whole, instead feeling more like a distraction than anything of actual substance. That doesn't mean I couldn't eat it -- I like eating cookie dough as much as the next person -- but that doesn't mean it felt like a complete, finished product worthy of great praise. Instead I'm left looking at the wasted potential and wishing the movie had carved out its own path more, one distinctive to itself, rather than just be a mashup of previous Disney concepts and tropes. I won't act like there's nothing to like here, nor that it's completely lacking in heart: I actually would love to see fandom for this movie re-imagine it in ways that could've improved the story and characters, because there were SO many good ideas here...but for me personally, this movie left me colder than it should've and -- like Asha after meeting Magnifico -- a bit disappointed.

So I make this wish...to have Disney make a film better than this.

Overall Grade: C-

#disney #disney wish #wish (2023)#wish #wish spoilers #spoilers #review #analysis #oh boy here i go

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desultory-novice · 1 year

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Is it weird how most of my OC’s are villains/antagonists?

And most aren’t even puff balls or already known species but I just go wild, that’s because I’m trying to follow the way kirby games create characters by trying to be more and more creative while always trying to stay on familiar grounds.

Am I going too far? Am I still drawing Kirby characters?

I just don’t know if my designs are that good.

Im kinda saying this because I’ve seen several human OC designs and your “OC” (between “” since I don’t know if a pre transformation character can be called OC) Noir is one of the few human designs I actually think fit into Kirby and is overall one of the best designs I’ve seen without being too different and without being too similar, and I just wanna give tell you “well done”, do you have any advice on how to do that?

First off, you'll never ever hear "Oh, that's weird!" from me about designing antagonists! I think it's great! Everything from the complex emotions that led them to oppose our heroes (betrayal, vengeance, greed, hatred, jealousy, etc etc) to just having cool power sets you can go all out on from the beginning, they've got to be some of the most fun you can have designing characters!

It's definitely tricky to create something new that has the potential to fit in a work without it being a take off of something already in the work. I think part of the reason a lot of OC creators stick with puffballs or some other recognizable form (Magolor-alikes, Elfilin-alikes) is that it gives you a sort of bonus modifier to recognizability? Once you've got that, you can move on to adding all the original details without having to surmount that hurdle of "Does this non-Kirby character still look like they could feasibly be in Kirby?"

Of course, there's nothing wrong with just throwing all that out the window and stylizing your design like whoa! Heck, some actual Kirby characters don't look much like Kirby characters. I think back to Dark Mind, who is awfully cool looking and going by his name really should look like the rest of the Dark Matters but theweird...fire/vein/wires look? Is he part-eyeball part-computer??

He looks more like a riff on a Kirby boss than a Kirby boss. (Which makes that thing in Amphibia - apologies, as I've never watched the show - that looks so much like Dark Mind kinda funny in retrospect because it's a clear Kirby reference, but it references the first Dark Matter-like being to look really different from all the other Dark Matters before him!)

Sometimes, you just have to stick with it! Designing OCs is fun, but I know that for me, the meat is in their story. Can I connect with them emotionally? (Villain or no.) If I can do that, then it doesn't matter to me too much what they look like!

Also, it's totally fine to call Noir an OC, lol! I think that about him myself sometimes. (Dess Secret: I've had to push myself to be courageous every time I post a new Apologies comic because a mean voice in the back of my head says "You know everyone's going to be mad you turned a fan favorite last boss into a sadboy!")

But thank you for saying that. As for tips, well...

One thing I did was I kinda cheated by taking recognizable elements (his scarf + turning his tan cape into a long winter coat) from the character he's based off of. The concept for his hair I also stole off of the settei sheet while focusing on making it look somewhat flame like, so it matched DMS's dark flame hair.

But you can do this kind of "element borrowing" even if you're not making a character who is part of a known species! On that note, I guess that's the other thing I did for him was give him very "Adeleine-like" proportions. I mentioned this vaguely in the lightning round post that it's easier to draw for Apologies than it is to draw for MariPav because I try to keep Gijinka Marx and Magolor as approx. 7-8 heads tall humanoids with reasonable proportions.

In game Adeleine's got a big plate face with wide cartoon eyes and these kinda stick limbs. So, by drawing Noir a little taller, with slightly sharper features, and eyes that have a distinct "shape" to them (Rhombus? Is that the word?) but still those spaghetti limbs and almost child-like hands, he manages to look not too out of place standing alongside Adeleine.

Speaking of Adeleine's design, this last tip is not a solid rule, but simplicity is a great place to start when designing characters! When you mess around with both sprite art and chibi art, you learn quickly that little details (jewelry, markings, filigree, iris patterns, dozens of other things that may FEEL important) aren't going to make it into the finished piece. So choose a few bold things (and bold colors to go with them) that you can count on are always going to show.

To dip into some actual Kirby villains...

I think Nightmare's helmet is... a bit of a mess and I hate hate hate it and hate drawing it (what even is with those...antenna like horns?!) but the distinctive pointed witchy nose he's got and the dramatic chin, plus a body wrapped in a cape that looks like a tornado?! (Natural disasters are SCARY!) Those are all good, clearly visible design elements that say this guy is bad news!

(I refuse to listen to the haters. Nightmare is a good boss!)

One of the things that makes Zero 2 such a compelling boss visually is, of all things, the freakin' band-aid on his head, which is in complete contrast to his surreal, angelic design. But that's what makes it so effective! It doesn't seem to belong. "Wait, bosses can't take boo boos!" but because it's so distracting it draws your eye and your mind begins to think "...Is that to cover the spot where Zero broke out of last time we fought?" People make fun of bosses having "magical weak spots" but they're visually very interesting!

(Of course, it's actually the thorn that's the weak spot...)

Even rounder, friendlier bosses like King Dedede stick to having a few visually striking elements. Design-wise, he's a combination of a penguin (who is blue and yellow, because those colors stand out more than black + white) and a medieval Japanese daimyo. But he wasn't given a kimono until Smash Bros, which is fine as there would be no way to visually show that off till 3D graphics got as good as they did. So what they did give him a big round Japanese obi, which you'll always be able to see on him as well continuing the theme of the three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) on him and keeps his round belly from being entirely monochromatic!

Crowned Magolor/Magolor Soul, one of my favorite boss designs, is interesting because the more details the crown picks up (again, the design informs the character, as it twists around like roots and grows in some plant-like thorns, and this is before we saw it become a tree!) the less detailed Magolor becomes. This is so you don't have too much detail conflicting with each other. Your eye isn't too busy trying to "read" both Magolor and the Crown. And when you remove the crown, Magolor's basically a bouncy ball with a face! But he only needs to be a face because the empty eyes are the element they wanted to highlight, in this case showing his powerlessness.

So, to summarize...

Pick a few colors (remember to work some contrast in there! If you've got a lot of dark, scary colors, try adding something colorful and saturated to throw the viewer off. They can still contribute to the creepiness, even if they're not normally bad guy colors. The haunting orange glow of a jack-o-lantern. A bright, toxic-looking science-green! The purple of the sky as the sun sets and night is upon you...) Pick a few design elements to focus on (Large ones too! You should be able to see the most important parts of your character, even if you shrink them down super small!) and well, uh, I accidentally got ahead of myself. I think this step comes first but also, look to the forms of other Kirby characters, even if you're not making something that's a specific call back to them! Don't take their design, but take their shape. Or parts of their shape. In the sprite art community, we have something called "franken-spriting" where you cut out parts of various sprites you like or want to borrow from and then merge them together or redraw over what you've pieced together.

Finally, don't just show us what they look like: make us understand something about them. Back to Noir ever so briefly - I think that what made him effective as a character is that first time I actually drew him (outside of the sketch in Adeleine's notebook) I'd already informed people who he was and what his fate would be. He wasn't just some drawing of a moody teen with an ugly scarf.

He was an unavoidable tragedy waiting to happen.

(That said, you might not want to tell us all the good stuff in one go. Drop some tantalizing details, not every twist and turn up to the denouement! Something I was always told is "less is more!")

Tell us what to sympathize with, love, or fear about your OCs. The things that make them human - yes, even the eldritch monsters!!! - and hopefully your art will both energize other people and...yourself!

Most importantly, keep at it!

#Dess Answers Questions #Kirby OC #Kind of??#Dess Text Post #I hope that helps some!#Long Post #It's hard to keep motivated #It's hard not to doubt or talk down to yourself #But the more you let doubts in...#...the more room they have to grow #And they can be the most STUBBORN of weeds #Try talking to yourself about your art like a best friend #Because often enough it's just going to be you in there #Learn to become your best cheerleader...#...not your best critic!#But if you do...remember to 'critique' not 'criticize'#Pretend you're an art teacher...#Did you follow X Y and Z with this piece?#What will you attempt in your next 'lesson?'

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mpchev · 11 days

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You like reading fanfics? How about reading about fanfics? 😏

Here’s what I've read so far (or am currently getting through) for my dissertation on fanfiction bookbinding! I'll be updating it as I go until the end of July. If you have any recs to add to the towering pile or any questions/opinions about something on there, I’m all ears!

on fan studies & ficbinding ✔

Buchsbaum, Shira Belén, ‘Binding fan fiction and reexamining book production models’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 37 (2022)

Dym, Brianna, and Casey Fiesler, ‘Ethical and privacy considerations for research using online fandom data’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 33 (2020)

Jenkins, Henry, Textual Pochers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture (New York: Routeledge, 1992)

Kennedy, Kimberly, ‘Fan binding as a method of fan work preservation’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 37 (2022)

Penley, Constance, Nasa / Trek: Popular Science and Sex in America (London: Verso, 1997)

Price, Ludi, ‘Fanfiction, Self-Publishing, and the Materiality of the Book: A Fan Writer’s Autoethnography’, Humanities, 11, no. 100 (2022), 1–20

Schiller, Melanie, ‘Transmedia Storytelling: New Practices and Audiences’, in Stories: Screen Narrative in the Digital Era, ed. by Ian Christie and Annie van den Oever (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2018), 99–107

on folklore, the internet, other background reading ✔

Barthes, Roland, ‘La mort de l’auteur’ in Le Bruissement de la langue: Essais critiques IV (Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1984)

Blank, Trevor J., Folklore and the Internet: Vernacular Expression in a Digital World (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2009)

McCulloch, Gretchen, Because Internet: Understanding How Language is Changing (Random House, 2019)

Niles, John D., Homo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature (University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 1999)

hopefully coming up next (haven't started yet)

Dietz, Laura, ‘Showing the scars: A short case study of de-enhancement of hypertext works for circulation via fan binding or Kindle Direct Publishing’, 34th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media (HT ‘23), September 4–8, 2023, Rome Italy (ACM: New York, 2023)

Fathallah, Judith May, Fanfiction and the Author: How Fanfic Changes Popular Cultural Texts (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2017)

Finn, Kavita Mudan, and Jessica McCall, ‘Exit, pursued by a fan: Shakespeare, Fandom, and the Lure of the Alternate Universe’, Critical Survey, 28, no. 2 (2016), 27–38

Hellekson, Karen, ‘Making Use Of: The Gift, Commerce, and Fans’, Cinema Journal, 54, no. 3 (2015), 125–131

Jacobs, Naomi, and JSA Lowe, ‘The Design of Printed Fanfiction: A Case Study of Down to Agincourt Fanbinding’, Proceedings from the Document Academy, 9, issue 1, article 5

Jenkins, Henry, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide (New York: New York University Press, 2006)

Jerkins, Henry, Spreadable Media: Creating Value and Meaning In A Networked Culture (New York: New York University Press, 2013)

Kennedy, Kimberly, and Shira Buchsbaum, ‘Reframing Monetization: Compensatory Practices and Generating a Hybrid Economy in Fanbinding Commissions’, Humanities, 11, no. 67 (2022), 1–18

Kirby, Abby, ‘Examining Collaborative Fanfiction: New Practices in Hyperdiegesis and Poaching’, Humanities, 11, no. 87 (2002), 1–9

Lamerichs, Nicolle, Productive Fandom: Intermediality and Affecive Reception in Fan Cultures, (Amsterdam: Amsterdam Universtiy Press, 2018)

Popova, Milena, ‘Follow the trope: A digital (auto)ethnography for fan studies’, Transformative Works and Cultures, 33 (2020)

Price, Ludi, ‘Fanfiction, Self-Publishing, and the Materiality of the Book: A Fan Writer’s Autoethnography’, Humanities, 11, no. 100 (2022), 1–20

Rosenblatt, Betsy, and Rebecca Tushnet, ‘Transformative Works: Young Women’s Voices on Fandom and Fair Use’, in eGirls, eCitizens: Putting Technology, Theory and Policy into Dialogue with Girls’ and Young Women’s Voices, ed. by Jane Bailey and Valerie Steeves

Soller, Bettina, ‘Filing off the Serial Numbers: Fanfiction and its Adaptation to the Book Market’, in Adaptation in the Age of Media Convergence, ed. by Johannes Fehrle, Werner Schäfke-Zell (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2019), 58–85

#bibliography #dissertation #reading list #gradblr #study blog #research #fanfiction #bookbinding #fanbinding #ficbinding #fanfic #ethnology #folklore #currently reading

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sw-33-ts-stuff · 1 year

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SPOILER WARNING!!!! If you haven’t seen the new movie yet.

Can I request a part 2 of MASTERMIND. With reader having to figure out who the new ghostface is to protect Tara and succeeding. Just some fluff and little angst happy ending. Oh and when they go into the room with all the past ghostface stuff nothing of readers is in there cause she covered her tracks. The new ghostface didn’t know she worked with Richie and when their dying she would tell them maybe with no one else hearing what she said idk. Sorry if this makes No since. I just had to ask love your writing it’s just <3

I hope you like it <3

3rd Person POV

They were back...again. And in New York Fucking City of all places. This wasn't like the others you could tell. The way these deaths were displayed, the motive, it's not the same. The killings aren't to develop a new movie this is something deeper. You looked around the room at the shrine of Ghostface's past.

Starting with Billy Loomis all the way down to Richie and Amber. It was almost impressive that someone was able to collect all the evidence without it making the news.

Cop? FBI?

The second thought made you glance at Kirby. Someone with a badge and/or access to one would be the only one able to get evidence from previous cases undetected.

It started with Jason, you knew he was a horror film fanatic he'd discussed his obsessions with Mindy from time to time even critiquing the previous Ghostface killers. You knew he had the potential to be the next serial killer but he hadn't lived long enough to tell the tale.

Nothing here could implicate you though. No phone record, clothing, any physical evidence connecting you to Richie and Amber meaning the killer didn't know who you were either.

You thought back to when Mindy did her usual "Who's the next Ghostface?" Speech making everyone question who they could trust.

"I don't wanna die a virgin!" Ethan, the oh so innocent roommate of Chad spoke up. You felt your eyes narrow as you had the same thought as Mindy. His "innocent" persona feeling too forced and he was new to the group. You glanced to Tara's roommate Quinn as well both of their presence in the lives of the Woodsboro survivors feeling a little too convenient.

"And Anika.." kisses blown to her girlfriend before she frowned. "Never trust the love interest."

You almost laughed aloud at the thought. No you and Tara were still yet to be official but your undying love for her was what started this.

And will finish it.

Your original plan of creating a cult dedicated to ending the life of Samantha Loomis long gone as you found the girl to be useful in keeping Tara safe. Now you just wanted to admit your feelings for the younger Carpenter and hope she felt the same.

It was at a Halloween party that you'd thought you'd finally made some progress she'd been touchy all night and even glared at some of the girls who would try to flirt with you.

But then she'd tried to go up to her room with some random guy and Chad was her knight in shining armor. You shook your head at yourself.

So not important right now.

You were still at a loss as one of your top suspects, Quinn was dead the picture sitting calmly on your phone the same time they had murdered Anika. You knew it wasn't Danny as he'd been nothing but protective to Sam. Mindy was nowhere to be found as she'd gone to the subway with Ethan. Gale was currently in the hospital after just surviving another encounter with Ghostface.

You continued to look around to find Tara and Chad gone. You walked towards the next room to find them kissing. Your skin burned as you looked away clenching your jaw before you heard a phone ring, Sam looking to Kirby in suspicion at whatever she was being told on the other end.

You go to leave when you find the doors are locked running back to warn the others when you find the room empty, Kirby on the ground.

You kneel by her and check her pulse. She coughs.

"It's Detective Bailey." Your head tilts to the side. Quinn's dad who claimed to want to avenge his daughter. That's one suspicion officially confirmed. It was a cop meaning Ghostface has a gun you opened up Kirby's jacket ripping the bullet proof vest from her and putting it on yourself. The former agent looking to you in surprise.

"Nice thinking kid." You nod as she hands you her gun. "Go get that son of a bitch."

You hear Tara's blood curdling scream followed by whimpers. You go towards the noise seeing Chad bleeding with multiple stab wounds not even bothering to look for a pulse as you survey the scene. You follow the noise and find Sam and Tara.

"I'm going to avenge my dead son! Do you know what's it like to lose your firstborn? You're going to pay for what you did! Everyone's going to think Samantha Loomis just did exactly as her father would've wanted and I'm going to complete what my son started."

"Too bad your son was a little bitch who let his girlfriend do all the dirty work." Sam smirked before Detective Bailey smacked her, next to him were Quinn and Ethan donning their costumes. You pulled down the ammunition chamber only finding two bullets in the gun. Cursing softly you slowly crept towards the trio.

If I shoot too soon they'll hurt Tara.

A crash from below caught everyone's attention. Bailey pushed his youngest son.

"Go see what that is." The boy jumped down from the balcony looking around as Quinn went to stab Sam who pushed their father and made him drop his gun.

Perfect.

You shot Quinn just as she raised her arm and Sam pushed Bailey over the railing.

"Y/N!" He'd grabbed Tara and pulled her over the ledge with him. You and Sam each had one of her arms to keep the younger sister from falling. Ethan had wrapped his arms around his dads legs and once he'd released Tara the two fell into a heap on the hard floor as you both got the smaller girl to safety. A gun shot rang through your ears as a sharp sting came from your arm. You groaned realizing the son of a bitch got his gun back and almost shot Tara.

You went to run downstairs her and her sister's hands gripping your forearm to keep you from leaving .

"Wait where are you going?"

"To kill the son of a bitch who shot me." Tara stopped you again. "No!"

Sam went back to the shrine room undetected as Ethan and his father began to taunt you.

"Tara let go." You spoke through clenched teeth.

"No! I don't wanna lose you too." You looked into the smaller girls brown eyes unable to see anything but her kissing Chad.

"You already did." Her grip loosened in confusion as you ran to Bailey.

The older man laughed as he cocked his gun shooting at your chest twice before his gun clicked. His son acting as a shield as you charged at them. A knife sank into your abdomen as you tackled the small boy to the ground a harsh yell next to you as another Ghostface grabbed Bailey and began stabbing him. You pulled the knife out and followed suit with Ethan before leaning in closer to his ear.

"It wasn't your brothers vision dumb ass it was mine." Ethan's eyes widened as he stared at the ceiling. "You know what he did wrong? He hurt Tara, he hurt what's mine." You spoke through gritted teeth as you heard his breath stutter.

You got up looking to find Sam nodding at you after taking off her fathers mask.

In a different time she would've been the perfect Ghostface.

"How did you-" you cut off Sam's question by lifting your shirt to show the vest you'd taken off Kirby.

Tara had caught up to the both of you as she looked to the bodies glancing at her sister and her costume. Her back was turned as a sudden yell rang out Ethan charging towards the Younger Carpenter only to be stopped by Kirby smashing his head with the same TV that killed Stu Macher.

"So we should get the fuck out of here yeah?" Tara and her sister laugh as you all begin to leave. The paramedic beginning to patch everyone up. Your shoulder was being wrapped in a sling when Tara walked up almost in the same situation.

"Guess we're twins, huh?" She laughed softly as you stared. She looked down before glancing at you through her eyelashes. "What did you mean "I already lost you"?"

"We got one more over here!" You both look to see a gurney rolling Chads body to an ambulance near by. You nodded your head towards him.

"Go see your boyfriend." She frowned at you moving reluctantly. Sam next to her as she did so, she had heard some of the conversation between you two.

"Glad you're ok Chad." She smiled placing a comforting hand on his shoulder as he squeezed it. He turned hopeful eyes to Tara who did the same as her sister. Him thinking nothing of it as his sister ran in holding her abdomen.

"GUYS! It's Ethan and he-" she looked around disappointed.

"Are you fucking serious?! I missed everything even the evil villain monologue?" The sister nodded as she looked to her twin. "Oh shit you don't look good are you ok?" They both went into the ambulance.

"So..?" Sam looked to her sister in silence. Tara just stared back.

"So what?" The older sister sighed.

"So where's Y/N?" Mindy laughed at her brother. The ever clueless oaf had no idea that you and Tara had a thing that wasn't a thing but kind of a thing. While Chad and Tara weren't dating it wasn't fun to sit around and watch them act as if they were.

"Probably trying to get over a certain someone by getting under someone else." Sam and Tara both looked to the twin wide eyed.

"What?" She shrugged. Sam shook her head laughing a bit as white hot jealousy flashed through Tara. Was that why you hadn't been around? You were seeing someone?

Chads hand squeezed Tara's shoulder. "You ok?" She told Chad she wanted to move slow, not sure if he was truly over Liv and avoid trauma bonding. She gave him a soft smile nodding as she went to stand up.

"Just need some fresh air." She went out to the bodega near her apartment and found you holding some chips, currently filling a giant cup. She approached slowly unsure of how you'd react.

"Hey." She said softly you turned to her surprised eyes scanning over her to make sure she was ok.

"Hey." You turned back to the counter putting the lid on your cup before grabbing some candy and going to the register.

"How've you been?" You nodded to the smaller girl.

"Good. You?" Inside she was screaming you both hated small talk yet here you were acting as if you were strangers.

"Good." You but the inside of your cheek already regretting your next question,

"And how's Sam? Mindy? Chad?" She nodded as you moved forward placing your items on the counter. The check out behind the counter suddenly very friendly.

"That'll be $5.73." You pulled out six dollars.

"I'm not worried about any change." The curly hair girl behind the counter smiled.

"You're all set then." She handed you the receipt fingers grazing your hand. As you both reached the door she yelled out.

"You forgot something!" Both you and Tara turned confused as she went up to you handing you another piece of paper. "My number."

Pink lips spread into a smile as she looked at you, you felt yourself flush a bit as you thanked the girl. Tara felt her jaw clench as you both left.

"Are you going to call her?" You looked at Tara as she glared down at the sidewalk, amused you chuckled.

"Maybe." She continued to glare at the sidewalk before her face softened when you offered her some candy. She didn't even noticed you'd picked up her favorite, jolly ranchers.

"I guess I'll see you around." You both stopped at the bus stop. She nodded tucking some hair behind her ear. She began her walk back home as you waited for the next bus to come.

Sam called her sister telling her she would be going out with Danny and Chad and Mindy planned on having some time to themselves.

Tara glanced back to Y/N as she hung up the phone. She ran up to the taller girl panting lightly and cursing herself when she realized she left her inhaler.

You looked at Tara unable to stop yourself from smiling as you dig into your pocket and pull out the spare inhaler you keep with you. She took a deep breath before looking at you in question.

"I always keep one on me …just in case. I have one in my pocket and one in my apartment." Big brown eyes stared into yours before grabbing the collar of your shirt and pulling you into a kiss. Your hands automatically finding her waist as hers went around your neck before they slid down and pulled you away from the bench.

Stunned you said nothing until you both passed the bodega again. The cashier from earlier looking with eyes narrowed as Tara dragged you with her.

"Where we going?" The small girl glanced at you smirking.

"My place."

Taglist: @alexkolax

#jenna ortega #jenna ortega x reader #scream #tara carpenter #tara carpenter x reader #scream vi #scream v #tara carpenter imagine

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ladyloveandjustice · 2 years

Text

I just watched Pop Culture Detectives critique as superheroes as reactionary and defending the status quo and villains as disruptors (even when their goals are wrong and authoritarian), and I think it did a fine job summing up the MCU, but I think it would lose something when if you’re doing a conversation outside that specific focus if you don’t acknowledge that there’s very significant times that WASN’T the case in early superhero comics.

For example, several early Superman comics have him actively disrupting society. He wasn’t a friend of the law early on. He destroys an entire “slum” and forces the government to rebuild better housing, and the police come after him for this.

He infiltrates a prison to expose its systemic abuse of prisoners.

He forces war profiteers to experience the terror of war firsthand until they stop.

But as the tweet thread I linked notes, this stops. Modern Superman often states he can’t interfere in wars because humanity has to sort out their own conflicts, that he can’t use his power against systemic issues because what if he becomes the power hungry god imposing his will on humanity? It’s interesting some comics posit that if Superman was more active about social change, he’s become the ‘invader’ Lex Luthor says he is. Especially if you consider Superman’s roots as an immigrant allegory, which makes it come off like he has to avoid being too disruptive or he’ll be labeled a ‘bad immigrant’.

There’s sometimes callbacks to the roots of Superman still, like the issue where he fights that cop probably (I was out of comics by the time that happened) but of course it’s pretty absent from the movies.

It’s also worth noting that Clark Kent is an investigative reporter (often exposing the crimes of billionaire CEO) which is an inherently disruptive job. PCD mentions that heroes do tend to be creative in their civilian identities but says it doesn’t seem to connect much to their superhero selves, but I don’t think you can separate Clark Kent the reporter from his superhero activity, because they’re often closely tied together, I mean he literally took the job so he could get leads as Superman.

Then there’s Wonder Woman, who was definitely a disruptor in her early incarnation. She was absolute here to spread Marston’s idea of feminism and have others follow her. She wanted to make more Amazons. She wanted a society where women had power. She would literally take her female villains and introduce them to the pleasures of femdom and BDSM reform them, convert them to her ideology, get them to join her ranks. The comic was CERTAINLY reactionary in other ways, and Marston’s feminism was flawed, but he wrote the comic explicitly because he was hoping for social disruption, that Wonder Woman would be the building block in the utopia he envisioned.

And there was some of that in SOME modern WW comics when I was into them- I was drawn to Greg Rucka’s Wonder Woman because there was a huge emphasis on the fact she’s an ambassador for her culture, and diplomat actively working to change the world, someone who’s seeking social reform and has an ideology. However, it is true that even those comics were mostly about her reacting to threats in her superhero life. (And then in the movie’s that’s entirely absent- feminism isn’t bought up, she goes into hiding rather than mounting a social justice campaign.)

And then on the Marvel side of things. Cap fighting Hitler actually didn’t reflect the status quo of America when it came out. In-universe it did to a degree, because America had entered the war in the universe of the comic, therefore Cap was doing patriotism, but out of universe America HADN’T entered the war yet and it was controversial to take the stance we were definitely going to and sauy Hitler was bad. We all know the story of nazi-sympathizers coming to harass the creators and Jack Kirby declaring he would fight them. So there’s a very interesting dichotomy there!

Anyway, it’s interesting to see this discussion because it’s definitely a very minor theme in my own book about a girl who becomes a supervillain. Look forward to that, I guess!

#superheroes #dc comics #marvel comics #superman #clark kent #wonder woman #diana of themyscira

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