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naruto-littlespace · 3 years

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Akatsuki Littlespace Headcanons

I could and probably will write more, but I don’t feel like it right now, so here’s this.

Disclaimer 1: Littlespace, in the AU and in real life, is a coping mechanism for everything from everyday stressors to psychological disorders like PTSD. If you sexualize littlespace do not interact with this AU or me, I will block you.

Disclaimer 2: Littlespace in this post is slightly different from in real life, magic-ed up in a similar way to how ninjas are magic-ed up in the Naruto universe. Chakra-using littles actually revert to the size they were when they were their little ages, although they retain any bodily changes since then (little Kakuzu still has stitches, little Deidara would have hand mouths.) The exception of course is Sasori, whose body is manmade and doesn’t change. People also do not necessarily remember their big lives when they slip into littlespace, sometimes becoming confused about where they are and who they’re with. They will sometimes be confused about what time period they’re in as well, believing things to have happened that hadn’t happened yet in their little age but were far in the past in their adult age.

This isn’t how I’m going to treat littlespace w/ Naruto characters all the time on this account btw, it’s just an idea I’ve been playing around with, like the psychological defense of reverting to a childlike state inadvertently triggers a transformation jutsu to match.

Nagato:

Little age pre Yahiko’s death was 6-7, post is 2-4

Started regressing shortly after the formation of the original Akatsuki. She and Yahiko had to do research to figure out why their teenage friend had suddenly turned into a child, but after they learned they took care of him: treated him like a child, bought him kids books from the local thrift shop, tucked him into bed. He called them uncle and auntie.

He would stay in littlespace for a surprisingly long amount of time, for 4-6 hours on days between missions.

After Yahiko’s death he spent many days in a row regressed to age two. Konan scrambled to take care of him and handle her own grieving. After that was over he promised her she wouldn’t have to take care of him again.

Nowadays of course she still takes care of him when he regresses, but he tries to force himself out of it if he begins to.

He still has board books and stuffies, so if he does fully regress he’ll have one of his pein bodies bring them to him.

Being ~3 he doesn’t have the mental capacity to control all the Peins, so they just kind of idle for awhile.

Konan:

Little age is 3-5

Pre modern Akatsuki she didn’t like regressing at all and only did it involuntarily. She would handle it by either walking it off or reading Nagato’s board books by herself.

This continued pretty much until she started becoming friends with Kakuzu, who openly admitted he was a little (he thought she should know, in case it ended up delaying his missions--it was mostly so she would stick up for him to Pein. No, he wasn’t hunting bounties, there’s a perfectly logical explanation--)

So she had a bad day while she and Kakuzu were at the same base and went ‘can you please deal with me for a couple of minutes’ and he was like ‘ofc’ so she sat down in front of him and shrank down to a little girl and started crying. He picked her up and bounced her on his knee until she calmed down. She ended up staying little for a couple of hours because Kakuzu took her out of the office and telling her stories about his childhood while they prepared dinner.

Kisame becomes her caretaker too when the three of them start dating.

Sometimes she starts crying inconsolably about something she won’t talk about other than someone leaving her and something being unfair. Pein showed up during this one time and said he knew what she was talking about and it was none of her cgs’ concern which ofc made them concerned but they haven’t gotten the chance to talk to her about it.

Itachi:

Little age is 2-4 but since her chakra is often very low so she doesn’t always physically become that tiny.

She didn’t regress until after she joined the Akatsuki, but when she did Kisame wasn’t surprised. He reintroduced himself as her babysitter, slipped her a lollipop and took her to a library to pick out some kids books.

Loves to be pampered. Oh god it’s the only time she can relax at all

Wears reading glasses because they can’t get her in to an eye doctor appointment

She’s trans in this au because I say so

Likes playing with weasel and crow toys, esp when her caretaker (usually Kisame, Konan and Kakuzu as well when they’re around) plays the weasel and she’s the crow. She’ll tell stories where they go out to the woods to train or just hang out.

She loves to sit in laps <3

She eats a lot more in littlespace than out so whoever’s feeding her makes lots of food. For her to grow big and strong u know

Kisame:

Little age 0. He is just baby

Being reminded of the bloody mist triggers his littlespace, though he has to be in a bad headspace in the first place. It really does not happen often.

Post Akatsuki the first time he slipped was after he, Kakuzu and Konan started dating. Kakuzu woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of crying and woke Konan up immediately afterwards because holy sh*t there’s a baby in our bed!!

It was Kisame. Kakuzu picked him up and rocked him back to sleep. Konan asked how he was so good with kids and he was like ‘oh I had a baby once.’ She does not ask him to elaborate. Kisame wakes up as an adult the next morning.

They keep a container of powder formula for him if he regresses but won’t get him a pacifier because they’re afraid he’d bite off and choke on the teat. They have bottles but Kakuzu makes the nipples for them out of one of his threads on the spot bc he’d bite through literally everything else with his tiny demon teeth.

Sasori:

Little age is unclear (unlike some of the others, he’s never said it.)

Signs he’s in littlespace: stops talking, stops walking if he can afford it, walks unsteadily and a little bowlegged if he can’t. Stops using ninjutsu and if he’s near a kitchen he might try to eat despite not having a digestive system anymore. Has been known to ask where Granny Chiyo is. The answer is ‘back home.’

Deidara got him a pacifier and a coloring book. He does use them but not when anyone else is watching, not even Deidara.

He is a bit upset when he’s reminded that his body is wooden. He would like to feel things please. But he learns to just enjoy the sensation of squishing a stuffie and his jaw chewing on a paci.

Deidara:

Not actually a little. He just hasn’t gone through sh*t like the rest of the Akatsuki have, and has coping mechanisms for when he is having a bad time.

He caretakes for Konan when her boys aren’t around and for Sasori if he’ll let him.

Hidan told him about littles after Kakuzu regressed in front of him and thought Deidara might need to know because of how much baggage Sasori has (he doesn’t know what it is but he can smell drama)

So he looked out for Sasori becoming a kid and learned instead to look for him not acting like an adult. He walked out of Hiruko and tried to eat in front of him and Deidara had to tell him he couldn’t have a strawberry because it was bad for his health and not because it would probably make his insides mold. It’s weird but Deidara is also weird and he makes it work.

Kakuzu:

Little age is 9-10

Post Akatsuki the first time he regressed was in front of Hidan in the middle of the woods. He didn’t recognize him and immediately tried to run and then beat him up when he chased him. Hidan had to think fast and tell him he was his new neighbor and pretend to be taking him home. The next time he was babysitting.

Sometimes asks where his husband is. The first time Hidan heard this his response was ‘what the f*ck’ and Kakuzu told him that was a bad word.

Enjoyed activities include reading, sparring, and to the surprise of some, hunting. He’s not bad w/ a bow and arrow.

The best way to keep him in/make him feel comfy in littlespace is to make him a meal. U can let him help to the extent that he sets the table or pours the drinks or smth (because he will ask) but take care of the food for him, because he hasn’t had someone else handle that for him in a long time.

Regressing isn’t necessarily a common thing for him to do but he’s one of the only ones whose regression can be triggered by physical pain as well as emotional. He can usually harden his skin to block attacks but if he doesn’t in time he may turn into a ten year old. It actually can surprise an opponent enough for Hidan to be able to take them out.

Hidan:

Not a little either.

Knew about littles bc there was an old man in his village who had ptsd from some long forgotten war and sometimes turned into a six year old.

Caretakes for Kakuzu pretty exclusively, unless Kakuzu is big and taking care of someone else, in which case he’ll help out if he’s feeling nice at the time. Itachi is actually his favorite to take care of because Itachi is a very manageable child.

Obito:

Little age varies wildly from about 1-11. He blocks his physical regression because he regresses Often and doesn’t want to blow his Madara cover.

He has been regressing since p much immediately after he got crushed. Madara was really having none of it and went from patiently waiting for him to become ‘big’ again to pretending it wasn’t happening, forcing Obito back into a uh. ‘’Normal’’’’ headspace

The Tobi act is actually covering his littlespace though when he’s an adult he has no idea how to realistically act like a kid so when he’s actually a kid it’s kind of jarring for all involved

When he’s a baby he just screams. Not really crying in distress but screaming because he can

He’s so eager for attention. Please talk to him! Play toys with him!!! Read a book, eat dango, run around outside, catch bugs, train!!!

Never mentions Kakashi or Rin but sometimes will mention his grandma or Lord Fourth as if he is the current Hokage

#akatsuki #naruto au #sfw littlespace #sfw agere #god this is so half thought out #i had titled this an au at first but then i made it head canons bc it wasn't really an au. and now the chakra parts kind of don't make sense #but i am tired. and starved for attention and ready to be done. so here we are #beas please

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bobcathoneybee · 3 years

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that’s some next level catering to a yt person. reasons will become more clear as we go along for the ride. esp hurtful bc of everything going on in the last year alone. twinkie never rang more true until this year.

one. around xmas 2020:

“whatre you doing for nye”

“oh im going out to a small gathering”

“oh with who?”

“I DONT HAVE TO TELL YOU”

“whoa. okay...”

i was just asking since he NEVER wanted to go out to anything related to NYE in the five years. the reply was always, “YOU can go, i will be at home.” so see how i can be confused? also the spanish/grapes tradition? what happened to never not doing it? “oh last year really sucked so i dont see how doing it will help” cop out.

two. NYE to ring in 2021:

“how does this look?”

“i think you should button it, looks more put together”

little did i know i was helping him dress to impress new girl. that in itself was just rude and so disrespectful to me. if you’re going to see someone new. figure it out yourself.

a few days later he decides to finally tell me bc he knows he’s been acting so damn weird. but i dont think it’s bc he respects me too much (his rationale). i actually think it’s bc he feels guilty, and telling me will make HIM feel better, which was the driving factor for the previous Oct when he was not letting me pay for packing supplies and helping me pack. “it’s time (for me to start dating again)... weren’t you dating someone when you asked me about the boat noodles?” “NO. i was talking to someone and it was ONE date, which conveniently fit in the schedule while on my way home.”

three. a week before my bday:

“how was your weekend? what did you do?”

“oh K and family drove down in an RV so i was at my parents’ house”

“you went over both days?!”

“yeah”

“did you take pics of the RV or with family?”

“no”

in retrospect, i wonder if she was intro’d to the whole family that weekend. esp after seeing the pics from first friends gathering a few weeks later (two down).

sometime this week, he tells me that he’s thinking of taking june 1 off bc he wants to take me out to lunch for my bday. my bday is 5/31. so i’m like huh, cos it’s the day after. it’s the weekend. he doesn’t like to talk to ppl on the weekend.

four. my birthday:

bcb calls me in the morning but i miss it bc i wasn’t up yet. i called back at 230p or so and he doens’t pick up. calls me back around 430p and says he was at a bbq with some friends.

i believe this was when my spidey senses started tingling again. i bit my tongue and didn’t ask during lunch the next day bc it would make for such an awkward ride home. and me thinking oh he spent my actual birthday with new girl. i see.

five. convo from last week:

“whatre you doing this weekend?”

“oh i’m getting together with the guys bc it’s the first time we’re seeing each other since the pandemic started”

“ohh okay tell them i said hi!”

BET HE DID NOT TELL THEM I SAID HI. *side eye

six. social media that night, pics happened to pop up as i was doom-scrolling:

bcb likes to untag himself in things so i duno if R tagged him at all or if it was removed after he received the tag notif so that i wouldn’t see it.

either way, i was hit in both places since it’s posted on more than one platform.

wasn’t sure if they were still dating until i saw the pics. was finally able to put a face to the name. the name bc someone mentioned it to me thinking i knew her first AND last name. how absurd. why would i know this bit of info to begin with? maybe bcb needs to be more clear with what he’s telling his sibling about his dating life and how that relates to how he’s treating me.

seven. thursday, 6/17:

convo #1: in the afternoon -

“hey whatre you doing friday?”

“i’m not sure yet, why?”

“i’m having lunch with a family friend, thinking i could stop by (before my family dinner) since i’ll be in the area.”

“oh i was thinking of going to my parents house but i haven’t decided yet.”

“oh, okay”

convo #2: on my way home from dinner in the city -

“did you decide if you’re going to your parents house tmrw?”

“i’m probably going to hang out with some friends”

“oh okay.”

realized “friends’ is codeword for new girl.

oddities in behavior:

bought a new bike even tho he won’t use the rowing machine he purchased last summer that is LITERALLY sitting in his apt, doesn’t even need to go outside and see ppl. how many more times will he use it? not sure. it depends on how much how big the drive in proving me wrong is for this sort of thing.

watches hockey now. NEVER watched it before nor was he super interested. seems like he picked it up recently so there’s something to talk about if nothing else. (after breaking his NYE tradition)

went to a playoff game on a WEEKDAY. HE NEVER did that. to DRIVE to LI on a weekday for that sort of thing. complained that the tix were exp ($200+ each). and i’m like then why did you get them? “well they’re for the playoffs” “oh i didnt think you even liked hockey” i’m going to guess he paid for it bc someone wanted to go, and a topic they can connect on.

for trips and tickets to things, i usually split down the line and exclude a trip dinner or a few smaller things bc he says he got it and would like to pay for it. not sure yt ppl would offer to pay back in general. it’s an asian thing to offer/not let others always cover no matter how generous we know them to be. it’s to “not take advantage” bc we know better. and it’s considered rude to have someone else pay all the time.

at this point, it’s the emotional part that i’m supplementing (if it’s a missing piece) bc i have no idea if hes ever talked to her in regards to concerns about his life in general or if he’s still putting up some facade and only wants her to see the presentable side.

he didnt do his usual NYE tradition of the grapes this year on top of GOING OUT to something with other ppl present. he would rather invite ppl over to his place and provide entertainment and food instead of ever going out there. that is MAJOR.i cannot even begin to explain how impt doing this is to him. but not doing it and bending over backwards already. he NEVER misses the grape thing during the countdown no matter how “bad” a year may be. it’s like him having to watch it’s a wonderful life before xmas every year. it’s a thing he does NOT miss.

maybe it’s a mid-life crisis thing, like buying the car and then sort of regretting it bc it’s another thing to pay for so therefore has to stay at his job longer. btw, there were weird crumbs in the crevices of the front passenger seat the day after my birthday (when he picked me up), and then the whole actually voluntarily hanging out with ppl for a change. he absolutely hates being around ppl, yet he’ll do it for her. i’m sensing a pattern here for how he treats and changes for yt girl vs me and i didn’t even plan that many outings with my own friends for him to go to, max once every half year for a triple date.

but again, it’s like when we broke up, he removes things he can control when he’s super stressed. job he cannot control so the next thing to remove was me bc he can control that. now he’s finally thinking of leaving current job bc he has a sufficient amount saved. guess who helped him itemize and estimate his sinking and emergency funds? such a clown.

i’m done. i can’t do this anymore. it’s taking a toll on my mental health. all this walking on egg shells all the time when we speak on the phone/FT on every single workday/weekday. what C said about the situation rings true. i hope it happens. <^>

this brings me back to something i posted on my finsta:

“if you have to choose between me and her, choose her. because if you really loved me, there wouldn’t be any other choice.”

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fuck-customers · 4 years

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Happy New Year hope you like Heatstroke

Yeah so. Event Services binch back with a long and harrowing tale. Those two shift days in a row on 30th and 31st were nooooot good for me. This is pretty much a 'Fuck how shitty my boss gets when she's stressed and also just fuck 14 hour shifts in general'.

The 9hrs on Monday turned into 9.5 hours. In 30c+ heat (and just a reminder, Sydney is currently constantly covered in smoke haze, we are always breathing smoke), but a breeze came through early afternoon to save us some. There was 4 of us putting up park signange in prep for the NYE event. I ended up schleping the ladder around a lot, I was the only one on that team that actually does weights so i carried a lot. Not a problem really except the signs and ladder are awkward to carry. Only real issue that day was my dinner was in the fridge all day which... turned out hadn't been working for 2 days (why they hadn't fucking put a sign on it about that I DON'T KNOW). Lots of people's shit got thrown out. My food was only just edible after nuking in the microwave cause i keep it in a thermo lunch bag.

The worst was NYE. 13 hour shift (it actually became a 14 hour shift). Started at 12pm, set to finish at 1am (I finished at 2). The sun was not forgiving, we had way more signage to put up because we had to wait for barriers to be set up before we could add signage to them (like line barriers for rides, entry barriers for VIP areas, that kinda thing). Our instruction sheets were BAD. They had OLD pictures that were tiny so seeing what signs were supposed to go where was hard. There was only three of us, the weather was in the high 30's and I'm sure it hit 40 at one point.

I ate a small brunch at 10 that morning. I did not get a break by 5pm like we were supposed to (park was to open at 6:30). I was yelled at by my boss for all the signage being in the wrong places and wasting cable ties (none of that signage I put up, or signage i put up with someone else's instruction they had gotten from my boss btw, so why i got yelled at idk). I was told to go straight up to my box office shift, I did not realise the box office was located outside with no shade during NYE (there was a marquee but the sun was low and behind us so *shrug* no sun cover).

I had to share a locker because NYE be like that, but the person I was sharing with was a ditz, and she thought I had the key, and she either lost it or didn't look for it properly in her pockets. Either way, I had to frantically run around in 38c trying to find her to get in the locker to change into the long black uniform pants I have to wear for box shift.

By the time i found her, got my pants on, walked all the way out the front and up the stairs and up the hill and down the path to box i was nearly dead. The other girls there told me i could sit cause it wouldn't get busy for a while. So i sat on a bench and then became very aware of how hot i was and how much i was not cooling down and i felt nauseous. And I had had like 2 and a half litres of water at this point, I have a 1ltr bottle so it makes tracking that easy. It just wasn't doing enough.

One of the Guest relations people hanging out up there went 'yeah okay you need first aid' so she got me some hydrolyte and escorted me down once I'd shaken off enough dizziness to walk again. Was in First Aid for half an hour, they got me to drink more hydrolyte and put an ice pack on my neck and gave me a barley sugar lozenge to get my blood sugar up. Then i was finally given my half hour break on their insistence. Got to eat at last. Had to check in with FA before going back to my box shift, and thankfully by then, about 6:30, a wind change came through making the temp drop about 10 degrees.

But I basically spent the time between then and 11:30 recovering ( I was on guest list duty and also did ticket collect, it was pretty quiet tho). At 9:40 my boss called one of the shift leads up at Box to see if they could send me home, and I had to say no. I was scared they'd FORCE me to leave after the heatstroke thing, but i NEED the money, this is my ONLY job, and I'm not even getting the pay for it til two weeks into the new year (it fell into the next pay period and i had no shifts inside the previous pay period).

They apparently were sending several peripheral staff home, I felt like I needed to find extra jobs to do just so they'd let me stay, but also, if i didn't stay past midnight i wouldn't get the public holiday bonus. I NEED THAT TOO. ESPECIALLY after all the work I'd done the day before, it felt like a fucking slap in the face even though i knew it was them trying to make sure I didn't end up getting sick and suing or some shit (As if i have the money to sue). Also I'd miss the Fireworks, which while not my main concern, still a bummer, because my dudes. Sydney Fireworks on NYE with a view from where I work. People pay more money than I currently have just to experience it. Honestly it's part of the payoff for the hell shift.

THANKFULLY my boss went 'ah right okay yeah just stay up there on guest list til the original end of shift'. I also made sure to stick my nose in on the sales end so i could use it as basic box office pre-training, since my boss has already said she wants to train me on box office. Somewhere around 10 I had my second break and wolfed down my food (they had a replacement staff fridge working that day thankfully) which i was glad i brought cause I never got given a staff wristband, brief sheet or token for a provided meal. Because I started before that sign in procedure was even set up for the rest of the staff. And then i went about taking down signage about 11:30, and then I did the running around taking signage down after 12, and like... the area we're in involves some steep hill walks to get to these outside sign placements (I'd put half of them up so it also made sense for me to go take them down).

And that's where MORE fuckery came in, because the shitty instructions didn't tell me where ALL the signs were, so i had to go HUNTING for the ones i HADN'T put up, and i swear either another department took them down and didn't relay that, or they'd been removed by council or something thinking they belonged to council. Either way i was up and down those fucking hills with horribly chaffed thighs, sore legs, sore arms, cut up hands from removing signs with cable ties too tight, and I couldn't find half the fucking signs. but at least I took one of the newbies with me to help look so I had a witness to not being able to find things.

So yeah. I had to go find my supervisor (no idea where boss was, prefer supervisor anyway, she's nicer under stress and poor thing was pulling a 19 hour shift) and let her know I was an hour over my finish time and which signs we hadn't been able to retrieve. She was fine with that, the rest of the people were scheduled for packdown to like 3:30 so she sent me to sign out.

And then i had to just sit for about 45 minutes back of house with some of the others who'd clocked off at 1 and who were waiting for the free leftovers from the VIP areas that came out at 3. I had a tiny tasty cake thing but that was it, then I left at 3 and got home about 4:45. Didn't get to sleep til about 5:30.

And I've spent yesterday and today trying to recover but now Iv'e got weird low-buzz tinnitus in my left ear that started yesterday and hasn't fucked off, several bruises, many muscle aches, and I'm kinda dreading facing my boss again even though she probably doesn't really care much about the signage thing, she just gets really shitty and yelly under stress. But of course I've been gaslit and mistreated in so many of my other jobs that the voice in the back of my head is constantly going 'watch out bitch you might get randomly terminated at any moment!!!' even though i know i probably won't.

I can just never be sure anymore. Can't trust anyone when it comes to work. Can never relax my guard, going to be stressing about it for a long time. I am never agreeing to a shift that long again though. And definitely not doing anymore outdoor setup shifts in Summer.

Honestly hoping this ear buzz shit goes away at some point. In the end for my 23.5 hours of work in 2 days I'll probably maybe get $500 after tax. Maybe. Which will only just be floating my account by the time i get it. Everyone else was talking about having that sweet NYE bonus cash and I'm like ;u; yeah. Sure. haha. Bonus cash. TnT I need a proper fucking career job already i am so tired.

#submissions #cashier problems #fuck retail #server problems #fuck managers #submission

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discotreque · 4 years

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Picard 1.08: Broken Pieces

I'm so tired, y'all. My cat ate one of my hair elastics, because she's an idiot, and she was up all night puking extremely loudly all over the apartment. I have reached the age where I can't just bounce back from a sleepless night with a couple of Red Bulls and sheer force of will, so I'm kinda wrecked.

But I don't think I've ever been so wrecked that I couldn't ramble about Star Trek for a minute, so—shall we?

Spoilers:

We open on Aia, "The Grief World," possibly the most extra name for a planet in all of Star Trek canon.

This flashback is set 14 years ago, and Ramdha is present. But when we met her as one of the disordered Romulan xBs, they said she and her ship were assimilated 16 years ago. Either I'm misremembering or that's an obvious error. Which happens—I'm not mad, just confused.

Speaking of confusion: we see only female Romulans experiencing the Admonition (cool name btw), and Oh mentions a tradition passed down from their "foremothers." Are the Zhat Vash a female-only sect like the Qowat Milat? If so, what's Narek's deal? Or are only women Admonished, and male Zhat Vash agents just have to take their word for it?

None of this actually matters. I told you I was tired.

I really liked the scene with Narissa and Ramdha, mainly because I like Peyton List a lot and she got to show some complexity for a change, but Narissa remains an uncompelling villain to me. Even if she thinks she's working to save trillions of lives, she's indulging in an awful lot of sadism along the way; you get the impression she'd be torturing and murdering people even if she weren't an anti-android crusader.

They told us up front that Rios had a tragic backstory, but wowwwww. Two weeks in a row, this show gets us grieving for a character we've never met—impressive.

Prop watch! The phaser Raffi pulls on Soji looks more like a 21st-century firearm than any weapon we've ever seen on Star Trek, which added some possibly-unintentional heft to the scene. You just don't get the same visceral reaction seeing someone held at dustbuster-point.

The return of Admiral Fucking Bongwater! I worry Oh's going to get her before this is all over, though.

More infinitesimally tiny nitpicking: the JJ Abrams movies introduced the idea that phaser bolts on "stun" are blue, and ones on "kill" are red, and as far as I could tell, the first two seasons of Discovery used the same convention. (Which is a retcon I'm fine with: it makes fight scenes more visually understandable.) We've seen both red and blue phaser fire on Picard, and every confirmed phaser kill has been from a red shot. This episode, we see Seven shoot a bunch of Romulans with blue bolts, but later Narissa says they were killed by phasers. I don't know what to believe anymore!!!

I have literally never been more attracted to Jeri Ryan than in this episode. What a babe.

Every conversation about Data on this show ends up making me weepy. "He loved you" was the heavy hitter line, of course, but Picard saying that he felt as limited in his own emotional capacity as Data also had me reeling.

I totally called the engineering hologram being Scottish. Is it a terribly clever joke? No. Did I know they would be powerless to resist it anyway? Yes. Did I laugh my ass off when it finally came to pass? Absolutely I did.

Moving stars around the galaxy is pretty cool, but I read a novel once where some hyper-advanced aliens were moving stars back in time. Way cooler.

The physical comedy in the scene with Mr. Hospitality the close-talker and Raffi, who has a basic normal sense of personal space, was hilarious.

Rios is a sad boy who listens to sad songs on vinyl records and reads sad philosophy books. So basically he's every guy I knew in my 20's, zing!

Say what you will about the writing on this show, but the acting is almost uniformly phenomenal. I've heard more than one actor say that being on a show with Sir Patrick Stewart makes you instinctively up your acting game, and honestly, I think it shows all over the place, even when P. Stew's not in the actual scene.

All of that last point was basically to say Jeri Ryan is also acting her ass off this episode. I always thought she was a great actor, all the way from her debut on Voyager, but she is taking it to another level here and I cannot look away.

Can't decide who's showing off more in the scene with all the holograms: Santiago Cabrera or director Maja Vrvilo. Standing ovation to them both.

Raffi calls Rios's record player a "Walkman," which is adorable.

I will literally bet money that, had we seen Beautiful Flower (RIP), he would have been played by a relatively makeup-free Brent Spiner. Furthermore, I predict we're going to see another android from that line (i.e. Spiner returning sans the Data makeup) before the end of the season. And if it doesn’t happen and I remember to, I will call myself out.

Agnes is like "I promise I won't kill you," and Soji's just "Like you fucking could."

There was a cute moment on the Ready Room this week when Wil Wheaton mentioned seeing an early cut of this episode without most of the VFX, and Jeri Ryan's immediate reaction was "Oh, so I looked like a total idiot!"

All those Borg being vented into space was rugged as fuck. This show has gone to some lengths to establish individual Borg drones as not only victims, but victims who can potentially be saved. On TNG and Voyager, you cheered when a Borg cube blew up. On this show, when thousands of drones are unceremoniously killed, it feels like the massacre it is.

Everyone who's been whining about the nasty, nasty language on this show is going to have a fucking field day with this episode.

Speaking of f-bombs, I get the feeling Picard should have called Clancy back with the news that her head of security is a Romulan agent. Seems like information she should have, um, ASAP?

When Soji took over La Sirena with zero difficulty I burst out laughing. Like father, like daughter!

I am extremely interested to see what happens next with this Borg cube.

Picard's speech to Rios feels like the thesis of this whole show. I like it.

And fuckin' Narek is still around. Ugh.

Next week is Part 1 of the two-part season finale: "Et in Arcadia Ego." How's that for a title?

#star trek picard #star trek picard spoilers #picard spoilers #amy's episode notes

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darkpoisonouslove · 4 years

Text

Winx Club Season 2 Thoughts (4kids) Part 2

Since my thoughts are a bit scattered with this season and the post was getting long, I decided to separate them in two posts. You can find Part 1 here. This part picks up from 2x14:

- Ugh, pls no. Diaspro. Dammit.

- She’s making laws about fashion? What are this girl’s parents doing and why are they allowing this? She has them as confirmed later on in the episode so why is she making laws when she’s apparently not responsible enough to be given that power?

- Ooh, weather spells. Those look really good. I already said this but I am so happy that we get to see them have classes and learn new magic. It’s really cool and I am so totally here for it!

- Why isn’t Stella going with them?

- I can’t stand Sky’s parents. They are absolutely terrible. And the way Samara shouted at Bloom... jeez, rude! I know you’re a queen, but my god, have some fucking manners, will you? Sky turned out spectacularly considering these two are his parents. (So I might have a theory that he’s adopted.) Probably because they just left him to the servants to look after him which was most certainly his lucky day bc he was raised by good people. I am not even sorry for all this bitching. Erendor and Samara are the fucking worst and you can’t convince me otherwise.

- Also, to keep at this, he was about to introduce his girlfriend to them and they’re just there like “I hope he falls in love with Diaspro again”. Why are you such horrible people and parents?

- Seriously, Bloom? Why would he want to introduce you to his parents if he wanted Diaspro? Ugh, I can’t anymore with this.

- Oooh, nice! I see Bloom and Flora have learned some things in Griselda’s classes. And Brandon didn’t turn into shredded cheese so that was great too.

- Why the sudden change in Diaspro? I mean, not that I mind. She could be such an awesome character if they would just give her a proper arc and character development, and let it stick too. It was just weird. Might have been just Flora’s influence. I would love to believe that. And the fact that Diaspro isn’t heartless and actually listened when the Wrong Righters put things in perspective for her. Btw can we talk about how amazing her design is and how beautiful she is? (Also, Chatta don’t encourage her.)

- Even Sky admitted his parents are terrible. “They’re not usually that nice”? Boy, I feel so sorry for you, Sky.

2x15:

- Damn, I love how Musa defeated Stormy! And those were the runes Palladium taught them about. That’s awesome! I love!

- Wow. That was some makeover there with Stormy.

- Brandon is giving out kisses? And Stella agreed to that? Wow, okay. Stella is feeling very generous today. XD

- Poor Musa! It’s hard when parents are being like that. I get that he is still grieving but damn, that doesn’t mean he should make her cry. And threatening her to withdraw her from Alfea and her friends. That’s just cruel.

- Ahh, some clarity has finally been shed into the princess matter. So she’s unofficially a princess. Okay. I got it now.

- Aww, that dream seemed pretty bad. Poor baby. And that part about “everything in me is music” and her resolve to do what she loves... I’m fucking crying! *sobs* Why is it that Musa and Layla always get the rawest arcs?

- Wow, Codatorta is all black-tie? XD

- Seriously, how did Stella let her go out on stage with that outfit?

- Why do they always have to use their parents against them? I am so mad about this. But awwwwwwwww at the singing part! And look, Riven is hyping people up. And he met her dad. And her dad is okay with her singing. Awwww! (Just so you know, I am still crying.)

- You gotta love the animation mistakes, though. Faragonda started out next to Saladin, then she was a seat away, and then she moved over an entire row. Nice one! Why is no one looking for continuity?

- Aww, Stella and Layla hugging Musa. And then the song with Stella was cute!

2x16:

- I couldn’t find the 4kids version of 2x16 (meaning I couldn’t be bothered to look for it more extensively because it was late and, of course, I will watch the creepiest episode right before going to bed) so I watched the RAI dub and I won’t be going into any detail here. This is pretty much the one episode that has been sealed into my brain ever since I was little. I always loved it because it was so nicely creepy (though, I am not sure how exactly I handled it when I was a child (I’m not exactly big on horror if you haven’t grasped it already since the episode isn’t really that scary but I still find the part with the “three sisters” kinda scary with the way they talk and Winx being cornered by them)). I liked the way the legend was built and that with the mirrors cracking was actually kinda cool. Also, I love the moment everyone starts fawning over Winx’s “costumes” and Mitzi can’t get any attention. And yeah, good lesson that the way you read the signs may not be true to what they’re actually pointing to.

2x17:

- (I already talked quite a bit for 2x17 and 2x18 last year when I rewatched them so I will not go into that much detail about them either... Or will I?)

- And even despite that, I absolutely can’t not mention that scene with Griffin and Faragonda in the beginning of 2x17 bc it is so goddamn dramatic and extra and Griffin just teleported to Alfea to make a 20-second scene (I counted them because, yes, I am that obsessed with this scene) and then disappeared again. I love!

- Lol, Ediltrude and Zarathustra, I can’t. They are so obviously sisters. I don’t get it, though. If Cloud Tower doesn’t take well to intruders, why did it let the Trix take over it and was kinda helping them even before they started sending energy in its veins? Is it because they’re witches and studied there so it doesn’t consider them intruders? Also, I love how the thing about Cloud Tower being a living organism has never come up before nor did it ever again.

- Aww, poor Mirta. But hey, she and Lucy finally fixed that friendship. That was actually kinda cute. I liked it. Lucy didn’t have to be such a bitch even if she was feeling betrayed but I actually get it so... All is well when it ends well, right?

- Stormy really doesn’t know how to manage her emotions, does she? Someone get her some therapy, please. She’s going to explode if she keeps bottling everything up.

- Aww, poor Lucy. The way Stormy blasted her. I feel really bad for her. And she was so scared (rightfully so). Somebody help her. (and get her therapy too)

- I am not really a fan of the catfight spell idea. I think they could’ve just let Winx disagree simply because they disagreed. They are friends but they can have different opinions. They don’t have to be under a spell to have a reason to argue.

- Oh, so Griffin can sense there’s someone at her door but she can’t fucking tell when some other shit is happening at her school. Makes total sense.

- Poor Lucy, though. She was so scared.

- What the heck was Stella doing anyway? She was just sitting around without doing shit. Was that the genius plan, hon?

- Okay, why did Bloom decide she could handle the Trix on her own when all of Winx couldn’t really beat them together?

- Yeah, Griffin can put a spell that the Trix can’t get through around the Heart of Cloud Tower but she can’t send her own energy into its veins to make Cloud Tower itself kick them out. Makes perfect sense.

- Layla and Musa actually teaming up with the witches was really cool. And they would’ve won too if the Trix didn’t get the statues to fight for them. (I actually liked the witch lounge btw.)

- Seriously, look at the Trix’s powers. How do Winx keep getting away from them? Darcy can legit blind people with that optical darkness spell. How have they not won with ease yet? But yeah, why destroy her immediately when we can wait for her friends to show up and save her? Sounds good.

2x18:

- “Is that Miss Griffin?” Can’t you see? Of course, it is.

- I gotta say that at least she was smart enough not to put the Codex with the Heart. Because as we saw, that was way too easy to figure out

.- “Forget about them” Yeah, so they can try and kill you. Nice one, Flora!

- Why is Stella so bitchy in these episodes? What is the problem, Stella? Why can’t you just chill? Aaaand... Now they’re trapped. Great!

- Can we talk about the fact that Griffin’s plan saved all their lives? So yeah, “wicked”. Right. Never mind they would’ve died otherwise. Although, why the hell didn’t she take the other teachers with her? Surely that would’ve made getting control of the tower back easier. Why doesn’t anyone do anything smart dammit?

- So Darcy can make herself look like Griffin but she can’t make herself sound like Griffin? Is that it? That’s what I’m getting from this scene because she didn’t try to talk to Lucy and Mirta.

- “We’re in the classroom that belongs to that weird witch teacher.” Which one? I think they all fall under that category so you’re going to have to be a bit more specific.

.- Poor witches. Getting eaten by their own school. I hope Griffin will get them some therapy after that.

- Oh yeah, now the Trix are stronger. Even though they were losing against Layla and Musa in the previous episode.

- How will going back to their dorm rooms help when the entire tower is going insane? This doesn’t make any sense.

- Oh, look! Just a simple deduction was all it took to figure out the location of the Codex. Easy peasy, right?

- Yeah, let’s do convergence when we don’t fucking know what we’re trying to do. Nice one, you guys! Also, poor Discorda. But why does Cloud Tower have a pixie? This is so weird. Though, kinda good I guess since they’d been trying to make out the witches all evil and having a pixie there is a step in the right direction.

2x19:

- Yeah, just keep blasting without focusing your energy. ‘Cause that’s totally effective. Also, ugh, why Avalon again?

- Aww, Bloom saw Marion and Oritel. And of course she doesn’t remember the dark force in her dream. It would’ve been so easy.

- Why the hell would Bloom listen to Locket, you know? (I mean, she had a point about Locket trying to look into people’s hearts but still.)

- Poor Timmy. He doesn’t know what to do and now that. At least he’s not mad at Bloom. (In all fairness, it wasn’t her fault.)

- And that makeover didn’t do much good. But of course not, when Avalon lied to them about what they should do.

- Bloom, I know you’re not yourself, but for the love of everything sacred, stop destroying the books! This is hurting me!

- Damn, she got shrunk. And is still causing trouble.

- Oh, that chase in the pages of the book was actually kinda cool.

- I think Winx should have just put their everything into stopping her earlier. i know they didn’t want to fight her but it was obvious they wouldn’t be able to get through to her and that she was spelled big time.

- That with the pixie kiss was kinda weird but cute. And yeah, sure, Bloom is grateful to Locket for sticking with her but still won’t listen to her about Avalon. Will it kill you to be a little more mindful of the man?

2x20:

- Okay, that vacation idea was so random. Although it looks like it was necessary. They just didn’t stop fighting.

- Yeah, sure the boys can’t socialize. Who is even watching to make sure that they won’t? Please.

- Ugh, Avalon, the absolute bitch. Of course he’s pretending to be poisoned.

- Aww, that Riven and Sky friendship moment was really cute. And Sky lying to him about Musa but then hitting the actual tree Riven was warning him about. XD And Layla beat them both, lol.

- Palladium blushing like that at Avalon. Hmm... I wonder what he needed that love potion for. I hope he knows that that isn’t exactly ethical.

- Okay, so how the hell did they have time to sew their suits together? That just doesn’t make sense but okay. At least they stopped fighting.

- And of course, why the hell would anyone tell them that such a thing as Charmix exists? That is totally not relevant. Not to mention that they should’ve gotten it earlier. Bloom should have gotten hers back in season 1 when she learned who she was and accepted it and Musa should have gotten her at the concert in Red Fountain. But of course, that only appears now. I mean, makes total sense.

2x21:

- Yeah, it’s a realm free of magic but because your Gloomix multiplies your magic, you’ll still have some. That’s just... not how it works. If it’s a realm free of magic, there shouldn’t be any magic. Otherwise, it simply is a realm that consumes your powers but if you can find a way to keep them above a certain level, you can still have them.

- Okay, but if I was Layla, I would feel bad about Stella feeling bad but I wouldn’t blame myself. She couldn’t have known. It’s not that she’s bad at friendship. But hey, at least Stella told her how she feels and she got her Charmix.

- Okay, yeah, Darcy has the power of mindcontrol but they still haven’t won. Yeah, makes perfect sense.

- Aww, it was sweet of Brandon to talk to Musa about Riven. And she told him how she felt and got her own Charmix. That was cute.

- “My lips kinda hurt.” Smooth one, Brandon.

- And they’re at the edge of a cliff now. Damn what a (literal) cliffhanger of an ending.

- Oh, no. Poor Layla just fell off the cliff like that. And now she can’t climb back.

2x22:

- Well, at least the Charmix reloads itself quickly. Even if it also gets exhausted quickly.

- Aww, Layla also got her Charmix. That was actually a very heartfelt moment. It almost made me cry.

- And Tecna finally admitted her feelings for Timmy. Now if only Flora can do the same with Helia.

2x23:

- Aww, the pixies are sick. Poor babies.

- Real Avalon at last. Fucking finally. Also, that spell was super freaky but it’s got me thinking about what you’d have to do to perform it... And now I’m getting ideas here.

- Oh, they’re getting special training for the Charmix now? Never mind that they weren’t even told that thing existed. Makes so much sense. (I don’t know why I’m surprised anymore.)

- I know Faragonda was trying to encourage Flora but it felt more like she was scolding her and was being disappointed by her tbh.

- Awww, Griselda said she’s proud of Flora! That is so cute! Also, I love how even Griselda can see that Helia is so into Flora but Flora herself can’t.

- Oh, pixies are born from the flower of life? That’s... kind of weird but okay.

- Flora finally told him! Great! I can’t help it at the moment when she yelled after him and then was like “Opps, he heard me. What do I do now?” XD And she also got her Charmix. That’s gotta be one of the best days for her.

- You mean Faragonda never asked to see the letter she sent to Avalon even though she is well aware Darkar is out there and is doing literally everything to get his hands on the Codex? My god, what epic dumbassery, I can’t. Seriously, they could’ve just handed him the Codex, it wouldn’t have been much worse than what they’re doing now.

- What does he want? Gee, I don’t know. The Trix were after Bloom and Avalon’s been preying on Bloom since the very beginning (and they even figured out he was the one who turned her evil) but what the hell could he want? Beats the hell out of me. At least Tecna finally put it together. And, of course, it is too late.

- Poor Stella, running around with that glass of water like that.

2x24:

- Aww, the pixies want to go too. That’s... probably not the best idea but it’s not like they can do anything about it.

- Poor Brandon! I think Sky would be scared, too, if he’d been through what happened to Brandon. (Not that he wasn’t already. XD)

- Tecna a few episodes ago: “Just because I come from a technology-based realm doesn’t mean that I don’t have emotions.” Tecna in this ep: “Consider me your new computer.” Amazing.

- Aww, that dragon was kinda cool. Too bad it tried to kill them.

- Oh, look! Flora’s got this! Nice! And we saw her Charmix.

- Brandon probably shouldn’t have said that about Sponses (did I even get his name right?) But they were in luck there with Sky’s attack taking out both Amentia and the guard.

- Okay, Stella’s plan wasn’t completely solid but they still pulled off that emergency take-off so... that’s okay.

- And Bloom is dark now. He just literally sent darkness into her heart, wtf.

2x25:

- Oh, damn! The Trix really upgraded these monsters. But now they’re drained, I kinda feel bad for them. I know they’re evil but dammit, they worked for their rewards and they aren’t going to get anything because Darkar is like that. Why is he so obsessed with Bloom? This is getting creepy again.

- Awww, Riven is being so supportive and such a team player! I love this! Can we let this fucking stick goddammit?!

- Oh, damn! Helia absolutely pulled off that rescue! Nice!

- Awwwwww, Griselda being there like “Our kids” is literally the most adorable thing ever! I love. And thank fucking god Faragonda finally decided to go help. It was about damn time. (Especially considering the stupidity with Avalon. (I am still not over that.))

- Hey, the convergence is working this time! Cool!

- Aww, Saladin can’t go with them bc of health issues. :/ (Though, pretty convenient that they had to take Codatorta considering what happened later on.)

- That goodbye was so cute! Brandon with that cheesy line! XD And Helia and Flora’s first kiss! But hey, what do you mean Tecna and Timmy don’t get a kiss? I know they already kissed once but give them a proper goodbye at least. And I am absolutely ready to cry over Riven and Musa!!!! He finally admitted his feelings! And that hug! I also liked the Layla and Sky moment, however short it was.

- Damn, Kerborg is... That thing. I liked him more as a... bat (thingy?). And they are in trouble but at least the teachers showed up on time this time. (kind of)

2x26:

- Yeah, “completely under control”, sure.

- “The ultimate power couple”? Um... Ew?!

- And they’re splitting up. But eh, it all works out so... good for them.

- I gotta admit I am not a fan of that thing with the colors that Stella did. It felt like she couldn’t be useful for anything else so they just shoved that in there. Nice one, you guys. Also, what do you mean that they don’t have straight As? After the shit they go through, how can anyone write them any mark different than A tbh? I mean, they saved the universe. What more do you want from them?

- The boys are catching up with them, too. Nice.

- “His confidence is bigger than his abilities,” Well, yeah, you’re not wrong there. XD Also, aww, damn! :/ They just killed Kerborg. So sad! (Alexa play Despacito.)

- Oh, damn! That Trix convergence is... creepy. But kinda cool. I like it.

- Riven sacrificed himself for Musa! (Could’ve just pushed her out of the way but anyway.)

- And Sky dropped the L word. And it had the desired effect. His speech was actually rather cute. I liked that part about him feeling the goodness of her heart when she healed him back in Red Fountain.

- Griffin and Faragonda’s shield is holding up well. Their convergence is also super powerful.

- Speaking of convergence, that was some amazing sync between Winx. And they wiped him off the face of the universe. I love how nobody is talking about the fact that they just killed a guy. Granted a very possessed guy, but still.

- Aww, Faragonda and Griffin toasting together was so cute. “Griffy”. I can’t. XD Same for Codatorta and Knut arm wrestling.

- I am so happy for Layla and that she finally has friends. Also, look at her being all matchmaker with Riven and Musa. Aww, and Piff said her first word!

- Tecna and Timmy and Helia and Flora were so cute! And of course we can’t forget about Stella and Brandon who are the king and queen of cheesy romance. XD (I love them! They are so made for each other.)

- Aww, Bloom gave Kiko little wings! That was so adorable. Also, good to see him again. And I do believe that was her first kiss with Sky (honestly, I don’t pay much attention to them). But they just had to hijack the photo like that.

This season was definitely better than I expected. Did it have a shitton of stuff that didn’t make sense? Well, yes. But was it engaging? Mostly. I would’ve loved it more if Avalon and Darker weren’t pissing me off so much but there was some solid action and heartfelt moments. Also, Layla is really cool and I’m glad they decided to include her and that she found her place in the group. I don’t really love the Charmix as much as I used to when I was little but damn if the Gloomix doesn’t still rock hard! And you gotta love the actual classes we got to see! So I actually liked this quite a lot.

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bigbookofrescues · 4 years

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MAN. SO. I wrote a twitter thread like handful of days ago and been chatting a bit about TAG’s future a bit... just yesterday even and I can’t get over the irony the very next day then TAGHQ dropped that tweet. XDDD

Anyhoo, this is edited a bit from my initial string of tweets cause I discovered a few other things of note. XD Apologies it’s SUPER long. lol

SO. TAG's end seems to be approaching... right? OR IS IT? I've seen talk of it being cancelled, but uh... how can something be cancelled that we never had indication would go past 3 seasons? It's just not had (so far) more commissioned. lol

Unless someone's read/heard something (that’s credible!) that I haven't, that's been as far as we knew it was going so far. Series DO end, and given TAG is expensive and time consuming to make (going model/cgi hybrid def made their lives so much harder lol) it wouldn't be surprising at all to me.

There’s also some thought that it’s not continuing due to some amount of failure. But there's no evidence it's failed? It has sold to networks all over the world. ITV bragged the first chunk of S3 eps reached 1.4m people and was #1 kid show across their networks. The second chunk of eps increased to 2.2m! (These all coming from Toy World Magazine UK.) Three different networks bought the show here in Canada even! So the idea it’s failed seems like a stretch to me

So like. Yeah. If this is the end... fair enough imho. lol BUT. No one has really said THIS IS IT. That's what's strange even...

There's a cage-y-ness surrounding it. Everyone has spoken of the end of season 3, but really no one's claimed it to be absolute THE END of the show. In fact, ITV's behavior towards S3 has been downright strange imho.

In 2018, Season 3 started kinda surprisingly soon after the end of S2. Then it suddenly stopped before the mid-way point. It was bizarre at first until an article was uncovered, where a small reference to a new toy deal came to light. Then it did make sense. (Though bit strange new toys being made towards possibly the end of the show, but okay... ...Which is now even STRANGER since found out there’s even MORE toys coming.)

Fast forward to London toy fair, and reps of the toys were saying first the 'property would return in June' and that the final 9 eps had been held back for the toy launch... which was meant to be in the fall. It was a bit confusing until TAG returned even sooner with 9 more eps in May.

So then it seemed like, OKAY, so last 8 will be in Fall with the toy launch. Which would make sense. The toys... the show... before Christmas... sell ALL the toys. Right? ...Wrong apparently. This is where it starts getting kinda really weird. They claim it's scheduling etc.

But why the heck would you not want the series on (Least a couple eps even?) with your new toyline that you'd want to have sell truckloads of for Christmas??? Why the delay into the new year? Which I even questioned would actually happen in January... but now it seems it IS in fact gonna be back in January.

So. WHY? I have 0 knowledge of TV toys selling, so undoubtedly I could be entirely wrong, but my gosh, in terms of common sense? This utterly baffles me. And THEN we now know in Q1 MORE toys are even about to be released. More toys. During or just after the show, allegedly, ends? What???

What exactly is ITV's game plan here??? So that aside, some other small things I've noticed...

A lot thought that interview with both David's had David Graham confirming TAG's end... but uh... pretty sure he was saying they'd wrapped recording the voices for S3 given the Q asked. (Which of course, was done a REALLY long time ago for them when came to the second part of S3. lol)

Then digging a bit cause the Wiki was still reporting Graham said no more eps were being made, apparently a written interview with him was where he was quoted as saying that, but it was rather swiftly edited. No cap exists, unfortunately, to show so. Question is was it David being mistaken or was it an misquote by the site? (Goodness knows these things happen... Many of us older fans I’m sure recall the tiny blurb interview where Kayo’s VA suggested it was JOHN, rather than Alan, who had a thing for Kayo. It was either a slip by Kayo’s VA or a mistake by the article writer. lol) I think it says a lot that, if that DID really happen, it was DELETED rather than it being said.

Then there's an interview with the Fosters at a music event which they seemed to talk a little kinda endish... BUT when asked just after the recording for the finale of S3 if... It was THE END, the end and the reply was 'Certainly not!' and date wise, pretty sure that was after the interview at the music event was recorded. BUT then this was said over a year ago now, so who knows now.

Also in a People interview with Lee Majors he was kinda joking around but said, "If they go for a fourth season, which I hope they do, then maybe my part will have worked,” Majors jokes. “You’ll see how good I was if they don’t get picked up!”

Yeah, a 4th season didn��t seem to be happening when he was interviewed... but also making it apparent there was, at the time, some unknown-ness to TAG's future.

AND THEN there’s the plans for that theme park in Kent that they said they’d have "rides and attractions themed around ITV's Thunderbirds Are Go, and Robozuna" The later is still a fairly new show... but... TAG? It's def TAG they're wanting to use. That's AGAIN super interesting for a show that might be on the cusp of being done and would long be just in reruns by the time this park comes into being? Maybe it's not that weird at all. IDK. (Be awesome if happens!) But my common sense-a-meter is just all... *squints at ITV*

Tl;dr TAG might be over and imho it'll be understandable and doubt any failure. (Like. BTW. Richard Taylor compared making a season of TAG to making 6-7 Coraline's in a row in a year. If that's accurate... W O W. That's nuts, guys.) BUT... I've not seen commit to that's it. DONE.

Which is why my only speculation I'm really trying to present here at all is that I believe there might be some limbo going on... or least there has been. It might well be past tense at this point. There's just so many strange signals around. lol But generally towards the end of a show you see a huge loss of motivation, but we’ve been only seeing more build UP about it.

Ultimately, we’ll have to see what happens. TAGHQ is being SO specific that it is the ‘conclusion of season 3′ and well, I just posted on my main about ‘The Final Countdown’. (But if someone reading this didn’t see that... go google: final countdown europe lyrics XD I’m 99.9% sure it’s gonna be a reference to in-show happenings... not the show’s future. XD)

SO YEAH. These have been my observations. (OH and if anyone wants sources to what I've referenced, I'll be happy to provide. :|b )

#Thunderbirds Are Go #~Thunderbirds Are Go #(Observations and Speculation)#(and a whole lot of ITV what are you doing???)#(Sorry so long XD)#(There's been a lot to cover!)#(ITV's been doing a lotta things relating to TAG)#(A lotta kinda STRANGE things even)#(Things that make me squint at them lol)

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joonbug22 · 5 years

Text

Midspring Night’s Dream (Enemies to Lovers!J Hope AU)

Pairing: Plus Sized Female Reader x J Hope

Word Count: 4,508

Genre: Angst a tiny bit of smut

Warning(s): mature language, fat shaming, smut in the second part

A/N: after a year of attempting to write this, I’ve finally gotten something post worthy. it’s longer than I’ve anticipated so I will break it into 2 parts. enjoy! btw this was written for my sister @carissalovespandas and written in her image.

Part: 1 / 2

“Did you really think you could pull that off at your size?”

You could still hear Hoseok’s voice ringing in your ears as you laid out on your bed, sobbing. It wasn’t uncommon for him to say little sideways comments like that when you hung out with the boys. You usually shrugged them off or fired one right back at him, but today you just couldn’t handle it.

Today was a beach day, a late celebration of Yoongi’s birthday after a cold winter and too much time spent working for all of you. So you all decided to pile up in the van and head off towards the coast for what was supposed to be a fun-filled day. When Seokjin pulled up to your street to pick you up you were a grinning mess, beach bag in hand, excited to spend some time with your boys. It had been a while since you’ve all been together and you couldn’t wait to start the day, having barely gotten any sleep the night before. From the curb, you could count out six of the seven men waving at you excitedly, waiting for you to hop inside the vehicle. The last wore a scowl on his face, his smile having disappeared as soon as you made eye contact. Still, you chose to remain happy, wanting to make the best of the day as you climbed into the very last row in the car. You found yourself in the back seat between a giggly Jimin and a sleepy Jungkook.

“Happy Birthday Yoongs!” you beamed from the back of the van. You could see the birthday boy’s gummy grin from his passenger mirror. Jin had let him sit in the front seat since it was his day. Before Yoongi could even reply a ‘thank you,’ Hoseok had to open his big ass mouth.

“Someone remind me again why she’s here.” he didn't even bother to look back while he spoke, which infuriated you.

“I'm here because I'm the sunshine of the group,” you reached forward and gently smacked the back of his crimson colored head. Jimin covered his mouth with both of his hands, stifling a laugh.

“Watch the hair brat,” he finally turned to face you for the first time in the whole car ride. His face was contorted into some nasty look and you had to admit he looked hot when he was mad. Especially when his anger was aimed towards you, which was basically every time y'all were together. You didn't know whether you wanted to smack the look right off his face or kiss it off, probably both. Okay, you had to admit the slightest crush on Hoseok since you met the boys your freshman year of high school. Jimin was in pretty much all of your classes and the two of you soon became besties. After introducing you to the rest of the group, you were soon adopted into the pack, having been inseparable since graduation. All of the boys knew about your crush on Hoseok except for the man himself. And you honestly never planned on confessing, long as he kept that attitude on him.

It's crazy to think that you could've fallen for such an asshole, but it was really the way that other people talked about him that got you. It was the way he acted when he thought no one was watching that got you. You remember staying late nights at school, just to steal glimpses of him dancing in the school’s studio. The way his body moved was absolutely mind-blowing. He was always so graceful, but strong. It made you wonder if he was even human or some immortal sent to this earth to taunt you with something that you wanted so badly, but couldn’t have. So there you were, stuck on this idiot who seemed to be an angel to everyone besides you. You had to get out of your thoughts. What was he saying?

“There's only one sunshine in this group,” he gave you a slow, agonizing once over as he spoke, “and that spot’s already taken by yours truly.” You could feel yourself becoming self-conscious under his stare and began to pull at your white cover-up, pulling at the thin material in an attempt to hide your cleavage. If you hadn’t known any better, you’d think he was checking you out. You wouldn’t be able to blame him though. You were pretty thick and well endowed. If you were him, you’d be checking yourself out too. Either that, or he was silently judging.

“Honey, if it's that important to you, you can be the sun. There are tons of stars that are much bigger and hotter than the sun.” You scoffed while wrapping your straightened hair into a messy top knot.

“Hotter? I'm not so sure about that one,” he turned back around in his seat, now facing the road. You could still hear him mumble under his breath. “But bigger? Yeah, much bigger.” Definitely silently judging.

You were pretty sure everyone in the car could hear him and it fell silent except for the light buzzing of the broken radio. You had nothing to say back. You were bigger than him, than all of them. As if he could read your thoughts, Jimin grabbed hold of your hand.

“Hey don't listen to him,” your best friend whispered into your ear. You could feel Hoseok staring at you from the corner of his eye, not sincere enough to look at you directly. “He's just upset because we couldn’t go to the beach for his birthday. It was way too cold.” You found yourself going from chuckling to full-on, genuinely laughing. “C’mere,” Jimin pulled you closer, wrapping you into his chest, and you dozed off just like that for the car ride. --- You woke up to a smiling Jimin, shaking you awake.

“C’mon!" He pulled you across the empty back seat. “Everyones at the beach already, let’s go!” he extended the last syllable, the smile on his cheeks reaching his eyes.

“Okay Chim!” you followed him out of the van and onto the pavement. The sun making its home on your skin. The two of your stretched your limbs after being left in the car for God knows how long

“I'll race you to the water,” you arched an eyebrow at your bestie who was currently bent in half, feeling the light burn in his hamstrings.

“You can't even swim. Why-” and before he could even finish his sentence, you were halfway to the ocean, sand flying up behind your feet at you ran. “Hey that's not fair,” the giggling man chased after you, treading sand with ease that he caught up to you right before your toes could touch the salt water.

“What are you doing?” you yelled as two arms wrapped tightly around your waist, hindering you from winning the race. “You're cheating,” you flailed your body wildly.

“I'm saving you from drowning,” Jimin beamed from behind you, not letting up on his grip. “Plus I'm also saving your hair from getting wet. It looks so pretty like this, and I know it took so long for you to get it like this.” He reached up to squeeze the top knot atop your head.

“Hey, hands off the hair,” you swatted at his wrist.

“I swear, sometimes you're just like Hoseok hyung.” you found yourself snapping to face him in utter shock.

“I can't believe you would even compare me to that mouse.” You smacked your best friend’s abs with the back of your hand.

“Please, if I'm a mouse, then you're totally a rat.” you hear Hoseok speak up from behind Jimin. He had removed the white t-shirt he dawned earlier as he casually walked towards the water, pushing the sunglasses he wore off of his perfectly sloped nose and onto his head. The small gesture almost had you drooling as the sunglasses pushed back his bangs, revealing his forehead, one of your many weaknesses for the man. You said nothing, eyes following him as he proceeded to enter the ocean. Refractions of the sun bounced off the water and displayed across his toned, tanned back.

“Whatever, I’m going to get some sun,” you feigned being angry and stomped off toward the giant blanket that the rest of the boys had set up before your legs completely turned to jelly.

---

Maybe after half an hour of reading your favorite poetry book under the shade of the big rainbow umbrella that Taehyung brought, you found a bouncing, wet Jungkook approaching you.

“What’s up Kook?” you lowered your book into your lap.

“It’s just…” He looked down at his feet as he spoke. “The guys and I were gonna go deeper into the ocean, and you haven’t gotten into the water all day, and I just wanted to know if you wanted to come play with us.”

“Well, Jungkook, you know I can’t swim, right? I’d rather not drown today.” You laughed out loud. His gesture was sweet and it was cute that no matter how long you’d known the boys, Jungkook, the youngest, always got shy talking to you alone.

“I know- I know you can’t swim,” he finally managed to make eye contact with you. “That’s why I was going to offer you to ride on my back, but that’s only if you want to.”

“Kookie, I don’t know if you knew this but I’m-”

“Noona, I’ve been getting really strong.” He interrupted you before you could bring up your weight.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it.” You only half-believed him. “But I’ve gotten stronger too. I’ve really been focusing on muscle, and we all know muscle weighs more than fat, and I don’t want to be responsible if you hurt your back or can’t swim with us both because I weigh us down and the both of us drown.”

“Noona,” the boy’s prominent front teeth appeared in a smile. Somehow he found your nervous rambling amusing. “I can carry you. If I can throw Jimin over my shoulder and carry him that way, I most definitely can give you a simple piggy-back ride. Trust me.”

“Okay bunny boy, let’s do it,” You set your book aside and peeled off your cover-up as well as the jean shorts you wore to reveal a white bikini bathing suit. This was the first you’d worn a two-piece bathing suit in front of the guys. Through getting more fit, you didn't really notice a physical difference, but just having more physical power gave you a new found confidence to wear the item. Well, that and some persuading from your best friend. Jimin had convinced you that Hoseok loved seeing girls in all white, but you wouldn’t admit that was half the reason you wore the revealing suit.

“You're actually going to trust me?” the younger man blinked in disbelief.

“Well, no,” you gestured for him to turn around and squat down low. “But if I'm going to prove you wrong, I'd rather it be here on dry land than in the water.” You mounted your friend’s back, wrapping your arms around his broad shoulders. You almost crapped your pants when you were lifted until your toes were no longer on the sandy floor, and you instantly locked your thighs against Jungkook's waist.

“See, I told you I was strong noona,” the man set off toward the water once you were secure on his back.

“Holy shit Kookie,” you nearly shouted into his ear. “When did this happen? Like, I knew you worked out, but I never expected this much from you.”

“Hm…” he thought, “maybe this past winter?” You two finally reached the part of the ocean the rest of your friends were currently in. Your smile hurt your face, hearing them scream your name like excited children.

“Thank you for finally joining us on the wet side,” Namjoon’s dimples poked through his cheeks as he grinned a closed mouth grin.

“You're just in time for the most intense chicken fight of the century,” Yoongi announced, arms spread wide as if it were sort of live show in Vegas. “In this corner,” the birthday pointed to his left, “we have the Kim Team.”

You did your best the applaud at Taehyung boarding Seokjin’s back without slipping off of Jungkook’s. Though he had a solid grip on you, you could never be too safe.

“And in this corner, I give you the JJ Team!” Yoongi pointed to his right where Hoseok climbed atop Jimin.

“Wait, why are they called JJ?” you interrupted.

“Because,” Hoseok’s face displayed pure annoyance, “my dance name is J-Hope.”

“Ha!” you let out a huge guffaw, “and who named you that? Because you don't seem to give anyone hope, Jung. Maybe you should’ve named yourself ‘J-Horse’ instead because of your horse face.” The rest of the group roared with laughter. It was a long-running joke among your friend group that Hoseok looked like a horse, though you didn't quite see it. You always thought his features more resembled a Roman sculpture, carved from marble. You dreamed of just being able to run your fingertips along the bridge of his nose or brush against his heart-shaped lips.

“Okay,” the short-tempered man jumped off of Jimin’s back and sauntered towards where Jungkook stood with you on his back. You swallowed hard. “If I’m ‘J-Horse’, then you're Miss Piggy because, well,” he looked you over once more, “you know.” "I-," you couldn't form any more than that. "I-"

"By the way, who told you told you to wear a bikini?" A smirk formed in the corner of his mouth. "Did you really think you could pull that off at your size?"

You could feel your stomach drop and suddenly you didn't want to be there anymore. “Kook please take me back to the shore,” you said under your breath. Without a second thought, Jungkook carried you back, ensuring your safe landing onto the sand. As soon as you were grounded, you found your legs were taking off in a sprint before could think. You only stopped to grab your cover-up and denim shorts, putting them on before racing off of the beach. You could feel seven pairs of eyes glued to your back as you sprinted. You could hear Namjoon calling out to you, but you didn’t dare look back. You ran and ran until your legs nearly gave out, until your lungs stung and you could do no more than bring your hands to your knees to catch your breath. Then, when you were out of earshot and could no longer hear the cars along the road, you finally let yourself cry.

~~~

“Seok, you really took it too far this time,” Namjoon shook his head, watching your form disappear into the distance.

“What are you talking about?” Hoseok scoffed, making his way out of the ocean and onto the sand.

“Well,” Namjoon followed his friend but stopped himself from speaking the rest of his sentence.

“Hyung,” Taehyung spoke up, following the older boys. “You kinda ruined Yoongi Hyung’s birthday party.”

“I was just joking with her, same as usual, I don't know why she’s acting so damn sensitive today,” Hoseok’s smile faded when he realized none of his friends were laughing along with him.

“People can only take so much Hyung, and you're always taking it too far with her,” Jimin clenched his fists as he pushed past Hoseok, nearly knocking him over. “It’s not like you deserve to know or anything the way you treated her just now,” he looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with the scarlet-haired boy. “But that girl is fucking in love with you dude.”

~~~

You straightened up from your crouched position, wiping the tears from your face when you heard an oncoming car. You could hear the motor slow as it began to align with the pace of your walking. Goosebumps rose on your arms. You refused to make eye contact with whoever was following you for fear it’d give them a reason to talk to you.

“Need a ride, pretty lady?” you heard a familiar voice shout from the driver’s side, followed by a squeaky laugh.

“Seokjin, thank god it's you.” you sighed in relief. “I thought you were some strange dude ready to lure me in and sell my organs on the black market.” he stopped the van and you opened the front door, gladly accepting the ride.

“Who says I’m not,” he erupted into another fit of squeaks. “How did you manage to get this far without shoes?” You looked down at your white manicured toes, covered in dirt and ash. You hadn’t even noticed you were barefoot.

“Fight or flight I suppose,” you shrugged your shoulders.

~~~

You were awoken from your sleep by the sound of your doorbell. You didn’t realize you’d fallen asleep. Getting up from your messy sheets, you wrapped yourself in your silk robe, cloaking your pajama shorts and camisole. Quickly glancing at your phone, you wondered who could be ringing your doorbell at ten o'clock at night. Seeing the missed calls, you concluded it was probably Jimin. He might've been worried when you didn’t answer his calls after Seokjin took you home.

“Sorry Chim, I-” your face contorted into a nasty scowl when you happened upon the redhead boy in your open doorway. He offered a half smile, teeth chattering as he scratched the back of his head with one hand. “I have absolutely nothing to say to you.” You proceeded to slam the door but noticed that it was being blocked by something. “What the fuck are you doing?” You released Hoseok’s hand from the doorframe.

“Please, hear me out,” he doubled over, gripping his injured fingers.

“Don’t you think you've run your mouth enough for today? Did you come to accuse me of assault too?”

“I’m so, so sorry,” he managed between gritted teeth, obviously still not recovered from the impact. You rolled your eyes, not having ever seeing Hoseok be sincere. Sure you’ve heard stories about how what a good, honest person he is from the boys, but you just couldn’t risk it. What if he was just here to play some prank on you?

“I’m going to get you an icepack and then you’re going to get the hell off my property,” as you turned to leave into the house, you felt him grab your arm. You doubled back, catching sight of where his hand met your skin. Hoseok had never touched you before and you were surprised at how responsive your body was to it, gooseflesh trailing up the entirety of your limb and suddenly you could feel the spring night’s breeze. A shiver road down your spine. How long had he been waiting in the cold? His hand was freezing.

“I don't need it; I can bear the pain. Please just,” he let you loose, sensing a discomfort. “I just want to tell you this, and you can never talk to me again. I promise,” he held out a pinky finger.

“Okay, you have one minute,” you crossed your arms across your chest, avoiding his pinky promise, as well as his gaze.

“Okay…” he took in a shallow breath. “First of all, I want to apologize again, not just for today, but for every day that I’ve spoken to you since the day we met. Not only have I been incredibly rude, but I've not been my true self. You see,” his weight shifted between his feet, not being able to look at you fully. “When I get around you, I just don't want you to see what I’m really like. I’m a coward and such a pushover. I wanted to show you that I can be a real man, someone who isn’t sensitive or gets scared easily, but I’m a terrible liar. I can’t act and every time I tried to act tough it just came out as so…”

“Thirty seconds.”

“So evil," he shivered at his own words, "and that's not me. I'm not evil, at least, that's not how I meant to be to you. I didn't want to be the one hurting you. I just wanted to show that I could be man enough to protect you from anyone, even though I couldn’t even protect you from myself and this turned out horribly wrong.”

“Hoseok,” you finally faced him. You were shocked that you were giving him the time of day and you were even more shocked that you actually believed what was coming out of his mouth.

“And I know it's no excuse for what I do, for what I've done; it’s just that I felt like that was the only way I had the courage to talk to you and-”

“Hoseok,” you repeated, louder the second time. He stopped rambling and his eyes met your own. You could finally see them, welled up with the tears he was holding back. “Why would you be afraid to talk to me or even want to protect me? What you're saying isn't making any sense.” You found yourself whispering once his full attention was on you. Even when he was being vulnerable, he had a way of making you feel small, insignificant.

“Because,” he spoke barely any louder than you were. “I love you.” Although his voice was low and soft, those last three words nearly knocked you over with the power they held.

“Come on,” you gestured for him to come inside the house and close the door behind him.

“Are you going to hit me again?” he obeyed hesitantly, his height shadowing yours in the dim light of the hallway.

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” you were offended that he’d think you'd intentionally slam his hand in the door. “I’m getting you an ice pack, now come on.” You sauntered into the kitchen, him at your heels and burning a hole in your back with his eyes. You grabbed an icepack from the freezer, wrapping it in a kitchen towel. “Now,” you spun around, not expecting him to be as close as he was. You could feel your heart skip a beat at his closeness. Clearing your throat, you found your voice again. “Why did you stick your hand in the door?” you held your hand out for his injured one. Once he allowed you to, you gingerly ran the pack along the back of his fingers.

“I needed you to know the truth,” he hissed at the contact.

“So you stuck your hand in a slamming door?”

“The pain in my hand is nothing compared to the pain I’ve caused you," he avoided your eyes again. "I can hold my own ice pack by the way.” he took a step forward to grab it, but you pulled it out of reach.

“Can you let me be nice to you Seok?”

“Sorry,” he held out his hand once more. “I keep forgetting.”

“Forgetting what?”

“That you like me too.”

“Who told you that?” you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks, the redness in them being a dead giveaway. Despite being well melanated, for your whole life you’ve turned red when embarrassed.

“It was Jimin.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” you subconsciously tightened your grip on the man’s hand.

“First of all, ow,” your eyes widened immensely as you mouthed at least ten apologies. “Second of all, don't be mad at him. He was only defending you. If it hadn’t been for my big mouth, I would’ve never found out. Come to think of it,” he tapped the index finger of his free hand against his chin. “The guys have been pretty good at keeping this a secret because if they knew we both liked each other-”

“They knew you liked me and didn’t say anything?” You handed the pack to Hoseok, attempting to leave the house in an outfit that probably wasn’t suited for the cold of the night before Hoseok grabbed you without thinking. His chest pressed to your back while his arms wrapped around your shoulders. You could feel the strength of his heartbeat that way. You just became aware of how nervous he was being close to you as well and your anger slowly subsided.

“Don’t leave again,” he spoke softly by your ear.

“Okay,” you turned around in his grasp and his hands slid down the flat of your back. More chills. You looked into his brown, half-moon shaped eyes, gazed along the bridge of his nose and stopped at the mole on his pouty lips. You loved that mole of his. His lips: pretty, pink, inviting. “Seok,” your voice cracked.

“Hm”

“Can I kiss you?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” his hands drew goosebumps to the curve of your lower back and you took your time gliding your hands up his toned neck to hold his face. To say that you’ve imagined your first kiss with Hoseok a hundred times would be an understatement. None of those scenarios measured up to the real thing. When Hoseok’s lips touched your own, soft as rose petals, an audible moan escaped, but it was too hypnotizing to be embarrassed. Man, was he an amazing kisser, the way his lips matched the fluidity of your own. When he tugged at your bottom lip with his, another moan. When he migrated his tongue into your mouth, another moan because God he tasted so damn good.

“Please,“ you pulled away for a moment. He looked hurt, another pout forming on his lips and you kissed it away. “I want you.”

“Fuck,” his eyes darkened and before you knew it, you were lifted off of the floor and placed onto the kitchen counter. “For the record,” he spoke breathily between marking up the base of your neck with nibbles and kisses. “You looked so fucking sexy in that white bikini. It drove me insane seeing you on Jungkook instead of me.”

“But I only want you, Seok,” you whined in response, wrapping your legs around him to pull him closer.

“Say it again please,” he ground into you through your silk shorts, dancing to the rhythm of your breathing. "Call me 'Seok,' again."

“It’s you, Seok,” you exhaled at the added friction of jeans, against silk, against skin. “It’s always been you.”

“How does your voice sound so raw and I’ve barely touched you?” your only response was desperately grinding on his hardened length through his pants. You nearly cried when he pulled away from you, the only remaining contact being his hands on the meat of your thighs, pinning you to the countertop. You squirmed under his stare, watching his gaze go to where the silk stuck to your center as he dug his thumbs into your soft flesh, leaving red marks. “Want me to make you feel good?” he licked his lips making them shine with saliva. Nodding eagerly, you reached your arms out to him. “Use your words baby.”

“Yes please, please make me feel good Seokie.”

#kpop and black girls #poc bts #poc kpop #POC kpop fans #bts poc #kpocwriters #fat girls and kpop #plus sized kpop fans #bts jhope #Jung HoSeok #jhope smut #jhope x reader #jhope fanfic #bts and curvy girls #bts and black girls #black armys

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ralfstrashcan · 5 years

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3x16 Reaction / Commentary

Alec “Proud Puppy” Lightwood

THAT FACE HAHA. Also crêpes man I'm jealous.

Rude man, don't rip him away from his hard earned waffles.

This is so hilarious to me, okay, this prompting hand flick Alec does (which you can't see here because I can't gif, only screenshot ahahaha) man I love it. Sadly I didn't find a gif of this yet, so I can't put one :( I can't even put into words why it's so hilarious to me. And Magnus's sceptical gaze hahaha.

Edit: I FOUND ONE

HAHAHA HELL YEAH

I mean we all knew this was fake, not least because it implies Magnus is wearing the same outfit two days in a row and obviously this would NEVER happen, but also because in no universe does Alec have smooth dance moves. It's a law of nature.

lol is this an innuendo or something because I don't get it, pls help

Tiny waist touch is spotted and highly appreciated.

That scene transition was brilliant and there is nothing else to say about it. I lost count of how many times I've rewatched it because it's awesome. The way Alec's voice sounds slighty off, the way Magnus gets heavier in his arms, the way everything spins out of focus, and Alec's last “Stay with me” sounds almost hard with urgency.

When I first saw this I was legit yelling at the screen why the hell Alec is just shaking him instead of, idk, doing CPR but I did him a grave injustice there because he actually does and I really appreciate that. (Though, if he learned first aid I wonder all the more about 3x12 (or was it 3x13, I lost count lol) where he just lets Sentry Guy die without even trying to save him.)

That being said, I'm really happy we got to see the immediate aftershocks of it because I was half afraid this episode would just start with Magnus in the infirmary bed. Still, I have a question. Who called Catarina? Izzy? Because why is she then so shocked when she learns Magnus is not breathing? When she presumably first entered the room to receive the instruction to call Catarina, did she not... wonder why Alec was cpr-ing him? Or did Magnus not immediately stop breathing after collapsing but just, faded slowly while Alec had already told Izzy to call Catarina? I kinda wanna know the mechanics here.

I mean, no surprise there if you keep killing them?? Ahahaha.

My fangirl brain: What, General Amaya from the Dragon Prince is gonna appear? Sign me the hell up!!!! My rest-brain catching up: No this is not a crossover and no, r is not y and just, no. My fangirl brain: :<

........ignoring the fact that summoning her is super stupid, there's also the tiny detail that they don't have leverage why would she help them are they just gonna say “pretty please”?? I can't believe them.

lol Bohemian if you see this, this panel is only for you to haunt your dreams XD hehehe sorry sorry but I just couldn't resist XD

Wtf I can't believe those words just came out of his mouth. Jace, you're gonna start with a pep talk? You were possessed and forced to do things against your will, you should know better than this. Honestly.

The way his voice goes up, just kill me now.

THIS DETAIL OH MY GOD

I absolutely loved this scene, in terms of acting it was perfect and it was painfully in character for Alec to blame himself for everything that's not going alright with someone he loves. The problem I have however (because come on, there's always a problem with me) is that they genuinely want to tell me that Alec didn't realize Magnus was faking it? Magnus loses his magic and he “doesn't think twice”? I mean, that's either really really insensitive or really really stupid. And Alec might be insensitive sometimes, but not like that and he surely isn't that stupid. So, uh, I don't really like that bit. Again, if he was secretly happy that Magnus's immortality is gone that's one more thing to feel intensely shitty about, I get that, but being secretly glad how things turned out and not realizing the other person is suffering from how things turned out are two entirely different things. And just, tf Alec. He can't possibly be that dense, can he, that he genuinely thought Magnus was okay with this. Even if he thought this was something Magnus could get used to in the long run, he didn't expect him to need some kind of settling-in period? Really??

HELL YEAH I STAN CAT SO HARD IN THIS SCENE. And I'm so glad she's the voice of reason in this.... after deigning to appear at long effing last ahahaha sorry not sorry for that dig XD Look it's not her fault, it's the screen writers'.

I got a soft spot for Simon calling her Fray. Also, high-key loving how they're all sitting there waiting for news and finally acknowledging that something's up with Magnus.

LOL CLARY TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL. Kidding. It was the Evil Rune at work again, even though she's nowhere near fire. Maybe it was the hypnotic neon lights? In any case, this is becoming a real problem lol. (No, tbh I found that outbreak totally hilarious XD)

.............................*sigh* I mean, your fierce determination doesn't change the fact that this plan is doomed to fail and you still don't have any leverage over Lilith, but sure. Go off.

YEAH BECAUSE AS SHE PROVED SHE HAS COMMON SENSE. Though I really hope she also told Alec about this dumb-ass request by his dumb-ass parabatai so he can intervene. But, tbh I don't really expect that to happen. *sigh*

Kill herself and then revive herself, hoping a short moment of death is enough to severe the connection? Or maybe, uh, try to use her rune power to cancel her Evil Rune instead of summoning Lilith??? Just for starters.

WTF I CAN'T BELIEVE I'D SEE THE DAY WHERE J A C E IS THE VOICE OF REASON WTF COLOR ME IMPRESSED I LOVE IT

“See, I infused it with a strong dose of Plot Convenience, so that shouldn't be an issue.”

THE PORTRAIT IN THE BACKGROUND HAHAHAHAHAHA

“Why? Why do you hate him so much?” “It's simple. All my life I've had to sit by and watch...”

Thanks for 100% confirming my headcanon, I do love that :)

BAM!!!

I really like the detail that he's so out of breath from the magic, it shows that it was probably more harmful that just a shove back? Oh the questions I want to ask.....

Bitch you're 484 don't round down so much hahaha

Is Lorenzo actually gonna be swayed by this????????????????????? uh

Edit: Ahahaha we later learn he actually is and obviously I had to write a ficlet about it, so uuuuh whatever I'll put it at the end with all my other shameless self promo I'll include in this thing XD

OH YEAH I remember the “Different outfits for different occasions” comment from 2x19 I wonder what she'll wear? The same, or even older??? Btw why does she share a smile with Meliorn as if this is a private joke? Because, like, it isn't.

I mean that's touching and all, but that doesn't change the fact that Lilith loves you and seeing you dead would absolutely tear her apart, thus making this a fitting revenge. Wtf Jonathan this is no sound counterargument.

Hm. Tbh I liked her youngest self best? But she's still cast very well. And I recognize that her talking face to face with Jonathan would have been a little ridic if she only reached his navel XD

Ugh, Bohemian, can you see me rolling my eyes?

lol at least this was funny

OMG Luke could you be any more dramatic, are you actually kidding me. I'm gonna be sick soon if you don't cut the bs.

Wow the first sign of Sizzy that didn't suck, yay! XD this was actually pretty sweet.

Oh you mean that time that Raphael was feeding on her and they were indulging in mutual addiction? Because as soon as Izzy was clean she steered clear of Raphael.

..............................................what happened to “scumbag ex”? Why am I even asking?

?? Yeah? What happened to “While Saia lasted it was the best thing ever?” Then again that was what, three episodes ago? Can't hold him accountable for something that happened so long ago, right.

Hahaha okay that was cute.

1) LOL how hilarious would it be if they summon Lilith and just get her corpse plus Jonathan holding the sword still sticking out of her chest. 2) Jonathan is a true sadist, making her wear those heels. 3) Who's that wheelchair for? I mean, Lilith designed this apartment for her disciples, right?

.................which she doesn't need, since she's no warlock and her powers come from her angel blood, not ley lines. So, points for trying, show, but please don't mix up your races. Makes you look so unprofessional. (Except if this is a hint that shadowhunters also run on ley line energy, have ley line magic flowing through them etc. but honestly I'm not even entertaining the thought because then I'd have a conniption.)

Wtf it's literally standing twenty seconds of intense mindnumbing pain, why the hell would you need a coach for that? Just hold it together and endure it. Also, if they attempt it, 20 bucks say he'll die for some dramatic Sizzy “Oh shit you could really have died, too” moment.

Awww you can really see the love in that touch. <--- sarcasm.

Awww you can really see the love in that touch. <--- no sarcasm.

Honestly, Magnus's touch is natural and familiar (btw love the uncoordinated grabbing) while Alec turns Magnus's chin as if he's trying to make as little physical contact as humanly possible. Is a hand on his cheek really too much to ask for? *sigh*

lol you'd think he'd start with that immediately after Magnus wakes up instead of taking risks (it's what I would have done) but whatever.

He's.... actually there to help? For free? Or is Alec gonna have to hand over the Institute's keys to him when the job is done? Lol. (Also that suit jacket could be straight out of Magnus's closet.)

Oh my God Alec just say he could die. Why sugarcoat it? Say it how it is, and Magnus might listen to you.

.........yeah. This is so relatable and I love how he delivers this line. The desperation is clear, but he's also determined about it. Also, quick question, why didn't Alec get Catarina to be there when Magnus wakes up instead of Lorenzo? I'm not saying it would have changed the outcome but it might just have made Magnus feel less shitty about being exposed to his nemesis in this weak state. Then again I get it, Alec is running on panic and instinct, so consideration is the last thing on his mind.

This scene was amazing. Or, lol, this part of the scene. Magnus's performance is stellar and FYI the next thing he says, the “Look at me! Can you honestly say you like this?” was improvised and that's just ugh so good. Coincidentally this is also where my issues with this scene begin. They're not about how the characters act, I found that part very very fitting; it's meta.

The issue Magnus is having isn't about some fear that Alec won't love him anymore now that he doesn't have his magic anymore. Magnus is projecting. His issue lies within himself. He feels differently about himself, he can't say he likes this, and it's only in conclusion that he assumes it must be the same for Alec. But Alec isn't the root of this issue. But of course it's easier to pretend it's about Alec than to openly admit his severe self-image issues, so that's what Magnus does. Perfectly ic to me. The problem I have here is that if we take what Magnus says at face value it appears that Magnus only wants his magic back so Alec will keep loving him (sidenote: even more if you cross out Harry's addition and just focus on the “You fell in love with the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Can you honestly say you don't feel differently about me?”) and the solution to that is clear: Alec drops some wedding vows, problem solved.

But that's not the problem here. Magnus would literally rather be dead than without his magic and no amount of Alec waxing poetry about him is going to change that. And honestly, I'm so grateful for Harry's addition because that made it abundantly clear to me that Magnus is projecting. His bewildered “Can you honestly say you like this?” is an admittance of “I see what I am now and I can't bear it, so how could you?” If that scene had been about Alec, that would have been so uncalled for.

And also loooool but uuuuuuhhh I found Alec's speech less than impressive? I'm sorry, I know he tried but it just didn't work for me? I felt like it really wasn't up to his usual par. Lol I honestly rolled my eyes when he started about the spark that lights up the room XD It felt impersonal, kinda. It's hard to describe. Of course I can cut him some slack on that, because he was emotionally severely overchallenged in that moment and had to make it up on the fly, but uh. Yeah.

Anyway what I really didn't like was his closing line because it kinda sounded as if he was making that decision for Magnus and that's not his place. It might be dangerous and stupid and “not worth the risk” but Magnus isn't in a place where he should have his authority revoked, so. Kept from gambling with his life, yes. With sound arguments and empathy, yes. With dictation, no. So that didn't go over too well with me. Anyway I channeled that into a ficlet already, too, which I'm also advertising at the end.

......has she just been sitting there for six episodes? Btw I wonder, if Jonathan is happily manipulating Lilith by faking positive emotions towards her I don't get why he totally fell for it every time Clary did the exact same thing to him.

THAT MALICIOUS SMILE HAHAHA THE LITTLE (S)ASS

1) SO SHE'S LITERALLY BEEN SITTING THERE FOR SIX EPISODES?!?!!?!?!

2) Why hello there Plot Point XD srsly why tf would Asmodeus use Magnus's magic instead of his own if, need I remind you, his own demonic magic is stronger than Magnus's, Magnus's wasn't even enough to destroy her demonic possession on Jace.... so why would Magnus's magic be enough to bind Lilith, the mother of that possession, to a room? Uh, lemme guess... Plot Convenience? So when, theory time!, Lilith is slayed he has no need for it anymore and can return it to Magnus?

“...to kill you while you were weakened.”

WOW WHAT A DELIVERY AMAZING

........I gotta be honest, I was really confused at his submissive behavior but then I realized... they have a 10 year history of these mechanisms, and slipping back into the pattern of things must be so easy. Also, I mean, that paints a really wonderful and peaceful image of his formative years, right?

Jimon Shipper Moment <3 ;) Look I don't even ship it, but their bickering is high-key amusing to me.

Instead of just standing between them from the get go? Why?

?????? I guess the incest runs in the family, pun not intended?????? Btw Jonathan's weird incest-y obsession makes so much sense now. If this is literally the only way he ever learned how “familial love” (Lilith Greater Demon Edition) is expressed I have no questions anymore. Seriously, he's so screwed over by everyone and it's just unfair. (On that note, glad we never had to see him make out with Valentine. Some things are just too terrible to envision. Damn, why did I say that, I should just shut up for all of our sakes.) Anyway, back to our favorite tortured soul here, I'm honestly not even sure if I can hold the incest thing against him any longer. His entire life consisted of being raised by Valentine, who kept him in a hut in the woods where he never got to see anyone but him, and then Edom where there was Lilith and demons. It makes a horrifying amount of sense that normal human norms mean nothing to him. He's never lived them, he's never witnessed them and maybe he doesn't even know them. So yeah. I guess I'll just add the incest thing on the long long list of things that are due to the stellar parenting he enjoyed, and not entirely his fault.

Damn so close to see my prognosis come true. Then again, I guess this was just the perfect timing because who knows if Lilith won't even help them now kill Jonathan because betrayal bla bla.

1) No need to twist the knife, then again this is Lorenzo so what am I even expecting.

2) WTF ARE THEY REALLY NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS SOME MORE?!?!?!??!?!

3) If it's like a transplanted organ being rejected by the body, just, idk, look for a different warlock whose magic fits Magnus better? There must be tests for that kind of thing? And even if there isn't, if you go slow and don't immediately portal all over the world plus end an encanto-coma you should be able to tell the magic doesn't fit pretty quickly without going into cardiac arrest. Magnus only got some nosebleed at first, remember, and it got worse only because he didn't slow down. I'm just saying, there would be Ways.

Wow I never realized before that he's actually got an undercut. Makes his hairstyle look even stupider.

Wow I believe this even less now than I did in 3x12.

“Let's hug in these trying times, but please make sure your face doesn't touch mine, otherwise people might draw the absurd and outrageous conclusion that we're in a relationship or something.”

Honestly. Their portrayal of casual intimacy is abysmal and I hate it.

1) The infirmary is very weird and open space for a place that should be easily closable if you need to contain, idk, sick people and their viruses and keep it sanitary. 2) I've been wondering since the start of the episode, did Lorenzo's pony tail get shorter? Wasn't it longer before? 3) At least Malec managed to make their feet intersect minimally, so yay for small mercies.

“One dose of Plot Convenience, coming right up.”

They're just.... gonna torture her? Really? I don't even have words for this. Oh no, I do:

Seriously. It's as if morality isn't a thing, and torturing a sentient being isn't always and under all circumstances a Wrong and Bad thing to do. Because clearly if the person receiving torture is just Evil Enough then it's okay. Thanks for standing by and doing nothing Simon, this is exactly the reason I hate your inconsistent streak on this matter. I don't even expect better from the born shadowhunters, and Clary is way to un-reflected to even twitch but. Ugh. Why am I even wasting my breath (my typing capacity?) on this. It's pointless.

Wow this is pointless, too. I mean, why is Izzy not interfering? She literally just fell down. She shouldn't be out of comission by this. Ugh.

Also ugh to Izzy slinging her whip around his hand instead of, idk, his whole upper body and his arms.

Also ugh to Simon waiting to attack Jonathan until the last second as a heroic saving move to save Izzy which, ugh.

But this here

#AwkwardGrownUpSquad

I'm honestly lol'ing so hard right now. Hahahaha this is just hilarious to me. Then again, who knows, maybe now they'll team up with Jonathan to kill Lilith and I'll get my hopes up again for a redemption arc XD

......................HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Btw I bet you she copied that move from Doctor Strange.

lol another thing I didn't see coming.

1) Hello Hannibal lol 2) Who went in there and put restraints on him? 3) Who's gonna pay that Seelie actress now??

This scene was actually nice? I know, I'm surprised myself.

How convenient. I mean, good thing he didn't say “Glorious” otherwise Izzy might have thought he was asking for that one ESC song to be played at his funeral.

Please, Maryse, don't flatter yourself, all you had to do was scratch Elliot's corpse from the floor boards, the rest was already completely furnished.

..................................................................................................................bye

Look, while part of me is undeniably thrilled at the prospect – because while I was totally rooting for a Malec Wedding I was pretty sure it was an unachievable dream, just like hoping for Sheith – this is exactly what I mean with taking things at face value. Alec takes Magnus at his words (that he has doubts Alec will still love him now that he lost his powers) and so he thinks that a grand gesture of commitment will fix it.

But it won't, because that's not the problem. Or at least I hope it's not the problem, I mean if I lost my arm my main worry would be “Holy shit how am I gonna cope without my trusty appendage” not “What are the neighbors gonna think? Will I still be able to rock my favorite outfit without that limb?”

Anyway. I don't think this'll go over too well at this point in time. And honestly, Alec just realized at the beginning of this episode that he was fooled by Magnus's coping facade and tricked into thinking Magnus would be fine without his magic. And now Magnus has lost is magic again and Alec just... makes the same mistake again, blindly believing the words coming out of Magnus's mouth instead of taking a look for himself and seeing how Magnus is faring? Did he learn nothing from this? Alec. Why are you like this.

Anyway, conclusion time: This episode was way more reasonably paced than the last, the shit decision making was kept to a minimum (except for the part where they, y'know, summon Lilith back to earth) and Jace gets a diligence starlet for displaying common sense.

And now, self advertisement time! I wrote three ficlets: a) a continuation of the scene with Alec and Lorenzo b) a gap-bridging Malec scene set after the “I won't lose you” line and finally c) a what-I'd-like-to-see-happen-in-3x17-fic where Alec tells Izzy about his proposal plans.

I'd be thrilled if you checked one of them out. Until next time XD

(Gif Source)

#shadowhunters #3x16 #alec lightwood #jace wayland #magnus bane #clary fray #isabelle lightwood #simon lewis #jonathan morgenstern #lorenzo rey #lilith #luke garroway #maryse lightwood #malec #reaction

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jessamygriffin · 5 years

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The Legend

Dear @youcantdothatpod

Hello, Hockey Coven, it is I, one of the two responsible for the Pierre-Édouard Bellemare DreamBoat Manifesto of old, penning this under my normal Tumblr journal instead of the hockey one for no good reason, and I come to you, with respect, and with full knowledge of certain coven members love of Russian players (though this one is not a Siberian) to ask for either a history lesson or dream boat nomination for my guy - for having an interesting life, to say the least. He is my favorite Russian player. Yes, possibly even over Ovi.

And yet he never made the NHL.

Oh. My. GOD. some listeners must be thinking at this point. Why even BOTHER with this guy??? he’s not in the fucking NHL!

(And can I just say, in this case, we must never be the Bettmans of the hockey world, who was bloated with hubris thinking to bring hockey like a Messiah to the unenlightened Asian continent a few years back [ha ha fuck off, they’ve had hockey here as long as the NHL has existed? I live in Japan btw] and we must not think that the NHL is the end-all-be-all of hockey aspiration. It wasn’t. It isn’t. Times were different. There wasn’t even a KHL at the time our story begins.)

I bring him to your attention because he is THE BEST.

His story begins in the Siberian IHL, passing a pretty tough try-out as a kid to start playing for the Red Army team, CSKA Moscow.

I feel like I ought not throw in all his info here? Maybe just a few highlights? And some comments. Ok who am I kidding it will get long.

Here: Vladislav Tretiak.

Vladislav Aleksandrovich Tretiak, goalie, current president of the IIHFR.

He won a lot of shit. I’ll just link the Wiki here - it’s a list.

He looks kinda like Spock, but in the best red-blooded ways, not that I would ever judge anyone for wanting to get freaky with a green-blooded half-alien. His goalie training looks a lot like cossack dance.

(MUTE THIS VIDEO THO)

youtube

There’s some other worse quality vids of him doing similar and playing with his son, so. There’s that. Skip ahead to the tennis ball part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrfOsCVakvs

He started hockey kinda late, at age 11.

And Canadian hockeys LOVED him. *See below pic of jersey swap with Wayne Gretzky for proof.

Really, you gasp. Say it ain’t so! Impossible!!!

Truth.

How did the so-called hockey world (which of course was based in NA according to old boring hockey men) discover this Dumbo-eared wunderkind? The 1972 Summit Series.

(Yes, he grew his hair out and covered the mudflaps, and it was MUCH BETTER, sorry Vladdy.)

‘Ho hum,’ said the Canadians, ‘Russia thinks they are good at hockey, how ‘bout we have the Summit Series and quash their pretensions? That gold medal in Sapporo? a FLUKE. Ha ha, look at their goalie, this will be a cakewalk, he let in EIGHT GOALS in this game we just saw, oh well, let’s go have a beer and light up a dart, eh, boys? Eight games, pfft. We’ll sweep them.’

Joke was on them - Vladdy or Vladik was gettiing married the next day and weirdly? Couldn’t concentrate.

Summit Series ended up with one tie, 3 Russian wins and 4 Canadian, with the Canadians playing their dirty rough style, and the Russians their smooth, machine-cog style. That series was a gongshow of biased refereeing, Russian goal judges not turning on goals lights, and teams leaving the bench to have Canadian or Russian tantrums. Actual ankle-breaking occured.

Canadians had two goalies. Russian had one. He was 20. My boy. He KILLED it. And to say the Canadians were pretty horned about about this alien cheekboned man-child after expected a blow-out? MASSIVE understatement, HUGELY horny. As they should have been. Ken Dryden LOVED him. Jacques Plante himself, maybe feeling sorry for the kid, came and talked to him before the tournament started and let him know how different players would try to score. ‘A big help,’ Vladdy said. ‘I don’t know why he did that.’ LOTS of players were in awe. Canada was turned upside, Toronto became Tijuana and nothing was ever the same. The Interest in Russian Players was, officially, a Thing. (Kharlamov was a big part of the interest but that’s a whole ‘nother story.)

The horniness was, in fact, so uncontainable that several NHL teams expressed an interest, and one team was bold enough to draft him in 1983, when he was the ripe age of 31, which at the time was not TOTALLY hockey-old for goalies and players like it is now. Yes, the Habs. Consider that 3 years later rookie Patrick Roy backstopped the Canadiens to several Stanley Cups, and imagine what they could have been even earlier, with Tretiak. HOooooO. Serge Savard hit up Moscow four times during the winter of ‘84 to try and secure his release.

Russian wouldn’t let him go, of course. Tretiak was a only lieutenant-colonel in the Soviet army, and not playing the high level hockey he had previously, and thusly COULD be replaced in the system. Soviet officials ultimately vetoed a transfer. “Oooh his dad was a major, how can we let this son of a distinguished man go and play HOCKEY, it’s a disGRACE!” Or at least that’s what we were told. Okay, Jan.

He quit playing at age 32. Thirty fucking two!!! He’d done his 4th Olympics in a row by this point in 1984, and had the honour of carrying the flag for his nation, though he said it was probably because no one else had done 4 Olympics in a row. He wanted to spend more time with his family, and asked Tikhonov, coach of the national team and CSKA to let him have, ya know. Quality family time. (You’ll remember this douche from previous Russia Hockey Stories.) Tikhonov said, no, you live at the compound like everyone else for 11 months of the year. Ah ha ha.

Roll back a few years, for a grudge. Tretiak, if you’ll recall from the Miracle on Ice, was pulled from the game against the Americans by ol’ Tikky after letting in ONE (1) goal in the first period. All the Russians knew, but would never say until much much later, what a massive mistake that was - and you know the Miracle story anyway. Tretiak said himself it was a mistake, and he wouldn’t have lost the game.

So, all things considered, in spite of having loads of playing life left in those kicky legs, Tretiak noped out and retired, for the reason of being denied time with his family. And not getting to go abroad to play, which was probably a bitter pill and so quitting while he was still useful was a good Fuck You to the officials who used him up like a tissue playing hockey for his team and country. And of course, he was exhausted. At age 32. "I'd played fifteen years with the Army Club and the National Team without a break. Backup goalies came and went, as did three generations of forwards and defensemen, but through four Olympic Games, all the important ones with the professionals, all the World Championships, all the Izvestia tournaments, it was I who played in the net."

Frankly, he should have just defected like others did later. Sent his family to watch him in a tournament and done a Sound-of-Music-esque Von Tretiak escape out the Zamboni exit, over the mountains and far away.

He would have been the first if he had. One of the most famous players in Russia, leaving for a career in the corrupt West. I’m glad he at least thought about it a little, even if it never happened. God, that would have been great. I’m glad that the NHL were able to pull their xenophobic heads from their asses enough to know greatness, and to want that brilliance shining on their teams.

But really, in the end, the man done him dirty. “In spite of aggressive discussions with Soviet authorities, Canadiens' general manager Serge Savard was unable to secure Tretiak's release for Montreal. "I would have loved to play in the Forum," Tretiak admits. "I was hoping to one day play in the NHL. I would have liked to do it even for just one season. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. I regret not having the chance." “

Still, the NHL and hockey in NA didn’t forget him. There were laurels left to be given.

He was the first Russian to be inducted into the HHoF, and the first to be entered without ever having played in the NHL.

Was he done with hockey? Heck no. Remember when I said Canadians loved him? It may have been mentioned a time or five.

In 1988, hockey royalty got married - Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones. Befitting royalty, her dress cost $40,000, and gifts filled three rooms of the hotel. Notably, amongst them was a gold swan from a certain Soviet goalie Vladislav Tretiak. Why??? Swans are good luck, said Vladdy. They mate for life. And lo, the couple is still together.

In 1990, Mike Keenan hired him to be a goalie coach for the Blackhawks, and was (again) so turned on by his mastery that he suggested the 38 year could still play in the NHL? Vladik laughed and said no, but coaching was the next best thing. He worked with the best - Belfour, Hasek, Thibault, and you’ll be shocked that loads of tendies wear his #20 in tribute. He runs - or ran? website not updated in a while - the most challenging goalie school in NA in Toronto in summers.

He worked with the ‘Hawks until 2007, and then went on to be a pillar in Russian hockey leadership. Coach. Etc.

He wrote a book, which was really what got me into Russian hockey - it was wild to me at the time when I read it in high school some (Cough cough) years ago, so alien. But it’s chock full of the stories you love. His first coach Tarasov, wanted him because he was ‘tall’ (6′ is tall in Russia???) and had ‘huge hands’ and reminded him of Jacques Plante. The book’s pretty frank about hockey history and the role ‘Miracle on Ice’ played into a kind of American propaganda, which is refreshing. He was politely horrified by seeing Canadian players smoking. His training was bonkers, and included tree-climbing at speed. The Russian team was always trying new stuff, and one time decided on sports psychology, which a teammate helpfully volunteered Vladik for, ‘He’s the most important player, he’s the last defence, work with him!’ (since no one else wanted to). The positive thinking mantras seemed to work as at the next practice they were amazed by his clean play and kicks. But lol, no, next game he got blown out, and was probably glad to send the sports shrink on the way.

And he was crushed when his teammate, Valeri Kharlamov, with whom he played so long, died at the young age of 33 in a car accident. But Kharlamov is a guy for another section of Hockey Histories.

So. This dream boat.

Ok. I know y’all prefer a defection story, and I think some listeners also? But. Here’s the thing. It’s sexy and romantic but also traumatic as fuck to ditch your country, your life in that political climate, to play the game. And dangerous, shit man. 1983. U.S.S.R.!!! People still got disappeared! It was fine to treat players like garbage and lock them up for months in a compound and not let them see family! And I sometimes get the feeling that people consider the NHL the pinnacle, like, what a fool is Tretiak? who wouldn’t throw away everything to play NHL hockey? But that’s like, Bettman thinking, that the NHL is the best and perfect when we all know it’s fucking garbage, I know the current KHL has issues, SO MANY it would be a three hour podcast to talk about! So there’s no high ground, really. And in the end, Vladislav Tretiak made a choice that did good by himself, going on to a successful post-hockey career and the upper echelons of Russian hockey, and did well by his family, and of course, being patriotic is sexy, as anyone screeching at their team during the current World Cup of hockey knows. It’s okay that he stayed there. It’s fucking sexy NOT to defect, sometimes. Dude was a champion either way, his life is not a tragedy or lesser for not having played in the NHL and I really want people to know that.

"For me, it was all, and all of it is with me forever."

Yes, there is life and hockey beyond the NHL.

And it’s beautiful.

#my post #youcantdothatpod #Vladislav Tretiak #Red Army hockey #CSKA #Russia #sorry for incoherent rambling it's late

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calliecat93 · 5 years

Text

RvB Season 16 Commentary Masterpost

This post details the commentary from the RvB16 DvD. I tried to add as much and be as detailed as possible and I apologize if I misconstrued anything. This was 12 pages long BTW... I hope you all enjoy!

Commentators

All Episodes: Joe Nicolosi (writer/director)

Episodes 1-5: Kyle Taylor (machinima director), Josh Ornelas (senior machinimator)

Episodes 6-10: Jason Weight (co-writer), Greg Slagel (show producer), Billy Burson (Visual Supervisor/Lighter)

Episodes 11-15: Phillip Sparn (Audio Mixer/Sound Designer), Ian Sheppard (Lead Animator), David Levy (Audio/Music Composer)

Episode 1

The intro scene with the knights involved zero machinima (Kyle very much appreciated that), IDK if this was a joke, but Joe said that he wrote the intro three years ago and sent it to Miles, who was confused by it. He thought this would be a good place to finally use it.

The Grif knight is now Sir Gryffandor and the Simmons one Simmtarian XD

Joe use to be in a time traveled-theme band and many of the unused ideas it's where he got several of his ideas for this season.

Joe felt that it took far too long to get into the action in S15, so he tried to have it go faster this time around. Hence why he sped through the setup in this and Season 2.

Kyle and Joe talk about how there was a joke in S11 where Caboose responded to his echo in a cave. Joe wanted the echo to have been time travel Caboose, but when they decided on the slideshow format he couldn't. Miles confirmed at RTX that it is now canon so yay!

Joe had gone back through the show and made notes about where the characters could mess with their past. He also has a fan theory that Two Coffee Mug Guy from the Freelancer Saga is the cause of everything bad that happened since if he didn't show up, North wouldn't have gotten caught, the mission would have gone fine, etc. I am on board with this theory!

In one shot, they forgot to put Huggins and Muggins in as the headlights and it was too late to fix when the time came to air it. Oops. Kyle jokes that they have to blink off every one in a while due to their anatomy XD

The scene where Donut has... broke I guess was apparently a pain in the ass to do. For example when there's like eight of him in a row, they had to time the shot exactly right to machinimate it properly. It involved a LOT of coordination. They all agree that the bit where Donut glitches/contorts is the stuff of nightmares.

Speaking of that bit, you'd think that would be easy since it's essentially glitched out animation. But doing it apparently broke all the rendering machines and they had long talks with the tech department to get it rendered properly. It got to the point where it actually went up to Gray Haddock, the Head of Animation. Daaamn.

Joe's original vision for Episode 1 was to have a long conversation about food that triggered a series of horrific events as it was going on. Kind of like a one act play. Only the Caboose bit with Donut made it through however.

Grif's love of Sammie Raphaello's is based on Joe's feelings about a similarly named place in New York, including eating it for 100 days straight. It had been worth it.

Starseat, the Cosmic Gods base. Is one of the only maps that they hadn't used form Halo 5. They used the majority in S15 so they needed to use some of the alien locations for this one. Since S16 has the Cosmic Powers, it worked out for them.

Episode 2

The forest area was a custom map made by Josh. They used several custom maps this season.

Josh calls layering trees the 'Bob Ross effect' XD

There's this lightning effect in this map that had to me timed perfectly to not mess up the shot. Lets just say that they had to redo several shots because they got the timing wrong or it was too distracting.

When there is a joke that has an awkward pause or silence in it, Joe likes to add a bird effect to it. In the bit with Caboose's 'Your Mama' joke, he used an owl effect

It is canon that Caboose has shy tinkle and can't do his business with others around XD

Because the Halo 5 models have this bad tendency with their coloring (ie, Simmons sometimes looks too much like Sarge), they hired a colorist for the first time in the series history. So every Simmons scene (IDK if they mean just this one or every single one) had to be hand colored to keep him as maroon as possible.

Kyle asked about what was going in on Chorus. Joe says that this is NOT canon, but in his mind Locus got arrested when he brought Wash back to Chorus. They want to try Locus as a war criminal where he COUDL escape, but since he swore off killing people he cna't without doing so. Apparently his ship has an AI ready to split the planet with him Locus gone so Kimball, whose in the middle of an election, has the choice to either let Locus go and save the planet, or not and not get re-elected. This is strictly headcanon, but Joe considered using it as a subplot but since it had nothing to do with the time travel, he opted against it.

Donut is now God Jesus Donut. Something that Joe was very excited to do.

Kyle had no idea how they were going to have Donut walk across water. Apparently Halo 5 has these invisible blocks that they were able to use to pull off the effect.

The music used in this scene is a genre called 'monk-step', which is like Gregorian chanting mixed with ETM (from what I can gather, it's some kind of electro music). Apparently this is a real genre.

The city and destroyed Sammie Raphaello's was made by Austin Clark and Kyle Moran.

Conner, one fo the editors, edited the scene pretty tightly as with most RvB scenes. Joe then made him go back and add a punch of long. pauses

The cop was indeed voiced by Jeremy Dooley. Joe's direction to him was that he thought he was the main character of the story and to just go off with it. He did so for several minutes and Joe had to cut it down, but you can see the full thing in the blooper reel.

Joe didn't want to lock onto a specific place aside form 'somewhere in America' for the city location. But since Grif said he went to Harvard in a PSA, he guesses that it's somewhere in Massachusetts.

Joe has this pet peeve about a truck in the shot as the exact same model was also there when we the place again in Episode 4. Kyle makes a backstory for it about being driven by a dump truck driver who cheated on his wife and was caught, left the truck there, and went on to become president. The truck is now a monument. I am all for this!

They storyboarded Donut putting the guns on the ground... and Joe decided at the last second to just have them flash and appear to not waste time just having him lay down guns for 20 seconds.

Kyle calls Grif a coward for not taking the bullet for Sammie's. That's not nice Kyle!

“Donut uses his shield powers that... never come up again” Thanks Joe...

To get Sarge and Simmons properly on the ground when they land in Egypt, Kyle simply had Josh kill them in-game. They landed perfectly XD

Episode 3

The snow scene with Grif and Doc apparently shows the horizon for the first time in the series due to using very boxed in multiplayer maps. It is also a custom map with the horizon point, which was green-screened, blending into the snow.

Sister and Tucker were green-screened into Halo 3. Apparently it wasn't too bad here, but it was MUCH harder for Halo 2. They VERY much appreciated having a green-screen within Halo 5.

The desert scene with Sarge and Simmons apparently had a shadow in it, so they had to color correct it to make it look more desert-like. Simmons color apparently overlapped with Sarge's a lot.

The storylines were supposed to be about the characters all trying to fix their past mistakes, but only make it worst. This was meant to tie into the season's theme on how fucking up is a part of life. Them not learning it, of course, causes what happens in the end. Joe does mention that it doesn't seem like it worked for everyone watching, however but Kyle mentions how rewatching it can get people to pick up on it more.

The map they used for The Battle of Broken Ridge went through several iterations. They went with one they called White Dwarf which was very detailed tot he point where they fuzzied it up to make it look less so. The rock formations are underwater rocks and have coral textures to them to make them look more alien.

Present!Sarge is wielding a sniper rifle in this scene, not his shot gun. They imply that he shot the previous CO so that his past self would be given the position. GDI Sarge.

Apparently Halo characters do NOT like rough terrain, so recording the soldiers running across it was difficult to make it look natural.

For the PoV shot with Caboose, apparently you can't move the camera much in Halo 5 but you CAN have the character walk closer into it. So Austin and Kyle Moran did so to get the shot and was one of the first they did on their own.

Lopez couldn't be color corrected apparently. They had to go with a shade nearly identical to Grif's because otherwise he looked onto much like Master Chief. As such he looks different in every scene. Thanks Halo 5.

Episode 4

Joe wanted to use all the main locations (Blood Gulch, Valhalla) at least once. He was able to use Halos 2 and 3, but didn't get around to using Halo 4, so we didn't get Chorus aside form the one we saw last season.

The Tucker and Sister storyline was the most changed. Originally, it was going to be about Tucker trying to stop himself from getting laid with all the women that got him a lawsuit last season. He succeeded... but his present self got seduced anyways. This however created a bit of a paradox (I assume since it was clear that Tucker remembered it last season) so he decided he wanted to do something more personal between Tucker and Sister.

Joe wanted this, Episode 5, and Episode 6 to feel more episodic. Hence why he get a major focus on Tucker and Sister here, Sarge and Simmons in 5, and Grif and Doc in 6.

Joe apparently cockblocked himself once. Oops.

Kyle wants to use a time machine to go back and mess with himself when past!him was working in a check out line. Joe would use it to go see old movies and bands when they opened up.

The Broken Ridge map made all the visors green.

Hammerspace exists in the RvB verse due to all the weapon shifts.

The machinima team used the PC version of Halo 2 (the same one used for the Blood Gulch remaster) due to technical reasons. The problem is all the servers, services, etc that were available when doing the remaster no longer exist in 2018. While they have copies of the game, to do what they need they had to use fan hacks, a laptop, and Joe's home computer to make the scenes properly.

Lindsay Jones (VA for Kimball) plays one of the three kids using her Space Kid voice form Camp Camp. Kyle thought one of the actors was the VA for Qrow in RWBY (Vic Mignogna) but it wasn't.

They had a lot of fun macinimating Grif's freakout and Joe outright called Geoff's performance Oscar worthy. They considered submitting it XD

The guy left the truck (form Episode 2) on this very day XD

Tucker asking Sister if she turned off her radio was a reference to O'Malley since at this time, he was still around and going through different people's heads. It was important to make sure that he paid attention to continuity in the time he was going to mess with. Since he felt that this was a memorable event in Blood Gulch, he wanted to go back to it and make sure that he wasn't accidentally messing up anything.

This is the third time they've gone back to this in RvB's history as Josh previously directed a S14 episode written by Barbara Dunkleman (VA for Jensen) about O'Malley in different headspaces. Wow, they must love this scene XD

Joe made Nico (one of the composers and part of Trocadero) make porno music for the cave pond scene. He said “On it Joe!”

Joe liked making Tucker dense when it comes to sex, especially in this scene.

There were talks about if Tucker and Sister should still be in Halo 5 armor when time travleing or if it should change. They ultimately decided to stick to the Halo 5 armor, which Joe felt was the right choice since he was no real reason to have them in the game's default. RvB14 had a similar philosophy where whatever time period the story is taking place, ti had to match that version of Halo.

Episode 5

The map used at the very beginning was a user-made map that's meant to be reminiscent of a Halo 3 map.

Using John Wayne was apparently a pain in the ass. They couldn't refer to him as John Wayne and several other names like The Duke due to legal reasons. It was at the point where they had to have Gus and Matt frequently come in to do re-recordings due to all the changes. They finally settled on Private John... and they hope that they don't get sued for saying it in the commentary.

To remake Desert Gulch, they had to use all the characters at the same time and do several different shots for several reasons.

George Washington was voiced by Todd Womack, a Creative Producer for Broadcast at RT. He also voiced the Simmons knight in Episode 1.

Chris Kokkinos, a Lead Audio Engineer for RT Animation, played Alexander the Great. They did ten minutes of Google searches to put together a voice that sounded accurate enough to what Ancient Masadonian (I think) would sound like.

There's a radio effect in the movie filming scenes where, if you listen close enough, you can hear someone trying to find the bestboy. When I rewatch this with commentary off, I am ging to listen HARD to find those lines.

Kohan Wooter, the producer Jax torments, was voiced by RT's 3D Animation producer Koan Wooten. Joe jokes that he's a 'pathetic ball of anxiety' so he based the character on him. Don't worry, he actually loves Koen XD Koen produced Seasons 13, 14, and 15, but 16 has a new producer, Greg who we'll hear in Episodes 6-10 commentary.

Apparently in Halo 5 (Kyle isn't sure if this was an update or he just never saw it there's an option to max character speeds. So when Jax, Simmons, and Sarge are walking through the set, they were able to set all three to the same speed without it looking like they're sprinting, something that is normally difficult to do in machinima.

In S15, Joe wanted Jax to get successful at some point... and then fall back down off his horse due to his ego. So he did it here!

They wish that they showed Jax's version of S15, though we do get a sample in Episode 12.

Austin and Kyle Moran worked on the scene where Sarge and Private John are doing lines.

For this scene, Matt was late for a CEO meeting so he had to do all of his lines in one take in quick succession. He nailed every single one of them.

I think most know this, but just in case, Atlus is voiced by SungWon Cho aka ProZD. Joe was a big fan of him and was really excited to cast him.

All the Gods we see who aren't Atlus, Kali, Genkins, and Burnstorm are Minor Gods and this is the only time we get to see them all. Kyle says one is the God of Anxiety XD

Kyle made Atlus' throne and used spaceship parts to make it. It was also a chore to decide on all the Gods guns.

Episode 6

Jason wrote Episodes 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, and 14 (Joe confirmed the latter four on Twitter).

Joe says that Grif and Doc are somewhere in Calabria, Ancient Italy. It is known as 'The Boot of Italy'.

Greg previously on a 2D show at another company (I couldn't make out what he said it was) before arriving at RT and being put on RvB. Since machinima is treated more like live action when filming, it was a very different experience along with storyboarding the animation. He had to learn a lot about what can and can't be done in machinima.

Billy previously worked on a live action RvB short (I assume the RvB14 finale but they didn't specify) and before this worked on RWBY and RWBY Chibi. He works on both lighting and composition.

Billy really liked working on the lens flare shots XD Which are also apparently hard to render despite how easy it looked at first.

Jason wrote most of Sister's dialogue, which had to be cut down a bit. Apparently one line he wrote was Sister saying “I want Lancelot to slay my p***y like a Dragon”. This once got cut because Microsoft told them to, which is a VERY rare occurrence.

Genkins was the one going crazy with the airhorn during Atlus' intro. They used up all their airhorn budget for that one XD

Joe credited Jason for Atlus' portrayal. Jason feels that Atlus is very human and fragile on the inside and the kind of characters that he likes to write.

They all laughed at Tucker and Sister being blown up, which they tried to reuse form other stuff, but Joe refused. They joke that they just got it off the internet.

Joe feels that he could have done this episode better as he didn't feel anything for Doc at the end like he had intended.

They have an animator specifically for O'Malley's finger motions. He'll be in the 11-15 commentary and is reffered to as 'The Fingerer'

Episode 7

Since this is an episode that mixes live action, they started working on this even before Episode 1. They were excited at first... until they finally started doing it.

Gus Sorola (VA for Simmons) played the Cyclops as well as his wife.

Joe knows that some people weren't happy with this episode, but he still liked it cause Tucker and Sister got to fight a giant cyclops. They do admit it is one of the stupidest thing they've ever done though XD

They went over budget doing the scene and had to go all the way up to Matt to get more. At RTX, Matt said that he allowed it when they said that Gus was going to be uncomfortable for several hours. Best CEO XD Joe brought in Koen to convince help him.

Huggins had several different animators, but most of the credit goes to an animator named Owen for giving a glowing sphere so much energy with the animation.

Gus' scenes were shot in one day, but because they had to change the lighting so much to correspond with Halo, it took a LOOOOOT of hours.

When the cyclops bit into the Tucker armor, Joe had it in the script that Gus just pulled the head off. Gus asked if he could eat it, which Joe allowed. Joe had to paint it the day before the shoot after Greg went and got it. They used a toy since animating Tucker in Gus' hand would have been too much work to get right.

Joe did a lot of the work on the scenes while listening to an audiobook, so now he just hears it whenever watching the episode. Fortunately, he has a lot of work with green-screen XD

David Levy composed the music for the scene and Joe had him listen to stuff from Jason and the Arganots and such things to give him an idea of what to do.

Tucker jumping to hit the Cyclops'... privates...w as a reference to Independence Day apparently.

Joe wished that, when we see the location again in the finale, he just showed the Cyclops' corpse rotting away... so I guess that confirms that he's dead. He thought of it after the fact however so he couldn't.

Joe deliberately told the Art Department about the female cyclops at the last second so that they would buy a shitty costume for Gus to put on. Greg was confused. The shot later for Episode 15 was a surprise shot Joe did since he was writing the finale around this time, so he wanted it just in case he wanted to use it... which he did XD

Episode 8

The map with the Chorus towers were a Live Map. IDK what that means, but apparently they can't use. So the machinimators had to go around it and take various shots of the towers to put them in the opening scene. It got several accounts banned as a result XD

After the last episode used so many different things (animation, machinima, live action), the fact that they were able to get an animation sequence into this one had Joe feeling good about the production flow for the season since the previous one would normally go over deadlines. Fortunately, the production went through seemlessly.

The animation team is mostly from RWBY Chibi.

Originally Carolina and Dr. Grey's talk was in Grey's office. Miles said that it wasn't weird enough to fit Grey though, so Joe change the setting to a morgue. The dialogue stayed the same though! The feet of the body were apparently hard to render XD

Joe wished that Carolina was holding some guy's intestines to further show how creepy it is.

With the cyclops, Joe apparently wanted him to have a giant, hanging dong cause he things it would be Tucker's worst nightmare. Greg immediately shot that down since no amount if pixilation would be able to hide it.

Joe wanted to give Grif a magic fairy companion, ehnce why we got Huggins and the two would learn form each other.

Huggins is based off of her actress, Ashley Spillers, in terms of personality.

Apparently doing shots showing tall buildings like in Chorus is much easier than getting a dead guy's feet in properly. Huh...

Joe got obsessed with doing different shots to make shots of a character just talking interesting and he felt he went a little too crazy.

Joe felt bad that he couldn't use more of Dylan, but he learned last season that RvB has a TON of characters and he needs to break them up when it's necessary. This is part of why the Reds and Blues were split up this season.

Billy did a lot of work on the wrestling scene in the finale due to how much lighting was needed. It also involved a lot of comp due to the amount of shots.

Wash's cat, Loki, is based off a cat Joe had in RL. Many of the same things happened to it and lived for over 20 years. Wow...

Episode 9

Joe makes it clear that he loves Koen and he only made fun of him because he loves him. Greg felt much of Kohan's portrayal hit too close to home XD

Since they used most of the maps in S15, Joe knew that they were going to have to reuse some of them and the filmset plotline was done in order to do so. Considering Wash's state, he felt that it worked well for character.

The Female Frozen Freelancer was voiced by Minni Clark, their Animation Coordinator.

Joe considered what Wash and Carolina would do with a time machine. For a while, he considered having Carolina use it to go to the future, but he felt that could botch future storylines so he decided to not use the future at all.

They liked the campfire map and giving Huggins sparkles. The sparkles got added late into production. Luckily they emphasized that no one was harmed in the making of this production XD

Huggins will only swear when quoting Die Hard. The lens flare in the movie was also Joe's favorite lens flare in film XD

Joe was originally going to have Grif come across Lopez's head after he sank in the titanic. But since Grif was in Ancient Italy, that would not work so it was cut.

Joe also intended for Grif to use a boat to get over the English Channel, but since it would have been a hard set-piece to make and they already had an underwater map, they went with that instead.

The effect to make past!Simmons portal appear/green-screen was apparently fun XD Joe also liked having Sarge stab Achilles in the foot.

This season has the most green-screen used in any season.

Apparently there are a LOT of time travel stories out there with very complicated rules. Joe went with the ones that he felt were the most common.

Joe got very mad because The Covlerfield Paradox came out sometimes before the season starts. He also gets mad in the finale cause Infinity War did what he did essentially XD

Joe found using time travel to test free will interesting as he doesn't recall anyone doing it before.

Matt improved his lines regarding the back and forth on deciding to open the door. He does that a lot XD

They didn't want to add a shot of Simmons pressing the keypad, so they just showed the door opening.

Episode 10

To make Caboose's vacation easier, they decided to go with the slideshow and just use stills. Most were easy to comp, but some like the monkeys were more difficult. It was orignally going to be animated.

With the shot of the RT Founders, they originally had a Halo helmet in the photo. Joe changed it to a bowling ball.

Joe was counting down the days of production and told no one. Greg was very confused when he saw '100 Days' on Joe's calendar.

Jason wrote Camelto and voiced Lancelot/Sir Gryffandor. Joe used all of his first takes XD

Jason writes long scripts, so Joe had to cut them down and he felt bad about it. Jason said that he got rid of the garbage bits XD

There is some kind of cannon by Tucker's shoulder when he meets with Grif. Joe headcanosn that Tucker just demanded that they make a cannon.

Even Joe points out that Grif's trying to push the plot forward now. They joke that it's just so it an end faster.

The reason why Tucker started the war with France they decided was because they ate snails, hence his line “Those fancy f***s eat snails!”

Joe clarifies on what turning into a shisno means. I wrote about this already, but I'll do so again here. It is not a form of corruption or mind control, but people like Tucker giving more and more into temptation and as such, the worst part of them comes out. He felt that them trying to make the past better is a big convenience in time travel and decided that them screwing it up and therefore still trying was an effect of Chrovos. It's not direct mind control however, it just makes your darker impulses stronger.

Joe confirms that Genkins was the PA who lead Wash to the scene recreating where he got shot solely to make him worst and keep the plan going in the right direction.

Joe, having grown up on films like Evil Dead, really likes bloody shots and thinks that his seasons have had the most blood effects XD

They checked over Donut and O'Malley's scene a LOT due to a lot of screw ups and using a large white void.

Billy's favorite thing to have lighted was Chrovos. They were very happy with the gears design.

Joe really liked Chrovos' VA

Episode 11

Phillip played one of the guards that got crushed by the horse in the finale. It is his proudest moment.

Doing work for Huggins was painful since she required several swooshing effects and her animation turned out to be much more work due to Ian deciding to make her more energetic to not make it boring.

Muggins is less energetic due to being older

Joe had to get special permission from Miles and Kerry to use the RWBY moon and now calls it canon... which he honestly isn't all that wrong if you've watched RWBY V6...

Audio liked adding the effects to Atlus' voice, something that ProZD apparently does in his videos.

When he decided to use God sin RvB, Joe had wanted to have a wish granting scene and the one we got is one of his favorites. He also mentions how most Gods go to places, mess with younger races, so he felt like this fit.

The music for this was challenging for David as Joe instructed him to base it on Danny Elfman-esque scores. The guitar rift when Grif makes the sword wish was treated like a sound effect.

Apparently they used a laughing seagull effect to laugh at Tucker. I need to listen for these things more.

They used a sunset map for Tucker and Sister's talk, and while lighting is often difficult in RvB, Joe felt that this worked very well. Using Halo 5 in general was hard, but after last year they had a good grasp on what they could and couldn't do. They'll be us9ig a new Halo next year, which since Halo 6 isn't out I assume is referring to Halo 2 Anniversary

Okay... so this bit is probably gonna be the biggest part. So the whole scene with Tucker and Sister's talk? Originally in the outline, Joe simply had Sister go 'And I don't care!' when she and Tucker realize that their s*xventures were coming to an end. Then he sent it off to Jason, who expanded on it in the script to have Sister's verbal beatdown to Tucker. Joe let it stick, and we got what we got.

Episode 12

This is the first episode of RvB shot in 4K

You know the opening shot where Actor!Wash dips Actress!Carolina? The scene was mo-caped by Joe as Wash an an animator named Harley (she works primarily on RWBY) as Carolina. When they acted it out, Joe tried to catch Harley when she fell back... except that he had recently dislocated his arm. So he ended up just dropping her and he fell over and hit his head. The mocap for it looked really funny though XD

The reason why Joe used 4K for this episode was in order to do wide shots so that After Effects could put in the shaky cam. He did it in one weekend. He's not a fan of 4K however due to feeling it adds too much production time, so he used it for only this episode.

They joke about making an RvB Soap Opera where Church has a twina nd Sarge goes into a coma. I WANT THIS!

Joe had not seen The Office when he went with the interviews idea.

This, and the later episodes, were written during the production.

This episode was the RvB equivalent of a Beach Episode like you see in anime. But because of armor and stuff, he couldn't go all the way. Also apparently if Halo characters hit the water unless it's an underwater map, they die. Huh...

Joe continues to make it clear that he loves working with Koen. Good job on making sure you don't piss your boss off dude!

The Chinese Finger Trap gag with Caboose was improved by Joel. The trap was composed in and they used the Huggins rigs to help with the stretching.

Joe felt he went a little too strong with the color correction in this episode and that the colors came off too strong, especially with Donut.

Joe liked the audio cue used for when Wash has one of his memory blocks.

There was a lot of improve done with the actors for Jax's movie. Phillip also didn't get the Rodney Dangerfield reference. Joe put that specific one in because the Private John actor did one for funsies in his session.

According to Joe, after he gets hit by Atlus' hammer, he forgets all of his movie ideas and is now in the next stage of his life in trying to figure them out. They ask if this is autobiographical for Joe XD

The gold club is an actual weapon in Halo 5 (some kind of multiplayer mode), huh...

In the original take where everyone is saying titles, Joel had Caboose curse. Joe found it funny... but since Caboose doesn't swear to that level (I think in another interview Joe said he used the F word), he decided two days prior to cut it and edit several takes together to get what we got. They added it back in for the Blooper Reel, and I can confirm that it is hilarious.

Episode 13

David used wall to wall music for this episode.

The first drafts for the final three episodes were over 70 pages long. The average is around 12-18 pages, so... yeah... he had to cut it down to 54 within about three days.

Joe didn't get to work a lot with Genkins' VA (Ricco Fajardo since he forgot the name in the commentary) since Genkins had very few lines. He really enjoyed working with him and the other professional voice actors since he can really push them and they love going along with it.

Jason did the script for this episode.

This episode, along with 13, had very little animation due to the finale going crazy with it. So they cut down on it in these two to make up for that time.

Joe's not a fan of exposition scenes, but since Starseat was a unique set design, he felt like it was a good place to do it.

The Cosmic Powers are always green-screened so that they can look much larger.

David wanted to listen to his master work XD

Joe hadn't told mahcinima what swords to give everyone and is happy with the options that they went with.

Burnstorm's VA is a theater actor in Dallas

Joe regretted that he wasn't able to have the Gods in action much and wishes that he was able to fit in one God fight at least. But he had gone over the animation budget, so even if he wanted to he couldn't.

The Neanderthals hair in Caboose's slideshow apparently didn't work at all, so they photoshoped it in.

Joe really enjoyed doing Carolina and Wash's scene, especially with how well Jen and Shannon performed it. He felt so much regret for what he did to these characters XD

Joe did research on brain injuries to make sure that he portrayed Wash's condition as accurately as possible.

Machinima built the room that the Reds and Blues were teleported to. It was originally a hallway apparently.

Episode 14

The intention of the episode was to be a runway into the finale and to be a bit of a cool down after the last one.

Jason once more did the script for this one.

Halo 5 armor in multiplayer apparently can't be black, so in shadows it just glows. Huh, weird.

No one aside from Joe saw the shot of the Fates. Ian never saw them as he handed them to someone else while doing 15, and they did them all without him having to check them.

Joe wrote the demo for The Fates song to give to the singers who auditioned.

Joe thought a lot about Carolina time traveling prior to this, but felt that she was too responsible and smart to use it the same way the Reds and Blues did.

Phillip was kind of glad that Huggins got 'killed' (I'm still denying it) since it meant no more swoosh sounds

The buildup to the... death scene... dropped the ambiance to build up the creepiness factor.

Joe did the black hole effect and went on until it made him too sad and he kicked his computer. You have only yourself to blame.

They like how the Cosmic Powers just become more and more normal acting as time goes on XD

Joe had been very nervous about The Fates and considers it the weirdest sequence in the season. He suggested the orchestral tuning build-up.

Joe explains how The Fates work. The Cosmic Powers are AI/computers, and that includes The Fates. They are like a series of quantum supercomputers who scan the atoms around them to determine the outcome of the future. Their prophecies are mere projections.

Episode 15 (Season Finale)

They call this 'The Beast Episode'

David added 15 minutes of music with no stop. It continues to accelerate as it continues on.

The episode was done more like a music video. All the animation was done first, and then David composed it to the animation instead of before it. He used bits of previous cues and themes as well. It took him two weeks to do.

The room that Carolina and the others hid in had been very bright, so they had to darken it.

This was very tightly edited in order to stay matched up to the music.

The strategy for the Donut vs O'Malley was to treat the finale as two episodes. The fight was done by one team and all the other stuff was done by another.

They like the 'Use what you learned' advice.

Audio used a program called Vocaline to dot he effects for Chrovos' voice and the gear ticking effects.

The edit for the episode was very different from the script as Joe did a lot of re-arranging of scenes to improve the flow. He got advice form Connor, one of the editors, to pace them better.

The pizza is a photoshopped Home Slice Pizzal

If you watch the scene where Caboose hits the Red with his golf club in slow mo, the body flies off but his soul stays put in an extra frame. If you watch it frame by frame, you can see the soul dissolve. Will make a note to do so later.

David wrote three separate tracks for each storyline in the episode (Donut vs O'Malley, Grif vs Genkins, and the others saving Wash) which all blend together as they go on.

The cue playing when Genkins goes on his boredom rant is Joe and David's favorite cue.

Genkin's rant was also much longer and was pretty much Genkins breaking up with the universe. Joe felt that it was losing momentum as it went on however, so he cut it down.

Phillip had a ringing bell sound effect play when Donut hit the plane on the commentary track. All of them lost it XD

The longest scene to animate was Donut jumping after The Hammer.

Each bit of the fight went to different animators. Ian worked on the Blood Gulch part and reference show he's known for being good at finger animation. Hence why we got O'Malley's evil finger wiggling XD They were bummed that they didn't have more time, but with so much going on, they had no choice. Everything was mo-caped and hand framed due to the uniqueness of all the scenes, all of which used no machinima, which normally has to be in a specific view. Joe was happy since he could move the camera around more.

The city for the final part of the fight was stolen taken from Gen:Lock. It's meant to be New York.

Joe has no regrets regarding the fight scene and was very happy with how it all came together.

There's a ticking effect during the episode that accelerates, but during the final part where Grif is running and stuff, the ticking significantly slowed down.

Grif's running was machinimated and they used an after effects plugin to slow him down properly.

Again, Joe was very mad that Infinity War came out during this time XD This happened a lot this season apparently, such as Legion.

The final scene is done in Halo 2 Anniversary. Joe chose this because it looks familiar, yet is different. He did this specifically to not make people think that they were rebooting it... which happened anyways XD

Again, they confirm that they are NOT doing a reboot. Joe tried to put in as many clues as he could (like Church not being voiced by Burnie) to demonstrate that. There is a reason for why things are like this and why the final three shots are in reverse order from the events in Blood Gulch.

Joe watched all of Deep Space 9 while editing the season. All 6 seasons! Two he watched during the cyclops episode!

Apparently the Security part of the credits (which lists pets) hjust gets added onto without chances, so many of them are probably dead... ending on a morbid note then!

This took like... five hours to type up. But I always like listening to behind-the-scenes stuff and I had a lot of fun doing this! To all of those who actually made it through the entire post, thanks for reading! Looking forward to S17!

#rvb #red vs blue #rvb16

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 6 years

Text

Rewatching Syren

The little mermaid is my favourite ondertale episode

What kind of dystopia do these poor Parisians live in where stuff like this is happening even when there aren’t akuma attacks going on??? ignore Pocahontas in the corner okay that’s just the Disney Channel thing, the sequel sucks anyway

Uh just a warning. So, I know in these rewatching ml posts I always harp on about Kimax this, Kimax that, Kimax Kimax Kimax. But the truth is that after 2 seconds of seeing Ondine onscreen I already wanted her to marry Kim so be prepared for me screeching over Kimdine a lot in this thing okay, I am TRASH and I’m not even sorry about it

How much do you wanna bet Kim has broken every single one of these rules multiple times

HE PINNED HIS TOWEL TO HIS SHOULDERS LIKE A CAPE, HE’S SUCH A DORK I LOVE HIM???

I love Ondine so much too, she’s basically buff freckly Ariel and she’s so cute oh my god freckles for days

Okay so the sign’s in a bunch of different languages and I’m 99% sure Kim has ignored it many, many times

He didn’t put his goggles on when he went underwater, and actually neither of their swimming caps cover all their hair ugh they’re both disasters, I love them

She’s BLUSHING and everything how does Kim not notice this??? He’s all like “oh that boy you like must be so dumb lol” well yeah Kim, yeah HE IS

Can I gush for a second about Ondine’s design?? They actually made her look like a swimmer, like with big shoulders and arms everything, and she’s fairly tall, and she’s got freckles everywhere (at least 40 on her face alone, I counted) and thick eyebrows and it all just makes her super GORGEOUS like yes can we get more character designs like these please?? (And KIM OH MY GOD LOOK AT YOU you’ve got it bad and you don’t even realize skdjfhksjdhkj)

Oh btw Ondine’s bracelet is 023 and Kim’s is 024, in case you wanted some useless information

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we, as a fandom, are sleeping on the fact that Kim can stick his toe in his ear and that Ondine thinks it’s cute and this is actually a canon thing that is canon

He even passes her the notebook with his feet?? Sometimes I wonder what she sees in him but then I remember I want to adopt him so like, there must be something

Reason #3274598347 why Kimdine are a great couple: they really must trust each other a hell of a lot considering they literally have a game where they spill their secrets to each other, like, they’re already close friends and know so much about each other and oh okay I may be using this rewatching post to just gush about my fav underrated canon otp oops

He still likes Chloé at this point? Really?? Really??? (And he’s just gonna casually leave the pool before knowing for sure that the animal attack is over? I guess he just expects to be able to outrun those panthers huh)

SHE EVEN DREW HEARTS ON IT AND EVERYTHING, THAT’S SO ADORABLE??? KIM PLEASE NOTICE HER OKAY I WILL PERFORM THE MARRIAGE CEREMONY MYSELF

In the English dub at this point he literally calls her a “little mermaid”, huh maybe that Pocahontas icon in the corner isn’t totally irrelevant after all (also he implies this is nowhere near the first time Ondine has tried to confess her feelings, so basically Kim can join Adrien in the “she’s just a friend” club)

RENA’S BAAAAAAACK AHHH I AM SO HAPPY TO SEE HER AGAIN, ALYA GETS TO BE A HERO AGAIN AND I’M SO PROUD

That eyeliner

Grumpy Chat gives me life okay, it’s so funny to me for some reason

Uh... it’s not just me who thinks Rena looks really, really pale, is it?

Alya just straight-up flirts with Ladybug, she’s not even being subtle

WHEN ONDINE CRIES I CRY

The lifeguard doesn’t even wait a second when Syren turns up, he just starts running, what a mood

MARKOV IS BACK!!! MY LIL ROBOT BABY!!! And Max too, I’m always glad to see him

I genuinely want to watch Mecha Monkey vs Cyber Shark 3 though

Kim’s hair really Did That

Question: did Markov need a ticket?

Look at Kim in the background being sad that Chloé didn’t show up omg

Tfw the guy you like is so oblivious that you cry enough to flood an actual city

WHY ARE ALL KWAMIS ALWAYS SO ADORABLE *flips table*

I’m actually really proud of Marinette, she’s been put into such a tough situation where she wants to tell Chat Noir the truth but isn’t allowed, and she’s trying to do something to change that because she trusts him and understands his frustration

Mmmmm cronchy

This lil elephant decor got me thinking, how cool would an elephant miraculous be?

This poor boy is just sitting alone being emo when he’s attacked by the floods

HNSDFJSHDNFJSHDF I’M NOT OVER THIS

I’m not Plagg or anything but that stuff genuinely sounds really good okay

My little brother’s reaction to Plagg hyperventilating into a sock was “big mood” and honestly? Tea

CLASSMATES!!! Nino getting a slight amount of screentime!! Good stuff

What’s Max up to? “Psst Markov, do you think Kim will ever love me?” He looks sad okay I wanna give him a hug

Ah yes, my favourite companies, “Cinema Productions” and “Film Studio”

Alya clinging onto Nino!!!

An interesting thing is that while Syren is one of the nicest (if not THE nicest) akuma villains, I’m pretty sure she has the highest death toll by far. Tidal waves and mass flash-flooding in a major city?? Thousands and thousands of people have gotta be dead and you know it, like imagine if she’d accidentally killed Kim too, that would have been awkward

Marinette and Alya being heroes and making sure everyone got out okay omg, they’re heroes even without the mask

There really are not many survivors up on these rooftops, are there...

Kim is just on another level of Iconic entirely??? Paris is flooded with his future bae’s tears and he puts on a swimming cap and goggles (which he doesn’t use) and immediately leaps into the water, and then tells Markov (who is a tiny robot and allergic to water) to learn to swim like a frog, what even goes through his brain

THEIR FACES AKJFHKSDJHFSKJDHKG

*dun dun dun dun dun dun DUN DUN DUN DUN*

“KIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!!!!” Here is the mandatory Kimax part of the rewatching post -- Max is so worried for Kim??? He’s the first one to react and the only one to like, properly react??? Ugh my multishipper heart

The fact that Alix went to look means either she does at least slightly care about Kim, or she’s just super hyped to watch him drown, and I’m not sure which is funnier tbh she’s so fake though unlike Alya she just stands there not even trying to look

Me trying to row anything, ever

Alix has one single line in the entire episode and as usual, it’s the BEST line

*physically restrains myself from making a Shape of Water reference because it’s been done so many times by now*

My small brother laughs a lot at this scene because he says it reminds him of the time Chat Noir put a bowl on Prince Ali’s head and now I can’t unsee it

This hurts me in my soul okay, she wants to tell him but she caaaaaan’t

Huh, Fu managed to get a lot of stuff up on the roof with him, how’d he have time for that?

Lemme just cover my nonexistent ears for a sec

The best thing about this scene is that all the jokes Marinette tells aren’t even funny, I’m honestly cackling with laughter

AQUATIKKI. AQUATIC. I ONLY JUST GOT THAT OMG

Also?? These new costumes??? I love them holy moly

Fu has cobra venom... bro... listen I researched that stuff for a certain fic and uh you don’t want that stuff lying around, trust me, it is NOT A PLEASANT WAY TO GO

I know my first reaction to this should not be laughter, but it’s just so funny seeing Adrien being bratty for once okay this is g r e a t, ah yes Paris being FLOODED and UNDER ATTACK is a very good time to take off your ring

Heartfelt Plagg!!! I love him

So uh... if Kim is Syren’s prince... does that make him... Prince Kim... AHEM ANYWAYS that throne she made for him is so cute and I can’t believe he doesn’t even care that he got kidnapped by an akuma villain ‘cause hey, it’s a hot shredded mermaid therefore Kim’s a scalie and it’s CANON

So he’s all like “I’ve never seen a siren at the pool before??” which means that 1. He doesn’t realize she’s an akuma villain, he just genuinely thinks she’s a siren who actually lives in Paris, and 2. he knows what a siren is and doesn’t put 2+2 together that this particular siren has chosen him as prey and is luring him into staying underwater with her forever

I legit think about this scene every single day. The writers were probably like “okay so we need a mermaid episode, which kid in the class would be most likely to be seduced by a m-- KIM. IT WOULD BE KIM.” He’s just realized this freckly fish is Ondine and that she’s in love with him and just... hhhh I have a lot of feels it’s like 1am okay

He wants to be a merman so that he can swim fast, that’s so Kim of him I’m in tears omg, Syren doesn’t even care she’s just being a creepy fish with 100 freckles on her face (I counted) tempting him into staying with her at whatever cost

Asjdhskdjhfksjd he KNOWS she’s an akuma villain and still wants to kiss her?? Well to be fair Ondine’s evil yandere mersona is very pretty and Kim never really uses his brain for thinking, so... yeah

“Okay so I want to kiss u but I also wanna watch this movie DO U SEE MY DILEMMA” I love his reasoning so much

My exact reaction on seeing Ladybug’s new outfit

Look how happy she is to see Chatfish in his new costume!! Bless them both tbh, I’m a lil sad we didn’t get to see Aqua-Plagg though, how amazing would that have been

Kim geeking out over their costumes is not only such a mood but also it’s adorable and oh shoot I ship him with Ladybug too, I have too many Kim ships I swear

HE LOOKS SO SAD WHEN HE’S TALKING ABOUT HOW ONDINE GOT AKUMATIZED?? I’m like 99% sure at this point he’s realized he likes her too and probably feels so bad about unknowingly causing her to be upset enough to get akumatized omg my HEART okay I should stop endlessly gushing over Kimdine now shouldn’t I

“You wanna know my secret???” Okay wait, was he... was he about to stick his toe in his ear in front of Ladybug

Oooh do French numberplates actually do this thing? like, have numbers on top of each other like that? That’s pretty interesting

I work at a doctor’s surgery and I can tell you now, even Master Fu’s handwriting is more legible than half the stuff I have to decipher written by those darn doctors

ERBAL EDARIUM

I wonder what would happen if Tom actually ate one of those

You gotta love how unsubtle that Frozer foreshadowing is

For the first time in the episode, she’s actually wearing her goggles!

The fact that he asks her out?? Using their secrets game?? Is just so sweet?? They just care about each other so much look at them?? Ugh just get married already you freaking scalie disaster jocks

I know Nathalie’s sorting out a schedule but it kiiiinda looks like she’s playing Tetris lol

UHHH HEY MASTER FU?? QUICK QUESTION, WHAT DID YOU DO TO ADRIEN’S CHINESE TUTOR?? HE’S NOT... SLEEPING WITH THE FISHES... IS HE?

YEAH ME TOO ADRIKINS, I’M HELLA SUSPISH

On the one hand Gabe yelling at Nooroo makes me want to punch him, but on the other hand he’s literally asking outright how to become a mermaid

THERE’S AQUA-PLAGG!! YES!!! I know this end card was more cringey originally and they changed it, but it’s still cringey ngl

(And idk where else to put this but fun fact: there’s a Septimus Heap book called Syren and it’s rly good, it doesn’t have any fishybugs and chatfish in it but it’s good)

#kimdine is a WONDERFUL ship you guys are just cowards #miraculous ladybug #random stuff #rewatching ml #next up: frightningale

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friendlyneighborhoodborg · 5 years

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Marc Appreciation Week 2019| Day 3: Favorite Ship| “Couples Villainy”

Sorry I was later than usual today. School dragged today. But I swear, I’m gonna finish this all by Saturday’s deadline. Even if I have to post days 4-6 on day 7, I will finish on time.

Alright, time for some more loosely-interpreted prompts. This one, “Favorite Ship.” Well, I hope it’s obvious by now who I ship Marc with, so today I’ve made the prompt about shipping in general. This is a thinly-veiled excuse for not really doing the actual requested prompt.

Disclaimers were in Day 1. And btw, here’s about where that warning about dysphoria comes in, and where I need y’all to tell me if I’m handling it right.

(~2000 words (Holy Crap) in case you care)

Chapters:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The third day of their collaboration was technically the first, being the first day either of them got any work done on the comic. They had spent the school day texting each other ideas for the story, so that when it came time to meet up in the art room after school, they had completely conflicting concepts of what they wanted to do.

Especially the villains to use.

“I still think bringing in Frightingale and Guitar Villain together would be awesome.”

“Thematically, sure,” Marc argued. “But think of the power-sets. They don’t really go together- Frightingale freezes, Guitar Villain makes them dance.” He scribbled something else down in his notes. “Consider powers that could play into each other or compliment each other.”

They sat in the back corner of the room, hunched over one table with their voices low. Marc had noticed Nathaniel’s classmates come in later, and his friend had introduced them as they did. Rose and Juleka were on the side of the room, Rose with a little notebook of poetry and Juleka with her bass guitar. Alix was spray-painting a wall (hopefully with the school’s permission), and the art teacher whose name escaped him watched her warily (suggesting it wasn’t). More spray cans were stacked near where Juleka was sitting. Marinette, the only face Marc knew in this club, was absent from the meeting.

“Such as?” prompted Nath.

“Well, I can’t actually think of any yet.” He pursed his lips. “Dark Cupid and Glaciator?”

“One breaks up love, one freezes the resultant single people.” Nathan shook his head. “You see, that almost sounds kinda gimmicky.”

“You got a better idea?”

“We don’t need to pair them up.” He tore off another sheet from his sketchpad. “Why don’t we let Puppeteer loose in a toy store? If she finds an action figures section, maybe with the heroes’ figures in it…”

Marc looked across at him. “Dude,” he said. “That’s crazy awesome. But how on earth would the heroes beat her after that?”

“With the aid of a brand-new, never-before-seen and therefore unfranchised hero.” Nath grinned smugly. “See? I can be clever, too.”

Even Marc had to laugh at that. “Cool. But Puppeteer’s pretty powerless on her own, she’d need a way to get her allies right off the bat. Does Marinette still make those villain dolls?”

Nathaniel slapped his page in defeat. “No,” he said. “I remember now, I asked her that before.” At Marc’s questioning look, he explained. “I was trying to work Puppeteer into a different story. Forget that one then.”

“Back to our first problem, then.”

“It occurs, this is kind of how I work normally.” The redhead chuckled lightly. “I get too many ideas that I have to thin them out. Which sucks, cause I think they’re all good, but I don’t want to do them all.” He waved a hand dismissively. “So, uh, welcome to my brain, I guess.”

“Heh.” Marc bit his lip anxiously. “I don’t know if you noticed, but your pink friend is standing right there, listening in.”

Nathaniel rolled his eyes and turned to face the intruder. “I told you, Rose, I’m not spoiling it.”

“Come on,” the girl moaned. “Your stories are so interesting, Nathaniel, I really want to see what you’re working on.”

“Right now, we’re not working on anything,” Marc pointed out. “We can’t even decide which villains we want to use in this story.”

Nath had an idea. “Why don’t you help?”

“What?” Rose gasped in delight. “You want me to help with the story?”

“Sure. We can’t agree on anything. What do you want to see?”

“Oh, geez,” she gushed. “This is so cool! I get to pick the story!”

“Hey,” piped Marc, looking at his partner. “Are you sure about this?”

“Couldn’t hurt. This is just brainstorming, after all.”

He shrugged. “Fine. Rose, you got any ideas?”

“I’ve got it! You should have a couples’ team-up.” She clapped her hands together and rocked back on her heels. “Then even the villains can get a romantic subplot.”

“But…” Marc scrunched his face. “As villains? But they won’t remember anything.”

“Trust me,” Rose assured. “I’ve seen it loads of times before. Nothing brings two people together like a supervillain rampage.” She sighed dreamily. “So romantic.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m serious!”

“Rose has a point.” Alix agreed, finishing a yellowish streak on her wall. “We know a lot of couples who got together after one of them went butterfly. Rust!” Without even looking up from tuning her guitar, Juleka threw the requested color over to her. “Even the first one we had, over a year ago, Stoneheart. The whole reason he got corrupted was ‘cause he couldn’t spit out his crush and he was getting picked on for it. Ivan and Mylène have been sickeningly saccharine ever since.”

“And,” Rose added, “don’t forget, they had their first kiss after Mylène was akumatized.”

“ ‘Scuse me,” Marc butt in. “This is the same Mylène that’s in that play with her dad?”

“Uh-huh.”

“She and her boyfriend have been akumatized?”

“Yep. Her dad, too.”

“Cripes.” Marc surveyed the room. “You know, there’s a lot of rumors that come from your guys’ class.”

“We’re aware,” Alix drawled, dropping her current can for a silver can in the row next to her.

“So?” Nath waited for his partner’s approval. “Couples?”

“Well…” Marc gave in. “That’s still a better idea than what we’ve got.” He turned up to Rose again. “Have anyone in mind?”

“Do Mylène and Ivan!” She frowned suddenly. “Or no, wait, Ondine and Kim! No, Nino and Alya!”

Marc blinked. “You know an awful lot of past akumas.”

“Well, everyone in our homeroom has been akumatized, so…” She nodded. “Yeah, we know a lot.”

Marc gaped, aghast. “E-everyone?”

“Well, all but two.” Rose suddenly found herself conflicted. “Oh, no, I’m rooting for them to get together, but I don’t want them to get akumatized…”

“How have all of you gotten akumatized!?” he exclaimed. “I’ve heard of your class, I thought you were the ones with the big emotional support thing going on!”

“Well, that was only after we got akumatized,” Alix explained. She squinted. “Whose idea for a word was ‘akumatized?’ That’s such a mouthful.”

“Okay.” Exasperated, he threw up his hands. “Seriously, what’s the deal here with your class?”

“Well.” Alix slid off her mask and stepped back to appraise her wall. “You ever met Chloé Bourgeois?”

Marc tilted his head. “Once or twice. Wasn’t she that kinda bratty girl who failed superhero-ing so badly she only got her second chance so she’d stop bragging about it?”

“Hah!” Alix shouted. “If only. No, she’s still bragging about it. Yellow!” She held out her hand, waiting for someone to toss it to her, until she realized it was already in the pile at her feet. “She’s in our homeroom, too. And she’s been the cause for… oh, I think everyone but Ivan, Max, Lila and Nino.” She uncapped the can and shook it. “Like, two-thirds, including the teacher, and not counting people outside our class.”

“Hang on,” Juleka challenged as Alix widened her yellow streak. “What about you?”

“I blame her indirectly. Dark Green!” She caught it without even looking at her. “You know, Rose, you didn’t get a girlfriend from your akuma. In fact, if I recall correctly from the zillion times you’ve told the story, you and Juleka going out had nothing to do with the supervillain drama.”

“Oh, yeah,” Rose realized. She thought about this for a moment, looking at Juleka as if appraising the foundation of their relationship. “Well, not every romance has to start like that, I guess.” She snapped her fingers. “Hey, but if you have Princess Fragrance in your big issue,” she leaned across the writers’ table for emphasis. “I’ve got a request.”

Nath rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, you want her to team up with Reflekta?”

“Heavens no!” She got back on her feet and lowered her voice. “Look, Juleka… doesn’t like Reflekta a lot. I mean, she’s gotten a lot better with making herself more visible, but…” She glanced back worriedly as Juleka stood up, having heard the conversation up to now. “It’s more out of resentment than anything else.”

“Resentment?” Marc repeated, confused. “How so?”

“Nathan got to weaponize his passion,” Juleka stated. “Rose was a twisted fairy-tale witch. Even Sabrina got poetic justice.” She crossed her arms, scowling to the side. “I just made people look different, and I was decked-out in fuchsia.”

Rose nodded, and added for Marc’s benefit, “She… hates fuchsia.”

“I would have looked killer in red.”

“Yep.”

“Or purple, my signature. Or I could have made pink creepy again.”

“I know.” Rose tried holding her arm, attempting to quell Juleka’s escalating tone. “We know, sweetie.”

“Just not all three of them.” She looked behind her, scanning the room. Marc noticed that the art teacher must have left the area moments ago. Juleka turned back. “Who’s fucking idea was it to take those colors and think, oh, let’s mix those together, that’s a nice shade. Let’s put it on this goth girl with heels and a fluffy rubber skirt.”

Rose winced at the swear. “She’s still not over it.”

“I had eyelash jewelry, Rose! No one can look threatening with eyelash jewelry!”

“I’m sorry you all have to see this. I swear, she hasn’t had this rant in months.”

“I…” Juleka looked back at the sound of the door opening and saw the art teacher come back. She lowered her voice to a grumble. “I mean, everyone got some awesome dark side alter ego, and I didn’t.” She started walking back to her bass. “I got the absolute bottom of the barrel.”

Everyone was still looking at Juleka after her outburst, so no one was looking at Marc.

Marc’s face was a deathly pale.

Words she had used flew through his head, replaying over and over and over.

‘Fuchsia.’

‘Heels.’

‘Fluffy Skirt.’

‘Eyelash Jewelry.’

‘Reflekta.’

‘Made people look different.’

“That was you?” Marc squeaked, slamming a hand over his mouth.

Rose looked at Marc strangely. “Are you alright, Marc?”

“I…” He tried to come up with an excuse. “Excuse me.”

He kept his head down as he escaped the classroom, choking down something threatening to come up from his stomach.

He kept his head down walking into the washrooms, struggling to bring his breathing back under control and calm his anxiety.

He only brought his head up to look at himself in the mirror.

‘Ugh, not him again.’

It was that feeling again. The one he didn’t have the right words for. The one that came on fast and strong, but left soon after.

He thought he knew what it was before, but he had been wrong.

Someone opened a stall behind him. Fine, let him look at the creep glaring at himself in the—

“Marc?” Marinette called out, voice laced with worry. “W-What are you doing here?”

Marc’s eyes widened in horror. “I—” he stammered, clutching his journal like a lifeline. “I’m sorry, I’m in the wrong—” He gave up trying to speak and he bolted.

And he ran out of the girls’ washroom and back outside into the courtyard.

And he fought down the pangs of hurt that told him no, he wasn’t in the wrong place.

And he didn’t stop until he was back at the art room.

“And anyway, he hasn’t been akumatized yet, but wouldn’t it be sweet if the Gamer went to him and—” Rose stopped her rambling when Marc re-entered, two events which were to Nath’s relief. “Oh, Marc, you’re back!” she chirped.

“Is something wrong?” Nathan asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Marc’s eyes widened and he corrected himself. “I mean, no, nothing’s wrong. Let’s uh…” He tried to remember what the conversation was. “Let’s do Rose’s first idea. Her and Juleka, but not with R—” he gulped, too many emotions cluttering up that name for him to mention safely. He managed to choke “Reflekta” out, and he hoped no one understood.

“Uh… sure.” Nath shrugged. “I’ve never tried making an akuma before.”

“Oooh,” Rose agreed. “That’s an even better idea. Let us know if you need help.”

Rose left to rejoin her girlfriend, and Marc meekly took his seat again, shakily opening his journal.

As Nathaniel started doodling up concepts, Marc sat across from him, doing nothing except idly rubbing his hands together.

His hands.

His arms. His neck. His chest. His legs. His face.

His him.

Why did it all suddenly make him want to scream?

Okay, this is the most rushed chapter yet, especially for being so long.

In this, I’m trying to write Marc as genderfluid (like Hope Morphin, the person he was based off of), but I’ve found during research that fluidity itself has a pretty loose definition, so I just picked one I thought would work. I’d like to hear some feedback over if I’m doing something insensitive or offensive; this fic is still being edited, there’s still time for me to change things.

Also, I’ve started cross-posting this to AO3, under the username “BenignCyborg”. I know Tumblr has a character limit for comments, so if you have something longer you can go there.

#miraculous ladybug #alix kubdel #marc anciel #nathaniel kurtzberg #rose lavillant #juleka couffaine #julerose #nathmarc #Marc Appreciation Week

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shoushatohaisha · 6 years

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report: haikyuu!! summer week day 5 part 2 (hajimari no kyojin)

(sorry for the delay! i moved home from japan to the states the day after… technically the day of posting the last report so obviously it's been. Busy. last one tho!! ♥)

previously: day 1 (shoen) day 2 (itadaki no keshiki) day 3 (karasuno, fukkatsu!!) day 4 (shousha to haisha) day 5 part 1 (shinka no natsu)

guests: kenta, keita, funaki masahide, yanagihara rin

Hoo Boy this was by the most outright emotional of all the screenings so far. like, shousha to haisha was intense, but the content was intimately familiar by now. the impact of this was fresh -- and we all knew it was the end, you know? the end of our happy little week, obviously, but also the beginning of the end for karasuno. over the week all those showings had built up this tidal wave of Feelings it then unleashed here, aha. so that the cheering was right on the edge of desperate, like there were real results on the line. self extremely included. this was our last chance, in all kinds of ways.

(i, aware that i would be leaving the country in two days, was perhaps a little more desperate! but it sure as hell wasn't just me. cheering along at the top of our lungs to the opening/closing karasuno jog i described here… it was. a lot.)

of course the reaction to certain parts were as you'd expect. there was dead silence for ennoshita's big scene(s). the cheers for his receives were like nothing else. when ennoshita tells yamaguchi "let's fight together" kenta reeled backward like he'd taken a physical hit. (my son, i love you.) and of course kenta and kt were emoting all over the place for that whole storyline – kt was wiping his eyes after daichi had to leave the court, and then they both teared up over "thank you for coming back" and "captain ni tsunagenakya!"

and of course when it came to rin and funaki they had their own moments – rin obviously got misty-eyed when all of wakutani started losing their shit, lol, and funaki surprised me by wiping his eyes after misaki's goodbye to johzenji. (my guess from daisenshuuraku was right, btw, momo was crying irl during that scene. awww.)

OK BUT BACK TO THE BEGINNING sorry.

once again kt was tricked into dashing out before everyone else. XD kt: um this is not how rehearsal went. kenta: what are you talking about? :( funaki: this is just like we practiced. rin: (nods furiously) kenta: isn't it? kt: ………yes. fine.

so they accidentally grabbed the afternoon's MC script, whoops. which i'm sure kenta noticed as soon as he glanced at it, but didn't turn a hair until it was time for their self-introductions. "playing kageyama tobio, i'm kageyama tatsuya—" kt: playing nishinoya yuu i'm fuchino yuuto ^_^ funaki: hahahaha PLAYING KUROO TETSUROU IM KONDOU SHOURI audience: (CHEERS) rin: (squints at script) playing konoha akinori im… (mutters) ….azuma… takumi…? kenta: ….you were IN A PLAY WITH HIM rin: is that wrong kenta: what have you been calling him all this time rin: …………azuma…..kun………. kenta: and what did he say to that rin: …"yes?" funaki: well he does seem like he'd just roll with that kenta: IT'S HIGASHI HIS NAME IS HIGASHI

kenta: i was the MC for the shoen screening, but earlier this week, rather than do it twice himself, ryoutarou turned it over to yamagiwa kaito-kun-- audience: (bursts into giggles) kenta: …yeah so i thought maybe tonight i'd give someone else a cha-- funaki: ME I WANT TO kenta: --ok here you go funaki: wait what kenta: you looked like you really wanted to so funaki: I SUPER DO :D funaki: so uh (flips pages) next uh -- kenta: r u srs

i was SOOO fond of funaki omg what a friendly bro ahhh. so cheery and good-natured. :D (can u tell i like em dumb and smiley, apparently.) whereas rin-kun was… endearingly ditzy. XD (is he an ex-johnny's? he kind of had that air. it was like looking at ueda tatsuya circa 2005. in no small part because of the wakunan towel tucked into his waistband, which draped to the floor.)

funaki: don't forget to call the player's names during the starting order, like "terushima!" or "terushii!" or "yuuji!"

funaki: so next we'll practice cheers! i, the MC – yeah yeah yeah (rapper pose) -- kenta: masakki! kt: masakki! (like. funaki + masahide = masakki? apparently? i was unfamiliar with this nickname.) funaki: ok now yanagihara-kun's gonna lead the cheer practice rin: nice to meet you i'm MC rin ^_^ rin: where were we again? kenta: rin: wait right. this is. a cheer screening. so we want you to cheer! kenta: they know that. rin: kenta: rin: wait ok i remembered!! audience: GANBARE rin: :D;;

it took SEVERAL MORE FALSE STARTS before we actually got to the cheer practice. poor rin-kun. XD but he wasn't like, shy or embarrassed like takumi-kun he just. was kind of a ditz. "NO WAIT :D lemme try again :D wait where are we? :D"

kt: ARE YOU FIRED UP audience: WHOO funaki: ARE YOU READY TO GO audience: WHOOOO kenta: WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD audience: tamago kake gohan!!

the screening: abovementioned emotions aside, plenty of dancing and choreo as you would espect, especially from funaki. rin apparently was young terushima in the flashbacks! so he and funaki did all the double terushima scenes together. and rin did all of his white coat dance choreo as well.

during the opening, kenta joined rin so he wouldn’t have to do the wakunan choreo alone. XD and funaki and rin played kiyoko-san and yachi ahahaha. then when hinata and ushiwaka begin to turn on the revolving stage, kenta started scuttling around stage trying to "revolve" himself with limited success.

yamaguchi: (snubs shimada's high five) kenta: don't mind!!

despite kenta's gleeful delight in audience comebacks, there were understandably few of them from either him or us because it was everyone's first time watching the show since daisenshuuraku! the demon elementary school children did get this massive cheer that made kenta almost fall out of his chair laughing. ditto akaashi's "michi wo tsukurimasu no de" – that was one of the most full-throated mass "KYAA"s i've ever heard (again… self… included…) and kenta thought it was HILARIOUS.

i myself was reminded all over again what a great show this was, ugh. blah blah I Love Kawahara Kazuma digression aside, please take it as read, IN ADDITION i know i briefly talked about the, like, emotional sensitivity kouhei brought to playing tanaka but fjkdlajfd the close ups on his face made it so much worse, ffffffff. GOD. dude's emotions were A Lot. just. please. gimme the dvd already.

i was also so caught up in nekoma vs fukurodani the first time i watched that i didn't notice how well kuroo and kenma's final scenes onstage functioned as a goodbye for takato and shouri. when you've been in four consecutive shows, you deserve to go out on a meaningful note. (yes ofc we don't know what the future holds etc etc but.) shouri's delivery of "you're our brain, and our spine, and our heartbeat." fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff murder me.

ahem ok. the aftertalk:

funaki said that he was used to watching videos of himself on stage to review and practice with, but it was the first time watching from a normal spectator's perspective. "oh, THAT'S how that came across." and that the effect made him cry.

rin had a really nice thing to say about how watching really impressed on him how haikyuu stage in particular is a work that is dependent on everyone's contributions combined – i.e. it's not just the lead characters, it's the combined effect of the characters in the spotlight and the characters in the background and the white coat ensemble and the technical staff that make haikyuu stage the unique production it is. (this was hard for rin to express in japanese, tbh, so idk how well i'm getting it across in english but his point was that when he says "it's a show we all create together" he's not referring to ideas or feelings but quite literally saying that everyone's contributions on stage are necessary to make haikyuu stage what it is.)

and kenta talked about how (attending every single screening as he did, lol) it was great preparation for saikyou no team to have had the chance to look back on each different production -- especially to look back on the schools and characters that appeared in just one show and carry their feelings forward to the next play.

…then they discussed how quickly rin's hair had grown back since daisenshuuraku. XD rin: tbh… i was emotionally moved when i first looked in the mirror and saw myself with hair.

then as soon as keita prompted them for backstage stories kenta was like GOKU. DEFINITELY GOKU. apparently at daisenshuuraku he started crying before wakunan even huddled up for their pre-show cheer. "I CAN'T HANDLE IT, IT'S TOO MUCH." kenta: i was watching this like R U KIDDING ME WE HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED YET rin: ahaha during the show as well, idk if this is good or bad, but he was always crying, like – there's a bit where hanayama calls "takeru!" as he makes a toss rin: and goku was always like "(sobs) TAKERU!!" kenta: ONE TIME HE CRIED SO MUCH HE SHORTED OUT HIS MIC audience: EHHHHH? kenta: how did that many tears even GET there funaki: probably the sweat plus the crying rin: incredible. kenta: that's haikyuu stage. so much sweat and tears we destroy our mics.

rin also told us about the wakunan red bull rule. they did a lot of team practice on their own, and people were chronically "just barely" late – i.e., never more than a few minutes, but it was enough to throw off practice. so they instituted a rule that whoever was "just barely" late had to buy the rest of the team red bulls. to this day, as they're preparing for their august 25 event… whoever's late has to buy everyone else red bulls. rin: we also took a lot of purikura together kenta: yeah they had such a reputation that whenever they were late karasuno would be like YOU WERE TAKING PURIKURA AGAIN WEREN'T YOU

then for johzenji funaki told the story of "The Take Two Incident", in which during johzenji's ad libs he fucked up his lines two shows in a row – and the second time was so bad he thought "what would terushima do???", straight up yelled "TAKE TWO" and started over. after which kenta collared him backstage like "did you seriously fuckin do that???" funaki: i reflected deeply on my actions.

johzenji also had iizaka, who's a pretty reticent and quiet character. but he had to do something on stage when johzenji was… being johzenji. so karasuno came up with a quirk for him: every time johzenji successfully scored or blocked he would pump his fists and happily yell "MAAA." (5 foot nothing suga kenta reenacting this was delightful, fyi.) kenta: he played the nakashima household's father too. nakashima masayoshi. nakashima… MAA… sayoshi…

THEN, UGH, keita talked about how he gave the post-curtain call greeting for maeraku (i.e. the second-to-last show, the one before senshuuraku). and of course in the greeting he talked about leaving and coming back – and as he did, suga kenta appeared on stage behind him with exactly the same staging/lighting/sound that daichi does during the play, and said daichi's line, "tanaka keita, thank you for coming back." at which point (in the greeting) keita broke down in tears. he somehow managed to relate this story to us without more than a suspiciously husky voice, haha.

(PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD INCLUDE THIS ON THE DVD)

final messages:

rin started off by talking about what a warm atmosphere haikyuu stage has – not only is the production itself good, the people involved in the production are good. this is particularly notable because of the number of people involved. productions with this many people are usually difficult in all kinds of ways – and in his opinion this production is as welcoming and smoothly run as it is thanks to suga kenta. rin: i mean, we're the same age, so as a goal -- well he's not my goal but— kenta: excuse u?? rin: WAIT NO kenta: U COMPLIMENTED ME AND THEN rin: no that's not what i meant!! kenta: WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME HUH (mock flounces off stage) rin: PLEASE LET ME DO IT ONE MORE TIME

(takeru's line, "mou ikkai yarasete kure yo" XD)

he then nicely cleaned it up into what he meant to say about how much he respects kenta and how grateful he was to be part of haikyuu stage.

funaki: WELP JOHZENJI LOST so. that's. my first and last appearance in haikyuu stage. but. tbh. watching this. i really. want to be in it again. i want. to go back. BUT I CAN'T. but all of us in johzenji will do our best in our different venues so maybe we'll meet again. thanks for loving our play so much.

keita: (deep breath) lone audience member: okaeri <3 keita: tadaima :) keita managed to get through his without tearing up… i think. (i love him!!!!) he talked about how of course during a normal show one gets energized and encouraged by the audience's applause, but the energy from these screenings were different and even more direct. "it was like we were all a team." ;___;

and kenta talked about how enjoyable it was to share the emotions of a match directly with everyone, and that looking back on all the productions so far, he was reminded of all the friends and companions that got them this far, including of course the audience. :)

and that's a wrap for the summer week screenings! as i said before, i'll write up a little report about the haikyuu day event – they did an aftertalk after the livestream ended just for the theater – but it should be relatively short compared to these monsters. thanks for tuning in, everyone! ♥♥♥

#engeki haikyuu #hyper projection engeki haikyuu!!#haisute #suga kenta #tanaka keita #funaki masahide #yanagihara rin #haikyuu summer week #event report

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